A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed after last chapter! Y'all are too sweet! Here is the highly anticipated blind date...no one guessed correctly, but I will admit that this character is kind of obscure, so I would have been surprised! You can follow me on tumblr, where my handle is nauticalparamour. So, I have been trying to respond to reviews, but ffnet is acting up again, so very sorry if I've missed you. Also, Ron is awful in this, but he will not be getting much screen time after this chapter, I promise!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter ten, and be on the lookout for chapter eleven soon!
September, 1999
When the day of Hermione's blind date finally came, she'd spent an inordinate amount of time getting ready, feeling incredibly silly the whole time. She wasn't going to be sleeping with her mystery date the same night that she met him, no matter how good looking he was!
As she stood in front of the mirror, her earlier self confidence in her dress was quickly evaporating - honestly, did they charm the mirrors in the dressing room to make you look better - and her shoes felt dangerously wobbly. When Daphne had helped her pick out shoes, she thought that the first pair was great for a first date, only to have the blonde tell her that these sensible four inch nude heels were for work.
No, the date shoes were tall platform heels in black which Hermione could barely walk in without the stabilizing charms she'd liberally applied.
Still, there was no more time to waffle. She was going to be late if she didn't leave now, so she reluctantly trudged over to the floo to make her way to Daphne's flat, feeling intense nervousness the whole time. What if her date was horribly rude to her?
Stepping into Daphne's flat - which was significantly more posh than Hermione was expecting for someone who was essentially kicked out by her parents - she was greeted by the tall blonde, who was wearing a black lace dress that somehow only covered the important bits, but still managed to look classy. "Hermione! I am so glad that you actually came!"
It was clear to Hermione, wrapped up in a tight hug - that her friend had had at least a little bit to drink before she arrived. "Thanks so much for having me, Daphne. Your place looks amazing."
"Come here, I want you to meet - well, be formally introduced to - my boyfriend. Theo, this is Hermione. Hermione, Theo."
Hermione did know Theodore Nott from school, as he'd been in nearly everyone of her classes, and was quite smart. Still, she knew him as being the shy, awkward boy from Slytherin, and she almost couldn't believe that her was dating Daphne. "Hermione." He shook her hand perfunctorily, before his face was transformed into something more welcoming by a bright smile. "Never thought I'd be going to dinner with you."
Hermione grinned back at him. "I guess I would say the same. Though, I don't think it will be too unpleasant." She smirked at him. "I have always wanted to talk to you about your Ancient Runes project from sixth year. Does your estate really have a Saxon rune stone?"
Theo's dark blue eyes widened. "Wow, I can't believe that you can remember that. Yes, actually. The Nott family has been on the same property for well over a millenia."
Daphne came back into the room, holding out a firewhiskey for Theo and champagne cocktail for Hermione. "Please don't start in on that swotty stuff now, Hermione! You'll only encourage him. It's the weekend, and we do not talk about anything that could resemble work."
"Your work?" Hermione asked intrigued to learn more about Theo Nott.
"Yes, I am an apprentice curse-breaker, working with a private firm." Theo told her. Hermione thought that that sounded terribly interesting, and she wondered what kinds of cases he'd had so far.
Just then, they heard the Floo sound up again. "Thank Merlin!" Daphne said, throwing her arms up. "Cassius is here...he won't bore me with talk of curse-breaking."
Hermione felt as though one hundred butterflies were going to emerge from her stomach that her date - Cassius - was there. Running through people who she knew, she tried to think of who Cassius could be. Daphne said that she knew of him, but she couldn't think...
"Granger." A deep voice greeted her from behind Daphne, moving to reveal her date.
"Warrington." Hermione replied with some surprise. Her date had been two years ahead of her in Hogwarts, and she did know of him, though only as one of the muscular chasers for Slytherin. She remembered Lee Jordan suggesting that Flint had gone for size rather than skill.
"Hermione, this is my cousin, Cassius." Theo introduced her politely.
