Again, I'm sorry it took so long. Unfortunately, I am in an AP English class in which we get an essay a night. Literally. Kill me please? Also, I just discovered how to look at hits. I have like 700 something hits. And 20 something reviews. Geez people come on! Please be generous with your love! Also, thank you to everyone that put me on your favorite stories list. That makes me feel so special you don't even know!
Previously:
Madison wrote a short letter to the Headmaster notifying him that Hermione was fine and had arrived safely. The old coot knew the rest anyway. It was pesky really.
Hermione perched on a dresser in her walk-in closet watching her brother push gowns aside, muttering to himself. She was perfectly content to sit and let him do the work; her mind was still going crazy over everything that had happened. And on top of everything, she had to meet her arch nemesis and his family in a formal dinner that night. Not to mention "Uncle Severus." Oh joy.
She had been feeling a strong sense of foreboding ever since her mother had said she would be spending a lot of time with Malfoy. Thoughts were running through her head. Did Malfoy already know about her being a pureblood? How will he react if he doesn't?
Looking at her frustrated brother who was currently scowling at a pink silky dress and muttering something about "never letting you wear it out," she decided to find out so she at least had steady ground to stand on when the time came to meet Malfoy.
"Does Malfoy know about me, Blaise?" she asked, startling the dark haired boy out of his quiet rant.
He appraised her for a moment before answering. "He was there when mother owled me about you."
Hermione was nervous. "So that's a yes?"
"Yes." He had a carefully blank look on his face.
She didn't know whether to feel good or bad about that news. "Um…what did he say?"
"Well, I was kind of in a rush," he said looking at her pointedly, "So I showed him Mum's letter and said I had to go. He just said good luck."
A little bit of the elephant resting on Hermione's shoulders eased off. So he took it relatively well.
"Why do you care so much?" Blaise asked suspiciously.
"Well, uh, let's see here brother dearest," she answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "We've only been enemies since first year. Can you blame me for being a tad worried?"
"He'll get over it," Blaise said dismissively, waving a hand and returning to the dresses. "And if he doesn't, I'll make him."
Hermione sighed. There wasn't any use in worrying over it, since she was going to be meeting him formally one way or another. She watched as Blaise found the perfect gown for dinner. Smiling triumphantly, he held the dress in the air.
Looking pleased with himself, he deposited the hanger in Hermione's open hand and pushed her out the doorway into her bedroom. "I'll be in my room looking for something to wear as well. If you need me for something, come get me."
Hermione looked at the beautiful creation in her hand. All of a sudden this seemed too much. She had no experience with this sort of thing at all. She didn't know how to be pureblood. She had read things about pureblood customs and all she could pull to mind was that they were much stricter than normal wizard's regulations on the proper way to act. They had rules on everything from walking to eating to sitting to greeting people. All of which she would need to know by tonight. Not to mention she didn't have the least clue about grooming herself properly. The only pureblood family she had spent time around was the Weasley's, and they certainly didn't enforce any of those kinds of rules.
Overwhelmed, she tossed the gown on her bed and ran downstairs to the kitchen. She entered and saw her mother scribbling things on parchment and mumbling about flowers and place settings. The party, she thought.
"Mum," she said interrupting her mother's train of thought.
"Yes, darling?" Madison asked smiling at her daughter.
Hermione's nose scrunched up as she exclaimed, "I have no idea how to act or how to do anything the way a pureblood should! I can't meet the Malfoy's or Snape tonight!" She sat down with a humph on a stool facing her mother.
"Don't be silly, of course you can," Madison said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's only the Malfoy's and your godfather. They don't care whether or not you can behave properly. They're practically your family!" Madison chanced a glance at her daughter's face. Hermione's face had gone from angry to downtrodden.
"I can't look like I don't know what I'm doing, Mum, especially not in front of Malfoy," she said quietly.
Madison stood there across the counter watching her daughter. There was still so much to learn about her. From Hermione's previous statement, she could infer that she was intelligent and possibly in competition with Draco. Madison was aware Draco was very bright and in the top of his class; Merlin knows Narcissa had bragged enough. She also seemed to recall there was only one person ahead of him.
"What are you ranked in your class?" Madison asked Hermione suddenly.
