Chapter Ten.
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Blaise, Harry and Draco were enjoying a night of drinks and poker when a fuming Hermione threw open the front door of her apartment, slammed it behind her and stormed straight past them to her room and slamed that door too. The three men looked at each other with raised eyebrows, daring each other to go and find out what the hell just happened. Blaise gave in, sighed and left the table, going to investigate. He reached her bedroom door and knocked.
"Hermione?" He shouted through the door, "What's up, lovely?"
Suddenly, the door was thrown open before him and Hermione pushed past him, going into the kitchen. Blaise frowned, shook his head and returned to his seat with the other two men and was just about to speak when Hermione came through to the living room carrying a bottle of wine and flopped down on the sofa.
"Uh..." Muttered Harry, trying to keep a straight face. "You alright there, Hermione?"
"What are you doing back from your date so early?" Draco asked, not bothering to hide his smirk.
"Do you have any idea what kind of evening I've had?" She snapped, glaring at him. "I swear I will never let you set me up on a blind date ever again, Harry Potter. Not if you paid me all the galleons in the world."
It had been a month since Hermione had returned home from St Mungo's and in an effort to throw herself back out there, to jump back on the horse so to speak, Hermione had accepted Harry's offer to set her up with an, apparently, nice and relatively attractive wizard that he worked with at the ministry. Harry groaned as she ranted at him and Blaise chuckled.
"That bad, huh?" He asked, looking sympathetic and she nodded as she took a drink of wine, straight from the bottle.
"Do you know what he asked me?" She spat, turning back to Harry who shook his head looking worried. "He asked whether I'd ever had a threesome with you and Ron."
Draco and Blaise burst out laughing while Harry blushed crimson at the insinutation. Hermione pushed herself up, wobbling as she stood, and began to pace the room, glaring at the two Slytherins.
"He said, and I quote, that we're too close not to have fucked." She fumed. "Please tell me that disgusting man is not an Auror?!"
"He's not," Harry said, gulping, "He's the uh... He's the office cleaner."
"A CLEANER!" Hermione shrieked. "Did you seriously set me up on a date with the fucking cleaner?!"
Harry looked to Draco and Blaise for help, but neither of them could stop laughing long enough to speak so Hermione waited for her oldest friend to offer his excuses. The evening had started off well enough. The guy, Paul, had come to pick her up from the apartment and taken her for dinner. Once he'd had a few drinks, however... Horrible little man.
"Well, he has always fancied you, Hermione." Harry offered in an attempt to calm her.
"Oh for the love of..." She hissed, smacking her palm into her forehead and sighing as she flopped down on the sofa, turning to look at Harry, pointedly ignoring the two snickering snakes.
"Seriously? I'm not sure that man had enough brain cells to be trusted with a bloody mop." She muttered.
Draco and Blaise spluttered on laughter again and Harry joined them. Hermione watched them and rolled her eyes, feeling a grin spread across her face which she didn't even try to fight. These men were her lifeline. They were her best friends, and she loved each of them. Draco had become incredibly important to her in the role of friend and she found that, though they bickered and poke fun at each other, he was the one who was usually able to put a smile on her face when she was feeling down.
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"Where are you going all dressed up at..." Blaise glanced at the clock above the fireplace, "Ten in the morning?"
"I've got a job interview!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "And then I'm meeting Draco and Astoria for lunch."
Draco had met Astoria during Hermione's stay in St Mungo's. She had been in the hospital visiting some relative or another and she had recognised Draco from Hogwarts. She was Daphne Greengrass' little sister, and Draco had asked her to dinner. None of his friends had expected them to really hit it off, but surprisingly Draco had really grown to like the girl and Hermione was happy for him. Astoria was lovely, too, and Hermione found herself warming to the girl almost immediately upon meeting her.
"Where's your interview?" Blaise enquired happily, "How come this is the first I'm hearing about this?"
"It's just Flourish and Blott's, but-"
"Perfect for my favorite bookworm then!" Blaise laughed and she dropped a kiss on his head, turning to leave. She stopped when he called out to her.
"I've was thinking of having a few old school mates over tonight, if that's alright?" He asked and she frowned.
"Who? Not Parkinson, please, anybody but her!" She pleaded and he laughed.
"No-one's seen Pansy in years. She ran off to France and married some frenchman." Blaise shrugged, "No, Draco's coming, obviously, but other than him it'll just be Theo and Marcus."
"Uh... Nott and... Flint?" She tried to remember and he nodded. "Alright, seems fine. But I might invite Harry over to counteract the influx of Slytherin alumni." she chuckled and Blaise laughed.
"Fine by me! You off?" He asked.
"Yeah, see you later!"
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The interview had been a huge success and Hermione, who was so shocked that she wanted to cry, was offered the job on the spot. She felt a huge bubble of happiness well up in her stomach and instantly raced to the Ministry to find Harry, to tell him her good news and invite him over to her apartment that night.
"Harry!" She yelled, tiptoes and waving over the numerous people in the Auror offices.
"Heya Hermione," Harry greeted and pulled her into a hug once he had reached her, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to tell you my good news!" Hermione trilled, "I've got a job!"
"That's amazing!" Harry exclaimed, giving her another hug, "Where are you going to be working?"
"Flourish and Blott's." She grinned and he nodded as though he should have guessed. "It's not the most amazing, but I get to read unlimited books when the shop is quiet. And I get a discount, too."
"Sounds perfect for you, Hermione." Harry grinned. "I've not had my lunch yet, do you want to go get something to eat?" Hermione shook her head.
"I can't, I'm meeting Draco and Astoria for lunch, sorry Harry." she apologised and he hummed, eyeing her. Hermione rose her eyebrow in question.
"Are you okay with that? Draco seeing Astoria?" Harry asked tentatively and Hermione sighed.
"Honestly?" She asked and he nodded, "I'm surprisingly fine with it. I thought it would hurt when he met somebody but..." she shrugged and Harry smiled.
"I'm glad you're okay about it." He grinned, "Do you think you're ready to move on?"
"If I met someone that I connected with, I'd take a chance." Hermione shrugged before grinning, "I guess I have moved on. And I really like Astoria, she's lovely."
Truthfully, Hermione was shocked by how little it had affected her when Draco had mentioned he would be seeing Astoria in a more serious way. She had been dreading the day since he had re-entered her life, but now that it had happened... It didn't really bother her. She'd discussed it with Julia at their last session and she had told Hermione that if it didn't bother her, then she was obviously healing from her heartache. Hermione just wanted Draco to be happy, and he seemed to be, so she was fine.
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, "I wanted to invite you to mine tonight."
"Any special occasion?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"Aside from the fact that my apartment is going to be full of snakes? No." She laughed and he frowned. "Blaise has got a couple of Draco, Theo Nott and Marcus Flint coming over, so I was hoping to not be the only Gryffindor?"
"Ah, I see." Harry laughed.
"Please Harry?" She asked with a pout and he rolled his eyes.
"Fine, fine. But I'm bringing Firewhiskey." Harry sighed.
"I can't find a problem with that." She grinned.