DISCLAIMER: the only thing I own are the plot and the original characters of this story. My only profit is my personal entertainment and hopefully yours.
WARNINGS: pureblood!Hermione (trope), OOC, rated M+ for sexual encounters, language, mentions of violence; modern.
This fanfiction comes with dedicated website: godisawitchfic dot tumblr dot com. There you can find moodboards, extras and hopefully other interesting things.
In the portraits section you can see the faceclaims I picked out for any character and their short biographies (which will be updated as the story progresses).
Be aware the site will definitely contain spoilers.
7.
MAJESTY
.
"Good evening, my dear guests. I'm very happy to welcome you in my new house.
It's been a long time since I've called this country my home,
and though I won't be here permanently, I'll still hang around quite a lot in the future.
Many of you are probably confused by what's been printed on
the papers in the past few days, as I've been spotted very close
to someone I wasn't supposed to even talk to", she said, looking directly at Rita as
she spoke the last words.
"I'm not in a relationship with Theodore Nott", she stated, loud and clear.
Many people in the room visibly relaxed after her declaration.
Draco was about to give them a piece of his mind when he noticed the calculative smile on her lips.
"Though circumstances I don't find necessary discussing prevented us
from finding it sooner, a secret has been kept from us our entire lives".
She wasn't only more cunning than he would have ever
thought possible for someone not belonging to Slytherin,
Hermione Granger had a flair for the dramatic, too.
"He is my twin brother".
.
WizVille n. 23, London, July 11th, 2003
"I discovered about it when my father died. It was written in his testament", Theo chimed in, approaching his sister and placing a hand on her back with an affectionate look in his eyes. "I've been looking for her ever since".
Hermione looked at Rita, ready to score yet another point, like any predator would look at its prey.
She was too focused on the journalist's reaction to the news to notice the whispering that occupied most of her guests. Those who didn't seem troubled by her declaration were those who already knew; she fought hard to hide her annoyed frown.
"It's really sad for me to come back in England five years after the war and see there are still so much hatred and prejudice left", she icily commented. "I used to believe that I almost died in the war so that anyone could have a better life after that. I build that for myself, most of my friends did, but there are still people who feel the need to question a Gryffindor-Slytherin romantic relationship, though this is clearly not the case".
It was true, Theodore and her weren't really touched by the problem, but Hermione had to address topic nonetheless.
She'd noticed the glances thrown in Harry and Pansy or Ginny and Blaise's direction whenever they were turned the other way, both at the reunion in Hogwarts and at today's party.
"How do you live with yourself knowing your father was a Death Eater?"
She couldn't pinpoint exactly who asked the question but decided to answer it anyway. This was the time to be blunt, to give her crowd a piece of her mind so that its members could fulfil the purpose they'd been invited for: spread the news in a short amount of time.
"I suppose I live with myself the same way many wizards and witches live with their disgusting neutrality", she spat. She watched with a satisfied smile as more than one face, especially from the Ministry's employees group, turned bright red with indignancy. "I don't practice the Dark Arts. I've been fighting against them since the very moment I became a student in Hogwarts and I met Harry Potter", she said, and raised her glass in his direction.
She could hear the noise of two cameras shooting pictures and when her eyes scanned the room looking for Dennis Creevey, Hermione noticed that Rita had put him to work. He was photographing the room from different angles, then moved on to the guests, starting from Cho and Viktor, a couple who definitely would have assured the paper he worked for very high sells.
"Theodore doesn't practice them, either. That belongs to people in our family…", she struggled a little while claiming her place in House Nott but did it nonetheless.
She knew how much her brother suffered from the public disgrace his (their) name was facing, and Hermione was very determined to prove people that a name's just a name and they should judge it depending on who was wearing it right now. "…Who are no longer with us. I hope you understand if we ask you to stop spreading such nonsense".
"Now, since that's out of the way, I believe my sister has one more announcement to make", Theo said, perfectly reciting the script they'd agreed upon.
