Chapter 2
After a week of brewing and meetings all Hermione wanted was to go home and finally go through the case documents that Theo had given her, apparently including a non-disclosure agreement. Ginny had different ideas. It took almost an hour and a promise of a trip to flourish and blotts the next day to convince Hermione to attend Pansy's party.
Unfortunately, though, Hermione was never one for fashion. Her make up expertise never went beyond some mascara and maybe lip gloss. Her hair was never manageable, even if it was tamed with the assistance of her wand. She always messed it up with her hands or the humidity of the brewing room made all the effort pointless.
It was because of her lack of these talents that she found herself sitting on a chair in Ginny and Harry's bathroom being treated as a doll, it wasn't uncommon for a night out. Ginny still couldn't believe Hermione never once had tried makeup before her stay at the burrow in 3rd year when Ginny all but imperiod her into trying it. Since then, Ginny has made it her personal mission to make sure Hermione is every bit the desirable young witch The Prophet says she is. Today's article just about had steam coming out of Hermione's ears. Regardless of her very public break up with Ron they still appear in The Prophet almost as much as Harry and Ginny. The front page today was luckily not another supposed expose of Hermione's sex life but about the recent trial of Tiberius Nott who, according to Rita Skeeter, refused to comment.
As a result, Rita wrote quite the article about Theo and his supposedly wonderful relationship with his father. Theo had been completely pardoned along with many of the children of death eaters after the battle of Hogwarts and hadn’t gone to see his father since. Rita would of course never publish that fact; it was far more profitable to paint anyone and everyone as death eaters or sympathisers.
“It’s just not fair. He isn't his father, and it has been years since the war. Theo shouldn't be thrown in together with the death eaters because he isn't one” Hermione could barely contain her ranting; she hasn’t stopped since reading the article.
“Rita is just out for a story and has nobody else to harass, death eaters' sons make good articles” The same point had been reiterated by Ginny about 5 times in the last hour, but it didn’t seem to placate Hermione at all. She had seen Theo go through the many hardships of his name and ancestry and was fiercely defensive over him.
“It isn’t justice if the innocent ones are suffering for the sins of their parents, these trials are hardly ethical anyway. One day of trial and almost always given death. Even a death eater should get an actual trial”
Hermione's statement left the room in a state of silence that was clearly in place of what would be an argument if Ginny spoke her opinion. After the death of Fred, the whole Weasley family found it difficult to have much sympathy for death eaters. Hermione understood their hesitance just as much as they understood her desire for fair and proper justice. The silence was only broken when Harry knocked at the door.
“Is it safe to enter?”
“Yes, safe minus impending debate”
Harry popped his head in the door and took in the scene, his eyes landing on the newspaper.
“Ah, Skeeter I assume”
Both girls look at Harry's grimace in the mirror, Ginny immediately turns to assess what is wrong.
“Spill Potter, what did you do”
Ginny swung open the door revealing Harry's arm in a sling.
“Just a little issue during last night's raid, I'm fine. I can take it off tomorrow morning”
Ginny sighed and mumbled something that Hermione thought sounded every bit something Molly would lecture her about. After reaching out and touching Harry's face, him smiling brightly, Ginny returned to Hermione's hair.
“Will you be coming tonight or working?”
“Probably working, there was a few sightings that need some more eyes on them”
Ginny was very visibly upset by this; Hermione could see in her eyes the disappointment. After Ginny's breakdown last week Hermione hasn't found time to be alone with Harry to talk about things. Clearly, he can't tell as he backs out of the room without saying another word.
“Still not sharing anything with you I see”
Ginny smiles in a way that is very obviously forced and doesn't comment on the matter.
Pansy has a very big habit of overdoing these parties that she insists everyone attends. There is always far too much alcohol involved and usually weeks of preparation. This time though as Hermione enters one of the many seating rooms in Nott Manor, a usual location of these parties because Theo just can’t say no, she realsies how small this party is. It is rather similar to the set up for girls' night, just some music and lots of drinking. It doesn’t take long for Ginny to locate the alcohol and make a beeline for it, leaving Hermione standing alone at the door. The room is set up with all the seating in a circle around the coffee table in the middle. Most people are seated talking while some are walking between the seating and the table with all the drinks. There must only be around 20 people here, much smaller than any of Pansy's previous gatherings. As she looks around the room for someone to talk to, a voice makes her jump.
