Despite the fact that neither of them was ill-mannered enough to raise their voice, Blaise and Pansy's hissed insults were starting to garner them odd looks from the guests in their vicinity. Draco and Hermione rapidly approached their tense forms in order to remind them of where they were and to force them to continue their row privately – mostly since Theo had long since taken custody of Julius and tactfully dragged Audrey away to the opposite end of the ballroom, effectively leaving both Pansy and Blaise unsupervised.
"–filthy vile excuse for a human being," Pansy was hissing, as they drew near.
Blaise glared at her with a cold look Hermione had never seen in his laughing eyes before. "Like you can talk, Parkinson. It was just as much your fault as it was mine."
"Fuck you Blaise," Pansy's voice dripped with venom.
"Must I remind you? You already did," Blaise shot back, with a smarmy smirk that made even Hermione momentarily want to strike him. Draco swiftly walked up to Pansy and put a firm arm around her shoulder, drawing her back in a feeble attempt to calm her down. Pansy shook him off and thrust her clutch at a bewildered Draco before she advanced towards Blaise menacingly.
"So sorry," Pansy seethed, her eyes flashing. "It was over so quickly it must've just slipped my mind."
Blaise gave a rather cruel laugh. "If it was over quickly it was because I couldn't bear to touch you for a second longer. I only tossed you a bone to shut you up after you threw yourself at me and begged me all night."
A flicker of hurt crossed Pansy's face, but it was rapidly replaced with anger. "You– fucking– disgraceful– bastard." Each word was punctuated with a painful jab to his stomach with a scarlet talon.
"I assure you dear, Blaise's father and I were quite firmly married when he was born," a melodious voice called out, dripping with amusement.
Everyone turned to look at the newcomer, and Hermione was almost taken aback by the beauty of the witch in front of her. Dressed elegantly in exquisite turquoise robes, the woman's long hair rippled down to her shapely hips and jewels glittered on every visible inch of her curvy body. Her skin was so pale, it had an almost ethereal glow.
Pansy coloured deeply. "I am so sorry Oriella, I wasn't insinuating–"
"Oh no dear," Oriella gave her a pleasant smile. "The word 'bastard' does have quite a nice ring to it doesn't it? Do carry on, it's always good to watch Blaise put in his place."
"Thanks mum," Blaise scowled, before he stalked off towards Audrey.
Draco relinquished his pointless position hovering behind a fuming Pansy, and stepped up to greet Oriella. "Evening Oriella, where is your husband tonight?" he politely kissed her hand.
"Probably floating around somewhere," Oriella gestured vaguely behind her, where Hermione could see an elderly wizard that was firmly perched in a floating chair. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what someone of Oriella's beauty and relative youth was doing with a wizard of that age.
"I don't believe you have met my wife, this is Hermione," Draco gestured to Hermione, who gave the elder witch a cordial smile, unsure of the proper way pure-blood women to greeted each other. The only women she had interacted with at length were Pansy and Narcissa, neither of whom kept up with formalities around her.
Oriella took the matters out of her hand by sweeping her into a warm hug. "My dear, you are even more radiant than the newspaper pictures would have me believe. I do apologise for not attending your wedding, I was on my honeymoon then. Blaise has told me so much about you, and I do hope to get to know you better."
"I hope so too," Hermione gave her a sincere smile.
"I really am sorry you heard that Oriella," Pansy walked up to them, looking visibly calmer.
Oriella gave her a look filled with sympathy and understanding. "Don't fret dear, Blaise can be a right prick sometimes. I may be his mother but I'm not blind to his faults."
Pansy reached over and squeezed her hand. "Thank you. I think Blaise wants to introduce Audrey to you tonight."
"Of course he does," Oriella gave her a sad smile, and tenderly brushed a stray lock of Pansy's hair from her forehead. "Do excuse me, I have to meet yet another girl that is completely wrong for my son. At least I will have the pretext to slip away quickly under the guise of retrieving your son and bringing him back to you."
Draco smirked. "Of course, who else would I trust with that important task?"
