October 1999
Luna had invited more people to her Halloween party then could fit in her house. Hermione realized this as soon as she stepped in the door. There were some faces she recognized from Hogwarts and a few that she didn't. After studying their outfits, she reasoned that Luna probably met them through correspondence of the Quibbler as their costumes fit some of the creatures Luna was always going on about.
Hermione said her hello's to Luna before trying to find a quiet space to slip into. She noticed a window by itself in the corner and hurried towards it, hoping she could open it just enough for some fresh air. She wasn't used to these large groups and her heart was shaking as she tried to adjust. Just as she made it to the window, she bumped her shoulder into someone. She turned to apologize and found herself face to face with a paler than usual Draco.
They stared at each other for a moment, studying the others' costumes and wondering what exactly each other were. Hermione put the pieces together faster than he did, based on the red smeared across his chin.
"What, are you supposed to be a vampire?" She spoke first, pointing at his chin and the black robes he had on.
"Yes," he clipped out, fangs showing when he spoke. He must've glamoured them on, she thought. "And what are you supposed to be? An old muggle?"
"Elizabeth Bennett. She's a character from a Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice." Hermione sighed. Her long dress had dirt smeared on the hem and her hair felt tight in its updo that took her over an hour to perfect. "I'm sure you haven't read it, Malfoy, but I do recommend."
"Tell me about it," he responded, leaning on the window sill. She stiffened. It was hard to tell if he was pulling her leg or being serious. "Relax, Granger, I'm simply curious."
"Well, alright," she conceded. As she told him about the misguided courting of Mr. Darcy, she hardly noticed the time ticking by. Soon, the crowd had dwindled and their topic of conversation had moved past Pride and Prejudice into more personal matters.
"So, I'm stuck listening to Ginny and Harry go at it at all times during the night so that's fun," she was explaining her current living situation. Draco looked at her quizzically.
"I thought you and Weasley would've been married by now."
"Ron and I? No, no, we haven't been together since the middle of our eighth year. We just sort of dwindled romantically." And platonically, though she wasn't about to confess that to Draco of all people. She had been wondering for months what had happened for him to leave their friendship in the dust. Knowing he would've likely snapped at her, she avoided having the discussion she knew they needed to move past whatever road bump this was.
She shook her head slightly. Now was not the time to think about it. Looking up, she noticed Draco watching her carefully.
"What?" She asked.
"Just seemed like you were lost in thought there for a minute. Didn't want to bother you. Seemed important," he quipped.
"Oh, yes, just having my daily mental business meeting up here." She tapped at her temple. His lips tilted upwards just the tiniest amount.
"I knew you were mental, Granger, but I didn't expect outright barmy."
"Oh, you've no idea, Malfoy."
"Maybe I'd like to have an idea." They both froze. Draco, with a look of absolute dread on his face, and Hermione with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"What's that supposed to mean, Malfoy?"
"I'm not sure, honestly. I think it just slipped out." He looked at his wristwatch, quickly scanned the time, and looked back at her. "I should probably get going. Mum'll have a fit if I'm late."
"Right, I should probably head out too. Crooks is probably hungry," she muttered, smoothing her hands down her sides. He sent her a strange look at that, but she disregarded it. They walked to the door at the same pace, Draco stopping to let her exit first. The walk to the apparition point was silent, the two avoiding looking at each other. When they arrived, they each nodded at each other before whisking away to their respective homes.
December 1999
Harry and Ginny had decided on a New Year's party at Grimmauld Place and Hermione had been sucked into party planning as a current resident. Currently, she was stocking poppers on a table by the door. Guests were expected to grab one as they entered, for use at the stroke of midnight. Ginny was finishing hanging streamers and lighting floating candles. Harry was Merlin knows where doing Merlin knows what, but she figured it had to be on order from Ginny.
By the time 8 o'clock rolled around, the living area was filling up with their guests. Dean and Neville both hugged Hermione tightly upon arrival, and she happily caught up with the two of them on the sofa. They sat similarly as to how they did at school: Neville and Hermione shoulder to shoulder leaning on each other, with Dean on the floor at Hermione's feet, an arm strung up over her knees comfortably. Their conversation dwindled slowly into a comfortable silence, as the three people-watched the rest of the party-goers. Ron had arrived with George around 9 and Neville just gently took Hermione's hand in his own.
