Slytherin Interlude
Sunday. September 27th, 1998. Slytherin Table.
The weekend progressed normally for Hermione's 7th year Slytherin friends. Homework, exploring, and even a few jaunts down to Hogsmeade kept the group busy on Friday evening, and Saturday.
Sunday afternoon during lunch, the Malfoy family eagle owl made its way to the Slytherin table clutching a simple envelope. This confused Malfoy greatly, as he wasn’t expecting anything today. He and his mum kept to a very strict communication schedule, and Sunday wasn’t a standard day for letters.
He checked the handwriting on the envelope, and the elegant script was his mothers. His friends could sense the confusion on his face.
“What’s wrong Draco?” Theo was the first to ask.
“It’s a letter from my mum.”
“And? You and your mum write regularly, why are you so concerned?” Pansy asked.
“We don’t normally talk on Sunday’s, so this is quite out of the ordinary.” Draco elaborated, while still staring at the envelope in his hand.
“Well then, just open it. You’re never going to figure out what it says by staring at it.” Daphne added.
She wasn’t wrong. He had two options, open the letter, and read its contents, or throw it away, and never understand what it contained.
He pulled the paper where the Malfoy Family Seal was stamped in wax, freeing the elusive letter from the envelope.
Sweetheart,
Please don’t be alarmed by my Sunday letter. First, let me tell you there is nothing wrong, and everyone is safe. Now release that deep breath you’ve been holding, and loosen your grip on the parchment.
Good boy. I had a feeling you would be stressing out.
Now, to the reason for my letter. I need someone to gossip with, and I feel like for this scenario, you’re the best one to gossip with.
Do you remember when I told you about the Dior event being held at The British Museum?
Of course you do, you remember my schedule better than I do most days. First, let me say, I wish you would have been there. The Dior collection was exquisite, they even showed a few new pieces, in addition to some vault pieces.
Enough of that. You will never guess who was there. Hermione Granger. The very same one we saw tortured in our drawing room 5 months ago. Now it would be one thing if she was attending as a guest, but no, that was not the case whatsoever.
Miss Granger was introduced as the new face of Dior, and as John Galliano’s newest muse. Draco, darling, I hope you understand how big of a deal that is. This is going to further elevate Miss Granger’s star power. With an endorsement from Dior, a company long loved by the “pureblood elite”, many will soon start overlooking her blood status.
This isn’t just some small thing, or something they could rope her into at the last minute. Events like this are conceived months in advance. This also means she’s been on Dior’s radar. There’s clearly far more to Miss Granger than she has let on. Dior is a luxury for wizards, and muggles alike.
Clearly this young woman isn’t just another sub-par muggle born. You know me, I love gossip. Please let me know what you find out.
All my love,
Mum
If Draco thought this year couldn’t get any weirder, he was wrong. He was just told over letter that his Mum, and Hermione Granger crossed paths at an event. That alone blew his mind, even before he realized what the event was.
Draco put the letter on the table, then put his head into his hands. What he just learned was about to give him a headache. He took time to gather his thoughts before raising his head off his hands.
Meanwhile, Blaise had swiped the letter from Draco while he had his head in his hands, and was quickly reading the letter, with Pansy reading right over his shoulder.
“Holy shit.” Blaise said as he finished reading. His sentiment was quickly echoed by Pansy.
Thankfully Draco was faster than the others, and pulled the letter from Blaises’ hand before Theo could get his hands on it.
“Draco, come on. We need to talk about that.” Pansy said, exasperated.
“We really don’t.” Draco said through gritted teeth.
“None of that. We really do. This is monumental.” Pansy continued.
At this point, Blaise was still sitting there in disbelief, while Daphne and Theo were just observing the verbal sparring between Draco, and Pansy.
“Pansy.” He said sharply. “The answer is no. Clearly she didn’t want us to know, or else she would have told us.”
As Draco shifted, to put the letter into his pocket, a pamphlet fell out of the letter. On the cover was a photo of Hermione, dressed in an elaborate dress, and looking absolutely beautiful. Draco was pulled out of staring by seeing Daphne and Theo lunge for the new sheet of paper. Once again, he was able to snag the paper before they could, due to his seeker reflexes.
“Come on man. This isn’t fair. Pansy and Blaise got to read the letter.” Theo whinged.
“It’s not like I let them…” Draco said.
“But still. I want to know what’s going on, and why I just saw a very fancy looking Granger on that sheet of paper.” Theo moaned.
“Yeah! It’s not fair.” Daphne added.
“Well life is not fair, so no.”
Daphne, and Theo kept trying to get information out of Draco, Blaise, and Pansy, who were doing surprisingly well holding out. They were only able to hold out for a few more minutes, as Draco realized they could present a more united front if the five of them were truly aware of the situation.
“We are better as a united front. Everything in this letter stays here.” Draco said, looking at Daphne and Theo.
“Agreed.” The pair said, as Draco handed over the letter.
Daphne and Theo read the letter over, and looked at the photo Narcissa had included. Daphne's facial expressions were hilarious to watch as she read the letter. Theo on the other hand was stoic. Until he saw the photo, and his jaw dropped.
