Lily: a NEW FIC!? So spank me! TLAV is winding down, I've essentially got the end planned out, this is my new baby! Um, the chapters are fairly long I think. So. This takes place in an alternate universe, Harry and Draco are not the same age and pretty much nothing is the same. It's still in a magical world I'll want you to keep in mind, just…not JKR's version…hence the AU.

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

5:50 a.m.

"Hey Harry it's me, Todd, hey listen, about the dance tonight, I can't make it. Sorry babe, I know it's your final ball and everything but I've got a really important meeting and…oh shit, sorry babe I've gotta go"

-Beep-

7:45 a.m.

"Todd! What do you mean you can't come! You said you had absolutely nothingplanned for today! I've already told everyone they couldfinally meet you! My mom and dad were so happy!"

-Beep-

8:15 a.m.

"Harry, babe, don't be like that! You know I have a lot of work to do and things come up suddenly! I can't make it tonight but I really wish I could be there! You know I love you"

-Beep-

9:20 a.m.

"Todd, you had work to do on the day I moved into my new place, you had work to do the day my sister had her baby, you had work to do on my birthday andour anniversary! Why are you always working when it's important! Why is it you never seem to have time when I really need you!? Augh! Whatever, forget it, I'll just tell everyone you couldn't come…again"

-Beep-

10:35 a.m.

"Harry why are you being so bitchy about this!? I told you I have work, you should just accept it. I can't come to some stupid parties, so what!? It's not the end of the fucking world sweetheart, believe me, so quit your whining! I'll see you tomorrow at the J Bar, bye"

-Beep-

"That fucking stupid, pig-headed, self-centered, son of a fucking bitch!" Harry snapped shut his blue Wizr and clutched the thing tightly in his fist. It seemed that, once again, his ultra busy boyfriend-of-two-years would not be able to attend an important event. Harry huffed and threw himself down onto the small couch.

Todd Buchanan had seemed like such a good choice of boyfriend for Harry. Good height, handsome, rich, and incredibly nice…that is, until they started dating. A few months of dating and Todd started missing things. After he missed the birth of Harry's first niece, things got much worse. It was at the point where they communicated by phone messages and terse emails with nothing but basic daily info. Cold, emotionless, and totally depressing.

"Merlin's Bells Harry, could you shout a little bloody louder!?" his best friend Hermione sidled into the apartment, extra key dangling from one hand and a bag of pad Thai in the other. Harry gave her a crooked smile and took the fast food from her

"It's Merlin'sBalls 'Mione, not bells" he chuckled and took out some plastic plates. The frizzy haired brunette tsked and began setting out the food,

"I was trying to make it less vulgar Mr. Potter, there is a lady in here so it would behoove you to keep your own dirty mouth to a bare minimum" Hermione said, nose ridiculously high in the air. Harry snorted,

"Lady? Where? Because I'm pretty sure if there was a lady in here I'd be a lot more excited" Hermione smacked his arm,

"You wouldn't be, you like blokes!" she retorted. Harry simply raised an eyebrow,

"And? What's liking blokes got to do with wanting someone to talk about interesting things with? Now, I love you very much Hermione, but I'd rather talk about this month's latest news on tuna trade than on the slow decline of Ministry policy…for the zillionth time." Hermione delivered another smack to Harry's arm and scowled,

"What's so bad about talking about how our world's core, the fragile sheen of calm we wear like a layer of sweat over our society; slowly starting to smell, its stink seeping into our world like a rot. Well soon! Soon this pretense of order we have lived under for years will shatter and everyone will see that Minister Fudge is doing a terrible job as the executive and that---"

"and that Hermione Granger and Harry Potter must hurry the bloody hell up or they will be late for their 'girls only (except for Harry because he likes blokes) pre-party in which we will indulge in fattening snack foods and girly movies we will most likely cry over and be terribly jealous of the impossibly gorgeous and successful heroines' come now 'Mione, chop chop!" Harry grabbed a dish of Thai and slumped down onto the couch, flicked on the tv and stared fixedly at the nonsense on the screen. Hermione looked slightly offended at being interrupted mid-righteous anti-government rant but the Thai sitting on the table looked fabulous and the drive to Padma's apartment where the pre-party thing was being held was kind of long.

