mickume/harry_potter_tiny · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Hermione laughed. "No, they want me to be happy. But I know some parents think that they can make their kid happy if they find them a suitable partner." She set her drink down, sighing. "I’m sorry, I’m sure none of this is interesting for you."
"Sex is interesting to me," Bellatrix said.
"For pleasure," Hermione said, remembering the conversation they had after a previous Slug Party.
"More than that," Bellatrix said. "It’s...well, if you masturbated, you would have a better idea."
Hermione’s face warmed as she picked up her drink again and began scrutinising the label, looking to see if it had a list of ingredients on it. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure what was in butterbeer and maybe she should know what she was ingesting.
"Ohh," Bellatrix purred, and then she was leaning forward, her face close to Hermione. "So you did go and masturbate. I thought so."
"I––, it’s not like—you make it sound—Why—" Hermione tripped over her words and then chose to hide her face behind her knees, refusing to look at the witch.
"What did you fantasise about?" Bellatrix asked, coming closer. "Was it McLaggen? Weasley?"
"No!" Hermione squeaked. "And it’s private!"
Bellatrix gave a laugh. "Did you orgasm at least?"
Again, Hermione looked away. "Why do you insist on torturing me with such questions?"
"Because of how beautifully pink you turn," Bellatrix said, reaching up to press her index finger against Hermione’s cheek. "But answer the question, pet. Did you enjoy yourself?"
"Enough," Hermione said.
Bellatrix smiled, taking a sip of her drink. "Well, if you ever need a helping hand..." she said, trailing off. Hermione held her breath, looking at the witch. "I’m sure McLaggen would be more than happy to help."
Of course. Hermione let out her breath, laughing nervously as she sipped at her drink. "I don’t think so," she assured.
"Well, you’ll need to invite someone to the Slug Christmas Party," Bellatrix said, her face grimacing.
Hermione sighed. She’d forgotten about that. She’d also forgotten to tell Harry. Professor Slughorn had cornered her and requested that Hermione find a suitable, free time for Harry so that he could ensure that Harry would be in attendance.
"We don’t have to take a guest," she said.
"No, but it’d be pretty dull being the only one without someone," Bellatrix said, smiling at her. "McLaggen may have already invited but if someone else is on your mind..." she trailed off.
Hermione shook her head. "There’s no one else," she assured.
Bellatrix scoffed, "Don’t lie to me. Everyone else might not be able to see your tell, but I can," she said. "Put your big witch’s hat on and ask them. The worst thing they’ll do is reject you."
"As if that isn’t horrible," Hermione pointed out.
Bellatrix shrugged. "Wouldn’t know," she teased. "But who would reject terribly clever, brilliant you?" Bellatrix asked, her brow raising. Hermione bit her cheek, trying to not allow herself to hope. She knew Bellatrix was only trying to be a good friend, which should be enough.
Even though, deep down, she knew it wasn’t enough.
With Slughorn’s Christmas party coming up, Hermione found herself weighted deep within her books, furiously reading them now that Harry was spending time with her in the evenings. Ron, having found his evenings filled with snogging Lavender Brown in the common room, was entirely too occupied to study, which meant that Hermione’s time now included helping Harry to catch up where he’d fallen behind.
However, it was going much faster now that Bellatrix would exasperatedly help as well, so as long Harry would agree to shut up once she’d shown him how to get the correct answer. Harry was still somewhat suspicious around Bellatrix, but it brought at least some new normalcy to her life.
On their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione informed Harry, "You should pick someone to take to the party tomorrow evening."
Harry balked. "What makes you say that."
"I caught Romilda Vane threatening to send you love potions. She’d purchased a heap from Fred and George’s shop, and unfortunately, I believe they’re reasonably effective. She’s extremely keen for you to invite her."
Harry frowned. "Why didn’t you confiscate them?"
"I couldn’t!" Hermione said. "She didn’t have them on her at the time." Hermione, had, however promptly given a lecture that if she noticed Harry was under any sort of love spell, she would immediately inform McGonagall of what she’d heard which would likely mean Romilda would be stuck in detention for the rest of the year.
The witch had sneered at her, muttering how Hermione was just jealous because Ron had chosen Lavender over her, but Hermione had hoped the threat would hold enough to stop her.
"Just take someone."
"Take Ginny," Bellatrix said, before snickering as Harry began to turn a shade of pink. Hermione bit her lip, trying not to laugh. It had been rather obvious lately that Harry had developed a crush on Ginny, and while Hermione knew that Ginny would very quickly agree to break up with Dean to get with Harry, Hermione refrained from letting either of them know.
If it was going to happen, it should happen organically, not with her pushing them into each other.
"Ginny’s got a date, already," Harry said, fumbling over his words. "Besides, be a bit weird to take Ron’s sister."
