Chapter Ten: The Party

"Good evening to you all, and thank you for coming." Voldemort said, gazing down across the room. "You're all here tonight so I can formally introduce you to my daughter, Hermione Jean Voulix."

A few gasps went out among the younger Hogwarts crowd. Those that hadn't recognized her before knew of her now. After all, there was only one well known Hermione in the wizarding world, and that one was Harry Potter's best friend. More murmurs were thrown about and Hermione could hear the word Voulix spread out across the crowd like wildfire. Hermione refused to look at any of them, her eyes focused on her father. She was too afraid to look into the crowd and see Draco there.

"You might have known her before as Hermione Granger, the mudblood." Voldemort spit the last word out in distaste. "But she is, and always has been, a pureblood. I command that you keep her identity as Hermione Granger intact outside of such occasions as this. But for now I suggest that you pay her the same respect you would me…or else."

No one whispered at this sentiment, but in unison they all lifted their glasses once in the air and back down again and Voldemort seemed pleased at this sign of respect.

"Now Narcissa here has lavished this ballroom with food and drink and I welcome you all to it. I must leave now, with important business to attend to. I hope you will all introduce yourself to my daughter and make her feel welcomed."

With that last statement, the crowd raised their glasses once more and said, "To the Dark Lord."

Hermione turned to look at her father again, but he was gone. He apparently hadn't been exaggerating when he said he could only stay for a few moments. Now Hermione was left alone at the top of the stairs with the entire group of people staring at her. She still had her entire face composed into a look of boredom but that would wear off soon into embarrassment if something didn't happen to take the attention off of her quickly.

Thankfully, Narcissa sensed the awkwardness that was to ensue and she pushed her husband up the stairs to escort Hermione down as she threw dirty looks at the orchestra she had hired to play. With the sudden continuation of music, the crowd stopped staring and went back to the jovial party atmosphere it had before Hermione had arrived.

She never thought she'd think this in her life, but she was truly relieved when Lucius grabbed her hand and led her down the steps.

"Thank you." She whispered hoarsely to him.

"Of course." He said stiffly back. Hermione was sure that Lucius was still not accustomed to acting kindly to Hermione and for that she couldn't blame him. She did after all take part in placing him in Azkaban at the end of her 5th year.

At the bottom of the stairs, Lucius left her, and Hermione was left standing alone in a room full of people who she either didn't know, or who hated her. Her only friend, or so she thought, was Draco, who had seemed to be too occupied to care a few moments ago.

Hermione thought she might wander over to the refreshment table and pass some time standing idly, but before she could she was bombarded with people wanting to introduce themselves.

"Gregory Goyle Senior at your service." A large bumbling man who hadn't been at dinner rushed forward and lightly grabbed her hand, brushing his lips over it just for a second as a sign of respect. His son lagged slightly behind him, looking dumbfounded.

"Pleasure." Hermione said simply.

"Gregory, come forward."

Goyle grunted but did not move any closer to the two of them.

"Gregory." Mr. Goyle said darkly. Hermione really had no desire to 'meet' Goyle again as their previous encounters were hardly deemed pleasant.

"Really, Mr. Goyle. It's fine. Gregory and I have met before." She said hastily.

"Oh! Wonderful! At Hogwarts, I assume. Are you friends?"

Hermione had to hold in a laugh at this question, but Goyle looked frightened as to what she might answer.

"Oh yes. The best of friends, Mr. Goyle." Hermione said, enjoying herself. Now Goyle owed her one, big time.

"Fantastic! Glad to hear it!"

Hermione was worried he'd want to talk more about her and his son, so when he turned to address Goyle once more, she quickly slipped out of his range of vision and moved on to the next person.

Hermione met one high society member after the other. Most were death eaters that hadn't been at dinner, and therefore not in the inner circle. These were the ones she had never seen before, so she felt neither like or dislike toward them. She had only met maybe half the room when Pansy Parkinson and her parents came up to her.

"So you're the long lost Voulix, are you?" Mrs. Parkinson said to her lightly.

She looked the same as her daughter, long shiny black hair a bit of a pugged face, but still not horrible looking. In fact, Hermione had never really seen Pansy Parkinson this up close before, and she couldn't really come up with anything horrible to think about her appearance now that she was faced with the task.

