Ch. 42

Draco's POV

I could tell Hermione still felt bad about Krum kissing her when we met up with Pansy and Blaise that next morning even though she tried to hide it well. Her usual brightness was missing from her smile, and it seems I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Is everything alright with Hermione?" Pansy asked, pulling me aside in the small kitchenette while Blaise and Hermione talked on the couch. "She's looking a little more down than normal."

I frowned and looked back at my fiancée before looking back at Pansy. "She feels guilty. You remember Viktor Krum?"

"Yeah, the Bulgarian who was in the Tri-Wizard Tournament for Durmstrang," Pansy nodded. "Didn't they go meet up for coffee yesterday?"

I nodded, and she scowled at me as she asked, "You're not making her feel bad for meeting him, are you?"

"Absolutely not!" I glared at her. "He decided it was a good idea to kiss her, and she feels guilty that it happened."

Pansy's eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. I nodded and sighed, looking back at Hermione as I quietly went on. "I told her I wasn't upset with her, but she clearly is still bothered by it."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Pansy asked, giving Hermione a worried look.

"Yeah, that would be great actually. Hopefully it'll help." I sighed. "It may take a few days for her to stop being upset about it."

"Maybe she thinks you're actually upset and just don't want to tell her," Pansy suggested before patting my arm. "Don't worry, I'll talk to her during the match about it."

"Thanks, Pans," I said, giving her a smile.

She nodded and we made our way to the couch to join the conversation. Blaise was telling Hermione about a new potion we were attempting to develop to help with lycanthropy.

Hermione looked up at me as I sat down next to her and asked, "Draco, why didn't you tell me you were working on this potion?"

"Because it's nowhere near ready and I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up," I answered, scowling at Blaise.

He simply shrugged and said, "I figured Hermione might be able to help with some input, considering it is pretty much her line of work."

"That's a good idea," Pansy added. "She deals with werewolves more than either of you two."

"I honestly didn't want to bother her with everything that is going on," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. "She's been incredibly busy with her cases, not to mention everything else that happened recently."

Hermione gave me a soft smile and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. "I appreciate that, but you know I have a lot of information on the subject to contribute."

I smiled at her and kissed the back of her hand. "I know, love. But truthfully the potion is in the developing stages; we haven't even started brewing it or testing it."

"Oh, okay," She nodded, before looking down at her watch. "Well, should we get going? The match is going to start in about an hour."

We all nodded and a few minutes later, we were making our way through the crowd of witches and wizards that were all trying to enter the stadium. Hermione's hand squeezed mine as she stepped closer to me to avoid bumping into the people passing by, and I wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her right next to me.

"Is Harry going to be meeting us in the box?" I asked, looking down at her.

"I believe so," She answered, looking around. "I don't see him around so it's possible he's already there."

"I suppose we'll find out when we get up there," I said, smiling.

She returned the smile but I could tell that it was forced. I sighed and squeezed her side as we finally made it up to the stadium and started making our way to the box. Ginny managed to reserve a very nice box for us towards the top, and she refused to let Blaise and I help out. I didn't necessarily mind; it was more amusing than anything watching her and Blaise argue about where the box should be. Harry finally had to step in and assured Blaise that the box we were getting was going to be amazing.

And based on Blaise's reaction, it certainly passed his expectations. It actually reminded me of my family's box back at the stadium in London; there were cushioned benches and bottles of champagne set in iced buckets, earning a few jealous glances from passing attendants. Harry was already in the box with a glass of champagne, watching the quidditch pitch. He was decked out head-to-toe in Harpies clothing, and grinned when he saw us.

"Nice pants, Zabini," He joked, looking Blaise up and down.

Blaise smirked and retorted, "More subtle than the green and gold H's painted onto your cheeks."

Harry laughed and shook his hand before giving Pansy and Hermione hugs. When Hermione pulled away, he looked down at her with an odd look. She shook her head silently but he raised an eyebrow. I sighed and gave her a quick kiss on the temple before turning away to open one of the bottles of champagne. They were most likely going to have a talk about what happened between her and Krum, knowing them. Harry must have already known that something was wrong.

"We'll be right back," Hermione announced to the rest of us. "I just realized I forgot my bag in the tent."

I nodded and the two of them disappeared out of the box, and Blaise gave me an odd look before asking, "What's going on?"

"You know how you can always tell when something's wrong with me?" I asked, looking at him.

He nodded and I nodded towards the entrance that Hermione and Harry just left out of. "That's exactly what just happened with them."

Pansy sighed and said, "Hopefully he'll be able to talk some sense into her."

Blaise looked between the two of us in confusion. "I clearly missed something; what happened?"

Pansy shook her head and I turned away leaning against the front of the box to look out at the pitch. It bothered me that Hermione was still upset over what had happened. I knew she was blaming herself, and no matter how many times I told her that it wasn't at all her fault, she was still feeling guilty. I just couldn't figure out why, but I hoped that talking to Harry would make her see that she wasn't to blame.

Hermione's POV

As soon as Harry and I left the box, I apparated the two of us back to the tent and I immediately went into the kitchenette. He watched me quietly, leaning against the back of the couch.

"Hermione, what's going on?" He asked. "You haven't been this stressed out in nearly a month."

I sighed and started pacing the room, crossing my arms against my chest. "Viktor Krum is here."

His eyebrows went up in surprise but he nodded after a few moments. "That's not surprising; this is his team after all."

"I know," I said, looking down at the floor. "Well, when we got here two days ago, we ran into him. He invited me out for coffee."