She and Bellatrix shared a look.
When they arrived back at the common room, Romilda Vane appeared, holding a glass. "Hi, Harry! Fancy a gilly water?"
Hermione shot Harry a told-you-so look before she took her place in one of the spare study seats and began returning to her homework. Bellatrix sat stretched, reading her own book as Crookshanks took to sitting on the witch’s lap, purring as he received head scratches.
Harry, having managed to detangle himself from Romilda, took to sitting beside them and doing his own work, though she suspected he was also keeping an eye out for Ginny to arrive.
"Will you be coming to Christmas this year?" Harry asked.
Hermione shook her head. She knew that Christmas would be held at Grimmauld Place, and while it would have been good to see Sirius in person, she knew Bellatrix would be alone. "Mum’s going to pick us up at the station. But we might be able to organise something with Tonks to meet up?"
Harry shrugged. "Can try and see. Sirius might even take me." And then Harry paused before his eyes flicked to Bellatrix’s and back. "Though...I dunno. They might not let me."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at his attempt to lie. "I know he’s my cousin," she said.
Hermione turned and looked at her. "You do?"
"Hogwarts has history on everyone, including old yearbooks. It wasn’t difficult to flick through and find my family in it."
Hermione blinked. It took her by surprise because the witch had never told her. "How long have you known?"
Bellatrix shrugged. "Since that weekend you went on a date with McLaggen, I spent the afternoon in the library digging everything up."
"Why didn’t you tell me?"
"Because none of it was interesting. I wanted to know who I was, and I found some dusty old photos with nothing more than a few lines about what house they were in. I discovered that I was also in the duelling club back then and that everyone aside from my dear cousin has a long, agonising history of being in the same house."
The way she said the words sounded frustrating. Like she’d been looking for something and couldn’t find it, and in a way, Hermione understood. All Bellatrix was doing was trying to piece who she was, and the only evidence of who she was that she found was names and faces that she didn’t recognise.
"I’m sorry," Hermione said.
"Don’t be," was all her response before returning to her book. It left an uncomfortable silence in its wake that Hermione shared with Harry.
Hermione sat stirring her food at lunch, trying to ignore the wet noises coming from Lavender and Ron’s kissing as she thought about that night. She and Bellatrix would be returning back home tomorrow––something Dumbledore had agreed would be good for Bellatrix––but Hermione couldn’t erase the feeling knotting at her stomach.
"Did you find someone to take tonight?" Ginny asked.
Hermione looked up. "What? Oh, no. It doesn’t matter."
"McLaggen still hasn’t asked anyone. You could go with him."
Hermione shook her head. "He was a bit mean about a friend the other day." Though, she recognised that he’d been better during the duelling club with Luna since. "It’s fine; Bellatrix and Harry won’t have a date either."
Ginny gave her a funny look, "Yeah, they do. Harry’s taking Luna. She just told me."
Hermione could barely focus on that when her attention was focused on the first part. "Bellatrix is taking someone?"
"I didn’t catch the name."
Hermione’s frown deepened. "When does she have time to meet someone?" Bellatrix spent all of their time together. The only time they didn't was when Bellatrix attended her other class while Hermione was in Arithmancy.
"They share Care of Magical Creatures together. That’s all I know."
Well, that narrowed it down. Though, Hermione admitted she had no idea who was in that class. She knew it wasn’t anyone who did muggle studies or Arithmancy since both classes were scheduled at the same time, but it was at least someone who was in sixth year with them.
"I hope it’s not Zacharias," Hermione said.
Ginny laughed. "Unlikely, saw her hexing him the other day. I don’t think she’d let him get within fifteen feet of her after calling her bludger hit a lucky shot," Ginny said, mimicking his droning voice. "She’s there now. You can ask her."
Bellatrix returned from the girl’s bathroom, sitting down at the table across from Hermione.
Hermione thought about how to ask who her date was to the Christmas Partly, only for Ginny to speak first, "Hermione didn’t know you had a date for tonight."
Hermione flushed, ducking her head.
"Oh, yeah. I’m taking Greengrass," Bellatrix said as she set food on her plate. Hermione had once thought of Bellatrix as a carnivore, but the witch was also into fruit, which was surprising. She wasn't sure why that was surprising, just that she didn't pick Bellatrix to be a fruit person. Maybe a sandwich person, but not a fruit one.
"Greengrass...Daphne?" Hermione yelped, loud enough that people turned to look at her. Ducking her head, she clarified. "But she’s...a Slytherin."
"I’m aware," Bellatrix said.
Hermione held her tongue, looking away. In the classes they shared, she’d never once seen Bellatrix say so much as a word to Daphne. But Hermione knew that Care of Magical Creatures likely didn’t have any other Slytherin. Hermione hadn’t been aware that any of them continued, given the pureblood tendency to look down upon other magical creatures, such as giants.
