Hermione felt a hand on her elbow and she turned and met Ginny's bright brown eyes that were both wide with humour. Ginny ducked her lips to Hermione's ear and whispered, "What's that about?"
Hermione broke into a fit of giggles that still, no one paid attention to, even in the starkness of the silence. When she looked around back to the trio of people that had paraded into the Great Hall, all she saw was Malfoy's broad back and white-blond hair, his mother's hand resting on his forearm very softly as she was escorted.
"I have no idea." Hermione said. "Maybe he's dying for another slap."
Ginny giggled even more loudly and the girls snorted as they huddled their heads together at the memory of hitting Malfoy across the face. When the three richest people had made it to the head of the room to greet the teachers or elders of Hogwarts and the Ministry, music hummed back into the air and the bustle of voices rose to the shimmering sky above. Hermione and Ginny ducked away.
Harry had disappeared with Cho and Hermione was grateful. She hoped he was wise and aware enough and had seen Ginny in her emerald dress before he approached her again. The thought of juggling the two of them almost immediately exhausted her mental space until she took a deep breath and decided to do her best. If only there was a book for navigating your two best mates, who were exes, away from each other in one room. A big room, yes, but still one room.
"Your parents are looking for you." Ginny said, her face pink from their stifled laughter. They had collapsed on the benches that lined the walls for the people who wanted to sit as they waited for dinner and socialized.
"Let me guess. When they saw Mr Zabini over there waltz in with his rich friends, they wanted to be introduced." Hermione said. Ginny stifled another round of giggles. Hermione realised she had been drinking. "Gin. What did you drink tonight? We've only been here for fifteen minutes."
"Who said I started drinking here?" Ginny said with a wicked flash in her eyes. "George always has some firewhiskey on hand, and coming back to the place where we lost-." Ginny paused. She took a deep sobering breath and smiled at Hermione, "Where the main battle happened was bound to be a toughie."
Hermione side hugged her shoulder.
"I've lobbied for them to hold this somewhere else, but the Ministry is only interested in optics and showing the world that we have moved forward as a society." Hermione said kindly. Ginny smiled.
"I know, it's fine. We'll get over it eventually right?" she said. Hermione didn't miss the sarcasm in her tone. She took a deep breath and looked around, scanning the people for her parents.
"Are you going with your parents too? I heard Blaise liked you once upon a time." Hermione teased. Ginny grinned.
"Wouldn't that give Harry a right heart attack?" Ginny said, her eyes alive with fire. Hermione decided against pursuing the topic and wondered if pushing Harry to Cho tonight had been a wise idea. She had the feeling she was in for quite a task in keeping the two from exploding in the middle of the Great Hall for everyone to see.
Hermione helped Ginny to her feet and they walked to where Ginny said she had left her and Hermione's parents. Hermione smiled at her mother and immediately stopped hearing what she was saying about the 'two handsome men' at the front of the room. She refrained from rolling her eyes and rustled her hair over her shoulders impatiently.
It was getting warm with all the bodies in here. And her scooped back did nothing to cool her, in fact, it was open to everyone's own body heat and she felt icky. She flicked her want and cast a body temperature regulating charm. She felt instantly better and she more at ease again. Maybe she should find George for some firewhiskey.
A line had formed as everyone had started filing to the front in their bid for anyone's attention. This was a networking event and while everyone did know each other in some way or form, either from going to school together or their parents knowing each other from working at the Ministry, the crowd had renewed interest in reminding everyone that they existed.
Claim me, and our future is saved. Claim me, and we can build a new Wizarding Britain.
Hermione felt sick.
She could practically smell the desperation dripping off of every single one of them. And she joined the queue anyway.
Her mother and father belted out words one after the other in sentences she couldn't comprehend right now, because all she could see was Malfoy's cold, grey eyes surveying the room with a look of utter boredom tinged with mild distaste. Hermione didn't care what he thought of her, she's known herself as Mudblood around him for as long as she could remember, but she had no interest in getting to know his intimate thoughts of her parents.
She hoped another slap to the face could be avoided. Hermione was very determined.
She was not desperate, and her parents' desperation was planted, therefore not real. She wasn't going to have him believe otherwise. Hermione scanned the room to find Harry and Cho, but only saw jumbled bodies and unidentifiable heads. Everyone looked different tonight, donned in their fancy dresses and dress robes, makeup, and hairstyles.
"Granger!" a voice snapped Hermione from her absent browsing of people and back to reality. Somehow, they had reached the front of the line.
"Zabini." Granger greeted him. She made no attempt to be warm.
