Draco led Hermione into Professor Slughorn's office, where the ceilings and walls had been draped with gold and silver hangings, so that the room seemed metallic. Many people were already there, crowding around the five tables that sat twelve people each. The ornate golden lamp in which faeries were still fluttering since the last party Hermione had attended still hung from the middle of the ceiling. The flashes of cameras never stopped, causing the four friends to blink continuously.

"Invitations, please." said a boy clad in waiters' robes as Draco and Hermione stepped inside. Hermione opened her purse and handed it to the boy without really looking at him, as she was on the look-out for any signs of Trevor Birch, until she heard Draco inhale sharply.

She turned around, and gave an involuntary gasp. The boy holding a clipboard with her and Draco's invitations was none other than Jimmy Peakes. She could feel Draco pull her closer to him, as well as start to reach inside his robes for his wand.

"Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy, Table One, please. Over where Professor Slughorn is." Jimmy said, before Draco could do anything rash. His voice was calm and detached, giving no sign of threat or aggression. Draco narrowed his eyes for a moment, but then nodded curtly, and swept Hermione away to the table at the very front of the room.

They were greeted by Professor Slughorn, who was very pleased that the pair could make the party, and when Ginny and Zacharias caught up as well, he was ecstatic. "Wonderful, wonderful." he had cried, shaking each of their hands vigorously, as if he hadn't seen them in a long time. "Come, take your seats, children. Dinner is about to start, and I'm sure you're hungry."

"Got that right." Ginny muttered. Professor Slughorn made sure Hermione sat down at his left-hand side, with Draco next to her, and then Ginny next to him, and then Zacharias next to Ginny. "My guests of honor." he had boasted to the other students, who smiled, although obviously not caring one bit.

Hermione looked around, wondering why in the world Slughorn had invited approximately sixty guests. She guessed that their table was for the most prized of Slughorn's selected students, another two were for regular members of the Slug Club, and the other two were for potential members. That is, until she saw Rita Skeeter sitting at the fifth table, when she realized that there was one table for potential members, and another for reporters and cameramen.

Appalled that Professor McGonagall would let reporters, especially Rita Skeeter, into the school, Hermione turned to Draco, who looked equally alarmed. Ginny and Zacharias were looking around the room, since everyone except the waiters had sat down, at the magnificent decorations, for Professor Slughorn had wanted to start out with a flare for his first party of the year.

Hermione noticed that their table was full with only two exceptions: the right-hand side of Slughorn's seat and the seat next to that. Before she could comment on this to Draco, though, the last guests arrived. Arriving fashionably late, Trevor Birch swept into the room in the latest style of dress robes, with someone else looking even more dashing beside him.

"Ah, Brevis! So good to see you again, m'boy." Professor Slughorn cried exuberantly, standing up and waddling over to the duo to shake hands with the handsome young man, who greatly resembled Trevor. "Everyone, this gentleman is our special outside guest tonight, and who also happens to be the Captain of the Tutshill Tornadoes. Meet my former student, Ravenclaw prince, Brevis Birch."

Everybody seated stood up as Professor Slughorn, Trevor, and his brother made their way back to the Table One, and murmured respectful greetings. Brevis sat down on Slughorn's right-hand side, with Trevor taking the other seat. Everyone else sat down again, as well. "Well, Trevor, why don't you introduce the rest of the table to your brother? No one can miss the fact that the Captains of each House's Quidditch team are all here." Slughorn chuckled.

"Of course, Professor." said Trevor, smiling widely and looking first at Zacharias, who tried to appear uninterested, but couldn't help himself at the thought of being introduced to the Captain of the Tutshill Tornadoes.

"Brevis, this is Zacharias Smith, Captain for Hufflepuff House this year." Zacharias blushed as Brevis Birch gave him a deep nod as acknowledgement.

"And this is Ginny Weasley, Captain for Gryffindor House, and not to mention, the sister of the famous Ron Weasley." Trevor said just as grandiloquently, although Hermione could still see his distate. Ginny echoed Brevis's smile, which was genuine, unlike his brother's, although Hermione could tell Ginny's smile was forced. Her friend could hardly care less about important Quidditch players. Ginny's personality was one that wanted to make it into the professional Quidditch world on merit, and not through connections.

"Lastly, Draco Malfoy, Captain of Slytherin House." Brevis's eyes widened in surprise, taking in the infamous youth. "It's pleasure to meet you." he said, almost in awe, as Draco's smirk crept in, much to Hermione's amusement. She loved how he had such an effect on everyone.

"Oh, and this here is Hermione Granger, you know." Trevor said pompously as Brevis continued to stare at Draco, annoyed that the arrogant blond was getting so much attention from his brother.

If Brevis had been interested in meeting the infamous Draco Malfoy before, it was nothing compared to when he heard Trevor announce Hermione's name. Shocked, his eyes left Draco and fell on Hermione, who held her ground, giving no reaction whatsoever. She had had her fair share of being acquainted with famous people, such as Viktor Krum and Harry himself, and was not intimidated by some lesser-known Quidditch player.

Brevis finally broke their eye contact when he abruptly got up out of his seat and went to Hermione's, catching her hand, and kissing it, just as how Trevor had done. "It's an honor." he whispered as they locked eyes. Hermione was overwhelmed at the sudden contact, and could barely hear the rumble in Draco's chest.

"Now, now Brev." Trevor said, his eyes like two shards of ice. "You're embarrassing her. What if Cho were here?"

Brevis was startled for a moment, and Hermione used this momentary distraction to free her hand, asking Draco quietly to hand her her purse so she could pretend to look for something in it to avoid another awkward encounter.

