Out of the Blue

Hermione spent the remainder of Sunday making notes and figuring out her somewhat surprising feelings for Lucius Malfoy.

To begin with, she was shocked that he’d shown himself to her so openly. Her heart truly ached for his plight. Hermione had always been someone who believed in redemption and second chances. As she’d believed in his change of heart ever since his trial, she didn’t find that part too difficult to accept. His willingness to show her who he was though, that was unexpected. She wondered if it didn’t have something to do with his being so isolated; being given the opportunity to talk to someone must have been cathartic, even though Lucius didn’t seem the type to harbour a burning need to discuss his feelings.

As she thought on it, she realised that he’d not been surprised by her initial questions, as if he’d predicted the path their conversation would take, yet he’d still shown up willingly.

Bringing a cup of rooibos tea to the sofa with her, Hermione curled up watching the darkening sky. She’d finished all her notes, had a bath and was planning to read for a while before bed. She had yet to pick up her book though. As fascinating as “Charmwork Through the Ages” was, she found it wasn’t quite as captivating as her thoughts of Lucius. Throughout the day she’d begun to realise that she felt something more for him than she’d originally anticipated.

She’d been well aware from the off that she was intrigued by him, that was of course her nature, and didn’t surprise her at all given the circumstances. She’d also known he was a ridiculously attractive man, no witch with a pulse and eyes in her head could deny that. Possibly the eyes aren’t even essential, that voice alone may be enough.

Throughout the time they’d spent together she began to discover who he really was. Only the tip of the iceberg, she was sure, but still more than she’d expected to be allowed to see. The more she saw, the more she liked it. His clear reverence for libraries and the written word had, of course, only furthered this. Suddenly before her was a man that she liked multiple aspects of, combined in just the right way, and she suspected her feelings surpassed the platonic, or even the purely physical.

Well fuck, didn’t see that one coming.

The next morning Hermione dressed for the meeting, settling on a black pencil skirt, a red silk blouse and black Louboutin stilettos – which she always wore with that blouse as the soles matched it perfectly. She left her hair loose and falling down her back.

She wasn’t sure how long the meeting would take and had sent an owl to Kingsley over the weekend to let him know that she wouldn’t be in her office until later today. She’d decided that she’d wait until after the meeting to discuss it with him properly.

As she apparated into the arrival chamber just off the main lobby at Malfoy Enterprises, she couldn’t help but wonder if Lucius would come. Hermione was a little early, but she preferred it that way. She made her way up to the meeting room on the top floor. When she arrived, she saw Draco already seated at the head of the table with Padma to his left. She took the seat to his right as greetings were exchanged.

Hermione had just been about to ask who else was on the committee so far when someone else walked into the room. They all turned to stare at Lucius, no one looking as surprised as Draco.

“Father! You came?” What Hermione was sure Draco had meant as a statement actually came out as a question, no doubt due to his shock.

“Evidently so.” Lucius replied with a small smirk at his son’s amazement. “Good morning, Miss Patil,” Lucius inclined his head politely at her.

“Hello, Mr Malfoy.” Padma smiled up at him, looking a little surprised but not too perturbed.

“Miss Granger. Good to see you again.” Lucius turned the corner of his mouth up as he looked at Hermione, before walking over and taking the seat next to hers.

Shit. Fuck. Shit. Hermione panicked as she realised what she’d forgotten to ask him yesterday. She’d meant to check if he’d mentioned anything about seeing her to Draco. As she turned to glance at Draco’s reaction, however, it quickly became clear that he had not. Draco was looking between the pair of them as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Lucius was sitting straight backed and staring at the wall in front of him and so it was Hermione who was on the receiving end of his silently mouthed, “What the fuck?!”

Thankfully someone else chose this moment to arrive. Not so thankfully, that someone was Blaise. “Well fuck me, didn’t think in a million years he’d talk you out of hiding for this, Lucius.”

“Yes, and how good of you to so eloquently point that out.” Lucius drawled as he glowered at Blaise.