"I suppose so." Hermione said, unsure of how to address the question.

Mr. Parkinson stepped forward and introduced himself. He kissed her hand, which Hermione assumed was the male rich pureblood way to do things in formal situations.

"We'll let you and Pansy talk. She says you two know each other. Excuse us." Mrs. Parkinson said smiling, as she and her husband slipped away.

Pansy was wearing a deep green cocktail dress with a dark cloak around her neck. Her hair was done up in a loose bun and she was smirking at Hermione.

"'Know each other' is a bit of an over statement don't you think?" Hermione said to her.

"A bit. It was the only way I could get them to leave me alone." Pansy said, speaking truthfully.

Hermione was sure the girl had tried to get her alone to say harsh words, but Pansy didn't seem to have any.

They stood in the corner of the ballroom, and as a house elf passed by with a tray of champagne, Pansy grabbed two and handed one to Hermione.

"Thanks." She said, unsure of what to do next, but grateful for a break from meeting people. Hermione allowed herself to glance around the room in search of Draco. The idea of seeing him again with Astoria made her heart nearly fall out of her chest and she had to mentally push herself back up. It wasn't as if she and Draco were dating or anything. They'd only kissed twice, and one time hadn't really counted. She'd just cried on his shoulder once, and he'd only grabbed her hand in comfort twice. There was no commitment there. He was free to do as he pleased.

Just as she was about to give up looking, she saw his shock of blonde hair next to Astoria once more. They were talking to another older couple across the room and Draco's arm was still securely around her waist. He whispered something in her ear, and she laughed and play pushed him away.

"You haven't heard then, have you?"

Hermione was dragged out of the sickening scene by Pansy's voice from next to her. She turned toward her, mentally shaking herself out of it.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You didn't know about Draco and her, did you?"

Hermione thought it would be stupid to play dumb so she simply shook her head no.

"They aren't really an item, you know." Pansy said staring at the couple across the room.

"Tell Draco that." Hermione said, her eyes throwing daggers in the two's direction.

"Well, the Dark Lord, or should I say your father, seems to think that purebloods are dying out. Something that I guess is a bit true. Basically last year he arranged marriages for all of us purebloods young enough to still get married." She said, past Hermione's gasp of shock.

"You can't be serious?" Hermione said, as Pansy nodded in affirmation. "Pureblood society really is like living in the 18th century again."

Pansy laughed, taking a sip of her champagne.

"Tell me about it. I mean, it's not so bad; it secures you for life and all. I guess it just sort of takes away some freedom."

"Some freedom? How about all of it?" Hermione said downing her glass of champagne. She couldn't believe her father implemented such a law. "When do you have to marry your betrothed by then?"

"Oh not for awhile. We still get to have fun, you know. We just have to settle down with our 'matched' pureblood before we're twenty five."

"That's absurd." Hermione said, grabbing a second glass of champagne and saying another quick hello to a woman who came up to introduce herself, then left.

"Tell me about it. Draco's a catch. Wish the Dark Lord would have matched us up. We're too much like brother and sister though…it would have been weird. We would have had some good looking kids though."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that. The idea of talking so causally about arranged marriages and kids at such a young age was so out of her known world she wasn't sure how to handle it.

"So they aren't together then, him and Astoria?" Hermione asked.

"No. Well, Astoria would like them to be, but Draco still wants to be his own free man for a bit longer I guess. I mean, they put up appearances, and they've known each other for quite some time. Some kids go crazy when they find out about their betrothed and they sleep around like mad until they're twenty five so they get it all out of their systems. But others just start to build a friendship, sometimes more, just out of the inevitability of it all. Kind of helps you get used to it." Pansy said simply.

"Who's your future husband then?" Hermione said turning on her.

Pansy looked sick for a moment then slowly pointed her finger over to a group of five young men about twenty feet away.

They were all extremely good looking, except one, who was a bit overweight and looked as if he hadn't bathed in days. He was the one Pansy was pointing to.

"No way!" Hermione said shocked.

"That's him. Franz Armstrong. Disgusting man, really. Graduated from Durmstrang last year, so he's a year old than me."

