By Reason Of Birth
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Hermione/Blaise
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
45
Views:
21,590
Reviews:
63
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Hermione/Blaise
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
45
Views:
21,590
Reviews:
63
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
tea, again
Chapter 42 Tea, Again
Over the next few days, Hermione was practically inseparable from her new books. There was even a point where anyone who hadn’t seen her with new books before were wondering if they had been connected to her by way of a Permanent Sticking Charm.
Her friends did their best to coax her away from her books and into their company, but Blaise was the only person to actually show results. Kissing him had quickly become Hermione’s favourite pastime, just after reading, though, so it wasn’t much of a feat.
On Saturday afternoon, Hermione got ready for tea, which was going to be held at Alexandra Hopkirk’s house. Mrs. Hopkirk was a retired senior member of the Wizengamot, and her opinions still held considerable sway over many current members of the group. Hermione had yet to decide exactly what profession she wanted to pursue, but it would never hurt to make a favourable impression on the powerful witch.
She put on a set of dress robes and did her hair and make-up before leaving her room to make her way through the house and meet her mother in the sitting room. Theo was also there, and he took the opportunity to snicker at her from behind their mother’s back, knowing that Hermione was not overly fond of the teas. She walked behind him and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “Just you wait, Theo. Next week when you have to go play nice with Malfoy, I’ll be the one laughing.”
In response, he turned his head to glare at her. He had never been a fan of Draco Malfoy, and the blond nearly killing Hermione had caused Theo to downright despise the other boy. Every other Saturday, though, he still had to be cordial to Malfoy when they would see one another. He, along with Blaise, Harry and Ron, had already started planning out their retribution, which would come in small but continuous doses throughout the school year.
Harry had been concerned that Theo being made Head Boy would hamper them, but since Theo was more than willing to abuse his power for this particular cause, his status would come in as a major asset. Their main concern was making sure that Hermione didn’t find out what they were doing, as she believed that she had chosen the best retribution. They all knew that she just wanted to see the anguish in Malfoy’s eyes every time he was forced to be nice to Harry, and that she hoped that they would have many classes together.
Fifteen minutes later, Hermione and Caoilinn were crossing the picturesque grounds of Hopkirk Estate. Alexandra Hopkirk herself met them at the door, and Hermione greeted her with a demure smile and a handshake firm enough to meet the grip of the no-nonsense woman.
Hermione and Caoilinn were escorted by a house-elf to a large room that had been set up for that afternoon’s proceedings. Hermione gave her mother a smile before she made her way across the room to the table her friends were sitting at, stopping every few feet to speak to the many women who had become intrigued by her over the past weeks. Her fresh viewpoint, and the fact that she was willing to defend it, no matter how much it differed from that of some of the older witches in particular, had caused just as many affluent women to take a shine to her as it caused to immediately and immensely dislike her.
When she reached her table, she sat down between Daphne and Pansy. The other girls at the table were mostly from Slytherin, but Hermione no longer felt out of place among them. “How was your week, Hermione?” Pansy asked, not because she cared, but because she had been doing her best to stay on civil terms with her, especially after the incident with Malfoy. Pansy didn’t want Hermione to have any cause to pay retribution to her- she wasn’t afraid of the other witch, she just thought it would be dreadfully annoying to deal with.
“Enlightening,” Hermione answered in the same tone of forced civility. “I bought my schoolbooks, and have started reading them. Most of them are rather interesting.”
“So interesting that you’ve been ignoring your mates,” Daphne accused, her voice only slightly serious.
“Sorry about that,” Hermione responded. “It’s just that we’ll be learning Human Transfiguration this year, and-”
“Okay, okay, we get the picture,” Daphne said, holding up her hand, a laugh in her voice. “You have fun reading your books, and I’ll have fun not having to share Harry’s time with you.” A couple of the other girls giggled at this, though they were still amazed that a Slytherin of any sort had landed Harry Potter. They had all assumed that once Ginny Weasley had gotten her claws in him, she would never let him go. After all, anyone with eyes had seen how much she had wanted the famous boy, even since her first year at Hogwarts.
“I hear Blaise’s mum got married again. How long do you think it’ll be before this one’s dead?” a blonde girl from Pansy’s little clique asked. Both Pansy and Daphne stared at the girl, aghast.
“Pansy, I think you need to check the intelligence level of your friends before you allow them to open their mouths,” Daphne said, glancing at Hermione’s rapidly darkening face. While Zarina was famous for her status of continual widow, most people assumed that her husbands died from mal-intent, much like Hermione once had. It had become common knowledge, though, that Hermione was dating Blaise, and so such comments were considered beyond crude not only in her presence, but said in such a public situation.
