The drawing room at Grimmauld Place looked much the same, if not tidier. She focused on her breathing as her eyes roved the room. The mossy curtains were clean and free of Doxies. The creaky sofas she, Harry, and Ron had slept on last year were freshly aired and covered in fashionable throw pillows. There was a book on the coffee table with a title in Italian, a silver bookmark laid in its final pages.

Draco's hand released hers with a squeeze. He moved to the doorway just as a girl with honey-brown hair peeked around the corner, her eyes sharp and assessing. Hermione jumped, then blinked at her in recognition.

Daphne Greengrass.

"Draco," she greeted in her deep voice. "I thought I heard the Floo."

"Daph."

She clasped his arm and kissed his cheek, and her eyes slid over Hermione with a wary distaste that she recognized from school. "Granger."

Draco stepped slightly in front of her. "Daph, can I speak with Blaise?"

She lifted a brow in a perfect imitation of Pansy Parkinson, and said, "I don't know. Can you?" With a spin of her heel, she swept from the room, calling out for Blaise.

Draco rolled his eyes and gestured Hermione forward, and they followed her around the corner into the first floor landing. Daphne strolled past a bedroom that Hermione and Ginny had slept in when they were younger, and Hermione squeezed her eyes shut as a sharp stab of grief rippled through her. She concentrated on a lake with still waters, and when she refocused, she found Blaise appearing from the dining room on the landing below. His gaze flickered from Draco to Hermione.

A smirk crossed his lips. "Look what the lion dragged in."

A creak on the stairs above, and Hermione turned to find Pansy descending toward them from the landing above. She paused. "What are you doing here, Granger?"

Before Hermione could respond, a voice from downstairs called to Blaise.

"Guests?" Giuliana Bravieri swept quickly to Blaise's side, staring up at them. Her cheeks looked fuller since the last time Hermione had seen her, but she still moved like a child, birdlike.

Hermione looked up at Daphne, standing next to them, her brow still arched. Her neck tilted to Pansy, frowning at her from the stairs above. "You all live here?" Hermione's eyes dropped to Blaise again. "With Blaise?"

Blaise scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah. Welcome to my little harem." He seemed less than enthused.

Daphne snorted and disappeared into a nearby bedroom with a sharp click of the door. Pansy began descending the stairs, and Hermione heard Giuliana ask Blaise what a harem was in a low whisper.

"Blaise." Draco jerked his head in the direction of the drawing room. "Can we talk?"

Blaise let out a long-suffering sigh. He began climbing the stairs to the first floor landing, and Draco ushered Hermione back inside, guiding her to the couch. She stiffened at the thought of the last time she'd slept on it, but Draco's hand on her back centered her. He sat next to her at the end closest to the fireplace, and Blaise took the claw-footed chair beside him.