A Business Affair

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Chapter Thirty-one: If Only Veritaserum


"Pardon?"

Hermione turned to her husband, a hard look on her face. Blaise carefully avoided her gaze and sat down in an adjacent chair.

"You heard me," she said seriously.

"What... do you mean... exactly?" he asked slowly, trying to draw out the time before he would be forced to tell her.

"You know what I mean," she said, growing impatient. "Blaise, tell me what is going on!"

"I don't think you really want to know," he said, looking away.

Hermione frowned and gave him a skeptical look. "I think I do," she said firmly.

Blaise sighed and turned to her. "You're sure you want to know?" he asked seriously.

She just huffed and glared at him. "Yes! Tell me right now!"

"Alright, alright," he said, taking a moment to collect himself before telling her all. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning would be a good place," she replied sarcastically.

He nodded and sighed again. "Okay, well, when Draco bought Potter's team, he and Pansy had just gotten a divorce. Pansy suggested he find someone to have fun with," Blaise said, pausing here. "Well, he didn't really like the idea, but I guess something happened and he wasn't getting along with Potter. So he kind of decided that it might fun to... to mess with him."

"Mess with him?" Hermione interrupted. "What does that mean?"

"Well, he kind of wanted to break up Potter's marriage."

"What?!" she exclaimed. "And you let him?!"

"Hey, hold on!" he said, defending himself. "Let me finish before you jump me!"

Hermione scowled but quieted down, allowing him to finish his story.

"So he started this plan. I think it was supposed to somehow cause Potter to feel guilty and... I don't know," Blaise sighed. "It was all so complicated and I don't really understand it. At any rate, it hasn't exactly been working the way he wants."

"What do you mean?" she asked carefully. "What exactly have they been doing?"

"They... they've been hooking up, in the less sexual sense. But then a couple weeks ago at the Ministry Christmas party, they went all the way apparently."

Hermione's eyes were wide in shock as Blaise paused. "And Harry's okay with this?!"

"It seems like he doesn't really mind," Blaise said with a shrug. "Now, Pansy and I think that there's something more there--"

"Pansy knows?!" Hermione interjected.

"Yeah, she thinks Draco has more feelings than he's letting on."

Hermione sat in her chair in shocked silence as it all filtered through her head. This was why Harry had been acting odd throughout the past few months; the reason why he'd been speaking in riddles, why she hadn't understood, why Blaise had been so tight-lipped.

"So they're kind of... together?" she asked in a stunned voice.

"Well..." Blaise said, thinking about it. "Not really... I mean, Potter is married and Draco won't admit anything."

"Harry is married," Hermione whispered to herself. "He's married!"

"I know," Blaise said with conviction.

Hermione sighed and stared out the window. "I know Ginny's not the best wife, and she can be a bit uptight, but Harry should know better! He has more morals than that! What is he thinking?!"

"I couldn't tell you," Blaise said simply.

"And Draco has no problems breaking them up, of course," she said bitterly.

"Well," Blaise amended. "I can tell you that he is feeling something more. He may not realize it yet, but I get the feeling this is no where near over."

Hermione gave him an uneasy look before looking back out the window to the dead flowers in the back yard. "What are they going to do when everyone finds out?" she muttered to herself worriedly.

"Actually, most people already know, besides Weasley and the Weaselette."

Hermione gave him a reproachful look at his use of Ginny's not-so-nice nickname. "Do you think Harry's getting attached?" she asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Blaise said, shrugging.

"Do you think I should ask him?"

"Oh, well..." Blaise trailed off, thinking. If she asked him then Harry would know she knew. Would that be a good thing or not?

"I shouldn’t," Hermione said firmly. "No... well... I mean, I could. It wouldn't be that bad, right? Besides, he must need to talk to someone!"

Blaise didn't say anything; just let her rationalize with herself. He knew nothing he would say would make any difference.

"I think I will," she said. "Someone needs to talk to him. I wonder if he has any idea what he's doing?!"

"Dunno," Blaise shrugged.

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm glad you told me, sweetie."

She got up from the chair and gave him a soft kiss. She pulled back and smiled at him. Then she turned around, heading for the kitchen.

"I think I'll invite him over," she said with a deceiving smile. Blaise only laughed and she disappeared into the kitchen.

He got up from his chair and walked over to where Jamie slept in his crib. He looked down at the angellic face of his son and gave him a thoughtful smile.

"Your mother is one of a kind," he said, grinning down at the sleeping baby.

***

Harry walked lazily up the stairs to his apartment. He had a contented smile on his face. He had greeted the doorman with more enthusiasm than was probably necessary and more than he'd done in the past months.

He sighed happily as he jumped up the stairs three at a time. He took out his keys and unlocked the door, allowing it to swing open widely. He walked in and took off his coat and boots. He looked around the room and smiled once more.

He walked over to the couch and collapsed on it, still with a small smile on his face. He reached over for the TV remote and flipped it on. He channel surfed for a while before sighing and setting down the remote, his good mood evaporating.

