Hermione was just about to head off for work the next morning when she was surprised by McGonagall appearing in the kitchen.

"Ms Granger, a word?" McGonagall said regally. Hermione nodded and followed McGonagall into a smaller side room that had previously been used as a study by former occupants.

"Yes?" Hermione asked expectantly.

"A young Mr. Zabini has approached the Order of the Phoenix requesting to join our ranks."

"Ah, yes, he said he might," Hermione nodded. McGonagall smiled tightly.

"Harry and Ginny have already expressed their enthusiasm for his admission, but I wanted to speak to you about it too."

"Oh!" Hermione said, a little surprised, "Well he is certainly very bright and a very decent guy."

"But he is a former Slytherin. With many connections to Death Eaters and their family members."

"Yes," Hermione said carefully, "But so was Snape… surely it will be to our advantage to have someone in our ranks who is so well connected?"

McGonagall made a humming noise. "Do you trust him, Hermione?" she said, fixing Hermione with a serious look.

Hermione hesitated, "I… I think he's a good guy… But I haven't known him for very long." McGonagall nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Very well, we will table the application until you are satisfied he is trustworthy."


When Hermione arrived at work, Blaise was waiting for her expectantly, early in the bullpen as usual.

"So, have they let me in?" he asked eagerly.

"Erm, not yet," Hermione said uncomfortably, "I didn't know you had already applied!"

"Well, I'm just eager to help the cause," Blaise said with a large grin.

"Oh, right," Hermione said vaguely. She was a little thrown by just how intense Blaise was about getting into the Order. Something seemed a little bit off about it, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

"I know," Blaise said suddenly, "A Slytherin who has some dodgy mates, its hard to trust. But I swear I'll earn your trust, Hermione."

Hermione was thrown. Was Blaise a legimens? But he smiled at her so easily she soon found herself relaxing.

"So we find out if we're getting fast tracked with training today," Hermione said with a smile, leaning against her desk.

"How about a wager then. If we both get in, you go on another date with me," Blaise said with a cheeky grin and a wink, "I promise no Goyle this time." Hermione laughed. There was something undeniably charming about the boy.

"Fine," she grinned, turning back to her work at her desk. Blaise hummed his approval and swung himself out of the room to fetch a coffee. She wasn't attracted to Blaise, but she did really enjoy his company. And it wasn't the worst thing in the world making Fleur jealous, Hermione smirked. And who knows? Perhaps attraction could grow over time.

Hermione sighed and turned to her chart, where a light spiderweb of connections was beginning to expand. Where to start with Death Eater connections? Taking inspiration from Blaise's joke about their date, she made a small circle around a family to the side of the chart: the Goyle's.

Harry had not long arrived at work when their supervisor came into the bullpen and cleared his throat, gesturing for the trainee aurors in the room to get up from their desks and follow him into the common area in the next room.

"I've got the names here of the trainees we've selected to take into the fast-track programme," the scruffy supervisor said, producing a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket.

"As you would probably guess, the top of the class making it in is a no brainer… so congratulations Harry!"

The small group gave a smattering of applause as Harry beamed. The supervisor continued, naming a young woman who had shown a lot of promise, before getting to the next name on his list.

"Zabini, you're another one who's shown incredible promise and a ferocity for learning. You're in."

Blaise hi-fived Harry and beamed. Hermione mouthed her congratulations. She was a little concerned now, she wasn't sure the over-achiever in her could take the others being placed in an advanced course without her.

"And last but not least… You've not been here long, from taking down corruption in a Ministry department to duelling an attacker in the atrium, it's a guarantee that you've got what it takes. That combined with your book smarts is gonna make you one helluva auror. Congratulations, Hermione Granger!"

Harry let out a whoop and clapped Hermione on the shoulder. With that, the trainee aurors headed back into the bullpen.

They had not long sat down at their desks when a small gaggle of more senior aurors entered the bullpen to settle in for some paperwork. Hermione instantly recognised Tonks and Fleur in the fold, speaking closely. Hermione's cheeks pinked a little, wondering if Fleur had told Tonks about the night they had finally given in and had sex with each other.