As they began walking to their next class, Hermione took a moment to look at Bellatrix and say, "wouldn’t the Greengrass family share relations with the Black family?"
"I share more of a relation with the Weasleys and Potters," Bellatrix said. "But I believe we’re fifth cousins, something removed."
Hermione deflated at that. Fifth cousins were basically nothing. Most rural towns usually share relations close than that. "So...is she nice?"
Bellatrix gave her an odd look. "Is she different to how she is when she’s around Parkinson, you mean?"
"She’s fine. She and Pansy have fallen out of friends, anyway. She thinks Pansy goes too far making fun of you."
Hermione felt her stomach squirm at that. It seemed strange, almost pitying and she hated that. But...it made sense that the person Bellatrix would find most appealing would be another pureblood like herself.
Through classes, she tried to ignore the feeling, and when it came down to Arithmancy, the final class of the day, Hermione turned to McLaggen and asked, "did you want to go to Slughorn’s party with me? I’d be meaning to ask but..." she trailed off, not able to come up with a suitable lie.
"Of course," he said. "I can pick you up at eight. I have a project that I’m doing, but we could meet at the entrance hall?"
Hermione smiled. "Sounds perfect."
Hermione had taken the time to make herself look nice for the party. She’d placed on her special occasion dress she’d bought and spent time making her hair look somewhat sleeker than usual. It wasn’t as lovely as it’d been for Yule, but it was a noticeable difference.
She even placed a little bit of make-up on so that when she arrived in the entrance hall, Cormac paused, doing a double take of her. "You look beautiful," he said, smiling as he offered his arm.
Hermione had blushed at the compliment, hooking her hand through his arm as Cormac began to lead them to Slughorn’s office. "I heard Slughorn might be bringing in a vampire," Hermione said as a way to make conversation.
"I heard that too!" Cormac enthused. "Though I’ve met a vampire before, he bummed me out. All he did was complain about his sire. I thought my father complained about his work a lot...."
Hermione gave a laugh, trying to ignore the twisting feeling in her stomach. She hadn’t seen Bellatrix that evening, given that Hermione had chosen to get ready in the prefect bathroom, but she was feeling a bit anxious about attending the party. At least Cormac had been willing to take her as a date.
As they approached Slughorn’s office, Hermione could hear laughter and music. As they stepped through, she was taken aback by the appearance of his office. Slughorn had enchanted the room to look like the inside of a vast tent. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson and gold hangings. It was quite a marvellous piece of magic. She let go of Cormac, stepping around to examine it a bit closer.
What took away from the magic, however, was the sight of the house elves walking around like waiters. Hermione felt her anger grow as she watched them squeakily move around with silver platters of food. She doubted that Slughorn was paying the poor elves for their service.
"Miss Granger, Mr McLaggen!" Slughorn said as a way of greeting. "Don’t you both look a charming pair," he beamed. "Come in, come in. Let me introduce you around."
Hermione flushed at the compliment before being lead around the room and introduced to Eldred Worple and the vampire, Sanguini. Hermione took the time to be polite, enquiring about the book Worple wrote about vampires before her eye caught Bellatrix’s arrival.
Bellatrix came in, dressed in a set of simple, dark robes. She wore her leather jacket over it and had tied her hair up, off her face. Hermione thought she was the most beautiful woman in the room, and when she turned to introduce Daphne to Professor Slughorn, Hermione felt as though she’d swallowed a puking pastry.
Daphne wore a set of emerald robes that hugged her figure. She wore her long, blonde hair down as she smiled and greeted Slughorn. They looked like the perfect pair. Hermione hated it.
"Let’s get a drink," Hermione said, tugging Cormac away, so she didn’t have to look at Bellatrix anymore.
It was in a rather quiet corner that Hermione took a breath. She hated how fast her heart was racing and how tight her lungs were. She hated how much it annoyed her that Daphne was here, that she was with Bella, and now Hermione was trying not to cry at what she'd seen instead of enjoying what should have been a rather nice party.
"Oh, would you look at that," Cormac said, stepping too close into her personal space. "Mistletoe."
Hermione looked up and sighed. "I’m not particularly in the mood to kiss anyone," she lied. The truth was, there was one person she very much wished had stumbled into mistletoe with her.
"Ridiculous. It’s the Christmas spirit," he said, and then had the audacity to lean in and try to kiss her.
Hermione side-stepped him. "I said no," she said, eyes narrowing. "And if you can’t take no, I’ll hex you next, and I don’t care who sees at this party."
Cormac pulled back, flushing. "You’re so frigid," he spat. "I thought we could at least have a nice time since you so desperately invited me after giving me the cold shoulder. You could at least make up for your poor behaviour."