"You're right", she conceded. "Good news always come in pairs, they say".
Hermione stood quiet for a couple of moments, building the right suspense,waiting for her audience to go mad with curiosity.
"As you well know, in the past five years I've been off the radar. That's because I was literally on the other side of the planet. I suppose you're all familiar with the name Victoria Sallow", she trailed off.
Any pause, smile or word of her speech had been discussed thoroughly, both with her lawyer and between the siblings.
"The C.E.O. of MagiTech? Do you know her?"
Rita Skeeter, who had just asked the question, licked her lips with impatience.
"I am Victoria Sallow", she smirked, then raised her glass at her. "I'm the founder, main owner and C.E.O of MagiTech".
It was really just a mocking gesture, but most people in the room seemed not to understand that, because they soon followed her.
Everyone except Rita, who was openly gasping.
"I'm sure any further questions will be answered in the next Witch Weekly issue, which will feature a double interview with my brother and I. Now, if anyone has a problem with that, or with him, you're free to leave", she warned.
"Enjoy the buffet", added Theodore before they both removed the respective wands for their throats and Hermione dragged him to the bar.
The silence that had followed the end of the speech was quickly replaced by the excited whispering of her guests, who were now exchanging their theories and opinions amongst them.
"I'm still not sure why you just did this", Theo admitted after Max, the bartender she'd hired for the party, handed them two glasses filled with a cocktail of his invention. The liquid was lime-coloured, but surprisingly sweet when it hit his taste buds.
Hermione shrugged. "I'm not sure, either. After I told you, I felt like an enormous weight had finally being lifted from my shoulders. Besides, I told you that I have plans for expanding here. If I get the story out, I get to control it. I learned that you need to plan very far ahead if you want damage control to really work".
"Do you think it will?", he asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Relax, now. We only need to announce Rita our checkmate, then we can enjoy our real party as soon as this bunch of hypocrites disappears", she scowled, her eyes darting on a very specific group of people.
"You heard them, too?"
The witch nodded. Yes, she'd heard the disgusting comments they'd made as they were walking not far from them on their way to the bar.
A former Order member insinuated they were pretending to be brother and sister to cover their relationship, proudly stating that they couldn't trick him; his friend, a thirty years old wizard, expressed his concerns about a woman leading a business that big. Victoria Sallow's face wasn't very famous in England, only a handful people had seen it, and he had always assumed she'd fucked her way to the top of the company.
"I don't know if I want to punch him more for his sexism or for his ignorance".
"Just punch him twice", he shrugged. "I'll take the old one".
The worst commentator had been a wizard belonging to the first generation of the Order of the Phoenix, who'd mostly stayed hidden during the second wizarding war and like many others hadn't fought on May 2nd and only came to collect a glory that he hadn't really earned.
Hermione had met him right after the battle and Gulliver Blossom had made an awful impression on her, which had just been confirmed when she'd heard him sharing his theory with the two younger wizards, who had then nodded their approval.
Apparently, Hermione had always knew about her true heritage, had been raised to be a Dark Pureblood princess and had covered his brother's Death Eater activities at the end of the war. He didn't know who exactly she'd slept with in the Ministry to assure his freedom, but he was glad she hadn't been that good of a whore to obtain the same treatment for her father.
She didn't know why Gulliver had such bad feelings in her regards, but she wasn't very touched.
There was nothing true in his words.
She practically lived under the spotlight, being the head, face and soul of MagiTech, and way worst things had been said about her.
Anyone who had opened her mouth to speak ill, fake things about her, though, had been crushed.
Now it was Mr. Blossom's turn. He was practically begging for it.
Hermione took a sip of her cocktail, then studied Theo's face. Teeth gritted, narrow eyes, tightened jaw. She'd never seen him so pissed off before.
"We have plenty of time to destroy that idiot", she mused, then softly touched his arm to comfort him. "We have another job to finish, first".
