Chapter 11: Betrayed

Blaise rose slowly from over top Rashida, eyes never leaving Dean's. Rashida quickly snatched up her shirt and hastily put it back on.

"I expected to come here and see him Rashida," said Dean calmly, "but I didn't think I would find the two of you like this."

Rashida hopped up quickly and ran her fingers nervously through her hair.

"Dean, I...well I don't really know what to say." said Rashida, knowing that there wouldn't be anything she could say to minimalize what he saw. "I think that we need to have a talk."

"You think, huh?" said Dean snarky, taking off his jacket and throwing it onto Rashida's armchair. Blaise glared at Dean, not liking his attitude.

"I' m sorry Dean, but I'm not going to deny it. I still have feeling for Blaise." said Rashida, holding her head up high fighting off tears. Blaise was shocked at Rashida's admission. He thought that she would try to come up with something else.

"I really didn't anticipate it going this far, but we kissed and if you wouldn't have came in-"

"You two would be fucking right now?" smirked Dean.

"I don't like your tone, Thomas." said Blaise, hand reaching into his wand pocket.

"I really don't think you're in any position to tell me how I can talk to my fiance, Zabini, especially since you were almost fucking her." said Dean in his still eerily calm voice. He then focused back on Rashida. "As you were saying? Better yet, I don't think you need to finish it. I already know you still loved the wanker."

"You...you did?" said Rashida.

"Of course I did. You lit up like a fucking Christmas tree when the tosser came into Malfoy's house that day. I knew that something like this would eventually happen. You've always been weak over him." said Dean in a cruel voice.

"Excuse you?" said Rashida, raising her voice.

"Don't fucking talk to her like that!" yelled Blaise.

"I'll handle this." said Rashida, sticking her hand up at Blaise. She then turned back to Dean, eyes burning. "First of all, there isn't a weak bone in my body, Dean. Second, okay I did wrong with this situation, but who the hell do you think you are speaking to me like this? As if your ass didn't kiss Parvati back in February. Hell you probably did more than that to her!"

"No, not that particular night." said Dean.

Rashida and Blaise's jaws dropped. "What the fuck do you mean, not that particular night? Have...have you been fucking around on me?"

"You son of a bitch."

"Oh don't act like you're surprised," said Dean. "So your ex can come back and does merlin knows what to you when I'm not around but I can't do the same?! You've been fucking Zabini so yes, I've been fucking my ex too."

Rashida felt like she had been hit in the stomach by a well beatened Bludger. Seeing the anguish in her face caused Blaise's blood to boil.

"We haven't done anything until tonight, you fucking asshole." growled Blaise. "Best believe if we had, I would have told your ass personally just to make you go away."

Dean looked briefly shocked by the revelation, then his expression turned cold again.

"So, this whole time you were actually thinking something was going on, but instead of asking me, you assume, so you went and had yourself a go at Parvati?! Why Dean? I thought that you loved me." croaked Rashida, tears filling up in her eyes.

"Oh make no mistakes about it, I do. Or at least, did." said Dean, sounding more cold with each word. "But Zabini showed up and I knew what was going to happen. I would have to fight for your affections. And looks like I was right."

Dean then turned to Blaise. "You win, mate." he said crudely.

Rashida looked from Dean to Blaise. "Win? Win what?"

"Oh, this prick didn't tell you Shida? He proposed a bet to me about you and I turned it down. Twice if I may say so."

Rashida felt her heart completely shatter. "A bet? You two made a fucking-"

"Now wait, I didn't go along with it, Rashida!" protested Blaise.

"But you failed to fucking tell me! And you! You really bet our fucking relationship?! You put our marriage on the line like it was a fucking game?!"

Suddenly Dean's expression changed. He no longer felt the false sense of arrogance he was trying to display. Her and Blaise really hadn't done anything this whole time. A wave of guilt consumed him, but he already felt it was too late

"Rashida, I'm-"

"Save it." she said, putting her hand up. She had heard enough.

Blaise felt smug for all of five seconds, until Rashida rounded on him.

"And you! You knew about this all along and neglected to the me?!" she yelled, almost standing on her tiptoes.

Blaise was stunned. How was he all of a sudden the bad guy?

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think you would believe me." said Blaise. "I figured you would think it all a lie for me to get you back."