However, she didn't need to really do that, as Brevis was already slowly making his way back to his seat. As he sat down, the tension between the brothers was very apparent. Ginny, clever as she was, used this to create some more drama. Innocently, she asked, "So, Mr. Birch, you're dating Cho Chang?"

Brevis answered her quickly, recovering from Trevor's pointed remark. "Call me Brevis, Miss Weasley. And yes, I am currently with Cho. You know her?"

"Yes, Brevis, she used to date my boyfriend, Harry Potter." Ginny replied sweetly. Hermione reveled in seeing Trevor's fist, which was very visible on the table, clench and unclench.

"Oh, really?" Brevis asked, surprised. "She never mentioned that, haha. How interesting. She only told me my little brother, Trevor here, was very attached to her." Hermione could tell that although Brevis was just as pretentious as his brother, he was at least a decent person.

At what was obviously revenge for his previous attack, Trevor stood up suddenly, drawing his wand out of his dress robes, and Brevis was only a millisecond behind him in doing the exact same thing. Ginny sat back, glowing that her work was finally done, and that it even offered her some form of entertainment. Hermione internally thanked her, first for being able to create this kind of amusement, and secondly for possibly getting rid of the repulsive brothers, as well as maybe ending the stupid party early.

"Boys!" Professor Slughorn said warningly, and stood up, with much effort, as well. "Please, take your seats. You can settle this little problem after the party, I hope? Brevis, the press is here. You don't want to tarnish your image, do you? Think of the fans! And Trevor, as one of my favorite students, I didn't think you would have this kind of a temper! You aren't the type to resort to rash actions, I hope."

Hermione could not help but admire Professor Slughorn's skills in calming people down, and nudged Draco underneath the table for giving the teacher a furtively baleful glare for ruining all the fun.

"Now, let's start dinner, shall we?" Professor Slughorn said calmly when all three people had sat down again, as if nothing had happened.

"That would be wonderful, sir." Brevis said quickly, recovering from his humiliation. "Trevor can't have seafood, sir. He's allergic." He smiled genuinely at his brother, who, wanting to repair their public outburst as well, smiled back, and replied, "Thank you, Brevis. That's so very thoughtful of you."

"Well, we do have salmon for our main entrée, but we can substitute it with roast lamb. Is that better, Trevor?" asked Professor Slughorn, relieved that the tension was finally over.

"That would be wonderful, sir." Trevor mimicked his brother's grace and politeness to perfection.

Professor Slughorn rang the tiny silver bell that Draco and Hermione had used on their first night at Hogwarts, and waiters dressed just like Jimmy Peakes appeared. Hermione was glad that the house elves weren't being used this time, as the tables they were sitting at were too high from them to reach.

Dinner was delicious, consisting of two soups, two salads, fresh rolls, the main entrée, chilled fruit, three desserts, and many, many, many goblets of Firewhiskey, to Hermione's dismay. Tonight's sleepover is going to be beyond wild, she thought, watching as Draco downed his fourth goblet during the second desert. Luckily, she saw that he wasn't the heaviest drinker, as most of the people at their table had drank roughly the same amount or more, with the exception of her, Ginny, and Zacharias.

Ginny had had three, and Zacharias two. Hermione was slightly embarrassed that after drinking half of her first goblet, she could take no more. I'm not weak. she thought heatedly as Draco raised his eyebrows teasingly at her after peering in to see the contents of her goblet. Ignoring him, she looked around the room instead at all the people eating, drinking, and talking merrily.

At their table, besides her, Ginny, Draco, Zacharias, Professor Slughorn, and the Birch brothers, was Luna and a boy Hermione could only assume to be Rolf Scamander. Luna had given them a quick greeting when she saw Hermione and her friends before diving back into deep conversation with the pleasant-looking boy. It was obvious that they were very attracted to each other, barely speaking to anyone else throughout the course of the meal. Hermione felt better at seeing how fast they had fallen for each other, almost as fast as she and Draco had fallen in love.

The other three people at the table Hermione didn't know, and didn't really care to know. They all seemed to be people that were connected to someone famous, but were very insipid and made no conversations at all, preferring to sit there and look nice. Hermione then scanned around to the rest of the tables. She was glad that the reporters' table was farthest away from them, and finally figured out that they were here for Brevis Birch, and not for her, Ginny, and Draco.

In the potential members' table, she saw Mafalda wearing a ghastly orange dress that made her look rather like a pumpkin. Smirking slightly in imitation of Draco, her gaze passed onto the remaining tables. Astoria Greengrass was staring at their table, but to Hermione's relief, her gaze wasn't directed at Draco, but at Brevis Birch.

Hermione thought dryly, Watch out, Cho. You've got a serious threat coming your way. She shifted her view back to Draco, who was carefully dissecting his Crème Brule, then to Ginny, who was sipping her Firewhiskey and looking bored out of her mind, and finally to Zacharias, who was hanging onto every word Brevis was saying about his latest Quidditch win.

She then stole a glance at Trevor, who happened to be staring straight at her at the exact same moment. She quickly turned towards Rolf and Luna, who were on his other side, but not before catching his smirk from having caught her looking at him. Please don't get any strange ideas. Hermione thought, cursing herself for her stupid curiosity.

Dinner was finally over, and Professor Slughorn stood up first to see that everyone was finished eating, which they were, and then clapped his hands. Hermione felt an invisible string tug on the collar of her neck to make her stand up as all the tables and chairs vanished. She looked at Draco, who was just as surprised as she was. "What are we doing?" she asked him quietly.

"I think the party's starting." he replied, smiling and again holding his hand out for her.