Theo watched her finishing her drink in one, generous sip.
He would have made a mental note of talking to her about her slightly frenetic drinking habits, but then he remembered that the lecture would have been coming from him, which kind of nullified it completely.
He and his friends had discovered the perks of a good buzz at a very young age, and so far they hadn't stopped enjoying a good glass of liquor.
Throwing one last look at Hermione, Theodore emptied his own glass, grabbed her by the hand and dragged her to the other side of the room, where Rita Skeeter was pestering some of their former classmates with questions.
"Ms. Skeeter", he chimed in.
Then he made a gesture to Blaise, who was one of her victims, and the dark-skinned wizard quickly invited his group, made of Neville Longbottom and Padma Patil in addition to Ginny, Luna and his sister, to follow him to the bar.
"Mr. Nott, what a surprise", Rita chirped through gritted teeth. "And Ms. Granger. Again", she added.
He had noticed the obvious discomfort the journalist felt whenever Hermione was too close to her, but he couldn't find a single reason for it.
She'd printed some pretty nasty words about the Gryffindor witch before, he remembered the Howlers and cursed packages she'd received during their fourth year, when Rita had written about her alleged gold-digging triangle with Harry Potter and Victor Krum.
Why was Hermione so smug and Ms. Skeeter so sheepish and not the other way around?
"I have one more surprise for you, Rita", Hermione grinned. "My lovely brother, here, is the new owner of WitchWeekly. I'm sure you'll find some space in your schedule to personally cure our interview, right?"
"S-sure", the older witch gulped. "I didn't know about the change in leadership".
"I'm afraid only those in high positions have been notified, yet. If you know what I mean", she winked. "What about Thursday afternoon?"
"T-Thursday afternoon?"
"For the interview, of course", Theo replied.
Hermione was scaring the hell out of the woman, so his gentleman upbringing had kicked in and he'd rushed to rescue the damsel in distress though he couldn't personally stand her presence.
She was a real snake, pun intended, and it was rare for a Slytherin to use the word as an insult.
"You can show yourself to the door when you're done with the pictures", Hermione icily added. "But I had a jar of sweets prepared for you since you hadn't got a chance to eat".
"I think I'll leave now", Rita hissed, her cheeks flushed with rage. "I'll send you an owl tomorrow to arrange time and place for your… interview".
After she said that, the journalist grabbed both Dennis and the other assistant by their sleeves and dragged them out of the door.
Nobody had missed their quick exchange once again, and she was positively livid because of the embarrassment they'd put her through.
He and Hermione had to wait for an hour or so for most of the guests to understand it was their time to leave. She'd specifically written in the invitations that the gathering wouldn't be a long one, which is why she'd so oddly placed it in the middle of the afternoon.
Nonetheless, it was half past seven p.m. when the room was clear from all Ministry's employees, middle-aged adults and basically anyone else who wasn't really inner circle for either of the Nott siblings.
Molly and Arthur Weasley had just left, murmuring something about letting young people being young and an early raise the following morning, after engulfing Hermione in a double-sided hug and making her promise she wouldn't disappear again.
They'd always found space in their hearts for their children's friends, but Harry and Hermione were on a completely different level. They were part of their family.
The room changed with a flick of Hermione's wrist.
The giant piano was moved to one corner of the room, more armchairs appeared next to sofa.
She repeated the latter gesture and tables and seats appeared in the area in front of the bar, while in the middle of the room was left enough space for people to dance.
Putting her wand back in the hidden pocket of her dress, she then focused her attention on the modern watch on her arm; it looked like those muggles used to monitor their health and athletic prowess, but when she gently touched the display with her fingertips music started playing from speakers Theo couldn't quite pinpoint.
The song, however, he recognized very soon.
It was from an American guy called Marshall Bruce Mathers III, to whom he'd become acquainted with during the time he'd spent in muggle London.
