Disclaimer: Not my characters.

Chapter Ten

For some strange reason, everyone ended up in the dining hall for dinner that night. Maybe it was because it was the last night for most of them and they decided what better way to end their vacation than to have one last dinner together?

Everyone was dressed more casual for this dinner, having been around each other for a week and feeling no need to impress anyone anymore; everyone, except Ariadne, who seemed to just dress beautifully by obligation. Everyone did seem to notice she seemed more down that dinner and was actually just sitting next to Luna and Rolf. Derek had an unsure look on his face on the other end of the table, though he seemed to look more liberated sitting next to Gabrielle. She looked quite happy and chipper. Cho and Jet were sitting comfy somewhere in the middle of the table, next to Mark and Luke. Theodore was seated next to the Zabinis' on one end and he looked bored and disappointed. Blaise and Pansy looked exactly the same as they did the first night, though Blaise looked more calm yet thoughtful. Draco and Astoria managed to snag a seat on the other end, next to Harry and Ginny. Ron and Lavender were sitting next to them.

Draco noticed someone was missing, but he didn't want to mention it, especially in front of Astoria. So he just listened to the couples' conversations and hoped it would slip out.

"Lavender, I better not see you trying to sneak wine in your mouth!" Ron hissed.

Lavender rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, so now you care about how I'm treating my body."

"Of course I care, you twit, that's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Lavender's face seemed to soften at this, but she just grunted.

"Come on, Lav, I'm not going to let you out of my sight if you try to do something stupid."

Ginny hadn't warmed up to Lavender much, but since they had something very big in common, she gave her more of a chance. "Oh, come on, Ron, she's a smart girl. Aren't you excited, Lavender?"

Lavender smiled at Ginny. "Yes! I mean, I'm scared to death, especially of your parents and my parents, but I'm so excited. I've always wanted to be a," she whispered the last word, "mother."

Harry and Ginny made Lavender one of the exceptions of their news because they knew she needed support and Ginny wanted someone to talk to about it. "I know! I feel the same way!"

Ron began taking mouthfuls of food, "Hey, Harry," he swallowed. "Where's 'Mione?"

There it was. Draco heard the slip of her name.

"She decided to leave early. Had a lot of work," Harry answered.

"Work?" Ron asked. "Doesn't she just work at a book store now?"

Harry just shrugged. "Either way she just wanted to go home. Had a bit of a night, with those hosts and all."

She went home because of the hosts? Draco thought and wished he knew what happened exactly.

"Oh, right," Ron nodded. "Say, Harry, when's the last time you had a drink?"

"It's been so long… probably with you a couple years back at the Quidditch finals, do you remember that?"

Ron laughed at the memory. "Oh that was a wild night!"

The women glared at them.

"It was nothing like that!" Harry assured.

"You know what, that wasn't the last time. Remember George's bachelor party two years ago? I think it was shortly after the Quidditch drinking night," Ron said.

Harry's eyes brightened at the memory. "Now that was a wild night!"

Ginny kicked him.

"Let's have a drink tonight!" Ron said excitedly.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Harry said, looking at Ginny and Lavender. "I mean, the girls are pregnant you know."

"Aw, come on," Ron turned to the ladies. "It's our last night. I think the men deserve one night to loosen up and have good old bachelor time."

"Harry is not a bachelor, Ron, he's a married man," Ginny said.

"Oy, killjoy," Ron muttered.

"I think it might be a good idea," Lavender piped in. Ginny raised an eyebrow at her. "Ron has a point. They probably won't ever have a chance to do this again, with kids on the way. Plus, I think we'll have a lot of chance for girl talk without them in the picture tonight. There's so much I want to know about being pregnant."

Ginny's smiled happily at this. "Oh, Lavender, I have so many books on it!"

The girls began having a very excited talk about what they'd be looking through tonight and Ron and Harry just looked at each other with grins on their faces.

After dinner was over, Ginny and Lavender scolded Ron and Harry and told them to behave and be back to their rooms by at least two am.

In the lounge, Harry and Ron were sitting at the bar under the dim lights.

"What's it gonna be, mate? Seems like it might be the last night we can ever drink," Ron said.

"Might as well do it big then, eh?" Harry said. "Firewhiskeys."

Ron grinned, and the two made their orders.

