The Annual Ministry Ball was a source of great pride and joy to the Ministry in keeping up their appearances of being the paragon of smooth operations, well being and fosterer of the spirit of community. To everyone else, the AMB was a pain in the arse and the source of many less than pleasant alternative suggestions to what the acronym stood for.
Hermione stood morosely in front of the mirror. The past week had been surprisingly rough on her, and the last thing she wanted to do was to dress up and pretend to be the perfect Ministry employee. "Any chance we can skip this entire thing?" she asked Ginny hopefully, as they got ready in her bedroom at the Manor.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "We've already established that we need to go, besides, if I'm not there who will Witch Weekly criticise?"
"I am so tired that I cannot even think of anything to say to that," Hermione responded, as she flopped on to her bed, careless of her dress. "Good thing Pansy is coming by, or I would never get ready."
"Pansy? Pansy Parkinson?" Ginny turned to look at her in surprise. "I know she and Malfoy are friends, but I didn't realise you both were this close."
"She's very different from what I originally thought," admitted Hermione, as the Floo blazed emerald. "That's probably her now."
Pansy stepped out of the fireplace, and quickly dusted her shimmering violet robes. She hesitated slightly as she saw Ginny, but quickly schooled her expression into one of pleasant politeness as she extended her hand. She didn't know how the younger witch felt about her, but considering that she had offered to hand her boyfriend over to Voldemort, Pansy hazarded that Ginny's thoughts were far from pleasant. To her surprise, the younger witch politely shook her hand and even gave her a small smile.
"Harry mentioned that he had a lovely time with you at the Enchanted Swan," said Ginny politely. "I hope that we can get to know each other too."
Pansy quickly examined the redhead's face to see if there was anything territorial in her previous comment. Satisfied that Ginny was simply being friendly, her face broke into a genuine smile. "That was really nice of Harry to say. I have heard a lot about you from Hermione and Harry."
"I didn't realise you worked in the Ministry," Ginny commented.
"I don't, my friend Theo owns a broomstick company that provides all the broomsticks for the Ministry. He received an invitation and asked me to go along as his date," Pansy explained delicately.
"Friend, eh?" Hermione teased. "Don't let Blaise hear you say that."
"Oh don't worry, I will be nothing short of a hussy around Theo when Blaise can see us," Pansy winked, as she surveyed Hermione's tired face. "You look exhausted, is everything okay?"
Hermione sighed. "Fine I suppose, I don't know why I'm so tired. I've been really nauseous lately too so I'm not eating much."
"Maybe you're pregnant," Ginny suggested cheerfully.
"Seeing how I'm not having sex, that's impossible."
"Yet," Pansy said.
"I highly doubt that Malfoy and I are going to have sex," Hermione said primly, as she struggled to sit up.
"Sure you are," said Ginny, still sounding much too cheerful. "There is a ridiculous amount of sexual tension between you both."
"And you've been married for how long now?" Pansy added.
"There is no sexual tension whatsoever," said Hermione hotly, pushing away the part of her mind that was gleefully jumping up and down, with a finger pointed at her, and calling her a liar.
Ginny and Pansy exchanged an amused look, but decided to let the matter go for Hermione's sake. Hermione grudgingly hoisted herself from her comfortable bed and allowed Pansy to do as she wished with her face. Hermione actually caught herself falling asleep twice during the ministrations, and she idly wondered what could've caused her to get so tired lately. All rational thoughts, however, flew clean out of her head the second Pansy and Ginny started attacking her hair. Hermione sat there with gritted teeth, wondering if she should excuse herself to take a Numbing potion, or at the very least, some muggle Ibuprofen. She forced herself to sit through twenty minutes of torture, until finally, Pansy and Ginny had started to cast spells over her hair to keep them manageable.
"Enough already," Hermione said sourly. "You have cast more spells over my hair than I cast over our tent when we were hunting down Voldemort."
