Whatever Draco had whispered to Pansy, she had waved it off with a flick of her hand.
Hermione's nerves had calmed slightly, but she could still feel the stares.
"I'm so glad that you could come, Hermione," Pansy said politely. "Draco's told me so much about you."
Hermione blushed and looked over at Draco, who seemed utterly embarrassed.
"It's good to see you back in England," Hermione responded, unsure of what else to say.
Pansy smiled brightly, "Yes, it's good to be back. I hadn't realized how much I've missed it here." She turned to Ron, Harry and Ginny, "I'm glad that you all could make it. When Draco said that he was hanging out with all of you, I have to say that I was a bit surprised."
Hermione looked over at Ron and Harry. Harry was smiling cautiously. Despite having warmed up to Draco, Harry still looked weary of Pansy. Ron, on the other hand, was turning red.
"What do you mean by that, Parkinson?" Ron asked and Hermione groaned. Ron must have taken it the wrong way, Hermione assumed, like he did a lot of things.
Pansy looked flustered for a moment. "I only meant that I found it shocking that you and Draco were spending time together."
Ginny ducked her behind her hair and Harry ran a hand over his forehead, both clearly embarrassed by Ron.
"Ron, it was unexpected, you have to admit," Hermione tried to laugh.
Pansy sighed deeply, her face creased in consideration. "Look, I know that I have been awful to you in the past," Ron snorted in derision, but Pansy continued more firmly, "I am truly sorry for how I treated you all. Harry, you especially, I was terrified during the Battle of Hogwarts. I didn't want to give you to the Dark Lord, but I didn't want to face him even more. I was a stupid little girl."
Harry started to talk, but Ron cut him off, "That's your excuse, then? You were the same age as us. We didn't offer him up."
"Ron!" Both Hermione and Ginny scolded harshly.
An angry blush covered Pansy's cheeks and she took long, deep breaths.
"Fine, then," Pansy snapped. "Hermione, Harry and Ginny, I offer my most sincere apologize."
Ron huffed loudly and Pansy made her way back into the crowd.
Draco sighed, "I should go find her." He leaned in and kissed Hermione's temple before quickly following Pansy.
After a moment of silence, Harry said, "Well that could have gone better, mate."
Ginny nodded and Hermione said, "How could you, Ron? She was trying to apologize."
"She was offering excuses, Hermione. And I didn't like her tone, 'I have to say that I was a bit surprised,'" Ron tried to mimicked in Pansy's voice.
"It was surprising, Ron!" Ginny cried. "You tell her you are sorry for you childish out break and you will apologize to Malfoy too!"
Ron huffed, "I will not!"
Ginny chuckled humorlessly, "Oh, yes you will! Or I'll walk right over there," Ginny pointed across the room at Mrs. Weasley, "and tell mom what you just did."
Ron's lips drew into a tight line and he turned even redder. "Fine!" He said and stormed away.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
An hour later, Hermione found Ron, leaning against a darkened wall. He looked solemn and he stared over at Pansy; who was having an animated conversation with Blaise Zabini.
"Hey," Hermione said softly. She was still upset about how he acted; yet, she couldn't help, but want to comfort him. "Did you talk to her yet?"
Ron shook his head, "She's been talking to Zabini for a while. I've been waiting."
Hermione looked back over towards Pansy, who had a blatantly fake smile on her face. "She looks sad," Hermione noted quietly.
"It looked like they were arguing for a bit," Ron said. "I always figured they were friends."
"No," Hermione said softly. "They were together for a long time after the war. Draco told me that Pansy loved him, but she wanted to move and he didn't. So they ended things and Blaise is now married."
"Oh," Ron mumbled. "I guess that explains why they were arguing." He sighed deeply, "Look, Hermione, I know I over reacted. But I can't stand it, when people blame the things they did during the war on being young. We were all young and we knew right from wrong. Fred was young and he knew right from wrong," Hermione only nodded and let Ron continue. "Merlin! And the way she was talking down to us. Like it was impossible for Malfoy to hang out with us!"
Hermione chuckled softly. She placed a hand on Ron's arm. "She wasn't talking down to us, Ron," Hermione said simply. "You just heard what you wanted to hear. No, don't shake your head. You did hear what you wanted to hear. You were ready to hate her right off the bat. You were always one to act first and think later. Just like that time you left Harry and I, when we were hunting Horcruxes. You thought that something was happening between Harry and I, and you wouldn't listen to either of us when we told you there was nothing going on."
