Nice long chapter to make up for the wait. Please review.
Blaise walked down Diagon Alley, taking his time to inspect all the interesting artefacts displayed in the many shops. Pausing in front of the Weasley twins' shop, he was admiring the colourful inventions of those troublemakers when someone crashed into him. He instinctively reached out to steady them and found himself face to face with the girl he had secretly admired for many years, Ginny Weasley. For a moment she stared at him, unblinking, then she pulled herself out of his arms, mumbling,
"Sorry Zabini, didn't see you there."
Without giving Blaise a chance to speak she dashed away, shaking off the strange feeling which had beset her when he held her. He was smiling wolfishly though, realizing that she had been disturbed. He was an experienced enough seducer to know that by disturbing her in this way, he would impinge on her thoughts for the rest of the day at least. He continued on his unhurried way, lazily cutting a swathe through the crowd of people. When he reached the Leaky Cauldron, he entered for a drink, but before he was able to order one a voice called out his name. He turned around and coolly assessed his interceptor.
"What do you want, Nott?"
Theodore Nott's father had been deeply involved with Lord Voldemort and it was well-known that the younger Nott still had sympathies for the remaining Death Eaters. Therefore it was suspicious to appear too friendly with him. Nott smiled at his one-time housemate.
"How are you? What have you been up to?"
Nott knew that to get Blaise on his side was to get a very powerful and influential wizard on his side, not to mention his affiliations with Draco Malfoy. They were two of the most significant figures in society, but Blaise was not fooled. He answered coldly,
"Nothing of interest to you."
If Nott noticed the icy demeanour though, he gave no sign of it, but then again Slytherins were always famed for their ability to dissemble. Nott said to him,
"I'm meeting a few of our old friends. Do you want to join us?"
"I don't recall any of your low-class friends being my friends, but who anyway?" Blaise asked dispassionately. Nott grinned, thinking that he had triumphed.
"Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode."
Blaise's quick mind immediately noted that all had been fervent supporters of the Dark Lord before he fell. He declined gracefully, but still made a mental note to investigate the matter further. His family had never been heavily involved with the Dark Lord unlike many other Slytherin families and Blaise did not like wars. They were bad for business.
GROWING UP GROWING UP
Ron walked into his office to find his secretary sitting in his chair, smiling provocatively. He sighed wearily and gesture for her to get out of his seat. As she rose his secretary said,
"So I hear that your girlfriend found out about us which means that we can be together truly, Ron."
He waved off her hopeful words and pretending not to hear them said,
"Janet, I need you to find a hotel for me to stay in for an indefinite amount of time. You know my price range…since Hermione won't help pay for it."
"You could come stay with me. I have room and you would be most welcome," Janet suggested archly. Ron shook his head and said coldly,
"It was fun while it lasted, Janet. Now we've been found out and it's over. You are a lovely girl, but if I'm going to try to win my girlfriend back, screwing you would not be a good idea."
His secretary was bewildered. She opened her blue eyes widely and stuttered,
"But I…I though…you said that you didn't care about her…that you would break up with her…you promised me…what's happened?...has something changed?"
If Ron hadn't been so caught up in his problems he would have felt sorry for her. As it was he answered as gently as possible,
"I'm sorry if you were misled into thinking this was more than an affair. You are a really great girl, but I could not date you. You'll find a nice boyfriend someday, but it is not and will never be me."
Janet decided to try one last time. Leaning over his desk so that her chest was in his face she breathed in his ear,
"But we've had so much fun and we could have so much more fun, Ron!"
Ron was annoyed now and he yelled,
"It's over, Janet! What do I have to do to prove it to you? Pay you?"
Tears began to stream down Janet's face and she fled from the room, unable to continue looking into the face of the one who had deceived and insulted her to such an extent. He had used her and that was not acceptable. Ron sighed, dropping his head into his hands. He had no idea what he was going to do. Each time he tried to think of a way to win Hermione back, someone else's face would flash into his mind or that same someone else's scent would fill his nostrils. Now he was beginning to wonder whether he even wanted to go back to Hermione.
GROWING UP GROWING UP
As Hermione walked into Ginny's office without knocking she was able to catch the dreamy expression on the redhead's face. She grinned and teased,
"Thinking about a guy?"
Ginny started and blushed, stammering,
"No…yes…Harry…you know…I was thinking about our latest argument…you know."
Hermione raised an eyebrow and said cynically,
"Yes, but that doesn't explain the drooling."
Ginny blushed again and gave in.
"Oh, alright. I wasn't thinking about Harry. No…I was walking down Diagon Alley and then I crashed into someone and would have fallen if he hadn't put his arms around me. And he was so handsome…and familiar."
Hermione started to grin maniacally.
"Do tell me who!"
The redhead hesitated.
"Alright, but don't freak out…Blaise Zabini."
To Ginny's surprise Hermione displayed no emotion except thoughtfulness. Ginny became more and more nervous as Hermione thought. Eventually her best friend said,
"Interesting choice. Yes, he is quite hot. The whole Mediterranean thing. Personally though I prefer Malfoy's looks, but Zabini could be quite good for you."
The two girls, looking at each other, suddenly burst out laughing as they realized who they were talking about. Ginny gasped,
"Who would have thought that we would end up gossiping about Slytherins?"
Then a thought sobered her and she said,
"And yet I'm engaged to Harry."
Hermione immediately stopped laughing. She looked sympathetically at the redhead and asked,
"How is it going with the two of you? Are you still arguing a lot?"
Ginny nodded sadly.
"I don't know how to go back to how happy we used to be. I want to, but I don't know if we can. We just fight about seemingly nothing nowadays, which is the most distressing thing. I'm even thinking about ending our engagement because we just can't seem to be happy."
Hermione was shocked.
"Isn't that a bit drastic, Gin? After all ending the engagement is tantamount to ending the relationship."
Ginny shook her head vehemently.
"No! I wouldn't end our relationship, but…oh Hermione. I'm so afraid. Cho Chang still has feelings for Harry and with the way I keep on pushing him away, I'm scared he'll leave me for her and I couldn't bear that."
Hermione didn't know how to comfort her friend. So she said,
"At least he won't cheat on you and then make it really obvious. In fact Harry wouldn't cheat at all. He's not that sort of guy whereas Ron…"
This time Ginny had to comfort her.
"He's not worth being upset over, Hermione. He's an ass. I should know. I'm his sister unfortunately. You're better off without him."
Hermione nodded and smiled weakly. And despite their best efforts to comfort each other, neither of them were reassured.