Business As Usual
"Miss Granger and Miss Williams will be ready shortly." Liana gestured for the whole group to sit down in a conference room overlooking the opera.
The whole entourage was made up of older witches and wizards, except for one young wizard. Liana gave him a flirtatious smile as she made sure everyone was comfortable.
The young blond smirked back at her, he straightened and glanced at the door. His smirked faltered when he saw the two women that stepped into the room.
There was no way it was a coincidence that Miss Granger looked so like the Granger he had known. His brain worked as fast as it could, attempting to piece everything together.
He had thought about her when he heard that this company's head was called Granger, but dismissed the thought as quick as it came.
Why was the brightest witch of her time and war hero hiding away in Australia?
She looked over the faces in the room with a friendly smile, but she stopped when she got to him. Recognizing dawned on her face, then panic.
The other woman, Miss Williams, whispered a something to Hermione, which seemed to calm her down.
Miss Williams, a tall woman with a dark afro and grey dress, stepped back. Hermione stepped forward to introduce herself.
"I am Jean Granger-", Draco's thought broke of; she went by her middle name now? "- and I can make your companies global and more efficient, I can also open up a whole new market for you; the muggle world."
She continued speaking like nothing was wrong, he scolded himself for letting his focus slip for a second.
"I see many of you shake your heads at the thought of muggles, although there is no reason to. Look at my offer from a business perspective; you will have a whole new market.
A bigger market equals more customers. With more customers will your profit margins become even bigger and that will translate to more money for your companies," she smirked at them, a Slytherin worthy smirk, "- and more money in your pockets."
That last comment received great reactions. He catched her eye and a raised eyebrow accompanied his smirk.
He had to admit what she was talking about, and she knew what her audience wanted. She could answer every question thrown at her, he scanned the room to see many satisfied faces.
"Thank you for today, we hope to hear from you." She and the other woman said goodbye to everyone as they exited the conference room. He waited to the very end.
"Granger, it's been a while."
"Time flies, Malfoy."
They shook hands, their silence and tensed shoulders made it even more awkward.
Miss Williams hastily shoot in, "So, you're Mr Malfoy, the new head of the Malfoy businesses?" He nodded, not taking his eyes of Hermione. "We would be honoured to work alongside you and your company in the future."
"Yes, sure," he replied distracted, his eyes still on a Hermione that's staring determined back. "Would you like lunch with me, beaver tooth. I think we have some catching up to do."
"Why not, ferret."
"See you downstairs in ten." He walked out and Paisley instantly shut the door behind him.
"What the hell was that about?" Paisley nearly shouted at Hermione.
"What do you mean?" Hermione tried to act as oblivious as she could.
"You just called Mr Malfoy a ferret, he is our biggest potential customer." She threw her hands up and sighed, "Hell, he is probably the richest wizard there is."
"He called me beaver first."
"Yes, but-."
"At least we're not calling each other Mudblood and death eater." She let out a heavy breath at the memory of those poor, slightly brainwashed, children they had once been.
Paisley looked at her friend in pure horror, "If you ruin any chance of us working with him, will I personally strangle you."
"Calm down, we went to school together and I didn't know he was coming to the meeting. We have known each other since we were eleven."
"So you two are old friends?" She replied relieved.
"I wouldn't say friends..."
"Fantastic," Paisley muttered to herself as she left a disoriented Hermione alone by herself.
Hermione knew she had a job to do now:
She had to convince Malfoy to not reveal her whereabouts to any old friends - or anything else.She stared over at Malfoy as he stood leaning towards the reception desk. He was a bit taller, more muscular, as blond as always. It had only been a year and a half since the last time she saw him, butterflies were dancing wildly in her stomach nevertheless.
Malfoy had never been bad looking, and he had grown up rather handsome. Hermione would never admit it to a living - or dead soul, but she might have just a tiny crush on him. Okay, actually not so tiny.
He noticed her walking towards him, stood straight and held out an arm, "Where are we going?"
* * *
They were at her favourite cafe, him eating a croissant and her a chicken salad. She might be a bias judge tho, she had become a good friend of the owner.
The owner's son was muggleborn, his magic had made it known one day she was there for a quick bite. She had helped the terrified father and son, she had also helped them gain some contacts in the wizarding world.
"Why are you still here?" The silence between them was broken by five simple words, sorted into complicated question.
"I just wanted something different, a new start and now my life is something else entirely then it would have been if I stayed," she paused and gave him a slight smile filled with reminiscences of pasted times, "I don't regret it."
"Really?" His eyebrows shut up in suprise. He had been expecting her to miss the Weasel and Potter, plus all the fame she and her name had back home.
"Yes really, I am done with the limelight." She shook her head subconsciously, "I never wanna see or hear from Rita Sceeter ever again."
Draco pulled his fingers through his light hair and chuckled, "I don't think you're the only one to feel that way."
"Have you spoken to Harry lately?" she asked sheepishly.
She felt a sting of jealousy in her chest when he said yes. Jealous that the Slytherin prince had talked more with her bestfriend than she had.
She had no one but herself to blame.
Draco said they'd come in contact a lot when he was helping the Aurors with information about death eaters and hiding places and Harry was training to become an Auror. It was obvious that although he had taken a drink or two with Harry in friendly spirits; he still could not stand Ronald for some reason.
"I gather you're the new boss now, Malfoy," she smirked across the table at him, folded arms and raised eyebrow.
"Indeed, I am," his voice, that gotten deeper, was filled with playful charm and a perfect Malfoy smirk danced on his lips.
"I am sorry to hear that your father-," he cut her right of, "I would rather not talk about him."
He tensed up at the mention of his father, and snapped at her. She had noticed his slight shutter and shiver, like ice cold water ran down his back.
She was not the only one attempting to escape parts of the past.
"I'll forget about your past and you mine. Deal?" She held out her small hand for him to shake, he took it in his bigger one.
"Deal."
* * *
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Forget Our Past | Dramione
FanfictionHermione said goodbye to her old friends, not knowing when she would see them next. Time goes on and she is no closer to returning to Britain, she wants to leave the past behind and embrace her new life. Then a business meeting turns into a reunion...