Disclaimer: Many thanks to JK Rowling for her wonderful works. They are hers and hers alone. I have only borrowed her characters for a while and built my own little fantasy around them. There is no pay involved for me in doing it.

Chapter 6

"That was delicious. Seriously, you're a good cook."

Hermione laughed, "Thanks, but it was just chicken and potatoes. No big deal."

"Well, it is to me. The only muggle things I have mastered are the stereo, blender and coffee pot," he laughed with her.

Dinner had been pleasant and easy. Blaise was surprised to note that it was the first 'date' he had had in a long while where he enjoyed himself despite the fact that he wasn't going to be hitting the sheets at the end of it. Not only was Hermione easy to look at, but she was funny, charming and could tell a great story.

For Hermione's part, she found Blaise to be easy to talk to and it amazed her how well they got along. As soon as she had hung up after inviting him over, she had panicked. She had been instantly unsure as to what to make, what they would talk about, and what to wear. And, she hadn't known whether it was to be a real date or just two pals getting together. Hermione had never been good with men and considered herself to be a horrible first date. Her nerves usually took over and she either retreated into being a walking encyclopedia, thereby embarrassing herself and her date, or, she couldn't think of anything to say at all, and bored them silly. Since the purpose of this date had been to get Draco off of her mind she didn't want to blow it.

Blaise had flooed in on time holding a bottle of wine that he had immediately opened and poured. Thirty minutes into the date all her apprehension had disappeared. His personality, easygoing manner, interest in her apartment and all her appliances, and jokes about getting to see her bedroom later had worked to relax her; just as he had planned. It had helped that neither had mentioned Draco.

Over dinner they had discussed everything from The War and The Fall, to the people she was still in touch with, to their schooling. It had been easy and the time had quickly gone by. And, his thirst for information from home was partially quenched.

"So, you don't cook at all?" she asked.

"Nope, D does a bit, but I'm hopeless. I thought I could master the scrambled egg thing, but it's simply a shame what I do to those poor baby chicks."

He noticed that she opened her mouth to comment, but then seemed to think better of it. He assumed it was because he had finally mentioned the proverbial elephant in the room. But, he figured he would let her talk about Draco when she was ready. He knew she was using him as a distraction, but since he was having so much fun with her, he didn't mind. They got up from the table and he watched her flick her wrist and make everything disappear. When he followed her into the kitchen he saw her turn on the machine she used to wash her dishes and couldn't help but laugh.

Blaise leaned back against her counter, "So, let me get this straight, you make dinner like a muggle, but clean up like a witch. You walk to work and take that underground train thing, but apparate to your friends' houses, and you want to teach Transfiguration, but plan to make your students do library research. I don't get it. It's like you can't figure out if you want to be a muggle or a witch."

"Or, maybe," she laughed at his confusion, "I just want to make sure I master both parts of myself. I spent too many years kind of ashamed of being muggleborn. It was like I was trying to hide who I was. Now, I get to relish in both. Is that too weird?"

"What? No! It's kinda cool actually. I mean, we've lived in this city for over four years and I haven't seen most of it. At first, we just hung out at magical places, which we could apparate or floo to, then as we got more comfortable, and honestly, the girls got harder to find, I realized I needed to branch out a bit. I go to all kinds of places now, but I still haven't seen most of the city from outside."

At her confused look he continued, "I mean, I still only really go places I can floo, portkey or apparate to. It feels weird to admit, but I guess I just don't have the bravery streak you Gryffindors are so famous for."

She laughed with him, not a him, but kept her back to him as she asked, "What about, Malf…, uh Draco? Does he get out much?"

He almost shouted, "Finally," but held himself in check. "Well, it took him a long time, but he proved to be a lot braver than I am. His first trip out was to a library our second year," he laughed in memory.

"There was some assignment we had and he couldn't find the book he needed in the university library. Our professor told him he could find the book at the muggle library that was near our loft. You should've seen the panic on his face," he grinned. "You would have thought she had told him he had to go back to Azkaban. It took him almost 3 hours to psyche himself up enough to walk out of our door. Especially, when I flat out refused to go with him. I admit I was panicked that we would never find our way back. D was only gone about a half hour, and he came back at a dead run, but he did it. We drank ourselves into a stupor that night. After that I think he started to enjoy going out there. Now, he runs or takes these long walks and stuff. He keeps saying I should join him. Maybe I will sometime."

Before she could stop herself Hermione found herself saying, "I run, too. Maybe we can all meet up sometime."

