Flying Lessons #6: Your opponents will be aiming to hurt you from the get go and we should have this shown by incorporating another member into the relationship that is causing problems.

Prompt: (action) a kiss

Tuesday afternoon found Blaise in his study, quill twirling between his fingers as he neglected the pile of paperwork on his desk.

Staring rather impatiently out the window, Blaise had unfortunately been in the same position for quite a while now - but every time he'd tried to work, he'd become distracted by some noise and spin toward the window, expecting an owl to be perched on the sill (but finding none), and he'd decided it would expend entirely less energy to just wait for an owl to actually appear.

He tapped his chin with the end of his quill, musing silently to himself. Did Hermione Granger even own an owl?

He remembered that back at Hogwarts, she'd only had that blasted cat of hers, and she had always used the school owls to send letters out. So if she still didn't have an owl, then perhaps she was having trouble acquiring one? Maybe that was the reason she hadn't called on him yet. The thought brightened him up for a few seconds, and Blaise smirked to himself.

But they had bumped into each other on Saturday, he realized, and it was Tuesday now. Granger had said that she was going to owl him and she was usually punctual about that kind of thing, owl or no. He frowned. There was the slim chance that she'd forgotten, and then there was the possibility that she had only wanted to be polite in those last seconds, and wasn't really intending to -

Blaise cut himself off there, letting the quill drop onto his desk as he stood abruptly, smirk gone from his face.

"Salazar," he muttered to himself without much chastise. He grabbed his coffee cup and was making his way to the door when - shockingly - a sharp tap on the window made him spin wildly around.

The sight of a brown barn owl fluttering outside his flat window made a grin split across his face, though Blaise didn't stop to ponder it. He just let the owl in and grabbed Hermione's long-awaited note with a triumphant grin.

Ten minutes later, he scribbled out a quick note to Daphne before grabbing his coat and Apparating to the little cafe on Diagon Alley.

"Sorry this was so abrupt," Hermione said anxiously as she and Blaise seated themselves at a little table outside of the cafe. "I should have owled earlier."

"No worries," the Italian said languishly. He was wearing a dark coat that seemed to bring out the life in his eyes - not that Hermione was looking. It was just noticeable. "What time do you have to be back to the Ministry?"

"I've got an hour. And you?"

Blaise grinned as he leaned back in his chair. "All the time in the world." At her disbelieving expression, he added, "It's true, really. I won't be starting at my new job until next week."

Hermione leaned forward, attempting and failing to not to drink in every detail of Blaise Zabini's face like she'd been (somehow) craving to do since Saturday. "And exactly what is this job for? I recall you didn't tell me last time."

"Didn't I?" he asked vaguely as a waiter approached their table. "Oh, look. Let's order."

Hermione rolled her eyes and murmured, "Well, I suppose I'll find out eventually."

In the next twenty minutes that followed, Blaise and Hermione immersed themselves in topics of all sorts - the Ministry, how Hogwarts was faring, even a little bit of Quidditch - all while their orders of tea sat forgotten in the midst of the conversation. In those moments, Hermione reflected on how she had been foolish to be nervous for this little meeting; Blaise was easy to talk to, and she felt buoyed with pleasure, pleasure that Blaise was still like the bits and pieces she remembered, pleasure that speaking with him felt easy and genuine.

But their excitable discussion on the expansion of Wizarding schools in Europe was halted suddenly when two young, familiar women stopped behind Blaise's chair, eyeing Hermione curiously. Hermione stopped mid-sentence and blinked up at the two, whose curiosity morphed into surprise as recognition lit their identical gray eyes.

Their eye contact was broken when Blaise glanced over his shoulder and suddenly sat up, smiling. "Daphne, Astoria! I thought you went to visit your parents today."

"We did," said the shorter of the two, whom Hermione finally recognized as Daphne Greengrass, a former Slytherin classmate back from Hogwarts. "Mum was feeling tired though, so we left early. Astoria wanted to try this place out."

