Story: Act number 2715
Author: LadyLissaLight
Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!
Hermione woke with a bit of a headache.
She moaned against the pillow and buried her face further into the fabric. There was no way she was getting up as early as… 11.30!
She shot up; groaning again as her heard swam. Hurriedly, she got out of bed and into the shower, washing her hair and body. Then she got dressed and rushed down to the kitchen to find Blaise sitting reading the paper with a cup of coffee in hand.
Hermione read the headline over his shoulder. It read: Is it time for the wizengamot to divorce the marriage law?
She raised her eyebrows. "Hey. Can I see that?"
Blaise jumped and looked around at her. "Don't do that!"
She laughed, pouring herself some coffee. "Sorry."
"Yes you can read this, but I need to talk to you about something first." Blaise said suddenly, his facial expression turning serious. He closed the paper and gestured for her to sit opposite him. She did so, frowning.
"Is something wrong?"
"Not wrong, just…" he hesitated. "I'm not sure how to say this."
"It's just me, Blaise, you can tell me anything." She reached out and patted his hand.
He shook his head, sighing. "Ok. We're going to be married, right?"
She nodded, wondering where this was going.
"We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. You realise eventually we're going to have to kiss, probably share the same bed… maybe even have kids." He said carefully, watching her.
Hermione felt a little pit of worry grow in her stomach. "Yes…"
He nodded. "Well I just thought that, maybe we should stop acting like best friends and… try and see if we can be a couple?" He looked away.
She raised her eyebrows, shock overcoming her. She'd thought Blaise was fine with the just being friends. He'd said when she first moved in that he expected nothing of her, that they wouldn't have to 'do' anything
"Blaise… when I moved in you told me -"
"I know." He cut her off. "And I still stand by that. I'm not trying to pressure you into anything, not saying you have to do this or that we can't just be friends. I'm just saying… wouldn't you rather be in a marriage full of love or at least something other than friendship? If we can find even the smallest something… it'll make this a lot easier for us."
She was silent for a moment as she processed this. "How-How long have you been thinking about this?" she asked eventually.
"Not long. Just since yesterday actually. I mean, why not? We get along great, I'm hot, you're hot" – at this she cracked a smile – "and we like lots of the same stuff. I'm not asking you to… you know, sleep with me or anything. Just… maybe we could go on a date or – or kiss or something. I don't know." He ran both of his hands through his hair. "I want to eventually feel toward you as more than friends. Don't you want that?"
When she didn't answer, he stood up. "I'm not saying you have to do anything now. Just think about it." He leant across the table and kissed her cheek.
As he left the room, she sat there, still in shock. Where had all this come from? Vaguely she reached up and touched the spot where he'd kissed her cheek, wondering if it could ever happen.
Blaise was right, he was certainly good looking enough… and he was smart, funny and she could have meaningful conversations with him about things she cared about. Maybe she should give it a go?
"My head hurts." She mumbled.
What she really needed was some girl advice on this, and she thought perhaps Ginny, although the other girl seemed to have some sort of grudge against Blaise, so maybe not.
Having an idea, Hermione picked up Estella's number.
"Hello?" the blonde answered after two rings.
"Hey. I was wondering if you could give me some advice?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"Hermione Granger, asking for advice?" Estella laughed. "Shoot."
"Okay. Well…"
XXXXXX
Blaise left the room, thinking about how he wasn't sure if his conversation had gone well or had been a disaster.
She hadn't immediately dismissed the idea, or yelled at him, or even just said no, so he supposed that was a good thing. On the other hand, she also hadn't said yes or given any indication that she'd been thinking along the same lines as him. She looked and almost scandalised at this idea of them trying to be more than friends.
But, thought he'd never admit it, what Blaise had wanted ever since he could remember, was a family that loved him, that he felt truly part of that he would do anything for and vice versa.
When he'd first heard about the marriage law, he'd been horrified, upset, angry. He'd gotten so drunk to try and forget that the thing he'd been trying to escape from since he was a small child and finally had when his mother passed away, was being forced upon him anyway: an arranged marriage.
Blaise hated the pureblood tradition of marrying children off to the best families to keep the blood pure and to form alliances. He thought it was sick and archaic. If muggles were so disgusting, he'd always thought, then why were they so far ahead of the wizarding world when it came to society and traditions?
His mother had of course, always wanted him to have an arranged marriage and it was the one thing that he was happy about due to her death. He'd lost his mother, but he'd gained his chance at having a real, loving family, a wife and children and a lovely home, all of his own choosing.