Hermione laughed. "No, they want me to be happy. But I know some parents think that they can make their kid happy if they find them a suitable partner." She set her drink down, sighing. "I’m sorry, I’m sure none of this is interesting for you."

"Sex is interesting to me," Bellatrix said.

"For pleasure," Hermione said, remembering the conversation they had after a previous Slug Party.

"More than that," Bellatrix said. "It’s...well, if you masturbated, you would have a better idea."

Hermione’s face warmed as she picked up her drink again and began scrutinising the label, looking to see if it had a list of ingredients on it. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure what was in butterbeer and maybe she should know what she was ingesting.

"Ohh," Bellatrix purred, and then she was leaning forward, her face close to Hermione. "So you did go and masturbate. I thought so."

"I––, it’s not like—you make it sound—Why—" Hermione tripped over her words and then chose to hide her face behind her knees, refusing to look at the witch.

"What did you fantasise about?" Bellatrix asked, coming closer. "Was it McLaggen? Weasley?"

"No!" Hermione squeaked. "And it’s private!"

Bellatrix gave a laugh. "Did you orgasm at least?"

Again, Hermione looked away. "Why do you insist on torturing me with such questions?"

"Because of how beautifully pink you turn," Bellatrix said, reaching up to press her index finger against Hermione’s cheek. "But answer the question, pet. Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Enough," Hermione said.

Bellatrix smiled, taking a sip of her drink. "Well, if you ever need a helping hand..." she said, trailing off. Hermione held her breath, looking at the witch. "I’m sure McLaggen would be more than happy to help."

Of course. Hermione let out her breath, laughing nervously as she sipped at her drink. "I don’t think so," she assured.

"Well, you’ll need to invite someone to the Slug Christmas Party," Bellatrix said, her face grimacing.

Hermione sighed. She’d forgotten about that. She’d also forgotten to tell Harry. Professor Slughorn had cornered her and requested that Hermione find a suitable, free time for Harry so that he could ensure that Harry would be in attendance.

