12. Chapter 12

Hello dear readers! Normal messages, thanks for all the favourites, follows, and reviews. I'm at 90 reviews now. That's a lot. And it's all thanks to you guys. Love you all! Keep the reviews up, they make my day. Hope you guys like this chapter, the story is really starting to get going now.

Disclaimer: I am not Disney. I do not have the capacity to buy the rights to gigantic franchises that were created long ago without my help. *cough, starwars, cough*. In short, I do not own Harry Potter.

"I know."

Blaise was just staring at Hermione, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. He was ashen. The Slytherin was shivering slightly, and his left eye was twitching. He seemed to have frozen once more. Draco could easily see his veins through his now nearly translucent skin.

Hermione noticed all of this as well. Who wouldn't? Turning to Draco, she questioned it, seemed slightly nervous.

"Ummm, Draco? What's happening?"

What's happening? He thought. What's happening, Hermione, is that the world as you know it is about to be ripped out from beneath your feet. What's happening, Hermione, is you have been discovered after your mysterious disappearance seven years ago by the leader of your search party. What's happening, Hermione, is that the world will soon know you are back from the dead. What's happening, Hermione, is that the secret he'd been trying desperately to keep is out in the open, and the open isn't the best place for that secret to be.

That's what was really happening. That was reality. But reality was a perspective. Hermione's reality was a muggle life, in a muggle world, even though Draco knew that wasn't true. It didn't matter. It felt like reality to her, and reality wasn't something to be tampered with lightly.

That may be reality, but it didn't matter. He couldn't tell her any of that. This situation had to be handled as calmly as humanly possible, to protect all those involved. Come on, Draco, time to think on your feet.

Draco took a deep breath, and tried to explain.

He put on his most winning smile, the one he used to pick up women when he was bored. It was charming, and very endearing. It was trustworthy. It was respectable. It would do the job here.

"Oh, Hermione. Hi! How're you? This is Blaise. He's a friend of mine from England. Sorry about this right now," he finished with a flourish, gesturing at Blaise's pale and frozen form.

Hermione eyed him. "And why is he like this?"

Damn. Damn you charming smile, you failed when you were most needed. "Well, you see, Hermione, umm…. he…ummm…..also knew the other Hermione!" That was the excuse he used when he met her, maybe it would do the trick here. Please, Merlin, let it do the trick here.

Understanding graced her features. Thank you Merlin. "Oh, the one you got me confused me with originally?"

Draco nodded. "Yep, Hermione Granger, that's the one." As these words, Blaise unfroze, and opened his mouth to speak. Not good, not good! Draco couldn't let this happen. He cut Blaise off immediately.

"He knew her as well. He's just getting a little bit confused, just as I did beforehand."

Hermione nodded. She turned to Blaise, smiling reassuringly, as though he was a little child, scared of meeting a new person. She addressed her next words to him. "Sorry about the confusion, sir. I'm Hermione Mason." Blaise gave her a look of complete disbelief. She turned back to Draco awkwardly.

"I must look uncannily like this girl," she mused.

Looking her straight in the eye, Draco spoke softly. "You have no idea."

Truer words had never been spoken.

She averted her eyes, when Draco realized how intensely he'd been looking at her. Blinking several times, he gave Blaise a look that said clearly, don't say anything.

Hermione gave Draco a confused look. He shot another look at Blaise. The auror looked like he was about to explode. Draco sighed. He needed to talk to Blaise, privately. Now.

Draco smiled down at Hermione. He'd never really noticed their height difference before. She really was quite shorter than him. "Hermione, could you grab me a coffee? My friend here and I need to have quick a chat."

Hermione looked a little lost, but shrugged none the less, "Alright." She turned on her heel and headed into the shop, her brown curls bouncing. Thank Merlin she left. Draco was sure Blaise was about to blow his top.

Draco turned to Blaise, backing up a bit, in case he did, in fact, explode. "Mate, let me explain….." he had just started when Blaise cut him off.

"Why the fuck are you meeting Hermione fucking Granger to have a cup of fucking coffee?" he exclaimed, rage evident in his voice. His face was now Weasley red, he was shaking from suppressed anger.

"Impressive level of f-bombs," Draco muttered. He looked Blaise in the eye. Calmly, Draco, proceed calmly. "I ran into her," Draco replied promptly to Blaise, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels.

"You ran into, you ran into her, perfect, that's amazing," Blaise started muttering and pacing, running his hand through his hair. Draco became immediately more wary. Blaise was showing his warning signs, just like a beginning of a storm. There was no sign of lightning yet, but you could feel it in the air, and you just knew it was coming.

"YOU RAN INTO HERMIONE FUCKING GRANGER!" Blaise exploded, his rage causing several people walking by to jump away in fright, with good reason. The first bolt of lightning was resonating, but Draco knew from experience, the first bolt was never the last.

