A/N: Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews. My coffee cup thanks you. It makes me feel awesomeato Thanks, dd( )
Disclaimer: duh
"Well? What is so frickin' important that I need to know?"
"Trust."
"Eh?" That doesn't make any sense.
"Trust. According to Witch Weekly, trust is the number one most important thing to women in a relationship." Trust Blaise to know that shit.
"Okay. So what?"
"Well, you've got to get Hermione to trust you again."
"What do you propose I do? Walk up to her at her desk at the Ministry and tell her my deepest, darkest secrets?"
"No. That's just stupid."
Draco sighed in frustration. "Well, what do I do then?"
"It's kind of like working with giants." What the fuck?
"What? You aren't making any sense."
"Giants, stupid. You don't just walk up to them and say, 'Hey, how's it going, will you be my friend?' You show them you can be trusted. Take things one step at a time." Blaise felt like he was talking to a three year old.
"Okay. So how do I do that?"
"First, you need to find her."
"That's easy, she's at work."
Blaise sighed. "Are you really going to walk into the Ministry and present yourself to the entire Auror Department?" What an idiot.
"Well, now that you mention it..."
"Where does she go after work?"
"She likes to go sit in the Muggle area of London and have a cup of coffee. It's about, oh, fifteen kilometers from the Ministry. She gets a tall Irish Latte, double cream, and a custard-filled Long John."
Blaise was impressed. Draco had to be nuts over this chick; he barely remembered what he liked to eat most of the time. "What time does she get off work?"
"I don't know. Probably about 11:00 p.m."
"Go to her there. Take something with you. A flower, or a book, or some bath oil, or, now that I think of it, maybe all three. No, that'd be overkill; just the flower for now. What kind of flowers does she like?"
"Um, yellow roses."
"Yellow?"
Draco shrugged. "She's not your average woman. She can actually walk and chew gum at the same time." Blaise looked impressed. (A/N: This is Draco and Blaise we're talking about. They're used to women like Pansy.) "As a matter of fact, she became the youngest Auror in 137 years about a year ago."
"Well, there you go. There's your reason for stopping in to see her."
"What?"
"Tell her you hadn't had a chance to bring her an anniversary present. Chicks are big on anniversaries, too. If work is as important to her as you say, she'll be touched that you remembered. She'll also be touched that you remembered her favorite flower."
Draco pondered this. It sounded really, really stupid.
"Blaise, that sounds really, really stupid."
"Well, can't say I didn't try to help. I am the expert, after all." Draco scowled up at him. "Why do you think I read those books? For my health?"
"Yes, actually. I thought they got your heart pounding." At this, Blaise actually flushed a little bit.
"Are you going or what?"
Draco stood up, threw a few Sickles on the table, and left without another word. Blaise grinned.
XXXXX
Hermione shuffled a few papers into place, reviewing what had happened at Grimmauld Place. She was waiting for Dumbledore, and wanted to make sure she remembered every detail of what happened. Well, almost every detail. She couldn't get the memory of Draco's hands wrapped around her waist out of her head. She could still feel the warmth and gentleness when he helped her out the window. Well, forget about it. He was doing it to save his own neck. It just didn't seem like a good enough answer, though. If he was with Death Eaters, why on Earth would he not only let, but help her get away? Something wasn't right.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the wizened old face above hers. Dumbledore smiled gently and sat down across from Hermione.
"I take it things didn't go so well." It was a statement, not a question. How in hell does he know this stuff?
"No, Pro-Albus." It still felt very, very wrong to call him by his first name. She'd been struggling with it for nearly three years now. It was stupid, but, well, he was so much older than she, and it was hard.
"What happened?"
"Well, I got there and went up to the room and found the object. I had just put it in my cloak pocket when I heard voices down in the hall. Mrs. Black's portrait woke up, so I couldn't hear what was being said, but I was trying to find a way out. Draco Malfoy and some other guy, I don't remember his name, but he went to Hogwarts with me, helped me get out the window. Unfortunately, my cloak got stuck, and I forgot the object in Grimmauld Place." Okay, so she didn't go into details, but she gave him the general idea of what had gone on.
"I see. Is there anything else of importance?"
"Yes, actually. I knew before they opened the door that one of them was Malfoy; I recognized his aura. The other guy, though... He was strange. His aura didn't have even a trace of green. It was a deep, deep blue, almost purple, and it was completely solid. No flecks, no stripes, no pattern, just solid. He certainly doesn't have the aura of a Death Eater. I just can't figure out why he was there." Hermione's forehead drew into a deep frown.
"Was this man on the taller side, with dark hair and fair eyes?"
"Yes, actually. Why?"
"His name is Blaise Zabini, and he works with us at the Order."
Hermione's jaw fell open. "Wha?"
"At Hogwarts, he was a Slytherin. The Sorting Hat had a difficult time with him. It was either Ravenclaw or Slytherin, and he told the Hat that he would do anything to get some respect, to even be acknowledged. It was his thirst to prove himself that placed him in Slytherin, Hermione. He had a poor home life growing up; parents that wanted him to measure up to their standards. No matter how hard he tried, there was always something wrong about him. When he came home excited from school one day and told his parents he had told the teacher something that the teacher didn't even know, he was beaten and locked in his room for a week because he had tried to 'upstage his betters'. He was only eight years old."
Hermione was stunned. If I had children, I would never... but that wasn't to be. She had left her husband and had no plans to ever see him again, let alone jump in the sack and have crazy sex. Besides, as a Death Eater, he had a lot of power and might somehow manage to take her child, bring it up, and turn it evil. It was something she could never do. She could never condemn a precious, innocent being to a lifetime of evil and hate.
"Okay, well, that explains that." Hermione sighed and wiggled her toes. She looked at her clock. It was really quite an amazing clock. It had four hands, each encrusted with a different gemstone. It also had the magical version of Indiglo (whatever that is) so she could see it night or day. It also responded to questions such as 'Is it lunchtime yet?' or 'Where did the time go?' which made things easier on Hermione. She smiled at it and asked, "Is it time to go home yet?" The long arm, encrusted with a ruby, whipped around the face and landed on the 11:00 position, telling her it was.
She stood up and stretched, sighing. "Well, A-albus, I'll see you when I see you." Dumbledore smiled and bid her a good evening.
Hermione reached for her cloak then realized it was still at Grimmauld Place. Screw it. It's not that cold out. I'll get it tomorrow. With that settled in her mind, she pushed her chair into her desk, grabbed her favorite Muggle book, Interview With the Vampire, and left to go get a coffee.
A/N: Well, that's that, and it's done. It's a little longer than my others, I think, and I didn't even have a hard time stretching it out. Well, happy day! Yay for Me! You know the drill.
-Kat