"You do know that I will most definitely not cry and I will not be jealous of some big breasted airhead who falls in love with some guy she never knew before in the span of anywhere from a day to a week under impossible circumstances. I refuse to believe real life is like that." Hermione said through a mouthful of Thai food. Harry just laughed

"Sure you won't 'Mione…suuuure"

Halfway across the city, Draco Malfoy was locked in a (losing) battle with a hairbrush and a small blonde haired girl who he had consequently leant a hand in creating.

"For Heaven's sake Fredericka, sit still so I can brush that hair of yours into submission!" he cried, trying for the umpteenth time to wrestle the squirming mass of girl into being still.

Draco Malfoy was generally known as a man to be feared and obeyed by all…all that is, except for his six year old daughter.

"No! Don't wanna!" she sang playfully, wriggling and escaping her father's grip. Draco gave a frustrated sigh and stood back, immediately the struggling stopped and the girl turned her enormous brown eyes (courtesy of her mother and most certainly not Draco's Malfoy genes) up to study her father.

"You" he said, pointing at the little girl "will not go to school looking as if I dragged you from a rubbish bin, you're late as it is, no need to go looking like riffraff" Fredericka, or Freddie as she liked to be called, smiled sweetly

"Then I won't have to go to school at all right?" Draco might have been madly and completely in love with his child but he wasn't fool enough to fall for her tricks, he saw straight through her.

"Oh no no no Miss Malfoy, you'll go to school. If you refuse to be dressed properly then I shall simply allow you to be taken looking like some riff-raff," he smiled slightly as Freddie, in a predictable fashion, suddenly looked a lot less confident of her plan.

"B-but, didn't you say that Malfoys are always impe…impeshable?" Draco smiled at her clumsy six-year-old pronunciation but continued with his act,

"Yes, Malfoys are always impeccable. And that means that we must always look the best, behave the best, and be the best" he said and the smile began to slip back onto her face

"But if you truly wish to look like a beggar then there's not much I can do but let you go to school like that. Of course no one will want to talk to you, Southward & Hobbs is a very prestigious primary school and all the other children will be dressed well, I imagine they'll make fun of you because you dress like an urchin" he slid a look over to Freddie and was satisfied to see her biting her lip in indecision. He was close and so he threw in the piece de resistance,

"And only well dressed young Malfoys get to go on Holiday this weekend to visit Grandmother and Grandfather in the country and also to ride their brand new pony…" he trailed off and watched her eyes light up.

"Okay I'll get dressed, but only if I can stay with Grandmother and Grandfather all weekend and not just a day like last time" she stuck out her chin defiantly and Draco knew that, though he already had many meetings that weekend he would have to cancel them; if a Malfoy wanted something, they got it and Freddie was Malfoy to the core.

Half an hour later, as he was walking out the door on his way to work, Freddie skipped down the curving staircase that led to the upper level of their London flat and did a little twirl for her father. Draco was pleased to see that she was the epitome of style and grace, even at her young age.

"Very good Fredericka, now remember to be a good girl at school and stay away from that Parkinson brat, he'll latch onto you faster than you can say 'no' and he'll stick for the rest of your life." He kissed her cheek and exited the building on his way to the private garage where he parked his cars.

"Another day…" he sighed, swinging into his Maserati and reversing out of the complex.

"Fabulous"

2:20 p.m.

"Harry, I know you're really mad at me and that this isn't the best time to tell you but I'm not going to have a chance in the future. I've just gotten an order from Up Top at work and they've given me a year abroad in Ireland. I'm being shunted to some fuck-off little town near the HQ over there and I'll be rooming with these three blokes from the company. Er, they've just told me right now actually and they've given me about four hours to pack and get my arse over to the portkey station so I can't very well drive over to see you and say goodbye. Um…since I won't be there, why don't we put it on hold for a while eh? Recently it seems that all we've done is fight so this is the chance to take a step back and look at things again. Um, I'll really really miss you Harry, you've got to know that; whatever you do, don't be sad um…and who knows!? Maybe taking a break and seeing other people will help us realize how much we love each other! Well anyway, I've to go, Don is shouting his bloody head off and I'm afraid he might die if I don't shut him up. I'll see you when I come visit!"

Harry stared in shock at his answering machine, the bag of party leftovers he had happily hauled home (planning to reheat them and have a make up dinner with Todd) fell from his numb fingers with a dull thunk but it didn't break through his stunned haze. Like a zombie he shuffled into his living room and sat heavily down on the couch.

