By Reason Of Birth

Chapter 43 The Spa

The next Thursday was the next time Hermione’s entire group of friends was able to get together. Once again, they were all clad in their swimwear, only this time they were relaxing on blankets and in chairs on the grass surrounding a clear swimming hole on the grounds of Blaise’s new home. Zarina and Jonas had returned from their honeymoon three days previous, and Blaise was now living with them until he left Hogwarts.

Hermione had just laid down on her chair to let the sun dry her off from her swim when Daphne sat down, balancing on the edge of the chair near Hermione’s stomach. She leaned in before whispering conspiratorially, “I won the bet!”

Hermione’s eyes widened and she glanced over to Astoria, who was seated next to Savannah, the two of them painting their toenails. Her eyes then travelled to Ron, who was racing Harry on their brooms. “When did it happen?”

“Friday- I won by one day,” Daphne responded with a smirk.

“Savannah must be happy,” Hermione said with a wry chuckle. She may not have wanted to be in on the bet herself, but she had no problems with listening to gossip on the results.

“Oh, yeah. Now she has to pay not only for herself and me, but Astoria found out, and she’s decided that since Savannah lost a bet about her, that she has to pay for her as well.”

“Even though you were in on the bet as well?” Hermione asked.

“Mmm hmm. She said that since I won, it wouldn’t be fair to make me pay for her.” At this, Hermione laughed outright; sometimes she really didn’t understand the minds of her Slytherin friends. She would have thought the fair thing to do would be to make each girl pay half, since they were both in on the bet.

“When are you going?” Hermione asked, shielding her eyes as Daphne shifted so she was no longer blocking the sun from Hermione’s eyes.

“Tuesday. You’re coming with us, you know,” Daphne informed her.

“I’ve never been to a spa,” Hermione said with a smile. She had hoped she would be invited, but hadn’t wanted to assume that her invite was automatic. From Daphne’s voice, though, it sounded that her friends had assumed she should have known that she was going, and that thought made Hermione’s smile widen even further.

“You’ll love it,” Daphne promised her.

“What’ll she love?” Blaise asked, appearing above them and dripping from head to toe.

“The spa,” Daphne answered.

“Ahhhh, so girly things,” he responded with a chuckle.

“Yes, girly things,” she answered, swotting at his leg, since she couldn’t reach his head.

“Oi! There’s no need to hit!” he said, feigning outrage. “Besides, my girlfriend may take offence to you trying to grope my arse,” he continued, looking thoroughly put out.

“No, she won’t,” Hermione answered with a laugh.

Blaise looked down at his girlfriend, a wicked smile blooming across his face. “Excuse me, Daph, but I think you’re in my spot.”

Daphne looked from Blaise’s predatory smile to Hermione’s amused one, and held up her hands. “I want no part of this,” she said before standing up and going over to Harry, who had won four of the five races he and Ron had held, and was about to jump into the water to cool off.

Blaise took Daphne’s seat, but instead of just sitting there the way their friend had, he leaned forward until his face was within a foot of Hermione’s. She opened her mouth to say something, but Blaise took that opportunity to shake his head, sending droplets of water all over Hermione.

She squealed, and braced her hands against his shoulders, trying to push him away, but without much success. Instead, he used his own hands to move hers from his shoulder to his waist before he leaned even closer to her, his hands resting against the chair on either side of her head. “You don’t mind if other girls are trying to grope me?” he asked lowly, as he stared into her eyes.

“Not when the groping is all a figment of your imagination,” she responded cheekily.

“You little brat,” he said before quickly closing the space between them and pulling her into an intense kiss. Her hands made their way up to his shoulders; she revelled in the feeling of those taut muscles above her. She moaned against him as he repositioned himself on the chair so that he was laying on top of her, their limbs entwining.

“Oi!” Theo, Harry, and Ron all shouted at once.

“There will be none of that going on with my sister!” Theo called out, taking Blaise’s attention away from Hermione, who breathed heavily against his cheek when he turned his head to look at his mate.

“Yeah!” Daphne yelled from her spot on Harry’s lap. “Get a room!” she said, only to receive glares from the men around her.

At that, Blaise broke out into a grin. “Sorry, can’t- the house-elves won’t let us,” he responded. Hermione giggled into his ear, unabashed over her predicament, thinking back to how many times she had seen her brother and friends in the same situation.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Five days later, the five girls arrived at Spa Magnifique, ready to be pampered. The girls received deep tissue massages, were slathered from head to toe with thick potions to rejuvenate their young skin, had their nails professionally done after pedicures and manicures, and a dozen other treatments.

Their last appointment of the day before returning home was in the mud room. Hermione had found being nude in the same room as her girlfriends weird throughout the day, but by the end, she had no problems seeing her friends bare bodies, and showing her own, even if the flashes of skin were very short-lived between robe and towel changes.

They had the mud room reserved for an hour, and as soon as they were alone, they all slipped into their tubs. Hermione found the texture of the mud against her skin surprisingly refreshing, though she thought that it may have had something to do with the magic imbued properties of the substance.

“How are you and Blaise coming along?” Astoria asked Hermione, once they had all settled into their tubs. “The two of you looked rather comfortable with each other the other day.” Savannah gave a slight chuckle at her cousin’s choice of words, but the other two girls rolled their eyes, despite wanting to know the answer.

“I would say that we aren’t quite as comfortable with each other as you are with Ron,” Hermione answered, bringing a laugh from the younger girl. It had taken her a while to get used to talking about things like sex with her friends, as that had never been a topic brought up with Harry and Ron, but she found she liked having the other girls to talk to. Not to mention that since they were all very open with one another about their experiences, they expected Hermione to be the same- in the name of fairness, of course.

“Really?” Daphne asked, surprised. “I had assumed that you two had gotten that far, and quite frankly, Harry has the same notion. He’s not too happy at the thought, but then all I have to do is remind him how hypocritical it is of him.”

“Theo’s assumed it as well,” Lilah said. “It took him a little while to get passed the thought, but I think he’s done it. After all, Blaise is his best mate, but you’re his sister, and even though he knew that it was bound to happen, he really wanted to think that it wouldn’t.”

Hermione laughed, shaking her head in her tub. “No, technically speaking, I am still a virgin. I’m ready to take things further, but I don’t want it to be in any of the places we’ve been- most of them outside, what with those stupid wards that our parents have put up.”

“Oh, Merlin, don’t even get me started on those wards,” Lilah moaned, much to everyone else’s amusement.

“So what are you going to do about it, Hermione? I don’t really see either of you being able to get away with renting a room or anything like that,” Daphne said, genuinely curious as to how her friend was planning on solving her logistics problem.

“I don’t know,” Hermione said. “Probably just wait until we’re at Hogwarts. It’s kind of sad to say that it would be easier at school than at home, but I can’t think of anything else. All I really want, though, is for it to be special.”

“Of course it will be special,” Savannah said wisely. “After all, it will be with Blaise, and the two of you care a lot about each other. There’s no way it could not be special.”

The girls spent a few more minutes trying to think of ways around the wards for Hermione, and then moved onto the next topic. When they finally left the spa, Hermione’s mind was filled with possibilities, and her body was the most relaxed and pampered than it had been in a very long time.

Chapter End Notes:
so, thanks as always to the readers, the reviewers, and to the beta, lupie--- you have all helped make this fic so much more than it ever would have been on my own... one more chapter, and then the epilogue!