"We don’t have to take a guest," she said.

"No, but it’d be pretty dull being the only one without someone," Bellatrix said, smiling at her. "McLaggen may have already invited but if someone else is on your mind..." she trailed off.

Hermione shook her head. "There’s no one else," she assured.

Bellatrix scoffed, "Don’t lie to me. Everyone else might not be able to see your tell, but I can," she said. "Put your big witch’s hat on and ask them. The worst thing they’ll do is reject you."

"As if that isn’t horrible," Hermione pointed out.

Bellatrix shrugged. "Wouldn’t know," she teased. "But who would reject terribly clever, brilliant you?" Bellatrix asked, her brow raising. Hermione bit her cheek, trying to not allow herself to hope. She knew Bellatrix was only trying to be a good friend, which should be enough.

Even though, deep down, she knew it wasn’t enough.

With Slughorn’s Christmas party coming up, Hermione found herself weighted deep within her books, furiously reading them now that Harry was spending time with her in the evenings. Ron, having found his evenings filled with snogging Lavender Brown in the common room, was entirely too occupied to study, which meant that Hermione’s time now included helping Harry to catch up where he’d fallen behind.

However, it was going much faster now that Bellatrix would exasperatedly help as well, so as long Harry would agree to shut up once she’d shown him how to get the correct answer. Harry was still somewhat suspicious around Bellatrix, but it brought at least some new normalcy to her life.

On their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione informed Harry, "You should pick someone to take to the party tomorrow evening."

Harry balked. "What makes you say that."

"I caught Romilda Vane threatening to send you love potions. She’d purchased a heap from Fred and George’s shop, and unfortunately, I believe they’re reasonably effective. She’s extremely keen for you to invite her."

Harry frowned. "Why didn’t you confiscate them?"

"I couldn’t!" Hermione said. "She didn’t have them on her at the time." Hermione, had, however promptly given a lecture that if she noticed Harry was under any sort of love spell, she would immediately inform McGonagall of what she’d heard which would likely mean Romilda would be stuck in detention for the rest of the year.

The witch had sneered at her, muttering how Hermione was just jealous because Ron had chosen Lavender over her, but Hermione had hoped the threat would hold enough to stop her.

"Just take someone."

"Take Ginny," Bellatrix said, before snickering as Harry began to turn a shade of pink. Hermione bit her lip, trying not to laugh. It had been rather obvious lately that Harry had developed a crush on Ginny, and while Hermione knew that Ginny would very quickly agree to break up with Dean to get with Harry, Hermione refrained from letting either of them know.

If it was going to happen, it should happen organically, not with her pushing them into each other.

"Ginny’s got a date, already," Harry said, fumbling over his words. "Besides, be a bit weird to take Ron’s sister."

She and Bellatrix shared a look.

When they arrived back at the common room, Romilda Vane appeared, holding a glass. "Hi, Harry! Fancy a gilly water?"

Hermione shot Harry a told-you-so look before she took her place in one of the spare study seats and began returning to her homework. Bellatrix sat stretched, reading her own book as Crookshanks took to sitting on the witch’s lap, purring as he received head scratches.

Harry, having managed to detangle himself from Romilda, took to sitting beside them and doing his own work, though she suspected he was also keeping an eye out for Ginny to arrive.

"Will you be coming to Christmas this year?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. She knew that Christmas would be held at Grimmauld Place, and while it would have been good to see Sirius in person, she knew Bellatrix would be alone. "Mum’s going to pick us up at the station. But we might be able to organise something with Tonks to meet up?"

Harry shrugged. "Can try and see. Sirius might even take me." And then Harry paused before his eyes flicked to Bellatrix’s and back. "Though...I dunno. They might not let me."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes at his attempt to lie. "I know he’s my cousin," she said.

Hermione turned and looked at her. "You do?"

"Hogwarts has history on everyone, including old yearbooks. It wasn’t difficult to flick through and find my family in it."

Hermione blinked. It took her by surprise because the witch had never told her. "How long have you known?"

