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Hermione had never thought that she would count Dean Thomas among her good friends, even though he was the other Gryffindor Muggle-born in their year. After all, their house and blood-status were really the only things they had in common. However, here they were, trudging through the snow on the way back from what had been a very enjoyable double-date with Harry and Ginny.
She clung tightly to Harry's arm as she carefully stepped across a patch of ice. Ginny grinned and slid across it with effortless balance, though she was clutching Dean's hand.
Harry had privately told Hermione that it was a little strange for him, as he had always thought of Ginny as Ron's little sister. But Ginny had enough protective older brothers without Harry needing to be an honorary one, and no one could deny that Ginny certainly wasn't a little girl anymore. So he had resolved to think of Ginny as a friend who was barely younger than himself and forget about the fact that he could easily remember her as a star-struck ten-year-old.
And indeed, Ginny had been a much better friend lately than Ron had. Ron hadn't taken the change in his best friends' relationship status well, which was not unexpected. What was unexpected was that his frustration hadn't abated. Hermione and Harry both knew the reason why, of course, but neither wanted to discuss it, even after Ron started making a point of snogging Lavender whenever Hermione was around.
And Harry and Hermione had been careful not to flaunt their relationship around him. Harry was particularly anxious about it, unwilling to let his oldest friendship be damaged by their overlapping attractions. He wouldn't even hold her hand when Ron was around. And even after Ron had begun flaunting his fling with Lavender every chance he got, Harry was reluctant to retaliate.
Privately, Hermione thought that Ron and Lavender might have made a good couple, but certainly not when his motivation was disingenuous.
"Oy, Dean!" It was Seamus calling to him. He had gotten himself into a snowball fight with Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot, while the Patil twins were ducking behind a snow wall rather than helping their respective housemates. "Get over here and help a bloke out!"
Dean looked at Ginny, whose grin turned sly, and then they were both running across the snow towards the Ravenclaws who would soon find themselves outnumbered. "We'll see you at Slughorn's party, yeah?" Dean called over his shoulder to the other couple.
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to her boyfriend. "I suppose you want to join them?"
Harry looked eager for a moment, but then shrugged. "I'd rather stay with you, whichever option that entails."
Hermione's heart swelled and she leaned close even as she shook her head at his cheesy response. "Well, we could go over there, or we can go inside and warm up and find somewhere more private."
"Sold." Harry immediately turned back towards the castle, and Hermione grinned into his shoulder as they continued on.
There were plenty of unused classrooms on the first floor, and Hermione's favorite was an out-of-the-way classroom that had a large book shelf with old tomes on charms. She would let the books distract her at times, and then quietly enjoy Harry's attempts to recapture her attention with his own charms.
Today, however, she was quite happy to ignore the books and keep her attention on her wonderful boy. Once the door was locked behind them, she stepped into his arms and threw her own across his shoulders. "You know, technically, you still haven't asked me to Slughorn's party."
"Hmm?" Harry didn't give a thought to her comment as he pressed his lips to hers, and she leaned into the kiss.
Several happy seconds passed before she pulled back. "Won't you?"
"Won't I what?"
She sighed and decided to just do it herself. "Will you be my date to Slughorn's party?"
She expected that if he didn't immediately say yes, it would only be because he was too intent on continuing the kissing. However, he didn't immediately say yes but he also didn't immediately resume kissing her. Instead, he furrowed his brow and dropped his gaze.
She stilled in his arms, wondering what he could possibly be thinking about.
"Well..." He still didn't look at her.
"Harry?" He had to be messing with her, but she couldn't see the usual tell-tale signs of his jokes in his expression. Her heart started pounding away for a far less pleasant reason than it usually did in this room.
She'd never actually been rejected by a boy before. She'd had a crush on Harry early on, but his friendship was far too important for her to act on it, and then Viktor had shown his interest in her and she'd accepted his attentions. She turned down a Muggle boy the following summer, not wanting to attempt to navigate a date where she couldn't talk about such a significant part of her life. And then Valentine's Day happened and everything had been so wonderful since, at least on the romance front.
She certainly didn't expect that the first boy to turn her down would be one she'd already been dating for ten months.
"It's just, I've been thinking..."
"You've been thinking what?" she pressed, putting space between their bodies.
"Well, we're both already invited."
"So?"
"So we can still spend most of the night together even if we aren't each other's dates."
"Harry, I swear to Merlin, if this is about Ron—"
"It isn't. It's just, I don't really love the whole exclusive party thing. I figure we've got an opportunity to get a couple of our friends in who weren't invited, so they can also enjoy it."
She blinked. "You want us to bring other people as dates?"
He shrugged. "Why shouldn't they get to go? And it'll be more fun with more friends there, won't it?"
