A/N: I'm still laughing at the fact that I made Hermione strip in the middle of the ballroom haha. I was planning that from the moment I decided to do the ball lol. Some of you may like the next few chapters and some of you may hate them but we will see haha. My evil plan has just begun, let's see how it unfolds muahahahaha. ;P Btw sorry it took so long to update I was either playing Skyrim because it's my current obsession or really busy lol. Hope you like it though.
Chapter 21: Mortification to Outrage
Hermione woke up groggy as hell with a major hangover, she felt as if her whole head would explode. Draco was no where near her which instantly made her uneasy but at least she was in their bed. Although how she got to bed she didn't know, the last thing she remembered was meeting all the guests at the ball and drinking heavily even after the stomach ache began.
She reached over to her bag that was on the night stand and pulled out a hangover potion and took it quickly but it didn't work as fast as usual and she ran to go throw up. She had to have been extremely drunk if she still threw up after taking the hangover potion was her thought. Hermione jumped in the shower after shedding off a large shirt of Draco's that was all sweaty from her sleeping in it. Her head felt a little better after taking a shower and she dressed in a pair of jeans and a bright yellow tank top with some yellow flipflops. When she walked into the living room she still didn't see Draco but she heard noises from the kitchen and followed the sound. She saw there was a pillow and blanket on one of the loveseats, signalling that Draco slept on the couch last night, another bad sign. Draco was sitting at the table reading the front page of the Daily Prophet looking peeved and he didn't look up when she entered he just said, "Eat your breakfast before it gets cold."
Hermione felt uneasy at his irritable attitude towards her but sat down anyways and began eating her toast with jam and eggs benedict. "Draco, what happened last night? I just remember drinking and meeting guests," Hermione said.
"You were trashed Hermione, completely trashed and embarassed yourself in front of the entire ball room and now the entire Wizarding world," Draco said curtly.
"What did I do?" Hermione asked nervously and Draco didn't dignify her with a response he just refolded the paper and threw it across the table at her. Hermione looked down and her cheeks instantly flamed bright red, there was a picture of her unzipping her dress and pulling it off to reveal the lingerie she wore under her dress last night. "What is my obsession with taking my clothes off when I'm drunk?" Hermione asked trying to lighten the mood.
"I don't know, but it needs to stop from now on because it's indecent behavior for the public to be seeing especially since we are trying to improve the Malfoy name not destory it more," Draco said tersely.
"I don't suppose a simple I'm sorry would help?" Hermione asked.
"Not quite, which is why I have arranged for you to speak at a press conference in about an hour where you will announce your very large and sincere apology for your disgraceful behavior last night," Draco said.
"Sounds fair, I really am sorry Draco," Hermione said pitifully before beginning to read the article.
"New Lady Malfoy A Floozy?!" was the headline making Hermione's cheeks flame again.
"Hermione Malfoy (nee Granger) seemed like a very responsible person from all previous news about her. She was the responsible side of 'The Golden Trio' throughout Hogwarts and was even Prefect in her 5th year so responsibility usually pours from her body. That is until you add alcohol into the mix. Hermione was seen drinking quite heavily as she greeted her guests at the Malfoy Wedding Celebration Ball last night. Some say it was nerves, others say she was drinking as if her life depended on it. Is Hermione Malfoy a closet alcoholic or does she just attempt and fail miserably at drinking her nerves away?
That is the question most of us have today as we look back at the events of last night, Mr. Malfoy was seen giving her her first glass of fire whiskey most likely to calm her nerves at being at such a ritsy party. The new Lady Malfoy's history and blood status is no secret to all of us having heard great things about her throughout her years at Hogwarts, so she would definitely be nervous at being in a place filled with mostly pure bloods along with all business partners of the Malfoy businesses.
Did she however take it too far as she ordered glass after glass as she walked around on the arm of her new husband? We here at the Daily Prophet think so since last seen she was slurring her words and talking heavily about bedding the young Master Malfoy before the end of the evening. She also requested music not suitable for a ball and danced in full view of everyone with her new husband in an inappropriate way for a ball such as last night's.
What we all here at the Daily Prophet want to know is, do you all think this is how a Lady Malfoy should act? Or do you stand in outrage as we do? Should a Lady Malfoy be seen taking her clothes off in the middle of a ballroom to reveal skimpy lingerie as she did last night? We think not and we'll see what the new Lady Malfoy has to say about her actions later today in a press conference called by none other than the young Master Malfoy himself. We plan to get to the bottom of this to find out if it was one big misunderstanding, or if Hermione Malfoy is actually a floozy in a wannabe angelic costume."
Hermione was both embarassed and outraged at the comments in the article, she was in no way a whore but apparently really horny the night before, not that it excused her behavior in any way but still. She looked up to see Draco looking at her a little coldly and she felt her heart clench painfully. "Is there any way to make up for this?" Hermione asked quietly.
"As I said to give a big heartfelt apology later today and to agree to never drink this much again Hermione," Draco said.
"I promise to never drink that much again Draco and I am so sorry for making an ass out of myself in front of everybody," Hermione said and Draco just nodded. He still didn't forgive her, not that she blamed him but she wished he'd just act like it a little bit for her benefit. Hermione finished eating her breakfast as quickly as she could since the cold uncomfortable silence between the two was making her heart clench painfully even more than it had been before he stopped talking to her. Afterwards she hurriedly put her dishes in the sink and all but ran to the bedroom. Hermione grabbed a book out and began reading to pass the time until Draco came and got her for the press conference. Time went slowly and she could barely take in what she was reading, she was too upset.
Finally it seemed Draco walked in, "It's time to go, Professor McGonagall opened the floo for today for us," Draco said stiffly and Hermione got up, put her book in her bag and threw her bag on her shoulder before following him out of the bedroom. Draco grabbed the floo powder and threw it into the flames and waited for them to turn green before he grabbed Hermione a little rougher than he normally would and called out, "Daily Prophet conference lobby" and then walked them both through the flames.
They appeared on a platform and there was already a podium and audience waiting for them to show up. Narcissa was in the front row no doubt wanting to hear this apology first hand, which made Hermione a little more nervous since the look on Narcissa's face showed she was just as unhappy as Draco. It almost showed disdain for Hermione, which made her heart clench painfully again at the idea of upsetting her mother-in-law that much. Draco walked up to the microphone and tapped it to make sure it was on before speaking. "Thank you all for coming today to hear my wife's heartfelt apology. As you all know my family is trying to turn over a new leaf now that the war is over and this put a damper on it. We will strive to overcome this and to keep things like this happening again in the future," he said and the crowd applauded. "Thank you, now here is my wife," Draco said and stepped back and all but shoved Hermione forward and into the spotlight.
Hermione nervously cleared her throat as she saw all the people and cameramen looking at her expectantly. The spot light shone down onto her and made her shirt brighter and her skin look whiter, she instantly began sweating a little. "Hi um, I would like to clarify a couple of the questions out in the article about my disgraceful behavior last night before I begin. No, I am not a floozy I was a virgin until my wedding night and I lost it to my husband. Also no I am not an alcoholic, I've only drank a number of times before and I've never drank as much as I did last night. I was drinking because I was extremely nervous to be in a room full of people who looked down upon me because of my blood status before the war which is why I drank in the first place. I wanted to impress the Malfoy business partners as well so I was very nervous about meeting them all, I clearly did not attain that goal last night," Hermione said as her opening statement.
