Chapter Ten:

Hermione finishes writing a note to Ginny confirming that she will meet her and Luna for drinks tonight and sends it off with her owl. At the same moment she is greeted by a ministry owl at her window.

She gives the lovely bird a treat and takes the card from her leg.

Hermione Granger

You are invited to the Ministry's 24th annual

Charity Gala

July 5th at six o'clock in the evening

Please bring a guest of your choice

She had completely forgotten about the gala, and it was this weekend! She decides she will need to find a dress tonight before she meets up with Ginny and Luna and then her mind reverts to Draco (which seems to happen a lot lately) and if he is planning on going…

As Hermione walks out of the muggle dress shop, she can't help but feel excited for the gala. She tried on a couple of dresses that she really loved, but the one she decided to go with she picked with Draco in mind. She would be going over to his place for a bit after drinks with the girls, and she assumes she will find out then if they will be going together.

She quickly drops off her dress at her flat before heading out to one of the newer pubs in Diagon Alley, Giblets of Ire, silly name but amazing drinks.

Walking into the pub she immediately spots Ginny's bright red hair, it is impossible to miss, along with Luna's iridescent blonde hair. She quickly puts in her drink order with the bartender and joins them at their table.

"Ginny! Luna! This night could not have come at a better time, I miss you guys." She says to them as she sits down. "Particularly you Luna, how are you and Oliver?"

That was the surprise of the century. Luna Lovegood and Oliver Wood had been dating for almost 9 months and it is still utterly bewildering to her. She could not have made a more random pair if she had tried. But apparently aside from their vast differences, they were very cute together and seemed happy.

"Oh, we're great, Oliver has started hinting lately about getting married and I told him to get a move on because I could tell the snargelumps are starting to infest his body." Luna replies in her usual airy voice.

Hermione has no idea what she is going on about this time, but she gathers enough from her response that they are doing well, and possibly headed towards an engagement.

"Oh that's wonderful Luna! I'm so happy for the two of you." And she wholeheartedly means it, no one deserves more happiness than Luna. The war took a toll on her father, with Luna being captured and taken away from him, and unfortunately, he still hasn't fully returned to his usual self.

"Thank you, Hermione, but how are you and Draco Malfoy? Ginny was just telling me how the two of you got together."

"We're really good actually, we're not just casually dating anymore…it seems that we're in an actual relationship now." At this comment she looks at Ginny, knowing what her reaction will be, and she isn't disappointed.

"I knew it!" Ginny exclaims while punching a fist into the air. "You have to thank me now Hermione, it would just be terribly ungrateful of you not to." She finishes with a smirk.

"Alright, alright, thank you Ginny for entirely disregarding my privacy and sending a whole new world of drama into my life."

"You are very welcome, Hermione." Ginny replies without an ounce of humility.

A few drinks later Hermione realizes what time it is and knows she needs to be going. She says good-bye to her friends and promises they will do this again soon.

Just as she is walking to the apparition point she hears a store bell ding not too far away from where she is, as she looks up she is greeted with a sight that makes her stomach drop.

There is Draco Malfoy coming out of a potions shop with a comforting arm around Astoria Greengrass.

Hermione instantly stops in her tracks and is grateful that there is a large bush in front of her so that she won't be seen. She watches from where she is but there is really nothing to see, they are gone after only a few moments because they were much closer to the apparition point. Hermione immediately walks the rest of the way and apparates home, silently fuming inside.

Hermione is still fuming twenty minutes later as she steps into her fireplace and drops the floo powder calling out Draco Malfoy residence.

When she steps out of the floo she is greeted with a smile from Draco, but as soon as he sees that she is upset, his smile wavers.

He immediately gets up from the couch and walks over to her, attempting to wrap her up in a hug, but she takes a step back from him.

"What's wrong, love?" he is genuinely concerned now.

"Were you going to tell me you were seeing Astoria tonight?" She sees no point in beating around the bush.

At her question she can see that he is caught off guard and he starts to stumble over his words.

"What? How did you –

Hermione cuts him off, "Were you going to tell me?"

At this comment Draco starts to become upset, "of course I was, but it wasn't going to be my first topic of conversation with you after not seeing you for a few days"

"Why were you with her? After we just talked about this, you said you were done."

"Look, tonight was different, she was having a real rough go of something –

"That's really convenient. All I know is that you two looked mighty friendly tonight and I don't know if you're telling me the truth."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?"

"I'm saying…I'm saying I don't trust you when it comes to her and I don't know if I can get past this."

Hermione takes a deep breath, "and I think that this," she motions between the two of them "this is over." Hermione then turns around and throws powder into the fireplace.

"Hermione…don't…" But all Draco sees next is flames of green and she's gone.

It has been one of the roughest weeks Hermione has had in a long time. She hasn't spoken or seen Draco since their fight and breakup a couple of nights ago.

Their conversation is a constant loop in her head and a part of her almost decides not to go to the Ministry gala. But she had already asked Ginny to help her get ready before all this mess with Draco went down so here Ginny is at her flat, ready to knock some sense into her.

"Hermione, I love you, but you know you have to be at this gala. Not only because you're THE Hermione Granger, but because if he does show up, you need to show him that you're a strong independent woman."

What would she do without Ginny? Hermione knows that what she is saying is right, but it doesn't make it any easier.

"...and also, we're going to make you look unbelievable tonight, so he will feel even worse about losing you." Ah, there it was, the Slytherin side of Ginny again.

Hermione laughs along but internally hopes he won't even be there at all.

Ginny finishes putting lipstick on Hermione and hands her a mirror, saying she is done and that she can go put her dress on now. But Hermione barely glances in the mirror, trusting that Ginny did a perfect job.

When she has her dress and shoes on she walks back out into the living room to show Ginny the final look.

"Oh Hermione, forget about Malfoy, every man there tonight will be lining up to have a shot with you!"

Hermione gives a nervous laugh, surely Ginny is being ridiculous. But she spots herself in the mirror on the wall across from her and even she has to admit she looks good.

The dress she has chosen is a deep emerald green color, that hugs the top half of her curves perfectly, then floats out at the waist in a soft chiffon material. Ginny has kept the curls in her hair but pulled it all back into a low chignon with wisps of curls framing her face and the makeup is done just enough to leave her glowing.

She gives Ginny a dozen thank yous before heading off to the gala, not knowing how the night is going to go.