"You took your time," Ginny said with a knowing smirk as she sipped coffee out of a HolyHead Harpies mug, curled up on the cushioned bench in her kitchen. It was just she and Harry in the room, with him managing the bacon while she relaxed.
"We just- needed to-" Hermione sputtered.
"Mm hmm!" Ginny squeaked as she smirked at them, then looked down to pour Hermione a mug of coffee. Hermione chuckled nervously as she walked forward to take the cup of coffee.
Draco felt oddly at home here, standing in Potter's kitchen with his wife sat there, somehow approving of the fact that he and Hermione had been together last night as well at this morning.
Something about it just felt right.
A new sensation flooded his consciousness. Was it yearning? Melancholy? He grimaced, realizing for a fleeting moment that he wanted this to be his reality. Being there with her... with her friends... his friends.
"Malfoy will you grab the eggs for me?"
Harry's voice snapped him out of his trance.
"Sure," he said, walking forward and pulling the fridge open. Behind him he could hear Ginny having a whispered conversation with Hermione.
"Good night, then?"
He couldn't hear Hermione's reply, but in glancing back he saw that she was smiling broadly at her friend. Looking back into the fridge, he smiled to himself.
"They should be right on the top shelf, Malfoy."
"Yep, got em," he said, and brought them over to the counter next to the stove.
Harry placed down a large bowl in front of him and said, "get cracking, then."
Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not sure I like you ordering me around, Potter."
Harry turned to him with a haughty expression on his face. "Sorry Malfoy, you're new here so you are unaware. The correct response would be "yes chef" followed by doing whatever it is I ask." He leaned forward and poked Draco in the chest. "My kitchen my rules."
Draco chuckled and began cracking eggs, shaking his head. It always felt a bit odd not to be argumentative with Harry, but he was getting more and more used to it with time. It took a lot less energy, for one thing.
"He cooks?" he heard Ginny whisper excitedly.
Again, he couldn't discern Hermione's response, when suddenly both women rose to their feet.
"We'll be back!" announced Ginny, pulling a giggling Hermione from the room, "I need Hermione's help with my... laundry!"
"Be back in ten, or you get cold eggs!" Harry yelled without looking up.
Malfoy leaned over to him. "Laundry?"
"Not likely, she finished that before we came over this morning. Probably she wants details about last night."
Draco grunted, looking back nervously at the spot where they'd just disappeared.
"I don't, by the way."
"What?"
"Want details, I mean. In case you were planning to confide any in me, Hermione is essentially my sister and I don't need to hear any sordid play by plays."
"I wasn't planning on it, Potter."
"Good," he said, just as Draco had finished cracking the eggs. Harry took the bowl from him. "Having said that, you can still share whatever else you need to."
Draco moved to the sink to wash his hands. "Not too much else to tell if not those details" he said, smirking.
"Noted. Any ideas on what next?"
"Nah mate, I'm just trying to enjoy the moment."
"Well that's a welcome change," Harry said, looking up from his egg scrambling with a smirk.
Draco nodded and began slicing pieces of bread for toast.
A short while later, the floo sounded from the other room and it seemed Ginny and Hermione had been on their way back to the kitchen just in time to meet...
"Hannah!" Ginny's voice trilled from the other room, "you made it!"
Hermione re-entered the kitchen, flowed closely by Ginny and their new arrival.
As soon as Hannah spotted Draco she stopped in her tracks, a look of surprised delight on her face.
"Oh!" she cried, looking over at Hermione and then quickly back to Draco.
"I didn't realize-"
"Hannah, you remember Draco Malfoy, I presume?" Hermione said hurriedly.
Hannah stumbled forward and held out her hand, a dazed look on her face.
"Y- yes of course! I mean, yes, we were in school together weren't we? I mean not that you noticed me ever unless it was at my expense, not that I'm cross about it, I'm not, it was a long time ago and time heals all wounds as they say!" she chuckled nervously.
He kept his face impassive as he looked down at her hand, still firmly holding his. She dropped it immediately and wiped hers against her jumper, evidently needing to rid it of sweat. Glancing around, he noticed that Harry and Ginny were both biting back laughter, while Hermione looked aghast.
"So!" Hannah continued, "What brings you here, Draco? Is what I read in the Prophet true and you really are good friends with Harry now? I'd assumed it was all part of a well-calculated show. Not that I think you're calculated or… or… or showy! Just that, well you know, the papers, you just never know if anything you read these days has even an ounce of truth to it. Why Neville has been written about countless times in the last few years and I'd surrender my wand if you could show me even one blasted article that contained more truth than embellishments!"
