"What are you doing?"

Ginny looked up from her pile of paperwork as Draco entered her office. Her eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly as she caught a glimpse of the fuming blond, who was holding several pieces of parchment in his hands. She realized immediately what those documents were, and she winced slightly, knowing that this would not be a pleasant conversation.

"Weasley?" Draco questioned further. "Why am I holding your resignation?"

"Because I'm not going to be working for you anymore," she answered bluntly. Having known him for so long, Ginny was well aware of the fact that subtlety and sugarcoating would be a complete waste of energy. "I was offered another job."

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "So you're leaving? Just like that?"

"Not exactly." She set her quill down and stepped in front of the desk, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. "I was offered an administrative position."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "An administrative position where?"

Suddenly not wanting to make eye contact with her soon-to-be former boss, Ginny turned towards her desk and began adjusting her stacks of paperwork and organizing her already neat desk. "You know, Draco, why don't we go to lunch or something?" she asked, her back still turned. "My treat, all right?"

His hand grasped her wrist, effectively stopping her from the needless tidying. "Weasley, stop it," he commanded. "You're going to answer my question now."

Ginny turned slowly, still biting at her lip nervously. "Well… well Mr. Andrews thought that maybe I would be better suited for working in one of his offices."

"Andrews?"

"Yes."

"Andrews is my supervisor's boss!"

She began to fidget. "Yes, I know."

"So does that mean that you're going to be…"

"Your superior," she supplied. "So how about that lunch now?"

"You slippery little weasel!" Draco cried, once again grabbing her wrist before she could turn back around. "What did you do? Did you just flirt with Andrews or did you bloody well shag him, too?"

Ginny wanted to be angry at that comment, but instead she just felt terrible. How could Draco – her boss for the last five years and her friend (sort of) for the last two – accuse her of sleeping her way to the top?

"You know what?" she said, grabbing her handbag and her coat from behind the door. "You can think whatever you want. I knew you'd be upset that I wasn't going to be working for you, but I never would have thought that you'd accuse me of something like that. Not after how close we've been."

"Where are you going?" Draco asked, his voice a little quieter.

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm taking a personal half-day. I can't be around you right now."

x

It was around eight o'clock that evening when he found her, sitting alone at the bar inside her favorite pub. He knew she'd be there; she always went when she was upset or when she wanted to celebrate. On that evening, she had reason to do both.

Draco took a seat beside her cautiously, knowing full well that his company would not be welcome after the conversation they'd had earlier in the day.

Ginny glanced at the blond out of the corner of her eye, looking at him disdainfully as she threw back her drink. It was quite obvious that she had no intention of acknowledging him with anything other than glares.

"I talked to Andrews," Draco said by way of ice-breaker. "I told him that you don't have to complete your two remaining weeks. It shouldn't be a problem finding a replacement."

"Right," she answered with an angry slur. "Because I'm so replaceable, right? Is that what you came here to tell me? That I'm bloody replaceable?"

"I thought you'd be happy that I'm letting you go, Weasley. I thought you wanted to get out of my office."

She shook her head. "I didn't ask to be moved, Draco! Andrews approached me and said he needed to replace your supervisor because he was moving! I tried to get out of it, but he told me that he wasn't asking! He told me, he said, 'Malfoy is good at what he does, but he's bloody awful to work with.' And then he said, 'You're the only person I've ever heard him say good things about.' I guess he figured if I was good enough to impress you, you great big git, that I must be good enough to replace Warner!"

Draco looked down and remained quiet for several minutes. "I didn't mean what I said earlier, you know."

"What? You didn't mean to accuse me of being a whore?" Her voice was like acid.

"I was angry, Ginny."

"Well, it was really smart to insult your new boss, Draco," she answered wryly, a little bit of humor suddenly apparent in her voice.

"Yeah."

"Well, then you better find a way to make it up to me before I move upstairs."

Draco looked at the redhead beside him, the smirk on her face stirring something within him. It was obvious she had something in mind for how he could make things up to her. "What do you suggest, love?"

Her smirk widened as she leaned in closer, her lips grazing against his cheek as lightly as a feather as they travelled further back to brush against his ear. "I guess you'll just have to think of something," she said, "won't you?"

He had a few ideas.