Awkward Moments
By: Lady Rachel Lupin
Summary: One-shot. Everyone shares their awkward moments with each other at some point or another…right?
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter & co. nor any references to Boy Meets World, oh, or any sayings or clichés.
Author's Note: Another one-shot, I know. I will eventually focus all my time and energy on FUTAY, but I have one more idea I'm writing now so don't worry, FUTAY is still coming along nicely. :)
-Hermione POV-
"… And that's how I found out that the meaning of life is forty-two." He told me smugly.
I sat there dumbfounded for a minute. "That's the biggest bunch of bullocks I think I've ever heard. Honestly—you should get an award or something Blaise." I told him gapping slightly.
He let out a roaring laugh that promptly got us thrown out of the library by an irate Madame Pince. We had been studying potions before his little 'epiphany.'
"Nice going genius, now where are we going to study in peace?" I sighed huffily.
"Well seeing as you have that huge party going on in your dormitory. With that loud music and hundreds of people in there—" He started.
"Your sarcasm is neither required nor appreciated." I snapped. "You know I don't like being there because—"
"Yeah, yeah, Draco I know. I've heard it all before, although I still don't understand why." He told me mockingly as we started to walk aimlessly down the corridor.
"He just, oh I don't know." I sighed running a hand through my bushy hair. "I mean I look at you and see how much you've changed since the war and then I see Draco—and I guess I don't really see how he's changed."
"You may not be about to tell from the outside but he really has change—"
"What? On the inside?" I bit out cutting him off. "Oh come on how clichéd can you be? Cut the crap Blaise, I know he still doesn't like me, I mean he still acts funny whenever I'm around."
"He—oh I don't know. He just…" Blaise muttered.
"What?" I stopped and looked at him perplexed.
"Wh-nothing, just forget I said anything. I don't know where I was going with that." Blaise continued muttering as he looked down the empty corridor.
"No, you knew what you were saying—do you know why he acts funny around me, other than the fact that I'm a 'stupid mudblood'?"
"Don't say that 'Mione—mudblood is a horrid word." Blaise scolded lightly as he frowned.
I waited to see if he was going to scold be about calling myself stupid as well. When he didn't add anything I asked, "Well, what about being stupid?"
"What? Oh—no. I agreed with that part." He told me with a straight face.
Hitting him on the arm, I started thinking about how we had come to be friends. We had only become thus after the war ended over a year ago when I lost Harry and Ron to the final battle and Ginny on our hunt for horcruxes. I began tearing up just thinking about it.
Blaise noticed that I hadn't been listening and caught me wiping my eyes out of the corner of his. He sighed. "Thinking about them again?" he asked quietly.
"It's not as though I can help it. Everything, absolutely everything reminds me of them." I answered wiping a few more tears away impatiently. "I really don't mean to."
"Oh-I didn't mean that. No, cry if you will, I just don't like to see you unhappy." He said slinging his arm around me fondly.
I sighed with contentment. I missed having Harry and Ron to do this with. That thought made me choke on a sob but then I became angry.
Blaise also noticed this and gave me a reassuring squeeze. "Let's try and take our mind off this cheery subject with some nice homework." He suggested with false enthusiasm.
"Mm great, fighting with Draco usually seems to do the trick." I mused.
"Come on 'Mione. Can't you give the boy a chance? I mean you use his first name now for Merlin's sake." He tried again.
"That doesn't mean anything. I just don't see the point in calling each other by our ridiculous surnames anymore is all. Why are you so interested in us being friends anyway?" I accused him swiftly.
"He's just my friend, and so are you. I just want you two to get along. It would also make my life a hell of a lot easier." He added as an after thought.
I rolled my eyes as we approached the portrait of a mountainous landscape. Sometimes I could swear I saw giants or maybe trolls in the distance. "Toothflossing Stringmints." I mumbled and the portrait swung open revealing Draco in the common room we shared. (It had been my turn to choose the password that month.)
Draco, who had been lounging lazily on the sofa in the middle of the room, promptly fell off said couch as he tried to stand up elegantly. He hastily picked himself up and brushed himself off. I swore I saw a bit of pink tinge his cheeks—but then it could have just been from the fire, which was crackling happily in the background.
He cleared his throat and attempted to appear suave. "Blaise," he paused and looked at me, "Her-Granger." He added finally.
