The Road

Work

And for the rest of the next few days they kept their routine. Where Hermione would join the two boys for breakfast and sometimes Ginny when she was going into work late. Sometimes she'd catch Ginny staring at Hermione when she spent a bit too long looking at Draco. Hermione would stick her tongue out at her for a split second, and Ginny would pretend she didn't notice.

And then Draco would wash, and Hermione would dry. It was all in a peaceful silence, and she was grateful that Draco let it stay that way. Then that would be the end of their interaction for that day. But what came from all of this, was how much she missed it when that moment was over, and the responsibilities of the world caught up with them, and the pressures to define what was really there came back to her.

As Hermione thought of this in her shop that day, and as she was cleaning the bell above the door, the knock that came startled her out of her wits. She looked down from her stool with surprise to see Draco standing at her door.

Hermione breathed in and out deeply before stepping down and opening the door.

"Yes?"

"May I come in?"

She carefully chose her words, but settled on what she said last time in a less serious tone, "Can't you read?"

Draco scoffed, but a smile edged at the corners of his mouth. "Actually, yes, I can," he responded, "Except there's nothing here for me to read."

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed as she checked the door to see that sign had fallen while she was cleaning. She avoided the smirk on his face as she slowly opened the door wider for him. As he stepped inside, Hermione picked up the sign and placed it back where it was. Then turning around she caught him reviewing the place.

"It isn't much yet, but it's getting there," she told him.

His fingers ran over the spines of the books she had nearly finished shelving. "Muggle books?" he asked.

"And Wizard books," she added, "I'm going to be selling both."

"That's smart," Draco told her, letting his eyes drift towards her, and scanning her up and down. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she moved to the back of the store where the main counter stood. She breathed heavily again. What was he up to? Moving along with the financials, she focused her attention on that in the moments she had before Draco appeared before her.

Leaning against the counter, he asked innocently, "Are you still going to keep snacks back there?"

She eyed him wearily, cautioning him to be careful. "Or are you already hoarding a bag of chips back there?" he questioned, his mouth forming into a smirk.

"You seem to be forgetting they're called crisps over here," she said, and unconvincingly added, "And no, I don't have any back here."

"Hm," he settled on. But only for a moment as he waved his wand and silently the bag of chips from her secret cabinet came flying to his open hand. He grinned wickedly.

"Hey!"

"You're much too predictable, Granger," he said to her as he opened and began to eat. She snatched it out of his hand and denied, "I am not predictable, Malfoy."

She turned away to put it back in her cabinet, and then heard him say, "So it's Malfoy again, is it?"

"It's always been Malfoy," she said sourly.

"Not always," he said all too mischievously, then backed away when she threatened to throw something at him.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"I was in the area," he most certainly lied, "Looking for a job actually."

"There are plenty of muggle mechanic shops in London, you know," she told him.

"I think it's about time I retire from my mechanic work," he said, "Time to assimilate back into this world."

She bit her cheek. "Do you mean that?"

His gaze softened a bit. "Yeah, I do." She didn't realize how close he was now standing against the counter, and she pulled back a bit. "And yet," he continued, "As comfortable as Potter's sofa is," he said lying through his teeth, "I am going to need something closer to work."

She raised an eyebrow. "You found a job already?"

"Yes," and then he grinned, "And it's a hell of a first day."

Her eyes widened. "You're not working here, Malfoy."

"On the contrary, love, I've spoken to the owner of this establishment myself. We go way back."

Her heart rate quickened. "I'm the owner of this establishment," she retaliated.

"Not according to your contract with Blaise," he informed, "Looks like his name is still on the deed. And after the first month, he would-"

"Sign it over to me," she bit the inside of her cheek, recalling their deal, "I remember."

She turned quickly and walked further into the store. She would evidently have to kill Blaise later. His voice followed after her, "So what's first, boss?"

She huffed, "I've taken care of everything. There's really nothing here for you to do." Her back was still turned from him, and he was silent for a long time. She turned her head to see him fiddling with something behind the counter.

"Hey! Don't touch anything!"

She marched over to him to snatch whatever he was holding but paused to see it was a small radio she brought in. She thought it would be nice to have music in the store when it first opened. Yet, seeing him attempt to work the little contraption seemed to make her forget instantly how to breathe.

"This thing doesn't even play CD's, Granger," he turned to her. He gave her a perplexed expression when she turned her gaze away from him. "It's not meant to play CD's. It's just a radio."

"I see." She went back to her work, as far away from him as possible. But of course that didn't stop him from saying. "So, Granger..."

She groaned.

"What exactly is your....system here?"

"What do you mean?" He was looking about the shop with a perplexed expression. "I mean, are you having your customers sit on cardboard boxes while they read?"

She stuck her tongue in her cheek as he walked to the window. "You should have chairs situated right here," he told her, "Like how you had them in Mary's."

It became apparent to Hermione that he was trying to get her to remember how things were in Cherrywood. How things were with him, and how simple it was to live their lives together again. Yet, she wasn't going to fall so easily into his arms again. She couldn't let herself.

She chose to ignore his remark on Cherrywood and said, "They just arrived this morning. I haven't gotten a chance to unpack them yet." She then added, "Now, if you would please leave, or just don't touch anything, I'd like to get some work done. Thanks." She didn't wait for his response, and forced herself to not turn back around as she went straight to the back of the shop once again. She spent most of the day in the back office working in silent frustration, as most of the work needed to be done was in the front, where he currently was.

It was an hour later when the bell to the shop door alerted her that someone had either entered or left. Hoping for the latter, she walked to the front of the store and paused at the display before her.

The faux dragon leather chairs were stationed across from one another beside the shop window. But what caught Hermione's eyes the most was the object in the middle of the side table, concealed with a small purple fabric. Lifting it off, Hermione felt her eyes water again.

It was a Cherry Tree, magically charmed and shrunken down in a small glass container resembling that of a snow globe. Hermione presses a finger delicately against the glass, and instantly the tree branches began to move like they were being blown gently by a soft wind, which caused a falling of small, familiar, petals.

Sitting firmly on the chair beside it, Hermione spent the remainder of that night letting her fingers dance against the charmed glass, and dreaming of Cherrywood and him all over again.