Fête Galante

Chapter 5: Fête Galante

« Ne me pers plus en vue costumière

Car seulement pour t’adorer je vis. »

-- « Delie » by Maurice Scève

Draco Malfoy had seen her naked.

Hermione took in a few calming breaths as she wrapped her hands around her morning coffee, curling the tips of her fingers around the warm mug. She knew she should be focusing upon the day ahead and the various tasks involved yet she couldn’t pull herself away from her thoughts and the events of the weekend.

She had stripped naked and posed for Draco Malfoy.

The worst part of it all was that he didn’t run away screaming or laugh in her face as she had half feared. He had been nice.

Nice.

Draco Malfoy was many things but nice was not an adjective she would have previously used to describe him. Yet, he had made no snarky comments nor implied that he had wanted to kiss her and take advantage of her naked state. She had tried to engage him in small conversation, purely out of boredom. After all, lying on a chaise for several hours trying not to move did get quite tedious after the first hour or so. He had replied with short answers, seeming to be completely focused on painting her.

So, she remained quiet and as she had expected, fallen asleep. She woke up the next morning with the fur blanket covering her and Malfoy nowhere to be found.

After a weekend of locking herself in her flat, buried in a pile of books, Hermione had finally re-emerged to face the world, however unwillingly. It was the beginning of a new fiscal year and for her and the museum, a start of a new beginning.

Hermione was in the middle of drafting a proposal for the object loans needed for the Turner exhibition when her assistant, Griselda, a young aspiring artist who had been a few years behind her at Hogwarts, stumbled into her office, her eyes wide.

Hermione took in her flustered state and smiled, “Is everything alright?”

“No,” Griselda shook her head fervently, “Everything is not alright.”

“What’s the matter?”

She took a few hesitant steps into Hermione’s office before she let out a heavy sigh, “You’ve been demoted.”

“Excuse me?” Hermione asked calmly.

“The Board of Trustees has just made Draco Malfoy the new executive director. You are now the assistant director.”

She was at a loss for words for what seemed like ages. Hermione stood up shakily and nodded numbly, “I need a few moments to myself, Griselda.”

“Of course, Ms. Granger,” Griselda said softly.

He had done it. He had really done it. How in the name of Merlin did he ever manage to convince the board to agree to such a suicidal move? If there was anything Hermione was certain of, it was that the board was number one, a board of pretentious, wealthy, and self-serving pureblooded old men. They only wanted what was best for themselves and their family names and most of them only served on the board because of their supposed reformed ways and goodwill. Hermione knew better. She knew that they did it for the publicity and that they would never give up that sort of power so willingly. By giving Malfoy the position of executive director, her position, they were essentially giving him full control of the museum and the worst part was that he didn’t need the approval of the board nor did he care for it.

Why would they ever do this? What could’ve possibly compelled them to choose Draco Malfoy over Hermione Granger?

She had done an amazing job as director for the past few years. She had accessioned some of the most treasured pieces in their collection and expanded the museum’s gallery space itself. She had succeeded in reaching a wider range of audience and most proudly, she had started to display artwork not just by wizards but by all magical races.

All of her successes and accomplishments seemed to dissipate into thin air in one single moment.

She couldn’t fool herself into thinking that Malfoy would give her any influence as assistant director. She was being demoted into a secretary for him. He would make all the decisions and he would run the museum to the ground.

She knew the risks when she agreed to his proposal but she had never actually believed that the board would ever in a million years agree to such blasphemy. She thought she was being smart and that she could save the museum, keep her job, and get him out of her hair all in one fell swoop.

She was wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.

Hermione was still reeling from the shock when she heard the knock on her door. It was nearing lunch time and she supposed it was Griselda checking on her. Her head still buried in her hands, she mumbled, “I’m not really in the mood for food right now. I’ll take my lunch break in a bit.”

“We can’t have that now, can we, Ms. Granger?”

Hermione’s head shot up and immediately her eyes narrowed, “What do you want?”

“To celebrate my new promotion, of course.”

“Get out of my office, Malfoy.”

Draco took a few steps closer and sat down on the chair opposite hers and crossed his hands in his lap, “First, I believe it’s Mr. Malfoy or Executive Director Malfoy, whichever you prefer and second, you are now in my office. Yours is next door.”

Hermione put a hand to her head and bit her lower lip, “I quit, Executive Director Malfoy,” she spat out. “I quit all of it. I quit posing for you. I quit being your lackey. I quit this sick game of yours.”

She was half-way across the room when she felt his hand around her elbow, tightening ever so gently, stopping her from going further.

“You can’t quit. This is your home.”

The laugh that escaped her lips was almost hysterical as she stared at him in disbelief, “You took away my job and my dignity. I am leaving with whatever little pride I have left.”

“It’s always down to your Gryffindor pride, isn’t it?” He asked quietly.

“Why did you do this, Malfoy? Didn’t you already get what you wanted? You promised me that I would keep my job,” she whispered softly.

“I didn’t want your job,” he answered honestly, “But the board decided that since I was your superior, it would make sense for me to assume the executive position and for you to be assistant director. I still expect you to hold all the same responsibilities as you did in the past but you must simply get my approval before you make any big decisions regarding the museum.”

