Draco's attic reminded Hermione of something out of a movie she would watch with her parents. It was a rather large space with plenty of room to move around and there were only a few boxes tucked into a corner. She was grateful that there was a large window along the back wall that allowed to see outside; it would make it easier to keep track of where the moon was.
"He doesn't really use this space much, does he?" Hermione asked as she looked around.
"Not really," Blaise shrugged before setting the bottles and glasses down on the floor. "I'm sure I can whip up a place for us to sit if you wanted to get the lights?"
She nodded and they pulled their wands out, Blaise moving to the middle of the room while Hermione walked along the edge with her wand pointed towards the ceiling. Small bubbles of light began to sprout from the wood beams as she walked underneath them and the space slowly began to grow brighter. After circling the room, she walked straight through the middle for added measure, and then crossed over with more lights.
"Is there any kind of magic you aren't good at?" He asked with a small laugh.
"Oh stop; it's such a simple charm," She said with a grin.
She joined him in the middle of the room where he had conjured up a small, round table with two chairs on either side of it. He had already opened a bottle and poured himself a glass before looking up at her again questioningly.
"Are you sure you don't want one?" He asked, lifting the bottle.
"I'm alright for right now," She said. "I want to wait to see what happens after he changes."
Blaise nodded and set the bottle down before sitting back into the chair with a sigh. "I have to admit, this is the first time I've been here for this."
"I've seen it a few times," Hermione said quietly. "With other clients."
"I had a feeling considering your plan to keep him contained," Blaise said.
"Those are just precautions," She shrugged. "From what he told me, it sounded like he would staying inside if we weren't here, considering what happened when he stopped taking his potions before."
"He told you about that?" Blaise asked, surprised.
She nodded. "When he first brought me here for lunch, he showed me the basement and I saw the scratches on the wall, so I asked if he had ever not taken his potions. From the way it sounded, he managed to stay inside the manor for a few months."
"I believe he did," Blaise nodded. "I think he mentioned putting spells on the basement door so he wouldn't get out. But something must have happened because he did."
"That's partially why I put so many spells on so many different places," She explained.
"You mentioned a Caterwauling charm," He started curiously. "Does that actually work on werewolves?"
She smiled slightly. "Somewhat. It really just catches them off guard long enough to notify me that they breached it. Some werewolves are more affected than others. I've tried altering it to be more like a dog-whistle that will hurt their ears and basically subdue them, but I haven't had much luck yet."
Blaise's eyes widened. "Do dog whistles work on werewolves?"
Hermione paused and then gave him a look. "You better not use one on Draco."
He let out a laugh and shook his head. "No, no; the rolled-up newspaper works just fine with him. I was more asking out of curiosity."
"I actually haven't tested it," She admitted. "I'm worried that it might just draw them to me."
"Ah, true." He took a sip from his glass and then nodded towards the door. "Did you put the silencing charm on there yet?"
Hermione checked the window to see the colors in the sky fading and she stood up. "Might as well do it now. I suspect he'll be changing soon."
She made her way over to the door and made quick work of fortifying it with another Imperturbable charm in addition to a silencing charm that would not allow any noises to leave the attic. After finishing up she returned to the table and frowned, glancing at the wine.
"I may need one glass," She said slowly. "Just to take the edge off."
"Nervous?" He asked, reaching for her empty glass.
With a nod, she said, "I've been through this before with others in a much smaller space that had more potential for things to go wrong. I don't know why I'm nervous right now."
"Maybe just because it's Draco and you know exactly what he's going to go through?" Blaise suggested.
"Maybe..." She took the glass from him after he finished pouring and quickly took a drink before setting it back down. "I don't know. I feel somewhat guilty too for this."
"Why?" He asked.
"Well if I hadn't distracted him with the news of Ron signing the papers..." She trailed off and looked away, crossing her arms against her chest.
Blaise shook his head. "That was absolutely not your fault. You were both excited and a mistake was made. Don't blame yourself for this."
Then he shifted and gave her a smile. "Besides, if you had seen the look on Draco's face the next morning after your date, you would understand why he completely forgot."
She blushed slightly and shook her head. They both froze when they heard a sudden muffled yell of pain and Blaise's eyes went wide.
"He won't be able to hear us, right?" He asked then.
"He shouldn't be able to," Hermione said, looking back at the door. "I'm not worried so much about him hearing us so much as I am him being able to smell us."
Blaise stared at the door for a few moments as they both waited to hear anything else. After hearing nothing for a minute, Hermione relaxed and turned back around to take another drink.
"This is going to be a long night," She muttered.
"Well hopefully some company will make it not as bad," Blaise said, raising his glass.
She smiled and gently clinked her glass against his and laughed slightly. "I don't think we've ever had time to really talk."
"No, we really haven't," He nodded. "Though of course, we never really ran in the same social circles after graduating."
"True," She shrugged.
Blaise looked around the attic with a slight frown. "He has nothing up here that could provide entertainment."
"His library's a floor down," She sighed unhappily.
"Why don't you apparate down there and grab a few books?" He asked.
"Because he can easily hear me apparating," She said. "He heard me from outside of the house when I came over on Monday, and my pops are very quiet."
Blaise groaned at this and rubbed his forehead as he tried to come up with an idea of what they could do.
She beat him to it though as she asked, "How are things going with you and Ginny?"
He smiled at that and said, "Things are great! Even better now that she and Potter are officially divorced."
"I completely forgot they took care of that on Monday," She said with a laugh. "Merlin, they even came by my office to surprise me! I feel horrible for not talking to her about that yet."