I only sighed and rolled my eyes giving Blaise a look that said, 'Do you really want me to try this?' which Blaise returned with a pointed look of his own, so I gave in.
"Er, Draco." I responded nodding my head slightly. "We were going to do some homework here—er, do you mind?"
Draco gave me a funny look. Maybe because I had used his first name. I hadn't before, at least not to his face. Whatever the reason was, he never answered me.
"Drake?" Blaise asked waving his hand in front of him. "You still with us?"
"Oh—right, studying. Go ahead, I have somewhere to be anyway." With that he picked up his wand off the table and strolled past us.
When I was sure he was far enough away from the portrait hole I lost it. "See?! Was that not completely—I can't even think of the right adjective to use!"
"Awkward? Weird? Uncomfortable?" Blaise supplied trying to be cute.
"Oh shut it, but did you see? He still—argh. Boys are insufferable." I concluded finally, nodding my head as I moved to the sofa previously vacated by the most insufferable of all.
"We try." Blaise acquitted settling down beside me. "Besides, he's trying to relearn everything he thought he knew. He doesn't really know how to be friends with someone. He's my best friend but I understand how he thinks—sometimes. He really is trying—can you just give him the time, please?" He gave me the 'puppy dog' face.
"Gr, you know I can't say no to that face." I told him.
"Then don't." he replied cheekily.
"Fine. I'll give him a chance. But I don't see how that's going to work when he runs out of the room every time I enter the same one."
"Don't worry, I'll talk to him."
"Oh, well that very reassuring." I replied sarcastically.
"As it should be." Blaise replied matching my sarcasm as he pulled some potions notes from his bag. "Now, how many different uses does moonstone have in various potions we've done over the past six years?" He ended smiling sheepishly as I rolled my eyes.
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Two and a half hours later I was fed up with studying.
"I'm fed up with studying." I sighed closed my charms book with a snap.
"What was that? The great Hermione Granger tired of studying? Bloody hell—and look at that, a pig just flew by the window and hold on—yes! Hades has just frozen over as well! It's the apocalypse ladies and gentlemen!" Blaise ended dramatically.
"You're such a drama queen." I told him rubbing my eyes wearily.
"Hrmph. I'm no queen." Blaise pouted.
"Well—there was that one time I caught you in Granger's skirt." A voice said from the portrait hole.
I squinted even though I knew it could only be Draco—but why was he siding with me? I looked back at Blaise whose cheeks were slightly flushed. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class Blaise darling?" I asked sweetly.
"It wasn't—I mean, well it was, but—argh! Draco dared me too!" Blaise finally blurted out.
I turned my raised eyebrow in the blond's direction.
He shrugged noncommittally and made his way leisurely into the sitting area. "I may have."
"But only because he wanted to know your skirt size." Blaise fired back.
"You want?" I dead panned.
"I—well you see, um." Draco shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot in front of me. I enjoyed watching him squirm.
"Well?"
"I was… curious?" he tried.
"Curiosity killed the cat." "I answered him easily and highly amused. He gulped audibly.
"-But satisfaction brought him back eh? Who ever put a cat in a bag in the first place is beyond me though." Blaise was talking to no one in particular.
I stared at him incredulously. "You can't be serious, first your 'meaning of life' speech, and now this?"
Blaise smiled brilliantly. "Today's a good day for me, isn't it?"
After staring at him for a full minute I burst out laughing. Not even a polite chuckle mind you, but a full-fledged-rolling-on-the-floor-about-to-pee-my-pant-giggle-snorting laughter.
My laughter was contagious because soon Blaise was on the ground next to me and laughing just as hard—if not harder.
Draco was still standing looking at us curiously. He was grimacing but I could tell he was fighting a smile at the same time.
"You know Malfoy," I said propping myself up on my elbows once I caught my breath, "You don't have to be so uptight all the time. Have fun once in a while." I emphasized the end.
Gapping slightly at me, he still stood and stared. I smiled, hoping he'd let go of whatever it was that kept him standing, dignity I suppose, and join Blaise and me on the floor.
Again he looked at me curiously and quickly crossed the room to enter his own.
I sighed heavily and flopped back on the floor next to Blaise.
"See," I told him aggravated. "I knew nothing had changed."
"Are you kidding me?" Blaise asked surprised as he turned to his side to look at me. "Were you just witnessing the same conversation I was?"
