Hermione looked in the mirror for what seemed like the hundredth time, groaning at the state she was in. No matter what she did to her hair, it seemed to have a life of its own. The fact that she was due to attend the Ministry Ball very soon did not help her nerves at all.
"You look beautiful Hermione" Draco breathed, appearing behind her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
"No, I look absolutely horrid" She argued, waving her wand once again to get her hair to behave.
"Would you just relax? It's just a fund raising ball" He rolled his eyes, moving away from her.
"Of course you would say that, you always look good" She huffed, dismissing him.
"Is this because we'll be sitting with Pansy?" He raised his eyebrows.
"No, it has nothing to do with her whatsoever" She scoffed. Of course it had everything to do with her.
"Remember that little speech you gave me about doing things you don't want to do for the person you love?" He smirked.
"I'm not against going, I just don't want to attend the ball looking like a trollop" She sighed. The whole thing would have been easier if they were sitting with her friends, but she wasn't about to admit to it.
"Pansy isn't judgemental you know" He said.
She was tempted to bring up the many times the pureblood had turned her nose up at Hermione and called her mud blood among other titles, but decided it was probably not the time to do so.
"Ok I'm ready" she sighed, having given up on her hair.
"You really do look beautiful" He whispered, capturing her lips in a passionate kiss before apparating to The Ministry.
Hermione's heart rate went up erratically as she held onto Draco's hands, wincing as the cameras began to flash. This would be their first public appearance together; no one outside their inner circle had known anything until now. Not to mention that it would become very obvious to all that Draco had fallen foul of his parents when the hostess of the ball did not acknowledge him.
Draco led them through the crowd, shielding her from the onslaught of questions until they had made it inside.
"That wasn't so terrible, was it?" Draco smirked.
"Rita Skeeter must be thinking all her Christmas's have arrived" She laughed.
"Ready?" he asked, holding onto her hand.
"No, but we might as well get this over with" She sighed.
"I did that awkward lunch for you" he pointed out.
"Yes in the privacy of the burrow, not in full view of the public" She smiled, nodding for him to take the lead.
As they made their way towards the tables, she took in her surroundings for the first time. It seemed the Witches Society had outdone themselves; the entire ballroom was filled with beautiful lanterns, the tables decked out to the nines with a red and black theme. I can see where Draco gets his good taste from, she thought.
"The Prodigal Wizard has finally arrived" Pansy beamed looking every inch a goddess as she rose regally to greet them.
If Hermione had felt like a trollop before, she now felt like a Dementor, compared to this woman.
"You look wonderful Pans, where's that husband of yours?" Draco asked, giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek.
"Blaise has gone to the loo" She replied, turning her attention to Hermione.
"You remember Hermione" Draco introduced, wrapping a protective arm around Hermione's waist.
"Yes I do, how have you been Hermione?" Pansy smiled no trace of malice in her features as she held out her hand.
"Fine thank you" Hermione answered awkwardly feeling out of her depth as she shook Pansy's hand.
She had never perceived the pure bloods as anyway superior to her and had often turned her nose up at what she saw was their inflated egos. However she had never actually been in the presence of these purebloods without hexs involved, and found the entire situation very different. Suddenly every insult they had ever thrown at her made sense somehow.
"Well come on have a seat" Pansy instructed, sitting down gracefully.
It appeared to Hermione that every movement the woman made was designed to make her feel more and more like some house elf.
"Have you seen your parents yet?" Pansy asked.
"Not as yet no" He answered casually.
"Look who's finally decided to show his ugly face" Blaise laughed, sitting down next to his wife.
"I didn't realise you missed me so much" Draco smirked.
"Uh the Gryffindor princess you really don't do things by halves do you, Draco?" Blaise winked.
"Blaise" Draco warned.
"Uh the pure blood wizard from a rich family marries a pureblood witch from a rich family, how cliché" Hermione smirked.
"I see she has a sense of humour" Blaise laughed.
"Blaise's family isn't as filthy rich as mine. He got very lucky" Pansy joined in, wrapping an arm around her husband's shoulder.
Hermione enjoyed witnessing what seemed like a couple genuinely in love, she had been under the perception that all pure blood marriages were arranged and loveless.
"How is Potter by the way, I haven't spoken to him well since Hogwarts?" Blaise asked with a hint of cheekiness.
"He's fine Blaise" Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.
"I'm serious it's such a shame we haven't all caught up in all this time" Blaise continued.
"I'm sure you're filled with regret" Draco drawled.
"Have you seen him lately Draco, sat down for a pint with him?"
