Venom and Velvet

The Potter Party

24. The Potter Party

Draco woke up Sunday feeling incredibly anxious. Despite Hermione's many reassurances that she was sure Draco and Harry could be friends, he couldn't help but think about the last time he'd asked Potter to be his friend. Sure, it'd been a long time ago, but Draco hadn't done anything in the intervening years to suggest that Potter had made the wrong decision in turning him down.

What if he started to fight him? Draco was certain he could beat Potter in a duel, after all the only spell he ever used was expelliarmus. However, he also knew that if he even dared to raise his wand to Potter, Hermione would have his head and he could kiss goodbye to their late night snogging sessions. Or what if he said or did something stupid that made her embarrassed of him?

"Draco! What took you so long?" Hermione fussed when he sauntered up to her and Ginny in the entryway.

"Yeah, I'm with Hermione on this one," Ginny said. "I want to see my boyfriend!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "It's still ten minutes before we were even meant to leave."

"Irrelevant," Hermione said, caving in and going to kiss him gently on the cheek.

"Aw... you guys are so cute!" Ginny squealed. Draco felt a blush creeping up his neck. "But you might want to keep the PDA to a minimum today. Harry's still not quite used to the idea of the two of you."

Hermione chuckled and reached down to pick something up.

"Milo!" Draco exclaimed, reaching out to take the cat. "Hey, buddy." He scratched Milo between the ears, grinning as he nuzzled closer to him and purred.

"I swear, Gin. He's only in this for the cat."

"Precisely," Draco winked.

"Yes, yes. You guys are an adorable little family, now let's go!" Ginny was starting to sound exasperated. She grabbed Hermione's hand and waited. Hermione smiled and took Draco's hand, closing her eyes. Then, Draco felt the familiar squishing sensation of apparition.

When he was once more planted firmly on the ground, he looked around to find himself in a dark alleyway. Ginny pulled them all towards the street ahead and into an apartment building. She waved at the doorman and he gave her a familiar smile. Draco wondered if she had a habit of leaving the castle to come here. They took an elevator up to the sixth floor and went left down the corridor.

Ginny knocked eagerly and a voice from inside shouted, "It's open!"

Hermione gave Draco's hand a reassuring squeeze as she tugged him through the door. Milo meowed and squirmed in his arm. At least I'm not the only one uncomfortable with this situation, he thought.

"Welcome to my apartment," Potter nodded, peeking out from an opening Draco presumed led to the kitchen. "Make yourselves at home, I'm just finishing up brunch."

Draco felt like a visitor in someone else's life. Brunch in Harry Potter's apartment? Hermione tugged him again and sat them down together on a wide chair in the sitting room. Ginny followed Potter back through the archway and disappeared from sight. Milo purred in Draco's lap and curled up into a ball.

"He's gotten so much bigger than the last time I saw him," Draco commented.

"Yeah, it's gone by really quickly. When I got Crookshanks he was already an adult, so I've never had a kitten before and I wasn't prepared for how fast he'd grow up. He's still as obsessed with you as he was on the train, though." She smiled.

Draco smirked. "And are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione hit him playfully on the arm.