Todd's…leaving?

His mind tried to wrap itself around the message his boyfriend had left. Ironically, it was probably the most Todd had spoken to him (though indirectly) for the past month.

He's going away for a year

He was slowly losing the feeling in his body and he was sure his face was deathly pale.

We've…we've broken up?

His lips trembled and he felt something funny in the pit of his stomach.

There was a noise at the door and Hermione burst in jingling the car keys and rustling with her own bags of leftovers.

"Harry! I'm staying over tonight, that's okay right?" she called happily. When she got no answer she walked into the sitting room and took in the sight of her best friend staring blankly ahead. That never meant anything good.

"Harry?" she said, moving closer to him. He turned towards her and she saw tears in his eyes,

"Todd's leaving…to Ireland for a year. He's…he's broken it off with me." Harry said calmly. Hermione's eyes grew wide and instantly her good mood vanished.

"Oh Harry" she said and drew him into her arms. The only indication she had that he was crying was the slight shaking of his body as she held him.

"It isn't the end of the world alright? He's gone for a year and you guys breaking it off might be good, all you did was fight anyway and he was never there for you. Maybe some time apart will help" she soothed, rubbing his back. Harry looked at her and smiled

"That's what he said, and I will try to go out with other people, it's just…it's just that I really did love him"

He had stopped crying, he'd never been much of a tearful bloke anyway, and was wiping his tear-wet face.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. I'll help you meet some really great men and you'll have really wild sex on your carpet and when Todd comes back you won't be able to tell him what you've done because there've been too many and all he would have been able to get are spotty Irish blokes with…with red hair!" Harry laughed at Hermione's enthusiasm and squeezed her.

"I love you Hermione" he said and she grimaced

"Don't tell me you've switched sides?" she asked, giggling,

"Merlin no, I like to take, not give" he replied. Hermione punched him in the arm,

"I didn't need to hear that Harry Potter" she growled. Harry winked at her,

"Hey, what can I say? I'm not a charitable man!"

Southward & Hobbs boasted a reputation as the finest primary school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Europe. The young mistresses and masters that attended all came from wealthy families and, even at their young age, the students adhered to the social structuring system that had been in effect for decades. Highest on the rung were the old money children, those from families with generations of money and breeding behind them. The older the money, the higher up one was. Next were the new money children whose parents had only had money for maybe a few generations or were new to money entirely, these students were almost always completely inept in social situations and boasted often about things everyone else had but didn't bother mentioning. The last on the social ladder were the mafia children, those whose parents got their vast wealth from mob involvement. They were crass and uncultured denizens of the underground life who most of the other children decide not to talk to.

At the school, the highest of the high positions was held by the young Miss Fredericka Antonia-Carmen Malfoy, though she was only six. Being thus determined as most socially acceptable to know, Freddie had acquired her very own entourage that seemed to follow her everywhere.

There was Nancy Crabbe, a hulking blonde girl whose only saving grace was her ability to intimidate jealous older students and keep Freddie safe. Then there was Jane Nott who was so plain of face and personality that Freddie kept her out of pity. Georgette Goyle was a bizarre genetic result of her huge oafish father and equally oafish mother; she was so good looking that people often wondered if she had been switched at birth. Ophelia Zabini was Freddie's best and closest friend and rarely paid any attention to the petty goings on within their young social circle. This was why Freddie liked her, even a Malfoy needed a break from the treacherous mine field that their social situation put them in.

"Freddie, are you going to Francis Kane's seventh birthday soiree? I hear she's hired a circus and will be serving truffles imported from Germany" Nancy, whose sole focus was always social events, asked that day. Freddie feigned a yawn and gave Nancy a pointed look,

"Nancy, you would do well to remember that I had a circus at my fifth birthday party and that truffles from Germany are easy enough to acquire, even by commoners" Nancy flushed and averted her eyes. Georgette spoke up,

"Yes but you are going right? We were all invited and it would be rude to decline" Georgette was such a little hypocrite, she was the one who had declined going to Avery Jones' seventh birthday party because "she has a crooked front tooth". Freddie pretended to think for a minute,

"No, I'm not going. Father is taking me to the family estate and I simply can't decline my own grandparents" Georgette and Nancy nodded,

"That's too bad Freddie, I know it won't be as good as your parties,especially since your dad always plans them the best, but won't you miss having fun with everyone?" Freddie nearly gagged as Nancy spoke. Everyone knew that she had a sickening crush on Freddie's father and when she was around him she behaved disgustingly. Ophelia rolled her eyes,

"Sounds like the teacher is coming, let's go sit" she said. Freddie's friends dispersed to their own seats as the footsteps towards their room grew louder.

