When Hermione stepped in her department, she almost ran right into Ken.

"Hermione!"

"Morning Ken." Hermione smiled up at him.

"Wow, you look gorgeous as ever." He said sincerely.

The old Hermione would've stuttered and blushed terribly but after hearing so many compliments from Draco and Blaise, she'd gotten more used to being complimented and now only a slight blush graced her features.

"Thanks Ken. How was your weekend?"

"Terrible."

"Why?"

"Some of the people here discovered my address. I don't know how but they did. I felt like as if someone was watching me constantly. And then they kept leaving pies at my door. My refrigerator is so full of pies, I can't get to the rest of my food."

"That's." Hermione grimaced. "Disturbing. And Ken, don't eat the pies without doing a spell to check them."

"It is disturbing. And why?"

"Love potion." Was all Hermione said.

Ken got a frightened look in his eyes. "Thanks for the warning. That didn't even cross my mind." He said paling. "I wish I could find someone that could keep them at bay."

"That's all the requirements in your dream woman?" Hermione asked, laughing.

"No but that's certainly number one. I guess I want someone with strong personality. Confident in herself. Someone like you would be preferable." Ken winked. "But without the scary fiancé."

"How'd you know?"

"The ring's hard to miss Hermione Granger." He grinned, nodding towards her hand.

Hermione opened her mouth as if to say oh. She then blushed. "Yes well. Ken could you please not tell anyone? I'm trying to keep it a secret." She said as she turned the ring around so that the gorgeous diamond was no longer able to be seen.

"My lips are sealed. When you're done with the case file on the Otto case, can you give it to me? I think I might've found a loophole in the investigation."

"Really? Of course."

!

Hermione was utterly busy thinking about what loophole that Ken had discovered that she didn't notice how jittery Anna, her secretary was. She didn't even notice how Anna nearly jumped out of her skin when she spotted Hermione.

"Hey Anna, do I have any messages?" Hermione asked just looking up from the papers briefly.

"No." Anna shook her head.

"Oh." Hermione said surprised. She'd been gone all weekend and had no messages? That was a first. "I guess I'll just catch up with the cases then." Hermione said walking up to her door.

"No, don't wait!" Anna all but yelled as she lunged herself at Hermione.

"Anna!" Hermione cried when Anna latched onto her bag.

"You can't go in!"

"Why not?" Hermione asked confused, while trying to look at Anna for signs of something really wrong.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't. I tried to say no, I did but..." She began to ramble.

"Anna just spit it out."

"There you are." Another voice said as they opened Hermione's office door.

!

Hermione looked up and to her shock, there right in front of her stood Sadie Rayne looking like as if she stepped right out of a fashion magazine. She wore a strapless blue dress that made her eyes pop even more so. Her hair was up in a loose bun, some tendrils falling out but almost in a calculated fashion. Hermione couldn't help but notice how tall and gorgeous the model was.

"Nice flowers." Sadie said as she followed Hermione back to her office. "They're from Draco right?"

Hermione looked around at the dozen bouquets from Draco she'd gotten last week. "Yes." She said sharply.

"He didn't buy me flowers, don't worry. He always had me help him find some for his Mum though." Sadie assured, rather peaceably.

"Oh." Hermione said as she sat down at her desk and gestured for Sadie to sit in the one across from her desk. "So um did you have something to tell me?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Yes." Sadie said in a sultry voice, one that matched her appearance.

Hermione waited for the model to say something else. It was only polite. Then she could kick out the model without feeling like a total witch.

"Before you kick me out, please hear me out. I need to talk to you. All wands down." She said as she crossed her long legs.

Hermione pursed her lips. "Go on."

Sadie took a deep breath. "Look I found out Ron cheated on me with some hideous bint named after a flower."

"Lavender?" Hermione guessed, it was the first name that came up.

"You know her?" Sadie looked up surprised.

Hermione blinked. She was right? "Yes, I went to school with her."

"Was she as frazzled looking then as she is now?"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"My god. I certainly mean no offense but him cheating on me with you, with how you were before now... isn't fine but understandable." Sadie said as passively as she could.

Hermione wasn't sure to be offended or not.

"But him cheating on me with her, Laurel."

"Lavender." Hermione said out of habit, used to correcting her two best friends.

" Yes Lavener. Well what the hell is wrong with him?" Sadie finished as she looked up at Hermione.

Hermione should've been offended and angry but she wasn't. She found that she really didn't care which meant that she was finally over Ron for good. If anything, she couldn't help but agree with the gorgeous model. Her when she was engaged to Ron was a woman that hadn't changed from when she was 17. In the past few weeks, she'd grown into a mature woman confident in herself. She even felt beautiful which was saying a lot, she'd always known she was smart but even then unless she was mothering or threatening them, people seemed to not take her seriously when she needed them to. Now though, she had the confidence to say no and not let people walk over her, even those she cared more for than the world.

"And for why I'm here talking to you. You're a remarkable female Hermione Granger. You're the best competition I've ever had. And that is saying a lot. If I was into the same sex, let's just say that I would definitely try to give Draco a run for his money." She laughed.

Hermione couldn't help but blush. It was utterly weird that she was having this conversation with the woman that her ex-fiancé had cheated on her with. "I really don't know what to say." Hermione admitted.

"Well, I have plenty to say." Sadie said shaking her head a little, getting her loose strands of hair out of her face. "First I want to tell you that I broke up with Ron."

