Long lost twins.

Change Of Plans

Hermione only froze for a minute before she greeted him, "Good evening Mr. Malfoy."

Lucius nodded in response rather than speaking again.

"Father, I thought you were going to be in Germany tonight." Draco said as he lead Hermione to the couch near Lucius' desk.

"Change of plans I'm afraid, my business associate will be coming here to join us for supper instead." he looked up from his papers, "Are we interrupting anything?"

Draco scowled and opened his mouth to reply but Hermione cut him off, "Not at all, if anything I think we would be the ones intruding on you."

Lucius looked up and smiled slightly, "Not at all Miss Granger, he only speaks German and his translator is a complete of a bore. If anything, having you two there might lighten things up."

"You don't speak German?" Her question was innocent but the way Lucius' eye twitched told her he wasn't impressed by it.

"I don't. Malfoy Enterprises has never branched into Germany before now." He looked back down to the papers spread out across the desk he was sitting at.

To worried to say anything else and risk offending him again, Hermione simply nodded and turned back to Draco who was sitting beside her.

Draco smiled at her before turning back to his father, "So if the deal goes through when will we start house shopping?"

Lucius grunted, "I don't know if we will, I may just have to limit my visits and stay in hotels while there."

"Why?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "You hate hotels."

"Germans are very patriotic people; I can't seem to find a decent realtor who speaks anything but German, and I don't trust a translator with a transaction that large."

Draco smirked at Hermione before turning back to his father. "Hermione speaks German," Lucius looked up at his son's words, "She can travel with us and make sure your satisfied with everything."

No one said anything for a minute after Draco finished speaking. He stared down this father, looking rather smug, while Hermione stared at him with wide eyes and Lucius looked at her with a curious expression.

"Is that so?" Lucius asked as he relaxed into his chair.

Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat before facing the elder Malfoy, "Yes, I also speak French, Bulgarian and Italian."

Lucius' grey eyes flickered to his son quickly before returning to Hermione, "Well Miss Granger, in that case, I would like you to pay attention to the conversation tonight, and make sure the translator is doing his job correctly." when he was done speaking, a truly Slytherin smirk covered Lucius' face.

"Yes sir." was all Hermione could manage to say. Even with Draco right beside her, Lucius scared her more than she's like to admit.

Draco squeezed her hand, "When will our guest be here?"

Lucius checked his pocket watch, "He should be no more than thirty minutes."

"Perfect," he stood pulling Hermione with him, "I promised Hermione I would show her something before we ate."

As the two headed for the door, Lucius called after them, "Be at the main fluu in twenty to greet him. Don't be late Draco."

Draco didn't answer his father as they left and once they were in the hall he turned to his date, "I'm so sorry if that made you uncomfortable."

Hermione smiled, "It's alright, I kinda like that I know something you high and mighty purebloods don't." she teased.

Draco raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Is that right?"

Hermione stepped closer to him, so they were only a few inches from one another, "It is. Is that a problem Mr. Malfoy?" she smirked.

"Not when your this close to me Miss Granger." Draco looked from her eyes to her lips before making eye contact again.

"Not that I don't love standing in the hall where your very intimidating father could catch us, but is there somewhere else we can go?" she whispered.

Draco nodded and grabbed her hand to lead her down the hall away from his father. "What would you like to see mademoiselle?"

"What are my options?"

"Well, I would love to show you the library, but I think it's safe to say you'll want more than twenty minutes in there" he looked down to see her grinning wickedly. "So how about the ballroom?"

Hermione nodded, "I would love that." she said sweetly.

As they walked hand in hand in hand down the hallway, Draco pointed out small details about the architecture that he liked or didn't like. Hermione was fascinated by not only his words but also by how much he actually knew the details of this house. She was so focused on Draco that she didn't even notice they had stopped walking until he let go of her hand to dramatically open both doors to the ballroom.

Once the doors flew open, her confusion was clearly written on her face, "Draco I don't understand? When you said ballroom, I was expecting something that belonged in a castle, not..."

"Not a plain, empty room?" he laughed as he took her hand and lead her into the middle of the room, "It's enchanted, kind of like the room of requirement in Hogwarts. This is what it normally looks like but if a Malfoy stands in this very spot and concentrates on what they want the room to look like, it'll happen. It comes in handy when mother hosts her themed parties."

"Brilliant." Hermione whispered more to herself than Draco. In all the ways she had seen or heard of people using magic in their homes, this was by far the most creative.

Draco watched the her eyes shine with wonder as she thought of the endless possibilities this room held before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "We have to go meet some Germans darling, but don't worry, we have the rest of our lives to play in this room."

Hermione leaned into his touch and suddenly, it wasn't grand parties or elegant balls she seen in this room, it was a ceremony.