Chapter 5 - Explanations
"So, now that you've spent a small fortune on my ring and acquired a whole new wardrobe, is there anything else that you wish to do today, kind sir," Blaise asked with a smirk.
"Yes, oh cheeky one, I do. If you can restrain yourself from boredom for another half an hour I would like to head over to Magical Menagerie and pick up two pets that I ordered last time I was in the alley."
"I didn't even know you could special order things. I thought it was you get what you see kind of store to me."
"Not everything is as it seems," Harry said. "I can tell by the look on your face that you want to know more but I can't say right now. Trust me when I say that it will be explained when I tell you about my money situation."
As they made their way to the Magical Menagerie Harry remembered his discussion with Dumbledore about his birthday. He figured that now was as good a time to ask her as any, so Harry began by saying, "Blaise? You know my birthday is on the 31st and I was wondering if you wanted me to spend it with you or not?"
Blaise stopped and took a moment before saying, "Yeah, I think I would like that, and it'll be a good opportunity to spend more time together and for you to meet my parents."
Harry swallowed audibly. "Isn't the first date a bit soon to be bringing your parents into this?"
"No more so than buying an engagement ring on the first date," Blaise retorted, laughing. "Don't look like death is on your heals, Harry," she missed the dark look that briefly flashed in his eyes. "My parents are nice. I think you'll like them as long as you can survive the interrogation," She finished playfully.
At this Harry gulped knowing that this would have to happen but was hoping that it wouldn't be so soon. Deciding to put it past him for now and tried to act as playful as she seemed to be acting. He couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he had never though a Slytherin could act silly and be good company.
"Seeing as I have no choice in the matter can I add a stipulation to this?" Harry pleaded.
"I don't see why not; as long as it's within reason."
"Come with me to my house this afternoon after we get the pets?"
Blaise just smiled and nodded as they had finally reached the Magical Menagerie. He held the door open for her and she strolled in casually. The man behind the counter recognized Harry instantly and gushed with obvious pride in his work, "Ah it is nice to see you again Mr. Potter give me a second while I go retrieve the griffins that you requested."
Blaise turned an incredulous look aimed at Harry. He said pets, not griffins. Who the hell has griffins as pets? 'Harry Potter, that's who.' She mentally shook herself before asking the obvious question. "Griffins are the pets that you got?"
"Of course, that's what the man said obviously. Jeez, sweetie, are you losing your hearing already? I thought you had at least another ten or fifteen years before that happened."
He dodged her hand swatting his arm and decided to answer honestly. "I wanted to have pets that could not only take care of themselves but also be added security for us. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't attract the best attention all the time. Anyways, everything will make sense later on this afternoon. That's why I wanted you to come over. There are several things that you need to know about me and my life and I'd like to know some more about you too."
The man returned carrying two baskets, each one holding a golden griffin.
"Here you go Mr. Potter it has been a pleasure doing business with you. The basket in your hand is the male and the basket your lady friend has is the female. If you ever need anything feel free to stop by and see me."
"Actually there is one thing I would like to do. Since they are obviously going to need food quite often and it would be nearly impossible to come to the alley every time they run out of it, is there any way I can arrange to have a house elf get the food and have it charged to my account?"
"Of course, I just need you to sign this parchment and write your vault number on it and I will get this sent off to Gringotts."
"Thank you, sir. Have a nice day," Harry said as he and Blaise took their new pets and made their way back to the Leaky and the floo hub. He pulled out a tattered piece of parchment that he had asked Dumbledore for and handed it to Blaise. She read the secret that was written on the parchment before Harry ignited it in the fireplace and told her to floo to the address she had just seen.
With a flash of green flames Blaise disappeared with the basket holding, the newly named Lily, in her arms. Harry soon followed with, the also newly named James, and hoped that Blaise had arrived safely. He threw the floo powder in and shouted, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place," before the world spun and he was thrown out of the other end of the floo network.
When he stepped out of the fire place he saw Blaise waiting for him along with Lily. Harry had wanted to name their griffins after his mom and dad as a way to honor them. They once protected his life with their own and now their new protectors would bare their name too.
"So, this is where you're staying for the summer? How is it that you came to live in a place that is so obviously designed by a Slytherin?" Blaise asked as she took Lily out of the basket and held her in her arms.
"Just to let you know, this may take awhile. Would you like something to drink before we get started?" Harry asked as he picked up James and sat down in a chair.
Blaise shook her head no as she took the chair across from Harry. "I know this is going to sound kind of rude but I ask that you look at it from my view. I would like a witches' oath that you won't repeat anything you hear here today. The information that you are about to get is highly secretive in nature. I am only considering telling you because we are going to be married and a marriage cannot work without trust. Only two or three others know this information in its entirety." Harry seemed slightly nervous asking for such an invasive promise from someone he had only known for a few hours. He squashed the nervousness by knowing the fact that if their marriage had any chance of working then they needed to trust each other. Not to mention, she had the right to know what she was getting into. What her future was.
Blaise frowned thoughtfully before setting Lily on the ground to explore the house, "I'm not sure I understand why everything requires that much secrecy but if I want to know then I need to make the oath. I'll take your word for it for now and maybe I'll understand after you're finished. Why don't you let James down and get acquainted with Lily and the house."
Harry smiled at this before putting down James to let him wander the room before he turned back to Blaise and said, "Well it all started just before school ended when…" Slowly Harry told her about the Department of Mysteries, how Sirius died, and the will reading. How he discovered that he is the heir of Gryffindor, the richest wizard in the world, how he was able to get Lily and James, the property that he now owned, the whole story of Sirius, and about Remus and how he was living here with Harry.