"Yep," Draco stated simply. He was staying calm rather effectively. Good job Draco. You're maturing as a person.

"Let me rephrase, Malfoy," Blaise started, his rage building once again. Draco quivered. The use of his surname was never a good sign. This storm Blaise was conjuring would probably be stronger than any one of Blaise's rage storms he had ever seen before. "YOU RAN INTO HERMIONE FUCKING GRANGER AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

Draco shrank, cowering under his best friend's rage. "Maybe," he muttered. "But it's not that simple!" Draco exclaimed, regaining some of his strength.

"Then explain it, Draco!" Blaise roared once more. Good Merlin, this man was frightening when he was angry. "You knew I was in charge of her investigation, why couldn't you spare one fucking minute to owl me! Or even, you knew what she means to the wizarding community, to Harry, why couldn't you let anyone fucking know you had found the missing war heroine!"

"OK, Blaise, calm down," Draco said calmly, raising his palms in defense. "This is complicated."

"What is so bloody complicated about it, Draco?" Blaise said angrily, his face still a Weasley shade of red. "You found Hermione Granger, and you've been hiding her. I should punch you right now. Harry would."

"Give me three words to explain Blaise," Draco pleaded. Draco needed a chance to explain this.

Blaise gave him the death glare. Draco felt his heart stop. He'd forgotten how effective one of Blaise's glares could be. There was a reason he was considered such a frightening entity back in their Hogwarts days. "Three words, that's all."

Draco quickly counted in his head. Yep, he could do this. He looked Blaise directly in the eye, even though he was scared out of his bloody pants.

"Her memory's gone," Draco said curtly. Those were the magic words.

Blaise's face immediately went back to its normal colour. His eyes stopped mid-glare, and returned back to normal, from the prior dilation of his pupils. His posture went from a fighting stance to a normal everyday conversation stance.

"What?" Blaise asked, no rage in his voice, only confusion.

"Her memory has been obliviated," Draco responded, relieved that his friend was calming down.

Blaise stared at him. "Explain, now," he demanded. Draco sighed, and started the story.

He quickly told Blaise about running into Hermione, his shock at finding her. He explained how she didn't remember him or anything about the magical world. He told Blaise how she had been in an apparent car crash seven years prior, and now was living a perfectly muggle life, having mugglefied all of her relationships and attributes. Blaise never said a word, just listened intently, the auror side of him dominating the angry rage-filled Slytherin.

"So her entire memory's gone?" Blaise asked, disbelievingly.

"Yep," Draco stated. "Well, once, I thought I saw a flash of recognition in her eyes, but it was gone seconds later. It was probably just a trick of the light."

Blaise nodded, staring off into space. His eyes suddenly regained focus. "We have to get her back to England!" Blaise exclaimed.

"No!" Draco blurt out. Blaise raised his eyebrow. "Ummm, I mean, why don't you join us for coffee first?" Draco asked, slyly avoiding his blatant fear of losing Hermione.

Blaise nodded, though still eyeing him warily, and he followed Draco into the Tim Hortons.

They found Hermione sitting at a table, drinking a coffee, with a second cup waiting for Draco. Thank Merlin. He definitely needed it.

"Thank you, you wonderful, wonderful person," he said, sliding into his seat and taking it. He took a sip. Tim Hortons was a gift from the heavens, he was sure.

"No problem," she said, smiling, though eyeing Blaise warily, as he was her. Blaise took a seat. He and Hermione both took a second to study the other. The tension was slowly building.

"So, Hermione," Draco broke in, clutching his warm coffee cup. "This is Blaise. We went to school together."

"Pleasure," she said, friendly as always. Blaise looked at her, warily. She might've noticed, but her facial expression betrayed nothing.

"So, Blaise," she started. "You completely freaked out when I walked up."

Blaise shuffled uneasily. "You noticed that?"

Hermione laughed. "I probably would've noticed it from an airplane."

Blaise looked even more confused. "What's an airplan…." But Draco cut across him.

"Always the kidder this one," Draco laughed, kicking him in the shin under the table. Draco shot him a look, it would be very unusual if a normal muggle didn't know what an airplane was.

"But to answer your question," Blaise continued, wincing slightly from the kick to his shins. "You look a lot like a girl Draco and I used to know."

Hermione nodded. "Right, the girl who went missing, also named Hermione. Sorry, Blaise, it isn't me."

Blaise nodded. It was obvious to Draco that Blaise didn't believe her at all. They were in dangerous tides, and Draco had to steer them into safe water. Quickly.

"So, Hermione," he started. "How was your day?"