A reporter took her silence as an opportunity to question her, "Lady Malfoy, why did you think drinking would impress the guests?"
"Um leave it at Hermione right now, I clearly do not deserve the title of Lady Malfoy just yet. I have a lot to learn and a lot of discipline to go through before I can be called that respectfully," Hermione said sounding quite mature which didn't go unnoticed by Draco who gave her a nod in reply as she gazed at him. "To answer your question however, I didn't think drinking would impress them. As I said I only wished to calm my nerves a little as to not make an ass of myself again which clearly didn't happen. I drank way more than was necessary to calm my nerves," Hermione said.
"Alright well Hermione, do you make a regular habit of taking your clothes off in public?" the same reporter asked.
"No I do not, I am usually quite a prude for lack of a better word, I do not show more skin than necessary usually," Hermione replied.
"Why did you take your clothes off last night then?" another reporter asked.
"I'm not quite sure, I was extremely drunk and do not remember quite a bit of last night unfortunately including that inappropriate for a ball dance called out in the article," Hermione replied.
"Do you usually strip when drinking?" a reporter towards the back asked.
"I am only here to talk about last night's disgrace not any other time I may or may not be under the influence of alcohol," Hermione said shortly and she heard Draco snort in amusement behind her. At least she knew he approved of her answer, though he probably was still very upset with her.
"A very diplomatic answer if I may say, but it sounds like you are covering up that you do in fact do that," Rita Skeeter's annoying voice came from the middle of the room and she jeered at Hermione when Hermione glanced at her.
"As I said Miss Skeeter I am only here to discuss last night not any other times, and I am neither agreeing with your statement or disagreeing with it and I suggest you not bug me about it," Hermione said emphasizing the word bug with a small smirk which silenced Rita since she didn't want Hermione telling everyone that she was an unregistered animagus.
"Back to the subject at hand, do you plan to drink like that at any other events from now on?" A fourth reporter asked.
"No I do not, I have learned from my mistake and I promise to all of you and my husband that I will never drink that heavily again," Hermione said though she had to resist the urge to sigh and roll her eyes since they seem to be making her out to be an alcoholic even though she cleared that up. "Are there any more questions or may I go through with my apology and finish this up?" Hermione asked a little irked since this was not originally supposed to be an interview.
"Why are you so inclined to get this over and done with?" Rita asked.
"It was under my impression when informed about this conference that I was here to apologize for my actions, not be interviewed about them," Hermione said a little ruder than she meant but the reporters got the message and stayed hushed. "Now then I want to first and foremost say I am deeply sorry to my husband and mother-in-law for disgracing the Malfoy name as I did. I also want to apologize to the guests at that ball for having to see more of me than necessary and I want to let everyone know that this will not be happening again. I will never drink this much again in the future and I promise that. I will in fact, try to refrain from drinking more than a glass of alcohol or two at any future event from here on out. I feel horrible for embarassing myself and my new family at such an important event and I still can't believe I mucked it up.
I know it is my duty as Lady Malfoy to get to know all the business partners even if it is Draco that will be dealing with them so I plan to remeet them all and try to get to know them at least a little bit after we graduate Hogwarts. I also plan to attempt to impress and get to know the other guests from this ball so that I can make up for this at least a little bit. I said earlier that I do not deserve the title of Lady Malfoy just yet and I know for a fact I do not. I will make myself better both for myself, my family, and all others out there who associate with the Malfoy family. I plan to take lessons to be a proper Lady Malfoy and I will strive to be the best as I can be. Thank you for your time, may we never have to do another press conference for something like this again," Hermione said and smiled a little.
Lots of pictures were taken, there were people writing everything she had said down and Rita Skeeter and her Quick Quills Quote, which made her a little nervous since all other reports from Rita were inaccurate and full of lies. Hermione looked down at Narcissa and was rewarded with a small smile and nod of approval which made her more relieved than she could say.
"Nicely done, though you need just a little bit of work in the public speaking department, since you rambled a little bit," Draco whispered in her ear and she nodded.
Narcissa walked up onto the platform to her holding a book which made Hermione raise her eyebrow a little. "This book was given to me by Lucius' mother on how to be a good Lady Malfoy and I think it's time to pass it to you," Narcissa said and handed the old book to her.
"Who's the author?" Hermione asked as she held the little black book.
"Lucius' great great grandmother wrote it to help guide her son's wife and it has been passed down from mother to daughter-in-law through the generations. It's quite an interesting read if you ignore the little tidbits about blood supremecy," Narcissa said honestly.
"Thank you Narcissa, I'll read it and memorize it as best as I can," Hermione said.
"That's a good girl now smile for the camera," Narcissa said and she, Narcissa, and Draco all smiled together for some pictures to end the press conference.
Afterwards Narcissa flooed back to Malfoy Manor and she and Draco flooed back to their flat at Hogwarts. When they got back to the flat Hermione didn't exactly expect Draco to smile at her and be all lovey dovey with her again, but she was hoping he'd at least act less cold towards her since she made her big apology as she had said she would. It didn't happen though. Draco was still a little cold towards her, the small smile he gave her when she glanced at him didn't reach his eyes, nor was there any warmth in them. They were just the cold gray eyes of old, that she used to see daily before they had been paired. "I thought you said you'd forgive me if I apologized," Hermione said to break the silence.
"I do forgive you, but I'm still just as unhappy with you as I was, that won't go away with an apology. Not until you prove how sorry you are," Draco said again coldly and his tone was almost the old Draco's tone.
Her heart clenched yet again and unpleasant shivers went down her spine as he all but glared at her. "So that's it? One horrible mistake and it's back to the ferret and Mudblood?" Hermione asked angrily.
"I never called you that, I promised I'd never call you that again just like you promised you'd never call me ferret again," Draco said irritably as he actually did glare at her.
"You sure are acting like you used to, like when that's all I was to you," Hermione said tears of anger in the corner of her eyes.
"You know you are more than that to me now," Draco said clearly annoyed at her antics.
"So is it back to Granger and Malfoy then? Since that's only a little more civil towards each other?" Hermione asked showing her hurt to him.
"Did I call you Granger? No. Just because I'm still pissed doesn't mean that I'm going to turn back into the old Draco and say mean and hurtful thing to you if I can help it," Draco said angrily.
"Oh if you can help it? Because that makes me feel so much better. I already feel shitty enough Draco with the whole Wizarding world having seen me half naked, you treating me so coldly doesn't help at all," Hermione said her tears spilling over and making tear tracks down her cheeks.
"Don't make me out to be the bad guy Hermione, you are the one who messed up not me," Draco said though his heart twinged a little uncomfortably at the fact that he made her cry.
"Well then stop acting like such an ass and at least act like you're disappointed but civil," Hermione said and roughly wiped the tears from her face but new ones replaced them.
"I can't change how I get upset, ok? I'll work on that just as soon as you work on not embarassing yourself when drinking," Draco said.
"I already said I would or weren't you listening during my speech?" Hermione asked.
"Of course I was listening, I was the one who wanted the apology in the first place," Draco said exasperatedly.
"Well obviously not enough, if you are still gonna throw my mistake in my face," Hermione said and sniffelled trying to keep her nose from running unattractively as it was trying to do.
