As she changed her outfit for the third time, Hermione couldn't help but wonder if her indecision over her outfit had anything to do with her hesitance to accept an invitation to Draco's party. When Draco had first invited her to join the Slytherins in their celebrations, Hermione had declined as she felt she'd just been included as the group felt sorry for her after Ron had dumped her. But Draco had continued to invite her to join them, and every time he did, he'd reminded her that they were now friends.
Even though she hadn't agreed to attend the get together before they left Hogwarts, she'd had a couple of owls from Draco requesting her to join them. She'd also had owls from Harry, joining in the plea to join in with the festivities. Her best friend had all-but begged her to go to the party with him as he didn't want to be the only Gryffindor at the event. Even her parents had encouraged her to let her hair down and make new friends. So in the end, Hermione had agreed to attend the party, and she was getting ready to head off to Grimmauld Place so she and Harry could go to Malfoy Manor together.
Although as she thought about the location of the party, Hermione began to wonder if her reluctance to accept the invitation didn't have anything to do with Draco and the Slytherins, but was more about having to face Draco's parents. It had been easy to bury the past with Draco as she'd seen the change in him after Voldemort's defeat, but his parents were a different matter. Voldemort had been back so briefly that it hadn't been clear how much support he had, and where that support had come from. So for all Hermione knew, Lucius might have been willing to re-join The Dark Lord.
However, Hermione was trying not to judge the Malfoys on what might have been. It was true that if Voldemort had been around longer, a lot of things might be different. But there was no way of knowing exactly what would have happened if he hadn't been killed by Dumbledore so quickly after his return. What mattered was what had actually happened, and that had been the Malfoys and several other pure-blood families publicly disowning Voldemort after his downfall and vowing not to have anything more to do with the Dark Arts. And if the actions of their children were to be believed, it was as though the pure-blood community finally felt free to make their own way in the world without fearing reprisals from Voldemort.
Finally settling on her outfit of jeans and a strappy purple top, Hermione picked up her overnight bag and checked she had everything. Since neither she nor Harry knew how late the party would go on, Hermione had arranged to stay at Grimmauld Place for the night. Technically as an adult, in both the muggle and wizarding worlds, Hermione didn't need permission from her parents, but she'd still cleared it with them before making the arrangements with her best friend.
"I'm off now," she announced, poking her head into the front room where her parents were settling down for the evening.
"Have fun," her mother, Jean Granger, said with a warm smile.
"And forget about that little rodent you were dating," Richard Granger added with a scowl. "Fancy making you choose between him and Harry. Who does the jumped up little rat think he is?"
Chuckling at her father, although appreciating his concern and the fact he'd been very anti-Ron since she'd returned home, Hermione said her goodbyes and grabbing her jacket, apparated to Harry's house. Knocking on the door of Grimmauld Place, she didn't wait for an answer before heading into the house. As usual she was greeted by the screeching of Sirius's mother, whose portrait hung behind the door.
"Good evening to you, Mrs Black," Hermione said sweetly, knowing full well that being nice to the grouchy old witch rubbed her up the wrong way.
"Filth, filth," Mrs Black yelled. "Fouling my house. I won't stand for it."
"Then it's a good job you have no feet," Sirius drawled, emerging from the living room and pulling a thick velvet curtain over his mother's portrait, muffling her yells. "Hi, Hermione. Ignore the old bat."
"I always do," Hermione replied with a shrug. She'd grown used to Mrs Black, and even though she tended to throw her a nice welcome, she'd long since stopped listening to what she shouted at her.
"Send your bag up to the spare room, and we can wait for Harry," Sirius said. "It seems to be taking him an age to get ready."
"He has to look his best for Daphne," Hermione laughed as she sent her bag soaring up to the spare room she always used when she visited Harry.
"That you do," Sirius agreed with a nod. "When you have a hot girlfriend, you have to keep yourself in tip-top shape. There's nothing worse than better looking competition."
"I don't think Harry has any competition," Hermione said. "Daphne seems pretty devoted to him."
"I hope so, because I can tell Harry is pretty smitten," Sirius said with a smile.
"He is," Hermione agreed. "It's just a shame not everyone could see that."
"In my opinion, it's Ron's loss," Sirius said. "He's lost the best friend he could ever hope to have in Harry, and to top it all off he threw away a girl who was way out of his league."
"I was not out of Ron's league," Hermione argued.
"He was punching way above his weight with you," Sirius insisted. "If I was ten years younger, I would be jumping in there myself," he added with a mischievous wink.
"And what if you're not my type?" Hermione teased even as she felt a blush rising in her cheeks.
"Whichever wizard is your type is a very lucky young man," Sirius chuckled. "And Ron is the one missing out. Although something tells me he wasn't really your type either."
"I don't really know what my type is," Hermione admitted with a shrug.
"For a start, someone who will appreciate what he's got," Sirius said seriously. "Trust me Hermione, when you find him, you'll know."
"Find who?" Harry asked as he sauntered into the living room, his black hair neatly combed and parted.
"What have you done with your hair?" Sirius questioned, stifling a laugh.
"I brushed it," Harry retorted. "You should try it sometime."
"Witches like the wild look," Sirius retorted with a wink.
"What do you think Hermione?" Harry asked, hoping for his best friend's approval.
"It's different," Hermione replied carefully.
"Good different?" he pressed.
"It's not really you," Hermione admitted. "You look like a choirboy. I know your hair is wild, but it's also part of your charm."
"Maybe I should change it," Harry mused, edging towards the door.
"You don't need to go upstairs," Sirius said, pulling his wand from his pocket. Pointing it at Harry, he muttered a spell under his breath and all of Harry's hard work vanished as his normally unruly hair returned.
