No one spoke and the silence was oddly deafening. The sneer on Draco's face twisted deeper and Hermione put down her napkin before standing. Unsure of how to react, she continued to stare at him in silence. Suddenly a voice Hermione recognised called out from the house and she threw him a look of incredulity laced with shock, before turning to Draco who looked aghast, rounding on Blaise.
"What the actual FUCK?" he raged, banging his fist on the table "What the hell is going on? I just interviewed you as part of an on-going MURDER investigation for fuck sake!"
The voice called out again "Seriously, Ron, what the fuck are all those people doing out on the lawn? I have a dinner party this evening! I cannot have people traipsing about all over the place!"
"Out here, Pans'" Ron called without taking his eyes of Hermione.
"I think I need a drink" muttered Hermione, sitting herself back down as her mind tried to process the surreality of the situation that was unfolding. She couldn't help but feel her world was spinning out of control at this moment. Pansy came storming out onto the terrace. Seeing the motley group around the table she ground to a halt in stunned silence as if she had been hit with the Petrificus Totalus. Spying her former lover and childhood friend she cried out in delight
"DRACO! How are you? What on earth are you doing here?" she threw her hands in the air dramatically before turning to Hermione "Granger? Wow, haven't you changed"
Sensing the tone laced with a trace of hostility and dripping with sarcasm, Hermione gave her a taut smile as she watched her take a seat next to her boyfriend.
"I might ask you the same thing, Pansy" Draco ground out, his gazed fixed firmly on Weasel.
Blaise rolled his eyes.
"Ok, Draco, calm down, they haven't been here, they have been in Cannaregio and before that they were in Morrocco" Hermione's eyes widened at the revelation "Pansy, the people on the lawn are MLE crime scene technicians, there has been a murder" he continued as Pansy's mouth dropped open in shock. "Ron, sit down you're making the place look untidy" he finished, waving at the vacant chair to his right.
Noting this chair was to the left of Hermione, Draco stood up, striding towards her.
"I don't think so" Draco sneered.
"Draco, sit down, you are being ridiculous" Hermione sighed, looking directly at Blaise "I think you have some explaining to do."
"No. Let me explain, 'Mione" Ron said, turning to face her.
"Fuck off, Weasel" Draco spat, not making any moves to follow Hermione's directions.
"NO YOU FUCK OFF FERRET!" roared Ronald, his cheeks scarlet, nostrils flaring.
"DON'T FUCKING CALL ME FERRET!" Draco yelled, looking ready to kill.
Hermione rolled her eyes and touched her wand casting a silencio.
"Right, now I am going to speak and you are all going to listen. I don't want to hear another raised voice. Draco and I are in the middle of an investigation and neither of us has the time, or frankly the patience for any more fighting. You are going to behave like grown ups all of you. Ronald, go indoors, I will be in shortly. Blaise, you are going to speak to Draco and tell him why you didn't feel it necessary to inform either of us as your friends or as investigators of your house guests. Draco, stop looking at me like that. You and I can talk about this later."
She spoke with such severity that no one questioned her as she cast the counter-charm. As she followed Ron into the house, Pansy turned to Draco, smirking.
"Quiet the little ball buster isn't she?"
Ron sat down in one of the wingback chairs as Hermione settled herself on the couch. He ran his hand through his hair giving her an impish grin.
"I am not entirely sure where to start" he said.
"How about after you left the letter on my kitchen table" she said, her tone even.
Ron blushed "Yea, that was pretty cowardly of me wasn't it" he sighed. "We just….I…." he huffed "You know we we're able to make it work" he muttered, looking at the floor.
"No, but I deserved more than a Dear John" she responded.
"I know. But everything was a mess and I thought I was hurting you so I just left. For whatever it's worth I'm sorry" he smiled shyly.
"Forget it, it's dealt with. But what happened between that day and today" she asked, eyes searching for answers he held back.
"After I left, I went back to Paris. I took an apartment, got a job in a muggle cafe and had a little fun. One night I got into this fight outside a club because some guys wouldn't leave this girl alone. Sort of knight to the rescue thing" he chuckled "the girl turned out to be Pansy. She had been bumming around like us only she had been getting into all sorts of trouble and was hooked on some muggle drug called cocaine. I took her back to my apartment because, well, this might be Pansy Parkinson, daughter of a death eater, but this was Pansy Parkinson who we went to school with and she needed help." he gave her smile and shrugged his shoulders before continuing "I helped her get clean, sorted out a few things for her and then the lease on my apartment ended and we both wanted out of Paris. We had both done Europe and she needed a clean break. So we pretty much put a pin in a map and it landed on Morocco. We stayed there for 3 years, made a few friends and we go back every now and then to visit." he explained. Hermione was still confused.
"But that doesn't explain Blaise or here" she said, shaking her head.
"Well I couldn't get Pansy Parkinson clean on my own could I" he scoffed "I couldn't go to Harry because he and bloody Malfoy were in the Middle East and Ginny couldn't even contact them so how was I supposed to?" Hermione's mind whirred
Draco was in the Middle East? When?
Ron continued his narrative "and for obvious reasons I couldn't turn to you. So that only left me with one option. I went into her purse, found her address book and owled Blaise. When we left Morocco he suggested we come here and we've been here ever since. It's better for Pans' than London, ya know. The island is warded, so muggles think it's basically uninhabited so it's quiet. No societal pressure from the old Pureblood families who still hold on to their way of thinking after everything." he sighed.
"So you have been in Morocco?" Hermione asked
"Yea, been there since Christmas, as Pans' finds that a difficult time and Blaise was at the Manor with Theo and Malfoy."
The way Ron spat Draco's name made her grimace.
"We got back Monday, and we've been at Blaise's apartment at the Palazzo Savorgnan" he finished, sitting back.
Hermione chewed her bottom lip.
"There's something you should know" she said, her voice low.
"Blaise already told me." he replied holding her gaze. "I can't say I am happy, I was bloody livid when he told me, but he said you're good for each other and Harry has been working with him for years, Ginny has him round for dinner, Pansy spent her childhood with him…. I dunno…" he trailed off.
Hermione didn't know what to say. She had expected hexs to be thrown left right and centre and she had an odd sense of foreboding, like the calm before the storm.
"Besides" he chuckled "Pans'd rip my blood head off if I did anything to bloody Draco sodding Malfoy and I'd quite like her to keep her temper cool in her condition" he finished.
Hermione stared at him confounded
"She's pregnant."
A/N: Palazzo Savorgnan is a vast, baroque palazzo with four floors. Its façade is on the Canale di Cannaregio. Apparently its a school, but in my head, this is where Blaise's apartment is ;)