"I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offences against myself...My good opinion once lost is lost forever."
The morning after the party, Hermione woke feeling only slightly less mortified at the events of the evening before. She dearly hoped that Malfoy was aware of Molly Weasley's reputation and that his reaction was more to being gossiped about than the content of the gossip. Although, in the cold light of day she told herself sternly that the whole situation with him was something she needed to box up and put behind her anyway—and perhaps this incident, although distressing, would help her do that.
Besides, now that the party was over she'd have very little reason to see any of that crowd. And she was about to put her new field study into motion. A few weeks on-site in Provence working with a local Centaur herd would be just what she needed to move on and forget this whole upsetting episode.
And speaking of France, she had met that charming Rémy... Maybe she'd use him to take her mind off the events of the last few weeks. He'd told her where he was staying—she'd send him an owl and invite him for drinks. She kicked off her covers and rose out of bed with new purpose and determination.
But despite her resolve and the satisfying feeling of having a plan, Hermione felt flat all week. It didn't help that her plan seemed to be thwarted at every turn. She continued to have trouble getting the final permissions assured for France, which meant more delays. Rémy had gone out of town and sent his regrets about drinks. Harry had accompanied Ginny on an away stand with the Harpies, so there was no one in the flat. Wickham, who had been a fairly reliable lunch companion of late, also seemed to have disappeared. She wondered what had happened to him, until she read in the Prophet gossip column that he'd been seen around town with a notable heiress to a potions fortune. She sighed when she read the tidbit. She didn't begrudge Jack his ambitions, but she wouldn't have minded some company.
Her restlessness and sense of being in limbo were also making her extremely irritable. It was these times when she missed her mum and dad most. Jean had always been able to charm her out of these moods and her dad was great at distracting her with a new hobby or a bruising tennis match. With them in Australia a phone call was all that was possible and that just wasn't the same. Besides their lives were so separate now...
It also didn't help that she saw Draco at the ministry that week and he'd barely acknowledged her presence, giving her a curt nod and never breaking his stride. In fact, she thought he was actually trying to pretend he didn't see her until she'd lifted her hand in a small salute. Not that she cared per se, but it was a bit humiliating. And despite endless internal rationalisations, she continued to be stung by little barbs of embarrassment every time she thought of the scene with Molly at the party.
Work had always been a balm for Hermione, so she redoubled her focus to take her mind off of her low mood. She did make good headway in preparations and background research on the Centaur project—so much so that she was feeling rather soothed by the end of the week. Then Rémy came back into town and they went out, which was amusing, although she was strangely uninterested in him romantically. She told herself it was because she was being cautious.
Her mood lifted even more once Ginny and Harry returned and she was no longer alone in the flat.
She and Ginny were having a leisurely Saturday, sipping coffee and passing sections of the Prophet back and forth while Harry had a lie-in—and Hermione was feeling almost content again—when Ginny suddenly gasped.
"What!?" Hermione lowered the arts section.
"Wickham! He's engaged to that Pepper Up Potion witch!" Ginny said with wide eyes, showing her the printed announcement.
"Wow, he works quickly," Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Good on him. I hope they'll be happy."
"You're not upset at all?" asked Ginny, searching her face.
"God, no! I told you when I first met him that I would never get involved with him."
"I know, but at the party—you seemed so disappointed not to see him…"
"I just wanted to know someone else there. And it irked me that Malfoy had kept him out. Snob."
Ginny had looked back down at the paper. "Speaking of Malfoy," she said slowly.
Hermione glanced up as Ginny slid Skeeter's gossip column across the table, feeling a strange sense of dread steal over her.
'Dark Horse in the Running for Platinum Prince's Heart?' screamed a section header accompanied by a picture of Malfoy with what looked like the black-haired beauty from Theo's party. The grainy snap showed him hugging her close as she rested her forehead on his chest. Lurid copy next to the photo speculated wildly about their relationship and even mentioned that the 'dusky beauty' had edged out the 'golden girl' in the 'race for the Malfoy scion's heart'. Hermione was aware of a distinct taste of bile at the back of her throat as she took in the column.