Blaise saw the color drain from her face when she realized what she had said, and refused to let her back out of it. "Sounds good. I might feel a bit braver with the two of you on either side of me for protection. We can even go to lunch or something afterward."

"Oh, um, okay, yeah, sometime, yeah, we should do that," she replied.

He wanted to laugh at her sudden nervousness, but acted very serious when he said, "But, I must ask you a question, Hermione."

Her eyes flew to his, "Uh, yeah?"

He grinned and said, "So, where do you live?"

Hermione had been expecting him to mention Draco again, and felt the breath rush out of her lungs in a whoosh at his unexpected question, "What? Huh? Here."

Laughing he said, "Okay, but where's here?"

"Oh," she giggled, "You are currently on the West Side of Manhattan, 56th and 10th to be exact."

"No way!" he exclaimed and ran out of the room.

Hermione followed in time to him see pull back the living room curtains and say, "Well, if that doesn't beat all!"

"What?" she asked as she joined him at the window.

"See that really tall brown building about four blocks up?"

"Yeah, what about…," then it hit her. In her shock she didn't even notice her next slip, "That's where Draco lives."

Blaise decided not to correct her, "Yep, top floor. That light is probably…hey, hold on a second."

Hermione was so entranced by the fact that she had lived all this time only a few blocks away from him…them, that she didn't hear him pull out his cell phone. But, her head jerked up when she heard him talking.

"Hey D. … Because I didn't feel like getting in the fireplace and getting all dusty… Get over it already, man, it's just a phone, you'll get used to it when you use it more. …Oh yeah, do me a favor. Open the curtains in the main room and flash the lights. …Because, I wanna see something. …Just do it will you? …(heavy sigh) Fine, yes. You happy? …Okay, hold on."

Hermione's eyes bugged out when he looked down at her and said, "D says to tell you hello."

"I…uh…I….hi," she stuttered her gaze flying to the window as if she could see him from there.

The lights blinked on the top floor twice and she heard Blaise laugh behind her, "Cool! I can't believe we live so close to each other! Thanks, D. …Okay, see ya later."

"How funny is that, so close?" he asked and looked down at her. He actually laughed at the look on her face, a mixture of shock, interest and a bit of fear. "Hey Hermione, I do hereby solemnly swear to not become a peeping tom."

Hermione reminded herself to breath and tried to laugh with him. But, she was a little busy having yet another inner battle.

Blaise new she had reached her limit for the night. She wasn't even mentally in the room with him any longer. But, being Blaise, he had to try and see if he had a shot, even a slim one, before he left.

He walked back to the sofa and retrieved their glasses from the coffee table. With a flick of his wrist he turned on the stereo to a soft jazz station and returned to her at the window. He got her attention, handed her the glass of wine, and moved in close enough to invade her space. Then, with his back to the window, he held her eyes captive as he smoothly closed the curtain.

Keeping his voice at his most seductive, he said, "So, we had dinner, great conversation, we're having drinks, there's music, and just us. Any ideas on how we can spend the rest of this perfect evening?"

"Uh, Blaise, um…"

He moved in and stilled her words when he said against her lips, "I have one."

Oh my! Well. This is…this is…nice. I mean, good! No, I mean nice. Damn! Here I am kissing the sexiest man I know and I can't even get turned on a little?! I mean, it's not like he can't kiss, he can. But, where the heck are the…the…okay I'll go with butterflies and figure out a better word later. I felt more than this when Draco had his hands on my waist the other night. Damn damn and double damn! I don't want to hurt Blaise's feelings, but how do I get out of this gracefully? I invited him over. It had to seem like I wanted him. I mean who wouldn't want him? What is he doing with his hand?! No, no, no.

"Blaise, wait!" she practically screeched. Then she held herself in check rather than leap out of his arms. "Look, I, um, like you, I do. But, um, I think we should, uh, maybe, just like, be friends. You know what I mean?"

Being a man of experience, he knew when a woman wasn't into things. And, she hadn't been. But, he had found himself enjoying kissing her nonetheless. The figure she had begun to get in school had blossomed into a well-rounded woman's. But, he acknowledged that she would be considered very average by most standards in both height and size. Her chest was a little more than average, but not anything crazy. No, it was her lips and taste that got him. Full and warm, with a taste that was a mix of the wine and woman. It had intoxicated him for a moment and his hands had started roaming before he thought better of it.

He realized he had to save face, their budding friendship, and her potential whatever with Draco. So, resting his forehead against hers he smiled into her eyes, "Yeah, that's probably for the best. I think I'm starting to like you too much to ruin things by rocking your world. Then we couldn't be friends."

