A/N: I know, I know…I deserve a clobber on the head for taking this long to update, but honestly I have my reasons! Which are…Which are…ummm…ok, I do NOT have a good enough reason other than the fact that my writing has taken a turn for the worse and this plot has gotten so out of hand, I think I dug my own grave. Oh, and I have bloody exams as well but I don't think that's a valid excuse, since I'd rather write than study and I have been known in the past to ditch an important exam to update. Which must give me brownie points on at least trying to be a good author, doesn't it? Ach, I'll stop blabbering and just get on wid da story. sigh…

Chapter 9

"IS ANYONE IN THIS FORSAKEN EXCUSE OF A MANOR?" A deep, loud voice bellowed through the empty corridors. Its owner, a tall, dark man with handsome Italian features looked dispassionately at the splendor around him. He seemed at ease, as if he belonged to his surroundings, fitting in perfectly with the Victorian armchairs behind him, as he leaned casually on the mantle above the fireplace he had just come out of. Though his handsome face was carefully arranged in a calm expression, almost blank, his quick mind was racing with questions and possibilities. For Blaise Zabini was not a man who took the affairs of his (few) friends lightly. Least of all Draco Malfoy. The platinum haired Slytherin hadn't made it to their monthly tryst that was supposed to take place a week ago, and this was an occurrence so rare that Blaise was justified in his suspicions. The one time he had missed the meeting was when the Granger girl had gotten herself engaged to an idiot, and hurt Draco. Blaise assumed that maybe she wasn't as smart as everyone made her out, and he hated her for what she had reduced Draco to. But Blaise had broken the code by coming here. He sighed, the only sign of emotion he had let out since he arrived from his hideaway in Italy to Malfoy Manor. As he was contemplating whether to just go look for his old friend himself (Draco really should improve the standards he puts on his servants!) when he heard footsteps in the corridor and two voices nearing the door. Finally! Blaise thought. The two voices were getting louder and Blaise heard snatches of the discussion between what suspiciously sounded like a female voice, and another high pitched one, which probably belonged to a house elf. A girl's here? The rotten scoundrel, I bet that's why he's late…I'll forgive him this time for this new development. Thoughts raced across Blaise's mind and he made a mental note to have his security men run a check on her. It wouldn't be good if she was a gold digger, or a player. Draco wouldn't be able to hold against a second hurt. And Draco would never know. In fact, Blaise didn't even have to stay. He'll just see what was so special about this woman that helped her win Draco's affection over million others…and then leave. Blaise decided to sit in one of the chintz armchairs, picking up a random book that was lying on a coffee table and leafed through it. Magickal Poisons and Their Properties. Why would Draco have a book like that in the living room connected to his private office? Blaise didn't have time to contemplate the answer, for at that precise moment………the door opened and a voice berated him.

"If you don't bloody shut up you are going to wake up--" She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Zabini!?"

"Weaslette?!"

They stood in their places in complete shock. Both brains were working so fast you could have swore that you heard them ticking…

She's Draco's new girlfriend!

Wasn't he supposed to be dead?

Isn't she married?

He's supposed to be dead!

Why her?

Am I seeing things?

I think I must be hallucinating!

I think Draco's right. I need to rest for a short while.

No she's real.

No, he's bloody real.

Draco has a lot of explaining to do and he had better come up with something plausible! Fuck! This ruined our plans. I should invent something to get out of this mess.

Oh Merlin! Maybe he has some sort of connection to that bastard, Roger!! How did he get past Draco's defenses?

A minute of silence had passed before Blaise rearranged his shocked face into a look of boredom, while Ginny didn't even bother to hide her shock.

"Hello Weasley." Blaise drawled, trying to stem his shock.

"Don't hello me Zabini! Aren't you supposed to be dead? What are you doing in Draco's office?" Ginny practically spat out.

Blaise chuckled dryly. "You call him Draco now? And as you see, unless I'm an extra concentrated ghost, I'm pretty much alive."

