Chapter 15
On late Monday morning Daphne came to pick up Ally for the afternoon while Hermione and Blaise went to the new parents lunch at their daughter's new school.
"That's a nice dress" Daphne smiled at Hermione.
"Thanks I picked up at Topshop, I no idea what to wear to these sort of things"
"You mean what to wear when going out with Blaise" Daphne smirked.
"Oh hush you" the brunette replied, as Ally walked into the room.
"Ready go to Ally darling?" the blond witch asked the little girl.
"Yes Aunt Daphne" she nodded and smiled.
"Okay, your dad and I will see you later" Hermione said kissing her daughter's head before the other witch took her through the fireplace.
"Bye mummy" said Ally waving to her mother, who waved back. Daphne took her through the floo in a flash of green.
Hermione paced her bedroom, wondering how the afternoon would go. She realised ten minutes had passed and she still had to get her shoes on and do her makeup and hair.
She quickly found heels that went well with her dress, did her make up. As she was applying her lipstick, she heard a car pull up the driveway. She had parked her car in the garage that morning. She peeked through the curtains and saw Blaise step out of his black Mercedes.
From her location at her bedroom window, Hermione hoped he wouldn't catch her checking him out in his black suit, crisp white shirt and silk royal blue tie. Blood hell, he's gorgeous she thought to herself as she closed the curtains and recomposed herself.
She heard him ring the doorbell, she grabbed her wand from the dresser and placed it in her clutch purse before going to answer the door.
"Hello" she smiled at him, opening the door.
"Hello Hermione, you look amazing" he said, taking a quick glance over her body.
"Thanks, you look rather handsome yourself" she responded.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes" she nodded in reply.
"Do you have directions? We can put it in the GPS". Blaise hadn't been to the Magical Learning Academy, he'd been so busy with an overload of cases. All he seen of the school was the brochure Hermione had given him and Ally's enrolment forms for him to sign"
"Yes" she replied slipping into the passenger seat.
Hermione handed Blaise Padma's card and he entered the school's address into his car's GPS.
"So how is Ally today?" Blaised asked the witch.
"She's good" she smiled back.
"Where did you want to go for dinner tomorrow night?" she asked him. They had decided that every Tuesday night, all three of them would go out for dinner.
"Sorry what?" Blaise had missed her question as he had to give way to a fire engine passing by on its way to an emergency.
"I asked where did you want to go for dinner tomorrow night?" Hermione asked him again.
"Oh, well there's this new restaurant around the corner from my house called umm…Burger Shack or something, has play equipment for the kids, I'm sure Ally would love it" he smiled at her.
"Sounds good"
They arrived at The Magical Learning Academy. Blaise was shocked by the grand building, it wasn't very big or anything, simply grand. Sure he had seen it in the brochure, but seeing it in person was a different story.
"Very stately don't you think?" Hermione asked him, breaking him out of his daze.
"Yes, its like a mini Hogwarts, only its not a castle" he joked as they pulled into a parking spot.
"The parents lunch is in the school hall" she told him as they entered the foyer.
They were greeted by some teachers and some older students just inside the entrance.
"Hello I'm Mrs Jacobson and I'm the vice principal here" the middle aged witch smiled at them.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Hermione Granger and this is Blaise Zabini, our daughter Allison will be starting here in a few weeks' time" replied the brunette.
"Oh wow, I thought it was you, not every day we get a celebrity here"
Hermione blushed at the mention of her being a celebrity.
"These are extra brochures for you both, you know school supplies, extra-curricular activities your daughter might like, we have dance and music classes in our junior school"
"Thank you Mrs Jacobson" smiled Blaise taking the folder from her.
They arrived in the Auditorium and found that there were about 20 or so other couples in the room already.
"How many children are there in kindergarten?" Blaise asked Hermione in a whisper.
"About 40, two classes with 20 kids each, but this lunch is for parents with children starting in other grades too" she replied
"Want a drink?" he asked.
"Sure, just water is fine" she smiled before he headed to drinks table.
"Hermione?" the brunette heard her name being called.
She turned around and saw Cho Chang approaching her together with Zacharias Smith.
"Cho? Zach?" she asked.
"Yes that's us" the blond wizard smiled.
"It's good to see you" Cho added.
"Nice to see you both aswell, are you two married?" Hermione asked them.
"Yes we are" beamed Cho as Zach placed his arm around her waist.
"That's great guys" she smiled.
"So you have a child starting here as well?" Zach asked her.
"Yes our daughter will be starting Kindergarten in a few weeks"
"I don't meant o pry Hermione, but who's her father?" Cho asked.
"I am" came Blaise voices as approached them and handed Hermione her water.
