Behind the Veil

Pairing: Dramione

Rated: T (for language)

Summary: He had played her, had made her believe that everything between them was real. And just when she had moved on, just when she was sure she could close that part of her life behind her, he reappeared, ready to begin the cycle once again.

A/N: Just to clarify any confusion, there are two running timelines. The story takes place in 2004, with flashbacks that take place between 2001-2003.

Thanks to my betas Yuli and Yami, you guys are the best :)

Chapter One:

March 2nd, 2004
Griffith & Sons Corporation
London Branch

"What?!" Hermione demanded, almost leaping to her feet. "You are selling the company?"

The man that was Hermione's boss, whom she had now come to consider almost a friend, sighed, leaning back in his seat. "I have to, Hermione."

"But, Mr. Griffith, this is a family company; your family has been dedicated to this company for centuries. You can't just lose hope now."

"We're bankrupt, Hermione. Our company can't compete with the number of new potions that the competition has churned out these days. Our facilities are outdated, we're underfunded. There isn't much I can do."

Hermione let out a slow, solemn sigh. "What's going to happen now?"

Mr. Griffith sat straighter in his chair. "That's why I brought you here. You see, although you have only worked in my company for eight months, in that time you have created and patented the production of the Jason Potion under our company's name. Therefore, as sole creator of the Jason Potion, I'm offering you two options; you can either allow the potion's patent to move to Malfoy Industries, or -,"

"What?" Hermione asked.

He looked to her questioningly. She clarified, "I'm sorry, sir; I thought I heard you say Malfoy Industries."

"I did, Hermione. Didn't I mention, I'm selling the company to the Malfoy's?"

Hermione felt her face drain of color. "Malfoy Industries is buying the company?"

"Yes. I looked at your file and saw that you worked for them in the Australia branch before coming here; I don't see the major problem."

Shock overwhelmed her. Malfoy? She took in a breath, and pushed back the distant memories that were creeping up on her with the mention of his name. "I – I'm just surprised."

"Look, Hermione," he began in a less formal tone, leaning forward, "I'm assuming you have had bad history with Malfoy Industries, which is why you left them, but they gave me the best deal. They are offering to keep full employment of my employees, and allow them to continue research with all their current projects."

Of course, Malfoy would be the one to offer the best of the best. He was a Malfoy, after all. "What's the catch?" Hermione grumbled under her breath.

"Ah, the catch," Mr. Griffith continued, ignoring her tone. "Two things: one, you along with all my other employees will be relocated to the Malfoy Industries building down the street, and two, I must resign my position as CEO."

"That bastard," Hermione mumbled.

"Pardon?"

She cleared her throat. "Is there really no other way?" she asked louder.

Mr. Griffith shook his head. "The other option is to sell to a less generous company that would lay off half my employees or shut down the place as a whole."

Hermione sat back in her seat, aggravated. If there was one thing she never wanted to have to do, it was to be in that annoying, self-absorbed, pompous, abandoning arse's presence ever again. "What else is there to discuss?" Hermione asked.

"Ah, back to what I was going to say, the Jason Potion. You can either give the rights of distribution to Malfoy Industries, or arrange a meeting with Mr. Draco Malfoy and discuss your rights of ownership over its distribution."

There might as well have been only one option, because she, for one, was not going to give her two years of hard work over to him without a fight. "Arrange the meeting."

Hermione grumbled in her office. She couldn't believe this. Griffith was selling the company, and she only had a few days' notice before she had to pick up her things and move into the Malfoy Industries building. Granted, it was just down the street, but still! Hermione Granger was not one to just joyously pack up her things and hop on over to her ex-boyfriend's company to work under his management.

No, she had much more pride than that.

July 2001
Australian Ministry of Magic

Tonight was the Australian Head of Law Enforcement's birthday celebration. Being a ministry employee, it had been deemed pretty much mandatory for Hermione to go. She arrived without complaint, and was currently sitting at an empty table near the dance floor, looking around to find any co-workers, or possibly some friends she had met in her healer training academy, that she could talk to.

