"Hermione, we'll be fine." Narcissa Malfoy reassured her daughter-in-law for the third time in as many minutes. She had agreed to have her grandchildren stay with her for the night so that Hermione and Draco could attend the anniversary ball at their hotel.
Hermione nodded, knowing she was just putting off the inevitable. It was the finally the night of the anniversary ball and Hermione had been getting more nervous as the day progressed. Earlier this afternoon she had visited the hotel and checked with Jason that everything was organised and in place for the night and was reassured to find everything was running smoothly.
"Call me if you need anything." Hermione said, still reluctant to leave her mother-in-law's house.
"I will. Now go and get ready." Narcissa said, pushing Hermione towards the fireplace.
Hermione took one last glance at her children, Lyra was sitting at the table colouring in her picture book while Scorpius was sitting in his bouncy chair giggling away to himself. Satisfied Lyra and Scorpius were fine Hermione said goodbye to Narcissa and flooed home.
Once at home Hermione headed straight to the bedroom to begin getting ready. Draco was emerging from the bathroom when Hermione entered the large master suite.
"I thought you were never coming home, you've been gone ages." Draco said.
"I was just putting off tonight." Hermione sighed.
"We could always skip it. Stay home instead and make the most of having an empty house." Draco suggested, only partly joking. He wasn't looking forward to the night and would willingly skip the ball.
"As much as I would love to, it'll look bad if we don't show up." Hermione said smiling at Draco and heading into the bathroom.
After having a quick shower Hermione began to get ready. After doing her make-up and pinning her hair up, leaving several tendrils framing her face, Hermione stepped into her dress. The dress was emerald green and black. It was a figure hugging dress that showed off her curves and emphasised her cleavage. Finally Hermione added a pair of emerald high heels and silver jewellery all shaped like snakes. Hermione's earrings were long dangly snakes, she wore a silver snake bracelet that wound around her wrist to look like she had a snake wrapped round it and her necklace was shaped like a snake with the tail of the snake dipping into her cleavage.
"Wow. You look very Slytherin." Draco said in awe as his very sexy wife emerged from the bathroom.
"Good. That's the look I was going for." Hermione smiled.
"Well it's a very good look." Draco said with a smirk, his eyes travelling over Hermione's body. "Very sexy."
Hermione smiled and walked over to Draco who immediately wrapped her in his arms. "Thank you for doing this tonight. I promise I'll make it worth your while later." She whispered in Draco's ear before giving her husband a passionate kiss.
After kissing for several minutes Hermione and Draco reluctantly parted. Slowly they made their way downstairs so they could floo to their hotel and the ball that was taking place there that night.
Nearly half an hour after Kingsley's opening speech the anniversary ball was going perfectly. Kingsley had only spoken briefly but he had announced that there would be a lantern ceremony later in the night where everyone who lost their lives would be remembered. On the walls of the ballroom were animated pictures of everyone who had died in the few years that Voldemort had returned.
Draco hadn't left Hermione's side all night and both of them were amazed by how friendly and supportive most people were being. Several people were shocked to see them together but instead of passing judgement they merely said what an attractive couple they made and were perfectly pleasant. There were even a few people who didn't appear shocked by their marriage at all.
Within the first hour of the ball Hermione had spoken to nearly all the members of the Weasley family. Apart from Percy, who was his usual standoffish self, everyone was thrilled to see Hermione and perfectly accepting of Draco. Angelina and Fleur suggested getting together for a drink sometime with their husbands while Molly wanted to catch up with Hermione and meet her children.
Hermione was pleased the Weasley's were still friendly towards her. Hermione had often wondered what Ron and Ginny had told their family about her departure and whether they had made her out to be the villain in their falling out. Whatever had happened with Ginny and Ron Hermione still cared about the rest of their family and was thrilled when it appeared she could resume a relationship with them.
Hermione had also noticed that Ron had kept his distance from her and Draco. She had caught him watching her on more than one occasion but he just seemed content to glare at her and carry on drinking. Ginny had also kept her distance although Hermione got the feeling that she was merely building up the courage to approach her. Several times Hermione had caught Harry and Ginny approaching her but by the time Harry arrived he was alone as his wife had backed off.