"Fine," Pansy winced at the name, but she obligingly dropped the last few heavy spirals.
"Do I look all right?" Ginny questioned doubtfully, as she smoothed her bright gold dress robes which had sparkling silver netting on top. With all the diamond jewellery Ginny had insisted on draping over herself, and the vivid scarlet of her hair, she reminded Hermione of Times Square on Christmas. She cleared her throat, unsure of how to tactfully say what she was thinking.
Pansy beat her to it. "I think perhaps that colour might not be rich enough to complement your hair."
"I think you might be right," said Ginny, as she surveyed the robes with slight distaste. "What would you suggest?"
"Hermione? Do you think you can help change her robes the way you changed mine at the hospital?" Pansy turned to Hermione, who nodded. "Brilliant, then shall we change them to a deeper amber colour, and perhaps take off the silver netting entirely since its just overkill with all of her pretty hair." Hermione made the necessary changes, and stepped back to survey her handiwork. Pansy was right, without the gaudy netting and brightly coloured robes, Ginny looked much more elegant.
"This is amazing!" Ginny exclaimed, as she twirled in front of Hermione's mirror.
"Perhaps you might want to change your jewellery to match," Pansy suggested tactfully.
"I have just the thing for you Ginny," Hermione said quickly, as she pulled out a slim necklace of small rubies, each set in a circle of dull gold one after the other. Pansy nodded approvingly.
"Thanks you two," said Ginny sincerely. "Perhaps Witch Weekly might give me a break."
The three of them made their way downstairs, where Draco was already present, drinking Firewhiskey with Blaise and Harry, while Narcissa read to Julius from one of his many books on dragons. To Hermione's surprise, the three men seemed to be getting along rather splendidly. Perhaps their little bonding session over Exploding snap had led the way to them actually having a proper friendship.
Draco looked up as Hermione emerged from the room, and had to school himself not to let his jaw drop. At first glance, Hermione seemed to be wearing traditional crimson dress robes –exquisitely embroidered with rich gold spirals, long flowing sleeves and a form fitting waist. However, as his gaze lingered downwards, he realised that the robes continued to hug her curves, and had a tantalising slit that ended mid-thigh. As if that wasn't enough, her hair had been tamed and hung in unrecognisably smooth curls down her back, and her eyes looked suspiciously bigger, with darkened edges.
Next to him, Blaise and Harry were less subtle when they saw Pansy and Ginny. Draco smirked to himself at the fact that he had bested Harry at something.
"Feel free to stop staring at any point," said Pansy, with a grin.
Blaise immediately forced his face into a blank mask and drained his drink. "Theo not picking you up?"
"I'm meeting him there," Pansy replied.
"How chivalrous of him," Blaise shot back.
"Where's Audrey then?" Pansy retorted.
Blaise flushed and busied himself with his empty glass. "I'm meeting here there," he finally mumbled.
Pansy arched an eyebrow. "How chivalrous of you."
Draco was only half listening to his best friends bicker, as he kept his eyes on Hermione. She had given him a small smile, and was currently rearranging the contents of her beaded clutch, giving him an uninterrupted view of her slim back. Draco swallowed imperceptibly as his eyes swept over her delectable curves. The rich fabric was taut over her curvy backside, and fit her like a second skin. He found himself wondering if she was wearing any underwear. Tonight, Draco had decided that he would woo his wife. He would turn on the Malfoy charm and turn her into a warm mush that wanted him. He was going to be flirty, charming and smooth–
"Daddy, why are you staring at mummy's butt?"
There was a split second of silence, and the whole room burst into laughter. Draco found himself flushing as he cursed the day his son was born without any sort of censor over his mouth. Hermione, much to his chagrin, looked knowingly amused, as she threw him a glance over her shoulder.
"I'm not staring at her butt," Draco forced out, through gritted teeth. "And Malfoys don't talk with their mouth full."
Julius obligingly swallowed. "You look really pretty today, Mummy."
