A/N- Here comes Blaise! This chap is all about Blaise meeting Hermione, next chap is Theo's birthday party. Still working on Chapter 10. Harry and Ron were being difficult with me as I tried a few different reactions on their part and Ginny was argumentative but I've got it sorted. It'll be a good chap, I think. When you eventually read it ;-)
Theo said she was as prepared as she could be. Draco agreed. That left her rather confused, in all honesty. Of course, then she met Blaise and Hermione wondered if she could ever be prepared to meet Blaise. He was everything that Draco and Theo had told her. And yet, he was somehow even more than that. Blaise took just the tips of her fingers in his hand and bowed deeply, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Nott."
Standing off to the side were Theo and Draco, both of whom were trying to stifle laughter at both his actions and Hermione's reaction to him. The wide-eyed brunette recovered her composure quickly, "Likewise, Blaise. And it's Hermione."
"No, you're Theo's sister," Blaise responded as he straightened. "And I most certainly would never be so casual with a friend's sister. Especially not a friend's sister that until recently I just saw as Potter's brain. So I shall refer to you as Miss Nott."
Draco actually rubbed his face with his hand. Theo was debating whether he and Draco should step in before Blaise put the other foot in his mouth. Hermione spoke, "Legally it's still Granger."
Draco bit his tongue to avoid laughing at Blaise's horrified expression. Theo was pretty sure if Draco wasn't standing next to him he'd be on the floor. "Why would you still use your muggle name? Your pureblood one is so much better."
"How long before we step in and save your sister from killing Blaise?" Draco whispered.
"She can handle him," Theo assured Draco. "She just needs to assert her authority. Once he's properly afraid of her he'll shut up."
That her brother and her boyfriend weren't murdering Blaise told her that he was just being a well-meaning overly-proper idiot. Deciding not to go down that conversational route lest she actually want to kill him (she'd heard Draco's whisper) Hermione smiled sweetly, "Blaise surely you've heard that Draco is my intended?"
The dark-skinned young man's eyes widened and he looked at Draco, who had recovered enough to be able to smirk at his friend in response, "What the hell is wrong with you? She's Theo's sister!"
"You're a moron," Theo informed Blaise. "Who do you think introduced them?"
Blaise thought about that before looking at Theo, "Why the devil would you set her up with Draco?"
Hermione bristled at that and Draco mentally rolled his eyes. Blaise was his own worst enemy at the moment. If he'd hoped to impress Hermione when he met her, he'd failed miserably. Draco decided to get her out of the room before Blaise made a bigger arse of himself, "Hermione love, what say we go for a swim?"
She smiled at him, "That's a wonderful idea Draco."
Draco offered her his arm and they exited the room. Just before the door shut they heard Blaise exclaim, "Unchaperoned?! He'll ruin her Theo!"
"If Theo doesn't kill Blaise, I just might," Hermione said. "How is such a slut so obsessed with pureblood rules and decorum?"
"Blaise is a walking paradox," Draco said, dropping his arm to hold her hand as they walked up the stairs to get their swimsuits (Draco kept several swimsuits at Nott Manor). "He sort of holds himself to a standard, so he thinks everyone should be held to that standard. A bloke can shag as many half-bloods as he wants, but pureblood girls you don't touch. And those pureblood girls are virgins who've barely kissed on their wedding day."
"A combination of blood bigotry and sexism. Lovely."
"That's Blaise," Draco shrugged. "I don't quite understand how he came to this worldview, but I don't think I've ever really understood Blaise. He's…I've never really enjoyed most of the cultural trappings of pureblood culture. I used to hide when it was time for dance lessons and the like," he added, making Hermione laugh at the image of a petulant Draco age 6 refusing to obey his mother. "I mean, I act the part and always have but that's because the alternative…if you've seen how cruel my father can be to other children, let's just say I got it worse."
She could only imagine just how bad Lucius Malfoy could be. "And Blaise?"
"I don't know. I know his home life wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as mine. His mother's more an absent parent like your father was to Theo. He loves all the pureblood cultural stuff, even the rules that you'd call absurd. Somehow Blaise has managed to rationalize holding pureblood girls to a high standard and yet not holding himself and other pureblood blokes to the same. I don't know if he thinks that pureblood girls don't have sexual desires or what but he's somehow managed to justify his actions while holding pureblood girls up on this purity pedestal."
Theo waited until his sister was out of the room before laying into Blaise, "What the fuck is wrong with you Blaise? Draco shows up and acts like a gentleman and everything goes smoothly. You come over and promptly offend my sister twice in succession before adding a third time by declaring she'll be 'ruined' by dating Draco."
"Well she will be!" Blaise responded. "How's it going to look when he dumps her so he can finally get some action?"