"Yes actually—and that look. I mean, he just left! What was that?" I asked impatient.
"Baby steps Hermione darling, baby steps." Blaise comforted me by patting my hand fondly.
I grimaced. 'So what?'
"What about before?" Blaise continued, "He came in, on his own accord I might add, and joined in our conversation with no prompting or rude comments. That m'dear was a large step for Mr. Malfoy."
"Well yes," I told him slightly irritated. "All he did was take the mickey out on you and get you in trouble with me, which we'll leave the skirt subject for later. I don't understand how that's different." I quipped.
"Oh that, that was nothing. Draco and I are completely above getting mad over petty things like that. What are we, fourteen-year-old girls?" Blaise smiled cheekily.
I punched him in his arm. "Hey! I was one of those fourteen-year-old girls once!"
He pushed my shoulder in return. "Yeah? When did you ever fight with Ron or Harry about something so petty?"
Quieted by his question, I immediately thought of our third year. Blaise realized what he had asked and began stumbling over an apology. I took the opportunity to take him by surprise.
"Oh Hermione, you know-I didn't mean, well-oomph!" While he was babbling I took my chance and pounced on his chest, pinning him to the ground.
"Actually I think Harry and Ron fought more than I did with either of them!" I smiled and giggled.
Blaise was still in shock. "You mean, you're not—" He let the sentence hang.
My smile fell and I shrugged indifferently. "I can save that for later tonight…" I trailed off emotionally.
"Oh Hermione I didn't mean it—HEY!" He squealed like a first year girl when she first meets one of the school ghosts.
I had chosen my next sneak attack tactic. I began tickling him mercilessly. "And you told me you weren't a queen." I rolled my eyes. That was my first mistake.
By letting my guard down I gave him the perfect opportunity to flip me over and pin me under him. I shrieked because of the sudden movement and proceeded to giggle uncontrollably as he turned my tickling tactic back around on me.
That's were I managed to make my second mistake. I began squirming under him trying to escape the incessant tickling. But suddenly he stopped and froze, still hovering over me.
I stared at him peculiarly. He had his eyes pinched shut and he was biting his lower lip. "Um, Blaise?" I asked him slowly.
"Mmphff." He grunted, a deep sound from the back of his throat, signaling me to shut up.
I snapped my mouth quickly wondering what was going on. The quiet made me very aware of how close our bodies really were—and that something was pressing against my stomach.
Then it clicked.
"Oh my!" I squeaked, large eyes trying to focus on his face and not anywhere lower.
His eyes snapped open fearfully searching mine, and apparently not finding anything good. He hung his head—embarrassed or ashamed, maybe both.
I immediately felt bad. Hell, it wasn't his fault. He was almost a man now, and he had all that testosterone floating around. I began chewing on my bottom lip. What was he going to do? We couldn't stay like this forever.
An idea swiftly popped into my head. Slowly I brought my hand up and cupped his cheek tentatively. He winced, not understanding that I was only trying to calm him down. My other hand came up to his other cheek and I held his face between my hands attempting to get him to actually look me in the eyes. "Blaise," I murmured quietly, "Please, just please look at me."
Slowly he shook his head, quite sadly. I sighed.
"Blaise we're never going to be able to get ourselves out of this unless you listen to me." I was talking to him as soothingly as possible—trying to hide my nervousness and relax him at the same time.
He lifted his head slightly but still wouldn't look me in the eye.
"My face Blaise, not my chest."
It seems that this was not the best thing to say, joking or not, to get him to relax. He immediately tensed up and looked back down again.
"Blaise Zabini, enough of this! I was joking." I took my hands and forced him to look me in the eyes. "Blaise, you're a boy—no, a man. These things happen whether you can help it or not. Merlin, you don't see me down here complaining." I blushed at my boldness.
Finally he rested his gaze on me instead of just off to the side. Staring at me as if I was a complicated puzzle he couldn't yet figure out.
"I—er, hm." I didn't trust myself to say anymore because when I really thought about it I didn't mind that he was still over top of me and that I had made him react like that. I blushed again for just thinking something like that.
"You keep blushing—why is that?" Blaise asked inquisitively, scrunching his eye brows together again.
