Summer Lovin'
By jessebelle
Author's Note: okay, I've gotten some positive feedback, so I'm updating again. So, thanks for your reviews. This story's in the early stages, so bare with me. Toodles.
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Chapter Four: Reunion Hugs
Their arrival was a bit of a blur. When they first arrived, even though she'd been fine before, Denise was a little shaken. Seeing this, Draco had picked her up. That's how he got stuck with the girls while Amy and Michael had brought everyone's things inside the house. Then he'd been thrown to the lions. Amy and Michael had led him to the backyard where the reunion was being held.
There were a lot of people, and according to Mike, most of the people weren't even there yet. He'd been introduced and shaken so many hands, he'd forgotten most of the names. Currently he was sitting with the girls and the other little kids. They were begging him for a story. He caved in when Denise gave him a small, "Please?"
"Once upon a time there was a handsome wizard named Dragon. Now Dragon was really rich and everybody loved him, at least those people that mattered. Dragon went to a special school to learn magic. At that school, there was a certain group that I'll call, Gryffindorks. Now the leader of the Gryffindorks was a boy named Harry Potty. He also had two sidekicks, Weasel and the bookworm. Now Potty was jealous of Dragon's good looks and his popularity. He-" As he talked the kids moved closer, really interested in what he said. They laughed when he made a joke and gasped when he said something surprising. Denise sat at his side and every time he said something shocking, she'd grab his arm. He couldn't help but smile.
Once and a while he'd look up to make sure none of the adults were saying anything, but soon he got just as entertained by the story as his young audience. That's how he missed her arrival.
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Hermione stood next to her aunt expectantly waiting for her to open the door to her room. In her arms she carried all of her things, and it was getting quite heavy. She was also curious about seeing her aunt's teenage sanctuary. Finally Jessie opened the door with a 'Home sweet home', and Hermione had to gasp.
The room was half construction sign orange, half hot pink, with yellow and blue accents. The room also had a celestial theme. Elephants were everywhere, which didn't really shock her. The room was fairly clean, and seemed to personify her aunt perfectly. There was a huge queen sized bed with a blue and purple tie-dyed comforter along the far wall.
"Yeah, shocking isn't it. I love this room. We'll share the bed and you can just drop your stuff anywhere. We'll organize it later."
Hermione did as she was told. "Done."
"Good, now let's go party!" Jessie dragged her along enthusiastically. Hermione gulped with a bit of nervousness. They went down the stairs, back to the front of the house, outside, and around to the back of the house. Finally they stopped at the door of the fence. It was clear that after this, there was no turning back for the party was in full force.
Her aunt stopped to fix her appearance. She noticed Hermione's nervousness out of the corner of her eye and smiled. "They don't bite you know." Hermione jumped and looked at her aunt. Jessie laughed. "Come on, let's get this party started!"
Once again Hermione was pulled, this time through the fence and into the loud, happy reunion. Relatives were everywhere, some that looked like her, a lot that didn't. There were tables set up with food and chairs scattered around the backyard, some occupied with people.
Their arrival was, at first met with no response, than an older lady caught sight of them. "My God, you've finally got here. Get your butts over here. Everyone, Jessica's here, along with my long lost granddaughter."
Jessie smiled at Hermione, and jogged over to the woman, Hermione nervously followed. "Hi mom. How is everyone? Joe, Sarah, Josh, oh Robby!"
There were a lot of hugs. Then as if noticing her for the first time, "Everyone, this is Hermione. Mione, I think you kinda know who everyone is. "
The next half hour Hermione was passed around to aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Each one exclaiming, "Oh, you must be Julie's girl!" It was exhausting. Halfway through she caught sight of the littler kids. They were all sitting under a tree, surrounding a blonde guy. From the back she had to say, he definitely looked good. Of course, Aunt Jessie had to catch her staring.
"Ahh, I see you got your eye on someone? Is there love in the air?"
Hermione blushed. "No! He just looked kind of attractive from the back, and he had all of the kids' attention."
Jessie chuckled. "Well, it's good I don't recognize him, it means that he's probably Amy and Mike's guest. So, you have a good chance with him. You'll have to meet him later."
Hermione just nodded, she didn't want to seen too attracted. She was glad he wasn't a cousin or something. "That's good." She was then rushed to meet more people. After another agonizing round of pass the British relative, she got to the end of the greetings. In front of her were a girl and a guy. Apparently they were distant cousins.