Theo had no words for Blaise at that moment. It was mindboggling how different the two were. It made him feel better than ever that Draco was with Hermione. The creeps would stay the hell away from his sister and so would all the sexists she was more likely to hex. And if this was 1896, Theo would have chosen Draco for his sister anyway. They just clicked, somehow, and they both were happy. "Draco's not like you, Blaise. And my sister is not Daphne or Pansy. So unless you want to irreparably harm our relationship, you'll never say such a thing ever again or I might just go back into overprotective brother mode and knock you out."
Draco and Hermione stepped out to the pool, "It's really hot out today."
"Guess you'll have to be thorough applying the sunblock," she winked at him. Draco swallowed. He really liked getting to do that. That should thoroughly freak out Blaise. "I don't think you'll ruin me. If anything, I've corrupted you," she said suddenly.
Draco smiled at her and leaned close, "I like being corrupted by you," he whispered before kissing her. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she returned the kiss. "Feel free to corrupt me anytime you want," he said when they parted. She laughed and tugged him to a lounger. "Wait until Blaise is out here to take off your cover-up. I want him to squirm."
"Even if he makes lewd comments about your girlfriend?" She teased.
"Theo gets to deck him then," Draco shrugged. "I'm sure after proclaiming I could 'spoil' you he's itching to do just that. I don't care whether you adhere to the cultural rules or not. You don't tell someone that their sister is going to be 'ruined' by her intended."
"Especially when she's doing the ruining?"
"You have defiled me," Draco nodded. "My mother would be horrified if she knew what we've been up to."
"I don't recall you complaining," Hermione smirked.
"Like you said, you've corrupted me," he winked. She shook her head, a smile on her face.
"Turn around so I can rub the sunscreen in," she said, opening the tube and squirting some into her hand. He obeyed, smiling when Theo and Blaise exited the house in time to see Hermione rubbing his back.
"What is your sister doing?" Blaise asked Theo.
"It's a muggle sun blocker. It protects your skin," Theo explained.
"And she's rubbing it into Draco?"
"He's not complaining," Theo shrugged. "She rubs it on my back too. It's nothing perverse, Blaise." It took everything for Theo to say that with a straight face. Especially knowing what his sister was wearing under her cover-up. Well, not exactly. But since Draco had seen her in a bikini, she'd not worn a one-piece since. So he had the feeling it was another two-piece.
"All done," she smiled, handing Draco the tube and letting him cast the spell to clean her hand.
"Now it's your turn," he gave her a devilish grin. "What color today?"
"I might have gone Slytherin," she admitted.
"Green?"
"What? Wear my boyfriend's favorite color?" Hermione batted her eyelashes innocently, "Why would I do that?"
"You're a tease," Draco informed her.
"You love it," she said before standing and pulling off her cover-up.
Draco gazed at her body. The bikini was green. Slytherin green. "Is that new?"
"Yes," she answered.
"I like it," he smiled.
"I had a feeling you would," she said as he stood. She snuck a peek to see Theo watching a gobsmacked Blaise. She kissed Draco, "Do me?"
"Believe me I'd love to," he breathed, licking his lips as she laid down on her front and untied her top's strings. Draco cast a glance at his friends to see Blaise's jaw slack and his eyes wide.
She smirked; their flirting had become much racier recently. But they'd decided nothing sexual would happen until he moved into Nott Manor. Draco's hands worked the lotion into her back, being very thorough. "You give good massages," she said to him.
"I'm glad you enjoy my touch," he responded.
"You have no idea," she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.
"Tease," he hissed at her. When he finished he watched her tie the strings again and then she sat up, carefully adjusting her top to make sure that she wasn't exposed. She squeezed some lotion into his hand and then into hers before she began to rub her arms, chest, and legs. Draco followed suit, wanting to get in the water with her soon.
"What is she wearing?!" Blaise asked in wonder. Theo's sister might be Theo's sister, but sweet Salazar she was hot.
"A muggle swimsuit," Theo answered. "It's a bikini."
"And you let her wear that? Around Draco?"
"Blaise, you clearly don't understand my sister. Hermione is her own person. She wears what she wants to," Theo looked at Blaise, "And stop staring at her."
A smack to the back of the head had Blaise looking away, "It's indecent."
"That's not what you were thinking when you were ogling her," Theo responded.
"Draco's touching her!"
"Blaise, you really are an idiot," Theo sighed. "Hermione was raised in the muggle world. She's not interested in the pureblood rules."
"But…but she's pure now."
"She was pure before too," Theo responded harshly. He and Draco had been gits to her before they learned she was Theo's sister but they at least could acknowledge they'd been wrong all along and not just because she was his sister. Blaise seemed to think Hermione had somehow changed overnight. Blaise winced at Theo's words and tone. "Hermione's not abandoning muggle culture. And I would never ask her to. She got the better childhood, even if it wasn't magical."
