Sixteen
October 3rd 1998:
“This is the second weekend in a row that saint potter and his pet Weasel are taking you from me.” Hermione glared at Draco because of the names he used for her friends.
“Harry and Ron are official Aurors now. This is the last weekend they have until starting at the Ministry. Not to mention, Ginny wants to get a dress from a muggle designer. She wants to stand out at the masquerade ball.”
“And what will you be wearing to the ball?” Draco asked her.
“I don’t know yet. Any suggestions?”
“Green.” Draco said, smirking. “Oh, to see the Gryffindor princess dressed in green would drive me wild.” Hermione rolled her eyes at the man laying on her bed.
“I’ll think about it.” Draco smiled.
Ever since their venture into intimacy, Draco and Hermione have spent every second they can together. While neither have performed another sexual act for the other, their snogging sessions have started to become more, aggressive.
“How do I look?”
“Too good to be seeing a Weasel.” Draco mumbled.
“Ron and I are friends and that is all we will ever be.”
“Tell them to him.” Hermione shook her head. “You look beautiful, Granger”
“Thank you.” She leaned down to kiss him. “What will you be doing while I’m gone?”
“Theo and Blaise are coming over. Pansy, Daph, and Millicent might as well.”
“Are Blaise and Pansy dating?” Draco laughed.
“They have been ‘secretly’ shagging since sixth year. Theo and I have a bet going to see when they will finally admit to us that they are together.”
“I guess secret relationships are a thing with you, Slytherins.” Hermione teased.
“Only when we want to keep our women to ourselves.” Draco pulled Hermione in for one last kiss.
“I’ll see you tonight.” Hermione broke away from Draco and left the common room.
Walking to the courtyard, Hermione thought about her time with Draco. She never would have imagined herself in a relationship with him. But now, she can see a long future with him.
“Are you ready to go shopping?” Hermione was snapped out of her thoughts by Ginny.
“Yes, let’s go.” The two girls started on their journey. They’d be meeting Harry and Ron and the Three Broomsticks for lunch but before that, they’d be hitting muggle London to go shopping.
“What color dress are you thinking about wearing?” Ginny asked her and Hermione smiled thinking back to Draco’s suggestion.
“I was thinking about maybe wearing green.”
“Malfoy sure has rubbed off on you.” The two laughed.
“Mcgonagall said that this is to promote interhouse unity. I thought it would be a good way to show support.”
“I think I'll go with something red. With my hair, I’ll look like that muggle cartoon character.”
“Jessica Rabbit?”
“Yes.” The girls laughed as they traveled down to Hogsmeade.
“We can side-along since you’ve never been before.” Hermione said and joined arms with Ginny. “Here we go.”
The twist of apparition hit them both.
When they landed, they were in the alleyway next to the leaky cauldron.
“Here we are, Muggle London.” Ginny looked around in awe of the city before her.
“Where are the closet shops?”
“This way.” Hermione led them to her favorite boutique. “This was my mom’s favorite place. She brought me here to pick out my dress for the yule ball, in fourth year.”
“Do you miss them?”
“Everyday. But they are safe and happy.” Hermione cleared her throat. “Anyways, let’s go in.”
The two girls walked into the shop.
“Hello ladies! What can I help you with today?” The shop worker asked.
“Hello. We are looking for dresses for a party.”
“Just give me a shout if you need help!”
“Thank you!” Hermione and Ginny wandered the store looking at the various colors and styles of dresses.
“We should choose a few to try on.”
“I think I see a few over there that I like.”
“I’m gonna look over here.” Looking through the dresses, Hermione only looked at the green ones. Draco would probably be surprised that she actually considered his suggestion. She smiled thinking about his reaction to seeing her in green.
“Oh my…” Hermione gasped. She found the perfect dress. She pulled the dress down. “Can I try this please?” Hermione asked the shop worker.
“Of course, love.” Hermione went into the dressing room.
Undressing from her everyday clothes, Hermione slipped the dress on. Reaching behind her, she zipped it up.
“Ginny,” Hermione stepped out of the dressing room. Ginny turned to look at her and her mouth opened.
“You look beautiful.”
“It’s definitely the one.” Hermione smiled at herself in the mirror.
After changing back into her clothes, Hermione went to help Ginny find her dress.
“Did I tell you that Mcgonagall gave Harry and Ron permission to come?”
“No, you hadn’t told me that. That will be fun. I’m glad you’ll have Harry here.”
“Ron will lose it when he sees you in that dress.” Hermione rolled her eyes.
“That ship has sailed. And Ron was the one that set it off. He told me he didn’t want to be in a relationship with me, and honestly I agree. He’s my best friend. After everything we’ve been through together, I don’t think we should be anything more than friends.”
“But how else will we become sisters?” Hermione laughed.
