Boom again!
"I was looking for you and I didn't know that Granger was in here. I was just about to leave, actually," Draco replied.
Blaise narrowed his eyes at him, skeptical, before resting his eyes on Hermione. She was exactly as he'd left her and she did indeed look a bit wide-eyed. It sounded reasonable enough, Blaise supposed, but after the last encounter with the three of them, it was safe to say that Blaise didn't trust Draco around Hermione at all.
"Hermione?"
"He just startled me, is all," she whispered, almost too quickly.
Blaise rested his eyes on her for what felt like a nerve-wracking amount of time, not completely satisfied with her response, before reluctantly looking at Draco.
"Right. I'm actually glad that you're here… I need to talk to you, anyway," Blaise said, gesturing for Draco to lead the way out.
Blaise sent Hermione a reassuring smile before closing the door behind them.
As soon as the two of them made it into the empty common room Blaise had cursed Draco, right in the back. The blond Slytherin flew over the couch and landed on his back, quite harshly.
Draco felt like the wind had just been knocked out of him and he pushed himself up to lean back on his elbows, glaring at his friend.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"You are what's wrong with me, Draco. You think I didn't notice that earlier? Am I just expected to believe that your foot was just resting there? You tripped her! You did that on purpose, and you know what? It wasn't the first time. You've been tormenting her, making her life hell," Blaise spat, walking towards Draco.
Draco scoffed, standing up and brushing himself off.
"I was just having a bit of fun. It's not like I'm serious…"
"You always were a shit liar."
Draco clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing at Blaise as he stepped towards him.
"What would you have me say then, Blaise? Hmm? You want me to say that she disgusts me? You want me to say that I can't fathom how you can even associate with her, never mind, fuck her?"
"I've already warned you," Blaise threatened.
"She's a filthy mud-."
The word didn't even have time to escape Draco's mouth before Blaise had him crashing into the table. Blaise twirled his wand in between his fingers, his other hand in his pocket as he slowly stepped towards Draco. He kneeled down beside the younger Malfoy as said wizard clutched his stomach, each breath triggering a sharp pain.
"That's my girlfriend you're talking about, Draco."
"You're a fool. She doesn't want you like you want her. You're my best mate and that's all that matters to her. She'll never see you as anything more than a fling because she knows that there's no future there," Draco spat.
Blaise clenched his jaw before standing up, delivering a swift kick to Draco's side.
"I think I'll take my chances," he hissed.
Draco couched, glaring up at Blaise.
"You're choosing her over me? I'm your best friend," Draco roared.
"That may be true, but she's much prettier and nicer than you'll ever be," Blaise threw out, turning around and leaving him there.
"Zabini and Malfoy are pretty close, right?"
Hermione looked up from the potion, completely thrown off by his question. What did he just say? It took her a second before she understood what Harry was referring to. She shook the intrusive images out of her head before finally answering.
"I suppose so… It's not like I would know, Harry," Hermione answered.
Harry looked across Slughorn's classroom to where the two topics of their discussion were, working on the potion like everyone else. He caught Zabini's eyes, and the dark skinned Slytherin glared at him, to which Harry gladly returned.
"I'm certain that professor Slughorn is planning one of his gatherings…"
Hermione frowned, far too focused on the task at hand to keep up.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. Everyone knows about the Slug Club," Harry whispered.
Hermione blinked in realization.
"What does this have to do with me…and Zabini?"
"It's quite obvious that Slughorn plans to invite you to probably every gathering and party he's having this year. He'd be mental not to. I have a hunch that Zabini might be considered as well," Harry continued.
Hermione paused before glancing up at him.
"Go on…"
"I just need you to listen out. Try and catch Zabini slip up or something. There's no way Slughorn is going to invite Malfoy. He doesn't want to associate with the likes of him and his family. Even if he isn't sure, he's not going to take the chance. Malfoy's name is bound to come up between them…"
"Why can't you do it?"
Hermione wasn't sure why this task was falling on her shoulders.
"What makes you think I'll even be considered, Hermione? My marks are average at best. I doubt Slughorn sees me as a good 'investment'," he replied.
Hermione stepped away from her cauldron, turning to fully face Harry now, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You're Harry Potter. You're the chosen one, our best shot and only hope at defeating…," Hermione glanced around before whispering "…Voldemort. Your name holds more weight than anyone's in the Wizarding World. You're honestly going to tell me that Slughorn isn't going to invest in you because of academics? Harry, please," she scoffed, turning back around.
"Well…when you put it like that," Harry said in realization.
