They had reached the large doors that led to the ballroom and found Narcissa rushing towards them, not looking very content with them.
"Oh, you two nearly gave me a heart attack. The guests are already arriving, go to your places, go on," she reprimanded, pushing them closer to the doors.
"Yes mother," Malfoy said, sounding more like a child than a grown man. Narcissa flashed a brilliant smile and glided into the room to introduce them.
Draco placed a cool hand on the small of her back and guided them into the room soon after. She shivered at his touch, but not because it was cool against her warm skin. Ron had used to be the only person who had done that.
The past week had been a whirlwind for Hermione and it was then that she realized how fast everything had changed around her. She had been dealing with Ron, and work at the office was slow and systematic, and now… Well, now she had left Ron behind (in which a part of her still felt extremely guilty for) and had taken on this monster of a mission with a man that she had strongly disliked for the majority of her life. Everything was so unpredictable and that made her very uncomfortable.
"Stop squirming."
Hermione felt herself flush slightly, "Well, I'm sorry, but if we had practiced this like I said we should, I wouldn't be."
She looked around at all the people who attended, dressed in expensive gowns and robes. Priceless jewellery hanging from their ears, necks, and wrists; hair smoothed back neatly or done up. She had visited the ballroom before, for it was mandatory for her to learn how to dance, but it seemed to glow tonight. Beautiful murals covered the ceilings, and the crystals in the chandelier made the light look as if it was shimmering down on everyone.
She already felt a few eyes following her every move. "Does intimacy make you uncomfortable, Granger?" Malfoy added with a smirk, noticing her discomfort.
"With you? Always," she said with a cool smile, though inwardly she was giving herself a pat on the back for the comeback.
Narcissa then cast a Sonorus charm, and held her wand to her throat. "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming this evening. We are honoured to have you here. Without any further ado, let me introduce the guests of honour tonight, the newly engaged couple: my son, Draco and his fiancée, Rose Garrott."
Hermione and Malfoy walked onto the ballroom, surrounded by all the guests in a large semi-circle. Malfoy took the wand from his mother to make a few welcoming remarks.
"Rose and I are delighted that we can celebrate such an important time in our lives with all of you. Enjoy."
The guest applauded again, some raised their glasses to toast to them. She was glad to see the people now smiling at her- except for the single women crowded in the back who were all hoping for Malfoy to sweep them off their feet sent glares her way.
Malfoy and Hermione began to do their rounds, making their way to each table. They were approached by a middle-aged lady who wore a bright red, feathered gown and a black feather boa.
"Congratulations, Draco," she greeted, kissing him on both cheeks and doing the same for Hermione.
"Thank you Mrs. Zabini, it's been too long. May I introduce you to my fiancée?"
Hermione stuck her hand out, "Rose Garrott, it's a pleasure."
Mrs. Zabini shook it lightly and stared scrutinizingly at Hermione, "Such an enchanting thing, isn't she? She'll make a perfect Malfoy bride, my dear."
"It's a shame Blaise wasn't able to make it tonight."
"Isn't it? He's off in Italy on business but he'll be back in time for the wedding, I'm sure. Oh he would just love to meet you. You should come by the Manor some time for tea."
Blaise Zabini off in Italy for business? Was he planning on expanding his investment company to other countries? Hermione remembered Blaise from Hogwarts. He was intelligent, albeit pretentious at times, but clever. If he was planning on expanding this could mean some large money being exchanged very soon. Do you have any idea what this could mean for the wizarding economy?
"It would be an honour, Mrs. Zabini. I would love to discuss his plans for his busi-"
Malfoy interrupted her, sending her a warning look, "-We would love to discuss his trip, and I'll have my mother arrange something with you Mrs. Zabini."
The woman's eyes lit up excitedly, like a child on Christmas morning. "Wonderful, I'll let you two lovebirds mingle."
"It's been a pleasure seeing you again, Mrs. Zabini," she kissed them all goodbye leaving behind her lipstick on their cheeks. When it rubbed out it actually made them look more human like and less overly pale.
