Part Two: Confirmation

"Does this dress make me look slutty?"

"Well the fact that your boobs are falling out of them…" Ginny Weasley trailed off. "Here, let me see if I can get them to... you know…"

"There is no more room for them in this dress!" Pansy stated shrilly. "We flaunt what we have, Weaslette. Okay…stop…hey…stop squeezing my boobs!"

Ron, who was sitting outside the tiny dressing room in the Muggle boutique, glanced at his best friend miserably. "My little sister is making it to second base with Pansy Parkinson, mate."

Harry crossed his leg over the other as he sat on the pink, girly girl ottoman and stared at the door of the dressing room, watching two pairs of legs in impossibly high stilettos shuffle in the tiny enclosure. A small smile lifted one corner of his mouth. "I know."

"She's your bloody girlfriend! And my sister!"

Harry was going to reiterate his previous statement but wisely kept quiet at the look of utter disdain on his friend's face. He figured Ron had suffered enough this week. Before he could speak, however, he was cut off by another familiar voice.

"Luna, have you seen my knickers?" Hermione Granger asked Ron's girlfriend from the dressing room located next to the one Pansy and Ginny occupied. She poked her head out, her hair tumbling past her shoulders and managed to smile brightly at her childhood friends. "Few more minutes, boys, I can't find my knickers."

Luna extended a hand from the cubicle nearby and passed a pair of lacey blue knickers to Hermione. "You left it in here, 'Mione."

"Thanks!"

The girls disappeared back into the dressing rooms before Harry or Ron could say anything else.

"Harry," Ron said slowly, his voice almost squeaking like it did when he came across a spider, "please, please do something. I swear I can't take this anymore. I can't keep up with these bloody women! Why did you agree to this torture? If I hear anymore of this…nonsense between my sister and your girlfriend and my girlfriend and my best friend and if I see another pair of knickers…!"

The poor sap was almost crying in frustration. He had been pretty sporting when Harry first mentioned a day of shopping with the girls. Well, as sporting as any red-blooded male could be at the idea of shopping with women. But when Harry had suggested that they tag along so they could ask Hermione to confirm the Big Bad News revealed to them a week ago, Ron had willingly agreed.

The redhead had been ready to storm Hermione's flat the minute they left Harry's but The Boy Who Lived calmed him down; accusing Hermione with something that could be false would only make her angry. If they asked her while they were in a group, the chances of her whipping out her wand and burning them into oblivion were slim.

It was a disconcerting thought that Harry Potter, the same wizard who killed the Dark Lord, relied on his girlfriend to protect him but it seemed only Pansy Parkinson could face Hermione Granger's wrath without peeing in her pants.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly from behind the door of her cubicle. "Girls, I saw this wonderful dress a few stores back. But I didn't think it was my style. Think we can pop in after we're done here? I'd like to take another look."

Ron was about to pop an artery so Harry quickly stood up and interjected, "Uh, ladies aren't you hungry? Shall we have lunch first? My treat."

"I'm famished," Ginny replied. "There's this wonderful steakhouse just down the corner. We can go look at your dress later, 'Mione."

"I'll probably change my mind about it again before then," the former Head Girl sighed. "But I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast."

"Settled then," Ron announced as he shot Harry a just-add-this-to-the-things-I-owe-you-list look. "You girls just hand us the stuff, Harry and I will go stand in line to pay."

The group left the boutique ten minutes later, Harry and Ron carrying all the shopping bags as the girls walked on ahead, giggling and carefree. After all, Gryffindor men were gentlemen to the core.

They settled inside the restaurant. The girls chatted happily about their purchases and the food and the ambiance (because women noticed ambiance) while Harry and Ron sent each other furtive glances as they waited for the food to come, neither knowing how to broach the subject.

"So, Harry," Ginny stated, sipping her water. "Did you guys have fun playing poker? Dean was awfully quiet about it. Couldn't get a word out of him. When I asked him how it went, he just muttered something about how I really didn't want to know."

"Uh…" Harry started before Luna cut him off.

"Yes," she stated. "What happened? Ronald was so angry when he came back. You never told me why that was, darling."