Hermione suddenly remembered her conversation with Blaise, and she shuffled her feet.
"Besides, I don't think that resorting to spying on Zabini now is a good idea, anyway."
"Why not? It's Zabini…"
She looked up at him.
"Weren't you the one who was always so anti-Slytherin? I know he may seem tame, but he's Malfoy's best mate for a reason. What kind of person must you be to get along with that?"
Hermione flickered her eyes towards Malfoy and back. Harry pursed his lips, considering her advice. Hermione spoke nothing but the truth. It pained her to say so, but Blaise turned out to be no better than the rest of them. She had always thought that he was some kind of special to be able to put up with Malfoy. She had once thought him a genuine guy to be able to find good in someone like Malfoy.
What a joke, she mentally scoffed.
Never had she considered the reason they got on so well was because there wasn't much difference between them. It had never occurred to her that Blaise and Malfoy were two sides of the same coin. She was all too relieved when Slughorn dismissed class, a sudden pang of sadness hitting her.
"Hermione? You okay?"
Harry had noticed her sudden drop in mood. She threw him a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied.
Harry was skeptical, but he decided to let it slide. He grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers and giving her a soft, encouraging squeeze. They gathered their things and followed the rest of the students out of the classroom. They passed Blaise and Malfoy as they went, and Hermione forced the tears back as she walked away.
In just one night, what she and Blaise had, had been destroyed, and now it was like they never knew each other at all.
"You're helping Theodore Nott with Muggle Studies? Why is Nott even in Muggle Studies?"
"I don't know. It's not something that seemed important to ask, at the time," Hermione replied, stuffing her face.
"You know Harry's going to freak, right? He's so anti-Slytherin as of late, especially since the whole thing with Malfoy," Ginny added.
"Yeah, I know," Hermione sighed.
"Maybe…maybe your breakup happened at the right time. I mean, Harry and Ron were bound to find out, eventually and we both know that Harry would have no understanding," Ginny suddenly said.
Hermione swallowed, nodding in agreement, gazing out onto the school grounds.
"I miss him, Gin," Hermione suddenly whispered.
Ginny turned to look at Hermione, eyebrows furrowing in sympathy. She wrapped her arm around Hermione's shoulder.
"He did a terrible thing, Hermione. He put his friend before you. He made the choice, deciding that possibly losing you was worth the risk just to get his friend back. He sold you out, remember?"
Hermione nodded with a sigh.
"I know. I just…I keep replaying that awful conversation in my head. He insisted that it didn't go down like that. What if he's telling the truth?"
"…and what if he's not? What if he's just saying whatever it takes to get you into bed again?"
Hermione was tempted to respond that Blaise wasn't like that, but then she remembered what he did, recalling that she never expected something like that from him to begin with. She thought that she knew him, but it was clear that she didn't know him it all…
"You know what? Tell me about him," Ginny suddenly said.
Hermione frowned, glancing at the redhead.
"What?"
"You never told me about him. Tell me about…why you never saw this coming. Tell me what hooked Hermione Granger…"
Hermione glanced down with a frown, before looking up, eyes resting on the tree across from them.
"He's very…kind. He was always a gentleman, putting me first. He always did whatever it took to make me smile. He's also very understanding and…open minded. He knows all about my parents and my childhood and my life growing up as a muggle-born witch…"
Hermione chuckled.
"Do you know that I had to practically convince him to 'take advantage of me'? He was so adamant against shagging me at the top of the Astronomy tower, spouting about how I deserved better. It was cute…when it wasn't so darn frustrating. Here I was, just wanting to be desired, wanting to be…manhandled and he was afraid to even touch me. He was my first and despite what happened, I don't regret it. He made me feel desired, he always did. That was something that was never a question with him…"
"…I told him all about Ron. He was always more than happy to listen to my problems. To this day, I'll never understand that. Sometimes I don't even want to listen to my problems, Ginny. And…he's funny. You would never expect it, Merlin, I never expected it, but he's hilarious, Ginny. He knew exactly how to make me laugh, how to make me feel better…"
"He sounds…virtually perfect, Hermione."
"He was to me. Obviously he had his faults, but I accepted them. His constant excuse of his friend's behavior for one. I always thought that he clearly saw a side to him that I never did, but now I don't know. Maybe they're one and the same. Who knows," Hermione said with a shrug.
Ginny rubbed her arm.
"You know something else? He was…oddly jealous of Harry," Hermione suddenly said.
"How so?"
