"Ginny's coming over tonight."

Hermione was sitting in the living room, lounging in a comfy armchair with a book propped open on her lap and a mug of tea in her hands. She barely registered what Harry was saying, nodding in response with a quick "that's nice".

Harry was still standing in the room, and Hermione could see him shifting back and forth on his feet, hands stuffed in his pockets. She sighed and looked up from her book, peering at him over the rim of her mug. "Do I need to do anything? I'm sure Kreacher would be happy to cook-"

Harry cut her off. "She's bringing Malfoy." Then paused, winced. "Draco Malfoy."

"What?!" Hermione sat up quickly enough that her book tumbled to the floor and she only just managed to steady her tea. "Why on earth would she do that?"

Harry shrugged awkwardly and ran a hand through his perpetually messy hair. "I dunno. But I guess, well. There's been some talk that the Ministry are… are monitoring some couples, particularly those of us who are, uh, well known. Especially if we had relationships previously. And I suppose, with an influential pureblood family like Malfoy, they're watching them pretty closely. Then add in me being, well, me, and…" Hermione's brows had risen so much she would be surprised if she had any forehead left at all. "So, anyways, Ginny's bringing Malfoy with her as cover, I guess. We'll have a friendly-looking dinner party and then maybe, uhm, Ginny and I might-"

"I don't need the details." Hermione said quickly. "I'll, I can keep Malfoy occupied, I guess." She winced. "I mean, we'll probably be yelling so much that you'll have plenty of time to," she waved a hand, deciding she'd rather not voice it. "What time?"

Harry glanced at the clock on the mantle. "An hour?"

Hermione sighed, picking her book up from the floor and marking her page. "Great. Just, great."

True to their word, exactly an hour later Hermione heard the doorbell ring throughout the house. She took one last look in the mirror, and then mentally berated herself for the action. It wasn't that she felt the need to look nice, just that she'd rather not be a complete rat's nest if they were having company - but it wasn't like Malfoy was anyone she needed to impress. Tugging one strand of hair, she watched as it bounced back up into a curl and decided that it would all have to be good enough, before she turned and headed down the stairs for the entrance hall.

When she got there, Kreacher had opened the door to let in the guests. Harry and Ginny were hugging, probably for a bit too long by that point. Malfoy was standing behind the redhead, holding a bottle of wine and looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Into the lion's den, Hermione thought, and then cleared her throat to break up the lovebirds. Harry stepped back abruptly and she could see Ginny's ears turn the slightest shade of pink at the tips, before the small redhead rushed into her arms. Hermione returned the hug, squeezing her friend, glad to see she was all in one piece.

"Right," Harry began, awkwardly looking at the odd group assembled in the hallway. "Shall we, er, go into the dining room? I think dinner's just about ready."

Dinner was awkward, to say the least. For the most part, conversation had been amongst the three Gryffindors, and focused on surface level topics such as work and Quidditch scores and who else had gotten married and how warm it was getting outside.

Hermione ignored the fact that Harry and Ginny spent the entire meal undressing each other with their eyes, and thought for not the first time that maybe it was a good thing she hadn't been matched with Ron, if only because she never found herself looking at him like that.

Kreacher returned with a light pop and whisked the plates away from them with a hand wave. He snapped his fingers and plates of pie popped up in place of the dinner plates, and Hermione managed to quickly thank him before he had disappeared to the kitchen again.

Ginny laughed as this scene played out. "I don't know why you bother thanking him, Hermione! Nasty little bugger hates you."

Hermione levelled a glare at her friend. "Yes, well, that isn't exactly his fault, is it? Walburga was horrendous to him! No wonder he's so upset all the time. And Harry won't let me free him-"

"He doesn't want to be freed!" Harry said quickly.

"Well at least we could ask him!"

"Hermione, after everything with S.P.E.W.-"

It was at this moment that Draco, for the first time in the evening, responded to the conversation with a hearty laugh. "S.P.E.W.? Wasn't that your ridiculous project about setting free all those house elves at Hogwarts? Honestly, Granger. And you're supposed to be smart-"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Hermione said, snapping her head around to turn her glare on Malfoy now, much more intense than she had glared at Ginny. "Wizards treat house elves like, like rubbish! It's not alright to own anyone, Malfoy, whether or not they're an elf or a wizard."

Draco rolled his eyes at her, using the napkin on his lap to brush at his lips and then balling it up next to his empty plate. "I didn't see you cooking the meal, Granger."

Hermione nearly threw her hands in the air. "Well, maybe if I'd had more than an hour's notice that we were having company!" She shot Harry a look, and he did his best not to laugh in response. "Trust me, I am certainly not happy that he believes he belongs to us. But at least we pay him, and he can use that money to do whatever he pleases on his days off."

Draco now was laughing openly. "You give your house elf a day off?" The man leaned back in his seat, lifting a hand to wipe a non-existent tear off his eyes as his laughter subsided. "Oh, I haven't laughed like that in ages, Granger. Merlin. Days off."