Bellatrix shrugged. "Since that weekend you went on a date with McLaggen, I spent the afternoon in the library digging everything up."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Because none of it was interesting. I wanted to know who I was, and I found some dusty old photos with nothing more than a few lines about what house they were in. I discovered that I was also in the duelling club back then and that everyone aside from my dear cousin has a long, agonising history of being in the same house."

The way she said the words sounded frustrating. Like she’d been looking for something and couldn’t find it, and in a way, Hermione understood. All Bellatrix was doing was trying to piece who she was, and the only evidence of who she was that she found was names and faces that she didn’t recognise.

"I’m sorry," Hermione said.

"Don’t be," was all her response before returning to her book. It left an uncomfortable silence in its wake that Hermione shared with Harry.

Hermione sat stirring her food at lunch, trying to ignore the wet noises coming from Lavender and Ron’s kissing as she thought about that night. She and Bellatrix would be returning back home tomorrow––something Dumbledore had agreed would be good for Bellatrix––but Hermione couldn’t erase the feeling knotting at her stomach.

"Did you find someone to take tonight?" Ginny asked.

Hermione looked up. "What? Oh, no. It doesn’t matter."

"McLaggen still hasn’t asked anyone. You could go with him."

Hermione shook her head. "He was a bit mean about a friend the other day." Though, she recognised that he’d been better during the duelling club with Luna since. "It’s fine; Bellatrix and Harry won’t have a date either."

Ginny gave her a funny look, "Yeah, they do. Harry’s taking Luna. She just told me."

Hermione could barely focus on that when her attention was focused on the first part. "Bellatrix is taking someone?"

"I didn’t catch the name."

Hermione’s frown deepened. "When does she have time to meet someone?" Bellatrix spent all of their time together. The only time they didn't was when Bellatrix attended her other class while Hermione was in Arithmancy.

"They share Care of Magical Creatures together. That’s all I know."

Well, that narrowed it down. Though, Hermione admitted she had no idea who was in that class. She knew it wasn’t anyone who did muggle studies or Arithmancy since both classes were scheduled at the same time, but it was at least someone who was in sixth year with them.

"I hope it’s not Zacharias," Hermione said.

Ginny laughed. "Unlikely, saw her hexing him the other day. I don’t think she’d let him get within fifteen feet of her after calling her bludger hit a lucky shot," Ginny said, mimicking his droning voice. "She’s there now. You can ask her."

Bellatrix returned from the girl’s bathroom, sitting down at the table across from Hermione.

Hermione thought about how to ask who her date was to the Christmas Partly, only for Ginny to speak first, "Hermione didn’t know you had a date for tonight."

Hermione flushed, ducking her head.

"Oh, yeah. I’m taking Greengrass," Bellatrix said as she set food on her plate. Hermione had once thought of Bellatrix as a carnivore, but the witch was also into fruit, which was surprising. She wasn't sure why that was surprising, just that she didn't pick Bellatrix to be a fruit person. Maybe a sandwich person, but not a fruit one.

"Greengrass...Daphne?" Hermione yelped, loud enough that people turned to look at her. Ducking her head, she clarified. "But she’s...a Slytherin."

"I’m aware," Bellatrix said.

Hermione held her tongue, looking away. In the classes they shared, she’d never once seen Bellatrix say so much as a word to Daphne. But Hermione knew that Care of Magical Creatures likely didn’t have any other Slytherin. Hermione hadn’t been aware that any of them continued, given the pureblood tendency to look down upon other magical creatures, such as giants.

As they began walking to their next class, Hermione took a moment to look at Bellatrix and say, "wouldn’t the Greengrass family share relations with the Black family?"

"I share more of a relation with the Weasleys and Potters," Bellatrix said. "But I believe we’re fifth cousins, something removed."

Hermione deflated at that. Fifth cousins were basically nothing. Most rural towns usually share relations close than that. "So...is she nice?"

Bellatrix gave her an odd look. "Is she different to how she is when she’s around Parkinson, you mean?"

"She’s fine. She and Pansy have fallen out of friends, anyway. She thinks Pansy goes too far making fun of you."