And to have the ripped away from him had been torture, but getting Hermione as a match seemed like a breath of fresh air. She was warm and loving and he felt that, even if they weren't in love, they could still love each other and have that loving family full of hugs and singing and snowball fights.
It was only when Ginny had come back into his life that he realised that wouldn't do, that he couldn't be happy with that. He couldn't just have sister type love. He still wanted that connection, that bond, with a woman. And he was going to damn well try and make it work with Hermione, no matter how long it took. They had the rest of their lives, didn't they? Blaise would have his family, he needed it.
He sank onto the couch in the lounge room, lost in thought about how he would convince Hermione without putting her out of her comfort zone or hurting her. He didn't want to do either of those things.
"Blaise?" called a voice. He glanced up, scowling.
"What Malfoy?"
"Someone's here to see you. Mr Lynch."
Blaise paused for a moment, frowning. He couldn't recall the name.
"He says it's about business." Draco shrugged.
"Shit." Blaise swore. "Oh merlin."
"What?"
"I'll tell you afterwards. Hang on."
Blaise straightened his robes and strode towards the front of the apartment, pasting a smile on his face.
Mr Lynch, a middle aged man in pinstriped robes stood impatiently in the lounge. He coughed when he saw Blaise approaching. "Mr Zabini," he said, "Most sorry to interrupt your day."
Blaise shook his hand and guided him into the private study. "It's fine Mr Lynch. I am, ah, however, quite preoccupied today, I apologise."
"I just came to request your presence at a meeting with myself and my partner." The older man said importantly. "This is a very important meeting – if you catch my drift."
Blaise did. This meeting had to go superbly or their business together would end before it even began. "I would be happy to attend." He replied evenly. "Name your time."
"Tomorrow. 9Aam." The older man said, smiling knowingly at Blaise. "The sooner the better, eh?
Blaise's insides froze solid. "Yes of course sir," he said smoothly. "Why don't you all come here in fact? I've got a room perfect for a meeting."
The older man's bushy eyebrows lifted. "Very well. I will see you on the morrow."
Blaise nodded. "I assume Theodore knows about this?"
Lynch nodded. "Of course, but he said it was really your domain of expertise."
Blaise managed another smile. "Of course. See you tomorrow."
He guided Lynch out the door before yelling "SHIT" at the top of his lungs.
Draco appeared a minute later. "What's got your wand in a knot?"
"Months ago I went to Lynch and proposed a deal between our businesses. He said he'd think about it and I totally forgot!"
"Well what's the problem?"
"I'm supposed to be brilliantly knowledgeable about what his company does, but I know NOTHING." Blaise groaned. "What am I going to do? Theo doesn't know anything either."
Draco snorted. "What's the company do?"
"They harvest rare potions ingredients, but they specialise in magical creature ingredients – you know, unicorn tail, phoenix tears, dragon scale. Stuff that's not easy to get. Boomslang skin even. I was brilliant at potions, but I never paid attention in care of magical creatures! And he's going to want to talk about value and price and I'm going to get screwed over! I know nothing about how much more valuable a feather from a mountain phoenix is than a feather from a water phoenix!" Blaise ranted.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "You're in luck. I happen to know everything there is to do with that subject. I've studied it extensively."
The feeling returned to Blaise's body and he jumped up. "Bloody brilliant! Fantastic!" he paused. "But you won't be allowed in the meeting." He swore.
Draco shrugged. "I'll teach you."
"No, that won't work." Blaise dismissed. "Besides, I need to go over my research of the company and prepare for the meeting."
"Wait. Was that Lynch as in Lynch and Conor?" Malfoy interrupted.
"Yes…"
His friend laughed. "You're screwed. I know their company like I know yours, and you're going to get slaughtered."
"Wait… you know their company that well?" Blaise's eyes narrowed, an idea forming in his mind.
"Yep." Malfoy folded his arms.
"You can go in my place!" Blaise exclaimed. "Polyjuice!" he shook his friend's shoulders excitedly.
A Gryffindor would have shaken their head and said 'absolutely not!' only to give in with more pleading. Draco just shrugged. "Yeah, alright."
"Brilliant!" Blaise exclaimed. "Now come here and we'll go over the notes together, I'm not letting you sell us out for less than we should be getting."
A/N – Poor Blaise.
Reviews?
Lissa