It seemed to have worked because she smiled at him and lifted her head away, "Rock my world? Oh please!" She continued with a light laugh as she pulled away from him, "Someone thinks he's THE wizard, doesn't he?"

"Well, that's what they all tell me," he joked back.

Hermione was pleased that things seemed to have passed quickly and without too much awkwardness, so she flopped back on the big chair next to the sofa and said, "So, now that we know you aren't going to be seeing my bedroom any time soon, young man, sit and talk to me some more."

"Sure, but only if I can have some coffee," he smiled at her.

For the next hour they talked and laughed. It was like they had both agreed to let the kiss pass as if it hadn't happened. Hermione filled him in on more of the people they had known from school and he told her more about the few people he had heard about over the years. Finally, Hermione excused herself to finish straightening up the kitchen. While she was gone he flipped through the latest edition of The Daily Prophet.

When she came back out, he told her he had to go, since they both had to work the next morning. Hermione walked with him over to the fireplace and told him how much fun she had had.

"You know, I don't know what made me call you, but I am glad I did."

"Well, I am, too. I really had a nice night. We'll have to do this again soon," he answered.

"Yep, but next time, you have to help me either cook or clean," she laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you just want to see my burnt egg specialty," he came back. Then he reached out for a hug and she stepped into his arms easily.

"Thank you for a really good night, Blaise. It was relaxing and fun. And, I needed it," she told him truthfully.

He kissed her on the temple and then pulled back and took some floo powder before he answered with a grin, "Same here. And, I am glad we didn't do anything we would have regretted." He watched her nod in agreement as he stepped into the fire. But, before he shouted out his address, he winked and added, "Besides, I think D would've killed me."

It was a good two minutes before Hermione closed her mouth and stepped back from the fireplace.

Friday during lunch Hermione's cell rang. The teacher she was assisting had given her an hour off, while he had taken the children out for playtime, so she answered.

"Hey Gin!"

"Hi! Can you hear me?!"

"Yeah, Gin, stop yelling," Hermione laughed.

They had had the same beginning to each phone conversation to date. Harry and Ginny had gotten the cell phone a few weeks before so they could reach Hermione whenever, wherever, now that she was on her own. Harry took to it easily, of course. But Ginny had trouble understanding how it worked and always felt she had to yell, since they were so far away. She was getting better, but she still tended to speak slowly for the first few minutes to make sure she was clear.

"Seriously, just talk normally, girl."

"Okay, sorry. Can you talk now?"

"Yeah, I'm on a break."

"Good. So, what's new? I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever."

"It's only been a week," Hermione laughed. "You guys just left Sunday."

"I know, but you've had a lot change this week and I want to know everything."

How does she know? What does she know? Nothing! There's nothing to know! I don't even know!

Hermione tried to keep her voice neutral, "Change?"

"Uh, yeah! Duh. You're living on your own for the first time. You got to setup and decorate your own place. You started your new job."

Hermione laughed in relief, "Oh, yeah. Well, I love, love, love my flat. It's not really big or anything, but it's perfect for me. And, I did end up making the second bedroom an office. I can't wait for you guys to see it without all the boxes and stuff."

Ginny cooed, "I can't wait. I would floo over there tonight, but Teddy will have loads of homework for me to check, Harry's on assignment this week, and Mom can't watch Jamie and Albie tonight, so I need to stay here."

"Oh, where'd he go?" Hermione asked while doodling on her desk calendar pad.

"Another Ministry retreat. You know the one where they meet up with the other European ministries to talk politics and stuff." She then laughed, "Harry always complains about all the boring meetings he has to sit through, but I know he likes it. They always have a huge Quidditch match and you know how much he loves that."

Hermione laughed, "Yeah, I do. So, have you heard anything from Ron?"

"Nope, not a word. He and Georgina should be back sometime Sunday though. I would guess they'll call when they get home. At least I hope they do. It's going to be so weird for Ron to be so far away."

"I know, but I'm kind of excited to have some family here. And, he's only…" Hermione said.

"And, he's only a floo away. I know, I know. Harry keeps saying the same thing," Ginny laughed. "So, how's the new job? Killed any of the little buggers yet?"

"Oh stop. I love it. I didn't know what to expect to be honest. I mean I went to a normal muggle school for primary, so I didn't know how much magic there was for kids. It's actually fascinating and a lot of fun. I mean to see them learn to control their magic is so cool, Gin."

