Pride of a Granger & Prejudice of a Malfoy

Chapter 2: The Newcomers

"My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia." –Dame Edna Everage

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed when she spied Hermione through the plethora of dancers. "You came! Hello Cho!"

"Hello Ginny," Cho greeted with a smile.

"How could I not come?" Hermione asked. "Between the two of you, that option was quite impossible."

"Our pleasure," Ginny and Cho replied in harmony.

"Where is everyone else?" Hermione asked glancing around them.

"Neville and Luna are...," Ginny trailed off, watching Luna dancing in her typical unique fashion while Neville tried to imitate her moves. "Well, I suppose they are dancing. Harry and Ron are getting drinks. And Gabrielle is in the powder room."

Just as Cho was about to speak, a series of squeals interrupted them.

"OH MY MERLIN!" screeched Lavender. "You will never believe who we just saw!"

"The Grim, hopefully?" Hermione asked under her breath, earning her a nudge from Ginny who was trying not to burst into laughter.

"Guess who just walked in?!" Parvati squealed out, not having heard Hermione's comment.

"Blaise Zabini!" Lavender exclaimed, her eyes about to pop out of their sockets, pointing at the arched doorway where three people had just walked in causing a hush to fall throughout the entire room. Within moments of their entrance, they were surrounded by hopeful witches and their even more hopeful mothers.

"Lavender, take deep breaths," Hermione instructed. "You are about to hyperventilate."

"Blaise is the muscular, beautiful one on the right," Lavender sighed ignoring Hermione, beginning a live commentary.

"I think we ought to know that considering we went to school with him for seven years," Hermione muttered under her breath.

"That is Pansy Parkinson on the right," Parvati stated, continuing the commentary.

"She sure doesn't look like a pug anymore," Ginny stated as they observed the beautiful brunette on the right.

Hermione, instead, was observing the tall blonde man in the center. He was taller than both of his companions, seeming about 6' 3", with a lean yet muscular physique and unruly blonde hair. The most intriguing aspect of his appearance were his startling grey eyes that seemed to flicker right to Hermione's. As their eyes met, a blush began to materialize on Hermione's cheeks, and she looked away.

Turning to Ginny, she quietly asked, "Is that Malfoy in the center?"

Before Ginny could answer her inquiry, Lavender broke in.

"Yes," Lavender said with a sly smile, pausing for the dramatic effect, "that is Draco Malfoy. The Sole heir to the Malfoy fortune, estate, and industries."

"Where has he been the past few years? I haven't heard of him since the war," Cho mused, voicing the question on everyone's minds.

"He's been living in various countries around the world, expanding the Malfoy business," Parvati informed them. "The Malfoys' were rich to begin with, but now they are considered to be the richest Wizarding family in Great Britain."

"Someone clearly did her homework," Ginny muttered under her breath.

"We are going to say hi to them," Lavender announced. "Care to join?"

"No thanks," Hermione replied. "I think I see Harry and Ron heading this way."

"Your loss," Lavender replied before she and Parvati began walking towards the newcomers, joining the ever growing crowd of females surrounding them.

"Hey!" Harry greeted them as he and Ron walked up to them with firewhiskey glasses in their hands. "How come you two missed lunch Friday?"

Since they all worked in the Ministry of Magic, with the exception of Ginny, captain of the Holy Head Harpies, and Gabrielle, owner of a boutique, they had a tradition of eating lunch together every Friday.

"The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been quite busy lately, especially with all those cursed items that have been circulating the muggle markets we have been swamped with paperwork. So we couldn't make it," explained Hermione.

"Sorry," Cho added with an apologetic smile.

"You should be sorry," Ron accused. "You don't know what we had to put up with," he muttered darkly.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"Somehow, McLaggen didn't realize that you wouldn't be in attendance," Harry began.

"Not even when we told the idiot that you weren't coming," Ron cut in.

"So, he decided to join us," Harry continued. "By the time realized that you truly weren't coming, we were already more than halfway done with lunch."

"All that bloody git talked about was himself!" Ron groaned. "I swear you could be having a perfectly good conversation about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and he'd still manage to talk about himself."

"I sure am glad, I didn't go," Hermione replied.

"Hermione, you should give Cormac a chance," Cho replied kindly. "He really likes you."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Hermione replied.

"Well, I suppose he does like himself quite a bit more than he likes you," Cho replied, causing everyone to burst out in laughter.

"Speaking of narcissistic people, have you guys seen Malfoy?" Ron inquired as the laughter died down.

"I feel quite sorry for the poor bloke," Ginny replied.

"Why on earth would you feel sorry for him?" Ron exclaimed.

"I'd even feel sorry for Mr. Filch if he had to put up with Parvati and Lavender's continuous squealing simultaneously," Ginny replied, inclining her head towards Malfoy, who looked as if he was about to curse Lavender and Parvati as they continued squealing around him, Zabini, and Parkinson. "And Cho even you, as nice as you are to everyone, can't argue with that one."

"Touché," Cho replied with a smile.

"I wonder if he is still the pompous prick he used to be," Ginny mused.

"It's Draco Malfoy we are talking about," Harry replied. "I don't think he will ever change."

"If you looked up arrogant, pompous prick in that huge book that Hermione has--," Ron began.

"A dictionary," Hermione offered.

"--his picture would be underneath the description," Ron finished, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

"Cho, I think you've got an admirer over there," Hermione quietly said to Cho, after the laughter died down, with a sly smile as she noticed how Zabini's eyes kept on reverting to the beautiful Asian on her right.

"If he does not end the evening in love with you, I'm no judge of beauty," Ginny added, having picked up on the secret, while Harry and Ron looked confused.

"You two exaggerate too much," Cho replied with a blush.

"What are you three talking about?" Ron asked confusedly.

"Nothing," the three females replied at once.

"I believed 'nothing' is making his way here," Harry replied with a smile, having picked up on what was going on.

And indeed, 'nothing' was making his way towards them, dragging with him no other than Draco Malfoy.