"I will be right back," Oriella winked and gracefully walked over to her son's side.
"Are you all right Pansy?" asked Hermione, her eyes clouding over with concern for her friend.
Pansy sniffed and knocked back the drink in her hands. "I'll be fine. I think we needed that, one final fight to give us both some closure on everything."
"Why don't we go get some fresh air?" Draco intervened, sensing the imminent breakdown.
"You both go ahead, I'll wait here for Oriella to return with Juls," said Hermione, knowing instinctively that Pansy would appreciate the one-on-one company of her oldest friend as opposed to feeling like an awkward third wheel. Pansy caught her eye and weakly gave her a grateful smile for her sensitivity.
Draco frowned. "We can wait until she returns, I don't think it's safe to leave you here alone."
Hermione gave a long suffering sigh. "Just go to the gardens Malfoy, I'll be completely fine. If it will make you feel better, I will go talk to Adrian; he's standing by himself."
"Fine," Draco gave in, and stood there with his arms folded until Hermione had walked over to Adrian's side. It was only once they were safely ensconced in conversation, did he offer his arm to Pansy and politely escort her to the back gardens, all the while hoping that there weren't many tears. He'd had quite enough of wailing females for one weekend.
If Adrian had been courteous earlier, he was nothing short of charming now –evidently pleased that she had made the effort to seek him out. He and Hermione had had a few brief conversations during their time together at law school, one of them unfortunately –and ironically– about how much Draco had made her life miserable during Hogwarts, and the extent to which Harry and Ron despised him. Adrian solicitously insisted on handing Hermione his untouched drink while he left to get another for himself, and she drank deeply from it as she braced herself for the line of questioning that was sure to follow when he returned. As much as she liked Adrian, and was relieved to fall into easy conversation with a friendly face, she wasn't quite ready to reveal to him all the reasons behind why she got married. She gave him a guarded smile as he walked back to her.
"So, you and Draco huh?" Adrian teased, as he sipped from a crystal glass filled with Firewhiskey.
Hermione tried to laugh it off. "He's changed. I think he went to a Healer to have his ego reduced, but he's completely different now."
Adrian gave her an easy smile. "I'm happy for you both. How did you even reconnect?"
For the second time that night, Hermione was saved from having to answer the question by the appearance of Blaise and Julius. "Mummy!" Julius eagerly threw his arms around her knees, as she daintily set down her drink to pick him up and place him on her hip.
"I thought Oriella was bringing him over?" Hermione gave Blaise a questioning look.
Blaise massaged his forehead. "I offered to do it so she could get to know Audrey a bit better," he broke off and gave her a despondent sigh. "I didn't mean to upset Pans like that."
"You upset Aunt Pansy?" asked Julius indignantly from Hermione's arms. "I thought you said you were good with the ladies, Uncle Blaise."
"I thought I was too," Blaise muttered mournfully, as he absent-mindedly ruffled his godson's hair. "Hello Adrian, sorry I didn't say hi sooner. Bit of a shite evening for me."
Adrian sympathetically patted his arm. "Happens, mate. Though, your girlfriend seems nice. I had a chat with her and Theo earlier."
"Thanks, she's a real gem," said Blaise, looking as though he had just swallowed a lemon. "I need a drink, can I get you two anything?
"I already have–" Hermione looked around in for the glass she had put down earlier – which was currently nowhere in sight, spotting Pansy and Draco approaching them in the process. "You better go quickly Blaise, Pansy and Draco are coming our way," she gestured discreetly. Pansy and Draco were thankfully too engrossed in their conversation to notice Blaise's presence.
"I did want to speak with you about something, Blaise, why don't we go somewhere private to have a chat?" suggested Adrian, looking slightly uneasy.
Blaise and Adrian disappeared into the crowd just seconds before Pansy and Draco caught up to Hermione.
In the middle of a decaying forest, several thousand miles away from Marcus Flint's birthday celebrations, a half-empty glass of Firewhiskey appeared out of thin air.