Technically, Hermione wasn't a healer. She had a degree to be one, but her preferred work was researching for cures. Besides working at the ministry, the only job opened to her out of the gate was being a proper healer. It wasn't that she didn't want to help people. It was just that, after seeing blood and guts many times in her life, she didn't enjoy it.

Suddenly, her light was blocked by a large figure. Looking up, she saw the face of Draco Malfoy. Shock crossed her face despite her trying to hide it. She was positive it was him, but what was he doing in Australia? The last time she saw him was at his trial, in London, when Harry had testified for the freedom of his family.

"Care to dance, Granger?" he asked, holding out a hand to her.

She hesitated. While it had been a few years, and he was "redeemed" and now a successful businessman, after all those years of name-calling and hatred, it was still difficult to just accept his hand.

"It's just a dance, Granger."

His tone was almost daring. Hermione looked into his eyes to catch that familiar look he gave throughout their childhood when he was pushing her to see how far she'd go, but now it was for completely different reasons.

She reasoned one dance couldn't hurt, and besides, she wasn't going to let him scare her. She took his hand as he helped her to her feet and onto the dance floor. Once they had gotten into the proper dancing position, Hermione felt secure enough to ask the question that screamed at her. "Why are you here?" She knew she added a bit more attitude than may have been polite, but she hoped he didn't notice.

"I was invited by the Minister of Magic."

Rolling her eyes, she rephrased the question. "I meant: what are you doing in Australia?"

"Malfoy Industries is in the process of expansion."

"Oh." A weak response, but she didn't have a better reply. What else would he be here for? Hermione knew about Malfoy Industries. The company revolutionized potion brewing. They were the first company to have their entire business run on the selling and distribution of potions. It was hard to imagine, but just over fifty years ago, all apothecaries and hospitals alike brewed their own potions. The ingenuity of Malfoy Industries was to create pre-brewed potions. Therefore, all there was for hospitals and apothecaries to do was to simply contact Malfoy Industries to get a potion in days, as opposed to personally brewing a potion for weeks. The idea that Malfoy Industries wanted to spread worldwide to maximize potion distribution, and their profits, made sense.

"And now that I have answered one of your questions, it is my turn; why are you in Australia?"

The question didn't faze her in the least; she was asked it about a half a dozen times a day by people who recognized her from Britain. "Australia has the best healer academy in the world."

"And you are to be a healer?"

"No, I want to find cures for diseases and ailments."

"Research, then."

"Yes." Hermione looked up to see his reaction; it wasn't one of surprise. "But you already knew that."

"I did," he said, giving her a look one could have perceived as arrogant.

"Then why bother asking?" she demanded.

"People don't like it when I just know things." Hermione silently seconded that. She saw him looking over the top of her head, and she used the excuse to look up at him. He'd definitely changed over the past few years; he had grown into his body and filled out his form. She could feel his shoulders through his robes. His hair was styled in a way that nowhere near resembled his old gelled up style. It was swept over to one side, done in a fashion that made it seem almost careless, but she knew it had to be more than it appeared.

"My, my," his voice drawled suddenly as he looked down to her. "Do you like what you see, Granger?"

Blushing, she diverted her gaze. It was embarrassing to be caught gawking. It was then she realized how fast her heart was beating. He spun her suddenly, before pulling her even closer to him.

Now Hermione could feel a lot of his upper body, and the gap between them was significantly less. Neither of them said anything as they danced. Hermione could feel her heart begin to pound louder, and couldn't work up the nerve to say anything.

It wasn't until the last few chords of the song were being played that he spoke again. "Maybe we can meet up sometime."

Was this what she thought it was? "What for?" she questioned.

He didn't reply. She wasn't sure why, but part of her wondered if it was because he hadn't heard her. She made to repeat the question when the song ended, and they parted to give the band a round of applause.

"Thank you for the dance, Miss Granger." Hermione felt her heart flutter as he took her hand and kissed it. Hermione's heart fell a little as he straightened and began to walk away.

