I love reviews, and you guys seem to think just like me for some reason.
Hopefully, I didn't offend too many reviewers with my little rumours in the
last chapter. And I apologize beforehand for the first scene of this
chapter. My Blaise/Hermione obsession ran away with me, but I managed to
rein it in before I changed the pairing of this fic.
******'
After her little speech in the Great Hall, the students more or less left her alone. Apparently, they didn't find it as fun to gossip when they knew the truth. She frankly didn't care, and went on with her life as normal. Bill had written several times about how his mother was planning the wedding, and not even an avalanche could deter her, and Hermione had smiled and written back.
She was currently heading across one of the courtyards, towards the Charms classroom. She was so deep in her Charms textbook that she nearly stumbled over someone else's feet while walking. She looked up and started to apologize, but the words died on her lips as she spotted the green and silver tie, the black hair and blue eyes of Slytherin Blaise Zabini.
She swallowed hard; if anyone was likely to harass her, it was one of the Slytherins. Draco Malfoy, who was the root of her troubles at the moment, would have, and there was no reason for his house-mate to be any different.
Blaise, however, seemed to ignore the fact that he was supposed to me mean to her, and gave her a hand up. She took it and made a show of dusting herself off, eying him suspiciously.
"Congratulations are in order, I believe." Blaise said, taking her by surprise.
"Er, thanks?" She said, wondering why he didn't bite her head off.
"Nice speech, by the way; it had Draco fuming for hours." Blaise grinned. "Smoke?"
He held up a Muggle cigarette, offering her one, but she shook her head, confused. First, he congratulates her, and then he offers her a smoke. What the hell was wrong with this picture?
"Why though?" Blaise continued, making her blink.
Why what? Why engagement, why speech or why Bill? She settled for the last, as it was easier to explain. She grinned; talking about Bill was a favourite activity of hers.
"Well, I could go on and on for hours about how sweet he is, but then you'd die of sugar-sickness. I'll have to settle for the simple truth; because he's Bill Weasley." She said.
"Nicely put. You have Charms now, don't you?" He asked, changing subjects.
"Yeah." She nodded and hiked her book bag up, as it had been slipping off her shoulder.
"I'm heading over that way too. Need any help with that?" He gestured to her bag.
"Alright, who are you and what have you done to the real Blaise Zabini?" She asked.
"I am the real Blaise Zabini; just because I'm Slytherin doesn't mean I'm the definition of the word bastard, you know." He snorted. "Besides, the Sytherins in my year are boring conversationalists. I decided to find someone else to talk to, and you happened to stumble over my feet."
"Ah. Truce then?" She asked, holding out her hand.
"Definitely." He answered and took it.
She'd stumbled over someone's feet, stopped herself from going into a rant about Bill, joked with a Slytherin, and then made friends with said student, all in no more than ten minutes. What a day. She wondered what Ron and Harry would say about it; they were enemies of Slytherins in general, and not just Malfoy and she had grounds to believe that Blaise would be forced to hire bodyguards before this was over.
******'
Bill rolled his eyes heavenwards and heaved a sigh as his mother once again launched into a rant about his upcoming wedding. She had gone absolutely mad after finding out about the engagement; he was the first of her children to be married, true, but did she have to be so bloody obsessive?
She'd talked about locations, when they would have it, how, who would be invited, and even tried to talk him into choosing flowers. When she'd done that, he'd gotten up and walked out of the room without another word. There were limits, and his patience had been sorely tested.
He pulled out the latest letter from Hermione and re-read it as his mother ranted and raved about bridesmaids, or whatever she was on about. He'd received the letter yesterday, and wanted to read it again to make sure there wasn't anything he'd missed.
Dear Bill.
Something very strange and not to mention shocking happened today. After the speech I made, the one I told you about, everyone left me alone, more or less. However, Malfoy and the Slytherins weren't about to give up. Imagine my surprise when I tripped over one of the Slytherins feet and he helped me up again.
Blaise Zabini is a strange fellow, I tell you. He helped me up, congratulated me on the engagement, offered me a smoke and then said he wanted a truce with me, all within the span of ten minutes.
