Hermione was already pouring the second glass of wine meant for Ginny when she heard the small pop from outside her cabin, followed by heavy steps up the stairs. She didn't even need to look up when the door opened and she heard something heavy being set down onto the table.
"As wonderful as wine sounds right now..." Ginny started, "...I need something heavier."
Hermione looked over to see a bottle of amber-colored liquid and she raised an eyebrow at her friend. "I don't have anything to mix that with."
Ginny shrugged and popped the bottle open. "It's fine. I've brought my own."
She set her bag down and pulled out a bottle of what looked like lemonade and a bottle of cranberry juice. Hermione chuckled and walked towards the couch with the two glasses of wine that she now assumed were hers to drink, watching Ginny with interest as she sat down. "Mixing cocktails now, are we?"
"It's surprisingly really good," Ginny said lightly as she worked. "It's bourbon, too, which is even more surprising because I didn't realize that Blaise even drank muggle drinks when he introduced it to me."
"Why am I not surprised that you got this from Blaise?" Hermione muttered before taking a sip of her wine. "What is it?"
"He said it's called a 'spire', whatever that is," Ginny shrugged. "It's bourbon, lemonade, and cranberry juice. The harshness of the bourbon is really muted with the other flavors."
Hermione hummed contemplatively at this before shaking her head. "I'll try it next time."
"Suit yourself," Ginny said before taking a long drink and leaning back against the couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table and staring at the wall across from her.
There was a few minutes of silence as both girls were winding down from the day; as much as Hermione wanted to start talking about what was going on with Ginny, she didn't want to pry the information out of her friend immediately.
"I was thinking..." She started slowly, swirling the wine around in her glass. "We haven't taken a trip together in a while."
"No, we haven't," Ginny said quietly while still staring blankly at the wall. "Did you have a place in mind?"
Hermione shrugged. "Not really, I just wanted to see how you felt about it. Have there been any places you've been wanting to go?"
She waited while Ginny took another sip of her drink and contemplated her answer. After a moment or two, Ginny tilted her head back and forth before saying, "Somewhere with a beach would be really nice about now."
"That does sound nice, actually," Hermione nodded. Then she looked over at Ginny with concern and asked, "Did something happen? I saw the Prophet this morning and I can tell that something is majorly off."
Ginny took a long drink before tilting her head back against the couch to stare up at the ceiling. Her voice wavered as she quietly said, "Mum read the article. She knows about Blaise and I."
"What did she say?" Hermione asked, pulling her legs up underneath her in the chair.
She heard a snort as Ginny shifted her legs to cross one over the other. "She said that Blaise and I are unwelcome at the Burrow as long as we are together and I am living with him."
Hermione stared at her. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah." Ginny scoffed and took another drink. "Dad of course said that mum only wrote that out of anger and that I am always free to go visit, but I don't know anymore. You know how mum is."
"Yeah..." Hermione knew all too well how Molly Weasley would get when she believed something. She was still angry at the fact that Molly had believed the lies that Rita Skeeter had written about her in fourth year, and how cold she had acted towards Hermione. Even though Harry had corrected the older witch and she immediately went back to being warm and caring, Hermione would still catch the cold shoulder from her mother-in-law from time to time, and it was mostly after her and Ron would have an argument. "I still can't believe though that she would tell you that."
"Mum will never understand," Ginny muttered. "She still wants me to get back with Harry, and I don't think she'll ever understand that Harry and I will just be friends from now on. Merlin, it's like he's more her son than I am her daughter!"
Hermione frowned at this and took another drink before saying, "Well, maybe she just needs to meet Blaise and see just how much he loves you. Remember she didn't warm up to Fleur until she was sure that Fleur loved Bill."
"Maybe..." Ginny sighed dejectedly and took another long drink. "I don't know. I wanted to tell them myself to prevent this from happening. We shouldn't have gone out that night..."
"Honestly, they can't expect you to not move on from your divorce," Hermione said. "You were bound to find someone else who was better suited for you."
"Yeah but you know their generation frowns upon divorce," Ginny said, looking over at the brunette. "Most of them just stay together regardless of how they feel instead of leaving once they realize that the relationship isn't great for either of them. I don't know how they can do it..."
Hermione shrugged. "It's kind of the same way in the muggle world, unfortunately. It's ridiculous."
Ginny finished her drink and began making herself another one as Hermione nodded towards her and asked, "How does Blaise feel about the situation?"
"Blaise is convinced that everything is going to work out," Ginny said. "I'm not so sure but it's nice having someone be hopeful about it in this relationship."
"It's really good that he's there to support you about this," Hermione said with a small smile. "And things should definitely work out; she can't stay mad forever."
Ginny gave her a sad look. "I don't know. She mentioned him being a pureblood elitist in the letter, so she's already very prejudiced against him. She might not ever accept the relationship."
"But once she meets him and realizes he's not an elitist, she'll be more accepting," Hermione countered. "It would be like how she came to accept Bill and Fleur being together."
"That took a while though, and took Bill being attacked."
"True, but still." Hermione shifted in her chair to set her empty wine glass down on the table and looked at Ginny. "This is all very fresh still. I'm sure once things settle down a bit, Molly will come to her senses."
"Hopefully," Ginny muttered into her glass.
