AN: Hi, this is my first fanfic, so errors and mistakes are inevitable. If you see any please don't be afraid to review and tell me, I'd be glad of it. I'm going to try and update regularly, hopefully every week or every two weeks. The title will probably change in the future, it's currently Into the Snake's Nest, but I'll let you know if it will. Thank you and enjoy :)
Draco Malfoy looked at himself in the mirror, a look of placid contempt on his face. He didn't want to be doing this. And he certainly didn't want to be doing it with his two best mates watching from a distance and laughing at his mistakes.
Theo and Blaise had somehow managed to persuade him to go out drinking with them, specifically so he could hook up with some busty witch, shag her in some back alley or unclean toilet cubicle and leave her there as they moved onto the next place. All so Draco wouldn't be 'such a moody arse all the time' as Theo had said to him on numerous occasions.
He'd finally given into the constant nagging and agreed to come out on ONE night and have ONE drink with them, he wouldn't - however - consent to the shagging of a random girl, despite how much they said he needed it.
He hadn't really tried to dress up for the outing, but he had shaved, for the first time in about six months. He ran his hand over his chin and feeling his jaw line. He could barely remember what he had looked like without a beard. Now he could see. He liked it.
A knock at the bathroom door pulled his eyes away from his reflection, "Come one Draco, we have a town to tear up," the distinct voice of Blaise worked its way through the door.
"Yeah, yeah. Give me one minute."
He opened the draw under the sink and pulled out a smaragdine aftershave bottle, spraying it carefully onto his neck. Sandalwood and cinnamon clouded his nostrils as his head was enveloped by the fine spray.
"Draco. Mate." Blaise again.
Draco opened the door and gave his friend a crocodilian grin, bearing his white teeth, "I'm ready."
"'Bout time. We're going to The Leaky Cauldron first and then we're gonna go to that new bar that opened last week in Diagon Alley, Theo got us on the list." Blaise spoke at Draco as they walked to Draco's living room.
Theo was stood by the fireplace, floo powder already pinched between his fingers, "Alright! Let's go!" He tossed the powder, "The Leaky Cauldron!", and was sucked into the fireplace by the emerald flames.
Blaise pushed Draco into the fireplace, "You first, you're not getting out on this by tricking me into going first."
Draco rolled his eyes and took a some of the floor powder between his slim fingers, uttering the same words as Theo and he too was sucked away by the flames.
Hermione was sat alone at the bar in The Leaky Cauldron, feeling extremely self conscious and exposed by her lack of company. She could always rely on Ginny to turn up, but she couldn't ever rely on her to be on time. It was getting busier as well, the floo flaring up every few seconds with a new witch or wizard coming out all dressed up and ready to go out. She had been speaking the barmaid for a while, recognising her from the halls of Hogwarts, but as soon as the patrons flooded in she had sped off to begin pouring and delivering drinks.
She'd stopped glancing at the floo, knowing that Ginny probably wouldn't be coming through anytime soon. Hermione inwardly scolded herself for arriving on time , she knew what Ginny was like and yet she still decided to be punctual . So instead of savouring a good fifteen minutes extra at home she had come to sit exposed and alone at a bar, just waiting for the paparazzi to come along and photograph her lonely state or for some stranger to come up to her and start hitting on her. Either could happen and had happened in the past.
A man leaned over her, catching the attention of the barmaid, "Love, can I have three pints of whatever is on the house please and three fire whiskeys?" Judging by the blush that rose from the girl's neck Hermione could only assume that not only was this man attractive, but he had probably winked at her. But attractive or not, her was still leaning over her, pushing her body uncomfortably close to the slightly sticky bar counter.
"Excuse me," she said, craning her neck to look up at the man. She recognised his features, the blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but she couldn't quite figure out who he was, "You're crushing me a bit."
The man looked down and caught her eye, "Shit, sorry." He pulled back and Hermione straightened up, pushing her hair out of her face and bending her back to crack the kinks that had quickly formed, "Wait, Granger?"
"Hmm," she looked round at the man who was staring at her with shock in his eyes. At this different angle she recognised his face. The strong jaw line and the cupid lips, "Nott?"
"Never thought I'd see you here Granger, alone as well. Bit depressing isn't it?" said Theodore Nott.
She'd never hated Nott at school and she knew he'd never been involved in the war. Whilst his father had committed some savage and disgusting crimes against humanity, Theo had disappeared with his mother, setting up a safe house for them in Wales. He'd been relaying what little information he knew about Voldemort from years of living with his father to the Order anonymously. He'd come forward after the war had finished, him and his mother appearing after Voldemort had been defeated at the Battle of Hogwarts.