He'd become prominent in a genre where people like him were somehow discriminated, and he was sure that Hermione had noticed the analogy between the rapper and herself, too.
Not many people knew that during the time Draco had been exiled there, forbidden from speaking to any wizard or witch for the whole two years of his sentence, Theodore and Blaise had lived in Soho, sharing the flat where the younger Malfoy would have later joined them.
The two had even jumped into their blond friend a couple of times, as their tastes had remained very similar and so they were attracted to the same kind of parties and events.
"I've noticed you listened to this song quite a lot lately", his sister chirped. "I swear I wasn't stalking you, but I added you to my friends and you forgot to label your 'guilty pleasures' playlist as private".
"Don't worry, Hermione. I know how social networks are supposed to work", he said. "And I didn't forget to hide my showering playlist, I simply thought that since you're the only person I know who can access that app…", he trailed off, his attention grabbed from the men who had just entered the room.
Four young wizards Theodore had never seen before had just entered.
Two of them were holding two big shopping bags in their hands, one was carrying a muggle projector, which was later pointed at the wall that hosted the fireplace.
The fourth guy was wearing a black suite and visibly occupied a higher position in MagiTech's ranks, nonchalantly strolling in front of the guests.
"What's happening?", he asked.
"A little surprise for my guests", said Hermione before turning once again to the crowd, which was now composed by less numerous but more welcome guests.
"When I was little my mother used to tell that if you throw a party you don't only need to make sure people enjoy it but also remember it. Today, I have a gift for you that will change the way you communicate".
The witch grabbed her wand and pointed it at the projector.
In the middle of the room, in the space arranged for the dancing, was standing a three-dimensional hologram of the Mirror 2, MagiTech's latest mobile telephone.
"For those of you who are still not familiar with a muggle phone, we can describe it as an instant owl. Let's say I need to meet with a friend. With the Mirror 2 there are three ways I can do that", she said as she marched to the hologram.
"The first: I call my friend. Which means that we can have a conversation even if he's at work and I'm on vacation, he's in London and I'm in Sydney. The second: I text him. Which means that I write a message of any length I desire to him, and he'll answer as soon as he can, or want. The third: I mirror him".
The witch indicated one icon in the virtual display.
It was a white square with a black 'M' right in the centre, surrounded by small, black polka dots. Underneath that was the name of the app.
"Mirror is the first wizarding social network ever created. It launched last year when MagiTech has expanded to the United States and the results have been outstanding. Mirror 1.0, on the Australian and American circuits, has now more than 5 million members. Today you have been chosen to test its successor.
Think of a social network as a notice-board where you can pin your thoughts, pictures, favourite music and artworks, literature, hobbies and share them with everyone who belongs to the list of your friends, which is completely customizable".
She pressed the icon, virtually launching the application.
There were two fields to complete to log-in, or the option to register, and Hermione clicked on the second one.
"Last year, we built a social network that would fit nicely into our phones. Today, I present you a phone that has been designed to support the new features of Mirror 2.0, which you'll all get the opportunity to try three months before the official launch date".
Hermione smiled warmly at her audience.
Most people were not new to muggle technology and were clapping their hands with a passion, but there were others who hadn't understood much of her speech. Luckily, she'd prepared for that inconvenience.
"Now let me introduce you to Dr. Carrington, the scientist behind Mirror 2.0".
She quickly left the spotlight to the man with the black suite, who had personally designed to software to be simple and intuitive, yet modern.
He started by talking about the most basic features, like setting up the phone-book and the calendar, then passed on to phone-calls and text-messages, ending with a very detailed lecture on any section of Mirror: state updates, short sentences inspired by the muggle Twitter that were meant to share your thoughts and opinion on trivial or personal matters; pictures, because the Mirror 2 allowed its owner to become an aspiring photographer, mounting on the back of the display the best camera available in the muggle market; music, as the app was connected to the one dedicated to music, which featured both muggle and wizarding artists, making it the biggest library in the world; finally, the properly social part consisted in comments and likes, and chats between two or more people.
