Hermione knew she should've told Harry no.
It was her fault, really. She could've just made some sort of elaborate excuse for why she wasn't attending the joint stag and hen do — or the sten do as they were calling it — for two of her closest friends in the entire world.
It wasn't that she wasn't happy for them — because she was.
But somehow, she let Harry bloody Potter stare at her with those giant, emerald green puppy-dog eyes and convince her that it wouldn't be weird for her to be there alongside Malfoy.
Draco.
Hermione intentionally did not look down the table, where the white-blond sat frustratingly close to Pansy Parkinson. This was the closest they'd been in the last six months since he had broken up with her. Convincing her friends that she was over Draco had been easier than she thought, and she'd made progress convincing herself as well — until he was sitting across the room from her, making her magic sing in response to his proximity.
Involuntarily, her gaze flickered to his end of the table just in time to watch as he leaned in to whisper into Pansy's ear. Although it felt like a stunner to the chest, Hermione could not bear to look away as the raven-haired witch laughed and Draco's eyes traced Pansy's features hungrily. Without removing his focus from her face, he wandlessly summoned a bottle of firewhiskey.
Tearing her eyes away from her ex-boyfriend, Hermione quickly finished her drink. Thank Christ Harry and Ginny had included Muggle alcohol tonight, she thought to herself as she finished her third tequila on the rocks of the night. Hermione reached for the bottle of firewhiskey sitting in the middle of the table, biting back a growl when she caught a flash of blond hair out of the corner of her eye. Pouring herself a glass, she grimaced as the smell wafted towards her. Despite the drink's efficacy when it came to getting her pissed, she was not a fan. Hermione held her breath as she tossed the drink back quickly, repressing a gag as the firewhiskey burned down the back of her throat.
Lavender leaned over from her seat on the other side of Hermione and whispered, "Are you okay? Do you need me to feign an emergency? I'll do it, you know, Harry and Ginny be damned."
Hermione smiled despite herself. No one who'd known the two Gryffindor witches during their Hogwarts years could have anticipated their friendship, but saving Lavender's life in the final battle had forged a bond that left them practically inseparable. The blonde witch had been extremely cautious when she approached Hermione a few months after the Battle of Hogwarts regarding their shared history with Ron, explaining that she was unwilling to let a boy come between them again. Hermione was emphatic that she and Ron were nothing more than an ill-timed kiss in the Chamber of Secrets. When Lavender and Ron rekindled their relationship shortly after, she couldn't have been happier for the couple.
Lavender had been there for her unfailingly throughout her entire tumultuous relationship with Draco. From their first day as unwilling coworkers to the decrease in tensions as the animosity worse off between them to Draco's drunken and teary apology about how horribly he'd treated her throughout their school years.
When he kissed her for the first time, Hermione's reaction had been to Floo the other witch in a blind panic.
And when Draco decided he no longer gave a shit about her, Lavender was the one who helped her pick up the pieces.
Blinking, Hermione realized she'd yet to answer Lavender's question — and that the witch was watching her with thinly veiled concern in her eyes.
Pasting on a smile that felt more like a grimace than anything else, she reassured her, "As much as I appreciate your offer to derail our friends' party, it's not necessary, I'm okay."
The way Lavender eyed her made it clear she didn't agree, and just as she opened her mouth to argue, a loud noise from the other end of the table interrupted her.
Draco's voice carried across the room, his words slurring, "It's just all that bloody hair, you know? I think it's…"
His words trailed off as he grew quieter. Not that Hermione would've been able to hear him over the roaring in her ears. Humiliation washed over her when she realized that he was talking about her hair. In the middle of the party. Mortified, her cheeks flushed with shame; once again amazed at how Draco Malfoy could make her feel worthless with such little effort.
Lavender's hand found hers and she squeezed. Glancing up to meet her gaze, Hermione was startled to see the blonde focused on a point somewhere over Hermione's shoulder, face paling rapidly. Brows furrowed, she noticed the room had gone silent and turned to investigate.