Ginny was reading over her shoulder. "Who is that? And is she supposed to be a horse in this scenario? Fucking hell, Skeeter," she muttered.
Hermione swallowed and tried to school her reaction. "I saw her with Malfoy at the party. I'm not sure who she is since I didn't talk to either of them that night," she said in clipped tones. "Is there any more coffee?"
"Wait whoa, are you ok?"
"I'm fine. Can we just drop it?"
"Ok, ok," Ginny sat back down and put her palms up. "Just let me know if you want to talk about this at all."
"I don't." Hermione sat still for a moment, her mind churning. "It's just annoying that these implications that I was after him in any way keep surfacing. I mean he's clearly not after me. So it just makes me look pathetic."
Ginny covered her friend's hand with her own. "First, you could never look pathetic." Hermione snorted. "And second," Ginny said, raising her voice over the sound, "I'm not so sure he was never after you. You know my opinions about the house party weekend. And I was with you in that alleyway and—I wasn't going to tell you this because you didn't seem to want to talk about it—but I saw Malfoy when he first saw you at Theo's party. Just before my mum opened her big mouth. And he looked… knocked sideways. He stood there just staring at you like you were something he wanted to eat, for a good ten seconds—all that famous sangfroid out the window." She fluttered her fingers. "And we both know that you can't believe anything that Skeeter puts on paper. You of all people should understand that. And that pictures can be very misleading,"
Hermione's eyes drifted to the small image again. "I just don't know! All of this is so uncomfortable." She flopped back on the couch and moaned. "It's true. I'll admit it. I can't stop thinking about him, but I mull it over and reach the same conclusion every time. Which is that it's too complicated and the best thing to do is just forget it."
"I don't disagree," said Ginny carefully. "But sometimes we can tell ourselves something until we are blue in the face and it doesn't make a damned bit of difference. I remember that well from the time that Harry and I were apart." Hermione shot her friend a sympathetic look. "So just take care that you aren't fooling yourself or letting something as silly as fear hold you back."
Hermione nodded tightly, feeling stupidly close to tears. Then she launched herself across the table to wrap her friend in a tight hug. "What would I do without you?" she mumbled into Ginny's fiery hair.
"Oh you'd probably still be best friends with my git of a brother and wondering why you were walking through life constantly annoyed and bored at the same time," laughed Ginny, giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek.
~oOo~
A welcome invitation came in Hermione's window later that afternoon by way of a cream-colored barn owl. It was from Theo, asking her to brunch the next day. She was delighted to accept. If one good thing comes out of this mess, it will be getting to be friends with him.
The next morning she walked up to a sweet little cafe off Diagon Alley, and saw Theo wave at her from an outdoor table. He stood when she arrived, kissing her on both cheeks and flashing her a brilliant grin. She felt some more of her tension fall away as she sat and chatted with him in the sun.
"Are you all recovered from the party? Or more accurately is your house recovered?" she asked.
"Oh nearly so," he laughed. "The house elves have the clean-up down to a science, but there are still tree stumps in some of my drawing rooms." She chuckled. "Did you have a good time, though?" he asked searchingly, and she felt her face warm, wondering how much he'd heard about the scene with Draco and Molly. She hoped desperately it hadn't reached Pansy or Blaise's ears to be spread around.
"Oh yes," she managed to answer lightly. "I met some lovely people. Blaise introduced me to Rémy Leon?" Theo nodded and waggled his eyebrows. Rémy was very handsome… "He and I had drinks the other night. He's très amusant!"
"Yes, I've always fancied him," sighed Theo. "I have a thing for breathtakingly good-looking Frenchmen. It's too bad for me that he plays for the other side…" He accompanied his comment with a self deprecating little shrug. "You knew, didn't you?"