"Erm," Ron squirmed in his chair, and looked at Harry desperately, hitching his head in a universal sign of 'you tell them!' "Yes, well, you see…"

"You boys were pigs," Pansy stated before her boyfriend could say a word. Guiltily, Harry reached over to her plate to pick the tomatoes out of her salad. "You left the flat a mess. Weasley, you could have stayed and helped clean up."

Luna looked up admonishingly from her task of cutting up his steak into little pieces. "Ronald!"

"Sorry, was not feeling so good that night," Ron muttered, throwing Harry another glance. "I was having issues."

"I'll say," Hermione added, smiling sweetly, not completely unaware of why her childhood friend's were looking at her like she was going to hex them across the room. Something was up, she knew, but it was fun seeing them squirm.

"How can you people make such a mess when you're playing poker at a table?" Ginny wondered before biting into her hamburger.

"Oh, they didn't just play poker," Pansy informed them. "Apparently, there was a tussle of some sort. Adrian got blood on the carpet."

"Figures," Hermione snorted, shooting her best friends a pinched look. "I'm happy I don't live with boys."

This caused the girls to launch into a diatribe about how yucky boys were, in general.

Ron kicked Harry under the table, jerking him into action. "Uh, Hermione…speaking of that night, Ron and I had a…we were wondering…" he stopped to scratch the back of his head while the girls looked at him patiently, curiously. "It's just that we were sort of playing a game and it was bloody stupid and um, your name came up…"

"Yeah?" Hermione said, took a sip of her soda and shook her head and amused smile on her face. Oh, this was going to be a good one, she presumed. "I don't follow."

"Well, heh, you see," Harry started again as Pansy rolled her eyes. "Well, that night, we were talking about sex and -"

"Typical," Ginny stated.

"And?" Luna prompted, intrigued.

"Well, did you and…what I am trying to say is did you ever slee…um were you ever intimate -"

Fed up, Ron waved a spoon in her direction and burst out. "Did you fuck Draco Malfoy at the Graduation Ball?"

"RONALD!" Luna and Ginny screeched in unison.

Pansy burst out into hysterical fits of laughter.

Harry groaned and buried his face in his hands.

Ron stared at his ex-girlfriend, waiting, undeterred.

Hermione's opened and closed her mouth in a fair imitation of a fish.

Right. Well…of course. Well, she certainly hadn't expected that. As everything fell into place (the boys had been acting strange around her ever since that night) she curbed back the shock, the need to smack Ron for using such crude language and the bubbling fury that was directed to a certain silver-blonde…creature she ever had the displeasure of knowing (biblically and otherwise).

Then she closed her mouth, shook her head as if to clear it from thought and stared back at Ron levelly. Her voice wavered, but only slightly, as she answered, "Yes. I did."

Luna and Ginny gasped.

Harry was sure something cracked as his head whipped up to stare at Hermione.

Pansy wiped the tears from her eyes and clutched her sides.

And it was Ron's turn to sputter like he had gills.

There was a full minute of silence.

"But, 'Mione, he's an evil Sly-" Harry stopped as he saw Pansy pick up her knife and then finished, uselessly, "…Malfoy."

"He's a bloody fucking bastard is what he is!" Ron stated, finally finding his voice.

"Hey! He's your friend!" Ginny reminded him.

"No, he's dead to me now," Ron stated dramatically, curling his napkin into his fist as Luna shook her head. "Fucking…stupid… bleedin' arsehole!"

"Oh don't be such a drama queen!" Pansy piped in, crossing her legs. She had known for quite some time about Hermione and Draco's rendezvous and she was thrilled that it was finally in the open.

Telling Blaise about the look on Ron's face as Hermione confirmed what Draco must've shared with the boys, was something she was looking forward to.

"Shut up Parkinson!" Ron yelled.

"Hey!" Harry yelled back at his best mate. "Take that back!"

As everyone started talking at once, yelling, screaming, calming Ron down, asking her questions and generally making a ruckus, Hermione leaned back against her chair and pressed a hand to her temple, anger welling up inside of her like a volcano.

And she came to the startling realization, that no matter how much distance she put between her and the Smug Bastard, he would never stop causing trouble for her. And it was only fair she return the favor.

Oh, Draco Malfoy was going to rue the day he was born.