Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Present
Hermione sat in her car and took a moment. Seatbelt off, no keys jangling, engine still running. The peaceful sound of raindrops hitting the windshield and metal roof. She took a deep breath, flipped down the sun visor, and looked at the little mirror inside. It always felt silly at first but truthfully it helped, so, making eye contact with herself she began.
“I like these things about myself.” She didn’t look away. “I am a good person. Sometimes I make mistakes. I am kind. I’m a good friend.” she rattled them off, still just a little embarrassed after all this time.
When she had first started doing this (at Susan’s insistence), she had been mortified, never looked in the mirror, and sped through like it was a single sentence… “IlikethesethingsaboutmyselfIamagoodpersonsometimesImakemistakesIamkindImagoodfriend”
She smiled at herself at the memory now because, wow was she proud of how far she’d come! Reaching for her clutch in the passenger seat, she took out her vanilla and lavender lipgloss. In the mirror, she carefully glossed her plump lips, then smacked them together (force of habit). She looked cute, her mascara wasn’t clumpy, and she smelled lovely.
She was trying a sample of a perfume. Two weeks ago, a sales girl at Selfridges had recommended it. Hermione had told herself if she still liked it in two weeks, she’d buy it as a treat for herself. Well, seeing as how it was now Friday, the end of the two weeks (and her sample almost empty) she thought she might as well finish the rest tonight because, who was she kidding, she loved the scent and she knew she’d be buying the full bottle tomorrow.
She flipped the sun visor back up, and cast a quick impervius to repel the rain. Clutching her purse, she got out of her car to make her way to the apparition point.
*
“Sorry I’m late” she started to say as she reached the table. Neville stood up to greet her, relief in his eyes.
She leaned in to hug her friend, “Parking in London can be a ni-” She paused mid-hug. It was usually her go-to excuse to blame parking because it was an easy scapegoat and true half the time. But right now, she didn’t want to explain muggle transportation to wizards (learned that the hard way) and the inner workings of parking and paying a meter (ugh she was tired just thinking about it).
But she couldn’t tell the table the truth.. ‘Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come’ would not bode well. And she promised Nev. Best behaviour and all that.
Now she was at a loss for an excuse for her tardiness.. she opted to end her sentence there and start anew. “ -never mind, didn’t mean to keep you all waiting.” They broke their hug and she smiled, taking in the table.
The scene at the table made for a peculiar picture. In the seat next to Neville’s was one Pansy Parkinson. The first thing Hermione notice was how Pansy had finally grown into her face; she was beautiful. Her black hair was collarbone length, more voluminous than Hermione remembered with layers that fell effortlessly. It framed her face in a way that softened her eyes nicely.
“Hiya Pansy.” Hermione began as Pansy stood up too.
“Hello…hi.” Pansy smiled a tad awkwardly and Hermione smiled back.
So far so good.
“Wow!” Hermione exclaimed catching them both off guard, “That dress is gorgeous!” Hermione said, genuinely admiring her dress and Pansy’s smile widened.
“Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself.” Pansy replied.
“No need to gush, I blush an awful pink” Hermione rolled her eyes in good fun and both women shared a small laugh. She could see Neville’s shoulders relax from the corner of her eye.
So far so good.
Now, to casually and calmly look to the other side of the table.
Sat facing Pansy’s chair was Drac- He was sitting. Why was he still sitting?! Everyone else was standing now. It caught her off guard and her smile faltered for a brief moment as she took him in.
It was hard to ignore the waves of awkwardness now coming from the table.. She could feel Neville’s tension though she couldn't see it. She wasn’t sure about Pansy, she hadn’t known her long enough to be able to read her yet.
It was like the air was sucked out of the room. He looked so… comfortable. Casual in his posturing, though his attire was not. Even from here, she could tell it was all tailored. His navy button-down hugged his arms and chest in a way that looked…graceful was the only word that came to mind. She let her eyes rake across his body, then his face, finally settling on his eyes.
It was clear they were both waiting for the other to speak. Hermione averted her eyes briefly to think of what to say, then looking back at him, landed on “Hi.”
*
It was so obvious they were both being on their absolute best behaviour. It was the only explanation for how Draco and Hermione were acting. Neville had his hopes high for tonight but he didn't have them this high! He felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop as course after course came out.
*
True to her compliment, Hermione had asked more questions about Pansy’s dress which got the two of them started on a safe topic, it seemed to go well enough. Hermione politely asked questions about Pansy’s favourite boutiques and Pansy’s asked about hers. That only lasted through the hors d'oeuvres. As the servers took their plates away, it became clear that the night probably shouldn’t go on like this. Hermione sat facing Neville and diagonal to Pansy. It was clear that the men were not willing/could not carry on their own conversation diagonally as well. They’d all be talking over each other and it seemed rude more than anything.
During this lull in conversation, Hermione flipped her hair back.
So far so good. She thought. She thought wrong.
As fate would have it, the moment she reached for her glass and took a sip of her water, was the same moment Neville began to fill the silence with a question for the table. Unfortunately for him, it was at this moment Draco engaged in his first bit of conversation.
“What Hogwarts house do you think you’d-” “ Why do you smell like that?”
Unfortunately for everyone, this was the moment Hermione realized it was fizzy water and choked as some went down the wrong pipe. She started coughing hard as the table looked at her in surprise. Pansy’s eyes were throwing daggers at Draco and Neville whipped out his wand to clear the choking hazard (Water) from Hermione's throat.
“Are you ok?” asked Pansy and Hermione smiled sheepishly.
“Yes, just went down the wrong hole.”
“That’s why I always get still instead of sparkling” Neville shared and the three of them chuckled.
“Were you saying something before I interrupted with that embarrassing display?” Hermione asked hoping to quickly move on.
“Yeah,” said Neville, “I was asking-”
“Wait!” she interrupted. For the first time since she sat down this evening, Hermione turned to face Draco Malfoy.
“Did, did you... Were you asking me that?”
“Asking what?” Neville said, brows slightly raised and Pansy said nothing as they all looked at Draco.
“Asking you what?” Draco’s face gave nothing away. His eyes were as she remembered them grey and piercing but she didn’t remember his voice being this deep...And his face..now that she was so close to him she could see he was, well, actually he was quite handso- she cut off that train of thought.
“I don’t..I didn’t hear the whole thing but, did you say something about how I…smell?” She grimaced. She remembered wearing her deodorant, she brushed her teeth and showered while getting ready for tonight. She was certain she didn’t..stink. (Oh god that would be mortifying)
No one said anything. You could hear a pin drop at the table, then, Before he could respond, servers flooded their table bringing out the appetiser course.
There was a cap to how much embarrassment any person could endure. Having to listen to your server explain all the intricacies of your dish was bad enough, doing so immediately after you ask a question like that was even worse, the server then lingering afterward to ask you if you had any questions or needed wine paring recommendations would be anyone's limit. That’s what Hermione told herself as she excused herself from the table.