"Draco clearly seems to think so," Narcissa said in undertone to Blaise, with a smirk.
Hermione beamed. "Thank you Juls."
"Where's Ron?" Ginny questioned quickly, changing the topic.
"He's meeting us there, he went to pick Lavender up," Harry explained, as he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist.
Blaise crinkled his nose. "He's bringing that tart tonight?"
"At least we can play our little game to keep us from getting bored," said Pansy wickedly, as Hermione, Draco and Harry laughed.
Julius piped up again. "Daddy, what's a tart?"
"A jam filled pastry," said Draco quickly, suppressing a groan. "Let's go, the faster we get there the faster we can leave." Without giving anyone time to protest, he threw a fistful of shimmering Floo powder into the fireplace and disappeared, forcing the others to put down their empty, or nearly so, drinks and follow him.
The Annual Ministry Ball had been declared a roaring success. Kingsley had delivered a passionate speech about unity and rebuilding, which had led to several rounds of applause. As always, Hermione had found herself being dragged into the limelight along with Harry and Ron. All her attempts to awkwardly blend into the background had been thwarted, and she'd been subjected to several excruciating conversations with eager witches and wizards that wanted to know about her time searching for Voldemort. The trio had decided that the details of the Horcruxes had been best left untold to the general public, and Hermione found herself in the awkward position of having to lie to all the well wishers. She had finally extricated herself from a rambling conversation with an enthused historian, and she found herself alone against the back wall as she tried to locate her friends. Harry and Ginny had been just as busy being waylaid by the public and were currently speaking to a reporter from the Daily Prophet. Ron and Lavender were dancing, and had been joined at the hip all night. In the corner of her eye she saw Blaise and Audrey dancing, and predictably, Pansy and Theo were doing the same not too far from them. Arthur and Molly, along with Percy, were talking to Kingsley rather animatedly, and were all the way across the other end of the crowded ballroom. She tried to locate Draco, who had been ensconced by a reporter the last time she had seen him.
"Looking for someone?"
Hermione jumped and whirled around. "Merlin, Malfoy, what have I said about sneaking up on me?"
"All I seem to remember from that conversation was something about how I made you scream," Draco arched a pale eyebrow and grinned.
"How much longer do we have to stay at this ridiculous farce?" Hermione asked undertone.
Draco checked his watch. "Considering we've only been here for under an hour, I'd wager at least two more." He noticed Hermione's crestfallen expression and his gaze softened. "Are you alright? If you really feel sick then we'll head home, appearances be damned."
"I'm fine," said Hermione, slightly surprised at his consideration. "It's just, people keep asking me about a time I don't particularly want to relive."
"You're telling me, I'm the son of the Dark Lord's right hand man," Draco shifted uncomfortably. "I may as well not have bothered with long sleeves, because all everyone does is look at my arm. You would think that someone invented a potion that made people see through clothes."
"I doubt they'd be looking at your Mark for very long if they could see through your clothes," said Hermione dryly.
Draco looked at her in surprise, and then smirked. "Was that a compliment Granger?"
Hermione blushed. "I figured that I should say something nice in return for you staring at my butt, as Juls eloquently put it."
"That ruddy kid," Draco grumbled affectionately. "I'll be sure to return the favour the second he brings a girl home." Hermione laughed. Their momentary happiness was broken as a young witch walked past them, her eyes firmly trained on Draco's covered sleeve. Hermione noticed that she picked up her pace until she had passed them. A sidelong glance at her husband's sudden stiffening revealed that he'd noticed too.
"You're not the only one with battle scars," Hermione found herself saying suddenly. She edged closer to Draco and pulled up her gold-fringed sleeve. Even in the dim lighting of the ballroom, Draco could make out the faint outline of the word 'mudblood' along her arm. Without realising what he was doing, he traced the word lightly with a slender fingertip. Hermione jerked as though she had been burnt and drew her arm away, her heavy sleeve falling back over the bare skin.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, remembering how she got it.