“You know you can always rely on me.” Blaise was, as always, unruffled, which was no mean feat in the face of a glare from Lucius Malfoy, but Hermione supposed he knew him rather well, having grown up so close to Draco. “Granger, Patil, I see I’m blessed with the two of you beauties this morning. Lucky me, indeed.”

Before anyone could answer, a woman, whom Hermione hadn’t seen before, walked in. She looked to be in her late thirties and wore the kind of office wear that would have impressed even Pansy with its level of style. “Good morning, Thea, thanks for coming. I’ll do introductions when everyone’s arrived.”

“No problem, Draco. Glad to be here.” She smiled round at everyone, though her smile faltered briefly when it reached Lucius. Hermione couldn’t blame her for surprise and, to her credit, she recovered quickly.

Over the next five minutes two more people arrived, neither of whom Hermione had met before. Draco made the introductions. Thea, short for Alathea, worked as head of Human Resources. It made sense to Hermione as she quickly got the impression that she was kind, fun and personable, but also wouldn’t hesitate to strike when crossed. Hermione took an instant liking to her and had a feeling Ginny would, too.

David, a tall man who had apparently graduated from Hogwarts a few years ahead of them and reminded Hermione a little of Percy, worked in accounting and finances. Lastly there was Charlotte, who had also been a few years ahead of them at Hogwarts. She was a beautiful bubbly woman whom Hermione was unsurprised to find worked in Marketing.

After the introductions had been made Draco went on to explain a little about his aims and intentions for the gala, and expressed his hope that beyond the Gala, Malfoy Enterprises would continue to work with those most affected by the war.

“I don’t want this to end with the gala, nor with orphans. My hope is that we can regularly be more involved with all kinds of victims of the war. In time I’d like to set up a department of the company purely dedicated to charity work. It exists now, as this committee, but I’d like it to exist officially.” He looked to Thea as he spoke. “I think it will take a little while of carrying on as we are though, before we can see how that would best work.”

Everyone nodded approvingly, some, Hermione among them, looked particularly excited by the prospect. She was the first to speak.

“Draco, you mentioned working with people besides orphans. One thing the wizarding world has always greatly lacked, is psychologists.”

“English please, Granger.” Blaise piped up.

“A healer of the mind, I suppose would be the best way to put it. In the Muggle world people visit psychologists or therapists for a vast array of reasons. Anything from dealing with trauma, to the intricacies of day-to-day life. There’s a lot of focus on mental health in the Muggle world and I think the lack of such in the wizarding world is one of our biggest shortcomings.”

Blaise again chipped in, uncharacteristically serious. “I think you might be right there, Granger. I mean, the fact that I, and I doubt I’m the only one, didn’t even know what it was, says a lot.”

“I believe I have only once or twice ever heard of any kind of therapist in the magical world, and even then, I have never known first-hand of anyone to visit one.” As Lucius spoke every eye in the room turned to him. Hermione’s eye knew well enough by this point to know that he was very uncomfortable speaking to them all, unsure of the reception his words would receive. He made eye contact only with Blaise, Draco, and Hermione as he spoke.

“It’s one of the ways in which the Muggle world is far ahead of the wizarding world. Many years ago in the Muggle world mental health was seen as a taboo subject. To need help and guidance to work through things, hell, to show any kind of vulnerability at all, was seen as weakness and avoided at all costs. Particularly for men, emotions being seen as a female fragility. Gradually though it was accepted as it is, that every human has and feels emotions and anxieties, some suffering worse than others.” Hermione spoke passionately, as it had long been a source of frustration for her.

“I agree.” Charlotte spoke up. “I’m a Muggle born and I know first-hand how much more help Muggles have when it comes to mental health.” She looked around the people in the room, as if deciding whether to say something. She seemed to steel herself before continuing, speaking to the room at large. “I would love to have seen a therapist after the war, I’d been forced to go into hiding from the world that had become home, but there was no way I could. I’d never heard of a therapist in the wizarding world, and what the hell could I say to a Muggle therapist? The truth certainly wasn’t an option, and it would have been pointless if I’d lied.” She shrugged.