"Hi, I'm Amy and this is my husband and your cousin, Mike."
"Hi, I'm Julie's daughter." She'd taken to saying that since everyone thought it any way.
"Oh, you poor girl. I knew Julie a little bit when we were kids. It's awful what happened. I'm sorry we couldn't make it to the funeral."
Hermione nodded. "It's not a big deal, really. It's still hard, but I'm dealing with it."
The couple nodded. "Well, if you need any thing, let us know." After a few awkward second, Amy's eyes widened. "Oh, I forgot. We brought along someone, he's kind of like my step-nephew. " She used her hand to gesture for the boy to come over. He walked up behind them. They moved out of the way and both teens' eyes' widened.
Amy smiled. "I'd like you to meet-"
"MALFOY!!!!"
"GRANGER!!!"
Their yells caught attracted the attention of the rest of the people. But neither one noticed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Both were still yelling.
Amy's eyes widened in surprise. "So, I take it you know each other?" The teens didn't respond. Instead, they continued to yell.
"I asked first!"
"No, I did!"
"You have no right to be here!"
"Why Granger, apparently it's a free country." Draco smirked
Just as Hermione lost her temper and lunged to hit him, Jessie grabbed the back of her shirt. "I don't think so. There will be no physical violence, and I don't want to clean up any blood or have to drive either of you to the hospital. Plus, I don't think that beating him up will help any, you know better Hermione. Now, since everyone's watching, I suggest you guys settle your differences quietly and start getting alone. You two are stuck together. Now shake hands." Neither teens moved, but Draco's lip curled in disgust. Jessie's tone became sharp. "Fine, hug. NOW!"
Hearing her aunt's serious voice, Hermione looked up at her in shook. Surly she was kidding, right? Draco, too, came up with the same conclusion. However upon seeing the look on Jessie's face, they realized she meant business. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hug!"
Both teens awkwardly moved forward. They quickly patted each other on the back before jumping apart. Jessie wasn't satisfied. "Oh no, I don't mean a quick, barely touch each other hug, I mean a real hug. I'll keep time."
Hermione's mouth dropped open in shock, as did Draco's, but both teens moved toward each other. Reluctantly, they wrapped their arms around each other. Jessie smirked and waited for them to relax to start timing them.
Once they had both relaxed, Hermione realized with horror, that being in Malfoy's arms wasn't so bad. But upon making that discovery, her aunt announced they could let go.
Draco jumped back form her, and she put on a disgusted look. After using her eyes to communicate with her aunt, Hermione walked away from the situation. Draco walked back to the group of kids where he was liked. Noticing that everyone was still staring, Jessie took the initiative to restart the party. "Oh come on, you've seen worse, hell, you've probably done worse, go back to your business." As if her words were magic, everyone went back to what they had been doing before.
After a few seconds, Jessie took off in the same direction as Hermione. She found her niece sitting under a tree. "You're not mad at me, are you?"
Hermione looked p and shook her head. "Just a little bit. But I'm more concerned with why the fates hate me."
"What do you mean?" Jessie took a seat next to her.
"Well, I've told you about school, right?"
"Yeah, you told me what it was like. You mentioned your friends a lot."
"Yeah, remember me telling you about the Slytherin git who liked to call me mudblood?"
"He sounded interesting." At her niece's look, she rolled her eyes. "Fine, so he sounded like a little git."
"Precisely, well, that's him."
"What!?"
"Yeah, that's Draco Malfoy, the bane of my existence."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know or I wouldn't have-"
"It's fine. I just wish I knew why he was here, with my family."
"Why don't you ask him?" Hermione gave her another look. "Fine, don't. But you do realize that for at least a month, he'll likely be your only company. I also expect you to be polite. I know you've never really been here, but I know you must have heard about it. And if I'm correct, he's probably never been to a muggle home."
Hermione nodded. "No, he really doesn't seem the type."
"Yeah, well I expect you to help him out and get him adjusted."
Hermione looked disgusted and sighed. "Fine, but only if he asks for my help."
"Alright, that's all I ask. Now, why don't you rejoin the party? You must be hungry or something."
"No, not really."
Jessie nodded. "Fine, but try not to mope around too much. It's rather off putting." Getting up the older of the two patted Hermione's legs and set off for her next target, the boy who made her niece's life a living hell. He definitely had some explaining to do.