A/N : This story is in reply to 'Lyrics Challenge posted by Bellezza' I was given "You reject my advances and desperate pleas" Death Cab For Cutie - I will posses your heart. I hope you all enjoy my story! Reviews and Comments are welcomed but please be kind! ^-^
The History of Magic classroom was unusually hot today, the summer heat still not leaving even this late in October. Most students had shucked their robes, had rolled up their sleeves and loosened their ties. I was used to the heat; our villa in Italy did not have air conditioning so this minor heat was bearable. Although like most of the other students I had rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and sat back in my seat casually as Professor Binns dutifully recited the battles involved in the Goblin Rebellion. I had personally heard this spiel at least a thousand times and was instead staring at something more interesting then the ghostly body of my Professor. She sat two rows up and three seats to the left of where I sat, that is where she always sat. Even though I wanted to sit closer to her, I would not have the amazing view that I do now. Now I could watch her from a distance and admire the little things she does that fascinate me. The way when she writes she bites her lower lip, as if she is afraid she will spell something wrong. How she insistently tucks her bronze curls behind her ears, even though only moments later they fall back into her face again. Even the way her coffee colored eyes sparkle at the prospect of learning something that she already does not know.
As the bell rings signaling the end of class, I glance down at my scrolls that I had previously set out for taking notes. I only have a paragraph written and curse myself for getting distracted once again. I often find myself lost in thought, in the classes that I share with my love. Rolling up my scrolls, I hear Professor Binns announce that he will continue his lecture and homework will be assigned next class. Stuffing my parchments and quills inside my bags, I make it to the door just in time to casually bump into her. She apologizes but does not look up at me, and continues on her way down the hallway. I watch her disappear into the sea of students and barely hold back a disappointed sigh. Does she know that she possess my heart?
Dinner is the same as usual; I listen to Pansy and Draco as they try to convince Vincent that the plastic pear that he is eating is in fact inedible. They may not be my best of friends, but they are as close to friends as you come by in Slytherin. I have heard the rumors those Gryffindor's spread about us, they act as though we are as evil as evil come. Don't they ever think that maybe they are on the wrong side? That maybe they are only on the side that they are on because of what their parents have raised them to believe. Gryffindor may have their courage but sometimes I think they lack independent thinking because of it. Glancing over at the Gryffindor table, I can only hope she is not as thick headed as the rest of the students around her. Especially Potter and Weasley, with how pompous and thickheaded they act sometimes I wonder how she has even stayed their friend so long. I know she deserves better, she deserves a friend like me. Someone who can hold an intelligent conversation with her, who could study in the library with her after hours, who could stimulate her intellectually…if only she would spend some time with me. I could be that friend that she needed and more. Some nights, like tonight, it makes my chest physically hurt to see her laughing and smiling with them. I wish she would grace that smile upon me, what I would give to have her smile at me. A real smile, not one of the fake ones she gives to Professors, one that reaches her eyes and makes the corners of her mouth dimple in that cute way that they do. Draco's hand rests on my arm and I quickly look down at it. My sleeves are still rolled up from History of Magic, it was such a nice day I did not bother rolling them back down. Draco's milky white skin contrasts greatly with my tanned Italian complexion.
"Blaise, you still with us?" he questions and I bring my gaze back to my group of friends. Pansy gives me an encouraging smile, the half-eaten plastic pear held in her hand. Gregory and Vincent looking at me with the same dull expression they stare at Professors with, almost as if they do not understand what you are saying. I give the group a half smile, knowing that my expression is tense, and watch as they smile back. I know that they are not fooled with my half-assed attempt to calm them, but at least they know that I am still with them. Draco promptly removes his hand from my arm and drags me into a conversation about how absolutely dreadful his classes had been due to the heat.
The Common Room is quite cool compared to the rest of the castle, as they usually are year around. I lounge in a high backed chair with my leg tossed over an armrest, while Draco and Pansy sit on the couch. We all chatter happily amongst ourselves, talking about everything and nothing all at the same time. Draco and Pansy sit on opposite ends of the couch and I am left to assume that once again they have broken up. They have been on again off again dating since our first year, but there is something final about this break up that hangs in the air. Maybe it had something to do with the way Draco had been hanging out with that Greengrass girl. Either way I shrugged it off and glanced at the large clock that was mounted on the wall above the fireplace.
"You've been staring at that clock every few minutes Blaise; do you have some place to go?" Pansy questioned raising her eyebrows in slight irritation from my apparent lack of concentration on our conversation.
"I bet he's going to wander off to the library again, like he always does." Draco teased leaning across the small gap between the couch and my chair to slap my leg.
"Is their something funny about my interest in my education?" I question, raising an eyebrow when they both burst out laughing.
"Yea, education right!" Pansy manages to say between her amused chortles.
"I bet there is some girl he's just not telling us about." Draco says turning the matter more serious, making both of their gazes land on me.
"You both know that there is a girl," I say simply as I stand up grabbing my bag from next to my chair.