Mrs. Garvey, their ancient teacher, was not the one who stepped in. Instead their principal, the handsome but slightly creepy Mr. Riddle, opened the door. This sent a wave of whispers through the class. Had old Garvey finally kicked the bucket?

"Children," Mr. Riddle drawled "Mrs. Garvey will be taking a break from teaching as she's had an…accident recently. Until your replacement arrives, your teacher will be Mr. Leon." The whole class groaned. Mr. Leon was the smelly music assistant who stood too close sometimes and breathed down people's necks.

Freddie sighed. It would be a long day.

Harry had had a terrible day. After the news about Todd last night he had thought life couldn't get any worse. He was wrong. On his way to work his car had decided to be a jackass and break down so he had been late. When he had finally arrived a car had driven by him and splashed the majority of a large murky puddle onto his pant leg. When he had walked in, tired and irritated already, his boss had asked him into his office and given him some most unwelcome news.

"I'm being transferred!?" Harry couldn't conceal his disbelief. He had been working at PWS-112 ever since he had graduated. He loved working with the young kids and nurturing their knowledge of magic. The kids at the school were from regular families and had grown up doing normal things. He loved seeing them having fun with their friends, but now he was being transferred!?

"Why sir? Is it because I was late? I've only ever been late once!" Harry pleaded. Gerry Jones, his boss, gave him a sympathetic look.

"No, it's nothing you've done; it's just that you're the most qualified out of our staff. You see, a guy I owe has recently called in his favor and he really needs a replacement teacher ASAP. The qualifications are steep and you're the only one who meets them. I'm sorry Harry, I really am." Gerry was a nice Boss and he wouldn't do this kind of thing normally and it sounded like he had really been in a pinch.

"Can I say goodbye to my kids then?" Harry asked, shoulders slumping in defeat.

"They're waiting for you in the room, I've already told them. You can get your stuff and go to the new school today and set up, you start work tomorrow." Gerry smiled at him and waved. Harry exited the office to say goodbye to his class and pack his things. Suddenly a thought occurred to him,

"Oh! What school am I going to?" he asked, Gerry turned

"Ah, it's Southward & Hobbs," Harry nodded, having never heard of the school. He turned to go and Gerry stopped him

"Oh and Harry" he said, "be prepared for a…different kind of school"

Harry didn't like the pitying look he was getting.

He didn't like it at all.

Draco Malfoy was the coldest most ruthless sonofabitch in the business of International Potions Supply. Ever since he had started his company, simply titled Malfoy Group, he'd known he wanted to be at the top. And in order to do that, he needed to be as vicious as he was smart.

Within a few years, filled with hard and endless work, his company was at the top of the rung. No other company could beat Malfoy Group's flawless service and quality. Draco had made it to where he wanted to make it and now it was time to expand.

The business of cauldron production and distribution had been monopolized for years by the mediocre and overpriced Henley Corporation which cheated people with low quality cauldrons. But if a wizard lived in Britain or many of the surrounding countries, they got their cauldron from Henley. Draco wanted to change that. He figured out a cost efficient way to produce affordable high quality cauldrons and sold his line. He started off simply and then branched off into specialty cauldrons, then luxury cauldrons. And within a few years, Henley cauldrons were like a bad memory and Malfoy brand cauldrons were the affordable and dependable brand that most everyone went with.

His business kept expanding in this fashion for some time. He became the wizarding world's best known entrepreneur and made so much money that he didn't even need the vast inheritance that had been left to him. His life was a smooth cycle of business, business, and more business with the occasional break for absolutely necessary human functions. Draco thought he quite liked the way he lived, the way everything was always in order and how it all went the way it was supposed to, without complications. Because Draco Malfoy's number one hated thing in the entire universe was complication. The word sent chills down his spine. How could he, a man who awoke at precisely 6 am every morning and ran on a schedule so exact that his life was nearly mechanical, tolerate anything, anything, going out of order?

