Draco stood in front of the full length mirror in his room as he fixed his collar. He surveyed his chosen attire.
Black blazer, white button-down and dark denim pants.
He smiled at himself in satisfaction then left his room to go downstairs. He went into the living room and took a seat in his armchair picking up a book. Blaise had told him he'd be there by five o'clock and from there they'd both head over to The Burrow. Draco refused to take the chance that he might accidently show up earlier than Blaise.
The green flames from the floo erupted and Blaise Zabini stepped out from the Malfoy Manor's fireplace.
"Good evening mate," Blaise grinned and Draco scowled.
"How long does this whole thing last?"
"Well let's see," Blaise mocked deep contemplation, "it's a Christmas party so I'm guessing...until Hanukah maybe?"
At Draco's glare Blaise sighed.
"Man, it's Christmas Eve, lighten up," he nudged him. "Hey, and Granger will be there."
"Why do I care?" Draco asked.
"I thought you had a thing for her, back at Hogwarts our...eighth year. You were head boy and she was-"
"Blaise I'm not senile I can remember three years ago. And yes, Granger was Head Girl," Draco cut in.
"You liked her," Blaise blatantly pointed out.
Draco shrugged, "She was alright."
"No, you liked her. You fancied her," Blaise corrected himself.
"I did not," Draco shook his head at Blaise as if the idea was absurd. "You're delusional."
Blaise held up is hands in defence, "Fine, fine. Whatever are you ready to go?"
Draco nodded and Blaise entered the fireplace first grabbing a handful of floo powder. "The Burrow," he said clearly.
Draco followed suit after a few seconds of hesitation.
The 'idea' wasn't absurd. It was the truth.
Hermione wrapped her hair in a towel and tied her robe around her as she came out of her bathroom. She padded across the hardwood floor of the corridor and into her bedroom.
She had lived there for several months but every time she walked into her bedroom she found something else she wanted to change. Walking in then, she decided her nightstand needed to be turned and the lamp should be periwinkle to match the walls, not cream like the furniture.
After already being at the Ministry for three years plus the reward money from all those years striving to help Harry defeat Voldemort (though they insisted it wasn't necessary the Wizarding World as a whole disagreed) she had saved up enough to buy the moderately sized suburban house she lived in now.
When Hermione had first seen it she had fallen in love with it at once. Though it was in a muggle neighbourhood everything was spread out well enough and the house was farther off at the end of a cul-de-sac. It was two stories with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The outside was painted a light cream colour and there was a small yard in the front and a larger one in the back. She had planted a flowerbed in the front with tulips and lavender. There was a white wraparound porch as well with a biscotti coloured porch swing.
Using magic Hermione had been able to change everything inside the house to her liking and in two weeks she found she was satisfied with her work.
Hermione opened the door to her walk in closet and stepped inside deciding what colour to wear. Thanks to Ginny everything in her closet was sorted by colour. Though Hermione was a very organized person she had never cared much when it came to clothing. But after the reward Ginny had insisted she keep some of the money to work on her wardrobe and after a lot of resistance on Hermione's part she caved and gave in.
She ran her hands over the flowy material of a few dresses before pulling out two. One was a red v-neck with thick straps that came down to about her knees the other a light blue sweetheart neck-lined off the shoulder dress that was a little longer reaching just past her knees. She held each dress up to her body in front of the mirror and chose the blue one.
The blue complimented her brown eyes and caramel and chocolate hair colour better. Stepping into the dress she stretched to pull the zipper up from behind her and then put on her long black pea coat. She used her wand to put her hair up in a twist letting on a few strands frame her face.
She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. Even she had to admit, she looked quite pretty. She went over to the fireplace and took a handful of the floo powder that sat on the mantel. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for the rush of travelling through the floo she closed her eyes, "The Burrow!"
"Ron," Mrs. Weasley called as she bustled around the kitchen in preparation for her family's annual Christmas Eve party, "when is Hermione going to get here? She is coming isn't she?"
"Yes Mum," Ron rolled his eyes in exasperation, "she will be here."
"I hope she comes," Ginny said walking into the kitchen. "I haven't seen her in ages." She shot a look in Ron's direction. She blamed the whole thing on him. In her mind Hermione was right to break up with Ron.
Ginny looked at the time, "Oh it's almost five o'clock! Blaise is going to be here soon."
Ron rolled his eyes again at that.
"Oh Mum I forgot to mention, Blaise asked if it was okay if he brought a friend with him. He said he was going to be alone on Christmas Eve," Ginny told Mrs. Weasley, "the friend of course not Blaise."
Mrs. Weasley smiled, "Of course Ginny. That's fine."
"Did I mention it was Draco Malfoy?" Ginny smiled weakly but surprisingly Mrs. Weasley's smile didn't falter a bit.
"Oh that's nice," she nodded.
"Draco Malfoy?" Ron exclaimed. "You're kidding. You can't bring him here."
"Oh grow up Ron," Ginny snapped.
"Mum! Do something! She can't bring Malfoy over here!"
"Stop yelling Ronald. And Draco is welcome to come here," Mrs. Weasley spun around to face her two youngest children. She placed her hands on her hips, "Nobody should be alone on Christmas Eve."
"Thank you Mum," Ginny gave Ron a victorious look before skipping off to the living room to sit and await the arrival of her boyfriend.
Hermione stepped out instead though.
"'Mione!"
"Ginny!" the two girls embraced each other before pulling back and looking each other over.
Hermione smiled, "Ginny you look great."