"You can't still be going after her; she doesn't even know you exist." Draco shouts as I head towards the wall that leads out of the Common Room.
"She will," I reply as I step out of the wall and make my way to the library.
The tome I hold in my hand is one of my favorites, one of her favorites as well. It is a basic knowledge of all things magical Hogwarts: A History. She flips through the pages of this novel so often I can almost smell her on this book. A fresh a fruity scent, somewhere between a rose and a raspberry. Bringing the tome up to my nose, I can faintly smell her; I take in a deep lungful before I open up the book and merely glimpse at its pages. From this place in the maze of shelves of the library, I can see her studying. A stack of books surrounding her, and pieces of parchments scattered around her. Tonight she has her hair pulled up, bobby pins sticking in at odd angles to hold up her curly locks. Like most of her late nights in the library, she is simply wearing her uniformed skirt and shirt, her tie hanging loosely around her neck. I cannot help but smile as she lets out an aggravated sigh and scratches out a few words on her piece of parchment. I cannot help myself as I walk across the small gap between us; I place the tome on the desk before putting both hands on the desk and leaning on it. She looks up at me, shocked to see me leaning on her table.
"You know Granger, the point of being a witch is being able to use your magic to fix things like this." I state simply as I point my wand at her parchment, watching as her crossed out words slowly bleed into the paper before disappearing. Her cheeks flush, and I cannot help but notice how becoming the flustered look is on her. She tucks a stray strand of hair out of her face, and again I cannot help but small at the simple action.
"Well thank you for the help Zabini, but unless you know anything about the properties of Deadly Night Shade I will have to ask you to leave so I can study." She says calmly, her words carefully chosen after a moment of silence. She often takes moments to figure out what she will say when she talks to students from other houses, almost like she's afraid of saying something obscene.
"Well I know it's also known as belladonna and divale, and although it is deadly in overconsumption its most common medicinal use is used to treat eyes disease because of its effects of dilating the pupil." I state calmly as she raises an eyebrow, astounded at knowledge of the herb.
"You forget that Slytherin's have Herbology two days before Gryffindor's, I already have my assignment for Professor Sprout finished." I reply giving my shoulders a small shrug, "I have my essay in my bag if you would like to read over it."
She immediately shakes her head, probably thinking this is some evil trick meant to get her in trouble for copying my essay.
"Come on Granger I'm not telling you to copy it, but by the looks of this desk you could use a glance at my essay." I say as I lift my bag up sitting it on the desk. I pull the scroll out and place it in front of her but she continues shaking her head.
"No Zabini, I'm fine, thank you." she says her tone strained and obviously angry. She flicks my scroll with her quill and I watch as it rolls across the table to hit my bag. She begins gathering up her papers and books, stuffing them haphazardly into her bag.
"Why are you so upset, I'm only trying to help?" I say my tone remaining calm and level, but I watch her eyes crackle like the embers of a burning fire. She slams a book on the table and look up at me, strands of her curly hair escaping the bobby pins and framing her face gently.
"I don't need help from someone like you; I can do a simple assignment on my own." She practically shouts and with that, she grabs her bags and she is gone. I watch her walk away and curse myself for being so forward. I was only trying to talk with her; I did not want to scare her away. Only moments later does Madam Pince stalk by, her hawk like eyes rolling over me.
"I know, its time to go to my common room." I say before she can open her mouth and with that, I am making my way back towards the Dungeons.
Lying in my bed that night, I cannot help but let my mind wander as I listen to my roommates around me sleeping. Gregory and Vincent alternating between snoring and grunting; I always imagine that their dreams are simple and filled with food. Draco as he tosses and turns from the horrible dreams that haunt him, I can only imagine the pain my friend goes through. He is much like me, lost and scared in this world filled with uncertainties. Lying on my back, I clasp my hands behind my head and stare at the canopy above my bed. I will not give up so easily on Hermione, if only she could see the potential between us. It is so plain to me, how can she not see. I let thoughts of Hermione slowly consume me as I drift into a dream, I dream of the Yule Ball from last year. How Hermione had gone with Victor Krum and how I had gone alone watching her dance happily with that idiot Bulgarian.
It has been a couple of weeks since the run in the library, and the weather is starting to cool down. Most students are inside the castle warding off the grasp of winters chill, but she sits outside in the entrance courtyard her books scattered around her as she studies. I am a few yards away sitting in the sill of an arched window; I lay my head on the glass and feel the cold caress my warm cheeks and forehead. Watching her carefully reading her texts and parchments, I lose focus and see my reflection in the window. From this view, I can see me sitting next to her. How I long for this mirrored perspective.
"Oye, Blaise what you staring at?" I hear Draco call as he walks down the hallway towards where I sit. I lazily move my head to see him approach me, before moving my gaze back to her.
"What do you think?" I question, and I can practically hear his eyebrows raise.
"Mate when are you going to get over this crush, she doesn't even know you exist." He questions as he knocks my feet off the windowsill and takes their place.