"No! You were supposed to have died in the War! Draco told Harry, I'm sure of it!" Ginny had complete faith in that. Unless Draco had lied, which meant that everything had been a lie? Maybe Draco was connected to Roger? Oh, Merlin, did Ginny and Harry send Hermione to the lion's den? And where did Zabini come in all this? Maybe he was Roger! Maybe he had disguised himself and poised as Roger to get revenge at Harry. Maybe…What the hell am I thinking?! Draco risked his life in the war to help our side, he wouldn't do something like that. Besides he loved…he loves Hermione. Ginny berated herself.

"I told him to tell you that." Blaise said simply. He decided honesty was the best policy, which contradicted all his Slytherin beliefs, but desperate situations required desperate measures.

"Why?"

"That… is a long story."

"I have all the time in the world."

"I don't."

"I don't' give a damn! You will explain to me now how you came to be alive instead of dead, and the reason for keeping it a secret."

"Why should I?" Blaise drawled, though secretly reaching for his wand,

"Simply because I will hex you into oblivion." Ginny stated fiercely, her wand already in her hand.

"I don't think that's necessary. I've been in this house more than you have, and I refuse to explain a thing until Draco graces us with his presence. Not any time sooner." Blaise decided to calm her down. Her hexes were infamous at Hogwarts, and he didn't that particular skill had weakened as she got older. On the contrary, he thought that an adult Ginny was not to be reckoned with.

"Then don't tell me why you're alive. But I do have the right to ask you what brings you here!" Ginny vehemently declared. "And to kill you if you don't tell me." She added as an afterthought.

Her last sentence confirmed Blaise's suspicions. "And what gave you that right?" He asked, raising one eyebrow.

"What?" Ginny didn't understand what he was aiming at.

"Aren't you married?" He decided to change tactics.

"Yes, of course I am you oaf! Can't you see the ring?" She waved a beautifully simple wedding ring in his face. "And don't try to change the subject. You will answer my question even if I have to force you!" Ginny was all set to commit murder, until Blaise's question sunk in. Why would he ask that? Unless…

"You perverted idiot! I am not Draco's mistress!" She shot back, suddenly seeing how this must look to Blaise. Was it possible that he didn't know?

"Then what other reason do you have for being here?" His tone was sarcastically condescending.

"When was the last time you read a newspaper?" Ginny suddenly asked, ignoring his question and acting on her instincts.

Blaise was so thrown off guard at the seemingly polite question that he answered truthfully. "I haven't read a newspaper for a month now because I was in Russia on a…on a business trip." He immediately regretted saying to much as Ginny had an expression on her face as if she had just realized something.

"You don't know?" She asked distantly, clearly occupied with something else.

"Don't know what?" This situation was quickly spinning out of control, and Blaise Zabini hated being out of control. It was, as his mother used to say, a sign of weakness.

"You don't know?!" She asked again, more clearly, and this time looking him straight in the eye.

"No, I don't know whatever it is you're asking about." Blaise drawled, getting bored of the whole thing. He had more important things to do other than sitting around gossiping with Weasleys; no matter how beautiful that particular Weasley looked. He got up. His lawyer was waiting for him, and one of his secretaries needed to be fired.

"Sit down. I have something to show you." Ginny decided.

"I have no time for your childish antics. Do not inform Draco that I came here." Blaise had had enough.

"You will sit down and see this. Or I will make you see it." Ginny said with finality. Blaise decided he would waste more time by arguing and sat down.

"If this is a waste of my time, which it is, I won't hesitate in disposing you." Blaise informed Ginny as she accioed a newspaper from the adjoining room.

"You need to learn how to shut up. Now read this!" She thrust an old copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands. A picture of a beaming Hermione winked at him in the front page as he scanned the headlines. The only sign he gave that he was reading it was the fact that there was still no reaction. Ginny sat in the chair opposite him, tensely waiting for him to finish. If she wasn't watching him closely, she would have missed the muscle twitching in his jaw on his otherwise calm face. When he had finished reading the articles that had continued on the third and fourth page, he turned to Ginny.

"Is this true?" He asked in a deadly calm.

"Every word, except for a few exaggerations here and there." She answered him, matching his calm tone.

"And who is this Roger character?" He asked.

"The bastard she married." Ginny answered, sighing. Blaise noticed something he hadn't seen before: she had a sunken look on her face, and her eyes held much grief.

"The one she left Draco for?" Serves her right, he thought.

