McKinnon

| CHAPTER THIRTY |

The pair had settled down comfortably on Sarai's bed. Sarai had discarded her outfit for a pair of sleep shorts, but kept the jersey on. The shirt was a little big on her, but it was a thin enough fabric for her to enjoy the cool summer air that flowed in from the window. Blaise had managed to get some pop from the kitchen, after Sarai had complained about the taste of firewhiskey being too bitter. He had taken to mixing the two drinks together for Sarai to make it more manageable.

"You're not going to combine your own?" Sarai asked as she sat across from him cross legged. "You can, you know."

Blaise shook his head, "I prefer it this way." He said simply before taking a sip from his own cup.

Sarai scrunched up her nose in disgust. "You're insane." She said simply, while enjoying her mixed drink. "The sweeter the better."

"Actually, I don't think that's true at all." Blaise countered.

"Try it before you knock it Zabini." Sarai said holding her cup up to him. There was a warm buzzing feeling starting to take over her as she handed it over.

Blaise gave her a look to show that he was unconvinced, but took a sip from the drink anyways. He grimaced before handing the glass back to her quickly.

"It's too sweet."

"Don't be such a baby. It tastes good and you know it!" Sarai said smiling, "don't tell me you're the type to not put cream and sugar into your coffee."

Blaise shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I like my coffee black, and my whiskey neat."

Sarai rolled her eyes before taking another sip of her drink.

"So how did you and Astoria get so close? Isn't she a year younger?"

Blaise nodded, "Yeah but my Mum's hell bent on an arranged marriage for me. It's a pure blood thing." Blaise explained at Sarai's raised eyebrow.

"But why?" She asked, scrunching up her nose. "You don't get a say in who you marry? It's your life isn't it?"

Blaise grimaced, "She's a bit obsessive, over the pureblood aspect." He explained moving a tuff of hair out of his face, "arranged marriages are a bit of tradition. And she desperately wants to be included in the sacred twenty-eight."

Sarai tilted her head, "Sacred who and a what now?"

Blaise cracked a wry smile as she swayed her upper body back and forth, "it's the twenty-eight families that are genuine pure-blood. They're extremely serious about keeping the bloodline untainted. They've even taken to marrying cousins just to make sure they're all pure."

At this Sarai scrunched up her nose while Blaise grimaced at the thought.

"That's awful." She said, "what's this have to do with Astoooooria though?" She said elongated Astoria's name.

The firewhiskey was beginning to kick in fully, Blaise could see a faint pink blush forming on her cheeks. He smirked as he watched the Gryffindor girl sway back and forth humming to herself as she waited on a response.

"Mum tried to have me and Daphne betrothed. Daphnes her older sister." Blaise explained finally, "Neither of us got along well, but Astoria and I became really good friends. Especially when my mum and her mum would insist us 'children' get to know each other. We were seven when we first met."

Sarai frowned suddenly and shook her finger at him, "That's far too young to get married!" She exclaimed nearly spilling some of her drink into the bed.

Blaise swiftly took the drink from her hands.

"Hey!" She cried out trying to snatch it out of his hands. "Give that back!"