Chapter 19
Hermione, Harry, and Pansy were hanging out in Draco's living room about a week before Christmas; Draco had gone to dinner with his parents and Scorpius had already gone down for the night. Harry and Pansy were bickering again - they were meant to be watching a movie but the pair of them couldn't agree on one - so Hermione just tuned them out. As it turned out some grudges weren't so easily left behind and the two of them despised each other. But both were stubborn, unwilling to give up any time with their best friend in order to avoid having to be in the others presence, and as a result Hermione was often surrounded by two people constantly at each other's throats. It might have been funny if it wasn't so annoying.
Luckily for Hermione, she was caught up in the throes of new love. She and Draco could hardly keep their hands off of each other, and so she had plenty of material to distract her, allowing her to get caught up in a day dream and ignore them. She was hoping Draco would hurry up and get home- unlike her, he would have no issue just kicking the annoying pests that were their best friends out of the house- so they could go to bed early, when somebody called her name.
"Granger!" Pansy suddenly shouted, making her jump. The other witch made an effort to call her by her first name, but when she was irritated- which was most of the time- she often slipped up.
"What?"
"I've called your name three times. Now, I'm happy that Draco's sexual prowess seems to have improved since we last slept together, but do you think you could stay with us for a few minutes?" She snarked.
Hermione absently wondered if she should have been offended by this reminder that her boyfriend and the witch in front of her had once been intimate, but she just couldn't muster it.
"He was that bad, huh?" Harry snickered.
Pansy glared at him. "He was very sweet and I'll always be glad that he was my first, but teenage boys aren't known for their technique or their stamina, I doubt you were any better."
"Alright, alright," Harry demurred immediately and Hermione assumed it was because he hadn't had any kind of sex life at sixteen, but she wasn't going to provide Pansy with that kind of material on him, so she stayed quiet. "I'd rather not talk about Malfoy having sex at all, but especially with Hermione," he griped.
Which was exactly the wrong thing to say, because it just egged Pansy on, she looked at Hermione. "I'm correct to assume he's improved, right? His, shall we say, natural attributes, were already very impressive, and he's a generous man, I can only imagine he's become a generous lover. Not to mention that you were looking pretty satisfied when I got here this morning. But if I need to have a talk with him, let me know," she said with a smirk, her voice low and conspiratorial.
"No Pansy," she rolled her eyes, "everything is good on that front. You're right, I'm very satisfied."
"La, la, la, la, la," chanted Harry loudly, hands covering his ears.
"Oh grow up," Pansy snapped, and then turned back to Hermione, "now please tell me that Potter has some sort of twisted Gryffindor sense of humor that I'm incapable of understanding, and that he was joking when he said he was taking you to the Ministry Yule Gala?"
"And once again I ask," said Harry loudly, "why would that be a joke?"
"It's not," Hermione confirmed.
"But you're in a relationship with Draco. I thought you said you were serious about him, Granger," she practically growled.
"I am! I would never lie about that."
"Then why on earth would you let another wizard take you to the Ministry's premier yearly event? Especially Harry bloody Potter of all people!" She waved her hands about wildly as she spoke- her voice very high and hysterical sounding. It was very disconcerting coming from somebody who usually prided herself on being in control at all times.
"Hey!" Harry objected.
"Oh do be quiet," Pansy hissed in his direction.
"What's wrong with Harry?" Hermione wondered.
Pansy rolled her eyes, "where do I start?"
"Bitch," he muttered.
"But what I mean," she talked over him loudly, "is that there have been rumors for years about the two of you."
"Those aren't true," responded Hermione immediately. "There's never been anything either romantic or sexual between us."
"I know that, and you know that, but good luck convincing the general public of that. Especially if you show up at such an exclusive event together, just weeks after his divorce is finalized. Do you realize how that will look?"
Hermione sighed. "Like two friends attending an event together? And anyway who cares? If I've learned anything over the years it's that there is no pleasing everybody."
"Well, it's all well and good for you to be so carefree, but Draco doesn't have that luxury," Pansy said. If Hermione wasn't mistaken she was beginning to become quite frustrated and Hermione felt like she was missing an obvious point, which was the height of frustration for her.
She took a deep breath. "Draco said it was fine if I went with Harry, as I promised him I would months ago."
