CHAPTER 7: BLAISE

Draco walked slowly to the front door, dragging his feet and attempted to open t, only to remember that Hermione had placed as many locking spells on it as she could the night before. Groaning in irritation, he removed all of them as quickly as he could, a sneer automatically appearing on his face as he opened it, and found himself face to face with one of his friends.

He stifled a yawn, and rubbed the back of his neck. He really did hate being woken up before he woke up, he made a mental note to point that out to Granger.

"Did you have a late night, mate?" Blaise Zabini asked with a smirk, hitting Draco on the back and walking in and looking around his second home with a satisfied, knowing smile on his face.

"What the hell are you doing here, Zabini? It's far too early in the morning for this." Draco yawned again.

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "It's Friday, Draco. I always come here on Fridays for the weekly report on the company. Plus, today is the day that you actually get to do something. Plus, what's with all the locking charms on the gates? Are you avoiding some girl again?"

Draco stared at him blankly. Blaise let out a sigh of irritation, waving away the questions. He walked into the empty dining room, noticing that Draco stiffened slightly. Blaise wondered what his best friend was hiding from him now...or who. Draco wasn't usually good at hiding things from him, Blaise had known the guy far too long to know that something was going on.

He pretended not to notice and dug his hands into his pockets, not unused to seeing his friend in almost no clothes. It was a bad habit that he'd had since school, sleeping in nothing but boxers.

The guy was an idiot when it came to common sense.

"Draco, its 11:55 in the morning, which means that you have, oh, I don't know, five minutes to get to Ireland for the meeting!" Blaise finished his sentence with a raised eyebrow. He let it sink in, watching the uninterested look on Draco's face evaporate into that of shock as he shouted "oh crap!" and ran out of the room.

Draco smacked himself across the forehead as he bolted for his room. Today was the day he was going to make the one of the biggest deals of his life, today was the day he finally got to do something for his company and he was hanging around here? Draco changed at record speed, finding acceptable clothes that smelled okay and was racing downstairs just in time to hear Blaise ask someone, "and you are?"

For a second, Draco panicked. If Blaise figured out Draco was harbouring the most wanted witch in England in his house, he wouldn't hear the end of it. Sure, even Blaise and Granger had been friends during school, but Blaise was sane and would probably alert the Ministry anyway.

Plus, the man had an unhealthy addiction to attention and the spotlight.

Then again, Blaise was talking to Granger, the Hermione Granger as long as she had her disguise on, it would be alright. She was smart enough to know not to tell him who she was. At least, he hoped so, otherwise he'd have to lock Blaise in a cupboard, again.

Rushing to the room, Draco heard a soft, girly voice reply, "I'm Daniela. It's a pleasure to meet you! I've heard so much about you from Draco!" Damn that accent!

Draco raced into the dining room to find a petit, black haired, blue eyed beauty talking to his best friend, leaning against one of the table chairs like she was modelling it for a magazine, her face lit up in an interested smile as Blaise practically stumbled and drooled his way over to her.

Draco knew his mouth was agape, and he snapped it shut. Apparently he'd been dating the girl in front of him, he couldn't act like he'd never seen her in his life.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably, not liking the way Blaise glared at him for interrupting their conversation. For Merlin's sake, he was married, what the hell did he think was going to happen?

"Why, Draco, you didn't tell me about a certain beautiful lady you were harbouring in your house, but you told her all about me?" Draco rolled his eyes in amusement.

The amusement left his face as Blaise picked up her hand and kissed it. He watched as Granger tapped her leg slightly, he could see the tip of her wand behind her fingers. As he watched, a faint blush appeared across her cheeks as Blaise kissed her hand again.

Draco had to admit it to himself; he was getting tired of being impressed by this girl. She was just so full of surprises. And spells.

"Oh, of course. Draco's told me all about the infamous Blaise Zabini! I heard you both went to school and even graduated together! Your mothers used to be friends, isn't that right, Draco?" Daniella smiled at him innocently, crossing her arms lightly, which only succeeded in making her look prettier.

Draco swallowed and nodded, having not heard a word she'd said.

"Well, he hasn't really mentioned you in our conversations. I'm sure it wasn't intentional at all," Blaise kissed the back of her hand again. "Why, I would have gone to the meeting by myself if I'd known you were here, Daniela. I didn't want to interrupt anything."

