I Beg Your Pardon, Potter?

Chapter 32

"So what are your plans for after Hogwarts?" Hermione asked. She and Blaise were ensconced in one of the booths at the side of the room. They were opposite each other across the table, but they were leaning close to hear above the music.

"I hadn't much thought," Blaise said. "If I'm being entirely honest. I was just trying to get through school." Unspoken in the Slytherin common room was the fact that many of their house were unsure what would even become of them after school. The threat of war hung over everything, and many of them knew on which side their parents lay and weren't sure whether they did too. But Blaise was not about to bring that up now, instead saying, "I imagine you are looking to be an auror?"

'Oh," Hermione said. "Probably. Or something in the Ministry. I haven't had a chance to work out the particulars yet." She put her head in her hands. "God, why did I even bring this up? We're at a party. No one wants to talk about careers at a party." Blaise reached out and pulled a hand away from her face.

"Don't be silly," he said. She looked up at him through her remaining hand. "You were just making conversation." She smiled at him and let her other hand drop. He let go of the hand he was holding and reached out and tucked a piece of hair that had fallen forward behind her ear.

"I mean," he said. "I could talk about my ideas for the future, but I would much rather talk about things like how beautiful you look right now."

"Oh," Hermione said. She sat up, and therefore away from him, in her surprise.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, his face falling. "I didn't mean-"

"-Stop," Hermione said, reaching out to grab one of his hands before he snatched it away. "I was just surprised."

She watched as he gnawed nervously on his lower lip, Feeling bold, she reached up with her other hand and gently stroked his cheek. "You look pretty good yourself," she said. She willed herself to keep eye contact with him, even as her heart beat a mambo rhythm in her chest.

This was uncharted territory for Hermione. Sure, she'd kissed boys before - most recently a friend of her cousin's when she was home for summer break - but this was the first time that she had wanted to just throw herself at someone. And the first time she had wanted to do more.

Quite frankly, it was problematic how good he looked in his costume. His bare arms were muscular and the dim light reflected off of them in a very pleasing way. On top of that, his shirt left little to the imagination as to what was underneath it.

Not that Hermione was prone to objectifying anyone, but damn Blaise looked good. She was pretty sure he knew it too. He had a reputation for being vain, but so far this evening, he had seemed to pay attention to only her.

"Do you," Blaise started to ask, snapping Hermione back to the moment. He faltered there, then took a deep breath. "Do you want to go sit outside?" When she didn't respond, he continued to blather on. "There are chairs and fire pits. I mean, it should be warm enough. But then again, we don't have to-"

"-That sounds great," she said, cutting him off. He smiled and began to gather up their discarded glassware.

"Master Dobby has it," came a voice from below Blaise's elbow and he looked down to find a house elf gathering up the glasses for him. He shrugged at Hermione and shuffled out of the booth.

Outside, there were multiple grouped chairs, most of which were occupied. Blaise made a face and started to turn back inside when Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Why don't we sit there?" she asked, pointing to a small loveseat nestled in the corner of the patio. It was lit only by the light of the fire pit before it, leaving it much darker than any of the other seating areas.