Unfortunately, Ron and Harry saw me talking to him, and gave me the third degree when I came back to the Common Room. They asked all sorts of ludicrous questions, such as if I was cheating on you. I said that of course I wasn't; no one in their right mind would throw you away. And I sure as hell won't.
Blaise has become a friend of mine, and he will probably turn up at the wedding, but I can assure both you and them that I am in no way even contemplating cheating on you. So don't worry.
I'm sorry about your mother nagging you; I shouldn't have told her like that. However, hope you live through it. Thankfully, my mother is nothing like that. If she was, imagine the nightmare if the two of them were planning the wedding together.
I miss you very much. I'll see you on Graduation Day, if not sooner.
Love
Hermione.
He smiled. He always did while reading her letter, for some reason. It didn't matter that she'd spent most of the letter talking about one Blaise Zabini boy, not when she finished it like she did. It was nice to hear she'd made friends outside Harry, Ron and Ginny. Even if it was a Slytherin.
******'
After the inquisition she'd received from Harry and Ron, things went a little smoother, although Blaise was taken to the side by them and given ´The Talk´, which more or less summed up to if-you-hurt-Hermione-we-won't- hesitate-to-kill-you. On the whole, he took it well.
As the N.E.W.T's approached, nervous breakdowns and students bursting into tears became more and more frequent. The Fifth Year O.W.L's hysteria was nothing compared to this. Hermione handled the stress by shutting herself into her room and studying, and when she grew tired of studying, she thought of Bill, reading and writing letters.
The teachers tried to give her enough homework to keep her occupied, but not even they could keep up with her. It went so far that she spent one day and one night in the library, trying to find books she hadn't read yet, books that could help her with her exams.
The only thing that kept her sane during those weeks were the letters from Bill, and Blaise, Harry and Ron's habit of coming into the library and dragging her outside, and then proceeding to dump her in the lake, something which had happened on several occasions when she didn't want to be disturbed.
Needless to say, the three boys had developed an aptitude for running very fast after that first episode. Not that it stopped them from dumping her in the lake. She'd written to her fiancé about it, and he'd written back and told her that that was what she got for burying herself in the library all day, and that if she didn't stop, he'd be forced to come and get her.
She ignored that statement, instead opting to continue her studies just as normal, even a bit more intense. This, it would prove, was a mistake on her part. She should have listened to her husband-to-be and relaxed a little.
An angry Weasley could prove dangerous to ones health, sanity or studying habits. A determined Weasley even more so.
*****'
Hermione was nose deep in her Charms textbook, and therefore didn't hear the footsteps until the owner of them was standing right behind her. She scribbled down a few more lines on her note-parchment, and was just about to turn a page when a voice interrupted her.
"You've forgot the ´v´ in ´leviosa´."
Automatically, she corrected the mistake, even before she recognized the voice. When she did, her head shot up and she spun around in her seat, almost knocking the chair over and stared.
"Bill?" She asked, completely shell-shocked.
"Yes, love?" He replied as he took the opportunity to lean in and kiss her.
"What are you doing here?" She wanted to know, as soon as she'd caught her breath after the kiss.
"Picking you up." He grinned.
"Picking me up?" She echoed. "Why?"
"We, my love, are going to leave for Hogsmeade; I don't want you to have to go to the infirmary before the N.E.W.T's have even begun." He told her and easily pulled her out of her chair.
"Bill, let go! I have to finish getting the notes on that charm!" She said desperately.
"Love, I know I told you to take studying seriously and that I appreciated that you did, but this is getting ridiculous. You need a break, and don't you dare protest." He grinned at her, and dragged her out of the library.
"Bill, I love you, but this is ridiculous." She whined.
"I'm glad we agree on that love." He said happily.
Hermione gave up and resigned herself to her fate at the hands of Bill Weasley. There wasn't much she could do against someone who was a more than a head taller than she was and at least three times as strong.
*****'
Down in the entrance hall, they met Dumbledore and Snape, who were standing just inside the doors, discussing something. When the two men spotted Bill and Hermione, their conversation stopped abruptly and Snape stared at them, shocked, while Dumbledore produced something resembling a wink.
Bill grinned and nodded at them, and proceeded to drag Hermione out the door and down the road to Hogsmeade. Snape stared after them, his mouth ajar, looking shocked out of his mind. Dumbledore cleared his throat and Snape turned back to him.