She laughed again in that same nervous way and then trailed off, as her eyes looked him up and down and the glaze reformed over her face.
"H- Hannah, will Neville be arriving soon?" Hermione tried.
Hannah started. "Who? Oh! Yes!" she let out another chuckle, "he should be here any moment!"
Just then the floo sounded and a loud SMACK proceeded Neville's shout of pain. Swirling around and running through the door, Hannah went hastily to his aid. They had a muffled conversation in the other room before Neville pushed open the swinging door and stopped in his tracks at the sight of Draco, now holding a large bread knife at the counter.
Neville looked from Draco to the knife to Harry, Ginny, and Hermione, silently bidding any of them to explain what was happening.
"Neville darling, look! It's Draco Malfoy! Turns out the papers were correct and he is in fact friends with Harry now and he's here! Cooking brunch!"
She sounded like a teenager going on about getting tickets to see The Weird Sisters.
Draco couldn't help but smirk at Neville, who was currently still standing in the doorway, beside himself with shock.
"Ginny, I thought you were going to owl Neville and let him know about our guest," Harry said, with a forced sense of calm.
Ginny smiled innocently over at her husband and said, "oops."
Harry shook his head and returned to placing the eggs on a serving tray.
"Malfoy," Neville said, nodding.
Draco was rather enjoying this sudden turn of events and so threw Neville an uncharacteristic smile. "Hello, Professor."
Neville grimaced and looked around at the others. "Morning all, is the food almost ready? I'm starved."
"Nearly!" Said Harry, handing Draco a platter of bacon to bring to the table along with the eggs.
"So, Ms. Abbott," Draco said, carrying the platters over, "Potter tells me you work for the FNA."
"Oh call me Hannah, please!" she simpered, "and yes, I just got the position earlier this year."
"And do you enjoy it?" Draco said, passing out plates to everyone as though he did this every day. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Neville was attempting a silent conversation with Hermione, and he looked livid. Smiling inwardly, he leaned forward and pretended to be very interested in Hannah's babbling description of her work duties and the types of issues she had to handle on a day to day basis.
Hannah herself looked as though she'd quite forgotten that anyone else in the room existed, eyes singularly focused on Draco.
This dance continued for several minutes, with Draco asking increasingly more detailed questions about Hannah's work. Harry busied himself with his food, while Hermione continued to monitor the anger clearly bubbling just below Neville's surface. Ginny followed the conversation, pleasantly adding in promoting comments to help it along and looking as though Christmas had come early.
Yes, he'd been right, Ginny would have done well in Slytherin. Mischief was one of her primary delights, and one that they shared.
"Now, you're still an Abbott, I notice. So tell me, how is it that Longbottom hasn't locked you down yet? A charming, talented woman such as yourself surely-"
"As it happens, Malfoy," Neville said forcefully, "I have."
Draco raised his eyebrows and turned back to Hannah. "I had no idea. You're not wearing a ring..."
"The ring belonged to my Gran. Goblin made and needed adjustment. We've been having a bit of trouble with the... jewelry maker. Probably just tying us up with paperwork since they don't believe in ownership of Goblin made items the way wizards do."
"What a shame!" Draco said, feigning sincerity. He took Hannah's hand in his and she let out a small gasp. Then, without looking at Neville, he stared right into her eyes and said, "if I were you I'd do whatever it took to move that paperwork along. You wouldn't want anyone assuming she's not taken... Professor."
Hannah let out a ridiculous giggle that filled the entire room. She did not pull back her hand but reached across the table to hit Draco playfully with the other.
"Oh Draco, you flatter me!"
Neville and Harry stood at the same time.
"It's alright Neville, stay here. Malfoy, please accompany me upstairs. I need help with… laundry."
Laundry indeed.
Draco knew his time was up. He gave a small shrug, released Hannah's hand and stood from the table, following Harry out of the room.
Hannah, looking startled, called "bye then!" as the door swung closed.
Neville rounded on Hermione.
"What in the bloody hell is he doing here, Hermione? And why in the name of Merlin's pants is he hitting on my fiancé?!"
Hannah's eyes went wide. "Was he?!"
"Yes, Hannah, but I think it was just to get a rise out of Neville." When Hannah's face fell, Hermione added, "oh I didn't mean it that way Hannah!"
"Hannah will you help me brew a pot of coffee while these two talk?" Ginny interjected.
Hannah nodded, still looking glum, but rose from her seat and followed Ginny.
"Go in the den, Hermione, we'll be here."
