The sight in front of her was the last she expected to find. Draco was nose deep in pile six, the other piles messily stacked next to each other and he was furiously scribbling on what looked to be his tenth or eleventh piece of parchment. Hermione simply stood in the doorway with her mouth hanging open, unsure of what to do or say. She didn't get a chance to decide what to do because Draco looked up at her and spoke.
"What's the matter, Granger?" He sneered. "That wretched orange furball of yours got your tongue?"
"Crookshanks?" Hermione replied puzzled but said nothing more.
"How should I know what it's called?" Draco said in return.
"You're reading my research," Hermione said, unsure of what else to say.
"Yes," Draco said impatiently. "That's what I was bloody told to do, wasn't it?"
"You're taking notes," Hermione said dumbly.
"I'm making a list of everything that's wrong with your work," Draco replied. "It'd be longer but I seem to be short on parchment."
The insult to her research snapped Hermione out of her shock. "There isn't anything wrong with my research, ferret!" she said menacingly.
"Sure there is," Draco said feigning friendliness. "It was done by you and not someone better."
"Who's better, Malfoy?" Hermione challenged.
"Me," he said with a nasty grin. "In every way."
Hermione decided that minute that there was no way in hell she was taking him on her rounds with her.
"Change of plans," she said. "I'm going to go on my rounds and you're going to continue catching up on my research. I'll be back for you at 8pm."
"You expect me to just sit here and dull my brain with your inferior research?" Draco asked. "I'm so bloody bored."
"Yes," Hermione told him. "Good luck."
She turned her heel and shut the door firmly behind her. She would do her rounds she thought, eat a quick dinner, and then find something for Malfoy to do to keep him occupied. Satisfied with her plan, Hermione made her way down the hallway to get started.
Meanwhile, Draco stared at the pieces of parchment in front of him. He's taken nearly eleven pages on notes on the Mudblood's research. Granted the first two pages were the words "I hate the Mudblood" written over and over, but once he'd actually started reading her research, he couldn't stop. Her research was actually GOOD, not to mention thorough, concise, and her notes on the research were clearly well thought out. But it lacked an important element of the Cruciatus that only someone who'd performed the curse would understand. So he began to write down what he knew and his own ideas, incorporating them in with notes from her research. It was fine to use her research, he rationalized. Lower persons always did the grunt work for their superiors, this was hardly any different even if they were supposed to be "working together." Satisfied that what he was doing was justifiable, Draco went back to work.
At 8pm, Hermione returned to the room and told him the day was over. Draco folded up his pieces of parchment and, to Hermione's disappointment, tucked them in to the pocket of his robes. She'd wanted to know what he wrote. Curious, she asked him to see the notes.
"Now, now, Granger I can't just hand over my brilliance to you," he sneered. "Besides, you probably wouldn't understand a word I wrote."
"Fine," Hermione replied. "Let's go, Blaise is waiting for you upstairs. He has a bit of a surprise for you."
Together they walked out of Hermione's lab area and made their way to the main floor of St. Mungo's. When they walked into the main waiting area Blaise was there with a small woman. She was pretty, Draco mused. But not Blaise's usual type. He wondered who she was and what she was doing with Blaise. Hermione and Draco walked toward them and when they reached the pair, Hermione embraced the woman. A friend of Granger's, he thought. It figured.
"How'd today go mate?" Blaise asked Draco.
"Boring," Malfoy replied feigning a yawn. "Granger's work isn't interesting at all."
The unnamed woman raised an eyebrow at his response.
"Hermione, how was he?" Blaise asked, turning his attention to Hermione.
"He was Malfoy," she replied. "But a more tolerable version."
"Good," Blaise said and turned back to Draco and slid his arm around the woman next to him. "Draco, I'd like you to meet Gina."
Draco held out his hand and shook Gina's hand. "Nice to meet you," he said politely.
"Draco," Blaise started but paused unsure how to proceed.
"What?" Draco asked, looking back and forth from Blaise to Gina.
Gina looked at Blaise and seeing the look of uncertainty slid her arm around his waist and his arm automatically came around tucking her next to him.
"Draco, Gina is my wife."
Draco looked stunned before the first genuine smile Hermione had seen came across his face. "Well I'll be damned. Someone finally managed to tie down Zabini," he said. "Congratulations."
Blaise breathed a sigh of relief. "You took that better than I thought you would," he said.
"I'm pissed I've lost my best wing man," Draco told him. "But I'm glad you've met someone."