The room started to fill with Gabrielle, Derek, Cho, Jet, Mark and Luke. They took the usual center table. Some moments later, Draco walked in with Pansy. They took a seat at a booth.

"Interested in any liquor on your last night, Pansy?" Draco asked her.

"I'm sure you remember how I act under the influence, Draco, and neither of us agree that it's appropriate," Pansy said.

"Oh, come on, it's your last night. At least have a butterbeer rum mix," Draco said. "It's barely got liquor in it."

Pansy glared at him, but agreed anyway and waited for Draco to return with their drinks.

"I'm only having one and going to bed," Pansy said when he set the drinks down at their table.

"Same," Draco said.

"So what's the deal?" Pansy said, sipping. "Blaise actually slept in the same bed as me two nights in a row."

"What, he hasn't told you?"

"He's just said there's nothing to tell and that Astoria was never really in the picture anyway. I think that must have been a real slap in the face for her, huh?" Pansy said. "What is the reason for this? What did you threaten her with?"

Draco couldn't exactly tell anyone he had brought up divorce with Astoria. It would defeat the purpose of them trying to work things out. "I don't know. Nothing. Maybe she just realized how stupid cheating is."

"I know you love your wife," Pansy said, feeling bolder. "But Blaise telling her that it wouldn't work out anymore just satisfies me to the highest degree."

"Slytherin," Draco mumbled, though he wasn't offended. "What's it you told Blaise to make him stop seeing her?"

"Nothing," Pansy said. "Doesn't faze me either way. You know that."

"You sleep with anyone during this trip, Pansy?" Draco asked, feeling bolder too.

Pansy looked at him curiously. "Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. What about you?"

"You didn't answer my question."

Pansy just laughed, throwing her head back. "Oh, Draco. Of course not," but she winked at him.

"So who was it?" Draco asked, more curious than ever. It was intriguing to know that he wasn't the only married one, besides Blaise and Astoria, who had slept with someone else during the trip.

"Come on, Draco. Be sensible. Who looks good enough to sleep with?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"The bartender, silly," Pansy whispered.

"Charles!"

"Keep it down, will you!" Pansy said, slightly inebriated. She had to be to be admitting this stuff. "It was just a fling. There were no feelings whatsoever. He knows that. We just found each other walking in the hallways one night, and ended up in a bedroom. Hell if I care. Next morning I left and that was that. It was a mutual thing."

It was so like Pansy to just be cold about things. But Draco supposed she needed some… release. The bartender bloke wasn't half bad looking. He was better looking than anyone else in the room at least. Draco wished he could easily dismiss his time with Hermione as Pansy had with Charles, but he wasn't cold like her.

"Well, what about you?" Pansy asked.

Draco thought about this for a moment. It would be nice to be able to share it with someone, to let it off his chest. But he didn't want to. It was something just he and Hermione shared. He wanted to keep it that way, leave it with just them two.

"No," he said.

"What a boring trip, then," Pansy said. "Well, I better get to bed before I get tempted to drink more. Good night, Draco." She got up and went out the door. Draco could swear he saw her wink at Charles before leaving.

Draco didn't want to go up to Astoria just yet, so he sat at the bar by himself, a few seats away from where Ron and Harry were downing firewhiskeys.

"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed. "Come join us!"

Draco looked at them in horror. He was slightly feeling his liquor, but definitely not enough to be drinking with Ron and Harry of all people. They seemed to be quite drunk though.

"Uhh…" Draco said.

"Come on Malfoy! We don't bite!" Ron said.

Beer before liquor makes you sicker, Draco thought of what he told Hermione. He found it strange that it felt like so long ago he told her that when it was just a few days ago. He thought it couldn't hurt to have one beer with the drunken boys, so he went over to sit next to them.

"Potter, Weasley," he said, "You two seem very drunk."

"You need to get on our level!" Harry said. Draco had never seen the boy so enthusiastic and red.

Draco took a swig of the firewhiskey. The burning sensation going down his throat was all too familiar.

"You know what I ought to do, Harry?" Ron slurred, "Punch Malfoy in the face!" The two began laughing.

Draco was scared for a moment. He thought maybe they had tricked him into drinking with them so they could beat him up and tie him up somewhere left to freeze to death, as punishment possibly for all the bad he'd done in the past.

