happy (incredibly late) birthday, Amy, who basically created this (amazing) pairing!
but you are the greatest thing about me
if it's love, and we decide that it's forever,
no one else could do it better.
-"If it's Love," Train.
They were never supposed to be Potions partners. Parvati always worked with Lavender and Blaise always worked with Theodore. But Lavender's sick, and Daphne's partner's sick so Theodore jumps in to fill that vacancy quickly enough and Snape impatiently ushers Parvati and Blaise together and that's that.
"Are you any good at this?" Parvati says, after a long period of awkward silence.
He shrugs, slicing a pod in half neatly. "Pass the cauldron over here."
Parvati obliges, but smirks at him. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you speak. Man of mystery?"
Blaise rolls his eyes. "Don't have much to say."
Parvati flicks her long dark hair over her shoulder and smiles prettily up at him. "Well, I have plenty to say, so I think we'll get along fine."
x.x
The next class, Snape stops Parvati as she comes in. "Miss Patil, seeing as you actually managed to not fail miserably yesterday, I think I'll have you work with Mr. Zabini. Permanently."
"What?" Lavender complains loudly, outraged.
Snape smiles tightly. "And Miss Brown, since Daphne seems to have exchanged partners in favor of Mr. Nott, you'll be working with Miss Parkinson."
Lavender bursts into a fresh onslaught of complaints, but Parvati tunes her out, smiling flirtatiously at Blaise as she slides into the seat next to him. "Hear that?" she asks, nodding towards Snape. "You're a good teacher, if you could make a dud like me learn."
Blaise gives her a side-long look. "You're not stupid, you know."
Parvati blushes and almost knocks over the cauldron. Blaise reaches over and grabs it, and their hands brush, and then it's Blaise who's slightly flushed. Parvati smiles slightly. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Blaise mutters, turning back to his work with an air of intent concentration. He doesn't know what it is about her, but his skin is tingling where Parvati touched it, and he doesn't feel so apathetic right now.
x.x
He almost crashes into her in the halls the next day, and Parvati giggles as he flushes and apologizes.
"It's okay," Parvati says, grinning. "Listen, so I was writing my Potions essay with Lav, and she was stuck on something and she was about to ask Hermionie for help, but I took a look first and I actually-"
"Blaise!" Pansy shrills as she passes by, her eyes slightly bulging at the two of them. "What are you doing talking to Patil?"
"Nothing," Blaise mutters.
"I mean, it's bad enough that you're stuck with her in Potions," Pansy continues nastily. "But I know you don't want to talk to her outside of that class, right? I mean, your hell has to end somewhere!" She giggles manically and shoots Parvati a sickeningly sweet smile.
Blaise makes a noncommittal noise, and Parvati looks at him, stricken. She starts to say something, and then stops, and walks away, leaving Blaise staring after her.
x.x
Next Potions class, she doesn't smile at him, or speak to him.
He's surprised at how much he misses it.
x.x
He hears her laughing across the library and his heart starts racing and he's having trouble concentrating on anything other than her. With an effort, Blaise focuses on Draco, who's looking at him expectantly. "What?"
"Couldn't hear anything with that racket?" Draco nods knowingly and scowls in her direction. "Noisy bitch."
Blaise feels a surge of protectiveness towards her, and clears his throat. "No louder than your girlfriend," he says icily, managing to keep his slightly bored expression in place, even as he inwardly wonders where in the world that came from.
"Pansy?" Draco asks, looking slightly startled. "Yeah, she's a bit of a cow. Nice to have around, but certainly not my girlfriend." He smirks.
Blaise looks at him in distaste. Parvati laughs again, and his mind wanders far away from Draco and the library.
x.x
The next Potions class, she's still resolutely ignoring him, and he can't take it anymore.
"Parvati," he hisses, keeping an eye on the back of Draco's head. "Parvati, talk to me."
"What do you want?" Parvati asks dully, jabbing at the flobberworm corpse. "I'm trying not to make your hell any worse, so let's just leave it at that."
"Don't listen to Parkinson, she's an idiot," Blaise snaps.
"You didn't disagree with her," Parvati argues, but there's a faint spark of hope in her eyes, and he smiles seeing it.
"In this situation," Blaise begins slowly, "secrecy is…prudent. We both have a lot to lose if it got out."
Parvati sounds as if she is going to argue, and he watches as realization sinks in. Her friends would not be happy with her association with a Slytherin bigot, and she knows it. "Fine," she says, giving him a sly smile. "But tell me, what exactly is 'it'?"
His breath tickles her ear as he leans close to her. "Whatever you want it to be."
x.x
And so it begins- the sly looks as they pass each other in the hallway, their hands brushing against each other under Potions desk, the secret smiles that their friends don't understand. And then it's kisses in closets, lingering touches, and all sorts of beautiful stolen moments.
x.x
Parvati leans her head against his shoulder, smiling as he kisses the top of her head. "Love you," she murmurs sleepily. She feels Blaise tense, and her eyes open wide as she turns around and looks at him. "Sorry," she whispers. "I know how you feel about love, I just-" She breaks off and looks away to hide the glittering tears forming in her eyes.
Blaise sighs, wiping the tears away with the pad of his thumb. "Parvati. I like you. A lot. And that's more than I've said to anyone else."
Parvati kisses him quickly and he can feel the curve of her smile against his lips. "I know," she breathes. "Who knew Blaise Zabini was such a softy?"
He grins and captures her small hand with his own. "You make me that way, unfortunately," he drawls, but his eyes are dancing as he looks at her. "And maybe someday…" He trails off, unable to finish.
"I know," Parvati repeats, her eyes sparkling, and leans in to kiss him again. He meets her halfway.