Chapter 4

Blaise was away in Europe all week. It was strange not seeing him for lunch, but it gave her a chance to catch up with her friends again. She had been neglecting them of late.

Although when she had lunch with Harry and Ron she wondered why she missed them as they spent the whole time talking about a capture they had made of illegal traders, or the apparently spectacularly awesome quidditch match last weekend.

She wasn't sure whether it was a relief or not but they didn't mention Blaise at all. They didn't talk about relationships in any meaningful capacity. Luckily, Ginny wasn't there because she would have dissected each minuet detail. Hermione wasn't really ready to share yet. Their relationship was so new and she didn't really want to over-analyse it at this point. She just wanted to enjoy what it was at the moment.

But it was nice to have someone to make weekend plans with, someone to go out with and someone to cuddle on a rainy night.

Blaise met her for lunch on Friday. He had just gotten back, and they'd agreed to meet up at one of the pubs.

"I got you something." He said.

"Really?"

He handed her a medium sized box. Hermione felt a little embarrassed receiving a gift, but also very curious. It was a silk scarf.

"The continentals are crazy about scarfs, so I thought I had to get one for you."

"Its beautiful." Hermione said and tied it around her neck. "Thank you." She said and leaned over and kissed him. It felt like a really grown up thing, receiving a gift from a man. Not something she was used to.

"I will wear it for the rest of the day."

"The colour suits you." He said and perused the menu.

"Blaise!"

Hermione heard the high pitched voice that made her cringe.

"Pansy, what are you doing here?" Blaise said with surprise.

"Shopping." She said and fell down on one of the seats. "It can be so exhausting. I swear some of these shop assistance wouldn't understand a fashion statement if they stepped on one. They are completely clueless. Like I would be caught dead in an empire line like it's last year. Do they live in those stores so they don't notice that the seasons change? Time moves on, really. That is their profession, you would expect them to have some semblance of understanding of current fashion. How was Europe, darling?"

"Still there." Blaise said before ordering his meal from a passing staff member. Hermione hurried and ordered her steak sandwich as well before the person disappeared.

"You eating, Pansy?"

"No, I had a huge breakfast." Pansy said. "I am still full. That is a beautiful scarf."

"Blaise gave it to me." Hermione said when she noticed that the conversation had turned to include her.

"He is so sweet." Pansy said. "It suits you."

"Thanks."

"Now Blaise." Pansy said and wilfully batted her eye lids.

"Oh, here it comes." Blaise said.

"My birthday is coming up." Pansy said in a sweet voice. "And I do so want to go somewhere warm. I thought we could all go to Italy and have a nice little soirée. One only turns 24 once, so must make something special of it."

"Pansy, you make something special of every birthday."

"So why change a habit of a life time. Please Blaise."

"I can't just take off Pansy, I have work."

"Don't be dull. You haven't had a holiday in ages. I am sure they've worked you hard enough and Hermione could really use a holiday. She hasn't seen you place in Italy."

"Its not my place, Pansy. Its my mothers." Blaise said, but Pansy turned to Hermione.

"You should see it, sun drenched, right by the sea. Sixteenth century Palazzo. It is absolutely gorgeous."

Pansy was deliberately manipulating her, but Hermione had to concede it sounded exciting.

"Really, Blaise. You have to show a girl your best assets." Pansy said.

"And the house it Italy is my best asset?"

"One of your many." Pansy said with a wink and a light pat on his hand. "Come on Blaise, please. Don't make me beg. Its so embarrassing when I have to get down on my knees in public." She turned back to Hermione. "He is such a sadist."

"Fine." Blaise said with exasperation. "But I have to check with my firm before I can commit to anything."

"Yay." Pansy said with a little applause. "You are such a darling, Blaise."

"Only when severely bullied."

"I'm off." Pansy said grabbing her bag and practically swanning out the door. Hermione guessed that Pansy got what she came for.

"You don't have to take time off on my account." Hermione said.

"Once Pansy gets something in her head, she will not stop. Sadly, the more you fight her, the more value she places on it. If I'd known she was thinking in that direction, I would have begged her to come to Italy, that would have been the one way to make sure she'd change her mind."