Hermione blinked. That had come out of nowhere. "First," she replied and couldn't help feeling a little proud at being able to tell her new mother something impressive.
Madison beamed at Hermione. "So you're the one ahead of Draco?"
Hermione smirked, "That would be me."
Her mother actually bounced up and down where she stood. "Oh wait until I tell 'Cissy that my baby is the one ahead of her darling." Off of Hermione's look she continued, "Well, not that I don't love them to death, but it's not as if Blaise has given me much to brag about and I've been bombarded with stories of Draco's magnificent intellect ever since he was enrolled at Hogwarts."
Hermione laughed. It felt good to have her mother so proud of her. She also now had something to bug Blaise about: his grades. Ah, the beauties of sibling competition.
Remembering the situation at hand, Hermione's smile faded. Madison noticed and sighed. "If you really feel that strongly about it, I can teach you the basics right now."
Hermione's face lit up in a smile. "Will you?"
"Yes, yes of course. I can't have my little girl be shown up by the all mighty Draco, can I?"
"No," Hermione agreed and jumped to her feet. "Can we start now?"
Madison looked at Hermione's excited face. She looked as if it was Christmas morning. This is what I've been missing. "Of course we can. After all, we only have seven hours until everyone arrives," she said, amused.
OOO
Don't drop it, don't drop it, don't drop it, Hermione chanted in her mind. The heavy weight of the book on top of her head made her unable to glance down at the steps to see where she was going. This is an accident waiting to happen.
"Come on, just a few more steps to go," he mother said encouragingly from the bottom.
"A few?" Hermione replied, "I'm at the top!"
"Anything under thirty is a few, darling."
She focused on a spot on the wall and tried to measure her steps without losing balance of the book or herself.
"Don't forget, one foot directly in front of the other," her mother said.
She was so concentrated that she didn't notice the sound of the fireplace whooshing as someone flooed in.
"There you go, that's the way," Pierrick's loud voice startled her and made her trip over the stair she was on, sending her flying the remaining eight stairs.
Hermione screamed as the book went flying off her head and she went crashing headfirst into her father. He grabbed her before she could slip to the floor and placed her on her feet.
"Don't worry, bun, I have trouble with stairs, as well," he said with a smirk on his face. "Luckily I don't have to look pretty while I descend them."
He walked towards the kitchen door while throwing over his shoulder, "It just happens naturally."
Madison rolled her eyes at her husband. "Yes, darling, you're the most beautiful at all the parties we go to. The women all envy you."
"Damn right!" could be heard from inside the kitchen.
Laughing, Hermione approached her mother.
"Okay, so you have the walk down perfectly," Madison started, ticking off fingers. "You pretty much have the stairs. We'll just hope that no one will be yelling at you while you're coming down." Hermione nodded her head. "Now to work on your greetings," Madison got a severe look on her face. "There will be no more of this 'Malfoy' business. We never address people by their surname. His name is Draco, and you will call him by it."
"He always calls me Granger. And Harry and Ron are Potter and Weasley," Hermione complained.
"He won't tonight. Schools do not impose pureblood traditions, but parents do. He will address you as Hermione." Madison got a thoughtful look on her face. "Perhaps he only addressed you by your surname because he thought you were a muggleborn."
"So?" Hermione demanded angrily. "That doesn't make it any better."
"No, but did you not say that you two weren't on the best of terms?"
"We hate each other."
"Well, there you go."
Hermione was silent. What just happened? Before she could even think of the logic behind what her mother was saying, Madison was dragging her up the stairs rambling, "The rest isn't important, just sit up straight, look people in the eye when you talk, kiss on both cheeks when greeting women, offer a hand with men, all customary things. I'm sure you can figure it out. We'll go into specifics when we have more time."
Once upstairs, Madison directed Hermione into the master bedroom and onto the seat of her vanity. Madison looked at her daughter in the reflection while twirling strands of Hermione's hair around her fingers.
"Okay, where to start, where to start?" she muttered to herself. Nodding to herself, she grabbed a bright pink bottle of something off the vanity and started massaging it through Hermione's hair. Pulling through the curls with her fingers, Madison hummed to herself. Hermione found that she liked her mother's voice.
