Fruit of Enticements

Nobody would have thought anything out of sorts finding Harry Potter standing on the doorstep of the Zabini’s manor. After all, the youngest of the Zabini generation was the current resident of the ostentatious abode and it was a well-known fact that the Zabini heir had actually attained a friendship of sorts with the Harry Potter; after of course, acting as a double agent for the light side during the great final war.

In fact, one would not have thought there to be anything out of the ordinary if Harry Potter stopped by when Blaise Zabini wasn’t home, because after all, it’s to be expected that the boy who lived would actually visit one of his oldest childhood friends, Ginny Weasley; now made Zabini, the newest edition to the Zabini line.

However, one would be very apprehensive seeing one Mr. Harry Potter on the doorstep of the Zabini quarters, being maimed by Ginny Zabini’s lips.

“I see I was missed,” Harry Potter said.

Ginny backed off and began to kick off her shoe while unbuttoning her crisp white blouse in a slapdash fashion. “Hurry up, Harry, he’ll be back any minute.”

Harry hesitated knowing he was getting ready to enter unpleasant territory. “Actually Ginny, I came here to talk.”

Ginny snorted. “You and I both know you didn’t come here for ‘just to talk’. I thought you got enough of that at home,” Ginny teased while frantically trying to rid Harry of his shirt.

Harry seized her hands with his. "No Gin, seriously we can't keep doing this! I love you but I will not continue to sneak around with you! You have decision to make, me or Blaise. ”

Harry waited for his words to sink in and he watched the women he loved face crumble into an array of emotions. First confusion, then hurt and finally anger.

"Are you ready to tell Hermione and your kids Harry?" Ginny hissed. "Will you be able to explain to your kids why ‘mommy and daddy live in separate houses’ and why ‘mommy is always crying’? Then by all means let’s tell them! I for one am looking forward to the awkward holidays with all of our friends and family. I've always wanted everyone to think of me as a home wrecker and a backstabber! Hermione is my friend and as much as I love you, I don’t think I can break her heart like that! Do you know how much it would hurt her, Harry? This will crush her and those kids, Harry! Lily might not know what’s going on but Evan will! Evan will know how his godmother ripped his life apart; I’ll be a monster to him!"

Harry observed Ginny throughout her entire rant. He watched as her delicate features took on a red tinge that rivaled her fiery hair, and her mesmerizing brown eyes brightened as she became livid. He watched as her small frame began to fiercely pace the hall and her chest start to rapidly rise and fall after each angry breath. He was amazed that even when she was angry he still thought her to be the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. He knew that they would have a lot of obstacles to conquer before they would be able to be a real couple but he was willing to fight for it.

Harry walked over to Ginny, wrapped her in his arms and said, "I don't care what everyone thinks. Hermione might be heartbroken at first but she would come to understand that it was for the best and don’t worry about Evan he would never think of you as that, he adores you! We will find a way to work this out, Gin, because I went too long without this love and passion I seem to only share with you and I refuse keep going on without it. Just do me a favor and consider it, please."

Relaxed in his arms and soothe by his word, Ginny nodded her consent. "Ok Harry, I'll consider it."

"That's all I need for now." He gave her a rushed kiss and left swiftly. He had a lot of thinking to do.
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When Hermione was lying in an empty bed earlier that morning, she had the most brilliant of ideas; she decided to kidnap her husband, determined that her dear husband needed a break from running a multimillion dollar company. He needed to release some stress, so like the loving wife that she was, she decided to drop her youngest child, Lily, off at her mom’s, pack a romantic meal for two and kidnap him for a one hour romantics stress-free getaway.

This brilliant idea brought her to her current predicament at the moment, standing in front of her husband’s slutty secretary, Delmaza. Merlin, she couldn’t stand this woman! She wore shirts so translucent you could see the details in her bra, skirts so short she would have been better off coming to work in her knickers and a shrill voice that sounded much like a hippogriff’s mating call but worst of all, this woman was always maddeningly nice to her. Hermione was no dummy. She knew there were women flinging themselves at her husband and she knew his secretary was one of them, but she didn’t actually have proof, which made her hate the sneaky hussy even more. I mean who would actually befriend the wife of the man you’re trying to sleep with?

“Hello, Mrs. Potter, I was expecting to see you today. Is there anything I can do for you?” She asked in her annoyingly piercing voice.