"Wow…Parkinson…I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He's bloody rich. We have an agreement anyway."

"Oh?"

"The plan is still to marry, have a few pureblood kids and all that. But we don't have to stay faithful to each other. I think it's a pretty good deal. It may not bring the upmost happiness, but it's something I can live with knowing I don't have to sleep with just him for the rest of my life." She said disgustedly.

Hermione laughed and Pansy smiled at her.

"This is weird." Pansy said finally.

"I know. I don't even like you." Hermione said honestly, and at that Pansy laughed.

"Duh Granger…I mean Voulix. Or, just Hermione?"

"Hermione's fine."

"Well for what it's worth I'm sorry. I won't say that I'm being nice now because I suddenly like you and I've had a change of heart. It's because you're the Dark Lords daughter for one and now I know you're a pureblood. I only allow myself to get to know and like purebloods, we all do, it's how we're raised. So if you can't handle that the only reason I might hang out or be nice to you is that reason alone, then you're out of luck."

"Draco told me the same thing basically. I guess I'm okay with it. If I'm going to have any sort of happy life in this world I might have to okay with it."

"That's the spirit. We purebloods are really great at accepting our fates."

"I guess you almost have to be."

They stood in silence for a bit longer, unsure of where to go next.

"So, you like Draco then."

Hermione nearly choked on her drink and spluttered a few coughs.

"You don't have to say anything, it's obvious. I think he likes you too, you know. When you were up there he could hardly take his eyes off you."

"Yeah, and he could hardly take his arm off Astoria's waist too."

"It's a pureblood thing, Hermione. It's not easy." She pointed again to the group where her future husband was, but this time to a brown haired boy next to him, who was very good looking. "That's the guy I like, and guess what? He's marrying Bulstrode over there someday. It's something we have to accept. But it doesn't mean you can't have fun. There are still a few guys in here that aren't arranged for any marriages yet you know."

Hermione looked mildly interested at these words.

"Let's find out how Draco really feels, shall we? It'll be fun. Plus I'd love to wipe that stupid smug look off Astoria's face, that little prissy witch. She hardly deserves a guy like Draco anyway. Why the Dark Lord put them together, I'll never know."

Pansy led Hermione around the room only stopping every once in awhile to introduce her to a few people. She pointed out all the single men to Hermione, but none really caught her interest. They grabbed more champagne and Hermione felt a little buzzed, and her confidence bloomed, nearly forgetting all about Draco, and truly enjoying Pansy's company.

"Oh! I've got a good one Hermione. Okay, see that guy over there?" She pointed to a handsome young man who looked about their age.

He had dark brown hair, almost black, and it lay shaggy on his head, but it still didn't go below his ears. He was just as tall as Draco, and just as well built. He had on an easy smile as he was conversing with another boy. "That's Sid Cartwright. He's our age, but he's transferring to Hogwarts this year. Something about your dad needing another inside man at Hogwarts. Anyway, he's gorgeous, and definitely wealthy. But more importantly single, and not set up to wed."

"Why him though?" Hermione asked. She defiantly was interested, and he was very handsome. But it had been the first person Pansy pointed out that she'd seemed really excited about.

"Simple. Draco and he hate each other." Pansy said with a smirk.

"You're a horrible person." Hermione said seriously.

"Thank you!" Pansy said sincerely, and Hermione laughed. "But really, you haven't been introduced to him yet. Let me do that for you."

She made Hermione face her, and fixed a few strands of loose hair around Hermione's face. Hermione checked her dress, thankful she chose the beautiful purple gown to wear to dinner that night.

She took one last look over at Draco, who was paying her no attention. Hermione's insides sunk lower, she was unsure why after only a few conversations and even fewer kisses, that she was feeling so strongly towards Draco in that moment. As if he had truly betrayed her. He could have at least told her about the marriage thing, right? It was unfair to lead her on, to give her some kind of hope. She might as well try to meet new people in this new world of hers. People that she might have a future with.

Pansy grabbed her arm and led her over to where Sid was standing, tapping his shoulder once. He turned to face them both and the right corner of his perfect mouth turned upward at the sight of Hermione before him.