Hermione felt her stomach squirm at that. It seemed strange, almost pitying and she hated that. But...it made sense that the person Bellatrix would find most appealing would be another pureblood like herself.

Through classes, she tried to ignore the feeling, and when it came down to Arithmancy, the final class of the day, Hermione turned to McLaggen and asked, "did you want to go to Slughorn’s party with me? I’d be meaning to ask but..." she trailed off, not able to come up with a suitable lie.

"Of course," he said. "I can pick you up at eight. I have a project that I’m doing, but we could meet at the entrance hall?"

Hermione smiled. "Sounds perfect."

Hermione had taken the time to make herself look nice for the party. She’d placed on her special occasion dress she’d bought and spent time making her hair look somewhat sleeker than usual. It wasn’t as lovely as it’d been for Yule, but it was a noticeable difference.

She even placed a little bit of make-up on so that when she arrived in the entrance hall, Cormac paused, doing a double take of her. "You look beautiful," he said, smiling as he offered his arm.

Hermione had blushed at the compliment, hooking her hand through his arm as Cormac began to lead them to Slughorn’s office. "I heard Slughorn might be bringing in a vampire," Hermione said as a way to make conversation.

"I heard that too!" Cormac enthused. "Though I’ve met a vampire before, he bummed me out. All he did was complain about his sire. I thought my father complained about his work a lot...."

Hermione gave a laugh, trying to ignore the twisting feeling in her stomach. She hadn’t seen Bellatrix that evening, given that Hermione had chosen to get ready in the prefect bathroom, but she was feeling a bit anxious about attending the party. At least Cormac had been willing to take her as a date.

As they approached Slughorn’s office, Hermione could hear laughter and music. As they stepped through, she was taken aback by the appearance of his office. Slughorn had enchanted the room to look like the inside of a vast tent. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson and gold hangings. It was quite a marvellous piece of magic. She let go of Cormac, stepping around to examine it a bit closer.

What took away from the magic, however, was the sight of the house elves walking around like waiters. Hermione felt her anger grow as she watched them squeakily move around with silver platters of food. She doubted that Slughorn was paying the poor elves for their service.

"Miss Granger, Mr McLaggen!" Slughorn said as a way of greeting. "Don’t you both look a charming pair," he beamed. "Come in, come in. Let me introduce you around."

Hermione flushed at the compliment before being lead around the room and introduced to Eldred Worple and the vampire, Sanguini. Hermione took the time to be polite, enquiring about the book Worple wrote about vampires before her eye caught Bellatrix’s arrival.

Bellatrix came in, dressed in a set of simple, dark robes. She wore her leather jacket over it and had tied her hair up, off her face. Hermione thought she was the most beautiful woman in the room, and when she turned to introduce Daphne to Professor Slughorn, Hermione felt as though she’d swallowed a puking pastry.

Daphne wore a set of emerald robes that hugged her figure. She wore her long, blonde hair down as she smiled and greeted Slughorn. They looked like the perfect pair. Hermione hated it.

"Let’s get a drink," Hermione said, tugging Cormac away, so she didn’t have to look at Bellatrix anymore.

It was in a rather quiet corner that Hermione took a breath. She hated how fast her heart was racing and how tight her lungs were. She hated how much it annoyed her that Daphne was here, that she was with Bella, and now Hermione was trying not to cry at what she'd seen instead of enjoying what should have been a rather nice party.

"Oh, would you look at that," Cormac said, stepping too close into her personal space. "Mistletoe."

Hermione looked up and sighed. "I’m not particularly in the mood to kiss anyone," she lied. The truth was, there was one person she very much wished had stumbled into mistletoe with her.

"Ridiculous. It’s the Christmas spirit," he said, and then had the audacity to lean in and try to kiss her.

Hermione side-stepped him. "I said no," she said, eyes narrowing. "And if you can’t take no, I’ll hex you next, and I don’t care who sees at this party."

Cormac pulled back, flushing. "You’re so frigid," he spat. "I thought we could at least have a nice time since you so desperately invited me after giving me the cold shoulder. You could at least make up for your poor behaviour."