The corners of Ron's mouth turned up slightly. "I honestly have no idea what I would do without you, Hermione."
Hermione looked over at Pansy. Blaise had left and was now dancing with some young woman, which Hermione assumed to be his wife.
"Just go say sorry to her," Hermione smiled, "and try to be nice about it."
Ron took a deep breath and squeezed Hermione's shoulder as he passed her. She watched him walk over to Pansy, who shot him a poisonous glare. They started talking just as Hermione felt someone put their arm around her waist.
She leaned into Draco's embrace and smiled.
"What a night," Draco chuckled, "and it's only just started. We haven't even got to dance yet."
"Well, someone hasn't offered," Hermione said.
"Well, someone was trying to do damage repair," she could feel him grinning behind her. "Come on, let's dance before Scorpius gets to you."
Hermione frowned, "I haven't seen Scorpius yet."
"He's running around somewhere, with James and Teddy of course," Draco said as he took her hand.
Hermione let Draco lead her to the dance floor. She smiled at him as he took her into his arms.
The stares intensified as people turned in their direction. Draco seemed to be able to ignore the other people in the room, but Hermione was having a harder time.
"Were you able to talk to Pansy?" Hermione asked. "I hope she's not too upset."
"Yes, I talked to her," Draco chuckled lightly, "I told her not to worry about it because Weasley is a wanker."
Hermione scowled at him, "Draco!" Hermione groaned, "You know what; I can't even defend him right now, because that's exactly what he was." Hermione paused for a moment, "I told him to apologize to her. I think he is now."
Draco craned his neck to look over at Pansy and Ron and his eyebrows pulled together, "I don't think it's going so well."
She whipped her head. Hermione saw Pansy flinging her hands in the air and she was glaring at Ron. Ron's face was turning red, as he tried not to yell back.
"Draco!" A voice said, coming up beside them.
"Blaise," Draco said not completely unfriendly, but Hermione felt him tense up slightly.
"Hermione," Blaise greeted, as he pulled his wife to a stop. His wife was beautiful, to say the least. Her long blond hair flowed down her back and her willowy frame, reminded Hermione of a ballerina. Hermione was sure that she had never seen this woman before, which meant that she hadn't gone to Hogwarts.
He turned back to Draco, "Mate, you never told me about you and Granger."
Draco smiled tensely, "We haven't seen much of each other recently, Blaise."
Hermione had no idea why Draco was acting so cold towards Blaise. She thought that they were friends. He seemed eager to get away from the couple.
"Well, congratulations then," Blaise smiled, seemingly unaware of Draco's sudden sour mood. "Hey, what's Pans doing talking to Weasley?" Blaise asked, his brow knotting in confusion.
"They're just talking, Blaise," Draco said sharply.
Hermione's eyes shot up to Draco's, his jaw was tense and the muscles twitched under the skin.
"She looks a bit angry," Blaise chuckled, "Must not be a pleasant conversation."
A loud slap sounded though the room. Hermione whipped around to see Ron holding his cheek and Pansy storming away.
Draco's eyebrows shot up in shock and Blaise laughed.
"Been there before," Blaise smiled and took his wife's hand. "I'll see you later then?"
Hermione nodded politely at the couple as they walked away. Once they were gone, her attention turned completely to Ron and she rushed over to his side.
"Merlin, Ron, what happened?" Hermione asked, pulling Ron's hand away from his cheek to inspect the damage.
"I have no idea!" Ron responded, wide-eyed. "I was apologizing and I thought things were going well. I mean I even tried to complement her dress!"
Hermione groaned, "What exactly did you say about her dress?"
Ron dropped his head and muttered, "That it was tight. How was I supposed to know what to say! I mean the dress is tight, I thought that was what she was going for." Ron continued, clearly flustered. He ran a hand through his hair.
Beside Hermione, Draco chuckled into his fist.
Hermione sighed, "I'll go talk to her."
"Are you sure, Hermione? I mean you're not really friends," Draco said.
"Yeah, but it was my idiot friends who insulted her, so…" Hermione replied. "It will be fine, Draco. What's the worst that could happen?"
