Chapter 2 - Hermione Granger
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Harry Potter
Grinning broadly, Hermione stuck out her hand, and courteously took Malfoy's proffered one. Still smiling, Hermione glanced over to Blaise to see what he thought of Malfoy's reaction, and smirked at the knowledge that he was towering over her proudly. His face held a proud sneer at Malfoy's disbelief—disbelief over the fact that his favorite victim from Hogwarts, had grown up to be such a divine, and charming young woman.
"Hermione Granger," Draco said, regaining his supercilious manner, bowed down to kiss her hand in a suave manner. He made eye contact with Hermione and she blushed faintly.
"I must have missed you at the reunion or we would have surely—," Draco shook his head and raised his arms. "Well, never mind," he finished though the suggestive implications were clearly there.
"Well, it's not as if we were actually looking for each other," Hermione replied curtly, her face aloof and uncaring.
She retracted her hand and took Blaise's once more, as if reaffirming her association with him instead of with Draco.
Malfoy got the blatant allude, and shrugged it off. Then, turning to Blaise, he continued. "So you two are...?"
"Engaged," Hermione and Blaise said together, both smiling broadly. Blaise (who was notably taller than Hermione, the unmistakable shorter of the three) kissed her lightly on the cheek, which caused her to tighten her grip on his arm. She felt a little bit intimidated by Draco Malfoy, her tormentor for seven years in Hogwarts, and was now unaware of how to react to his blatantly flirtatious manner.
"Well this is clearly an—," Draco paused, as if searching for the right words, "interesting development? Blaise, you must tell me how this came to be," he finished finally, a slight gleam in his eyes, which Hermione deciphered to be as obvious disapproval.
Hermione, slightly enraged by Draco's opinion of her relationship, turned to face Blaise, and kissed him passionately, watching Draco's face turned from his usual pale color, to a reddened state. Smiling, she stopped, and smiled at Blaise's look of shock—yet definite approval—of her new found lust. Hermione turned to face a seething Malfoy, who was glowering at the smug look on Blaise's proud visage.
"This is," Draco began quickly, grabbing one of the women who had been standing near the entrance of the hotel "—Vivian. She's my girlfriend."
Blaise and Hermione snorted. They locked gazes and exchanged looks that clearly understood that Draco was trying to impress them, or rather, make Blaise jealous, in that he had seemingly gotten the 'better deal' out of the two of them. Draco always wanted to be the best. And he certainly wasn't going to be outplayed at the opening of hisown ceremony.
Vivian was—too put it mildly—a class 'A' bimbo. She was wearing a ludicrously tight, gold dress, made out of some metallic looking fabric, which was expensive, but came across as tacky and cheap. She had platinum blonde hair that was piled high on top her plastic, make-up laden face, and her lips were blown up way out of proportion to the rest of her face (which, for Hermione, clearly reaffirmed the horrors of collagen). In a high-pitched voice tinged with a Midwestern twang, she introduced herself, giggling like a love-struck, pampered teenager.
Draco turned, and waved to the crowd, giving his most commercial smile, which was plastered all over his brochures. He loved the spotlight, and was used to recognition by now. Blaise and Hermione merely stood there, and smiled sweetly at the few comments made about them.
Draco pecked Vivian on the cheek, before standing up on the slightly raised platform, where a lectern had been positioned.
Taking out a piece of paper from his tailor made jacket, he straightened it out, and placed it on the lectern. He made a slight cough, and tapped on the microphone to get everyone's attention.
Glancing down to the sheet, he read the first few lines to himself, and then looked up.
"Ladies and Gentleman," he began in a professional tone that seemed testament of the maturity all of them had reached. Yet even as she watched him up at the lectern, Hermione couldn't help feeling like they were back in school. Hermione had a fleeting image of herself, years younger, as a bucktoothed little know-it-all worn down by Draco's persistent teasing. Despite her current self-confidence, Hermione was eerily unnerved by this memory and found herself shaking slightly as Malfoy continued his speech.