“We already are. And Harry is like a brother to me, so if you two get married, then we really are set.”
“I’ll accept it.” Ginny paused. “I do have four other brothers you can choose from.”
“Doesn’t Percy have a girlfriend? And I thought George and Angelina were getting serious?”
“Fine, then you have to pick between Fred and Charlie.” Hermione shook her head.
“I hate to break it to you but I don't think that is going to happen.” Ginny faked a frown.
“I found a few dresses that I want to try on. Come on.”
After watching Ginny try on, what felt like hundreds of the exact same dress, she finally picked one.
“Alright, let’s go. It’s time for us to meet Harry and Ron.” With that the two girls paid for their dresses and left.
After apparating back to Hogsmeade, Ginny and Hermione walked into the three broomsticks and saw Harry and Ron right away.
Ginny, being excited to see her boyfriend, ran right up to them. Hermione laughed and followed her.
“Bloody Hell, Gin. Don’t hurt the poor bloke.” Ron joked with his sister.
“Shut it.”
“Hello Hermione. How was shopping?”
“Hello Ron. It went well. We both found dresses to wear to the ball.”
“Hermione picked a green dress.”
“Green? Malfoy sure is rubbing off on you.” Harry joked.
“I wanted to try a new color.” She hoped her friends wouldn’t see right through her.
“Speaking of which, look who just walked in.” Ginny said and the group of friends turned to see Draco walk in with Daphne Greengrass.
“Are they together?” Harry asked
“I don’t think so. At Hermione’s birthday party, Daphne was dancing with Lavender Brown. They seemed very close.”
“Lavender isn’t into girls. I dated her.” Ron smugly reminded the group.
“Maybe that's why she likes girls now.” Harry, Hermione, and Ginny laughed, Ron did not.
“She is in his friend group. I’m sure they’re here with the rest of them.” Hermione said, looking around for Blaise, Theo, Pansy and Millicent.
“I don’t see the rest of them.” Ginny stated.
“It doesn’t matter anyways. Let’s order, I’m starving.” Ron turned to look at the menu. Hermione looked away from Draco and Daphne. He had told her that his friends were going to be at the dorm that night. Maybe these two are here picking food up for their friend group. “When does Quidditch start up Gin?”
“Practice starts next week. Games the week after that.”
“Will the two of you miss playing?” Hermione questioned her friends.
“Yes but the ministry has interdepartment leagues. Each department has a team and we’ve already signed up for it.”
“Of course you have.” The group laughed.
They finally ordered their meals and started to talk about the upcoming Halloween party at Hogwarts.
“Hermione, are you going with a date?” Ron kept shoveling his mouth with food as he asked.
“No. I will be going alone. The ball will have masks that hide our identity anyways so what’s the point of going with someone.”
“I guess you have a point there.” Ron’s disappointment was obvious. A slight tension fell upon the table.
“But that doesn’t mean I won’t save a dance for you.” Ron smiled and the tension went away.
“Malfoy is looking at you, Hermione.” Hermione followed Harry’s eye line to see that Draco was staring back at her. She did a small wave and he bobbed his head in response, saying hello. He quickly turned to daphne, muttering something Hermione could not decipher, before turning back and walking towards their table. “And now he’s walking over here.”
“You don’t need to narrate his every move, Harry.” Ron mumbled.
“Granger, Weaslette,” Draco smiled at the two girls. “Potter, Weasley. I hear congratulations are in order.” The two boys seemed shocked by Malfoy’s words.
“Uh, Yes. Thank you.” Harry stuttered out.
“I should get back, Daphne and I were sent out for lunch since our friends are pretending like they aren’t in relationships. Blaise has kicked Theo out of their room and Pansy was told not to return to her and Millicent’s. Daphne is hoping to run into Lavender, so if you see her, send her Daphne’s way.”
“Will do.” Hermione smiled at him and Draco smiled back.
“See you around Weaslette. Potter, Weasley.” Draco walked back to Daphne.
“Told you Daphne and Lavender were a thing.” Ginny told Ron.
“Shut it.”
The rest of their lunch was filled with laughs and good conversations between friends.
“We should be getting back to the castle now. I have to do rounds tonight.”
“I didn’t even realize it was getting late. We have to go into the ministry tomorrow to fill out some paperwork.”
“We’ll see you both at Halloween.” Ron kissed his sister’s cheek and hugged Hermione goodbye. Harry followed, kissing Ginny goodbye and hugging Hermione. The pair walked off to the floo and Hermione and Ginny started the walk back to the castle.
“So how did Malfoy know about Harry and Ron becoming Aurors?”
“I told him this morning.”
“Does he ask about them regularly?”
“No. He asked me my plans for the day because he wanted to have his friends over and didn’t want to bother me.”
“There’s nothing going on between the two of you, right?”