"Did I just see Hermione Granger take a break from studying with less than two weeks left before the N.E.W.T's?" He asked weakly.
"Yes, you did Severus." Dumbledore smiled.
"The world has gone bloody mad." Snape muttered and shook his head. "Completely utterly mad."
******'
Hermione mock-glared at Bill over her Butterbeer, and he simply smiled back. They were sitting in the Hogs Head, mainly because the Three Broomsticks was packed with people. It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, and therefore no students there, but someone had a birthday party there, and they didn't want to intrude.
"What," She asked, "Was the purpose of dragging me out of the castle in the middle of very important studying?"
"You," He paused just as she had, "needed a break. And this is it. I know you want to study as much as you can love, but you will burn yourself out if you continue at this pace."
Hermione fell silent after that, and just stared at her Butterbeer. She knew she'd been overworking, but she couldn't help herself; she had to, unless she wanted to go insane with worry about the exams. She smiled; thankfully she had a caring fiancé, who didn't hesitate to break into Hogwarts to drag her away from her studies.
"Mum seems to have hit a new low; now she's making lists of all the people she wants to invite to the wedding." Bill said, switching subjects easily. "So far, it's over a hundred people listed."
"Oh, gods, do we even know that many people?" Hermione asked, biting back laughter.
"I doubt it. I mean, there's my family, there's Harry and Ron, there's probably Angelina and Katie, Fred and George's girlfriends," He added at her puzzled look, "And then there's your parents, and probably Claire for Charlie-related reasons, and that's it."
"What about me? Don't I get an invitation?" A voice from the table behind them asked.
Hermione looked up and Bill turned around, and both of them set eyes on Blaise Zabini, who was sitting there with a Butterbeer in his hands. He grinned and waved cheerfully, before taking a swig of his Butterbeer. Hermione blinked; it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, so he shouldn't be here, yet he was.
"Blaise, what are you doing here?" She asked.
"Drinking Butterbeer?" He tried.
"Oh no, you've got to come up with something better than that." Hermione shook her head.
"Oh alright; I snuck out since the exam-stress was killing me. It's not like you need to know about the secret entrance to Hogsmeade in the Slytherin 7th year boys' dorms anyway." He blinked, and looked suspiciously at the bottle in his hand, "I should not have said that. I wonder if this is really Butterbeer?"
"Yeah, anyway. What was that about an invitation?" Bill asked, grinning slightly.
"Well, I thought I deserved one, seeing as I am a friend of hers, and that an invitation is the least she can do when I just revealed a secret way out of school to her." Blaise said, trying to look innocent.
"Alright; you're in. It's gotta be better than some of the people Mum's trying to invite." Bill shrugged.
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." Blaise muttered, but there was a hint of laughter in his voice. "But you must really be something, Bill, since you got Hermione away from her studies without her hexing you. Alas, throwing her in the lake might not have been the best idea." He sighed.
"You threw her in the what?" Bill exclaimed.
"The lake. Don't' worry; she got out fine, it's pretty shallow." Blaise shrugged.
He finished his Butterbeer, threw a few coins on the table, stood up, winked and was gone. Bill gaped like a fish, before turning to Hermione again, who seemed to have trouble breathing through her giggles.
"Let me get this straight; he threw you in the lake?" Bill asked, trying to sound calm.
"Yes. Well, he and Ron and Harry, as a matter of fact. And Bill, they were only joking, don't take it too seriously." Hermione chuckled at his immediate instinct to protect her.
It was rather sweet. To think that she'd be his wife in only a few short months, when she last year couldn't even have imagined that she'd be his girlfriend, much less fiancée was overwhelming.
*****'
Bill walked her back after they'd spent an hour or two in Hogsmeade, and they discussed wedding plans. They decided to have the wedding as soon after graduation as possible, since everyone would probably go their separate ways airwards, and would be hard to get a hold of. The guest list was narrowed down considerably, to contain only the Weasley family, Harry, Claire, a few of the other Gryffindors and Blaise. And since Blaise was coming, so was his family. Even with all those people, the list was half the size it had been.
They reached Hogwarts, and started towards the library. They had only gotten halfway when they ran into Draco Malfoy and Twiddledee and Twiddledum, more commonly known as Crabbe and Goyle. He sneered at them.