"—and with that, I am proud to present to you, my latest installment of 'Malfoy Towers', the Malibu Palace!" A clap started somewhere in the crowd and circulated quickly. Draco paused, smirking wildly before continuing. "It is my great pleasure to open the hotel, so without further ado, I hand the honor to my best-friend, and right hand man, Mr. Blaise Zabini."
Draco turned around, and just before the mass of people could begin clapping, he spun around elegantly and added, "Yes, he is the same guy from the 'Witchi' case". Smirking at the embarrassed looking Blaise, he proceeded to laugh along with the other people.
Draco stepped back and purposefully brushed against Hermione who stepped back and frowned slightly. Draco ignored her and continued looking at Blaise, who was walking towards the huge doors which stood distinguished looking by the entrance. A magnificent red ribbon hung from each door, and in the middle there was placed large bow. Blaise moved strategically so that he was facing the crowd and cameras, and with one swift movement, cut the bow, which the public responded to, by cheering and clapping. Patted on the back by Draco, the celebrities, and the other guests who were invited to join them on the red carpet, entered the hotel.
Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth as she walked into the grand lobby. It was made entirely of shimmering glass, and with the huge chandeliers hanging way above them, the room sparkled with an artistic glow. Hermione smiled broadly.
It was like an ice palace.
In the center of the round lobby, was an ornate fountain, spouting out ice cold water. Circling the room, receptionists stood, looking flawless and beautiful and smiling as if they had got the best job in the world.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Draco whispered into Hermione's ear, suddenly materializing behind her so quickly that Hermione nearly choked on her own spit. Shuddering, Hermione cast him a disdainful look and continued walking, dignified, and graceful, as if Draco had never spoken to her. She peered over the tops of the socialites and VIP's walking in front of her, hoping to detect Blaise through the crowd.
No such luck.
"Guess you're stuck with me," Draco said, following Hermione and smirking at her look of disgust.
"What is wrong with you?" she whispered fiercely, finally turning to face him. "Blaise is supposed to be your friend!"
"Why Hermione Granger, whatever do you mean?" Draco queried with wide-eyed innocence, "If I didn't know you better I would think that you were trying to insinuate something."
"Me? You're the one who's hitting on me!" Hermione accused angrily.
"You're rather sure of yourself, Hermione," Draco grinned devilishly. "You know, as my guest of honor, you have not exactly been the most polite, respectful young lady all evening have you?"
Hermione shot him a look of loathing, but then sighed.
"I suppose you're right," Hermione agreed slowly. She straightened slightly, turning towards Draco who had stopped too, watching her eagerly and expectant.
"It's nice to meet you again Mr. Malfoy," Hermione rectified jovially.
Again, Draco took her hand, and kissed it lightly. "Please, call me Draco," he said magnanimously. Slightly embarrassed, Hermione smiled sweetly at him.
Once again, they started walking.
"So," Hermione said, wanting to break the ominous silence that had fallen between them, "where do you live?"
"Why? Going to come and track me down?" he joked.
Hermione gave him a waning look, which he returned with a wink.
"I was joking! In every hotel, I make my own 'presidential suite' reserved only for me. Quite useful really," he shrugged, looking ahead.
"Quite snobbish to be more precise," Hermione retaliated. She didn't however mean it seriously, and when Draco glanced up he noted the teasing smirk with surprising grace. He shrugged.
"At least I can admit it."
"How gallant of you!" Hermione chuckled. "So tell me, what's up with Vivian?"
"She's my girlfriend." Hermione was surprised by the cold tone Draco had suddenly assumed and realized with surprise that his face had a bland expression on his face.
"Oh." Hermione replied after a minute, at a loss for what else to say.
"Why, you interested in me?" He wondered conceitedly.
"You literally think the world revolves around you!" Hermione said vigorously.
"In case you haven't taken a look around," he said, waving at one of the many camera's turning to face there way "it does."
