No progress had been made on Blaise and Hermione's bargain for the weeks before the Hogsmeade weekend. They had spent all their time together working on their Arithmacy project, and they did seem to spend a lot of time together. For hours they poured away over different books in the library, the over achiever in both of them desperate to do this project and do it well. Neither spoke of social things, they didn't tell jokes. It was all work and no play and that was the way they both liked it.
At the end of their last meeting, the night before the Hogsmeade weekend, Hermione had stopped Blaise as he was about to leave the library. There were ten minutes until curfew and he was more than a little annoyed at her for stopping him, but he turned around nonetheless to hear what she had to say.
Hermione had then brought up the plan. Or, at least their plan to make a plan. She was wondering if Blaise still planned to "observe" them – she said that with a snicker – and what she could do to help. After all, Ron and Nicola had already been dating more than a month, closer to two actually, and she thought it was about time they started breaking them up. Blaise agreed wholeheartedly and asked Hermione to try and keep them in one place – it didn't matter what place, he just wanted it to be somewhere busy. Somewhere he could go unnoticed and be able to watch them.
Hermione agreed and they parted ways.
The next day the Hogsmeade trip started out very promising. Blaise had trailed Nicola, Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione all day from when they left Hogwarts to when they arrived in the quaint Wizarding town, watching their every moves from a respectable distance. He had watched them move from bookstore to sweet shop and everywhere in between. When Hermione had finally gotten them to settle down and have a bite to eat he had followed. Blaise had sat with Draco Malfoy and made idle chatter while spying on Nicola and Ron in all their lovey-dovey glory.
At first it had bothered him, watching the way Nicola's eyes lit up whenever Ron looked at her. Watching the way her fingers always found his, the way her hand grazed his face. She was constantly touching him, constantly looking at him and talking to him. They were obviously enamored with one another and this drove Blaise nuts.
Or at least it did at first.
As the day went by Blaise began to notice Hermione's discomfort more and more. He watched the way her eyes glistened with tears whenever Ron looked at Nicola. Watched the way her fingers twitched and clenched whenever Nicola and Ron held hands, watched the sorrow on her face when Nicola's hands grazed his face. He was surprised and more than a little shocked to notice that none of her friends were paying any attention to her obvious devastation. They were all too caught up in their own love stories to see her broken heart.
He was even more surprised to notice that he cared and was upset with their lack of consideration.
Since when did he care about Hermione?
This made him angry and he concentrated harder on observing Nicola and Ron and ignoring Granger. It made him even angrier how hard this was as Hermione was always two feet away from them, miserable.
Blaise was drawn away from his observations when Draco said something and expected a response. Unsure as to what Draco had even said Blaise just smiled and nodded, hoping his friend wouldn't notice what he was doing. If Malfoy ever heard about one of his friends watching Hermione Granger they would never hear the end of it.
Wait, watching Hermione Granger? Blaise kicked himself mentally. He was supposed to be watching Nicola Contadino. Nicola not Hermione. Blaise shook his head to clear his thoughts and shifted his eyes slightly to the left, maintaining a pretence of listening to Malfoy while his eyes went back to spying.
Nicola, her Italian heritage making her a naturally expressive person, could not tear her eyes away from Ron and it was obvious that breaking them up would be no small feat. Whatever it was she saw in him it wasn't something trivial and it wasn't something that would be easily squashed. As for what Ron saw in her it was obvious, he saw everything Blaise had noticed first. It wasn't fair, he thought, it should be finders keepers. Blaise had loved her first!
He made several mental notes, none of them useful. For the life of him Blaise could not see any tension or any thing he could use to aid Hermione and himself in breaking up the Hogwarts Sweet Hearts. The only thing he noticed he balked at using, and that was the friendship, the bond between Hermione and Ron.
It was obvious that the two were very close friends and if Blaise had stopped to think about it he would realize that that burning in his mind was jealousy over her easy camaraderie with the red headed weasel. He obviously cared for her, although not romantically, and the Slytherin in Blaise wondered if he could use that to his advantage, something he instantly discounted. Hermione could not be used to break up Ron and Nicola.
Now, whether he decided this based on what he knew about Hermione and Ron's relationship (which he must admit wasn't much, she never talked to Blaise about anything personal when she could avoid it) or because he didn't think it fair to her, was something Blaise wouldn't even begin to analyze.