Hermione pretty much figured that much out.

"Second, that stupid article. About me being pregnant."

Hermione looked up sharply. This she wanted to hear.

"I'm not pregnant. I'm a freaking model in my prime. I would never let myself get pregnant. So I'm sorry if that's caused any trouble between you and Draco." Sadie initally rolled her eyes at the outrageous article.

Hermione couldn't help but play with the engagement ring on her hand. She felt numb.

"The article was written by the half bint Lavender?"

Hermione nodded when Sadie finally got the name right. Lavender did write the article. She remembered that now.

"I think she hoped it would make Ron leave me. It didn't exactly but she got what she wanted. Him."

Hermione's mind whirled as it pieced all of Sadie's words together.

"Also this is for you." Sadie said as she bent down and retrieved a box. She handed the box to Hermione.

Hermione looked at her questioningly. But untied the ribbon on the box. To her surprise, inside the box was a gorgeous dress. The gorgeous dress that she wore on the night of the Gala. The one Draco had bought for her.

"I'm only saying this once so. I'm really sorry about ruining your dress at the Gala. I was being spiteful and cruel. I'm really sorry. It's just. I'm... very conceited you could say."

Hermione said nothing.

"I love attention. I love being the woman that every man wants and every woman hates but wants to be. It's just me." She shrugged. "That night was not supposed to be about you. It was supposed to be about me. That's what I planned on from the start."

Hermione looked confused. "I'm sorry."

Sadie sighed. "I cheated on Draco on purpose. Though I didn't pick Ron. He picked me you could say." Sadie pursed her lips. "I knew the media would have a frenzy and they did. But I'd planned on being the center piece. I just hadn't counted you. And what a mistake that was." She said smiling.

"It's all because of Draco."

"No it isn't. Any man can buy a girl the dress but it's the woman that has to make it shine."

Hermione hadn't ever heard that saying before but she couldn't help but like it and it made her somewhat think the woman in front of her wasn't all terrible. "Well since we're apologizing. I'm sorry about your hair loss."

Sadie arched her brow at her. "You did that?" She asked, incredulous.

Hermione gave an apologetic smile.

Sadie gave a laugh. "I really shouldn't be surprised but to tell you the truth it never crossed my mind. You were a formidable opponent. No wonder Draco's so infatuated with you."

For some reason the ease and familiarity that Sadie used saying Draco's name made her bristle.

"You know, I never loved Draco or Ron for that matter. The both of them are a little too much like me. And one of me is enough." Sadie sighed. "Ron though was more so than Draco. He loves attention, the fans, the cheers. Draco is just one of those that fortune has graced him with the looks and money to get him anywhere he wanted. And he knows it. I really need to stay away from the spotlight types. They never do workout."

"So what kind of guy are you looking for?"

Sadie looked up at her surprised. "I'm not sure to be honest. But I should probably start off with someone that doesn't have an infatuation with you." Sadie laughed.

Hermione blushed. "Oh. But Draco and I only started dating..."

"Did you know that he sometimes moans your name in his sleep? Draco I mean." Sadie said looking at her pointedly.

"No."

"Well he does. And that was when we were dating. They weren't," Sadie paused. "Sexual though, but he used to cry your name in the middle of the night and say something like please make it stop..." Sadie added.

"Oh." Hermione covered her mouth in shock.

"I really disliked you for a long while after that. That's probably one of the other reasons why I did what I did with Ron." Sadie shrugged.

"I'm in that phase where I'm not sure if I should admire you or dislike you right now."

Sadie gave a laugh. "Same here. Believe me. But let's call it a truce. After I leave here, I have a certain bint to yell at."

Hermione couldn't help but smile. How in the world she was having a somewhat civil conversation with this model was beyond her but she found herself actually growing to like the gorgeous woman infront of her.

"Oh and could you tell that house elf of Draco's to leave me alone now. I've given up completely on Draco. And she better destroy the rest of those photos she took of me and Ron together. I want no evidence of association with that idiot."

Hermione's brows scrunched in thought. Photos? Of Sadie and Ron... wait so did those photos she got that day after Draco first came to her office... Ivy sent those?

After saying goodbye to Sadie Rayne, Hermione found her assistant, Anna stuffing what looked like extendable ears under a stack of papers. She just shook her head.

!

It was around lunch time, when she was in the middle of reading about the latest case when Anna came running into her room.

"Hermione, your mum wants to talk to you!"

"My mum?"

"Yeah." She said as she handed Hermione the phone.

"Hi Mum. Why didn't you call my cellphone?" Hermione immediately asked.

"I knew you would pick up your work phone before your cell when you're at work."

Hermione couldn't help but agree with her mum. She really did know her too well sometimes.

"Yes you're right." Hermione sighed. "Is something wrong though?"

"Of course I'm right, I'm your mother. And well... there's a young man here. "

"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned.

"Some man apparated into the living room out of nowhere. Your dad hit him with a frying pan. The man says his name is Draco? And I think he asked your dad for your hand in marriage. Your Dad dropped the frying pan on his toes by accident." Her mother said narratively.

Hermione's eye went wider and wider with every word her mum said. "Mum, I'll be right there. Don't let Dad hit him with the frying pan again. Can you give him some ice or something?"

"Sure love but..."

"I'll explain everything when I get there." Hermione promised before hanging up.