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Adjusting the top of one of her white gloves, Hermione took a deep breath. Then, she knocked on the door in front of her. As she waited for the door to open, she passed her hands over the front of her sage green Empire-style dress to make sure it laid correctly. She was thankful that the entrance was protected from the outside elements as it had been drizzling all day.
“Good evening, Miss Granger,” a voice said, making Hermione look up. “Invitation?”
She smiled at the house-elf as she handed over her invitation.
After verifying it, the house-elf stepped back and allowed Hermione to enter Parkinson Estate.
“Sibney will show you to the ballroom,” the house-elf said as they gestured to another elf a few feet away.
“Thank you, Jomny,” Hermione replied as she followed the smaller elf.
Since the end of the war, Hermione learned a lot more about the house-elves of the wizarding world. Dobby had been one of the exceptions to how most elves view the wizards with whom they live. While there was still a lot of mistreatment of the elves, many had such a bond with their wizarding family that separating them from their family caused them physical distress. A perfect example was Winky, but the tiny elf was now happily bonded with a new family. Because of everything she’s learned since finishing her education at Hogwarts, Hermione was able to propose a piece of legislation that would keep the elves bonded with their families but would protect them from harm. Both from their masters and themselves.
The sound of voices ahead pulled Hermione back to the present. “Thank you, Sibney.”
“Walks through when ready.” The little elf gave her a short nod and then disappeared, presumably back to the front entrance to assist the next attendee.
Making sure her mask was firmly in place, Hermione stepped through the shimmering doorway. As she did, she felt the concealing enchantment settle over herself. The spell no longer phased her as it had the first time Hermione attended one of Pansy’s masquerades. Unless you arrived with someone, you had no idea who was in attendance. It bothered Hermione in the beginning, but she was able to get to know people without her own preconceived notions about them and they about her.
“It’s about time you showed up, my pretty,” a voice said from her left.
Hermione turned to see someone dressed as a masked Wicked Witch of the West. She snickered, “Really, Pansy? Please tell me you haven’t dressed Ron up as one of the monkeys.”
“No, the Tin Man,” Pansy replied as she took one of Hermione’s hands in hers and led her further into the room. She smirked. “I tried getting him to dress as the lion, but he flat out refused.”
“As he should,” Hermione told her with a grin.
The two witches made their way over to the bar where a house-elf was preparing drinks.
“Two blood wines, please, Babkey. Wait till you try this; it’s so good. If I do say so myself.”
“What’s in it?”
“Just wait.” She nudged Hermione’s elbow and nodded in the direction of the doors to the terrace. “Mr Darcy is here.”
“Someone else actually dressed up as Mr Darcy?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t tell anyone what my costume was, did you?”
“Of course not. Not even my husband knows,” Pansy told her as if offended.
“I didn’t think you would, but I didn’t expect that. Do you know who it is?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to tell me?”
“What do you think? Thank you, Babkey.”
Hermione echoed her thanks to the house-elf before turning back to her friend. “It was worth a shot.”
“I love you, but not that much. Now, drink.”
Lifting the glass of dark red liquid to her lips, Hermione took a sip. It was thick, nearly the consistency of blood, but was packed full of flavour and tartness that was tamed some by the sweetness of the wine.
“Oh,” Hermione gasped as a few bubbles burst on her tongue. She licked her lips. “Raspberry?”
“Yes, along with Lambrusco from Blaise’s vineyard.”
“That explains the sweetness and bubbles. This is amazing.”
“Good. Enjoy it, and the party,” Pansy told her. She gave her a gentle shove and added, “Now, get lost.”
Hermione laughed as she made her way into the crowd. As she slowly made her way through the throng of guests, she stopped many times for conversations, and it wasn’t long before her glass was nearly empty.
She was in conversation with someone dressed as Sir Robin, who she was pretty confident was George based on his antics, or possibly Seamus, when a fresh glass appeared in front of her.
“Miss Elizabeth Bennet, I noticed your drink was running low,” a smooth voice said from behind her.
Taking the proffered glass, Hermione knew it was safe to drink from as Pansy and Ron took the safety of their guests seriously. Plus, Hermione cast the spells herself while helping her friends set up earlier that day.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she turned to face the newcomer, “Mr Darcy.”
