A/N: Blaise/Luna is an uncommon, and unconventional pairing that's not really appreciated in the fandom. But I really do like them together, maybe give this story a chance? There haven't been too many stories about them, try it and maybe you'll like it?
Chapter 1
Once a year.
That was how often Blaise Zabini would see her. Same time, same place, under identical circumstances every time.
The annual tradition first started by mere coincidence, meeting on the Hogwarts Express before the start of his second year. His mother had recently announced her newest engagement, she was getting married to yet another pruned old man with plenty gold in his pocket. He loathed his mother's schemes, and was in no mood to socialize with his usual brooding group of Slytherins.
Before the train left the station, he hastily strode to the back of the train, glad to get away from the obnoxious sounds of his peers ready to head back to school. After launching himself into an empty compartment, he found the company of a petite, blond stranger with unusually large blue eyes.
It wasn't like him too seek solitude. Over the years, he had acquired a reputation as a hedonist and womanizer, ruthless and cold to nearly everyone that crossed his path. Cruel, calculating, evil, he had properly earned his title as a cold hearted bastard.
But it was on these rare yearly occasions that he left his world behind to spend an uncharacteristic afternoon of absolute silence, doing so while sitting across from the Loony Luna Lovegood herself.
Words were never exchanged between them, they just reclined without muttering a syllable. She sat and read her issue of the Quibbler, and he turned his head to watch the passing scenery through the glass window. Harmony perhaps, or friendly coexistence. Whatever label they put on it, it was still a comfortable, non-stifling quiet that proved far more tolerable than the useless chatter of his normal set of friends.
During the school season, they ignored each other. It was an unsaid, but mutual understanding to forget their brief encounters. As he rose in the ranks of popularity, she seemed to drown in them. He witnessed the teasing his housemates had tortured her with, but he neither instigated or stopped the bullying, he was impassive.
He couldn't pinpoint why, but he always came back. Every first of September, he would return to the same place in the same train. Every year the cart was abandoned, except for her and her strange radish earrings. He didn't question it when she did the same.
She wasn't alone anymore, she had a small collection of friends. Potter and his gang seemed readily available company, yet she was back every time.
They hated each other, or they were supposed to. The social circles they traveled in were more than enough reason to break the pathetic custom. But they didn't.
Today was different, it was going to be the last. She would be starting her sixth year, and he would be graduating with his seventh in spring. He wouldn't be there in the fall to share the same train ride alongside her.
"Hello," she greeted, her soft voice identical to his ears as it was last year. She had her face buried in the spine of another magazine, as per usual.
He opened the door to their cart, stepping in and placing his traveling belongings in the overhead shelf. He titled his chin up to acknowledge her welcome, but she didn't see it. Then again, it wasn't as if she would be expecting anything.
He was late, he had a harder time avoiding the insufferable Daphne Greengrass's neverending string of questions, her claws always digging into his side.
As the train jerked back, signaling its departure, he seated himself by the window across from her. With the aid of the rocking movement below, he leaned on the wall of the train, and closed his eyes. He closed off his mind as he prepared to enjoy the tranquil bliss for the next coming hours.
But then he heard the crinkling of paper, he ignored it.
A moment later came the humming, a lighthearted tune. She'd never done that before, she was always silent. So he let it pass and waited for her to cease.
But not even an hour after they had departed, and a crisp smacking sound interrupted his meditation. His eyelids shot open, revealing a menacing glare from intense ember eyes.
He was almost taken aback when he saw her staring back at him. She chewed innocently on a sinfully crimson apple, her pinkish tinted lips paling in comparison. Those wondrous, gleaming and unblinking eyes peered at him, it was unnerving.
It was then that he realized she looked different, quite different indeed. She could have been amongst the most curious of things Hogwarts had to offer, but she had become very good looking.
The tangled mess of flaxen hair had been tamed, falling into perfect waves over her shoulders. He noticed how soft it looked, his abundant history of encounters with the fairer sex caused him to wonder how it would feel knotted between his fingers. She hadn't grown in height, but it was safe to assume she had matured in other places. Had it not been for her unmistakable pale eyes, or habit of reading the Quibbler upside-down, he would have passed her off for someone else.
She took another chomping bite out of her apple, never breaking the gaze between them.
"What?" he sneered, "Is there a reason you're staring at me?"
She tilted her head slightly in one direction, "No," she answered back flatly. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she rummaged through her rucksack, looking for something. He eyed the various objects that spilled out of her bag, a bundle of Quibblers, an absurd looking pair of spectacles, some Muggle contraptions he didn't recognize, and a worn notebook. He was about to read what was written over the cover when her small hand extended in front of him.
"Apple?" she offered a new one.
He stopped, looking at her, trying to understand what she was doing. It was a natural skill he possessed, interpreting those around him. Blaise was the type of intellectual everyone was scared to mess with, he had a penchant for carving out others' secrets and using them in the most hurtful of ways.
He clenched his jaw briefly, unable to comprehend her motivation for handing him a piece of fruit. The situation was foreign, she'd never done anything like this.
Before he could reason himself not to, he grudgingly accepted her gift.
"It's best to eat apples this time of year, you know," she explained, taking another bite, "One needs to build their immunity against those nasty Wrackspurts, especially you,"
He examined the food suspiciously, still puzzled by the gesture. But eventually he sunk his sharp teeth down into the flesh of the apple. After he swallowed, he questioned, "Why me in particular?"
He'd been mad enough to come back and spend his trips to Hogwarts every year with a complete nutter for the past six years. So why not enough to spark a conversation?
"Wrackspurts hinder your thinking clarity," she motioned around her own skull, hands flying about to indicate creatures running about in the air, "They make your head all fuzzy,"
She have might looked different on the outside, but the same personality stayed within.