The jackal crept out from behind a withering tree. He cautiously sniffed the air as he approached the new object. It smelled strongly of two humans, as though it had been cradled in their hands not long before it had appeared in this formidable area where few humans dared to venture. It wasn't that the humans were afraid of the animals; in fact, most of them were blissfully unaware of the ravenous inhabitants of what had once been a lush forest. The jackal rubbed his nose against the cool, expensive glass. The smell was sweeter, cleaner than that of the human that had come by a few hours earlier and had filled the air with the taint of dark magic. This object had not been touched by darkness, and yet, it appeared not long after the malicious human had left.
The jackal knocked the glass over, sniffing at the potent liquid that spewed forth. He didn't have to taste it to know that it was not for his consumption. Somewhere, within the innards of the furry beast, a monster awoke. It was just so typical of humans to do things as they saw fit without any consideration for animal-kind. The jackal's fur stood on its end at the thought of any of the young, inexperienced animals partaking of the sweetly seductive liquid.
He watched with careful eyes as the hungry, drought-ridden earth merrily soaked up the potent drops. One could never be too careful when it came to protecting their young.
After all, it was up to the patriarch to protect his family, and protect them all he would. He howled in malicious threat as he waited to see the last of the liquid disappear. The next time the human would dare step on his land, reeking of evil magic used with wrongful intent, he would show him just how the animal world worked. The very next time the human dared to step within the forest, it would be his last unwise decision.
The howls sounded for long after the Firewhiskey disappeared into the cracked earth.
Hermione fingered the silky cashmere throw rug that she had owned since she was sixteen. She had left it draped over her favourite armchair in the apartment she used to share with Harry and Ron even after she had moved into the Manor. The familiar scarlet fabric comforted her, even as her thoughts were spinning at a speed that left her dizzy. It had been decided that she and Draco would regroup with the Aurors over tea, essentially to discuss any new leads that they had uncovered from Flint's party the previous night.
Draco had woken up uncharacteristically early that morning in order to keep his plans with her father. Apparently, at some time during the course of their interactions, Draco had allowed Herman to talk him into visiting the dental surgery and learning more about the muggle methods of dental care. Hermione had been surprised, but had happily accompanied him to her father's house and had stayed in her childhood bedroom to reacquaint herself with the long-unread books of her adolescence. Draco had returned from his visit four hours later, white faced and oddly tight-lipped about elaborating on whatever atrocity he had witnessed. When Hermione had questioned her father, an uncharacteristic smirk had spread over his face as he unrepentantly informed her he had been pleased to show Draco that despite not having any magical skills, he was still capable of inflicting pain. Hermione had given her father a half-amused half-exasperated look and had proceeded to drop the topic.
Remembering where she was, Hermione hastily wiped the lingering amusement off her face. Despite being able to cross several witches and wizards off their list of possibilities, they were all at an impasse, each lost in his thoughts.
Ron broke the silence. "I found something hilarious the other day, when I was going through my old school trunk at the Burrow."
"Why would you even bother with something like that?" asked Blaise incredulously.
"I was looking for some pictures of me and Lav from Hogwarts," Ron muttered defensively.
Harry shuddered vehemently as unpleasant memories of Ron and Lavender danced around his sleep-deprived mind. "What did you find?"
Ron broke into a grin and pulled out a small badge from the inner pocket of his robes. He held it up to the other occupants of the room, and they saw the flickering vestiges of Potter stinks feebly flash at them.
To Hermione's surprise, Draco reached for it and laughed good-naturedly. "Potter 'stinks', wow, I sure was the height of acerbic wit back then. To think, I was actually proud of these badges."
"You wouldn't shut up about them," Blaise recalled, rolling his eyes. "Pansy thought they were the coolest things she had ever seen."
"They were the coolest things she had ever seen," Draco retorted haughtily. "Wasn't that the year Granger went around bullying people into joining her little society with badges of her own? Vomit, was it?"
"Spew," Harry corrected, with a snort of amusement.
"S.P.E.W," Hermione admonished hotly. "Really Harry, you'd think you would get it right after all these years."