He looked around him, beginning to wonder where Ginny was. It wasn't like her to be gone when he came home from practice. He had actually come straight home today, looking forward to a quiet afternoon at home.

Over the last few weeks, Ginny had become increasingly quiet. She didn't pick fights with Harry, opting instead to remain silent. Harry had wondered about her odd behavior but had decided why question when she appeared to be normal?

He had let her go on in her silent mode. He preferred this to fighting all the time anyway. He didn't have any desire to know the reason behind her perceived silence. He much preferred to live in a quiet environment.

He didn't pay much attention to her lately anyway. His thoughts were more fixed on a certain blond. He just couldn't seem to get him out of his mind. Deep in the back of his mind he knew what he was doing with Draco was wrong, but how could it be so wrong when it felt so right?

He felt only slightly guilty when he looked at Ginny and thought of what he was doing. But then the little voice in the back of his head would scream something of her betrayal and he didn't feel quite so bad.

He looked around him once more, still wondering where she could have gotten to. Most of the time he didn't bother to find out where she was but normally she was home when he was. He looked over to the coat rack and saw that her coat was gone.

He furrowed his eyebrows and stood up, looking around the room. He couldn't figure out where she went. Normally she was home when he came home, mostly so that she would know where he was at all times.

He heard the door creak behind him and he whipped around. Ginny was coming through the door, wiping off her boots as she did. She took off her heavy coat and hung it up. Harry watched as she walked past him without a word and into the bedroom.

He heard her rummaging through drawers and when she came out she was wearing a different outfit. She walked over to the couch and sat down still without a word to Harry.

"Where were you?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Out," she replied simply.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her back. "Out?" he repeated. "And where is that?"

Ginny turned around on the couch and gave him a hard look. "It's where I want it to be. You don't tell me where you are, I don't tell you where I am."

Harry scoffed at her childishness as she turned back around on the couch to face the fireplace. "Fine," he said. "I was just wondering."

She turned around at him, anger evident. "And where do you go when practice ends at noon and yet you don't get home until one or two in the afternoon?" She raised a challenging eyebrow and waited for his response.

"I'm just going out with friends," Harry lied coldly. He hoped she hadn't figured it out. Truly, he spent most of that time with Draco, though it was few and far between. He didn't know why but Draco had taken to coming to less and less practices. Harry couldn't help feeling disappointed when he didn't see the head of platinum blond hair in the stands before practices.

"Oh, friends are they?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yes, you do know what that is, right?" he asked scathingly.

Ginny's mouth fell open in outrage at his comment. "You are so-- ugh!" she exclaimed, unable to find the words.

"It's not me," he replied scathingly.

"Well, it certainly isn't me," she shot back.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Harry," Ginny said seriously. "Why do we do this? For better or worse. Those were our vows. Till death do us part, don't you remember?"

"Yeah," Harry muttered darkly. "Too bad we're so young, huh?"

"I can't believe you!" she yelled, climbing to her feet.

He just shrugged. "Most people do," he replied with a sarcastic smile.

Her eyes flashed dangerously as she walked around the couch. "Why have you been so happy lately?" she asked suddenly, suspicion etched all over her face.

"What?" he asked, caught off-guard.

"Happy, you, why?" she repeated, punctuating every word. Harry's heart stopped for a second as the words sunk in. She suspected. He quickly snapped himself out of it to answer her question.

"Does it seem that way because it doesn't to me," he replied darkly.

"Please, Harry," she said skeptically. "You have been practically skipping around here."

"I would never," he responded, disgusted.

"I'm going to find out what's going on," she said in a threatening voice. He merely scoffed at her and started to walk back toward the bedroom. "Don't you walk away from me!" she yelled at his retreating back.

He stopped and turned around, sneering at her. "Nothing is going on," he told her coldly. "You're just trying to make a mountain out of a mole-hill. Don't even try."

Then he turned and stalked into the bedroom. He slammed the door so hard the entire wall shook. He sighed and sat down on the bed. He buried his head in his hands and shook his head in despair.

She was getting suspicious, something he could not afford at this point. A little part of him wanted her to find out, to make her feel the pain he had felt when he had learned of her tryst. Another part told him it would be like another Voldemort war if she found out, complete with Death Eaters and everything.

This thing with Draco was getting completely out-of-hand. Harry didn't know what to do. It had started out as an accident, progressed to many run-ins, then finally an agreement. He wasn't sure exactly why Draco had been keen to start it in the first place but he had nevertheless. Now, Harry hadn't seen him for just about a week and was beginning to wonder where he was.

He couldn't deny that he felt a pull to Draco when he was there, not to mention the fact that the prospect of sex was quite appealing to a man who had been deprived for many months.

Harry sighed again, raising his head and stared at the closed door. He wondered how much longer he could keep up this facade and all the lies to Ginny. Despite what she had done to him, she was still his wife and he had loved her at one point. He felt a certain amount of guilt at cheating on her.

Harry laid down on his bed, now staring at the blank ceiling. He put his hands behind his head as he lay there.

How much is this going to take? he wondered. I hope I can do it...


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A/N: Ah, Mondays, how I despise thee, except for this fic :) Please review!