"I hear you're going to be Head Boy this year," she mentioned casually.
He froze.
"You'll need to keep Wrackspurts away if you're going to be responsible for so much,"
Why did she even care? Eccentric Ravenclaws, always getting into business that wasn't their own. He resisted the urge to scoff at her concern, it was likely fake. Maybe she wanted him to favor her house, he didn't know.
"How do you know I'm going to be Head Boy?" No one knew unless they had been selected.
She shifted around a bit, "Hermione Granger is going to be Head Girl, she mentioned you were chosen as Head Boy,"
Blaise felt his grip on the apple tighten, so the dirty mudblood was going to be his counterpart for that year.
Her last comment made connection between Luna and the other blood traitors more pronounced. She might have been a pureblood, but she was on the wrong side. He felt his own prejudices boil over, but managed to keep them at bay.
He caught her staring at him without blinking again, it irked him. "Will you stop gawking at me? Have some manners," he snapped.
She looked into her lap, her half eaten apple resting in her hands. It was like she was embarrassed.
He almost felt guilt creep over his chest as she looked sincerely apologetic. She was known through the school for her social gaffes, it wasn't like he had to point them out.
In all honesty, Luna didn't understand why she couldn't pry her eyes away from him. Blaise Zabini had been part of the constant terror that reigned over her adolescent life. His kind had harassed her till no end,and if it hadn't been for Harry, she would have been subjected to even more taunting.
After Ginny befriended her, she always considered the option of leaving him alone on the train. He might even be more content without her. Their initial encounter was an accident, she was never obliged to come find him again. But each time she walked her way to the front of the train, her feet took their own path to the back for the reunion.
They didn't contact each other outside of the short span, and his presence was soothing.
She could see he wasn't like all the rumors painted him, he was different. Even though Ginny and Hermione despised him and his lot, she couldn't stay away. She knew if her friends found out she'd traded their cart for an empty one with Blaise, they would throw a fit. She was sure it applied to his side as well.
As the awareness that this would likely be their last meeting under the same circumstances dawned on her, she panicked. Before she could stop it, she had spoken to him. And he spoke back.
"Thank you for the apple," he growled stubbornly, breaking her thoughts.
In Blaise's eyes, everyone was a sinner. There was no such thing as good, everyone would eventually break their morals in order to reach what they desired.
But he was growing more frustrated by the second. He wouldn't admit it, but for once, he didn't since malice in another. Luna Lovegood was pure.
He couldn't bear the thought that he had hurt the feelings of someone so harmless, a sensation of guilt he never felt before.
"You're welcome," she beamed at him, glad to see he wasn't blatantly angry with her. She pulled out her ridiculous magazine again, reading it while creating a physical barrier between them.
He was thankful for it, and watched the scenery unfold as the train passed. They didn't say anything after that. For the remaining duration, it was just like the years prior.
When the train pulled into a halt, both knew the time to leave had arrived. Both had already gone and come back from the changing stalls, each clad in their respective uniforms. Slowly he rose to his feet, gathering his things and sliding the strap over his shoulder.
He spared one more glance as she bent over to collect her things, conveniently failing to look away when the back of her skirt inched north. He turned to exit, but he sensed her figure facing his.
He looked in her direction, she rigidly held her hand out to him.
He glanced at it humorously, she wanted to shake his hand. Maybe closure was something they needed to end the uncanny habit between them. He stiffly accepted her hand with his right, noting how tiny her hand and wrist were.
"It was nice to meet you," she saluted, "Goodbye, Blaise,"
He almost couldn't believe himself as he towered over her, this wasn't normal. "Goodbye, Luna," he responded, not even a hint of mockery in his tone.
Somehow a pang of sadness welled in his ribcage as he walked away from her, almost like he was losing an old friend. He shook his head as he remembered the obscenity of the befriending someone like her.
He stepped off the train without turning around to look at her again. It was like torture that day, not a semblance to what he wanted. He wanted a relaxing time to keep to himself, and instead he got four hours of worrying. Worrying about Luna Lovegood, what she was wearing, what she was saying, what she was eating.
"Zabini!" he heard a male voice call, "Where the bloody hell have you been? We've been looking all over for you!"
It was Malfoy, and he looked pissed. A mob of Slytherins followed, he wanted to kick Draco in the shins after spotting Daphne. No doubt she would drape herself over his arm now that he had been located.
"None of your business," he commented callously.
They glared daggers at each other, the tension evident. But after a while, they pull each other into an abrupt embrace. "Nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Zabini,"
The rest of them gathered around to slap him on the back, but no one pressed him on where he had been. Everyone knew, and accepted the fact that Blaise disappeared off the platform, into the train, and magically reappear in time to head into the castle.
As they entered the gates, Blaise cringed. He saw an excited group come running from one direction, they hurried past him.
"Luna!" someone shouted.
Blaise gritted his teeth as glory boy Potter enveloped Luna in his arms before Ginny Weasley came over and ripped him off of her. Longbottom and the mudblood stood by waiting for their respective turns, all of them grinning like idiots.
He wasn't close enough to hear, but he knew what they were saying. He could tell all of them were showering her with questions. He'd have thought that by now they'd be bright enough to catch onto the fact she would never be with them on the train ride to school.
"Coming, Blaise?"
His companions waited for him to join them on the carriage.
"Yeah," he craned his neck back reluctantly. Tearing his eyes away from her had become far too difficult to feel dignified.
It didn't make sense, any of it. But maybe that was why it felt so good.
They told each other goodbye that day, but this wasn't the end, not by a long shot.
Once a year?
Now that was a tradition he was going to break, whether the rules wanted him to or not.
End Chapter 1
A/N: So, tell me what you think? Hate it? Need to see more to decide? I hoped you liked it, and thank you so much for reading! Please leave me a review if you want me to continue.