"Oh, aren't we feisty tonight, Granger." Zabini said. Hermione smiled, but she made sure it didn't brighten her eyes. She heard her mother clear her throat and she stepped a little to the side.
"This is my mother, and my father. Charles and Jeanine Granger." Hermione smiled, feeling Malfoy's eyes on her and making every effort to avoid him. She was going to pretend he was part of the wall and she was going to believe it.
"Muggles, right?" Zabini said brightly. "Oh, how far we've come as a Wizard society!" Hermione noticed he was genuinely excited and positively jovial. "I hope you've been enjoying your time here in our world, Mr and Mrs Granger."
Hermione's mother and father took turns shaking his hand and vocalising their happiness with 'ahs' and 'ohs' as Zabini barrelled on. Hermione saw her mother's eyes flicker to Malfoy and she felt cold trickle down the back of her neck. Zabini had noticed too.
"Oh yes, Granger. I'm sure you remember Draco Malfoy." Zabini said, shifting slightly and revealing Malfoy's tall figure. Hermione's mother gave a tiny 'oh!' and extended her hand. Hermione held her breath. And maybe there was a flicker of hesitation, but Malfoy extended his palm, took her mother's hand gently on his own and inclined his head slightly.
"This is my mother, Narcissa Black." Malfoy said. Hermione looked at him, struggling to hide her shock at Malfoy's actual physical contact with a muggle. She looked at Narcissa whose eyes were on Hermione's face.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs Mal-Black." Hermione stuttered. She cleared her throat and her eyes flickered quickly to Malfoy who was staring pointedly in the distance. Zabini had stepped back a little and was thoroughly enjoying the interaction.
The line behind them started bustling with impatience and Hermione heard some huffs of disgruntled witches and wizards. They were holding up the line with their longer than usual 'introduction'.
"Sorry." Hermione said over her back, though she was grateful for the excuse to leave in a hurry. She could feel the awkwardness building in her and soon, she wouldn't know how to hold her body or behave. It felt similar to stage fright.
"In a hurry to go somewhere, Granger?" Zabini said. His eyes flashed to Malfoy and back to Hermione and she didn't know what to make of it. "Have a date tonight?"
"It won't be you, Zabini." Hermione said, and she smirked in what she hoped was reminiscent of Malfoy's pettiness. Zabini placed his open hand to his chest and made an 'oof' sound.
"Ouch, Granger. And here I thought we had something." Zabini said.
"And I thought Ginny was more your type." Hermione said. Zabini smiled a genuine smile.
"If only I were hers." he said.
"The night is young, and so are we." Hermione said. "Now, I'm going to go and let all the rest of your candidates commence their interviews for a place as your wives."
She chanced a glance at Malfoy and her stomach backflipped when she found him gazing at her, as though he had been hanging on to every word she had been saying to Zabini. Hermione looked away, found her parent's arms and steered them back through the crowd.
She watched from a distance as Ginny loudly giggled at Zabini's words that were lost in the distance, drowned in the din of the crowd and music. Hermione knew Ginny's show was to ensure Harry would see her having a good time and flirting with others, but she didn't know if it was a ploy to win Harry back or make him jealous. She needed to talk to Ginny seriously later, maybe she didn't know she was hurting Harry more than simply making him pine for her.
Hermione wondered if Ginny cared.
Ginny was the fortunate beauty of the Weasleys. They were a poor family by wizarding standards and had nothing to truly offer in terms of recirculating money into the Wizarding Britain, but their status meant Ginny had a lot of suitors. Suitors who had all been at bay because Ginny was with Harry. Now that she was free, single, Hermione was exhausted from simply looking at the sheer amount of flirting Ginny was doing tonight.
And stupid Malfoy's blond hair shone like a beacon at the head of the room and Hermione's eyes found him more often than she would have liked. Hermione still could not find Harry.
When the bell tower rung seven times, the voices in the Great Hall died down to silence. Everyone's gazes faced to the head table and on the little platform where the teacher's table usually occupied had a lone podium and Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing proud and commanding.
"Good night everyone. It is my honour and pride to open the Prevalence Ball tonight, on the anniversary of the defeat of Voldemort. It has been four years since Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived fought and prevailed over a darkness that had threatened to overwhelm us all. Tonight, we honour those who have fallen, given their lives for our victory, and those who are lost to us forever." Kingsley allowed a moment of silence as he let his words sink in. "We shall begin with dinner, and then open the dancefloor at 8:30 pm. If everyone can stand close to the walls to make way for the tables, dinner will be served shortly. We give thanks to the house elves who have elected to stay at Hogwarts as free elves, to serve the place they know as their home. Thank you, and enjoy the night, everyone."