The only resemblance between the two was their height and dark blue eyes, which Hermione could agree were devastating beautiful. But Cassius had dark, nearly black, curly hair, while Theo had straight dark blond hair; Cassius had a slight Irish lilt, while Theo had a posh, RP accent. "Cousin? I didn't know you were related."
"His mother was my mother's sister." Cassius told her, before stepping towards her, pressing a kiss to each of her cheeks. "Hermione Granger. Lovely to be formally introduced to you. You look gorgeous." He was so much taller than her, even with her heels on, he had to bend down to reach her.
"Likewise." Hermione said, a blush on her cheeks. So far, things had gone well, and he didn't seem disappointed or upset to learn that she was his blind date. Daphne went to get Cassius a drink, leaving the three to make some small talk. "So, what have you been up to recently?" Hermione asked politely.
"Well, I've just been traded to the Ballycastle Bats, so I've been moving." He said, his eyes lighting up. "It's exhausting, but I am happy to be moving back to Ulster."
"Are you from Ballycastle?" She asked him, interested.
"No, from Belfast." He said with a smile, taking a long drink of the firewhiskey Daphne brought back into the room.
"Cassius was playing in Italy for the last few years." Daphne said politely, trying to bring Hermione up to speed.
"Yes, mother thought that it was best if I leave the country with the war..." He seemed to remember just who he was talking to, and suddenly flushed in embarrassment. Still, Hermione didn't begrudge him.
"That was probably for the best." She put a wicked grin on her face. "I don't think you'd have fared well in a duel against me."
The rest of the group laughed at her joke, but still knowing that she probably could take him on, despite their size differential. "Well, we should probably get to the restaurant. We have reservations." Theo said, before ushering them out the door to the apparition point.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Hermione knew that Daphne had steered her in the right direction when it came to her outfit. She didn't look out of place at all, though she could sense that she had many eyes on her.
Though, Hermione figured that it had more to do with the fact that the brainy third of the Golden Trio's waist was being hugged by the burly arm of Cassius Warrington, and that she was sitting at a table with two other Slytherins.
They ordered more drinks at the bar, and Hermione found herself quickly relaxing into the conversation with the other three. Before long, she was really enjoying herself, and even let Cassius fed her a bite from his plate. The food was delicious, but Hermione would hope so based on the price of the dishes.
Although Hermione found Cassius very attractive, she didn't think that they really had much of a spark that could lead to a relationship. They just had almost nothing in common, and honestly, he seemed a bit wild. Not to mention that he was going to be living in Northern Ireland, which, despite magical transportation methods, was still difficult.
But she was having loads of fun flirting with him anyway. It felt great to know that he didn't hold her heritage against her, and he tried to keep up with her intellectually, even though she could tell he didn't really understand most of the in depth research she was discussing with Theo.
Plus, whenever she looked into his eyes, while they were blue, they weren't...right. They weren't Lucius's.
That thought shook her to the core, and while she was trying to examine what that meant, she didn't notice an angry redhead stalking towards the table. "Hermione?"
Turning her head, Hermione was surprised to see Ron Weasley. "Hello, Ron. Are you here with Romilda tonight?" She tried to ask airily, not really having the energy to deal with her ex-boyfriend when she was on a first date.
Seeing the bright blush on his cheeks, Hermione figured that he probably wasn't here with Romilda. She wondered if she should tell the younger girl, or if it would be perceived as jealousy. "Hermione, what the hell are you doing?" He asked, his voice already shaking with anger. He was wrenching her arm, pulling her away from Cassius.
"Ron, what are you doing?" She nearly shrieked, annoyed at being manhandled.
"What am I doing? What are you doing here with these...these, Slytherins!" He bellowed, drawing the attention of the whole restaurant to them.
Hermione pulled her arm back. "I told you at Grimmauld Place that I had a date! Daphne is my friend." She wanted to laugh, seeing that Ron clearly thought that she had been bluffing about the date. Why would she have done that?
He laughed, a hollow sort of laugh. "Really, Hermione. You want me to believe that Warrington would go on a date with you? We all know what their sort is. Get up, you are making a fool of yourself!"
