The Right Thing To Do

Chapter 24

Lucius Malfoy was very talented.

Hermione thought this while staring out the window of her bedroom. It had begun to rain.

She had finished her gagging and crying, and had stormed back into her bedroom, lights flickering with magic.

She would not put up with this, she had thought. She would not be manipulated like a common school girl. She would write back to Lucius Malfoy, detailing that she had no intention of becoming someone good enough for his son. She and Draco were to start courting, and they would get married – NOT in the Malfoy Gardens, thank you very much – and they would have children and none of them would be blonde because it was a recessive damn trait, Lucius. And she would ensure that not a single brunette Malfoy cub had any idea how to hold a spoon or balance a checkbook, or ballroom dance, or any of it!

She had paced to her purse, rummaging for a quill and parchment. And that was when she found it.

A leather folio detailing how Draco Malfoy was going to change the world.

She sat on her bed now, staring out the window, the folio open on her lap. She had devoured the whole thing, front to back, and had run her fingers over his delicate handwriting. He had detailed everything, clearly having done his research on the history of werewolves, the current problems, and the failed solutions.

The fifth tab in the leather folder contained a legal analysis. He had found flaws in the existing laws that governed werewolf regulations. He outlined how Malfoy Consulting Group would target these flaws in an aggressive attack against the Wizengamot.

The seventh tab contained hypotheses about how testimony from the werewolf community could strengthen the argument, and how Harry Potter himself could step forward to defend Remus Lupin and his excellence in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Draco had somehow been informed that Harry learned to produce a Patronus from Remus when he was thirteen, and he planned to use that to his advantage as well.

The final tab was filled with personal notes. She was shocked to see scribbles and bullet-point ideas in his handwriting. Shocked that he would let her see them. One of the ideas was an unformed thought regarding the new Muggle-Born Integration Laws being evaluated by the Wizengamot this spring. These laws would require that a percentage of every private business's staff be Muggle-born, and Draco was clearly in the middle of a thought regarding similar laws that could apply to werewolves. She read through his scratches and scribbles and found the reasoning for leaving this idea out of the full presentation:

Would this be exclusive to werewolves? Or would the other species/creatures want this applied to them – if we represented.

Hermione had stared into space for several moments, imagining other species getting equal representation in the Wizengamot... if we represented.

It was all brilliant. He was brilliant. And she decided she would do everything in her power to get him what he wanted.

She would write an outstanding letter to Quentin Margolis. She would convince him of the importance of Malfoy Consulting Group, and give her full-hearted support to Draco Malfoy.

She would write to Lucius Malfoy. She would calmly explain that the pictures in question were part of a misunderstanding, a freak incident. She would pledge to stay away from Draco unless a social gathering or business venture called for it. She would inform him of her invitation to Narcissa's New Year's Eve Gala so that there would be no misunderstanding, and let him know she intended on going.

If this was not sufficient for him – Hermione brushed a tear away from her face – she would offer to begin her courses with Madame Michele in January. She would beg him to reconsider withholding the inheritance.