A Lunch Date with Fate
Author's Note: Reviews are good. Please and thank you.
"You're kidding me, right?" Ginny said in disbelief, staring at her brother's girlfriend, Hermione Granger, over the two-person table. Hermione was clutching her coffee with unnatural force.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Hermione asked, slightly panicked.
"But what about Ron?" Ginny wondered.
"I haven't told him yet." Hermione looked down into her almost empty coffee cup.
"You're not going to dump him, are you?"
Hermione's head snapped up and she looked at her friend with surprised eyes. "Of course not, Ginny! Ron and I have been dating for a year! Do you really think a little lunch invitation is going to make me drop him on the spot?"
"But you don't love him, do you?" said Ginny quietly, feeling sorry for her brother.
"I—" Hermione's voice faltered. "We've been dating for a year," she repeated.
"I don't think its right of you to lead him on. He loves you, you know."
Hermione hung her head. "I know," she nearly whispered.
"And he's not going to be happy that you're going to lunch with Zabini."
"Blaise and I have been over for years," Hermione said, her voice implying that Ginny was implying that she would cheat on Ron.
"You know how you are when you're with him," Ginny stressed. "You never fall out of your first love."
Hermione couldn't argue with this. "That was a long time ago. I bet he's married now. Not that I'm looking for anything but a lunch," she added hastily.
"Just keep Ron in mind while you eat with your first love, Hermione. I think you should dump him, but please let him down easy; he's rather sensitive when it comes to you." And with that as her final statement, Ginny threw a two-pound coin onto the table and swept from her chair, leaving Hermione to worry all on her own.
"Ron, I've something to tell you," Hermione said nervously as she and her boyfriend walked through the streets of Wizarding London.
"What is it, Hermione?" Ron asked, entwining his fingers with hers. He half hoped that she would tell him she was pregnant; anything that would bring them closer together. Hermione had seemed so distant lately.
Hermione swallowed hard before she spoke. "I ran into someone the other day at a meeting. An old classmate of ours, actually."
"Who was it?" Ron asked. He was in high spirits, as he usually was when he was around Hermione. She always put him in a better mood.
"Blaise Zabini," Hermione replied, trying to act nonchalant. "He invited me out to lunch tomorrow to catch up."
But Ron wasn't as unaffected by this as Hermione hoped he would be. He dropped her hand, stopped walking, and turned to look at her, mouth agape. "I cannot believe that you said yes!" he exclaimed.
"Ron, you really shouldn't be upset. It's just lunch."
"With your ex-boyfriend!" Ron countered. "Hermione, I know how you felt for this bloke and I don't want you going out to lunch with him!"
"I've already promised I would go with him, Ronald, and you can't tell me what to do!" In a way, Hermione was hoping that Ron would break up with her over this. She felt it would be much easier if Ron was the one to end the relationship. "We had something while we were in school. I haven't even spoken to him for three years. I'm sorry, but you cannot stop be from going to see him."
Unfortunately for Hermione, Ron merely grumbled his displeasure of this fact. She was going to have to break up with him some other way. Ginny was right: it wasn't fair to either of them that she was leading him on.
She was nervous as she stepped into the café in her new casual dress, matching purse slung over her shoulder. She and Blaise hadn't spent any time together in three years and their last meeting had consisted of love-making and teary goodbyes. However, she found she was very much looking forward to seeing Blaise. She had only seen him for a few moments at the Ministry meeting she had attended last week, and they only spoke long enough fro him to ask her out to lunch.
She found a sharply dressed Blaise Zabini already seated and alternating his gaze from the café door down to this menu. When his eyes found Hermione he shot her a genuine smile and he stood.
The nervousness was quickly leaking out of Hermione as she sat down at the table. "Hello Blaise," she said, finding herself smiling back at him. "This is a nice place for a lunch."
"Its one of my favorite places to go for lunch," said Blaise. An awkward silence followed. Blaise broke it by saying," So fill me in on the past three years. Did you go for your teaching certification?"
"Of course I did," Hermione said. "You know that was the thing I wanted most. I'm currently apprenticing at a summer school for magical students who want to take extra classes."
"Who wants to take extra classes on holiday?" Blaise asked. His eyes were as deep brown as Hermione remembered them.
"A lot of people, actually," she fired back indignantly. "We've got plenty of students." She realized then that they had only said a few sentences to one another and they had already fallen back into their normal attitudes. This was slightly unnerving. "What about you? What does your job consist of these days?"
"I'm doing some traveling for the Ministry," said Blaise. "International ministry cooperation. There are quite a few tussles between countries."
"That sounds fascinating," said Hermione sincerely.
"I knew you'd think so," Blaise said, sounding thoroughly amused. "I feel like it's been so long since I saw you, Hermione."
"I know," Hermione said. She smiled nostalgically. "The last time I saw you was graduation." At the mention of their last encounter, Hermione blushed slightly.
"That certainly was a night to remember," Blaise commented, taking a sip out from the water glass in front of him. He smirked at her playfully. "How's your love life these days, Hermione? Dating Weasley yet?"
"Yes," said Hermione reproachfully.
"I knew it was coming," he shrugged. "Weasley's loved you for years."
Of course, Ginny was right. Hermione's feelings for Blaise had blossomed once again as the lunch had progressed. Blaise had matured in the past three years, though his old charm was still there. And it was that charm that had won Hermione over a second time. Thus, she returned to her flat in a happy daze.
And this routine was repeated for four lunches. Each afternoon reminded her more and more of why she had been in love with Blaise back when they were at Hogwarts.
Blaise was extremely easy to talk to and he now knew of everything that was currently going on in Hermione's life. They both confided in each other easily, as they had done three years ago. He knew that she didn't love Ron, how she missed Harry while he was away, and how she was fighting with her parents. He, in turn, told her about the stress of his job, how he was getting sick of traveling so much, how he didn't talk to his parents anymore, and how he couldn't keep a girlfriend.
One night, a few weeks into their new friendship, he asked her out for dinner. When she left the restaurant, she decided that she needed to brake up with Ron: her feelings for Blaise were increasing. She returned home deep in thought. When she opened the front door to her flat, she was surprised to find that her lights were on and Ron was sitting on her couch.
"Ron," she said, catching her breath from the scare. He stood up from the sofa as she closed the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"
"Is something wrong, Hermione?" he asked gently. Hermione walked over to him.
"What do you mean, Ron?" she wondered.
He leaned forward and kissed her. Hermione wished she could have felt something, anything, in that kiss, but she didn't. Still, she let it linger on until Ron pulled away. "Hermione, I love you."
"I know," said Hermione quietly. She put her hands on his waist and made a move to kiss him again, but he turned his head.
"I get it, Hermione, its okay." Extracting himself from her grip, he left the flat in silence. As soon as the door closed behind him, Hermione collapsed into tears. Even though she didn't love him and she had been waiting for this moment for weeks, the sadness and hurt leaking from Ron and the realization that this could be the end of her friendship made her cry.
She hated to admit it to herself right now, but she needed to call Blaise.