For Amber (Cheeky Slytherin Lass), hope you like it!
For the year of 2013, I'll be writing a fic a week, every single week for the entire year. Currently I still have a lot of unclaimed week, so if you would like a fic just shoot me a pm. More information is on my profile, including already claimed weeks and fandoms I'll write for.
He was standing on platform 9 3/4's, tapping his foot apprehensively while his father canvased the other first years who stood in small groups, their eyes darting around as if searching for something to tell them that it would be okay. His father's eyes halted as they passed over a cluster of students whose lips were curved into smirks. He didn't listen to much of what his father says, for once, just that the snobby looking boy with white blonde hair is a Malfoy, and that those are the kids he was expected to befriend.
Usually he'd hang off every word his father said, desperate to prove himself as someone of worth, someone who could make his father proud, but that day his attention was captured by a petite dark haired girl whose head was thrown back in laughter at something the Malfoy child said.
When the girl finally managed to contain her laughter, she spared a glance around the platform, her gaze stopping for a second when it met his.
And he wasn't quite sure why but he found himself wishing that she would look his way often.
-0-
After five minutes of stumbling through compartments, he lurched into theirs, and when four pairs of eyes turned to rest on him he found himself uncertain of what to say, a feeling that was rather new to him, but he's a Zabini so he smirked slightly at his fellow first years, leaning against the doorway in what he hoped appeared to be a casual manner. He took his time to gather himself before imitating a snobbish tone his father often used. "Blaise Zabini." He grinned lazily as he dropped onto a seat beside Pansy Parkinson, who he'd known since he was five and his parents realized that her parents attended many of the same parties as they did.
He and Pansy had gotten along well when they were younger, chasing each other between their parent's legs and mocking the stiff behaviour of the adults, but then she'd turned nine and decided she'd rather sit in a corner with a surly expression. The only acknowledgement she gave him now was a slight nod and a "Hello Blaise", which he supposed was better than nothing.
It didn't take long for him to notice that Malfoy, first name Draco, had appointed himself as leader of the group, introducing first himself, with evident emphasis on his last name, and then the others with a dismissive wave of his hand. The other boy, Theodore Nott, looked displeased with the arrangement, his smile clearly strained as Draco prattled on about some important party his parents hosted recently.
He soon grew weary of the struggle for dominance between Draco and Theodore, turning his attention instead to Daphne, the girl from the platform, who now regarded him with brilliant green eyes, lips carved into something between a smile and a sneer.
Years later he told her how beautiful those eyes are, to which she laughed and said they're too ordinary, too common in her family to be anything worth a second glance.
By the time she walked across the room to be sorted, head high and cold eyes, she seemed to have decided that she likes him, and when the sorting hat yells out "Slytherin", she threw a wink towards him and the others, before striding over to the Slytherin table, where she was quickly joined by Draco, Pansy, and Theo. And then nobody was left except for him and his heart thudded loudly in his ears as he approached the sorting hat, standing straight and proud like every Slytherin before him. He tried to keep a smug look etched onto his face because he is Slytherin, he doesn't need to worry about it because he is, he always has been, but nonetheless, when the hat screamed it out for everyone to hear, it was like a weight is lifted and he is a Slytherin.
She gave him a one armed hug as he sat down beside her, meeting his eyes briefly before turning to listen eagerly to Theo, who had somehow managed to wrestle the spotlight away from Draco, and was currently bragging about his quidditch skills, or something else of little importance.
That was the first time Blaise Zabini felt envious of Theodore Nott.
-0-
The second time he envied Theo was during third year, when Daphne stormed into the common room one night, eyes ablaze, the greenish glow of the roommaking her skin appear gaunt and alarming as she marched over to where Blaise and Theo stood among a group of Slytherin boys, her face pulled into a scowl.
He turned to ask her what was wrong, concern creeping onto his face, but she easily side stepped him, grasping Theo's arm with one hand and pulling him toward her with strength you wouldn't think possible for someone of her size.