"Isn't there anything else you need to tell him?" Hermione said looking at Blaise pointedly.
Gina looked up at her husband expectantly.
"What else do you have to tell me?" Draco asked, unsettled by the look of glee on Hermione's face.
Blaise gave Hermione a look then down at his wife.
"Why don't you tell him how we met?" Gina suggested.
"Er, alright," Blaise said, looking around to make sure no one was around when Draco got the news. "After the war, several of the pure blood families donated money to repair Hogwarts. They asked me to represent them all since my name still carried some respect. Gina and Hermione set up a fund for orphans who lost their parents during the war and a lot of the money went to that."
"Okay?" Draco said. "So you met her then?"
"Hermione and Gina also set up an educational program to help teach acceptance of muggleborns in the wizarding world," Blaise replied. "The families also donated to that and that's how I met her."
"It's a cause that's very close to my heart," Gina said looking directly at Draco. "Very close to Hermione's as well."
"Lovely," Draco said looking disgusted. "So you bonded over being pathetic Mudblood sympathizers."
Blaise cringed at the word and held Gina closer to him. "Don't use that word mate, not when you could easily use it to describe my wife."
"Why would I use it to describe your-," then Draco realized what they'd been tiptoeing around telling him.
"You're a Mudbl-muggle born?" Draco asked, catching himself mid-word when Blaise gave him a look.
"Yes," Gina replied holding her head high. "And I'm married to your pureblood best friend."
Draco gaped like a fish for a minute before Blaise turned to his wife and Hermione. "Why don't you give me a minute to talk to him?" He said. "I'm sure he'll have some things he'd like to say and I'd prefer it if you ladies didn't hear it."
"We'll go get a butterbeer at the bar across the street," Hermione said.
Gina gave Blaise a long kiss and grinned at Draco when he looked slightly ill at the sight. She linked her arm through Hermione's and the two walked out of the room.
Blaise watched them leave with a smile. He turned back to Draco whose face hadn't returned to its normal pale pallor and hadn't moved at all.
"Draco?" Blaise said hesitantly.
"You're a blood traitor," Draco said, staring at Blaise as if he was seeing him for the first time. "You married a Mudblood. You're a blood traitor. My best mate. A blood traitor."
At Draco's words Blaise did the only thing he could think to do. He punched him in the face. The force of the punch sent Draco falling to the floor.
"Do not ever call me that," Blaise said, looming over Draco. "Do not ever use those words in front of me again. You've been my best mate for a long time but if you ever call me or my wife those words again, you'll regret it."
Draco stared up at Blaise and Blaise stared back. Then Blaise held out his hand. Draco sat on the floor another minute, unsure of what to do. Then he knocked Blaise's hand away and stood, wiping the blood from his nose.
"Why?" Draco wanted to know. "Why would you do it?"
"Because I love her," Blaise replied. "And for some reason, she loves me too."
"You're a sap, you know that right?" Draco said.
"Yes," Blaise said with a laugh. "I know."
"I don't like who she is, Blaise and I don't understand this at all," Draco said, holding up his hands when Blaise's eyes narrowed and his fist clenched. "But for our friendship, I'll keep my mouth shut."
"That's good enough for now," Blaise acknowledged. "But she's my wife Draco. You're going to have to get over your blood prejudice eventually. Not just for her but so you can function out in the world."
"People can't change," Draco said dismissively. "Especially when they don't want to because what they believe is right."
"That's rubbish," Blaise replied. "The entire wizarding world is proof that people can change. I'm proof that people can change. All you need is the right trigger."
"Whatever you say mate," Draco replied, certain that the Muggleborn woman had made Blaise lose his mind.
"I'm going to go meet Gina and Hermione," Blaise told him. "Do you want to come?"
"I think I'll go home," Draco said. "Not because I don't want to spend time with the Muggleborn wonder duo, but because it's been a very long day."
"Very well," Blaise replied and held out his hand again. This time Draco shook it. "See you around mate."
Blaise walked out of St. Mungo's and Malfoy walked to the fireplaces. It had been a hell of a day, he thought, and it was only day 1. "Only 5 months and 29 days to go," he mumbled to himself before he stepped in to the fireplace and disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
A/N: So I have to be honest, I hate, hate, HATE when author's add characters that aren't a part of the original story. But in this case, I needed to create a Muggleborn character who would actually pair well with Blaise and I couldn't think of anyone from the books. So forgive me, but I needed his wife to be a certain way and be a Muggleborn for the story to work. Please don't hate me!