Thanks to Jess for the Beta!
Chapter Five
"She shot you down, didn't she?" Blaise asked, highly amused. Draco had been sulking all day, and Blaise hadn't needed to talk to Ginny to know that Draco hadn't gotten anywhere with her. "I'll bet you didn't even get to breach the subject of sex."
"Her virginity was mentioned," Draco said truthfully. He rubbed his face tiredly. He had a migraine that even his strongest illicit potions hadn't been able to get rid of, and he had Ginny bloody Weasley to thank for that, he was sure. Blaise roared with laughter, and Draco winced at the abrasive sound.
"I told you she was solid. Oh, if she can resist the wiles of the most renowned Casanova in the Wizarding world, she is definitely marriage material!"
"It doesn't help that she didn't like me to start off with," Draco protested, annoyed. "All I need is a little more time."
"My friend, you couldn't get into her knickers if you had several millennia to try."
"Oh, really? Want to up the bet, then?" Blaise shook his head.
"You're just asking for the big hurt, you know that, right? If by some miracle of the Gods you actually do manage to get her into bed with you, you still lose."
"How do you figure that?"
"Not only will I never speak to you again, she'll give you a royal arse-beating."
"Oh, goody; something to look forward to," Draco said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Besides, you'd never bin off with me. I'm the only friend you've got."
Blaise rolled his eyes and grinned. "Doesn't matter. We don't need to worry about it because this is one bet that you're going to lose. Personally, I don't even know how the two of you tolerated each other at dinner last night for as long as you did."
"You didn't tell me that she knew French," Draco accused suddenly, turning his eyes to his friend. Blaise looked slightly surprised.
"I didn't know that she did," he admitted.
"She's never spoken French at Périgord Noir before?" He asked suspiciously.
"No, I've always ordered for her."
"And yet she spoke her order flawlessly last night." Draco looked thoughtful. "So does she really know French, or was she just imitating what she's heard you speak before?"
"What does it really matter?"
"Either she was deceitful with me, or she's placating you."
"How do you figure that?"
"She made no errors in her pronunciation, Zabini. If she orders the same thing every time you dine there and has just memorized the way you spoke her order, then she deceived me by leading me to believe that she was fluent in the language. If she actually knows the language and hasn't told you, she's letting you order for her in order to placate you."
"Why would she want to do that?" Blaise asked skeptically.
"I don't know - probably to make you feel more like a man, or some other such similarly idiotic reason. The point is, either way, one of us is getting blagged."
"Oh, please!" Blaise snorted. "You just struck out before you even made it to first base, and you're angry about it." Draco gave him a blank stare, and Blaise sighed. "Muggle sporting term."
"I won't even bother to ask how you know that, or what it means," Draco sniffed disdainfully.
"Ginny's father rather enjoys all things Muggle," Blaise explained. "The man is really quite fascinating, you know. He actually-"
"I'm sorry, did I mistakenly give you the impression that I cared? What I'm interested in is who is she lying to, and why?"
"Obviously she's lying to you," Blaise said. "She wouldn't lie to me."
"Oh? I wouldn't be so sure of that, if I were you."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly that she's not as dumb as either one of us take her for," Draco said, his brow creasing in thought.
"I have never thought that she was - as you so eloquently phrase it - dumb."
"Yes you did, and you still do," Draco rejoined. "You've got a mistress, haven't you?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"You said she didn't know about your mistress, right? Apparently you don't think she's smart enough to be able to figure out that you're sleeping with another woman. We have both underestimated her intelligence."
"I didn't-"
Draco continued on as though speaking to himself. "Well, and who could blame us? She is a Weasley, after all. Who would have thought that she'd be able to run such a scam?"
"Now, hang on just a tic-"
"She's obviously just trying to land a rich husband. But why didn't she aim higher?" he mused aloud. "There are many Wizards far richer than you!"
"Name three," Blaise challenged. Draco clasped his hands behind his back as he stared out the window, across the frosty grounds of the Manor.
