Aconite - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 46

Surprisingly enough, Hermione was more amused by the awkward appearance of Ron and Claire than anything else. The way they actively avoided even looking in her direction was enough to make her chuckle.

"What's up?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at her curiously.

"I'm not sure if they're trying to ignore the fact that I'm here or what," Hermione said with a smile, nodding towards the newest arrivals as they chatted with George on the other side of the tent.

"I honestly though that was kind of funny as well," Ginny said from the other couch, grinning at Hermione. "Claire's especially avoiding it."

"When was the last time you saw either of them?" Harry asked as he wrapped an arm around Morgan and brought his leg up to rest his ankle over his other knee. "It's been a while, right?"

"The last time I saw Ron was when you two visited me at St. Mungo's," Hermione said as she thought it over. "And Claire was when she insisted we have lunch and talk; that was back in June when he signed the divorce papers finally."

Draco smiled at this, taking her hand and squeezing it.

"I feel really horrible for asking because I feel like I'm drudging up stuff..." Morgan started with a concerned look. "...but how are you able to be even in the same space as them right now? I would've hexed them both into oblivion by now."

Hermione laughed at this, glancing towards Ron and Claire who were still actively avoiding looking at their group. "Honestly in the beginning I was tempted to do that. But in truth, and I even told Claire this in our little chat; the truth is that I've moved on to a much better relationship with Draco, and I'm so much happier now."

She smiled up at him and he smiled in return, pulling her hand to him to kiss the back of it as she looked back at Morgan. "Ron and I were silently falling apart already by the time he and Claire started their thing, so it was only a matter of time before it happened."

"How could you forgive them that easily though?" Morgan asked.

"Oh, I haven't forgiven them," Hermione said with a small laugh. "I could probably never forgive them. I've just moved on from it though because I don't want to put my energy into actively hating them when I need it for other things such as work and my life with Draco."

Morgan blinked in surprise but smiled at this. "I can understand that. Well, at least good things came from that horrible situation."

She felt Draco squeeze her hand again and she smiled, leaning into him. Not long after, Molly called out that Christmas dinner was ready and after magicking the couches and chairs away, the space was filled with a long table large enough to fit the group of seventeen. Arthur sat at the head of the table while Molly sat to his left; across from her sat Bill and Fleur with Angelina and George next to them. Harry took the spot next to George and Morgan took the chair next to him, which sat her next to Hermione while Draco took the end of the table. Blaise sat across from him and Ginny next to him across from Hermione, and Charlie happily plopped into the chair next to her.

"Looks like I've got the best seat here," He joked, grinning at the group of them.

Ginny laughed, giving her brother a playful nudge before looking across at Hermione. Hermione, however, was watching an interesting scene unfold as Percy and his wife, Audrey, took the seats directly next to Molly, which left the only available seats on the other side of Charlie.

Ron helped Claire sit next to Audrey before taking the chair next to Charlie, sitting directly across from Harry. The two exchanged nods before Ron glanced nervously at Hermione, who ignored him as Charlie began asking her questions about her work.