Draco grinned at Hermione's temper. "Say what you will, I'd still prefer to have a badge that says 'Potter stinks' to 'spew' any day."
Hermione huffed. Sometimes, it was only too easy to remember why she and Draco had never gotten along back at school. That realisation dredged up a memory and a bubbling question she had quashed from last night. She turned to Blaise, "What did Adrian want to talk to you about last night? I've never seen him that uneasy."
Blaise exhaled deeply. "Oh that. I suppose I should've brought it up earlier. Adrian pulled me aside to see if we had any leads on who was murdering all the pure-bloods, mainly cause he reckons that he's felt someone following him around the past few weeks."
"Did he have any concrete proof of that?" Hermione sat up ramrod straight.
"None or I could've justified requesting Aurors to guard him," said Blaise, with a long sip of his tea. "As we are at the moment, my hands are tied. Most pure-bloods are so paranoid right now that half of them jump at their own shadow. The Auror Department is already stretched thin, and Adrian doesn't fit the profile of someone the killer would go for."
Draco looked to Blaise in disbelief. "You're really going to leave him unguarded?"
"What else can I do?" Blaise shrugged. "So far, the killer has gone after former Death Eaters exclusively. Adrian doesn't fit the bill, and he hasn't been attacked or even brought in any solid evidence."
"I don't fit the bill either," Hermione reminded him, feeling unsettled.
Harry ran his hands through his hair. "You know as well as we do that we're treating your case separately to those of the murdered ex Death Eaters. Blaise is right to not jump the gun and assign Auror protection to everyone that comes to us claiming their lives are in danger. Everyone is paranoid and everyone is scared."
"But Adrian is our friend," Draco protested.
Blaise gave Draco a long look. "I know that, and I really hope I don't come to regret my decision later. For now, our remaining members are focusing on locating Vaisey."
"Vaisey? The Quidditch player?" Hermione asked in shock. "What happened to him?"
"His wife came by this morning in hysterics," Ron answered, looking weary. "Apparently he left the house last night saying he was going to go head to Flint's, and he never came back home."
Draco tensed. "He definitely wasn't at Flint's."
Blaise nodded, and leaned back into the soft cushions of the sofa. "I've already told his wife that. Personally, I think he is gallivanting with one of his mistresses and has just lost track of time. He never could keep it in his pants, but by Merlin, his wife is so upset that it's hard to keep a cool head. Then again, not every disappearance is sinister."
"Does he fit the profile of victims?" Hermione asked quietly.
"He could, but just barely," Harry grimaced as he pulled out his notes. "His father was a Death Eater, that's all."
"Got sentenced to five years," added Ron.
Hermione frowned, puzzling out the new information. "So it can't be some sort of vigilante group. Vaisey himself never did anything to warrant their attention."
Harry threw his hands up in frustration. "This is all so pathetic. We have been working almost round the clock for months now, yet we're still no closer to working out who the Arisen One is, and whether he is also the one murdering Death Eaters left right and center. Whenever we come up with one theory, something else happens to dash it."
"Why don't you take some time off, Potter?" Blaise suggested tactfully, as he gathered his notes. "We could all actually take a few hours off. I know Ginny is coming back tonight, why not go have dinner with her somewhere? Weasley and I could probably use a dinner with our girlfriends too. We can all meet back at the office tonight around ten to put in the paperwork for Vaisey."
"I think it's a good idea," Hermione nodded approvingly. "You can't start searching for a missing person until the twenty-four hour period has lapsed. You three might as well do something relaxing till then."
The five of them parted ways. Draco and Hermione Apparated back to the Manor, both mulling over the events of the weekend. They sat through an unusually stilted dinner with Narcissa and Julius, despite Narcissa's best efforts to draw them out into conversation. Eventually, Narcissa retired to her rooms, leaving the young couple to give Julius his nightly bath and tuck him into bed. Draco perched on the edge of the tub while his mind whirred at an alarming rate as he watched a thoroughly drenched Hermione play with his excited son. The past few months had been so trying that neither of them had spent as much time with Julius as they would've liked, and the way things were looking, it didn't seem to be changing any time soon.
