Had to break this down into two parts. It was getting rather long.


Chapter 9: Blaise's First Date Part 1

For the next couple of weeks, things slowly progressed between the witches and the wizards.

Blaise was furious that Ron had already won, and was forced to listen to the freckled git until graduation, which was months away. Ron had yet to use his new power over Blaise yet. He was saving it for just the right time.

Hermione and Ron slowly became the "it" couple of Hogwarts. A lot of people that had noticed the tension between them over the years were extremely happy that they finally pulled their heads out of their bums and gotten together. They enjoyed each other's company even more now, as they really didn't feel too cautious and shy about what to say and what to do. However, after two weeks they hadn't even had their first kiss yet, which their friends found completely weird.

"Hermi, you mean to tell me that all those times that you two have snuck off to be around each other in private, you're not snogging each other senseless?" asked a bewildered Rashida. She was slowly picking up on British lingo, snogging actually becoming one of her favorite British words. She found the term extremely funny.

"It's not me." said Hermione. "I think he is doing that because he really wants me to know that our relationship isn't about just being physical. And while I love that he wants to show that, I wouldn't mind doing a bit of snogging from time to time. Especially when he's all tired from Quidditch practice and he smells like the earth and wind and Ronness and he's holding me close to him and-"

"You forget that I'm his sister and I do not want to hear your erotic Quidditch fantasies about my big brother." said Ginny, throwing a pillow at Hermione, causing the rest of the girls to laugh.

"Whatever. Like you haven't imagined snatching Malfoy's quidditch jersey off of him and having a go." laughed Hermione.

Ginny shook her head. "I shouldn't, should I? The boy is starting to drive me mental and I don't particularly like it!"

Ginny and Draco had started to open up to each other more. She would tell him about what living in the Burrow was like, her brothers, they would bond hard over quidditch and music, and she soon found herself actually finding qualities in Draco that she liked. Despite being arrogant, he could he a perfect gentleman, he was a great listener, he was extremely smart, witty, he had immense passion about the things that really interest him, and though he actually liked kittens. Which she found strange and adorable. She found herself thinking that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as bad as he seemed.

And then, the fact that he only wanted her for a shag would pop back in her head, making her come back to reality, and couple times she actually found herself troubled by it.

"What about you Pans? You and Harry seem to be getting pretty chummy." said Ginny, looking at Pansy as the girl brushed her long raven strands.

It was true, her and Harry were getting close. Closer than she herself would have liked

She too had to remind herself that this was all just a great to Harry, even if it didn't seem like it.

They too bonded over Quidditch, the pair sometimes helping one another with techniques despite the fact that they were on opposite teams. She found out that Harry was musically inclined like she was. He knew the piano very well like she did, saying that it was the only thing his evil aunt and uncle would allow him to do, and it was only to show off in front of their guests to make it seem like they were a well rounded family.

The night Harry opened up to Pansy about his muggle home was the night that things seemed to change. Pansy had never heard of such horrid abuse in her life that Harry had endured at the hands of his aunt, uncle, and cousin. She felt horrible that she grew up in such a loving home, while he grew up in almost hell. The fact that they kept him locked away in a cupboard under the stairs was enough to make her want to go to Privet Drive and hex the whole lot of them. It was like they were keeping the poor boy in a jail. She found herself actually wanting to be there for him more and more.

But she too had to face the fact that it was all an illusion.

Rashida on the other hand, seemed to take a different approach when it came to Blaise. She would constantly make him mad. She would bask in the glow of Blaise's disgruntled face after she would make him feel like an absolute prat, laugh at the fact that he would snap at her for making a snarky comment, and she would revel in the fact that is was she that made him more angry than an agitated black mamba.

That was all a part of Rashida's plan. She had learned early on that Blaise was all about his image. She was tearing his ego down, made him think and reflect on himself, something she gathered that he hated to do, because he always wanted to be right. She didn't like Blaise at all. In fact, she would go as far as to say she despised the git, as he was nothing but a bratty little boy to her.

Still, she did have fun riling him up. Which was exactly what she was going to do today on this Hogsmeade double date that Blaise was forced to go on with Ron and Hermione. The girls laughed and chatted away as Rashida and Hermione got ready for it.


Down in Slytherin, Ron sat in Blaise's dorm listening to Blaise complain.

"Tell me why I am going on this bloody thing again?" asked Blaise as he brushed his short hair down so it laid neatly on his head.

"Be lucky I'm helping your sorry ass out. Or do you want to be Harry and Malfoy's bitch also then?" said Ron.

"Fuck you. It's bad enough I have to listen to your ass. We shouldn't have even put you in the bet, seeing as Granger already had the hots for you."

Ron shrugged. "You're just grumpy that Rashida isn't head over heels about you. Which I can't understand why. You're a dream." he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh shut up. If it wasn't for the fact that she was so fucking good looking and her hair would look nice being twisted around my hand as I yanked on it, I wouldn't even fuck with her anymore. She's an absolute bitch."

"Oh no she's not." said Ron, not really liking that Blaise had called her that. "You're only angry at her because she tells you about yourself. Your true self. And you don't like it."

"That's not true! She makes it seem like I'm just some conceited asshole that's only objective in life is to fuck every bint that comes my way!"

Ron laughed. "Mate, that's exactly what you are."

"I beg your pardon!"

"Hey, don't be mad at me that you can't see what you do to people. You have broken a lot of witches hearts around here. Luna told Ginny that she felt like you stole her innocence from her, even though she gave it to you willingly. She thought you two would have something, and you don't even tell her hello in passing. Shit, Padma Patil cried over your ass for weeks. Her and Natalie McDonald. And don't get me started on poor Romilda Vane-"

"Okay Weasley, I get it. Fuck." said Blaise as he put on his winter coat. "I guess I never really thought of it. I figured that they knew the game. Especially Padma. I told her what it was from the beginning."

"Have you ever really had a real girlfriend before, Zabini?" asked Ron.

Blaise stood and thought about it for a few seconds. He sighed. "No actually."

"You should try it sometime. You may like it." said Ron, putting on his coat.

Blaise looked at Ron quizzically as he wrapped his green and gray Slytherin scarf around his neck. The two then walked out the dorm and out of Slytherin dungeon, heading up to meet the girls at the great hall entrance.

When they got there, they saw the two girls sitting on a bench outside of the hall. Blaise tensed up a bit over seeing Rashida, as always.

It wasn't as if he had grown to hate the girl, because he didn't. That fact was extremely far from the truth. It was just that she had the remarkable ability to make him feel like a piece of shit. It irritated him to no end that she could dissect him the way she did, and do it without caring what hr had to say or wanted to do about it. He had been immediately mesmerized by the beauty of her body, and he couldn't help but to want to know how her mind worked.

"Hey, Ron." said Hermione, kissing him on the cheek.

'Morning, love, Rashida." said Ron. Kissing her back on hers and giving a head nod to Rashida. The pair grabbed each other's hands and started talking quietly about something, leaving Rashida to speak to Blaise.

"Zabini." she said, giving him a quick nod.

"Mosi."

"Well, don't you look rather dashing this morning."

"Thanks. You're looking beautiful, as always." said Blaise, trying to be charming.

Rashida rolled her eyes and grinned. "Oh I bet you tell all the girls that. Let's go!" she said, Blaise's expression becoming very glum. Still, he offered Rashida his arm, which she took with one of her now infamous to him fake innocent smiles.

The four of them set out for Hogsmeade, each of them anxious to see what the rest of the afternoon would bring them.