"That's better," Hermione informed her best friend.
"Haven't you two better get going?" Sirius checked. "You don't want to be late."
"Did you set up the floo?" Harry asked. Since neither he nor Hermione had visited Malfoy Manor before, Draco has arranged for a floo connection to be established between Harry's house and his home.
"You're all ready to go," Sirius confirmed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he added with a mischievous smirk as Harry opened the pot containing the floo powder and offered Hermione a handful.
"And what wouldn't you do, Sirius?" Hermione asked with a laugh.
"Not much," Sirius admitted with a laugh of his own.
Saying goodbye to his godfather, Harry led the way to Malfoy Manor, with Hermione following closely behind him. The pair landed in a room clearly meant for floo travel as while it was sumptuously decorated, it was also pretty sparse and lacked a lived-in feel than regularly used rooms had. Draco was waiting for them upon their arrival he greeted them both warmly, informing them that everyone else had already arrived.
"Sorry if we've held things up," Harry apologised. "My hair took ages to sort."
"I can see you spent a long time on it," Draco drawled sarcastically, eyeing up Harry's hair which looked the same as usual.
"It was all neat, but then Hermione and Sirius convinced me it wasn't right," Harry argued.
"To be fair, messy hair is your style," Draco conceded.
"I guess it's better than hair gel," Hermione added cheekily.
"Your invitation can be rescinded, Granger," Draco muttered good-naturedly.
"Once I'm in your home?" Hermione countered with an arched eyebrow. "That's not very polite, Malfoy."
"Okay, you can stay," Draco agreed with a slight smile. "But no more knocking the hair."
"There's nothing wrong with your hair now," Hermione said. "In fact, it's rather nice and soft looking."
"Anytime you want a feel, just let me know," Draco offered with a wink, the innuendo heavy in his voice.
"Did you say the others were already here?" Harry asked, chuckling slightly at the way Hermione blushed and averted her eyes from the blond Slytherin.
"Yeah, they're in the main living room, come through," Draco replied with a nod.
Leading them out of the floo room, Draco led them down a short corridor and across a stunning entrance hall that dwarfed the one at Hogwarts. Letting her gaze wander up the ornate staircase, Hermione wondered just how large the manor was and how many rooms it boasted. However, before she could ask Draco about the size of his home, he pushed open a set of double doors and led them into a large living area, where the other Slytherins were gathered. Although also present in the room were Lucius and Narcissa, and Hermione couldn't help but think what an attractive couple they made.
"Ah, Draco, we were just about to leave," Lucius said. "But before we do, we have something for you."
Pulling his wand from the distinctive snake-headed cane he used, Lucius flicked open a cupboard door and summoned a large bottle of champagne, which he handed to his son.
"Congratulations," Narcissa said. "All of you. We thought you could all do with a bit of a celebration."
"Wow, that is expensive stuff," Theo Nott remarked with a low whistle.
"I do prefer the best," Lucius remarked with a shrug. "And on an occasion like this, it had to be the best for my son and his friends."
"Do you not want to stay and have a glass?" Draco checked with his parents.
"No thank you, your mother and I are off to have a romantic evening," Lucius said.
"But wouldn't you rather party with the youngsters?" Blaise asked with a cheeky grin.
"I'd rather spend the evening with my wife," Lucius retorted. "We can party by ourselves."
"How boring," Blaise snorted.
"Not when you consider we will be partying without clothes," Lucius returned with a devious smirk.
"Now that's what I call a party," Blaise laughed. "Have a good night, Lucius."
"Oh, I intend to," Lucius replied, throwing a heated look at his wife who merely shook her head at him.
"Have fun," Narcissa said as she gave her son a peck on the cheek. "And don't wreck the place."
"We won't," Draco assured his parents as they said their goodbyes and left the teenagers to have their fun.
As the couple departed, Harry and Hermione watched them with slightly open mouths, before turning to look at each other in bewilderment. Hermione knew that like her, Harry had been slightly worried about meeting Draco's parents, but they'd seen perfectly normal, albeit slightly risqué in their manner.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked the bewildered Gryffindors.
"Your parents are not what I expected," Harry admitted.
"I suppose they are very different to how they appear in public," Draco conceded.
"You can say that again," Blaise laughed. "I was terrified when I first met them. But within days, it was as though I'd known them my entire life."
"Are they always like that?" Harry asked.
"You mean the allusions to their sex life?" Draco checked as Harry nodded his head. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Don't knock it, they're an inspiration," Blaise chuckled. "I hope my sex life is as hot when I'm their age."
"I hope my wife is as hot as Narcissa when we reach that age," Theo added.
"Can we not do this?" Draco groaned. "I hate it when you call my mother hot."
"How about we call Lucius hot instead?" Daphne asked with a teasing smile.
"Yeah, I wouldn't kick him out of bed," Pansy added with a chuckle.
"Potter, control your witch," Draco ordered with a laugh.
"And who's going to control me?" Pansy pouted.
"Don't look at me," Draco retorted, his eyes sliding towards Hermione. "Champagne anyone?" he asked, returning his attention to the bottle his father had given him.
One pop of the cork later and Draco was pouring everyone a glass of expensive champagne.
"To Hogwarts," Blaise cried, raising his glass for a toast.
"Hogwarts," everyone chorused as glasses clinked together.
"To the future," Draco said, proposing a second toast.
"The future," Hermione murmured, her eyes locking with Draco's as their glasses clinked and they toasted the future, and whatever mysteries it had in store for them.
A/N – Thank you all for reading, and especially thanks for the lovely reviews. I am so glad people are enjoying this story. Next chapter will be the beginning of part two and we will have a time jump and the reunion element of the story.