A/n: I apologize that I never said this before; all the characters belong to the amazing JK Rowling, I do not own anything.

Chapter 17

Draco smiled then said, "Well then, Blaise has Luna, Theo is going after Tracey and Pucey has his eyes on Padma; Marcus what about you, any girl caught your fancy?"

Marcus laughed, "Well I'll have to wait a while to ask her out. Mine is not going to be easy, that's for sure. Hey I hope you don't mind man, I am planning to ask Hermione out."

Well that wasn't what Draco had expected to hear and he sure as hell was not pleased.

Draco tried to act nonchalant and said, "When did you become interested in her? You hadn't even met her before yesterday. Hermione is not really your type and she hates quidditch; you are a quidditch player for god sakes, you can't go out with a girl who hates quidditch."

Marcus chuckled, "Well that's obviously not convenient but there is more to me than just being a quidditch player. I have always found her attractive and she looked pretty hot in that blue dress. I am definitely going to try my luck on her."

Draco kept a blank expression and said, "Hermione is more than just a pretty face; she is sweet, caring, honest, noble and everyone knows that she is so damn intelligent; she is not one of those random models who throw themselves at you, don't talk about her like she's some piece of ass."

Marcus chuckled, "Draco, why don't you ask Hermione out? I was not going to ask her out anyway, I was just pulling a Theo Nott on you; I mean she is attractive and all but do you seriously think I didn't notice the way you look at her. Today you both looked like a real and happy couple and don't try to say that it was an act, you both were lost in your own little world with no care about anyone else. Why don't you just tell her that you like her and you don't want an act, but the real deal?"

Blaise joined in, "I know you think that it might be too soon for the both of you but you have had a soft corner for her since the war. Its not that sudden, Hermione and you have always had this passion between you, during school it was hate and now it is something close to love. I have noticed the way she looks at you, like every word you say is important, like you are the only one in the room."

Draco sighed, "Its just a rebound on Weasley, its too soon for her and I know it."

Marcus and Blaise shared a look that said that it was hopeless to try to convince him and so they changed the topic to quidditch again. But Draco had his eyes on a picture of Hermione on the mantelpiece, she looked so happy standing in her school robes with an arm around Harry Potter, both grinning at the camera. She was truly special, one of a kind and the thought of her with someone other than him made his blood boil with anger and jealousy; what was happening to him? He knew the answer; he had fallen for Hermione granger and he had fallen hard.

On the other side of the city Hermione granger sat with Ginny Potter in a booth in Luna's club discussing everything that had happened since the wedding. By now Ginny knew everything and was very pissed off at her idiot of a brother.

Ginny sighed, "I had a terrible nightmare last night; I saw you jumping off a cliff. The horrible part was that this dream was part of reality; I woke up in cold sweat. You are a smart girl Hermione, how could you be so stupid?"

Hermione looked ashamed and replied, "Since I was 13 I had been in love with Ron, he was the boy I thought I'd marry and have a family with. After the war he became my whole life, every moment was about us being together and I guess I forgot how to live alone. I had lost my parents; you, harry and the weasleys were the only family I had and I felt like I had lost you all too. At that time I felt like I lost everything in one go and my life wasn't worth living; I know it was stupid but I was miserable, drunk and at my lowest, my judgment was obviously faulty."

Ginny replied, "I am glad Malfoy found you in time or lord knows I would have killed my brother. I feel disgusted to be related to him. After so many years how could he do this to you? He is a pig and it would be a miracle if I ever speak to him again."

Hermione sighed, "I hate him for all that he did, but he is your brother ginny, he is part of your family, you can't just stop speaking to him."

Ginny mumbled, "Watch me."

Just then Luna peeked in their booth and asked, "If the sad talks are over then I can join you, I have literally seen you half dead so I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Hermione smiled, "You can join us now, anyways I wanted to talk to both of you about my breakup party."

Ginny and Luna looked excited at the prospect of a party and waited for Hermione to elaborate. Hermione chuckled at their childlike expressions and said, "Narcissa is going to organize the whole party for me so I don't know where we are going but it is tomorrow night so keep your schedule free. Cissa has invited me to go shopping with her, can you both join us?

Luna smiled, "Ofcourse, I would love to meet Mrs. Malfoy."

Ginny didn't look very excited and mumbled, "Do I really have to? And I thought we were going to my parents house."

Hermione replied, "We are going to meet your family as soon as we get out of here and then we can head to meet Cissa. Ginny, she is really sweet and she is not at all like the person we met before the war. Trust me, I want you to meet her and I am sure you'll love her."