Draco sighed and took a deep breath to calm his anger since arguing wasn't getting them anywhere. He walked slowly towards her and she just stared at him trying to be defiant though was losing horribly with her nose almost running and a lot of tears streaming down her face. He raised his hands to her face and wiped her tears away before kissing her lightly though a little angrily on the lips before he pulled out his hankerchief and handed it to her to blow her nose. "I forgive you Hermione, but I think it best you spend the day out of the flat to give us both time to calm down and think about this all," Draco said calmly.
Hermione who finished blowing her nose and sniffeled nodded her head, "Perhaps that's a good idea, I'm going to head over to my parents' house and try to think of new ways to make up for this," Hermione said.
"That sounds like a plan, I'm going to head over to Blaise's and see if I can calm down enough so we can talk civily tonight," Draco said. Hermione went to go grab the article from the kitchen and then readjusted the strap on her bag before kissing Draco quickly on the lips before going back to the fireplace.
"Granger residence," she said after throwing the floo powder in and then stepped through the floo. When the Grangers heard their fireplace light up they went to their living room confused. Hermione had told them all about the floo network and had hooked their fire place up to it in case she ever needed to get to their house quickly without apparating.
"Hermione? What are you doing here? And why does it look like you've been crying?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"Did Draco hurt you?" Mr. Granger asked murderously before she could reply.
"I did something horribly embarassing last night," Hermione said quietly, not trusting the light shuddering in her voice. She knew she was going to start crying again as soon as she had to explain.
"Last night was that celebration ball at your mother-in-law's house, wasn't it?" Mrs. Granger asked and Hermione just nodded.
"What did you do?" Mr. Granger asked a little suspiciously.
"Let's go to the kitchen and I'll get you some tea and you can tell us all about it," her mom said and led her into the kitchen. Hermione sat down on the opposite side of the table as her parents had been since she could see they still had some warm tea where they were sitting before she showed up. "Now what is this all about?" Mrs. Granger asked as she handed Hermione a freshly poured cup of tea and sat down.
Hermione made a show of making her tea how she liked it with lots of cream and sugar to draw out the time. She took a large sip before she looked at her parents and tears began at the corner of her eyes as she imagined the disappointed looks in their faces when they found out. She grabbed the newspaper article from her bag and threw it across the table to them. She didn't want to see their faces so she grabbed a scone and began buttering it and putting some raspberry marmalade on it as they read it. She took a small bite and savored the flavor since raspberry marmalade was her favorite afterall. Hermione slowly ate her scone as her parents read the article.
When they finished they dropped the article on the table and their eyes began boring holes into the top of her head. She finished the scone and took another sip of tea before looking up. There was the look she was dreading, disappointment and quite a bit of anger from her father.
"How could you let this happen Hermione?" he asked.
"I drank a lot, I'm not sure why I took my clothes off because I don't remember," Hermione said.
We are very disappointed in you Hermione," Mr. Granger said.
"Dan, I don't think she came here for a lecture," Mrs. Granger said sternly.
"No, I came here for some guidance because I don't know what to do now," Hermione said tears beginning to streak down her face again.
"Did you have this apologetic press conference that was mentioned?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"Yes, we just got back from it and I apologized as best as I can but he's still pissed at me," Hermione said.
"Well I'd be surprised if he wasn't, you made a fool of yourself, and probably disgraced his family name," Mr. Granger said making Hermione cry more and look pathetically down in her lap.
"Dan, maybe this is a talk for us girls. You are making her feel worse," Mrs. Granger said.
"But Jane, we need to lecture her so she won't ever do it again," Mr. Granger said.
"I already know not to do it again, I feel horrible enough with Draco treating me coldly like he used to, I don't need you to lecture me and make me feel like a little kid again," Hermione said as she began to fully cry now.
"Well at least you know not to do it anymore," Mr. Granger said lamely as he began to feel bad about making her cry. He began to drink his tea quietly and prepare a scone to pass the time.
"Hermione, I'm disappointed too but I think right now the one it matters most to make it up to is Draco and Narcissa since it's their name you tarnished," Mrs. Granger began but Mr. Granger interrupted.
"What was that about making her feel worse?" he said making her snort.
"I wasn't finished," she replied irritably and he shut up once again. "Like I said it's them you have to make it up to more, I think from now on during any event with them act on your best behavior, don't have more than two glasses of alcohol, and make sure you don't do or say anything that'll upset them," she said.
"I know mom," Hermione said.
"Hey, you came for guidance and I'm giving my opinion," Mrs. Granger said firmly.
"Sorry," Hermione muttered and began blowing her nose on the hankerchief Draco had given her earlier.
"I think what you should also do is make a serious effort at all future events to show them that you are no alcoholic floozy," her mom said making them both laugh a little bit. "All joking aside dear, you need to show them that you are worthy of the title Lady Malfoy and keep proving it time and time again from here on out and you know what?" Mrs. Granger said.
"What?" Hermione asked looking up.
"I know you can do it," Mrs. Granger said smiling and Hermione smiled back.
"Thanks mom," Hermione said.
"No problem, I just hope you'll be able to give as good advice to your children too," Mrs. Granger said making them laugh again.
"I'll try to be as great of a mom as you," Hermione said before reaching for another scone and buttering it and adding more raspberry marmalade.
"I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mom," Mrs. Granger said before walking around the table and wiping away the rest of Hermione's tears and kissing her forehead.
"I hope so, I'm not sure of anything right now except I made myself look like a whore in front of the entire Wizarding community," Hermione said.
"Well you'll just have to prove to them that you aren't from now on, and they'll eventually forget about it," Mrs. Granger said.
"Thanks mom, I'll try to do that," Hermione said.
"That's good dear, now I have some good news that I was thinking of writing you about later today if you hadn't showed up," Mrs. Granger said.
"Oh what's that?" Hermione asked.
"You remember your old childhood friend Greg?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"Oh yeah, of course I remember Greg, he was my best friend until I went to Hogwarts. He moved right around that time as well right?" Hermione asked.
"Yes right after you left, well he just moved back yesterday and I thought you'd like to visit him today," Mrs. Granger said smiling.
"Oh that'd be great to catch up, I'll head out after I finish my tea," Hermione said smiling.
"Don't forget to inform him you're married so he doesn't try hitting on you," Mr. Granger said.
"Dad we were best friends, I somehow don't see him hitting on me," Hermione snorted.
"You've become very beautiful, you never know," Mr. Granger said.
"Well thanks dad, but I still don't see him hitting on me," Hermione said and rolled her eyes as she finished drinking her tea and the last bite of her second scone.
"Have a good time hunny," Mrs. Granger said smiling as Hermione got up from the table.
"Thanks mom, I will," Hermione said smiling as she grabbed the article and stuffed it in her bag and headed towards the front door. As she left she began thinking of Greg. Would he remember her? Would he even want to see her? She just wanted to say hi to him and see if he'd changed or if he was the same nice guy. She hoped he hadn't turned into an asshole especially since she remembered before he moved she had gotten a crush on him because of how nice he was. It was right when she realized she liked boys and no longer thought they were icky like most girls did when they were young.
The thought made her chuckle now, how different certain perspectives were since she grew up. He was her first crush but she had forgotten her crush about him once she became friends with Harry and Ron, now she realized it was because she got a crush on Ron instead though she didn't realize it until 4th year. Her thoughts seemed to wrap back around to if Greg had changed or not and they carried her to the sidewalk in front of his house. That's where she stopped short, nerves began to creep up, but she took a deep breath and continued up the sidewalk. It was time to see if her thoughts were accurate.
