Hermione set her head down on her desk, letting out a loud, frustrated groan. The Prophet's main headline was the last thing she needed to see that particular morning. After letting out a heavy sigh, she picked her head back up and stared down at the paper in front of her.
April 28th, 2003
Prominent Potion Brewer Found Dead in His Home!
The particular brewer in question, Archie Wilkins, happened to be the only brewer who made it known that he was a brewer for the Wolfsbane Potion. It also just so happened that he was the only brewer that could make it accurately since the last time anyone had looked into it.
She quickly folded the paper and tossed it down onto the ground, putting her head in her hand and forming a game-plan for the day. Hermione knew most of it was going to be spent researching new brewers, which was going to be difficult since most didn't advertise the fact that they would brew it. She was still surprised by the fact that many people vehemently hated the potion brewers who took on the difficult task of brewing the Wolfsbane potion, considering it kept everyone who wasn't a werewolf safe.
There was a knock on her door that brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Harry leaning against her door.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but I'm going to be very busy soon..." She started, opening her drawers and pulling out stacks of folders that held her clients' information.
"I saw," He said with a nod. "I just wanted to come down and see if there was anything I could do to help you out."
"You mean besides finding the person who killed my potion brewer and created a lot of unnecessary work for me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
He grinned. "Yes, besides that. I've already got a team searching the deceased's house for information so hopefully we will catch him soon."
"Good."
A tapping noise from the window grabbed both of their attention and she sighed exasperatedly when she saw the owl. "And so it begins."
Harry chuckled as he crossed the room to open the window, allowing the owl inside. It landed on her desk and she took the letter from it, sighing. "Actually yes, there is one thing you can do."
"And what would that be?" He asked, appearing next to her.
"I'm going to need more owl treats," She sighed, looking down into the near-empty bag. "I suspect I'm going to be needing quite a few of them today."
He laughed at that. "I'll send another bag up shortly."
Another owl suddenly swooped into the room, making Hermione groan loudly. Harry sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk and asked, "Do you need anything else?"
"Let me hex the bastard that killed my potion brewer once you catch him." She snatched the letter from the second owl and gave it a few treats before setting that letter on top of the first one. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I'm about to get very busy."
"I know, I'll get out of your hair shortly," He said. "Are you and Ron still coming over for dinner tonight?"
She leaned back in her chair with another groan. "I honestly completely forgot. I'm sure we will be, just confirm with him."
"Will do." He stood up and said over his shoulder as he crossed the room, "I'll make sure that Ginny has a glass of wine ready for you."
"Did I mention I love the two of you?" Hermione asked, giving him a smile. "I'll see you guys tonight."
He nodded and shut her door behind him just as a third owl flew into the room. She took the letter from that one as well, sighing to herself. "Might as well leave the bloody window open for you all. At least it's a nice day out."
The owls began to arrive more often and soon Hermione had a stack of letters from worried clients in the corner of her desk. She was thankful that none of them had actually shown up in person yet, but she knew the day was still early.
There was another knock at her door a few hours later and she looked up quickly to see her assistant, Claire, standing in the doorway.
"I have the information you asked for," Claire said as she held up a rather thick folder overflowing with papers.
"You are a lifesaver, thank you so much," Hermione smiled, gesturing towards the only empty corner of her desk. "Just leave it there, please."
Claire crossed the room and paused in front of Hermione's desk after setting the folder down before asking, "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"I don't think so at the moment," Hermione said, looking around her desk. "Have there been any messages for me?"
Nodding, Claire answered, "Yes, the Minister would like to meet with you regarding the Prophet's headline this morning; I believe he just wants to know what you're going to do about it."
Hermione groaned again, rubbing her forehead. "Kingsley knows that I have this covered."
Claire shifted nervously at Hermione's casual use of the Minister's first name but Hermione didn't notice as she sighed and sat up. "Alright, just let him know that he can come in any time after noon; I just need some time to get everything prepared."
"Okay." Claire gave Hermione another nervous look and asked quietly. "Do you need me to get you anything? Coffee? Food? Have you eaten?"
"Coffee would be fine," Hermione said with a nod. "I'm alright otherwise; thank you, Claire."
The blonde witch nodded and turned around, quickly trotting out of the room. Hermione watched her leave slightly, wondering why her assistant was acting so nervous. Of course, the girl did just start and she had just graduated from Hogwarts the year before. She was barely twenty years old too, so this had to have been her first Ministry job.
Hermione paused slightly, setting down the papers in her hands as she gave herself a small break. Her thoughts wandered back to when she had first started at the Ministry in the summer of 1999, just after graduating from Hogwarts. Of course, she was still in the same Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but she had taken over as Head of the Beings division while having some pull in the Beasts division as she worked primarily with werewolves now. While she had gained quite a bit of respect for her work with house-elves, there were many that looked down upon her and questioned her abilities when she became Head and expressed her interest in werewolves.
Harry and Ron were her largest supporters, and even though she had support from the Minister, there were some in the Ministry that believed she was changing too much too quickly, and they did not like it.
Another owl landing on her desk broke her from her train of thought and she took the letter that it offered, placing it on top of the stack. She had lost count of just how many letters and owls she had received already, and she knew it wasn't going to get any better as the day went on.
The sound of voices being raised outside of her office caught her attention and she heard Claire being stern with someone, but it sounded like they were moving closer to her door. Sure enough, the door swung open and she glared at the person that was standing in the doorway.
"Good morning, Granger."