Hermione noticed the slut’s face slowly contort into a tight strained smile upon her arrival and smirked. “Hello, Delmaza, I’m here to steal my husband away.” Hermione lifted up the basket giving it a slight shake.

“Mr. Potter isn’t in.” The oh-so-repugnant harlot said with a condescending smirk.

“Hello, Granger you’re looking stunning as always.” A breezy voice wafted down the hall, interrupting the beginnings of a crass confrontation.

Hermione smiled and twirled around when she recognized the familiar voice all prior thoughts forgotten. “Malfoy, I would say the same thing about you but I wouldn’t want to feed that humongous monster you call an ego.”

Draco grinned. “Always the sweet talker, Granger. Where did you learn how to be so charming?”

Hermione laughed. “From the best I assure you. I do recall taking notes from a certain blonde bouncing ferret when I was in Hogwarts.”

Draco laughed and replied, “Oh boy Granger! A blonde bouncing ferret you say? What a wild imagination you got there!”

Hermione chuckled. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Pansy were on a two month holiday in Rome.”

“I did too, but Pansy started to get a little antsy and wanted to come home. Potter and I were going to get started on that merger after my holiday, but since it ended short I wanted to drop by and see if we could get started on it sooner. I see Potter isn’t here though. I’ll just catch up with him at Blaise’s birthday dinner.”

“Of course he’s here! I came up here to steal him away for a quick picnic but since you’re here you can always join us.”

The secretary that was watching the entirely amusing banter spoke up, “I was saying Mrs. Potter, Mr. Potter isn’t in today.”

“Is he not here or not in his office?” Hermione asked.

“He’s not here, Mrs. Potter, Mr. Potter owled in sick this morning. He didn’t tell you?”

Hermione stared at the secretary, dumbfounded.

“I’m sure Potter called in last minute, Granger,” Draco interjected. “He probably went to go release some stress. You know how he gets around this time. This week is the anniversary of Siruis’ death” Draco said trying to keep Hermione level-headed. He knew Potter’s slut-a-tary was trying to get a rise out of Hermione.

“Hey, I got an idea. I’m free for the next couple of hours. Why don’t you help me find Blaise a present for his birthday dinner tonight. You remember how bad I am at giving gifts, don’t you?”

Hermione pushed down the uneasy feeling in her stomach and smiled, remembering just how bad he truly was at the art of gift giving. He tried to give her a whole library for her last birthday! “Indeed I do remember! You, Draco Malfoy, are a flamboyant gift giver.”

Draco put a lazy arm around her shoulder to steer her to the main fireplaces and away from the nosey secretary. “Don’t ever use my name and flamboyant in the same sentence again Granger, you make me sound like a ninny.”

Hermione laughed. “No, you’re no ninny Drakie poo, I pegged you more for a nincompoop maybe but a ninny, never!”

Draco chuckled and rolled his eyes knowing she was joking in good fun. "Gods, you’d think after twelve years of marriage that women would know I despised that damn name!”

Hermione sobered. “Thanks, for back there, Draco, that was really embarrassing. Merlin, what she must think about our marriage now!”

Draco stopped walking bringing Hermione to a halt, “What she thinks, what anyone would think, is that you are a dedicated wife, with one kid in school, and a younger child at home. After thirteen years of marriage you’re allowed to have your miscommunications. Pansy and I have them all the time. Every minute of our marriage is a miscommunication,” Draco joked.

Hermione rolled her eyes knowing that he really was not joking. Pansy and Draco were known for their explosive confrontations.

“So, expert gift giver where should we look first?” Draco said, trying to change the subject.

“Uh, I don’t know. Where oh where would a wizard located in London, look for a gift? Could it be Diagon Alley?” Hermione answered.

“You know Draco, you are really starting to underestimate yourself.”

Draco rolled his eyes deciding to bite the bullet. “How is that Granger?”

Hermione laughed. “Cause you really are a ninny!”

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Pansy was a very reasonable person, well….. she thought herself to be a very reasonable person. She could usually resolve a dilemma with a level head and very quickly at that. However, this problem had no solution she was willing to work with. Her mother taught her, when she was very young, to fight dirty if you have to. She told her that sometimes fighting fire with another fire takes the attention away from the first fire. It’s the old 

smoke and mirrors trick, but this situation couldn’t be diverted or resolved, this situation was the end of her marriage, she just knew it.