Ron didn't come near the trio and Hermione felt both comforted and upset about this. It was as if he was avoiding the fallout even more so than she was, and she figured that was about right when he looked her direction and didn't react at all when their eyes met. Her throat dried up quickly when he looked away, and she let out a little gasp for breath that only Neville and Dean heard. Dean began to rub circles with his thumb into the top of her right knee while Neville squeezed her hand a little tighter.
It wasn't that she was hurt about their romantic relationship failing; it was more that she was hurt he was ignoring their friendship. She thought she was worth more than that to him.
Her attention was taken away from Ron when Luna arrived, a familiar blonde on her arm. Draco seemed uneasy and, as it was, he was stepping directly into the lion's den so he had a right to be. He was looking around anxiously, foot tapping in place where he stood. His eyes caught on her, staring at him, and her face flushed. He seemed to relax upon seeing her and leaned over to whisper something in Luna's ear. Hermione turned back around to the glowing fireplace.
"Hello," Luna greeted warmly. Her and Draco had made their way over to the three. Luna took a spot on the floor beside Dean and gestured to the sofa for Draco to sit down. He did, reluctantly, and because of how small the sofa actually was, his thigh was flat against Hermione's. This sent a jolt through her nerves, bundling them tight and forcing her to breathe a little shallower.
The five of them sat in a mostly comfortable silence, as others passed by them upon seeing the Slytherin beside them. Hermione relaxed slowly, glad that Draco was such a deterrent. Luna began to chatter quietly and just enough that it filled the silence in a calming way.
As the clock inched closer to midnight, Hermione felt herself drooping. The hushed tone of Luna's voice along with the background party noise felt like the sound machine her father used to use to go to sleep at night. The fire crackled before them and the warmth of the two bodies beside her left her feeling content. Slowly, her head began to tilt downward.
When it touched down on a hard shoulder, she didn't pull away. Instead, she figured that sleeping into the new year didn't sound like such a bad idea after all. So, she turned her head to the side and buried her nose into the shoulder, expecting Neville's clean scent. Instead, she got a breath full of a deep wood scent and parchment, along with firewhiskey and mint. She peered through her eyelashes at her lap.
Beside her, on their own lap, sat large pale hands clasped together tightly. A thick silver signet ring sat on the pointer finger of the left hand. Peeking out from just under the sleeve of the left arm were black lines in a very familiar pattern.
Stiffening quickly, Hermione realized that she landed on Draco's shoulder instead of Neville's. She relaxed quickly after, hoping he hadn't noticed her movement and praying that she could pass this off as having just fallen asleep on accident. Which, she reminded herself, was exactly what happened.
A popper went off directly to the right of Hermione, and her head shot up and off of Draco, narrowly missing his face in the process. Standing beside the couch on Neville's side was Andromeda with her hands squeezed tight around a crumpled popper. She was staring at Draco, pale in the face and shaking.
"Andromeda?" Hermione questioned, bringing the older woman back to the realm of the living. She looked at Hermione with an engulfing sadness in her eyes.
"Oh, hello Hermione." And with that, Andromeda turned on her heel and walked away. The five of them stared after her, before Hermione turned to look at Draco. He, too, seemed like he'd seen a ghost.
"Who was that?" He asked stiffly.
"That's Andromeda Tonks. Your aunt," Hermione responded, watching his face for a reaction. He tensed beside her; she felt the muscle of his thigh quiver with tightness.
"That's…" He stopped. "Well, then, I'm just going to-" As he went to stand, Luna placed a hand on his knee and he paused.
"She was probably just in shock because you look so much like your mother," Luna said gently. Hermione, Neville, and Dean stared at her before watching how Draco sat back down and closed his eyes.
"I'm not the only one, it seems. They're practically identical," he muttered, his thigh pressing back against Hermione's, still tense. Suddenly, the room around them erupted with noise, the gentle atmosphere picking up pace as a countdown began.
"Ten!"
Neville squeezed her hand and it was then that she realized he was still holding onto it.
