Second Time Around

Hermione glanced at the clock. Again. It was 7:52, two minutes later than the last time she’d checked. She scowled and went back to her work, scolding herself for the nervous flutter in her stomach. There was no reason to be nervous. He wasn’t even going to be staying with her in the house! Plus, she needn’t leave for another half hour. She could get plenty of work done by then. Heaving herself to her feet, she grabbed the finished folder in front of her, starting for the file cabinets which took up an entire wall in her cramped office. She let out a small squeal and dropped the whole packet when a shadow loomed at her doorway. Clutching at her chest, she closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath.

“Don’t do that!”

“Sorry.” She could almost hear that damnable smirk in his voice. She bet when she opened her eyes it would be there. Yep. If she made bets for a living she’d been the richest broker the Wizarding World had to offer. She could rival Bagman.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, grabbing her wand from her desktop and, with a flick, had the folder back in her hands. She brushed past him to the cabinets and filed the folder, slamming the metal drawer shut with a snap.

“I thought we could go get your things early, maybe grab a bite to eat before we get down to work?”

“What is with your obsession of feeding me? I’m perfectly capable of have a meal on my own, thank you. Besides, I have far too much work, I couldn’t possibly leave now.”

“I can’t imagine you have that much,” he started but she stopped him.

“Do not start with me. I am very busy, I can’t just be leaving work an hour early to go gallivanting around for dinner.”

“Who said anything about ‘gallivanting’?”

“Malfoy, please-,”

“Draco.”

She glared at him. “Draco. I’m sorry but I will have to decline your invitation. I will meet you at Weston in an hour.”

“My office is the only entrance, remember? And it is currently locked.”

Gods, how she wanted to wring his pretty little neck. “Fine. I’ll meet you in your office in an hour.”

He smiled, the prick. He actually smiled. The next thing she did made her gawk stupidly.

“What are you doing?” she asked, almost in a screech.

“Sitting.”

And indeed he was. The insufferable man had taken a seat in one of the two chairs facing her desk.

“Why?” she snapped.

“You said you needed to finish up your work. I’m a patient man, I am willing to wait. Carry on, don’t mind me.”

Ohhhhh…..he was such a…..Slytherin! That conniving, evil, infuriating, incredibly sexy man. Damn it. That wasn’t quite the insult she had been looking for. Why did he have to be so good looking? It made yelling at him incredibly difficult. Alright, maybe not that difficult.

“Don’t you have, you know…things to be doing?”

A corner of his mouth rose. “Actually, Hermione, I do not have any things scheduled for this evening other than our little date.”

“It is not a date! It is a meeting!”

She couldn’t believe the way she was losing her cool. How could he do this to her so easily? Hermione Granger-Weasley NEVER lost her cool. Except, it seemed, when she was around Draco-sodding-Malfoy. And he was just sitting there, with his too-pretty face and his expensive clothes and his fantastic body just as calm as can be, quirking that stupid eyebrow at her.

“Alright. Meeting. Either way I will sit here and wait until you are finished.”

“Is there a reason you have to sit here? Go have a drink or something!”

He chuckled. “That sounds great, but then I wouldn’t know when you left.”

“Left? Left where?”

“To the ‘hotel’”

“Why do you care when I go? I said I’d meet you-,”

“I would like to escort you.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Malfoy-,”

“Draco.”

“Draco, I do not need an escort to get my things! Do you forget who I am?”

“I know perfectly well who you are and that is why I would like to escort you, not because I am not confident in your abilities since I know perfectly well what they are, but because you are wanted and it will ease my state of mind to see you safely to my home.”

“Wanted? Why would I be wanted? I’m going through a divorce, not a murder trial!”

“A divorce with an internationally famous Keeper. You are one of the so called ‘Trio’, he is a second. You are best friends to the most famous person our world has to offer, not to mention the fame you have accrued for yourself over the years not only from the war but from your work after. You catch the public eye; it will not be easy to get through this quietly.”

“Good thing for me that I picked a Muggle hotel then?” she snorted, sorting through her papers for something she wasn’t sure she was looking for.

Malfoy slapped the Evening Prophet down on her desk and she gasped. There was a large picture of her in all her bruised glory trying to push through the restaurant, Malfoy behind her, and a small picture below it showed the outside of the dingy motel she was currently residing it.

“H-how would they know? How could they know?” She grabbed the Prophet with shaky hands and read the shallow, melodramatic article about her scandalous affair with Malfoy and a raging fight between Ron and Malfoy which she’d received the brunt of.

“Wow…” she sighed.

“Yeah.”

She sank onto her chair and buried her head in her hands. What a mess.

“Are you alright?”

She sat back and smiled at him weakly. “I’m fine. Just have a little bug problem to deal with.”

He smiled back at her. “As much as I’d love to see Rita Skeeter in a glass jar her disappearance might be linked back to this article and the volatile witch she was writing about.”

Hermione grinned. “What, you don’t think you could get your client through the Wizengamot with that?”

“Oh I could get you through,” he said confidently. “I’d just rather not.”

She was about to answer back when a banshee burst into her office.

“What is all this? Hermione, how did that bint dub in that bruise? You-,” Ginny stopped ranting only to drop the paper she’d been waving about and run to Hermione’s side.

“OH MY GODS! What is that?” she screeched, grabbing Hermione by the face and turning the bruise to her.

“Ouch! Ginny-,”

“What is this? What happened? Where did you get it? Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“Ginny, calm down! I’m fine! That article is a crock-,”

“Well of course it is! What happened? Did you fall?”

