Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the plot. J.k. Rowling owns everything; I will only say this once. This is my first submission ever so please be gentle!
Hermione Granger was, without a doubt, absolutely bored out of her freaking mind. Usually she was content with staying in on a Friday night, but lately, she had grown weary of her flat and roommate who also seemed to never leave, except to go to work. Roommate, she scoffed to herself, technically, the correct term was boyfriend, but seeing as it had been months, almost a year, since they had actually been romantic with one another, the term roommate seemed more fitting. Sitting on her couch in her sitting room, legs crisscrossed, she leaned on the arm of the couch with her elbow supported most of her weight while her fist rested against her cheek, she thought she looked bored, but the other party in the room wasn't getting the hint. She sighed heavily as she flipped through a new book that was not keeping her interest while her eyes bore into the back of Richmond's head. Richmond, the boyfriend/roommate, was sitting on the floor, using her coffee table as a means to paint new figurines he received that day.
TAP, TAP, TAP.
Her head perked up and listened more intently, waiting to see if she heard the faint tapping again.
A faint TAP, TAP, TAP and scratching echoed from the nearby kitchen.
"You gonna get that?" - Richmond asked without looking up from him precious figurines.
She could hear her owl, Heathcliff, squawk from the kitchen; there was another owl in the vicinity, and he was not happy about it.
She sprang up from the couch, not because Richmond seemed annoyed at receiving an owl at this hour, but because she was hoping it was Ginny asking her to go out, or come over, or do something anything other than listening to paint dry.
When she got to the window and saw an unfamiliar looking owl, she was slightly disappointed. This owl was not Pig, Ginny and Harry's owl. She opened the window, took the envelope from the regal looking Eurasian Eagle owl, quickly handed it a treat, and heard its great wingspan depart her kitchen window while she studied the invitation. Heathcliff seemed content that the invader had retreated.
The envelope contained an exquisite golden embossed invitation to a benefit Gala in her and Harry's honor. The invitation was addressed
To: Miss Hermione Jean Granger and Guest
Hermione snorted out loud and reread the invitation, "And Guest". Richmond and Hermione had been an item for three years and the way the Daily Prophet kept tabs on her love life, you would have to be living under a rock not to know that the Hermione Granger was tied down. The Ministry knew about Richmond, and this Gala was clearly going to be thrown by the Ministries War Relief Council. It was odd that the invitation was addressed this way. The Daily Prophet had nothing else better to do than report on her love life. He was "the smart, pleasant wizard who won the heart of the war heroine", the memory of the Daily Prophet headline made her chuckle out loud but was followed by a sigh. Richmond was not going to like having to go to another ceremony. It wasn't Richmond's fault their relationship had started to go downhill. He had always been upfront with his hobbies and interests, he was a homebody, much like Hermione was. She thought he was smart, an avid reader, and most of all, safe. The war really hadn't affected him, and when they first met she found it very comforting there was something not soiled by the war, she could start over, start fresh, with Richmond. Soon after the war, it seemed like the parties, galas, and balls, held in the golden trio's honor, were endless; and she wanted nothing to do with any of them; Richmond was happy to stay home with her. As time passed and wounds healed, she started to understand the need to remember those who were lost due to the war and started to feel obligated to attend. It wasn't just an obligation, she actually started to want to attend. After spending almost every weekend for the last three years in her flat, she was starting to feel cooped up.
"It's an invitation to another war function" she yelled toward the sitting room.
"Are we going?" Richmond yelled back.
"I would like to" Hermione countered, with a noticeable yearn in her voice.
Silence echoed from her sitting room.
She continued to study the invitation. The Gala was being held at a hotel in South Yorkshire, called Wentworth Woodhouse and was only two weeks away which meant she should start shopping for something to wear immediately. She penned a quick note to Ginny requesting her assistance with shopping for a new gown first thing tomorrow morning. She knew there was no way Ginny would turn her down; Hermione almost never went shopping, especially for formal wear. She handed the note to Heathcliff and instructed him to take the note to Ginny. He eagerly took the note and flew out the kitchen window without hesitation.
She turned around, facing her kitchen and looked at the clock. It was only 8'oclock, but since she had suddenly just decided to go shopping early the next morning, she decided just to go ahead and turn in.