Confused, she watched as Draco drank firewhiskey straight from the bottle. Her nose crinkled as she realized chugged was probably a more accurate word for it. Sure, the behaviour was rather strange for him — horribly uncouth for such a posh little pureblood — but she certainly didn't understand why it warranted this kind of reaction from all their friends. But as she watched him continue to drink, without pausing to take a breath, she felt an overwhelming sense of dread.
Theo placed his hand on the blond's shoulder. "Uh, Draco… mate, are you okay? Just set the bottle down for a minute, take it easy," he reached for the drink, but Draco jerked away from him, eyes wild.
Hermione frowned. That was odd.
Harry must've thought so too because he stood from where he was seated by his fiancée and approached Draco. Before he could address the blond, his eyes landed on the bottle label and he blanched.
"Fucking veritaserum," he swore under his breath.
Suddenly, she felt lightheaded. Why the fuck was Draco chugging veritaserum-laced firewhiskey? Why was that even a thing, she questioned to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Covering the distance between them in two strides, Harry frantically reached for the bottle. "Malfoy, goddamnit, let go," he all but growled. "You're going to fucking overdose, you idiot."
Draco hesitated and Harry pushed the advantage, successfully yanking the bottle from his grasp. Chest heaving, Draco stared unseeing at the Boy Who Lived as he clenched and unclenched his fists, jaw moving as though he was attempting to speak. The room remained silent, everyone watching in confusion. Harry looked away first, his brows drawn together in a way that meant his Auror intuition was bothering him regarding the situation.
Whipping his head around, Draco's eyes found hers like a moth to a flame. Hermione was frozen as he pushed back his chair and strode towards her.
Offhandedly, she considered it a small miracle that he was even standing after the amount of firewhiskey he had just consumed.
He stopped in front of her, weaving unsteadily on his feet.
Perhaps she spoke too soon.
Starting at her with an unreadable expression in his silver eyes, Draco hesitated for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he collapsed to his knees in front of her.
Lavender's hand tightened on hers.
Trembling, Draco almost reached for her but seemed to think better of it at the last moment and let them fall back into his lap, limp. With a heaving sigh, he ran a hand down his face and through his hair.
Knowing him as she did, Hermione recognized his anxious tells. The wizard before her was distraught and, she was fairly certain, on the verge of a panic attack. Fighting against the urge to comfort him — that wasn't her place anymore — she merely met his gaze and waited for him to explain.
"What, Draco?" she snapped when he remained silent, the tension in the room reaching an unbearable level as everyone watched them.
It couldn't have been more than two minutes since Lavender grabbed her hand, but it felt like a lifetime had passed when Draco finally took a quivering breath and whispered, "I love you, solnyshko."
The Russian pet name sent a thrill through her, immediately followed by a spike of white-hot rage. He'd made it exceptionally clear that she was nothing to him when he broke up with her — entirely out of the blue and in true Draco Malfoy nature, as cruelly as possible. How dare he?
Before she could speak, he continued, "I'm so so sorry, my love. I—" his voice broke, and Hermione was startled to see a tear escape his eye. "I wasn't strong enough and he forced me to break up with you and I fought so hard to stop it or disobey or tell you what was happening but I couldn't—" a choked sob clawed its way out of his throat and Hermione felt her whole body grow cold with what she thought Draco was saying.
Glancing up, she made eye contact with a stony-eyed Harry. The slightest nod confirmed her suspicions — Draco was saying that he'd been imperiused to break up with her, and he'd used the laced whiskey to subvert the curse. Covering her mouth with her hand, she stared at Harry with glassy eyes as her anger disappeared as quickly as it had come. Oh, her brilliant Slytherin. A strangled noise from Draco drew her attention back to him.
Gods, he looked positively wrecked. He was staring up at her imploringly, chest heaving as tears pouring unchecked from his eyes. Unable to withhold the comfort he so desperately needed, Hermione reached for him. Draco all but threw himself into her lap; face pressed against her abdomen, tears soaking through her shirt as he let out gasping, body-wracking sobs. Hermione hadn't felt so helpless in a long time, her own tears blurring her vision as she carded her hands through his hair as he cried. Together, in the middle of the celebration of their friends' impending nuptials, they mourned the manufactured cracks in the foundation of their relationship.