Hermione walked up to the front door and knocked on it, Greg's mom answered the door and looked at her in confusion until realization dawned on her face. "Hermione, is that you?" she asked.
"Yes Mrs. Davids, it's me," Hermione said smiling.
"Oh wow, you've become so beautiful, I'm sure Greg will be happy to see you again," Mrs. Davids said. "Greg hunny, come downstairs there's someone here to see you," she yelled.
"Coming mom," came Greg's voice, Hermione could recognize it but it was deeper than it used to be obviously. Greg came into view and Hermione's jaw dropped slightly, he had become very handsome. His brown hair was a little shaggy but it was still shorter than his ears, his tan skin had darkened a little since she last saw him. His lime green eyes seemed brighter than she remembered and he was tall and a bit muscular, like Draco was but not as much. The black shirt he was wearing was a bit tight on him to show he had a nice body and his dark blue jeans were loose and slightly baggy. Hermione's eyes rested back on his face and saw recognition dawn on his face and he grinned widely before not so subtlely he looked her up and down and began checking her out as she had done. "Hermione, it's great to see you," he said before moving to hug her, Hermione hugged him back and realized he had a strong grip.
"Greg, it's great to see you too," Hermione smiled.
"Why don't you come in and I'll make some snacks," Mrs. Davids said and Hermione nodded and followed her in. Hermione looked around and noticed the furniture had all changed since she had last been here, except for the kitchen table and chairs they were the same. She sat down in the seat she used to sit in at their house and Greg took his making them both chuckle.
"I guess old habits die hard," Greg chuckled and Mrs. Davids chuckled as well when she saw.
"Yeah, I guess so," Hermione smiled.
"If I had known you were stopping by today I would've baked those gummy bear cookies you liked so much," Mrs. Davids said.
"Oh I didn't even know I would be, I decided to visit my parents to talk to them about something since it's the weekend and the Headmistress allowed us to leave the school today, and then mom told me you guys moved back so I decided to stop in," Hermione said.
"Oh right, you went to that boarding school right before we left," Mrs. Davids said thoughtfully.
"Yes, I graduate this June finally," Hermione said.
"Well that's exciting, Greg graduated last June from his boarding school," Mrs. Davids said.
"Oh I would've graduated last June as well but something happened and I wasn't able to go back to school last year," Hermione said deciding to play it safe since she doubted they knew anything about the Wizarding War.
"Oh that's not fair, but at least you are finishing your last year of education this year," Mrs. Davids said.
"Yes I'm very excited about it, I missed it last year," Hermione said.
"You always were one for learning," Mrs. Davids said as she placed a tray of Rice Krispie Treats and familiar looking pastries on the table. She followed it by giving each of them a glass of fruit punch, something Hermione hadn't had in a long time.
"Yes I love learning and I'm top of my class, I have been since I began at that school," Hermione said as she grabbed a pastry.
"Oh how exciting, good job," Mrs. Davids said.
Hermione suddenly became very wery aware that Greg was watching her every move since she grabbed a pastry. She took a bite to see why it looked so familiar and was almost surprised when she tasted pumpkin, a Pumpkin Pasty? How would they have known about them, weren't they Muggles? "Mrs. Davids where did you get the recipe for these pastries? They're delicious," Hermione said trying to be nonchalant about it.
"Oh they serve them at Greg's school and he loved them so much he got the recipe for them and gave it to me to make them," Mrs. Davids said.
"They serve these at your school?" Hermione asked looking at Greg.
"Yes and you can drop the act Hermione, I'm pretty sure they serve them at yours too," he said and arched an eyebrow at her reminding her slightly of Draco for a second.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Your wand is sticking out your back pocket," Greg said in amusement.
"Oh so you know, huh?" Hermione asked.
"You're a witch too?" Mrs. Davids asked surprised.
"Yes, I'm a Muggleborn," Hermione said.
"So am I, my parents and I were very surprised when I got my letter to Durmstrang," Greg said.
"Is that where you go? I go to Hogwarts," Hermione said interestedly at the change of events.
"I know, you also helped save the Wizarding world with Harry Potter and his sidekick Ron Weasley earlier this year," Greg said.
"Ron isn't Harry's sidekick, he's his best friend just like I am," Hermione said flaring slightly.
"Oh sorry," Greg said guiltily not meaning to upset her.
"It's fine, just don't insult my friends please," Hermione said.
"Well isn't this strange, both happen to be Muggleborn wizards and childhood friends, that's nice," Mrs. Davids said.
"Yeah quite surprising and strange, so when you guys moved, you moved to Bulgaria I'm guessing?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, Greg's father got transferred there so we could be closer to him while he was at school," Mrs. Davids said.
"That's nice, where is Mr. Davids anyway?" Hermione asked.
"He had an emergency at work and had to go in, you know being a doctor can put a damper on family time but at least he provides for us and saves people's lives all the time," Mrs. Davids said smiling.
"Oh he finally passed doctor's school?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, right around Greg's twelfth birthday," Mrs. Davids said.
"Well congrats to him," Hermione grinned before finishing her Pumpkin Pasty and grabbed a Rice Krispie Treat instead.
"Oh thank you," Mrs. Davids said.
"Do you guys keep up to date in the Wizarding world?" Hermione asked.
"I don't, but Greg usually does," Mrs. Davids said and Hermione instantly became nervous that perhaps Greg had seen the paper today.
"Oh I see, well my parents don't either except for what I tell them," Hermione said. Did her voice tremble a little just now or was that her imaginiation?
"Hermione did you want to go out for a walk, maybe so we can catch up?" Greg asked suddenly.
"Oh sure," Hermione said and chugged her fruit punch. "I'm just going to make a pit stop to your bathroom really quick," Hermione said.
"No problem," Greg said and Hermione got up and headed to the bathroom carrying her Rice Krispie Treat unknowingly with her. When she got in to go pee she realized it and stuck it in her mouth to hold it as she took care of business. After she was done she washed her hands and dried her hands quickly before heading back out to the kitchen and grabbed her purse and began eating the Rice Krispie Treat on their way out the door after Greg grabbed his black leather jacket and put it on.
"Nice seeing you again Hermione," Mrs. Davids called.
"Nice seeing you again too," Hermione yelled before they walked out the door of the house.
"Hungry Hermione?" Greg chuckled as she finished the treat in record time.
"Not really, I ate a pretty big breakfast had to go to an event, went to my parents' house ate a couple scones while drinking a cup of tea and then had that stuff at yours, this is the most I've eaten in awhile," Hermione said a little embarassed as she realized how much she had eaten.
"Wow, that's quite a bit," Greg replied as if he had sensed her discomfort.
"I guess I need some comfort food after what happened today," Hermione said.
"What happened?" Greg asked.
"Did you read the Daily Prophet today?" Hermione asked.
"Nah, I don't read it much anymore since the war began," Greg said.
"Oh well maybe we'll just keep it that way," Hermione laughed almost humorlessly.
"Did something bad happen?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," Hermione said quietly.
"What happened?" Greg asked curiously.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Hermione said.
"Ok that's fine, so how goes school?" Greg asked not wanting to push her.
"Pretty good, it seems I can never have a normal year at Hogwarts though," Hermione laughed.
"Oh?" Greg probed.
"Well our first year, I get attacked by a troll, Harry and Ron saved me from it which is how we became friends. Then we find out one of our professors had Voldemort stuck to the back of his head and was trying to steal the Sorceror's Stone which was being hidden at Hogwarts at the time," Hermione began.