"Well if it isn't the little Mudblood and her boyfriend." He taunted.
Bill raised an eyebrow at him.
"You have some nerve for someone two heads shorter than me." He said.
"Threatening me, are you?" Malfoy asked, still sneering.
"No, I'm just stating facts. If you want threats, that's fine by me." Bill narrowed his eyes, "If you ever call Hermione ´Mudblood´ again, I will hex you so bad that even your mother won't recognize you. If you ever look at her the wrong way again, I'll break every bone in your body. If you touch her, I'll go to Azkaban for putting you six feet under."
"How dare you?" Malfoy demanded, "How dare you threaten me like that? Don't you know who I am?"
Bill gave him a level glare, which actually made him cringe a bit.
"You're Lucius Malfoy's son, aren't you? Tell him and his cellmates' hello from me next time you see him." Bill smirked.
Malfoy sputtered, too infuriated to from coherent words. Bill grinned a bit, and even Hermione smiled, despite the fact that she was angry with Malfoy.
"Oooh, good one, Bill. I haven't seen him like that since Hermione's speech." Blaise commented, as he appeared just behind Malfoy.
"Hey, Blaise, just the person I wanted to see." Bill said.
"Really? Set the date, have you?" Blaise asked, eyes alight with interest.
"Yeah, we've set it at a week after graduation." Hermione told him.
"Wheee! I'll be there!" Blaise said, before skipping away merrily.
Bill, Hermione, and Malfoy looked after him uncertainly.
"Hermione, has Flitwick been letting you practise Cheering Charms today?" Bill asked.
"Nope. I think he had too much Butterbeer; I bet it's a sugar rush." Hermione shrugged.
"Makes sense. Come on, love, you've got an essay to finish and God help me if I keep you from it."
They walked off towards the library, leaving Malfoy to gape after them, before turning on his heels and marching after Blaise. Crabbe and Goyle were left standing in the corridor for a few minutes before they realized that Malfoy was gone. Then, they set out to look for him.
*****'
Ending Notes; Alright, Blaise was so far out of character that he almost came out on the other side. But I blame it on the sugar rush. So, anyway, important notes. I'm going away for a week, and then school starts, so updates will be a bit later in the coming than they have been.
******'
After her little speech in the Great Hall, the students more or less left her alone. Apparently, they didn't find it as fun to gossip when they knew the truth. She frankly didn't care, and went on with her life as normal. Bill had written several times about how his mother was planning the wedding, and not even an avalanche could deter her, and Hermione had smiled and written back.
She was currently heading across one of the courtyards, towards the Charms classroom. She was so deep in her Charms textbook that she nearly stumbled over someone else's feet while walking. She looked up and started to apologize, but the words died on her lips as she spotted the green and silver tie, the black hair and blue eyes of Slytherin Blaise Zabini.
She swallowed hard; if anyone was likely to harass her, it was one of the Slytherins. Draco Malfoy, who was the root of her troubles at the moment, would have, and there was no reason for his house-mate to be any different.
Blaise, however, seemed to ignore the fact that he was supposed to me mean to her, and gave her a hand up. She took it and made a show of dusting herself off, eying him suspiciously.
"Congratulations are in order, I believe." Blaise said, taking her by surprise.
"Er, thanks?" She said, wondering why he didn't bite her head off.
"Nice speech, by the way; it had Draco fuming for hours." Blaise grinned. "Smoke?"
He held up a Muggle cigarette, offering her one, but she shook her head, confused. First, he congratulates her, and then he offers her a smoke. What the hell was wrong with this picture?
"Why though?" Blaise continued, making her blink.
Why what? Why engagement, why speech or why Bill? She settled for the last, as it was easier to explain. She grinned; talking about Bill was a favourite activity of hers.
"Well, I could go on and on for hours about how sweet he is, but then you'd die of sugar-sickness. I'll have to settle for the simple truth; because he's Bill Weasley." She said.
"Nicely put. You have Charms now, don't you?" He asked, changing subjects.
"Yeah." She nodded and hiked her book bag up, as it had been slipping off her shoulder.
"I'm heading over that way too. Need any help with that?" He gestured to her bag.
