"Have you seen Seamus yet?" Ron asked excitedly. They were seated in some modified lawn chairs. The seats would have looked more at home in a living room, as they were something closer to armchairs than anything else, but they had obviously been designed for use outside.
"No," Ginny said. "I'm sure he'll be here, though. It looks like Luna invited the whole school," she added.
"Well, I, for one, appreciate it," Harry declared, his arm around Ginny. "I haven't seen most of this lot in ages."
"You see half of them at the Ministry every day!" Ginny said.
He shrugged. "I doubt half work at the Ministry," he said. "And a lot of people work there. We don't see them all every day. We don't even see all the Aurors every day," he added.
"Yeah, Gin. It's not like we just sit around gabbing at each other all day, like we're in school," Ron threw in. "We've got important things to do."
While Harry and Ginny might have taken the mickey for his tone, they couldn't do much as his current date fawned over him.
She was a blonde, with an hourglass figure that she was perfectly happy to show off in one of the tightest dresses Ginny had ever seen. She glanced around again, wondering for the hundredth time if Hermione was going to show up.
Ginny hadn't had a chance to ask if she had been invited, because it wasn't the sort of thing she could bring up with Harry and Ron standing at her back. And Dean's reception of the pair had been less than warm. She had a feeling they may not have made the guest list if Dean had had a say.
She looked over at Harry. She knew he, at least, had been anxious to see Hermione. But she also knew he was afraid of actually having her show up. Neither of them had any idea how she and Ron would respond to being in close quarters for the first time since their breakup.
She glared over at Ron and his bint and wished he'd had the sense to leave her behind. She turned back to Harry, ready to suggest they go get a drink, when she spotted something that made her breath catch.
"Bloody Hell," she cursed. "Damn, damn, damn." Harry raised his eyebrows, as Ginny quickly decided what to do. "Alright," she said, getting Harry's attention. She chucked an empty cup at her brother to drag him away from his date's embrace. "I probably should have told you about this," she said quickly. "But nothing was confirmed, and honestly I didn't really think it was either of your business, but since they're here now, I should probably warn you."
"Ginny," Harry said, looking bemused. "What is it?"
"Right," Ron agreed. "Unless Voldemort has returned from the dead," he added, making his date squeal, and enjoying her little cuddle afterward, "I don't see what you could be so worked up about."
"Hermione has been seeing someone," she said, getting it out in a rush. She would probably have gone for the "friend" angle, but she noted Hermione's hand in Draco's as they made their way toward Luna, amid a sea of stares and whispers. She could see current Hogwarts students filling in their former housemates all over the place.
Ron let of a loud laugh. "Why should that bother us?" he said, tugging his date closer. But he craned his neck, looking to see where his ex might be. When he did spot her, he just shrugged. "It's good she's moved on," he said, very casually.
Harry studied Ron for a moment, but then turned back to Ginny. "Why in the world did you think it would bother me?" he asked.
Ginny swallowed. "Because the person she's been seeing is Draco Malfoy," she said, all in a rush.
Harry's head snapped back like he'd been hit, and Ron nearly dumped his girlfriend out of his lap, turning to look at the pair again.
"No way," he said. "She's gotten someone to use polyjuice or something," he said. "She's just trying to make me jealous." Having solved the mystery to his satisfaction, he turned back to Ginny with a grin. "She did the same thing when I was dating Lavender."
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "She used polyjuice potion on people to try to make you jealous?"
"No," Ron said matter-of-factly. "But she went out with Cormac McClaggen to try to make me jealous."
"How long has she been seeing him?" Harry asked in a quiet voice.
Ginny shrugged. "I'm not sure, really. They haven't exactly admitted that they're officially together," she said. "But they spend loads of time with each other."
Ron scoffed. "Maybe it is really him, and they've come up with a scheme to try to get at me." He shrugged it off. "Honestly, though, I feel bad for her. Imagine having to put up with the ferret," he said, shivering in disgust.
Ginny considered trying to convince him he had it all wrong, but decided against it. If he wanted to make a fool of himself, that was his business.
She looked over at Harry, who was eying the pair currently talking to Dean and Luna.
"Wow," Dean said, spotting Hermione and Draco. "You've really decided to come out with a bang, eh?"
