Sub Rosa

Sub Rosa

This had been a supremely bad idea.

He knew it as sure as he knew that his name was Draco Malfoy. He turned to give his dark-haired companion a murderous look, but his friend simply batted innocent eyes at him. He snorted in disgust, and turned back to stare at the woman he hadn't been able to ignore all night.

After the death of his father three years ago, Draco had all but become a recluse - not necessarily because of his father's demise, but because he was nervous about how he'd be received in Wizarding society now. People had feared him - worshipped him, even - because they'd known who his father was, and the sort of power Lucius had held. Now that his father was gone, would they revile him?

His concerns were all but forgotten now, though, standing in the middle of a swarm of people who wanted to know how he'd been for the last few years. As if they really want to know, he thought resentfully. More likely that they want to know where my money has been for the last three years.

When his oldest friend had called him and practically begged him to go to a party with him, he had relented, hoping that an evening out would do him some good. Obviously he'd been sorely mistaken, he thought, as he stared at the copper-haired witch.

"See anything interesting, mate?" Blaise's voice was full of amusement, and it pissed Draco off to no end.

"Did you know that she was going to be here?" he inquired, frowning.

"I knew that she'd been invited," Blaise admitted, shrugging. Draco turned his back to the floor where the redhead was currently dancing with some unknown man. "Where are you going? Surely you aren't leaving yet?"

"I assure you, I am," Draco snarled, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "It does not behoove a Malfoy to be seen at the same functions as a Weasley - I don't want the general public to think that we move in the same social circles."

"You are the biggest snob that I've ever met," Blaise commented, his voice a mixture of awe and disgust. Draco gave him a shallow bow.

"And on that note, I'll take my leave of you." He turned and had gotten approximately one and a half steps away before he heard Blaise bite out an oath. Later he would wonder why he'd done it; why had he turned around, instead of running for his life?

"Blaise!" Her voice was as sweet as honey, though Draco imagined that he could hear the note of poison it held for both him and his friend. "How have you been?"

"Ginny," Blaise said politely. He took her proffered hand and turned it over, pressing a very formal kiss to the back of it. "I've been well - and yourself?"

"Fair," she said, smiling. Draco studied her, waiting for her to speak to him. She'd barely changed in the two years that he'd been out of Hogwarts - she was still too skinny, her hair was still too red, and her eyes were still too open and warm for his tastes. He preferred cold women; women who, when they looked at him, didn't make him feel as though they could see inside of him. "Life has been decent to me. I hear that you're working in the Magical Law Enforcement department of the Ministry now."

"Yes, actually," Blaise said, sounding pleased. Draco rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly. That was one sure way to get Blaise talking - bring up work. For the most part, Draco avoided work. He was loath to go to some office or such when he could conduct any business from the comfort of his own home. "And what is it that you're doing these days?"

"Well," she said, clearing her throat slightly. Draco's interest was piqued. It wasn't often that he'd seen the youngest Weasley look embarrassed or out of sorts, and at the moment she looked both. "I doubt that you'd find it interesting, but I'm working as an Arithmancer."

"Really?" Despite himself, Blaise was impressed. Although he would sooner die than admit it, so was Draco. He'd never figured her for someone who would hold much interest in the subject, let alone engage in the profession, and besides that, Arithmancy had been Draco's favourite subject in school.

"I told you it was boring." Her cheeks flushed pink, and Draco noted with detached interest that when she blushed, her neck became splotchy. Blaise grinned and shook his head.

"It's not boring. If you wouldn't mind, sometime I'd like to sit down with you and you can show me exactly what it is that you do." Draco turned surprised eyes to his best friend, and watched as Ginny's expression lit up.

"Really?"

"Absolutely." Blaise pulled his business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. "My home and work addresses are both listed there. Perhaps we could get together sometime this week for lunch."

"I'd like that," she said softly, nodding.

"I'll send you an owl," Blaise said. "I'm sorry to have to cut this so short, but I'm afraid I have to leave now. I really enjoyed running into you again, Ginny Weasley."

"It was good to see you, too," she breathed, smiling. "Goodnight." Draco watched in utter disbelief as she turned and walked away from them without so much as glancing in his general direction.

"Do my ears deceive me, or did you just ask Ginny Weasley on a date?"

Blaise grinned. "Your ears do not deceive you, my friend. I did indeed ask her out." The friends turned and headed out of the building.

"Why? Why her, of all the women in there? There were plenty of well-to-do witches in there that would have accepted a date offer from you in a heartbeat."

"Sometimes it's got nothing to do with being rich," Blaise replied, pulling his cloak tighter about him. It was starting to snow, and their breath escaped in little white puffs of smoke.

"What?" Draco glared at him. "Look, Zabini, I know you've never placed much stock in looking before you leap, but-"

Blaise held up a gloved hand to silence him. "The simple truth is that I've always sort of had a thing for her," he admitted, his hand dropping to his side. "I've always thought that she was one of the most down-to-earth girls I'd ever met."

"Homely, you mean," Draco corrected rudely. Blaise shot a glare at him.

"She's got a prettiness about her," Blaise said, glancing up and down the empty street. "And she's got half a brain, which is more than I can say about the women you keep company with."

"I don't like my women to be smart," Draco said, grinning malevolently. "Smart women are difficult to control."

"How can you share a bed with someone that you can't share an intelligent conversation with?"

"If I wanted intelligent conversation, Merlin knows that I wouldn't go to a woman to get it."

"Come on, Draco," Blaise said, rolling his eyes. They were strolling leisurely down the darkened street, both too fatigued to bother with apparating. They were very nearly at Blaise's home anyway, and Draco supposed that it would be easier just to floo home from there. "I know you're a cold bastard, but isn't that going a bit too far, even for you?"

"I've never been able to have an intelligent conversation with any woman I've ever met," Draco stated flatly. Blaise stifled a snigger.

"Yes, but look who you're using as a basis for comparison - Pansy Parkinson," he said, ticking his fingers. "Millicent Bulstrode, Tracy Davis. I think you may feel that way because of the company you choose to keep."

Draco winced involuntarily. "As a rule, women are too emotional and not intellectual enough."

"What about Hermione Granger?"

"Zabini, if you ever utter that name in my presence again, I'll-"

"She's intelligent, and she isn't overly emotional. She bested you in school many a time. Is she not intellectual enough for you?"

"This is a trick," Draco observed, pulling his cloak tighter about his shoulders as Blaise lifted the wards that guarded the entrance to his home. "If I say she's not intelligent enough, you're going to say that that says something about me, since she got higher marks than me. If I say she is intelligent enough, you're going to ask me why I haven't bloody well asked her out."

Blaise laughed as he pushed his front door open. "I know why you would never ask her out - aside from the muggle-born issue, of course."

"And what reason could that possibly be?" Blaise waggled his eyebrows at his friend.

"Because she's engaged to Potter, and he'd kill you before you could even blink at her."

"I'm not one for dating Mudbloods, anyway," Draco sniffed disdainfully, heading towards the fireplace.

"I thought you'd gotten past that prejudice," Blaise commented, eyeing his friend.

"Some things never change," Draco replied, disappearing behind the flames.