Before Hermione could blow up at the girl and cause an unwanted scene, Daphne whisked her out of her seat and across the room as Pansy leaned in to admonish her lackey in hushed, but harsh tones.
“Avalee isn’t very bright, Hermione; please don’t listen to anything she says. Pansy will straighten her out,” Daphne said lowly as they made their way over to where Lilah and Savannah were talking with their mother and a few of their mother’s friends.
“But why would she say something like that, especially in front of me?” Hermione asked, taking deep breaths to calm herself.
“She’s always had a little thing for Blaise… and the money he’s going to inherit from Zarina and all of her dead husbands. She probably thinks that if she can cast doubt on Zarina, that you’d leave Blaise, and he’d once again be free for her to try and snag him, just as she’s tried practically every week for the past three years.”
“That’s just stupid,” Hermione said.
“I know,” Daphne said with a laugh. “Her mind does ultimately work like a stereotypical Slytherin’s; she’s just not smart enough to pull off any of her schemes.”
By the time the two had reached the Moon sisters, Hermione had calmed her temper down enough that there were no worries she would go off on the girl, who looked rather deflated after the unexpected tongue lashing she had received from Pansy on Hermione‘s behalf.
They joined in animatedly with the group of women before tea time was announced and they made their way to their assigned seats. Hermione and Caoilinn were seated at the same table as the hostess, which was considered a great honour, and was a wonderful chance for Hermione, who took the opportunity to probe Mrs. Hopkirk for her perspective on what it was like to work in Magical Law Enforcement.
For her part, Mrs. Hopkirk was flattered to have a young person not only ask about her experiences, but also be truly interested in the answers, and not just asking what they thought she would want to hear. When the older woman became engaged by another young witch, Avalee came up to Hermione, impressing her with Pansy’s ability to control her clique as she apologized to her in a way that almost seemed like she was grovelling for forgiveness. By the time they left the tea, both Hermione and Caoilinn were sure that Hermione had a major backer should she choose to take that route with her career.
Chapter End Notes:
a/n…. Okay, so I admit that this chapter and the next are mostly filler, but both do serve a purpose when it comes to laying background for parts of the epilogue to make sense… And part of the reason it took a while for this chapter to come out is that while my muse was here for this fic, it wasn’t for this chapter… Consequently, the epilogue and the next chapter are written, and I just need to finish off the last chapter! Depending on how long it takes to write the next chapter, I hope to have this fic finished posting by the end of the year.
Over the next few days, Hermione was practically inseparable from her new books. There was even a point where anyone who hadn’t seen her with new books before were wondering if they had been connected to her by way of a Permanent Sticking Charm.
Her friends did their best to coax her away from her books and into their company, but Blaise was the only person to actually show results. Kissing him had quickly become Hermione’s favourite pastime, just after reading, though, so it wasn’t much of a feat.
On Saturday afternoon, Hermione got ready for tea, which was going to be held at Alexandra Hopkirk’s house. Mrs. Hopkirk was a retired senior member of the Wizengamot, and her opinions still held considerable sway over many current members of the group. Hermione had yet to decide exactly what profession she wanted to pursue, but it would never hurt to make a favourable impression on the powerful witch.
She put on a set of dress robes and did her hair and make-up before leaving her room to make her way through the house and meet her mother in the sitting room. Theo was also there, and he took the opportunity to snicker at her from behind their mother’s back, knowing that Hermione was not overly fond of the teas. She walked behind him and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “Just you wait, Theo. Next week when you have to go play nice with Malfoy, I’ll be the one laughing.”
In response, he turned his head to glare at her. He had never been a fan of Draco Malfoy, and the blond nearly killing Hermione had caused Theo to downright despise the other boy. Every other Saturday, though, he still had to be cordial to Malfoy when they would see one another. He, along with Blaise, Harry and Ron, had already started planning out their retribution, which would come in small but continuous doses throughout the school year.
Harry had been concerned that Theo being made Head Boy would hamper them, but since Theo was more than willing to abuse his power for this particular cause, his status would come in as a major asset. Their main concern was making sure that Hermione didn’t find out what they were doing, as she believed that she had chosen the best retribution. They all knew that she just wanted to see the anguish in Malfoy’s eyes every time he was forced to be nice to Harry, and that she hoped that they would have many classes together.
Fifteen minutes later, Hermione and Caoilinn were crossing the picturesque grounds of Hopkirk Estate. Alexandra Hopkirk herself met them at the door, and Hermione greeted her with a demure smile and a handshake firm enough to meet the grip of the no-nonsense woman.