"Alright, who are you and what have you done to the real Blaise Zabini?" She asked.
"I am the real Blaise Zabini; just because I'm Slytherin doesn't mean I'm the definition of the word bastard, you know." He snorted. "Besides, the Sytherins in my year are boring conversationalists. I decided to find someone else to talk to, and you happened to stumble over my feet."
"Ah. Truce then?" She asked, holding out her hand.
"Definitely." He answered and took it.
She'd stumbled over someone's feet, stopped herself from going into a rant about Bill, joked with a Slytherin, and then made friends with said student, all in no more than ten minutes. What a day. She wondered what Ron and Harry would say about it; they were enemies of Slytherins in general, and not just Malfoy and she had grounds to believe that Blaise would be forced to hire bodyguards before this was over.
******'
Bill rolled his eyes heavenwards and heaved a sigh as his mother once again launched into a rant about his upcoming wedding. She had gone absolutely mad after finding out about the engagement; he was the first of her children to be married, true, but did she have to be so bloody obsessive?
She'd talked about locations, when they would have it, how, who would be invited, and even tried to talk him into choosing flowers. When she'd done that, he'd gotten up and walked out of the room without another word. There were limits, and his patience had been sorely tested.
He pulled out the latest letter from Hermione and re-read it as his mother ranted and raved about bridesmaids, or whatever she was on about. He'd received the letter yesterday, and wanted to read it again to make sure there wasn't anything he'd missed.
Dear Bill.
Something very strange and not to mention shocking happened today. After the speech I made, the one I told you about, everyone left me alone, more or less. However, Malfoy and the Slytherins weren't about to give up. Imagine my surprise when I tripped over one of the Slytherins feet and he helped me up again.
Blaise Zabini is a strange fellow, I tell you. He helped me up, congratulated me on the engagement, offered me a smoke and then said he wanted a truce with me, all within the span of ten minutes.
Unfortunately, Ron and Harry saw me talking to him, and gave me the third degree when I came back to the Common Room. They asked all sorts of ludicrous questions, such as if I was cheating on you. I said that of course I wasn't; no one in their right mind would throw you away. And I sure as hell won't.
Blaise has become a friend of mine, and he will probably turn up at the wedding, but I can assure both you and them that I am in no way even contemplating cheating on you. So don't worry.
I'm sorry about your mother nagging you; I shouldn't have told her like that. However, hope you live through it. Thankfully, my mother is nothing like that. If she was, imagine the nightmare if the two of them were planning the wedding together.
I miss you very much. I'll see you on Graduation Day, if not sooner.
Love
Hermione.
He smiled. He always did while reading her letter, for some reason. It didn't matter that she'd spent most of the letter talking about one Blaise Zabini boy, not when she finished it like she did. It was nice to hear she'd made friends outside Harry, Ron and Ginny. Even if it was a Slytherin.
******'
After the inquisition she'd received from Harry and Ron, things went a little smoother, although Blaise was taken to the side by them and given ´The Talk´, which more or less summed up to if-you-hurt-Hermione-we-won't- hesitate-to-kill-you. On the whole, he took it well.
As the N.E.W.T's approached, nervous breakdowns and students bursting into tears became more and more frequent. The Fifth Year O.W.L's hysteria was nothing compared to this. Hermione handled the stress by shutting herself into her room and studying, and when she grew tired of studying, she thought of Bill, reading and writing letters.
The teachers tried to give her enough homework to keep her occupied, but not even they could keep up with her. It went so far that she spent one day and one night in the library, trying to find books she hadn't read yet, books that could help her with her exams.
The only thing that kept her sane during those weeks were the letters from Bill, and Blaise, Harry and Ron's habit of coming into the library and dragging her outside, and then proceeding to dump her in the lake, something which had happened on several occasions when she didn't want to be disturbed.
Needless to say, the three boys had developed an aptitude for running very fast after that first episode. Not that it stopped them from dumping her in the lake. She'd written to her fiancé about it, and he'd written back and told her that that was what she got for burying herself in the library all day, and that if she didn't stop, he'd be forced to come and get her.
She ignored that statement, instead opting to continue her studies just as normal, even a bit more intense. This, it would prove, was a mistake on her part. She should have listened to her husband-to-be and relaxed a little.