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
Dean shuffled by her feet, leaning up on his knees to lean closer towards her.
"Seven!"
Luna leaned closer to Draco, bringing his attention down to her.
"Six!"
"Five!"
"Four!"
Dean brought his mouth to her ear, whispering. "You want a lil New Year's kiss on the cheek, Hermione?"
"Three!"
She laughed and nodded, why the hell not?
"Two!"
Both Dean and Neville leaned in and planted a kiss on each of her cheeks. She watched as Luna did the same to Draco, and she laughed again at the pink filtering across his cheeks. He caught her eye, sending her a small glare which she just laughed harder at.
"One!"
"Happy New Year!"
Across the room, Hermione saw Harry dip Ginny in a passionate kiss and watched George try to plant one on Ron's cheek as the other fought him off. She froze when another set of lips touched her left cheek, and she moved her head back to look at Draco who was grinning maliciously at her.
"Happy New Year, Granger," he whispered with the hint of a laugh. She blew a raspberry in his face and laughed again at the shock that wiped across his face. He wasn't that bad to hang around with at the end of the day, she thought.
March 2000
Hermione, Harry, and Ginny sat at a back booth in a muggle pub, green streamers and handprints layered over the walls. It was times like this that Hermione appreciated the way muggles celebrated things, with genuine warmth and joy in the littlest things. The green vodka shot in front of her just proved that point even more so.
"I think Dean said he was meeting us here, right, Hermione?" Ginny shouted over the raucous crowd. Hermione nodded. Neville was spending the week with his grandmother and couldn't make it but Dean had promised he'd be right over as soon as he finished up painting his new living room. Ginny didn't understand why he seemed set on doing it the muggle way, but Hermione understood completely. There was something about doing things the muggle way that gave a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of pride in your work. Certainly, Hermione had felt pride in her magic before but not in the same way that she did about finishing a task without magic.
Speaking of muggle pride, Hermione lifted the shot to her lips and sent it back quick before grabbing a second from the middle of the table and sending it back as well. By the time she reached for her third, a red head had entered the pub and this caused her hand to still before bringing the glass to her mouth. Surely Ron wasn't here.
But he was, and she cursed internally. Ginny's face had gone white and she looked at Hermione in shock.
"I had only mentioned where we were going, I didn't think he'd actually come, I'm so sorry," Ginny whispered quickly and as loudly as she dared as he approached the table. Hermione shook her head, there was no use worrying about it now, and she downed her third shot.
Ron placed himself in the seat beside Harry, across from her but never even looked her way. Harry, obviously uncomfortable, answered whatever it was Ron had said. Hermione stared at the side of his face, the freckles all-consuming and the pink tint of his cheeks stretching out as he smiled. Oh, how she hated it.
Luckily, Dean arrived shortly and sat to her right after planting a chaste kiss on her cheek. She smiled at him, turning to have a conversation of their own when she noticed out of the corner of her eye the pink of Ron's cheeks spread across to his nose as he watched them.
"You know, I'm surprised some people are so open with affection," Ron shouted over the noise in the pub at Harry, and Hermione stiffened. "I mean, what do they expect others to think? They're so blatantly searching for attention with it."
Hermione swallowed thickly, eyes never leaving Dean's as he also caught on to what Ron's true statement was. He was essentially calling her a whore, again. Her fourth year Yule Ball memories rushed back and her skin prickled uncomfortably. Suddenly the fear was back in her gut; like swimming through oil, it was so heavy and thick. She stood and headed for the door, where she stepped out into the semi-peaceful streets of muggle London.
"Hermione, wait," Ron called after her, not letting the door bang shut behind her. She stopped, but didn't turn to face him. She could only assume he ran after her courtesy of Harry and Ginny.
"Ron, I can deal with not being together in terms of romance. In fact, I couldn't care less if we were together or not. But it hurts, it hurts so much, to know that seven years of friendship didn't even matter to you. That I didn't matter, that it was easy to not talk to me and easy to ignore me." She turned to face him finally, her nose starting to run as her breathing grew labored. "I thought I was your best friend, I thought we had a stronger connection than this. I'm not going to beg for your friendship if it really doesn't matter to you, but I deserve an explanation, I deserve reasons."