"Don't look so scared, Malfoy," Ron said. "I only mean that you bloody kissed my ex-wife and did Merlin knows what!" He laughed some more.

Draco was even more scared. These two were completely out of their minds drunk. They were bad enough when they were angry and sober and he couldn't possibly imagine them being angry and drunk. Draco felt he the only way to make things look less insane was to drink some more, so he did.

"There ya go, Malfoy! Drink that firewhiskey like it's your best friend!" Harry said.

"So what was that kiss about, Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"Huh?" Draco said, feeling a bit light-headed. "Oh, it was a joke. We were drunk and thought it'd be funny to kiss in front of you, get a reaction, you know."

"You know it was weird, but after a while I didn't really care. I mean, who am I to be lecturing Hermione on who she kisses or shags, you know?"

"Right!" Harry said. "Hermione's her own woman! She may do as she pleases!"

"To Hermione!" Ron said, lifting his third bottle of firewhiskey. Harry did the same. They looked at Draco as if he was obviously missing the point of what they were doing.

"Oh, right," Draco said and lifted his bottle, too. The three took another large swig.

"What a woman, that Hermione," Harry said, wiping his mouth.

"Only the best!" Ron continued, "It's too bad I lost a real diamond there! But we'll be good friends again, I know it! That's all I want!"

Ten minutes later, Draco was pretty drunk and had finished listening to Ron and Harry praise all the women in their lives from Ginny and Lavender, to Mrs. Weasley, to Luna, to Fleur, to Professor McGonagall, even Professor Trelawney, and to Bellatrix, in some twisted turn of events.

"My auntie Bella?" Draco asked, confused.

"She was a crazy, psycho bitch, but she really taught me how to mean my Unforgivable Curses, you know," Harry said. "I suspect she may have been even sleeping with Voldemort." He made a sour face. "She had to have guts to go through all that."

Ron nodded in agreement. "So what about you, Malfoy?"

"Well, auntie Bella was crazy but she did teach me Occlumency…"

"No we mean who are the great women in your life?" Ron said.

Draco could only think of one person that really meant a lot to him. "My mother. I love my mother." He would never had said that to them sober.

"That's swell, Malfoy!" Harry said. "We love our mothers too!"

"What about your wife?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, er – her, too, I suppose," Draco said. "At least the son she gave me, if anything."

Ron and Harry looked at each other happily. "We're gonna be Dads too!"

"I knew your wife was expecting, Potter!" Draco said triumphantly. "It's a great feeling, you know, that moment you become a father…" He said reminiscently. Then he asked, "Say, what do you two know about rebounds?" Draco still hadn't figured out what Hermione meant by that.

"Rebound," Ron said, putting an arm around Draco, "is what Lavender was when Hermione and I broke up, but," he turned to look at Harry, "I think I may love Lavender, actually. I think I might."

"Brilliant!" Harry said happily.

"I still don't get it," Draco frowned.

"It's basically a backup, someone you use to distract yourself from the person you actually love," Ron said.

Draco finally understood and thought hard about it. Was that what it was? Of course it wasn't, Draco told himself. He really had a good time with her. It wasn't just to get away from Astoria, if it was so, he wouldn't feel so bad about letting whatever they had go…

"Is it two yet?" Harry asked, "I gotta get up by two, or Ginny's gonna get mad."

"It's alright, mate, it's only 1:55," Ron said.

"Actually, it's only 11:55," Draco corrected him.

"Oh, hell!" Ron said. "We've got plenty of time."

After hour they had shared all their trouble-making stories from Hogwarts, Draco had told them Death Eater secrets and rituals, most of which were ridiculous and the two Gryffindors laughed their heads off at them. Draco couldn't help but realize how stupid they were too. By another turn of events they'd began to sing tunes from the Weird Sisters together, went to the other guests left in the room, Gabrielle, Derek, Cho, Jet, Mark, and Luke, and urged them to join them in singing. Soon, everyone in the lounge was drunk and singing together.

By two, everyone had filtered into bed. The next morning they all left the mansion with a massive headache, but a great memory (or lack thereof) of the time they spent together that last night.

ooo

A/N: I meant to get this out yesterday but meh. Short chapter, but it's the last chapter at the mansion! Next chapter they're not on vacation anymore! What happens now that vacation's brought everyone some new problems to deal with?

Happy belated Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! I appreciate the reads and reviews! :)