Ginny laughed and teased, "Yeah, sure it is. You just wait until you have some of your own running around the house mistakenly blowing things up and changing the colors of your furniture."

When Hermione laughed Ginny continued, "So, what else is new? Have Zabini and Malfoy left you alone since the wedding?"

"Well, um…not exactly."

"Spill it. Do I need to come over and start hexing people?"

"No, nothing like that," Hermione laughed. "It's just, well, I kind of, um, hadasortofdatewithBlaiselastnight.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?!"

"I had a sort of date with Blaise last night." Hermione heard the silence on the other end of the phone and asked timidly, "Gin, you still there?"

She heard the chill in the younger woman's voice, "I'm here. But, since you don't sound like you've lost your mind or been imperiused, I am forced to ask, what you were thinking saying yes to that…that…well, you know I mean which I can't say because Jamie is here in the room with me!"

Thank goodness for small favors. At least she can't completely lose it on me now. Might as well go for the gusto.

"Well, actually, I asked him over to my place for dinner, so it wa…"

"You WHAT?!"

"Gin, calm down, please. It wasn't like a real date anyway. Just two people getting together to share a meal."

"Yeah right. Zabini just wanted to sample your cooking skills. What where you thinking?! All he ever wants is one thing!"

Hermione felt attacked despite the fact that she knew she would have reacted the same way had their roles been reversed. Heck, she would have reacted the same way without the role reversal two weeks ago. But, things had changed.

Which is why she didn't soften her flippant reply, "I was thinking that we are both twenty-two year old single adults who are allowed to spend time together if we want!"

"So, what? You chose the Duke of Sleezerin as your meal companion? I didn't think you were that lonely, Mione. Sheesh! At least you didn't sink as low as to ask out their Prince!"

She winced at the venom in Ginny's voice and answered, "Oh grow up! We've been out of school for a long time and we've all changed, Gin. Even Draco!"

"Oh, so it's Draaaacoooo, now is it? What? Are you planning to sleep with him next?"

"Ginevra Weasley Potter! That was uncalled for! And, for your information I haven't slept with anybody. Blaise and I had dinner. You know, with food, drinks, conversation. That's it!"

"Okay. Fine. Sorry. Look, I have to go feed Jamie and get Albie up from his nap. I'll, um, talk to you later, I guess. Love you. Bye."

The phone went dead before Hermione could reply.

Shit!

"Dammit!" Hermione screamed into her apartment as soon as she shut the door. Then she finally allowed the tears she had been fighting for the past few hours to fall.

She was so confused. And, she didn't even know why. Nothing had happened between Draco and her…yet. And, she wasn't even positive she wanted anything to happen. And, the dinner with Blaise had been innocent and fun. Why did one conversation with Ginny make her feel like she had done something wrong?

And, what if she liked being friends with Blaise? What if something did start up with Draco? Would Ginny stop speaking to her all together? And, Harry? Ron? Oh Boy. Ginny was the most rational of the bunch and she hadn't even pretended to try and think about being okay with their, for all intents and purposes, innocent night. Should she put an end to it all now and just let Blaise know they couldn't be friends? And, Draco, what about her new thoughts and feelings about him? And, what had Blaise meant the night before? Did that mean Draco had said something about maybe being interested in her? Why should she have to end something before it even began?

"Why is life so damn hard all the time?!" she cried into her sofa. When she finished taking her frustrations out on her couch, she sat up and wiped at the remaining tears. It was then that she saw the message light on her answering machine.

"What, Gin? You couldn't even call me back and talk to me. You had to leave me a message?" she said into the air. "What? Now, you're sorry? Why? Did you just finally realize that people can grow up and change? Maybe even him?"

Satisfied with having yelled at her friend even though no one had heard her one-sided conversation, she hit the play button.

"Um, hello, Hermione. It's me, uh Draco. Malfoy. Look, I was wondering…well, Blaise said that you run, and so I thought we could, um, maybe, uh, run together, maybe. Tomorrow, if you want to. Run that is. Together, I mean. But, if you don't want to it's okay. I understand. I do. But, if you do, you can owl me, us that is. Blaise would go, too, of course. Or, you can call. I have a cell phone. Or, you can just call Blaise back if you want. So, um, yeah, okay. You don't have to call if you don't want to go. But, since you run anyway, I thought…we could…uh…Dammit, Blaise this is stupid! She's never going to come anywhere near me! How can I erase this thing so she doesn't hear me rambling? …What?!" beeeeeeeeeeeeep

Hermione fell back onto the sofa she had just vacated once again in tears. But, this time the tears were of laughter.