"So you would lie too? Instead of being upfront with me with this bullshit, you would keep it from me? How dare you! The both of you! I am not some toy to be played with and handed off to the fucking next! It took a lot to trust you again Dean, and it took even more to try and let you back in, Blaise, even as a friend. And you two still act like you're back at fucking Hogwarts making bets with my fucking heart!"

"Shida, I didn't take the bet!"

"And you didn't tell me about it either, which is just as fucked up!" yelled Rashida.

"Well what the fuck was I supposed to do?! Tell you, and then have you tell me that I was being a liar and that I was playing a cruel trick on you, and you not speak to me again? Because that's what you're irrational ass would have done and you know it!" exclaimed Blaise, his temper rising with each second of the pathetic argument.

"Leave."

Dean and Blaise looked at each other and then back at Rashida.

"The both of you. Leave. Get out." said Rashida, her eyes watering.

"Hold up. I do the right thing and I have to leave?!" said Blaise.

Dean said nothing. He was too busy in regret to say a word. He turned and with a pop he was gone.

Blaise didn't move a muscle. He stood and looked at Rashida, her body shaking with rage.

"Anytime now, Zabini." she growled.

"Again, why do I have to leave? I did the right thing, I didn't-"

"You hid this shit from me. You lied to me. You kept this from me because you were only thinking about yourself. You haven't changed. It's still all about you at the end of the day, isn't it?" said Rashida in a low and dangerous voice.

Blaise shook his head, not really knowing what to say. He sighed, opened Rashida's door, and walked out.

Rashida grabbed one of her throw pillows and screamed into it. Why was this happening? Here she was trying to be true to her heart, and not only did she get cheated on yet again, the other person lied. Was nobody in her life sincere?

She went over to her kitchen counter and grabbed a fake galleon. Hermione had put a Protean charm on it as well as three others that the other witches owned so they could swiftly communicate with each other. Rashida turned the small letters and numbers on the side, sending a message to Hermione, Pansy, and Ginny.

Witches meeting. Rashida's place. A.S.A.P.

"I told you to tell her, but do you ever listen to me?"

"Fuck off, Malfoy."

"No, shan't. You got yourself into this mess, you've earned this lecture. As well as some very strong fire whiskey."

Blaise sat with Harry, Ron, and Draco in his favorite parlor in Malfoy Manor. The wizards had quickly assembled after they had realized that their women had all left and gone to the same place. Harry had came over late, and he had to drop off the kids at Pansy's mother's house.

"She was right you know, about why you didn't tell her." said Ron, earning him a glare. "What? You can't get cross with me. You didn't tell her because of exactly what she said and you know it. You admitted to it."

"What's wrong with looking out for myself?" asked Blaise.

"You're always looking out for yourself, Slytherin." said Harry.

"That's not fucking true."

"Yes it is. Back at Hogwarts, when you started liking her for real, you didn't tell her about the bet because you didn't want to admit to yourself that you wanted to do more than just fuck her. When you didn't tell her you had wrote to that ex of hers because you wanted to confront him. When you felt humiliated because she said no to your proposal, you almost cheated to protect your bruised ego. And when you came here you didn't tell her about the bet Dean proposed because you didn't want her mad at you, knowing it would get in the way of you trying to get her back. You, you, you. Never her, always you." finished Harry.

"That's deep, mate." said Ron, impressed that Harry had made things so clear. Harry shrugged.

Blaise tried to think of anything he could to fight back Harry's words. He found nothing.

"Fine. So I was selfish. I've been selfish for a long time, even when I shouldn't have been. I'll admit it. Now how do I fix it? How do I fix this?" pleaded Blaise.

Draco looked as if he didn't want to offer up any assistance. He had tried, but Blaise never listened. Still, he hated to see his best mate down and out like he was.

"Give her some time to think, mate." suggested Ron.

"Not too much time." cautioned Draco. "If she is talking to our women, Merlin knows what they are telling her."

"So you bitches lied to me too?" exclaimed Rashida to the three witches sitting in her sitting room.

"I didn't." said Hermione, raising her hand.

"I only knew of it vaguely." said Ginny. "Draco didn't tell me much about it, only that there was one."

"I guess I'm the bitch that knew everything." admitted Pansy. "Blaise told me about it the day you two babysat the kids. He also told me that he refused to take it."

"He said he turned it down twice, but does that matter?" said Rashida, not knowing who to properly be angry at anymore.