Hermione resisted the urge to smack the back of Blaise's head for speaking like that and smiled instead, forcing her face to flush a darker shade of red with a modified spell.

"What meeting are you talking about? I didn't know you had to attend a meeting, Draco." She asked instead. She glanced at the blond haired boy who was still staring at her like he'd never seen a woman before and let out a breath.

Idiot.

"He's selling a portion of his company to expand the sales. It's all boring stuff. Tell me, has he told you about the party I'm having tomorrow? You are coming, aren't you? It's a masquerade, I have one every year around this time."

Hermione looked at Draco, her eyes widening in an obvious look of "explain!"

Draco just gave her a sheepish smile, only remembering now that he was supposed to have a party tomorrow too. "Oh, yeah! The party, yes, Draco mentioned something about a party. I'm not sure if I will be able to attend though, I have some business. Back home. In America. Don't I, Draco?" she said, smiling through her teeth.

"Yeah, right. Business. Home." Draco nodded absentmindedly.

Hermione mentally smacked him across the face and slowly took her hand out from Blaise's tight grip, "why don't you two discuss the meeting today, I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything. Bye." She rushed off, wiping her hand on her shirt in disgust.

Blaise hadn't changed much either. Apparently, he'd forgotten that he was married.

"Dammit Draco, where do you find all these beautiful women? She's from America! When the hell did you go to America?" Blaise said, pissed off.

Draco shrugged his shoulders, finding it easier to focus on conversation without Granger present. "That doesn't matter. Besides, she's my girlfriend, back off. Astoria won't be happy if you start flirting around again."

"You've never stopped me before, besides, Astoria and I are getting a divorce, you know that." Blaise stated, staring at the door that she'd disappeared into. Draco blinked, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

He'd forgotten about that too. This would be the last time that Blaise and Astoria would have a party at their place, after this, they were separating permanently.

Blaise grinned, "whatever, go to the meeting, I have to take care of the account, you have three minutes before you're fashionably late. Also, the theme for tomorrow is Hogwarts!" Blaise said, adjusting his jacket and tie.

Draco let out another sigh, not really wanting to be bothered with themes of all things right now. "Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Hogwarts! Dress up fancy or something, like the Yule Ball." Blaise thumped Draco on the back and rolled his eyes. "See you tomorrow, good luck with today! Don't mess it all up." With that Blaise Zabini walked out, whistling a tune, glancing one last time at the door that the girl had walked into.

Damn, she was pretty!

Draco rubbed his forehead and adjusted his tie, not liking wearing such formal clothes. He turned around to call for Hermione, only to find a mug of coffee being held under his nose.

Granger was back to her normal brown haired self, her eyes narrowed into slits as he accepted the coffee from her. "How the hell do you move so fast?" he asked, trying to change the topic from what she clearly wanted to know to anything else.

She frowned as he took a sip of the beverage. It was strong, no milk, two sugars, just the way he liked it, but how on earth did she know that?

"You don't have any milk, you used to have strong coffee at school and I like two sugars. And I don't move fast. Your brain is just not fast enough to keep up." she raised an eyebrow in challenge, just asking him to try and change the topic again.

Draco was momentarily caught off guard, trying to remember the last time her words had been that sharp.

"Let's make this easier for the both of us. Clearly, I was going to leave this morning, so you could go to that party and whatnot and it wouldn't have affected me at all. But now that Blaise has seen Daniella, I have to be present because otherwise, him being the nosy idiot he is, will start questioning you and you're going to be an idiot and say something stupid."

Draco opened his mouth to argue against that, but thinking it over, he nodded meekly, knowing that what she said was actually quite accurate.

"So I have to stay here again. Luckily, it's a masquerade party, apparently, so if I hide my face properly and stay out of the spotlight, it should end smoothly. Also, what kind of a theme is Hogwarts?"

Draco blinked, not knowing how to reply to that.

"Also, Blaise and Astoria are getting divorced? How did that happen? I thought they were smitten with each other?" She asked, taking a sip of her own coffee. Draco copied her and shrugged, pulling at his tie again.

"He wants kids, she doesn't. They've been arguing for like two years about this now and decided that that only way to solve this peacefully is to move on with their lives."