When Madison was done, Hermione's former mass of curls had been tamed down to loose curls spiraling down her back. Watching her mother's reflection in the mirror, Hermione noticed that their hair looked exactly the same. She smiled to herself. At least she wasn't the only one who needed a little help from a bottle to tame her hair.
Smiling at her creation, Madison began to apply makeup to Hermione's face. Soon she had a smoother complexion, fuller lips and her hazel green eyes seemed to stand out more. My mom works magic even without a wand, she thought.
She grinned at her reflection and then up at her mother's face in the mirror. "Thank you so much. I've never looked like this in my life."
"I'll show you how to do it so you can keep up appearances at school. You have a reputation to uphold now." All of a sudden, Madison gasped.
Hermione felt her wrist being wrenched up to her mother's eyelevel. She struggled to get her head up enough to see what her mother was gasping about.
"I can't believe I didn't notice these earlier!"
"What?" Hermione demanded.
"Your cuticles are terrible! When was the last time you got a manicure?" Her mother asked, looking intently at her face.
Hermione gaped. All this over her cuticles? "Uh…last summer with my mum."
Her mother looked as if her daughter had just announced her engagement to Voldemort. Hurriedly, Madison looked at her watch and started ushering Hermione out the door to the stairs. Finally, Hermione was placed in front of the fireplace after almost falling to her death on the stairs…twice.
Pressing a few galleons into Hermione's hand, she grabbed a handful of floo powder and tossed it into the flames, which roared up green. "Hold on a moment," Madison demanded before running to the kitchen. She returned holding a piece of parchment in her hand, which she also handed to Hermione. "When you get there, ask for Edelle and give her this note."
Before she knew it, Hermione was being pushed into the flames. She vaguely heard her mum yell "Magic Wonders Salon!" behind her before being sent off.
She stumbled into a wonderful-smelling salon filled with more hair products than she had seen in her entire life. There were ten stations with women and a few men getting their hair cut, colored, and styled by fashionable looking ladies. Scanning the salon, she found the front desk and approached the blonde haired receptionist who was busy on the phone.
"Hi, this is Mandy from Magic Wonders Salon, is Diana there? No? Okay, well can you please take a message? Just tell her that we called to confirm her three o'clock appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Yes, you too. Bye." The girl glanced up with a bright smile on her face. "Hi, may I help you?"
Hermione was taken aback. Who could be that cheerful all the time? Placing a polite smile on her face as well, she replied, "I'm here to see Edelle."
"Alright, go back and to the left," she said and picked up the phone to continue calling.
Walking to the back, Hermione put the galleons in her pocket. Finally, she arrived at a desk where a woman with brown hair in a complicated looking up-do was sitting, reading a magazine. She glanced up when Hermione approached her and set the magazine down on the desk. "Can I help you, dearie?" the woman inquired kindly.
"I'm here to see Edelle," Hermione replied.
"That's me. Are you here for a manicure? Pedicure? Both?" Edelle asked smiling up at her.
Hermione handed her the note. After a minute of scanning it, Edelle looked at her watch much like Madison had before hurriedly jamming a pair of black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose.
"Sit down, sit down, honey. We don't have much time," she said quickly and motioning to the chair across from her.
Sitting down, Hermione began to wish she had read the note her mother had written. Glancing up at a clock on the wall, Hermione realized why everyone was in such a hurry. She only had two hours to get her nails done and get back home to get dressed before the Malfoy's and Snape arrived.
Hermione sat back and let Edelle fix her terrible cuticles while her mind wandered to more important matters: how she was going to survive dinner.
Many scenarios passed through her mind from running away, (unlikely), to ignoring Malfoy—no—Draco completely, (very likely). Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that when Edelle shook her arm, she jumped in her seat.
"I said, you're done, honey. Now run home quickly. You don't want to be late to show off those beautiful nails, do you?"
Startled, Hermione looked at the clock again. Forty-five minutes had passed already. She held her hands in front of her. Gorgeous, French tipped fake nails stared back at her. That's more than cuticles, she thought. Hurriedly, she reached for her pocket…only to find she couldn't get her hand in. Her fingers felt so awkward and abnormally long trying to retrieve the coins. Finally, she managed to get a thumb and a forefinger in to pull out the money.
