Holiday Ball
by bloomingfelton
Chapter 4: That Would Be Lovely
The night wore on as Hermione danced with many other men whose names mattered only for that dance and future reference. Hours passed and Hermione found herself dancing with a young man who she had coincidentally forgotten the name of and who kept droning on about his work in the ministry. At points, Hermione found herself nodding and agreeing at certain times when her input was needed. Halfway though the dance, Hermione spotted her brother-in-law, Draco Malfoy, approaching behind her partner. She smiled thankfully as he approached and tapped her partner on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, ah Landon Donovan, may I interrupt to have a dance with my sister-in-law?" Draco asked while grinning.
"Of course," Landon Donovan answered as he stepped aside and Hermione politely thanked him for the dance.
"Thank you!" Hermione said gratefully as soon as Landon was out of sight. "I was beginning to fall asleep."
Draco let out a chuckle. "As soon as I saw him ask you to dance, my wife and I both knew you were going to die of boredom. So here I am, your savior!"
"Your wife?" Hermione questioned as she looked at his left hand and, sure enough, saw a wedding band. "When did you get married?"
"Ah, I forgot I haven't seen you since last year's Holiday Ball. You do remember Ginny Weasley, correct?" Hermione thought for a second trying to remember Ginny then nodded.
Draco continued, "Well, I proposed shortly after New Year's and we had a very small wedding about a month ago."
"Why wasn't I told of this?" Hermione said smiling.
"Well you see," Draco started, "we've been sort of busy, if you catch my drift."
Hermione laughed. "Longer honeymoon than expected?"
Draco smirked. "Why don't I introduce you to the newest Malfoy?"
Hermione smiled as Draco led her to his wife standing out on the balcony with none other than Harry Potter.
"Ah, Potter," Draco announced to the two while approaching, "it seems you've met my wife."
Two heads turned at the voice and Hermione was immensely grateful that it was dark out on the balcony because as soon as Harry Potter spotted her, she felt herself turn bright red.
"Ah don't' worry, Draco, Harry and I were just talking," answered Ginny Malfoy.
Harry jokingly cut in. "About how to make murder to look like an accident. Do you have any ideas?"
Draco smiled at his wife but gave a stern look to Harry as Harry grinned back at him.
"Anyways," Draco began. "Ginny, I would like you to meet Hermione Granger, my sister-in-law. Why don't you girls do whatever you do best while Potter and I have a short friendly talk in the garden?"
"Of course," Ginny exclaimed, enthused by the idea. "Hermione, why don't we get something to drink."
Hermione nodded and was quickly led away without saying good-bye to both the boys, which disappointed her greatly.
After getting their drinks, the girls walked in silence until they reached the unoccupied balcony.
"So, Harry Potter," Ginny stated out of the blue.
The brunette whipped her head toward the red head, "Excuse me?"
"You like Harry Potter," continued Ginny in a slow Draco-like drawl. "It's pretty obvious.
"It is?" questioned Hermione. "Why? How?"
Ginny chuckled. "Let's see the first sign was that you couldn't take your eyes off of him a few minutes ago. But don't worry, it's nothing bad. I liked him when I was in about second year to sixth year and I was way more obvious than you. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that until my fifth year, when we started dating."
"You dated him? But, you married Draco."
"Well of course. We broke up at the end of my fifth, his sixth year, because of the war and I realized that I only loved him as a brother. That was about the times that I started to go out with Draco. So it worked out perfectly."
They continued to walk in silence and soon found themselves in the very spot that they had met with Draco and Harry. A light breeze blew and Hermione rubbed one of her arms to keep warm while thinking about what to say next.
"What about his other girlfriends? I never read found out anything about them and I didn't really trust the tabloids – all they tell is lies. Actually, it's not very good to read about people in the news, anyways, they - ."
Hermione was cut off by laughter and quietly admitted that she rambled when she was nervous.
Ginny chuckled, "Don't worry about. You have no ex-girlfriends to really worry about. There was me and before me there was Cho Chang, but I can hardly call Cho and ex-girlfriend since Harry was only her rebound for a very short time after the tri-wizarding tournament, when her long term boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, died.
"And you have almost nothing to worry about him not liking you. I can already tell he really likes you. Just watch out for the press – they can be brutal. And hopefully I a while I can welcome him to the – "
Ginny never got to finish her sentence because right then, Draco and Harry jogged up the stairs and approached the girls after placing a quick refreshing charm on themselves to clean themselves up.
"Quickly, inside," Draco said urgently to Ginny while offering his arm.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked a panting and out of breath Harry and Draco.
"We'll explain inside, quickly now," Draco answered.