"That was a close one, Granger," Malfoy gritted through his teeth.
"Sorry, but it was one mistake, alright?" she shot back heatedly.
"One little mistake can screw both of us over," he countered as he guided them towards the drinks table.
She glared, "You don't think I know that?"
Hermione saw Malfoy space out- something, or rather someone had caught his attention. He had every excuse to, because there, entering the ballroom was Astoria Greengrass. Hermione vaguely remembered the Ravenclaw; she was far too occupied with more important things than getting to know everyone at Hogwarts. But it didn't matter much of what she looked like then, because she certainly looked elegant now. She glided in wearing a deep green strapless gown that hugged her curves. She had her dark brown locks gently curled and large diamonds hanging off her ears and neck. She practically had every eye on her as she approached them.
"From now on, let me do the talking," Malfoy growled.
"Gladly," Hermione shot back, holding onto his arm tighter and plastering on a cool smile while they greeted their guest.
"Draco!" Astoria greeted, kissing him on both cheeks and lingering a bit longer than she should. Hermione could sense the strong tension between the two of them even before she opened her mouth. Narcissa told her nothing of Astoria except of her relation to Daphne, which was obvious, nor was there any file on her. Who was she? Past girlfriend? Ex-wife? Mistress? Family friend? Friends with benefits? The gears in Hermione brain began to turn, trying to piece everything together.
"Astoria, you look lovely as always," Malfoy said with his usual smirk, checking Astoria out very obviously in front of Hermione. She rolled her eyes inwardly, does this man have any tact? Honestly! If she grows suspicious of your devotion to me, it's on you.
"And you're still as charming as I remember…and who might this be?" Astoria raised a brow, staring Hermione as if she were a toxic substance that needs to be properly cleaned and disposed of. Hermione tried her best not to retaliate, though it was excruciatingly hard.
Malfoy reacted as if he totally forgot that Hermione was still there, and then found his composure, "This is my fiancée, Rose. Rose this is Astoria, she was a year below me at Hogwarts."
Hermione stuck out her hand for Astoria to shake. She looked down at it with revulsion, but reluctantly shook it lightly anyway. "It's a pleasure, I've heard a lot about you from Draco."
"Nothing bad, I hope," Astoria said, looking at Malfoy, who was ignorant to her dislike of Hermione.
"Of course not," he said, staring back at Astoria with an almost lustful gleam in his eye. Hermione could have gagged at the sight, but refrained from it. "As if there was anything bad to say anyway."
They stood in silence for a few seconds with Astoria and Malfoy practically having intercourse with one another with their eyes, which made Hermione highly uncomfortable. She took this as the perfect time to escape.
"How about I go fetch you a drink while you two catch up?"
"Thanks," Malfoy said, not taking his eyes off Astoria. As Hermione reached the bar, she decided that she was going to hex Malfoy when this ball was over.
She wasn't upset that he had forgotten about her, she didn't care about that at all. It was the fact that he had very obviously expressed his sexual attraction towards someone who was not her, which could very well cause suspicion if Astoria chose to say something. Who knows what a rumour like that could turn into? How is might it effect their mission? It seemed to Hermione that he was being completely hypocritical. Her slip up was nothing compared to how dangerous that was.
Hermione watched Astoria run her hand along Malfoy's sleeves as she ordered them elvish wine. Though she'd much rather drink something stronger to get her through the night.
"That was a mistake."
Hermione looked to her left to see Daphne Greengrass. She too had changed since Hogwarts. Her once light blonde hair had turned a deep auburn, and her face had become much more angular than her almost baby face she once had.
"Pardon me?"
Daphne swirled her cocktail around her glass, speaking to Hermione as if she was a dog begging for food from the table. "That was a mistake. Leaving your fiancée alone with my sister. It's dangerous, especially when it comes to someone as high profile as Draco Malfoy."