No. He couldn't deal with it. His patience, seemingly infinite when it came to business transactions, was alarmingly short for things like mishaps and confusion. In fact, he quite strongly believed that all things relating to chaos were all forms of complication. If he woke up a minute later than 6 it threw off his schedule, that was a complication. If his five thousand galleon Homme by Jerome du Banlieu suit was not perfectly ironed and creased in the morning when he woke up, that was a complication. If his secretary neglected to schedule his routine check up of the factories and the conditions, that was a complication. For someone like him, complications meant aggravation. Aggravation which could have been avoided had things gone correctly.

Because of his extreme intolerance of complication, his staff prided themselves in their ability to avert even the smallest of crises. They did this so they never had to witness the truly terrifying sight of an enraged Draco Malfoy. His secretary, the extraordinarily nervous Mr. Harlem Tate, was especially on guard. In order to prevent the beast called aggravation from rearing its ugly head in his boss, Mr. Tate went to all kinds of trouble. He started out at Malfoy Inc. a young and generally happy twenty-something year old who looked ahead to a bright future. He had learned, after years at Draco Malfoy's side, that general happiness was an impossibility. His happy-go-lucky persona faded with the years of slaving alongside Draco to build the company, with the nerve-wracking work of keeping Draco's life smooth and uncomplicated.

Things had been going well recently, life seemed to be meandering along at a manageable pace. The business was growing, becoming more and more powerful and there was less and less frantic work to be done. But then something appeared, a blotch on Mr. Tate's peace that threatened to destroy everything.

Draco got married.

The woman was a beautiful witch who frequented the coffee shop Draco often spent his lunch hour at. Apparently she had sat with him often (as there were no open seats) and they had gotten to talking after she had thawed Draco enough. And then something miraculous had happened and the ice king, ruthless and apparently emotionless Draco Malfoy, had fallen for her. In the seven years since the rise of the Malfoy Group and since Mr. Tate had known Draco, such a phenomenon had never occurred.

The wedding was extravagant and widely publicized. Witches all over the world mourned the loss of the wizarding world's most sought after bachelor and looked with jealous eyes on his beautiful wife. Their wedding was perfect and the cold Draco Malfoy went through a thaw. Of course, business went on as usual, he wasn't someone who would neglect the thing he had built up for so long because of a woman. But his life began to deviate from the schedule he had kept it in for so long. His new bride dragged him away from endless work to do things with her.

"Live" she used to tell him, "because life isn't only about work". And Draco fell deeper and deeper into love with her. Within a few months of their marriage it was found that they were expecting a new baby. Nearly nine months of endlessly frazzled nerves had followed for Mr. Tate who had to deal with the nervous and irritable Draco at work. He was the one with Draco when they were in the car on the way to a factory check up and he got "The Call". He was the one with Draco wringing his neck (literally) and yelling at him to drive faster, screw the speed limit, they must hurry to the hospital. He was also the first Malfoy Group employee to lay eyes on the newest addition to the Malfoy family, little Mistress Fredericka Antonia-Carmen Malfoy.

It was just as Mr. Tate was finally relaxing with the newest development that something else happened. A complication so huge that not even the unbeatable Malfoy Group staff could prevent it. One that not even Mr. Tate could fix.

It had happened on the sunniest Monday they had had all year. Little Fredericka was in the Group daycare as Mistress Malfoy wished to visit with some friends. Draco was in Paris in an urgent meeting with their Malfoy Group France correspondents. All seemed to be going well until Mr. Tate's phone rang. He had picked it up, expecting it to be Draco with the situation update.

It wasn't Draco's voice on the line. It was an unfamiliar gravely male voice telling him that he had Antonia Malfoy. It took Mr. Tate a moment to realize who he was talking about, he had always just called Draco's wife "Mrs. Malfoy" or "Ma'am", but then it hit him. The voice on the other line was continuing, it said that he wanted Draco Malfoy to shut down Malfoy Group operations across the globe and to transfer all the money in his account to one he would name once the first order was complied with. He let Mr. Tate hear Antonia Malfoy's panicked breathing and what sounded like a smack followed by what w as unmistakably her whimper of pain.

