11
02.24.94
Hermione wondered whether there was a way to sue a magic school as a towel was wrapped around her hastily. The sound of her teeth chattering almost drowned out the loud cheers from the audience for Cedric, who had come out first, just a few seconds before Krum.
"Are you alright?" asked a concerned looking Cedric as he cast a Warming Charm over her.
Her glare could have cut glass.
"You know, I would have been flattered to be considered 'what you treasure most', but if this is what comes out of it, I'd rather not be." she snapped, casting her own Drying Charm, even though the chill that followed made things all the more worse for her.
Cedric winced at her sharp tone, "I'm sorry love, I didn't think they'd take you."
Hermione huffed as she stood, "I'm going to change." she said, stomping off, her socks squeaking wetly in her shoes.
She had barely taken five steps when she sighed and turned around. Cedric was smiling fondly at her as she retraced her steps back to him.
"Congratulations." she said, looking down at his shoes.
"You going to look up, love?" he asked, chuckling.
Pouting she looked directly into his eyes, "Congratulations."
He turned his cheek to her, glancing expectantly.
"You're impossible." she grumbled, but placed a soft kiss to his cheek anyway.
Cedric laughed, and hugged her against him, dripping clothes and all, eliciting a shriek from her.
"Go on, princess, get changed. I'll be at your tower later. The Puffs are holding a party for me."
Hermione raised an eyebrow, "How loyal of them to assume that you would win today."
He laughed at her candor, "They just want a reason to sneak firewhiskey into the castle."
She hid her wince at the mention of whiskey, already knowing that she would be left out at the party, "Don't you want to celebrate with your House alone, though?"
"Nah," he grinned rakishly at her, "'Sides, they've invited everyone."
Well, there was no getting out of this one.
"Alright," she nodded, "Come get me at half past seven."
Hermione stood next to Cedric, who had one arm encircled tightly around her waist as he talked to every single person who came up to him and thanked them for their congratulations. She had counted three shoves and two elbows to her stomach as more people tried to get closer to the ever popular Hufflepuff, and, though she was hopeless at Divination, she predicted there were more to come.
Her goblet was empty - Cedric had filled it with something called Gigglewater earlier in the evening, which she found out was a poor excuse for champagne. It was too sweet, and she hated the obnoxious laughter that followed every single sip, her laugh had taken her years of practice to perfect and the ones elicited by the horrid drink were far too loud and open-mouthed to be considered proper.
As another gaggle of girls came up to them to fawn over her boyfriend, she stepped out of Cedric's arm. She could feel him tighten his hold as she tried to escape and shot him a small smile.
"I'm just going to get another drink." she said, showing him her empty cup.
"I'll come along with -"
"No," she smiled encouragingly, "it's alright. Stay."
"You sure, love?" he asked, making her roll her eyes.
"Yes, Cedric, no need to worry."
She left it at that, and pretended not to hear one of the girls behind her say, "So, Ced, are you dating dating that Granger girl?"
Hermione didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but she felt a tiny bubble of ire build up inside her at the girl's flirty tone. She squashed it down quickly - she knew Cedric was popular, and this was normal, it was to be expected. She just wished he didn't smile at every bloody girl that approached him with a sweet smile.
The drinks table was on the far corner of the room, almost toppling over with the weight of all the bottles it carried. Her eyes scanned the labels with disinterest. It wasn't much, as expected, after all, the budget was limited to students' allowances and it was tricky to find a place willing to sell liquor to Hogwarts students, she suspected Cedric's housemates had resorted to haggling with The Hog's Head - a dump of a pub that looked like it was as well kept as the Shrieking Shack. She sighed at the sight, bottles of firewhisky lined up along with elf-wine that was so dry it tasted like grape flavored rubbing alcohol, gigglewater and that godforsaken mead that the Weasley twins had brought - charmed to give the drinker bravery to approach whoever they fancied, literal Liquid Courage, they had called it.
"Don't touch any of that." said someone from behind her.
Knowing full well who the voice belonged to, she turned around, brow raised in question, "And why is that, Malfoy?"
