-THE REUNION - CLASS OF '98
CHAPTER 6: The Party
"Hermione?" Harry called out and she turned around slowly, feeling her emotions going out of control at the sight of one of her best friends. Only then she realized how much she missed him. He was like a brother to her and it was absurd that they had lost contact like that.
"Hello Harry," she said and saw the same confusing feelings in the green eyes staring back at her.
"Hello, you look great," he said looking at her amazed.
He looked taller, his hair seemed to be tamed and his glasses were new. He was wearing dark blue trousers, a crisp white linen shirt and dark blue robes. Hermione was so taken by the situation that she failed to notice a very pregnant Ginny standing right next to him, looking a little annoyed at their lack of attention. When Ginny sighed slightly, she looked back at her and smiled awkwardly. Ginny looked beautiful, her straight red hair fell around her shoulders neatly, contrasting to her white skin. She was wearing a pale blue maternity gown, tight and loose in the right places, accentuating the cleavage on her full breasts. Even pregnant she looked radiant and very sexy.
"Hello Ginny, you look lovely... how's your son?"
"Oh you know kids, take a lot of our time... he's spending the night with Mum, so we could come to the reunion," Ginny said looking curiously from Hermione to Neville. The question was lingering in her eyes and Hermione was glad their plan was having the desired effect.
"And when is this one due?" Hermione asked pointing at her round belly.
She noticed how the girl was a little reluctant to speak to her at first, but Hermione really wanted to put the past behind their backs. At least concerning Ginny and Harry.
"Next month, around the 15th," Ginny replied looking at Neville's attire, which by the way wasn't bad. He had become a handsome man, his baby fat was gone and he was very elegant in a grey shirt and charcoal loose trousers. His low self-esteem was what remained exactly the same. They momentarily locked eyes but he turned away.
Hermione nodded and noticed that Neville was stiff and awfully quiet. Also noticing it, Harry asked, "How's the shop, Neville, I hear you're doing very good."
"Oh, it's busy everyday, I can't complain," he said shortly and the statement was followed by awkward silence.
"Why don't we all go inside?" Hermione cut in and everybody quickly agreed.
The Great Hall was decorated with large ribbons in the colors of every house, lining the wall over the windows. At the spot where the head table was supposed to be, there was a stage where enchanted instruments played light music. Big silver letters floated above it, spelling the words "Class of '98".
The four long tables were gone too, replaced by round tables along the sides of the room, leaving the center for a dance floor. The floating candles were surrounded by floating silver stars, casting shinning reflexes all over the floor. A little desk had been placed at the entrance and a platinum blond witch stood near the desk, wearing a pink flowing dress with matching robes. Hermione had to control herself not to laugh at the brightness of the witch's hair.
"Hello Lavender, how wonderful to see you," she said, although her voice said quite the opposite.
Lavender looked at her with her mouth gaping, in obvious surprise and disappointment. Hermione knew well why she was surprised. Lavender looked her up in disdain and thinned her lips, reminding Hermione of McGonagall. The satisfaction of seeing Lavender's shocked face, gave her a boost of confidence.
"Oh it's a ... pleasure to see you too," Lavender said, shooting a curious look from Hermione to Neville. The same look Hermione saw in Ginny's eyes.
She handed them little name tags and everyone started to attach them to their clothes. Upon entering the room, they found that the tables had been arranged with names charmed to float over each seat. There were already several couples sitting and Hermione heard Harry gasp behind her as they found out that not only they were arranged to sit together, but there was already a couple sharing their table.
Neville tightened the grasp in her hand and almost whimpered. Hermione turned to him and whispered, "Neville get a grip, you're a grown man!"
"Yeah, you're right, I'm not a student anymore, I'm not a student..." he kept repeating.
They turned back and greeted the strange couple at the table, "Good evening Professor Snape... Luna."
"How are you Miss Granger," he looked at Neville nodding, then back at her and asked, "I hope it's still Miss Granger..."
Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but then stopped. Why did he 'hope' she was still Miss Granger? Before she could say anything, the others exchanged greetings with the couple.
Professor Snape, being a gentleman, stood up while Hermione and Ginny made to sit down and let their companions take off their robes, placing them on the back of their chair. That's when Hermione really took a good look at her former Professor. His hair was incredibly soft and shiny, it looked neat and clean, tied up in a ponytail. He also had left his robes hanging on his chair and was wearing just a dark green silk shirt and black trousers. The shirt was unbuttoned on the top, about three buttons, showing a glimpse of his pale skin. The trousers were tight and fit his slim figure perfectly. His sharp black eyes were vibrant and as invasive as she remembered, but there was something else in the look he was giving her, something she had only seen in that dream...
Neville pushed her down gently so she could take her seat. Everyone else had already taken their places except for her and Snape and of course Neville who was waiting to push her chair.
Embarrassed, she sat quickly and avoided gazing in Snape's direction. She looked around their table and wondered why they had been set up with Snape. It was expected that the trio was to be put in the same table, but... she looked at entrance where Lavender was welcoming the guests and then scanned the other tables. She saw Parvati and her husband Dean Thomas, as well as Seamus Finnegan, who was Lavender's current boyfriend. Tilting her head, she was able to see the names on the empty seats. Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown. Lavender had found a way to be close to Ron without raising too many suspicions.
Hermione shook her head and tried to engage in light conversation, trying to avoid the subject of Ron and everything else that happened in the past. When Harry asked if She and Neville were an item, she reached for Neville's hand and said, "Yes, we've been seeing each other for over a year now, isn't it hon' ?"
Neville seemed to be losing the ability to speak and remember what they had agreed. He was never a good liar and Hermione bit her lip squeezing his hand in reassurance. He tried to smile and said, "Yeah, over a year...."
