When Draco stepped into Hermione's office that next Monday morning, she didn't know what to expect. Sure, she knew she would have to confront him sooner or later, but she thought she'd be the one approaching him.

"Hey," she tried to hide her surprise as he walked up to her desk and sat himself in front of her.

"Good morning, Hermione," he greeted in a perfectly polite tone. "Sleep well?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes briefly at him before answering, "Yes. You?"

"Yes, thank you."

He actually did look very well rested, and freshly showered to boot. She wanted to lean in closer and smell his cologne.

"Anyway, I don't mean to keep you from anything important, I just came to give you this," he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pale gray envelope. She could see beautiful handwriting in dark blue. "Theo asked me to give it to you."

Hermione frowned. Theodore Nott? What could he possibly need to tell her that required such a fancy letter?

She took the envelope from Draco's hands and their fingers touched for a split second. She could tell he was watching her intently as she looked at the letter in her hands. The deep indigo ink was sparkling.

From: Mr. Theodore Nott

To: Ms. Hermione Granger.

She carefully opened it and pulled the cream colored paper from inside, scribbled in the same sparkling ink.

You've been cordially invited to Mr. Theodore Nott's birthday celebration in honor of his 22 birthday

"Apparently he was just 'delighted' with you the other day and hopes you can make it. Pansy's planning the whole thing so he told me to apologize to you for her ostentatiousness." Draco's face was calm, but Hermione couldn't help noticing some bitterness in his voice.

She grinned. "that's lovely! Did he invite Harry too?"

"More or less. Not in the same way as you," he pointed to the invitation. "But he told me to bring whoever I wanted, so I'm bringing him."

"Oh that's great then. We can all go together." She cut herself off. "I mean, no together together, but at the same time."

Draco nodded and stood up. "Well, I must get going,"

"Draco, wait." Hermione hadn't been ready tj be the one bringing up the subject, but someone had to. "You are not still mad, right? About yesterday?"

Draco's calm demeanor was slightly unnerving. "Not at all. Don't worry about it."

Hermione tried to feel relieved, but it wasn't coming naturally. "Good then…"

Draco nodded again and made to leave but she stopped him. "I was also wondering if... Harry and you... After I left…"

Draco smirked. "No. But we did something much better."

Hermiones stomach dropped.

"We planned our revenge." His smile made her heart jump in fear and she wondered if he was always this terrifying. "But I'll guess you'll know when you see it."

With that, he left her office, leaving her to stare at the closed door for a few minutes.

.

Hermione met Harry for dinner the next night, as well as Draco for lunch on Thursday, and both of them refused to talk about this 'revenge' that Draco had mentioned. He denied ever saying such a thing, and Harry claimed he had no idea what she was talking about. She usually managed to get Harry to to talk, but apparently Draco was even better at making him keep quiet.

That Friday was Theo's party, and Hermione found it necessary to send Draco pictures of some of the dresses she owned to make sure that at least one of them complied with the pureblood's party dress code. Draco had been quickly learning how to use his mobile, so she texted him pictures of different outfits until he approved.

"Now one without the dress. I'll forward it to Harry." he replied.

He was nothing if not a quick learner.

"I think we better leave those first impressions for real life." She wrote back

"Fine. I'm meeting Harry at his place in an hour. See you then."

.

Nott Manor was an impressive place, so Hermione was slightly surprised to find that the party consisted of very few people, most of them really young. There didn't seem to be a lot of relatives, but then again, she figured that Theo probably didn't have a lot of family.

Still, the party was just as fancy as she had expected, especially knowing that Pansy did the decorations. The door complimented their looks as she, Draco, and Harry walked in., and then Draco disappeared as soon as he spotted familiar people, leaving her and Harry alone in a room full of Slytherins. They should get used to it; they were dating one.

Hermione spotted Theo, so she and Harry went over to congratulate him and hand over a present. Harry had begged her to write his name on the card too, since he hadn't had the sense to get him anything.

"I hope you don't already have it," Hermione said as Theo opened the thin box containing a rare Australian quill with an ostrich feather.