“You know what,” Draco spoke up. “I think we’re going to change the purpose of this gala. We’ll still raise money for orphans; as you all know, that’s something we’ve donated a lot to over the years already. Perhaps we can donate half for orphans, and half for beginning to bring mental health help to the wizarding world. What does everyone think?”

Everyone enthusiastically agreed with his idea. Well, Lucius gave his stoic nod of approval, everyone else was a little more boisterous with their agreement. Draco smiled at the room before speaking again. “Now, I am obviously very busy, so although I want to be involved with this as much as I can, unfortunately I can’t take the lead. Luckily for us, the Auror Department is currently rather quiet and so Hermione has agreed that she will be in charge of this.”

Hermione looked round to gauge the group’s reactions and was pleased to see everyone smiling at her. She looked back to Draco, who continued. “Now, what I’m currently thinking is that Hermione should choose one of you to work with her directly on the organising of this. Not only does she already have a job, but we’ve just doubled our aims. Yes, it will only be the one gala still, but we now have to create two plans of action for what we do with the money raised. Hermione, what do you think? It’s your call who you want to have working with you, although obviously anyone who isn’t able to undertake the commitment must, of course, feel free to say so.”

“I agree, and as much as I would love the time to do everything, as it stands, I can only devote part of my time to this, so someone to share the load would be ideal. I think…” she trailed off, gathering her courage as she turned to look at Lucius, her brow slightly raised in question. His eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise before he gave a brief nod of acceptance. She was about to smile when she heard Draco splutter and, turning back to him, realised that he’d choked on his water at seeing not only Hermione’s choice, but his fathers’ acceptance. Bad time to be thirsty, Draco.

She watched with barely concealed amusement as Draco composed himself, while sharing a look of disbelief with Blaise. Hermione found she was quite relieved to find that Blaise had the decorum to keep his mouth shut when in the company of others outside of those he knew well.

The meeting finished soon after this, with Hermione agreeing that she’d make some plans and arrange another meeting soon. It was also agreed that she would consider bringing in a few more people to be directly involved, as she pointed out that it could be useful to have some prominent faces on board the committee.

Everyone but Draco rose to leave after the meeting was wrapped up. Hermione felt a hand grab her wrist as she stood. She looked down at Draco who had an incredulous look on his face. “Don’t even think about it, Granger. I am so not done with you yet!” They both glanced up as they heard a scoff of laughter, realising that Lucius was the last to leave the room. He made brief eye contact with Hermione from his place by the door and she saw an unmistakable smirk of smug delight on his face before he left. She was unable to restrain the smile that rose to her lips. Yeah, thanks for that, I’ll just tell Draco, shall I? Git.

Draco pointed his wand at the door, shutting, locking and silencing it. “I’m sorry, did my father just fucking scoff? Like, you know, that thing people do when they’re trying not to laugh. What in the name of every loving fuck have I witnessed here today, Granger? I feel like I’ve walked into some parallel universe.”

Hermione sat back down, trying to control the smile that seemed determined to stay fixed in place. Draco’s reaction wasn’t helping her in the slightest. A bubble of laughter escaped her lips and she covered her mouth with her hand at Draco’s look.

“I’m sorry. You just reminded me a little of Theo then.” Hermione apologised, though looked no less amused.

“Well surely the fact alone that I am in anyway reminiscent of Theo’s dramatics should be a mark of exactly how insane the situation is. Now, for the love of the Gods, put me out of my misery and explain. Before I think I’m hallucinating and go and check myself into St Mungo’s.”

“Wow, I really never realised just how much of an inner Theo you possessed. Don’t start pouting or we’ll be in real trouble.”

Finally, Draco let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, I don’t think we’re in danger of me ever pouting. Though should it ever happen, please just Avada me on the spot.”

