Chapter 2: The Upset

The record scratched in Blaise's head. He had to have heard Dean wrong.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked.

"Rashida and I are getting married in August." repeated Dean.

Blaise looked down at the much shorter Rashida, who nodded slowly in agreement.

Blaise felt as if he would burst into flames. He felt completely swindled, bamboozled, hit head on by a well aimed bludger.

"Alright there, mate?" he heard Dean ask almost as if he were in the distance.

Blaise nodded slowly, trying extremely hard not to take the gleeful man's head off.

Rashida, recognizing the intense look in Blaise's eyes, decided to intervene before Blaise came to his senses and knocked Dean out.

"Let me talk to Blaise for a second, will you hon?" said Rashida sweetly.

Dean nodded, giving Rashida a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Rashida moved quickly, taking Blaise (who already had his fists balled up, ready to strike) by the arm and pulling him out of the parlor and across the entryway to another room. She shut the door and put a silencing charm on the door, knowing there would be yelling.

A second later, Blaise unleashed his fury.

"SHIDA, WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled. "FUCKING DEAN THOMAS?!"

"What's wrong with Dean?" she asked, hands on her hips. "He's a fine person, and he treats me well!"

"YOU COULDN'T TELL DRACO TO GIVE ME A FUCKING HEADS UP SO I WOULDN'T COME HERE LOOKING LIKE A FUCKING IDIOT?! OR DO THE COURTESY OF DROPPING ME A LINE YOURSELF?!"

"I didn't want you to not come because of me, Blaise! You're supposed to be here for your fucking best friend, not me!"

"NO SHIT, BUT YOU HAD TO HAVE KNOWN THAT I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"No I didn't! We haven't said a word to each other in five damn years!"

"AND WHO'S FAULT WAS THAT?!"

"YOURS! WHEN YOU WROTE TO ME SAYING HOW I WOULD NEVER DO BETTER THAN YOU, YOU ARROGANT BASTARD!"

Blaise was about to retort, but stopped. She was indeed correct on that. His words were the nail in the coffin. He took a deep breath and tried to collect himself.

"Touche, Mosi." he said. "You're right. That was my fault."

Rashida crossed her arms, glaring up at Blaise. "Are you going to leave now? Because I don't want you to."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" snapped Blaise, confused by her wording.

"I mean, I don't want you to leave Draco hanging like that. He wouldn't do that to you, so don't do it to him." said Rashida, somberly.

Blaise sighed. "I'm not going to." he said shortly.

"I also want for us to at least be friends." continued Rashida. "We were friends once."

"Were we?" he asked.

Rashida rolled her eyes. "I'd like to think that while I was a pawn in your stupid bet, I was still your friend."

Blaise shrugged. "You're right. We were friends."

"Can we start over and be that?" Rashida asked sincerely.

"Shida...do you know how hard it will be for me to just be your friend?" said Blaise, honestly. "Do you know how hard it is right now, not being able to hug you, to flirt with you, to fucking grab you up and kiss you until we pass out?"

Rashida took a deep breath. "We're adults now, Blaise. Yes, we had something, something strong, but that was when we were children. We're older, and want different things now. I get it, but I do miss having you as a friend. I truly do. Blaise, please?"

Blaise himself took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to take Rashida by the hand and whisk her away back home in hopes that they could work it out and fall in love again. How could she even say all that like what they had meant nothing? They were children? Like the shit they went through was nothing more than puppy love? And just because he was older, didn't mean he wanted anything different. He had been wanting the same thing since graduation. And he still wanted it.

However, the fact that she was even speaking to him made him feel very good, despite it not being words he wanted to hear. He quickly mulled and came to the conclusion that it would be better to have her in his life as friends than to not have her in his life at all.

"Fine." he said, almost in a whisper. "Friends it is then. We can definitely be friends."

Rashida sighed, relieved that Blaise was at least keen on the idea.

"So, you and Thomas." said Blaise. "How did that come about?"