"Theo."
Her anger visibly dissipated, eyes tearing up slightly, mouth quivering, and it's not really that much emotion, but it's more than anybody had ever seen from her, and he hadn't though his heart could be broken by one word and a glimpse of emotion but Merlin, had he been wrong.
It was as though she'd pushed a knife into his stomach, then proceeded to pull it out and push it in again, because that one word was so small and desperate and vulnerable, and it wasn't directed at him, no, it was directed at Theo, who had promptly slipped his free arm around her waist, leaning in to whisper into her ear as he led her away to somewhere more private.
They were almost at the door when she paused to shoot an almost apologetic look over her shoulder.
He wasn't not quite sure what happened that night, why Daphne was so enraged, what it was that Theo said to her once he got her alone, or even where he took her, but soon enough they were Daphne&Theodore, and they were that gorgeous Slytherin couple that intimidated the younger years and acted as though they owned the world.
They were Daphne&Theodore, and he was just Blaise, who hung around them with a tight lipped smile, resisting the urge to strangle Theo each time he leant in to kiss Daphne, and fighting back a scream when Daphne giggled and pulled him closer to her.
But he's Blaise Zabini and he doesn't scream. He doesn't get upset over girls, and he certainly doesn't spend a rather large portion of time thinking about a specific one. Nope, not at all. He's Blaise, and he's Slytherin, and he can't stand them together. He can't stand to spend all of his time listening to their banter, watching them share secret smiles and lingering touches that would otherwise be replaced with icy stares and harsh words, but he doesn't like Daphne, not at all.
-0-
He didn't mean to kiss her. Well, he did mean to kiss her but it wasn't like he planned to, really.
It's fifth year and everybody's gone home for Christmas, Draco, Pansy, and Theo included. The only reason he was staying was because Daphne had wanted to, and Theo had refused to stay with her. She didn't seem all that surprised though when Theo told her he was going home. She just gave him a thin smile and nodded, like she did whenever he said anything nowadays. And once the train left Hogwarts with a loud whistle, she turned to him, eyes gleaming, smiling wider than she had in a while, and asked him to accompany her to Hogsmeade the next day.
In hindsight, saying yes probably hadn't been a good idea, but he had never been able to say no to Daphne, and he wasn't about to start now.
The ground was covered in thick layers of snow as they made their way to Hogsmeade, and she walked close to him, face tucked into her scarf as the wind bit into their faces. Even with her face red and her hair frozen stiff, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. And looking at her closer, he realized that although she was far from the saddest girl he'd ever seen, she seemed rather sad, though he couldn't figure out why.
If most boys saw a girl they liked looking sad, they'd probably cheer them up with some cheesy line, or flowers, or chocolates, but not Blaise. Nope, Blaise's bright idea for cheering a girl up was to throw a ball of snow at her.
Probably not his best idea ever, but it proved to be effective enough.
Wiping snow out of her eyes, she shot him a look that was too amused to be angry, and before he had time to mutter an apology, his head was being hit by numerous balls of snow.
A shiver went through his body as he picked up yet another snowball to throw, slipping as he stumbled through the snow, readying himself to hurl the snowball just as Daphne ran towards him, a snowball in each hand. Pain shot up his left shoulder as she collided with him, sending them both flying backwards into the snow. He could see the snowflakes glistening on her eyelashes as she struggled to catch her breath from where she lay on top of him. Meeting his eyes, she grinned at him widely. "I think I won."
He chuckled slightly, reaching up to brush a piece of hair out of her face as he shook his head slightly. "In your dreams."
And then he was cupping her face in his hand and she was leaning in to him, the smell of vanilla tickling his nose as her lips brushed against his, gentle at first and then more urgent as his fingers tangled themselves in her hair and her ice cold hands clasped around his neck.
Again, he hadn't meant to kiss her. Really.
