Chapter Text
Draco is on his second drink by the time he’s finally able to reunite with Hermione. She’s got a brightness in her eyes and a sheen on her face that he wouldn’t have expected from her. Hermione Granger, enjoying a raging party? It’s nice. Makes him want to touch her.
“What’s that?” She half-shouts when she returns to his side.
“Some fruity cocktail—it’s better than I thought.” He likes the drink even if he can’t name any flavors in it.
“Is that glitter in there?”
“I think so! Although the lights make the green look a little sickly.”
“Huh,” Hermione says, looking out at the dance floor from their spot next to a pillar.
“Can I try it?” She asks after a moment.
Draco’s cheeks flush. Please.
“Of course,” he responds, passing her the champagne flute, glad that most of the sugared rim is still intact.
She takes a sip, and then another. She looks pleased but confused, which is about how Draco felt about this one, too.
He laughs and nods, then accepts the glass from her.
“I think I’m gonna need my own to decide whether or not I like it.” Hermione steps around him and the pillar.
While she’s gone, he watches a couple dance with a surprising amount of their bodies pressed against each other. Draco sighs. He should tell her how he feels. What’s keeping him from that? He’s not afraid of her response. But what if she tells him that he’s not the kind of person she wants to interact with in the way he wants? That… does scare him a little bit. He’s worked so hard to become something more than what he was and hearing her say all that work was for nothing sounds heartbreaking.
How did he get so sad?
He takes another sip, getting a mouthful of the purple sugar to make it feel new again. And then Hermione is next to him again and everything feels okay.
Draco smiles and clinks his glass against hers. He promises himself he’ll tell her soon, tell her everything.
“What cool costumes have you seen?” She asks.
“Uh, a couple dead brides, one with a vintage wedding dress that looked a lot like dress robes. Someone who looked suspiciously like the Hogwarts librarian, though I can never remember her name.”
Hermione throws her head back and laughs. The charmed curls sway mesmerizingly, but even just her laugh is drawing him in. He loves it when she laughs this hard.
“I’ve seen several princesses with tear away ball gowns.” She pauses, then adds, “I’ve also seen a bunch of people I recognize but I can’t seem to place where I’ve seen them before.”
“Like, from school and stuff?” Draco takes a drink to keep from feeling like he’s asked a dumb question. He’s certainly buzzed by now, which is nice, even if it comes with a lack of clarity.
Hermione nods, watching the crowd with a furrowed brow.
That girl from before is approaching them again, it’s like she’s got a honing device on Hermione.
She’s towing a man along with her—he’s dressed very smartly and Draco’s got to admire him for that.
“Hillary!” The girl—Ashley, right?—shouts. Hermione turns and Draco can tell the smile on her face is a false one. He’s glad to know the full Hermione Granger. Only knowing a part of her would be dull.
“Hillary,” Ashley repeats, “I want you to meet Charlie, the guy I told you about earlier.”
Hermione extends her hand, “Charlie! Hi, it’s good to meet you, I’m Hillary. This is my friend Daniel but he was about to go get another drink.”
He shares a glance with her. Is she giving him an out?
“Yeah,” Draco says, holding up the mostly-empty champagne flute, “Can’t decide if I like this one.”
Charlie smiles a smile full of very white teeth, and it’s off-putting.
“I didn’t like that one either,” Charlie says, holding Draco’s gaze for what feels like too long.
A tension builds in his shoulders, but instead of arguing Draco throws back the rest of the cocktail and turns to leave. He’ll have to keep an eye on that guy, his vibe is worse than Zabini’s when it comes to women. At least Blaise just wants to play—Charlie seems out for blood.
Draco chooses a seat at the bar with a good view of Hermione and those Muggles. He slides his empty glass across the countertop, which the bartender takes after a moment.
The third and final drink that Draco plans to buy tonight is shortly thereafter placed in front of him. Another tumbler this time, filled with a light purple drink. Two blackberries are balanced on the rim, blackish purple juice dropping down the side. And there’s a wisp of dry ice smoke, which is impressive.
He decides that Hermione might actually like this one after his first few sips. The blackberry flavor comes through surprisingly well, which is interesting to pair with the carbonation from the dry ice. Waving the bartender over, he orders another. Then an idea occurs to him.
“There was a woman earlier who ordered the bright green cocktail, she’s dressed kind of like a mermaid and her hair floats like mine. Could I pay for her drink?”
“Yeah, man, she your girl?” He pushes some buttons on a register before sliding Draco a check.
Beneath the bar, Draco summons a Muggle card to his fingers, then sets it on the check and pushes it back to the bartender.
“I’m hoping to make her my girl soon,” he says.
The bartender chuckles and swipes the card.
“Tomorrow’s your best bet for soon, buddy. Enjoy your drinks.”
Draco ponders the man’s words as he vanishes the card and receipt. Maybe he should tell her tomorrow. What if she hates him?
She can’t hate him. There’s no evidence for that, and being honest about how he feels probably won’t change that.
Someone slides into the seat next to him.
Draco sighs and takes another drink.
This one really is good and might be his favorite of the three.
“What are you drinking?” Asks the person next to him, whose voice feels sickly sweet. What is it with all these Muggles and their ill-intentions?
“Some blackberry cocktail, it’s one of the—“
“Oh, is this for me?”
Draco turns sharply as this girl not only picks up Hermione’s drink, but downs half of it before coming up for air and meeting his astonished eyes.
“No,” he says, “That wasn’t for you.”
He turns away from her, taking deep breaths as he faces most of his body away from her. He searches for Hermione. She’s in the same spot, listening as Ashley tells her some wild story. Charlie isn’t with them anymore, thankfully.
He watches Hermione laugh, leaving his glass unsupervised for just long enough for a vial to tip across the rim.
“Sorry,” the girl says. “I guess I just got carried away.” A little laugh, and Draco forces himself to be polite.
“It’s fine.” He doesn’t look at her. “I’ve just already settled up, so I guess my friend won’t get to try this one.”
“I did really like it.” Another little laugh. “Thanks for buying my drink, I guess.”
Draco lifts his glass and takes several swallows so he doesn’t have to say anything. It’s upsetting, but maybe they’ll leave this place soon and he can just be with Hermione and forget about all this.
“I’m gonna go check on something, you okay if I leave my drink here? I’ll be back in like ten minutes.”
He nods to get her to leave and eats one of the blackberries, which is fine. If Halloween were at the end of September the blackberries would be lovely.
He turns to gaze at Hermione again, wishing that Ashley would just be done with her already. Telling her tomorrow seems better than telling her tonight, but he’d still like to spend some time with her before the night is over.
By the time that girl comes back for ‘her’ drink, Draco is getting sleepy. It’s not something he expected, what with the pounding music and all those lights, but maybe sitting instead of standing is making him feel more of the effects of the admittedly-long day.
He’s taking the last few sips of his cocktail when that girl sits next to him again. What did she say her name was?
“Happy Halloween!” She says with a big smile.
Draco smiles back.
“This monster mash is supposed to last til dawn, but I don’t think I can dance for that long without a cup of coffee. Thankfully, my suspicions were correct and I found a coffee machine in a back room.”
Draco perks up.
“A cup of coffee is exactly what I need right now.”
“I was hoping you’d say that—I put on a whole pot but obviously shouldn’t drink it all myself.” She smiles again. “My name is Kylie, by the way.”
“Kylie,” Draco says with a yawn, “Take me to the coffee.”