Mr. Tate felt the anxiety well up in him, bigger and more powerful than it had ever been. He felt it gnawing at his nerves as he called Draco's emergency phone and waited for the man to pick up. When he did he sounded angry, undoubtedly so because he expected to never be interrupted in urgent meetings. But this was something unavoidable, he had to be told.

"Someone has the Mistress" was all Mr. Tate said. The line had gone dead and Draco had taken the quickest Apparition route to the office.

"They have Antonia…" his words were not a question, he didn't need to reconfirm anything, he knew that Mr. Tate would never had called his phone if it wasn't anything huge and that he wouldn't joke about something like what was happening.

The ensuing hours were chaotic and Mr. Tate couldn't remember what exactly had happened during that hectic time. Only that, in the final hours, after sending a team to find the people who had Mrs. Malfoy, after attempting to negotiate with them, that they had called again and let Antonia talk to Draco, no doubt a tactic to get him to give in.

"I'm getting the papers to shut down business Antonia, please just hold on" Draco had said,

"No" Antonia had replied.

"I won't let you take away all those lives my love. I am but one woman, can I allow only myself to be saved while putting thousands of people into as mortal danger as I am in now? No my love, I am indeed one woman, Malfoy Group is not just a company, it is thousands and thousands of people who depend on their jobs there to live. If you take that away then so many of them will die. You can live on without me my love, always remember that I love you, take care of our beautiful Fredericka. And remember Draco, Live…"

That day, Mr. Tate saw Draco cry for the first time.

When they found the group who had taken Mrs. Malfoy it was already too late. Her body had been riddled with the evidence of their violence; the forensics team had deduced that she had been killed by repeated administration of the cruciatus curse.

Draco Malfoy had dropped to his knees beside his wife's mutilated body, taken her hand in his own and bent over her prone form, hiding his grief from the onlookers. Mr. Tate had been the one to lead him away from her body after he had spent hours kneeling next to her.

Her killers had been discovered by the end of the next day by Malfoy Group private investigative forces. When the culprits were dragged before Draco he asked them only one question,

"why?"

The leader of the men had been the one to speak first,

"of course you wouldn't remember us. We're the sons of Icademius Henley. Or father went mad after your filthy company took over the business and bankrupted us! It's your fault he's dead! So we took someone precious to you!" Draco only looked at them. He saw their faces smirking as they brutalized his wife, he saw them laughing as one-by-one they cast the cruciatus curse on her, he saw them smirking triumphantly when her body finally gave out under the curses, when the light of life left her eyes.

His beautiful Antonia.

When he was finished with them, they had to be dragged out of the room, alive but broken and doomed to spend the rest of their lives in a prison even worse than Azkaban.

For two years Draco couldn't bear to look for too long at his daughter whose brown eyes reminded him so much of the woman he had loved. The layer of ice that had always seemed to be present in him returned, it was twice as thick. He lived like a zombie, working, working, always working. And then one day Fredericka had woken in the night and seen her father crying and holding a picture of her mother, she had toddled over to his and wrapped her tiny arms around him,

"it's ok" she had said. And just like that, she broke through Draco's misery and life had slowly come back to him.

That had been 2 years ago

Hermione found herself misspelling the word "the" for the third time that morning and knew that it was time to have a coffee break. She had stayed up all night with Harry, trying to distract him from the fact that his boyfriend was leaving (literally). Because of the constant stream of ice cream and shitty chick flicks they had imbibed in, she was completely trashed come morning when she had woken up after a mere two hours of shut-eye with an ice cream lid stuck in her hair.

She had barely made it to work on time and had found that she had neglected to button two of her shirt buttons which left her ugliest and least appealing bra open to the eyes of the many many men who had passed by her on her long trudge to the top floor of the building in which she worked. Even more mortifying was the fact that it had been Ronald Weasley, the maddening CEO of the company's English branch, who had pointed it out to her.

"what an arse!" she muttered to herself remembering the incident. Many people in the office quite liked Ronald Weasley, especially the women as he was, she grudgingly admitted, quite attractive. Of course, the fact that he was extremely well paid aided in boosting his appeal. She was told that usually he had an amiable personality and was easy to converse with. Some people didn't even know he was the CEO, and thus their boss, until someone else pointed it out to them. Hermione herself probably would be one of his admirers except that, from the day she had met him, he seemed completely set on teasing her at every chance he got. She was sure that this recent bra-incident wouldn't go unforgotten for a very long time.

