Alissa wasn’t back yet, Hermione figured that she was still out with her friends, or newest boy toy, it didn’t matter. She walked into the kitchen and boiled water for tea. Once the water was ready she poured it into a mug decorated with bright pink poodles. She put the tea bag in the mug and poured the steaming water, as she picked up the mug her eyes slammed shut.

Malfoy was driving in the city somewhere. He went over the bridge, and she could see a gated park. There were very expensive looking, and beautiful, homes. He changed the radio station.

Hermione didn’t hear the mug smash on the ground. But she was surprised when she looked down and saw dozens of poodle pieces littered the kitchen floor. “Are you alright?” Alissa asked, closing the door.

“Yeah, of course.” She smiled, “Mug just slipped right out of my hand.” She grabbed a small broom from the cupboard. “What were you doing out so late?”

Alissa put her small purse down and took off her black heels. “The usual, new bloke.” She shrugged, “Not a very interesting one though.”

Hermione smiled and dumped the pieces in the garbage. “Some woman called for you, did she catch you on your mobile?”

Alissa paused, there was no expression on her face. Then she said, “Yeah, she got me. It wasn’t important.”

“Good.” Hermione yawned, “I’m beat, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“It is morning.”

“12:32 doesn’t count.” Hermione put the broom away.

“Night, then.”

Hermione nodded. Alissa made no move to leave the kitchen as Hermione walked out. She could hear Alissa moving around, maybe she wanted a cup of tea too. Hermione walked into her room and put on a nightshirt. She looked at her bedside table and noticed that her book wasn’t in the drawer. “Could of sworn I put it away.” She shrugged and put in where it belonged. She must have been daydreaming earlier.

She lay down in bed and looked up at the ceiling. ‘If anyone’s up there,’ she thought, in a strange sort of prayer, ‘Please don’t let me dream tonight.’ Either there was no god, or they weren’t listening.

She and Harry sat on a dingy little bench, in a dingy little park near Ottery St. Catchpole. “He’s never coming back, is he?” She leaned her head on Harry’s shoulder. Tears fell freely down her cheeks.

She heard Harry sniff. “If I could say or do anything to bring him back, believe me I would. I--” Harry kept talking, but she couldn’t hear it. Malfoy was crouching in front of her.

“Why do you torture yourself like this?” The background faded away. They were on an empty street in London. If Hermione hadn’t have known she was dreaming, that fact alone would have tipped her off. “Those things happened five years ago.”

“Why do you care?”

He shrugged, “I don’t particularly. So, why did you call me to your dream?”

“Call you?” Hermione’s eyes widened. “I wasn’t even thinking about, and I would never willingly call you, even if my life were on the line.”

Malfoy actually laughed, “I really feel this partner trust. And, why would I be here if you didn’t call me?”

“Masochism?”

He laughed again. “Maybe that. Or maybe this little potion has some unknown side effects. What fun.”

“Go away!”

Malfoy shrugged, “I don’t know how. And at least you’re not sleeping alone. Like you do every other night.”

“The state of my sexual liaisons is hardly your business, Malfoy.” She closed her eyes and concentrated extremely hard.

She was awake. The clock at her bedside said 4:47, but she wasn’t tired any longer. Hermione walked into the kitchen. There was a newspaper in there, even though it was only almost 5:00 AM. It was Muggle magic. Nothing incredibly interesting happened so she took her tea and sat in front of the television. A body had been fished out of the Thames right after midnight. After that a cute woman reported on the weather and an upcoming dog show.

“It’s 5:30, what are you doing up?” Alissa asked. She was dressed in a black business suit.

“I could say the same for you.” Hermione turned off the television.

Alissa smiled, “I’ve got to get to Heathrow. I have a flight to Barcelona at 8:30.” She walked into the kitchen. “How old is this water?”

Hermione followed her, “Maybe a half hour. It should still be hot.” She sat at the table. “How long will you be gone?”

“Just today. My flight back from Spain is at 5:30.” She opened her briefcase on the table and sorted through her papers. Apparently everything was there. Alissa closed the bag, “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Goodbye.” She left. Hermione went into her room and put on her running clothes. The place where the body had been fished out of the river was on her path, there were still police vehicles there. She arrived back at the flat at 6:30. There was a black square under the kitchen table, a disk that must have fallen out of Alissa’s bag. Hermione picked it up and took it into her room to put it in her computer.

The information made her eyes widen. She got dressed as quickly as she could and hurried to the office. Malfoy was already there, sitting at his desk. He looked smug as usual, but there were bags under his eyes. When she was sure that no one was looking, she slid the disk onto his desk and directed her thoughts at him. “Check that out when no ones looking. It’s important.”

He gave the briefest of nods. They may have hated each other in the outside world, but they worked well together. He slipped the disk into his pocket. She pretended to work, waiting for him to say something, anything, about the information she found. But he never got the opportunity to look at it.

Julian found her around 10:00. “Hermione, can we talk?” he asked.

“You can, I can, I guess the answer would be yes.” Malfoy laughed inside her head. She ignored him.

Vaughn smiled. “Cute.” He touched her arm and led her away from her desk. “I know this may not seem very professional, but it’s about the movie tonight.”

Hermione nodded, she’d forgotten, but he didn’t need to know that. “What about it?”

“Would you hate me if I cancelled?” He looked worried.