An angry Weasley could prove dangerous to ones health, sanity or studying habits. A determined Weasley even more so.
*****'
Hermione was nose deep in her Charms textbook, and therefore didn't hear the footsteps until the owner of them was standing right behind her. She scribbled down a few more lines on her note-parchment, and was just about to turn a page when a voice interrupted her.
"You've forgot the ´v´ in ´leviosa´."
Automatically, she corrected the mistake, even before she recognized the voice. When she did, her head shot up and she spun around in her seat, almost knocking the chair over and stared.
"Bill?" She asked, completely shell-shocked.
"Yes, love?" He replied as he took the opportunity to lean in and kiss her.
"What are you doing here?" She wanted to know, as soon as she'd caught her breath after the kiss.
"Picking you up." He grinned.
"Picking me up?" She echoed. "Why?"
"We, my love, are going to leave for Hogsmeade; I don't want you to have to go to the infirmary before the N.E.W.T's have even begun." He told her and easily pulled her out of her chair.
"Bill, let go! I have to finish getting the notes on that charm!" She said desperately.
"Love, I know I told you to take studying seriously and that I appreciated that you did, but this is getting ridiculous. You need a break, and don't you dare protest." He grinned at her, and dragged her out of the library.
"Bill, I love you, but this is ridiculous." She whined.
"I'm glad we agree on that love." He said happily.
Hermione gave up and resigned herself to her fate at the hands of Bill Weasley. There wasn't much she could do against someone who was a more than a head taller than she was and at least three times as strong.
*****'
Down in the entrance hall, they met Dumbledore and Snape, who were standing just inside the doors, discussing something. When the two men spotted Bill and Hermione, their conversation stopped abruptly and Snape stared at them, shocked, while Dumbledore produced something resembling a wink.
Bill grinned and nodded at them, and proceeded to drag Hermione out the door and down the road to Hogsmeade. Snape stared after them, his mouth ajar, looking shocked out of his mind. Dumbledore cleared his throat and Snape turned back to him.
"Did I just see Hermione Granger take a break from studying with less than two weeks left before the N.E.W.T's?" He asked weakly.
"Yes, you did Severus." Dumbledore smiled.
"The world has gone bloody mad." Snape muttered and shook his head. "Completely utterly mad."
******'
Hermione mock-glared at Bill over her Butterbeer, and he simply smiled back. They were sitting in the Hogs Head, mainly because the Three Broomsticks was packed with people. It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, and therefore no students there, but someone had a birthday party there, and they didn't want to intrude.
"What," She asked, "Was the purpose of dragging me out of the castle in the middle of very important studying?"
"You," He paused just as she had, "needed a break. And this is it. I know you want to study as much as you can love, but you will burn yourself out if you continue at this pace."
Hermione fell silent after that, and just stared at her Butterbeer. She knew she'd been overworking, but she couldn't help herself; she had to, unless she wanted to go insane with worry about the exams. She smiled; thankfully she had a caring fiancé, who didn't hesitate to break into Hogwarts to drag her away from her studies.
"Mum seems to have hit a new low; now she's making lists of all the people she wants to invite to the wedding." Bill said, switching subjects easily. "So far, it's over a hundred people listed."
"Oh, gods, do we even know that many people?" Hermione asked, biting back laughter.
"I doubt it. I mean, there's my family, there's Harry and Ron, there's probably Angelina and Katie, Fred and George's girlfriends," He added at her puzzled look, "And then there's your parents, and probably Claire for Charlie-related reasons, and that's it."
"What about me? Don't I get an invitation?" A voice from the table behind them asked.
Hermione looked up and Bill turned around, and both of them set eyes on Blaise Zabini, who was sitting there with a Butterbeer in his hands. He grinned and waved cheerfully, before taking a swig of his Butterbeer. Hermione blinked; it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, so he shouldn't be here, yet he was.
"Blaise, what are you doing here?" She asked.
"Drinking Butterbeer?" He tried.
"Oh no, you've got to come up with something better than that." Hermione shook her head.
"Oh alright; I snuck out since the exam-stress was killing me. It's not like you need to know about the secret entrance to Hogsmeade in the Slytherin 7th year boys' dorms anyway." He blinked, and looked suspiciously at the bottle in his hand, "I should not have said that. I wonder if this is really Butterbeer?"