Theo smiled, which was still something strange to see for Hermione. "I don't. This is a lovely quill. Thank you, Hermione. Potter."

"Thank you for having us," Harry said as he accepted one of the floating champagne flutes that had stopped to hover next to him. He passed one to Hermione and another to Theo.

Harry held his glass up so she and Theo did the same. "Cheers!"

Hermione made the mistake of looking at Theo then, and noticed that his eyes never left hers as they all clinked their glasses together and then sipped some champagne. She shook her head, trying to remove the awkward feeling that had settled in her chest.

When a hand landed on her shoulder, she hoped it was Draco. Instead, she was faced with the flawless eye-make up of Pansy.

"Hello Grang- I mean Hermione," Pansy greeted her before her eyes went to Harry. "Oh I see you brought Potter with you." She smiled delightedly, giving Harry a small wave which he awkwardly returned.

"Actually, it was Draco," Hermione replied without thinking, and then her mouth snapped shut. Pansy smiled even wider, apparently loving the way in which Hermione had screwed up. Of course it made sense that she was the one to invite Harry, and now Theo would wonder why Draco would bring Potter to his birthday Party.

Pansy got in between Hermione and Harry, throwing her arms over their shoulders. "Well, it was very rude of Draco not to show you to the coats' room. Let me take you there."

Hermione smiled quickly at Theo before Pansy guided them away, to a small hall that led to a door that also complimented their coats before they entered the room.

"We should have talked about what to say if someone asked why you're here," Hermione said worriedly.

Harry looked tense as he removed his coat. "No one asked! You simply blurted it out!"

Pansy snickered. "Relax, Potter. Theo probably doesn't even care, in any case he'll just think that Draco has the hots for you, which is pretty easy to figure out anyway."

"Pansy, please don't make it worse," Hermione told her, taking off her coat and hanging it up. "I just hope that Draco won't make a big deal out of this."

Draco walked in then, startling Harry and Hermione, but not Pansy.

"You obviously haven't dated him long enough," Pansy said under her breath.

Draco sent her a death glare. "What are you three doing here?"

"You didn't even show them where to leave their coats, what kind of boyfriend are you?"

"In here I'm no one's boyfriend, remember?" Draco rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Please stay out of this Pansy, I don't want to hear you getting involved with anything that happens between the three of us tonight, alright?"

Pansy's mouth was in a very thin line, her jaw tight as she nodded.

"Good. Now can you please come out? This looks strange." Draco turned around and exited, without as much as a glance towards Harry or Hermione. Pansy raised one eyebrow at them but then remained quiet, holding the door open politely for them to walk out.

The party ended up not being as uncomfortable as Hermione would have imagined. She had some amazing food delicacies, as well as probably the most expensive champagne of her life. She and Harry stuck together for most of the party, though eventually Theo took her to introduce her to some people while Harry remained seated next to the food table.

Since Theo did nothing more than invest his family money and collecting antiques, most of the people he knew were also collectors from different parts of Britain, so the conversations turned out to be quite interesting.

"My sister owns a seventeenth century wand that has a core made from a dodo feather," a young man named Brian said, earning a gasp from Hermione.

"I didn't know dodos were magical creatures!" she exclaimed.

Brian shook his head. "They weren't; the wand is absolutely useless, but when the birds were brought to Europe, some wizards made wands with their feathers and sold them at a very steep price claiming it had new exotic qualities."

Although Hermione would never dream of becoming a collector herself, all of that trivial information was fascinating to her, and she talked to Theo and his friends for a long time, even as the party slowly begun to die out, most of the people leaving. She was so engrossed in a conversation about wizarding cookbooks that she didn't realize it was only her and Theo.

Until he placed a hand on her knee, that is.

Hermione froze completely, her eyes looking down at his hand before going back up to Theo's. He was perfectly calm, a soft smile on his face as he waited for her reaction.

"Um, Theo?" she said with uncertainty.

"Hermione?"

She couldn't think of a better excuse, so she simply stood up from the sofa. "I'm going to see how Harry is doing, excuse me."