"I figured," she smiled. "Although it's too bad for the witch population that you play for the other side."
He laughed, "stop!"
"But all kidding aside," she said. "Is this public information or something that you'd like to keep private?"
Theo sighed, "well it's not a secret. It's public amongst my friends. But I don't flaunt it. I wish I felt confident enough to do so. It's a holdover from when my father was alive. He was very… opposed to the idea of living what the muggles would call an 'out and proud' sort of lifestyle." He sipped his espresso. "Most pureblood families are rather liberal about same sex relationships— as long as you marry a member of the opposite sex first and produce an heir or two. But I never wanted that. I've never wanted to live dishonestly." Hermione nodded sympathetically. "So I learned to hide and misdirect. It's just in the last year or two that I've talked about it aloud. Although my best friends have known for a few years. Draco's known forever."
Hermione felt herself flinch the slightest bit at the mention of Malfoy and Theo paused for a beat before exclaiming, "but enough about me! You and Rémy. Do tell. I want to live vicariously!"
She accepted the subject change gratefully, as she did not want to discuss Draco with his best friend—even tangentially. "Well sorry, but there's not much to tell. We went out and had tapas and a few drinks. He flirted with me and made me laugh. Then we parted ways with a quick peck and nothing more."
"So disappointing," said Theo. "What was wrong? Did he chew with his mouth open? Act rude to the server?"
She laughed. "No, nothing like that! I just didn't feel attracted to him. And I think he could sense that and was being a gentleman about it. I'm not sure why I didn't find him …" she waved her hands around, at a loss for words.
Theo tilted his head but stayed silent.
"I think," she continued, pausing to cut a bite of her food and gather her thoughts, "that Rémy's a bit of a charming rogue. And I tend to be very cautious when it comes to them. Sort of like Jack Wickham?" Theo nodded. "It's like as soon as a really beautiful man starts trying to aggressively charm me, my red flags go up and I'm instantly disinterested in that way. Do you know what I mean?"
He nodded again. "Yes, although unfortunately I do not suffer from the same affliction," he said with a smile. "So you were never dating Jack Wickham? When I saw you that one night you looked kind of cosy." This was said casually, although Hermione noticed a flutter of distaste cross his features when he said Jack's name.
"God, no!" She shook her head. "I will admit that when I very first met him, which was the night you saw us, I was dazzled. He's just so, so good-looking." Theo nodded emphatically. "He's also a great conversationalist—interesting and fun. But he's such a womanizer. He literally can't help himself. And he's so handsome and charismatic that he has an endless supply of willing victims. I personally saw him collect two phone numbers from complete strangers that night. After that I was definitely in the 'thanks, but no' camp."
Theo nodded. "Yes, that sounds like the Jack Wickham I've seen in action. Although it seemed like he was going out of his way to charm you."
"Oh yes, he definitely wanted me to go home with him!" she laughed. "But my sense of self-preservation is too strong."
"So you weren't at all upset by the announcement of his engagement?" Theo spooned berry coulis onto his yoghurt and Hermione had the distinct sensation that she was being grilled very gently and skillfully.
"No, not for myself," she said slowly. "But I do worry about that Pepper Up witch. What was her name…?"
"Gladiola Sinclair," supplied Theo. "Our families move in the same circles, although she's a bit older than us. She can definitely take care of herself. I figure she knows what she's got with Wickham, but doesn't care. We'll just see if her family allows it to actually happen, though. To my recollection, she hasn't actually inherited yet and won't for a few years, so they may pull the plug on her allowance if they want to pressure her to drop him."
"Hmm," Hermione was unsure what to think about his comment. On the one hand, she didn't wish a cheater on anyone, but on the other, if Wickham was Gladiola's choice and pureblood prejudice was all that was making him off-limits, that was infuriating on several levels. Of course if Wickham disappeared just because she wouldn't have any money for a few years that was also despicable.
