impenitence
and it's almost funny how much he doesn't care that she's his best friend's wife.

He decides that she'll be his at her wedding, which completely misses the point, but he's Blaise Zabini, and he's always kind of missed the point when it comes to important matters, {war, anyone?} so he figures it's kind of inevitable.

Besides, 'hard to please' is kind of a broad description to follow.

"For the lovely bride," he tells her after a half an hour of searching through tents at the gigantic reception. He hands her a bouquet of honeysuckle with an unreadable expression on his face, making sure to rip a petal as he pulls away. She gasps, and a small smile graces his lips.

He happens to know that she's a gardener, and every gardener has to know what a honeysuckle means. And ripping up fidelity is kind of a sin, especially when you've just been married.

He leans in to kiss her, and no matter how wrong it is, no matter how many of the pretty little tangerine colored petals are being crushed between them, he keeps a blank, cool expression on his face {he's a slytherin, remember?}. He feels another gasp escape her lungs, and he almost feels sorry for tainting her 19-year-old purity, before remembering who he is and closing the gap by another unmeasurable amount.

"What are you doing?" she asks in a tone just above a whisper, and it's all he can do not to give her a wolflike smirk {because her quiet betrays only one thing, doesn't it?} and send her running on her little lamb legs.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" he replies, and pulls her hand away from the flowers, which drop and spread in a flickering, chaotic pile of something that should be kept together. The space they were holding seems infinite, and with one step, he closes it, half-expecting her to pull away and run back to her new, happy, perfect marriage.

She doesn't.

/.

They walk out of the smaller tent behind the main one, smiling and talking and gesturing and acting as old friends being reunited. Over her head, he sees her new husband, and hugs her, just to seal the 'look at us being friendly and platonic' deal.

"Hello, Blaise," Draco sneers as he walks up, eyeing their now parted bodies. "Having a good time?" There's just the right amount of snark in his tone, enough to make a lesser man crumble and admit his sins.

But Blaise merely gives him a pleasant, albeit cold, smile. "But of course. It's a perfectly planned wedding." He gives the girl beside him a smile. "I was just giving… well wishes."

The pause says everything, and Draco raises an eyebrow and fingers the wand in his pocket, before deciding against whatever he was going to do and holding his hand out towards his wife. "Come, Astoria," he drawls.

She does.

Written for Janey's prompts at the Pairing Requests thread at the NGF.

Dedicated to Blue, because she was supportive and stuff when I was writing this.

~Loony