"I'm going to head up" she commented to Richmond. He gave no reply; he was too enthralled with his present task.
"Ginny and I are going shopping in the morning, so you will have the flat to yourself" she stated as she climbed the stairs, heading toward her room. This time Richmond made a grunt to acknowledge she said something.
For the third time that night she sighed heavily shutting her bedroom door behind her. She was already dressed in comfortable clothes, so she flopped on her bed and shut her eyes hoping sleep would find her.
She laid on her bed, for what seemed like hours, until she heard the door to the spare bedroom door squeak. A few weeks ago, Richmond decided to start sleeping in the spare room because he could no longer handle her nightmares. Richmond and his family lived in Switzerland at the time of the War he was completely unaware a war was even happening within the Wizard community. He had no idea what she, Harry, and Ron, along with so many others, went through. He tried reading about it but reading about it was one thing, living it was another. He didn't even know anyone that had died; she felt he was the only one that was untouched by the war. Of course, that's not true, but when they first met, she thought he would be able to help her build a new life; a life where the war could no longer touch her life anymore. But when the nightmares started back up a few months ago, he felt no remorse or understanding, just annoyance; she then realized the war was never going to not touch her life.
Hermione rolled over on her side and stared at the clock. The ambient light from the numbers 12:30 glowed through the entire room. She groaned, she was going to feel like crap tomorrow morning.
The Gala kept creeping back into her mind. Maybe it was the excitement of the thought of actually having plans when in fact, it was the name of the hotel. The name of the place sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Maybe other parties had been previously held there and it was just in the back of her mind. It didn't matter; she wasn't going to let anything take her excitement away. With a smile on her face, Hermione finally drifted off to sleep.
Thud...thud...thud.
"Wuz Wuz going...on..." Hermione lifted her head from her pillow.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Hermione looked at the clock. 7:00 a.m. She had slept through her alarm. Hermione raced downstairs to find an impatient and slightly annoyed Ginny Potter at her kitchen side door. "About damn time, I've only been standing here for 15 minutes" the fuming redhead spewed.
"Sorry Gin, I overslept. I didn't sleep well last night."
"Well obviously, you look like shit. Go take a quick shower and get ready; I'll make some tea and that nasty coffee you love so much."
Hermione smiled at her friend, "You're an angel."
"Go before I change my mind" Ginny retorted obviously put off that her normally punctual friend was not ready to go.
Hermione dashed upstairs, showered, brushed her teeth, and threw on some clothes in 15 minutes. Not giving a crap about her appearance had its perks. Her coffee was ready to go when she got back downstairs. Ginny handed her a purple coffee travel cup and got ready to floo to Diagon Alley.
"If we don't find anything at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions we can always try a muggle store" Hermione commented as they tried to navigate through people on the busy street of Diagon Alley.
Ginny probably didn't even hear what Hermione was saying over all the noise.
"I can't believe there are so many people here at 7:30 in the morning" Ginny commented trying to weave through the crowds.
Hermione shrugged, "It's a Saturday. Why don't you think I normally don't like going shopping?"
Luckily Madam Malkin's store was a ghost town, and Ginny and Hermione had the whole store to themselves. Jackpot.
"Hello, and good morning to you both" a loud voice came from behind them. Hermione and Ginny turned to see Malkin walking through saloon-style doors from a back room to greet them.
"What can I help you with today?" Malkin inquired.
"We are here to both purchase formal gowns for an upcoming benefit" Ginny replied.
Hermione usually let Ginny do all the talking on this kind of outing. She never knew what to say or do other than to smile and be cordial. If it weren't for Ginny, she would probably end up purchasing anything and everything a clerk put in front of her, she never had a clue of what she wanted, or how to say she didn't like something. She may be a war hero, but for some reason, that Gryffindor courage disappeared whenever she stepped into a clothing store.
"Of course you are, Mrs. Potter and Miss Granger. I was hoping you two would come into my store and you weren't using anyone else for your ball gown needs."
"Wouldn't dream of it" smiled Ginny.
Malkin beamed at the two of them and began ushering them into a private fitting room in the back of the store.
"Do you have any colors or styles you are particular to?" Maxine inquired.
"I try and stay away from light pink, it's too 'little girl' for me, I like to look classy but sexy" Ginny stated.
They both turned to look at Hermione. "Oh uh I'm open to anything," she squeaked.