He stared at her, eyes wide and face almost the color of his hair. His mouth opened and closed, searching for words. She huffed out a harsh laugh.
"But, of course, I shouldn't really expect much should I? What, with being such an attention seeker and a horrible partner," she bit out. His eyebrows twisted at her statement. "I know I didn't give you everything I had, Ronald, really, I know I should have, but I gave you a lot. It took a lot in me to leave you and Harry, it took a lot to keep going sometimes knowing you were out in the real world without me this time. I tried, I reached out, and I waited. Just one letter, just one call, would've fixed everything, couldn't you give me just that?"
"Hermione, I…" He paused, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I was a massive jerk-"
"That's an understatement," she muttered and he gave her a look that said, "really, now?" before he continued.
"I didn't handle this the way I should've, I should've told you how I was feeling." He took another breath. "I felt so alone without you around, Hermione. Sure, Harry was there but it's different with you. I try to be better when you're around, I work harder to be a better person and impact others' more positively. You make me better and without you, I felt abandoned. It was like, I couldn't move forward. I quit Auror training-" Hermione stared at him wide-eyed. "I started working with George at the shop and I finally started building a part of me that wasn't attached to you. I think I was too wrapped up in what should've happened after the war with us rather than looking at what you wanted out of it. I wasn't ready for you to go back and it tore me to pieces. I've been callous as a result, I've been rude, and I'm sorry."
They stared at each other in silence as Hermione processed what he had just said.
"You quit Auror training?" She said softly. He nodded. "But that's all you wanted for years?"
"Until I realized it's not what I want. I want to settle down, I want to relax after running and fighting for years. I'm not like you or Harry, I can't keep chugging straight towards danger and risk."
Hermione felt her chest constrict. Risk. Scared. Maybe Ron didn't understand her as well as either of them thought. She was so tired of still being scared. Her guard hadn't been let down in years, even now. What she would give for the kind of rest he was allowing for himself…
"I forgive you, Ron," she told him quietly. "Friends?"
"Friends." His grin was wide as he held his arms out. With a small laugh, she went in for a tight hug, his chin resting on the top of her head. It felt like home.
May 2000
Hermione sat on her bed in Grimmauld Place, staring at the letter on her bed, Hogwarts crest leering at her. She stood and started to pace, heart racing. Her blood felt lukewarm, as if stepping into a lake only somewhat heated by the midday sun. It made her feel nauseous and woozy. She sat back down abruptly.
Neville had sent her a letter a few days ago, telling her about his acceptance as the new Herbology professor. He awaited a similar letter from her, telling him whether or not she got the position. Her thighs tightened as she stuck her hands underneath them. Now was not the time to have her worst thoughts swimming around in her head. All she had to do was open the letter.
Carefully, she reached back out and picked up the envelope, staring down at the crest. With a sigh, she stuck her thumb up under the flap and broke the seal. She pulled out the letter and unfolded it slowly. Here sat the answer to her future. She was unsure how Binns would have reacted to the news that she was looking to take over at least part of his job. He was dead after all; he couldn't have too many thoughts on the matter, could he?
Her eyes scanned the words quickly. Accepted, accepted. It said accepted. Her brain crackled, rushing to fit her emotions in all at once. Excitement, apprehension, fear, relief, determination all flooded in. She hugged the letter to her chest and leaned back on her bed, kicking her feet up in the air.
She was going to be teaching History of Magic. Binns had stepped down fully, the position was all hers. She was going to change the world, one student at a time. She was going to be doing something to fix everything.
Neville. She had to write a letter. Slamming her feet back on the ground, she rushed to her desk and wrote it all out. Once she finished, she left her room in a hurry and headed down to the drawing room where Harry's new owl, Prongs, liked to take his afternoon naps. She woke him, earning a nip to her fingers and she hissed, shaking her hand out.
"Please, Prongs, just a quick trip! I'll get you a whole mouse, no, two whole mice for when you get back," she pleaded. She was unsure if he understood but he tilted his head as if thinking on the offer before sticking out a leg. She grinned, tied the letter to it, and blew a kiss at him before opening the window. Neville was sure to be just as excited as she was.