Hermione grabbed Neville's arm and led him out of the kitchen and into the small den off the living room, taking care to cast a silencing charm as she shut the door.
"Neville I can explain."
Seeming not to hear her, Neville shouted, "Hermione I do not like that man. I thought I could be civil and I was when I saw him at Gabrielle's, but after that display I-"
"NEVILLE HE IS JEALOUS OF YOU!" she shouted.
Neville stared at her, his jaw nearly hitting the floor.
"He realized how close we are, he knows I went to see you after our row on Sunday and then he found your letter in my bedroom and got all jealous and possessive. Apparently, Harry had to talk him out of coming after you just for writing me in the first place and-"
"Hermione stop."
She looked up at him and saw that he had his eyes closed.
"Say it again."
"What?"
"Tell me again?"
She stared at him, utterly perplexed.
"Tell you what? That Malfoy is jealous of you?"
Eyes till closed, Neville took a deep breath.
"Neville what- Are you alright?"
Neville opened his eyes and a grin spread across his face.
"Oh yes, Hermione, I am quite at my leisure."
Hermione let out a low laugh. "That quickly, huh? The man spent the last 20 minutes gratuitously flirting with your fiancé and just like that you're alright about it?" She scoffed, "I thought he was making me sick but now the both of you have that in common."
Neville broke free of his trance and looked up at her in surprise.
"I'm making you sick?!"
"Yes! I don't care what the reason is, there is no cause to be alright with anyone being so lascivious with your fiancé!"
He hung his head. "You're right," he said, and then mumbled something about it feeling good to finally have an upper hand.
"As it is I'm plenty cross enough for the both of us, so don't trouble yourself."
He looked up at her, sad puppy dog eyes in full effect.
"Hermione what's going on? Last I heard from you the plan was to avoid him completely."
Hermione shuffled her feet back and forth awkwardly, looking down at them as she went.
"Neville I- I haven't been totally honest with you, but it was only because it all happened so fast and I didn't have time to explain fully."
"I'm listening," he said, both hands out at his sides.
Hermione put her hands on her head. "Oh goodness, I don't know where to begin."
The door of the room suddenly swung open and Draco stood there, his face impassive.
"I thought you locked the door!"
"No just silenced it," she said, staring at Draco's face, a wave of anger coursing through her before Draco spoke.
"Sorry, just wanted to let you know the food will be cold soon. But… take your time."
And then he turned and pulled the door shut behind them, and Hermione felt him re-cast the silencing charm from the other side of the door.
Both Neville and Hermione stared at the door for a few moments.
"Not so jealous anymore, apparently," muttered Neville.
"Hardly, he could've cast a bloody warming charm if he was so concerned, he clearly just wanted to check on us."
Neville looked significantly cheered by this.
Hermione rounded on him. "Pleased, are we?"
"Honestly? Yea." he mumbled. Then when she scoffed he added, "Look Hermione, as good as it probably feels for you to have the person who tormented you your entire life suddenly besotted with you, it feels equally good for me to have apparently earned his respect! I'm sorry, I can't help it."
Softening, Hermione looked up at him with a smile. "That's so adorable I could cry, Neville."
Neville grunted and looked away.
"Yea, well…," he said, turning back to her, "now you can fill me in on what in the bloody hell is happening here. Did you say he was in your bedroom?"
Hermione turned bright red and held her breath.
"I thought you were going to be careful!"
"I was! I mean I am! I mean… I got some new information and it seems that us being… together… physically… won't cause the promise to break."
Neville thought about this for a moment. "Yes I suspected as much but I didn't want to say so in case I was wrong," he said, almost to himself.
Hermione straightened up and said with false bravado, "Yes, so… there it is, I've decided there's no harm in having a bit of fun, at least until he's forced to marry."
Neville eyed her suspiciously. "So, just fun? You brought him to your personal bedroom and I assume slept next to him and now are having him join you and your very closest friends for a traditional weekly brunch gathering just… for fun?"
"Harry is friends with him too!"
Neville put both hands up. "No need to defend your actions to me, Hermione, I'm merely being curious. It seems a quick romp in a bar bathroom could be fun enough, but-"
"Well we did that first but it was an employee break room not a bathroom, and then we-" she slapped her hand over her mouth, "oh bugger!"
Neville stared at her, mouth agape. "Hermione Jean Granger. I never thought I'd see the day."
Hermione began pacing the room, shaking both hands nervously. "Oh goodness, that sounded horrible!"