A particularly cold splash of water drew Draco out of his pessimistic thoughts. "Merlin!" he exclaimed, pushing his sopping hair out of his eyes. "What was that for?"
Julius and Hermione giggled. "You aren't any fun Daddy," Julius whined, with a small pout. "You won't play with me and you won't give me babies to play with either."
Draco smirked at his wife's blush, as she firmly kept her eyes trained on the flannel she was rubbing over Julius' back. Payback time. "You'll have to ask your mummy for babies Juls, I'm all for them."
"You are?" Hermione dropped the flannel into the bathtub with a small splash.
"I've always wanted a couple of kids," Draco muttered, feeling slightly self-conscious as he retrieved the flannel. "Being an only child gets really lonely."
Hermione resumed scrubbing. "I didn't mind it so much, but then again I was always an introvert. I didn't mind not having company to play with as long as I could curl up with a good book."
"So you don't want kids?" Draco strained to keep his voice nonchalant as he dabbed bubbles over Julius' chin.
"Not right this second," Hermione evaded, as she added a moustache to complement Draco's handiwork. "Someday maybe."
Julius squirmed to look at himself in the mirror, oblivious to the seriousness of the conversation going on over his head. "Look Daddy! I have a beard and a mussy-tash. I'm a big boy now."
Draco relieved Hermione of the flannel and scrubbed behind Julius' ear. "You most certainly are," he declared solemnly. "Does this mean you're big enough to go to bed without a story every night?"
"No," Julius made a face. "But if I could eat chocolate whenever I wanted then maybe I could try to go to bed without a story every night."
Hermione laughed. "You're raising a little Slytherin," she muttered in undertone.
"I know," Draco smirked back proudly.
An elf, who Hermione belatedly recognised as Snotty, popped into the bathroom and bowed so low his forehead touched the bathroom floor. "Master Draco, you is having a guest," he raised his head, revealing a small patch of bubbles stuck between his eyes. "The guest is waiting downstairs to see you and Mistress."
"You go, I'll finish up here," Hermione suggested, as she poured water over Julius' bubble-filled face.
Draco stood and followed the elf out of the door. A high-pitched squeal from his son made him turn back to see Hermione playing a particularly vigorous game of splash, complete with flying rubber ducks. Despite the ridiculous muggle jeans and clingy t-shirt she was wearing, he had never seen her look more beautiful. Dripping tendrils – that had escaped from the elastic band she'd hurriedly clasped her hair into– framed the unguarded maternal affection on her face, as she laughed at Julius' excitement.
Remembering the guest waiting downstairs, Draco reluctantly turned on his heel and followed Snotty into the sitting room. To his shock, Pansy stood there, her clothes stained, and what looked like garbage caught in her normally immaculate hair. To his greater surprise, her eyes were red-rimmed and tears were streaming down her face.
"Pansy, what the hell happened to you?"
"Accidentally Apparated into some muggle's dumpster fifty miles north of here," Pansy waved her hand dismissively as a fresh onslaught of tears streamed down her face.
"How did you mess up Apparating?" Draco asked, as he quietly wondered why she was that upset about a botched attempt.
"It's not my fault that the only three Ds I could think of were Disgusting Despicable Dirtbag," Pansy spat, through gritted teeth.
"Who? The muggle?" Draco was utterly bewildered.
Pansy looked at him as though he was unhinged. "No, Blaise."
Draco was more confused than he had ever been. "Blaise forced you to Apparate into a muggle's dumpster?"
Pansy let out a shriek of frustration. The crystal-shattering howl sounded as though she was, at the very least, being currently horrifically slaughtered. "You are so maddening Draco."
"What the hell did I do?" Draco backed away slowly, perplexed. Pansy's eyes had an eerie resemblance to Buckbeak the Hippogriff's shortly before it had attacked him.
"Hermione!" Pansy half screamed, half whimpered.
Typically, Hermione was at the sitting room in record time. Bloody overachiever. "What happened, Pans?"