"Technically she didn't leave Draco for him…" She trailed of as she saw the look on Blaise's face. "Yes, him."

"How is Draco involved?" Blaise's voice adopted a business like manner.

Ginny paused. Should she tell him everything? She still didn't trust him.

"Before I can answer that, I need you to answer a question. No a few questions." Ginny had to make sure.

Blaise paused. He knew Ginny didn't trust him. How could she trust a person who has seemingly rose from the ashes of the dead? But he had to know what happened. If this was true, then Blaise didn't want to imagine how Draco was taking the information. He would answer Weasley's questions in a way that did not expose himself. He would only tell her the necessary information, nothing more.

"Go ahead."

"What are you to Draco? What is Draco to you?" She asked.

He chose his words carefully. "I am his oldest and most trusted friend. Draco to me is like my brother."

"How did you get past the Manor's defenses?"

"I have special access. Draco set it up for me years ago. I am the only one, besides his late mother who can get past the defenses without the master of the house's permission."

She believed him, but she still couldn't fully trust him. She decided to ask him one last question.

"Why are you here?"

Zabini went quiet for a few minutes. What could he say and what could he leave out? Ginny, as each minute passed, began to have less faith in him. Finally, she stood up. She had left Hermione alone for quite a while now. It's Draco's job to explain to Zabini, not Ginny.

"I came to check on him."
Ginny turned.

"What?"

"I came to check on him. I meet him on a monthly basis, and he missed out this month. I thought something had happened to him, and thought I'd pass by and see how he's doing."

Ginny sat down again. She now knew she could trust him.

"You answered my questions. I reckon it's my turn to answer yours." Ginny said, to show him he had won her trust.

"How odd…a Gryffindor trusts a Slytherin." Blaise commented.

"You're a friend of Draco's; you're a friend of mine." Ginny commented lightly.

"Would Potty like that?" He smirked.

"I think you're mature enough to drop those idiotic nicknames, aren't you?" Ginny asked, reminding Blaise who he was talking to.

"What does it feel like, being the wife of the great 'Boy-Who-Lived'?" He asked sarcastically.

"Everything I dreamed it would be. Are those the questions you're planning to ask me? Because they're pointless and if that's it I'd rather go to Hermione."

"Granger's here?!" Blaise looked around as if he would spot Hermione peeking out of one of the corners.

"Yes she is."

"Why?"

"Because we needed a place to protect Hermione and the Manor was perfectly suited for our purpose."

"Doesn't St.Mungo's provide enough security? And Draco and the rest of the rabble… aren't they Aurors?" Blaise delivered his questions curtly and businesslike.

"We cannot control every aspect of St.Mungo's. And we can't risk Hermione's life…"

"That's it. Why is she in danger? No, I take that back. Let me start at the beginning. When did it begin?"

"Yes that's a good idea. When did it all begin? When Hermione discovered she was pregnant." Ginny swallowed. She still found it hard to talk about the subject, and guilt consumed her every time she thought about it.

"You feel guilty." Blaise said it as a statement more than a question. She nodded. "Wasn't the git proud of the pregnancy?"

It took Ginny a while to get the question. "Whom? Oh, Roger the bastard you mean? That's what we all thought, but…" She trailed off. Blaise didn't press more. He didn't want the technical details. He could get accurate information about the case tomorrow from his agents.

"How is she? Now?"

"She woke up from her coma two weeks ago. So far…so far she has improved. She can pick up her own spoon, and sit up. But the poison still runs on…on the…wounds so that they won't heal."

"How is Draco involved in all this?" He asked.

"He was in charge of the Muggle born killings case. Hermione was….was…err…she was victim number 14 and Draco got her file by accident. You see, we weren't planning on telling him immediately. I was scared he would go and do something stupid. But one of the trainees gave him the hospital room number, and Draco went there to interrogate her, and he found it was Hermione."

"You wouldn't trust Draco on something as important as this?" Blaise scathingly remarked. His heart went out to his friend. He wondered how he was coping.

"It was supposed to be for the better! We weren't going to tell anybody, but a nurse leaked the news to the Daily Prophet and next day she was front page! Look at him now; he's slowly killing himself from the inside!" Ginny was beside herself with rage. How dare this…this utter stranger waltz in and start accusing them? She told him just that.

