Beauty From Pain

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hermione should have known better, but when Harry gave her those damned puppy eyes...

They had left the party while it was still in full swing to go get drinks at the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione had wanted to stay a bit longer, but she had seen the anxiety of being in such a large crowd beginning to wear on both Harry and Draco. After saying goodbye to Miranda and transfiguring her costume into a much more comfortable outfit - much to Draco's disappointment - their group headed out for a nightcap.

Well, it was supposed to be a nightcap.

One drink swiftly turned into several drinks, and Hermione soon found herself to be the only semi-sober person at the table. Harry had invited Ginny who was leaning quite heavily on poor Luna. Ginny had invited George who had brought Angelina... Had Draco invited Theo or had Luna?

She had completely lost track, but being surrounded by so many friends left a warmth in her chest and a smile on her face. Or maybe that was the firewhiskey. Either way, when the discussion on quidditch inevitably began, Hermione was too tired and too tipsy to bother protesting. She had leaned her head on Draco's shoulder, closed her eyes, and let the conversation drift passed her.

When the conversation grew unusually quiet, she opened her eyes and was surprised to find the entire table staring at her with varying degrees of amusement and exasperation.

"I told you," Harry said to no one in particular. "Quidditch talk is the only way to shut her brain off."

"She was probably just thinking about her next big magical breakthrough," Ginny said with a good-natured roll of her eyes. "All work and no play, that one."

"She is right here." Hermione lightly kicked what she hoped was Ginny's shin under the table.

George yelped and his knee banged against the underside of the table.

"We were discussing who the better captain was while we were in school," Draco explained. His tone of voice told Hermione he fully expected her to agree that he was clearly the better quidditch captain.

Angelina gestured with her glass towards Harry and said, "This one here's allergic to raising his voice, so he shouldn't even be in the running."

"Oi!" Harry sat up straighter in his chair and leaned around George to glare at her. "I can yell when I need to."

"Sure you can, Harry." Hermione reached across the table to pat his arm reassuringly. "You're very assertive."

He must have missed the sarcasm in her voice because he shot Angelina a smug grin.

"Quidditch runs in our Weasley blood," George said. He threw his arm over the back of Angelina's chair and added with a confident grin, "Clearly Gin is the better captain. She's been playing since she could walk thanks to yours truly."

"If you trained her, then she shouldn't be in the running either," Draco argued.

This caused an immediate burst of arguing from all sides, and Hermione sighed into her glass of firewhiskey. She cared far too little for quidditch to be even mildly invested in the conversation. She began considering calling it a night or even getting another round of drinks. Devious thoughts of convincing Draco to leave with her were beginning to formulate when she felt all eyes on her once more.

"What now," she snapped.

Hardly fazed by her irritation, Harry said, "You're impartial, Hermione. You couldn't care less about quidditch, so you aren't biased. You also saw all of us in action, so who do you think was the better captain?"

Before she could answer, Luna chimed in, "She is dating Draco now, so she might have a bit of bias."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I think you're all equally obsessed with the most worthless sport."