"Cut it out Blaise" Draco scoffed.
"Yes Blaise you're being such a bore" Pansy winked at Hermione to let her know that this was the usual behaviour of her husband and not to take it too seriously.
"Harry is attending the Ball tonight Blaise, if you want to catch up I'm sure Harry would love to share a pint with you" Hermione said innocently.
"I'll see how I'm travelling. So what in Salazar do you see in this wizard?" Blaise raised his eyebrows in mock confusion.
They all began to laugh; if circumstances hadn't been what they were Hermione would have been offended by the wizard's attitude. She found however that she actually liked him very much. Out of all the Slytherians at Hogwarts Hermione had never really interacted with him before; he had seemed as a kind of shadow one you didn't realise was there unless he spoke.
As the night wore on she was relieved to know that no matter who they had been in the past, there was a possibility for friendships to develop. Hermione found herself respecting Pansy in a way she would never have thought she would, the young witch had broken away from her family tradition and started her own fashion line with the full support of her husband. Hermione felt guilty that she had generalised these people in the past, it appeared they were not the only bigoted people.
Excusing herself after the second course, she made her way to the bathroom, ignoring the curious glances shot her way. Opening the door she could hear the tapping of high heels behind her and quickly stepped into a stall in case Rita Skeeter was chasing her for comment.
After a few minutes in which she realised the high heels were not going to leave anytime soon, she resigned herself to her fate. Preparing for the annoying beetle, she took a deep breath before opening the stall only to expel it harshly when she saw who had actually followed her inside.
Narcissa stood before her, looking every inch the pureblood queen so many professed her to be, an impassive look on her features.
"Good evening Mrs Malfoy" Hermione greeted carefully.
"Evening Ms Granger" She replied, still standing stoically in her way.
"Is there something I can do for you?" Hermione urged, slowly looking around in case this was some kind of ambush.
"Lucius wishes to see you tomorrow at the Manor, alone" Narcissa revealed, still impassive.
"What does he want?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms across her chest defensively.
"He wishes to discuss some matters, don't worry he won't be asking you to leave our son" Narcissa replied.
Hermione didn't really know what to say to that, what else could the head of the Malfoy family want?
"I'll see him tomorrow" She agreed.
"It would be best if Draco did not know of this"
"I don't like the idea of lying to him" Hermione warned.
"He would simply try to stop you" Narcissa shrugged.
"I promise not to say anything to him before I meet with Lucius" Hermione nodded.
"Thank you" Narcissa nodded, but no effort to move out of Hermione's way.
Hermione just stared back at her, wondering if this was some sort of pure blood etiquette ritual.
"How is Draco?" Narcissa finally asked.
"He's fine" Hermione replied, not really knowing what else to say.
"I'm glad to hear it" Narcissa nodded, this time turning away from Hermione and exiting the bathroom.
Hermione had always thought of Narcissa as a cold heartless ice queen, she never seemed to show any emotion and even now she hadn't really showed any except for a slight change in her expression when she'd asked about her son. Sighing she walked out of the bathroom deciding not to say anything to Draco until she knew what was going on.
After finishing their meals, Hermione had left Draco's side to seek out Harry and Ginny, which she found sitting on the far end of the dance floor.
"Nice of you to come down and speak to us peasants" Ginny grinned, pulling up a chair for her.
"I do think it's my responsibility to see how the lesser half-lives" Hermione smirked.
"So how is it sitting with those two?" Ginny asked with curiosity.
"It's actually not too bad, Blaise wants to have a pint with Harry" She smiled, stopping herself from laughing when she caught sight of Harry's expression.
"Are you serious?" Harry asked, masking his shock.
"I think he was trying to have a dig at Draco" Hermione shrugged.
"So it would be a bad idea to head over to your table and have a pint" Harry grinned mischievously.
"Oh, go on Harry it would be so funny to see their faces not to mention everyone else's" Ginny egged him on.
"I swear you people have been spending way too much time in Fred's presence" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"As long as it's ok with you" Harry asked eagerly.
"Go on then" Hermione nodded.
"This is going to be so good!" Ginny squealed, watching her husband as he made his way to the Slytherians.
Hermione couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Harry arrive at the table and strike up a conversation with Blaise, who looked like a train had hit him. Draco and Pansy appeared just as shocked, the whole scene was hilarious.
Suddenly Blaise turned to look over at her and she quickly looked away, trying to contain her laughter.
Ginny wasn't as reserved.
"Oh my Godric that is hilarious, did you see their faces?" She squealed oblivious or uncaring that Blaise was still looking their way.