Disclaimer: Not JK…

A/n: Written for Essie's "Non-Canon Pairing" challenge. The pairing given was Blaise/Parvati; the prompt was embarrassed and the setting was the Forbidden Forest. Hope you enjoy!

"Oh, come on Zabini. Don't be such a pansy" her clear voice floated back to him over the giant rock. Blaise glared at the offending piece of boulder with distaste before he began attempting to climb it. It wasn't an easy task and by the time he had achieved it, Parvati was annoyed and impatient.

"What took you so long? It's just a rock!" she commented before she began walking forward, not bothering to look back at whether he was following or not. Amazingly, he did walk behind her after a few minutes, looking at the dirty and damp moss that covered practically everything in the forest, making it look like he was stuck in a stuffy room with deep green walls. Ugh! He never imagined he'd be thinking this, but he really did hate the color green now.

"Quit daydreaming, Zabini. We have a unicorn to find and bring back. As it is, it was your fault that I'm stuck in this damn cold place searching for a lost animal when I could much rather be seated inside the commonroom enjoying the day." She kept muttering to herself about stupid Slytherins who thought they were too high to lower themselves to looking after the animals they were assigned. Blaise sighed, having no response to that.

It had been he who had let the unicorn run away when he must have been calming it down. Draco had gone and frightened the poor animal, but Blasie had secretly thought that it had been Draco's pallor that had driven away the poor thing. Chuckling to himself, he quickened his pace, in a better mood than he had been before.

"What's so funny about being stuck inside a dark foreboding forest, Zabini? This may be your idea of a picnic but it certainly is not mine. Let's get this over with this fast. As it is, I have a potions essay waiting for me back inside the castle and I don't think 'floundering around in the forest looking for a unicorn' would suffice an acceptable explanation for Professor Snape"

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the four poster or something, Patil? Or are you always this snappy?"

"Only with dim witted Slytherins who can't control their own mares" she replied sharply, not even bothering to turn back.

"What? Do you have something against Unicorns or something? I thought you loved them?" he asked curiously as he ran up to keep with her pace.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes for a minute before she turned away. He couldn't discern the expression on her face which was hidden in the shadows the looming trees in the forest cast.

"Well, I suppose it's no harm in telling you. Afterall, no self respecting Slytherin will admit to associating with a Gryffinor much less having a discussion about said Gryffindor's supposed preference to Unicorns"

"I guess not" he shrugged it off. It wasn't as if she was going to divulge information about her clandestine affairs to him.

"It's just my twin, Padma, and Lavender who like all things girly and stuff. I just sort of tag along. It's easy to act like you're interested in something than remain isolated. Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"You might be surprised at how much I do understand" was all he muttered but Parvati let the comment slide. He was clearly trying to act the counselor, something she did not need.

At a distance, they spotted a flash of silvery white fur and Parvati began racing towards it. Blaise lagged behind, knowing she'd catch the Unicorn before it could escape again. No matter what she claimed, Blaise knew she had a flair for calming creatures. During the months that they had been paired together, he had seen her connect with the smallest to the scariest of all the animals. She had a certain aura that made them trust her. Even if she stood near a Hippogryff holding a knife in her hand, it would still come to her without hesitations.

"Ow!" hearing her sharp cry, Blaise quickened his pace in the direction of the sound. He rushed up a mound of what appeared to be clay covered by slippery mosses and found Parvati leaning on a tree, her eyes closed tight. Her face was contorted in pain as she inclined her head towards the bark. Her arm was extended towards her leg, and Blaise realized that she must have hurt herself.

"What happened, Patil?" he approached her carefully. If she could be that snappy when she was just irritated, who knew what she'd do when she was irked and hurt? But when she opened her eyes at the sound of his voice, they weren't spitting daggers like he had thought. Her dark eyes were clouded with pain, and she flinched as she tried to stand straight.

"Just sprained my ankle" her voice was barely audible and Blasie knew that she was speaking quietly to hide the breaks in them.