Hermione sighed, she'd been sure that Blaise and Astoria would last forever, they were so cute together, and now they were getting divorced?

"Merlin, life sucks." She muttered to herself before looking at Draco. "Anyway, you have a meeting to attend now, don't you? What's that all about?" She took a careful sip of her coffee and waited for his answer.

Draco gulped, "um...I have a dealership meeting in Ireland in-" he glanced at his watch, "a minute. So, I've got to go now," he paused to look her over. She was wearing the clothes she'd been wearing last night, a black jacket and jeans with a black shirt.

"You can stay here until I come back. There shouldn't be any more visitors, so you'll be safe here." He sculled the rest of his coffee, something that she was very good at making, and walked over to the floo network fireplace and grabbed a pinch of floo powder.

Just as he was about to throw it into the fire place, her voice rang out, stopping him in his tracks. "Wait!"

Hermione ran up to him and looked at him, her eyes narrowed in thought. Draco frowned, not liking that look. "Can I come too?"

He shook his head firmly. "No, you'll get caught," he said.

Hermione pouted, forgetting the slight anger she'd felt towards him only seconds ago, desperately wanting to do something productive, rather than staying cooped up at the creepy manor all by herself.

"But...I can help. You're going to sell, right? At Ireland too, so it will be on Floor Three, the Department of Endorsements and Transactions. Seeing as you're a Malfoy and therefore rich, you'll probably meet Mr. Vaunt. Mr Vaunt just so happens to speak fluent French and very little English, so he will probably have a translator, who isn't very good and muck up the whole thing for you." She looked at him, his full attention was on her now, "and besides," she continued happily, grinning in smug victory, "I speak French!"

Draco Malfoy was stunned. His father had tried to get him to learn French, insisting that as someone with French ancestors in his family, it was his duty to learn the language. Three lessons with a bossy old lady, and Draco had quit rather dramatically by turning the lady into a grenouille, more commonly known as a frog.

He'd been seven at the time. His father had been both proud and horrified.

"You speak French? What else can you talk, Portuguese?" he asked sarcastically.

She raised her eyebrow elegantly, and stood tall, her shoulders back in pride. "Malfoy, I was a trained Auror, that means speaking several languages and travelling overseas a lot and meeting with important people. And yes I can speak Portuguese. So can I come?"

She grasped her hands together and blinked slowly, like she used to when they had to choose assignment topics at school and she wanted the hardest topic of all to get extra marks. This look had always worked on Draco, and Hermione danced in victory in her head as he sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He could never really say no to her, it was one of his only weaknesses, and she knew it.

"Fine, but promise to behave, and disguise yourself, and when we come back I have to sleep, frankly someone broke a rule I laid out yesterday." he gave her a meaningful glance.

"I can help with the party thing too; I know Blaise will probably want some help for tomorrow as well! I used to help Ginny plan parties all the time." She said, causally leaning against the fireplace and taking another sip of her coffee.

"Of course you did. Is there anything in the world that Hermione Granger can't do?" he muttered as he walked into the fire place. She gave him a small smile.

"Ministry of Magic, Ireland" he said in a clear loud voice. The green flames enveloped him quickly and the last thing he saw was her smiling face as he disappeared into the flames.

.*.

Hermione smiled as Draco disappeared down the fire place, he was such a softie, but of course she would never actually tell him that, it would hurt his male ego and that was the last thing anyone wanted.

Shaking her head, Hermione took out her wand and cleared her mind. The appearance altering spells were difficult enough without having her mind focused elsewhere. Besides, she didn't want to end up with blue hair again. "Colovaria" she muttered, pointing at herself.

Her long brown locks disappeared and turned blond, almost white in the light of the dining room. She tied it up in a tight bun, securing it with another spell. With another flick of her wand, her pale skin became paler, and her eyes turned light blue, almost grey. She glanced at herself in the reflection on one of the silver trays on the dining room table and bit her lip, not knowing how to feel, looking like a Malfoy.

With her blond hair and blue-grey eyes, she could've easily passed for a relative of the Malfoy or Black family.

She transfigured her clothes into green and silver robes and cloak, deciding that her appearance demanded traditional clothes. Satisfied somewhat, Hermione grabbed some floo powder and floo'd to the Irish Ministry of Magic, happy to feel the rush that came with travelling by floo.