About ten minutes before the lantern ceremony Harry finally made it to Hermione with Ginny still beside him. Ginny looked at Hermione for several minutes before she finally found her voice.
"Hermione, I'm so sorry about what happened. I feel awful about what I said and the way I treated you." Ginny said quickly. She wasn't good at apologies and wanted to get it out of the way as quick as possible. "I know I don't deserve it but I'm hoping you can forgive me and we can be friends again."
"I can't promise anything, but we can try." Hermione said. She was a lot more wary of forgiving Ginny because at the time of the incident it had been Ginny that had said the most hurtful things and it had been her who had told her to leave and never return.
"That's all I'm asking. I promise I'll make it up to you, Hermione." Ginny said.
Hermione smiled and nodded as Harry and Ginny departed quickly as Harry had to begin organising the lantern ceremony. Hermione was trying to decide if she was bothered about having Ginny in her life again, she had never been particularly close to Ginny and often only tolerated her because she was Ron's sister and later Harry's girlfriend. In the last nine years Hermione had been perfectly happy without her friends and knew that if for some reason she didn't see them much after tonight it wouldn't really bother her.
"We should get outside." Draco said, bringing Hermione's attention back to the present.
Hermione and Draco headed into the gardens were everyone was beginning to gather for the ceremony. Each lantern was to be released by people who were close to the person the lantern was for. Kingsley had also asked each group to say a few words about the person they were remembering. Kingsley and Harry were currently handing lanterns to people and Hermione watched the groups trying to decide who their lantern was for.
Hermione saw the Diggory's and the Creevey's, each remembering a son they had lost. A group of Auror's, seemingly headed by Kingsley, would be remembering Alastor Moody. The staff of Hogwarts were also gathered, presumably to remember Dumbledore. The large Weasley family was also gathered as they paid tribute to Fred. Hermione also noticed Andromeda standing next to the Weasley's and she was surprised to see a boy with her, presumably Teddy Lupin.
Hermione was so busy looking around the groups of people she didn't spot Harry until he was standing right next to her and Draco. Hermione was surprised to find him carrying two lanterns in his hands.
"I was hoping you would release this lantern." Harry said to Draco, handing him one of the two lanterns he was carrying. "I know that you two were close."
Draco looked at the lantern in his hand and the name 'Severus Snape' written on it. It was true that Severus had been there for him during the most difficult time of his life and Draco doubted he would have survived the experience of being in such close proximity to Voldemort if it hadn't been for his potions professor.
"Thank you, Potter. I'd be honoured." Draco said quietly.
"I was also hoping you could release this one, Hermione." Harry handed Hermione the second lantern.
"Dobby." Hermione read the inscription puzzled. "Why aren't you doing this one? Dobby loved you."
"I'm releasing one for Sirius." Harry said. He wasn't sure if her could deal with the emotion of releasing two. "I thought it would be appropriate given your love of house elves and what he did for us during the war."
Hermione agreed and thanked Harry. Harry knew Hermione was not only thanking him for letting her release the lantern but also for not specifically mentioning the events that happened prior to Dobby helping them in the war. Once Harry had briefly explained to Hermione and Draco what was happening he returned to where he had been before to start the ceremony.
"I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. As much as these balls are a celebration of the free wizarding world we live in, we must also remember those who gave their lives so we could be here today. As this year is the tenth anniversary of the end of the war we're going to release lanterns for those who lost their lives. I'm going to start by remembering my godfather, Sirius Black. I didn't know Sirius for long but he was a good man, a good friend and a good godfather." Harry spoke calmly but the emotion was evident in his voice, especially as he started speaking about Sirius.
Everyone watched as Harry released the lantern after he had finished speaking. For the time being the magic on it kept it hovering overhead where it would stay until all the lanterns had been released. After releasing the lantern Harry nodded to Kingsley to indicate it was his turn to speak.
