January - new; "I'm used to being lonely. It's the only thing I can rely on these days."
Blaise watched her from across the library. She had been sitting at the same table for hours. She had a book open in front of her, but she wasn't reading. She was just staring out the window as the snow fell. She looked so sad and lifeless, like she was thinking about something that made her empty inside.
Her front of her chestnut hair was pulled back from her face with a dragonfly clip. Her slender legs were crossed at the ankles and tucked under her chair. She rested her elbows on the table and her head on her knuckles. Everything about her was delicate, like porcelain.
He knew that she was a transfer student from Canada and that she would probably be going home next year. He shouldn't become fixated on her. She was a foreigner and the rumour was that she was a blood traitor too. And she was only here temporarily. It was stupid to keep staring at her.
It was like an out of body experience. He felt himself getting out of his chair and walking over to her. Then he was in front of her. She looked up but didn't say anything. Right, he had come over, he should say something.
"You look awfully lonely," he said then immediately kicked himself mentally. What kind of line was that? But she answered.
"I'm used to being lonely. It's the only thing I can rely on these days," she glanced up to find him still standing over her. She gestured to the empty chair across from her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked sitting down. She was a blood traitor. He shouldn't be acting so nice. But she had some kind of power over him. She reminded him of a song that one of his step-fathers, the Russian one, had played. It was called "Ochi Chernye," in Russian. He had told Blaise that it meant "Dark Eyes."
She had dark eyes. She looked at him with her dark eyes and his chest tightened.
"What's there to talk about?" she scoffed. "My school got destroyed and my class has been scattered across the world until the damage can be repaired. My only sort-of friend went to a school in Alberta with everyone else but I ended up way over here."
"What happened?" he asked.
"There was an ice storm," she said. "The roof collapsed and the anti-muggle enchantments broke so they couldn't just use magic to repair it. It would bring up too many questions and...Why am I even telling you this?" she trailed off.
"You're Margaret, right?" he asked after a while.
"Meg," she corrected. "Meg Foster. I've seen you around. You're Slytherin." It was a statement, not a question, but he felt the urge to nod anyway.
"Blaise Zabini," he introduced himself. "Do you want to go grab something to eat?" he asked.
She looked up, surprised.
"Yeah, that'd be nice." She closed her book and they left the library. Together.