Pulchritudinous - |Dramione/Blinny|

XXI

*Awww...poor Neville. Smole bean...anyway*

Blaise's P.O.V. :

"So what did Hermione tell you?" I came out of my daze to notice that we were already at the apartment. I opened the door and went to sit on the couch while Draco followed quietly behind, still waiting for the answer. "She told me that Ginny likes me."

He started laughing, "Ah, that's why you were practically skipping to the apartment." He grinned when I turned slightly red.

I ran my hand through my small black curls to scratch the back of my neck. "Funny. Almost as funny as the googly eyes that you were making at Hermione!" At that he stopped laughing.

"Ha ha ha," he said in a dry tone. "I just hope Mother likes her, otherwise it could get messy." He left towards his room but not before tossing a "Goodnight" over his shoulder.

"Goodnight," I replied. I left for my room, still thinking about a particular woman across the hall and hoping that what Hermione said was true.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione's P.O.V. :

*bang* *bang* *bang*

The noise of the front door being banged on sounds throughout the apartment as I scurry around, grabbing my purse and sunglasses and looking into the mirror one last time before I opened the door.

"Took you long enough," he said jokingly, leaning against the doorway with a smirk on his face. He dressed in a black suit, looking like some sort of high class model. His hair was curved to the left, almost perfect besides the fact that one tiny hair was astray. Unconsciously, my hand sweeps his hair to the side, making it perfect finally.

We both tense up. What were you thinking, Hermione?! Now it's going to be awkward!

Slowly, though, he grabbed my hand and pulled it steadily past his face and down to his lips, kissing them gently before lowering our hands. Yet he didn't let them go.

"You look lovely today." I looked down at my clothes, noticing that I wasn't wearing anything spectacular. It was just a blouse and an almost knee-length pencil skirt. "Let's get going, shall we?" Still in shock, I only nodded, suppressing the need to grin.

Come on, Hermione! It's only a kiss! Yet my hand could still feel where the ghost of his lips were.

We disapperated away, only to be in the busy lobby of Malfoy Industries a moment later. He then let go of my hand, causing a frown to come on to my face before I masked it.

I mean it makes sense that he would hold my hand to disapperate. Yet for some reason I still find myself missing the comforting warmth of it.

"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy!" An eager woman in her late thirties with a dark brown curly-haired bun comes from behind the counter and weaves in between people at a quick pace towards us.

"Good morning, Natalie! How's the children?" He asked smiling, looking genuinely interested. Her face lit up in a smile as she started telling us how her oldest is happy to start their second year of Hogwarts a month ago and her youngest was excited to get to go to Hogwarts next year.

"And you must be Miss Granger!" I nodded as she shook my hand and smiled at me. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Natalie Thomas. Will you be working here soon?"

"Yes, I will be. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Thomas."

"It's Ms. Thomas, dearie, but just call me Natalie." I furrowed my eyebrows a little before replying.

"Natalie, then." She smiled brightly, reminding me of Mrs. Weasley.

"Well, if there is anything you need, don't hesitate to ask," she said seriously, but not in a rude way. I nodded again and she walked back towards the counter.

I turned to look at Draco. "She's a very nice and happy person." He lead me towards the elevator.

"Its a shame though that her husband died during the war. Do you remember Dean Thomas from Hogwarts?" I nodded. "That is his aunt."

By now we were in the elevator. He pushed the top floor, number twenty, while I talked. "How does she remain so happy, when she's lost someone?"

Sadness leaked lightly into his voice, "I'm not sure how she does it, really. You'd have to ask her yourself." We exited the elevator. As we walked through, he greeted every person by there name, and even had some conversations with some about how there family was or when their daughter was due to have a baby. His absolute knowledge of each and every person absolutely baffled me.

We made our way towards the end of the floor, coming up to a door that said 'Heads' on the plaque.

"How do you know each and every thing about every single person?" I asked, completely perplexed.

He shrugged his shoulders before answering, "The way my father bossed before was absolutely horrid. He treated people badly which made some wary of working for him. I've found out that people are more willing to do their job when you are nice to them, but they're even more willing when you respect them as well."

I smiled, looked around at the happy workers, "You've got yourself quite a company. You should be proud."

He smiled a little at that before replying, "I wanted it to be something good. I want these workers to go home and be proud to say they work here. I don't want them to go home and when people say "Oh you work at Malfoy Industries" them say "It's not like I want to work there, but I need the money so I put up with it" like when my father was boss. I think that's why I work at the hospital as well-"

"-You want to clear the Malfoy image," I finished, nodding in understanding. "You really have changed, haven't you. I mean I've been seeing it more and more lately, but it's just now truly hit me. You have a good heart, Draco Malfoy."

I looked up at him in wonder with a smile while he looked down at me with a gleam in his eyes that I can't quite interpret. "Are you ready to meet your co-workers?"

"After you," I replied, gesturing towards the door. With my new understanding of him, he opened the door to something absolutely unpredictable.

*Hey guys! Thank you so much for voting and commenting! Hope you are enjoying the book! Now, questions....

What do you think is going on in the "Heads" office?

How will Hermione react to the new job?

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