"I would suggest I make sure your dress is suitable for the Harvest Ball." Severus said to Hermione the morning of the ball.
"I assure you Professor it is perfectly suitable. I've seen the type of dresses that are expected there, especially for the female recruits."
"You are supposed to be calling me Severus, one slip like that tonight and whoever is around will know you are not as familiar with me as we are implying. As for the dress, you are not a recruit, this will be the first time you are meeting the Dark Lord so you had better hope it is suitable or else I will personally transfigure the dress to what I find suitable. You have to stand out Hermione, the Dark Lord must see that you are everything Draco has been boasting of and I assure you, he has done quite a bit of boasting."
"So who exactly have we decided I am going with?" she asked ignoring his comments on her dress.
"You will make it obvious that I convinced you to come however you will be presented on Draco's arm which in the long run benefits you."
"How does that benefit me? The whole point of me NOT keeping you under the Imperius is because I wanted you to reap the benefits of introducing me to the Dark Lord."
"I will be introducing you to the Dark Lord personally however; the Malfoy name offers you protection that I cannot. Going with Draco automatically puts you closer to the inner circle than some death eaters who have been in the ranks for years. Draco has never brought someone with him to any of these functions; he usually takes greater amusement in breaking the hearts of all the young women. For him to actually bring you and be announced with you, that offers you the protection the Malfoy name brings. Besides everyone knows the Malfoys don't like to share their toys." Severus sneered.
"Yes well, I have classes to get to and you should attempt to look presentable tonight. After all you will be the one introducing me to the Dark Lord and I don't need you making me look bad." She grinned.
"Hermione?" Severus called as she reached the door to leave.
"Yes?"
"Are you sure you can do this? No matter how foolishly Gryffindor you can be, I'm concerned for the outcome; are you sure you will be able to play the part needed?"
"If I didn't know any better I'd think you cared, Severus. Don't worry, I promise to put on quite the show. I will see you tonight when Draco and I arrive."
Hermione stepped out of the room and walked towards her desk to straighten up before her first class began. As she moved things around she thought about how they'd at least managed to come to an understanding compared to a little over a week ago.
-Flashback-
"Yes, I believe we do."
"Well for starters Miss Granger I'm curious why you are wearing Draco's robe, why blood is on your chin and what exactly caused you to drop the Imperius you've had on me, not that I'm complaining." Severus asked.
"That all rather fits into one thing. Harry and Ron walked in on Draco and I…training and went off. I had to prove myself to the Slytherins, which I apparently succeeded at, and then Draco gave me his robes to cover up from the eyes of Goyle and Crabbe."
"That is a perfectly disastrous answer to my questions. You did not explain why there is blood on your chin or why Draco had the need to cover you up which ended with you in his robes."
"Come now Professor do I need to spell it out for you? You yourself warned me about Draco, the blood on my chin is from Draco turning my head for a kiss while his hands were coated in my blood. The robe is because after a…fight ensued with Harry and Ron Draco did not want Crabbe and Goyle continuing to staring-"
"At his new toy?" Severus sneered.
"Yes, if that is what you'd like to call me, then yes, he didn't want them staring at his toy."
"Why are you so relaxed about sleeping with a soon to be death eater, son and nephew to two of the cruelest death eaters there are, Miss Granger? Do you not realize the lives you could be endangering? Especially now since your blundering idiotic friends know!" He said shouting the last sentence.
"First off, I am simply trying to stay calm, that is the first lesson I learned from you, if you are nervous they will tear you apart. Secondly, I know exactly what I am doing, I have been doing this the entire time you have been imperio'd. I have been progressing with my plan, in my way, learning from someone who you yourself just said, has been trained by two of the best death eaters. And lastly, you have no need to worry about Harry and Ronald because I obliviated them and sent them to bed."
"Ah so I see even your friends are not lucky enough to avoid your favorite curse now."
"No sir, I simply pushed the command to them, which was incredibly easy since neither of them have occlumency shields and they were both still dazed from the obliviate."
"That is very dark magic you are playing with Miss Granger! Besides where did you learn that? Very few people even know how to do that."
"Ten points to Gryffindor for knowing your dark arts." She said sarcastically earning her a raised eyebrow from the Professor. "And honestly Professor I assure you I'm not sleeping with Draco for his sexual talents."
"Why you cheeky little bitch!" Severus snapped.
Hermione jumped to her feet and took a menacing step towards him. "You will not begin treating me like I am your student because in case you have forgotten, Severus, I am not your student any longer. At this point in my plan you have no choice whether or not I will gain rank with the death eaters, it is simply a matter of time and who reaps the benefits of me joining. You can continue this asinine assault on me to make yourself feel better because I took advantage of you when you were weak or you can behave like a civilized human being and I can tell you everything you need to know from the last weeks. But before answering really take a minute to think. If you had been in my position would you have lied down and let others protect you or taken any advantage to take control of your own life?" she finished slightly panting with the emotional exertion her outburst had taken. Severus stepped back, his face with a look almost as though she'd slapped him and then with a resounding sigh he sat down on the plush loveseat behind him and responded.
"Fine, go ahead and talk Miss Granger."
"Let's start with how we, including myself and the five Slytherins who were already going, will be attending the Harvest Ball, together."
-End Flashback-
Hermione was pulled from her thoughts when the seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors began piling into the classroom. She waved quickly to Harry and Ron before dropping her hand so the other students did not taken notice. The two boys had quickly found her the morning after the incident to apologize for the disrespect they'd showed her as a Professor and the three had made quick apologies and went back to the light banter that their friendship had always been. They waived back to her as they were taking their seats, Ron grinning at her.
"Today we will begin working on the polyjuice potion. This will be a month long process so I hope your stasis charms are up to par. Each of you should find a partner, who has a similar schedule to yours because this will involve collaboration and time spent in the lab outside of class. Everyone's potion should be ready for testing two days before the holiday break. Now get to work." With that the class began chatting loudly trying to find the appropriate partner.
Hermione took notice to Lavender Brown siding up to Draco in hopes of being his partner. What Hermione was not expecting was the brisk nod from Draco before the two began to pull out the equipment they would need to begin their work. Hermione filed the information away for later and went back to thinking about exactly how she should present herself that night. She had her dress, with the stamp of approval from one Madam Dara and everything to go with it. Still her mind was stuck on the precise color the dress should take. Well after Severus' little lecture this morning perhaps I will give him exactly what he asked for, I will be sure to stand out in the snake pit.
-End-
*I'm sorry it's so short but if I keep going with this chapter into the ball then it will end up being 5k words and I don't want to run the chapters that long, plus I think Hermione's debut deserves its own chapter. I've already started working on it so I'll most likely be posting it tomorrow or Monday sometimes. Note on Hermione and Severus' relationship, in my opinion it would have to antagonistic, especially now because hello she had him under the Imperius AND sifted through his private memories. However after she got the invite from Draco to the ball, she couldn't not show up and even if Severus will not openly admit it, he knows her plan to allow him to become closer to Voldie is too good to pass up. Hope you like it, let me know what you think!