Her broad response seemed to annoy Malkin; it would make narrowing down choices for her harder.
"Just don't bring her anything that is purple or lavender, or periwinkle. I'm so tired of seeing her in a shade of purple it's unreal" Ginny added. With that, Malkin nodded and left to bring back some options.
"You need to look sexy for a change," Ginny said to Hermione once Malkin was clear of prying ears.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "You always say that, and I never do, probably because I'm not sexy."
"You can be sexy Hermione, believe me. And you will be at this Gala; I'm determined."
The curtain suddenly pulled back, and Malkin wheeled in a rack of possibilities.
Ginny scanned them all individually and pulled a few out to start. She took a purple dress out, and Hermione opened her mouth in surprise.
"But I thought you said..." then Ginny hung the dress on her side of the changing room. "If I wear purple, you won't," she said shooting Hermione an evil grin. She was right, the red-headed devil. "I'm just trying it on" Ginny, stuck her tongue out and hung up her choices on a nearby hook on the wall.
Ginny scanned the racks again, this time for Hermione, and pulled out a few dresses including a fitted red number and handed them all to her.
Malkin gasped, "Oh that red gown would look lovely with your coloring, dear. Well, I think you have enough to start with, I will leave you to it, just yell if you need anything." With that, Malkin backed out of the room and rolled the curtain shut.
Ginny motioned for Hermione to go first. She was actually anxious to get into the red dress Ginny picked out. She was able to zip it up with the help of her wand. She stepped out of the dressing room and chuckled at Ginny's face. Her eyes were big, and her mouth gaped open.
She stepped in front of the mirror; slowly she looked up at the stranger in the mirror. Hermione was not used to wearing such a bright color, or clothing that was tailored this well. The bodice hugged her body, allowing just a bit of cleavage to peak out, the sleeves hung lifelessly from her shoulders; it was snug, hugging her curves, but not too tight. It was perfect.
Hermione turned her body, still looking at herself in the mirror.
"I can't believe how good your bum looks; I didn't even know you had a bum or boobs for that matter. Well, we know which on you will be getting" Ginny smiled while examining her.
Hermione smiled and nodded. "I think I will be taking this one," she said still inspecting herself in the dress in the mirror. Hermione carefully changed out of her new find and put her casual clothes back on. She slumped in a chair in the dressing room and proceeded to watch Ginny try on at least 20 dresses. She found things wrong with every dress, all of which Hermione thought were beautiful. Hermione was beginning to regret inviting Ginny along when finally, Ginny opened the curtain and paraded a midnight blue dress that had a corset back and a deep v neckline.
"This is it; this is the one" Ginny said giddily.
"Finally" groaned Hermione. She smiled as Ginny stuck her tongue out at her through the mirror. They left Madam Malkin's store with bags and smiles in hands.
They stopped at a small jewelry stand to purchase new accessories to match their dresses and concluded their Diagon Alley visit with a stop at Florean Fortescue's to toast to their dress purchase victory.
Hermione arrived back at her flat, arms tired from toting a formal dress around all day.
"Hello?" she yelled through the flat. Nothing but silence echoed back.
"I guess he's not here." Slightly annoyed there was no note, but also slightly relieved she was alone, she toted her purchases up the stairs to her room to put everything away.
Work. Home. Work. Home. Work. Home. This was her schedule for the following two weeks until the Saturday she was anticipating, finally arrived.
At precisely 12:00 p.m. there was a knock at the kitchen side door. Hermione ran to the door to find Ginny lugging two suitcases and a dress bag.
"Merlin, Ginny are you moving in?" Hermione said in her doorway, not yet inviting Ginny in.
"Hardy, Har, Har" Ginny said while trying to move Hermione out of the way and get all of the bags through the doorway.
"Why don't you ever just floo over?" Hermione asked, struggling to help get the bags inside.
"Hermione, I just got my muggle driving license. I love driving! It's almost as fun as a broom" Hermione just shook her head at her friend.
After both girls lugged the suitcases up the stairs and into the master bathroom, Ginny started to get everything set up. Hermione never saw so much makeup and hair product in her life.
"Sit," Ginny commanded; Hermione immediately obliged.
Ginny warmed up hair curlers, different sized curling rods, and placed hair products, and makeup until Hermione's entire bathroom vanity was covered.