Tonks and Fleur spotted Hermione and made their way over.

"Wotcher," Tonks greeted as her and Fleur approached Hermione's desk and pulled up chairs. Fleur sat uncomfortably close beside her, whereas Tonks opted for the chair on the other side of the desk.

"Did you guys make it into the fast-track training?" Tonks asked, kicking her feet up on the desk.

"We all did," Blaise said, appearing beside the desk, "Me, Hermione and Harry."

"And who are you?" Fleur asked, rather rudely. Hermione suppressed a smile.

"Blaise Zabini," Blaise said with a wide smile, holding out his hand. Fleur didn't take it, instead regarding him with an arrogant face tinged with disdain. Tonks smiled, watching the interaction carefully.

"He's a friend of ours," Hermione explained.

"And soon to be in the Order," Blaise said intently. Tonks and Fleur exchanged glances, forever reluctant to discuss the Order with non-members. Blaise seemed to pick up on this.

"Anyway, I just came over to confirm our next date, Hermione," Blaise said with a grin. Hermione couldn't help but notice Tonks' eyebrows raise so high they were lost in her hairline and Fleur's eyes narrow slightly.

"Sure," Hermione said, grinning at the effect it was having on Fleur. The grin almost completely fell off her face as she felt Fleur's hand, hidden by the desk, slide up her thigh.

"So sometime this week?" Blaise asked, oblivious. Hermione tried to ignore Fleur's hand creeping further up her thigh.

"Erm, uh… yep… sure, haha," Hermione babbled awkwardly, earning a confused look from Blaise, who simply nodded and left.

Hermione turned to shoot a glare at Fleur who smiled with faux innocence as she removed her hand from Hermione's thigh. Tonks watched this interaction, amused.

"You two are unbelievable," Tonks muttered, "Just give in already."

"I believe we were here for a purpose," Fleur interrupted sternly. Tonks nodded.

"We're here to ask if you need any investigation in the field to help with your Death Eater project," Tonks said in a hushed tone. Hermione looked intrigued.

"Well… yes, that would certainly help with some of these Slytherin connections," she responded, unfurling her chart again to eye it up.

"I can investigate that Zabini boy," Fleur said darkly, looking across the room at Blaise sitting at a desk. Tonks smirked.

"Yeah, you two don't have any feelings for each other at all…" Tonks said sarcastically. Hermione and Fleur both shot her a glare.

"Actually, I was thinking of starting with the Goyle family," Hermione said quietly, pointing at her circled part of the chart, "Gregory Goyle mentioned his father is a Death Eater, could be a good place to start to weed out more connections."

Tonks nodded, "We can befriend him and get it out of him. We can try out our new 'everywhere at once' routine," she added with a chuckle.

"What's that?" Hermione said with a quirked eyebrow. Tonks chuckled and got to her feet, coming to stand behind Fleur's chair. Within a moment, Tonks had morphed into the spitting image of Fleur and Hermione was looking at two Fleurs. Tonks-Fleur wrapped her arms around Fleur-Fleur from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. Hermione blushed hotly at the sudden invasion of an image of two Fleurs in bed with her before shaking her head.

"Oh my, Monsieur, we seem to keep running into each other," Tonks said in a terrible fake French accent.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "don't tell me that actually works."

"One way to find out," Fleur said with a smirk. Tonks morphed back into her usual self, releasing Fleur who also stood up.

"We'll let you know what we find out," Tonks said quietly, tapping her nose. Hermione nodded.

"Au revoir," Fleur purred in her delectable French accent, following Tonks out of the room. Hermione couldn't help but stare at the blonde as she left.


The next week went much the same as the previous had. Hermione went out on an enjoyable, but no less platonic, date with Blaise, before fooling around with Fleur at night.

Fleur and Tonks were still working on tailing the Goyle's but had yet to find any information of value yet.

Harry, Hermione and Blaise began their fast-tracked training, which proved to be challenging but rewarding. They would soon be able to qualify to go on their own field work.

