By Reason Of Birth

That night, Hermione, Theo, and Blaise met up with Harry, Daphne, Lilah, and Savannah at a playground in the centre of town. It turned out that Hogsmeade had a rather active night scene. They walked through the streets to Dinsdale Road, where all of the towns businesses that stayed open past nine were located. The town had decided to keep them all together in hopes that it would keep any ruckus contained, and that people in the town could choose if they wanted to live in a quiet area, or closer to the business centre.

As they were walking, Hermione told them about the punishment she had set for Draco. Most of her friends found it funny, but Harry looked at her, affronted. "You didn't have to bring me into this, you know. Now he'll just hate me more."

"Harry, you know that's not possible," she joked, putting her arm around his shoulder. "Really, though, what good would it do to just have him be nice to me? Chances are he was already under those orders, not that it made a difference. I want him to suffer a bit, and you know as well as I do that it will be far harder for him to be nice to you than to me. Why do you care what he thinks, anyway?"

"I don't," Harry sighed. "I just don't like giving people actual reasons to dislike me."

"Then you don't have a problem," Theo commented. "Since Hermione's the one who's making him do it; he's aware that you didn't know what she was planning."

"How?" interjected Savannah curiously.

"He asked," Hermione replied, shrugging her shoulders.

They soon arrived at Quicksilver, a club that was only open to witches and wizards between the ages of sixteen and nineteen. This was the second time Harry and Hermione had been there, and Harry had liked it immediately. Though there the stares from those who had never seen The Harry Potter, and an occasional person asking for an autograph, they were largely left alone. Most of the other people there had gone to school with them for at least a few years, and were used to them being around.

The group found a table and ordered their drinks as they continued talking. After a short while, Harry stood up in front of Daphne and gave a mock bow. "Milady, would you care for a dance?" he asked, his lips quirking upwards no matter how much of a straight face he tried to keep.

She giggled as she batted her eyelashes, laughter filling her eyes. "I would be delighted, kind sir," she responded, holding out her hand for Harry to take.

"How about it?" Theo said to Lilah, who was curled up against his side, nodding to where a large group of teenagers were gyrating to the beat of the music.

"Why not?" she said, letting him lead her to the dance floor, following in Harry and Daphne's wake. Hermione watched her friends go with a smile on her face, not noticing the look that Blaise was giving Savannah.

"I think I see Terry over there. I'll just go over and say 'hi'," Savannah said, wiggling her eyebrows at Hermione, who was well aware of her friend's crush on the Ravenclaw.

Hermione laughed as Savannah got up and made her way across the crowded room before she realised that she was all alone with Blaise, who had moved into the seat next to her under the guise of not being able to hear over the noise.

"I'm going home tomorrow," Blaise said, almost idly, as he watched for her reaction.

"I know," she responded, tilting her head. "Thank you for staying and keeping me company while I was getting better."

"What else would I do? I had to be sure you were going to be alright," he told her earnestly.

"Well it was very sweet of you nonetheless."

"Hermione, I'm a Slytherin. We don't do sweet," he told her, half-jokingly.

"Oh really? What do you do then?" she asked with a playful smile, moving closer to him as the club seemed to get even louder.

He put his arm around her shoulders and leaned towards her, his breath tickling her neck. "We are ambitious, and we do sneaky, and sly, to fulfill our goals," he said into her ear, low enough that she had to strain to hear.

His free hand was tracing patterns up her arm, and she shivered at his light tough. She turned her head just enough to see the side of his face. "And what are your goals?"

He moved his hand up to her chin and tilted her face so she was looking straight at him, and without missing a beat, he leaned in, catching her by surprise when their lips met. He pulled away quickly, but despite how short the kiss was, she could feel his desire, his need for her, and the capacity amazed her. He nuzzled their noses together, his eyes searching hers, all of the background noise fading away for both of them. "You."

She paused for a moment to remember what they had been talking about. "I'm your goal?"

"You are," he responded.

"And do you always get what you want, Blaise?" she teased, though in her gut she knew that she was already his, the kiss having reaffirmed her feelings. She had finally admitted to herself that she was attracted to him, and then Draco had cursed her. Blaise had been by her side the entire time she was recovering, and her attraction had deepened into something more.

"I do," he smiled deviously before kissing her again, finding her mouth open to him.

His tongue invaded her mouth, and she welcomed his caresses with her own. They came apart only when breathing became an issue. The smile on his face only wavered when he saw the serious look on her own. "Where do we go from here?" she asked quietly.

"Where do you want to go from here?" he asked carefully, not wanting to push her, taking into consideration what had happened the last time he had kissed her.

"How about a date?" she proposed, her timidness surprising him.

"A date sounds good," he responded. Before either could say anything more, Harry and Daphne came back to the table and their bubble shattered, the noise became louder, and she noticed people staring while Blaise glowered at everyone, not liking being interrupted.

"Hermione, you finally admitting to your crush on Blaise?" Harry laughed.

She glared at him even as the arm around her shoulder started to shake with Blaise's laughter. "I don't know what you're talking about, Harry," she replied loftily, causing Daphne to fall into a fit of giggles. "And I see the two of you are rather cozy. When did this happen?" she asked, turning the attention away from herself.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hermione," Harry mimicked, sitting down, his own arm draped around his girlfriend. Hermione shot him a death glare and he grinned at her. "Last week. I was going to tell you, but then the thing with Malfoy happened, and it never seemed like the right time."

"To tell me that you're dating someone. Harry, you're my friend, and, so long as you're happy, I'm happy for you."

"Same to you," he replied, smiling at her and then Daphne. In return, she smiled back, cuddling into Blaise's embrace.


end notes:

thanks to the beta, lupie, and to the readers and reviewers as ever.also, if people want to be told when im updating, you can go to GE (www.grangerenchanted.com/enchant) and favorite the story... which is actually up to 35 chapters there, though is only updated one at a time. also, http://community.livejournal.com/lady_lynns_hpff/ is my lj community, and it gets everything posted first because i post it there before i get things sent back from the beta. also, at ge more than lj i tend to respond to reviews because ther's a lovely little feature for it rather than writing it in the body of the fic like here.