For the next ten minutes several more people released lanterns for loved ones that were no longer around. Like a lot of the people gathered Hermione was close to tears on several occasions but when little Teddy Lupin released lanterns for his parents, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin, she couldn't help but shed a tear. Draco pulled Hermione closer to him and managed to calm her down moments before she said a few words about Dobby and released her lantern for the house elf.
Hermione's tears started to fall once again when she realised the Weasley's were next to speak.
"We're remembering our son, Fred Weasley." Arthur said, holding tightly onto Molly's hand as his wife was crying heavily. "Fred was a prankster and jokester and he brought great joy and happiness to everyone he knew."
"Fred was my other half and even now I still feel incomplete." George added as he stepped forward to release the lantern.
Hermione was still sniffing slightly when Harry turned and nodded to Draco. Hermione grabbed onto her husband's hand as he looked to her for support before he began to speak.
"This lantern is for Severus Snape. Severus was there for me during the worst two years of my life. He protected me when my own father wouldn't and he helped me become a better person. Severus was the most amazing man I've ever had the privilege of knowing." Draco released the lantern, lost in thoughts about his old professor.
Draco knew that if it wasn't for Severus he wouldn't be standing here ten years after the war. Severus had saved him from Voldemort's wrath after Dumbledore's death. He had even managed to persuade Voldemort to allow Draco to return to school in seventh year. It was during that year that Severus had revealed his past to Draco and had persuaded Draco that muggles and muggleborns weren't bad people. If it hadn't been for Severus' words during his last year at school Draco would never have tried to learn about muggles after the war, he never would have had a half muggle half magic hotel and he would never have given Hermione a chance.
Draco was so busy being grateful for everything Severus had done for him he almost missed the last lantern being released. It was only when he heard the name Dumbledore and Hermione held onto him tighter that he realised it was time for the part he was dreading most. As Professor McGonagall spoke movingly about the former headmaster of Hogwarts Draco noticed several people giving him dirty looks. Hermione also noticed and moved closer to Draco and together the couple stood tall throughout McGonagall's speech.
Once McGonagall released the final lantern the spell on the others broke and all the lanterns suddenly took off into the night sky. The crowd watched for a few minutes as the coloured lanterns floated away. Once they were out of sight people began to spread out and the ball began again.
Ron watched Hermione and Draco with a scowl on his face. He had originally planned on trying to speak to Hermione and re-establish some sort of friendship but the moment he saw the brunette witch with the blond Slytherin he realised he could never accept her choice of husband.
Ron had been appalled when Harry had included Draco in the lantern ceremony. Ron had expressed his feelings to Harry but his friend had told him he would only end up getting thrown out if he caused trouble. Since then Ron had been sitting in the corner steadily drinking glasses of firewhisky and glaring at his ex-girlfriend and her husband.
As Ron glared at Hermione and Draco the couple were currently on the dance floor talking about the sulking redhead.
"Weasley's watching us again." Draco said, noticing the glaring redhead out of the corner of his eye.
"We're obviously very entertaining." Hermione said.
"So you're not bothered that he hasn't spoken to you all night?" Draco asked.
Hermione lifted her head that had been resting on Draco's shoulder and looked at her husband. "No, that's his choice. I've spent the last nine years without him in my life and I'm not really bothered if I don't speak to him again."
"What about Potter and his wife?"
"I'm not sure. Harry seems determined to make up and Ginny seemed pretty genuine in her apology but I doubt whether we'll ever be that close again." Hermione settled back against Draco as the couple continued to dance slowly.
"I think we should go home and make the most of having an empty house." Draco said after a few minutes.
"I think that's a great idea." Hermione smiled, stepping out of Draco's embrace.
Hermione and Draco made their way out of the function room, only stopping briefly to make sure Jason was okay handling the rest of the night. As they left Hermione realised that she should actually thank Harry, Ron and Ginny. If they hadn't told her to leave she would never have stayed in Australia with her parents and she never would have re-met Draco. By turning their backs on Hermione her friends had pushed her into an amazing life.
A/N - The next chapter is the epilogue set a few years into the future and it explains what sort of relationships Hermione has with her old friends.