"I'm honestly not judging, Hermione. Hey is that where you disappeared to last night? I thought you were there and then… I can't remember…"
"That's because Harry confunded you," she said, and then slapped her hand over her mouth once again.
"What?!"
"It was a precaution, Neville! To ensure no one called attention to the fact that we'd disappeared. You and Theo were the only ones keeping tabs on us apparently, so…"
Neville grimaced at her. "I didn't even realize Malfoy was there last night, there were so many people by the time I'd arrived." He let out a deep sigh, looking around the room, seemingly trying to decide what to do next.
"I'm sorry Neville…"
He didn't look at her, but suddenly seemed very interested in the floorboards.
"We should get back, you're hungry and so am I. I can tell you the whole story another time, but the bottom line is..."
Neville looked up and raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"
"Um… well, I suppose it's that... I'm letting myself enjoy the moment instead of overthinking things. For once."
Neville allowed a small smile.
"Hermione, that's what I was trying to tell you to do last week."
"You were?!"
He nodded. "You were just too stubborn to hear it, as usual."
Hermione felt warmth flow back into the room and she relaxed, knowing that he wasn't going to remain cross with her. He walked forward and hugged her, placing a kiss on the top of her head. Then he put both hands on her shoulders and looked sternly into her eyes.
"I'm all for you having fun, just please be careful. You know… with your heart."
She cocked her head to the side and he continued.
"This whole situation is quite… tenuous, and there's a lot of room for you to have your heart broken. So, will you promise me you'll be careful with it?"
She smiled solemnly and nodded. "Thanks, Neville. I needed that reminder, actually. And I promise to answer your letters straight away from now on."
He gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Better yet, just write to me first, before I have to find out about major developments by walking into Harry Potter's kitchen and seeing Draco Malfoy holding a knife!"
"It was just a bread knife!"
"Hermione…" he said, in a warning tone.
"Yes okay, I promise."
Neville turned to head for the door, but then stopped, looking back at Hermione.
"Oh, um… I just remembered something I need to tell you, seeing as it's honesty hour and all."
"Okay…"
"Um- well, a short while after you left, I uh- someone else came and took your seat."
She stared at him, perplexed, but said nothing.
"It- it was Pansy," he said, and Hermione gasped. "Nothing happened! I mean, Merlin, I hadn't seen her in years and then suddenly there she was! And she was quite pissed when she arrived so she tried to hang all over me at first, but I quickly set her straight."
"I'm shocked she came at all!" Hermione exclaimed, "I didn't know she was acquainted with Gabrielle."
"She's not, I'm sure she was invited by Tracey or Millicent. Probably as an afterthought once the drinks began flowing."
Hermione thought for a moment, examining Neville's face, which still looked quite troubled as he got re-interested in the floorboards.
"And what do you need to tell me, Neville? I assume that wasn't all of it."
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
"Well, you see, she was rather… chatty. Caught me up on lots of things in her life, although I hadn't asked and then… she mentioned something about the night that, well- the night Ron and Astoria…"
Hermione held up a hand. "Neville, I'm not sure I need to hear about this. I don't know if you heard, but Ron and I are officially divorced now, we signed the papers yesterday."
Neville shook his head. "I didn't expect it to have any bearing on your divorce, really. Well, maybe, but…"
"Fine then tell me."
"Alright… she- well, she admitted to me that she'd spiked their drinks with amortentia. Both of them."
Hermione's mouth dropped to the floor and she felt suddenly faint, her airways seeming to shrink so that breathing became difficult.
"It was... revenge. She'd had a row with Astoria. Something about Malfoy. You know Pansy was always pining after him and apparently, Astoria had been prattling on about the idea of marrying him once he came back to Britain and was "socially acceptable" again. You see, she'd been unable to find another pureblood wizard to marry after her parents called off their arranged marriage and they'd started putting pressure on her. Pansy felt she was an ungrateful manipulative slag -her words, not mine- who didn't deserve Malfoy in the first place, so she set out to ruin Astoria's reputation and make her an unsuitable choice for whenever Malfoy got out."
Hermione listened to all of this without breathing, her eyes wide, anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach.
"And of course, she'd always hated you, so it had been a bonus to include Ron in the plot. She'd added in some other potion to cause them both to essentially black out and behave completely unlike themselves, I don't know what it was, she didn't say."
"Neville this is…"
"I know."
"She could be arrested for this!"
"I know."
"I mean, amortentia alone wouldn't warrant it, though I still disagree with that law, but Merlin! I'm sure that other potion is not legal!"
Neville nodded gravely.