Applause broke out across the room and roared to the swirling galaxies above. Even the stars seemed to twinkle their approval. Hermione felt her palms slapping each other as she had absentmindedly joined in. The crowds sandwiched themselves to the walls and in the blink of an eye and with a theatrical gasp from Hermione's parents, the tables appeared. They were all fully decorated with tall white branches that shimmered and dripped with what looked like jewels. It reminded Hermione of a winter wedding.
The crowd filtered to the tables that had white chairs with white glossy ribbons tied in bows behind them and the sound of chairs scratching across the stone floors filled the room. Hermione sat between her parents, hoping they would act as a buffer and keep potential 'suitors' away. Her parents both stared down at the empty platters and their plates expectantly.
Their faces always reminded Hermione of the moment of anticipation before the fireworks popped into the night sky to reveal all their pretty colours and unexpected patterns. They loved seeing food materialise from thin air and were both amazed at the work of the house elves. Hermione's mother sometimes lamented that she couldn't hire one, because she would much rather spend her days hiking or binge watching television game shows. Hermione had since used magic to do house chores and was happy when her mother and father started going on picnics.
The Diagon Alley Library had seen her weekly as she borrowed more and more books about domestic tasks. She had learned to cook, though painfully boring to her, but it made her mother happy to see the pots and pans all stir themselves and the vegetables prep themselves.
They sat through five courses. By the time dessert was served and eaten, Hermione wondered how anyone wanted to dance at all. When Kingsley spoke to the room again, the tables were banished and music rose and swam through the room.
Hermione wished it were over.
There was an awkward hesitation amongst the crowd, no one sure what they should do or what the proceedings were, before Kingsley and Professor McGonagall stepped to the middle of the floor, held each other lightly and began to waltz around the room. When they had spun around the floor twice, Hermione saw Ginny get pulled to the dancefloor by a broadly grinning Zabini and he guided her delicately to the tune.
Hermione scanned the room once again and couldn't find Harry. He had surely eaten with the rest of them. Had he immediately left once the tables had been cleared?
She leaned close to her mother and explained that she was going to look for Harry, and broke away from them. She travelled the perimeter of the Great Hall and by the time she had given up the search of the room, she saw both her parents holding each other close on the dancefloor and smiling; it reminded Hermione of their wedding photos.
"Hello, Hermione." a dreamy voice greeted her. Hermione looked away from her parents and met Luna's pale, almost silver eyes as they reflected the stars and lights in the room. They were sparkling with an innocence that Hermione wished she had retained from the war, she was envious of Luna's mind sometimes.
"Hi, Luna." she greeted her.
"If you're looking for Harry, I think I saw him leave the Great Hall." Luna said. She was always so intuitive, Hermione thought.
"Was he with anyone?" Hermione asked. She mainly wanted to know in case she found him wrapped in someone's arms, snogging the thought of Ginny away. Luna smiled and her eyes drifted to the ceiling, the galaxies and twinkling stars reflected on their surface, giving the impression that tiny galaxies were trapped in them.
"No. I don't think so." Luna said.
"Thanks, Luna." Hermione said. She hesitated for a moment before she added, "I hope you're having some fun tonight."
"It's always very nice, to be with friends." Luna said with a dreamy smile. Her hands were cupped together and everything about her seemed to float effortlessly, like she hadn't trapped the stars, but they had trapped her. She belonged out there, free, weightless.
Hermione gazed at the ceiling with her for a minute before she sighed, hauled herself up and made her way to the open doors. Before she could reach the doors, she felt a hand grip her arm and pull her without reprieve. It was Molly, giggling with an almost empty glass of something fruity looking in her hands.
"Hermione! Have you seen Ron and Harry?" she asked merrily. Hermione drew back from her, annoyance pulling at her emotions because she knew Molly was trying to play the matchmaker again. She was always unabashed with her attempts to throw Ron at her when she had even a sip of alcohol.
"I'm going to look for Harry, and I haven't seen Ron." Hermione answered. She hoped it was firm enough, but Molly seemed bent on finding out who Hermione could possibly pair with.
"Have you seen Mr Malfoy?"
Hermione swivelled. When was Molly ever so accepting of the Malfoys to address even Draco with such a girlish delight and tone of gossip?
"Yes, I saw him earlier. What's it matter-?" and to her horror, Molly reached out and dragged the blond man into Hermione's view. Malfoy's face was as murderous as Hermione felt.