"Faster, better, deeper communication is in your reach, now. In the bags behind my back those phones are only waiting for you to take them. Now, before those of you who wish to do so can receive their gift, I need a volunteer to show you how to create your profile".
Parvati Patil, who was a Half-blood, therefore already skilled at muggle technology, and also a worldwide known wizarding model, meaning she always appreciated the attention, took a step forward.
Mr. Carrington asked her to fill the name, surname, age and sex fields, which were mandatory to register, after giving her a brand new, rose-gold device.
Next came a few questions, such as 'where are you from?', 'where have you studied?' and 'what is your job?', then a writing on the display asked her to upload a profile picture.
She didn't need explanations to quickly find the camera app and take a nice selfie. It was an activity she had quite mastered.
"Congratulations, Ms. Patil! You have just joined Mirror 2".
Parvati beamed at the crowd, clapping hands were like music to her ears.
"Before I let you all take your gift and return to the party, let me quickly show you how to make sure your telephone recognizes you and doesn't let other people see your private pictures and conversations".
This part had been included because of the many sexting-related scandals that had occurred in the muggle side of MagiTech's leadership, which had caused losses not only in terms of money, but also of valuable collaborators.
"To make it real easy, I've connected the identity of the phone to the Mirror profile that is logged into it, so that you can use someone else's phone, but nobody can use yours. What I mean is, the telephone holds your personal data as long as you're using it. Once you register and upload your pictures, this key will appear on the screen", the man explained as he pointed at it.
"If you click on it, you'll be asked to touch the display. The sophisticated technology inside the Mirror 2 will get a virtual picture of your magical chore, which is what you'll need to use as a password after your first access".
He logged out of Parvati's brand-new profile, then closed the app only to open it again a moment later. The log-in screen popped up and he put Parvati's name under the ID's section, then tapped once in the password section.
Mirror denied him access, proving his point to the audience.
He invited the former Gryffindor witch to try, and her profile appeared.
There were only her name, the information she'd written and the selfie, but sections for pictures, posts, videos and music could be seen.
Theodore hadn't understood the potential of the small device in the pocket of his suit until just then.
He threw a mesmerized look at Hermione. "You planned all of this in less than a week?"
"Not really. What I'm really planning is Mirror 3, that we'll lunch in October. It will be like the one we just showed you, but it will be a worldwide version because it will merge back with the American and Australian networks. Right now, Mirror 2 has been configured to allow only people that has gone to Hogwarts to find each other. I must set up a new profile, it would be weird to use my pseudonym to chat with Harry".
"I still don't understand why you'd make such a generous gift to people you haven't seen in five years", he pointed out.
"I'm at the point where I can't count how much money I have, Theo. This party, telephones included, touches my finances just as much as having a cup of coffee. Besides, these gifts are going to help me perfect Mirror 3 before we release, but also keep track of what people know about me, at least before the main project I'm working on has become reality".
"Do you think you could tell me what that is?"
"You can be so naïve sometimes. I must tell you. You're one of my shareholders, now", his sister beamed at him, then sweetly patted him on the shoulder.
"It's kind of hard to believe that I own thirty percent of one of the biggest companies in the world and did nothing to earn it".
"Give yourself some credit, Theodore", she joked. "You're my twin. You have to be awesome".
"You're such a kiss-ass", he scoffed, but surrounded her waist with his arm and pulled her closer anyway. "But I'm so glad I found you".
"It's in my blood, apparently", she darkly murmured.
As people started to rush to the two MagiTech's employees with the bags full of telephones, Hermione played with the touchscreen of her watch once again.
"Since we've lost twenty-three years of birthdays and parties…", she trailed off, her index and middle finger slowly walking on his arm. "What do you say if tonight we go crazy celebrating and tomorrow we talk about the serious stuff?"
The song she'd been forced to stop for the presentation started again.
