"So?" Hermione leant forward across the table. "Are you going to tell us where you've been? Why you abandoned us all?" She pushed a fire whiskey across to him and peered at him expectantly.

Blaise took is graciously and leaned back in his chair. "To be honest, it's not really worth all this build up. You'd only be disappointed if I told you."

"Potter said you've been 'on holiday'." Draco smirked. "What a load of bollocks. Come on. Where have you really been hiding?"

Blaise laughed dryly. "You want to know so bad, you spoke to Potter about me?" Draco met his amused eyes with a coolly unphased expression.

"Yes." He drawled. "You've been away a long time, Zabini. Potter and I good mates these days. I'm sorry to say, you've been replaced."

Zabini clutched a hand to his chest in mock horror and balanced on two chair legs. "Oh the agony at being replaced in the eyes of the great Draco Malfoy! What ever shall I do with my life now that that wondrous era is over?" He fell back onto all four legs and crossed his arms across his chest. "Seriously though, Dra. I'm back now. Get rid of Potter."

Hermione put a hand demurely to her lips to hide her laughter, and Draco's lip twitched. To Blaise they looked like the sort of couple they were always going to be: repressed yet happy. Both were fighting against who they were just by being together, and yet, somehow, because they were both fighting it, it only made them stronger.

"I will get rid of Potter only if you decide to be honest with me for a change."

Blaise sighed, knowing they would only be disappointed. "Nothing special, just an extended holiday."

"For five years?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a good traveller." He shrugged. "Had lots of places I wanted to see."

"See it all then?" Draco looked far more ready to accept Blaise's story than his wife. He knew Blaise, knew the happy-go-lucky veneer hid an incredibly restless nature, that sometimes just took over. He remembered when it had done in their fourth year at school, and Blaise had disappeared for nearly two months and then had just come home one day, no explanation offered.

"Pretty much." Blaise stretched. "You'd like Prague, Dra, very much your sort of place. Berlin too, not much like you'd expect."

"So who were you travelling with? Did you meet a girl?" Hermione cut in.

He leant forwards and folded his arms. "I travelled alone. I met lots of girls. None of them special." It didn't take a seer to tell they were disappointed. "Ha! What is with everyone today? You all got domesticated so early, you think there's something wrong with me just cos I'm still single! It's not that unusual, you know. In fact, it's pretty damn normal."

Hermione smiled. "We're sorry, Blaise. It's just, while you were away, we always though you'd met some girl somewhere and we with her."

"We just didn't like thinking of you all alone like that." Finished Draco.

"Mate, come on!" Blaise scoffed. "I've got ages yet!"

Draco served dinner, and, later, as the sun faded and night drew in, Blaise still didn't look ready to leave.

"So, where are you staying?" Hermione finally hinted. "Somewhere close I hope, we know we have to keep an eye on you now. Stop you leaving again."

Blaise rolled his eyes. "That keen to get rid of me and it's not even midnight yet." Ignoring their protests, he carried on. "I haven't really decided on anywhere to stay yet. Going to the Leaky Cauldron tonight and going hunting tomorrow."

"I can help you out with the hunt if you want some company." Draco offered. "I hate to blow my own trumpet, but my taste is impeccable."

As they laughed, Blaise was finally struck with the notion that had been so far absent from he grand homecoming, the notion that he was really back for good.

"So, not going to take off on us again?" Draco asked, only half jokingly, as Blaise swung on his jacket and stepped out the door.

"Hardly. Do you know how difficult it was to drag myself back? Not going to put myself through that again."

"Wow, well, I'm glad you managed it." Draco's eyes, usually so emotionless, were riddled with sincerity.

Blaise saluted as he backed and turned away, and Draco stood and watched as he headed off out of sight.

"One room please, Tom." Blaise grinned wickedly at the old barman, who gave a toothless grin back.

"Blimey, Mr Zabini, thought you'd gone for good. It's good to have you back."

He showed Blaise up to his room, a small, but sufficiently superior room when compared to the others. "Cheers, Tom."

"Anything I can get you?"

"Nah, that's all for now. Thanks again."

He fell onto the bed, and sighed heavily. What was wrong with everyone? He comes home after all these years, and all they're interested in is his love life? What was up with that?

He knew they were wrong. Nearly everyone he knew of his own age was still single, or at least not married, but being the fifth wheel was never good. Maybe he should just try and find someone, but there was nobody around right now. He'd just got back to England, it wasn't like there was a queue of girls waiting outside.

Blaise slept better than he had slept since he'd left, the night after Draco and Hermione's wedding. It had been cheap of him, but it had felt right.

House hunting was never going to be a pleasant experience. Having graciously turned down Draco's offer of assistance, knowing full well that, with Draco's help, he could end up with an unwanted, not needed, manor house in the middle of the country, when what he really needed was something small and manageable in the middle of the city.

Blaise had so far survived on money provided for him by his mother, or rather taken without her knowing from Gringotts, but it was time for a change. He needed a job, independence, to finally grow up. The last thing he would buy would be his new home and then that would be it. Hopefully.

Diagon Alley was out of the question. It was a street littered with newly graduated Hogwarts students, and, at this time of year, it was highly like there would be nothing for him there.

Hogsmeade would have been the next obvious choice. Wizarding communities were so scarce these days that the choice was small, but being so close to his old school did not really appeal.

The last option was not really right, but, at the same time, it was likely he'd be welcomed there, and would be usefully positioned should the need for a spy arise. It wasn't the nicest place on earth, but it looked as though Nocturne Alley may just be the ideal place for Blaise Zabini to live.

Finding somewhere at a reasonable price was not difficult. Only two hundred Galleons later, the initial payment was down on a flat was down on flat over a Dark Arts Specialty Shop, which Blaise was glad he was not required to walk through in order to reach his new home.

The flat itself was of the highest quality Nocturne Alley had to offer, consisting of a bedroom, a bathroom, a living room and a kitchen. All the rooms were small and cramped and poorly lit, but Blaise had plans to turn it into a Haven for the good.

Only a charm later, the grey paint had been stripped from the walls, and replaced with a cream coloured wallpaper. What little light there was outside instantly seemed to fill the room. He expanded the bedroom, and gave the walls in there the same treatment.

Already, Nocturne Alley was starting to feel like home.

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