"If you're thinking that I should invite Ron—"
"Not Ron! Invite whomever you'd like, Hermione. I just thought that—"
"I get it, Harry." She sighed. He was too kind for his own good.
"And not McLaggen."
She rolled her eyes. Cormac McLaggen was a boy a year ahead of them in Gryffindor who had suddenly started showing interest in Hermione after she started dating Harry. What was it with boys suddenly finding girls more attractive the moment they were unavailable?
"Look, if you really hate the idea, we can just go and—"
"It's okay, Harry. It's very considerate of you." She put her hands on his chest. "I just thought it might be nice for us to go to a fancy party together as a couple. But you're right."
He placed his hands over hers. "There will be other opportunities, won't there? Where the invitations aren't so exclusive."
She nodded, then pulled his hands aside and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest. "It'll confuse some people. We're not exactly a low profile couple, despite our best efforts."
He chuckled under his breath. "No, we aren't. But there are far worse reasons to cause a stir." He pressed his lips to the top of her head. "You're really okay with it?"
"Yes."
* * *
Fancy party fantasies aside, she didn't hate the idea.
She didn't mind the exclusivity of the Slug Club as much as Harry did. Sure, it wasn't a very kind thing, but she appreciated the recognition, especially in a world where so many saw fit to treat her as a second-class citizen. Slughorn didn't dislike that she was a Muggle-born and even favored her over so many of the rich pureblood bigots in his own house. Not that she would lord it over Malfoy or Parkinson unless she were provoked, but she liked having a higher status than them in a manner that wasn't just marks on parchment. It was a pleasant reversal of the reality she'd been forced to deal with for the past five years.
But Harry, who had always received more recognition than he was comfortable with, was understandably less happy about it.
Emerging through the portrait hole into the common room, she looked around. Ron and Lavender were there, of course, in full view of everyone as Lavender sat on his lap. They were already snogging, and Hermione wondered whether Ron had seen her coming in or whether they had already been at it. Looking away from them, her gaze fell on Neville, who sat alone at one of the study tables, bent over a textbook.
She approached him. "Hi, Neville."
He looked up. "Hi, Hermione." He glanced past her, obviously expecting Harry, and then over at Ron and Lavender. "What's up?"
"May I sit with you?"
"Yeah, okay." He looked at Ron and Lavender again. "Where's Harry?"
She shrugged. "Downstairs. What are you working on?"
"Herbology."
Herbology was the one subject in which Neville excelled, and boy did he. But he was extremely humble about it, which didn't do him any favors. He would get a lot more respect if he wasn't seen as generally hopeless at practical magic.
Slughorn had invited him to the first of the Slug Club meetings, back on the Hogwarts Express. But Neville didn't impress him at all, and never brought up his talent for Herbology. Hermione wondered how Slughorn would have reacted if he knew that Neville was atop the class in one of the school's core subjects.
"Would you like to go to Slughorn's Christmas Party with me?"
He stared at her, his jaw falling open. "What?"
"Would you be my date to Slughorn's Christmas Party?"
"But... Harry."
"Harry's going to ask someone else. He figured since we're both already invited, we could bring a couple of our friends and still spend the night together anyway."
"Oh... okay."
"So what do you say?"
His gaze dropped to the book. "Slughorn doesn't want me at his events."
"Well, it's not up to him if you come with me. Let's just go and enjoy ourselves, with Harry and whomever he brings."
Neville was still very hesitant. "Alright, I suppose."
* * *
Hermione and Neville and Ginny and Dean arrived first. Harry had gone to Ravenclaw to fetch Luna. Sure enough, most of the partygoers looked quite confused to see Hermione on Neville's arm rather than Harry's, and she smirked to herself at their reactions.
"Mr. Longbottom," Slughorn pasted on a polite smile. "Welcome. I didn't expect your attendance."
"Er, yes, thank you," Neville replied.
"I brought him along," said Hermione. "And in return, he'll help me with Herbology." Neville looked at her in bewilderment.
"He'll help you? I must say, Miss Granger, I'm quite surprised to hear of you asking for help from any of your peers."
"Well, Neville has top marks in Herbology, you know."
"Is that so?" Slughorn beamed at Neville. "I had no idea. You know, my boy, I'd be quite pleased to make some introductions for you. I know some of the best herbologists in the country." He looked around the party, perhaps for some of these elite herbologists.
"I, er..."
"He would love that," said Hermione, nudging Neville.
"Wonderful. Well, I'll keep a lookout for you, shall I?" Slughorn's attention had gone elsewhere, and Hermione looked to see her boyfriend enter the room with Luna. She felt an instinctive stab of envy, even though she knew she'd be back in Harry's arms soon enough.