Logically, she knew she would probably be seeing more of him while he was still in Australia, and that the dance was most likely for old time's sakes or just basic PR. But, as he left her standing there on the dance floor, she didn't want it to be over. And a part of her hoped that he felt the same way.

She figured that one more dance wouldn't hurt anyone, so as the next song started up she drew upon her Gryffindor courage to call out, "Malfoy?" He stopped, turning to her. "I'd – I'd -" she sighed, closing her eyes as the words rolled off her tongue, "like another dance." As she opened her eyes, her cheeks turned crimson, and she knew it, but she couldn't figure out another way to phrase it.

His face was impassive at first. It had her worrying, was she stepping out of line? Was his dancing with her something courteous because she had been alone? Was she reading his signals wrong? It was only a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime, before she saw his infamous smirk cross his face. She felt the relief wash through her as he sauntered back over to her, and took her into his arms for their second dance.

He didn't leave her side again until the end of the night.

March 2nd, 2004
Hermione's Flat

Ten o'clock found Hermione with Ron. They had just returned from a dinner with Harry and Ginny, and were comfortably snuggling on the couch. Hermione had her head resting on Ron's shoulder as he played with her hair.

The two of them had been casually dating again for only a few months now. After the war, they were together for a while until Hermione decided to finish up her schooling properly at Hogwarts before heading off to a healer academy. But Ron had decided he wanted to go into auror training immediately. And so the two had split, saying if it was meant to be, they'd still love each other when they got back.

After Hogwarts, Hermione left for Australia, and it wasn't until five years later that things settled enough that Hermione could even see Ron. He and Harry were always on trips around the world for their auror training. After training was complete, the two of them spent months awkwardly going around the "dating" topic. And it wasn't until last December when Ron finally asked her on a date. She didn't refuse.

She needed someone like Ron. He was dependable, loyal, familiar, stable, and most importantly, his love for her never faltered. That was what she needed. After the fiasco with Draco in Australia, she needed someone who would love her for her, and not require anything else.

Her thoughts were interrupted with Ron's intake of breath, and the regular rhythm of his breathing paused. "You've been quiet, Hermione. What's on your mind?" he asked.

Sighing, Hermione looked into the fire. "Griffith is selling the company."

It was quiet, and although she didn't see the shock on his face, she could imagine it well enough. "To whom?" he asked.

"Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Ron asked. He sat up, forcing Hermione off his shoulder. "What does that mean?"

Hermione sighed. "It means I now work for him, and I will be moving into his company's building on Monday."

"You could come work for the Ministry, the healing department is just below the auror's." He waggled his eyebrows, and Hermione smiled, before forcing herself into their previous position; she had been comfortable there.

"I can't."

"Why not?" he asked, resuming his play with her hair.

"He also owns the Jason potion."

"That can't be a bad thing, Hermione. I mean, yes, we don't like him, but his parents did save Harry's life, and we did testify for him. And on top of that, I know Malfoy's company is the top potions distributor."

Hermione sighed. Yes, all of what Ron said was true, and no, it wasn't so bad a thing. Her potion would get distributed, it would meet the demands, it would always get to where it needed to be on time. But Ron didn't know about her other "history" with Malfoy, Ron didn't know she dated him for over a year in Australia, and Ron didn't know that she didn't want to have anything to do with him again. But she wasn't going to tell him that. So she stuck with a complacent, "I suppose."

"You can't mean to say you're still harboring ill feelings from our school days."

"No, I'm not," she said dismissively. Her ill feelings were from much more recent than that.

"Then why do you seem so upset?"

"I don't know; I just have a bad feeling about this, is all." It wasn't a lie. In truth, she had bad feelings over the idea of working for Malfoy because of their history, but that's not how she meant Ron to interpret what she meant.

"It'll be fine," he said, kissing her head. "If you want, just ask him for the rights to distribute the potion, and then come work at the Ministry with me." Hermione nodded the best she could without moving her head off his shoulder. That seemed like the best plan now, and the one she intended to make follow through. "I mean, what's he going to do? Burn your resignation letter, and refuse you the rights to your own potion? Bah." He chuckled at the idea of it.