Distantly, she registered Ginny's voice hissing as their friends to get the fuck out and give them some privacy. Her chest grew warm at the thought of how grateful she was to the redhead.
With a pitiful sniffle, Draco pulled back to look up at her from where his head laid against her thighs. His silver eyes were bright with tears as he looked up at her sadly.
"My little sun," he rasped, voice hoarse. "Solnyshko, my golden girl, please don't give up on us. I know I said horrible, awful things that hurt you but they didn't— that wasn't me. You are the love of my life and it almost killed me to walk away, to pretend that the sun does not rise and set with you. I am nothing without you."
Through her tears, she stared down at the blurry version of her ex-boyfriend and felt the walls she'd spent months building crumble to the ground. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips against his forehead and he shuddered.
"You hurt me," she breathed against his skin, "so badly, Draco."
He made a sort of distressed whimpering noise before responding pleadingly, "I know, Hermione, I can't tell you how so—"
Knowing the truth serum in his system was pushing him to tell her everything he was feeling as he felt it, she crooned, "Shh, it's okay, baby. I know you're sorry and I know it's not your fault but—" it was her turn to choke on a sob and he rubbed her arms soothingly, "it's just hard. But I would rather work hard to build a life with you than live easily with anyone else."
"You are fucking incandescent," Draco mumbled, his words muffled as he buried his head against her midsection once more. "I want to come back and live in your tiny little flat with that evil cat of yours again. I want to eat takeaway and watch those moving pictures on your telly and for you to keep showing me around Muggle London even when I embarrass you. And one day, I want to ask you to marry me. I want you to be my wife — Mrs. Malfoy or Mrs. Granger-Malfoy or, fuck it, if you asked me to, I'd change my name to Mr. Granger. Because, my love, I would do anything for you. I'm besotted with you, Granger. I don't even know how to tell you— did you know I daydream about what our children will look like? If they'll have my eyes and your curly hair? If they'll be brave like their mother or cunning like their father or some terrifying amalgamation of the two?' He sniffed, "I'm so fucking in love with you, Hermione."
She laughed wetly and tugged his face up to meet hers, cutting off his veritaserum -induced ramblings, "Draco, I am so fucking in love with you too."
The smile he gave her in return was blinding.
Surging forward, Draco kissed her. It was messy and there were far more teeth involved than necessary, but it was the kind of kiss that set the very depths of her soul on fire with love for this man. Hermione felt her eyes burn with tears as Draco poured everything he'd been feeling for the last six months into the kiss. Opening her mouth, their tongues met as she clung to him; terrified he would slip through her grasp once more. He must've understood some of what she was feeling because he pulled back, wrapping her in a fierce hug instead.
Even kneeling, he was still tall enough that she could tuck into his chest from where she sat. She basked in the warmth of him, allowing his familiar scent to calm her.
"Draco," Hermione asked softly, "can we go home?"
Tears welling in his silver eyes, he could only nod silently.
Standing, she reached for him before adopting a more serious tone, "But first, we're going to go talk to Auror Potter and find out exactly who cursed you."
Clearing his throat delicately, he whispered, "It was my father."
Hermione reared back, stunned. It was horrific, that a parent could ever treat their child so despicably, to go as far as take away their own free will. Gods, it made her nauseous just thinking about it. Wrapping herself around Draco like a second skin, she squeezed him as though she could make up for his father's sins with the sheer force of her love.
Sometimes, with the way he looked at her, she thought it might be working.
"Come on, then," Hermione started towards the door, pulling him along by the hand, "let's go get these tests done so Harry can arrest your fucking bastard of a father, and he can rot in Azkaban for the rest of his pathetic life."
He paused, a look she couldn't decipher on his face.
"What is it, love?" she questioned, concerned.
Draco groaned, adjusting himself in his trousers rather obviously, "Salazar, you're so hot when you're vengeful."
Tipping her head back, she laughed loudly at her boyfriend.
With a grin, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her temple, and Hermione felt, for the first time in months, like everything would be okay.