After placing the coins on the table between them, Hermione thanked Edelle and practically ran back to the fireplace. "Zabini Manor!" she shouted before stepping into the flames and appearing back in the living room.
The atmosphere was different this time; it was dark outside, so lamps were on, casting the ornately decorated room in a golden glow, making it appear even more expensive looking.
"Mum, I'm home!" she called out, her voice echoing in the large room.
"I'm upstairs!" she heard called back. "Hurry and get your dress on!"
Rushing up the stairs, Hermione arrived in her bedroom and hurriedly flicked the light switch on the wall, illuminating the room. She walked to her bedside and gazed at the beautiful dress thrown haphazardly across the smooth comforter. It was a light golden champagne color made of sleek satin which glimmered in the bright lighting.
Snapping herself out of the stupor the dress had put her in, Hermione reached for the hem of her shirt and yanked it over her head, mussing her curls. Suddenly she looked at the dress straps. They were skinny. Hermione grabbed her wand off her dresser and transfigured the bra she was wearing into a strapless so that she wouldn't look tacky wearing the dress. Next she reached for her jeans button only to find that her new set of nails were making it very difficult to undo said button. I really need to get used to these things, she thought to herself, struggling desperately with the button.
Finally, in an act of desperation, Hermione threw open her bedroom door and ran down the hallway, bra and all, yelling "MUM!" at the top of her lungs, "I NEED HELP!"
Her mother opened her door and promptly elapsed into a laughing fit at the sight of her daughter running down the hall wearing jeans and a bra. "With these stupid nails I can't get my button undone on my jeans!"
"You're going to have to learn soon, honey, we can't have you running down hallways half naked with company over, can we?" Madison replied, amused. Quickly, she reached down and popped open the button. "Hurry now, will you? Can't have the Malfoy's showing up early and having Draco get an eyeful."
Hermione's eyes widened and she spun towards the banister where she could see the fireplace downstairs. No Malfoy's yet. She sprinted back down the hall towards her room with a yelled "Thanks Mum!" over her shoulder.
Madison rolled her eyes good-naturedly and closed her door again. "What was that about?" Pierrick asked from the bed where he was yanking on socks.
"Nail trouble," she replied, returning to her vanity.
"Ah," he said knowingly, "As I recall, you had a bit of that, as well." He smirked. "I helped you out pretty well, didn't I?"
"Shut up, Pierrick."
OOO
Back in her room, Hermione had managed to get her dress on with no further problems. She was now seated at her own vanity applying some a light eyeshadow to her lids and a pale pink gloss to her lips. She had managed to keep her curls intact from when her mother had done them, so she used a gold bobby pin she had found in one of her drawers to pin some hair back from her face.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She was still herself, but somehow different. It seemed that since that morning she had grown older. She smiled reassuringly at her reflection and retreated to her closet to look for shoes.
While Hermione was staring at her "shoe wall" as she had come to call it, since it was a wall comprised only of shelves and somewhere around eighty pairs of shoes, Blaise came up behind her quietly.
"Need help?" he asked.
Hermione jumped. "Do you have to sneak up behind me like that, Blaise?"
He smirked. "Yes." Blaise turned her around to fully face him and held her at an arm's length to inspect her. "Very nice. If I wasn't scared for my masculinity, I would consider being a personal shopper."
"Well then, do me a favor and pick me out some shoes, and I'll think about keeping my mouth shut about your questionable sexual preference," she replied.
Blaise scowled at his sister and approached the daunting wall. After a moment of quiet searching, he turned around with a pair of strappy golden heels.
Hermione looked at the offending shoes with a somewhat scared expression. "Could I maybe put these on after I get down the stairs?"
She watched in horror as her brother shook his head in the negative and deposited the heels at her feet. "Good luck," he said before turning around to leave. When he reached the doorway he turned around almost as an afterthought and said, "Maybe next time you'll think before you question my manliness." He smirked and continued out the door.
Defeated, Hermione slipped her feet into the shoes and practiced walking in them.
OOO
"How do you think tonight will go?" Pierrick asked Madison glancing at the clock, "They should be here in a few minutes."