She thought she saw Snape's eyebrow raise, as he said, "Fascinating."
She knew there was suspicion in his tone and was glad that Ginny changed the subject of the conversation. Ginny was the only one talking for the most part and Harry just kept quiet and uncomfortable. Probably the fact that Snape was at the table wasn't helping.
Luna, completely unaware of everything being said, kept gazing at the door as if waiting for someone and the huge butterfly on her head kept flapping its wings annoyingly. She hadn't changed a thing, not even her poor judgment for clothes. Were those real flowers?
She looked at all of them and felt compelled to laugh. It was a surreal group of people, nothing made much sense and sadly she and Neville made no sense either.
She was still avoiding Snape's eyes and she couldn't come up with a reason for being so uneasy. It was like she was afraid she wouldn't be able to control herself, as if he would know she was a fake and this whole 'dating Neville' thing was a farce. She could feel his eyes on her and was about to invent an excuse to leave the table when she was interrupted by another familiar voice.
"Ah, it's wonderful to see you all together here, isn't it Minerva?" Dumbledore said winking one blue eye, pausing his gaze on Snape and Hermione.
Hermione smiled, thankful for the interruption and stood up to greet McGonagall with a hug. It had been a long time since she last talked to her Head of House and she was truly happy to see both her and Dumbledore.
"You look stunning, Hermione," McGonagall said stepping back to take a good look at the girl.
"Thank you Professor." She smiled and soon everyone was talking about their professions, going from Harry's Wizarding sports' shop in Hogsmeade, to her work as an Auror.
The Great Hall was almost full and before Dumbledore excused himself and McGonagall to go greet the other guests, he added, "Oh, and I hope you enjoy the party, I even hired a waiter who will tend to you soon. We thought it would be a nice touch to have a real person wait on the guests, instead of house elves, that is."
As they left, Hermione's attention was caught by Lavender, who had used the 'Sonorus' charm, so her voice could be heard all over the room. She announced that dinner would be served soon and following, they would have a band playing for the dance. She finished by pointing at a large table on the far left of the room, "We will have also refreshments all night at the table right there."
The guests went back to their chattering and Hermione gazed at the door wondering when Ron was going to show up.
"I wonder why we need a waiter if we can get our own drinks and food can magically appear..." Harry said.
Snape smirked knowingly and Hermione felt there was something he knew. But she didn't need to think longer for the waiter was standing in front of them.
"We have a choice of chicken, beef or seafood. What will it be?" said the blond waiter holding a quill and a small writing pad.
"Draco?" Ginny asked unable to contain a smile forming in her slips.
Draco rolled his eyes and sighed. "If you don't mind, I have all these tables to wait all by myself."
"Hey be nicer or we'll cut down on your tip," Harry said with an amused grin.
Draco sneered at him. "Oh, sod off Potter!"
After taking all of their orders, he left quickly muttering something under his breath. Moments later the food appeared in front of everyone. Harry couldn't stop laughing and Hermione reprehended him, "Oh Harry, stop it, it must be really humiliating for him to serve us all. I wonder why he accepted it."
"He needs the money and couldn't lose a night's work, so Dumbledore offered him double of what he was making, so he could attend the reunion and work at the same time," Snape explained.
"Serves him right," Harry said coldly.
"I never liked Malfoy, but I can't help feeling sorry for him," Ginny said, taking a mouthful of mashed potato. "I heard he's working his way through college. He wasn't able to attend right after graduation, with his father in jail and everything."
"Oh well, at least it's honest work," said Hermione setting the napkin over her lap.
The conversation took another turn and went back to Ginny's baby again. Hermione was already tired of hearing about the wonderful things their son could do and how the new baby kicked so hard. Her gaze fell on Snape who seemed to share the same feelings for that conversation and looked utterly bored.
Luna who was quiet during the whole time, asked, "Do you have pictures?"
Everyone turned to her in confusion. She insisted, "Your son, do you have pictures?"
Harry opened his mouth to reply but Ginny cut him off yet again. She was doing that a lot lately and Harry seemed to never be able to talk much. It looked a lot like Arthur and Molly. Ginny was just as demanding as her mother.
"Oh, yes we do." Ginny took her purse excitedly and after a few seconds came up with a handful of pictures of a tiny toddler walking, crawling, waving and it went on in many different poses.
As the pictures passed slowly through the occupants of the table, Hermione noticed that their expressions went from bored to surprised, then to embarrassed or in Snape's case, to strangely amused. As she held the first picture, she understood their reaction. The cute little boy had extremely curly red hair, but he was a tad more... tanned than their parents. Nobody really wanted to say anything, but it was obvious what they were thinking.
Ginny promptly explained, "He took on a distant cousin... who's from Egypt."
"Ooohhh," everybody said in unison and started eating in silence.
If Harry thought the same as everyone else, he was doing a great job in hiding it.
The band started to play a slow song and soon people were dancing. Hermione saw Crabbe go to the dance floor with Pansy. She never thought Pansy would end up with Crabbe, but this was just one of the many surprising things throughout the evening.
There was a buzz of cameras flashing and everyone's heads were turning to the door. About four photographers and a few other reporters were gathered at the entrance, stepping back slowly, as they shot away. As they opened up the view, she could see Ron Weasley had arrived, accompanied by Fleur Delacour.
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A/N : Ok, so I know what you're thinking. Why haven' t I described Hermione's looks? Well, that's because it's going to be done through Snape's POV, which is next chapter. Also, there is a lot more to come in this party, this is just the beginning.
Many Thanks to: Lady lovewood, bxn110, momsangel, Penguin, angelusdream, Atiannala, RE16, Parody-of-an-Angel and whitedragon235 for your kind reviews ;)