"What time is Harry coming?" She asked Ginny, sipping her cup of juice while Ginny attempted to work a brush through her bushy hair.
"Mr. Potter will be picking us all up in a limo at 5:30" Ginny replied.
"Mr. Potter? Uh oh. Trouble in paradise?"
"What Mr. Potter thinks his wife should or shouldn't do is fine. He is allowed an opinion."
"Do I even want to know?"Hermione asked arching one eyebrow, obviously confused about what was actually happening.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. I don't want to ruin the evening. Now let's get you beautiful…..more beautiful" and with that, the bathroom erupted with giggles.
Hours later, Ginny was still working on taming Hermione's hair when the bathroom door creaked open.
"I'm heading out. I'll be back later" Richmond's voice announced from her bedroom through the door.
"K just be back and dressed before 5:30" Hermione yelled making sure he heard her as he started to walk away.
"Yea, yea, yea" he replied, and she heard distant thuds of his feet rapidly going downstairs and a door slam.
"Uh oh. Trouble in paradise?" Ginny chuckled.
Hermione sighed "Unfortunately, it has never been paradise."
Ginny didn't say anything, for a change, obviously not surprised at Hermione revelation.
Hermione paused and let out a secret no one but the two living in that flat knew.
"He sleeps in the spare bedroom. He said he couldn't handle my nightmares".
Hermione was afraid to look up, afraid to look Ginny in the face because of embarrassment. When she finally looked up, she realized maybe she shouldn't have said that. Ginny's mouth gaped open at her, her brow furrowed in frustration; she was shocked and furious her friend had silently been enduring such a lonely relationship.
"If you kicked him to the curve before this, you could have found someone that would have actually enjoyed being with you and you could have had a good time with someone else tonight. You need someone new, someone dark, and mysterious." She winked at Hermione through the mirror, trying to lighten the mood.
"Why haven't you just tried being single for a little while, have some fun?"
Hermione flushed and looked down at her feet.
"I don't know," she said because she honestly didn't know why she hadn't given Richmond the old boot. Something about him was comfortable and familiar.
"I only knew about the Gala two weeks ago; I couldn't have broken up with him and gotten someone new in that time frame. Plus, the Daily Prophet would have had a field day."
Ginny snorted half comical, half agreement. Thankfully, Ginny left the subject alone. Once Ginny put the finishing touches on Hermione's hair and makeup, she started getting ready herself. Hermione felt awkward in the small bathroom not sure what to do because she couldn't offer any help to Ginny. Around 5:00 p.m. the girls put their dresses, jewelry, and perfume on.
Unsure what time Richmond came back and got ready Hermione was surprised to see he was in the sitting room, dressed in his usual dress robes waiting for the girls to make their decent. When the girls reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a honk outside.
Ginny raced to the kitchen opened the door and yelled "Harry Potter, you were not raised in a barn, come to the damn door and escort me to the car like the God Damn lady I am." slamming the door behind her.
A minute past when there was a light knock at the door. Clearly, Harry had not been thinking; he was just really excited about the limo. He may have hated being the center of attention at these functions, but he sure loved riding in a limo.
Hermione opened the door and found Harry bowing, "beg for forgiveness, madam; I am here to escort you and your beautiful red headed friend to the ball."
Hermione smiled at him but was surprised to see his look of shock when he finally glanced up from his bow. She stopped smiling and look concerned.
"What?" She asked with a furrowed brow.
"Wow Hermione, you look lovely." His comment caused Hermione to blush, although no one would be able to tell due to the amount of paste Ginny used on her face.
"Thank you Harry" she responded, "you look positively handsome yourself."
She motioned for Harry to enter her flat and he immediately found his way to Ginny
"And you my dear, look ravishing," he said trying to get back in her good graces as he picked up her hand and kissed it; but Ginny was having none of it.
"Let's go shall we?" Ginny commanded as she forcefully pulled her hand from Harry's grasp. Suddenly a wave of anxiety hit Hermione; she knew Richmond wouldn't have a good time tonight and if Harry and Ginny didn't figure their shit out, this evening was going to turn into a disaster.
She took a deep breath.
"Everything will be fine," she thought to herself trying to reassure herself before turning the lights off and locking the door to her flat.