"Perhaps she realized that you would be the most vulnerable to her - shall we say charms?" He turned and looked at his friend. "So how do you suggest that we go about exposing her chicanery?"
"Yes," Blaise laughed. "Because you're an expert at subterfuge, right?"
"She brought this on herself," Draco protested. "She's the one who's lying, not us."
"Aren't you the one who's trying to seduce her to make her unmarriageable for me?" Blaise pointed out. "The last time I checked, that wasn't exactly considered truthful."
"I won't allow you to be tied down to a filthy little liar for the rest of your life."
"You just don't want me to marry her. Tell me, what's the difference between taking her for a wife and having someone that you actually consider proper? Because I'm going to have mistresses either way, you know - it's not like it really matters who I'm married to, if she can give me children."
"She's just to be a breeding mare, then?"
"No - she's quite intelligent, and therefore a decent conversationalist. She's also well-mannered, which means that she'll be able to attend functions with me - things like weddings, dinner parties, political events - you get the idea."
"Does she know all of this?" Draco asked, making a broad, sweeping gesture with his hand. "That she will basically be only a trophy wife of sorts?"
"Of course not," Blaise returned, frowning. "Are you mad? What woman would willingly agree to that?"
"And you accuse me of being deceitful," Draco breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "When is your next date?"
"Tonight. I wanted to make it up to her for having to spend time with you last night." Blaise laughed. Draco narrowed his eyes at his friend.
"Did she complain to you? I did nothing improper."
"You are such a hypocrite, Draco! You're worried that she may have told me that you behaved poorly, and yet you went out with her with the sole intention of seducing her! Do you see the irony here?"
"Where are the two of you going?" Draco asked, brushing off the comment. Blaise sighed in exasperation.
"I don't really know. I haven't tried to make any reservations for dinner yet."
"Then I'll do it. I'm going with you, and then you're going to conveniently have to excuse yourself from the dinner table."
"Excuse me?"
"Exactly - see, you've grasped the concept already." Draco turned to rummage through his desk for parchment and a new quill. "Damned house elves keep straightening my desk even though I tell them not to - I can never find anything I bloody well need when I need it! Someone's going to have their fingers ironed tonight."
"Wait," Blaise said, holding a hand up. "Are you telling me that you're going to steal my date?"
"Steal is such a crass word," Draco replied, his back still turned to his friend. "Besides, it's not as if you'll actually miss her. Your Mistress would probably be more than happy to accommodate you this evening."
"You're a pillock of the highest order, do you realize that?" Blaise demanded. "I actually do enjoy spending time with Ginny, believe it or not!" Draco gave him a bored look as he finished scribbling on the parchment he'd found.
"Really? Because not even a moment ago, you were telling me that you wanted her solely as a trophy wife."
"That's not what I said," Blaise protested vehemently. "You were the one who used the term `trophy wife,' not me!"
"Afraid that leaving her alone with me will change her mind about wanting to be with you?"
"Only if she thinks it means that she has to spend this much time around you after we're married!"
"Relax. You haven't even proposed to her yet. She thinks I'm trying to make the whole situation easier for you by being nice to her."
"She does?" Blaise looked suspicious. "Or is that just what you've told her, and you think that she believes it? Because that's the biggest load of shit I've ever heard you spew, and she's smarter than that."
"So you don't think that she's smart enough to find out that you've got a mistress on the side, but you do think she's smart enough to disbelieve everything I say? Now who's a hypocrite?"
Blaise squeezed his eyes shut and massaged his temples to ease the ache of the migraine he could feel coming on. Draco smirked.
"What's the matter? Head hurt?"
"Does the word Schadenfreude mean anything to you, you manipulative, conniving bastard?"
"Why, Zabini," Draco said, arching an eyebrow. "I believe that that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. I didn't know you cared."
Blaise laughed.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Good heavens," Hermione breathed, reading the letter that Ginny had just received. She lifted her eyes to her friend and cleared her throat. "Are you going to go?"
"Sure, why not?" Ginny asked, shrugging. Hermione gaped at her, and Ginny laughed. "Don't worry about me. I had dinner with Malfoy last night, and we were alone then, and nothing happened."