"It's not your fault," Hermione whispered back.
The ballroom floor, which had been charmed to look like a sheet of water, rippled around them. Hermione looked up to see Harry and Ginny walk towards their spot, each footstep creating another set of concentric circles. She forced her lips into a semblance of a smile.
"Wow Hermione, you look like you're having about as much fun as me," grimaced Harry as they drew close.
"At least Ron seems to be having a good time," said Hermione with a slight wince, as Ron and Lavender were now loudly regaling a small group with some anecdote.
"Ron's finally got his turn in the limelight, and of course that tart is milking it," griped Ginny as she surveyed the couple. "Do you lot know that Umbridge is here?" she nodded discreetly to a far corner of the ballroom where the toad-like witch, dressed in florid pink robes, was talking to Mafalda Hopkirk.
"Ugh, just great," Hermione groaned. "I really want to take that awful quill and force her to write out all the chapters of Defensive Magical Theory with it."
"Trust you to try punish her with a book," Harry grinned. "I would settle for her writing 'I must not look like a toad' over and over again."
"Especially not as green as a fresh pickled one, hey Harry?" Hermione suggested wickedly.
"Oi!" Harry flushed crimson, and Ginny looked as if she wanted to drown herself in the watery floor.
Draco stood there slightly awkwardly. Not only did he not understand the humour behind an obviously private joke, but he also had no real problem with Umbridge himself. He knew that the Gryffindors hated her, but she'd always been particularly nice to him. Moments like these, Draco really felt the gap between his and Hermione's lives back in their school days.
"I'm going to go find Mum and Dad," mumbled Ginny as she hastily fled, her face still flaming.
"You're never going to let either of us live that down, are you?" Harry questioned.
"Nope, never, the pleasure is really divine." replied Hermione cheerfully. "Oh look, Cho's heading our way. I didn't know she joined the Ministry."
Harry awkwardly tried to look for a place to escape to as his ex-girlfriend walked up to them. Draco vaguely remembered that Harry and Cho used to date back in fifth year and had to restrain the urge to smirk. This will be interesting.
"Hi Harry, Hermione, err Malfoy," said Cho.
"Hey Cho," Harry mumbled to his shoes.
"I didn't know you worked at the Ministry," Hermione said, as she politely shook Cho's hand.
Cho gave her a cool smile. "I'm here with Cormac, Cormac McLaggen. He just recently joined the Ministry. Didn't you both have a fling at one point?"
Harry coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'Confundus', causing Hermione to throw him a dirty look. "Yes, briefly," she said. "We went to a party together that's all," she desperately tried to change the topic. "Lovely decorations aren't they?"
"Oh yes, perfectly lovely," Cho agreed politely. "The floor looks quite realistically wet."
Harry stiffened at the last word of her sentence, as Hermione stared at her with disbelief for a split second before she found herself choking on her laughter. "Why yes, it does look wet, don't you agree Harry?"
"Very wet, yes," Harry mumbled, wishing he could go back in time and never describe his first kiss with Cho to Hermione. Right now, whatever consequences he got for messing with time seemed paltry in comparison to the awkwardness he was marinating in. He was infinitely glad that Ginny had disappeared to speak to her parents.
"Quite the reunion we're having over here," said Ron jovially, as he and Lavender walked up to them. "Hello Cho, do you remember Lavender? We used to date back at Hogwarts."
"Oh yes, vaguely," said Cho as she surveyed Lavender's skimpy pink robes disdainfully. "Have you both been together all this while? I seem to remember reading that you and Hermione were dating."
Hermione's face went stony at Cho's statement. She suddenly realised that she was in the company of two girls that had both broken up with her best friends because they thought that they had feelings for her. If there was ever a time in her life that a girl fight was imminent, it was right then. To her surprise, Draco had slipped his hand into hers, and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"…Just recently got back in touch with Lav. Hermione and I broke up ages ago, we were a disaster." Ron was explaining; as usual, with all the subtlety of an Unforgivable when it came to personal relationships.