"Good morning Ms. Granger" Hermione looked up and instantly felt her dark mood lift. Standing there, sifting through the mail and looking almost inhumanly handsome was the President of the company himself, Mr. Draco Malfoy.

If Ron was a pulse raiser than Draco Malfoy was a heart stopper. He was so good looking that some of the staff thought it a waste that he was a businessman instead of a model. Everyone knew the story of how he brought Malfoy Corp to greatness from scratch and that hard-working image coupled with his impeccable style and good looks made him close to irresistible. As his receptionist, Hermione was privy to quite a bit of the drama that went on in his office. She quite enjoyed watching as flustered representatives from other countries went in and out of the office, she especially loved to see the defeated and often angered opposition storm off after meetings. Her job, contrary to popular belief, was not an easy one. Any other receptionist to any other person in the company could have a much easier time of things. She was required to ferry important documents here and there, the review the reviewed documents that Draco's secretary gave to her, She had to know which calls to put through, which to keep waiting, and which to decline completely and the phone was always ringing. Her desk was kept in military order, a worldwide catastrophe could occur if a document from Draco's office were lost. She was required to do many other things and Hermione, a very meticulous and hardworking person naturally, was perfect for the job.

"Good morning Mr. Malfoy, would you like to hear your messages so far?" she asked him. He graced her with a smile and Hermione felt her heart flutter like it did when she saw a very good looking man,

"yes please" Draco replied.

'Oh you yummy, yummy man, the things I would do to you if I could have the chance!'Hermione thought,

"the secretary from Southward & Hobbs called to tell you about your daughter's teacher. It seems that Mrs. Garvey is indisposed and is being replaced. They say that there will be a parent meeting session this afternoon. Monsieur du Gaffe from the French branch called to say that he has to cancel today's meeting, he has an urgent doctor's appointment. And that, I believe, is all sir" she said.

Draco sighed. Du Gaffe's 'urgent doctor's appointment' was probably the cosmetic surgery he was rumored to be planning months before. Why he couldn't have scheduled their meeting at a different time if he knew he wouldn't be able to attend was beyond Draco's understanding.

"ah well, this is good I suppose, I'll be able to go meet this new teacher. You never know what kind of people they bring in these days, even at Southward & Hobbs. Some of these teachers are just pedophiles or even kidnappers!" he commented. Hermione smiled at him and he bid her good day before entering his office.

"ah, Mr. Potter, welcome"

Tom Riddle, the Principal of Southward & Hobbs gave Harry a slightly slimy feeling. Perhaps it was the way he smiled, or the way his eyes looked Harry up and down when he welcomed him.

"Ah, yes, thanks: Harry said uneasily and stepped into the Principal's office.

Southward & Hobbs exuded an air of old money and tradition. The Gothic architecture seemed a bit foreboding for a primary school but perhaps rich kids thought that flying buttresses and vaulted arches were normal. He thought that the décor was over the top for a primary school, gilded painting frames and marble flooring were things that belonged in particularly high end hotels in Harry's opinion.

"I must say Mr. Potter that I'm very grateful that you could come to us on such short notice! We really could not find anyone else." Mr. Riddle was speaking, Harry refocused on the conversation.

"Ah yes well, it was no real problem" he said 'except for the extra twenty minutes I've to drive to get here' he thought.

"well, I'm sure you know all about the schooling system, it isn't much different here so I won't bore you with things like that. You'll be in charge of the 4-6 A class. Lots of good children in there. You'll want to talk to Ms. Parkinson who teaches 4-6 B, she's also fairly new but she can show you around so you don't get too lost. You have an office attached to your classroom, you can set that up later on today. School starts at six in the morning so you'll want to be here fairly early. Ah what else? Oh yes, there's a lunch break at twelve and, since you're in charge of the little ones, a nap right after. Other than that, I don't think there's anything else…hmmm…oh yes! There will be a parent evaluation later this afternoon. Southward & Hobbs parents are very interested in their children's education and their teachers, it's really just a formality, nothing to worry yourself over but you'll want to prepare for questions about your lifestyle, beliefs, previous occupation, and qualifications among other things."

Mr. Riddle gave Harry another one of his creepy smiles and led him to a room which he presumed would be his office. When he opened the door and shunted Harry inside, he was met with several pairs of large curious eyes.

