Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the wonderful world of Harry Potter. A/N: One Galleon is equivalent to 4.93 British pounds or $6.64 USD.

Hermione Granger paced up and down the makeshift backstage area —a wide corridor with a curtain on either side just adjacent to the ministry ballroom. She had just overheard Astoria Greengrass tell Mandy Brocklehurst, a Ravenclaw from Hermione's year, that Draco Malfoy was there to bid on Astoria herself. Hermione wasn't sure whether or not it was speculation on the younger witch's part, but it aggrieved her just the same.

12 days earlier: Hermione was irritated returning from her lunch with Draco. Her day didn't improve when they arrived back at the Ministry and she was accosted by Auror Johnson begging her to fill-in for a last minute cancellation at the Ministry's annual charity auction that was just twelve days away.

'I already told you 'no'. I think a dating auction is incredibly sexist. Do you really want a strange man to bid on you and then you'll have to spend the rest of the evening with him?' she asked Angelina.

'No, of course not. I told George he has to win no matter the cost.'

'Well, not all of us have fiancees to bid on us, Angelina,' she bit.

'I'll bid on you, Granger,' chimed in her lunch companion, earning an eye roll from Hermione.

'See, Mione —Malfoy will bid on you, and Ron, and I'm sure those friends from that Hogwarts club. Not to mention McLaggen and other eligible suitors who actually want to date The Hermione Granger. You're a beautiful war hero, Hermione, not to mention 'the brightest witch' and by all rights a celebrity.'

'Good Godric. You and Malfoy should write my online dating profile.'

'What's an online da-,' Draco began to ask.

'Not important,' interrupted Angelina. 'Look, the point is you will bring in so much money for the orphans.'

'Orphans?'

'Yes, didn't you know? All of the proceeds after we reach a paltry 1100 Galleons to cover the event will be donated to the orphanage in Wales. That's the charity this year.' Had Angelina been familiar with the muggle phrase, the words hook, line, and sinker would have been running through her head at that very moment.

12 days later found Hermione exactly where she didn't want to be; about to do the very thing that she didn't want to do.

She had grown closer to Draco over the last few weeks and she had been thinking it might turn into more than their Monday lunch meetings. More than innocent flirting between coworkers. Draco had said he'd bid on her, but he also had hinted as much to Astoria. Perhaps more than hinted since the raven-haired beauty had stated it as fact to Mandy. Hermione didn't know who Draco spent his time with.

To make matters worse, Astoria then spotted her, smiled, and waved enthusiastically. Luckily, a familiar voice saved her from further pleasantries.

"Merlin's pants, Hermione!"

"Can we let that go, Ronald? I said that one time!"

"And it was hilarious-"

"Are you supposed to be back here?"

"I'm an Auror! I'm making sure you ladies are safe. And may I point out that you never wore anything half that sexy when we were dating."

"No, you may not. It's not sexy, it's classy," she clarified. The dress in question was a mermaid cut, nude in color with a sheer overlay covered in clear crystals. It had cost far more than she had ever intended to spend, but she had fallen in love with it the moment that she put it on.

"You went shopping with Angelina and my sister. I assure you there was nothing classy involved."

"Oh great, so now I look like a common whore!" she said, adjusting the front of the heavy garment.

Ron laughed boisterously at that. "Calm down, Hermione; there is nothing wrong with being sexy, it's a compliment —you look like you're naked and covered in diamonds."

"That's supposed to help with my nerves?" she asked. "Nudity?"

"Don't be nervous," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Look, I'm going to hike the bid up to 100 Galleons, but you'll bring in much more. I know we haven't been dating for that long, but I'm sure Romilda would not appreciate me buying a date with my ex —yeah?"

"Of course. I'll even pay you back if you accidentally win me for 60 Galleons or some other embarrassing amount. Godric help me."

"You'll do great!" he assured her, exiting the curtain.

The auction had been going on for over an hour at this point. Hermione was last, Witch #20 according to the parchment in front of her. So far the lowest winning bid had been 100 Galleons; 320 was the highest. Witch #18, Mandy Brocklehurst had just fetched 200 Galleons, bid on by Ernie McMillan.