“Not exactly…”

“Then what?”

Hermione shifted uncomfortably and pulled her face from Ginny’s grasp. She looked over at where Draco was sitting, watching the scene avidly.

“Ginny…maybe you should sit down.”

Ginny looked at her, confused. “Hermione, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just, don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say…”

Hermione conjured a chair next to her and motioned for Ginny to sit. She wasn’t sure why people always had to sit when they received bad news, but she knew she did not want Ginny up and moving around, breaking things.

“Gin, well, see…last night, when Ron and I went back to the house, we had a little fight.”

Malfoy snorted and she shot him a withering look before turning back to her friend. “I said some things that I shouldn’t have and…well…

“Your bastard of a brother hit her.”

“What?” Ginny screamed, rising to her feet while Hermione turned to Malfoy, killing him silently with her eyes. So much for breaking it to her gently.

“Do not look at me like that, Hermione. You can’t sugar coat something like this! You were trying to make it sound like it was your fault!” Draco said angrily.

“It was, a little bit!”

“No, Hermione, this is ridiculous!” Ginny screamed, pacing her office. “I will kill him! Is this for real? He really hit you?”

Hermione nodded, ashamed. How had it gotten this bad?

“Stop it,” Ginny snapped. Hermione looked up at her incredulously.

“What?”

“I know that look. Stop it. This isn’t your fault, you’re not to blame here! Your only fault was marrying that arsehole I regret to say I’m related to! I can’t believe this! I’m telling mum, maybe she can knock some sense into -his good-for-nothing-,”

“Ginny, no! No, please, I don’t want anyone else to know! I just want to get this over with. It was a mistake, I know and he shouldn’t have done it but it’s over. Please, I don’t want to drag this out any longer.”

Hearing the plea in her voice, Ginny sat on the arm of Hermione’s chair and hugged her. Hermione settled her pounding head on her friend’s stomach and closed her eyes.

“Alright. I won’t tell her. I am informing Harry, however. He has the right to know.”

Hermione nodded. As long as she didn’t have to be there when it happened.

“We’ll get through this. Okay?” Ginny said softly. She nodded again, reveling in the comfort of her friend.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

They sat like that for a few minutes until Ginny said rudely, “What are you, doing here?”

Hermione opened her eyes and grinned at the astonished look on Malfoy’s face. “I’m her lawyer.”

“Wait, what? You were serious?” Ginny pulled away to look at Hermione.

“Of course I was. Why would I say differently?”

“Well, I just figured you were saying that to cool Harry down. I didn’t think…well, you know…”

“No, I don’t Mrs. Potter. Care to explain?” Malfoy drawled. Good Merlin, he still drawled.

“Well, I know you two were never really that close, I just thought-,”

“You thought incorrectly.”

“Draco!” Hermione snapped, glad that she remembered to call him thus instead of Malfoy because it certainly got his attention.

“Draco? Isn’t that a little…intimate?” Ginny questioned wearily.

“He has this infuriating habit of forcing me to call him that. I would prefer it if you two would not bicker in my presence. Now, I really do have to get some work done so if you guys could excuse me-,”

“Hermione, where did you stay last night? Don’t tell me you actually slept in the same bed as that prick!” Ginny said, referring to Ron.

“No, of course not! I’m not spineless! I stayed at a very nice hotel-,”

“What, you mean this place?” she shouted throwing the Prophet at her. Damn. She had forgotten that was in there.

“Well…”

“Hermione Jean Granger! Are you kidding me? Do you know how insulted I am right now? Why didn’t you come to us? You know me and Harry would be happy to-,”

“I know! I know you would and I thank you but I can’t drag you guys into this anymore than you already are. It’s not fair.”

“Fair my big fat arse! You get your things this instant and-,”

“Calm down, Weaslette,” Malfoy said. “She’s staying with me.”

The room was filled with silence and Hermione closed her eyes, wondering vaguely if it would be rude to plug her ears.

“EXCUSE ME?”

“Here we go,” Hermione sighed under her breath.

“Hermione, what is this all about? This is INSANE! You’ll stay with him but you won’t even go to your best friend? What parts of this article are true?”

“That’s enough!” Malfoy roared, rising to his feet as Hermione went red. “Listen to yourself, Mrs. Potter! Look at your friend! You are embarrassing the both of you with your half-arsed accusations! Now, curb your tongue and take a minute to realize that she is doing this for you!”

“Thank you, Malfoy, but I can speak for myself,” Hermione scolded.

“Draco.”

She ignored him. “Ginny, really. I can’t make you choose between your brother and your best friend, it’s not fair. And if you won’t think about yourself, think about your husband. How do you think he’s feeling, going between his two friends? Don’t make me put him in that situation.”

Slowly, she watched as Ginny simmered down, her bright pink cheeks returning to normal. Finally, she nodded. “Alright, I can see I’m not needed here.”

“Ginny, wait!” Hermione said, following her as she marched out the door but Malfoy grabbed her hand as she passed.

“Let her go, she just needs to cool down,” he said. He was right, but she didn’t have to like it. Hermione yanked her hand from his grasp and turned to plop onto her chair. She shuffled through her papers before leaning back with a defeated sigh.

“I give up. Let’s go.”

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A/N: Hey guys. I'm trying to fix the scrolling problem. Let me know if this chapter is still doing it because if so, I'm not sure what to do :P

Hope it's better!
Thanks for reading and thank you for catching that. My laptop is widescreen so I can't tell.

XOXO

RynStar15