She paced the living room waiting.

If she walked back and forth enough maybe she would keep her cool. Maybe just maybe he didn't know. Maybe he would be blindsided too. Maybe she wouldn't hex him as soon as he opened the door. She sipped from the wine glass in her hand and continued her trek to nowhere. Draco Malfoy. She snorted into her glass, he was the last person she thought she would find herself preoccupied with again. She had tried to remove him from her thoughts after the first night, she had cried the night before, she would not cry again tonight. Not over him, but listening to the cool timber of his voice had sent shivers down her spine. Ones she had not felt in a long time. He had filled out again, more so since the last time, she could remember seeing him healthy months before their sixth year.

She had hesitated to look to close, kept her eyes ahead but as he held the man's head in his hands he had been gentle, caring even, about the man. The dark circles she remembered had been gone, he had healed. She placed her hand on her stomach and paused, remembering the warmth that once filled her, their hidden meetings that she had once looked forward too. The puzzle that was Draco Malfoy. She opened her eyes widely and began her pace again, guzzling the wine from her cup.

She was no longer sixteen and in lust.

She heard footsteps coming to her door and took a larger drink from the cup. A small dribble fell onto her chest and she cursed cleaning it quickly as the door opened. Blaise took one look at her and paused in the doorway eyes wide. He looked from her to the glass and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you dare say a word." She growled walking to the kitchen area and grabbing the bottle to refill her cup.

"Long day?" He questioned closing the door behind him. She glared daggers at him "I kept everyone you requested out of the paper, why are you cross at me today? Weasel give you hell about his close up? Look I can't keep everyone out of the Prophet, then no one would read it, honestly, it's your neck I care about because that means my neck is taken care of." He rambled laying his bag down and picking up her bottle of wine. He wrinkled his nose at the label and sniffed at the contents.

"Ronald and Harry had a case last night." She took her bottle back and put the cork in the top.

"More Death Eaters?" He asked taking his glass from the cupboard. "At some point, you three are going to catch all of them at this rate."

"Not sure, they took him to St. Mungos, however." She ignored his quip and ran her fingers around the edge of the glass.

"The bloke must've been in bad shape then if they didn't just repair him at the scene. Any leads at all or dead end?" Blaise asked looking through the glass bottles in the cabinet.

"The Memory Ward Healer was adamant they would get something, but the Researcher felt otherwise" Blaise dropped the bottle in his hand, and she took another drink from her glass. "You're going to want something stronger than pumpkin juice by the time I'm through with you." She said walking away as he grabbed the fire whiskey and followed her. She heard him mumble under his breath as she walked back to the sitting area, sitting on the couch.

"So you know now." He coughed drinking from the bottle and sitting across from her, she nodded pulling her feet underneath her and resting her cup on her knees.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked picking at her nails.

"You're honestly asking me that? It was easier. If neither of you knew about the other. The moment he stepped out of Azkaban, he wasn't the same. I can't imagine anyone would be, not with all that he had to do on his release. I had to write the story, I wrote it and stored it away, no one needs to know, not until he is ready. I do favors for more than just you Granger." He smiled taking another drink.

"He's a Healer out of Azkaban with a drinking problem." She blanched and drank from her own glass, noting the irony of it.

"Yes and you're so incredibly perfect, came out of the war without any sort of a problem, you can stand crowds, have your arm touched without knocking a bloke out and loud noises don't turn you into a puddle." She opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of the water as Blaise cocked his eyebrow again and raised his glass to her. " However the damaged, ex-prisoner is a Researcher, he can't become a Healer with his past, he has to research to stay there. They need him too, with the Memory Ward being full. It would be a damn shame to lose him, they won't admit that though if people know the infamous Draco Malfoy, the one the great Harry Potter shammed yet freed was the reason half of London had their memory back in the last year alone." He shook his head rolled the bottle in his hands "The potions he's able to brew, the effortless way he can get into the mind. They need him but the money would stop coming in quicker than you could say Galleon." He shook his head. "Damn shame about the drinking problem though, he said it stops the –"

"Shakes." She finished for him placing her own glass on the table suddenly sick to her stomach.

"Some people busy themselves in their work, others drown themselves in a bottle. Our favorite Blonde git does both." He shrugged his shoulders and they sat in silence each staring at their drinks. The red liquid had turned her stomach and she sat it quickly on the end table.

"Hermione," he said and she flicked her eyes up quickly, she could count on one hand the number of times he had used her first name. "Do not do this again. He isn't a child that needs saving, just like you aren't the unruly Gryffindor sticking your nose into everything" He smiled and thought again. "He isn't evil, he's done evil things, we all know that, but stay away from him this time. Please."