"What ever happened to it?" Greg asked.
"Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel decided it was about time to destroy it so Voldemort couldn't come back using the Elixir of Life," Hermione said.
"Ah, so you, Harry, and Ron stopped him?' Greg asked.
"Yes, we all chipped in to get past the obstacles in the way to the stone, I did the logical parts, Ron got us past the giant Wizard's chess board since he's the best at chess, Harry got past the part where there were flying keys and we needed to catch the right key to unlock the door since he was the youngest Seeker in a century, and then I took care of Ron while Harry went against Professor Quirrell/Voldemort. It obviously wasn't in that order," Hermione said.
"What do you mean you took care of Ron?" Greg asked.
"Well the Wizard's Chess board was one of the last obstacles and Ron sacrificed himself to the Queen so that Harry could check the King, then I got past the Potions part since it was a riddle and I am the best at logical things out of our group, and then went back to take care of Ron," Hermione said.
"Oh, so you guys were thrown into danger from year one?" Greg asked.
"Yes and then some," Hermione laughed.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive that you guys got through all that stuff," Greg said.
"Well we make one hell of a team," Hermione smiled.
"I can see now what about second year?" Greg asked.
"That's when the Chamber of Secrets got reopened, a bunch of muggleborns were being paralyzed by a Basilisk, seeing the reflection only of course or else they would've died, Harry found out he was a parselmouth when his school nemesis sent a snake after him in a duel. I ended up finding out what it was that was attacking students and tore out a library book page to give to Harry and Ron so we could all look over it since we did all of our investigating together, I ended up looking around a corner with a mirror and getting paralyzed on my way though. Harry and Ron ended up solving the rest on their own and saved Ron's sister from the Chamber after Harry slayed the Basilisk and defeated the memory version of Tom Riddle A.K.A. Voldemort. All of us ended up getting unparalyzed using a mandrake potion right at the end of the year," Hermione said.
"I'm glad you didn't die but it sucks you got paralyzed," Greg said.
"Yes but it was like falling asleep, that's how quick it was, and it seemed like I was only asleep for a day or something," Hermione said.
"Well still, it's quite impressive that they solved it and killed the Basilisk," Greg said.
"Yes I was pleasantly surprised," Hermione smiled.
"So third year?" Greg asked.
"That was the year Sirius Black escaped Azkaban. Every one thought he was after Harry throughout the entire year. There were dementors everywhere around the school, which was dreary as you can imagine, they really liked Harry and kept trying to suck his soul out which is why Professor Lupin, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher taught Harry the Patronus charm. He ended up casting a very powerful corporreal patronus against 100 dementors at the end of the year and has been able to cast one ever since. Anyways at the end of the year we found out Sirius wasn't after Harry at all because Sirius was Harry's godfather. Sirius, Remus A.K.A. Professor Lupin, and Harry's father James were all best friends at Hogwarts together. They had Peter Pettigrew who said he was their friend be their secret keeper when Harry's parents Lily and James went into hiding and he turned them into Voldemort. Which is how he killed them and almost killed Harry. Well Peter was an unregistered animagus as a rat and was actually ironically enough Ron's pet rat Scabbers and Sirius and Remus wanted to kill him for being the reason Lily and James died. He ended up escaping because once we got him outside to take him to the castle to tell everyone he was alive and framed Sirius, Professor Lupin transformed since it was a fullmoon, yes he was a werewolf. We ended up helping Sirius escape on our friend Hagrid the half giant's pet hippogriff Buckbeak, and that's the simplified version," Hermione said.
"Wow, that was a bit of a long story," Greg chuckled.
"Yeah, that was the best way to put it though," Hermione said.
"Right, so fourth year?" Greg asked.
"The year of the Triwizard tournament, Harry ended up being the fourth champion for it, the other Hogwarts champion was Cedric Diggory, Beaubatons academy's champion was Fleur Delacour, and Durmstrang's was of course Viktor Krum as you probably know," Hermione said.
"Yeah I was in his school house, he's a cool guy if not a little cocky," Greg said.
"Yes I remember," Hermione said.
"What do you mean?" Greg asked.
"I went with him to the Yule Ball and sort of dated him afterwards if you could call it that, I also shared my first kiss with him," Hermione said.
"Really?" Greg asked surprised.
"Yes, he apparently found me interesting which is weird since all I used to do at school was help Harry in whatever difficult situation he was in, help Harry and Ron with their homework, and of course study and do my own homework," Hermione said.
"Sounds a little boring," Greg chuckled.
"I like school, what can I say," Hermione said with a shrug.
"So anything else happen that year?" Greg asked.
"Um the first task in the tournament Harry had to fight a mother dragon who was protecting her nest so that he could grab a golden egg which was in the nest with her eggs, of course something happened that put Harry in more danger than the rest of the champions as always it seems, second task Ron, a girl named Cho Chang, Fleur's little sister Gabrielle, and I all got put under a sleeping spell and stuck at the bottom of the Great Lake next to our school. One person for each champion, Gabrielle was obviously Fleur's guest to save, Cho was Cedric's person to save, I was Viktor's, and Ron was Harry's. Harry got there first and tried to save both Ron and I but the mermaids stopped him so he sat there to make sure all the guests were saved. Cedric came second and got Cho, then Viktor showed up and saved me, there was no sign of Fleur so Harry waited until the mermaids were distracted and saved Gabrielle as well as Ron and ended up coming up last. Fleur never got past the Grindylows so she got last place. Harry got second because he woud've gotten first if it weren't for his desire to make sure all people were saved, Cedric got first and Viktor got third. Viktor wasn't too thrilled when I ran to go make sure Harry was warm, but Harry was my friend way before Viktor took an interest in me.
Anyways third task was the giant maze, Viktor was bewitched to take out all champions except for Harry by who we thought was our professor. Fleur ended up getting attacked and passed out so Harry sent up red sparks for them to go get her. Cedric took Viktor out, he ended up getting saved as well and then Harry and Cedric got to the cup at the same time so they took it together. It ended up being a portkey and took them to the graveyard where Voldemort's father was buried. They killed Cedric and trapped Harry and pretty much forced Harry to help Voldemort come back. Those two battled and Harry ended up escaping using the port key and brought Cedric's body back to Hogwarts. That's when we found out that the Mad Eye Moody that was teaching us all year ended up being Barty Crouch Junior in disguise with help from the polyjuice potion, he's the one who hexed Viktor to attack the others. He's the one who tricked the cup into letting Harry become the fourth champion, he's the one who hid the cup in the middle of the maze and turned it into a protkey to allow the return of Voldemort," Hermione finished the long story.
"Wow, so Harry had to face Voldemort four times in his whole life up to your fourth year?" Greg said.
"Yes, but that isn't the end of it," Hermione said.
"I figured there was more," Greg chuckled.
"I told you we've never had a normal year at Hogwarts," Hermione laughed.
"I know you did, so what happened 5th year?" Greg asked as they sat down on a park bench.