"I hope Draco and Hermione will get along. They apparently are rivals at school, and you know how Draco is towards muggleborns, sometimes," Madison replied. "It doesn't help that Hermione is first in her class and Draco is right behind her."
Pierrick looked proud. "Well that's a good thing. At least we didn't pair her up with someone that turned out as dumb as Gregory or Vincent." Then, "Or as ugly."
"Yes, Draco is very handsome, but he needs to grow up a little. I have no doubt that he will turn out to be a wonderful man, but his petty prejudices, however meaningless, are not something he needs to cling to right now," Madison replied worriedly. She had loved Draco like he was her own since he was a baby, but he was going to make it more difficult with himself and Hermione if he kept it up. Even though she was a pureblood, Hermione had grown up "muggleborn" and knew what it was like to be treated as such. She would not respond kindly to anymore of Draco's taunts towards any of her friends or other muggleborns.
"He'll outgrow them, I feel sure. Who knows, maybe Hermione will help him step out of them sooner rather than later," Pierrick replied, always the optimist.
"If tonight goes wrong, do you realize how hard it will be to break the news to Hermione? Not to mention how impossible for Narcissa and Lucius to tell Draco." She sighed. "Let's just hope that tonight goes as planned. They need to get used to being around each other. Otherwise, I'm sure the future is going to be a bloody one."
Pierrick smirked. "Yeah, for Draco."
A muffled whoosh from downstairs signaled the fireplace. "They're here," Madison replied with a sharp inhale.
Pierrick took her hand and let her to the door. "Here's to hoping."
OOO
Hermione was walking around innocently in her room trying to perfect her walk when she heard it: the footsteps down the stairs and the muffled sound of voices…more voices than just her mother and father.
Oh my god, she thought. The time had finally come. Hermione took a huge breath and let it out. Well, that didn't help.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blaise come through the bathroom door into her room, but she didn't turn her head. "I can't do this," she said.
Her twin approached her and stood in her line of vision. Setting a reassuring hand on her shoulder he said, "You'll be fine." He offered her his arm.
Hermione ran a hand down her face, defeated. Come on, Hermione, you've faced countless dangers at Harry's side and you're going to wimp out when all you have to do is face Malfoy?
She placed a determined look on her face and linked her arm through her brother's, but inside she wanted to cry. She wanted to jump out the window regardless of her gorgeous dress and run away to Merlin knows where. She wanted to do something, anything, but stay there.
Hermione began to pull her arm back out from Blaise's but discovered she couldn't. She tried again. Nothing. Looking up at her brother, she found him looking at her with a set expression on his face. She finally noticed the pressure on her arm. Her darling twin had her arm locked in a death grip. There was no way she was escaping. "Shared feelings, remember?" he said. Then somewhat disappointedly, "You're stronger than this."
Hermione looked back down at her arm and decided to just accept it. This was going to have to happen sooner or later. Straightening her posture and adjusting her hair with her free hand, she decided that if she was going to do this she was going to do it right. I'm a pureblood, she said to herself, I'm the same as Malfoy…er…Draco.
As her brother led her to the door, Hermione absently noted the lack of pressure on her arm.
OOO
"Cissy!" Madison exclaimed once Pierrick and herself had reached the downstairs. She removed her hand from her husband's and enfolded the other woman in a hug. The blonde woman grinned and hugged her back enthusiastically.
"It's been so long, darling!" Narcissa replied.
"It's been a week," Came Lucius' mumbled comment. Pierrick laughed and shook the taller man's hand.
"Oh Lucius, how have you been, well I hope? May I interest you in some tea while we gossip about the new season's lingerie?" Pierrick asked Lucius mimicking his wife's voice.
"Oh Pierrick, I thought you'd never ask!" Lucius replied.
Madison rolled her eyes and approached the youngest Malfoy, who still stood a good half a foot above her. Draco had a similar look on his face and embraced the woman with a smile. Madison asked, "And how have you been, sweetie? Enjoying your vacation, I hope?"
"Yes, thank you. I've been pretty busy with summer work and I'm still waiting to hear from Dumbledore about the Head Boy position," he said. His voice had dropped yet another octave since she had talked with him last.