Blaise just sat there and listened to everything that Harry told her. A lot of it was a shock to her but then again some of it made sense. It explained why he didn't care about the money that he spent, why he was able to get a griffin as a pet for their protection, and the marriage contract for that matter.
Before Blaise could say anything Remus walked into the room and found Blaise and Harry, sitting in the sitting room and the two griffins wandering around. "Hello Harry, Blaise, nice to see you again, I hope that you two have had a good afternoon so far."
"Yes we have Remus; I just finished telling her some important things," Harry said with a smile on his face. He then turned back to Blaise and smiled before saying, "Hey why don't you put on your ring so we can have it fit properly."
Blaise silently reached into the bag and put the ring on, letting Harry tap it twice with his wand to have it shrink slightly for a snug fit. "May I just say that is a beautiful engagement ring Blaise; I don't think I have ever seen another ring with a yellow diamond before."
"Thank you Professor Lupin," Blaise blushed." I mean at first I wasn't sure about getting it but well… Harry convinced me to get it. I didn't want him to spend too much of his money at first but well I guess that wasn't a problem in the end." She almost wanted to curse herself for sounding so much like a giddy school girl.
Remus nodded with a knowing smile, "I'm glad that Harry knows a person's happiness is more important than money, and I'm not your professor anymore so call me Remus."
"Ok," Blaise said with more confidence than she felt. "So, what time is it anyways, I mean when we were in Diagon Alley we didn't really pay attention to time."
Harry just smiled at the comment before looking at his watch and saying, "It is 4:30 right now. Why? What time do you have to head for home?"
"Oh… I told my parents that I would be home at 6:00 for dinner so I have some time to spend here, that is if you want me to be here," Blaise asked clearly unsure of whether or not Harry wanted to spend any more time with her.
"Of course I want to spend some more time with you… I mean why wouldn't I want to spend time with the girl that I'm going to marry? All we've talked about since we got back here is doom and gloom. I think we could use some more interesting conversations now," Harry said with a bemused expression on his face.
Blaise's face brightened a little at these words, she couldn't help but think that this is definitely not the side of Harry Potter most people get to see. He always plays the brooding hero role at school. "Well then what do you want to do till I have to leave?"
"How about I give you a tour of the house and we spend some quality time with Lily and James," Harry said offering her a hand. "Come on lets go through the house," Blaise took his hand without a second thought. "See you at dinner Moony."
As Moony watched Harry, Blaise, and their two griffins, Lily and James, go through the door he couldn't help but think Harry had grown up so much from the first time he first met him. It's nice though to finally see him look happy.'
Harry spent the about half of their remaining time showing Blaise the rest of the house before the two of them went into Harry's bedroom with their new pets.
After thinking for a moment Blaise finally asked, "Harry, why do you have a training room? I mean I know that you are legally emancipated but it looks like you have been practicing dueling."
"That's because I have been practicing dueling as well as other spells this summer, and I have also been getting into better physical shape as well," said Harry with a small chuckle before adding "Well I want to be in the best possible shape for… well I'll tell you why eventually."
"Awfully Slytherin of you isn't it?" said Blaise. "I mean who would have thought that the golden boy would be learning how to take on almost anyone head on… wait a minute…"
Before she could go any further Harry said, "Hey I want to be able to protect my family from anybody and as long as I can still breathe I mean to do exactly that. Still it wasn't for any reason that I wasn't almost sorted into Slytherin."
"Sure could have fooled me especially from what I heard about your date with Cho Chang last year," Blaise said with a smirk.
"Yeah, well even though I screwed that up it still doesn't mean that I didn't learn from that experience," Harry said as he picked up Lily and placed her on a pillow. Then he placed James on another pillow before saying, "So, you know about my experiences with girls. What about you? Did you have any boyfriends before?"
Blaise blushed slightly at this, a far contrast from the way she normally appeared in school. "Well… no. I mean I concentrated more on succeeding in class so that I could have a career and the guys in Slytherin aren't worth my time."
"Well… I guess that explains why I have overheard the guys from Slytherin calling you the Ice Queen. I mean if they aren't worth your time why bother… so does that mean that I'm worth your time," Harry asked with a small smile on his face.
Blaise gave a small smile at this before saying, "Maybe… but that means I expect more from you then from other guys. Like showing that you are better then those who attack you and of course showing me how important I am to you."
As she was speaking Harry slowly moved closer to her and just as she finished he leaned into her and a soft kiss. This gave Harry a warm feeling as he felt Blaise respond to him, a much better experience then his kiss with Cho had been.
He slowly pulled away and smiled as he looked into her eyes which were sparkling. It definitely gave him a warm feeling to see her looking so happy. "So I'm going to guess that since you haven't had a boyfriend before that I just gave you your first kiss."
Blaise blushed before saying, "Yes… it was my first kiss. I never thought… that you would be so bold Harry."
"Well I thought that I should at least make it something that you would remember because you deserve it," Harry said with a smile on his face.
They spent the rest of their time together with Blaise leaning against Harry, while he had his arms wrapped around her waist. Most of the time they were just talking about what they were should be doing when they were at school and how they should act around each other. They also talked about seeing each other, and aside from Harry spending the day at the Zabini manor for his birthday, he let Blaise know she could stop by most days as long as it was after 5:30 at night or not on Monday evenings so that way he was finished with his training.