Minutes passed before she pulled away, eyes conflicted as she bit anxiously on her lip.
"Blaise-" she started to speak, but he pulled her face back to his, silencing her words with his lips. In the back of his mind a small voice whispered that this was wrong, she was Theo's girlfriend and he had no right to be kissing her. But he's a Slytherin and they always have been good at confusing what's morally right and wrong.
And she had kissed him first, she had wanted him - so it wasn't morally wrong on his part, right?
This time when she pulled away she dragged herself into a sitting position before sliding off his chest and getting to her feet, not meeting his eyes as she turned to walk away. He scrambled after her, calling out her name as he found his footing in the snow and started after her. "Daphne, don't do this. You can't just walk away!" He yelled at her retreating figure.
Her footsteps faltered for a second before picking up their speed, and she called over her shoulder without turning. "What else is there to do Blaise?"
Unsure of what to say, he resigned to watching her make her way back towards Hogwarts, racking his brain for something to say to her later. Bitterly he thought that Theo wouldn't need to think about what to say to her. He would say the first thing that came to mind, and it would be charming and witty and it would make her forget why she was mad at him in the first place.
It was almost funny, how even when he got what he wanted, in a way, he was still jealous of Theo.
-0-
When he entered the great hall that evening, he didn't see her among the small crowd of students who had chosen to stay over the holidays. He'd almost started to think that she was avoiding him when she finally slipped into the hall, her normally perfectly groomed hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. She gave him a small smile as she sat beside him, focusing all of her attention on the food in front of her as the silence between them became increasingly awkward.
"Daphne, we're going to have to talk about this sometime."
She glanced up at him, an expression of mock confusion on her face. "Talk about what, Blaise?"
"You kissed me!" He hissed at her, angered by her attempt to pretend that nothing happened.
She shook her head slightly, meeting his gaze with hardened eyes as she spoke. "No kissing happened between us, Blaise, at least as far as Theo is concerned."
He bit back the urge to yell at her when she said Theo's name. Of course it's about him, when isn't it, he thought to himself bitterly as he turned his attention to the food in front of him.
He was picking apart the last of his turkey when she finally spoke again, her voice softer this time. "It's not as though I wouldn't like there to be something between us, really."
She was still staring at the now empty plate in front of her, though he knew she was watching him from the corner of her eyes, studying his reaction. "Then why can't there be? You could break up with Theo, give him some bullshit reason about it not working anymore."
A ghost of a smile danced on her lips, though her expression was anything but happy. "You don't get it Theo, I can't break up with him." She reached over and took his hand in hers, her thumb rubbing up and down his. "I just can't do it."
-0-
For someone who thought of himself as so perceptive, Theo was highly oblivious.
Throughout his final three years at Hogwarts, he never suspected a single thing when Daphne told him she was going out to the greenhouse to work, even though she'd dropped herbology as soon as she had the chance. And he never noticed how her eyes lingered on Blaise, how they always seemed to be together, 'working' on projects for classes they didn't even share.
For the most part, their final years passed like all the others, Daphne and Theo sharing smiles and laughter, while Blaise busied himself with other things such as schoolwork and pretty girls who didn't care much for relationships. The only thing that really made it any different than the others was late at night when Daphne's pale skin glowed in the moonlight, Blaise's lips trailing kisses down them as she tangled her fingers in his soft hair.
Her lips would find his and she'd pull him to her as if he were oxygen, as if she needed him to survive. And back then, she thought she had.
But years passed and she got engaged and he couldn't continue to wait around in the darkness for her, not anymore, not now that he knew how much he had going for him – and how quickly it could all be gone by a scandal such as theirs.
-0-
Sometimes when Theo's face turns red and drunken words spew from his mouth like acid she wonders where she'd be if she'd chosen differently all those years ago. If she'd chosen Blaise over him. And then his hand flies and a red mark shaped like his hand is blossoming on her face as he pulls his hand back once more, and she hopes that this time it kills her.