After Pansy cut short her holiday in Rome, her dear friend Gabrielle Delacour, now known as Mrs. Ronald Weasley, came rushing through the floo earlier that morning. Gabrielle decided to get down to the bottom of Pansy's bizarre behavior. She first noticed a change in Pansy a little over three weeks ago, just before she went on holiday. She had hoped the holiday would coerce Pansy into a much more pleasant version of her old self but all her hopes were dashed at first glance of her beloved friend. In all the years that she'd known her, only once had she seen Pansy look so broken and common and that was when her son passed away.

Draco told her that he suspected Pansy might have relapsed into grieving their son, Abraxas, but she had a feeling it was more than that.

She examined Pansy a little more closely. Her hair was pulled up into a messy knot; she wore Draco's old qudditch team shirt and a pair of black male boxers. Her face was all blotchy, she sported a red nose with puffy red eyes and worst of all, she didn't even try to hide it with a beauty potion!

To say that Gabrielle was shocked was a big understatement. Pansy always had a thick air of confidence and poise wherever she went; she could intimidate Merlin himself where he not dead of course, but this Pansy seemed to be frail, almost feeble, and she was suddenly completely at a lost.

Pansy felt Gabrielle’s eyes burning holes on her but her eyes remained focused on the plush carpet lining her private drawing room. She knew she would eventually have to tell her something but she couldn’t quite fathom her problem into words yet.

“Pansy what’s been going on with you?”

Gabrielle’s worried voice shattered Pansy into silent tears, and she placed her head in her hands and started counting backwards in a meager attempt to remain as calm as she could.

Gabrielle afforded her friend a few minutes to try to calm herself. When Pansy looked back up she tried again.

“What’s wrong, Pans? Tell me so that I can help you,” Gabrielle whispered.

Pansy shook her head, "No Gabby, it’s really bad, I don’t know if it can be fixed.”

Gabrielle choked, truly afraid of the news Pansy bared. “We can fix anything, Pans, and I’ll help you. We will fix this, just tell me what’s wrong.”

Pansy shook her head again “No Gabby, I don't want to fix it! I don’t want to talk about it! All I want is to be left alone for a little while! Do you think you and Draco can do that? Just for a little bit? I need to think things through alone!" Pansy immediately felt guilty for being so rude to Gabrielle, especially since she had been very worried about her. "Look I'm sorry Gabs, I just need time to come to terms with what's going on. Give me a few days to think things over, alright?" She sighed.

Gabrielle nodded her consent and walked over to hug her best friend and said, "Ok, Pansy I'll give you a few days, Owl me if you need anything."

After Gabrielle left, Pansy decided that in a few days she still wouldn't be able to tell her what was going on. This was a pretty big problem and if she wanted to stay a Malfoy she wouldn't be able to tell anyone, not even her closest friend of twenty years.
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Hermione and Draco made a very intriguing couple walking amongst the hustling and bustling streets of Diagon Alley. Not because they were a part of the wizarding’s savior dream team but because no one had ever seen Draco Malfoy look so happy and carefree. He always had a superior air around him and was a master at guarding his emotions, but here he was on the public streets of Diagon Alley, laughing almost to tears at something the brown haired beauty might have said. It was well known that Draco Malfoy switched sides to fight with Harry Potter during the war, but unfortunately switching sides didn’t necessarily mean a personality alteration. It appeared that Hermione Granger would make him a pretty fine match, if it were not for their prior commitments of course! Nevertheless, they did have prior commitments and one would just have to settle with a once in a lifetime glimpse at this new side of the Malfoy heir.

Hermione was having a good time window gazing into all of the eccentric shops with Malfoy. They passed shops that she wouldn’t normally see on her usually brief shopping excursions such as; an upscale boutique named ‘Twilfit & Tattings’, a traveling office brand ‘Terrotours,’ and they even passed a shop called ‘Wizards Disco Fluff’ where they saw an animated mannequin modeling a shimmery gold dress robe. She told Draco that she’d keep those robes in mind when it was time to go shopping for his birthday.

He laughed and replied, “Yeah, Granger I can see how it would accentuate my silky golden tresses!” Hermione laughed and told him that she was going to add ‘cream puff’ to the list, right behind ninny.

“Hey Granger, what about looking in ‘Quality Qudditch Supplies’ for something?”

She rolled her eyes and let Draco drag her into the store. She began to look around the store to see if she could find anything Blaise would like. She soon spotted a green and silver fliers helmet. She knew he’d love it because of the Slytherin colors, it had something to do with flying and it would keep his head safe, well….. The safe thing was more for her peace of mind then for his. She wondered if they had it in red and gold, because if they did she’d have to get one for Ron and Harry.