"I feel like there's something I should do about this. It's sort of my department, after all, but-"
"But there's no real proof other than my statement, and she'd simply deny it."
"Exactly," said Hermione, resignedly, having already thought that through.
"Are you going to tell Ron?"
"I- I don't know. This is a lot to process, Neville."
He nodded again as she began to pace around the room, arms crossed and face screwed up with worry. This didn't change anything regarding her feelings for Ron. As she'd already reasoned out, it wasn't what he'd done so much as how he'd handled it afterwards and what it had made her realize. She'd been unhappy with him for so long, and if anything, this incident had helped her to come to terms with that truth. Still, she felt a knot in her stomach urging her to take some sort of action. What action, she truly did not know.
"Was this the wrong time to tell you?"
She looked up at him sharply, snapped out of her circular thoughts.
"No, Neville, thank you for being honest with me. Let's always be this honest, regardless of how bad the timing might be. Okay?"
He smiled sweetly and nodded again.
She ran her hands through her hair. "Merlin, what am I going to do now?"
He took her hand and led her to the door. "We're going to eat and you're going to stop thinking about this and go have a lovely day with your git of a boyfriend, and I am going to get my fiancé away from him as soon as possible!"
She pulled on his hand to wrench him back from the door shouting, "He's not my boyfriend!"
"Ah ah ah, Hermione," he said, tapping her nose and smiling, "we just agreed to be honest, do you really want to start fresh with a blatant lie?"
"But!"
He grinned and pulled her out of the room.
They re-entered the kitchen to find Draco and Ginny in rapt discussion about Quidditch, while Hannah sulked into her coffee mug and Harry busied himself clearing plates. Hannah looked up in delight as she saw Neville come in.
"Everything alright, darling?"
"Everything but my stomach," said Neville, as he moved towards her.
"Come sit! I fixed you a plate with a warming charm," she said, patting the bench next to her.
Hermione exchanged a glance with Draco, not sure if she even had the mental energy to be annoyed with him for all he'd done after the news she'd just received. He threw her a small smirk and motioned to the plate next to him.
"Darling?"
She couldn't help but smile back, amidst the storm brewing in her mind. She looked over at Ginny who was giving her a quizzical glare and mouthing the words "What happened?"
Hermione shook her head and mouthed "later" as she took her seat and began to eat her food, which had also been charmed to stay warm.
"Anyway, Malfoy," continued Ginny, "the Falcons couldn't win a match fairly if you paid them to. They're not too unlike your Slytherin team from what I experienced in school. Brawn over brains or sportsmanship, it's disgusting."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you could have two Broadmoor-worthy beaters on your team. I'm afraid they just don't make witches that way."
"Careful Malfoy, your sexist pig is showing, and have you even been to a Harpies game?!"
"Is that an offer for tickets? I thought you'd never ask, I'll take two please," he said, and then took a bite of toast, smirking at Ginny proudly.
Ginny glared at him for a moment before turning to Hermione.
"You'd better get him out of here, Hermione, he's starting to grow on me," she said, as she rose from her seat to refill her coffee.
Neville finished eating quickly and then rose from his seat, mouth still full.
"Well, we must be off," he said, pulling Hannah up out of her seat. They kissed and hugged everyone but Draco goodbye, Hannah giving him an obvious snub, having clearly been quite embarrassed by being used to aggravate Neville. Then just as they were headed out the door, Draco was up out of his seat, catching Neville by the arm.
"Hey Longbottom, I have a wizard jeweler that works with goblin made items no questions asked. If you're able to retrieve your ring, I can get it handled for you."
Neville looked confused and moved at the same time, and Hannah's eyes went wide as she held in a squeal.
"Oh uh- th- thanks Malfoy, that uh- would be fantastic, I'll see what I can do about getting it back."
They shook hands briefly and Neville's eyes flitted around to everyone else in the room for a moment before he turned and led Hannah to the floo.
With a woosh they were gone.
"That was decent of you, Malfoy," Harry said.
Draco shrugged, "I suppose I'm capable of decency now and then. Contrary to popular belief."
Ginny giggled and Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend.
She supposed Ginny had been right, it was now her turn to be smitten with Draco Malfoy. Hermione wondered if his luck with changing people's opinions of him would extend further than just the people in this room.
Then again, if he could change all of their minds, was there really a limit?
Hermione briefly imagined a world in which no Astoria existed, where they simply got to be together like this unencumbered. A sinking feeling in her stomach reminded her that that was not the case. And pretty soon, she wouldn't be able to keep ignoring it.