"At least you didn't get a Howler," Hermione offered somewhat jokingly. "Remember in my second year and your first year when Harry and Ron took your dad's flying car and your mum sent Ron a Howler?"
This made Ginny grin slightly. "Yeah, that was great. Mum's always been one though to show just how disappointed she is when one of us does something wrong. The Howler is a prime example of that. I guess I should be grateful she didn't send me a Howler at practice or something."
"Does she know the details of how you and Harry ended your relationship?" Hermione asked, biting her lip slightly.
"You mean how we both technically had affairs?" Ginny shook her head before answering, "Nope. The only reason she would know would be if Harry or I told her. Or Ron."
"I don't see that being something that Harry would do."
"I don't either." Ginny sighed and pulled her legs over from the table to the couch, turning to face Hermione and pulling her knees up to her chest. "Hopefully Ron doesn't say anything."
Hermione thought about it for a few seconds before giving her a confused look. "Wait, does Ron know that you were seeing Blaise this whole time?"
Ginny opened and closed her mouth as the thought hit her. "No, I don't believe he does. Not unless Harry told him, but from my understanding they are not on speaking terms right now."
"I'm not surprised." Hermione straightened up in her chair and took a sip of her wine before leaning against the arm with a sigh. "I can't believe how much everything has changed."
With a nod, Ginny stared off at the wall again. Then she grinned and looked over at Hermione. "Weren't we saying that not too long ago?"
Hermione laughed at that. "You're right, we were!"
The two of them laughed together and the mood lifted slightly, but Ginny tried hard to push back how truly sad she was about the situation with her parents. While Hermione wanted to continue reassuring Ginny that things would be okay, she knew it was probably best to leave it alone for the night until more details came forward.
"What in the name of Merlin do I even pack for a weekend there?!"
Hermione frantically searched through her drawers and tossed random pieces of clothing onto the bed in a frenzy. She straightened up after a few minutes and ran a hand through her hair with a groan before turning back to her bed.
"I don't have enough nice clothes," She muttered as she walked to her bed.
Of course that was a lie, but she had no idea what to wear for a weekend at Draco's. What were they going to be doing that entire time?
She paused then and her eyes went wide. Was he expecting them to sleep together?
As the panic began to rise in her chest she started to pace back and forth at the foot of her bed. It had been a long time since she felt like this; her first weekend with Ron as an official couple was awkwardly spent at the Burrow where he managed to sneak into her designated guest bedroom that night. She wasn't necessarily ready for that but he was insistent, and she resented him for pressuring her. Would Draco do the same thing? She had a feeling he wouldn't but deep down she did worry about that.
Another worry was the fact that Draco had had many girlfriends before her, and she had just had...well, just Ron. Would she even compare?
She quickly shook that thought away and glared at the wall. They hadn't even been together for a month, and Draco was much more of a gentleman than Ron was. She took a deep breath to calm down as she returned to her packing but the thoughts lingered in the back of her mind as she made sure she had everything and left her house.
After apparating to the end of his manor's walkway, she hesitated as she stared up at the large house. She wasn't sure why she felt apprehensive, other than the worries from earlier. But she gripped her bag and took another deep breath as she walked up to the front door. Draco was already waiting for her and as she walked up, he gave her a concerned look.
"Is everything alright?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Of course!" She answered quickly before clearing her throat. "Why-why do you ask?"
He looked her up and down before slowly saying, "Because you paused after you arrived and you look incredibly nervous."
Hermione shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I'm fine, don't worry!"
"Hermione." He stepped forward and gently rested his hands on her upper arms. "If you aren't comfortable spending the weekend here, I won't be offended. I know this is a somewhat large step for us."
"No, no, it's not that," She said as she shook her head. Then she looked down and breathed in deeply before admitting, "It's just been a while since I've been in a new relationship so...I'm not quite sure what to expect."
She was surprised to hear him chuckle at that and she looked up as he said, "You are utterly adorable. I'm honestly not expecting anything from this weekend; I just wanted to spend more time with you. I already offered you your own guest room."
"See, I know that, but I just got really nervous because you've had so many girlfriends and I wasn't sure what you were hoping to happen-"
"Hermione," He interrupted gently with a smile. "As wonderful as that big brain is, you tend to overthink things."
"I know," She sighed.
He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "We're going to take this at your pace. I'm well aware that this is all new considering how long your previous relationship was, so I am not going to pressure you into anything. And if I do, please don't be afraid to tell me."
She smiled at this and then giggled. "I'll just borrow Blaise's newspaper."
The smile slid off his face and she laughed loudly at his reaction, which only caused him to grin and say, "I may need to limit the amount of time you two hang out; I don't like that you're picking up his ideas."
"I prefer to think of it as gathering information on how to deal with future clients," She said snarkily as he led her inside the door.
"Yeah, you smack one of your other clients across the nose with a rolled up newspaper and tell me how that works out for you," Draco scoffed.
Hermione laughed again as his hand dropped around her waist and all worries of the weekend immediately left her.
A/N: Very excited to write more Dramione action soon! Thank you all for your patience with me on this update, but I am back and will be updating more often! So I understand that I may be writing more of an extreme version of Molly Weasley in this book, but I feel this is in the realm of what she would do. Extreme reactions followed by someone correcting her and her thoughts immediately changing. I really like that she has that flaw; maybe not necessarily that flaw in particular but a flaw in general. Anywho, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Love you all! <3