Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 11

Daphne was just getting off to buy lunch - the same usual gruel food as every day, offered by the cafeteria the Ministry had and that Daphne bought every day because it was cheap - when she accidentally hit Blaise, which was a mystery in itself, especially considering Blaise didn't work there.

"You.", Daphne started, pulling Blaise to a small niche where people weren't walking to get to their lunch. "Last I've heard, Blaise, you were swindling off people's money in Italy."

"Tell Pansy to be a sweetheart and stop gossiping so much, I was mooching off them,", he replied, and Daphne smiled. Blaise hugged her, the familiar smell of cologne involving Daphne for one second. "I missed you."

"Oh, me too. But really, what you're doing here? Did you run out of people to get money from?", Daphne asked, letting go of him, and he offered her a glittering smile.

Blaise had done his seventh year again, and after that, he set off to Italy to have a glamorous lifestyle. There were some talks of him having a myriad of lovers who paid his every whim, and Daphne knew it wasn't, probably , just rumors. Still, it wasn't like she could trust Pansy as a source.

"Can't a friend just visit another on the job and take them for lunch?", Blaise hummed, taking Daphne's arms and joining the mass of people. "Besides, I just arrived from Italy, I'm off the loop. Why don't you fill me in, Daphne dear?"

Daphne considered for just half a moment. Between having a fancy lunch paid by Blaise or eating the exact same thing she did all days, Blaise won.

"Sure, Blaise. You're paying.", Daphne smiled at him, and she noticed something in his eyes, a mischievousness that Daphne had only seen in someone else's eyes - in Astoria's eyes, barely yesterday. "I have more than a slight feeling that you talked with Astoria."

"What? No, no.", Daphne relaxed for one second, noticing that the crowds were parting for future-Minister Granger, by her side Harry, the two of them talking about something serious, Daphne was sure. Her eyes lingered on Harry's Auror robes, slightly scruffed, and blushed when heard Blaise chuckling.

"Oh, shush, let a girl have eyes."

"From what Astoria told me, you did way more than looking, dear,", Blaise hummed, and Daphne wondered if she couldn't, perhaps, invent some spell that made the ground swallow her whole. "Not that I'm shaming you, of course. I'd love to take a look myself."

"Shush, you,", Daphne replied, noticing that Harry was looking at her. Granger then spoke something, and while Harry's eyes look at his friend, it was only for a mere second.

"Risky.", Blaise pulled Daphne closer, and the two disappeared into the crowd once more. "Anyway, all that drama aside, start filling me in on how my darling goddaughter is."

He was Lilian's godfather because he had been there during her birth, and had offered, during the months of her pregnancy, to assume her paternity. Daphne had denied it, but he kept up the offer. Daphne had almost accepted - almost . Part of her knew that, if Lilian were one day to discover the truth by accident, she would feel betrayed by both her mother, her supposed father and her actual father. As things stood, however, the blame would fall squarely on Daphne's shoulders. No one else needed to get the blame for her decisions.

Lunch was a lovely affair - Daphne told Blaise what happened to Lilian in the last few months since his last visit, and Blaise regaled her the saucy tales of his adventures in Italy. It was fun, really. Blaise even escorted her back to work, and Daphne wouldn't have minded, hadn't Blaise started acting suspiciously romantic.

"Thank you for having me for lunch, madam Greengrass,", Blaise said, kissing her hand as she rested against a wall, not really ready to go back to the laboratory. They were doing something that made a few test subjects scream, and honestly, it gave her a headache. "It was very pleasing."