Ginny sighed, "That I doubt, but I'll do it for you. Who all are coming to the party?"

Hermione replied, "It's a girls night out so I can't invite harry or Fred or George. I have already sent letters to Padma, Tracey, Daphne and Suzan, I guess it'll be just the eight of us. Narcissa will floo us to the club from my place so everyone should be there at eleven."They chatted some more but then it was time for Ginny and Hermione to head to meet the Weasleys, ginny had made sure that her whole family except Ron was present there. Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself and then apparated to the Burrow. With a pop she appeared right outside the place that was her second home, it looked the same although today it was very quiet. With a look at ginny who smiled encouragingly they started to walk towards the main door. Before they could knock on the door, it was opened by a haggard looking Molly Weasley. Hermione looked at the woman who had been like her mother for the past ten years and smiled, it was good to see her again. Molly burst into tears and pulled Hermione in a motherly but bone crushing hug.

Molly weeped, "I am so sorry for what Ron did, I thought you'd never come see me again. How are you? I heard you weren't well. You should have come directly here, this will always be your home."

Arthur comforted molly and then ushered all of them inside. Everywhere Hermione looked, old memories popped in her head, it was painful to remember all the good times she had spent with Ron at this very place. They reached the dining area where everyone was seated quietly, that was something Hermione wasn't used to. Bill was sitting with his wife Fluer and daughter Victoria, on their right Percy sat with his wife Penelope and daughter Emily. Fred and George sat with their pregnant wives Angelina and Katie and Charlie sat to their right. Hermione looked at the empty chairs that were always occupied by Ron, her and harry and looked away or she would have started crying.

Hermione looked at all the solemn faces and tried to smile and said, "I am fine, you people should say something, you are making me nervous."

Fred stood up and came upto her and said, "just say the words and I'll break his bones."

Hermione teared up at that and said, "You won't have to do that, he is your brother."

Fred shook his head and said, "And you are my sister, any man that hurts you will have to face me."

George piped in, "We have been looking for a reason to beat him up, this is the right opportunity. No one messes with our sister."

Hermione pulled them both in a hug and cried, "It's the thought that counts, you don't have to do anything to him. I thought that now you wouldn't want me here, I was so scared that I had lost you all."

George replied, "We are not fools like Ron, we won't ever let you go."

Everyone nodded their agreement and everyone settled down in their seats. Molly, who had now calmed down, waved her wand and a delicious lunch appeared on the table. Everyone made small talks and Hermione could feel their uneasiness so she said, "Please don't behave like I am a delicate doll who would break if you would say anything wrong. I love everyone here just the way you are."

Just after her declaration everyone started speaking together.

"Our brother is a fool."

"pass me some mashed potatoes."

"Fred what is that in your hand, it better not be a new joke."

"Hermione have you seen the new celly thing I bought."

"I want ice cream, mommy"

"Are you really living with Draco Malfoy?"

The last question stopped all the chatter and everyone looked at Hermione expectantly. She had known that someone would ask this question and was fully prepared."

Hermione smiled, "Yes we are living together, I didn't have any place to live and then Draco came back in my life and well it all got settled."

Molly smiled kindly and asked, "So it is true, you both are dating."

Hermione sighed, "Its not really that serious right now, but he has been really nice to me and has helped me a lot after the break up."

Almost everyone nodded their acceptance but some still looked doubtful. Fred asked, "How can you end up with the ferret?"

Molly glared at her son who shielded away from his mother's anger. Hermione chuckled at that and then replied, "He is very different now, even during the war he had changed but now he is really an amazing person. He makes me laugh, takes care of me like a child, bears my tantrums and supports me at every step; he is not the mean boy you remember from school."

Molly smiled at the girl she had thought would marry his son someday, but now because of his foolishness someone else would have the pleasure of being in her life. She still wanted Hermione to be happy and so she asked, "Why don't you bring Draco here next Sunday, the whole family will be here and we all would love to see the changed Draco Malfoy."

Hermione choked on the juice she was drinking while ginny gave her water while hiding a smile; Hermione was not prepared for this. She said, "I don't really know if Draco has any plans and well it seems too soon."

Molly looked a little hurt so Hermione suddenly said, "We'll be here next Sunday."