Leaving Hermione and Neville behind, Slughorn swooped in and took Harry under his arm, barely acknowledging Luna. Harry grasped at air as though to pull Luna along for help, until his gaze found Hermione. "Come," he mouthed over Slughorn's shoulder, and she quickly went to his rescue.
Slughorn pulled them along to meet a series of people. Hermione had questions for each of them, but she was never given the chance to ask as Slughorn made sure that Harry became acquainted with them and that they became acquainted with the knowledge that Slughorn was a link to Harry.
And then she caught sight of McLaggen watching her. And even more disconcerting was the fact that McLaggen's date was Romilda Vane, who was watching Harry. Hermione tightened her grip on her boyfriend's hand.
He looked at her, and his expression said quite clearly that there were a great many things he would rather be doing than meeting and getting attention from all of these strangers, including banging his head against a wall. Giving him a sympathetic look, she decided to solve both of their problems and pulled him away for a drink, moving away from both Slughorn and Vane.
"Thanks," he said softly.
She gently squeezed his hand. "No need to thank me."
They each took a glass of mead and then found Neville and Luna again, along with Ginny and Dean. Luna was chatting merrily about nargles, and Ginny was entertaining herself with her boyfriend's bemusement. Dean perked up as Harry and Hermione arrived, apparently deciding that it gave him and Ginny the excuse to leave Neville and Luna behind and head for the dance floor.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Hermione asked Neville.
"Yes," he replied shyly. "Thank you for inviting me. And for what you said to Slughorn."
"You're welcome. You could have told him all that yourself, you know. He likes knowing how smart people are."
Neville blushed. "Well, I..." He trailed off and shrugged.
Luna bailed him out by speaking up. "And thank you for inviting me, Harry. I can't wait to tell Daddy everything I've learned about the Rotfang Conspiracy."
Harry gave a bemused smile. "I'm glad to hear it. You're welcome."
Hermione looked at Neville's and Luna's pleased expressions and realized that she had a humbling moment coming up. Downing the rest of her drink, she took Harry's hand. "Come and dance with me?"
Harry gave that wary smile that was his invariable response to the concept of dancing, and looked at Neville and Luna.
"Go for it, mate," said Neville. "We're fine here."
Hermione tugged Harry onto the floor, stopping not far from Ginny and Dean, and began swaying with her boy. "You were right," she said softly, deciding to get it over with.
"What?"
"You were right about inviting them. They wouldn't have gotten to come otherwise."
He smiled. "Say that first part again."
She rolled her eyes and leaned up until her mouth was just below his chin. "You were right," she whispered, and then kissed his skin. He shuddered.
"You don't say that often enough."
"That's because I'm usually the one who's right."
"That's true." He leaned down and kissed her.
"You know you two are in the middle of the dance floor," said Ginny, as she and Dean danced closer to them.
Harry gave her an amused look. "That's rich, coming from you."
"I agree," said Dean. "I say we copy them."
Ginny rolled her eyes and lightly slapped his chest. "Later. In private."
Harry and Hermione exchanged smirks. They had come across the other couple snogging in public many more times than vice versa, and that wasn't just because Harry refused to do anything around Ron. He wasn't generally fond of PDA, although there were times when his desire got the better of him.
"Having fun?" Hermione asked the other couple.
Ginny nodded, resting her head against Dean's shoulder. The height difference between them wasn't as stark as the height difference between Harry and Hermione, and Hermione envied that. Not that she disliked the growth spurt Harry had gone through over the summer—he'd never been more fanciable—but she wished she'd done an even slightly better job of keeping up.
They danced through a few songs, and then Harry stilled. "What?" she asked softly.
"McLaggen," he whispered.
She turned and looked over her shoulder, meeting McLaggen's stare. Vane was beside him. They both looked like they were about ready to attack the couple and pull them apart physically, although Hermione very much doubted that would happen.
She narrowed her eyes at McLaggen, and then turned back to Harry and pulled his head down to hers, pushing their lips together.
He quickly got over the surprise and returned the kiss, his arms tightening around her.
"Really, you two?" Ginny called. Harry broke the kiss and gave her another look.
Hermione looked towards McLaggen and Vane again, but they were gone. And a number of the surrounding adults were looking at Harry and Hermione with a mixture of scandal and amusement. Her face heated up.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else," she suggested.
Harry's emerald eyes darkened at the suggestion, and her body heated up beneath that gaze, as it always did. "I agree."
Suddenly very impatient to have his lips back on hers, she pulled him off the dance floor. She glanced towards the exit, but worried that Slughorn might see them leaving and rope Harry into a long round of farewells. Instead, she led her boy to the windows on the far side of the room and behind a curtain.
They were soon so wrapped up in each other that they never even noticed the commotion when Filch came in, dragging Malfoy by the ear.