"Oh Draco, you're growing up so fast! I can't believe you're already seventeen! I remember when you were just a little blonde toddler running around this house breaking family heirlooms and wreaking havoc," Madison teased.
"I never broke any family heirlooms!" Draco replied defensively, "You said it was a present from your mother in law and you didn't care anyway."
"Hey!" Came Pierrick's indignant yell from across the room.
"Did you have to say it so loud?" Madison muttered in Draco's ear and gave him a light push.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard at the top of the stairs and the families turned towards the staircase.
Hermione and Blaise descended the stairs slowly, so Hermione wouldn't trip and embarrass herself. It took all of Hermione's willpower to keep walking the downward spiral to the floor level.
Draco tried to discreetly get a good look at Granger but Blaise was walking on the outside of the stairs, obscuring his view. He caught flashes of brunette and gold every once in a while until they reached the bottom. His breathe caught slightly. There was no way that was Granger. The gold dress draped her body closely all the way to her feet, where the tips of her feet poked out from under the garment. Her hair was actually under control, and were those new nails?
She's gorgeous, he thought. Then, mentally slapping himself, Wait. This is Granger. She's horrendous.
Suddenly, he found his mother beside him, gently nudging his shoulder with a small smile. Ugh, his mother always managed to read his mind.
Narcissa stepped towards Hermione with open arms. "Oh, darling, you're beautiful. It's been so long since I've seen you, and you've grown up so well."
Hermione was taken aback slightly. Narcissa was striking, with her blonde hair in an elegant up do and her piercing blue eyes identical to her son's. She was dressed in a light blue dress, which accentuated said eyes and made her pale skin seem somehow flawless. And she was nice. This couldn't possibly be Malfoy's mother.
Glancing at her mother who was standing next to her mortal enemy, she received a nod of approval. She stepped forward and let this woman hug her like a daughter. Maybe I was like one to her once. She had a sudden urge to cry and clung to Narcissa tighter. When they pulled back from each other, Lucius was standing next to his wife, looking expectantly at Hermione, eyebrow raised and smile on his face.
Oh. My. God. There is no way this is happening. But it was. "It's been a while, kid," he said. Now, although Hermione was fully aware that he wasn't really a death eater, her past confrontations with this man had not been of the good. Ever. But that way he was looking at her was the same way Narcissa had just been looking at her and she couldn't help but smile.
Lucius wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head, just like her own father had done just hours earlier. "We all missed you very much." Then quieter, he added, "Especially Draco. I don't think either of you remember very much, but you used to be very close."
Pulling back, Lucius turned to look at his son. Hermione studied his face, but found it unreadable. He was looking back at her with those stormy blue eyes and she shivered involuntarily. She could have sworn she saw a glimmer of amusement pass through his eyes at the act, but it was gone so fast, she couldn't be sure.
He approached her and for a moment Hermione was terrified. Was he going to hug her? Hex her? Either one sounded equally appalling at the moment.
Still staring into his eyes, Hermione surprisingly found her hand being lifted from her side gently. She watched as her own hand came into her line of vision. Malfoy lifted her hand delicately to his mouth and brushed his lips against the smooth surface. "Hermione," he said, as a way of greeting.
A surge of electricity ran down her spine at the contact and the way her name came rolling off his tongue so elegantly. He had never said her first name before. She lost some excitement as she realized her mother was right; of course he wouldn't call her 'Granger' or 'Zabini' in front of their parents. He was only calling her by her first name because he would get in trouble if he didn't, not because he wanted to. All of a sudden, she wished he had hugged her.
Looking away from her face, Draco dropped her hand and stepped backwards. Forget it, Draco.
The whoosh of the fireplace broke a potentially awkward silence and the occupants of the room turned around to the green flames.
A dark head appeared out of the fire followed by a black-clad body. Hermione noticed the familiar hooked nose and tell-tale grease and felt her stomach drop. Uncle Severus had arrived.
Her miserable potions professor looked up and his eyes immediately met hers from across the room. The ticked muscle in his jaw was no cover for the surprise in his eyes. Snape inched forward slowly, staring intently at Hermione.
This was too much shock for one day. She didn't have any more energy left to be scared or confused or any of the other emotions that wanted to run through her head. Hermione just stood there and let Snape decide what he was going to do, because she was tired of trying to be the bigger person.