'Hey, kids. Do you like violence?'
Violence it was.
Hermione danced with her brother, drunk an impossible amount of alcohol, both muggle and wizarding, and was unexpectedly having fun like she hadn't in a long time.
She was used to the drunkenness, to the music and the dancing, but it was usually just Pansy and her going to fancy clubs, and it quickly ended with either a meaningless shag or a touchy suitor dragged away by bodyguards.
At the surprisingly young age of twenty-three, Hermione could say she'd lived a little: she'd started facing the forces of evil at age eleven, fought in a war at the age of seventeen; she'd sent her parents away, erasing their memories of her only to discover her whole life had been a lie; she'd been tortured, suffering from the aftermath of Bellatrix Lestrange's Crucio curse for years, and she still had nightmares about it.
In addition, she'd also lived her life as Victoria Sallow, which had been rather eventful.
Raising to the very top so fast had been rather hard to cope with, and she'd done many things she shouldn't have.
She'd been lucky to have Pansy next to her.
The former Slytherin witch hadn't been particularly sober, or quiet; on the contrary, Pansy Parkinson was a force to be reckoned with, and when it came to partying no one was better than her.
The two just happened to balance each other, often preventing one another from doing things they would have certainly ended up regretting.
It wasn't a coincidence Hermione had married Lex not long after Pansy had returned to England, and the brunette was still pissed off with her psychologist for describing her actions as an unconscious call for help.
Her marriage was to blame on the alcohol, that was it. Right?
"Merlin, I love this song!" She felt Astoria's sweaty hand grabbing her arm. "Let's go dance!"
Over the past two hours Hermione had discovered to have a lot of things in common with her cousin, who was very different from the person she'd imagined her to be: Astoria Greengrass was one strong, sassy witch who'd fought teeth and nails to avoid the arranged marriage her father had imposed on her.
"You said that for the past three songs, Tori", Daphne chirped in.
Now that she wasn't disgusted by her (fake) relationship and the blonde was visibly more relaxed, far away from the family Manor where her father was plotting her demise, Hermione was getting along with her other cousin, too.
It was too soon to say if they were going to become the best of friends yet, but the brunette witch felt like now she could at least tolerate Slytherin gatherings, and since they seemed to mean so much to Theo she was actually looking forward for the next one.
Especially now that the tension between her and Malfoy had been cleared.
Hermione had always wondered what a real conversation with Draco Malfoy was like, during her years at Hogwarts.
He had very good grades, an aristocratic background and excellent manners, at least when he was speaking with someone he deemed worth of respect.
Moreover, he'd showed enough charisma to literally have the entire Slytherin House kissing the ground he walked over before turning thirteen.
She'd always been fascinated by the idea of talking to him, at least on a hypothetical level.
That was generally the point where Malfoy noticed she was looking at him and sneered, reminding her why a conversation between the two of them was impossible.
Hermione wondered how much of the man she'd spoken with that afternoon had always been hidden in the boy she'd gone to school with.
"May I borrow you for a second?"
Malfoy decided that moment to join their small group, placing himself behind her. He gently touched her on one side of her neck, the rough skin of the palm of his hand burning her collarbone as his fingers rapidly ended on top of one of her shoulders.
"Tell me all about it, stud", she scoffed.
Hermione turned on her heels, facing the man, then locked her eyes on his and placed her own hand on the one that was still touching her shoulder.
With a long, calculated gesture she grabbed it, let it slide along her collarbone once more before pulling it away from her body.
"Really, Granger? Grease? Should I go grab my leather jacket, then?"
"You definitely had a lot of gel in your hair when we were at school", she retorted.
"C'mon, I stopped in the middle of second year. Why does everybody always remember my one bad hairstyle and not the good ones? Besides, I was smashing even with gel in my hair".
"I'm sure that's not what you wanted to talk me about".
Draco didn't answer, fixing his glaze in the glass in his hand.