"It's all garbage." he sneered, making his face go all pointy again.
"Here," his hand held out a silver flask he had dug out from his pocket, "this is better."
She watched him pour a generous amount of burgundy liquid into her goblet without her permission.
"You think I'm actually going to willingly drink whatever this is, Malfoy? You must take me for a fool." she scoffed.
"Not a fool," he shrugged, pouring himself a cup of his own, "Just a lady with taste."
When she still didn't move to even take a whiff of the drink, he frowned.
"I'm not going to poison you, Granger," he said, rolling his eyes, "It's a bordeaux. My family owns a vineyard in Saint-Emilion. Look, I'll take a sip."
With narrowed eyes, she followed his movement as he drank about a third of his goblet - more than necessary, and she could see the tell tale signs of nervousness as his knuckles gripped the cup tightly.
"You say you aren't going to poison me but your knuckles are bone white, Malfoy." she pointed out.
He chuckled, almost succeeding in masking his awkwardness, "Why would I even want to poison you? If you haven't noticed, Granger, the rest of me is bone white as well."
She huffed, though out of curiosity, she swirled the deep red liquid in the goblet, wafting the scent up to her nose as she did so. The pleasant and familiar aroma of blackcurrant made itself known and she had to bite back a smile.
"Chateau Ausone?" she asked flippantly, though her voice betrayed the lightest bit of surprise.
A grin spread across the Slytherin's face, "Very good, Granger."
She took a hesitant sip, "It's acceptable."
"No need to play coy," Malfoy scoffed, "It's one of the best and you know it."
She hummed as she took a sip - unable to resist, relishing in the tangy sweetness and the bite at the back of her throat, "My family's served this wine for years at our New Year's Eve party, it's my mother's favorite. To think, we've been filling your coffers all this time."
Malfoy grinned, "Our market largely depends on Muggles, Wizarding folk prefer more - rambunctious - concoctions."
Just as he said that, a third year boy, who definitely should not have been participating in the revelry, passed by them, shouting at a fifth year girl to give him a chance. She and Malfoy frowned in distaste.
"It's alright, then, to deal with Muggles when it's benefiting your check books?" she asked, eyes narrowed in challenge.
"I'm finding that it's alright to deal with Muggles entirely," he said carefully, "It's a mere incentive that we gain something in the process."
Hermione scoffed in disbelief, "Is there any truth at all in your words, Malfoy?"
He smirked secretively, "More than you know, Granger."
"Hermione!" someone called from across the room. She hid her cringe at the obnoxious volume of it, though she might not have hidden it well enough because it seemed as though a hint of amusement passed through the Slytherin's eyes as she turned.
"Your Champion's calling." he teased. She detected a hardness to his tone that had no place being there, but shrugged it off.
"So it seems," she said, as she gestured at Cedric to wait a moment, "Thank you for the drink, Malfoy. You've been oddly tolerable tonight."
"To be oddly tolerable is what I strive for Granger." he grinned, "Enjoy your night."
She nodded politely before walking off, carefully avoiding flailing limbs of people trying to dance. She hadn't been lying, Malfoy had been pleasant, and though it was not entirely unwelcome, it was nonetheless peculiar.
Hermione was studying in the library again after months of not being able to. The excitement of the tournament had died down a little bit since the second task and the next task wouldn't be until the end of the year. She had been a little too lax this year, if she was being honest with herself - only two topics ahead of every class in her readings when she was usually four or five.
Cedric had been taking up a bit of her time recently, which wasn't a bad thing entirely, it was just out of character and just a tad bit irresponsible. Not to say that he wasn't studying as well, he'd been accompanying her to the library most of the time, but more often than not ended up being distracted, and consequently distracting her by pulling her into his lap to snog.
Su and Padma said she really shouldn't complain, after all a whole lot of girls would have killed her to be in her place. Rumours had been going around the Ravenclaw dorms that Cho Chang - a girl in fifth year - had been flirting with Cedric during joint Quidditch practices. It didn't bother Hermione all that much, her boyfriend was a Hufflepuff after all, and they were loyal. And it wasn't as if Cedric was losing interest in her, he definitely wasn't.