From there, Draco and Hermione engaged in their normal conversation. Blaise didn't say anything else, and frankly, after his and Hermione's conversation really got going, Draco didn't even notice his best friend's presence. It was as if Hermione and he had submerged into their own little bubble, oblivious to the outside world and all the troubles it contained. He didn't care the secret was out. He didn't care that she'd have to return to the wizarding world sooner or later. As long as, for now, he could stay with her, in this Tim Hortons on Young, he was fine.

They covered all the regular topics: work, silly things they had both said or done, politics, world issues, and how good the coffee was. Today, the dominant topic was work, given that they spent a good half hour on Hermione's work life. Apparently, Ginger kept on coming down to her desk and asking her about Draco, where he was staying, how long he was in town, stuff like that. Hermione was having a lot of fun with this. As far as Ginger was aware, Draco was moving to Canada, and was going to be living with Hermione indefinitely. Draco and Hermione's fake relationship was going to end up giving Ginger an aneurysm, Draco was calling it.

Whilst he was talking to Hermione, he kept on shooting furtive looks at Blaise. The auror was basically gaping at the talking duo. Blaise's eyes were huge, his mouth was hitting the floor, and he seemed slightly pale. Blaise's shock shocked Draco, until he remembered what Blaise was really seeing.

Blaise was seeing Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, ex-death eater, enemy to Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Princess, war heroine, and Harry Potter's best friend exchange friendly conversation. Blaise was having an exceptionally mind-blowing day. Poor Bloke.

For Draco, his and Hermione's relationship no longer felt strange. It was natural, simple, almost like second nature. It was so easy that until Blaise had shown up, Draco had forgotten what his reality was.

Draco's world, for the last few weeks, had been some kind of estranged dream. His and Hermione's relationship was a part of that. It was strange; it was basically unnatural to a person from the wizarding reality. But Draco liked it. He liked it a lot. Draco had been reveling so much in this dream, this Canadian universe he was living in, that he had completely forgotten reality. Reality was the complete opposite of this. Blaise was his reality. It was a shock to be thrust back into that world so suddenly, without any preparation.

After a few hours, Blaise gave a discreet cough, breaking them out of their bubble. They both leaned back. Draco hadn't noticed that they'd been leaning into each other. Hermione seemed flustered, and ran her hand through her hair. Her face was flushed. Draco shot a look at Blaise.

"Well, I should go," Hermione said quickly, standing up.

"Us as well," Draco stated. Hermione smiled at him. Blaise shot a look at Draco that said "I'll wait outside, Draco." He bowed to Hermione, and headed out, eyeing them suspiciously. Draco let his eyes wander back to her face. She was looking at the door.

"Such a strange fellow," she mused, glancing after Blaise.

"You have no idea," Draco shook his head.

"He just kind of looked at me," Hermione mumbled.

Draco nodded, trying not to let any real emotion show on his face. "He's an awkward person. Very socially awkward." Yes, Blaise Zabini, the renowned lady killer, and fiancée to Padma Patil, was socially awkward. That's believable.

Hermione turned back to him, meeting his eyes once more. There was a new emotion in them, which he could barely recognize. Her eyes had grown deeper, if that was even possible. He was drowning in them, so deep, chocolate, and trusting….

"Well, I should be heading out," Hermione said softly, not breaking their eye contact. She took a step towards him.

"Yeah, I should be going to," Draco said, taking a step towards her as well. Her eyes were so entrancing…

"We should be going," Hermione said, her chocolate eyes wider than he'd ever seen them.

"Yep," Draco nodded absentmindedly. He couldn't seem to break their eye contact. He just stood there, staring down into her deep brown eyes. They seemed to reach all the way down to her soul, which shone out like a beacon to him, so pure and light. He was leaning forward, trying to reach the pureness, when she suddenly pulled his lips down onto hers.

Draco was shocked at first. His mind went into overdrive, questioning what was happening. Then his mind shut down, and his body responded. He couldn't understand the feeling that was spreading throughout his body. He had never felt it before, a warm type of yearning. He had kissed countless girls before, but never like this. This was extraordinary, this was new, this was brilliant. This was perfect. He understood that it was Hermione, bookworm, muggle-born, nerd extraordinaire, and by all accounts he should've been running away in terror. But he couldn't. He had never felt so right in his entire life, then now, as he kissed the Gryffindor Princess. He never wanted it to end.

But, alas, like all things in life, it did. Hermione pulled back first. Draco probably never would've. She looked at him, and smirked at his confused expression. He was so flustered.

"See you tomorrow, Draco," she whispered softly. He stood there, dumbfounded, as Hermione left the coffee shop. She didn't look back at him.

Draco's eyes fluttered and he regained movement that he had temporarily lost. He headed outside the shop, where Blaise was standing there, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"Did you just…..Hermione….kiss…" Blaise stuttered, amazed and flabbergasted.

Draco nodded, still confused himself. He could still feel his lips tingling.

Blaise shook his head in disbelief. He looked at Draco. "Are you sure that's Hermione Granger?"

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