"Oh Salazar help me, he really is totally gone for you."
"What? We're just going as friends. Draco knows there's not anything going on between Harry and I." She wasn't jerking him around, she'd been very clear with Draco about her feelings for Harry and he knew they'd had these plans for months and she didn't feel right abandoning them.
"Hermione, look, Draco doesn't play around. Unless something goes spectacularly awry, I'm looking at the next Lady Black." Hermione blinked at her. Marriage. But Pansy was still speaking, ignorant of what she'd just said. "And I get it, you like to bend the rules, you probably don't have a whole lot of respect for many of them anyway, but you can't just throw the entire book out the window.
"What does that mean?'
"That there are certain proprieties that must be maintained or it will look like Draco doesn't respect you. Or that you don't respect him. It may be old fashioned but is that the message you want to send? Astoria is a bitch but she at least toed the line."
"Right," Hermione snorted, "by abandoning her son."
"Actually- and I'm not saying that I agree with what she did at all, though I do think Scorpius is better off without her- their custody arrangement isn't public and even if it was, most people would agree that, as his heir, Scorpius belongs with Draco."
Hermione cut her eyes in Harry's direction who just shrugged.
Pansy seemed to notice the by-play. "What?"
"It's just that Ginny filed for primary custody of their kids."
Pansy didn't notice, or ignored the tension in the air. "Well, it's not like the Weasleys have ever been traditional," she said with a roll of her eyes and she seemed to be suppressing a smirk. "And she didn't get it, did she?" She asked knowingly.
Harry and Hermione exchanged another glance. Neither were comfortable with how much seemed to be going on beneath their notice. And they were both high ranking Ministry officials.
"Okay, so what does all this mean?" Hermione asked after a moment. "It's all just nonsense anyway!"
Pansy huffed, stood up from her armchair and came to sit next to Hermione on the sofa. "Granger- Hermione," she said delicately, "this isn't about the truth, this is about appearances."
Hermione opened her mouth to respond but the other witch held up a hand to stop her.
"Maybe you don't care about that, but if you really care about Draco you have to consider him in this too. You get a certain amount of leeway as a war heroine, and Potter's best friend, and even as a muggleborn, which Draco simply doesn't get. He's worked hard to rebuild his reputation, don't ruin that because you told a friend you would do him a favor months ago. He's Harry Potter, he can get himself another date," she snapped her fingers, "like that."
"Don't want another date," Harry grumbled, petulantly crossing his arms over his chest.
"You say that as if I care," Pansy snapped back without even looking at him.
Hermione sighed. "But I don't understand how me attending the gala with Harry does anything to Draco's reputation. Only our close friends even know we're together, there's no reason for us to even be associated."
"But that's going to change soon, right? Very soon, Merlin, Hermione he's telling his parents right now!" Pansy stopped and seemed to think about this. "Why is he telling his parents tonight if you aren't even going to the gala together? I thought he wanted to give them a heads up about that."
"He wanted to tell them before Christmas. We have some plans with my parents and he didn't want to lie to them about them."
"Oh they're just going to love that," she muttered sarcastically. "Anyway, when you do go public everybody will wonder why you were with Potter and not Draco. It'll make you look flighty. They're already going to be questioning his motives. Unless you plan to keep your relationship quiet for at least another month, that will look very bad, and enough people know now Granger, it could leak."
"My friends would never!" Hermione objected automatically.
She'd been quietly informing her friends of her new relationship after she and Draco had been together for about a month- right after Pansy found out about them. They'd all been wonderfully supportive- and yes, she counted the fact that George had been restrained enough to only send Draco one pranked package as being supportive.
Pansy shrugged, "maybe not intentionally, but are you completely sure that one of them might not accidentally slip up when you and Draco are in the same room and there's alcohol involved? Also, I know you've told at least one Weasley, will he not tell his family? Can they all be trusted?"
"Fuck," said Harry quietly, Hermione shot him a questioning gaze. "Well you told George he could break it to his family as he saw fit. Arthur loves you, I think he'll keep them in line, keep anybody from doing anything drastic, but that doesn't mean that Ron, or even Molly might not say something offhand."
Pansy gave her a pointed look. "And then there are Lucius and Narcissa."