Still breathing heavily, Harry offered Hermione his arm and took a few deep breaths while walking on to the dance floor right next to Draco and Ginny.
Ginny popped her head over just before they started dancing. "As I didn't finish before, Hermione, the word was 'family'."
Hermione blushed deep red as she remembered their conversation and Harry gave her a questioning look as she began her second dance with Harry Potter.
"What was that about?" Harry asked as they began to dance.
"Oh, nothing. Just something about our families," Hermione mentioned. Little white lies never hurt anyone. "What was the reason you pulled Ginny and I in here?"
"Ah, that. You see, we were walking in the garden having a 'friendly' chat as Draco likes to call it, and we saw Rita Skeeter and ran straight back."
"Rita – who?"
Harry groaned. "Rita Skeeter, she works for Witch Weekly and is the worst journalist ever. She tends to write up a bunch of lies about my family's and my life and the same with everyone else's. I tend to try to avoid her at all costs."
Hermione still had a confused look on her face. "So then why did you run in?"
"Well, if she saw Draco and I, alone, in the garden, away from Draco's own party, well, she might definitely get the wrong idea."
"Ahh," Hermione nodded. "So you get bad publicity all the time?"
"Normally only from her."
Before any of the two could say something else, a large flash light forced them to look away as they coughed from the smoke from the picture.
"So Harry Potter, your new girlfriend? I was told this was your second dance tonight. How long have you been going out? Wedding bells, maybe? Don't mind if I use a 'quick-quotes-quill', do you?" a sickly sweet voice automatically bombarded Harry and Hermione with questions.
"No comment," Harry said as he held Hermione's head close to his chest as once again, as they both were blinded by camera flashes for the second time that night.
Harry tried leading Hermione and himself out of the balcony again as they were still being bombarded with flashes and questions. As soon as Mr. Malfoy once again came to the rescue and forced Rita and her camera man out of the house, Harry and Hermione were alone on the balcony.
Hermione looked back to see Rita Skeeter questioning anyone that she passed while exiting the ball room. "Does that happen to you often?"
"Most of the time, which is normally why I tend to avoid very large events if I can." Harry looked out at the garden then back at Hermione who was still rubbing her arms to keep warm. Slowly, he took off his cape and fastened it around her shoulders as she muttered a quiet 'thank you'. Finally Harry broke the awkward silence, "Would you like to accompany me for a walk in the garden?"
Hermione looked at Harry still not believing that he actually had asked her that, then came to her senses. "Sure."
Harry offered his arm and Hermione took it as they began their walk in the garden. Friendly conversations about school and family seemed to go on forever as the night grew on. Hermione learned about Harry's hectic school life and frequent encounters with Voldemort as a child and Harry learned why Hermione was nicknamed 'the smartest witch' of their age.
Soon Harry and Hermione found themselves lost in the Malfoy's vast garden, but they didn't even realize it. Suddenly Hermione heard her name being called.
"Did you hear that?" she asked Harry. Harry quieted for a moment then heard the voice call both his and Hermione's name.
"I wonder who's looking for us. It can't be that late," Hermione stated as Harry looked at his watch.
"It's nearly midnight. We've been talking for about two hours." The voices called again and Harry recognized them as Draco and Ginny's.
"Oh gosh. The party must be ending." Hermione gathered her dress and started walking back the way they came, but Harry grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Wait," Harry said quickly. Hermione turned back and looked at him.
"Yes?"
"Well, I know you don't know me very well and the same goes for me knowing about you, but," Harry started rambling nervously.
"Yes?" Hermione questioned, hoping that he was going to ask what she though he was trying to say.
Harry paused and took a deep breath, "Well, I was wondering, maybe, could I see you again?"
Hermione smiled immensely while her insides were jumping for joy. Deciding to make a bold move, Hermione reached up and kissed him on the cheek, "That would be lovely."
Frozen leaves rustled as Draco and Ginny appeared.
"Ah, Harry, Hermione, there you two are. We were sent to find you. The Ball's ending and your family is getting ready to leave, Hermione. So if you would just come with me."
Hermione turned and started walking back with Ginny until she was once again stopped by Harry.
"Hermione, wait!"
Harry ran to catch up to her then as soon as he did, he reached out, grabbed her, and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate fashion. Hermione melted into the kiss.
Someone coughed behind them and Harry looked up to see a smirking and grinning Draco and Ginny Malfoy.
When Harry turned back to her, Hermione questioned him about giving back his cape.
"You keep it, love. I already have too many," Harry said in response.
Hermione gave him a quick peck on the lips before saying good-bye and turning back to return to the manor with Ginny.
Staring at her retreating back with Ginny, Draco approached Harry.
"You've got it bad, mate."
Harry just grinned.