By the middle of the next week, Hermione noticed that Harry had been checking up on her a lot more than he had previously. It was starting to irk her, and finally she couldn't take it anymore.

"Harry," She called out when she saw him pass by her office once again, an hour after he previously had.

He paused in her doorway and gave her a nervous look. "What's up, Hermione?"

She scowled and waved for him to come in. He hesitated before slowly stepping in, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been. And when she wandlessly shut the door behind him, he jumped.

"Alright, why are you checking up on me?" She demanded, standing up.

He stared at her with wide eyes and stuttered as he said, "Well...I, uh...I'm not checking on you. I have business up here with other people."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Every day since I've been back after my attack, you've been passing by my office every hour on the hour. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

He stayed quiet, staring at her with wide eyes. She tried not to laugh at how afraid he was; the man defeated Voldemort, and he looked as if he would rather face the Dark Lord himself again instead of standing there in front of her at the moment.

She finally sighed and asked quietly, "Did Draco set you as my bodyguard after what happened?"

"You're not going to hex me, are you?" He asked in a worried tone.

Hermione couldn't help but grin at that. "No, I'm not going to hex you. Draco, however, may need to watch out."

"Can I be there when that happens?" Harry asked, his fearful expression slowly disappearing. "And I'm sure Ron will want to see that too."

"Yeah, I bet he would," Hermione laughed as she shook her head. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Come on, 'Mione," He sighed. "I may not be as smart as you, but I'm smart enough to know that you wouldn't have just let me watch over you."

"Fair enough," She said before sitting back down. "I should've known something like this was going to happen. I'm just surprised Draco didn't personally put himself as my bodyguard."

"I am too, to be honest," Harry said, running a hand through his messy hair. "With him and Blaise being Veelas, it's surprising that they handed the responsibility of protecting you and Ginny over to someone else."

"Well, they do have a business to run," She sighed. "But they should know that Ginny and I can handle ourselves."

"They're just worried about you, especially Draco," Harry said as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. "And it's not that we don't think you can take care of yourself, but considering the type of attack you received we can't afford to be too careful."

She smiled at him. "I know you're concerned, Harry, but I'm on my guard as well. And if anything, you guys should be more concerned about Ginny. They actually shot a killing curse at her; they only tried to burn me."

Harry gave her a worried look. "Hermione, we're fairly certain they were trying to kill you too, only in a much more drawn-out and painful way."

She paused, staring at him. "I hadn't thought of that..."

Dread started to fill her as she remembered who exactly it was that had written the letter. Ginny said that Alecto was bent on wiping out all muggles and muggleborns. She shivered slightly and groaned finally.

"Alright, so how long am I going to have you watching me?" She asked in a defeated voice.

He shrugged. "Just until this all blows over."

"Whenever that is," She said with a roll of her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be out hunting these people?"

"Kingsley sided with Draco and Blaise on having us watch you girls while another group of Aurors goes out to track down the Carrows," He said.

"Oh Merlin," She said quietly. "Let me guess: Ron is watching Ginny?"

Harry nodded with a slight grin. "I'd like to think I got the better end of the deal."

Hermione smiled. "I think you did, yes."

Ginny apparated angrily into her living room, a loud crack signaling her entrance.

"Blaise Zabini!"

She heard a small yelp come from the kitchen after her yell and she immediately made her way into the kitchen, glaring at the wizard sitting at the table with wide eyes.

"H-hello my love!" Blaise started in a shaky voice. "How was practice? Might I say you look absolutely breathtaking right now?"

"Shut it!" She said quickly, pointing a finger at him. "You seriously thought that I wouldn't notice my older brother all of a sudden keeping watch at my practices?! How much of an idiot do you think I am!"

"Ginny, I don't think you're an idiot," Blaise said quickly as he stood up and walked over to her with his hands up defensively. "I'm being cautious. And frankly, you should be thankful that I have more control over my Veela because any less control and I would have been the one out there watching you. I trust you enough to take care of yourself but I'm not careless enough to make sure you don't have some sort of protection while you're out there."

Ginny was fuming. "You seriously think my brother is able to protect me better than I can? He was more distracted by the quidditch team practice than he was keeping watch! Now if you had sent Harry, maybe then I wouldn't be as mad!"

Blaise's eyes darkened slightly and Ginny could feel the ripple of anger that he gave off, but she didn't dare back down. He lowered his voice and asked, "Now why would you not be as mad if Harry showed up? He took over watching Hermione because he didn't think he and Ron being in charge of their ex-girlfriends' safety was a good idea."

"I wouldn't have been as mad because I know Harry is better at defending people against dark magic than Ron is! Don't you dare think that I want him there because of our past!" She argued.

He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down, but Ginny's anger fed into his own and he had to turn away, taking slow steps around the kitchen and then stopping to lean against the counter with his back turned to her.

"Are you really angry with me for wanting you to be protected?" He asked quietly.

"No!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands out in front of her in frustration even though she knew he couldn't see it. "I'm angry that you made this decision without even consulting me about it first to see if I thought it was necessary!"

"I wanted you safe, and this was the only way I knew how without having myself be the one to protect you!" He said loudly, turning around to look at her finally.

"How about actually talking to me about it and getting my opinion on the situation?" She yelled. "That's all I wanted! But you went and made this decision behind my back as if I was completely incapable of taking care of myself, like I'm something easily breakable and needing to be kept safe from the world! I hate being made to feel like that, and that's what this did!"

"It wasn't my intention to make you feel like that and I'm sorry that it did," He said quietly, understanding finally. "I know very well that you can take care of yourself, but having someone else there to watch you made me feel better about your safety. Ginny..."

He went to her and gently put his hands on her upper arms, looking into her eyes as he continued. "Someone tried to kill you, and I wasn't there to protect you. I don't know what I would've done if something had happened to you. I would have never forgiven myself, and if they had been successful..."

Any anger she had immediately drained out of her. The man in front of her looked as if he was ready to break down crying at the thought of losing her. She immediately laid her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his back, sighing as she felt his own wrap around her tightly.

"I'm sorry, Blaise," She said quietly. "I'm so sorry."

He rested his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes, just content with holding her. "I just wanted you safe."

"I know," She replied. "I overthought it. It's just...in the past, I've been made to feel like that, like I couldn't take care of myself."

"I should have thought about that, and it didn't even occur to me," Blaise sighed quietly. "I have every reason to believe you can take care of yourself. Having someone there just eased my mind since I couldn't be there personally."

"I'm surprised you didn't insist on being there," She teased, looking up at him.

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. "I've seen your Bat-Bogey hexes, love. I'm smart enough to not get in the way of those."

"So you put my brother up to the firing line instead?" She laughed. "How Slytherin of you!"

With a grin, he leaned down to kiss her lips. "Besides, I'm trying to show more control over my Veela. I'd rather not have you leave me out of frustration thinking that I'm being too overbearing. I'd die."

Ginny rolled her eyes slightly. "So dramatic. I'd never leave you, Blaise."

"Sometimes  I  wonder,"  He  laughed,  causing  her  to  smack  him  on  the  arm.