"So what do you think about a couple of weeks in Italy?" He said as their meal arrived.

"Uhh." Hermione started. "I guess. I do have some leave owing. When is this supposed to happen?"

"In two weeks."

"I have a briefing with the Wizengamot." Hermione said.

"I can set up a portkey for right after." Blaise said.

Hermione shrugged. "I guess then that it wouldn't be a problem." She said. She felt a bit weary about it, but it would be nice to go away with Blaise. They were in the stage of their relationship when a trip away could be feasible.

As she thought about it, her concerns grew because it wouldn't be a nice weekend with Blaise. It would be a weekend with Blaise and all his friends. She'd kind of hoped she'd laid that whole thing to rest when she had lunch with the Slytherins, spending two weeks with them was something entirely different.

"Its settled then." Blaise said. "Apply for leave today and I'll do the same."

He seemed really happy and excited about it. Hermione didn't have the heart to back out, but internally she wondered what she'd signed herself up for.

"Don't look so worried, it will be fun." Blaise said and took her hand.

Hermione decided she wasn't going to be worried. She was going to have fun. She would be with Blaise and everyone would at least be civil. And if they weren't, did it really matter? Hopefully Malfoy would at minimum behave better than a child. Well, she wasn't going there to hang out with Malfoy. She was sure Italy was large enough for the both of them. Just because he was Blaise's friend didn't mean they had to stay glued to the hip. Plus it was Italy, there would be art, architecture, food and the sea to focus her attention on.

It would be nice and warm there, warm enough to swim. It had been ages since she'd had a swimming holiday. The last one had been when she'd gone to retrieve her oblivious parents from Australia.

She was tentatively excited and her manager agreed to the holiday readily. That solved the last stumbling block.

They didn't talk more about it over the weekend, just had a nice time together. As they lay in bed on Sunday morning Hermione was pretty sure that his nicest assets had nothing to do with property. There was gorgeous eyes, smooth skin, strong arms and a clever humour that made her laugh all the time.

She didn't know what to expect from this holiday. Apparently it was a property on the Adriatic that had been in his family for generations. It wasn't near any larger towns, being nice and secluded with physical access limited to travel by sea or magic. He assured her that she could always apparate to Rome or Florence. Most Italian cities had a magical quarter if she wanted to get out and explore.

It did sound like fun, she conceded. Surely her worries were baseless. She just hoped that this trip wouldn't change anything. She didn't really want to go either forward or backwards in this relationship at this point. Things were good right now. They had all the time in the world for moving things forwards, she wasn't the kind of girl who believed in rushing a relationship.

Hermione made preparations for her holiday. She packed swimwear, summer wear and a few dresses in case they went out in the evenings. She didn't overdo the packing, if she needed anything, she was sure she could buy it.

Harry and Ron were not all that excited about it when she went over to Harry's one evening.

"Pack an extra wand." Ron said. "You can't trust those Slytherins. Just don't turn your back on any of them."

"Really, Ron." Hermione said. "It will be fine. No one is going to hex me in the back."

"How do you know?" Ron shot back. "They weren't exactly friendly in school, where they?"

"Everyone has grown up a bit." Hermione said.

"What, you and Malfoy best friends now?"

"We are never going to be best friends, but I am sure we'll rub along just fine. Besides, he has some girlfriends to keep his attention now."

"Girlfriends?" Ginny said.

"Twins apparently." Hermione said.

"That is so crass." Ginny said with disgust, although the boys didn't seem as bothered. "Could he be more offensive? Blaise better be worth it, Hermione."

Hermione smiled. She was still all warm and languid from the weekend. "I suspect he might be worth crawling through hell."

"Well, I hope your holiday turns out to be better than that." Harry said. "But just in case, considering who you have signed up to hang out with, I will put a rescue plan in place if things turn septic."

"Guys, don't be ridiculous. Its just a holiday and the Slytherins are reasonable people, mostly. A bit vacant, but essentially harmless. Its not going to be wands at dawn." Hermione said. "I hope."