“No. We’re just friends.” Hermione felt bad lying to Ginny, but Malfoy asked for privacy when it came to their relationship.
“That’s boring.” Hermione laughed at her friend's reaction. “I’m just saying, it would definitely be entertaining to watch the reactions if the two of you did start dating.”
“I suppose most people would be very surprised.”
“Surprised, enraged, concerned. Take your pick of emotions.”
“They don’t deserve the hate they are receiving. We were all kids. We all have done things we didn’t want to do because it meant surviving.”
“I know. I actually really like Pansy. She’s a badass witch.” Hermione laughed.
“They’re all cool. Theo is hilarious and Blaise is that quiet kind of funny.”
“I’d say you should date one of them but they are both taken.”
“Draco told me that Blaise and Pansy have been together since sixth year but have kept it a secret this whole time. Or as much of a secret they can have considering Theo and Draco have a bet going about it.” Ginny stopped walking and looked at her friend. “What?”
“You called him Draco, twice.”
“We’re adults. I think it’s time to start calling them by their first names.”
“He still calls you Granger. And he calls me Weaslette.”
“I can’t speak for him.” Ginny stared at Hermione, glaring into her soul to try and find anything. “I like him, okay?”Hermione mumbled. She didn’t want to tell her friend that she is in fact dating Draco, but this little bit of information wouldn’t hurt anyone.
“I knew it.” Ginny replied before they began walking towards the castle.
“Just don’t tell anyone.”
“It’s under lock and key.” The girls were silent the rest of the walk.
When it came time to part ways, Ginny turned to Hermione.
“I fully support it. Just so you know.” Hermione was confused for a moment. “Your crush on Malfoy. I support it. I just want you to be happy, Hermione.” Hermione pulled Ginny in for a hug.
“That means a lot to me, Gin. Thank you.”
“Of course. I will always support you.” The girls smiled to each other before saying their goodbyes.
Hermione made her way to the common room. Opening the door, she was greeted with laughter. Looking into the room, she saw Theo laughing on the floor. Blaise was shaking his head, Pansy looked a little mad and a little embarrassed. Millicent and Daphne were laughing gently. And Draco was just smiling.
“Granger!” Theo yelled out. “Guess what!”
“What?”
“Blaise and Panay are dating! What a surprise, huh?” Hermione now understood the laughing.
“Oh yes. A big surprise.” Hermione smiled. “Congratulations to you both.”
“Thanks Granger.” Pansy smiled at her. “That is the correct response. Not rolling around on the floor like a child.”
“Sorry, Pans.” Theo sat up. “We’re all very happy you have finally confessed to shagging our boy. Of course we’ve known about it for years. Draco and I had a bet fling. Speaking of, you owe me ten gallons.”
“I do not.”
“You bet on our relationship?” Pansy asked, now slightly mad again.
“Are you really that surprised, love?” Blaise threw his arm over Pansy’s shoulder.
“Yeah, are you really that surprised, Love?” Theo asked, mocking Blaise.
“Shut it.” Hermione laughed at their interactions.
“Granger, you should join us!” Pansy suggested.
“Oh, thank you for the invite but I have some studying I need to do. I also need to hang my dress up.”
“You can study tomorrow. Join us!” Theo shouted. Hermione looked to Draco, making sure it was okay she joined his friends.
“Come on, Granger. House unity and all the bullshite. Come join us.” Draco smiled at Hermione.
“I will. Let me just go put my dress in my room.”
“Is that your dress for the Halloween ball?” Millicent questioned.
“It is. I went shopping for it today with Ginny.”
“Can we see it? I need inspiration.” Pansy stood to walk over to Hermione.
Hermione nodded, setting her dress bag down on the counter to unzip it. She pulled it out to show the room.
“It’s green.” Theo pointed out the obvious.
“It is. I just wanted to try something new.” Hermione looked at Draco when she said it. She could see the lust in his eyes. She was in for a serious snogging session later on.
“Oh it will look so good with your skin tone.” Daphne told her.
“How are you doing your hair?” One of the girls questioned.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Milli, Daph, and I were all planning to get ready together. You should join us. Ginny can as well if she would want too. I quite like her, she’s a very badass woman. But don’t tell her I said that.” Hermione laughed at the irony.
“I would love to join you all. I’ll ask Ginny if she would like to as well.”
“Are you ladies done?” Theo, who has the attention span of a child, was getting bored.
“I’ll be back in a moment.” Hermione zipped her dress back up before heading up the stairs to her room. After hanging her dress up in her closet, she went back to the common room.
“There’s a spot next to me, Granger.” Hermione smiled as Draco made it clear he wanted her to sit next to him.
“What are you all talking about?” Hermione asked as she sat down.
“Theo is insisting that I owe him money for our bet but I am certain I don’t.”
“You do.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“I don’t.”
This went on for a while.