“Here you are! I was wondering where you went off to that quick,” Draco said.

“Do you see anything?” Hermione asked.

Draco shook his head. “No, I think Blaise has at least one of everything from here.”

“Do you think he has this?” Hermione asked while lifting up a green and silver helmet.

Draco took one look at the cap and bawled over into fits of laughter, “That’s rich! I can see it now, Blaise flying like a first year!”

Hermione scowled. “I don’t see what’s funny about protecting yourself if you should fall!”

Draco sniggered. “That’s the point, Granger! After a certain age you shouldn’t be worried about falling!”

“I’ll buy it for him then, Malfoy, because true friends would do anything to protect you; especially from falling hundreds of feet to your death!”

“You do that Granger! I don’t know how Blaise survived eighteen years of life before you befriended him!”

Hermione ignored him and went to go finish up with her purchase.

"Come on, Granger, let's go search for a nice and safe birthday book." Draco said while escorting Hermione out of the store and onto the hectic streets of Diagon Alley.

“You know, one would think that having their very own expert gift shopper would warrant them a gift by now.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “An expert gift shopper would think that one would not try to stop and look into every store under the sun.”

“One would think that an expert gift shopper would keep one on a tight schedule,” Draco quipped back.

“An expert gift shopper would think that one was disciplined enough to keep one’s self on a tight schedule, ergo employing a gift giver and not a child care provider!”

Draco chuckled. “You lost me at ‘ergo’ Granger but here we are, Flourish and Blots. Your humble abode!“

Hermione pushed passed him all the while wondering why men were horrible at finding gifts for their friends, but were such thoughtful gift givers to their wives. It took Harry three weeks to pick out a gift for Ron’s last birthday but took him an hour to run out and get an incredible apology gift for her after a huge row one night.

Draco followed Hermione into the store and wrinkled his nose in distaste. As much business as this store received you’d think they would purchase a house elf or at least practice some sort of pest control charm. He walked further into the store while ducking large hanging cobwebs and escorted Hermione over to the ‘autographed books section’.

A book with an obnoxiously blond man winking and blowing air kisses on the cover caused Draco to ball over with laughter for the third time that day.

“Look, Granger, your childhood crush has written another book. What do you say I buy it for you? It’s even autographed!”

Hermione blushed. “That was twenty years ago, Draco, and I’m going to kill Ron for telling you!”


“I didn’t know married women still blushed! Wait a minute, how do you know it was Weasley that told me? Why couldn’t it be Potter?”

Hermione raised an eyebrow daring him to contradict her assessment.

“Ok, point taken.”

“Thank you! And married women do still blush. You just haven’t had any luck at making them.”

“I don’t know about that….. You just blushed a moment ago, I guess my luck is back then, huh Granger?”

Hermione thrust a book in his hands. “Here, I’m going to get this book for you.”

“Let’s see what we have here, ‘Twelve days to better self-esteem’? A confidence book,Granger!"

"You think I need a confidence book?” Draco laughed.

“No, I don’t but you’re so full of yourself I think you would like to research new ways to stroke that oversized ego of yours!” she laughed.

“Cute, Granger. Let’s go ahead and find Blaise a book before my ‘oversized ego’ deflates with your vicious taunting.”

Hermione followed Draco into the ‘sports section’ where he found Blaise ‘the perfect gift.’ A bright yellow book with an animated stick figure constantly getting knocked off its broom by a buldger, above the picture read ‘Quidditch for Dummies’ in big black box letters. After his purchase Draco asked Hermione out to a late lunch, which she politely declined, explaining that she still had to pick up Lily from her mother’s house.

Hermione left Diagon Alley thinking that something had drastically changed Draco. Since the war he’d always been sociably tolerable but today he seemed to be lighthearted and care-free. It was refreshing and she decided that she wouldn’t mind seeing that side of Draco more.
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Enormous thanks go to Nytd and Emerald and Rubies for beta reading this chapter! Without them this chapter would be a black hole of muddled confusion! I’m always open for reviews; let me know what you think of it! Oh, and for any readers that are enjoying my other story Affliction aka Hurt; I’m still working vigorously on it, I just have this obnoxious problem with biting off more than I should chew!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoYours truly, AimeeBass