She glanced at him now from the corner of her eye and almost giggled aloud. He had quite a short attention span, which didn't make for the best study habits. As of the moment, his eyes were trained on the window outside and he seemed to be daydreaming. It was a beautiful day out, for sure, but she needed to get her essays done, as well as try and shake him off to get a bit of ballet practice - and there was an idea that presented itself freely.
She grinned mischievously, reaching her hand over to rap his wrist with her quill, jarring the boy out of his trance, "If you want to go flying, you can."
Cedric smiled sheepishly, "You'll be alright here?"
"Of course I will, it's not like the parchment's going to start attacking me." she joked.
"If anything it should be terrified of you." he teased as he got up, "See you at dinner?"
She nodded, smiling as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Have fun."
He stood waiting in front of Platform 9 ¾, trying to find his mother. He had been one of the handful of students who had opted to spend the Easter hols at home, most of the school chose to stay, what with the Tournament ongoing. It wasn't entirely his decision either, he may have had plans to disrupt Granger's studying in the library, but his mother had asked him to come home, and so he did.
Finally, he spotted her silver streaked black hair bobbing through the sea of people, and made his way towards her. Narcissa Malfoy was looking as impeccable as ever, with pastel blue robes to match the holiday.
"Good morning, Mother." he said, bowing his head respectfully before he pressed a kiss on each cheek.
"I missed you, my dragon." she smiled at him fondly, "Do you have everything?"
"Yes." he nodded, patting his pocket where he had stowed his shrunken trunk.
"Very good, now, we have somewhere we need to get to in five minutes." Narcissa said, glancing at her watch before looking at him up and down, "We'll have to fix our attire as well."
A quick flourish of her wand had them both dressed in muggle attire, her pastel robes into a green cap sleeved summer dress and his own robes into a navy suit jacket over a white Oxford and khaki pants.
"No questions until we get there, Draco, now hold my wrist firmly, wouldn't want to splinch you, do we?"
He nodded, grabbing hold of his mother just a moment before she Apparated them both. The uneasy feeling of Apparation engulfed him again, even though he had gotten used to it by now, the pinching in his gut always made him nauseous.
A loud blare of a horn rang from somewhere near them, and as his eyes adjusted, he realized they were in an alley way, muggle cars whizzing past from one end. He looked to his mother in surprise, "Are we in muggle London?"
Narcissa nodded, he could see the tension in her eyes as she did. "We're meeting your aunt in a restaurant nearby."
"My aunt? You don't mean -"
His mother spared him a confused glance, and seeing that her son had blanched in shock, she quickly amended the misunderstanding, "Your other aunt. Andromeda. She agreed to meet me over the winter and we've talked a few times, but only at muggle establishments, she's always been a bit suspicious of me. I asked if I could bring you today and she agreed."
"But why, Mother? Why now?" he asked, following her out into the busy streets. Head growing dizzier by the minute
"It's as good a time as any, dear." she responded, clutching his arm so he wouldn't disappear in the throng of people, "Perhaps a bit late, even. Ah, here we are."
They'd stopped in front of a rather large, ornate white building, the signage at the entrance read The Ritz. It looked like a decent enough place, and he wondered whether his aunt had picked the location of their meeting. Narcissa spied her son's look and smiled to herself.
"Andy loves afternoon tea. For all her talk about leading a simpler life now, she still can't control herself when it comes to this. That, and she thought we'd be more comfortable here."
"It sounds as though there's an insult somewhere there." he commented as the two of them stepped inside.
"Oh, yes of course, but she isn't wrong." his mother said, laughing to herself.
They were led to a section of the building that matched the grandiose theme in every way. Muggle servers were milling about, taking and bringing orders. It was an odd sight for him, having become so used to house elves.
