YEAH BABY! Hello again to you all and thank-you for coming back and reading chapter 9 of I'm Not a Lonely Heart! I know it has been months since my last update and I do appologise for that. After I read the Deathly Hallows I sort of lost my 'Umph' for writing Harry Potter Fan Fiction. I am dreadfully depressed about Fred being killed so I am glad that he remains alive in my story! YAY. This might be a terrible chapter as things that happen in it might not meet your standards but none-the-less...Enjoy
Disclaimer: JKR even owns Harry Potter in Italics!!!
I'm not a Lonely Heart!!
Chapter Nine: Dinner and the Abduction
Four days before the Saturday that Hermione was destined to meet Draco Malfoy, she received a letter from him informing her where they would be dinning. She had heard many things about the restaurant she was going to be dinning at; it had received 5 Snitches in the Daily Prophet and many famous witches and wizards were seen in there eating the divine food. It was strange that Hermione had never ventured into it before, but she had never really been fussed on eating out with other famous people, the wizardratti would have kittens if they got pictures of her stumbling drunk out of restaurants. No, that sort of lifestyle wasn't for Hermione, she didn't need heaps of famous friends to be happy and she was proud that no picture existed of her humiliating herself.
"Wow the Golden Cauldron! Now that's fancy, trust a spy to take a girl there," said George as he placed a few Skiving Snack boxes onto a large shelf. Hermione stared at the man who was now examining a box that had been opened by a customer and placed back onto the shelf.
"Who told you he was a spy?" she said in a furious whisper. George looked at the Healer standing beside him, laughed and chucked the tampered snack box into a nearby bin.
"Harry shouldn't have told Ron. He has a mouth on him bigger than a Grindylow. I know Ron is Harry's best mate and all that, but there are just some things that you can't tell that big mouth!" he said as he continued to laugh. Hermione's face flushed in anger and she made a mental note in her mind that Ron needed a good hexing. She flicked her medium-length, straight hair in anger and looked around the brightly coloured shop.
"Where's Fred?" she asked rather aggressively trying to take her mind off of permanently rearranging Ron's face. George set the last of the boxes on their rightful shelves, picked up the box they had been contained in and walked back into the store room. Hermione moved over to the cash-register and heard George shout out to her, "He's in Switzerland didn't he tell you?"
Hermione felt something pull at her stomach, he hadn't told her. "No, he didn't," she said rather quietly, more to herself than to George, but George who had just appeared by her side had heard her.
"Well I suppose it was a surprise business trip, I don't think he even told mum," he said as he fixed objects sitting at the till which had been askew. Hermione smiled; well at least she wasn't the only one who hadn't been informed. The Weasley twins always seemed to be going on business trips to other countries. Their business was certainly booming and big business men in different countries were really starting to take interest in them. She couldn't feel happier for them even if she tried.
It was the day before Hermione's next date with Draco and she was found working frantically at her desk.
"Stupid Hospital Bank crap!" she muttered as her quill raced across the piece of parchment. She heard a noise coming from her office door and she hurriedly signed her name at the bottom of the document. She looked up as she dumped her quill into her ink pot and seen Bill standing at the doorway.
"Oh hey Bill! What are you doing here?" she asked in a surprisingly breathless tone. Bill smiled at her and walked into her office.
"Fleur's got an appointment with her Healer and I thought I'd pop in and say hello while she was busy," he said as he sat down on the seat opposite Hermione who was smiling at him. He smiled back at her but then became suddenly serious.
"Herms I heard about Malfoy," he said bluntly. Hermione who hadn't been expecting this gaped at him and blinked several times in shock.
"How?" she asked, but as soon she had said that she realised who would have told him.
"Ron," he said, "and I just want you to be careful tomorrow alright, because I've seen some of those spies around Gringots and they are really dodgy guys."
Hermione frowned and shuffled some parchments on her desk. She appreciated how concerned that people where now that they knew Draco was a member of MI6.1, but she was a grown woman and she could take care of herself and she'd had to remind Molly of that several times.
"Bill I understand and thanks for your concern but like I told your mother I know what I am doing and I am a grown, successful woman who can take care of herself," she said in a stern manner. Bill looked slightly taken-back but grinned at her none-the-less.
"I can do this!" said Hermione in a strong voice as she stood opposite her wardrobe. It was the day of her second date with Draco Malfoy and no one was available to help her get ready. But like she had told them all she was a grown woman, she was successful and could take care of herself. Getting ready for a big night out was easy…wasn't it? She flung open the doors of her wardrobe with surprising force and started to rummage her way through her mountain of clothes.