“Granger, going to stand there all night blocking the door?”
Hermione turns and is startled by how close Draco Malfoy is standing behind her. He holds a blank expression, bored if anything. She doesn't even respond, just moves to the side allowing his entry. She watches as he walks away noting his clothing is completely black as usual, something Pansy will surely lecture him about. Within minutes Pansy is on her, clad in her bright blue gown, and dragging her to sit on one of the large sofas surrounding the table.
“We were just discussing how horrible of a shag we think Weasley would be”
Pansy clearly was waiting for Hermione's input. Ginny was sitting at the end of the sofa clearly wishing to be anywhere but in the middle of this conversation.
“Uh, well-”
Hermione didn’t get to finish her thought as the rest of the party guests came and filled the surrounding seating.
“Hey, Pansy, what do you say we play a little truth ball, for old times' sake”
Hermione didn’t recognise the speaker, based on his statement and clothing she could only assume he was a Slytherin. He wasn’t wearing green, in fact only Luna and Hermione had opted for green. The dress Ginny and Pansy had forced her into buying only came half-way down her thigh, something she would never wear usually. Ginny had outright refused and decided that blue clashed with her bright hair the least out of the remaining options.
“Alright, for any non-Slytherins, we cast a ball above the table that will glow green and if you lie in response to a question it will change to red. If you lie the ball will pick a question based on what the players are thinking. It will pick from the question each of the players want to answer the least. That summarises it well, yes?”
The Slytherins all nod and a few others do too. Hermione looks to Ginny thinking she would be having the same level of uncertainty as her, but she was already smiling wickedly probably thinking of all the things she can ask. Everyone seemed fine with the game, so Hermione naturally went along, not wanting to be the odd one out. Pansy cast the ball herself and therefore the game started with her.
“Okay suckers, first kiss. Who and when was it?”
Trust Pansy to start with something like that. Hermione had only ever kissed Ron, so her answer was easy, and everyone seemed to expect it. Though the timing gained questions. Anyone who didn’t know Hermione obviously expected it to have happened before the war, not during the final battle.
“Really? Poor dude must have been losing it”
The comment came from the same Slytherin who suggested the game. It was followed by laughter from a small group of the men around the table. All the girls who heard the story of the breakup though just looked on in disgust at the misogynistic flare of the laughing. Hermione couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable with the vibe coming from the group. Notably Cormac Mclaggen who hadn’t taken his eyes off Hermione all evening. She instinctively pulled her dress further down her thigh from where it had ridden up. They went around the circle with everyone saying different names, except Cho and Ginny who both said Harry. Much to the amusement of the two girls.
“Hufflepuff wasn’t good enough for you then Chang?”
Mclaggen spoke for the first time that evening and it was met with a visceral reaction from most people present, even a few Slytherins openly looked at him like he was out of line. The girl's smiles fell, the amusement completely gone. Cho looked at Hermione like a kicked puppy as the rest of the girls glared in his direction. She had been the only person present to wear yellow. Pansy looked about ready to blow when a voice cut off the beginning of her speech.
“Don’t be a dick Mclaggen”
It was the only time Malfoy had spoken from his seat in the sole chair in the circle. Everyone became very silent, the tension in the room became so thick that Hermione thought Mclaggen was actually going to start a fight. Luna, ever the pacifist, turned to Malfoy and smiled.
“What about you Malfoy”
Luna broke the bubble of tension easily and everyone seemed to collectively raise their glasses before turning their full attention to Malfoy. With the exception of Cho who hadn’t moved her eyes from the floor since looking at Hermione.
“Pansy”
It wasn’t surprising at all to Hermione. She had heard the rumours about Pansy and Malfoy during their time at Hogwarts and Pansy herself had confirmed and also strongly denied many of them. One of them being that they had ever actually been anything but friends with benefits. She had always brought up how Malfoy refused relationships with anyone whenever she had too much firewhisky. Their escapades were mutually beneficial but completely void of any feelings.
