Chapter 4

All characters belong to JK Rowling.

"Wake up, Draco! Merlin's sake, it is already 11 in the morning!" Draco tried to ignore the loud noise that was coming from the end of his bed. Daphne, and presumably Blaise, were shouting and tugging his comforter away. It was before noon, what did she mean by already 11? After the fateful day when he returned from Hogwarts, when his mother told him the truth about his father's whereabouts, Draco was lost. He was not sure of what to do next. He had been locking himself in his room, enjoying his solitude with his thoughts as company.

"Go away, Daph. Let me sleep," groaned Draco while covering his eyes from the harsh sunlight as Daphne opened the curtains. Seriously, he needed to talk to his mother, never let anyone enter his room unless he allowed it. His mother had been taking the liberty of undoing all the locking charms that he put almost every day.

"I will forgive you since your brain is barely awake but it is Daphne," Draco groaned louder. Daphne and her obsession in calling people by their birth names. It was even more irritating when he was barely awake. When his room turned quiet, he thought she had finally left, however, he felt his comforter was floating away from his body. Another person, again probably Blaise, started to lift him away from his bed.

"SERIOUSLY! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH BOTH OF YOU?" shouted Draco, his body was still floating, on the way to the bathroom. Blaise was holding his laughter as he tried to maintain his wand on his hand. Draco gave his best glare, noting that if his friend dropped his wand, he would be dropped in an instant too. Finally, Blaise lowered him towards the ground. He stared at his reflection on the mirror to his left. Merlin, he looked horrible. It had been three weeks since he did any proper grooming. He still showered for the sake of avoiding any foul smell but that was it. He did not brush his hair; he did not shave and clearly, it showed.

"You have fifteen minutes to shower and do something about your unkempt appearance. Blaise will be here to choose your outfit and I will be downstairs while your mother is playing hostess. Merlin, she must be so lonely seeing how eager she was when she saw me!" Daphne barked her order. Draco snorted and told her that he could pick his own outfit, no need for Blaise interference. Daphne answered by closing the door and locking it. She did not fail to shout "fifteen minutes!".

Narcissa smiled as she was joined by Daphne Greengrasss in her sitting room. She was absolutely delighted when she saw Daphne appeared at her fireplace. This was her chance. She should get to know Daphne and convinced her to introduce her sister to Draco.

"Thank you for the lovely tea and scones, Mrs. Malfoy. I do apologize once again for intruding but Draco has not been answering my owls and I am not sure how else to reach him."

"Oh, nonsense, Daphne. I am more than happy to welcome my son's friends. Draco had been resting since his return from Hogwarts. I am sure you understand, it is the time whereby all of you are planning your future." Narcissa smiled as sweetly as she could. She was trying to glide the conversation to the future, preferably to the union of their families.

"Of course, Mrs. Malfoy. I have been telling Astoria, my sister, that she should enjoy her time in Hogwarts. It is her last year after all. The moment I returned home; Mother just started asking when will Blaise proposed to me! It is so crass, especially for us!"

"Speaking of which, how is Astoria? Is she currently involved with anyone?" asked Narcissa, seizing her chance. Daphne politely answered that her sister is still single and their mother had been trying to find a suitable husband for her. Narcissa hid a smile as she drank her tea. Perfect, she mused.

"Daphne, your boyfriend thinks that my slicked hair is too uptight. Could you please tell him to stop being so vain?" Draco announced his presence with a loud scowl. Blaise, trailing behind him, was tutting, mentioning that his hair was all wrong to where they are going. Daphne giggled after seeing the said hairstyle and agreed that his hair was too formal. Narcissa laughed and asked where were they going anyway.

"We are going to my house. I am throwing a luncheon as today is Hermione's last day of her muggle examination! I would have preferred if it was dinner but she told me she already had plans with her Gryffindor friends," Daphne pouted, feeling disappointed that her event was forced to be pushed back to lunch. "Nobody celebrates the end of an examination during lunch!" she exclaimed.

That was when Narcissa's smile frozen. She realised her son was also frozen at his spot. Hogwarts was over, why should they continue mingling with Hermione Granger?

"That's… nice of you, Daphne. Who will be there, again?" Narcissa heard how stilted she sounded.