"Well 5th year was the year the ministry decided not to believe Harry and Dumbledore that Voldemort had returned. They made them out to be huge liars and whatnot, then Delores Umbridge sent two dementors after Harry to try to get him expelled from Hogwarts for Minister Fudge's sake or something. Harry ended up using the patronus charm in front of his cousin Dudley to save them both from them, so they were going to expell him but Dumbeldore convinced them to do a trial instead and he ended getting off because Arabella Figg, a Squib that lived near Harry ended up seeing the Dementors attack Harry. Then Fudge sent Umbridge to be the new Defnese Against the Dark Arts teacher to try to infiltrate the school kind of thing. She became the High Inquisitor and decided to 'reshape the school to make it better' but really she made it more annoying and difficult. She decided to not teach defensive spells and only the theory of DADA because supposively we wouldn't need to use magic because she was in denial Voldemort was back.
So Ron and I convinced Harry to start a Defnese club to train select students to fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters should the need arise. He was a great teacher honestly but one of the students ended up telling on us to save their own hides when Umbridge passed an educational decree that she could question students about supposed illegal activity which was our club. We got in trouble of course but Marietta had the word Sneak written across her face with acne since I had charmed the list of people who signed up to do so if they ever told on us. I was quite proud of myself on that one. (Hermione laughed at that before continuing) So then 6 members of the DA which stood for Dumbledore's Army ended up heading towards the ministry because Harry had a vision that Sirius was in trouble there. It was Harry, Ron, me, Ron's little sister Ginny, our friend Neville, and our friend Luna that went. We went against Death Eaters, some of the Order of the Phoenix members showed up, which was the secret society Dumbledore founded the first time Voldemort was at large and put it back together with mostly new members once Voldemort came back. They helped us fight the Death Eaters and Harry and Dumbledore went against Voldemort which was after Sirius got killed. After the battle which Dumbledore mostly had Harry hide and fought Voldemort himself, Fudge and a bunch of aurors showed up and saw Voldemort before he disappeared and then they finally believed Harry and Dumbledore the idiots," Hermione said.
"Wow, so that makes 5 times for Harry," Greg said surprised and then they decided to start walking again.
"Yes and then starts 6th year. Harry helped get one of Dumbledore's old colleagues out of retirement to be the Potions professor so that the current Potions professor, Professor Snape could be the new DADA teacher. We started the year normally, then Harry found out he could take Potions to be an auror like he wants to be, since Snape expected higher scores on our OWLs than Slughorn did. Anyways him and Ron both want to be aurors together so they both had to take potions and they hadn't gotten books since before Snape became DADA teacher he told them they didn't score high enough to take it so they had to borrow books. There were two left one newer version and one really old version, Harry got the older book and it was filled with extra notes and made up spells and all this other stuff in it. It said Property of the Half Blood Prince on the front page but Harry didn't have enough motivation to try to find out who it was even though he was following different Potion instructions than everyone else since they were rewritten and stuff in the book and all this other stuff like I said. I did and found that there was an Eileen Prince that used to go to Hogwarts, she was a pureblood so it must've been the child of her's is all we found out about her.
At the same time Dumbledore began showing penseive memories all pertaining to Voldemort throughout the year to help Harry since thanks to a prophecy he knew he had to be the one to take Voldemort out. Harry had to get a certain memory out of Slughorn on Dumbledore's orders as well which is why Dumbledore brought him back to teach. Harry ended up doing so and they found out Voldemort had created Horcruxes, which are dark object you conceal part of your soul in so that in case your body is destroyed that part of your soul lives on. So that's how Voldemort was able to come back in case you are wondering. Dumbledore found one and they went after it and got it after fighting an army of Inferi. They got back to Hogwarts and Death Eaters ended up getting into Hogwarts because Draco Malfoy who was Harry's school nemesis I mentioned earlier had repaired a broken vanishing cabinet that was in a room at Hogwarts and it's sister was at the store Bourgin and Burke's in Knockturn alley, the dark side of Diagon Alley our Wizarding shopping strip. Well he was supposed to kill Dumbledore but Snape did it since he was a spy for both Voldemort and The Order of the Phoenix. Harry ran after Snape and found out he was the Half Blood Prince, Eileen was his mother and he had a muggle father. After the Death Eaters destroyed a few things at Hogwarts they left and then we found out the locket Horcurx was a fake. Harry, Ron, and I decided to not go back to Hogwarts for our final year so that we could go hunting for Horcruxes," Hermione said.
"So 7th year you just hunted for Horcruxes?" Greg asked.
"Mostly yes, we fought a few Death Eaters, had to escape Snatchers a few times. We got captured and brought to Malfoy Manor but we were saved before Voldemort showed up. I got my first battle scar there, Bellatrix Lestrange a deranged Death Eater used a cutting spell to curse the word Mudblood into my arm. (Hermione showed him the scar as she said that before she continued) That's when we lost a good friend, Dobby the House Elf, he helped us escape but he got killed in the process. Then we had a Gringotts Goblin that was also a prisoner at Malfoy Manor help us break into Gringotts because one of the Horcruxes was in there. Afterwards we finally headed back to Hogwarts because one of the last Horcruxes was there. We ended up destroying both Horcruxes and then all that was left was one or so we thought. Harry ended up being Voldemort's 7th Horcrux, he never meant to make Harry a Horcrux but it happened the night Harry got his scar. Well our buddy Neville ended up killing the last Horcrux after Voldemort inadvertently killed the Horcrux inside of Harry when he went to kill Harry. Well Harry survived and there was an epic battle between those two while the war raged on all around us. The Battle of Hogwarts was filled with a lot of deaths, we lost many friends that day but Harry ended up killing Voldemort once and for all," Hermione said.
"So six times Harry fought Voldemort before he finally killed him," Greg said in awe.
"Yeah, Harry's a fighter," Hermione said.
"So what about this year?" Greg asked.
"Well this year may be the weirdest of all," Hermione laughed as it began to rain.
"Oh crap, here take my jacket and we'll head to that book shop cafe," Greg said and Hermione allowed him to help her into his jacket. His hands seem to linger on her arms longer than necessary but maybe it was her imagination. They ran into the shop and took a seat near the door.
"Lucky this shop happened to be here," Hermione laughed.
"Yeah, well we did walk out of the neighborhood and into the market district so we were bound to run into a store soon anyways," Greg said.
"True," Hermione said.
"What can I get you two?" a waitress came over and asked. Her body was mostly facing Greg and she seemed to be batting her eyelashes at him. She wasn't very subtle in her flirting was Hermione's thought and had to suppress a snicker.
"What's good here?" Greg asked grinning making the waitress swoon a little.
"Oh well if you like coffee our cappucinos are to die for, our chef adds a secret ingredient to make them the best. If you don't like coffee, our teas pretty good and so is our hot chocolate, it's really rich and creamy," the waitress said seeming to flaunt her chest in his face as she leaned on the table which this time did make Hermione snicker.
"What about food items?" Greg asked and very subtlely checked out the waitress' chest making Hermione roll her eyes.
"Oh our coffee cake is really good, so is the pound cake. We have this really good frosted lemon cake as well," the waitress said and puffed out her chest a little more.
"Well I'll have the pound cake and a cappucino then," Greg said and winked at her.
"And you?" the waitress asked a little rudely.
"Oh I'll have the frosted lemon cake and a hot chocolate please," Hermione said and the waitress wrote it down and looked back at Greg.
"Your orders will be up soon," she said and winked before walking off.
"Wow, subtlety is not her strongest subject," Hermione laughed as soon as she was out of ear shot.
"Yeah don't I know it, but she was cute," Greg said and shrugged.
"Well I guess if you like desperate girls who have an eye twitch, I mean could she have batted her eyelashes enough?" Hermione laughed.