"How lovely," Cho said politely, as her gaze took in Hermione and Draco's interlocked fingers.
"Sorry to interrupt but we haven't had a chance to speak to Blaise or Pansy much," interceded Draco firmly. "We should go check in on them. Excuse us."
With that, he whirled Hermione away from the awkwardness, deftly weaving her through the dancing couples in the middle of the ballroom. They politely nodded to several old classmates, but Draco did not break their stride to talk to anyone until they reached the refreshment table, where Pansy was sipping a glass of champagne, while looking desolately at the dance floor as Blaise spun Audrey in a perfect circle.
"How are you holding up Pans?" Draco asked, as he picked up a flute of champagne and handed it to Hermione.
"They look happy together," Pansy said sadly, as Audrey threw her head back in laughter at something Blaise had whispered in her ear.
"Don't watch them," Hermione instructed gently. "Where's Theo?"
Pansy forced her eyes away from Blaise and Audrey. "I'm not entirely sure," she said hesitantly.
"Well, Lavender Brown is here, and you know what that means," said Hermione, with a grin.
"Drinking game?" Pansy grinned back, her melancholy momentarily forgotten.
"Well, she's here so I think that in itself warrants a sip," said Draco, as he drained half of his flute. Pansy and Hermione laughed before clinking flutes and following suit. They were shortly joined by Theo, who brought along with him Marietta Edgecombe, whose face was so heavily caked in makeup that it was hard to see what her actual skin colour was. Draco squinted at a few tell-tale scars that looked like they had been left behind from particularly vicious acne. He could've sworn he could make out the letters S, E and K written across her face. He gingerly put down his empty flute. I should really slow down with the drinking.
"Do you all know Marietta? She went to Hogwarts with us," said Theo, as he caught sight of the confused expression on Draco's face and the remarkably chilly one on Hermione's. "This is my date Pansy, and Draco Malfoy and his wife, Hermione."
"Oh I know Hermione Granger well enough," said Marietta disdainfully.
"Are you working in the Ministry too?" Pansy asked politely, trying to diffuse the tension.
"Yes, I work in the department…" Marietta trailed off hesitantly and mumbled the rest of her sentence so softly that none of the others caught it.
"Pardon?" asked Draco. I really need to slow down on my drinking. First I see things, now I can't hear properly…
"She works in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," said Theo clearly.
It took all of Hermione's strength not to burst out laughing at that fact. She forced herself to maintain an air of polite detachment as she nodded politely. She was pleased to see that despite the five years that had passed since she had initially betrayed the DA, Marietta's affliction had still not completely faded. If one squinted past her makeup hard enough, the tiny scars had firmly remained. Not trusting herself to maintain decorum for much longer, Hermione requested that Draco accompany her to the dance floor. However, it was as though Karma wanted to smite her down, because the second she stepped into Draco's arms, she knew she'd made a big mistake. Before their sexual tension had got to the ridiculous level it was currently up to, Hermione had thought nothing of dancing with her husband. Now however, every rational thought flew out of Hermione's mind as she experienced a sensory overload of Draco Malfoy. His tall frame and broad build almost engulfed her own tiny one, her breasts tingled from being pressed into the hard pane of his chest, where she could feel his heart race, and her keen sense of smell picked up on the spicy aquatic scent of his cologne. Hermione faltered for a second, as dizziness overtook her; Draco's firm hand on her back steadied her, as she felt herself going through the motions of the dance numbly. It was amazing how her mind could feel so numb when all her senses were alight with his presence. Hermione had to stop herself from moaning when she realised that she was more than entitled to run her hand through the ends of his silky hair.