"Blaise is moving in with that bitch," Pansy managed, before she collapsed onto a sapphire sofa. "And she's not even a bitch. She's so bloody nice."
Draco opened his mouth to point out the fact that she was currently defiling the Malfoy antique she had elected to park her garbage covered self on, but a sharp glare from his wife stopped him.
"Men are pigs," Hermione said firmly, as she put a consoling hand on Pansy's arm.
Pansy shot Draco a look of pure loathing. "Yes they are."
He was unsure about how this had turned to him, but he valued his hide too much to stick around and investigate. "Ah, I'll just leave you two to it then…" he mumbled, as he backed out of the room rapidly.
Hermione glared at him and turned to Pansy. "Like I said, pigs," she carefully sat down next to Pansy on the couch. "So, how did you find out about Blaise?"
Pansy played with the folds of her stained robes. "Oriella told me. She was just as heartbroken and disappointed as I was, if not more. I can't believe he would do this Hermione. Not after what happened when you were away–" she broke off and forced herself to take a deep breath, managing to keep calm for all of five seconds before breaking down again.
"What happened while we were away?" Hermione probed carefully, as she gingerly put an arm around Pansy's stained shoulders.
"I was staying over at Blaise's one night; you guys had been gone for over twenty-four hours then. Audrey came by, I think she gave me a Sleeping Draught because I fell asleep while she was still there and woke up at four in the morning," Pansy relayed, accepting the handkerchief Hermione offered. "When I woke up, Blaise was on the floor, leaning against the foot of my couch. I wondered whether to wake him up or not, but eventually I figured he would be more comfortable if he was in a bed."
Hermione conjured another handkerchief and pressed it into Pansy's shaking hands. "Go on," she prompted sympathetically, as she Vanished the previous handkerchief.
"I was leaning over him, and I shook him awake," Pansy paused to blow her nose delicately. "He woke up and suddenly we realised that we were alone in his apartment. The fire was dying, so the room was dim. It abruptly felt too intimate and I tried to get up to leave, but Blaise grabbed my wrist and asked me to stay for a while."
"Did you stay?"
"How could I refuse him?" Pansy gave her a rueful smile. "Blaise was just as shaken up about you and Draco leaving as I was. Weasley was with Ginny and Narcissa at the Manor, but neither of us could bear to be there when we didn't know what had happened to you both."
Hermione squeezed Pansy's hand affectionately. "We would've contacted you, but we weren't sure what was going on back home. We didn't want to risk letting anyone unsavoury know we were unharmed and comfortable."
"Of course," Pansy waved her apologies away. "So Blaise and I sat there for a while, just talking about how worried we were. The war came up, and we got talking about losing loved ones. I don't know how it happened exactly, but one minute we were talking and the next minute we fell silent. His arms were around me and our lips were almost next to each other."
"Did you kiss?" Hermione drew in a sharp breath.
Pansy shook her head. "No, though we almost did. It started with him innocently kissing my forehead and I gave him a kiss on the cheek, then somehow we were leaning in and our lips had barely touched when he jerked away mumbling something about Audrey."
Hermione conjured another handkerchief. "At least he didn't cheat on Audrey and make you the other woman. That wouldn't have been very respectful to either of you."
"I know," Pansy morosely agreed. "After that there was all this unspoken tension between us. The next time I saw him, Parker had just been attacked and Audrey was checking him over. Blaise whisked me away from the hospital room, giving some excuse about questioning me, and then told me that what had almost happened the other night could never happen again. He said that I was one of his best friends, and that he didn't want to throw all of that away for a lousy shag when we were both dating other people."
"He could've worded that better," Hermione winced.
Pansy shrugged. "I wanted to tell him that I was not actually dating Theo, but it was abundantly clear that Blaise didn't love me the way I loved him."
"You don't know that," said Hermione guardedly.
"I know he loves me, and he went as far to tell me that he loved me as much more than a friend," Pansy sniffed indignantly into the handkerchief. "He said he had to tell me how he felt, and then told me that he cared about our friendship too much to risk it by starting something up. Basically, he showed me that he's a coward and that I'm not worth the risk."