Ginny wore a deep brown empire waist spaghetti-strapped dress with a soft pink ribbon tied in her hair to keep her hair off her face. It was simple yet sweet.
"So how are you?" Hermione asked. "I haven't talked to you since..."
"No kidding. I've been okay," Ginny sat down and pulled Hermione to sit with her. "Do you remember Blaise Zabini?"
As soon as the words came out of her mouth the mentioned former Slytherin sauntered out of the floo and into the living room himself.
"Blaise!" Ginny ran and flung her arms around his neck pressing her lips to his briefly.
"I do now," Hermione laughed.
"Right. Sorry. Blaise, Hermione. Hermione, Blaise."
"Hey, good to see you again," Hermione and Blaise stood awkwardly in front of each other before Blaise opened his arms and hugged Hermione quickly.
"Look at that, already in the Weasley spirit," Ginny kissed his cheek and then led him into the kitchen. "Come on you have to say hello to my Mum. Don't forget the hug."
Hermione sighed and took her seat back on the sofa. She nearly fell off however though when from the fireplace came another former Slytherin.
"Malfoy?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
"Granger I assure you this is not at my own will," Draco said. Hermione stood up again.
"Well either way," Hermione leaned in a hugged him, "it's nice to see you again."
"Granger," he stood stiffly in her arms, "what the hell are you doing hugging me?"
Hermione let go and grinned at him, "You're in the Weasley's house Malfoy. Hugging is the common greeting; also watch your language Molly has no tolerance for bad mouths."
Hermione gave Draco a once over as he did the same to her.
Draco had to say, Hermione looked pretty good. Really good. She was gorgeous.
And Draco, Hermione told herself, looked sharp in his blazer and button-down. He looked...attractive. He looked hot.
Both their eyes met again and Hermione shook her head to rid the thoughts, "Come on, you should meet the rest of the family."
"How many are there again?"
"Seven kids, then Arthur and Molly."
Draco nodded, "It's amazing they can remember each other's name let alone those twins."
"Hey tha-"
Draco cut her off, "It was a joke Granger. No insult intended."
"Come on."
They both went into the kitchen Draco trailing behind Hermione and Hermione stepped aside to let Draco greet Mrs. Weasley.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Draco sounded slightly uncertain as he spoke and Mrs. Weasley paused in her conversation with Ginny and Blaise to turn towards them.
"Hermione! And Draco!" she exclaimed. "Lovely to see you dears."
"Hi Molly," Hermione smiled and gave the woman a tight hug before releasing her with a smile.
"Nice to see you too Mrs. Weasley," Draco answered back politely.
"Molly," the short redhead corrected. "So Blaise tells us you two are working at St. Mungos?"
Draco and both Blaise nodded, "Yeah, after a year and a half of training and volunteering in the hospital wing at Hogwarts we were hired at St. Mungos as Healers."
"Healers?" Hermione repeated. "That's great. So what's working at like?"
"It's good," Draco said, "Everyone there is nice. Easy to work with. The patients are interesting to talk to."
Ron wandered back into the kitchen, "Oh," he looked around dumbly. His eyes landed on Hermione and he put on a weak smile as he cautiously went over to hug her, "Hey 'Mione." He went to peck her on the lips but she turned her head so he caught her cheek.
"Hey Ron," she smiled back. And Draco eyed the couple curiously.
He had always expected a part of the Golden Trio to get together. But it just seemed awkward actually seeing it.
"So," Hermione tried to subtly put some distanced between her and Ron, "when does everyone else get here?"
"Well Bill and Fleur are coming for dinner, they're going to visit Fleur's family first and they want the baby to have an early night. And Charlie coming later on, he had other engagements," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Percy isn't coming...but Fred and George should be here any minute. Harry too."
"Where's Arthur?" Hermione tilted her head in confusion, realizing she hadn't seen the paterfamilias.
Ron and Ginny looked around too, "Yeah, where'd Dad go?"
"He's upstairs wrapping the last of the presents," Mrs. Weasley told them.
Ginny offered Draco and Blaise a quick tour of the house and they both followed her around the house. Mrs. Weasley went back to her cooking and Hermione and Ron stood, staring at each other in awkward silence before Ron gestured to the living room and they both went and sat down.
"You look beautiful 'Mione," Ron complimented.
"Thank you," Hermione didn't meet his eyes and Ron sighed.
"So we're going to have to make this look real," he lowered his voice before continuing. "I mean it should be too hard considering it was only a month ago we actually were dating. Now, I think you need to loosen up you're acting really tense and-"
"Ron, don't," Hermione said firmly. "Just stop. Look I'm not here for your sake. I'm here because I like being around your family, and I don't want to put a damper on Christmas by announcing the fact that we broke up over a month ago and you didn't think it necessary to inform them."
He stared at her.
"I'm here Ron, just like you asked," she got up, "don't expect anything else."
She left the room quickly going upstairs to find Ginny, Blaise, and Draco on the third floor.
They were making their way back downstairs and Hermione fell behind Blaise and Ginny, walking next to Draco on the narrow staircase.
"So Malfoy what exactly are you doing here?" she looked behind her, up at him in question and he glanced at her.
"Well, Blaise blackmailed me into coming with him. He figured he'd stand a better chance against the brothers if he had someone to stand with him."
"Blackmailed you with what?" Hermione asked.
Draco smirked in amusement, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
She smiled, "Only if you'd tell me."
"I'm thinking no."
"And I'm hoping later."
A/N: Okay so there's the second chapter. I hope you liked it. Please review. Pretty please. Thanks for reading.
Anyways,
Scarlett