"So what are your plans for the rest of the summer?" she asked after a slightly overlong silence. Theo grinned and launched into a description of a holiday to Italy he'd be taking in a few weeks. Hermione had been the year before and commended his choice.
They spent the rest of brunch skirting controversial topics in favor of discussing the merits of Rome vs Florence, where to find the best carbonara and what made Italian men so attractive (a combination of swagger and close attention to sartorial detail, they agreed).
It was lovely and Hermione went home much happier than when she'd started out. Probably because she felt she had cemented a friendship—and because Malfoy's name had never come up again.
~oOo~
Theo went on his way happy about the outcome of brunch. He'd had two purposes in inviting Hermione out. First, because he genuinely liked her and wanted to get closer to her and second because he wanted to feel her out with regard to certain topics. He felt he'd been successful in both endeavors and had much to think about.
Having hidden his true nature most of his life, he had become a very careful and subtle observer of others. Though she'd never known it, he'd watched Hermione closely when he asked about the party, when he mentioned Draco—just the once!—and when he'd probed her about Wickham. Her reactions were exactly as he would have predicted based on what he already knew of her.
Namely, she'd had nothing to do with Molly Weasley's crass comments, she had a tendre that she was barely acknowledging to herself for his best friend (eclipsing even the dangerously gorgeous Rémy Leon, no less) and she had no feelings for Jack Wickham beyond an amused sort of friendliness and mild protective impulse based on whatever fantasy story Wickham had fed her about his circumstances.
All of these conclusions pleased Theo and he hummed as he walked to his next appointment. He loved Draco dearly and had decided after much thought that Hermione would be very good for him. He wanted to do what he could to help his friend see that, but he also knew Draco was understandably intractable when it came to Wickham, and wouldn't consider anyone who'd been with him in any way. So these developments were encouraging, indeed.
Theo had suspected Hermione was made of finer stuff and he was right. Now just to help pull his best mate's head from his arse. Luckily he had a few strategies in mind for that. He grinned to himself as he pushed open the door to his fencing club and entered the cool, white interior.
Striding into the changing room he spotted Draco right away, half dressed in his whites, pulling a thin undershirt over his head. "You're late," he growled, clearly displeased that he'd have to wait while Theo got into his gear.
"Oh go get your practice thrusts in," Theo tossed over his shoulder as he removed his shoes. "I won't be two minutes."
Draco grumbled and exited to the salle. Once Theo joined him their bout began with a polite salute but quickly turned aggressive. Theo, usually the better fencer, found himself parrying and retreating down the piste at a rapid pace, Draco's attacks and lunges pushing him off the strip in record time. He had a strong suspicion what his friend's display was about—Draco had been in a foul mood since the party.
Theo gamely regrouped, more than willing to be the punching bag if it helped Draco work off his pique. But although he was more focused and intent in his attacks, he was again pushed off piste, with Draco applying a punishing bind to his foil for emphasis.
"Stop holding back," Draco snapped at him. "Let's have a real match."
Theo nodded once, tacitly agreeing to take off the kid gloves. He and Draco then engaged in furious combat, trading hits and points, blades ringing and clashing as they moved rapidly up and down the strip. Theo vaguely noticed that they had attracted the attention of others in the club, who drifted over to watch the match. Draco's energy and intensity matched against Theo's calculated skill meant they traded points equally for some time.
Finally, expertise won out with Theo combining a diabolical riposte with a compound attack to best Draco for the winning point, the two of them finishing practically chest to chest and gasping for air. They held still for a moment and then grinned at each other before breaking apart for the formal salute signalling the end of the match.
Theo clapped Draco on the back as they headed to the changing room, "that was the best I've ever seen you! You were a fury!"
"Still couldn't beat you, though" Draco said with a slight smile.
"Yes but I was fighting for my life the whole time," Theo stripped out of his whites and strolled back to the showers. Standing under the hot spray, he considered how best to address his friend's… emotional state.