And with that, he swept graciously into the mass of photographers, reporters, and other fans, who would have willingly killed to be where Draco Malfoy was.
Walking into the ballroom, which had been designed in a similar fashion to the lobby, Hermione quickly surveyed the room, with the hopes of spotting Blaise. But as she continued to scrutinize the room, she found herself prioritizing Draco's appearance before her own fiancé's. Instinctively, she excused herself, and went to the bathroom. Walking into one of the stalls, she promptly took out her BlackBerry.
To: B.Z
From: H.Z
Hey! Where have you been? I'm hiding in the toilet! I tried to find you, but couldn't! Need any help?
Love you,
x
From: H.Z
To: B.Z
Hey darling, sorry I can't really text right now—having a conversation w/ D.M (don't want to be rude!) he's being his usual asinine self, so if you want to avoid him, I would wait a bit in the toilet.
Love you!
xox
p.s. you're the prettiest girl in this whole hotel!!! And almost def. all of Malibu!
"What the hell do you think your doing Zabini?" Malfoy spat loudly, "Marrying Hermione Granger!"
Blaise slammed his fist down on the table, earning himself a few disapproving looks from some of the people surrounding them.
"For your information," he began through gritted teeth, "Hermione is the best thing that's happened to me since I left Hogwarts!"
"How touching," Malfoy sneered, "but I cannot believe that you brought her, number one on my before-I-die-I-will-outsmart-her list, to my own ceremony! It's shameful how you and I used to rule Slytherin house, and now you're going to marry a Gryffindor! If someone had told me that this would happen to my best friend back in seventh year, I would have killed them!"
Blaise's voice shook with anger, "Why can't you just be happy for me?"
"Because she's not right for you!" Draco yelled matter of factly.
"So why are you trying to flirt with her then?" Blaise replied curtly.
"Zabini" Malfoy said, turning his body to face him directly "I would never try to flirt with a..." he paused looking round, to check no-one was listening, "a Mudblood," he whispered.
Blaise looked at him and burst out laughing.
"That's the best you can come up with?! Since Voldemort died, being pureblood is the insult! You need to update your insults Draco, because no one finds that one disrespectful anymore."
"But it's still an insult to me and you, and you know it, so don't pretend like you don't know what I mean," Malfoy bit out. Blaise cocked an eyebrow at his old friend.
"You're an unhappy man, aren't you Draco?"
"No," Draco snapped back.
"You know what you need?" Blaise chuckled "You need to get yourself a wife."
"I have a girlfriend, thank you very much," Draco reminded him dismissively, "and for your information, I like being the most sought after bachelor in Witch Weekly!"
"That doesn't mean anything, because the Weasel is second on that list," Blaise chortled.
"Don't remind me!" Draco groaned, sighing dramatically.
"No seriously," Blaise said, clapping a hand on Draco's shoulder, "ever since me and Hermione got serious—well, I've never been happier."
"That's great, but if you mean having sex, I've done that plenty and I'm not happy," Draco snarled spitefully.
"So you're agreeing that you're not happy?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No—yes—well, no," Draco stammered, clearly at a loss. Blaise laughed, continuing his spiel.
"And you know I'm not talking about sex. Ever since she moved in, life hasn't been better! Trust me on this; you need to get someone with class, intelligence, and beauty, not that air-headed slut that clings onto you only for your wealth." Draco winced.
"You noticed that?"
"Draco," Blaise said seriously, though there was a hint of a smile in his tone, "everyone's noticed."
"But then who am I supposed to be with?" Draco asked.
"Someone like Hermione," Blaise said dreamily. He glanced to Draco and noticed the sparkle of conspiracy glimmering in Draco's eyes. Suddenly, his eyes sparked in a dangerous manner, and he looked at Malfoy menacingly. In a shaky voice he said:
"I said like Hermione, don't you dare go after her!"
A/N: Hi there! Not much too say, but pleeeease review! I want to know what you think...good, bad? xx