Hermione sighed. "I don't think it's as black and white as that Pansy."
Pansy delicately wiped her watering eyes. "It doesn't matter. If he loves me and yet he won't take a risk for me, he may as well not love me at all."
"I guess," Hermione agreed diplomatically. "Do you want to go out somewhere tonight? It might cheer you up."
"That is exactly what I was going to try talking you into," Pansy gave her a genuine smile. "I was thinking we could go out drinking somewhere. We could even invite Ginny and Luna if you want."
Hermione smiled back. "That sounds great actually. Luna is away for work but I know Ginny just got back tonight and she won't have any plans because Harry is going back into work at ten. Where would you like to go?"
"Somewhere in muggle London," Pansy said firmly, as she neatly folded the handkerchief. "Audrey sent me an owl earlier, inviting me to go bar-hopping with her girlfriends tonight. She said they were having celebratory drinks and that she would tell us all why when we got there. Of course, by then Oriella had already told me about them moving in together, so I didn't do anything stupid like accept."
"I got an owl from her as well but I haven't checked it yet," said Hermione, thinking quickly. "It's probably an invitation to the same thing. I reckon we could tell her that you and I are doing something with Narcissa tonight, that way if she's even slightly suspicious about you and Blaise, she won't think too much of you declining."
"Thanks," said Pansy gratefully. "I really think she has to know that there is something going on. She can't possibly not have noticed."
Hermione picked her words carefully. "Blaise seems to think so too. He mentioned it in passing," before Pansy could ask any further questions about what else Blaise might've said, Hermione changed the topic. "How about we both go get cleaned up? I'll owl Ginny, and maybe we could invite my friend Vanessa? She's muggle-born too, so she will have some good recommendations for us, and I haven't seen much of her lately."
"Sure," Pansy agreed cheerfully. "The more the merrier."
They ended up at a small pub in Islington, complete with a beer garden. From the numerous patrons, all happily drinking their way to a beer-induced stupor, it was clear that the pub was a popular one. Hermione had thought that their choices would be quite limited, it being a Sunday night, but she was pleasantly surprised at being proven wrong. The four girls wove their way around stumbling pot-bellied men and managed to secure a table towards the back. Vanessa and Hermione left to get the first round of drinks – both Ginny and Pansy being inexperienced in what to order at a non-wizarding establishment– while Pansy happily lit up a cigarette.
One round turned into six, as Pansy and Ginny brashly declared they would try every muggle drink on the menu. Vanessa and Hermione took their drinking a lot more slowly, but neither of them was even in the same realm as sober. They were some of the only girls present in the beer garden, and therefore garnered a lot of male attention. Hermione and Ginny politely declined all the invitations, but to Hermione's surprise, both Pansy and Vanessa followed suit. Hermione could understand Pansy feeling uncomfortable at the idea of having to make small talk with a muggle, but she was taken aback to see Vanessa do the same.
When Vanessa declined a rather handsome businessman that had even Pansy fumbling over her refusal to accept his drink, Hermione decided to quiz her friend when she returned from the bar. She watched as one of the more persistent men sidled up to Vanessa and pulled out his wallet, clearing offering to buy her a drink. To Hermione's astonishment, Vanessa raised her arm and placed a hand on his shoulder, as if in thanks. A second later, the man walked away looking confused.
"Was the bloke at the bar bothering you?" Hermione asked, as Vanessa sat back at the table with a round of gin and tonics.
Vanessa rolled her eyes. "He was being really annoying."
"He walked away quick enough," Ginny commented, as she drained her daiquiri and reached for a fresh drink.
"I might have err– used the Confundus charm on him," Vanessa admitted sheepishly. "I have my wand up my sleeve. I often entertain my muggle cousins by hiding my wand and showing them 'magic' tricks."
Pansy laughed at that. "If only I hadn't hidden mine in my purse, I would've happily hexed some of them."