"You could say that couldn't you? I'm waiting for someone." she smiled at him, glad that he was being kind. They'd never really spoken before.
"Hot date?" he joked, a cheeky grin spread across his face.
"Unfortunately no, just Ginny," Hermione responded.
"Unfortunately for who?" the seat next to her was freed when a large party all pulled away from the bar all at once. He dragged the chair a tad closer to hers and plonked himself confidently down on it, "Not me, that's for certain."
"Excuse me?"
"Well. I'm just saying, if you were meeting someone that would be unfortunate for me, I just happened to come across this amazing woman sat alone at a bar and thought to myself, 'Wow, I'd love to ask her out sometime' and when I did ask her out she'd say 'No sorry, I'm here on a date. But since you're not on a date, I can ask you out and you won't have a reason to say no." Hermione was taken aback. It had been a while since anyone had asked her out anywhere, or even showed any interest in her. The newspapers printed her as a sad, boring girl with no life and a frigid personality and no one wants to go out with her do they? But here was someone - an attractive someone - who had not only showed interest, but seemed as though they were going on to pursue that interest.
"What if I don't like Slytherin boys? Wouldn't that be a reason to say no?" she quipped.
"I'd just have to charm you into liking Slytherin boys," he winked.
She was about to respond when she felt her phone rumble in her bag.
Sorry lovely, the babysitter cancelled last minute so I won't be able to make it out tonight. I'll make it up to you though, I promise. Love ya! G xxx
Hermione read the text from Ginny and sighed. "I'm sorry I have to go. My friend just cancelled on me." She put her phone back in her bag and stood up from the chair.
Theo's hand grabbed her arm, "Join me." It wasn't a question.
"Don't tell me you're here alone as well."
"No, I'm with some friends, but they won't mind if you join us. Come on! We're going to that new bar that opened the other week. You know the one? The Crimson Blur."
"Ron's bar? I'd rather not thank you." She pulled her arm out of his grasp. She hadn't really been looking forward to this night much, really only agreeing to it so she could see GInny again as it has been forever since they last spoke properly and she'd promise that they would avoid Ron and his new bar like they were both the Black Plague.
"Oh, I forgot about you and Weasley." she turned to walk away, but Theo scampered round her and stood in her path, "All the more reason to go. Show up with your new man, make him jealous, ey?"
"Oh, and you'd be that new man would you?" she placed her hand on her hip and giggled at him.
"Well, if you insist!" he threaded his arm through hers and dragged her away from the entrance.
"Hey!" she protested, "I didn't agree to anything Nott!"
"I go by Theo these days. It's a bit more civilised, don't you think? A bit less Death Eatery? Not that I ever was one, but there are things that are suggest it."
She was shocked by his throw away Death Eater comment, despite the truth in what he said. Still, she liked his cheerful attitude and cheeky jokes, he made her feel at ease around him, like she didn't have to uphold any sort of persona, like she could be herself.
"Aye up Draco, Theo has gone and got himself a girl already. She must be something if he would give up the chase this early on." Blaise said, eying Theo was was leaning in closely to a brown haired girl at the bar.
Draco didn't respond, instead choosing to look around the pub with a vacant look in his eye. He only looked back towards his friends when a cold glass was pressed into his relaxed hand. He smiled at Theo and took the pint glass, taking a huge gulp of the bitter ale, wiping his mouth and then smacking it onto the table. And that's when he saw her.
A shy looking Hermione Granger had approached the table with caution, as though she was approaching a nest of snakes, which in a sense she was. She'd changed in the years since he last saw her, she seemed taller and held herself with more confidence, yet he could see in the way her now wavy hair fell into her face that she wasn't as outgoing as most of the women Draco knew. Her skin was a creamy white and freckles were scattered across the bridge of her nose and cheeks like stars in the sky. And her brown eyes, on closer inspection, were a golden colour speckled with green - not muddy like he had always thought. There was nothing muddy about her anymore.
"Granger?" he said, hoping the collision of contrasting thoughts in his head didn't didn't come across in his voice.
"Hi," her arms were folded across her chest, releasing on to give a small awkward wave matched with a small awkward smile.
"Well hello there Granger, enchanté," Blaise leaned across the table and grabbed that awkward hand and pressed his lips to it. Typical, Draco thought, Anything to woo a women, they're all after her.
Granger looked like she had no idea how to respond, like she had just approached that snakes nest and instead of the snakes lashing out and biting her, they were slithering around her wrists and ankles and caressing her skin with their pointed tongues. He wouldn't know how to react either.