Hermione laughed a little as well. She felt a little more assured now. Ron was right, he couldn't force her to stay, or keep the rights to her potion if she asked. The idea of it was absurd, even with their history. She was probably worrying for nothing.

Pulling a blanket over them, Hermione began asking Ron about his day.

March 9th, 2004
Hermione's Flat
8:23 AM

Today was the day; Hermione had a meeting with Malfoy at nine. And she was going in prepared. The Jason Potion was hers. She was the sole inventor, creator, owner, whatever they wanted to call it.

She had researched a cure after she met a little boy named Jason in a hospital in Australia. She was working part time as a healer's assistant then, something to keep her busy after school, and her job was to mainly give patients their meals. Most of the people she fed were old, grouchy, and not very talkative. That is, except Jason. He was outgoing, bouncy, and never stopped asking questions.

She remembered after she met him, she had asked one of the nurses what was wrong with him, and one of the nurses had simply told her he had Billywig Syndrome and left. Hermione knew what a Billywig was. Blue billywigs were harmless, but she also knew the sting of the more rare white Billywig slowly killed a person from the inside. She had also found there was a potion, one that stopped the effects of the poison, if given to the victim within 24 hours of the sting.

Hermione cried when she first realized that victims who didn't get that treatment quickly enough usually suffered fatal consequences.

For the next few weeks, Hermione visited Jason every day, and his personality and happiness never seemed to fade. It was only his strength that continued to change in him until, on the last day she saw him, he couldn't even get out of his bed.

The first time Hermione was given reign to research for potions after she had gotten her degree, the first cure she attempted was one for Billywig Syndrome, a proper cure, one that could have saved people like Jason.

After two years of research, she succeeded, and she was not going to give up the rights to its distribution now.

Her plan was simple: storm in, demand everything she wanted, resign, and leave. It was as simple as that and she wasn't going to let him run her over.

Whilst going through the rest of her morning routine, Hermione began to mentally prepare. If it was one thing Hermione knew, it was that Draco Malfoy was a stubborn man. And in order to get what she wanted, she had to be more stubborn. She had to make sure he wouldn't play her like he did three years ago, that he couldn't play her like he did then. Hermione was going to march in, completely business professional, and get what she wanted.

Checking to make sure she had everything in her purse, Hermione got ready to floo into the office. She supposed that was one of the perks that Malfoy Industries provided for their workers.

Stop. She had to stop, she couldn't want to go back and work for him. She couldn't do that to herself. Not after – not after everything that happened.

Hermione cast a grooming charm that would make sure none of her clothes would get messed up from the dust of the fireplace, took a deep breath, and stated as she dropped the floo powder, "Malfoy Industries."

The next clear image she had was of Malfoy Industries. She was in the floo room. The entire room consisted of fireplaces for people to enter through. She stepped out and headed for the lift room down the hall.

Once there, she walked to the back of the room. All the lifts were lined on the sides of the walls, but there was only one lift positioned in the back wall. Above it, it clearly read, "Malfoy office". Hermione took in a breath, and pressed the only available button.

A bell chimed as the lift door opened. Hermione stepped in, and the doors closed. "State your name," a professional voice said.

"Hermione Granger."

It was quiet for a few moments, and still. Then, the lift picked up, and she could feel herself being carried up, higher and higher toward Malfoy's office.

Waiting as the elevator rose, Hermione controlled herself. Yes, she had seen Malfoy since then. She had seen him with his fiancée, Asteria Greengrass, quite a few times at important events. If there was one reason Hermione couldn't work for Malfoy again, it would be her.

"Come on, Hermione, you can do this," she whispered as the same bell noise she heard earlier chimed and the door slid open.

She stepped out to see a secretary with the same voice she heard in the elevator. "Ms. Granger, go on in, he's expecting you."

Hermione walked to the back of the hall. The doors were grand, almost too grand for a business office, but that was just Malfoy flaunting his wealth.

Hermione took in a breath. "This is it," she said quietly before pushing the doors open.