And so the next few weeks progressed, Hermione continuing to go on dates with Blaise, continuing to give in to her desires for Fleur at night, and continuing to progress with her training. Fleur and her were still at a stalemate, neither wanting to be the first to admit that they enjoyed what was going on between the two of them. But one thing Hermione had noticed, to her surprise, was that now they were regularly sleeping together, their arguments had all but disappeared. Hermione wondered if the reason they had always rubbed each other the wrong way had been sexual tension all along… but tried not to think about it. The whole development was still very confusing to her.

"You've got a real spring in your step these days, Hermione," Ginny commented one evening as they sat around Grimmauld place sharing wines, "Things going that well with Blaise?"

Fleur smirked smugly across the room and Hermione tried to ignore her. They were still competitive enough that Hermione didn't want Fleur to get any satisfaction out of being the reason for her brightened mood of late.

"Erm, could be," Hermione said evasively, "Although, I just don't know if there's anything really there between us." She caught Tonks out of the corner of her eye elbowing Fleur, who swatted her with an irritated look.

"Oh come on, you've been seeing each other for weeks now," Ginny pushed. Thankfully, Ron chose this moment to interrupt with his latest Quidditch World Cup gossip, which swiftly turned the focus of the conversation.

"Are you ever going to tell Ginny about what is going on between us?" Fleur said quietly, when they were shut in their room later that night.

"And what is going on between us, Fleur?" Hermione said, turning to the blonde with a hand on her hip.

"Something is going on," Fleur said vaguely, her expression unreadable. Hermione felt the old irritation at Fleur rising up again.

"What exactly though, Fleur? Is there something going on to warrant ending things with Blaise?" she said waspishly, challenging the blonde. Fleur looked uncomfortable.

"You're not attracted to him like you're attracted to me!" Fleur blurted with exasperation. Hermione sighed. This was how it always went. They were able to admit their mutual attraction, they were able to admit to jealousy, but when it came close to admitting feelings could be growing between them, there was still the old stalemate.

"Relationships are built on feelings, Fleur, not just passing attraction," Hermione said guardedly. Fleur looked like she wanted to say something but simply remained silent. Hermione herself felt like she wanted to give up the whole ruse and just admit that she was finding Fleur less annoying by the day, but she wasn't confident enough in her feelings yet to overcome her pride.

That night, they didn't have sex, instead falling asleep with their backs to one another, both feeling frustrated and confused.


The next day, Hermione was lunching with Blaise in London when he raised similar questions as to their relationship.

"So Hermione, I can't help but notice… We've gone on a fair few dates now, but…"

"We haven't done anything other than kiss?" Hermione said awkwardly. Blaise raised his eyebrows.

"Erm, no," he said with an awkward smile, "I understand sometimes it takes a while for attraction to grow, and I accept that. I was going to say, I still haven't heard back from the Order."

"Oh, that," Hermione said, surprised. Between their increased training workload at the ministry, her Order work, and her night-time romps with Fleur, Hermione had entirely forgotten that McGonagall had been awaiting her seal of approval for Blaise before allowing him into the Order.

"Yeah… I mean, I don't want to rush you, but is there any reason you don't trust me yet?" Blaise asked, running a hand through his dark locks.

"I suppose not…" Hermione said slowly. They had been spending a lot of time together, and for all intents and purposes, Blaise appeared to be just as decent a man as she had initially thought. The only thing holding her back was an inexplicable feeling nagging her in the back of her mind.

"You're a logical woman, Hermione," Blaise said, clearing his throat, "Weigh it up. If you have no solid reasons not to trust me, where does that leave you?"

Hermione was struck by how pushy Blaise seemed, but he did have a point. She frowned.

"I'll just go settle up our bill," Blaise said with a confident smile, excusing himself from the table to leave Hermione to think.

Not even a minute had passed when a familiar figure elegantly dropped into Blaise's newly vacated seat.

"Fleur? Are you following me?" Hermione asked, suspicious. Fleur arched an eyebrow in response.

