Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: The long-awaited next bit (and possibly final) to the cookies series Trapped In A Closet With Blaise Zabini. Entitled 'The First Date', I hope you enjoy it; please review!

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"Did you hear?" Parvati Patil was saying as Hermione approached Gryffindor table the day after she'd talked to Blaise in the girls' toilet. "Blaise Zabini and Hermione Granger got together!" High-pitched squealing erupted from around Parvati. Hermione winced. It was several decibels too loud for her eardrums to bear. She moved down a few places. There. That was better.

Ron and Harry came over, frowning at Parvati and plopped down on either side of her, reaching for the potatoes at the same time. "Mate, get your own," Ron said calmly, for him, snatching the dish from under Harry's fingers.

Harry gave Hermione a long-suffering glance. "Poor, underfed me," he said, managing to make his bottom lip quiver. "No one cares."

"Boohoo, Potter," Ginny said, sitting on the opposite side of the table. She took the chicken he was reaching for. "If you want food, you've got to fight for it."

"Too true," Harry said glumly. He brightened up as he heard Dean mention Hogsmeade. "That's right; this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. Ron, Hermione, are you going?" He looked at his friends.

Ron coughed indelicately and nodded towards Hermione. "I can," he said. "But I dunno about her."

"Oh, suddenly I'm a 'her'," Hermione asked in mock anger. Ron grinned sheepishly at her. "But Ron was right," she continued, turning pink, "I am going with Blaise this Saturday. It was supposed to be our first 'official' date," she added to Ginny, who grinned at her. "But if it was important, I can always cancel." From behind Hermione, Ginny gave Harry a glare that was not unlike her mother's famous Weasley Glare. Harry, who had been considering asking Hermione to stand Blaise up, reconsidered.

"I think," he said, eyes on Ginny, who was nodding slowly, as if to say, 'Yes, go on', "that you should go out with Blaise on Saturday, Hermione. After all, we can always go another weekend, as a group." His eyes went back and forth between Hermione and Ginny. Hermione noticed this and let out a little laugh. Ginny smiled and nodded at him. . "Yes, er, next weekend. Right." His eyes went back to Hermione and he plastered a brilliant smile on his face.

Hermione's lips twitched. "You're so noble, Harry. We can all see as you take promptings from your girlfriend!"

"My better half," he replied solemnly, taking the chicken from Ginny.

"He's learned," Ginny whispered to Hermione. "The first and only rule is: 'What Ginny says, goes'. He accepts it without protesting."

Hermione gave Ginny an amused smile. "My, you train them quickly."

"It's all in the reward system," Ginny said, grinning. "So, anyway, you and bathroom boy are going out this weekend?"

"Yeah, our first real date," Hermione said, trying not to sound like Parvati and Lavender and squeal over Blaise like he was the latest trend.

Ginny patted her arm. "Hermione, dear, you're with a girl. Feel free to squeal over your boyfriend. Even better, you're with a girl who is a friend, unlike Tweedledee and Tweedledum over there." She jerked her head towards Parvati and Lavender, who were chatting about something. "Anyway, what are you going to do on your date?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "He didn't tell me—just said it was a surprise. I'm sort of nervous, Ginny. I mean, I went out with Viktor and we kissed—but what if Blaise tries to? Kiss me, I mean."

Ginny shrugged. "Kiss him back, stupid."

"Just like that?" Hermione asked, fiddling with her hair, glancing across the hall to see Blaise sitting with Malfoy and a scrawny boy with dark hair—Nott, she thought. That was his name. Theodore Nott.

"Just like that," Ginny said firmly. The bell rang. "I've got to go, but we'll talk later, Hermione."

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Saturday dawned and Hermione was waiting in the Entrance Hall, waiting for Blaise by the marble staircase. For a millionth time she wondered if her outfit—blue jeans and a tunic-like shirt—was acceptable for a first date and if she had time to change when a hand tapped her shoulder and she turned to see Blaise stand there wear a pair of dark red robes, his longish hair wet and brushed back out of his eyes with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

"You look lovely," he said, smiling at her. "Hermione," he added.

"Thanks, Blaise. So do, uhm, you," she said, a bit surprised at his choice of clothes.

He grinned. "What, Slytherins can't wear red? One of my favorite pairs of dress robes is maroon with a gold trim, actually."

"No, no- They can wear red," she said, smiling back. "It's just surprising to actually see an admitted Slytherin wearing red."

"Oh, so now I'm an 'admitted Slytherin'?" Blaise asked teasingly. "But enough bickering. Shall we go?" He offered her his arm.

Hermione took it gladly. "Yes, please." As they walked out of the Hall, following everyone else who was walking to Hogsmeade, she asked, "What, exactly, are we doing?"

"You don't like surprises?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Not after seven years of being friends with Harry and Ron, no," she admitted.

"Allow me to cure you of that fear," he said gallantly. "Be assured—this will be a most enjoyable day."

And it was. He took her to the bookstore and they poked around in the older tomes and when the dust became too much for Hermione's sensitive nose, he took her to a coffee shop that had just opened and treated her to some of the best tea and cake she had eaten in a long while.

After that, they just walked around for a while, talking, when the saw a friend of hers from Arithmancy. He left her talking and vanished for a few minutes, reappearing with a book she had exclaimed over—a text that she had heard of in her wide and varied reading—but never read herself and presented it to her with a grin on his face.

As they were walking back to the Castle, Hermione said suddenly, "Ginny calls you 'bathroom boy', you know."

"I'm not surprised," he said dryly, squeezing her hand, which he had been holding for ten minutes after he had asked, somewhat shyly, if she minded. "I doubt that I'll even escape the nickname. Supposing we have children—at their christening, she'll be saying, 'Well, who would've thought Hermione would have children with bathroom boy.'"

"Getting ahead of ourself, aren't we?" Hermione asked him, smiling.

"It's a chronic affliction," Blaise replied loftily. "You'll get used to it."

"I hope so," she murmured.

"And," he said, as they stepped onto the first step leading up to the Castle, "so do I." He kissed her gently on the lips for a moment before letting go and walking up the steps to the Castle and disappearing into the darkened doorway.

Hermione smiled to herself as she walked inside and turned towards the Gryffindor common room and said to herself, "And if he kisses like that all the time, I certainly will get used to him."