Hermione was sure some drops of his cocktail must had dropped and wet his fingers when she'd touched him not long before, because she was certain she'd felt him shiver.
For a moment, she allowed her mind to virtually suck that finger, taste his cocktail (and Draco Malfoy) and be done with it.
With little amusement, she wondered what her psychologist would think of having sexual fantasies about her childhood bully.
It didn't matter she could see big, toned muscles peeking through the fabric of his shirt, or the fact she was on her eight month of self-imposed abstinence from sex.
Her experience with Lex had scarred her more than she liked to admit.
She shook her head, scolding herself for doing fuck-eyes to her old nemesis.
It wasn't neither the time, nor the place, much less the right universe.
"I'm sorry I've been so hard on you", he blurted out, his lips curled down in a pout.
His cheeks were red and his odd eyes shiny; if Hermione was drunk, Draco was way worst.
"I haven't been easy on you, either", she conceded with a smile. "Have you been enjoying your night of no responsibilities so far?"
Draco opened his mouth to answer, then closed it.
The expression on his face was hilarious, and the witch erupted in laughter.
"I know I sound like a dick by saying it, but I'm happy that I got a night out without feeling guilty because my daughter could be having nightmares in her bed at home. The problem is that I feel guilty because… well, I feel kind of free?", he shrugged. "I love Adhara, but sometimes I feel like there are things I'm completely missing".
"You're a father and you're twenty-three, drunk beyond the possibility of return. If you didn't say something like this I would question your humanity, Malfoy".
"Wait a second. Are we back to Malfoy?"
"You never progressed to Hermione", she arched one of her brows.
"Touché. Would you like a refill?", Draco asked, raising his glass in her direction.
"Yeah, my energies are running kind of low. Either I keep drinking or I won't be able to drag myself around the dance-floor much longer".
"Never pictured you like the dancing kind", he mused.
"I don't think anybody else did, for that matter. Everybody always seems to assume the wrong thing about me. I always wondered if it was lack of intelligence, superficiality or absence of interest".
"Sounds too judgemental for a Gryffindor".
"If there's one thing that's sure about Gryffindors, is that we are, indeed, quite the judgemental type. Some more than others. I'm personally for the 'live and let live' philosophy, though I do have my boundaries to it".
Draco nodded, then looked again at his glass.
"Would you like a refill?", he repeated.
Hermione chuckled, then urged him to the bar.
She ordered simple muggle vodka for herself and a glass of water for the blond wizard, who seemed to be struggling just performing the simple action of standing on his own feet.
It had been probably been a long enough since he'd let himself go that much.
"What the fuck is this?", he spat as soon as he took a sip. "This is not FireWhisky!", he pouted.
"I think you've had enough of that for now", she chastised. "Besides, you need to stay hydrated. When you finish your water, I'll let you have another drink".
"Ok, mommy", he said trough gritted teeth. "As you wish".
He quickly emptied his glass, then impatiently stared at her.
"My drink?"
"Fine. Go for it", she conceded while rolling her eyes. "You earned it, cowboy".
"A shot of absinthe", he grinned at the bartender.
Hermione was about to leave him alone and go look for one of his friends to take care of him, but then she noticed the way his eyes shined under the lights, and how his smile pulled out a small dimple in his right cheek, and something inside her convinced her to stay.
"Give me one, too".
Hermione played along when he required they toasted to new beginnings, or at least that was what she'd understood; Draco was so drunk he couldn't stop laughing, so she wasn't sure what words had precisely come out of his mouth.
After the absinthe the wizard was definitely K.O.
The brunette escorted him to her beloved black leather sofa, helping him support his weight by passing his arm around her neck and surrounding his waist with hers.
"Have I ever told how beautiful you are?", he whispered in her ear.
Then Draco did something she wasn't expecting: first he gave her the hottest fuck-me eyes she'd ever been given, then he fell asleep on her shoulder with a loud snort.
And that was it.
