Pride of a Granger & Prejudice of a Malfoy

Chapter 23: Doors

As promised, here's the next chapter.

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"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life"
― Marcus Aurelius

The next morning went by in a blur. It was meetings followed by even more meetings, punctuated only by a small break for lunch.

Hermione felt as if she was caught in a whirlwind with no end in sight.

As she and Harry finally secured a table and plopped down with their limp sandwiches, she sighed.

"What a day, huh?" he asked, taking a swig of water.

"Yeah. I'm exhausted and it's barely noon. I don't know what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn't expecting this. I hadn't realized that the cursed items case had escalated this far!"

"It seems as if every week there are just more and more incidents. I have all my aurors working overtime just to do damage control. Unless we can locate the perpetrators soon, I am out of ideas on what to do," Harry replied, defeatedly taking a bite of his tuna sandwich.

"I'm sure this isn't the idyllic Irish vacation that McLaggen and Parvati had in mind when they talked their way into this conference," he added, nodding his head towards Parvati, who was glaring at her freezer burnt lasagna with unadulterated disgust. Sitting next to her was Cormac, enthusiastically explaining something to Draco, who in turn sported a pained expression on his face.

"I don't understand what Malfoy is doing here," Hermione wondered, with a slightly annoyed expression. "As far as I'm aware, the conference has alway been for the heads of the departments and a handful of ministry employees."

"Malfoy Industries recently acquired a private security contracting firm. So the ministry is hiring them as short term contractors to ease the burden on my department. This deal has been in the works for a while now. That's why Malfoy has been around this part of the country so much. It's been pretty hush-hush up to this point, but we're making the announcement after lunch."

"Ah, that makes more sense," Hermione mused, having been wondering herself why, after so many years, she was suddenly running into Malfoy with such frequency.

Just then the clock chimed, indicating the end of their fleeting break. And with equal parts dread and anticipation, the pair headed back to the main conference room.

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As the day finally came to an end, far too slowly in the opinions of everyone present, Hermione was throughly exhausted. She yearned for the comfort of her bed and the solitude of her room. She got in the first empty elevator she encountered, selected her floor, and let go of a breath that she didn't even know she was holding.

Glimpsing movement out of the corner of her eyes, Hermione frantically pressed the 'close door' button on the elevator, determined to have a moment of peace and quiet.

Just as the doors were about to close, a hand burst forward and stopped them. 

"Well, Granger. Turns out I'm not the only non-'opening the door' type, huh?" drawled the very last person Hermione wanted to see right now, striding into the elevator.

'Not again,' Hermione thought, cursing underneath her breath.

Before Draco could say anything more, Hermione sternly interjected, "Not today, Malfoy. Not today."

To her astonishment, Draco didn't push the matter any further. The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence, with Hermione staring straight ahead, determined to not make eye contact, and unbeknownst to her, Draco glancing over ever so often with a quizzical expression.

At last they reached Hermione's floor and she briskly stepped out, eager to escape to the temporary sanctuary of her room.

"Your counter arguments today were insightful."

Hermione stopped short and whipped around, not believing her own ears. 

"What?" she exclaimed, utterly flabbergasted. "Did Draco Malfoy just say something nice to me?"

But all she was greeted with was her own blurred reflection on the closed elevator doors.

 "What are wrong these elevator doors?!" Hermione muttered to herself, before making her way towards her room.

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So, what did you guys think of that?

Fun fact, flabbergast is one of my favorite words. I actually heard it for the first time on Word Girl when I was in middle school. Funny how sometimes you can remember silly details like that. Anyway, I digress.

Getting back into writing after four whole years has been...an interesting experience to say the least. It's been both extremely challenging and really fun. 

I'm not quite sure yet how frequently I'll be posting. I thought I was done with exams, but they're back like that gif of Madison Montgomery from AHS Coven.

I'm aiming for updating at least twice a month. But no promises.

Amazinginess xx

P.S. If you guys have weird/archaic/infrequently-used favorite words, drop them in the comment section! I love learning new words!