Dinner Party: II

A/N: See, you guys got this one much quicker. It feels good to be writing again. Slightly longer than the last one and they should have been just one chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Usual disclaimer applies.

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Dinner Party: II

Hermione looked at her plate and let out a little sigh. Fish. Of course it was fish. The one thing she couldn’t stand, and they had to serve it for dinner. She sighed again and reached for the wine.

“You might not be so unhappy if you were to have a husband and children to cheer you up, Hermione.”

Snape just never knew when to leave well enough alone, did he? And who made up this seating plan, anyway? Seating her between the great bat of the dungeons and Charlie’s wife, a woman she’d never met before, was just cruel.

“You mean you would be happier with a wife to boss around, especially now that you are no longer able to torture those unfortunate enough to end up in your classroom. I fail to see how that would please me.”

Alcohol probably wasn’t the best thing for Hermione to be drinking at the moment. Her temper was bad enough these days without the added boost.

“For your inform…”

“So, Hermione, did you know that Blaise and Pansy recently got engaged?” Draco used to be so much smoother with his interfering.

Hermione was starting to wonder just how many people were trying to play matchmaker for the bat, and why Draco would be sticking his nose in. For now, she’d go with the flow, but tomorrow she would want answers.

“Congratulations, Blaise. And to you, Pansy. It’s good to see some happy unions as a result of this idiotic law.”

Before either could reply, a commotion down the other end of the table drew everyone’s attention. George, Fred and Ginny had been talking quietly amongst themselves, but the twins had gradually gotten louder, and now they were almost yelling.

“I don’t care about her feelings, look what she did to our brother! You should be ashamed to have her eat at your table, Ginny. Your flesh and blood should come before any tramps you knew in school”

It didn’t take anyone long to figure out who the ‘she’ was. Hermione quietly began to put her napkin on the table to leave, but was stopped by a hand on her arm.

“This is Draco’s house and any guests he’s invited will not be driven out by anyone. And he certainly will not let them be insulted,” Severus whispered, whilst directing a meaningful glance at Draco.

“Oh, this is just perfect. Not only do you invite the woman who betrayed our brother to your house, we get to sit here and watch her flirt with the traitor.” The disgust in Fred’s voice was so vehement it was almost visible.

“THAT IS ENOUGH. Family or otherwise, you will not come into our home and speak to my wife in that manner. She is visibly upset, and you are out of line. If you do not want to sit down and celebrate our future heir, then you can leave. If you choose to stay, you will treat Ginevra with much better manners than you have shown thus far. You will also learn to treat my guests in a better manner. If you can’t be civilised, perhaps it’s better for you not to stay.”

Draco certainly inherited his father’s command and control of situations. Hermione had to admire the way he protected Ginny, even knowing it was going to get him into all sorts of trouble later. It was funny how protective Ginny could be of her family, even when they were being rat bags. Except with Ron, of course. Those two never did work out their sibling issues.

“Fred, George, listen to me. Hermione did nothing wrong. Ron overreacted and didn’t bother waiting around to hear the full story. Don’t make yourself look like prats, the same way he did. Sit down and let’s just enjoy our meal.”

“No, Ginny, I’ve had enough of this. You didn’t even invite Ron tonight, your own brother. I can see where your loyalties lie, and I’m not staying any longer. Are you coming, Fred?”

And so they were down to ten. Hermione was calculating how quickly it would take her to clear out the rest of the room, when a voice piped up from next to Ginny.

“This really is great fish, Malfoy; you must get your house elf to show mine how to do it properly”

Ahh, Luna, always in her own world. For once, she was a grateful distraction for everyone, and the tension started to evaporate.

“Well, I think everyone’s pretty much finished eating, or lost their appetite by now. Shall we retire to the sitting room?” Draco, ever the host, started in that direction without waiting for an answer.

****

Hermione was weaving her way back from the bathroom when she bumped into Severus. Somehow she didn’t think she’d had enough alcohol to make it through this conversation sane.

“You always did have a habit of wandering around places you shouldn’t be.”

“Oh, sod off, Snape. I’m walking back from the bathroom. I am certainly not wandering around someone else’s home alone.”

“My mistake. I assumed if you were walking back from the bathroom, you’d be in the general vicinity of either there, or the sitting room. As it is, you’re about three hallways in the wrong direction. How silly of me to assume you were somewhere you shouldn’t have been on such little evidence.”

Her cheeks had gone bright red, and knowing that did nothing to calm her down. She took a step forward and was ready to make a scathing comeback that was sure to put him in his place, when someone else walked into the hallway. She jumped back quickly in time to see a look of horror on Ginny’s face. Something told her this was all going to be bad.

“How could you, Hermione? In my home?? After I defended you to three of my brothers? And with that traitor of all people?”

“No, Ginny, it’s not like that. I was ...”

“Oh, spare me. You’re cheeks are all red, and when you heard me coming, you jumped apart like the guilty party that you are. I don’t care what pitiful lie you’ll make up this time to cover yourself, just get out of my house. Don’t come here again. I don’t want to see you. And you,” she said, turning on Severus, “if I could ban you from this house, I would. Just know that you’re not welcome here on my part, no matter what my husband might say.”

Knowing that it was all just useless, Hermione took her coat from the house-elf that had popped into the room at Ginny’s words and quietly followed it out.

She’d had enough of Severus Snape ruining her friendships to last a lifetime, and in the morning she would accept Viktor’s proposal.

Severus watched her go and knew that now was the time to act, or he’d be stuck with the Toad for life.