Draco wasn't faring particularly better than his wife. All he could think about was the fact that her breasts kept brushing against his chest. His mind kept wandering to the way her nipples had tasted in his mouth, how perfectly velvety soft they were. It didn't help that Hermione smelled strongly of roses and vanilla. Draco groaned softly; as if the vanilla was going to illicit any other thoughts than those of eating her. Evil witch. Evil, beautiful, goddamn impossibly argumentative witch. And just to make things worse, because clearly Draco was not in enough agony as all the blood rushed from his head to –well– the other head, Hermione was now running her slim fingers through his hair. Draco thanked whoever invented long flowing dress robes, because anything else would've led to an extremely awkward tent in his nether regions. He found himself inhaling her, as his lips brushed against a soft earlobe, almost as though she was a fine bouquet of exotic flowers.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the song ended. Draco and Hermione awkwardly looked at each other, assessing their effect on the other person.
As usual, Blaise could be counted on to wreck the moment. "Just go off and shag already, enough with this sickening eye contact business," he grinned, as he and Audrey approached. "What are you both waiting for? Old age?"
Draco cleared his throat irritably. "Cheers, mate."
"Let's go get some drinks shall we? It might cool you both down," said Blaise with a wink, as he slung his arm over Audrey's petite shoulders.
The four of them wove their way back to the refreshments table, and came face to face with Pansy and Theo. Hermione bit back what felt like her fiftieth groan for the night. Is tonight just destined to be a collection of awkward moments?
"Hello Theo, Pansy," said Blaise cautiously, as his grip on Audrey tightened.
"Hello Blaise, Audrey," Theo mimicked, as he put his arm around Pansy protectively, and ran his fingers over her bare shoulder.
"You look wonderful Pansy," said Audrey earnestly.
"Thanks," Pansy mumbled, as she excused herself under the pretence of having to refill her glass. Unbeknownst to her, Blaise had dropped his arm from Audrey's shoulder and was watching Pansy walk away with an expression that looked like a cross between jealous and hurt. Draco, Theo, Hermione and Audrey were left to make awkward polite conversation with each other as Blaise walked over to Pansy, as if in a daze. Pansy heard his approaching footsteps, and looked up, her dark eyes blazing with intensity. Hermione watched as the cocktail napkin in her hands fluttered to the floor, and Pansy took a tentative step towards Blaise. Almost in slow motion, she saw Blaise slowly hold his hand out and watched as Pansy set down her glass and allowed him to escort her to the dance floor. As far as Hermione could see, no words had been exchanged by either of them, but perhaps none were needed.
Theo quickly asked Audrey to dance with him, ensuring that she wouldn't think much of the fact that her date had just wordlessly abandoned her to dance with another woman. If Audrey saw anything amiss, she was wise enough not to comment on it, and she cheerfully agreed that it would indeed be an even trade. With that, Audrey and Theo walked out to the dance floor, a careful distance away from Blaise and Pansy, who probably wouldn't have noticed if the ballroom went up in flames around them.
"Wow," said Draco, as he finally found his voice back. "Just, wow."
"I know," Hermione agreed softly. "They both clearly love each other so much."
"Have you ever felt that strongly for someone?" asked Draco, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.
"Once, but of course, it didn't last," said Hermione, in what he fervently hoped was not a wistful tone. "You?"
Draco seemed surprised to have the question parroted back to him. "Err–"
"Never mind," Hermione cut him off. "I forgot about Aurelia for a second. Sorry."
"Granger, I felt a lot of things for Aurelia and her death changed me more than any other event in my life, but that feeling wasn't one of them," said Draco, sounding slightly angry.
Hermione looked at him in surprise. "You didn't love your wife?"
"It's not quite like that," Draco scowled heavily. "But I don't want to talk about what she was to me right now."
"What did she look like?" Hermione asked quietly. Draco so rarely talked about his former wife that every little snippet that she gleaned was precious.
"Beautiful. Juls looks almost exactly like her," said Draco softly, his face smoothening.