"Yeah, anyway. What was that about an invitation?" Bill asked, grinning slightly.
"Well, I thought I deserved one, seeing as I am a friend of hers, and that an invitation is the least she can do when I just revealed a secret way out of school to her." Blaise said, trying to look innocent.
"Alright; you're in. It's gotta be better than some of the people Mum's trying to invite." Bill shrugged.
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." Blaise muttered, but there was a hint of laughter in his voice. "But you must really be something, Bill, since you got Hermione away from her studies without her hexing you. Alas, throwing her in the lake might not have been the best idea." He sighed.
"You threw her in the what?" Bill exclaimed.
"The lake. Don't' worry; she got out fine, it's pretty shallow." Blaise shrugged.
He finished his Butterbeer, threw a few coins on the table, stood up, winked and was gone. Bill gaped like a fish, before turning to Hermione again, who seemed to have trouble breathing through her giggles.
"Let me get this straight; he threw you in the lake?" Bill asked, trying to sound calm.
"Yes. Well, he and Ron and Harry, as a matter of fact. And Bill, they were only joking, don't take it too seriously." Hermione chuckled at his immediate instinct to protect her.
It was rather sweet. To think that she'd be his wife in only a few short months, when she last year couldn't even have imagined that she'd be his girlfriend, much less fiancée was overwhelming.
*****'
Bill walked her back after they'd spent an hour or two in Hogsmeade, and they discussed wedding plans. They decided to have the wedding as soon after graduation as possible, since everyone would probably go their separate ways airwards, and would be hard to get a hold of. The guest list was narrowed down considerably, to contain only the Weasley family, Harry, Claire, a few of the other Gryffindors and Blaise. And since Blaise was coming, so was his family. Even with all those people, the list was half the size it had been.
They reached Hogwarts, and started towards the library. They had only gotten halfway when they ran into Draco Malfoy and Twiddledee and Twiddledum, more commonly known as Crabbe and Goyle. He sneered at them.
"Well if it isn't the little Mudblood and her boyfriend." He taunted.
Bill raised an eyebrow at him.
"You have some nerve for someone two heads shorter than me." He said.
"Threatening me, are you?" Malfoy asked, still sneering.
"No, I'm just stating facts. If you want threats, that's fine by me." Bill narrowed his eyes, "If you ever call Hermione ´Mudblood´ again, I will hex you so bad that even your mother won't recognize you. If you ever look at her the wrong way again, I'll break every bone in your body. If you touch her, I'll go to Azkaban for putting you six feet under."
"How dare you?" Malfoy demanded, "How dare you threaten me like that? Don't you know who I am?"
Bill gave him a level glare, which actually made him cringe a bit.
"You're Lucius Malfoy's son, aren't you? Tell him and his cellmates' hello from me next time you see him." Bill smirked.
Malfoy sputtered, too infuriated to from coherent words. Bill grinned a bit, and even Hermione smiled, despite the fact that she was angry with Malfoy.
"Oooh, good one, Bill. I haven't seen him like that since Hermione's speech." Blaise commented, as he appeared just behind Malfoy.
"Hey, Blaise, just the person I wanted to see." Bill said.
"Really? Set the date, have you?" Blaise asked, eyes alight with interest.
"Yeah, we've set it at a week after graduation." Hermione told him.
"Wheee! I'll be there!" Blaise said, before skipping away merrily.
Bill, Hermione, and Malfoy looked after him uncertainly.
"Hermione, has Flitwick been letting you practise Cheering Charms today?" Bill asked.
"Nope. I think he had too much Butterbeer; I bet it's a sugar rush." Hermione shrugged.
"Makes sense. Come on, love, you've got an essay to finish and God help me if I keep you from it."
They walked off towards the library, leaving Malfoy to gape after them, before turning on his heels and marching after Blaise. Crabbe and Goyle were left standing in the corridor for a few minutes before they realized that Malfoy was gone. Then, they set out to look for him.
*****'
Ending Notes; Alright, Blaise was so far out of character that he almost came out on the other side. But I blame it on the sugar rush. So, anyway, important notes. I'm going away for a week, and then school starts, so updates will be a bit later in the coming than they have been.