Blaise leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing. Ginny and Harry – a couple since the beginning of seventh year – were telling some sort of story to their three companions. He was too far away to hear what they were saying but close enough to see and read their emotions. Ron and Nicola laughed easily while Hermione was obviously only pretending to enjoy herself, that patented fifth wheel. Once again, Blaise was shocked to see her best friends so uncaring about her happiness. How could he, someone who barely knew her, read her like one of those books she loved so much while her friends seemed oblivious.
A voice in Blaise's head challenged him. Maybe it's because you're looking.
"I said, are you coming?" Draco Malfoy's voice brought Blaise back to reality and he furrowed his brow. Coming where? It was just then that Blaise noticed Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Knott had joined them.
He decided wherever it was, he'd rather stay here. "No thanks. I'll catch up with you guys later." With a nod from Malfoy the three Slytherins left Blaise to himself and to his increasingly disturbing thoughts.
Blaise crossed his arms as the gang of Gryffindor's food arrived and he settled into his chair. Watching and observing, saving all thoughts for later when he could reflect on them in peace. It was fifteen minutes before anything interesting happened. After their lunch Nicola stood up, leaned over to kiss Ron, said something in the way of a goodbye and then headed by herself to the doorway. Not one of them got up to follow her and Blaise caught Hermione's eye.
Hermione seemed to read his silent questions and nodded in reply. Yes, Nicola was going off by herself. Yes, Hermione would keep Ron distracted.
Blaise got up from his table, dropped a few knuts on the table as payment for his Butterbeer and left to follow Nicola Contadino, unsure as to what he would say when he found her but convinced talking to her would drive all thoughts of Hermione out of his head.
He finally caught up with her close to the woods near the Shrieking Shack; she was on her way back to Hogwarts. Blaise was still several feet away from her when he stopped and decided to get her attention.
"Nicola! Wait up," he spoke in Italian and smiled for her. She whirled around and looked genuinely glad to see him. Blaise frowned when he noticed that his heart rate didn't increase at the sight of her lovely smile.
"Blaise! It is good to see you. We never get a chance to talk anymore." Nicola took a step towards him and brushed the hair out her face.
Christ, she was lovely. But for whatever reason it didn't affect Blaise the way it usually did. Why wasn't he still falling over himself to speak to her? Why wasn't he boasting and flirting and doing everything else his brothers had taught him to 'get the girl'?
And why was he thinking about bushy hair and expressive brown eyes?
Blaise shook his head and frowned, causing Nicola to take a step forward and ask if he was ok. Blaise nodded in response, but wasn't entirely sure that he was ok. What was wrong with him? Here he was, standing with the girl of his dreams and he wasn't feeling any of the love that he had convinced himself he felt.
Nicola took another step forward and began to speak to him, something about how she had gotten a letter from her mother and how confusing she found Ancient Runes.
He laughed mentally at that. Ancient Runes was an easy course. Hermione Granger would agree with him about that. Another frown crossed his face. So what if Hermione was smart! Why couldn't he tear his mind away from her and focus on the goddess in front of him? Blaise was beginning to get frustrated.
How had his feelings for Nicola Contadino disappeared so fast? And what did it all have to do with that know-it-all Gryffindor. Blaise didn't get it. There was no way – no way – he had feelings for Granger so why couldn't he get her out of his head?
Nicola took another step forward and placed her hand on his arm, concern etched in her face.
"Blaise? Is everything alright?" She spoke softly and her Italian was smooth.
Blaise shook his head and did the one thing he could think of to erase Granger from his thoughts. He leaned forward, putting both hands on Nicola's shoulders, and kissed her deeply, his tongue grazing her lips and his mouth gently pressed against hers. It took a moment for Nicola to push him away and begin to lecture him in Italian, but he ignored her every word and her talk of 'loving Ron' and Blaise and her being 'just friends.'
Where was the speeding pulse or the hurt at her rejection? Where was the disappointment and joy? Why wasn't he feeling, well, anything. There was no passion coursing through his veins.
He didn't move a muscle when Nicola walked away, calling to him over her shoulder to say that she wouldn't tell Ron and that they could just forget it had happened. He didn't care that she was leaving him.
Blaise was greatly disturbed. What had happened to him?
And why did he feel guilty, feeling like he'd betrayed Granger?
Blaise shook his head and shut his eyes. This was going to be a long day.