“Cancelled? Or rescheduled?” On a personal level, she was hoping she wouldn’t have to spend alone time with him again. Ever. He was a little creepy, in a subtle way.

“Cancelled. I’ve just noticed you with your partner, David. You seem a bit…chummy.” He shrugged.

“His name is Draco. I guess you could call us friendly. What of it? Is there a company policy about the level of friendliness between coworkers.” The childish Hermione hoped there was, the business woman didn’t care.

“No, there isn’t. Wouldn’t that be ridiculous?” He smiled. “Will you be honest with me?” Hermione nodded, “Is there anything going on between the two of you?”

“Remember our arrangement, Granger.” Malfoy’s voice drifted into her head. Distance didn’t hinder the spell. At least the length of a room didn’t.

“Never, honeybun.” He laughed, sarcasm seemed to travel well through their link. “Draco’s…alright. But there’s nothing going on between us, yet.”

“Call me a gentleman, but I don’t want to come between the two of you. We’ll just say I’m bowing out gracefully, before I’ve overstayed my welcome.” He turned to talk away.

“Julian,” Hermione said before he left, “Thank you.” He nodded, and walked to the elevator.

She walked back to her desk, “Have you looked that file over?”

“Nothing seems strange,” he said. “We need to talk alone. And soon.” She nodded. “Did you try to access the info from different programs?”

“I’m not stupid.” She sat down. “Vaughn thinks we’re romantically involved.”

He smiled evilly, “It’s not a fate worse than death. Many girls would die to be involved with a Malfoy.”

She started to type, “Haven’t we talked about this before.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t stop it from being true.”

Malfoy stood up and walked away. Moments later her mobile rang. “Hermione Granger speaking.”

“Miss Granger,” it was Malfoy’s voice, but accented differently. “My name is Nigel Wheems, I’m calling to inform you that your father has been admitted to the hospital.”

“What hospital?” She asked him mentally.

“To St. Anne’s. Is it possible for you to arrive here quickly?”

“I’ll do my best, Mr. Wheems. Thank you.” She hung up. Malfoy came back to his desk. “Did you bring your car by any chance?”

“Of course, why?”

“My father has been admitted to the hospital,” she explained, “I’ve been asked to go there as soon as possible. Could you possibly give me a ride?”

“In more ways than one,” Malfoy didn’t seem to know he’d sent the thought, when she rolled her eyes at him, he looked confused. “We can leave now.”

“Thanks.” They gathered their things and headed for the lift. “Alissa is out of town for the day,” Hermione told him telepathically, “It will be safe to discuss things at my flat.”

“You’re sure?” He asked.

“Alissa is an innocent bystander, as far as I can tell. She had no reason to lie to me this morning.” Hermione didn’t like that she had to defend Alissa. Malfoy just nodded. Once out of the building, they walked to his car. “You are aware that this city has a reliable public transport system, right? A car is hardly necessary.”

They got in and pulled out of the parking lot, “Of course it isn’t necessary Granger, but it’s fun, and I can have one. Why shouldn’t I?” Hermione rolled her eyes. “No need to call me an insufferable little ferret. It isn’t very polite.”

“Don’t chastise me, and call me a Mudblood on top of it! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.” She crossed her arms. “And I didn’t call you an insufferable little ferret, not out loud, anyway.”

“Well, I most certainly didn’t call you a Mudblood to your face. It’s hardly professional.”

Her eyes widened. “Did we miss any small print on that potion? First I had a flash of what you did yesterday night, then the dream, and now these thoughts. You tricked me!”

Teeth clenched, Malfoy stared at the road, “On this occasion, no I did not. And I didn’t make any mistakes. Perhaps you added an improper ingredient. Or can the perfect Granger make no mistakes?”

Neither said anything until they pulled up to Hermione’s flat. “Control your thoughts, Malfoy, and I’ll control mine. The sooner we finish this assignment, the sooner we can take the counter-potion. Consider it motivation.”

“Consider me motivated.”

“Don’t get smart with me,” she snapped. They entered the building. No one was in the hallway. Once inside the flat, Hermione retrieved her laptop from her room and put it on the kitchen table. Malfoy pulled a chair very close to her and leaned in so he could see the screen as well as she could. “Do you think it means what I think it means?”

“I think it means trouble for the entire wizarding world. That is, if it is true, and if any of things could be put into motion quickly.” His breath was warm on her neck. She stayed perfectly still, pretending not to feel it. “I can still read your mind, Granger.”

She ignored the comment. “You think the information is false.” It wasn’t a question.

He shrugged. “You said it yourself, Alissa is an innocent bystander. Why would she have this disk if she is as innocent as you seem to think?”

“Her meeting?” She scooted away from Malfoy. “Maybe she was supposed to give it to an associate. Or…” She trailed off.

“Maybe she’s not so innocent. She could be higher in the company hierarchy, or she could be a corporate spy.” He met her eyes, “Just because you’re a goody two-shoes, doesn’t mean the rest of the world is.”

“You would be a prime example of the bad world?”

Malfoy laughed, “Have I ever, in the ten years we have known each other, pretended to be anything but bad, aside from spy work?” He raised his Slytherin brow. “I like being bad, Granger. You should give it a try sometime.”

“We need to verify this information,” she said.

“Indeed.”

She sighed, “How do you go about asking a corrupt company if it’s true that they have the technology to decimate wizard kind, without rousing suspicion?”

He smirked, “Good question.”