"I assumed they'd prefer if nobody knew. I mean, I doubt they're going to be thrilled about the news." Hermione responded.
In actuality, Draco had looked nearly sick when he'd left for the Manor earlier that evening, she'd wanted to go with him, but he'd vehemently refused and told her that he'd feel much better if she stayed with Scorpius. And that vehemence had been the reason that she hadn't even hinted that Pansy should leave the house, even though she'd been scheduled to spend an evening with just her best friend while his kids were with Ginny. Because she couldn't bear to banish Draco's best friend from his own house when she strongly suspected that he might need her support by the end of the night.
"I honestly don't know, they're a wildcard here. If Lucius can find a way to use this to his advantage, he will. Honestly, he's the biggest reason you need to convince the public that what you have with Draco is real, leave his father with as little room for manipulation at possible."
And that's when they heard the pop of apparition from the front room and the stomping of feet. Hermione winced. Draco moved with grace and poise, it was a very bad sign that he was stomping into his house. He entered the room, fairly ripping off his outer robes, did a double take at the sight of Harry and Pansy, but just shook his head and kept moving. He marched up to Hermione, lifted her into his arms and fell to the sofa with her in his lap as Pansy scurried away to give him room. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply.
There was a long silence, only the sounds of the gigantic flat screen telly in the background, and even Harry looked mildly concerned.
Eventually Hermione began to carefully card her fingers through his hair. "That bad?" She wondered.
He raised his head to look at her. "However bad you're imagining, it was worse," he sighed. "Effie," he called quietly.
She popped in immediately. "Yes master?"
"Will you bring me a glass of firewhiskey please? Actually, just bring the whole bottle." Effie looked like she was going to object. "I have guests," he said, gesturing around him.
"Four glasses then. Master Draco will not be drinking that all by himself," she wagged a finger at him.
"Of course not."
She popped away and Hermione was almost tempted to reprimand him for not getting his own drink. But she knew- especially given Draco's hands on parenting philosophy- that Effie didn't really have enough to do, and that she was always grateful to be given tasks. And Draco didn't take advantage of her in anyway, so she kept her mouth shut.
They waited until Effie returned with the drinks- she thoughtfully provided Hermione with a glass of wine instead of firewhisky- before anybody spoke again.
"Okay Draco, it's not like you to let your parents get to you like this, not for years at least. What happened?" Asked Pansy.
"Mother invited a woman to dinner, it was a set-up. And I use 'woman' in the broadest possible terms, the girl couldn't have been more than nineteen and she was terrified. I have no idea what Mother did to get her there."
"Wow, Narcissa," Pansy muttered to herself.
"Well, that must have made things awkward when you told them," said Hermione, trying to lighten the mood. "Or did you even get the opportunity to tell them?" She asked, realizing that he might not have wanted to discuss their relationship in front of a stranger.
"Oh, I didn't have to tell them, they already knew, hence the milquetoast at dinner." He chuckled bitterly, "they knew that I was dating Hermione Granger and yet they thought that I would be distracted by a piece of blonde fluff who could barely look me in the eyes."
"Wait, how did they know?" Asked Hermione.
"I forgot that Mother has eyes and ears everywhere. We were seen together that first day in Diagon Alley and somebody reported that I came to see you at the Ministry the next week. And then, given my move to the muggle world, apparently it was fairly obvious."
"Why didn't they say anything before?"
"They were giving me the opportunity to get you out of my system," he snorted, then scratched the back of his neck rather sheepishly. "It got rather ugly after Father said that."
"I should hope so!" Harry growled.
Hermione's head snapped up, she was so focused on Draco she'd almost forgotten there were other people here. Her best friend looked absolutely incensed on her behalf.
"What did you say to that?" Harry demanded.
"I said that Hermione was not the kind of witch you got out of your system and that they were just going to have to get used to her being in my and Scorpius' lives." Then he visibly hesitated.
"It's okay, go ahead, I'd rather just know," she said quietly.
"It's not okay," he emphasized. "They're concerned about a witch like you being so involved in raising Scorpius."
"You mean a muggleborn."
"They're not thrilled that you have a career either. They think it's a sign that your values don't align with theirs."
"Well, they don't," she snorted.
"Which I consider to be a good thing." He sighed. "And I said I was far more concerned about their influence on Scorpius." He rubbed his left forearm absently.