Hermione didn't know if he meant because he was a Slytherin or because he was a famous Quidditch player. Still, it didn't matter when Cassius stood up and positioned himself between Ron and Hermione. "Is there a problem here, Weasley?" He asked.
"Yes, there is! I have a problem with you playing with Hermione's feelings. Why would someone like you go for her, when you have all sorts of Quidditch groupies?" Ron asked, puffing out his chest. It really stung to hear, and it was even worse that he somehow thought that he was sticking up for her.
"I happen to find Hermione incredibly beautiful, funny, and intelligent." Cassius said, firmly. "I think she's much better than a gaggle of Quidditch groupies." He put his hand on Hermione's back. "Come on, Hermione, let me walk me home. Theo? I'll pay you back."
Hermione felt tears in her eyes, but she let Warrington walk her out of the restaurant. "I'm so embarrassed." She whispered, feeling him tighten his arm around her. "Thank you for getting me out of there, but you don't have to walk me home."
"It's no trouble, Hermione." Cassius told her. "I understand...people you think are friends, learning that they think so little of you. The least that I can do is to walk you back."
When they got to her door, Hermione fiddled with her keys. She liked Cassius, but she just didn't think that there would be any more between them. "Listen, Cassius...I really had a good time with you tonight at dinner, but I don't know if we...are suited for one another." She looked down at her hands.
Cassius used his hand to tip her face up to meet his eyes, and he was looking at her with a bright smile. "I feel the same way, Hermione. I don't see a wild romance in our future." He then had a thoughtful look on his face. "Though, maybe we should kiss once, just to be sure?"
Hermione broke into a grin, before steeling herself, nodding to the handsome man. He bent down and pressed his lips against hers, catching her lower lip between his perfect lips, sliding against one another.
Even though Cassius was a brilliant kisser, Hermione could tell that there just wasn't a real spark there. He pulled away, a bit of disappointment in his eyes, and she could tell that he knew it too. "Well, maybe we could still see each other again. As friends?" He offered.
"Don't feel obligated." Hermione said, completely self deprecating, as though no one would actually want to be her friend. "But that would be lovely."
The pair bid each other goodnight, and Hermione returned to her bed, alone.
By the time Monday morning rolled around, Hermione was wishing the whole weekend could just go away. Her little fight with Ronald had made the Daily Prophet society pages, and she'd been hounded by owls asking for comment on the situation.
How wonderful, Hermione thought, that everyone in the wizarding world now knew that Ronald couldn't fathom that someone would want to date her. The only positive was that the photo that ran of her was quite flattering. She could admit that the dress did look good.
She was hoping that at work, she'd be able to keep her mind off of her friend, who she was planning on not speaking to until she got an actual apology, by throwing herself into work. However, it seemed that fate had other plans for her.
As soon as she'd gotten settled into her desk, Lucius called her into his office, charming the door shut behind her. "I see you had an exciting weekend." He said, his voice betraying no emotion, with a copy of the paper in front of her. She could see the picture of her leaving the restaurant with Cassius's arm around her waist.
"Daphne set me up on a blind date." She said, her voice cracking, wanting to forget that it had ever happened. It felt even worse to be discussing this with Lucius...it almost felt as though she'd betrayed him, cheated on him. Only that was preposterous, and of course, Lucius wasn't jealous...or was he. "Wait...are you jealous?" She asked, shocked.
"Of course not." He said, imperiously. "I just thought that you had better sense than to engage in a public fight." She saw his eyes trail to the picture of her and Cassius again.
"You are jealous!" Hermione exclaimed. She didn't know if she should feel happy or annoyed, but both emotions were fighting a losing battle. "I can't believe you. Yes, we've...kissed, but we are not together."
Lucius sniffed, shutting the paper and throwing it in the bin. "I can assure you, Hermione, that that detail did not escape my notice. Please conduct yourself in a better manner next time. You represent this department." Looking down to the papers on his desk, he waved her out. "We are finished talking now."
Hermione was so annoyed with him, that he thought he could just order her around like that. She returned to her desk, feeling strangely guilty that she'd kissed Cassius, and strangely excited that Lucius was so jealous of him. Still, she could not accept the man's overbearing attitude.