Moving Up and On
The next two weeks flew by for Hermione. She spent her days wrapping up cases and writing memos to file for others to pick up where she left off. At night, she spent extra time completing all the short term projects on her to-do list and reading over her contract.
Suddenly, it was her last day. The firm had a small going away party. During which she indulged in some chocolate cake made small talk with a few of the employees she would actually miss and quickly made her excuses. As she left the building with her shrunk down box of belongings from her desk she felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders. She couldn’t help but have a smile on her face as she walked down the street.
Before she realized it she was in front of the new shop knocking on the door. After a minute a frazzled Malfoy opened the door. She had never seen him with a hair out of place and so she raised her eyebrows with concern.
“Hey!” He said stepping out of the way. “How was your last day?”
“Great. I thought I would just drop off some of my office junk rather than taking it home.” She said shaking the box. “How are things here?”
“I’ve been trying to tweak the veritisserum…and no luck so far.” He grumbled. “I’ll just get out of your way. If you need me I’ll be in the brew room.” He said as she headed towards the stairs.
Hermione ended up picking the office adjacent to Malfoy’s. It also had large windows lining the side of the room. A large desk sat near the back wall, which was brick, part of what drew her to this office. Several bookshelves of dark wood lined the other walls. As she finished setting up her pictures she sat down and looked around the room. It was still missing something but she was confident with a few plants and a nice rug she could make it her own.
She headed downstairs to let Malfoy know she was leaving. “Hey, I’m going to head out.”
“Ok great.” He said not taking his eyes off the caldron and notes in front of him. “Daphne will be here on Monday to help you pick out paint and decor for your office. Damn!” He said quickly lowering the flame on the brew as it boiled over. “We’ll that’s a bust.” He said with a groan vanishing the mixture.
“How long have you been brewing?” Hermione asked looking at his haggard state.
“Oh I woke up around 4:00 and couldn’t sleep so I headed here and have been at it since then.” He replied.
“Malfoy!” She huffed. “It’s nearly 7:00, you need rest and a good meal. Come on let’s go celebrate my freedom.”
“You’re right.” He said running his hands through his hair. “Ok my treat. What are you in the mood for?”
“I know just the place.”
Within 30 minutes they were both sitting down with big piles of Thai noodles in front of them at Hermione’s favorite muggle restaurant.
“So do you have any other plans to celebrate?” He asked.
“You mean other than Astoria’s surprise non-party party for me tomorrow?” She laughed. “Yeah she’s bloody awful at keeping secrets.” She shrugged. “Nope, this is it.” She said waving her chopsticks in the air.
“Yes well best act surprised for everyone else’s sake.” He said as he picked up another spring roll.
“I’ll do my best, but I am not a great actress. you know it’s more of an excuse for Astoria to show off her cooking skills.”
After a few rounds of drinks and way too much food. They decided to call it a night.
“Thanks for dinner.” She said as they walked towards an apparition point. She didn’t remember the road being so difficult to walk down on her way to the restaurant.
“No problem. Steady there Granger” he said taking her arm. “Sure you can apparate alright.”
“Probably” she burst out with a giggle.
“Alright, well how about I apparate with you?”
She gave him her address and with a crack he apparated them to a nearby alley. He walked her towards her brownstone.
“Thanks Mal—Draco.” She said with a hiccup.
“Anytime. Goodnight, Hermione.” He said his eyes staring at her face as he leaned against her doorframe. She momentarily got lost looking at his effortless grace and was happy he wasn’t pressuring her to let him inside. She gave him a small smile and closed the door as he made his way to the apparition point by lightly jogging across the street.
Once inside she leaned against her door realizing that that was the first time he called her by name. Her head was spinning. Clearly, there was attraction between them. A grown up Malfoy was smart, witty, and a gentleman. Not to mention he was incredibly good looking. His pick-up quidditch games were doing him a lot of favors in the muscle department. The perfectly polished exterior of his youth had waned and he sported a chic but rugged look. He frequently sported fitted long sleeve shirts and dark pants with boots.
She took in a deep smell of his cologne from the scarf around her neck…the one he insisted on her keeping. True, she still didn’t know him that well, but she wanted to.
…On the other hand they were about to work together and she did not want her personal life to impede her professional. She really was excited about the opportunity and didn’t want to ruin everything before it truly began. She groaned and ran her hands down her face.
Resolved that she wasn’t going to solve anything in her state she decided to take a shower and spend the rest of the night in bed watching old sitcoms.