"Oh, just me, Blaise, Theodore, Draco, since he is all cleaned up, and of course, Hermione! Astoria is sneaking out to join us since she is sick of our Mother," Daphne chuckled before continuing, "Looking at suitors must be tiring. I am just glad I have Blaise." Hearing Astoria's attendance, Narcissa's smiled returned. With that, she quickly ushered out the three people into the fireplace.

When Narcissa was sure Daphne and Blaise had disappeared from the fireplace, she pulled her son, "Draco, play nice with Astoria." Draco gave a confused look at his mother but she pushed him towards the fireplace.

"Greengrass Manor," was the last thing Narcissa heard before feeling the rising euphoria. She could not wait to tell Philomena that her plan in getting a Greengrass as a daughter-in-law was swimming perfectly.

It felt surreal that Hermione had completed all her examinations as of one hour ago. After completing two major examinations of her life within a short period of time, she could not wait to enjoy the rest of the day. No, probably enjoy the next few weeks relaxing before her A-Level result was out. Once she was out of the examination centre, she immediately looked for a safe apparition point to visit Greengrass Manor. This would be her first visit to Daphne's house. Throughout her eighth-year, she heard stories about how the Manor was basically a garden with a manor attached. Daphne joked that her mother had wanted to call the house Greengrass Garden initially.

Hermione looked at the building in front of her. Daphne was not kidding; the huge iron gate was decorated with different types of flowers. As she walked towards the gate, the flowers started to untangle its vines and let her enter. She continued walking towards the French door that was at the end of the flower path. She knocked on the door and a tiny elf opened the door.

"Miss Granger has arrived. Polly will inform Young Miss. Please follow Polly, Miss Granger," the house-elf did a curtsy and Hermione felt slightly awkward. With a nod, she followed Polly outside the manor, walking towards the garden beside the house. There she saw a beautiful set up of flower towers and a dining table. There was a huge garland with the words "Congratulations!" floating between the flower towers. Hermione smiled, the luncheon was exactly what she expected from Daphne.

"You are here! Theo and I are still trying to set the table. Why don't you take a glass of champagne first? My sister will be here shortly," greeted Astoria. Hermione nodded and chugged the bubbly drink. This was what she needed after an exhausting two weeks. Astoria and Theo were discussing if they should duplicate another pair of flower towers. Hermione chuckled, this luncheon was so different than what she was used to. In the Burrow, there was always chaos when it came to brunch. There was no peace between the siblings, and recently she and Harry had become part of the chaos.

As she continued to sip her champagne, she looked that there were five other chairs. One was for Theo, two were for Daphne and Astoria and another one was Blaise. Who was the sixth guest? It definitely would not be Pansy. Her breath hitched. Draco would not attend, would he? Maybe it was Ginny? But Ginny was organising tonight's celebration. While Ginny got along well enough with the Slytherins, they were not as close to attend each other luncheon.

"I am sorry! I can't believe I am late!" Daphne was rushing towards her. Hermione had barely stand up when Daphne hugged her. Trailing behind her was Blaise, Hermione smiled and waved at him and then she saw him. Hermione's body stilled. Draco was frozen at his spot. They were not sure what to do with each other. Daphne, oblivious to the situation, remove herself from the hug and started talking about what was happening since they separated at King's Cross three weeks ago. She dragged Hermione to sit in the middle of the table (the luncheon is all about you!). Daphne sat at her right, with Theo at her left. Blaise sat opposite Daphne, Astoria beside him and Draco taking the last chair. Hermione swore she heard a low snarl from Daphne when everyone took their seats however when she looked at Daphne, she was still chatting animatedly.

"As I was saying, I was late because we have to pick up this ferret from his house. He did not return any of my owls for the past three weeks! Merlin, Blaise and I was thinking if he was transfigured back to ferret!" The whole table laughed except for Draco who was scowling at the unpleasant memory of being an animal. Hermione did not laugh too.

"Clearly, he does not want to attend this luncheon. You should not force him to attend." Draco felt the tiny jerk again in his heart hearing the frosty words. Merlin, if he knew Daphne's owls were about meeting Hermione, he would have replied to her immediately. He thought King's Cross was the last time they would see each other and yet he was given another chance to meet her.