Rashida shrugged. "Several months ago he came to one of Ginny's games, and he asked if I would grab some coffee with him the next day. We were already friends from Hogwarts, as we were in the same house. Come to find out, he had a small crush on me."

"Oh come off it Shida, all but the blokes in there had a small crush on you." smirked Blaise.

Rashida rolled her eyes again. "Anyways, we went out on a few dates, made it official a month later, and he proposed a month ago."

Blaise was stunned. The whole thing sounded way too sudden for the Rashida he knew. Something wasn't right. But he decided not to touch on it.

For now.

"So, am I invited to the wedding?" he asked instead.

Rashida looked stunned by his question. "Would you like to come?"

"Course. You are my friend, after all." Blaise said cuttingly, as they walked towards the door.

Rashida felt the bite of the word friend. It made her feel bad, although she felt it shouldn't have.

"I guess we will go back in, shall we? I'm sure Dean is wondering what's taking so long." said Rashida, walking out the door past Blaise, who held it open for her.

"If my fiance was talking to a fine bloke like me too, I would wonder as well." said Blaise pridefully.

"Blaise..."

Later that night, Draco, Blaise, Harry, and Ron sat in Draco's private library/"man cave", sipping fire whiskey and conversing. Blaise sat silent through a lot of it. He had a lot on his mind, and didn't know if it would be appropriate to unleash it.

"Alright there, Zabini?" asked Ron. "You look in a right state."

"Oh sure, I'm just fine." said Blaise sarcastically, gulping down the rest of his drink. "I only came here and got blindsided by the woman that I've wanted back since Hogwarts being fucking engaged to a fucking Gryff that doesn't know what to do with her. Would have been nice to be given a heads up, but I guess that was hard for anyone to do."

Ron and Harry gave each other shameful looks. Draco rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't our obligation, Blaise," said Draco. "If she wanted you to know, she could have easily wrote to you."

"One of you could have told me something!" yelled Blaise. "I came here and looked like a fucking ass trying to talk to her and maybe see if we could reconcile, only to be told by the bitch himself that he was marrying her! I have to sit here and play like I'm enjoying being her fucking friend!"

"You wasn't invited to try to rekindle some fucking romance, you were invited because you're my best man." said Draco, taking a shot. "What's wrong with being friends with her? At least she is fucking talking to you."

"You don't understand. None of you do. All of you have your women. Harry's already fucking married and a father, you're getting married in two weeks Draco, and if Ron were to say let's get married right now to Hermione, it would happen! You all got your happy endings, why the fuck can't I?!"

Blaise threw his glass into the wall, shattering it. The others watched as he stared at the spot in the wall that had been dusted with fine shards.

"I hope you know you're paying for that." said Draco, nonchalantly.

I just want her, okay?" said Blaise, sitting down. "I need her. I've tried to date other women, I really have. No one has appealed to me. And for her to just go out with fucking Thomas and forget what we had? Its feels like she never wanted it."

"I can honestly say that's not true." said Harry. For months after you two wrote last, Rashida was distraught. Her and Pansy would talk about it all the time."

"Hermione too." said Ron. "She missed you, she really did. It's just your holier than thou fucking attitude, mate. As if you were Merlin's gift to her or some shit. Some kind of way, you went back to being an asshole, and she didn't like that."

Blaise thought about it. They were right. The last couple of conversations he had with her, he was downright ghastly. He talked like he used to before she had came into his life, thinking that it would mask his feelings and not make him look like he was begging, even though he knew he would crawl on hot coals just to be with her.

"Maybe I need to prove myself." said Blaise.

"Pardon?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh shit."

"What if I can win her back?" said Blaise, the wheels in his brain starting to turn. "I can prove to her that I can be what she wants, what I used to be for her. And she'll come back."

"She's engaged, Zabini." said Draco. "You're basically saying you want to steal her away from her fiance."

Blaise smiled. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Ron threw his hands up. Harry shook his head as Draco chuckled.

"She won't go for it." he said. "She loves that tosser, she won't leave him."

"She loved me once as well, and I can get her to do it again."