“That I can promise you.” Hermione replied before turning serious. Over the next ten minutes Hermione explained the previous weeks’ events to Draco while he sat and listened in astonishment. She glossed over certain parts of the conversation, trying not to betray any confidences, while giving him a true picture of what had transpired. When she finished speaking, for a while Draco just sat frozen in place, leaning on his arms which were resting on the table, staring at her. She waited while he processed what she had told him.

“I…I honestly can’t believe it. I mean, I knew he spent time in the Muggle world and all that, but I can’t believe that somehow, he’s seemed to let you in.” Draco tilted his head while he spoke. As Hermione’s questioning look, he explained. “He doesn’t let anyone in, Granger. No one. He’s barely spoken to a soul since his release. Hell, he never really let anyone in before that, except my mother.”

He paused, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect my father to, well fuck, you know, I didn’t think I’d even manage to get him into a professional setting, but to see him strike up some kind of friendship, with you of all people…I just…” He trailed of, shaking his head. “I did not see that coming.

“Ha! Neither did I, that’s for sure. And luckily I know you well enough not to take offense to ‘you of all people’.”

“Oh Merlin! No, Hermione please don’t think…”

Hermione cut him off, smiling and reaching out to grasp his arm. “Honestly, I know exactly what you mean. It’s ok.” Draco looked immensely relieved.

A short time later Hermione left to head back to The Ministry. She’d left Draco in the meeting room, still looking a little shellshocked. She understood completely. She’d had time to process what was happening and it still surprised her, Draco had had it all landed on him completely out of the blue.

She decided to walk to The Ministry to enjoy the late morning sun. She knew there wasn’t anything urgent awaiting her. There hadn’t been for some time, and it was one of the reasons she was so excited to be undertaking the charity work with Malfoy Enterprises.

The problem with her job was that at times it was vital. Her and Theo had proved indispensable during certain cases in the past, their intellectual approach to research proving intrinsic to the solving of cases and, in turn, the capture of the perpetrators, but of late there were very few cases that really required their expertise. Obviously, that was a good thing, but it did mean that Hermione found herself often very unfulfilled professionally. She knew Theo felt the same; like her, he needed to be constantly mentally stimulated.

She knew Theo would be losing his mind to the boredom this morning, especially without her there, and this was when an idea struck her. She wasn’t sure whether to speak to Kingsley or Theo first but settled on Kingsley. She didn’t want Theo to get excited by the idea, only to dash his hopes if Kingsley told her it was a no go.

She had a good relationship with Kingsley, they respected each other greatly, as both friends and colleagues. She made her way up to his office, hoping he was free. She never needed an appointment, but obviously if he were busy she would have to wait.

Thankfully, he wasn’t. His secretary ushered Hermione past and she knocked on his door, awaiting his cue before entering.

“Hermione!” Kingsley rose to his feet and moved round his desk to bestow a quick hug on her in greeting. “Come, sit down,” he gestured to a chair before moving back to his desk and resuming his seat. “How are you?”

Hermione smiled. Kingsley’s presence was one she always found soothing and reassuring. “I’m good, thanks. How about you?”

“Ah, I’m ok. Forever tied up in bureaucracy but of course that’s all part and parcel.” He shot her a long-suffering look.

“Yes, I don’t imagine that ever gets any more enjoyable.” Hermione’s expression made no attempt to hide her distaste.

“No, and it most certainly never will. However, I knew what I was getting into. So, what brings you here today?”

“Well,” Hermione began tentatively, “as you know, the Auror office isn’t particularly busy at the moment, and the research department even less so.”

“I had a feeling that’s why you were here. To be honest, Hermione, I’m surprised it’s taken you this long. I know idleness isn’t something you can tolerate. So, what were you thinking?”

Hermione went on to explain the charity plans from Malfoy Enterprises, followed by her ideas for herself and possibly Theo too. Much to her delight, Kingsley gave his full support. She rushed to the office she shared with Theo, looking forward to sharing her plan.

“Oh, thank Merlin you’re here! How could you have left me for so long? Where were you?” Theo threw up his arms in dismay as she entered.