Before she knew it, Hermione was enfolded in yet another hug, but by one of the least likely people.
"I can't believe it was you all this time," he said quietly. Hermione's arms were frozen at her sides. She knew it was rude to not hug Snape back, but this was the biggest shock of all. The greasy man who had made her potions class a living hell since first year was now embracing her. Snape noticed and stepped back. "Things will be different from now on. I promise," he said with a small smile.
Hermione managed to smile back at him. "Thank you, Professor," she said politely.
"Please, call me Uncle Severus, after all I am your godfather," Snape said.
"Okay, Uncle Severus," Hermione responded. Merlin that felt strange.
"Well," said Madison loudly, "I for one am starved. Shall we eat?"
Murmurs of agreement followed and the hostess led her guests and family through a door Hermione hadn't noticed before to the left of the staircase. Uncle Severus was behind her mother and father chatting with Narcissa and Lucius, while Draco and Blaise followed behind her.
Hermione tried to ignore the blonde boy's presence and struggled to stay as close to Narcissa as she could without being obvious. The others went through the door and as Hermione reached to hold it open for herself, a pale hand reached out and grabbed the knob right where she had been about to.
Hermione looked to the owner of the hand and saw Draco watching her expectantly. "Uh…thank you, Draco," she said shakily.
"You're welcome," he said with a small nod.
She missed the glare Blaise sent the boy and the whispered, "Watch it, or we'll have a repeat of what I did to you the time you turned my dog pink," and the response, "I'm just being courteous. Would you rather I slam it on her foot?"
Hermione stepped into a well lit room with gold wallpaper and a large sparkling chandelier. A long table was set in the middle of the room with elaborate place settings and white plates with gold trim. Shining crystal glasses stood carefully placed above the white place mats. Not to mention the silverware was actual silver.
She stepped forward to one of the seats and noticed a small silver name card placed next to the glass. It read Hermione, in elegant, flowing script. Glancing at the setting on the right she saw the small Blaise inscribed on the card. Slowly, Hermione turned her head to the left to inspect the card there. Draco. Great.
She looked up to see if she was allowed to sit yet and noticed her mother already seated and her father standing behind his chair with his hands resting on the top. Narcissa was being seated by Lucius, with Severus in the same position as her father.
"Excuse me," came a deep voice from her left. The same pale hand she had been seeing a lot of lately was now resting on the top of the chair she was supposed to be seated in. She stepped back as Draco pulled out her chair for her. She carefully adjusted her dress so it wouldn't wrinkle when she sat down and felt the chair being pushed gently against the back of her knees. Once she was seated, the men took their seats at the table, and food appeared down the center of the table much as it did in Hogwarts.
Hermione knew for a fact her mother had not made all this food. House elves, she thought, well, maybe they're not oppressed. Hermione made a mental note to ask her mother about that later.
She watched her wine glass fill half way with red wine by itself. After everyone had served themselves and the parents, plus Uncle Severus, were in happy conversation, Hermione caught herself watching how tapered and graceful Draco's hands were when he ate and especially when he picked up his wine glass.
Suddenly, Hermione felt a sharp pain in her right leg. She swiveled her head around to glare at her brother. "What?" she whispered.
"Do try not to stare, please. Especially in front of me," Blaise replied even quieter than she.
"I was n—," she began but was cut off by her brother's fork jabbing her leg again. "Fine. So I was," she said with a roll of her eyes. This twin thing really had drawbacks.
Throughout the course of the dinner, Hermione was bombarded with stories of her childhood self. She learned that she had been given up for adoption on her third and a half birthday, and that apparently she, Blaise, and Draco had been best friends.
After the majority of the stories were over, Blaise asked for the three of them to be excused. "Yes, yes darling. You three run along," Madison said before returning to some story about Hermione running around in only pink ruffled underwear at her second birthday.
"Thank you," Hermione said to Blaise when they left the room. "I don't even remember that and I've never been more embarrassed in my life."
"I beg to differ," Malfoy said with a smirk on his face as the trio ascended the stairs.
"Shut up, ferret," she retorted.
"Hermione," Blaise said sharply with a glance in her direction.