Blaise thought about Theo's words as they walked over. By the time they arrived Draco had finished and he and Hermione were sitting close together, talking. They seemed very cozy. Hermione looked at her brother, "Took you long enough."
"I had to lay down the rules for Blaise," Theo said. "And he's going to not be so much of an idiot."
"Good," Hermione said. They had enough idiots to deal with in Ron and Harry. She did not need to add Blaise to that list.
"Come on love let's go for a swim," Draco said, standing and offering her his hand.
"You just like me wet," she said, Theo having to fight the urge to laugh as Blaise whimpered. His sister would win in this battle of wits. It was actually an unfair contest. Blaise's warped version of pureblood culture meant that he couldn't talk to Hermione like she was anything but a princess. Hermione, meanwhile, knew exactly how Blaise acted and could sink to his level. Or maybe she was already at his level.
The more he learned about Hermione the more he wondered about the image she'd unconsciously projected being the only smart and responsible person in the 'golden trio'. It seemed such an erroneous image. Theo had always seen her as a rule-abider and too pure. This was a girl, he'd thought, who would blush if you suggested a snog let alone shagging and here she was flirting shamelessly with Draco about sex. It was antithetical to all Theo had thought he knew about his sister when they first met.
But then, hadn't he and Draco both shown her sides that weren't really them before that summer? They were good little future Death Eaters in the eyes of their fathers and peers. Neither one ever stepped a toe out of line of that narrative out of self-preservation. Until that summer. Until Hermione entered their lives.
Either his sister had a Slytherin ability to hide her true nature, or else she couldn't (or didn't trust her 'friends' enough to) show it around her own friends. Theo shoved Blaise, "I told you, quit staring."
"Mate she's bloody hot," Blaise said, watching her dive into the water.
Theo punched him in the arm and Blaise cursed. Theo glared at him, "She's my sister you perv."
"But Draco can touch her?"
"He's her boyfriend," Theo countered. "And Hermione is fine with him touching her. She encourages it, even."
"It's still not right," Blaise argued.
It would be easy to tell Blaise about the Plan. But the more he argued that Hermione and Draco were breaking rules and Hermione was being 'ruined' (especially considering that Blaise had returned from Italy bragging about his sexual conquests) the more that Theo didn't want to say a word about the plan. He wanted Blaise to accept his sister for who she was, not for coming up with the plan to save Draco in the first place. Then Blaise would completely devalue his sister's relationship with his best friend and Theo would be furious. "Don't ever tell me Draco is 'ruining' her again or their relationship isn't right. You hump anything with two legs and a pair of breasts. And why the fuck would Hermione even care what people like Narcissa Malfoy would think? In case you haven't noticed, Hermione doesn't really take well to Death Eaters."
Blaise physically stepped back. Theo was kind of intimidating. Theo softened slightly, "You might be my friend, but Hermione is my family. She will always come first for me. If you can't respect her, or her lack of a pureblood elitist attitude, then I think we're at an impasse."
Blaise definitely didn't want to lose his friends. He could keep his opinions to himself, he supposed. "I'll behave," he said.
"Hermione's really awesome. If you give her a chance and don't go all 'pureblood princess' on her you'll see that," Theo advised before taking off his own shirt and using the spell to apply sun protection. He didn't mind Hermione or even Draco helping him with his back, but he wasn't about to ask Blaise to do it. Blaise looked completely thrown off balance.
While Theo had been surprised by muggle fashion, especially for women, he could appreciate it. But then, Theo saw Hermione wearing muggle fashion as part of who she was. Blaise seemed to think that Hermione would just automatically become Daphne Greengrass upon learning she was a pureblood and that made no sense to Theo at all. Why would Hermione throw away a culture she grew up in? A culture she didn't hate? Maybe Blaise was a little more into the blood prejudice than Theo'd thought. Or at least, he believed it more than Theo or Draco had.
First checking that Theo wasn't looking, Draco turned and pulled Hermione to him, kissing her, "You look really good in my favorite color."
"I'll think of that the next time I need muggle clothing or lingerie." The images that popped up into his head at that were erection-causing. Fortunately the water was a bit chilly that day, which saved him some embarrassment. "I think I broke Blaise," she smiled.
"Definitely," Draco nodded. "I knew you'd warp his mind. I didn't think it'd be so dramatic, but then again it is Blaise. Drama is kind of his thing."
Hermione laughed and pulled away from him, "Want to play a game?"
"Do I get kisses if I win?"
She rolled her eyes. Boys. "Is that what it takes Draco? And here I thought you liked me for more than my body."
"I do," Draco argued, "I enjoy arguing with you and talking about magic theory and magical society and the like."
Hermione smirked, "I was teasing."
Draco gave her a mock glare, "I'll get you for that witch!"