Hermione didn't expect all of her friends to bid on her, but when Ernie and Michael Corner had shown up to wish her luck, she had felt somewhat confident that someone would aside from Ron. And McLaggen. Now she was panicking. To further add to her stress, Angelina had just come to collect Witch #19, Astoria Greengrass.

Hermione peeked out from behind the thick red curtain. Having moved all the way down the line, she was now close enough to see part of the audience, including Draco. Well, the back of his head, anyway. His white-blonde hair called to her like a beacon from the fourth row, center aisle. Ron and Cormac were seated a few seats over in the row in front of him.

The auctioneer, who greatly resembled Filius Flitwick in Hermione's opinion, opened up the bid for Astoria at 50 Galleons. Hermione's stomach plummeted as she watched Draco raise his wand —a light emitting his bidder number, 105 appeared. "We have 50. Who will raise to 60?" The wizard to bid 60 galleons was out of her line of vision. "Who will give me 70?" The auctioneer turned to Draco who responded with an imperceptible shake of his head.

What? He couldn't have possibly expected to win with a bid of 50 Galleons...

"Do I hear 120?"

Perhaps he only bid to support his friend just as Ron promised to do for me?

"Who will give me 300 Galleons?"

Hermione gasped as the next thought surfaced. Perhaps Astoria isn't the witch that Malfoy is here for...

"...SOLD! For 400 Galleons!" yelled the Flitwick look-a-like, ending the bidding on Astoria. The pretty young witch had claimed the highest bid of the night. Lost in her thoughts, Hermione had missed the majority of the bidding.

"Ready to take us out with a bang, Granger?"

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, Angelina."

"The auction or the dress?" Angelina inquired as she performed glamour charms to touch up Hermione's soft curls and smokey eyes.

"The auction...though now that you mention it, I realize that I could have donated the money that I spent on the dress directly to the orphanage..."

"Yeah," agreed Angelina, "but what fun would that be? Knock 'em dead, Mione," she said as she pushed her through the curtain.

Like the women before her, she walked across the platform, waved, and then took a seat in the single chair placed to the side of the auctioneer. The small wizard stood on a crate behind the podium rattling on an abridged list of the witch's accomplishments which was no less than 10-minutes long in Hermione's case. To her surprise, a familiar face came up to the stage and stood behind her.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" she whispered over her shoulder.

"Security detail." He leaned closer. "You're a high profile prize, Miss Granger."

Hermione conjured a chair and gestured for the bespectacled wizard to sit.

"Because this isn't humiliating as it is?" she whispered once he sat. "I suppose you'll be escorting my date and I around the ball then?"

"It depends who wins," he shrugged. "Right now it looks like Ron is in the lead at 80 Galleons. I'm sure you'll be safe with him."

Hermione hadn't bothered to notice that the bidding had begun. Sure enough, Ron's bidder number, 204, was illuminated —now indicating the 100 Galleon bid. She hadn't seen whoever had bid against him.

The bids for 110, 120, 130, and 140 came in quick succession from four separate wizards, one being her good friend Michael Corner; another, McLaggen. The other two she didn't recognize. The auctioneer called for the 150 bid the first time that she noticed Draco raise his wand.

"200 Galleons," he called out.

Michael, bless his heart, held up his wand and shouted, "250!"

"300 Galleons!" yelled McLaggen, earning him a pat on the back from Ron. The bids now came in fifty Galleon increments.

"500 Galleons," called Malfoy.

"Oh my gods," Hermione murmured. The crowd gasped at the large jump the bid had taken. An unknown wizard, along with Draco and McLaggen drove the bid from 500 to 1,000 Galleons! At this point, all of the girls were crowding around the curtain backstage to catch a glimpse of the action. The tiny auctioneer looked like he was about to faint.

"D-do, do I hear 1100 Galleons? Going once...going twice…"

"Fifteen-hundred Galleons!" Cormac's voice rang out loud and clear, He stood and turned to glare out at the audience, paying special attention to the blonde wizard seated in the row behind him. "And gentlemen," he warned, "I can go all night."

What in the name of Merlin is that supposed to mean? That cheeky bastard!