At the top of the stairs, Hermione entered her bedroom while Blaise and Draco went into her brother's room. Once inside she locked the door and kicked off her shoes. She walked a few circles around her room getting used to walking on flat ground again. Carefully, she peeled off her dress and slipped some jeans on followed by small blue t-shirt. She made her way to the bathroom and opened the door.
The sight that greeted her was Draco clad only in jeans with his hair mussed from the dress shirt he had just taken off. A toned stomach and biceps were what Hermione found herself staring at. "Oh my god," she said, realizing what she was seeing, and slammed the door running back to her bed. "That did not just happen. I'm never leaving this room ever again."
A light knock came on her bathroom door before Draco strolled in, this time covered by a black collared shirt.
"I'm so sor—," she started, but was cut off my Draco.
"No, it's my fault. I've just been so used to not needing to lock that door that I forgot," he said.
His hair was still sticking up in places, and the black shirt made his skin seem tanner and his eyes brighter. Hermione thought he looked adorable.
"Look," he continued, "I wanted to talk to you about some things."
"Um…okay," Hermione replied. This was crazy. Malfoy was in her room talking to her civilly. To be honest, it was the Malfoy in her room part of that equation that was scaring her the most.
"I figured we could call a truce."
Hermione was slightly taken aback. "Oh, so you're just expecting me to forget everything that you've put me, Harry, and Ron through these past six years?"
Malfoy grimaced at the mention of Harry and Ron but continued. "No, well I mean yes, but…" he sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair agitatedly. "You're making this difficult."
"I have a right to make it difficult Malfoy," she said putting a harsh emphasis on his surname. "After all, it was you who called me Mudblood and tortured me more than anyone in my life almost on a daily basis."
"And I'm SORRY," he said loudly, interrupting her. Hermione was silent. "Okay? I'm sorry. If I had known you were…who you are I wouldn't have done that at all."
"It doesn't matter! It's not right to treat ANYONE like that. You made me cry so many times you can't possibly know, and now you're just expecting me to forget it all?" Hermione realized what she had said and cursed under her breath. She had not just told her mortal enemy that he had actually hurt her.
Draco's face was sad. "No, but I want you to try and learn to forgive me." At her disbelieving look, he continued, "We're going to be around each other so unbelievably often, Hermione, you know that. I'm sorry that I treated you like I did, but fighting with each other now isn't going to make anything easier on us or our families. Especially Blaise."
Hermione looked down at the mention of her brother. He had been on edge all night because of them already. How would it be every day for the rest of the summer? It didn't take her nearly as long as she would have liked to think it over. She didn't have the strength to make him wait and sweat it out. "Fine," she said with a sigh. Suddenly a cool hand was lifting her chin up. She looked into Draco's blue eyes and found them slightly warmer than before.
"I really am sorry. I missed you so much when you went away," he said and Hermione thought she saw his eyes get a little glassier. Suddenly she was wrapped in a warm hug by her ex-worst enemy. She flung her arms around his toned waist and breathed in his scent. His musky smell mixed with cologne reminded her of something she couldn't grasp. He smelled somewhat woodsy and Hermione abruptly remembered a blonde boy with bright blue eyes running ahead of her and laughing. They were racing through some overgrown trees in his backyard, but it was more of a forest to their small bodies. The boy's smile was bright and wide, and it occurred to Hermione that she had never seen Draco smile at Hogwarts.
When did he stop? She thought. Pulling back from the now familiar scent, Hermione felt wetness on her cheeks.
"It will be different now," he said, echoing their Uncle Severus' words, "I promise."
That's it for this chapter. I could make it longer but this is seventeen full pages on Microsoft Word, so I figured it was long enough and this seemed like a good place to stop. Thank you everyone who sent me comments, again, they make me so happy and they make me want to write even more. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Now that the hard part of getting Malfoy and Hermione to be civil is over, it should go smoother from now on. If anyone thought that them being all friendly again was too abrupt, I'm sorry, but they were like childhood best friends you know? I dunno, I wasn't planning on it being that fast, but it just kind of happened like that.
Also, raise your hand if you noticed a little foreshadowing in here. I should bring that in next chapter. If you didn't notice what I'm talking about, then you'll just be surprised.