"Jealous Hermione?" Greg asked and winked at her making her snort and roll her eyes.
"Not even close, you are my childhood friend, you are allowed to flirt shamelessly with whatever girl you like," Hermione said and shrugged.
"I could be more than just a childhood friend if you like," Greg said and grabbed her hands firmly in his across the table.
"Even if I did no you couldn't, I'm married," Hermione said, Greg retracted his hands quickly.
"I thought that ring on your hand was for decoration," Greg said.
"Yes because I would wear a large elaborate ring like that for decoration purposes," Hermione snorted.
"Well I guess it wouldn't make sense since you were never one for things like that when we were younger," Greg said.
"Exactly," Hermione said.
"So why did you get married in your uh 8th year at Hogwarts?" Greg asked.
"I thought you kept up with the news more than that, the ministry passed a Marriage Law, all Witches and Wizards age 16-40 are to be married off and to have a child within the first 18 months and a second in the first 3 years of their marriage to up the population since so many died during the war," Hermione explained.
"What? That's ridiculous," Greg said.
"It's for a good cause and they don't match you with just anyone, they match you with your soul mate according to their compatibility spell thing," Hermione said.
"So you were ok with being forced to marry someone at a young age?" Greg asked incredulously.
"No I wasn't, I understand now and it turns out I was matched with someone who could very well be my soul mate, I would've whole heartedly disagreed with that statement when they first paired us though," Hermione said.
"Who did you get paired with?" Greg asked though it seemed like he really didn't want to know.
"Our old school nemesis Draco Malfoy," Hermione said and then had to laugh at the look on Greg's face.
"How could you think your nemesis could be your soul mate?" Greg asked.
"He's changed since the war, he's a better man now, and he's actually rather sweet when he wants to be," Hermione said.
"Do you love him?" Greg asked.
"Yes once we began being civil, we began playfully bantering back and forth, and then we fell in love before our wedding about a month later," Hermione said smiling.
At that moment the waitress came back, here's your cakes and drinks, enjoy," she said smiling and flaunting her chest at Greg again.
"Thank you, I'll call you over when we need the check," Greg said smiling.
"Ok," the waitress said with a smile and walked off making sure to shake her ass on the way.
Hermione giggled at the girl and took a sip of her hot chocolate and sighed in content. "This is amazing hot chocolate," Hermione said.
"Well that's good," Greg smiled and took a drink of his cappucino.
"How's the cappucino?" Hermione asked.
"Delicious, so back to the conversation. You fell in love in a month?" Greg asked.
"As hard as it is to believe yes, we were even surprised ourselves," Hermione said.
"Wow, I'm glad they didn't pass that in Bulgaria," Greg said.
"Well you live in England again so you may be paired now unless you get married soon," Hermione joked.
"I'll take that waitress and go get hitched to save the trouble," Greg laughed.
"I think she wants a good shag, not a marriage proposal," Hermione laughed.
"Wow miss potty mouth, you never would've said that before," Greg chuckled.
"Things change," Hermione said with a shrug.
"Since you lost your virginity?" Greg asked.
"I suppose, but I'm not really comfortable talking about my sex life with someone that I haven't talked to since I was 10," Hermione said.
"We've known each other since we were like 3 since our moms used to be best friends, I don't see the problem," Greg said.
"It's still weird to me since I only lost it my wedding night two weeks ago," Hermione said.
"Well I don't want to make you uncomfortable. So having to get married is why this year was the weirdest yet, right?" Greg asked.
"Yes definitely, and I also am needing to get pregnant sometime soon," Hermione said.
"Well I can see where that would make this year weird," Greg replied.
"Yes, and then add last night into the mix and I'm screwed," Hermione said.
"Why was last night so weird?" Greg asked.
"You won't judge me if I tell you?" Hermione asked.
"No, I promise I won't," Greg said and smiled.
"Last night was the Malfoy Wedding Celebration Ball, to celebrate Draco and I's wedding. I had to meet all of the leaders of the Malfoy businesses and be in a room full of people who hated Muggleborns before the war so you can imagine how nervous I was, right?" Hermione asked.
"Well yeah, anyone would be nervous in that situation," Greg said.
"Well I drank to calm my nerves but I apparently didn't stop when I should have," Hermione said chuckling a little humorlessly.
"Why do you say that?" Greg asked.
"This is the Daily Prophet from this morning," Hermione said embarrassed and handed him the article.
Greg looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before he opened it and looked, his eyebrows shot up into his hairline instantly and he looked up at her making her cheeks flames again. He turned back to the article and began reading his eyes widening a little as he read through it all. When he finished he flipped over the paper and slid it across the table at her and she threw it in her purse again. He looked up at her and tried unsuccessfully to cover up a laugh.
"It's not funny," Hermione scowled.
"I'm sorry to me it is, goody goody Hermione likes to take her clothes off when drunk," Greg said and chuckled.
"If I remember correctly you weren't exactly a bad ass yourself," Hermione said and smirked.
"I wasn't then, but I am now," Greg said and laughed.
"Right..." Hermione said and snorted.
"Anyways back to the article so you took your clothes off at a prissy ball and now the whole Wizarding world thinks you are a whore," Greg said.
"Yes, and Draco is pissed at me right now, not that I blame him since I embarassed us both and the Malfoy name since we are trying to improve it now that the war is over. But I went to the press conference he called and did my apology and he said he'd forgive me after I did that but he's still pissed and he's acting very cold towards me right now. He's acting cold like he used to act towards me and I don't know what to do," Hermione said.
"Are you wanting advice?" Greg asked.
"If you could, all mom said was to prove to them all I'm not a whore and to not drink too much again, stuff like that," Hermione said.
"I think you need to do that as well, like at every event from now on don't drink too much obviously, don't proposition your husband for sex in public anymore, put forth your complete effort at events to prove you are better than they think, stuff like that," Greg said.
"Basically common sense things," Hermione said.
"Well another thing you could do is hold chairity events for all different things, perhaps make up your own charity foundation for something. Such as victims from the war or something along those lines and it'll also make the Malfoy name look good again," Greg said.
"We were thinking of doing those we just hadn't decided on one yet," Hermione said.
"Well choose something that is important to both of you that will still make the Malfoy name sound good," Greg suggested.
"We were considering holding one for Muggleborns that were affected from the war since Muggleborns are obviously important to me and his views have changed since the war so he agreed it'd be a worthy option," Hermione said.
"That would be a good idea," Greg said.
"Yes I thought so. You're a guy and you understand Draco's feelings sort of, what should I do to make it up to him?" Hermione asked.
"Well if a girl did something like that to me, I'd be ticked as well. Apologizing would only go so far, I'd want her to really do things to make it up to me. Like do things for me that she wouldn't normally do to show she is sorry, and just keep proving you aren't out to destroy his name and stuff, I know I'm sounding like I'm repeating myself but his family name is obviously very important to him," Greg said.
"I know his name is important to him, and I just need to figure out how to prove to him I'm sorry," Hermione sighed.
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Greg said.
"Yeah," Hermione said thoughtfully and finished the rest of her food and drink as Greg did the same.
"Want anything else?" Greg asked motioning to the food.
"No, I'm fine for now thanks," Hermione said.
"Alright just let me know when you want something else since that waitress is staring at me almost constantly," Greg said and chuckled.
"Ok, I will," Hermione giggled.