"Oh Draco," she heard Pansy gasp and Hermione attempted to cuddle even closer to him. "You know this isn't really about Hermione, don't you?" She continued.
"Come again?"
"Well, okay," she conceded, "it's partially about Hermione, I'm sure they're not thrilled at the prospect of a muggleborn daughter-in-law." She looked at Hermione apologetically.
"It's fine," she said, "I already knew that."
"But it's much more about them wanting a daughter-in-law that they can manipulate and control, and it's fairly common knowledge that Granger here isn't that kind of witch. Hence, as you said, the milquetoast." She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at Draco like he was being very stupid.
Draco just stared at her for a long time and Hermione recognized that they were communicating silently, then he looked away and dropped his head with a groan, "I'm an idiot," he said, switching his firewhiskey to the hand that was around her waist so that he had one free to wipe at his eyes in a frustrated manner. "I should have seen something like this coming."
"You're in love and it's obviously clouded your judgement," Pansy snickered, reaching over to pat his knee.
Draco colored and dipped his head again but he didn't deny her assertion.
"Are you?" Harry asked sharply.
"Yes, absolutely," Draco confirmed before Hermione could reprimand her friend.
"Good," Harry said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking like he couldn't be sure if he meant it or not.
"Okay, now we have another problem, what kind of sign do you think it sends to the Malfoys if you appear at that gala with Potter, Granger? Do you think they'll ever take your relationship seriously. You have maybe one shot at this, don't blow it."
"It's okay Pans, I told her it was okay."
"It is not okay, Draco. And do you think you're really doing her any favors by just letting her think that she can act anyway that she pleases? You're setting her up for failure, nobody will take her seriously."
"She's the Assistant Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, plenty of people take her seriously."
"You know what I meant. People in our set."
"Who cares?"
She breathed carefully in through her nose and out through her mouth. "Merlin you sound like one of them!" She gestured between Hermione and Harry. "Don't pretend you don't care about her reputation. You have to treat her like you'd treat pureblood girl or she'll never get any respect, it's already going to be an uphill battle."
Hermione glanced at Harry, it was obvious to her that Pansy's arguments were getting to him and she wondered if the other witch suspected that mentioning her reputation would be persuasive to him.
"She's right, Hermione," he said softly. "It's fine, I can go to the gala by myself."
"I don't understand what the big deal is Potter, just get a date."
"It's not that simple, Pansy," Hermione was beginning to understand her point of view, but she was also becoming annoyed with her attitude. "As you said, he's Harry Potter, he can't just go on a casual date. Would you advise Draco to just take out random witches if he were single?"
Pansy opened her mouth and shut it again.
"Did you think I would be any less protective of Harry?" Hermione asked, daringly raising her eyebrows.
"Okay, point taken," Pansy rubbed her temples in frustration. "Fine, I'll go with Potter." She looked at the dark haired wizard expectantly.
Hermione actually startled so violently on Draco's lap that he clasped her to him. "That wasn't what I meant," she murmured.
Draco inhaled deeply, his lips to her temple. "Let them work it out," he encouraged.
"I'm sorry, do I get any say in this?" Asked Harry.
"Not unless you want to be left at the mercy of mercenary witches." Pansy snapped, before anybody else could respond. "I'll guard your back, I'm in no danger of falling for your charms and your vaults don't impress me." She smirked at him and rolled her eyes. "I'm doing this for Draco, you should do it for Hermione, so she's not worried about you all night."
He looked at her for a long moment and extended his hand. "Deal. And maybe we could call a truce for the night?"
"I'll see if I can manage it," she sighed taking his hand.
"Did we just witness the beginning of the apocalypse?" Draco murmured into Hermione's ear.
"I don't know, but I think we should just stay out of it and hope they don't kill each other," she whispered in return.
00000000000
She was the one to hear Scorpius call out the next morning. She tried to pull away from Draco but he just made a sound of protest and pulled her more firmly against him and then began snoring softly into the crook of her neck. Luckily, she'd become an expert at escaping his clutches over the past weeks. She pinched the back of his hand, not enough to hurt or wake him, just so that he froze and she could scurry out of his arms.