"Why don't you just settle with being her friend instead of breaking up a potential marriage?" asked Ron.

"Because, I can't be her friend! I can't sit there and play like I'm her fucking chum when what I really want is to be with her! You guys, could you honestly settle with being your girlfriend, your fiance, your wife's friend?"

Neither one of them answered. They all looked awkwardly at each other, and then back at Blaise.

"Exactly. I've tried, guys. It's always been her. It'll always be her. Would it be better if I tried when she is married? If there is a chance that I can stop her before she walks down the aisle, then I'm going to take it." said Blaise firmly.

"Well, you're on your own with this then, mate." said Harry. "Pansy would hex my ass if I tried anything."

"Same with Ginny." said Draco. "You're not jeopardizing my marriage with your games."

Blaise looked pleadingly at Ron, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"The bloody hell if I am!"

"Ron, please..."

"Hermione will have my head!"

"No she won't! Your girlfriend is all about that mushy, hopeless romantic, soulmate shit, and so are you! These dicks don't care about that shit ("Hey!" "Fuck you!) enough to help me. Please, Ron?" begged Blaise.

Ron sighed. He didn't want to help him, it would only cause friction between him and Hermione if it got out. However, he couldn't help but feel for Blaise, especially since he was begging. Also, unbeknownst to the rest, he always thought that Rashida was moving too fast for all the wrong reasons.

"If Hermione finds out about me helping you, I swear to Merlin, I'll chop off your bollocks." growled Ron.

Blaise shook Ron's hand vigorously. "You have me in your debt, mate."

"Yeah, whatever."

At the same time, Rashida was sipping some Elfen Wine as she stood and looked out of the glass door of her room, gazing at Muggle London in thought. She thought that this would be easy. That seeing Blaise wouldn't affect her in the slightest. Ohhhhh but she was wrong.

The moment her eyes laid on him, her body seemed to call out to him. She had to keep herself from jumping up and running into his arms. His safe, strong arms. Other than what seemed like a few stress lines, his face was just as she had remembered from Hogwarts. His eyes still twinkled when he smiled, and seemed to burn like dim bluebells when he was in a rage. She felt herself wanting to drag him off to one of Draco's many rooms in the manor and have the same beautiful, intense, and lust filled love making that they used to do, something she had never shared with Dean.

Speaking of Dean...

She felt arms wrap around her from behind. She cringed inside that she thought of Blaise first, however, she felt comforted that it was indeed Dean.

"You okay?" Dean whispered from over top her head.

"Sure." Rashida said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Dean chuckled. "Don't give me that. Seeing your ex that you were barmy about way back when after so long? I would understand if it made you feel uncomfortable."

Rashida sighed. Uncomfortable was a very good word to use, seeing as she really didn't know how to feel about Blaise at all.

"It's just weird seeing him again after not seeing him for five years, you know?" she tried to explain.

"I hate to be nosy, but what did you two talk about?" asked Dean, somewhat nervous.

Rashida took another sip of her wine. "We talked about how we were going to be. And we decided to try and be friends."

"Friends?" Really?"

"We were friends before we dated." said Rashida. "Though our friendship started out rocky, it was still there, and I cherished it."

"Does he still...I mean..."

"Does he still care? I guess, but he is fine with us being friends. He-"

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is are we still getting married." said Dean finally.

Rashida turned in Dean's arm to face him. "Is that what you're worried about?"

"Am I wrong to worry? He proposed to you once, I was there."

"I had my reasons for saying no at the time." said Rashida.

"At that time, yes. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Dean, please." said Rashida, reaching up to smooth her fingers over Dean's cheek. "Please don't do this. I still have this ring on my finger, don't I?"

Dean smirked. "Yes you do."

"Then that should be all the confirmation you need. Blaise is my past. And you're my future" said Rashida, standing on her tiptoes to plant a sweet kiss on Dean's lips.

However, in her head, she had to keep repeating the statement she had just made to her fiance over and over again.

Blaise was going to be more of a problem than she anticipated.