Hermione and Caoilinn were escorted by a house-elf to a large room that had been set up for that afternoon’s proceedings. Hermione gave her mother a smile before she made her way across the room to the table her friends were sitting at, stopping every few feet to speak to the many women who had become intrigued by her over the past weeks. Her fresh viewpoint, and the fact that she was willing to defend it, no matter how much it differed from that of some of the older witches in particular, had caused just as many affluent women to take a shine to her as it caused to immediately and immensely dislike her.
When she reached her table, she sat down between Daphne and Pansy. The other girls at the table were mostly from Slytherin, but Hermione no longer felt out of place among them. “How was your week, Hermione?” Pansy asked, not because she cared, but because she had been doing her best to stay on civil terms with her, especially after the incident with Malfoy. Pansy didn’t want Hermione to have any cause to pay retribution to her- she wasn’t afraid of the other witch, she just thought it would be dreadfully annoying to deal with.
“Enlightening,” Hermione answered in the same tone of forced civility. “I bought my schoolbooks, and have started reading them. Most of them are rather interesting.”
“So interesting that you’ve been ignoring your mates,” Daphne accused, her voice only slightly serious.
“Sorry about that,” Hermione responded. “It’s just that we’ll be learning Human Transfiguration this year, and-”
“Okay, okay, we get the picture,” Daphne said, holding up her hand, a laugh in her voice. “You have fun reading your books, and I’ll have fun not having to share Harry’s time with you.” A couple of the other girls giggled at this, though they were still amazed that a Slytherin of any sort had landed Harry Potter. They had all assumed that once Ginny Weasley had gotten her claws in him, she would never let him go. After all, anyone with eyes had seen how much she had wanted the famous boy, even since her first year at Hogwarts.
“I hear Blaise’s mum got married again. How long do you think it’ll be before this one’s dead?” a blonde girl from Pansy’s little clique asked. Both Pansy and Daphne stared at the girl, aghast.
“Pansy, I think you need to check the intelligence level of your friends before you allow them to open their mouths,” Daphne said, glancing at Hermione’s rapidly darkening face. While Zarina was famous for her status of continual widow, most people assumed that her husbands died from mal-intent, much like Hermione once had. It had become common knowledge, though, that Hermione was dating Blaise, and so such comments were considered beyond crude not only in her presence, but said in such a public situation.
Before Hermione could blow up at the girl and cause an unwanted scene, Daphne whisked her out of her seat and across the room as Pansy leaned in to admonish her lackey in hushed, but harsh tones.
“Avalee isn’t very bright, Hermione; please don’t listen to anything she says. Pansy will straighten her out,” Daphne said lowly as they made their way over to where Lilah and Savannah were talking with their mother and a few of their mother’s friends.
“But why would she say something like that, especially in front of me?” Hermione asked, taking deep breaths to calm herself.
“She’s always had a little thing for Blaise… and the money he’s going to inherit from Zarina and all of her dead husbands. She probably thinks that if she can cast doubt on Zarina, that you’d leave Blaise, and he’d once again be free for her to try and snag him, just as she’s tried practically every week for the past three years.”
“That’s just stupid,” Hermione said.
“I know,” Daphne said with a laugh. “Her mind does ultimately work like a stereotypical Slytherin’s; she’s just not smart enough to pull off any of her schemes.”
By the time the two had reached the Moon sisters, Hermione had calmed her temper down enough that there were no worries she would go off on the girl, who looked rather deflated after the unexpected tongue lashing she had received from Pansy on Hermione‘s behalf.
They joined in animatedly with the group of women before tea time was announced and they made their way to their assigned seats. Hermione and Caoilinn were seated at the same table as the hostess, which was considered a great honour, and was a wonderful chance for Hermione, who took the opportunity to probe Mrs. Hopkirk for her perspective on what it was like to work in Magical Law Enforcement.
For her part, Mrs. Hopkirk was flattered to have a young person not only ask about her experiences, but also be truly interested in the answers, and not just asking what they thought she would want to hear. When the older woman became engaged by another young witch, Avalee came up to Hermione, impressing her with Pansy’s ability to control her clique as she apologized to her in a way that almost seemed like she was grovelling for forgiveness. By the time they left the tea, both Hermione and Caoilinn were sure that Hermione had a major backer should she choose to take that route with her career.
Chapter End Notes:
a/n…. Okay, so I admit that this chapter and the next are mostly filler, but both do serve a purpose when it comes to laying background for parts of the epilogue to make sense… And part of the reason it took a while for this chapter to come out is that while my muse was here for this fic, it wasn’t for this chapter… Consequently, the epilogue and the next chapter are written, and I just need to finish off the last chapter! Depending on how long it takes to write the next chapter, I hope to have this fic finished posting by the end of the year.
also, many, many thanks to the readers, the reviewers, and the great lupie!