She hadn't gotten her wish for an early night. Draco, for all his big talk, had been deeply affected by his parents complete disregard for his wishes. She'd sensed it, Pansy had sensed it, and Harry had been in no hurry to return to an empty house. So, they'd finally watched that movie, had a little too much to drink, and it was nearly midnight before their friends had left. And even then Draco hadn't wanted to turn in, and they had laid on his plush sofa for the longest time, just holding each other. Given that Draco was not a morning person naturally, she wasn't particularly surprised that he was resisting waking so few hours later.
She entered the nursery to see that Scorpius was standing in his cot, eyes trained expectantly on the door, and the moment he caught sight of her, his face blossomed into a smile and he began bouncing excitedly. Her heart melted at his obvious joy in seeing her. He was just a baby, but he had his obvious preferences and Draco had been the one to get up with him for much longer than she had.
"Hi Bug," she cooed, approaching the cot and he immediately raised his arms for her. She lifted him out, chatting to him as she changed his nappy and then took him down the hall to the master suite.
Draco was fast asleep on his stomach, one arm stretched out towards where Hermione had been sleeping. She deposited Scorpius on the bed and he immediately crawled across the mattress and onto his father's back. She got in with them, it was Saturday, there was no reason not to.
Scorpius turned to look at her and then twisted his body so that he fell onto the mattress between their bodies, and something about that movement got Draco's attention.
"Daddy's sleeping Scorp," he murmured. One beat of silence, two, and then his head shot up in alarm. "Scorp?"
Hermione bit back a laugh- she hadn't actually meant to startle him, but his rumpled, sleepy reaction was too adorable. "I went and got him, sorry I didn't mean for him to wake you, but I didn't really stop it either," she explained.
He just hummed, a low contented sound and then reached out an arm to pull them both against him, Scorpius squished between them, though if his giggles were anything to go by, he didn't mind. But she didn't like that she couldn't see either of them as she was facing away from them, so she shifted onto her back and pulled Scorpius until he was mostly on top of her chest and she could feel Draco against her again.
"How are you?" She wondered, tilting her chin to kiss him good morning.
"I'm fine, last night wasn't anything I didn't expect," he wiped a hand down his face.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Whatever he had expected- and she knew those expectations hadn't been high- his parents had still obviously disappointed and hurt him. She could only assume it didn't help that they'd spent more than one evening in her parents company and they'd more or less welcomed him with open arms despite knowing the details of their history. And they adored Scorpius. In addition, her father had helped him pick out electronics for the new house- frankly she was slightly worried about that relationship, her father would be talking Draco into buying all sorts of gadgets in no time.
"Draco, if this, if us is too much-"
"Stop it," he snapped. "Stop trying to back out."
"I'm not, I want this more than anything, that's not issue," she assured him, "but you can't- shouldn't- shield me from the weight of your responsibilities. There are things about the world you grew up in that I don't innately understand, and I'll never fully get it without some help, no matter how many books I read."
"You shouldn't have to bow to their rules, and their prejudices," he protested.
She closed her eyes as she considered how to respond to that. "That's a lovely thought, but it's just not practical. I want to be taken seriously as your partner, Draco. And if you want to change the game, you have to know the rules of it first. I really appreciate your consideration, but that's not the way to go about it. You're just now learning the muggle world, right?" She prompted.
"Yes," he enunciated slowly.
"If there was some major rule of etiquette that you weren't aware of, which you were breaching, you'd want me to tell you, right?"
He went completely still and let out a breath. "That's different." Despite his words, she knew that she had him.
"It's not," she argued. "I understand and appreciate your need to protect me, but don't insult me by acting like I need to be shielded from the rules of your world when you fully expect to be held to the rules of my parents society."
He made a face and smoothed a hand over Scorpius' head, who was amusing himself twisting his fingers in Hermione's shirt. "I sat back and just reacted for too long. I'm tired of doing that."
"Okay, I get that." She looked up and smiled at him, at his obvious concern for her. "We can take on this world, but if we're going to do this, then we do it together."
And, as if on cue, they both looked down at the baby settled so contentedly between them, at what he represented, and what he meant to them both.
"Deal."
"Deal."
Author's Note: There's a whole bunch of Christmas themed chapters coming up for this story, I hope to post them over the holiday season so all the encouragement would be SO appreciated. Weestarmeggie, you rule!