"Well I—that is to say I-I just. Erhm, I was thinking. Mm, I don't know." This was only half of the truth. No one had ever really made me blush like this before—and I was doing it to myself. But the more I stared into his indigo blue eyes, the more I began to realize about myself and our friendship. It never occurred to me that it had been changing, but now as I went over the past few weeks in my head it seemed painfully obvious. "I was so blind." I muttered quietly.
"What was that?" Blaise asked confused.
"I, um—mm. I don't really ah, have a problem with our um, situation at this particular point in time." I said hoping he'd take the hint.
"You don't—what?"
Mentally I rolled my eyes, how much could I have expected from an almost post adolescent. Instead I cleared my throat and decided to come right out with it or this situation was getting no where and fast. "I think—I've been falling for you, Blaise Zabini."
His eyes widened, surprise written all over his face. "You're-you're serious? I thought you hadn't noticed." He muttered the last part more to himself but I heard.
"Er-I sort of hadn't. Till now that is. And honestly—it erhm, doesn't feel all that bad." Blushing madly I adverted my gaze from his face this time.
A chuckle brought me back to staring at him intensely. Blaise was finally smiling—only for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.
"That's not very comforting." I muttered, slightly put out. "Way to build a girl's confidence. Date much Zabini because you sure know how to treat a gir-" I was cut off unexpectedly when a pair of soft lips covered mine, effectively shutting me up.
Our kiss was slow and new; wonderful and heart stopping. I could feel him smile when my hands found their way into his curly dark hair.
He pulled away slowly, savoring the feel of our lips together. His eyes were still closed when I opened mine, a smile still playing at the corners of his mouth. This made me blush furiously so I cleared my throat lightly. His eyes flew open and his smile grew even wider to now include his perfect teeth (my parents would be proud).
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that." Blaise breathed happily.
"How long?" I asked teasingly—glad that he was smiling joyfully.
"Since I first laid eyes on your," was his honest reply.
"I—really?" I didn't know what to say.
He nodded. "The only problem was I couldn't do anything about my feelings. I was nothing but Slytherin slime, and you were the Gryffindor princess. We had practically every class together but you never gave me the time of day. Not while you were with you're other two knights in shining armor. I never expected a fairy tale." He admitted to me.
"More like aluminum foil." I muttered quietly but I was perplexed. I never even remembered seeing him in my classes before and instantly I felt horrid.
"Oh no, 'Mione, don't blame yourself! I certainly don't—that was just what we thought our fate was going to be at that time. It's all behind us now. However—you should really wake up now." He smiled down at me sadly.
"Wake up?" I repeated, "Blaise, is all the blood rushing somewhere else, because I'm pretty sure I'm awake right now."
"No my 'Mione, you have to really wake up." He explained quietly.
Abruptly I began shaking and couldn't stop. "Wha-what's going on Blaise?" I asked fearfully.
"Wake up 'Mione!" A voice came from no where. "'Mione!"
I jerked awake.
There I was, sitting in my sixth year potions class with Ron jiggling my shoulder and Harry looking over at me oddly. "What?" I managed my voice thick with sleep.
"You fell asleep." Ron hissed. "And Snape's coming."
I took a fleeting look across the room and sure enough the black, billowing robes were making their way toward my table. Quickly I glanced at my cooling cauldron and realized that the reason I had fallen asleep was because I had already finished my potion with twenty minutes left to spare.
Snape stalked over to my cauldron and sniffed disapprovingly. "Five points for whispering instructions to your fellow students Miss Granger." With a final sneer he billowed away to go bully Neville.
Ron and Harry sent me an apologetic look as I waited for the sniggering that was sure to come from the Slytherin side of the room. When none came I was baffled. My glance flitted to their side and almost jumped. Two sets of eyes in particular were staring back.
One pair a blue, practically silver paired with blond hair, the other were the eyes from my dream; a deep indigo blue, with curly dark hair accompanying them. I took a double take when it sunk in they were actually staring at me.
Draco looked away, but Blaise kept staring. Finally he gave me a small grin and slowly turned back to stirring his potion; twenty-six and a quarter turns clockwise and seven turns counterclockwise.
Blushing I turned back to my open potions book which had been substituted for my pillow moments before. 'A dream?' I thought frowning slightly. 'That smile was defiantly real though.'
Chancing other glance toward the Slytherin side, I noticed Blaise looking again. This time when he smiled however, I returned it.