Everything was not fine. The entire car ride to Wentworth Woodhouse was silent and awkward. When the limo finally pulled in front of the hotel, Hermione glanced out the window taking in the size of it.
The party made their way out of the limo, up the white marble stairs through the columned entrance. They didn't have any coats to check since it was the middle of summer, so they immediately made their way to the ballroom thanks to the staff that was directing the crowd. They found their table where Harry left the girls, pulling Richmond in tow, to get the group some drinks. Hermione looked around the room; the ballroom was already crowded, the roar of voices drowned out the music playing. Modern colored lights were dancing over the ceiling of the room, giving the formal ballroom a slight club vibe.
Harry and Richmond returned with drinks, and Richmond nudged Hermione's shoulder with a cold beverage. She turned toward him and looked at the Mojito in front of her with disdain. She forced a smile and thanked him for the drink. They both sipped their Mojitos and looked around the room avoiding each other's glance. Mojito's were Richmond's favorite drink; Hermione wasn't a fan of bitter taste.
When it seemed the ballroom couldn't grow with any more people, a small, round man with a thick black rug on the top of his head, took to the podium and commanded the rooms attention.
Tap. Tap. Tap. A fat finger hit the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention." When the room hushed, he continued "Good evening everyone. First I would like to thank Mr. Harry Potter and Miss Hermione Granger for attending this function tonight. Without these two of the three members of the golden trio, we all may not have been able to be here tonight" with that the host pointed over at their table and a blinding spotlight followed the host's direction and landed on their table.
The room erupted in applause. Harry and Hermione awkwardly stood, waving and bowing their heads thanking everyone for coming and clapping. Hoping the spotlight would stop blinding them they returned to their seats.
"Where is Ron?" Hermione whispered, leaning into Harry trying to ensure he heard her over all of the applause. She was surprised to see he did not arrive with Harry and was even more surprised to see he didn; meet them there.
"He is in America. The Chudley Cannons are playing in the states and Ron has become their unofficial spokesperson, following them around. He thought the party season was over. Why do you think you were invited last minute? You never come to these things." Hermione nodded but found herself somewhat upset at his comment. Harry was right about her attendance at these functions and felt guilty that Harry and Ron had to attend these functions, but she always backed out.
"Before we start the festivities and dancing I would also like to thank Mr. Malfoy for generously donating the use of his ballroom and hotel for our little function tonight".
The small round man pointed in another direction, and none other than Draco Malfoy stepped into the spotlight waved while applause continued and gracefully backed out of it.
Hermione's mouth fell flat open. Now she remembered why the hotel name rang a bell. She vaguely remembered reading in the Daily Prophet that Malfoy bought a hotel with his inheritance money Daddy left him. It was the only article she remembered reading lately that painted Malfoy as more than a "Former Death Eater". Why on earth would they have a benefit in honor of the War in a hotel owned by Draco Fucking Malfoy?
"Now that the formalities are over with may I invite Mr. Potter and Miss. Granger to start us off with the first dance." Harry was already standing with his hand held out to Hermione waiting for her to accept it. When she finally realized what has happening, she quickly and clumsily got up around the chairs of their table and together they made their way to the dance floor with applause erupting again.
Both of them were painfully bad at dancing. All eyes in the room were on them, but it felt like they were all on her.
"Hey," Harry said knocking her back into this world. "Everything is fine," he said trying to reassure her.
She smiled at him "Thanks, Harry."
She felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Ginny ready to cut in to take over, Hermione turned around and noticed her date was nowhere to be seen. She squinted and gazed back to her table, Hermione frowned, realizing Ginny left him at their table. Great. She stood there awkwardly for a minute and decided to head back to the table when she saw Kingsley Shacklebolt appear out of the corner of her eye walking toward her. He opened his arm to her and slightly bowed his head to request a dance with her. Hermione breathed a deep sigh of relief. She will be eternally thankful and owe a lifetime of gratitude to the minister for saving her from further humiliation.
"I can't believe anyone would be stupid enough to leave a girl as beautiful as you on the dance floor alone" Kingsley whispered in her ear with a beaming smile. He obviously meant this as a compliment and Hermione forced a smile but deep down the truthful comment hurt. She knew he didn't mean to be hurtful, but she couldn't help but think how right he was. After a few minutes, someone else cut into Hermione's and Kingsley's dance. She smiled and took the strangers hand to continue with the dance.