Because the Manor was heavily guarded, it was one of the few places where flooing was possible for her without the Ministry's intrusion.

She stepped out of the fireplace upon arrival and glanced around, spotting Draco leaning casually against a far wall, his eyes scanning the people suspiciously like he was trying to figure out if any of them were her.

She walked over towards him, a skip in her step. This was the most fun she'd had in years. He straightened up as she approached, and watched her through narrowed eyes. "Come on, you amazing bouncing ferret, you don't want to be overly-late do you?" She muttered under her breath, smiling at him, her eyes scanning around the two of them for eavesdroppers.

Draco stood up straighter, looking her up and down like he didn't know how to respond. "Is that you, beaver?" he asked sceptically.

She looked at him with pursed lips. "I told you never to call me that again. My teeth are perfectly well now. Idiot. Anyhow, my name is Aquila Black, I'm a distant relative of yours from France. You invited me to come along so the dealing could go smoothly, understood?" She said as they began to walk over to one of the lifts.

Draco just nodded.

With her blond hair blue-grey eyes, she actually looked like a young woman from the Black family, maybe even a Malfoy. Draco pressed the button for the elevator.

Hermione's eye caught one of her wanted posters that were plastered on the wall next to the elevator. That picture really was too good to be on a wanted poster. She wondered what had possessed Neville to use that one to make her look like a criminal.

She didn't even notice the elevator had arrived until Draco firmly but gently grabbed her arm and pulled her in, pushing the lever for the third floor as soon as the doors closed.

He opened his mouth to talk to her, but her hand covered his lips and she motioned for him to keep quiet. When he nodded, she let go of him, looking intently around the lift and then whipping her wand out from her sleeves, she muttered something under her breath.

Her wand tip glowed brightly and then she began to write in the air.

-THEY ARE LISTENING IN ON EVERY CONVERSATION HAPPENING. THERE ARE EXTENDABLE EARS ON THE ROOF, MODIFIED TO SEND CONVERSATION ALL THE WAY TO THE AUROR-HEAD QUARTERS. YOU'RE LUCKY THERE AREN'T ANY CAMERAS IN THIS ONE! DON'T SAY ANYTHING, STUPID! -

She looked at him meaningfully and he nodded, wondering how on earth she knew that. He leaned back on the wall of the small room, it only really dawning on him now how hard it must have been for her to survive alone for two years.

With even other magic ministries after her, there weren't many places where she could've hidden out. If she hadn't come to his house, Adrian may have caught up with her, and instead of only his death, she may have been killed too, and though that may have cleared her name, she would have been dead.

The door dinged, drawing Draco from his thoughts. Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the elevator when he didn't move.

"Come on. And remember, my name is Aquila Black." She muttered as they walked out. The smoky words disappeared into thin air as she walked through them, like they'd never been there at all.

Draco followed her towards the huge blue door, the only thing present in the long corridor on the third floor. It was ominous and creepy and Draco suddenly felt the pressure pressing down on his shoulders. If he didn't manage to sell this portion of his company properly, there was no way that he would be able to sleep.

Blaise would never stop pestering him.

Hermione reached the door first, and waiting impatiently for him to arrive. "You're so slow." She muttered before knocking loudly, before stepping back so he was in the front.

Something crashed on to the ground inside, a bang, followed by lots of shuffling and swearing, reached their ears until finally the door opened, and a short, stocky man with thick black spectacles looked up at them, bowing quickly. "Mr. Vaunt will be with you shortly." He squeaked before slamming the door shut in their faces.

"Don't worry, they always do this, they're never prepared, and they make you wait for ages. They think it makes them look important or something." She whispered to him. Draco nodded, somewhat thankful that she was present.

Sure, it wasn't life or death that this went smoothly, but it would be nice to hear Blaise compliment him on being able to do something for once.

The door swung open again, and the short man smiled at them warmly, "come in Mr. Malfoy and guest. Now Mr. Vaunt isn't very fluent in English so, I'll be translating as best as I can for you!" The man sad, leading them to the middle of the room where a single table and four chairs were placed.

Hermione smirked at him smugly as they followed him inside, closing the door behind her quietly.

They found themselves in a brightly lit room, that was far too big for the small table and four chairs. A tall man with silver hair and a pocket watch and monocle on his left eye, sat on one side of the table. Mr. Vaunt, the man who would either buy or refuse a share within the company.