"Well, Blaise levitating me out of my bed sure did not give me much choice to not attend this," he tried to break the ice, break the frost that was clouding her whenever he was around. The whole table laughed as Blaise told the story. Draco observed Hermione, she was neither laughing nor scowling. She simply drank her champagne, hiding her expression.

"Shall we start our lunch? Polly! The food please!" With Daphne's instruction, soups appeared at everyone's bowl. Hermione started asking Daphne about her house-elf and Daphne immediately told her about Polly's weekly wage of 20 galleons and monthly time-off. Although, Daphne did grumble about Polly's initial fear of being dismissed because she was given a monthly off day.

As the chatter continued, Hermione realised that she and Draco were back to those days whereby they would not talk to each other. She was busy talking with Daphne, Blaise and Theo. Draco was talking to Astoria. The younger Greengrass seemed to be in a deep discussion with him. Hermione's funny feeling seemed to be back. Although it was not the positive kind like it was previously. This felt like someone was pricking her heart.

"So, when will your result be out? I am just saying if you do get into that school, I will need to throw another party!" Hermione laughed at Daphne's eagerness. She mentioned that result would not be out until mid of August.

"Why are you going to do till the results are out then? Surely you will be spending time in the wizarding world, right?" asked Blaise.

"I am not sure, probably just take each day as it is. My time in the wizarding world seemed to be limited so yeah, definitely will be spending my time here. But I have things to do at muggle's world," explained Hermione. She did not mention about selling her childhood home. Nobody at the table knew the truth about her parents. She tried to keep her parents' status vague with them, and it was easy since all of them are pure-bloods. A few mentions about attending dental conferences or taking an extensive specialisation to become orthodontist, they would just politely nod and changed the topic.

"Brightest witch of our age, so confident that Cambridge would actually want her," Hermione turned her head upon hearing Draco's sneer. Some time ago, she probably would laugh and assumed he was joking with her. Not now. The words felt just as cruel as those days when he bullied her.

"Well, muggles do actually accept me since I am one of their kind."

Draco swallowed at the emphasised last two words. Everyone at the table was silent. She knew she was not exactly responding to his joke but she ignored the tension that formed.

"Merlin, Hermione, it seems like you are still having those examination stress! Come, come drink more champagne! Shall we mixed it with orange juice and make a samosa or something?" asked Daphne in a desperate attempt to diffuse the tension.

"It is called mimosa, Daphne!" Astoria tried to force out a laugh, joining her sister's effort in trying to make the conversation light. Hermione joined the laughter however she and Draco were staring at each other. After some time, they both turned their heads and started to talk with the rest of the group. Hermione chatted with Blaise about his family estate in Italy while Draco discussed something with Astoria again, she observed.

Much later, when the sun was slowly descending, Hermione noted that she needed to leave soon for her next celebration. Ginny's celebration was at Leaky Cauldron, Hannah Abbot was more than happy to have a small get-together of Dumbledore's Army. Daphne, a little bit buzzed, was unwilling to let her go. She was hugging her and asking to stay for a few more minutes. Blaise and Theo were able to drag Daphne away and asked Hermione to make her escape. Astoria offered to bring Hermione to the fireplace so she could floo back to Grimmauld Place.

For some reason, Draco followed the two girls towards the inside of the house. Hermione turned her back and frowned seeing him.

"Oh, this is the fireplace and here is the powder. Let me get back to Daphne and make sure she sobers up before our parents get back. Mother will faint seeing her prim daughter behaving like that," chuckled Astoria as she passed the tiny bag. There was only her and Draco in the room now.

"Why were you being like that? I was joking about you and Cambridge, like we always do," asked Draco quietly. Hermione scoffed, "Look at you, joking with us, mudbloods. Did you tell your father about how hard it was, keeping up the pretence of being friends with a mudblood? And a blood-traitor if you include Ginny."

And that was it. Draco's anger, about being lied to by his mother, his father and the Ministry was back. He spent the past three weeks wallowing in his anger and self-pity. He thought he was healing when he mustered the energy to attend this luncheon. Clearly, he was wrong since the mere mention of his father make his blood boiled.

"Don't you dare mention my father or my family ever again," Each word said was dripped in acid and anger. Anger coursing through his veins, he tried his best to control his hand from not destroying the room he was in. Just like that day.

"With pleasure," replied Hermione before disappearing at the fireplace.