Baton Rouge

- 21 -

Draco took a deep breath before entering the pub. It was the same pub he'd been to with Blaise before they first had entered the Baton Rouge. The memories came back with the sound of the door opening and Draco shook his head in disbelief. Only a week to the day had passed, but he felt like almost everything had changed in this short period of time.

He had left Granger behind. It had been difficult for him to leave the apartment without exchanging another word with her. He was aware that she would be returning to the brothel the next day, and for some reason his stomach turned at the thought. But he needed to focus on other things now instead of once again trying to fathom that strange thing he was feeling towards Granger lately.

He looked around as he took off his robes and hung them on the coat rack by the door.

"Two bottles of Butterbeer," he ordered the barman, who nodded to indicate that he had heard him. Then Draco made sure Blaise wasn't already there, and flopped down at a table with a sigh.

He had decided that in this conversation he would first carefully consider whether Blaise had taken seriously what Draco had said so far. He had always been sure that he blindly could trust Blaise with his life. But his longtime friend had shown so much doubt and lack of understanding for Draco's behavior over the last few days that he suddenly wasn't so sure about this anymore.

So he had sent out a Patronus to ask Blaise to a business meeting outside the Ministry. Of course, this meeting in truth had nothing to do with the work of the Pursuit Squad and the search for Potter, but Draco hoped he could assuage his friend for a while longer. Blaise would hopefully believe that Draco had pulled himself together and was now putting all his energy back into work.

He glanced at the menu and finally decided that he had no appetite. Also, he was nervous and probably wouldn't be able to get down many bites anyway. With another sigh, he put the menu aside and looked up at the waitress, who was bringing the two bottles of Butterbeer he had ordered to the table.

"Would you like something to eat, Sir?"

She batted her eyelashes and Draco had a hart time not to roll his eyes in annoyance. It seemed as if having sex with Granger had annihilated even any limited interest in women he might have felt prior to his visit to the Baton Rouge.

Draco shook his head quickly and shooed the waitress away as the door swung open again and he spotted the tall, slender figure of Blaise Zabini. He raised his hand and watched as Blaise casually pushed his way through the tables until he was standing directly in front of him.

"You picked the best weather to ask me to come here. It has started to rain." He wrinkled his nose as if that fact was an insult from heaven personally addressed to him, and then plopped down on the bench across from Draco.

"Thanks," he murmured, mollified at the butterbeer that Draco had already pushed towards him. „No Firewhisky today, I suppose?"

Blaise grinned and looked up, at which point Draco tried to put on a markedly relaxed expression. He shook his head and sat back while Blaise ruffled his damp hair off his forehead.

"So what is this about?" he finally asked and Draco took a sip of his Butterbeer while trying to think of a smart way to start the conversation. He opted for the simplest option he could think of: Potter.

"I wanted to know how the investigation in Potter's last hideout is going. You know very well that Umbridge is breathing down our necks."

Blaise nodded and gave him a piercing look, confirming Draco's suspicion that the black-haired wizard seemed to have really considered whether Draco might be going rogue.