That cheered everyone up who wanted to see how the evil boy had turned out. It would certainly be interesting to see a Malfoy eat brunch with the Weasleys. After an hour Hermione and ginny excused themselves with the promise of visiting soon. They apparated in the diagon alley where they met Luna outside her club and all three friends walked down the road to Flourish and Blots where they had to meet Narcissa. They reached there to see Narcissa Malfoy already waiting for them wearing some expensive looking robes, she turned and gave them a dazzling smile. She hugged Hermione as they reached within arm length and said, "I am so excited, first shopping then the party tomorrow, I feel so young."

Ginny looked shocked while Luna looked pleased at seeing Mrs. Malfoy. Ginny couldn't believe that this was the same woman they had seen before the war; she looked the same but instead of the cold mask she had on before, now her face was graced by a breathtaking smile. Her enthusiasm was refreshing and unexpected and ginny was at a loss as to how to approach the woman, she didn't have to worry though, Narcissa took the lead.

Narcissa smiled at the two young ladies with Hermione and said, "Its so nice to finally meet you Miss Lovegood, Blaise never stops talking about you and now I know why."

Luna blushed at the complement and then replied, "Blaise talks a lot about you too, he adores you."

Cissa smiled, "Blaise is like a second son, I am glad he found his match in a lovely lady like you. And this must be the new Mrs. Potter, I read the article about your wedding, I must say that you looked absolutely stunning in your wedding gown. Even the Witch weekly couldn't criticize you this time."

Ginny's face matched her hair and she mumbled, "I have heard a lot about you from Hermione, she was right, you are very different from what I remember."

Cissa laughed, "That must be a complement. Now ladies we need to find some glamorous dresses for the party and I know the perfect place."

They followed Narcissa to the most expensive store in the whole London, 'Belle' meaning beautiful. The store had sparkling glass windows displaying exquisite muggle as well as magical designs. They entered the store and were greeted with pastel colored walls, plush couches and variety of displays and mirrors. A petite woman approached them with a smile and greeted Narcissa with a hug and said, "Welcome to 'belle', its so good to see you again cissa and you must be Hermione granger, ginny potter and Luna lovegood, don't bother asking how I know you, you are famous war heroes, everyone knows you." That being said, she ushered them to a private VIP room that had mirrors on all the walls.

The woman turned out to be Anne Whiplor, the designer as well as owner of the store who had flown from France especially to meet Narcissa. She clapped her hands and three girls wearing the store's uniform came inside the room and waited for their boss's order. Anne addressed the girls and said, "Help these three ladies in finding the most fashionable, glamorous and sexy outfits along with heels, due to special intervention by my friend cissa make sure that none of the dresses are too modest."

Hermione looked at cissa who just gave her a cheeky grin and said, "No one should look modest in their own party."

Each of them were escorted by the workers who showed them various dresses. Hermione noticed that her dresses were the least modest and showed a lot of skin. Ginny decided to buy a green tube dress that hugged her at all the right places along with black strap on heels. Luna got a dark blue dress that was held by two delicate looking strings and showed a hint of cleavage and silver heels. Everyone was done with their shopping but Hermione had been unable to choose a dress. Narcissa, ginny and Luna decided to take matters in their own hands and made Hermione try dresses of their own choice, every time Hermione gave the same reaction, "I look like a slut."

When almost everyone had given up Anne decided to help and said, "I just got a new consignment of my latest designs from Paris; would you like to try some Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded expecting to look at some skimpy outfits but was pleasantly surprised. Although the dresses showed a lot of skin, none of them made her look slutty, infact she looked sexy as hell in most of them. Then she came upon a dress that blew everyone's mind, it was a red gold short dress with two straps that held the dress, it showed her long legs and some cleavage but it was the perfect dress for the party. Hermione teamed it up with five inch black peep toe heels and they were ready to go. They tried to pay Anne but she didn't accept even one galleon for the dresses that costed thousands of galleons.

Narcissa then lead them to a salon where everyone got hair spa, manicure and pedicure. Hermione decided to get a haircut and now her waist length hair was reduced to well styled hair that reached her mid back. They exited the salon feeling fresh and beautiful. They all went back to their homes promising to meet at Hermione's place at exact eleven.

Hermione apparated to her apartment expecting to see Draco and planning to convince him to accompany her to the burrow next Sunday, but instead there was a nervous looking Harry potter sitting on her couch fumbling with his hands.

A/n: it has been approximately 2 weeks, I tried to update sooner but got caught up in some college work. Fred is alive because it was the saddest part of the story that he died. i have posted the picture of hermione's party dress, imagine hermione in that dress; from what i see, she would look stunning. I love your reviews and the feedback is whats keeping this story going so keep them coming.

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