"I would assume your auror skills would have improved enough you would already know the answer to that," Fleur drawled, helping herself to a sip of Hermione's coffee. Hermione frowned. While they didn't argue much at all these days, they still traded teasing comments.

"What are you doing here, Fleur?" Hermione said flatly.

"My job," Fleur replied, "You cannot trust him."

"And why is that?" Hermione said sarcastically, "Because he takes me on dates? Because he admits he has feelings for me?"

"He's lying to you," Fleur replied curtly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You're jealous," she replied, crossing her arms. Fleur sighed.

"I looked into the Goyles like you requested weeks ago, you said Zabini told you Gregory was not a Death Eater but his father was?"

"Well, Goyle himself said that, but Blaise agreed, yeah," Hermione said, her curiosity piqued.

"He lied. Gregory Goyle is a Death Eater. Dark Mark and all." Fleur said darkly.

"That doesn't mean Blaise is lying though. That only means Ginny went on a date with a Death Eater." Hermione said tersely. Fleur shook her head.

"Don't trust him, Hermione." She said seriously.

"You just want me to stop going on dates with him," Hermione said defensively, "Admit you have feelings for me."

Fleur looked thrown by this sudden challenge. Her sapphire eyes looked over Hermione's shoulder quickly before she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"He's coming back, I have to go. But be careful, Hermione."

She got up and swept out of the café quickly. Blaise returned and sat down at the table.

"What was all that about?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, Fleur was passing by and stopped in to say hi," Hermione said dismissively.

"Right," Blaise said, "So did you give any more thought to the Order thing?"

"Its just hard… with your connections… Did you know Goyle was a Death Eater?" Hermione asked. Blaise's face remained incredibly neutral.

"Gregory's father? Yes. You were there yourself when he mentioned it," Blaise said neutrally.

"No, him," Hermione pressed, watching Blaise carefully. He raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. At this moment Hermione cursed herself for not studying Legilimency.

"Well, I certainly never asked the bloke to pull up his sleeves and prove he wasn't one," Blaise said innocently, "But if I was in the Order obviously I wouldn't discuss Order matters with outsiders anyway."

Hermione bit her lip, unsure.

"What do I need to do Hermione? Prove I'm not one myself?" Blaise said, exasperated.

Hermione didn't reply.

"Fuck, Hermione, I thought we were close," Blaise cursed, before lifting up his sleeves and showing her his bare arms. No Dark Mark.

"Give me some veritaserum if you're that suspicious," Blaise said unhappily. Hermione shook her head.

"No, no, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you," Hermione said, "You can just be a little… intense about it sometimes," she admitted.

"Intense?" Blaise echoed, "Hermione, we are still in training to be aurors. We're in the middle of the war. If I can't get out in the field and do my part soon, I'm going to go insane. Surely you feel the same?"

Hermione nodded, remembering the time when her, Harry and Ron had been driven to the point of trying to escape Grimmauld Place in order to contribute. She definitely felt far better now she could at least work on Order projects.

"Yeah, I do know what you mean," Hermione said softly.

"That's all there is to it," Blaise said, with his same easy smile.

"I suppose I can put a good word in with McGonagall…" Hermione said slowly as they got up and began to leave the café.

"Yes! Hermione you are the greatest!" Blaise exclaimed, kissing her quickly on the lips, "You won't regret it, I swear!"


By the time Hermione headed home to Grimmauld Place that night, news of McGonagall allowing Blaise into the Order had spread.

Hermione had barely walked in the house when she was wrenched roughly into a bathroom and pressed against the quickly shut door.

"Fleur?" Hermione exclaimed, surprised at the blonde's reflexes. Fleur was pinning her against the door.

"Erm, as much as I would love to see some Fleur-Hermione action, this room is occupied," piped up a barely visible Tonks from the bathtub. The tub was nearly overflowing with pink foam, with only Tonks' head visible over the bubbles.

"You told McGonagall to let him into the order," Fleur said venomously, ignoring Tonks in the background.

"I had no solid reason not to!" Hermione countered.

"He's a liar," Fleur said darkly.