"Where were you coming from before the match?" said Draco over the noise of the water.
Thank you very much for the perfect opening. Theo smothered a smile as he rinsed his hair. "I was having brunch!"
"With Blaise?" yelled Draco, water sluicing over his face and chest.
Theo snorted. Blaise was always banging on about brunch being one of the best ways to 'find fit tail on a Sunday'.
"No, Hermione!" he replied while pretending to scrub his face, but secretly watching his friend's reaction. Draco, who had been hanging his head under the hot water letting it massage the back of his neck, jerked up involuntarily, but didn't say anything. Theo turned off the shower and buried his smirking face in a towel.
Draco also cut off his shower and grabbed a towel, drying himself and tying it around his waist. "Was she well?" he asked after a lengthy pause.
"Oh yeah, great," said Theo with a blasé wave of his hand. "She had all kinds of tips for my Italy holiday. I should have kept a list."
Draco grunted and started getting dressed.
"I'm glad I asked her. I want to keep in touch with her," Theo mused. "I like that witch. She's very different from our usual crowd. Different from how I thought she was at school." He was careful to keep his tone neutral. "I got the impression she was mortified by Molly Weasley's remarks at the party."
Draco's head snapped up. "She mentioned that? Wait, how did you hear about it?" his eyes narrowed.
"House elves. And no, she didn't mention it. She just went bright red and uncomfortable when I asked her if she had a good time. I can't think of any other reason she'd react that way."
"Maybe because she was still fucked off that you didn't invite her twat-with-benefits, Wickham," Draco bit off. "Pansy told me she made a scene when she realised he wasn't there."
"No, she didn't," said Theo, rolling his eyes and giving Draco a, 'you really believed Pansy?' look. "To be honest, I don't think she cared much," he continued as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Wickham's name came up today and she's definitely not involved with him. Never has been, thank Merlin. I suspected she had better taste. I'm glad I was right. Couldn't really friends with her otherwise." He mock shuddered. "I don't even think they're really friends, although I do think the little shite fed her some sob story. She definitely feels sorry for him. But she knows he's a skirt-chasing tosser. She told me she figured it out within an hour of meeting him. Can't say I'm surprised. She's a sharp one," Theo chuckled.
Draco stared blankly for a moment and Theo grinned to himself. There's something to think about, eh mate?
"Speaking of, did you see the engagement announcement in the Prophet yesterday? Wickham and Gladiola?" Theo chattered on. Draco nodded, an expression of disgust breaking his trance. "I mentioned it to Hermione and she actually laughed when I asked if she was ok with it. She was concerned for Glady, though. I told her that's a witch who can definitely take care of herself. Although we'll see how long her new fiance sticks around if mummy and daddy cut off her allowance," Theo snorted. "Did Jonnie mention it when you saw her the other night? I saw that picture of you two in the Prophet. She also seemed upset at the party. Alistair must be fucking around again."
Draco shook his head. "She didn't and he is. Although I don't know if Jonquil and Glady are as close as they used to be. Alistair seems to drive all Jonnie's friends away. I'd like to hex that arsehole's bollocks off. She also needs to wake up and leave him."
Theo nodded. "She really does."
"Did you say anything to Granger about Astoria's, uh my, recent history with Wickham?"
"Of course not," said Theo, suddenly very serious. "Although you might want to consider a discreet lunch with Glady before things become official…" Draco nodded slowly.
Theo gathered his gear, intending to apparate home and let Draco sit with his thoughts. He knew from experience that his friend would need time to come to his own conclusions about what Theo had fed him today.
"Well I'm off!" he said, rubbing Draco's back briskly. "See you Thursday for Daph's birthday drinks? And give my love to Astoria. Can't wait to see her now that she's back in London."
"Yeah, thanks mate. Will do." Draco muttered distractedly, waving a hand over his shoulder.
Theo chuckled again as he strode out, pleased with the day's work.