"Hermione," Theo emphasised her name, "Is spending the night with us as her dear friend Weasley has cancelled on her. And I, being a gentleman, came to the rescue, of course," he put a hand on her shoulder, almost possessively. Draco could tell that she wasn't used to being touched in such a way, as she almost instantly seemed to shrink in on herself.
"A gentleman? Is that what you call being a playboy these days?" Blaise asked dryly, "You don't want him Granger, he's terrible, you need someone more like me. A solid and reliable rock."
Draco scoffed, "You don't want either of them. They're as bad as each other in that respect," he said.
"So I'd want someone like you instead?" she asked. His head snapped to hers, their eyes meeting and locking together.
Hermione could feel his eyes boring into her head, like they were burning straight through her brain and gazing at her thoughts, trying to figure out why'd she said that. Honestly, she was trying to figure out why she'd said it again. She might have relaxed being around Theo, but as soon as she'd seen the people she would spending the rest of her time out with she had instantly tensed up. Blaise like Theo, was neutral in the war, but Malfoy… He'd been one of them, a Death Eater. He'd committed crimes and he'd been to Azkaban. And yet, here she was, propositioning him brazenly in front of his friends. Maybe spending time in the snake pit would impact her in more ways than she thought.
Draco saw her body relax, second after she had uttered the words, as though the confident side to her had won a battle in her mind. She dropped her arms to her side and tilted her head questioningly, "Well?"
"You don't want someone like me Granger. Too much baggage," he cleared his throat and took another gulp of his ale, "So Weasel stood you up did he. Shit boyfriend."
"Actually it was Ginny. Don't you read the papers?"
"No,"
"Ron cheated on me. It all came out last month, in the papers, Merlin forbid," Hermione practically spat out Ron's name, as though it was acid burning her tongue.
Theo and Blaise were looking at the two of them conversing with some curiosity, they had no idea which way this encounter could have gone, or which way it still could go. Probably with one of them cursing the other with an extremely complex or hard to reverse spell.
"So the She Weasel then?" Draco decided to avoid the topic of Ron, it was obviously a sore spot for her.
"Ginny." Hermione said, confirming her distaste of the phrase 'She Weasel' with those two syllables. Draco was amused by it, he'd never met anyone before you had been so good at getting their point across in so few words. She had a knack for enunciation.
"Ah, the Spitfire?" Blaise inquired, "Always wanted to have a go at her."
Hermione looked at him, exclaiming "She's married!"
"So? I was always good at turning them to my way of thinking. My Italian charms are just too difficult to resist," he waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Hermione laughed.
"She's happily married, and has a child. Please don't try anything!" she spoke in a jokey tone.
Blaise held up his hands, "I promise, I won't. A Zabini always keeps his oaths."
Theo clapped his hands together, making everyone in the party jump slightly at the unexpectedly sharp noise, "Down those drinks boys, we have a new bar to visit and an ex boyfriend to make jealous," he winked at Hermione.
Hermione smiled at him, though wondered why he was always winking at people, no one she knew ever did anything like that, but this group seemed to be winking all over the place and at any pretty girl who seemed to come across their path. Maybe it was a Slytherin thing or maybe just a playboy thing.
The Crimson Blur was packed, and it was really more of a club than a bar. Load music was playing as magical lights spiralled around the ceiling, flashing different colours in time with the beat whilst the people on the dance floor all seemed to writhe and move together as one entity.
When they entered the club Theo's warm hand grasp hers and began to guide her through the mass of people with expert precision. The four of them then were ejected from the crowed when all the lights went dark and none of them could see the person next to them. Hermione tripped over someone and began to fall to the floor, only to be caught around the waist by one of her three new friends.
The music flared up loudly and the lights went with it, blinding them all with a red and pink flash, before they settled back into their original pattern, illuminating the private seating area that they had been thrust into.
The arm around her waist was strong and had kept ahold of her even after the lights went up and she had stabilised on her feet. The hairs on it were a fine white, barely visible in the low light.
"Thank you," she said looking round to view her saviour, and her eyes once against locked with those of Malfoy.
His eyes weren't like any colour she had ever seen before. They were a deep grey colour, with speckles of blue and silver running through them and a bright silver ring running around the edge of the iris. They looked like perfectly crafted marbles set into a beautifully carved statue.
"It's okay."
"This looks like a good place to sit," Theo said loudly, breaking the tension between the blonde and the brunette, Draco releasing Hermione swiftly and looking away from her.
He couldn't deny the thoughts that she was beautiful now. There was just something about her simple face that stood out from everyone else he had set eyes on. Maybe it was the way the events of her past hadn't stained themselves across her skin or settled into the lines of his face like his head. She still looked pure… Angelic even, as though she had never witnessed sin in her life.
