Chapter 9
More and more people starting arriving including Dumbledore and the other professors that had been invited who all socialized with each other as well as the students.
"No, Mr. Boot, tonight I will not be answering questions about homework assignments. We are here to celebrate everyone's engagements." Hermione heard Professor McGonagall say as she walked by trying to find Harry and Ron.
The boys were standing by the fireplace talking to Lisa and some of her friends. "There you are," Harry said holding up his glass. "Cheers, this party was a fantastic idea."
"Actually it was all Draco's idea." She said smiling.
"Well you are one in the same now that you're getting married." Lisa laughed, her comment caused Ron's face to drain color and Harry laughed as he started to down his firewhiskey.
Draco walked up to the group and placed his hand on the small of Hermione's back. "Thanks for coming guys," He said nodding at the boys. "Dumbledore suggested that we make a toast." Hermione nodded and watched as her fiancé pulled out his wand and turned off the music maker.
"Hello everyone, thank you for coming. Hermione and I hope that so far you've all enjoyed yourselves but I wanted to take this opportunity to say congratulations to all of us who are engaged. It might be a law that we were all thrust into," He looked down at Hermione. "But it's the best law that the ministry has every come up with." Everyone raised their glasses and took a drink. Draco turned the music back on and everyone started helping themselves to food. Hermione smiled as she received a kiss.
"I'll go get us some food." Draco said walking towards the table and grabbing two plates.
"You're really lucky," Pansy said walking over to Hermione. "Draco's a really good guy, he's going to take care of you."
Hermione smiled. "Thanks Pansy. How are you and Terry getting along?" Taking a drink the other girl shrugged.
"We have to move into our new dorm soon and we haven't really talked since we found out." Draco returned with plates of food.
"Hey Pans, how're you?" He asked digging into the baked ziti.
"Oh, and I'm going to be living next to you guys. Just so you know." The three smiled as Pansy waved her good bye and went to talk to Blaise.
"So who's next," Malfoy said looking around the room. "Millicent, that dreadful Brown girl, Longbottom, Thomas, Finnegan, and Potter. Right?"
"You're forgetting the Patil twins, they haven't been paired yet." Hermione answered. The conversation was cut short by another student coming up to thank them for the party.
The night was full of thank you's and congratulations for the seventh years. Everyone danced and drank and even Professor Flitwick left swaying and had to be taken back to his office by Professor McGonagall.
Eventually everyone filtered out of the dorm and went back to their own rooms. Hermione and Draco took out their wands as the last couple left and started to clean up everything. They sent the extra food and tables back down to the kitchens, moved the furniture back to its original place, removed a couple stains from the carpet and took down the protective charms.
Eventually they retreated to the bedroom and changed into their night clothes.
"Thank Merlin we can sleep in tomorrow." Hermione said swaying a bit as she walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth. "I don't normally drink, so I might feel like dying."
Draco laughed a bit. "I doubt you'll feel like that, you only had a few drinks. You'll just need water in the morning. When Hermione wandered back to the bed the pulled the covers down together and crawled in Draco wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her neck.
The pair snuggled into the covers and each other, Hermione's eyes were already closed and her breathing was evening out. "I think I may be starting to love you Draco Malfoy." She said before drifting into a deep sleep. The blonde kissed Hermione's cheek once more before falling asleep, a smile on his face.
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The next morning Hermione woke up to another empty bed, disoriented she sat up and noticed the balcony doors open. Getting out of bed she walked out to the cool air and Draco with a steaming cup of tea.
"Good morning." She said wrapping her arms around his middle. "I guess there was no sleeping in for you, huh?" She asked moving to his side.
"There was, but not by much." He smiled and leaned inn for a kiss. "You, on the other hand, slept fantastically. I think you moved maybe once all night and stayed put for the rest." Hermione brought her face in for the kiss and smiled.
"Do you want to go get breakfast soon?" She asked rubbing her head, "I really need something to eat." Nodding the couple retreated inside to get dressed.
"How about we go for a walk around the grounds after breakfast? It's still early and we can get some fresh air." Draco offered pulling a white tee shirt over his head.
Hermione smiled. "Only if you sit with me at breakfast. Like you said: it's still early, not everyone's up."
"Deal." The pair walked out of the room greeted with a gift on their coffee table.
Hermione stopped in her tracks. "We made sure everyone had left last night, how could another gift have gotten in here?" Walking over to it she picked up a letter.
"Dear Draco and Hermione, I'm sorry for not getting this to you earlier. Enjoy your engagement present." She read off handing the letter to Draco.
"This is my mother's hand writing." He set the letter down and unwrapped the box. The gift was simple: a photobook. Opening it pictures of baby Draco cooed from the pages, followed by young Draco, teenage Draco, and Draco at the current age. Turning the page once more there was another note. This is where Hermione's pictures will go and after that pictures of your children.
Hermione smiled looking at the baby pictures. "This is probably the best gift I think we could have gotten." She said softly. The blonde boy sat next to her and flipped through pictures, laughing at the memories and sharing them with his future wife. Eventually his stomach growled. "Let's go get some food." Hermione said setting the book on the coffee table and grabbing Draco's hand.
Finally getting to the Great Hall the couple sat down at the Gryffindor table, not many students awake yet except for Harry and a few others from other houses.
"Morning Harry," Hermione said sitting across from him. "Alright?"
Harry nodded. "I'm engaged now." He said. "To Hannah Abbott."
"Congrats." Draco said after a bit of a silence. "Or is this not good?"
Harry chuckled. "Thanks Malfoy, it's fine she just has a bit of a vendetta against me from second year."
"Well here's to her vendetta ending now." Draco raised his goblet a bit making Hermione and Harry laugh.
After eating a bit the head boy and girl got up and headed out to the grounds for their walk. The weather had started getting chillier and the trees had started changing colors.
"I love the fall," Hermione said. "It's one of the best seasons, not too cold but not hot either. This and spring are perfect." She took a deep breath smiling.
Draco took her hand rubbing his thumb across her fingers and the pair continued walking enjoying the silence.
"Minerva, I do believe we have found a great match." The Headmaster said standing on the front steps watching the students walk simply enjoying the company of the other.
"Not to mention the stupid feud between their houses has all but halted since their engagement." The Scottish woman replied.
The professors turned and walked back into the castle smiling as they went.