45 minutes later Hermione emerged from her bathroom fully dressed, her hair styled to a form of perfection and her make-up applied. She grinned and looked over to her bed, "Thanks Percy!" she said with gusto. Percy shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal. "Just be glad I was let out of work early. I've never met a girl more inadequate at dressing herself in my life," he said as he stood up and walked over to her. Hermione was dressed in smart attire. Her pencil skirt came to just below her knees and was a mahogany shade of brown; her white shirt had ruffles in the middle and around the collar and short cuffs and her shoes where dark brown strap sandals. Her hair was in luxurious ringlets which sat neatly at the bottom of her neck and shoulders and her make up was natural and relaxed.
"I'm just glad you came around to collect those Ministry parchments from me. I swear I shouldn't have to do those stupid documents for the ministry, they don't care about the Hospital and I don't care about them," Hermione said as she checked herself out in her full length mirror. Percy grinned and stood behind her, "I will not have you bad mouthing my job," he said with a light chuckle. Hermione stuck her tongue out at him in a very childish fashion and grabbed her coat off the table beside her. She took one last look at herself and walked out into the living room of her expensive flat.
"Be careful alright?" said Percy who was now standing at the front door. Hermione glared at him, "What part of 'grown woman' don't you people understand?"
Percy held his hands up in defence, "Sorry, just thought it was appropriate seeing as you are going on a date with a spy."
'I am so going to murder Ron,' Hermione thought viciously. Percy lowered his hands again and opened the front door. "I just don't want you getting into something you can't get yourself out of," he said sincerely. Hermione managed to smile at him, sighed and said "Thanks for your help Percy, you were a life saver. When's Penelope back by the way? Is she still in Holland?"
Percy's face lit up, it was as if the sun itself had decided it would shine out through Percy Weasley's face at that very moment. "Oh she's left Holland now and is on her way to France. She should be back in 3 weeks time hopefully. I can't believe she's been away for so long, but research is research. She sends her love and can't wait to be home again," he said in a voice which suggested he was on cloud nine, or some other cloud which insinuated happiness.
"That's great, hope she has a safe journey to France, but anyway I must be going now Percy," Hermione said sweetly as she picked up her bag which had been sitting on her coffee table. "Yes me too, I'll see you later Herms," said Percy as he left the flat. Hermione smiled and walked over to her door, Percy had already apparated out of the building and all that was left for her to do now was to lock her door and apparate to the restaurant.
'Well this is it…date time,' Hermione though as she locked her door and readied herself to apparate.
The waiter showed the beautiful young woman to the table she had been reserved under. She thanked him gratefully and took her seat. She sat alone for 15 minutes until a man dressed in a dark suit walked up to her side.
"Good evening," he said in a silky voice. She jumped as she hadn't heard him approaching but regained her composure in a split second and looked up at him. "Good evening Draco," she said, her intelligence ringing out in her voice. Draco gave her a shadow of a smile and sat down opposite her. Hermione surveyed the chiselled demeanour of the man in front of her. His elegant face was groomed to perfection like it always was and he was surrounded in the fragrance of what smelled like an autumn forest and cinnamon. Even though this alone would have been enough to send any woman to the moon, Hermione kept a straight face and a calm mood because the thought that the man that was sitting in front of her was a trained killer was more than enough to stem any desire to jump across the table and smother him with kisses. But she had to admit to herself that this factor was exciting her some-what.
"So where's my money?" Hermione said, breaking the ice.
Draco smirked, "I've paid you back, did you not find that money and have you forgotten about all of those cocktails?"
Hermione barely kept her blood from boiling, "Those drinks were not proper payment!" she said savagely as their waiter came to order their drinks. They both ordered wine, Hermione white and Draco red.
"Well you didn't establish what 'proper payment' was," said Draco rather cheekily. Hermione sighed in frustration, "I thought you would have been old enough and wise enough to know that I expected the right money back!" They both glared at each other and remained that way when the waiter set down their glasses in front of them.
"May I take you order?" said the waiter in a very posh accent.
Hermione broke the terrifying glare and looked up at the waiter with a surprisingly sweet look on her face.
"Yes I will have the soup to start and then the aromatic duck with a side order of champ please," she said in a sickly sweet voice which reminded Draco fiercely of Dolores Umbridge.
"Very good, and sir?" said the waiter as he jotted down Hermione's order. Draco snapped himself out of his ravine and looked up at the waiter.
"I will have the salad to start please and then could I have the sweet and sour pork with boiled rice and a side order of creamed potatoes," he said in a voice so cool it reminded Hermione of a winter breeze.