He looked over to the place where Theo gesturing. A rounded booth surrounded by sheer curtains that didn't quite conceal what was happening on the other side of them, but still provided enough privacy so you couldn't see who the people on the other side were.
The all shuffled in, and Hermione found herself seated between Malfoy and Theo.
A waitress came over and took their drink order. The booths were charmed with a sound muffling spell, so the racket of the party going on outside was like white noise in the background and they were able to place their orders easily and with no fuss or having to shout.
As the night went on Hermione decided that she liked the three Slytherin men that she was sharing a table with, despite their being flirty and suggestive, it was people carefree and cheerful like them that she was glad she was surrounded with. People without children to look after and other halfs to complain about. They had real conversations about real things and not just what baby Lily had thrown up the night before. Hermione felt slightly ashamed to be thinking so about her friend Ginny, but she didn't understand what it was like to be single and be surrounded with happy couples, unintentionally flaunting her happy marriage in front of Hermione whenever they got together.
They had had quite a lot to drink between them and Hermione found that she was getting extremely friendly with the people who she had swore to never speak to as a child, in fact she was even starting to like Theo, his boyish charm made her laugh and she couldn't deny his good looks. Blaise was flirting with every witch that walked past and even some of the more attractive wizards. It was only Malfoy who she couldn't really get a read on. He was quiet and subdued, still drinking as much as Blaise and Theo, yet seemingly much better at handling his liquor.
They had just ordered their 6th round of drinks when a couple, obviously caught up in each too much to notice that the booth was taken, fell onto the seat beside Blaise and continued to heavily make out despite his outraged cry. Blaise, so taken aback by the sudden intrusion of his personal space, flung himself back onto Malfoy, who in turn fell onto Hermione. He put his hands out in front of him to catch his fall, which resulted in him covering her body with his and their noses almost touching.
Blaise pushed the entangled couple away from him, exclaiming, "Get a fucking room you twats," in a disgusted voice.
The couple scrambled to rectify themselves, the female clearly pulling her top back down to cover herself and the male strategically placing his hands in front of his crotch.
"I'm sorry, but this is my fucking room. This is my private booth. So I should tell you to get a fucking room," the male's eyes focused on Hermione, "Fuck Hermione?"
Everyone in the booth turned to look at Hermione, who in turn squinted her eyes to try and identify the man. She couldn't really identify his features, yet the colour of his hair…
"Hi Ron…" she placed her hands on Malfoy's chest and slowly pushed him away from her and sat up herself.
"You slut."
His words were blunt and forceful.
"You're already sleeping with other people! And fucking Slytherins for that matter. What are you just their little mudblood whore now? You wouldn't put out for me, so why are you doing it for them?" Ron advanced towards the table aggressively, his voice rising as he spat his words out.
Before Hermione could even respond all three of the men at pulled their wands out and pointed them at Ron.
"Don't insult her. You cheated on her remember. Don't be such a hypocritical bastard. And don't you ever call our friend that word. Ever," Theo stood up from the table and directed his wand at Ron's neck, "Do you understand me?"
"You can't threaten me. I could get you sent to Azkaban for just threatening me, fucking Death Eaters, you should already be rotting there!"
Their discussion was causing quite a commotion in the club and other people were looking around and realising what was going on. Hermione swore she saw the tell tale signs of a camera flash. She could almost see the headline now, Redhaired member of the Golden Trio confront ex-girlfriend and her new suitors, followed by a lengthy article dragging the incorrect detail of their relationship back to the spotlight and then highlighting her as a slut or a whore or something equally as horrible.
Ron started forward against, wiping his wand out of his pocket and pushing it into Theo's throat. Theo in the same instance did the same to Ron and the two men stood in a stalemate, their wands pressed into the other's neck.
Hermione stood up, and put her hands on Theo's shoulders, "We should go," she said into his ear, "I told you this was a bad idea. Come on," she tugged on his arm.
"No. I think I'm going to stay here and teach this one a lesson. Draco, take Hermione home. Blaise, stay with me."
Hermione bit her lip, "Be careful… And thank you…" she kissed him gently on the cheek. Ron's face went even redder, if it was possible. She then looked at Ron, "Please don't do this, we don't have to be enemies Ron. I don't want to be enemies…"
"You lost any fucking right to be friends with me the moment you even spoke to one of these lot. Go with you death eater boyfriend you whore. I'll deal with this twat!"
Hermione went to say something, but she felt a strong hand grip her arm and then the squeezing contractions of apparition, whisking her away from the situation.
Merlin, she hated Ron in that moment.