"Why are you standing then? Sit down or you'll make it worse" he ordered and a sliver of defiance laced with the pain in her eyes.

"What do you care, Zabini? I need to get that Unicorn back to Professor Kettleburn today and I need to go finish my assignments, too. I do not have time to waste being a sitting duck. Move" she tried to push him away but it wasn't any use.

"Why do you push yourself this hard, Patil? Surely, you can rest for a bit before we can go in search of the Unicorn? It wouldn't be far from here. The Centaurs' border is just around the corner…"

"I know that." she snapped back at him suddenly.

"So, we'll find it soon. You can take a break for a few minutes" he finished, ignoring her interruption.

"I can not" she tried to walk around him but her stride was barely a limp and she wasn't able to move more than a few steps before the pain became unbearable, anyway. Seeing her halt, he moved to stand before her.

"I insist" he guided her gently back towards the tree. She thought of protesting but as far as she saw, there was no other option. She must have been terrified by now. Being stuck in the middle of the forbidden forest with an infamous Slytherin, with a cramped leg wasn't the safest position a girl could find herself in but, Parvati realized that she felt oddly serene. May be because she could see that Zabini wasn't the cruel person everybody seemed to believe he was. Sure, the guy never spoke much and even then he did they were curt answers and snappy retorts. But he was behaving totally unlike his reputation today and she was surprised.

She leant on the tree and with his help, slid down into a sitting position. He knelt down beside her and scrutinized her ankle. He then drew out his wand and began waving it in complex patterns.

"What are you doing?" even as she asked the question, she could feel a cold feeling seep through her ankle, relieving the burning pain. Bandages began to appear and tied themselves around her ankle securely and found that she could move her ankle without feeling much of the excruciating pain it had brought.

"I may not be very good at climbing rocks or chasing run away unicorns but I do know a few basic healing spells" he smiled mockingly at her.

"The Unicorn…" she reminded him and he stood up.

"Just wait here and I'll see if I can coerce it to return back with me" he smirked lightly before he left her alone in the clearing.

What am I doing? Was the very thought that was running through his head as Blaise wandered in the forest. He had been almost caring towards her back at the clearing. Though it wasn't unlike him, he had a reputation to keep and treating wounded Gryffindors like it was the most natural thing to do wasn't going to help. But there was a part of him, an annoying little voice, that kept reminding him that there was something more to his actions than mere kindness. Of course he wasn't falling for her; that would be a blasphemy. But she intrigued him. He had seen her act dim witted and all girly but the events of the past hour and her own words told him why.

She was quite sensible and tough beneath all the damsel-ly exterior she put up. That sprain must have hurt like hell. He had seen stronger wizards crumble beneath the pain. But she had been ready to walk into the forest filled with uneven surfaces and slippery floors. He shuddered at the pain that she would have surely had to endure. Why was she subjecting herself to something that was quite clearly torturous injury?

Parvati sat still, looking around the forest that surrounded her. A sudden feeling creeped up on her; someone was watching her. Panicked, she turned towards the direction she thought the gaze was coming from and let out a sigh. Not one but three pairs of eyes stared at her…three?

As the footsteps neared, and the shadows receded, she could clearly make out the outline of the elusive Unicorn. Of course there was Zabini. But there was another little creature…

She gasped at the sight of the little thing that followed behind its mother, looking around in fright. It let out weak neighs from time to time as if it was unsure, but seemed to be reassured by its mother's confidence.

Parvati smiled kindly at the little Unicorn and it neighed faintly back. The animal's eyes wandered to her leg which was propped up in bandages and its gait seemed to gain strength. Soon, it was walking ahead of the other two and stopped close to Parvati. She ran a hand through its fur and it leant into her hand. Hearing Zabini's chuckle she turned towards him and raised an eyebrow.

"That pesky little thing wouldn't even come near me…" he explained and Parvati looked to the foal with wonder.