Hermione extrapolated from that comment that Aurelia had dark blonde curls and brown eyes. Draco had fallen back into his reticence, so she gathered that no further information was forthcoming. As much as she hated herself for it, she just had to know more about her predecessor. "What was she like?"
"She was a great comfort to me. My family life was not exactly easy, and she listened to me. She was brave, very brave. Loving, and caring. She was talented too, put up a good fight until her death," said Draco, lost in a bunch of hazy memories. "She was worried about Juls, unsure of the world she was leaving him in. She died protecting him, and I promised her that I would give him the love that I never got from my own father."
"I'm sorry," said Hermione inaudibly. "You don't have to talk about her. It's not my place to pry."
Draco shook his head slightly. "No, you're my wife. You have a right to know these things. I never loved Aurelia with that burning passion you spoke of before, but I cared about her very strongly. We had a connection, and she was my salvation. Her death didn't just save Juls, it saved me. I owe her a debt that I will never forget. One day I will tell you more about what she meant to me, but not right now."
"Do you miss her?" Hermione couldn't help asking.
"I think about her almost every day," said Draco honestly. "But I haven't had the urge to share things with her in a while. It comes and goes."
"There are no pictures of her around," Hermione ventured.
"That's because I don't have many, and I can't bear to look at the ones I do have. They're in a box for Juls for when he grows up, along with a small inheritance she left him, and her home."
Hermione took a deep breath. "Narcissa told me that she never lived in the Manor."
Draco nodded. "That's correct," he confirmed.
She waited a second in case elucidation was imminent, but there was none. She knew from the small nuances in his behaviour that any further questions would be an intrusion, so she regretfully dropped the topic. Thankfully, before an awkward silence could fester amongst them, Vanessa came up and engaged Hermione in conversation. Draco had fallen into an oddly quiet state, and was lounging against the wall with his empty champagne flute in hand. Despite the riveting conversation she was having with Vanessa about advances in muggle biotechnology since the turn of the new millennium, Hermione's eyes kept wandering over to Draco. She noticed the almost imperceptible stiffening in his rigid posture when Harry walked up to her and offered her his hand, and she gave Draco a small glance, before accepting and letting Harry lead her out to the dance floor.
Draco watched as Harry and Hermione danced, seemingly deep in conversation. From the expression on Hermione's face that he had come to recognise as maternal, he extrapolated that they were discussing the war. If there had been a rock to kick, Draco would've happily kicked it as far away as he could (and if Harry happened to trip over said rock, then all the better). The last time he had felt this worthless and inadequate was when Aurelia had given him Julius with the blind, unwavering faith that he could be able to take care of another human being. Draco realised, with sickening clarity, that no matter what progress he and Hermione made, she was always going to be inherently good, while his own path to the right side had been littered with bad choices and blazing regrets. No matter what was ever said or done, he had been a Death Eater, while she had gone up against Voldemort. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the petite figure that approached him, turning the smooth sheet of water he had been standing on into a series of ripples.
"Here," Ginny Weasley was standing in front of him with two flutes of champagne.
"Thanks," Draco muttered, taking the proffered glass, his eyes still on Harry and Hermione. Photographers were subtly circling around them, trying to get a picture of the saviour of the Wizarding world and his best friend dancing.
"They're just friends," Ginny said firmly, jerking him out of his thoughts.
Draco stiffened again. "I know," he said, with a small sip of his drink. "But sometimes it just hits me just how much history you all share. They were all a part of something I never was."
Ginny was looking at him with a mixture of sympathy and understanding in her eyes. "I know how that feels."
"You? But you were all on the same side." Draco looked down to the floor. The ripples from her arrival were slowly fading, and he could see his blurry reflection begin to take focus.
"Yes me," snapped Ginny, drawing herself to her full height. "In case it has escaped your memory, they left. Harry left me alone at Hogwarts, while he took off with my brother and my best friend. Even though we were all on the same side, they left me behind during the Carrows' reign at Hogwarts. Abandonment reeks."