“Touche, Draco was mine too”
Draco smirked into his glass at Pansy's confession, clearly it hadn’t actually come up in conversation.
“It was very obvious in hindsight”
The comment earned Malfoy a kick in the shin from Pansy.
“You weren’t any better you bloody ass”
Everyone took a moment to giggle at the interaction. Hermione had never seen Malfoy in his element with people he was comfortable with. Her interactions with him were scarce since the war, only seeing him during trials she had witnessed for or attended. She had gone to every single trial in the beginning, now only going where required.
“Okay, my turn”
Mclaggen, obviously disliking the fact that the attention of the room isn’t on him, decided to interrupt the comforting moment.
Almost everyone turned to him in exasperation, but nobody disagreed, technically everyone got a turn. Hermione wasn’t keen on whatever he was going to ask, he pointedly looked at her before speaking.
“First time having sex, who and when”
Everyone collectively groaned at the question. Hermione wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Everyone began the same system as before, going from Pansy around. Everyone had very typical answers yet again, Ginny especially was met with many eye rolls when she said Harry. Everyone could have guessed that. When it reached Hermione's turn, she was dreading the reaction to her answer. Nobody else had said they're a virgin, she would be the odd one out. She knew lying wouldn’t work so she instead downed the last of her wine before speaking.
“Nobody”
The girls all didn’t look shocked, it was a regular topic in their girls' nights. Ginny had been trying to convince Hermione for years to just get it over with, but Hermione just didn’t want to. If anything, she was scared of it and didn’t see the need beyond fitting in. Mclaggen began to smirk just as everyone looked up at the ball above the table.
It was glowing red.
Hermione just stared up confused, she hadn’t lied. She looked at Pansy who looked just as confused, her eyebrows creased and a question on the tip of her tongue when Mclaggen erupted into laughter.
“The golden girl isn't so innocent after all huh,”
At this point almost everyone looked like they wanted to throw Mclaggen out, Pansy already had her hand on her wand ready to hex him at the first opportunity.
“I thought you were supposed to be the brightest witch of your age”
“I di-”
“Clearly you’re just as much of a slut as any other witch”
Pansy stood immediately, pulling her wand simultaneously as Mclaggen was grabbed by the collar. Malfoy pulled him to his feet and glared at him directly. Everyone, including Hermione, just sat in stunned silence as the exchange occurred. Pansy kept her wand pointed squarely at Mclaggen. Malfoy wasn’t much taller than him, but he still towered over him, his glare cold enough to kill.
“What Malfoy, you gonna defend the mudblood slag?”
More members of the gathering began standing after hearing the slur, Hermione couldn’t remember the last time she had it directed at her. Malfoy only hesitated for a second before swinging and punching Mclaggen in the jaw. Malfoy pushed him back and turned to leave, not even looking back. Nobody seemed to be able to make sense of the interaction, but Pansy seemed to gather herself the fastest.
“Leave. Now. Don’t ever come near me again unless you want to be hexed into oblivion”
The restrained tone Pansy used was credit to her many years of therapy and anger management efforts. Mclaggen just walked out through the same door Malfoy had left through, glaring at Hermione on his way. Nobody dared to speak until Pansy sat down and released her wand.
“Well, that absolutely fucked the mood”
Ginny stood to walk to the drinks again to get more wine after her attempt to release the awkwardness in the room. Hermione looked to the ground.
“I think I'm gonna head home, I have some files to go over”
Hermione stood but Pansy grabbed her hand before she could walk to the door.
“You don’t have to leave just because fucking Mclaggen can’t keep his stupid bigot thoughts to himself. He is an ass and a creep, stay”
Hermione considered it for a moment, but she truly just didn’t want to remain in the situation.
“I’ll see you guys' next week, Friday?”
All the girls made sounds of agreement and Pansy let Hermione's hand go.
She placed her now empty glass on the table and walked out the door. Tears pushing to fall, being held back by pure will, began tumbling down her cheeks as she walked the halls.