"It matters a lot actually." said Hermione. "What would you have done if he would have told you? You wouldn't have believed him."

"He said I wouldn't have, but that's not the point! He lied to me."

"You wouldn't have and then you would have stopped talking to him." said Ginny. "Yes, he should have spoken up, but with him not speaking up, you worked out your feelings for him as well as found out that Dean wasn't proper."

"Or possibly I would have stayed away from him entirely and Dean wouldn't have cheated."

"Bullshit." said Pansy, pouring herself a glass of tea. "He would have still done it. Dean's a right tool if you ask me. He had done it before, you know. What if you two got married and he did it then, huh? Isn't it better to see what he is now that to end up married to him and find out later?"

"That's true..." mumbled Rashida stubbornly. She sighed and put her face in her hands. "Why do these things happen to me? Am I not a good person?"

"You're a great person, Rah." said Hermione, rubbing her back. You deserve to be happy. Be honest with yourself. Was Dean making you truly happy?"

"Yes!" said Rashida quickly, then paused. " Well, no. If I want to be real with myself, then no. If I want to be completely real with myself, I was only marrying Dean to make myself get over Blaise. Why can't I move on from him?"

"Because you love him." said Ginny. "You're in love with him. And when you're in true love, it's hard to just push that to the side."

Rashida nodded as tears began to slide down her cheeks. Of course she was in love with him, she was probably in love with him even when she hated him at first in Hogwarts. Blaise was never too far from her thoughts. It had devastated her to tell him never to write her again, but he had to learn that she was not his property. After a few months, she had written about fifteen letters that she didn't send. And over the years she had written many more. Some was just her saying her day to day goings on, some were even a bit racy. But most were very heartfelt. They had the emotions that she felt for him in them, and she had desperately wanted him to read them and see that he had broken her heart, but she had wanted him to mend it again.

"What do I do?" she asked quietly as she wiped off her cheeks. "He probably really thinks I hate him now.

"I think you two need to have a serious talk." said Hermione. "And even if it doesn't result in what you think it should be, at least the two of you would have gotten everything you needed to out."

After an hour of discussion and attempts to cheer Blaise up, Harry was the first to leave, stating that the kids needed to be in bed. A while after that, Ron left as well, as Hermione has sent him a patronus wondering where he was ("She keeps that leash long, Weasley?" "Sod off, Malfoy."). Blaise and Draco sat there, sipping the last of Draco's fire whiskey.

"So you've decided?" asked Draco again. "You're going back home until Hogwarts?"

Blaise shrugged. "No need for me to hang around here anymore. Plus I need to start forgetting her."

"I think you're being a bit hasty."

"I'm not being hasty enough. I shouldn't have came back and tried to push my way into her life like that, you know?" sighed Blaise, feeling very much defeated.

"I can understand why you did though," said Draco, "as I probably would have chased Ginny wherever she went."

Blaise smirked. "Wouldn't one consider that a stalker?"

"More like keeping tabs, I'd say." smirked Draco back.

The door to the parlor opened and in walked a tired looking Ginny. She nodded over at Blaise as she crossed the room to Draco, kissing him on the cheek as she took the glass of firewhiskey out of his hand and downed it.

"Oi! And what gives you the right?" exclaimed Draco in mock annoyance.

"This ring." said Ginny as she wiggles her ring finger with her wedding set on it. "Besides, I need a drink after tonight."

"Is she...is she okay?" said Blaise quickly, pausing to try not to sound desperate for information.

Ginny nodded. "For the most part." she said vaguely.

Blaise didn't say anything. He could tell that Ginny wasn't going to tell him anything. Probably because there wasn't anything good to say. He stood up and headed towards the door, telling Draco he would be sure to see him before he left tomorrow.

Blaise purposely took the long way back to his room so he could think. He had decided that enough was enough. He wasn't going to invade Rashida's life any longer. Harry had been right about everything, he had been extremely selfish and not fully thinking about Rashida's feelings. He thought it would be easy. He still thought that he was that spoiled child that got everything he wanted, no matter what. However, that was not to be so. And it was time for him to grow up, and move on.

Finally, Blaise made it to his room, anxious to go to bed and sleep the day off completely. He opened his door and walked in, expecting to fall into his turned down sheets and fall asleep immediately.

Instead, he was met with Rashida, standing by the vanity in his room, holding the crown and scepter that he had brought with in in her hands, a stunned expression on her face.