"Oh, my!" gasped the tiny auctioneer. Before he could call out for the next bid, number 105 was illuminated once more.

"Two-thousand Galleons," calmly called Draco from his seat. The audience gasped.

"Twenty-five-hundred Galleons!" roared McLaggen." He was still standing. Still looking entirely like an arse.

"Goodness. Do I hear 2,600 Galleons? No? 2,500 Galleons going once..."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Draco's number was illuminated once more.

"Five-thousand Galleons," he countered.

McLaggen sat down in his chair looking entirely vexed. "Going once...going twice..." yelled the auctioneer. "SOLD! To bidder 1-0-5 with a bid of 5,000 Galleons!"

Five thousand galleons! Was he out of his mind!?

"Harry! Psst...Harry!" she said, getting her friend's attention over the roaring cheers and applause "That's like...that's nearly ...oh m'gods, nearly 25,000 pounds!"

"I'm guessing you've never worn that dress to your Monday lunch," Harry said with a wink.

The staging area was in absolute chaos and titters by the time Hermione and Harry made their way to the corridor. Angelina was quite literally bouncing up and down in her gold stilettos and shimmering Griffyndor-red sheath. "Gods, Mione! I told you!" she shrieked.

Once everything had settled down and the Gringotts notes had been collected, the winning bidders were led to the front of the corridor to collect their dates for the evening. George Weasley gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek and some R-rated advice on his way out with Angelina. Ernie raised a brow at her as he collected Mandy. Astoria gave her a small, sad smile as she left with her own date.

Harry did a final security check of the cleared out area. "Everything looks good, you'll be fine with Malfoy I presume?" She nodded. "Kind of silly, me acting as your bodyguard knowing how many times you've saved my arse."

"Very silly. Send Ginny and my godson my love. I'll see you all at the Burrow tomorrow?"

"Of course. Looks like your date has arrived," he said, kissing her on the cheek. Harry pointed his index and middle fingers at his eyeglass lenses and then pointed at Malfoy who had just entered the curtained area.

And then they were alone.

"Malfoy," she breathed as he moved toward her. He wore what she could only assume were his finest dress robes, white satin vest and tie over a crisp white shirt and slim black trousers.

"Hermione, I just sp- donated 5,000 Galleons to be here with you…" he said, choosing his words carefully. He bowed to her gallantly, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. "...please, call me Draco."

"Draco." She returned his shy smile.

"I just want to be clear, that, in there..." he said, pointing to the area past the curtain where the auction had taken place, "...wasn't about a pissing contest with McLaggen," he asserted. "I don't care about McLaggen."

"Oh?" she challenged. "What was it about then?"

"Really?" he sighed. Hermione stood very still as he brought his hands up to either side of her head, one large hand cupping her jaw and cheek, the other tangling gently in her hair. His eyes bore into her. "It's about this, Hermione."

She watched intently as he lowered his face to hers; breathing in the spicy citrus scent of his cologne. Her lids fluttered shut as his lips came into contact with her own. Draco's mouth was soft but urgent, parting her lips with a sweep of his tongue. Her hands flew up to grasp the lapels on his robes as he kissed her purposefully and deeply. She matched each pass of his lips and stroke of his tongue as the kiss turned hungry. His right hand clutched somewhat firmly onto the curls at the nape of her neck now, the tender sting, the only thing grounding her to reality. Hermione released a soft whimper as they began to part. Draco smiled against her lips, pressing his against her mouth and jaw several more times before coming up for air. He rested his forehead against hers as their breaths came and left in short little bursts.

"Merlin."

Speechless, Hermione could only nod in agreement. In the near distance, they could hear the soft hum of a violin.

"Come on," he said, pulling her toward the music. "I fancy a dance with the most beautiful witch at the ball."

A/N: This story is an excerpt from my multi-chapter fic, Love At Work. Check it out if you want to hear Draco and Hermione's story leading up to the ball and what happens after...reviews are love! Please leave a review or "favorite" this story if you enjoyed it. Check out the stunning jeweled gowns that inspired Hermione's look by checking out my Pinterest board titled LAW inspo! Amanda B. /mandaraverin.