She glanced over and noticed Harry and Ginny were still dancing together. She doubted anyone would cut into Ginny Potter unless they were willing to get themselves cut. "Must be nice to be married to one another" she thought to herself, but the thought pained her. She honestly didn't want to be married yet, that didn't bother her, she just wanted to have what they have. They were even currently fighting, but no one would ever know it. She wanted to have a relationship with passion, romance, fire, love; That's when it hit her; She was not in love with Richmond. She looked over at her table again; he was still sitting there alone, looking bored. Where was this going with Richmond, if they weren't in love? Why continue down this road for any longer? For the first time all evening a real, unforced smile crossed her face, she knew what she had to do.
The dance concluded, and the dance partners bowed to one another. The group of friends made their way back to the table where food had appeared. Hermione realized she was starving. She and Ginny hadn't eaten much all day while getting ready, so she was happy she finally saw food.
As she devoured into her plate, she scoffed to her party "Of course Malfoys hotel uses house elves."
"They're paid" said a familiar voice behind her. She looked up from her plate and saw Ginny's eyes as big as saucers. She slowly turned around to see Malfoy towering above her.
"You...you.. pay them? You actually pay them?" was all she could muster. Not a high, how are you doing, haven't seen you in five years, how was your short stint in Azkaban? It was all about the elves. Draco smirked. "Some things never change."
"I just wanted to check in on the man and lady of the hour; Make sure everything was going well. If you need anything, please find me, if you can't find me, talk to my man Bruno" he gestured to the large, muscled gorilla man standing behind him, "He will find me."
Harry stood to shake Malfoys hand, "Thank you Malfoy for everything this place is something else."
"No, thank you, Potter, for allowing this to be at my hotel. Well, I will leave you all to enjoy your evening" and with that Malfoy bowed his head and left the table with the Gorilla following close on his heels.
Everyone returned to their meal.
"Publicity. I guess that's why" Hermione muttered, breaking the silence.
Harry understood where she was going and surprisingly defended Malfoy.
"He is letting the War Commission use this ballroom free of charge and donated all the food."
Hermione shrugged, not impressed with this revelation.
"You have to spend money to make money."
"He also donated 10,000 galleons to the widows of the war." Harry retorted.
"I guess that is supposed to make it all better, after everything he and his father did to everyone?" Hermione fumed causing more awkward silence at the table.
Harry could see he was losing a battle and dropped the matter. Everyone continued to eat and slowly started to act as if Malfoy never visited their table. Hermione noticed more and more couples make their way out to the dance floor. When the plates disappeared from their tables Ginny pulled Harry back out on the dance floor; Harry reluctantly let her.
Hermione turned to Richmond and politely asked, "would you like to dance?"
Richmond shook his head and replied, "not really."
Trying not to be defeated she smiled and said, "ok well I'm going to make my way around the room and meet people, is that ok?"
She barely noticed he nodded as she left the table to find the Minister and thank him for previously saving her.
The rest of the evening was filled with laughter, conversation, and booze. Hermione felt like she was the belle of the ball since she had left her toad on his pad at their table. He only got up a few times to get more food or drinks for himself. Hermione got asked for more dances throughout the night which she was actually happy to oblige; it wasn't so bad when you weren't the only ones on the dancefloor. She was in the middle of a dance when she realized how much her feet ached and thought it would be a good time to head home when someone cut into her dance. She turned around and found Malfoy standing there with his hand open waiting for her to take it. She forced a smile at him and reluctantly took his hand.
He pulled her close to him, closer than anyone else had throughout the night and put his free hand on the swell of her lower back. She could feel each of his fingers touch her bare back, one by one, each time his light fingertip touched her skin, an electric tingle shot up her back straight to the back of her neck, making her shudder. She placed her free hand on his shoulder and gently placed it on his shoulder. He pulled her in close; so close, she could feel his muscular frame underneath his dress robes. They began to dance; she was not surprised that he was the best dance partner of the night. Growing up with money, he probably had dance classes and a lot of parties like this to attend, where they sacrificed half-bloods and mudbloods at the end of the night. She smirked to herself; it really wasn't that funny because it was probably true.