"He'd asked me on a few occasions were Harry and I ever…you know. The idea was preposterous to me, but he seemed to be convinced that there was something there on Harry's part," Hermione continued, recalling the first incident.
Hermione was swept up into his arms as soon as she rounded the corner. She held in her shriek, tightening her arms and legs around him as he spun her around. Her back lightly hit the wall, and he set her on her feet. She leaned up, pecking him on the lips.
"What's got you in such a great mood?"
Blaise chuckled, the sound a little off to her ears. She lightly frowned.
"Nothing, just…happy to see you," he said, leaning in and pressing his lips against hers.
Hermione reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and moaning as he deepened the kiss, his hands tightening on her waist. He pulled away and Hermione swayed on her feet, relieved that he was holding her up.
"You're really happy to see me," she joked.
Her smile faltered when he didn't return it and she frowned.
"What is it?"
Blaise looked troubled.
"Uh…why…why didn't you tell me that you and Potter were…like that?"
"Like what?"
Hermione's confusion grew, and Blaise gave her a meaningful look.
"You know…like that?"
Hermione's eyes widened as she caught on and she almost choked.
"Oh…no! What-. Blaise…what on earth would make you think that? No, seriously…"
Blaise reached up, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.
"You two were holding hands…"
Hermione chuckled.
"That's just something we do. He's like a brother to me," Hermione replied.
"Does he know that?"
"I'm…pretty sure he does. I'm also fairly certain that the feeling is mutual…"
"I…I don't know, Hermione. I'm pretty sure he's feeling something more," Blaise argued.
"Blaise…"
"I know that we aren't…really a thing. I just…if the two of you have ever-."
"We haven't. Our relationship is so far from what you're hinting at," she interrupted.
Blaise blinked, taking a deep breath before nodding.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Good, now-."
Hermione was interrupted by his kiss, his lips devouring hers with a fervor. She tightened her arms around his neck and his hands traveled to her backside, fingers digging into the flesh underneath her skirt. His lips traveled to her ear and he brushed his tongue against the skin.
"I want to be inside of you," he whispered.
Hermione shuddered and looked around.
"Blaise, we can't," she warned.
"We can…and we will. There's a broom closet right over there," he nodded his head.
She looked at him with wide eyes.
"You can't be serious…"
"It'll be fun. I need you…now," he huskily whispered against the skin of her neck.
Hermione threw her head back, allowing him to wrap her legs around his waist…
Hermione now realized what that had been about. She shook her head.
"He always wanted more from me. He never did like it when I called what we had a fling. It rubbed him the wrong way," Hermione said.
"I don't get it. It's like he did a complete one-eighty," Ginny wondered.
Maybe he had been telling the truth when he told Hermione that there was more to the story. Maybe he hadn't just handed her off like a prized possession. Ginny couldn't correlate the man that Hermione was telling her about to the man who had handed her over to his best friend like a silver platter. However, she wasn't going to voice these doubts to Hermione. She didn't need to hear that, right now.
Hermione walked past the rows and rows of books towards the restricted section, where she and Nott had agreed to meet. Hermione was still incredibly cautious where Nott was concerned, but had concluded that there was no way that Nott knew a thing. He'd simply been Malfoy's messenger boy. Still, he was known to hang around them, so she wasn't letting her guard down just yet.
She slowly walked down the aisles, gazing at the titles as she went. There was no harm in looking while she waited…
She reached up, running her fingers along the spines of the books when a hand came down over hers, halting her movement.
"That's incredibly dangerous. Some of these books are cursed, you know," a low voice murmured into her hair.
Hermione stiffened, closing her eyes as he pressed his chest to her back, the familiar feel of him stirring up something within her.
"Simply looking out for your safety, is all…"
"Where is Nott?"
"Hmm? Oh, Teddy? He's not coming. He had a…prior engagement."
"Is this your way of fighting for me? Cornering me in the restricted section like some stalker," she hissed, barely above a whisper.
"This is me taking advantage of an opportunity that Nott was so gracious to give me. I told you that I'm going to fight for you. You mean the world to me, Hermione," Blaise whispered.
She shoved her way from in between him and the bookshelf.
"I don't have to listen to anything you say," she spat, not even sparing a glance at him as she rounded the corner.
She immediately halted, stumbling back as the tall figure came around the corner, blocking her path. Her heart sped up as she realized that she was cornered. She glared at Malfoy as he leaned against the shelf, one foot in front of the other and his arms crossed over his chest. He stared down at her with a slight smirk gracing his lips and Hermione felt Blaise's hands come up to rest on her shoulders.
"Now…about that talk…"
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