Title: Just One Kiss

Summary: Blaise Zabini was a Slytherin. It was all anyone ever noticed about her. Until him. Until the man who changed it all…

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling and other associated people. 

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Chapter 1

Blaise Zabini stared at the blonde Slytherin sitting in front of her in the Quidditch stands. The game was between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Pansy Parkinson—if that was who she was—was acting very strangely indeed, seeming to hesitate before cheering the team. There was also the fact that the girl in front of her didn't have the same quirks that Pansy had, and she had a few that Pansy didn't.

And then Gryffindor won. And "Pansy" stood up, looking for all the world as though she were about to cheer them, before sitting down suddenly, looking sheepish.

Then "Pansy" ran up to Draco Malfoy—who was currently dating Hermione Granger—and threw her arms around his neck, once again looking completely natural doing so. Draco looked as though he were going to push her off, but just then, "Pansy" whispered something in his ear—and he suddenly looked a whole lot happier.

 It obviously could not be Pansy, because Blaise knew that Draco loved Hermione, and would not 'drop her' for anyone. She knew that no one really believed a Malfoy to be capable of love, but even if they weren't, Hermione had changed that; somehow, someway.

Then she overheard the tail end of the conversation. "—our common room."

Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy did not have a common room.

But Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy did. They were Head Girl and Head Boy—respectively, of course.

There was no doubt about it. "Pansy" was Hermione Granger.

This was why she followed the two and, when "Pansy" got slightly behind Draco, Blaise grabbed the girl, whispering, "So, Pansy. How are you?" and pulled her into the nearest classroom, thankful it was empty.  The Slytherin let go of the imposter and smirked at her. "Or are you really Pansy? I don't think you are—but I don't know who you are, really." Well, that was a lie, but who really cared?

"Why don't you tell me?" Blaise paused before continuing, seeing that the girl recognized her finally. "Or, I could just wait for the Potion to wear off. And apparently," Blaise smiled, making sure her face was completely devoid of all emotion, "I won't have to wait that long."

Blaise tilted her head, eyeing what looked like Pansy—though it obviously wasn't, seeing as the girl was growing, and her hair and eye color was changing. It wasn't surprising that no one else had noticed the discrepancies between this girl's behaviors and Pansy's. Slytherins were a rather stupid lot, she had to admit. Well, Draco and Pansy weren't that bad, actually, but they were all surrounded by idiots.

Now the girl was nearly quaking in her shoes… The transformation was complete. Hermione sat down in a desk and motioned to Blaise to do the same. The seventh year did so, if only because she needed to give her legs a rest.

Hermione cleared her throat. "You're obviously wondering why I'm here…"

"And where Pansy is," Blaise added, smiling. She knew that the sight of a Slytherin smiling very nearly addled the girl's brains.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, well, you see… I realized a while back that…" she paused. "I don't know if I should tell you."

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm not going to tell anyone."

Hermione eyed her warily, but continued. "I realized that Pansy likes Harry. And actually, not just likes, but loves." Blaise's eyebrows went up. "Yes, I believe that Pansy loves Harry. I don't know why, and Draco finds it as incredulous as I do, but we both agree it's there. Pansy and I switched places for the game. It was mostly for her, since I would have cheered both Draco and Harry without a second thought. I mean, no one would have questioned it. Draco's my boyfriend and Harry's one of my two best friends. But Pansy… well, she had no reason to cheer Harry. And I know she wanted to. So I made the Potion, and offered her the option of using it at the game. She agreed. And here we are."

Blaise grinned. "And here we are." The whole thing didn't make complete sense though, now did it? It didn't all add up. But maybe Hermione was just looking for excuses to bring Pansy and Harry closer together. "Why did you help her?"

Hermione sighed. "That's a difficult question, really. It's partially because Draco's certain that Harry's in love with me. I want him to get over me, and I think that it would be best if someone replaced me. It would be quicker that way. And also because, well, Pansy's really a nice girl. Plus she's smart. No one notices though. It was just like no one noticed me until I started dating Draco. Before that, I was just the know-it-all, Harry Potter's best friend. And even now, I'm not known for myself. It's annoying." She gave a frustrated sigh. "But I'm getting off-topic. I think that Pansy deserves Harry. And I think that if he gets his head out of his arse long enough, Harry will notice her. I want to help him do that."

Blaise tilted her head thoughtfully. It wasn't that bad of an idea. She'd noticed Pansy's slow retreat into the shadows, and definitely felt like jumping at the opportunity to drag the girl out of them again. "Do you think I might be able to help you do that?"

Hermione stared at her, mouth agape in shock.

"What?" the Slytherin grinned.

"It's just…well, I didn't really think anyone would want to help."

Blaise nodded thoughtfully. "I can see why you might think that. But I agree with you. Pansy's smart, and nice, and she really does deserve Potter. What do you say we work on it together? I'm sure that with the two of us, they won't be single for long."

Hermione grinned, and stuck out her hand. "It's a deal."

***

Blaise walked to the library quickly and quietly. Not a hard thing to do when you were a Slytherin. She smiled to herself. There were certain things she liked about being a Slytherin, even if overall it was a horrid place. At least now. She had feeling it hadn't always been this bad. She shook her head. It was all the inbreeding. At least the Malfoys house would find some relief with Hermione. But the Zabini house… She sighed. She'd probably end up marrying her third cousin, Riwen Quindell.