"We don't know that," Hermione said carefully, "I don't think he is."

"You are so reckless!" Fleur exclaimed angrily.

"And you're jumping to conclusions!" Hermione exclaimed back.

"Jeez, I thought you two banging on the regular would stop this constant bickering," Tonks commented from the tub. Fleur and Hermione both froze.

"Fleur, you told her?!" Hermione shrieked. Fleur shook her head.

"Erm, actually, you kind of both told me," Tonks said with a smirk.

"What do you mean? I did not tell you about that," Fleur said, turning around to face Tonks.

"For two women that were supposedly the top of their respective classes, you sure fail at casting silencing charms. I share a wall with you." Tonks said with a smug grin.

Fleur and Hermione both turned bright red.

"Why did you not say you could hear us?" Fleur said, completely shocked.

Tonks didn't reply, instead flashing them both a devilish smile. Hermione groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"Oh come on, surely now you can admit that you have feelings for each other," Tonks said.

"Hardly!" Fleur said angrily, "She's still the reckless girl I always thought she was!"

With that, she wrenched the door open and left, leaving a stunned Hermione and Tonks alone in the room.

"What is her problem?!" Hermione said waspishly.

"She's protective of you," Tonks said gently, "I know you two are loathe to admit it, but you care about each other."

"She has a funny way of showing it," Hermione huffed, exiting the bathroom also.

By the time Hermione made it back to her room, she discovered that Fleur's belongings had all disappeared. It appeared she had moved back to occupying her own room. Hermione sighed and went back downstairs.

"Hermione, did you hear? Blaise is in the Order now!" Harry beamed as she came to sit in the living room.

"Not sure how I feel about a Slytherin being in the Order," Ron remarked darkly. Hermione remembered he hadn't had too much to do with Blaise.

"He's a really good guy," Harry said, "Even Ginny thinks so, and God knows she takes a dislike to people easily."

"Spose we'll see this weekend," Ron said, stretching out on the couch he was on.

"What's this weekend?" Hermione asked.

"Lupin's gone and booked out a private room in the Leaky Cauldron for the Order to get together and have a few drinks. Reckons we all need a relaxing night for once," Ron said with a yawn.

"Probably right there," Harry commented.


Later in the week, Hermione was working on her Order work early at the bullpen. She was starting to draw more and more connections to younger witches and wizards from her cohort at Hogwarts. She was beginning to see that Malfoy and Goyle were the tip of the iceberg when it came to younger Death Eaters.

"Wotcher," Tonks said, coming in and sitting down at her desk, "You're here early, even for you."

"Yeah, well, lots to do," Hermione said distractedly, shuffling some notes and drawing another link onto her chart.

"So nothing to do with you and Fleur falling out?" Tonks said slyly. Hermione scowled at her. "Well anyway, I have some notes here for you. Fleur said she was too busy this morning and to pass her notes on too."

Hermione's stomach dropped a little. Fleur was actively avoiding her and she hadn't seen the girl at all since their argument over Blaise joining the Order.

"Thanks. Coming to the Order drinks tonight?" Hermione said, hoping to change the subject.

"You know me, wouldn't miss drinks if my life depended on it," Tonks laughed airily before getting to her feet, "I'll catchya later on, yeah?"

Tonks walked out of the room, only tripping over one chair on her way.

"Hey, 'Mione," Blaise greeted, walking in as Tonks left. He came to sit with Hermione at her desk, "Looking forward to tonight? It'll be my first time meeting the other Order members."

"Yeah, should be good," Hermione said with a smile, gathering Tonks' notes quickly into a discreet stack.

"Hey," Blaise said, putting a hand on top of hers, "I'm an Order member now, you can share your projects with me."

He looked a little intensely at Hermione and she felt uncomfortable.

"Maybe I can show you another time," Hermione said, folding up her connection chart briskly, "I'm keen to do some study for our course."

As Hermione was ducking down to stuff her chart into her satchel, she failed to notice Blaise rifling through Tonks' delivery of notes and removing a page before pocketing it.