Sour Grapes

Chapter 34 - Absolved and Disillusioned

A/N: Thank you for reading :)

From here on out this fic will update every Friday! My other fic ideas are tired of waiting around for me, and this one is seeming to need more time to percolate.

Hope you enjoy, and I look forward to comments!

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Draco

"Draco, thank fuck!" Blaise yelled as Draco tumbled out of the Delacour floo and stood up quickly, with an effortless sweep of his clothes.

"Well, I confess I expected I'd need to grovel quite a bit before receiving that sort of greeting," he said, quirking an eyebrow at his friend and turning confusedly to Gabrielle who was sitting in a window seat in the parlor of the Delacour mansion.

"We ah being watched!" she alerted him, gazing out the window at persons unseen.

"Yea mate, when I left your place I forgot I still had the trace on me. I don't know how long he's been here, might have taken him a while to aparate this far, but he's been out stalking around the grounds."

"I assume these windows are charmed not to show us?" Draco asked as he moved next to Gabrielle, peering out into the grounds.

"But of course!" Gabrielle said.

Blaise joined them at the window and the three watched as the man, Corbyn, peered around at the house. What he was trying to decipher, they could not tell. Perhaps he thought he'd gone to the wrong place, or maybe he was trying to decide whether to simply knock on the door.

Alternatively, and most likely, he was peering through various windows trying to spot anyone that might be home. Of course, that search would yield nothing, as all of the windows of the estate had privacy charms on them.

"I left without any polyjuice on me, otherwise I would have let him spot me and he'd likely move along. We need to let him see you, Draco."

"But what pretenze could Draco ave for comink ere?"

Draco thought for a moment. Any number of reasons could work, really, and yet he wanted to be careful. Creating a web of lies always seemed simple at first, until various strands began to collide, and breaking one could bring the entire thing down.

"I'm not sure we need to do much more than leave together from here and have him find me when he aparates back to us in London. Perhaps I came here to bring you back for Blaise?" he said, turning to Gabrielle.

Blaise turned to Gabrielle as well and added, "Given the fact that I missed you terribly and came here for that same reason, it would be decidedly believable, my love. Will you come back to London like I've already requested?"

Gabrielle looked at him with a concerned expression and let out a sharp huff of air.

"So I can watch you kees Astoria up close eenstead of just in zee papers?!"

Draco's eyes widened. He hadn't realized that Blaise had shared any of their plan with Gabrielle.

"Gab, you didn't even know that was me until I just told you!"

"Eet doesn't matter! Would you want to see me keesing some ozzer wizerd?!"

Blaise sighed and looked away, then in a defeated voice said, "No I suppose not."

Draco was surprised by this response. Blaise hadn't previously dated anyone this exclusively, but even still, he'd never seemed bothered by witches he'd shagged being seen with other wizards. He had also called Gabrielle his "love," which was something Draco had not heard him say before.