Hermione leaned over. "I couldn't help noticing that you turned away a rather attractive guy earlier."
"Yeah err– about that," Vanessa ran her finger around the rim of her drink. "I started seeing someone recently. He's really very nice."
"Someone we know?" Hermione was astounded. She had never envisaged the shy girl to be the kind to go out and meet men. "He is a wizard, isn't he?"
Vanessa blushed prettily. "He's a wizard, but I don't think you know him. I met him at the Ministry when I was working late one night, but his occupation is a bit unorthodox. I haven't told many people that we're seeing each other."
"What does he do?" Ginny asked curiously, as she reached over and helped herself to one of Pansy's cigarettes.
"He works at Azkaban," Vanessa confessed in a rush, her words jumbling together. "He's from France, he's one of the new guards they put in. His name is Paulo and he's really very lovely."
Pansy exhaled a plume of smoke. "There's nothing wrong with that. If he makes you happy then you should hold on to that," she flicked her cigarette gracefully, sending ash neatly floating into the ceramic ashtray. "The most important thing isn't what he does or what other people will think, it's how he makes you feel."
"I agree," Ginny piped up, taking a deep drag of her cigarette. "As long as he makes time for you and treats you well, you shouldn't care about anything else."
Vanessa gave a shy smile. "Thanks. I don't see him as often as I would like, but when I do, it's just great."
Hermione looked to Ginny shrewdly. "How are things with Harry, Gin?"
Ginny aggressively flicked her cigarette, sending ash flying all across the table. "He is always working and always cross, so I wouldn't know how things are exactly. He was gone all of last weekend and I had to return for practice on Wednesday itself. I haven't spent time with him since Tuesday, when we stayed over at the Manor, and yet he went barrelling right back to work as soon as dinner was done."
"He's really stressed with work right now," Hermione replied evenly. "He almost didn't even have the time to see you tonight."
Ginny snorted. "He's always stressed with something or the other. I thought that after the war he would no longer have to run around saving lives, but it's like he really has some sort of hero-complex."
"I can kind of see where you're coming from," Vanessa sipped her drink.
"But at least he cares about you and isn't afraid to be with you," Pansy replied, lighting up another cigarette. "Which is more than I can say for Blaise. Nor does Harry pick fights with you at someone's birthday party."
Hermione awkwardly cleared her throat. "When you and Blaise were fighting last night, he implied that you'd both slept together. Was that… recent?"
"That was ages ago at graduation," Pansy inhaled deeply and blew a smoke ring. "Never try to out drink Draco Malfoy, especially not with one of his self-made concoctions titled Tentacula Venom. It had a mix of Firewhiskey, Mead, Gillywater, a dash of Butterbeer and some elf-wine. Blaise and I couldn't see straight after four glasses."
"It happened just the once?" asked Ginny, interestedly.
Pansy nodded. "It was the most awkward morning-after ever! We were both too hungover to move, and neither of us could do anything except awkwardly lay in bed next to each other until Draco brought us some Hangover potion. We then had to put up with his snotty little comments throughout breakfast."
The girls laughed.
"I do miss him, even if he was an arse," Pansy admitted quietly, her eyes tearing up slightly.
Ginny slung her arm around Pansy's shoulders. "I know how you feel. I really wish men weren't such pricks half the time."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably, feeling an upsurge of sympathy for her friends. She found herself slightly relieved that her relationship was standing strong because she didn't think she could bear to go through half the problems her friends were currently struggling with. Hermione sipped her drink to cover the small smile that played across her face at the memory of Friday night, and then stiffened as realisation coursed through her veins, her quickened pulse thudding in her ears.
Relationship?
A/n: So completely floored by how many reviews I received for my last chapter! You guys are all amazing! You will be pleased to know that I've made good headway with the next one, so it should be up fairly soon. Sorry for the lack of Dramione interaction in this one, but I did have to include several important plot points. Next one will have more, promise!
Once again, thank you to all the people that have added me to their alerts and favourites. I love reviews, so if you feel like putting a smile on my face please leave me one :)