Hermione walked away, trying not to seem too crazed, but she was very shaken up. She had imagined Theo might like her, but she never would have guessed that he would make a move, and now she needed to find Harry.

Unfortunately, Harry seemed to be in a complicated situation as well.

Tracey Davis was clinging to Harry's arm, laughing and spilling small amounts of wine from her glass. Harry looked uncomfortable as he tried to pry her way, but she was clearly way too drunk. He looked up and found Hermione staring, and Harry pleaded with his eyes for some help.

Before Hermione could get there, though, Pansy took a hold of Tracey, admonishing her for not knowing how to hold her alcohol. Harry smiled gratefully at Pansy before Hermione led him away, to the coats' room.

"Did you see how she was all over me?" Harry whispered as they entered. "We barely exchanged two words, I'm not even sure I remember her!"

Hermione nodded, trying to be sympathetic but her issue was simple more important. "I think Theo likes me."

Harry looked shocked. "What?"

Pansy opened the door but only poked her head in. "Sorry about Tracey, Potter. She's had a crush on you since school, I should have known she'd do this."

"It's alright. Thank you."

Pansy nodded and was about to close the door again when Hermione called her.

"Yes?"

Hermione didn't want to make any assumptions, so it was better to ask. "Do you happen to know if perhaps...Theo might-"

"Fancy you?" Pansy finished her sentence. "Yes, I knew."

"What?!" a voice from outside the door made Pansy jump. She turned around and Draco opened the door completely, brushing Pansy to the side and stepping in.

"Theo fancies you?" Draco asked Hermione, his voice a few octaves higher.

Pansy closed the door behind her. "Yes, Theo fancies her."

Draco turned to look at Pansy. "And you knew?" Pansy nodded. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You told me to stay out of it," she said very slowly. Draco looked like he was biting his tongue. "But now that we're on the subject, Tracey is crazy into Potter and she was slobbering all over him moments ago. Bye."

Pansy gave them a small wave before exiting, leaving the three of them in a tense silence.

"She wasn't exactly slobbering," Harry said with a shrug.

Draco seemed to be buzzing with anger. "Who do they think they are? Me?"

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest "They don't know about us, you can't really blame them."

"How would they know, he ignored us the whole party."

Hermione and Draco turned to look at Harry after he spoke. He was looking down at the ground, his hands in his pockets. Hermione felt Draco tense up even more, but she found it hard not to agree with Harry.

Draco's mouth was open and he looked on the verge of saying something, but then his shoulders slumped and he hung his head slightly, one hand coming up to run through his hair.

"You're right."

Draco started walking away rather fast, so after looking at each other for a moment, Harry and Hermione followed him out.

The party was basically over, only Pansy, Blaise, Tracey, Theo, Daphne, and her sister Astoria remaining. Draco stood in the middle of the room, all eyes on him, and when Hermione and Harry walked in, Theo stood up, looking at Hermione.

"Listen you clueless brutes, I have something to tell you," Draco announced. Hermione could see Pansy smiling.

"I'm dating Potter." The only person who seemed surprised was Tracey, who pouted. "And, I'm dating Granger." Draco looked at Theo after speaking and it was the first time Hermione had ever seen Theo looked genuinely shocked.

The same could be said about the rest of the Slytherins, except for Pansy of course. They all looked like the wanted to ask a million questions, but Draco held one hand up. "This is not an invitation for discussion. If this information leaves this house, I'm murdering every single one of you."

Pansy rolled her eyes in response and Draco walked over to her. "Sorry for being a git earlier."

"And?" Pansy asked with a knowing look.

"And you planned an excellent party. You can plan my next one."

She beamed and Draco squeezed her hand before going to where Harry and Hermione stood, pretending not to notice everyone's gazes. He took both their hands, smiling at them. Hermione smiled back and Harry looked like he couldn't believe Draco had told all his friends.

"Theo," Draco said to his friend, who still looked confused. "Harry birthday mate. Stay the fuck away."

Without another word, they disapparated.