She eyed him warily and loosened her elbow from his grip, “How did you manage to get them to agree?”

“A gentleman never reveals his secrets,” he responded cryptically, a small smile on the edge of his lips.

Hermione let out a sigh and shook her head, “I am not your puppet. I am not a brainless and spineless sycophant. I may not be the executive director in name but I do not plan to change my ways and the way I run this museum. I am not your secretary. If you need an assistant, you can hire one.”

“Very well,” he smiled in acquiescence before he sat back down.

Reluctantly, Hermione followed suit and pouted, “Are you really going to make me move offices?”

“I was simply teasing,” he smiled before leaning forward, “I will take the office next door. Besides, I expect the bulk of my work will be done out-of-office.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Really?”

“Do you know the main reason why the museum went into debt and why visitors stopped coming?” Before she could answer, he continued, “You didn’t garner enough publicity. You are an amazing curator, Granger. I’ve seen all of your shows and they’re absolutely brilliant but part of being executive director is being a good businessman. It’s not all about the art anymore, as much as you might hate for me to say it but it is true. A museum is much like a company and you have been neglecting that aspect. The role that I plan to take on will complement yours. I want you to continue doing what you do best – curating. I will do the rest.”

“So, what exactly do you plan to do to garner publicity, as you say?”

“It’s really quite simple. I thought we’d start off easy.”

“Go on.”

“I want to throw a fête galante.”

Hermione crossed her arms and snorted, “You must be joking.” When she saw his serious expression she stared at him, her mouth gaping, “I am not letting you turn this respectable institution into a pleasure forum for your rich and morally loose friends.”

“Come now, Granger. You know as well as I do that a benefit party is one of the best ways to raise awareness as well as acquire donations. It can be a celebration of my new position as well as promote whatever new exhibition that you are planning. Despite the significant amount that I have donated, you know as well as I do that this museum will not run on my funds alone. A fête galante is perfect. It is light, romantic, fun, mysterious, and a bit naughty. We can use only one gallery space and have a small exhibition of Rococo paintings and decorative arts. With a few spells, we can create an indoor park and create the right mood. They’ll love it.”

“I am not here to appease the wealthy.”

“You’re not but nevertheless it is something that must be done. The museum needs money and this is the perfect way to get it. We will charge 100 galleons a ticket. Can you imagine how much money we will make from just one night? Wouldn’t one night of indulgence be worth the end result?”

Hermione was silent for a few moments before she finally let out a sigh of defeat, “I suppose.”

Draco’s face immediately lightened and he tried his best to hide a smile, “Do you agree then?”

“I suppose,” she repeated grudgingly.

“Very well. Now, do you fancy some lunch?”

-*-

“This is all wrong.”

Hermione stared pointedly at Draco as they sat at the round table in his office, object files scattered all across.

“What?”

“You’ve gone about this in the completely wrong way. I realize that we’re doing a highlight on a single artist but we’re comparing Turner as a muggle artist and Turner as a magical artist. In essence, it is a show on two different artists. What you have detailed here is a very basic show on the man’s life, exhibiting his works from earliest to latest,” Draco said matter-of-factly.

“It’s a time-old formula. I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”

“That’s exactly it, Granger. It’s boring. It’s overdone. It’s mundane.” Draco grabbed his wand and waved it in the air. “We should do an exhibition focusing on comparisons and investigate further into this tie that Turner had with both the muggle and magical world. Why didn’t he just choose one? Why was he compelled to work so prolifically in both? He was successful enough as a magical artist. What made him choose to start working in the muggle world?”

He had sketched a gallery space in the air and used his wand as a pen. “We can place some of his most well-known pieces from both the muggle and magical world side by side.” He grabbed an object file and threw it up into the air, the papers in the folder suspended in mid-air, the reproduction of the painting front and center. “Here, we have one of Turner’s most famous paintings, Rain, Steam, and Speed. We can juxtapose that with one of his greatest magical paintings of the Hogwarts Express.”

Hermione furrowed her brow, “Turner never painted the Hogwarts Express.”

Draco smirked, “Yes, he did. It hangs in my study.”

Her eyes widened despite her best efforts.

“I believe it’s due time that we made a visit to the Malfoy collection. You do know that we have one of the most, if not the most, extensive and finest private collections of wizarding art in the world.”

Hermione shook her head and laughed lightly, “Considering how you have a David hanging on your ceiling, I should hardly be surprised.”

“Tomorrow then?”

She nodded silently before looking back down at the file she had in her hands. For the first time in her life, she was silently grateful for his presence, influence, wealth, and background.

-*-

Author’s Note: The passage from the beginning is an excerpt from an absolutely beautiful poem by Scève. Unfortunately, I can’t find a version online but if you are interested in reading the dizain, send me an email at: ledesespoireternal@gmail.com and I’ll type it up for you with an English translation. As requested, a longer chapter – sorry about the shortness of the previous ones. I try my best to update my stories every few days but work and real life keep me busy which is depressing and unfortunate.

A bit of background on the fête galante: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fete_galante.