Unfortunate Events

Event Ten: The Slippery Slope

"Alright. Unless someone has anything else to say..." Hermione glanced around the table at her eclectic group of subordinates. When there was no response, she smiled and said, "Meeting dismissed. Sorry it went over. Have a good weekend."

Hermione waited until everyone had left before gathering her own effects. Getting into the elevator, she punched the button for the top floor, whistling along with the slow and sleepy music. A melodic ding informed her that she had reached the top floor. She was sure Draco had left for the day, but she peered down the hall, making sure it was empty. Once that was confirmed, she skipped down to her office.

Bursting into her room with a smile on her face, she almost screamed when she saw it wasn't empty. Hand at her chest, trying to keep her heart from bursting forth, she said, "You really need to stop doing that." But the rebuke was half-hearted. She was in too good a mood to pretend otherwise.

"Well, don't you look happy," Draco observed, casting his gaze over her. Trying to ignore his scrutiny, she bustled around her office, gathering the files she wanted to look over that weekend.

"And I have you to thank for it," she said, cheerfully.

"The work day ended thirty minutes ago. Why are you still here?"

"Just a few things I needed to finish up." She looked up from her papers a second later. "Why are you still here? It's long past three o'clock."

"Contrary to popular Hermione-belief, I can work hard too."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I know you can, but your hard work seems limited to a very strict ten to three schedule."

"What can I say? Your diligence and perseverance have rubbed off on me."

"Really?"

"No. I forgot something at the office and came to pick it up. Just stopped by to see if you were here." Draco sat on the edge of her desk, picking up her quill and twirling it around his fingers. "How come you never use the quill I got you?"

The Christmas gag gift with the insanely long white peacock feather that tickled her face every time she tried to write with it. "It's not practical."

"Did you throw it away?"

"Of course not. I would never throw away a gift."

"Then where is it?"

Hermione pointed to her chimney floo. "I thought it was pretty, so I put it over the mantle for decoration."

Draco had already moved on, picking up one of her paperweights, another Christmas gag gift from him. He said it represented her work with magical creatures, but she knew better. As he tossed the golden ball from hand to hand, he awoke the snidget statue from its sleep. It began flapping its wings and pecking at his fingers with its tiny beak.

"Feeling restless?" she asked.

He let the paperweight go, and it flew a few circles around the room before settling back on her desk, curling back into a nondescript shiny ball that looked an awful lot like a golden snitch. "No. Why would you think that?"

"Your inability to stay still for even a second." Hermione stacked her papers neatly in her briefcase. "Well, I'm finished. Did you want to do something?"

"I'm babysitting Teddy tonight."

"Oh, well maybe tomorrow then."

"No, tonight is fine."

"But Teddy..."

"As we've proven before, it is possible for him to have two sitters at once."

Hermione smiled, remembering that horrible day. "If I recall correctly, the only thing that night proved was that even if we are both there, I'm the one who does all the work."