"You're Hermione Granger, aren't you?" inquired Astoria, the younger sister whose sweet smile was filled with gaiety. Hermione had never seen her before, but she had an uncanny resemblance to her sister; they looked nearly like twins.

"Er, yes. Nice to meet you." Hermione blinked at Blaise, who had gotten to his feet and was looking from the Greengrass sisters to Hermione with a slightly bemused expression on his face.

Daphne noticed it too. "So what are you doing here?" She gave Hermione a quick glance. "Ministry business?"

"Ah, no. Granger and I were just catching up. We ran into each other over the weekend, you know." He ran a hand through his hair, turning to smile at Hermione for a second before returning his attention to Daphne.

Silence followed his statement, until Daphne offered Hermione a small quirk of the mouth. "Well," she said after a moment, "I'll leave you to this, then. Astoria and I were planning to visit this wonderful place in Muggle London - this park, it's called Hill or Hood or something -"

"Hyde Park?" Hermione supplied, barely managing to contain her bewilderment at hearing pureblood Daphne Greengrass excited at the prospect of a famous muggle location.

"Yes! That's it." Daphne gave Hermione another quirky smile before turning back to Blaise. "So I'll see you at home."

"Until then, love," Blaise said with a wink. He leaned down and kissed her before she and Astoria left the cafe, their heels clicking as they walked away from a rather stunned Hermione.

Her initial thought wasn't very rational, but she thought of it anyway, eyes immediately darting to Zabini's ring finger as he took his seat again, looking quite calm. Well, Hermione supposed as she quickly noted his finger was bare, she wasn't entirely certain why she didn't feel calm or easy because really, there was no reason for her to feel uncomfortable…

To fill the silence, Hermione noted aloud, "I haven't seen them since Hogwarts," before reaching almost desperately for her cup of tea - incidentally, at the same time that Blaise reached for his.

Blaise cleared his throat and smiled. "You wouldn't have, with how busy they and you have kept yourselves." A sudden thought seemed to occur to him, and he set down his cup, eyes glinting playfully. "By the way, how's the Weasley boyfriend faring?"

Hermione nearly spat out her tea. "What?" she choked.

"You know. Weasley. Ginger. Oh, wait, they're all ginger."

"I'm not going to discuss my personal relationships with you, Zabini," Hermione said, blinking rapidly and flushing.

Blaise sucked in a breath and stirred sugar into his tea. "Now that's hardly fair, Granger. I just displayed mine in front of you."

She rolled her eyes, though the image of him and Daphne flashed unwelcomingly into her mind. "That was your choice entirely."

"Still. Indulge me, out of kindness if not out of fairness." Blaise suddenly smirked. "It's perhaps the one thing that the paper doesn't cover about you."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "Really? I had no idea." But she remembered what he'd said the other day, about keeping up with her in the Prophet, and briefly tried to imagine the cool Blaise Zabini she remembered from school keeping up with anyone in such a fashion. The image was hard to believe.

"Yes. Consequently, I'm lacking information here that only you can provide."

Desperately checking her watch, Hermione replied with hurried relief, "Oh, I've got to get back now." She gathered her coat and bag, offering a triumphant smile at Blaise as she dropped a couple of Knuts on the table. "It was great to speak to you again."

He stood with her, infuriating smirk lighting up his face. "You're trying to escape, Granger."

"Not at all." Hermione stuck out a hand. "Until next time?"

"Confident there will be another time, hm?" But he took her hand anyway, his warm fingers enveloping hers as she looked up at his dark brown eyes and found herself inexplicably pleased at the idea that there would be a next time.

But the thought of Ron, and then Daphne Greengrass, ripped across her mind, and she quickly let go of Blaise's hand. For a moment, as she stood smiling politely at him, Hermione wondered (for the tenth time since Saturday) how close she and Zabini had actually been at Hogwarts. She had a feeling that they hadn't been that close, separated by Houses and all, yet the fluttering wings in her chest seemed startlingly familiar - and somehow, they made her feel jarred and relieved and uneasy all at once.

Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed that kiss prompt didn't apply to Blaise/Hermione too. But never fear! Our beautiful pairing shall make it through.