She shuddered silently. He was ugly, to say the least. And he was at least twenty years older than she was, although it was probably more like twenty-five. But he had a lot of money. And he needed a wife. And she didn't have any beaus herself. She'd never had a boyfriend, now that she thought about it. She'd never even really gotten close to anyone.

She was still a virgin. No one would believe her if she told them, she knew. She was surprised herself…and probably quite lucky, as well. There were not many Slytherin females who graduated as virgins. Of course, she hadn't quite graduated yet, but she very much doubted that much would change before then.

And it wasn't as though she—or anyone—really needed a boyfriend to have sex. There were plenty of girls with living testimony to that fact. But there were quite a few reasons why only a few stupid males had dared to force her.

She was the daughter of two very powerful people—her father and her mother both had large fortunes, and could trace their ancestry back for generations. You didn't want to get on the wrong side of that.

She wasn't afraid of telling the professors anything, and they knew it, as did the other Slytherins. No one ever included her on any of the pranks because of that. She didn't care. Never had. It was much better when they left her alone.

Her nanny, who had raised her, hadn't seen anything wrong with teaching her a few self-defense moves. She knew what it was like in Slytherin house, and so had prepared her young charge accordingly. The few boys who had tried to force her had quickly learned their error.

She grinned to herself. They'd never touched her again, and she assumed they'd told their friends, since no one had tried anything since her fifth year.

But this really wasn't the time to be getting lost in her thoughts. She was going to the library, in the dead of night. There were some books she wanted to look at without Madam Pince breathing down her neck. Besides, it was much more peaceful at this time of night—or day, depending on how you looked at it.

Blaise Zabini was a lover of dragons. She enjoyed her Care of Magical Creatures class more than any other class, and found Professor Hagrid to be a very good teacher, a refreshing change from her other professors. They obviously hadn't been able to do a hands-on study of dragons, but their book study had been exciting nonetheless. Oh, how happy she'd been in her fourth year, when she'd discovered that the First Task for the Tri-Wizard (or Quad-Wizard, but anyways…) champions had involved dragons.

But she had felt for them, in a way, with the champions having to steal one of their eggs. At least Potter hadn't overly harmed the creature. Blaise really was a compassionate person, she just covered it up with her emotionless Slytherin façade. It was easier. After all, everyone was so prejudiced against Slytherins that they would sooner let one starve than give him or her the time of day.

Where had she been… Oh, right. Dragons. And Professor Hagrid. In fifth year she'd approached him about some extra credit work, and, after approving it with the Headmaster, the half-giant had let her come into the Forbidden Forest with him when he searched for creatures for class. She'd also become a sort of class helper, although she was sure not to let anyone know. She really only helped out before and after class, since she knew that both Slytherins and Gryffindors would make fun of her.

Blaise slipped through the library and walked over to where she'd seen the book earlier that day… Ah, there it was. The Habits of African Dragons by C. W. Alexander. Professor Hagrid had recommended it, saying it had been written by one of Hogwarts' former students. She ran her finger over the elegant gold lettering before opening the book and proceeding to get lost in it.

***

Blaise cracked her eyes open and saw sunlight streaming through the windows of…the library. She sat bolt upright, wondering what had awoken her. The door closed. That must have been it. Madam Pince had probably just arrived… The Slytherin nearly ran to the shelf and sat the book back on the shelf, cursing herself for falling asleep. Honestly, how could she be more stupid? She could get expelled for this!

The seventeen-year-old witch padded softly to the door of the library, keeping an eye on the librarian. She was currently turned away. Might as well go for it now…

She made it out the door and sprinted to the entrance to the dungeons, and barely pausing for breath. Almost running flat-out now, she didn't notice there was someone else in the corridor until she ran into him.

"Oof!" she exclaimed, backing up. Then she saw whom she had run into. "Professor Snape! Excuse me, sir, I was just…"

The professor raised an eyebrow. "You were just what, Miss Zabini?"

"Er, I had been heading to breakfast and then I realized I'd forgotten something, so I was coming back to get it, and—"

"Very good, Miss Zabini," Professor Snape almost smiled, although it really was more of a smirk. "I would have believed you had I been younger than ten… Or," he added as an afterthought, "a Gryffindor."

Blaise flinched inwardly, not letting anything show on her face. Oh, she might have been good at concealing her emotions, but she was one of the worst liars in the business. "Sorry, sir," she mumbled.

"Might I ask what you were doing so early, Miss Zabini?"

"I was in the library, sir," she said quietly.

"I see…" Professor Snape looked thoughtful. "Well, Miss Zabini, I do hope that you remember not to," he paused, looking at her face before smirking, "not fall asleep when in the library after hours."

"Yes, sir," Blaise mumbled, feeling her face flush. That was one thing she couldn't control—blushing.

"I will see you later, Miss Zabini," Professor Snape said before heading down the corridor again, his robes billowing behind him.

Blaise shook her head. Did he really have to be so dramatic all the time? Oh well. She was only grateful that Snape was rather favorable towards Slytherin. At least she hadn't lost any points for her stupidity.

It was the last week before the Christmas holidays started. She would be staying at the school, of course. After all, why would she want to go home? All that was waiting for her there was an empty house and a few House-Elves. Well, there was Albert, of course, but who wanted to spend Christmas with House-Elves and their butler? Her parents were dead, killed by the Dark Lord, and she had been any only child. She didn't have very many relatives, either, besides Riwen Quindell.

She shuddered. How she hated that man. She would rather kill herself than marry him, and she was honestly afraid that she might have to.

Well, he wouldn't do anything until she graduated. Maybe… Maybe she'd find someone else to marry.

Maybe.