He watched her face; she was refusing to give him eye contact. He realized it was going to be a silent dance if he didn't say something first. He broke their silence by saying "because it was the right thing to do."
Hermione finally glanced up at him, meeting his gaze. She had a confused look on her face, unsure what the fuck he was talking about.
"Paying the house elves," he reminded her of their previous conversation.
She just smiled and nodded up at him not really knowing how to respond and looked out to the other guests in the hall. This new Draco Malfoy had her completely muddled.
"You don't have to force a smile with me" he whispered in her ear.
She looked back at him shocked that he could even tell her smile was forced. Suddenly, he pushed her out for a twirl and pulled her back in even closer. Their lips were centimeters apart.
"I hope you're enjoying your evening, Miss Granger" he stated breaking the tension that was mounding. A nod in reply was all she could muster; her brain was in a fog and her words and thoughts jumbled in a knot. But the way he said "Miss Granger" made her knees weak. The way her name slowly slid off his tongue, she had to fight to ensure her eyes didn't betray her by rolling in the back of her head.
"Can't be enjoying it too much with him, though" he nodded toward her table, obviously referring to Richmond.
"I'm not letting him ruin my night" she retorted.
Confused, Malfoy asked, "Then why did you invite him?".
Ah, the question of the night. "I didn't have much choice, I'm currently dating him, I take it you don't read the Daily Prophet?".
"Not really, I canceled my subscription years ago. I could only take reading about a hundred articles that referred to my family and I being disgusting, worthless war criminals for so long."
A few more silenced moments passed when Malfoy began to speak again, "Look, Granger, I'm sorry for everything. I was a prat in school I've made many mistakes, and I'm trying to pay for them."
She just stared at him in disbelief, her mouth slightly gaped. This man before her was not the same Malfoy she once knew.
"Malfoy, you were raised to be what you were, it's not your fau….."
Malfoy cut her off "I was a scared little shit, but I appreciate you trying to make me feel better about it all. The Daily Prophet is right about everything they say about my family and I; I just don't like having to read about it every day."
He smirked down at her trying to break the awkward tension he had just created with his confession. Hermione tried to give a less forced smile because she was speechless. War changes people.
"Why are you with him anyway?" Malfoy asked nodding over to her table where Richmond still sat, looking bored.
She should have just told Malfoy to piss off and remind him that it wasn't any of his business, but she was starting to feel less severely towards Malfoy. Maybe it was due to the liquor, or maybe she was just tired, maybe he was growing on her, she wasn't sure why but his observation actually made her chuckle out loud. All night people had asked about Richmond, but no one had bluntly asked why she even bothered dating him. She noticed her laugh made him smile.
"There's that real smile I've been waiting to see."
Hermione's face betrayed her; she lost all control of her facial expressions, and her cheeks flushed. They continued to dance slowly and silently until the music started to die down and played the last few lyrics of the song.
When the song finally ended he pulled her close, kissed her cheek, and whispered…
"You really look beautiful tonight" into her ear which made her shiver.
He walked away, leaving her speechless, mouth agape, and alone on the dancefloor.
It took her a few moments for her to regain her composure, she searched for Harry and Ginny to see if they were ready to leave. When she finally found them, they were practically on top of each other, grinding on each other on the other side of the dancefloor.
The music was blaring, and she practically had to scream "Are you guys ready to leave?"
"No you guys go ahead we are going to get a room for the night here" Ginny belted back with a smile and a wink.
"Ew. He is like a brother to me; you know this" Hermione tried not to mentally picture her two best friends drunk and alone in a hotel room.
Ginny shrugged and kept on gyrating into Harry's crotch. It may have made her queasy thinking of them two alone in one of the rooms of the hotel, but she was happy they had seemed to patch things up.
She sought out Captain stick in the mud and motioned for them to leave. He quickly got up and met her at the door. The limo driver was waiting for them outside. Hermione kicked off her shoes holding them in one hand and grabbed the bottom of her dress with her other and hurried down the stairs, jumping into the door of the awaiting limo. They were silent as they were driven home both looking out of their own window.
When they were finally home, Richmond unlocked the door to the flat, the sound of jingling keys being placed on the counter echoed throughout the silent flat.
"Pwheewh, glad that's over with," Richmond said breaking their silent streak.
"I don't want to date you anymore" Hermione blurted out.
Silence.