A/N: And now, the prequel you've all been waiting for!
Quills
"Hey, can I borrow a quill?"
I looked up. Someone was sitting next to me. I hadn't noticed that. What was his name? It began with 'Z', I'm sure. Let me see, dark hair, dark skin, blue eyes… Zabini! That was it.
"Sure," I said, and handed it to him. While I rummaged around in my bag for another one, he tapped me on the back.
"What?" I snapped. I hadn't meant to be so rude. "Sorry, didn't mean to sound rude."
He smiles at me. A charming, warm, gorgeous smile that I was sure Slytherins weren't supposed to have. "Don't worry about it. Do you have any ink?"
My eyes widened. Was that it? "You can share mine." He nodded in thanks. I turned back to my Arithmancy chart I was supposed to be doing for homework, but somehow, I couldn't concentrate properly. It was really distracting how every so often his hand would brush past my arm to reach the ink that was placed between us. I just had to look over at what he was doing.
An Arithmancy chart? It seemed like he was doing exactly the same thing as me. Not that I was copying, of course. I would never do that.
"Do you know the answer for this square?"
"Hm? What? Sorry, I wasn't on this planet."
He chuckled. I went red. "That's alright. Do you know the answer to square 12?"
We spent the next half an hour discussing possible answers to our homework until finally, it was done.
I stood up and smiled at him. "Thanks for your help. See you around."
He pouted. "Aren't you going to talk to me for a while? Get to know me better?"
Oh, Merlin. "I'll just go put this away," I said, pointing at my Arithmancy work. He nodded.
I went up the spiral staircase leading toward the girls' dormitories and opened the door to my dorm at the very top. Throwing my scroll of parchment down onto my bed, I sat down and sighed. Did I really want to know this guy? I paused, really thinking. Standing up again, I decided that I did. From what I knew of Zabini, he wasn't too evil, he was nice (for a Slytherin anyway), he was on the Quidditch team as Keeper and he had a lot of fan girls. Not as many as Malfoy, I admit, but the less the better. I think I'll stick to being a friend of his. If I could get to be one in the first place.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
He jumped. I had crept up behind him. "Oh, I just wanted to get to know you better, seeing as you were nice enough to lend me some stuff."
I raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have enough fan girls already?" I asked.
"Well, one more couldn't hurt."
I laughed and poked him in the shoulder. "No way am I going to be your fan girl, Zabini."
"I wasn't asking you to," he replied, smiling. I gaped.
"But you−"
"I just said that one more fan girls couldn't hurt. I never said I wanted you to be a fan girl, Kisa."
I frowned. "How do you know my name?"
"How do you know mine?"
"I asked you first."
"But I want you to tell me first."
"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes. "I was listening to Malfoy talking once and he said your name and you answered. Happy?"
"Yes. I like to stalk you."
"What?"
"Just kidding. I saw you writing your name on the Quidditch tryouts list."
"Oh. What else do you want to talk about, Zabini?"
He looked at me, and I melted a bit under his gaze. "Why do you call me Zabini?"
I bit back my giggle. "Because I don't know your first name," I said truthfully.
"Oh." I smiled to myself. He was obviously expecting some other answer.
"Can you stop staring at me? I know I'm totally irresistible, but still."
Oh. I hadn't realised I was staring. I raised my eyebrow again. "You really are full of yourself, aren't you?"
"Just a little bit," he said, giving me a seductive little wink. I pretended to ignore it, but I was blushing. A lot.
He noticed and smiled kindly down at me. He seemed to do a lot of smiling. "Do you want to know my first name?"
"No," I answered, giving him a little seductive smile of my own. I was flirting with him. I'd better stop. My smile disappeared rapidly. I didn't want him to think I liked him in that way, even if I did a tiny bit. He would never like me back.
I was just an average girl, I wore black all the time and I had hardly any friends. Oh, I had two or three close friends, but they mostly hung out with other people, and that left me alone to read and think. If you were a stranger, coming into the Slytherin common room, you wouldn't notice me at all. I was a loner, as some would say.
"Kisa? Are you ok?"
I was looking down at the floor, eyes burning. I looked up at him and smiled weakly. "Yeah. Just fine." But it was a lie. I quickly looked back down at the floor, willing myself not to cry. I didn't know why I was crying. I was quite happy with my life, but I supposed I was a bit lonely at times.
He smiled back at me. "I've noticed you writing a few times. What were you writing?"
"I write all sorts of things," I said, not looking up. "I have a journal, and I sometimes write stories."
"May I see it?" He was looking at me with puppy-dog eyes. I laughed.
"My journal or the stories?"
He thought for a moment. "Would it be too nosy if I wanted to look at your journal?"
I smiled. "Just a little bit."
"I see. So, can I see the stories?"
"No. You probably wouldn't like them. They're a bit depressing," I admitted.
He shrugged. I shook my head. "I'll let you see them some other time maybe," I said quietly.
"You know, you're the first girl I've met who doesn't do whatever I ask. Did you know that?" he asked.
I smiled. "I do now. I have a lot of… what do you call it? Oh yes, spunk. I don't listen to a lot of people. Including your friend Malfoy."
He cocked his head. "How do you know Malfoy was my friend?"
"I told you, I saw him talking to you. Can I ask you a question?"
"You already did," he stated.
"Oh, very clever. But anyway, does Malfoy dye his hair?"
He leaned in towards my ear. I could feel his breath. I started to feel a bit shaky. "Do you want to know my honest answer?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked."
"I don't know."
I slapped his arm playfully. "That was a lot of help," I said sarcastically.
He grinned. "I know, isn't it great?"
I scowled at him. "Sure. Whatever." Just then, his friends came back from wherever they were before and I made an excuse to leave. I never liked being around a group of people. I stood up and sent one last smile towards him. He returned it.
That night, as I slowly dissolved into the realms of unconsciousness, I suddenly remembered something.
He never gave me back my quill.
Well, I never meant for this to be so depressing, but that's how life was for Kisa until she met Blaise.
Forever yours,
Fair Cruelty