"class, I'd like you to meet Mr. Potter, he'll be filling in while Mrs. Garvey recovers" Mr. Riddle was saying. Harry, quite unexpectedly faced with his future pupils, could only stare.

To say that they all appeared wealthy, even at this young age, was an understatement. Most of them simply reeked of wealth. Harry spotted one girl sporting a gold chain around her neck and then noticed that several of them wore similar if not more expensive pieces of jewelry. Several of the boys had miniature versions of adult watches in gold or what, Harry realized with horror, must be platinum. Harry wasn't much of a fashion aficionado but he knew without even checking the labels that the clothes these children wore most likely cost an entire month's salary for him.

"well Mr. Potter? Introduce yourself to them" Mr. Riddle smiled at him again which Harry didn't find particularly comforting but he sidled to the front of the room where a wave of body odor from the man he assumed was the sub until he took the position contributed to the nausea building in his stomach.

"Hello children, I'm Harry Potter, Mr. Potter, I'll be your teacher until…" 'Oh God what was that other woman's name….! Oh yes!' "until, Mrs. Garvey is able to return. I hope we can all get along"

The children seemed unimpressed with his introduction and it received an ice cold response of skeptical stares from his miniature charges.

"ahaha, well, I'll let you children get on with your lesson, you'll all get to see Mr. Potter tomorrow when he takes over your class. Come now Mr. Potter, I'll show you to your office"

Harry hurried out after Mr. Riddle, grateful to escape from the scrutiny of the children and out into the hallway.

His office, it turned out, adjoined the classroom and was just down the hall. It was almost ridiculously spacious and came pre-furnished with several highly expensive looking items. Harry knew he would especially like the cushy brand new leather swivel chair that sat behind the desk.

"Well, Mr. Potter, I'll leave you to unpack for now. Make sure everything's in order by 4 when the parents can start coming by. I'm sure you'll do very well here, Welcome to Southward & Hobbs"

When Mr. Riddle exited, Harry sat down in his new chair and looked around the office, he had some tidying to do.

By the time Draco was able to escape the office it was nearing 6 in the evening and he knew he was perilously late for the parent teacher meeting. But he raced to Southward & Hobbs anyway and ran into the building hoping that the new person was still there.

He slowed down as he entered, running was not proper decorum for anyone who entered the school and it wouldn't reflect well on his daughter's image were he to be seen running like a madman, shamefully late for what should be an important meeting.

'Well, the new old lady is probably still tottering around her office, probably putting lace doilies everywhere' Draco thought, sparing a fond thought for the exceedingly granny-like décor of the previous teacher's office.

'yes, and probably pictures of her grandkids. Perhaps some old cotton cardigans hanging about' He thought further chuckling to himself as he reached the door and knocked.

"come in" a voice that didn't sound very old lady-ish answered. Feeling slightly puzzled, Draco entered the room and met the greenest pair of eyes he had ever seen in his life.

Harry had been scrutinized, patronized, and sneered at for two solid hours before he'd seen the majority of his class's parents. Only one was still missing but he was told by Ms. Parkinson that that parent was incredibly busy and that the mother had died so it was unlikely the father would show. He was feeling incredibly hassled but content, despite their disdain for his previous occupation, all the parents had to admit that his credentials were excellent and his record spotless. They sniffed at the fact that he was unmarried but couldn't find much else to point out as flawed. They had all left with a grudging approval of him.

He was in the process of putting on his coat and getting ready to leave when he heard a knock,

"come in"

He said absentmindedly as he hunted for his scarf. The door opened and he looked up into a pair of blue-gray eyes.

"hello…" he said,

"hello" the other man replied, "my name is Draco Malfoy."

Lily: OHMYGOD, 16 pages!? Have I EVER written a single chapter that flaming long!? Anyway, there's lots in this, it's been in production for a long long time, like, forever. Just this one chapter. I think I'll update this slowly since I'm planning on having very long chapters. Well, I hope you liked this very first chapter. Like I said, I wrote this over months, I'm not joking…it's taken me months to sit still and finish this off. Of course, it won't take nearly so long for the next ones, it's just hard to set the stage sometimes and get all the opening events in motion. Ah, now that I've got this done, I can relax and write the next chapter for my other fic (or, Idunno, study for that theater test tomorrow…that too). MAN, I really need to finish things! Anyway, I'm off!