“You know where I was,” she told him, “and then I had to go and see Kingsley, as you also knew.” Hermione reminded him, pointedly raising her eyebrows as she sat down.

“Oh god, it’s going to be like this all the time now, isn’t it?” Theo looked at her, horror-struck at the idea of having to cope with the mundanity on his own more often.

“Well, that depends. I kind of had an idea, which I shared with Kingsley and he signed off on it. Now it’s up to you if you want in.” Hermione leaned forward as she spoke and Theo quickly mirrored her.

“Well go on, don’t keep me in suspense.” Hermione proceeded to explain to him what had transpired in the meeting at Malfoy Enterprises, and her chat with Draco. Theo had tears rolling down his face as he clutched his sides, unable to breathe through his laughter as she painted a picture of Draco’s shock.

Once he recovered, Hermione moved on to her conversation with Kingsley. She explained her realisation that quite frankly, her and Theo didn’t need to be employed full time by The Ministry. Even the work they were doing to keep them busy through the quiet times was work that could have been done by any of the Aurors, and, if spread among them all, would be a barely noticeable increase in workload.

Hermione suggested that she and Theo could become independent consultants for The Ministry, called in only when needed, thus enabling them to devote time that was currently wasted, to other things. She had though, as she assured Theo, made certain that if he wasn’t happy with this idea, he could continue as he was. However, she hoped desperately that he’d be as excited as she was.

She knew that while Draco had made the point that it wasn’t Theo’s kind of thing as much as hers, that it was actually something Theo would greatly enjoy. It was just Theo and Draco’s way of ribbing at one another, as usual. Hermione also knew that Draco had made it very clear that Theo had a job at Malfoy Enterprises whenever he wanted one, however his love of research and his desire not make the company look nepotistic in the aftermath of the war took him to the Ministry instead. She hoped that enough time had now passed that it wouldn’t still be of concern, not to mention that Malfoy Enterprises was now made up of such a diverse group, it wouldn’t be an issue.

“So, what do you think?” Hermione asked when she’d finished. Though from the look in Theo’s eyes she had little doubt as to his answer.

“I’m in, when do we start?”

“Yes!!” Hermione jumped up from her seat, throwing her arms around Theo, she pulled her to his lap as they sat embraced for a short time before Theo spoke.

“There is one thing, though. For you, not me. We know I’m stinking rich, not that Neville lets me enjoy spending it very often.”

“Just because you’re not allowed your own spa, doesn’t mean he doesn’t let you spend your money.” Hermione rolled her eyes. Theo was, indeed, insanely rich having inherited the Nott fortune. Neville was also substantially well-off having come from a long line of wealthy purebloods. However, he didn’t often believe in spending excessively for the sake of it.

“Anyway,” Hermione continued, “I know what you’re getting at, you are stinking rich, so you can afford not to be employed full-time, but I however am not.” As Theo knew, she had her not inconsequential nest egg tucked away, but it wasn’t so large that it would afford her to work indefinitely without regular pay; although she didn’t live a lavish lifestyle, she didn’t want to squander it on day to day living.

“Exactly, and while you know I’d happily give you full access to all my vaults, I know you’ll refuse that. So, before we can run with this, you have to talk to Draco about creating an actual position for you. I don’t doubt for a second that he’ll do it. In fact, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t already have one mapped out for you, with plans to poach you from The Ministry, but you do need to check.”

“I love you immensely for that, Theo, but yes, you’re right. It would be different if it was in any way essential, but I won’t just live off of you for absolutely no reason.” Hermione told him firmly. “I’ll go and talk to Draco, though I’m pretty sure you’re right. It was his talking about creating an official charity department that sparked the idea, and I’ve no doubt he was already thinking a few steps ahead.”

With that, Hermione jumped off Theo’s lap and penned a note to Draco, asking if he was free for her to pop back over. She was pretty sure the logistics and such were just formalities and so smiled to herself, feeling more exhilaration than she had in a long time. She was filled with excitement for the possibilities ahead.