"Why on earth did you have dinner with him?" Hermione gasped. "You're dating Blaise, not Malfoy!"
"Blaise knew about it," she said, shrugging noncommittally. "If he'd had a problem with it, he would've found a way to stop it from happening."
"Ginny, be careful. I mean it." Ginny turned to find her friend's amber eyes full of concern.
"I can take care of myself."
"I know you can, but you know the sort of twisted games that Malfoy likes to play. I'm afraid for you - this could be just another one of his mind tricks, being civil to you. Who knows, he might be trying to build up your trust and then one day, poof! He'll turn on you."
"He'll never have my trust," Ginny reassured her. "A chameleon never changes his spots, remember?" Hermione laughed, though the sound was more guarded than Ginny would have liked.
"A leopard never changes his spots - you know how it goes."
"Yes, well - I like my way better."
"You always have." Hermione smiled affectionately at her best friend. Ginny smiled back.
"I'll be fine, I promise. Besides, if Blaise really wants to marry me, he'll keep Malfoy from doing anything particularly bad."
"Marry you?" Hermione boggled. "The two of you are already talking marriage? You've only been seeing each other for a few months!"
"Six months," Ginny corrected her, turning and inspecting her hair in the mirror. "And no, we're not talking marriage."
"Then why-"
"I'm not as naïve as he takes me for. I've heard talk among some of his friends that he's already purchased a ring."
"And you're sure it's for you?"
"It sure as hell isn't for his mistress." Hermione's jaw dropped and Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know about her, too."
"Why are you still seeing him, when you know he's sleeping with another woman?"
"I'm tired, Hermione. I'm tired of the whole dating scene, of waiting for some mister right who isn't ever going to show up. I finally realize that that's the real fairytale; some perfect man who shares a mutual perfect love with you and you live perfectly ever after. I want to have children and grow old saying `No,' and `Stop that!', and it isn't going to happen while I'm single. Blaise is well-off, and he can more than afford to marry me, father my children, and then leave me to my own devices."
"Don't you want something better for yourself than a man who'll give you children and then just walk away?"
"Of course I do," Ginny said, exasperated. "But I'm not going to wait forever to find it, and it's more than clear that it's never going to come in search of me, either. I've got to take what happiness I can find, where I can find it - and now, before I get too old."
"I - I don't know what to say."
"Not everyone is like you and Harry, you know," Ginny pointed out ruefully. A rosy blush stained Hermione's cheeks.
"I just find it difficult to believe that if Harry and I have found such happiness together that you aren't destined for the same thing."
"You're a level-headed witch, Hermione, but when it comes to Harry, you're a hopeless fool."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Ginny smiled affectionately. "It just means that in all other matters, you use your head, but where Harry is involved, you're all heart. I'm so happy for both of you, really I am - but that doesn't mean that my Harry is out there somewhere, just waiting for me to stumble onto him."
"Harry and I didn't just `stumble onto' each other," Hermione said, shaking her head. Her blush deepened. "You know that we were friends for a long time before either of us realized-"
"Yes, but the moment you realized it, the two of you were completely bonkers. We couldn't get you apart for months afterwards!"
"Love is a funny thing, isn't it?" Hermione agreed, nodding. A tiny smile curved her lips upward and her eyes went a bit unfocused, and Ginny shook her head. Her friend had it worse than she knew.
"Speaking of Harry," Ginny began, pointing to the clock on the wall. Hermione turned and sighed.
"Late again."
"As per usual. You must really love him, to put up with his lateness like you do."
"That goes without saying. Oh, well. I suppose we'll just go out for dinner tonight - warming charms can only keep food good for so long."
"You could always just try to wait until ten minutes before he's supposed to show up and then start fixing your meals."
"I guess." Hermione watched as Ginny picked up her cloak and headed towards the floo. "You will be careful, won't you, Ginny? Even if it's just for my sake?"