Draco Malfoy was still as prideful as she remembered. She hadn't seen him since the battle, but he still looked almost exactly as he did back at school. He was dressed in his all-black suit with his hair combed back slightly, and she couldn't deny that that look in addition to the scruff on his chin was a good change for him.
"I'm so sorry, miss, but he wouldn't stop," Claire said as she appeared behind him. "He just said he needed to speak to you regarding an urgent matter and just barged on in."
"You do realize that I require appointments for all of my clients, Malfoy," Hermione said nonchalantly, looking back down at her papers. "Please make an appointment with Claire and we can meet then."
"My schedule is very full the next few weeks," He answered with a shrug. "This was the only time that I would have had to speak to you."
"Well, as you can see, I am very busy right now," Hermione countered, holding up a folder for emphasis.
Draco smirked and then turned to look at Claire. "Does Miss Granger have any openings for appointments today? Preferably within the next five minutes?"
Claire gaped at him as Hermione glared at him again. "I...uh...I believe she does...."
"Perfect, please put me down for an appointment as soon as possible," Draco said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'd really appreciate that."
Claire gave Hermione a confused look before asking, "Can he do that?"
Hermione sighed and waved her assistant off. "He's just going to continue being a prick until he gets what he wants. Might as well."
The blonde nodded and quickly walked away, leaving Hermione and Draco alone in the room together. Hermione tried to ignore him as best as she could, busying herself with her files while he slowly explored her office.
"Just as I expected," He chuckled. "Books upon books of things you already know."
She rolled her eyes and didn't answer as she forced herself to continue reading her file. She was thankful that she had kept a record of all of the potion brewers willing to brew the Wolfsbane potion, and was busy making notes on who would be the best fit to replace the one that had been killed.
"Is it always this dreary in your office?"
She sighed and set her file down, glaring at him. "Your appointment isn't for another two minutes, Malfoy; I would be grateful if you didn't take up my time until then."
He simply smirked at her and said, "You'd have more time to get back to your work if you simply started my appointment now. It is rather important, after all."
"I don't see how it can be more important that what I am currently doing," She fired back, looking back down at her paper and making another note. "You can afford to be patient."
"I can afford quite a few things, however in this case, patience is not one of them," Draco sighed dramatically.
Hermione set her papers down and put both of her arms on her desk, glaring up at him. He continued to smirk at her until finally she gestured towards the seat in front of her desk.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" She asked angrily.
He tutted at her as he sat down. "Is that any way to treat a client?"
Her brow furrowed as she narrowed her eyes. "If you're here to waste my time, I'm going to ask you to leave."
"I would never waste your time," He answered, leaning sideways in the chair and bringing up one leg to rest his ankle over his knee, smiling at her. "I do have an actual problem that you need to help me with."
"From the way I see it, I don't need to help you with anything," She retorted. "Now, I will ask again: what do you want?"
He sighed and shook his head slightly. "You will need to help me, actually, unless you want an unstable werewolf at the next full moon."
She stared at him, her mouth dropping slightly. "You've got to be joking."
His expression turned more serious. "I most certainly am not, Granger."
"You're a werewolf."
He scoffed. "Took you long enough to figure it out."
She glared at him. "I wasn't actively following your life, Malfoy."
"Which is surprising considering how devilishly handsome I was back then and how many other girls were following me around," He said with a grin.
Hermione rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "Well, are you registered?"
"Obviously not, otherwise you would've had a folder on me in your desk there." He put his chin in his hand and tilted his head slightly. "Is it going to be a problem that I'm not registered?"
She wanted nothing more than to smack the look off his face right then. "No; personally, I don't believe in the registry. If it gets into the wrong hands, many lives will be put in danger."
He didn't answer for a few moments, but then straightened up with a sigh. "So, who is the new potion brewer going to be?"
Raising an eyebrow at him, she said, "I'm surprised you don't have a personal one."
He shrugged. "Wilkins was an old family friend. He did us a favor by brewing the potion for me, but now I need to find a new one."
"You and every other werewolf in the United Kingdom," She sighed. "That's actually what I was working on when you decided to barge on in here."
"Who all do you have picked out?" He asked, nodding towards her stack of papers.
She stared at him. "I don't think that's any of your business right now. You and the rest of my clients will find out once I have chosen the best one."
"Considering I'm going to be one of the people affected by this, I think I have a right to help with the decision," Draco answered with a shrug. "Especially since I am most likely your highest-profiled client."
He smirked as she glared at him and tapped her pen on her desk. "Malfoy, you are as arrogant as ever."
"So, I will send you my suggestions by the end of the day?" He asked, though she knew he was going to do it anyway.
"If you really want to, but I'm fairly certain I have it covered," She said, giving him a fake smile.
"I'm sure you do, however I would feel much better about my situation if I was involved." He stood up and smirked at her. "I'm sure you understand the need to control a situation."
She glared at him and pointed at the door. "You can leave my office now, Malfoy."
He shrugged. "I'll be in touch, Granger."
Without another word, he walked out and shut the door behind him, leaving her alone. She continued to glare at the door after he left, her teeth grinding slightly as she thought of all the horrible things she wanted to say to him.
But instead of focusing on that any longer, she went back to her list of potential brewers and pushing Draco Malfoy out of her mind.
A/N: Hello loves! I couldn't resist posting this, I was originally going to start tomorrow but I figured since I got three chapters out I'd go ahead and start! I've always been interested in the theory of Draco being a werewolf, and decided it was time to take that idea out for a spin. This is another Dramione and Blinny story, but it will be focusing a little bit more on Dramione. At least, that's what I have planned but you never know lol anyways, love you all! Enjoy! <3