Draco nodded. "I didn't realise, I mean, I knew, but I didn't realise."
Ginny looked at him coolly. "Of course you didn't. Did you know, in that final year when they were on the run, Ron abandoned them halfway through?"
He turned around to look at her, his grey eyes flashing in surprise. "No," he said, finally. "I had no idea."
"Ron abandoned them halfway," Ginny confirmed. "Don't look at me like that, he wanted to find them as soon as he left but their wards…" she trailed off as she relived the bitter memory. "Needless to say, Harry and Hermione were on their own for bit of it. When Harry told me about the things that he had experienced, just him and her, it really hit me. This was something that was just between them. Their memories, their experiences, they even went to the Potters' old house in Godric's Hollow together. No matter how many times Harry and I go there, his first experience was shared with her. You're not the only one that feels left out sometimes."
"How do you deal? You and Potter seem to make it work," Draco said eventually, after a small internal battle with himself over displaying his weakness.
"We have to try," Ginny admitted. "Just like Harry and Hermione shared a lot of life changing experiences together, I had my own share of those with Neville. Dumbledore's Army, still recruiting, and all that," she said with a small grin, as the words sparked another memory in Draco's mind. "Yes, there are parts of my life that Harry was never a part of, why even at Hogwarts before he took off, we never spent time together just the four of us. We were close enough during the holidays when he stayed at the Burrow, but my experiences of Hogwarts were very different to his. Just because you and Hermione belonged to a different House and to different sides, doesn't mean that the people in the same Houses and sides had it any easier."
"So you're saying it doesn't matter?" Draco asked carefully, mulling over her words.
Ginny gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "It matters only as much as you let it. I might never have experienced a lot of things that Harry did, but we're together now. We can share those experiences and we can make sure that they don't stop us from having new ones. A huge part of why Ron and Hermione didn't work out, whether they admit it or not, was because he was always conscious of the fact that she and Harry had shared things that the three of them hadn't. Don't let your past or hers stop you from reaching out for new ones."
Draco nodded again. "Thanks," he said, his voice suspiciously thick.
"Remember, you're not competing. When you stop competing, everything becomes easier."
"Do you think this will work out?" He asked, so inaudibly that Ginny had to strain to hear him. "I know we can't ever separate, and I know we're stuck together for better or for worse, but…" he trailed off, hoping that the witch would pick up on the things he was still not ready to vocalise.
"You need to stop the past from infiltrating the present," Ginny put a tentative hand on his shoulder. "War has casualties, even those of us that live are never the people we were before the war. It's not easy, and I of all people know what it's like having to spend time with those that have been through so much together. I will always be an outsider to their trio, and no matter how much our paths crossed, I can never quite experience what they did. But perhaps there is something to be said for the fact that Harry chose me and chose to keep me away from what he was going through. He and I are still together, while Ron and Hermione, who went through a lot more of the war together than Harry and I ever did, are not. We all need to move on with our lives, and if you let the past get in your way, you never will. You may never understand completely what it was like for Hermione, but she will also never understand what it was like for you, seeing people you love get seduced by the Dark Arts and wishing that you could stop them before they went down a path they could never come back from."
"You sound like you're talking from experience," he said suspiciously.
Ginny laughed humourlessly. "There might have been one scared eleven year old girl who took solace in a handsome sixteen year old boy when Harry wouldn't look at her. And the same girl might have wished for months after that she could've stopped the boy from becoming what he did."
He looked at her in shock, "Who…?"
A/n: Thank you so much for the overwhelming response to my previous chapter! All your reviews have made me grin like an idiot whenever I check them. I got this chapter written up quickly thanks to all of your encouragement, and am already working on the next one. Feel free to let me know about bits that you particularly liked/disliked and if there are any characters you would like to see more or less of. Thanks also to everyone that added me to their alerts and favourites. You all make me smile :)