"You have to catch me first!" She said before diving under the water and swimming away from him. Draco grinned as he swam after her. He'd catch her.
Theo joined them and they played and swam for a while before Hermione exited the pool and settled on the lounger, "Don't kill each other you two," she told the two boys who were wrestling around. While her brother and boyfriend amused her with their antics, she still found it odd watching them interact in a way not even Harry and Ron would.
She'd just got comfortable when Blaise approached. He'd not ventured into the pool yet. "Hermione? I'm sorry for earlier."
Hermione looked at Blaise. To see the normally confident boy nervous was interesting. It reminded her of meeting Draco properly, actually. "It's fine. I did get fair warning about you after all. And if you can be friends with Ron Weasley it takes more than calling me Harry's brain or saying my muggle name is inferior to get to me."
Blaise smirked at that. "I've always wondered why you put up with him. You and Potter as friends, yeah that makes sense. You both were raised by muggles after all and you have this new world to learn about so you'd have that in common. But the Weasel baffled me."
"If Harry wasn't friends with Ron, I probably wouldn't be," she conceded. "But then I met the rest of the Weasleys and I get along very well with most of them. The twins are hilarious, especially when you have something on them."
"Like what?" Blaise asked. The twins were famous at Hogwarts for a reason. They were impossible to trick so the thought that she could have something on them was surprising.
"I can tell them apart," she smiled. "It drives Fred round the bend that I can. And I refuse to tell them how I know so they can 'fix' it."
"And they're okay with you being a Nott?"
"They were all polite to Theo, except Ron. But Ron's very rarely nice to anyone when he meets them. The twins are coming to Theo's birthday party, actually."
Blaise was surprised that the Weasleys were okay with her new status. That Ron wasn't didn't surprise him but he'd imagined all of them wanting nothing to do with Hermione. The Notts were known for being big scary Death Eaters. Their father hadn't been quite to Lucius Malfoy's caliber but Blaise had never liked the man. He sat down on the lounger next to hers and folded his hands, "I know I ruined things but I would like it if we could start over. I guess…I just was expecting someone…"
"You expected a proper pureblood princess, all shiny and rule-abiding and perfect to show to mummy dearest," Hermione finished for him.
"Well, yeah," he admitted. "I mean, you are very rule oriented at school and so I thought these rules would kind of appeal to you."
"I'm that girl about as much as Draco is a Death Eater."
"Yeah how did that happen?" Blaise asked. "I mean, we all knew he'd be marked as soon as possible."
"Did Theo tell you I prevented our father from letting him get the mark?"
The dark skinned man nodded, "Yeah it was in his letter he sent me in Italy."
"Voldemort thinks Draco is a spy trying to get close to me to feed him information," Hermione smiled. "In fact he so liked the plan we fed him that he said Draco was to have zero contact with Death Eaters, not take the mark, and he should run away from home and move in with Theo and I."
Blaise laughed, "Oh that's brilliant! Since there's no contact, they can't learn how close he is or isn't to you." Hermione nodded. Voldemort had actually made her plan even stronger by accident and there was plenty of humor in that.
"Of course, Draco and I are actually a couple. It makes the story so much easier to sell when it's based in reality," she added. No need for Blaise to think their relationship wasn't genuine. "So if anyone at Hogwarts reports that we're being caught snogging or something to Voldemort, he'll think Draco's just getting even closer to being able to spy."
"That's scarily brilliant of you Hermione," Blaise admired.
"Lies are easier to tell when they're at least partially true," Hermione shrugged. "In this case, Draco's only lie is he still believes in Voldemort's cause. And since he's supposed to be pretending to not believe that, he's not got to lie about even that anymore."
Blaise was incredibly impressed with the witch, "How the devil did you not end up in Slytherin? You're more a Slytherin than all the girls in our year."
"I'm not sure," Hermione answered, "I think thinking I was a muggleborn might have had something to do with it."
Draco exited the pool, "Hermione and Blaise look to be getting along," he observed.
"Hopefully he doesn't put his foot in it again," Theo sighed. Blaise was his other best friend but Blaise was unpredictable.
"I'm sure he'll work out some way to get along with her," Draco said. At the end of the day, Blaise would do anything for his friends and that was what gave Draco faith that his friend would tame himself if necessary to get along with Hermione. "Your birthday party is soon."
"Yeah," Theo smiled. "This will be the first one I'm excited for and it has the fewest people coming."
"I think it's the quality and not the quantity," Draco pointed out. "Plus, you have a sister."
"Yeah," Theo's smile grew into a grin as he looked at Hermione, "she's the best thing to happen to me.
"I certainly feel the same way," Draco nodded. "Without her this summer would have been horrible for me."
"Monday will be great," Theo said as they approached Blaise and Hermione.