"I don't understand." Of course Hermione understood, she was also intrigued. For she just learned two things. The first being that her impression of Astoria was confirmed, and the second was that Daphne was willing to sell out her sister. She hadn't heard anything about a conflict between the two sisters. Daphne was beautiful, but even tonight Astoria always got the attention. There was bound to be some conflict there.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. Daphne Greengrass."
"He-Rose Garrot."
Both women watched as Malfoy and Astoria got considerably closer. Hermione knew he wouldn't ask Astoria to dance before he asked her, for that would indefinitely turn heads. But it was certainly just as humiliating.
"You know I meant it when I said my sister is going to seize every opportunity she gets to steal him away from you."
Hermione knew she had to play pretend to get information out of Daphne, but it shouldn't be too hard considering how much she got within the first minute of meeting her.
"Why would she do that? She's lovely," she gushed.
"Wow, you really are daft," Daphne rolled her eyes. "But then again, what did I expect? Do I have to spell it out for you? She hasn't gotten over him and now she wants him back."
Interesting, Hermione thought. So they were previously involved. Considering the fact that Daphne had said that Astoria hadn't gotten over Malfoy, it may have implied that Malfoy had broken it off. Either way, Astoria was no doubt planning on persuading Malfoy to steer away from Hermione and into her own arms.
Hermione wouldn't be offended at all if Malfoy had wanted to have an affair with Astoria so long as Astoria would keep her pretty little mouth shut and absolutely no one knew of it. Though she and Malfoy weren't really romantically tied to each other, his romantic interests affected her safety as would her romantic interests would affect his. Lucky for him, her love life is non-existent at least until she had to float back to earth and back to Ron. But she didn't want to think of him then, she was doing too good of a job of repressing all of her emotions to let them all go now.
"And Astoria always gets what she wants, no matter what," Daphne replied bitterly.
"Well, this is much different situation," Hermione answered firmly.
Daphne gave her a look of disbelief, looking as if she was about to spit her drink out all over her black lace dress. "Different, she says! Pffah! Oh really? What makes this situation different from all the other 'bachelors' she managed to snag?"
Hermione decided to let this conversation go before she passes off more intelligent and stronger than she should appear to be. "It's been a delight meeting you, but I'm afraid I told Draco I would bring him a drink. I appreciate the advice, though," she said sounding cold and passive as she picked up her drinks.
"Your ignorance is going to lose you your fiancée."
Hermione inwardly smirked, I highly doubt it. She flashed the redhead a grim smile, and began to walk towards the couple happily chatting away.
"Oh Drake, you're just as funny as I remember!" Astoria exclaimed between giggles, not noticing Hermione approaching them.
"That's interesting, because Draco hasn't a funny bone in his body," she interjected. Malfoy held a questioning expression in his face as she handing him his glass of wine and found her place beside him.
"No really, he has quite the sense of humour. At least with me, anyway." Hermione pressed her lips into a thin line; this woman did not understand the concept of subtlety. This time Hermione made an effort not to reply to her stupid attempts to push her buttons.
"No, Rose just likes to bully me, don't you?" Malfoy replied with a sideways smile. He probably pitied her, by the looks of it. "I mean, someone has to deflate my ego a little bit."
Astoria grinned, "Hopefully not too much. Women love a man with lots of confidence." Hermione snorted, and money too, it appears.
The music changed and Hermione took this opportunity as a chance to relieve herself of Astoria's presence. "Draco, we haven't danced all night and it is our engagement party," she said, hoping to try to communicate to Malfoy that they should flee the conversation or to signal for him to tell Astoria to back off.
"Would you do me the honour, Miss Garrott?" he said, holding out his arm for Hermione to take hold of. She nodded her head and locked her arm with his.
"If you would excuse us, Astoria," she said, looking back at Astoria. She didn't hold a look of disgust, as Hermione expected, instead she almost looked more vindictive. It was as if she saw Hermione as a challenge that would make her victory all the more sweet.
Malfoy guided her to the dance floor where all the other couples swirled around them in colourful blurs. She placed her hand on his shoulder and intertwined the other one with his hand as he gingerly placed a hand on her waist. And then suddenly they began to move along with the music and became a blur of their own.