"You weren't here when she was in the hospital! You weren't here when it first happened! So don't start accusing me! I did what I thought was best. Look at him now; he's slowly killing himself from the inside!"

Blaise hung his head.

"No need for me to ask how he's coping then." He remarked quietly.

"He was fine in the beginning, when he was angry. Now he's…he's just lost. Every since she woke up, he's been wondering around aimlessly. He picks up a book then throws it down again! He orders me to rest and forces me to eat but he himself won't eat, he won't drink, and he won't sleep! He stays hours at an end by her side when she's asleep, but as soon as she wakes up he flees!" Ginny let out the anxiety she'd been holding back for the past two weeks. "I'm at my wits' end and I don't know what to do. He's either feverishly working in the library or rambling at night in the garden. I had two elves tail him around that bloody garden, but he threatened to give them clothes if they didn't leave him alone…" Ginny stopped rambling and looked up at the ceiling. She felt embarrassed that she had said that much. Ginny Weasley was a strong woman, but staying alone in a huge mansion with only the house elves to help her deal with her lifeless best friend, and a confused Draco trying to do the best he can had broken her defenses and weakened her. She needed her mother's advice, and the twin's humor. She needed Charlie's wisdom and Bill's comforting words. She needed her family. And she needed Harry. And above all, she needed the old Hermione. The one who used to scold Ron and Harry when they don't do their homework, who would give Ginny advice on how to catch Harry's interest, the one who was afraid of a piece of homework that got 9 out of 10. The one who fell in love with Draco Malfoy. Not the new, broken Hermione.

Blaise gave her a moment to recollect herself before asking his final question.

"Where is he?"

"Do you know he took two flasks of Calming Draught in less than a day?" She continued, oblivious to his questions. "Instead of being overly calm, he went-"

"Loony. I know." Blaise cut in quietly. "He did the same thing when his mother died."

"Oh." Ginny couldn't find anything else to say. Draco had never mentioned his mother or his father, and no one ever ask him about them.

"Where is he?" Blaise repeated his question.

"I don't know. In the garden somewhere. I think near the labyrinth somewhere." Ginny walked to the window and stared out at one of the most beautiful gardens in Britain. When she turned, Blaise was sitting on Draco's bug mahogany desk and writing something on a long scroll of paper..

"Where is that going?" She asked.

"My agents. I have a corporation that will lose its top chairman for a few weeks, so the least I could do is to send instructions."

"You can't use owls."

"I have my own means of sending information." Blaise sealed the letter with Draco's personal seal, a coat of arms that joined the Malfoy insignia with the Black crest. Ginny watched in silence as he muttered something.

"What the hell do think you're doing?" Ginny yelped as Blaise set the rolled up scroll on fire.

"Sending my instructions." He drawled, amused at a shocked Ginny.

"You could have set the desk on fire you git!" Ginny was getting more and more infuriated with him. Blaise hadn't changed since he was in Hogwarts. She grit her teeth when he burst out laughing.

"Not everything is what it seems." He answered unperturbedly.

"No. You are exactly what you seem." Ginny shot back.

"And what do I seem like?"

"A stuck up mommy's boy!"

"That is the best description about myself that I have heard." He declared, getting up from the desk and walking to the door of the living room. He stopped and turned back, deadly serious now.

"Does she love him?"

Ginny knew exactly who he was talking about. "More than she knows herself."

"Thank you." And with that he turned on his heel and strode in the direction of the garden.

Ginny left the room herself walking towards Hermione's chambers. Did Blaise Zabini just thank her? Maybe he had changed a little after all…

A/N: No comment. It turned out even more boring than I originally thought! I didn't let anyone check it over, so the criticism is up to u guys. Please be honest while telling me what you think. You know where to find the 'submit review' button don't you?

p.s. mawii's gonna help me write chapie 10 (I hope!) so I don't think it'll take long for me to update.

p.p.s. I felt like I had left something out! A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed this story and put me in their alerts-this story's for u guys! And naufdude and neena7 for pushing me until I wrote chapie 9. Cheers then and I'll see u the next chapie (which should be quite a nice chapie-but I won't say anymore…u'll see for yourselves)

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