Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter or Dramione.
Chapter 13: When you let snakes know
"So let me get this straight, you, Hermione Granger, is the heiress of the Garrott Fortune, the last known member the Garrott family?" Theo asked, "well, what are the odds, huh?" he asked.
Hermione huffed as she nodded in confirmation of what Theo had just said. When Ron had seen Hermione and her cousin with the Slytherins, she immediately knew that she had to get her group and the Slytherins out of the party in order to not cause a scene where they might end up regretting doing something so, she immediately dragged the Slytherins by their shirts and pulled them out of the party but not before instructing Ali to tell her friends to meet her in the main study.
So here they were, Red and Green, sitting as far from one another as possible while a party was going on outside. So much for a teenage moment, Hermione thought. There was a party outside and here she was, playing mediator once more- this time to her friends and their former (she wasn't exactly sure if they could be considered former now) enemies.
After a long bout of silence, Hermione finally spoke, "Well, now that it seems there are no more questions, I know you don't owe me any favours and that you might not even care enough to talk about this but I would like to ask you three to keep this information to yourselves. I'd really like to figure all this new information in private." Hermione said. She knew the Slytherins hated her back in Hogwarts and yes, the war had been over and people were still in the process of moving on from the war and re-establishing their lives but the press still followed the movements of every member of the order, most popularly, the Weasleys and Harry and Hermione although Hermione had been able to limit her presence in the press as she had been living in Australia in the muggle part of it.
She wasn't really keen on people finding out that she was the heiress to the Garrott fortune, she was sure the press would have a field day and she would lose whatever little privacy she has managed to keep to herself ever since she returned to England.
"Who would we tell, Granger? We all just got back from well, wherever our parents decided to take us and besides, no one in their right mind would talk to us if we ever decided to step foot in the wizarding world." Theo suddenly piped up. It was true, after the war their families immediately left Britain as the Wizarding population placed their biases and hatred of death eaters among those who were not prosecuted and so, even after they returned, they Draco, Theo and Blaise have yet to step foot in any of their usual wizarding spots.
"Point taken, but I would still appreciate it if you kept this information private." Hermione said. All this time, it was as if it were only Theo and her who was speaking.
When she and everyone first arrived in the study, Ron had immediately began accusing them of spying and gate crashing and having no place in the party however when Hermione noticed that the Slytherins merely kept to themselves and watched Ron amusingly by her best friend's red face, Hermione asked Harry, Fred and George to calm him so she could talk to the Slytherins.
Now that the truth was out and the Slytherins knew, Hermione than stood and said, "Well, now that that's over with, I'm going to go and talk to Ronald. As you are guests of my cousin, I think you should go back and enjoy the party and, maybe stay away from Ron, if you can." she added the last part as she knew how much the Slytherins loved to torment them most especially Ron for he was the easiest to rile up.
Before she left the Slytherin trio, she turned back to face them and asked, "Why are you in a muggle party any way? " clearly, the three were clever enough to pick up on her unspoken question: Why are you partying with the very people you claimed to despise?
With a mere shrug from the three, only Theo spoke, "People change, Granger."
After a tiring confrontation with Ron, Hermione and everyone else was finally able to return to the party which was now in full swing: people being thrown and hanging in and around the pool, beer pongs, and shot games being played and of course, a lot of dancing.
Hermione was currently at standing in a corner by the food table with a red cup in hand when he approached her.
"Didn't take you for a beer kind of girl, Granger." the voice said.
Hermione froze but thankfully managed to control her body movements and relaxed "Yes, well, You don't really know what kind of girl I am to actually know if I'm a beer kind of girl, Malfoy." she said as she turned to face him.
Hermione noticed that despite the hardships he and his family had endured being under the thumb of that madman, he looked better. His blonde hair was still a bit long on his face but he filled out his body and was no longer the skinny ferret she remembered. Of course, the last time she'd seen him was during the war and she doubt someone could maintain a healthy diet under the circumstances they were put in.
Hermione suddenly noticed that there was an awkward silence between them and so she decided to ask him how he had been, which than sparked a conversation between them. He'd told her what he'd been up to since the war and so did she, she told him of what her life was like in Australia and he told her what his life was like when he lived in America.
Of course they still couldn't bring themselves to offer more in the conversation as their history was far too big so the awkwardness was still there.
"Granger, I, uh- look, I know it might not mean much, but over the past year and during the war, I've done a lot of thinking and I know I've been a right shit to you and this might not mean much, but I'm sorry for the way I treated you back then." Draco said. It was a very un-slytherin thing for him to stutter, let alone say such a thing but he wanted a clean start and he felt that it was best if he apologised for his shitty behaviour in the past.
Hermione didn't know what to had happened but as soon as she heard an apology from Malfoy, she merely stared at him until she realized he was staring at her as well.
"Oh. Um, yeah, Thanks for apologizing." Hermione said, she felt that it was a lame response on her part but she was still too stunned about the whole thing to actually say much.
"I don't expect much, but I hope we can at least try to be civil and put the past behind us, if you agree of course." Draco than said.
"Of course. Let's leave the past where it is." Hermione said. It was true, she didn't want to live with grudges and the past holding her down and while she doubted that Malfoy and her would ever be close friends, it was best to put their horrid childhood past behind and start anew.
"To new starts." Malfoy said as he raised his red cup as a toast.
"To new starts." Hermione repeated as she raised her cup as well.
"And you're wrong, it does still mean something, to me at least." she than said, unconsciously rubbing her left forearm.
The next day, Draco woke up to find himself in his room, with no clue as to how he got there.
To his not so surprise, Theo and Blaise were there too, one passed out on the chaise lounge and the other quite dead-drunk on the floor.
As Draco made his way to his bathroom to take a shower, he thought of everything that had happened last night.
Hermione is a descendant of the Garrotts.
Muggleborn Granger is the last descendant of the oldest pureblood family in he sacred twenty eight.
Granger is a Garrott.
and lastly, how can muggles make alcohol so much better than wizards?
AN: I am still alive! This story is not abandoned! I repeat, this story is not abandoned!
I'm still trying to get myself together, I sort of don't know where to take this story anymore so if you guys have any suggestions, send me a message or leave it on the review!
Anyway, what do you guys think so far? I'm a bit slow on the scenes cause I'm having trouble reconnecting with my characters after not writing about them for so long!
I hope you like this chapter, even if it is only a short, filler one!
xx
unamedhpauthor