"Less 'decided' and more," Hermione began, but paused, looking for the right word. She glanced at Draco.
"Accepted?" he suggested.
"Yes, I suppose," Hermione said.
Dean stared at them. Then he glanced surreptitiously at Luna, who was finishing up a conversation with a sixth year.
"So you didn't realize she had invited the DA?" he asked.
"Didn't realize she had invited anyone but us," Draco said, a soothing hand once again settling on Hermione's back.
"Oh," Dean said. He glanced at his girlfriend again. "I am so sorry," he whispered. "She must not have thought about it."
"Hi," Luna called out, coming to greet them. She hugged both Hermione and Draco in turn. "I'm so glad you came."
"Yeah," Hermione mumbled, torn between being moved by the warm welcome for Draco and wanting to take Luna to task for thoughtlessness.
"They didn't know anyone else was going to be here," Dean said, in an undertone to Luna.
She looked surprised. "But, of course. I invited nearly everyone," she said in her signature dreamy voice.
Hermione caught Draco's amused look and had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "It would have been good to have a warning," she said.
"Why?" Luna asked.
Draco chuckled quietly. "Why indeed?" he said, turning to Hermione.
"Oh, shut it," she said, hitting him lightly. "Because we haven't told anyone we've been dating," she said to Luna. "Except the pair of you."
Luna looked genuinely surprised. "But surely everyone knows," she said. "You two are like two kneazles in a bin."
Hermione was so thrown by Luna's odd phrase she didn't even bother to argue the original point. "Well, everyone knows now," she said. "So we might as well just . . . soldier on."
"Most people would say make the best of it," Draco teased.
"Oh, there's no best to be made, but I'm certain we can survive it at least," Hermione said. Then a thought struck her, and she turned to Dean and Luna. "The DA?" she said. "Tell me," and she had her answer from the look on Dean's face, but continued anyway, clinging to rapidly dwindling hope, "that Harry and Ron aren't here."
Dean shrugged apologetically. "I wouldn't have invited them," he said.
Hermione wasn't sure what anyone might have said to that, but no one had a chance to respond, because the people around them all began whispering feverishly. A lane cleared and Ron, with a blond in tow and an uncomfortable looking Harry and Ginny a few steps behind, approached them.
"Alright?" he said, full of cheery bravado. "Hermione!" he said, as though he'd just spotted her. "Haven't seen you in ages." He nodded to himself. "Hear you're dating Malfoy now."
Hermione nodded, linking hands with Draco and pulling him forward a step. "I am, yes." Draco ended up right behind her, a comforting presence at her back.
Ron did some more serious nodding. "Sure, then you should probably snog him," he said, a smile on his face. "Since you're dating and all."
Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon?" she said, a cross between baffled and offended. She could feel Draco struggling not to laugh next to her.
"Well, just that you're dating, so you're probably comfortable snogging," Ron said again, directing his grin at Draco this time.
To Hermione's surprise, Draco completely lost his composure, and began laughing quietly – nearly in silence – at her back, his face turned into her neck.
"Shut it," she hissed, but he only laughed harder at that, so she rounded on him. "What about this is funny?" she demanded.
To his credit, he tried to stop, but one glance at Ron set him off again. "I'm sorry. It's funny," he said, in amused exasperation. "You have to admit, it's funny. He's just so proud of himself." He shook his head, and seemed almost to have to wipe tears from his eyes.
Hermione glanced at Ron, who looked less sure of himself now. "Pretty proud of myself, yeah," he said, sticking his chest out. "Some of us actually have things to be proud of," he said. "Like fighting on the right side in the war."
Draco seemed less amused by that. "I suppose so," he acknowledged. His hand trailed down Hermione's back, and she spared him one concerned glance before deciding he was probably fine. She knew the war was something Draco didn't like to think about, but he wasn't going to be able to avoid mention of it in this crowd.
"Are you done, Ron?" she asked.
He raised his eyebrows. "Don't want to snog him, eh?" he chortled. Then he shrugged, turned on his heel, and walked off.
Hermione's eyes met Harry's for the briefest of moments before he went to follow his friend. Ginny lingered a moment longer.
"I'm so sorry," she said, looking entirely genuine.
Hermione shrugged. "It's not your doing," she said.
Ginny continued to look miserable as she moved to catch up with an impatient Harry.