Chapter 54
Hermione waited impatiently for Blaise to finish reading that preposterous joke of a so called divorce proposal. She really wanted to know what he was thinking, but he didn't give anything away.
She briefly considered to take a peek inside his mind, but dismissed it just as fast. He'd surely notice and she hated failing. Hated failing? She meant, it was unethical, surely that was the main reason not to.
Hate failing, HAH...
When he'd read through the whole thing twice, he finally stopped making notes and looked at her through his rather stylish reading glasses.
"Before I determine our course of action, I need you to answer a few questions", he said to her.
She sat down across from him with a huff and nodded, folding her arms on the table. The defensive attitude didn't go unnoticed by him.
"I'll start with an easy one", he told her, "Give me two words: how do you want this divorce to go?"
"Fast and fair", she answered without hesitation.
"Good", he nodded, "Now, what's the most important thing: free publicity or discretion?"
"In relation to the divorce?", she frowned, "Discretion, I get more than enough publicity as it is, thank you very much."
He smirked, but didn't push it further. She hadn't even considered the free publicity, even after all this time she still wasn't affected by those standard political tricks.
"Second one, what's most important", he continued, "The money or your belongings?"
"My belongings", she answered, "Especially my books, but I can't imagine that Ronald would want those. Oh, and the house of course."
"Why is the house so important to you?", he inquired. "Don't get me wrong, it's nice and all, but I don't see you living there with Draco after all this is finished."
"Me neither", she conceded, "But it's the one thing my parents left me."
"So... You don't necessarily want to live in it", he pondered, "But you still want to keep it."
"Indeed", she confirmed. "I don't know what I'd do with it though, I don't want to rent it out either. I can't imagine other people living in my childhood home."
"That's an idea", he snapped his finger, pulling a small book out of his pocket and enlarging it until the table creaked in protest from the weight.
"Wizarding World Personal Law", she read the title aloud.
He opened it near the middle and flicked through it magically until he found what he was looking for.
He read the paragraph, scribbled a few notes and looked up at her.
"Look, I think you know that Weasley isn't going to make this divorce easy", he told her seriously.
"I know", she sighed, "He doesn't want one, he likes his life as it is."
She pushed her hair out of her face.
"And we know he's a more than decent strategist", he continued. "So, the more elements we can remove from the equation, the better."
"How do you want to do that?", she said hands-on.
"You move out", he told her, "Today. The less confrontation between you both, the better."
"And go where?", she asked. "I can't go to Draco, that would just add fuel to this whole thing."
"I know", he conceded, "That's why you are not allowed to communicate with him or his solicitor anymore. All communication goes through me until the divorce is finalised."
"So you're removing me from the equation", she concluded. "And since there's no contact between us, I don't have to tell him where I live. I like it."
She stood and undid the enchantments on the room.
"It's better if we take this to my office", she said, picking up her bag. "I need to ask Draco first if it's okay to move in with him."
Temporary, not moving in with my boyfriend, you know, romantically. Just until the divorce is finalised... Boo, thinking about that later.
Blaise turned to the table to shrink his law book again, conveniently hiding the mirror he was holding from view.
She lead the way to her office a little lost in thought, Blaise following her in a more moderate way, stopping here and there to greet someone and make a little smalltalk. It didn't went unnoticed that he only stopped for the obviously pretty witches. He didn't seem to have a type, although the majority had either blonde hair or pale eyes. She wondered if that meant something or that the percentage of those types in the Ministry was just higher. She wondered if there were any statistics on the subject...
"Why are you checking out all the women we meet on the way", he fake whispered in her ear when they were finally alone in last the elevator before they reached her office.
"Well, if you really want to know my thoughts...", she started.
"Yes, I really do", he prompted, "Are they dirty thoughts?"
She rolled her eyes.
"At first, I tried to determine if you were attracted to a certain type of woman...", she said, waiting for the elevator to close again after a flock of notes left it.
"I don't", he commented, "All women are beautiful in their own way. Or most of them, anyway."
"Well yes", she conceded, "Though there were slightly more blondes and you seem to spend more time with the ones with pale eyes."
"I don't", he said, blinking dumbfounded.
"You greeted twenty-five women on the way here, seventeen were blondes. You stopped to talk to six women, all blondes but one, but she had pale eyes, as did three of the five blondes", she pointed out when the elevator opened its doors. "And then I started wondering if you were more attracted to those traits, can't say I'd disagree, or if it was just coincidence because there are just more blondes in the Ministry, statistically speaking..."
She noticed that he wasn't listening at all, he didn't even react to her preferring blondes remark, so she just shrugged and walked to her secretary's desk.
"Madam Minister", Alice greeted her, "Mister Malfoy from finances has asked to postpone your meeting from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.."
"Might be for the best", she answered, checking her watch. "Did he mention why?"
Lucius was very punctual usually, him postponing an appointment was very rare.
"Something about numbers booked in the wrong year", she answered, checking her notes. "He seemed highly irritated. I've got two other messages. The French Minister of Magic asked if you would like to visit his farm over the weekend. They're developing a new kind of brie cheese with milk from mooncalves."
"Get me the documentation on that, so I can decide if I should go or the Head of Foreign Affairs", she answered, noticing how Blaise still seemed to be counting blondes in his mind. "And the second one?"
"Mister Potter asked if you were free for lunch today", she said.
That seemed to snap Blaise out of it.
"I'm sorry Madam Minister", he intervened politely, "But we still have much to discuss."
"Yes", she nodded, "I don't think I'll make it for lunch today. Tell Harry I'll call him later."
"Yes Madam", her secretary said, scribbling down a note.
"I have some things to discuss with Mister Zabini", she informed, "I'll be busy until lunch, maybe later. I'll probably be out of office for an hour or so as well. I'll be back before my meeting with Mister Malfoy."
Without waiting for another response from her secretary, she marched into her office.
"I think it's better if we go straight to the Manor", she said, "It's more private and I need to ask Draco if I can stay with him anyway."
"He'll be devastated", Blaise joked drily and with a roll of her eyes, she threw in the floo powder and traveled to Malfoy Manor.