"Oh Zabini, how are you mate?" Zach asked. Not really caring that there were was a former Slytherin standing opposite him.
"I'm well thanks, how are you? Nice to see you again Cho" he said smiling at the Asian witch.
"Nice to see you too Blaise…..I'm glad our kids will be in the same year" she said.
"Your child is five too? I don't remember you guys dating….sorry" said Hermione trying to not sound so shocked.
"That's a story for another time" Cho said offering a small smile.
"Sorry" mumbled the brunette witch.
"Yes we have twins starting Kindergarten next month" said Zach trying to break the silence.
"How are David and Zara?" asked Blaise.
"They are well thanks, Zar is excited to start school, Dave not so much" replied Zach.
"Do you think she'll take after you?" Hermione asked Cho.
"Don't get me started on the number of times he reminds me of that?" laughed the witch indicating to her husband.
"Don't worry I then tell him that Jason, our youngest is just like him" Cho added with a laugh.
"Well it looks like Padma is getting ready to say a few words" Hermione said noticing the witch walking up to the stage.
"So she is, we'll talk to you guys later" Cho said as she and Zach went to find their seats.
Hermione and Blaise took their seats few rows behind.
"You know that Cho and Zach got married?" she asked him.
"Yes, I was at the wedding" he whispered back.
"Oh"
After Padma's speech, it was time for lunch.
The school had set up small tables, with 8 people each.
Blaise and Hermione sat with Cho and Zach and with two other couples.
"So is your kid staring kindergarten too?" Blaise asked the wizard next to him.
"No our son is starting year 3, we just moved here from Australia" replied the red haired man.
"Hi I'm Fran Rolland" his wife reached around him to shake Blaise's hand.
"Nice to meet you Fran, I'm Blaise and this is Hermione" he said indicating to her.
"Nice to meet you" added the brunette with a smile.
"So how long have you been married for" asked Fran.
Blaise looked at Hermione. She could feel Cho's eyes looking at her, waiting for either of them to give any sort of answer.
"We aren't married" replied Blaise with a polite smile.
"Hey, aren't you the model, we saw you on TV the other night" Fran's husband asked.
Cho sent Hermione an encouraging look.
"Yes I am a model" she replied politely before returning to her food.
Blaise saw Fran's husband whisper something to his wife, which made her quickly glance at Hermione. He didn't like that one bit, but decided to keep quiet…for now.
"Are you okay?" he asked Hermione in a whisper.
"Yes I'm fine" she replied with a small smile.
When the new parents afternoon lunch, they said bye to Cho and Zach. They would see them again on the first day of school.
"Thank you for taking a day off for today" Hermione told him.
"Oh, that's fine, anything for our daughter" he grinned at her.
Damn his sexy grin Hermione thought to herself
"What's the time?" Blaise asked as they drove out of the school's carpark.
Hermione broke out of her though and glanced at her watch. "Just after 3pm, why?"
"Oh I need your help with something" he said quietly.
"Really? What might this 'something' be?" asked him raising her eyebrows.
"I bought a DVD player and I haven't been able to connect it to the TV" he said, avoiding looking at her.
"Why did you buy one?" she asked him in wonder
"So Ally could watch movies when she comes over" he replied.
"That's very thoughtful of you Blaise" she smiled at him. She resisted the urge to pat him on his knee.
"Yeah….so will you help me connect the thing?" he asked.
"Yes I will, plus I get to see your house…..finally" she smirked.
After she connected the DVD player to the TV, Blaise asked if she would like a tour of the house.
"Sure….let me just take off my shoes" she smiled.
She slipped off her shoes and followed him.
"This the Kitchen and dining room"
"I remember the first time you used the toaster, you totally put me off burnt toast" she teased him.
"Oh can we not bring that up again please" he told her
"Sure sorry"
"Well this is the Laundry and the guest bathroom is just there and that's that" he finished off.
"Don't I get to see upstairs?" she asked him curiously.
"Would you like to?"
"Of course, you said a tour of house and the bottom level is not the whole house, is it?" she asked him.
"Right, well let me show your upstairs then" he said as he started to ascend the stairs.
After he had shown her the upstairs bathroom, he wasn't sure what to do or say next.
"Blaise" Hermione said quietly.
"Yes?"
But instead of responding, Hermione looked at his eyes then his lips, then his eyes again and finally his lips. She leaned in and brushed her lips to his, she broke apart and looked into his eyes before leaning in again.
She worked her hands up to and around his neck as he worked his arms around her waist.
Blaise guided them to the nearest wall and pinned her against it, never leaving her mouth….
A/N: Leave me a review guys...thanks!