They had spent the rest of the afternoon talking and catching up, it turns out Greg was a Quidditch player for his school as well, which of course made Hermione sigh internally, yet another Quidditch player she knew. He had been in Viktor's school house as he had mentioned so they knew each other quite well, they could almost consider themselves friends a little bit. He had quite a dull experience at school at least compared to Hermione's but he did decently in school, played Quidditch, and apparently switched from girlfriend to girlfriend since 5th year. He hadn't been with a girl longer than 6-8 months, and more than half the time it was because of the girl being a bitch or distracting him too much from Quidditch. He was currently in between girlfriends which is why he had tried to hit on Hermione but wouldn't hit on a married woman so he had stopped once he'd found that out. He was seriously considering asking out the waitress since she was cute and if she turned out to be only in it for the sex than he would dump her. Hermione found Greg had changed a bit since they last knew each other but he was still the nice and funny guy he had always been, she wouldn't mind hanging out with him again if she had the chance. As they left the cafe it began raining again so Hermione threw on Greg's coat once again and he began walking her back to her parents' house.
"So did you leave your number on the table for her?" Hermione asked with a giggle.
"Of course I did, I even gave her my cell number so she can reach me whenever," Greg said with a wink.
"Well good luck with that," Hermione snorted.
"Thanks, I'll let you know if I get a call from her later," Greg said.
"Oh I'm sure you will, but you can owl me none the less. We should start talking again, this was fun," Hermione smiled.
"It was and I will, do you have your own owl?" Greg asked.
"Yes, her name is Athena and she's the most gorgeous owl I've ever seen," Hermione grinned.
"Everybody says that about their own owl," Greg chuckled.
"So what," Hermione laughed and stuck her tongue out.
"Oh so mature," Greg snorted and rolled his eyes.
"You know it," Hermione giggled.
"My owl's name is Dionysus, because his black spots tend to shine a dark purple in the sunlight but he is a dark reddish brown with orange eyes, just so you recognize him tonight," Greg said.
"He sounds handsome," Hermione smiled.
"He's one sexy bird, all the female owls want to get up on him," Greg joked making them both laugh.
"So he's just as cocky as you are?" Hermione giggled.
"Of course, people always say pets are like their people," Greg chuckled.
"That would be why Athena is so smart," Hermione smiled.
"I'll judge that," Greg smirked and Hermione just rolled her eyes. They walked for a couple minutes in comfortable silence before Greg broke it, "Do you want to come back to my place for some more Pumpkin Pasties?"
"No, I should get back to my parents' place to floo back to Hogwarts. Gotta grovel at my husband's feet to see if he'll forgive me, you know?" Hermione said half joking.
"I never want to hear about you groveling at his feet, he isn't that high and mighty," Greg said.
"I wouldn't actually grovel at his feet, just beg for his forgiveness over and over again," Hermione chuckled.
"Make sure you flash him some cleavage to try to distract him," Greg chuckled.
"I somehow don't think that would help right now, because I think even if we were to have sex it would be very angry sex and I don't want to be pounded halfway into my bed at the moment," Hermione laughed.
"Make up sex is the best, just wait until you see," Greg smirked.
"I'll have to find out later," Hermione snorted.
"Wimp, go have angry make up sex," Greg laughed.
"I'll think about it once I get back to our flat," Hermione said.
"Flat?" Greg asked as they stopped in front of her parents' house.
"Yeah, all married couples were given a flat in the newly built marriage wing to live in with their spouse and their baby when it comes," Hermione explained.
"Hmm spiffy," Greg said.
"Yes very, but I'll see you later," Hermione handed him his jacket, waved, and then walked into her parents' house and closed the door behind her with a smile. Greg had changed a little but he was still her goofy friend and she would be glad to hang out with him another time.
"Hermione, is that you?" Mr. Granger yelled down the hallway.
"No, it's the Tooth Fairy," she yelled back and snorted at her own joke.
"Oh so I pull the teeth, and you pay them for them?" Mr. Granger chuckled as she walked into the kitchen.
"You know it, my wings are just hidden by my clothes," she giggled.
"Well keep those clothes on, don't want another mishap like last night now do we," he joked though his underlying anger was still there a little bit. He was attempting to be back to his old self again which means her mom had talked to him and calmed him down.
"No, we wouldn't want that at all," Hermione agreed.
"Did you need to get back dear?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"Yes actually, I was about to do that. I love you guys and I'll come visit another time, alright?" Hermione asked.
"We love you too sweetie," Mrs. Granger said as Hermione hugged them both and headed to the living room. Hermione flooed away and quicker than she thought found herself looking at the living room of her flat.
Draco was waiting for Hermione to return and when the floo flared to life he sighed in relief, hoping he hadn't pissed her off or hurt her too badly earlier even though he was still very upset about her behavior. "Draco, did you still want to talk?" Hermione asked before stifling a yawn as she stretched.
"We can talk more tomorrow since you seem tired, I'm actually pretty tired myself after spending all day at Blaise's trying to calm down," Draco said.
"Ok, we can talk tomorrow after class or during breakfast?" Hermione suggested.
"Either way," Draco shrugged.
"Well let's get ready for bed then," Hermione said relief apparent on her face.
"What you aren't going to greet me properly first?" Draco said smiling slightly.
"Oh right," Hermione muttered before walking to him and giving him a hug and a kiss but something was off. He didn't smell Hermione when she was against his body, he smelt another man. "Well good night Draco," Hermione said and all but ran to her bedroom to change.
Draco's emotions almost gave him whiplash, first was surprise, then confusion, then sadness, before settling on anger and betrayal. Had Hermione cheated on him? The people from the ministry said it wouldn't be possible, but she was completely covered in the bloke's smell. Had she maybe figured out how to break that certain spell and done away with it? If so, how could she do that to him?
His musings were cut short as Hermione poked her head into the living room, "Coming to bed?" she asked a little confused since he hadn't moved.
"Oh yeah, I'm coming right now," Draco said and began walking to their room. She was dressed in a tank top and shorts and began climbing into bed as he walked in. He couldn't see any notcieable marks to show she had been unfaithful but her mood upset him slightly. Relief was evident in her face, relief from what he wasn't completely sure but there was something else. Happiness? Again he didn't know what she could be happy about, unless she had cheated on him and was relieved to get away with it and happy she'd done it? It wouldn't make sense since she easily proclaimed her love for him the day before, but now he didn't know what to think. He stripped down to his boxers and got in bed before Hermione shut off the light and turned on her side, her back facing him.
Draco's thoughts swirled around what this could possibly mean but one thing was for sure the anger was back in full and she had hell to pay tomorrow. It was obvious sleep wouldn't come to him any time soon if at all tonight and until he fell asleep or Hermione woke up the next day he had nothing better to do than stew in his anger and think about all the questions he had asked himself. It was going to be a long night...
A/N: So there the chapter is finally sorry it took so long haha. I hope you guys liked Greg, I wanted to make him likeable but at the same time my mind sort of wanted him to be a dick so Hermione wouldn't think of cheating on Draco, not that she would anyways but still lol. So I think me warring between those two made him into who he is lol. I like him for the most part, wish I could've written him a little better but oh well. As you can see Draco is displeased to say the least, what does that mean for poor Hermione? Any predictions or thoughts on this chapter? Review and let me know what you thought, I'd greatly appreciate it! :D That being said Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year's Everyone! ^-^