"Hello, sister." Narcissa said, smiling, though a bit uneasily at the dark haired woman sitting alone in front of them. She had chosen a table in front of one of the tall windows, and in the afternoon light, the sharp, Black features were softened somewhat. Andromeda Black had almost the exact same eyes as his mother, icy blue and just as piercing, other than that, she was a replica of Bellatrix, wild hair, high cheekbones and deep set eyes, though the absence of his other aunt's crazed expression made her seem like an entirely different person.
"Good afternoon, Cissy." Andromeda said with a smile only she seemed to understand as she stood to greet them, "This must be Draco."
Draco bowed his head politely, "Good afternoon, Madam."
That elicited a laugh from her, "Madam? Cissa, you really have followed mother's instructions to a tee. Call me Aunt Andromeda, Draco, you are, after all, my nephew."
He smiled at her, taking the seat in the middle after the two women sat down. His mother and aunt exchanged a few pleasantries, and he took the time to observe this new woman. He had decided he liked her, just because he reminded him so much of the other woman at the table. Narcissa looked brighter as she talked with her sister, much happier than he had seen her in quite a while. If his aunt could bring such a change in her, then he would accept it readily.
"How had Hogwarts been so far, Draco?" his aunt asked, placing her attention on him.
"Busy," he said, sipping his tea - darjeeling by the smell of it, "The Triwizard Tournament has the castle fuller than ever. Barely any students left for the holidays. It's quite hectic, I haven't found a quiet place to myself in months."
"Ah, yes, I'd read about that." Andromeda nodded, "There was a small piece in the Prophet about the Yule Ball alongside several pictures of the Champions and their dates. Was school ever as exciting for us, Cissa?"
His mother laughed, "I can't say we had any Tournaments back then. Speaking of that article, I had seen it as well. I noticed that the Hogwarts Champion was with that girl I saw last time at the station - the one who was wearing the same robes as me, what was her name again, Draco?"
At the mention of her, he choked on the sandwich he had been chewing, much to his mother's ire. Quickly, he caught himself, easing his coughs with a sip of water, as he prayed that the flush he felt in his cheeks would go unnoticed. "That would be Hermione Granger, Mother."
"Yes, that's right," Narcissa said, exchanging a knowing look with her sister, "When I saw her at the station, she reminded me so much of you, Andy, that I thought I'd gone back in time! Now is there a reason why you didn't ask her to the ball, Draco? She seemed like such a nice girl, much better than that Posey's loud daughter."
He quieted and tried to look everywhere except the inquisitive gazes of his aunt and mother.
"You asked a Parkinson to be your date? She'll take a while to get rid of." Andromeda laughed, but quickly her expression changed - blue eyes narrowed in suspicion, looking pointedly at him, "Granger, now that isn't a Wizarding name, is it?"
Draco's eyes widened at the insinuation, "It's nothing like that, I swear on Slytherin!"
Andromeda's smirk widened at his slip, "Then what is it like, nephew, and why has it got you all flustered all of a sudden?"
He looked at his mother for help, but all he got was the exact same calculating smirk in reply. A sigh of surrender was released and the women at the table chuckled.
"She doesn't know what to make of me." he admitted, "And Granger already had a date long before the ball was announced."
"Expound, Draco." Narcissa urged.
"I haven't been all that nice to her." he admitted, glancing at his aunt, "She's a Muggleborn, and well, I may have been a bit harsh, though I've been trying to make up for it. She's talking to me now, and doesn't look so disgusted when I approach her. You would like her, Mother - she paints and dances and plays the piano, and she doesn't twitter, like you always say about girls my age. She's from a good family but that's a secret - oh, bollocks."
The two pairs of eyes sharpened at his slip of the tongue, and the curse that fell from his lips was ignored.
"It seems as though your little crush is more interesting than I thought, Draco." Narcissa purred.
"She's not my crush -" he protested.
"Hush, nephew," Andromeda said, eyes glinting, "Now why don't you tell us all about this Miss Granger of yours."
a/n: sorry for the terribly long wait! Here's a quick update for you guys. Will probably put up a chapter for Daughter of Oak then Work of A Fairy next! Thanks so much for being patient!