"What the bloody hell was that about?" Hermione said heatedly, while keeping the delighted expression on her face. "Look, I don't care if you guys did that in private, but honestly! Out in public, and at our engagement party in front of all your family and friends? Don't you think-"
He pulled her in closer so that his mouth was at her ear, "Could you just stop harping me and let me explain? Just fucking listen to me for once. I know what risks I'm taking; so stop treating me like I'm reckless and stupid. All you need to know is that I know what I'm doing."
She looked past his shoulder, avoiding eye contact, and felt his intense stare burning on her skin, "No. This is not how we're going to do things. We can't work like this. You withholding information from me, and then me nagging you for it. I've done enough of that for a lifetime. I refuse to continue like this."
Malfoy lowered his voice, "You like to think that you always have the upper hand, don't you Granger? Well too bad because here, you don't. Do you really think that doing it the good ol' Gryffie way will help us here? Sorry to burst your bubble, but not in this world it won't. You know what will? Manipulating people, lying, cheating, stealing."
"Then what makes us so different from the people we're trying to stop?" Hermione challenged, daring him to find a way to defend himself.
"The fact that we're doing it to save people and not to kill them. Or worse, abuse them."
Hermione watched him look away from her as they continued to dance in silence. There was a large part of Hermione that wanted to believe that everything would go back to normal after the war and everything would work out the way it should. What happened was quite the contrary, it seemed. When she was with Harry and Ron and they left Hogwarts together, she felt hardly any guilt when doing questionable or controversial things because they had a war to win. But the war is over now, and they should have no reason to commit such things. At least that's what Hermione had hoped and what people needed to depend on
She wasn't sure whether there was a honourable way of working this case and if they did, if it'd even work. She did, however, comprehend that there were certain measures to be made and was prepared to make them.
"That doesn't explain why you can't tell me anything. I'm on this case too, in case you've forgotten."
"You may be on this case, but you're not the one calling the shots. You may also think you know how to work this case, but you don't understand this world. Reading about it is nothing compared the real thing." Hermione found herself letting out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She leaned away from him like she was experiencing whiplash.
"And you think I, of all people, don't know that?"
Books. Chapters. Words. They're so familiar to her because that's what she built her life around. She built her idea of reality around the realities she took from books. So when you're faced with a part of reality where research is useless to you, what do you do? Well on the inside, the walls of your reality will be fractured, and that fracture will turn into a crack if it isn't dealt with. If you try to patch it up, it'd never be the same. But if you do nothing, the wall could break entirely. What does one do? Knock the walls down and start all over, stronger and more stable.
She could remember it very clearly, still, when she had her wake up call. It was fifth year, the night in the Department of Mysteries. Everything felt real. Voldemort and his Death Eaters were real. Books can't teach you how to deal with you and your friends almost dying. Or with your friend's death.
They can't tell you how you're going to feel.
What she had been thinking about must have clearly showed on her face for Malfoy's face fell, realizing what he had just said.
"Granger," his gaze softened ever so slightly, as if some voice in his impeccably cold and stoic brain was debating whether to apologize. But even if he did, she didn't want to hear it.
"No," she said firmly, stopping him from saying anything further.
"Granger, you know-"
"No," she urged. The song ended, and a few couples began to disperse. She released herself from his clutch, "I'm going to find someone who won't patronize me." She turned away from him and started to retreat back to their seats, though she knew he was hot on her trail.
" Are you serious? You're embarrassing me. Come back here, now" she heard him call from behind her. Hermione stopped at a corner of the ballroom, when she was sure no one would be able to hear or see them.
"That's a little hypocritical, don't you think?" she whispered fiercely. "You've already embarrassed us both more than enough this evening by rubbing up against Mistress perfect over there."
"You're a child!" he replied, rubbing his temples as if he was the parent who had to put up with its child's endless recklessness. "You're just jealous she's getting more attention than you are."
"I'm a child?" Hermione snorted. "Are you even listening to yourself? Why do guys always seem to think we're jealous? Ever think it might be something more rational than that? Like, I don't know, my safety?"
