Day 1

Hermione stared at herself in the mirror. She'd accepted the position at Malfoy Enterprises, although she was rethinking it. Working for Malfoy? For nine hours a day?

Checking her watch, she realized it was nearly time to Floo. She'd spent a while rethinking her decision.

Dressed in black slacks and a white, off-the-shoulder top with some navy embroidery, she slipped into a pair of matching heels and pulled her arms through her raincoat. Checking her appearance once more in the full- length mirror, she stepped into the fireplace.

"Malfoy Enterprises."

***

Draco sat back in his office chair, a shot glass of whiskey on the table in front of him. He was trying to calm his nerves before Hermione arrived.

And he was failing miserably.

To know that his crush of was going to be working for him nine hours a day- it was quite daunting and yet a relief at the same time. It was a strange mix of emotions he had tried to quell for the past twenty minutes. He'd succeeded in slowing his breath for a few minutes, but once he heard the familiar of the elevator he began hyperventilating.

Again.

After a last-ditch attempt that involved downing the glass of liqueur, he went out to meet her. Her hair was nicely curled- not the frizz she'd had at Hogwarts- and she was dressed very professionally. His throat went dry as he made eye contact with her familiar and yet still very mysterious caramel orbs flecked with specks of gold and deeper shades of brown.

After realizing she was blushing, probably from his lack of movement, he extended his hand.

"Welcome to the office, Miss Granger."

***

As she rode up in the soon-to-be familiar elevator, Hermione's breath accelerated. Walking out after the quiet , she came face-to-face with her employer. Malfoy didn't help by staring at her for about thirty seconds, a faint flush appearing on her cheeks. Eventually - - he extended his hand, and said, "Welcome to the office, Miss Granger."

***

After a short round of introductions to all the people she'd be meeting on a regular basis, she sat down at the desk that sat right outside Malfoy's office in a separate room. It also happened to be hers. Scanning the first list of potential business contracts that Malfoy approve of, she groaned. The list went on for miles and miles of parchment. Disapparating with a quiet back to her house, she grabbed her computer. She returned barely half a minute later, the computer in hand. Grabbing the files and the computer, she walked up to the door that seperated their offices and knocked. With bated breath, she waited.

***

Hearing the on his office door, he knew it could only be Hermione. Looking up from his paperwork, he announced,

"Come in!"

The handle turned and in walked his assistant. She set down a strange, flat, silvery, metal rectangle in front of him.

"Malfoy, I'm going to change your life."

He raised his eyebrows.

"I'm going to introduce your company to the magical technological device called the

His interest was piqued when she opened the object, and tapped some buttons with letters on them. He was intrigued by the small arrow moving around on the flat white surface. When he placed his finger on the arrow, however, Hermione still moved it out from under his finger.

"What? How is this possible? What kind of magic is this?"

Hermione laughed at the childish outburst.

"Here. I'll teach you all about it."

Her demeanour changed as she remembered something.

"But what about my work?"

"Granger, I'm your boss. I demand you teach me about this- this thing, right now. Your work can wait."

Hermione grinned.

***

I stare out the window of my dismal office, brooding over anything and everything. Surprisingly, I hadn't gotten backlash from Hermione about the article I'd printed in the paper.

I hadn't gotten anything at all.

My train of thought takes me back to the day when she had left. I had arrived home, a day after having left, only to find all her belongings gone and no note. The computer was just where I had left it, so she hadn't touched it. I remember seeing rage when I realized she was gone for good, without even telling me why.

I decided to spin the story because it was believable, she had up and left so abruptly. It was my way of making the world turn against her as she had left me for no good reason. It was quick and easy revenge.

The creak of the door opening snatches away my next thoughts- they really ought to replace them, you'd think a war hero would get more status and recognition within the Ministry, but oh you'd be surprised- as Ginny waltzes in with a deli sandwich and tea. Placing it on my desk, she turns back out.

That's unusual. Usually she rants about Hermione's bitchiness for leaving me. She believes me, but Harry and I still don't see eye to eye. He believes Hermione- the nerve of him, when clearly I'm right! - and has been rather stubborn about it lately, trying to persuade Ginny I've been lying. It's ridiculous, really.

As I pick up the sandwich, I can hear her voice in my head-

Frickity frack. It's like she in my bloody head.

***

"Whoa, hang on. You're telling me we can store all of our contracts up He pointed to the clouds that had begun to gather outside his floor-to-ceiling window. His confused face and the way he scrunched his nose was actually kind of adorable.

Hermione chuckled.

"No. 'The cloud' is not a literal term. It's not a physical place. You can't touch it, you can't see it, you can't hear it, you can't taste it, you can't smell it."

"Got the memo, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued.

" 'The cloud' refers to storing something on the Internet itself instead of hard drive."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Hermione waved him off. "I'll explain those another time."

"It's not there but you can still put things there and take them back. Edit them, put them away again. So on and so forth."

Draco's eyes widened with understanding.

"So you're telling me that it's basically something that isn't there but it can still store stuff."

"In theory."

"I actually quite like these... What are they called? Muggle thingamajigs?"

She laughed.

"No, they're called computers."

He waved his hand dismissively.

"Whatever. They seem very efficient- which is how I like my company to be run - and much more organized than the piles of papers I have in my desk." He gestured helplessly to the stacks of paper then obscured his desk.

"The only thing is, they're quite expensive. The top-of-the-line ones especially. Covering your entire staff is going to take quite a dent into your bank account."

He rolled his eyes.

"Granger, clearly you've never seen the Malfoy vaults."

***