"She'd slap you too," Ron murmured.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hermione didn't know her way around the Manor at all. She tried several deserted corridors, but still was unable to find Pansy.
Her brow creased in confusion, as she took, what seemed to be the seventh corridor. She truly had no idea where she was at this point. She wasn't too worried about finding her way back to the ballroom though; she could just follow the music back.
"Hermione?" Pansy said from the shadows.
Hermione let out a loud sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Merlin! I thought I'd never find you!"
Pansy offered her a small smile, but dropped her head.
"I've come to apologize about Ron. He's completely tactless, but he means well. Believe it or not, he was trying to compliment you. Ron's just rubbish at communicating to women…or anyone. I should know, I dated him for two years and basically know him my whole life," Hermione chuckled lightly. "It s taken him the longest, I think to – adjust to this whole situation. He says he fine with it, but I have my doubts."
"He's still a git," Pansy said.
Hermione smiled, "Yeah, he is. But he doesn't mean to be."
Pansy sighed. "I honestly just wanted to be – I don't know – friends. Well, maybe not friends, but on good terms with all of you for Draco's sake."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you are a good friend, Pansy. Draco really needs someone like you," Hermione said.
Pansy laughed lightly, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you are so good for Draco. I've never seen him this happy, this at ease."
Emotions fluttered inside Hermione's chest. She didn't realize how much she was starving for verification until Pansy confirmed that Draco was, indeed, happier. Hermione inhaled sharply. Her relationship with Draco was developing so rapidly. Was this normal? Surely it wasn't.
"I don't think I wanted to believe it at first," Pansy continued. "That's why I came back. I just couldn't believe that Draco was…" She trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Hermione nodded. She didn't really know how respond, so she changed the topic. "Uh – how's your hand?"
Pansy looked down at her hand. Turning it over, she said, "It stings a bit, but I'll just heal it later."
"When I hit Draco in our third year, my hand hurt for a week! I was too young to know any healing charms and I couldn't go to Madam Pomfrey because she would ask how I hurt my hand," Hermione remembered the memory fondly.
Pansy laughed, "Oh I remember that! Draco came back to the dorm bleeding. I was so scared, I didn't know what happened. It took him forever to tell me what actually happened." Pansy straightened up, "Okay, let's go back."
"Lead the way," said Hermione, "because I have no idea where we are."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Why were you so cold to Blaise? I thought you two were friends?" Hermione asked. She had caught up to Draco almost as soon as she re-entered the ballroom.
Draco sighed and placed a hand on the back of his neck. "I wasn't sure how he was going to respond to us, honestly. But also, he wasn't supposed to be here. For him to come is one thing, but to bring his wife and flaunt her in front of Pansy!" Draco groaned, "I mean it's hard enough to like him after what he did to Pansy. He just doesn't take her feelings into account!"
Hermione offered Draco a comforting smile and took his hand. She wasn't sure how to respond. It was different to see Draco interacting with his friends; furthermore, wanting to protect Pansy.
Scorpius came pushing through the crowd and ran towards Hermione. His face flushed from excitement and his hair slightly ruffled.
"Well, there you are!" Hermione gasped. "I haven't seen you all night! Don't you look dashing in you suit!" Hermione said bending down to straighten the boy's tie.
"'Mione! Daddy says girls are going to fight to be with me!" Scorpius smiled broadly. "I don't want that."
"You don't?" Hermione gasped.
"Nope!" Scorpius shook his head. "You look pretty, 'Mione!"
Hermione smiled broadly, "Why thank you, Scorpius!"
Scorpius turned to his father and smiled. Hermione looked up at Draco, slightly confused. Draco was giving Scorpius a stern look, but Scorpius laughed.
"Daddy thinks you're pretty to! He told me!" Scorpius smiled devilishly.
Hermione looked up at Draco, just as he swooped down to pick Scorpius up, who giggled loudly.
"That was our secret!" Draco said, tickling the boy. "Do you know what secret means?"
Hermione laughed at the two Malfoy's. She thought to herself how all this could have happened. It had been barely two months since Scorpius and Narcissa walked into her shop. It had barely been a month since she and Draco had gotten together. Doubt welled up in Hermione's chest, but she quickly pushed it back down. Their relationship wasn't even serious yet.
Hermione made a conscious decision to slow down their relationship. If this thing was to work out properly, then it would have to take time to develop.