Draco sat down on one of the chairs provided, feeling awkward at the silence that met him. Granger sat next to him, smiling at the two men opposite her charmingly.

Vaunt leaned over and said something to the short man who nodded grimly like he'd just heard that someone had passed away. Draco felt his stomach drop. Had Vaunt already decided he didn't want to buy anymore?

The five-minute silence that followed felt like a lifetime.

"Mr Vaunt asks the lady for her name, if you please." The stocky man finally said.

Draco fought the urge to throw something heavy at the idiot translator.

Hermione, who'd been expecting this smiled at Vaunt brightly and replied in smooth French that made all three men in the room raise their eyebrows in surprise. "Bonjour, mon nom est Aquila Black. Je suis ici avec mon cousin pour discuter de la compagnie avec vous, si vous ne vous occupez pas de moi d'être present?"

The silver-haired man brightened, and replied, his face pulling into a happy grin at the fact that he could talk his native language easily.

Draco wondered how it was possible for her to switch accents so easily, making it sound like she'd been born and raised in France her whole life. Seriously, was there anything the woman couldn't do better than him?

After the pleasantries were over, Vaunt asked her something at which she frowned and glanced at him incredulously. Draco pulled at his tie, not knowing what the hell was going on, but for a business meeting to sell his company, he wasn't doing much talking.

Hermione wondered why Draco Malfoy was being so cheap and took over the meeting, deciding that she was having far too much fun to end the dealership so easily.

She smirked and pointed to Draco, speaking so fast that it all sounded like a blur to Draco, who smiled every time the silver haired man would look at him and nod to himself in deep thought and consideration.

Mr. Vaunt seemed to be listening very seriously, nodding and shaking his head once in a while, having a conversation that went back and forth between him and Granger like a tennis match. Even the translator man seemed dazed.

After a few minutes of discussion, he said something to her shaking his head and smiling in loss. She smiled brightly, giving Draco the thumbs up, which did nothing to make him feel better. "Fait accomplice!" she smiled again and stood up, shaking Vaunt's hand.

What had she done, he wondered, sold his manor because she didn't like it? Sold him for being an idiot and forgetting things again? Why did she look so pleased?

"Come dear cousin, I've settled the deal." she said sweetly, her words thickly sounding of that of a French lady attempting English. With a final nod to Mr. Vaunt she walked out, a skip to her step that he wasn't sure was good or not.

"That is un amazing woman. Keep her close and you will be a very rich and happy man, Monsieur Malfoy." Mr. Vaunt said, his words just as strongly accented as Granger's had been. Draco smiled and nodded cautiously before speed walking after her.

She was waiting for him outside, her hair still blond and her eyes still grey, but the smile on her face was definitely one the he was all too familiar with associating to Granger when she'd received top marks in class again.

She smirked at him casually. "You were going to sell your communications share for twenty-thousand? That's cheap, even for you. But don't worry, I fixed it. There will be seventy-thousand waiting for you in your account this afternoon. That should give Blaise a heart attack and keep him busy for a while!" she laughed.

"Come on, Malfoy. Let's get going. We have things we both need to do now." she said, grabbing his arm and leading his back to the elevator.

"Did you say seventy-thousand? Are you serious?" He asked as the elevator doors opened again and they both walked in. Pressing the button or the first floor, Hermione nodded. "Yeah, I just had to convince him that Draco Malfoy is a worthy partner and trustworthy, and that investing in his company isn't a bad idea. It was easier than I thought it would be."

"Gra...Aquila, that's crazy! How the hell did you...what am I supposed to...Blaise is going to have a heart attack!" Draco muttered.

She laughed and nodded, "I know. I wish I could see his face when he opens up the accounts!"

Draco found himself halving a small smile as they exited the elevator. He followed her towards the closest fireplace when she stiffened so suddenly that Draco bumped into her and had to take several steps back. He looked up to ask her what she was thinking and saw exactly why she'd stopped in the first place.

Four wizards, each holding a wand to her throat, stood in her way. One of them said, as calm as you please, "revelare."

The spell that she'd used to hide her identity seemed to melt away and Hermione Granger suddenly stood in front of them.

There was a collective gasp around the crowded ministry as the blond haired beauty turned into the brown haired murderess.