"Don't feel bad, I've been stealing Ginny every night this week," Blaise grinned as he reached for his glass. "Considering she was gone for two weeks while playing quidditch against the Americans, I wanted to be greedy."
"Well don't be mad when I steal her away for a weekend soon!" She retorted.
Blaise quickly swallowed the bit of wine he had as he asked, "Oh yeah, she mentioned something about you owning a cabin?"
Hermione groaned slightly. "That was supposed to just be between me and her."
"I'm not going to tell anyone," Blaise grinned. "I think that's rather nice, having your own space away from everyone else. I'm sure you used it a lot, being married to Ron."
"At least a few times a month," She sighed. "I always told him I was staying at my parents'."
"And he never suspected?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
She shrugged. "Ron's a simple person. And I wasn't ever doing anything; just needed to get away for a bit, have some me-time."
"Nothing wrong with that at all." He took another drink before asking, "So, where is this cabin?"
"It's actually up in Keswick," She said.
His eyes widened slightly. "Really? That far away?"
"It's not that far," She laughed.
"True, I guess. Does Ginny like it?"
She took a sip of her wine and shrugged. "Yeah, she borrows it from time to time. Though she does want to change some things about it."
"Like what?" He asked curiously.
"She just wants a larger living area," Hermione said. "And a slightly larger bathroom. I'm alright with a smaller space but she tends to like more room to move around."
Blaise hummed curiously and she laughed before asking, "What, are you thinking about buying her a cabin too?"
"I won't deny I've thought about it," He grinned.
"Well if you do want to buy her a cabin, make sure it's on the beach," Hermione said then with a smile. "She loves the ocean."
"She never told me that," He said before leaning forward slightly. "What else can you tell me that she likes?"
"I'm shocked you don't know everything yet," She said as she raised an eyebrow.
He opened his mouth but was cut off by another yell, this one longer than the last. They both fell silent immediately as they listened to the yell slowly turn into a roar, and a chill went down Hermione's spine.
"I think he turned," She said quietly.
Blaise nodded, clenching his jaw. "I guess now we'll find out for sure if those spells work."
Hermione's heart raced and she took a slow, deep breath before sighing it out, trying to calm herself down.
"We'll be alright," She said, looking up at Blaise and setting her wand on the table next to her glass. Just in case.
He didn't answer and instead was staring at the door behind her, visibly tense. She didn't realize that she was tensed up as well until she forced her muscles to relax and she sat back in her chair.
"You don't have to stay here if you don't feel safe," She said then, catching his attention.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "And leave you alone by yourself?"
She shrugged. "I'll be alright. I've done this before."
"Do you always insist on doing dangerous things by yourself?" He asked with a slight grin.
"Only when I don't want to risk others being hurt," She said. "It's really alright."
"I don't think so," He said more seriously, shifting in his seat. "That's very admirable of you but at the same time, someone needs to watch out for you as well."
"Well if anything were to happen, I know I can count on Harry to be there if I need him," She said confidently.
"Does he know you're here tonight?" Blaise asked curiously, raising an eyebrow again.
She faltered before looking away at the floor. "No. He doesn't know about any of this."
"Does anyone know?"
Shaking her head, Hermione sighed. "I guess the only other person I would've been able to call besides you if you weren't here would have been Ginny."
"Wait..." He held up a hand and looked at her. "Does she know about Draco's...condition?"
Hermione nodded guiltily. "I accidentally let it slip the last time she and I were at my cabin. She's not going to tell anyone."
He was quiet for a moment before letting out a deep breath. "Well I suppose that it'll help in the long run if she knows, considering the two of you are about as close as Draco and I are."
"Draco doesn't know that I told her," Hermione said quietly.
"I'll be sure to keep it from him," Blaise said with a smile. "Besides, like you said, Ginny's really good at keeping secrets."
"Yeah, considering she kept it from me that you two were talking back before the Battle," She laughed slightly.
He grinned. "That was for a good reason though. I didn't want anything to happen to her."
"I know." Hermione shook her head and smiled. "I'm just shocked she was able to keep it a secret for that long."
"Well granted I wasn't in her life for a few years," Blaise said.
"True but at the same time, that wasn't really either of your faults," She shrugged. "But you two are together now!"
"Yes, yes we are," He smiled. "Hopefully for a long time, too."
"I seriously doubt she's going to let you go anytime soon," Hermione said with a small laugh.
"I really hope she doesn't, because I don't think I could let her go again," He said. "I love her too much."
Hermione gave him a surprised look that slowly turned into a smile. "That's wonderful! Have you told her that yet?"
"Oh yes," He grinned. "I've loved her since Hogwarts, and she knows that. I hope that soon we can move forward in our relationship..."
She stared at him as her mouth dropped. "Do you mean...you want to ask her to marry you?"
He smiled widely before shrugging. "I know she just ended her marriage to Potter and everything, but things just feel right with her."
"Blaise, that is a bit early," Hermione said hesitantly. "I mean, you two haven't spoken in years."
"I know; I'm going to hold off on it," He said with a laugh. "I just want to do it before the end of the year."
"Well I know Ginny's going to be excited," She said. "But keep in mind, her family had no idea about you so they may judge at the timeframe..."
"And I'm completely happy to support Ginny in any situation," Blaise said confidently. "I want to be there for her all the time. I made the mistake of letting her go before and I don't ever want to do that again."
Hermione smiled at this and said, "Well, I'm very happy for you two and I can't wait to see where your relationship takes you!"
Blaise returned her smile. "Thanks, Hermione."