For reasons she didn't know, she'd adjusted her head so that his could slip in the crook of her neck and then she'd fallen asleep, too.
Luckily, most of the guest were too drunk themselves to notice and left before they could see the unlikely pair cuddled up on the couch.
She'd woken up at 4 a.m., panicked for losing her control and then rushed to her room, returning five minutes later with a blanket she placed on top of Malfoy's sleeping figure.
The morning after, Hermione raised from her bed at 9 a.m., when her doorbell rang.
She grabbed her telephone from the nightstand next to the side of bed she usually slept in, on the right, before quickly walking downstairs.
When she passed by the living room, her sofa was empty.
"Good morning", chirped Theodore's voice when she opened the door. "I brought breakfast".
"I know I said we'd talk about the serious stuff today, but I didn't mean this early in the morning. Tell me you brought some hangover-potion", she pleaded, one hand covering her forehead as her migraine started to kick in.
"Who do you think I am?", Theo scoffed, then physically moved her so that he could enter the house.
"Of course I brought you hangover-potion!".
They ate their breakfast at the large island of her kitchen.
"So, you and Draco…", he teased.
Hermione didn't bother replying, simply arching one of her brows.
"You were so cute sleeping together", he added. "I need to ask Pansy to send me the picture she's taken".
"P-picture?", she stuttered.
"So cute", he repeated.
Hermione scowled. "Let's talk about anything else, shall we? Malfoy was drunk and fell asleep all over me, end of the story"
"Fine", he conceded, still smirking. "I need your help to finish setting up my profile for Mirror. I have most things done I believe, but I want your opinion".
"Sure, let me grab a new telephone, so I can create my new profile, too".
Hermione left the kitchen and walked her way to the cupboard, returning a couple of minutes later with a small, squared box in her hands.
When her brand-new Mirror 2 was turned on, she quickly proceeded to register herself into the social network, but the app gave her an error screen and crashed every single time she tried to save her magical ID for future access.
On her fifth attempt, a pop-up clarified the problem.
To protect users from frauds, identity theft and preserve their privacy, MagiTech had implemented a new spell on the Mirror 2.0, one that prevented anyone from registering with a fake name.
The spell was actually one of her latest creations, and suddenly a doubt found space in her mind.
"Theodore…", she called.
"Mh?"
"What is my name?"
Theodore was taken aback by her request; he'd been dreading to call her with her proper name, or at least having her acknowledging its existence, but he hadn't brought up the subject once.
She hadn't seem very keen on embracing her birth family, and though he knew nothing about her adoptive parents, whom he only knew were still living in Australia, he suspected she'd have wanted to keep the name Hermione Granger for the rest of her life.
But now she'd fallen in her own trap, and Theo couldn't help but smirk.
"Eloise, your name is Eloise. Eloise Quinn Nott", he said, proudly.
"Well, that's pretentious. Cute, but so pretentious".
Author's notes.
Surprise! Seventh chapter's up. :))
I was feeling very guilty for having you wait
so long for last update, so I decided I would
post this chapter a little sooner.
Plus, it's very closely connected to the previous
one, so I thought it best to let you read it before
you completely forget what's happened before.
We have finally reach the end of the party, and
though there will be quite a lot of those in this
story, for now I want to tone it down a little and
focus more on the private lives of this characters.
There are 4 chapters left 'till the end of part one,
I'm currently writing chapter 11 and well, since
I'm personally not opposed to spoilers, I would
really love to hear your theories about what is
coming next (either here or on tumblr, where you
can find me under godisawitchfic or slytherinvenenum).
I also want to thank the amazing people who have
reviewed or added this story to followed&favorites,
you have no idea how much it means to me.
Have a nice weekend! :))
p.s. on the dedicated blog you can find a playlist with
the titles and artists of the songs who have inspired
the chapter's names & more generally the music I
listen to when I work on this ff (99% is rap, lol).
I accept suggestions, by the way.