The office was huge, larger than his office in Australia. It had many tables lining the sides, and Hermione saw a pot of tea brewing. The entire back wall of the office was glass, and gave way to a lovely view. But the view was hindered by the gigantic desk in front of it, where Draco Malfoy was standing from his seat, ready to greet her.

"Hermione," he said in a voice that carried professionalism. "It's been too long."

Hermione stepped forward as he offered her a hand shake. She took it, whilst saying, "I'd prefer Granger, if you don't mind, Mr. Malfoy."

She saw one of his eyebrows flicker upward, before he released her hand. "Please, sit," he said.

She did as told. It was quiet for a few seconds, and she hoped he'd say something, because if he didn't, she was going to burst out and start demanding things.

"Griffith told me you wanted to discuss your ownership over the distributing rights of the Jason Potion." Hermione nodded. She watched as he picked up a paper and scanned it before saying, "The Jason Potion is, of course, a cure for Billywig Syndrome. This occurs when the rare white Billywig stings a witch or wizard, and its poison slowly shuts down the ability of the wizard to conduct magic, which has fatal consequences. The Jason Potion replaced Potion 329 as a treatment for Billywig Syndrome earlier this year worldwide, though it only affected Australia, considering the Billywig only lives in Australia -,"

"I know, Mr. Malfoy, what the potion does," she said, barely controlling the anger that was starting to possess her. He knew she knew this, and yet he was reciting it to her. And she knew for a fact that he knew she knew all this, because she had shared most of her struggles over the Jason Potion with him. Hell, he was the one who gave her the idea for the name of the potion.

"My question, Hermione, is why you would want to remove your potion from the largest potion distributing company in the world. You know we have a branch in Australia."

"Yes, I know. But largest doesn't necessarily mean best, Malfoy. Largest just means 'bought out most of the small time competition.'"

"I did Griffith a favor in keeping all his employees."

"Did it ever occur to you we didn't want your help?!"

"We? Or you, Hermione?"

"It's Granger!" Hermione said at the edge of her seat. "Don't call me Hermione like you care, Malfoy. Don't call me Hermione like I mean something to you, like I'm worth more to you than a pastime while you were in Australia. Don't."

"This isn't about you, Hermione; it's about your potion. We're supposed to be discussing the rights to its distribution."

"I invented the potion; give me the right to distribute it."

"You can't distribute a potion all the way in Australia, Hermione, not with you being on the wrong global hemisphere."

"I'll find another company."

"No company can do better than Malfoy Industries."

"I don't care."

"Aren't you being a little selfish, Hermione, hurting people by denying them a cure, which you know you would be doing if you took the rights of distribution from me."

"I'll figure out a way without you, Malfoy. I don't want you to reap benefits off of my cure for people that need it."

He sat back then, temporarily halting their spitfire retorts. "That can be arranged."

Hermione rolled her eyes, as if he could cease to be a proper businessman. "Just give me the documents, Malfoy."

"They belong to Malfoy Industries."

"I invented the potion."

"And you work for me."

"Not after today. I quit," Hermione said stone faced whilst wrenching out her pre-written resignation letter and slamming it on his desk. "Everything is signed and filled out per Malfoy standards." He slid the document to his side of the desk before picking it up. But to her surprise he didn't open it. "What are -," the next moment the letter burst into flames. Hermione could only watch as it burned in his hand, before he dumped its remains in a waste bin.

"Resignation not accepted."

Hermione felt her blood boil. She couldn't believe him. She didn't want to stay in this room with him any longer. She couldn't. She stood up and headed for the door.

"Hermione!" he called. She didn't turn, and the next second she found his hand on her wrist.

Reaching her breaking point, she hardly could have stopped herself as her hand made contact with his face. There was a resounding "Smack!" that echoed off the walls. "Don't ever touch me again."

His grip on her faltered, and Hermione ran from his office past the secretary into the waiting elevator.

A/N: Thanks for reading, I'd really like to know what you guys think.

Disclaimer: I do not profit from this story. All creative rights to characters belong to their original creators. I am not JK Rowling.