“My pleasure,” he replied with a nod of his head. He waved his wand at her old glass. “Please drink some water first.”
Hermione felt her heart race at the gesture, and when she looked at her first glass, it was filled with clean water. After taking a sip, Hermione started to ask him a question, but she was cut off by Pansy.
“I apologise, Mr Darcy, good sir knight, but I need to borrow Lizzy for a moment.”
“As you wish,” he said as he bowed.
“I’m sorry,” Hermione mouthed as she was pulled away.
“I need your help,” was all Pansy said as she continued to lead Hermione across the room. To two bickering ghouls.
“Really, Pansy?” Hermione hissed. “You couldn’t take care of this yourself? It’s your party, after all.”
“You’re the best,” Pansy told her as she took her new glass away. “I’ll hold this for you.”
Hermione down her water before shoving the empty into Pansy’s free hand. “If any of that is missing, you owe me a new one.”
By the time Hermione could diffuse the situation and take her wine back from her friend, Mr Darcy was nowhere to be seen. Saddened at her missed opportunity, Hermione took a large gulp from her still full drink and straightened her shoulders. While she would love to get to know the man behind the mask, Hermione wasn’t going to let the missed moment bother her.
Well, if it had been a one-time incident, she wouldn’t have let it bother her, but that wasn’t the only time it happened.
Every time her current glass was empty, Hermione would find a new one appearing before her and her old glass full of fresh water. And every time she and Mr Darcy would start to talk, someone else would pull one of them away from the other. She was becoming frustrated with the other guests, Pansy and Ron in particular.
When Mr Darcy appeared again with another glass of blood wine in his hand, Hermione nearly chugged the water he provided before she sent the glass to be cleaned and grabbed his hand.
“Come with me,” she said as she weaved her way through the crowd. Mr Darcy in tow.
She saw Pansy out of the corner of her eye. When the other witch was close enough, Hermione held up her hand that held her wine and pointed a finger. “No.”
The Wicked Witch of the West stopped in her tracks, shock evident even with the mask.
It wasn’t until they were outside, in the still drizzling weather, that Hermione finally heard his chuckling.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pansy stunned like that.”
Hermione huffed. “Well, she deserved it.”
“She did, but enough about her. I want to spend time with you, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
Tilting her head to the side, Hermione smiled as she tried to figure out who it was behind the mask. Unfortunately, the concealment spell hid any of his features, including his skin tone, so she couldn’t even use that to try and figure out who the man was before her. His voice was familiar, and he knew Pansy, so it was most likely someone she saw on a regular basis, but for the life of her, she couldn’t place his voice.
Hermione knew who she would like it to be, but the odds of him dressing as the counterpart to her Muggle book character was very unlikely.
As they continued to look at each other, neither of them noticed that the rain began to pick up until a drop ran down her spine, causing Hermione to shiver.
Setting his glass of blood wine on a nearby table, Mr Darcy slid his jacket off. “Here.”
“Thank you,” Hermione murmured as the warmth from the fabric seeped into her skin. “And for the new glass, but I’ve had enough for the evening.”
Hermione placed her wine glass on the table next to his. When she looked up, Mr Darcy was staring at her. “What?”
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
Hermione blushed. “You don’t even know what I look like.”
He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “I like to think I do… Stellina...”
She froze before taking a deep breath. As she did, Hermione finally caught a whiff of the cologne he was wearing. She snuggled into his arms. “Blaise.”
Hermione felt his shoulders sag with relief when she said his name.
“I was hoping it was you.”
Pulling back, she looked up at him. Now that she knew who it was, she could see his features starting to show through the charm. “How did you even come up with going as Mr Darcy?”
Blaise shrugged. “I know the book is your favourite, and even if you didn’t dress up as a character from it, I figured dressing up as Mr Darcy would get your attention.”
Hermione laughed. “Well, you definitely did that.”
“Good.” Blaise reached up and placed a hand against her cheek. “May I?”
“Yes,” Hermione breathed without hesitation.
Blaise closed the distance between them as his free hand moved to her other cheek to gently hold her in place. Not that she needed to be, because the second Blaise’s lips touched hers, Hermione knew that there was no place she would rather be.