“Holy shit.” Was all Theo could say.
“Right!” Blaise said in rebuttal.
Daphne looked up at Pansy, and the girl talk started.
“Pans, that’s Dior. Like my favorite brand Dior.”
Pansy nodded her head in response to Daphne’s disbelief.
“I know Daph. Fresh off the runway Dior.”
“How? I have so many questions.”
“Me as well. Is Dior well known in the muggle world too?”
“Absolutely.” Blaise was surprisingly the one to answer that question. “The brand was started by a halfblood, who purposely marketed to muggles, and magical kind.”
“How do you know this?” Daphne asked.
“My mother may not have been the picture perfect pureblood, but she knew how to navigate the upper echelons of magical and muggle society.”
Daphne, and Pansy looked at one another and shrugged. It made sense to them with what they knew about Blaises’ mum.
“It just makes me question things.” Pansy started. “Usually people who work with brands like Dior, are brushing elbows with high society. Who is she really?”
That is the question that left the Slytherins wondering for the rest of their Sunday.
Sunday Evening
Hermione had tried to sneak into the Great Hall after she returned to the castle with the Headmistress. That was easier said than done. It would seem the castle was still buzzing following her verbal altercation with Ron. She chose to hold her head high and walk right to where she saw Ginny, and Neville seated. The pair immediately made room for her.
“I’m glad you made it back safely.” Neville said politely.
“Damn. Hermione, you look fancy.” Ginny added loudly, drawing the attention of those sitting nearby.
“I literally just have makeup on, and my hair is done Gin.” Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
“Still you look great.”
“Thank you. I made a stop at home and then apparated right back here. So I still have full makeup on.”
“Are you planning on telling us anything about this event?”
“If I do, will you please keep it quiet?”
“Of course!” Ginny said, aghast Hermione would think she would do anything but.
Whispering in Ginny’s ear, Hermione told Ginny everything. She mentioned the fashion shows, seeing Narcissa Malfoy, and being announced as the new muse.
Ginny’s jaw dropped, and she couldn’t help but glance at the Slytherin table at the mention of Narcissa Malfoy.
The Slytherin’s were paying very close attention to Hermione, now that she had returned, and had caught Ginny glancing in their direction.
Ginny had one question when Hermione had finished. “How?” Was all she asked.
Hermione reiterated the story of how she found her dress for the Order of Merlin ceremony at Dior, and John asking her mum if Hermione would be interested in working with Dior. She explained that is what led to doing the show this weekend.
Ginny was flabbergasted, and looked at Hermione with awe, and confusion.
Hermione could tell that Ginny was trying to hold in her excitement.
“Do you have any photos?”
Before showing Ginny, Hermione cast a wandless muffliato, and notice me not over the pair of them, ensuring they would have the utmost privacy.
She showed Ginny a few of the photos from the shoot they did before the event on Saturday. Ginny could no longer hold in her squeal of excitement.
“YOU LOOK GORGEOUS! How were you able to keep this to yourself?” Ginny questioned.
“Honestly, I was more upset about being back here, and that took most of my attention.”
“That’s fair. Now, I’m nosey, how does this work? Are you volunteering? Do they pay you?”
Hermione laughed. “They’re paying me. It’s a professional job, so I do get payment equivalent to what any model would get. What I love about it, is that I’m getting payment in goods, rather than in cash. So I have a completely new Dior wardrobe at home to enjoy!!”
“I’m jealous.” Ginny said matter of factly.
“Don’t be! They gave me far more than I could possibly ever wear, and I think we’re the same size. I’m more than willing to share my closet with you Gin! Now I don’t have any of it here, but if you want to come to my home for Christmas, I’d be happy to share!”
All Ginny could do was give Hermione a hug. She lived in a home of all boys, so she never had anyone to be girly with. For the longest time, she had thought Hermione didn’t care about any of the girly things, so she hadn’t tried with Hermione either. Ginny was happy to see that Hermione was coming into her own, and no longer hiding behind the persona other people had seemed to create for her.
The one trait many Slytherins had, that was not often talked about, was the ability to be silently observant. That was something Draco, Theo, Blaise, Pansy, and Daphne had gotten quite good at. The group of five discreetly observed the interaction between Hermione, and Ginny from the moment Hermione had entered the Great Hall.
“She’s carrying herself differently.” Daphne noted.
“Yes, as though she’s had a major confidence boost.” Pansy stated, agreeing with Daphne.
“She is also radiating happiness.” Blaise added. Pansy and Daphne looked at him, surprised by his addition to the conversation.
“What!” Blaise said defensively. “Look at her. It’s hard to miss.”
Daphne and Pansy just shrugged. Blaise wasn’t wrong. It was obvious that something was making Hermione quite happy.
Meanwhile, Theo and Draco hadn’t said anything. Draco was observing the reactions of the other Gryffindors, and Theo was observing Draco.
Draco and Theo kept their observations to themselves, until they were back in their common room. Even then, Draco only said one thing before retiring for the evening.
“I’m thinking there’s a whole different side to Hermione Granger, one that she has yet to introduce to the magical world.”