"I will," Ginny reassured her, disappearing into the floo.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"This is ridiculous," Ginny laughed, approaching the table where Draco was drumming his fingers impatiently. He stood automatically, waiting until she'd been seated to reclaim his own chair.
"I beg your pardon?" he snapped, frowning.
"It's ridiculous for you to send me an owl claiming that Blaise is going to be joining us for dinner," she said, still smiling. "If you want to be alone with me, Malfoy, just say so."
"It would be improper-"
"Save it," she said, holding her hand up to stop him. She picked up the menu and began perusing it. "As if you give a fig about propriety, when something you want is concerned. Now the question is, what is it that you want?"
"What are you getting at? Zabini is late, that's all. I thought I was going to be dining alone, thanks to your less-than-prompt arrival as well. When the letter said eight o'clock, it meant eight o'clock precisely - not eight fifteen."
"You could have chatted up the waitress," she suggested, her eyes still on the menu.
"And why in Salazar's name would I have wanted to do that?" he asked, disgust written on his face. "She's a nitwit."
"So in other words, you've already slept with her at least once, and therefore hold no further interest in her."
Draco leaned across the table and narrowed his eyes at her. "You're not quite as witty as you think yourself to be." Ginny placed the menu on the table in front of her and leaned forward as well, her eyes sparkling as she stared at him.
"And you're not half as handsome as you seem to think yourself to be, either."
"How dare you-"
"Ah! There you are!" Ginny turned and smiled as Blaise approached the table. "Lovely to see you, my dear - sorry I'm so late in arriving; I've spent the entire day working through a mountain of paperwork. You'd be surprised how excruciatingly tedious it is, making sure that Mafalda's letters get out in time."
"Yes, it's terribly exciting, listening to the details of your secretarial work," Draco snorted. Ginny aimed a polite smile at him.
"And your day as a bored playboy entail something more meaningful, is that it?"
Blaise guffawed. "Merlin! Is this how dinner went last night, as well? With the constant digs at each other, I mean?"
"As if it would be any other way," Ginny said pleasantly, her eyes drifting back to the menu that lay on the table in front of her. Blaise shook his head, and Draco glared at the redhead. "You managed to get the letters out, I take it?"
"Yes," Blaise sighed, nodding at the waitress in thanks as she deposited a glass of water onto the table in front of him. "Two cases of underaged magic in Ottery St. Catchpole alone this morning. It's been a busy day."
Ginny smiled secretively to herself and said nothing, causing Draco to study her even more intently. If Blaise noticed the increased scrutiny, he said nothing to give himself away. "Have you ever been here before?" Ginny asked him.
"Yes, a time or two," he admitted.
"What do you suggest, then?" Draco's brow arched as Blaise met his eye briefly. The blonde shook his head slightly, and Blaise rolled his eyes.
"This, perhaps," Blaise said, pointing to an item on the menu. Ginny's eyebrows rose slightly, and she nodded.
"I didn't think you had such a sweet tooth," she remarked, her eyes traveling higher on the menu. Draco pressed his lips together so hard that they began to turn white. "Is there an entrée that you enjoy?"
"Certainly," Blaise nodded, clearing his throat and pointing again. Ginny nodded.
"Yes, that sounds lovely."
"Do you even know what you're about to order?" Draco blurted, ignoring the waitress who was approaching their table. Ginny pointedly ignored him and gave the woman a slightly strained smile.
"I'll have the Insalata Francesca - but hold the mushrooms, please; I'm allergic." Blaise raised his eyebrows and gave his friend a look that clearly said "I told you so," but Draco ignored it. Blaise ordered next, and then Draco. When the waitress had gone, Draco frowned.
"You've been here before," he accused her.
"And if I have?" she challenged, meeting his eye.
"Well, have you or haven't you?"
"If I told you that, it would take the mystery away, now wouldn't it?" she asked, smoothing out the napkin that she'd just placed across her lap. "And then you'd have no reason to try and be alone with me, and you don't want that."
Blaise simply gaped at her.
Draco found that not only was his blood boiling angrily, but for the first time since his father had died, he was completely and utterly speechless.
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