Edited 6/28/23: Minor Grammar/Spelling.
½! Enjoy!
Sunday, June 28, 1998
With Sunday came family dinner, although this evening they were joined by Blaise Zabini. Of all of Draco and Theo's friends, Hermione felt like she knew him the least. He'd always been quieter than many of the other Slytherins, never outright picking on her when they were younger, but as they'd gotten older, Hermione could see him observing everything around them. He was constantly watching everyone. According to Theo and Draco he had dirt on almost everyone, so if you needed to know something, he was your man.
"Blaise!" said Theo excitedly, pulling the shorter man into a hug. Blaise chuckled, but hugged him back. "We're glad to have you at the old homestead."
"Glad to be here, Theo," he said with a smirk. "Drake," he said, turning to Draco and shaking his hand.
Draco rolled his eyes, but then grinned at their friend and said, "You're such a prat, Blaise."
"I could have called you Drakey, but I figured that wouldn't be acceptable in mixed company." He turned to Ginny and kissed the back of her hand, "A pleasure to see you, Ginevra. You look enchanting this evening." Hermione had to bite back her own surprise at how Ginny flushed.
"Hello Blaise, I'm glad you're back from Italy. I hope your travels went well," she said softly.
"As well as I could have hoped," he said with a nod. Finally he turned to Hermione and looked at her for a few moments. "Lady Nott, hm? It's an honour to be in your home."
"Thank you, Mr. Zabini, Theo and Draco have told me so much about you," she responded as he brushed his lips over the back of her hand.
"You'll have to call me Blaise, Hermione, we've known each other since we were eleven," he said nonchalantly before turning back to Theo.
The entire room gaped at him and then exploded into chaos. Draco shot an Incarcerous while Theo shot a stunner and Ginny shot a Bat Bogey Hex at him. Hermione stared down at the man on the floor who was unconscious wrapped in conjured ropes with Bats coming out of his nose in shock.
The three other people in the room were panting and looking frantically between them. "What do we do?" hissed Draco.
"I don't think he'd do anything too rash," Ginny hissed back.
"Why do you think you know what Blaise will and won't do?" Theo asked, turning to his sister.
"I-Well, we uh might have… dated?" she said awkwardly.
Hermione, Theo and Draco just stared at her in shock. "You- you dated?" Hermione asked, feeling a little hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Ginny had the decency to look embarrassed, "It was in 5th year and you all had a lot going on and…." she trailed off.
"How did he not tell us?" Draco said, gesturing to Blaise who was still wrapped up on the floor.
"Well, amor," Theo said conversationally, "to be fair even we didn't know where you stood for a good portion of that year. Why would he trust you?"
"Why did you break up?" Hermione asked after she chuckled at Draco's indignant face.
"Uh… Harry," Ginny said awkwardly, "I wanted to pursue it and…"
"Was it very messy?" Theo said, and Hermione could tell he was getting into gossip mode so she cleared her throat and raised a brow at him. "I-uh I mean, do you think he would do anything to spite you?"
Ginny chuckled, "Oh no, it was all very amicable, he was very understanding and we were still sort of friends? Acquaintances? Friend-quaintenceses?"
"Well I suppose we should let up the Bat-Bogey and Stunner and we can ask him?" Hermione said with a grin.
Ginny lifted her Hex as Hermione lifted him to a chair. Theo cast a Renerverate at him and he blinked his eyes open. "Well, you three surely know how to treat your guests," he said with a grimace. "I understand security, but don't you think this is a bit much?" he shrugged, making his bindings more obvious.
"You know as well as we do that in these times, we can't be too sure," Draco said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I suppose," Blaise responded with a sigh. "Well let's get on with it, what do you want to know?"
"You'll have to swear on your magic to tell us the truth," Theo said looking at his cuticles.
Blaise barely looked phased and nodded, "I can agree, you are all important to me."
Draco unwound the ropes from Blaise's arm and gestured to Ginny to stand closer. "Do you, Blaise Zabini, vow on your Magic to tell the truth to Ginevra without being misleading or vague for the duration of the conversation?"
"I do," Blaise said solemnly.
"Do you, Blaise Zabini, vow on your Magic to keep the following conversation in confidence of the present parties unless otherwise agreed upon by all parties present?"
"I do," he intoned.
"Do you Ginevra Prewett Nott promise to monitor the conversation and questions so that they do not stray out of what you would consider reasonable boundaries?" Draco said, turning to her.
"I do," she said.
"So mote it be," Draco said and tapped his wand on their joined hands.
"How did you know I was Hermione?" Hermione asked.
"I've been watching you since I knew about Theo's interest in Fourth Year."
"How did you know about us that early?" Theo asked suspiciously.
"It was obvious to anyone who was willing to look. You two were mad for each other. I like to think of myself as your original fan," he responded smugly.
"What do you plan on doing with the knowledge that Hermione is Lady Nott?" Draco asked.
"Come on chaps," Blaise said with a chuckle. "It's ridiculous to think that Draco and Theo wouldn't be together, I was confident that Hermione is Lady Nott-Malfoy."
"Malfoy-Nott," Hermione said with a small smile.
"My apologies, that does roll off the tongue much better," he said with a nod, "to answer your question, Draco, I don't plan on doing anything except helping you with your mission."
"What mission do I have?" Draco asked stiffly.
Blaise snorted, "You're a spy for the Order, and I can only assume that the Nott's are going to be 'neutral' spies."
"How do you know all this?" Hermione asked, slightly awed.
"I'm observant," Blaise responded with a shrug. He frowned lightly at the bindings, "Do you think you could…"
"Do you plan on attacking us or trying to escape or erasing our memories?" Draco asked.
"Of course not. I just don't fancy being tied up by you… Other people in this room are always welcome to though," he said winking at Ginny.
Draco scoffed and lifted his spell. Blaise settled into his seat and gestured to the couches around him. Hermione plopped herself across from him and raised an eyebrow at the others. Theo and Draco sat down with her wedged between them and Ginny sat on a chair on the other side of the circle.
"Why did you come back to the UK?" Ginny asked quietly.
"I'd finished my apprenticeship with my Mum and it was time to come back so that I could offer my expertise to your band of Merry Men. You know, the Potioneer and the Poisoneer?"
Hermione snorted. "Do you believe in Blood Supremacy?"
"Seeing as more than half of my Step-Fathers have been Muggles or Muggleborns that's not possible, all of them were the same type of asshole," he chuckled, "Everywhere else in the world no one gives a shite about it, Italy is no different."
"Why didn't you ever say anything about Hermione earlier?" Theo asked after a brief silence.
"You three wanted to keep it secret and there was no good way to tell you I knew without something drastic happening. You three have mellowed with time and I'll still leave here with a bruise the size of an ostrich egg on the back of my head."
"Is there anything that could happen that would cause you to betray us?" Draco asked.
"Not that I can foresee, I'm back to help you all and I hope to forge a long and illustrious partnership."
After a few moments, Ginny ended the session as the four of them made their way to the dining room to eat the dinner that the elves had prepared. They'd been experimenting with different cuisines trying all of the Takeaways that Hermione brought home and had decided that today was the day to attempt Thai food.
"Gertie!" Hermione called, "Tell Abby that this is delicious and that the Elves have all done an excellent job on Thai cuisine!"
"I will be doing that, Mistress!" She said and popped away.
The rest of the evening Hermione watched as Ginny flushed at almost every flirtatious comment Blaise made and the relationship between the three men. She was pleased to see them totally comfortable with someone other than her and Ginny.
As she fell asleep that evening she felt a sense of rightness that she hadn't in quite awhile.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts about what might happen next!