The Marriage Decree

Chapter 63: Who's Being Pedantic Now, Rick?

A few minutes later, she's stood outside of Blaise's house, knocking on his front door. She's surprised when Pansy opens the door and has to double check that she knocked on the correct door and not Pansy and Ron's.

"Pansy!" Hermione greets her.

"You're up early." Pansy comments, pulling the door closed behind her as she steps out into the street.

"It's midday," Hermione comments with a frown.

"Yeah, well, some of us didn't go to sleep until the early hours of the morning." She shrugs.

Hermione stares at her confused for a moment. She can tell she's hiding something. "Draco didn't come home last night." She states but Pansy doesn't seem surprised. "He's in there, isn't he?" She sighs, looking at the front window where the curtains are twitching.

"No, it's just Blaise and me in here." She shrugs.

Hermione stares at her unconvinced. "You're hiding something in there. What is...? Oh!" She says, coming to a realisation.

"Merlin no, Hermione. Are you serious?" Pansy looks disgusted. "I slept on his couch when Ronald wouldn't get out of bed to let me in at three in the morning." She rushes to explain. "Understandably so since he had work this morning." She adds.

"Oh, right. I apologise for jumping to conclusion. It just looks like you're trying to hide something from me." Hermione nods to the door.

"Blaise got an owl from Luna reminding him to keep the windows and doors closed since Nitnams are frequent in the Midlands during this one week in June." She rolls her eyes with a scoff. "Draco's probably at the Manor if he didn't return last night. He's most likely processing whatever Lucius told him." She suggests.

"That's what I'm worried about." She admits.

Pansy quirks an interested eyebrow. "What do you mean?" She asks.

"I've done something really bad and I don't think Draco will ever forgive me." She states, tearing up at the thought of losing Draco because of a stupid mistake she made.

"Okay, do you want to talk about it? I can meet you at that café in the middle." She gestures behind Blaise's house towards the shops.

"I'd rather not talk about this in the wizarding world." She admits. "I wouldn't want the Daily Prophet to get a hold of this information." She adds.

Pansy stares at her intrigued for a long moment before nodding. "Give me five minutes to get dressed and washed and I'll meet you at the gate. You can take us to a muggle café or whatever for lunch." She tells her as she opens Blaise's front door behind her.

Hermione nods. "Can I not come in and wait?" She frowns, trying to peer pass Pansy.

"No, Blaise isn't really in any state for visitors," Pansy mentions as she enters, closing the door in her face.

Hermione leans against the wall next to Blaise's front door. There's definitely something the other woman and Blaise are hiding and it has nothing to do with Nitnams. She glances over to Blaise's living room window to find the curtain twitching. Hasn't Blaise got anything better to do then being nosy? She wonders before the realisation hits her.

Just then, the front door opens and Pansy steps out in the same clothes she had been wearing for Dean and Seamus' party yesterday.

"So where are we going?" She asks as she sets off towards the gate.

"I know Draco's in there," Hermione states, making Pansy halt and turn to her. "Blaise's translation job started this morning at eight 'clock." She points out.