Hermione was seething now, and his laughter was only fueling her anger. "Of course we give him days off! You can't, you can't just expect him to work every single day without any break!"

Draco shook his head, dismissive. "You don't get it. How could you?"

Rage was boiling up in her blood and she felt her fingernails digging in her palm, so angry she didn't notice as Harry and Ginny both stood and slipped away from the table. "How dare you say that to me, Malfoy? Because I'm a muggleborn? So I can't possibly understand wizarding culture - despite the fact that I've been in this world nearly half my life? I apologize if I can't rationalize slavery." She paused, eyes narrowing at him, hands shaking in rage. "Because, if you had any understanding at all, of anything, you would recognize exactly why I get it, and exactly why I am opposed to it!"

Draco flapped his hand, waving off her argument. "Granger, it's not the same thing as slavery. Elves are a different species. They're not human. We don't own people like barbarians. Besides. They have different magic than us - they can get household tasks done in seconds. You don't need to give elves a day off, they barely do any work as it is."

"Barely do any work?" Hermione was near screaming now. "Just because their magic works differently, because they're not the same as you, you think it's alright to expect them to work for you every day for nothing?"

"Oh please. They enjoy it."

Hermione saw red. "Enjoy it?!" She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath, though she could feel her entire body tense and shaking despite it. "That's exactly what they said about slaves too. Do you know any history, Malfoy? Or just because your skin is white, do you think you can ignore everything because, well, it wouldn't have been your ancestors?" Her eyes were narrow now, eyebrows drawn down and lips pursed in an expression that both Harry and Ron knew to be wary of. "Because it's alright to own people who look differently than you," she said, speaking slowly, sure that if it was possible venom would be dripping from her lips. "Because people like you owned people like me and laughed at our pain and when they got uncomfortable with what they were doing they said 'well that's alright, they like it'!"

Before she realized what was happening, Draco had stood and was on her side of the table, sitting in Harry's abandoned chair and wrapping a hand around her upper arm. "Granger-" her eyes were closed and she was breathing heavily and he shook her slightly. "Fuck," he murmured. "I need a drink." He mumbled, and then louder: "Granger, look at me." When she did, opening her bright brown eyes to peer back at him, she thought for a moment that she saw concern in his features. "Stop. Breathe. That's not what I'm saying. Actually, most wizards - including my family - never owned slaves. Why would we bother owning people when we had elves?"

Hermione took a deep breath, but pulled her arm out from under his hand, not saying anything just yet in response and closing her eyes to try and recenter.

"Look. I know how you feel about elves. Merlin, you wouldn't shut up about it back at school. And this one that Potter's got seems like a pretty terrible example since he loathes everything. But, truly, a lot of elves do actually enjoy their jobs. And no, a lot of families don't pay them money, but if an elf should ask for something it would most likely be given. Other than a few," he paused, frowning, "arseholes, most wizards treat their elves pretty well. My father was, of course, an exception. As, I believe, was Walburga Black."

Hermione finally opened her eyes and looked back at him, hoping her eyes weren't too watery to give away her feelings. "Malfoy, you're never going to change my mind."

Draco shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "People don't really debate to change each other's minds, do they?"

She let this thought roll around in her mind and eventually leaned back in her own chair. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire." She said, looking back towards her half-eaten dessert. The blonde man beside her raised a questioning eyebrow, and she sighed. "In the muggle world, it's skin colour. I thought, I figured in the wizarding world everyone would be equal. No one would care what I looked like." She shrugged half-heartedly. "I guess that was true. No one really cared what I looked like. They cared about my blood."

No expression passed over Draco's face, but she thought she saw something in his eyes - regret? "Yes, well. Many of us were quite stupid, as you remember."

"Was that… Is that your idea of an apology?" At this, Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Gods, if only this situation wasn't so horrendous. Draco Malfoy, making the most half-hearted apology to her possible while their spouses had sex two floors above them.

"No." He frowned and turned towards her again, looking over her face. The two sat like that for a moment that started to feel too long, before Draco cleared his throat. "I am, though. Sorry. For the way I treated you. There are no excuses for my behaviour."

Hermione fidgeted, uncomfortable under his intense gaze. "Your parents indoctrinated you into racist beliefs." She mumbled, not feeling like she could look away from his gaze.

"You were better than me. Are." He said simply, but before he could expand on what exactly that meant there was a noise in the hallway and he was standing, backing away from her, still looking down into her eyes. Harry entered the room, trying without success to smooth down his even more tousled than normal hair, and Ginny was unashamedly untwisting her bra strap.

"Well." Hermione said, finally tearing her eyes away from Malfoy's, and looking at the two standing in the doorway.

"Well." Harry repeated, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"It was so lovely of you to have us over." Ginny said, falling easily back into the role of charmed dinner guest, wife of a socialite. "We'll have to do this again sometime." She paused, made eye contact with Harry, winked. "Soon." And then Draco was following her out of the dining room and out of the house, and Hermione was left sitting in the dining room, wondering why there was a fire low in her belly and a pulsing in her veins and why, when she closed her eyes, there were an intense pair of silver ones staring back down at her.