"Gave him his money's worth, did you?" she petted the animal and it neighed louder. Blaise shook his head as he came near them.

"Atleast now we know why the Unicorn ran away. Professor Kettleburn's going to be very pleased"

"We should probably head towards the castle. It must be getting late" Parvati tried to sit up but her leg had become numb from sitting still for so long.

"Don't worry. It's just three in the afternoon and we were excused from classes for the day, remember?" he sat beside her and leaned on the tree, placing his hands behind his head to prevent them from resting on the bark.

"Doesn't mean we have to waste it lounging inside the dreary forest."

"Yeah, we could always spend it inside the castle drinking hot chocolate" he agreed and she chuckled.

"I was going to say doing homework, but that works just as well, I guess"

"Tell me this Patil, why are you so obsessed with academics? I mean, not that I think it a bad thing, but…"

"You want to know why I bother since I'll never be as good as Granger anyway"

"No, it's not that…"

"You and I both know it was what you meant, but don't worry it doesn't bother me" she replied before turning silent, and her eyes closed. He almost thought she wasn't going to answer when she spoke.

"Where I come from, the only thing that matters is how intelligent I am. Not how brave, sensible, or even how pretty I am. It's all about the grades I get and the ambitions I chose to follow. And the least I could do is atleast try to be as good as my Ravenclaw twin" her voice was dripping with sarcasm and blatant contempt and Blaise could see that this was something that had been bothering her for a long time. He had a weird feeling that he had opened the Pandora's Box but she remained silent after that, almost as if she had revealed too much.

"What do you want to be? After you graduate, that is?"

"I have no idea." She chuckled wryly before adding, "My mother would perish of heart failure if she knew"

"And your sister does?"

"Yes. She's quite interested in prophecies and the like. She says she wants to work at the Department of Mysteries. My family would be delighted"

"Your family?"

"Yeah, I have loads of them. Quite nosy too, if I do say so myself"

"You're lucky, you know? You atleast have someone who'll care about these things"

"Oh! Yeah, I forgot. You…"

"Lost my mother? Yes, I did. And I can't honestly say I mourn for her loss" she turned to him then, eyes round as saucers. Blaise laughed.

"How could you love someone you never knew? She was as close to me as your nephew thrice removed and twice blasted off the family tree would have been to you"

"But still…" she did not continue, but he seemed to get her expression for he sighed.

"Yes, it is precisely that 'but still' I wanted. And what I tried for. Turned out to be nothing in the end. She cared for noone but her own self"

"I'm sorry" she placed a hand on his palm. It felt warm on his cold hand and he sighed in contentment.

"It's alright. I've learnt to live with it. Deal with the hand you've been dealt, and all, you know?" he was visibly embarrassed and Parvati acted completely out of instinct.

"If ever you wanted someone for company, you know…"

"Thanks, Patil. But I think you'll get bored with me pretty soon. I don't talk much; I'm not as fun as the rest of the people seem to think I am and I'm not even evil enough to make up for it"

"But you're a good person. I know you'll never admit to this and I wouldn't have told this of you a few hours back either. But everyone needs a friend"

"A friend? That sounds nice. Thanks"

"You're welcome. Atleast now our Care of Magical Creatures class will be more bearable" Blaise chuckled at her observations. She stood up gingerly, but stayed standing. She tested her feet for a few steps and then her pace quickened.

Blasie recognized that the moment of confessions was over but he realized that in the course of the few hours, their perspective of each other had changed completely.

He knew it; he knew she realized it too, by the way her eyes looked at him. Not with hate, or distaste; but with the curiosity he knew was reflected in his own.

"You know, you could have a great chance in the field of magical creatures, if you tried" he commented as he walked with her out of the forest, the two Unicorns following them.

"Just because I offered to be your friend doesn't mean I hired you as my career guide"

"Of course. There's Hagrid's hut. Let's hurry"

And that was the beginning of a sound friendship that morphed into something else entirely with time.

A/n: Don't favorite without reviewing!