"She would if she would just spend some time with me," I whisper as I watch her scribble furious on a piece of parchment her books now forgotten. I hear Draco chuckle as he taps the glass near my head making me look at him.
"Mate, you've got to move on. It seems like this crush has turned into some unhealthy obsession." He says and for the first time I can see past the cold and carefree mask he wears to the worry he feels underneath.
"It's not an obsession; I've just got to make her notice me." I reach a hand up tangling it in my short raven locks. I cannot let my gaze meet Draco's, my gaze to unguarded and open. I cannot give up on her, not yet! She has not even seen how perfect we could be together, she does not even know! With this, I pull my hand from my hair and slam it against the sill I sit on. Draco shifts uncertainly and I can tell he is worried about me. Honestly, I cannot blame him, I am moody and reckless…I need to do something about this.
"Come on, let's go get something to eat, Pansy and Daphne are waiting for us." Draco says as he hops off the windowsill, I hop down and follow him but my mind feels a million miles away. Actually only a few yards away out in the entrance courtyard.
I had spent the whole day working up the courage to talk to her, and finally my chance had arrived. In Potions class we had been partnered up and given ingredients, we were to make the potions and once it was made decipher what potion we had made. The first part of the potion making had gone on quietly, with her occasionally glancing over to see what I was doing.
"What kind of potion do you think it is?" I question my voice barely above a whisper, and yet she still jumps at the shock of hearing me speak.
"I'm not quite sure," she replies as she once again begins looking over the ingredients that we have.
"Well leech juice is used in Polyjuice potion is it not?" I question, as she quickly looks over the ingredients and shakes her head in disagreement.
"We would need lacewing flies, bicorn horn, knotgrass, fluxweed and boomslang skin." At this she pauses once again surveying the ingredients before nodding her head, "Seeing as we have daisy root, shrivelfig, caterpillar, rat spleen and leech juice I can only assume we are making a Shrinking Solution."
"Great deducing detective," I tease, earning a blush of pink that caresses her cheeks and the tips of her ears. The rest of the class period is followed by casual conversation with us talking over potion theories and other intellectually stimulating subjects. As she brought our vial up to the front of the class, I quickly jot down a note asking her to meet me in the library after dinner and slip it into her bag. When the bell rings we both gather up our papers, books, and head our separate ways, I can only hope she will meet me.
That night I skipped dinner and instead waited in the library for her…I waited until curfew when Madam Pince shooed me out. She never showed.
The next day I made it to History of Magic class early and placed a note on her desk, and waited for her to open it. When she finally made it into class, only a few moments before the bell rang, she took one glance at the note before tapping it with her wand and we both watched it burn into a pile of ash. Class after class I left her notes asking her to meet me in the library, asking her why she wouldn't meet with me, and just asking her why. I never saw what she did with the notes she found in her bag, but I saw her burn every note I left on her desk. Finally losing my patience one day, I decide that I will confront her about it.
Walking into the library, I watch as she begins to walk through the mazes of library shelves. She walks the same pattern every time she looks for books, so I know exactly where to meet up with her. I do not pretend to be casually looking through books; I walk straight up to her and place a hand on her shoulder turning her to face me.
"Why won't you read my notes?" I question, trying to keep my tone calm and even. I do not want to lose my temper after all.
"Why should I?" she questions, ducking out of my grip and walking back in the direction she had just come from. It only takes me a few steps to catch up with her and grab her elbow.
"Because all I want to do is speak to you." I reply once again moving her to face me, my grip on her elbow tight enough that she cannot slip out of it.
"Let me go Zabini," she says refusing to look me in the eye, as she tries to pull her arm out of my grasp.
"Not until you talk to me. Why won't you just talk to me?" I question.
"Why should I? When has a Slytherin ever given me a good reason to talk to them." She hisses, finally showing some of that Gryffindor courage and looking up at me defiantly. My mind reels and I lose all control. Reaching my free hand up, I grab her chin roughly and lean down placing my lips against hers. Her lips are soft and velvety against my slightly chapped lips, and I barely suppress a moan from the pleasure. I feel like I am in heaven, and I know she cannot deny the passion behind this simple kiss. I move to deepen the kiss when she starts to struggle. Pulling away, she looks up at me, her eyes barely able to hide the horror she feels before she pulls herself out of my limp grasp. She turns around and in a moment, she is gone, and I am left alone with only a memory and the faint smell of roses and raspberries.
The next morning at breakfast, I watch as she chats with Potter and Weasley. I cannot ignore the glares the boys keep shooting my way and I can only assume she told them what had happened in the library last night. She ignores my gaze for most of the morning but finally as she grabs her bags to leave her gaze catches mine. She unconsciously raises a hand to her lips; remembering the brief kiss, we had shared. I smile at her, and I am shocked when she smiles back at me. Not the fake smile she gives to Professors, but the real smile that reaches her eyes and makes the corners of her mouth dimple. I watch as she leaves the Great Hall with her friends and cannot help the sense of victory that washes over me. All she has to do is spend sometime with me, and she will find that I will possess her heart.