He began to walk closer to her so that their faces were inches apart, "I've told you already, I know what I'm doing. Why can't you just trust-"
"Because I don't trust you! I don't!"
Hermione felt as if her voice echoed, and there was a sharp silence between the two of them. Under a different circumstance Hermione would have felt guilty, for though she had felt that way she shouldn't have said it in such a manner. She watched his face sink into a stoic expression as he took a step away from her.
"You don't," he said monotously, no sign of emotion in sight.
"Are you really that surprised? Because you've told me on multiple occasions that you can't tell me important information and yet you want me to trust you." How could he not get the irony of this? Despicable.
"You're really jumping at every opportunity to turn me into a villain, aren't you. Granger? I thought you were over that," he smiled bitterly at her, and began to walk away. He stopped suddenly in his tracks, and walked right up, into her face.
"Wake up and smell the fucking roses, Granger. We're on the same fucking side," he didn't raise his voice; he kept it dangerously low. He probably expected her to tremble like a dog that's been kicked or at least be intimidated. Instead she felt empowered by this.
"Then act like it," she spat back at him with everything that she had. Then she walked away from him before he could, and said her goodnights, claiming she had suddenly fallen ill. Malfoy didn't bother talk to her again that night. She had caught a glimpse of him talking to Graham Montague and Astoria Greengrass, but quite honestly she could care less.
While she gathered her clutch, she saw Daphne Greengrass approach her. "You really don't like to listen to people."
"Daphne," Hermione greeted, with a small smile. Malfoy or no Malfoy, she needed to get into the good books of Daphne Greengrass. "No, I don't suppose I do."
Daphne began to twist a lock of her auburn hair around her finger, "You're not helping yourself by leaving. You're making this so easy for Astoria. Suck it up, or lose your man. What's it going to be?"
"Why don't you want your sister to be with my fiancée so badly?" Hermione couldn't help but ask. She watched as the auburn haired woman leaned in closer.
"I quite like you, Rose. I don't want to see you being thrown out like a used tissue, that's all." Hermione understood what she was really trying to say.
"I think we'd make excellent friends," she said smoothly, standing up from her chair.
"Why don't you come over to the Greengrass Manor for tea some time? It'll be delightful. I'll have my mother arrange something with Narcissa," Daphne smiled brilliantly. It was obvious to Hermione that Daphne was going to use her, but she had to admit she liked her dedication and persistence.
"I would very much like that. Goodnight, Daphne," Hermione said before heading to bed for the night.
"Feel better, Sunshine!" she said in a sing-song manner, under the impression that everything was going her way.
Hermione smiled to herself, she didn't need Malfoy. She could handle it so long as he didn't mess everything up for her. She was such a fool to think that Malfoy could actually be a decent person to be around. It was just that he had been a totally different person before the ball, and then like a light switch he was back to his git-like self. That much kinder person in him made Hermione believe that just maybe they could actually work as partners. But all she had learned tonight that could never be. They could share information, they could share living spaces, but when it really came down to it, they were just fending for themselves.
Which was just fine for Hermione. She had Daphne like putty in her hands. Now all she had to do was shut the organization down, arrest everyone involved in it, and collect all items exchanged through it. It doesn't seem too hard.
When Hermione finally arrived at her room, she collapsed onto the silky white covers. She thought about how unlucky she was not to have stayed longer enough to be introduced to Graham Montague. She was lucky, however, that nothing as terrible as the things she discussed with Malfoy before the ball had happened to her. But she knew she wasn't going to waste her time dwelling on the past. Instead she began to imagine how she'd play her cards from here.
Hello, readers! I know I said I wouldn't be updating until after exams but things change. (*cough*procrastination*cough*) I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry if the beginning feel a bit abrupt. It's because this isn't a new chapter, per se, but a continuation of the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, fav-ed, and basically everyone who is reading this. I can't say it enough time, but I am very thankful to all of you guys. I love you all!
GeekAttack xoxo