The waiter nodded his head and then left their table and scurried off to the kitchens. Hermione's smile evaporated as soon as the waiter was out of sight and she then returned to glaring at Draco. Draco glanced at her and then sighed, "Are you going to do that until you get the proper amount of money back?"
"Yes, but something else is bothering me," she said smoothly as she kept glaring at him. A sudden foreboding feeling settled in Draco's stomach as he surveyed the young witch, why was he getting a bad feeling about this?
"Why is it that you know what I have done with my life after Hogwarts yet I know nothing of what you have done, except that you went to New Zealand around 6 months ago?" she asked, still with a smooth tone. She had decided that just for the fun of it, she would try and worm it out of Draco that he was an international spy who could kill people without getting sent to Azkaban. It was just something for her to do before the night was over. But she hadn't yet decided if she was going to take Harry's advice and never see him again because she had to admit he was a rather interesting person to go out with. He always looked the part, he had fine tastes, he knew how to treat a lady…when he wanted to and above all else she wanted to know how much the sly Slytherin snake had changed over the years.
Draco gulped; he'd forgotten what his alias job was. All of the times he'd used it over the years and somehow, just by looking at Hermione, he'd managed to forget what it was. 'Damn!' he thought to himself as he took a sip of his fine red wine.
"Well…what's taking you? It's not like you have anything to hide," Hermione said as she mentally chuckled to herself. Her rare outbursts of wit really made her feel warm inside; they proved that she wasn't a total stuck up prude like Ginny had once stated.
"I…I run a very successful business," said Draco as his mind started to sharpen itself.
"Oh and that is?" said Hermione as she placed her napkin onto her lap.
"The Pet-care company," said Draco as he mentally sighed. He'd remembered and it was partly true what he'd said. Malfoy's did run the Pet-care company of Britain, only it was run by his no good cousins and not by himself.
"You run the Pet-care Co.?" said Hermione sceptically. Well that was most certainly a lie; she knew Malfoy's ran that company and she knew Draco most certainly didn't have anything to do with it. "Well that's interesting, I always thought you'd have went into the Ministry…or an even higher organisation, but you proved me wrong," she continued as she watched Draco's face contort with confusion.
"Higher organisation?" he practically choked out. Some spy he was, he was usually cool when it came to false alias, and it really worked wonders on the ladies, but when it came to Hermione, he couldn't keep himself under control.
"Yes you know like the bank or God forbid, the Church," Hermione said as a soup bowl was placed in front of her.
"The Church? How is that a higher organisation than the Ministry and why would you imply that I might work in a church?" Draco said with a dry laugh. Hermione shrugged as she sipped her boiling hot tomato and basil soup. "The idea of you in the house of God Malfoy is quite scary. I don't know much about higher organisations than the ministry. Harry does though, but I'm afraid I don't. But I'm sure they exist, I've seen movies about secret spy organisations that have the power to control governments and foil the plans of evil men. I suppose anything's possible because in the muggle world those organisations actually exist. What are your thoughts Malfoy?" she said in an innocent, angelic voice.
Draco simply stared at her, his fork half way to his mouth and a piece of lettuce hanging dangerously on the end of its prongs. 'She knows!' he thought wildly to himself.
"Well I'm not too sure myself Granger; I think the whole talk of spies is ridiculous, and what are these movies you speak of?" he said as he regained his composure and devoured the lettuce before it fell onto the floor.
"Oh they are just simple muggle movies about a spy named James Bond who had a license to kill," said Hermione casually as she dipped bread into her soup. Draco nearly gagged on a piece of tomato, 'Okay she actually knows,' he thought to himself.
"License to Kill? That just nonsense, would you excuse me," he said as he swallowed the tomato and got up from the table. Hermione watched as the seemingly calm wizard walked over to the men's toilets and then chuckled to herself.
'This is fun, he's really freaking out. Some spy he is,' she thought as she continued to sip her soup.
'What the hell is going on, how does she know?' Draco thought to himself as he paced up and down the men's room floor.
'Potter must have found my file when he was doing his damn search of headquarters. That has to be it! And he showed her? GIT! That file was confidential!' he thought madly as he continued his pace. He finally stopped after another few moments of pacing and stared at himself in the mirror. He could handle this, he was Draco Malfoy, he'd be fine, and he always was. He smirked and then started to wash his hands. He heard the door open behind him but he didn't look up.
"Good evening 0007," came a sudden brazen voice from behind him. His head snapped up and in the background he heard the one thing he dreaded to hear. The scream of Hermione Granger.
A/N: Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun!! Okay now is the time to tell me...was that a crap chapter or was that a crap chapter :eek: REVIEW and inform me on EVERYTHING!