Disclaimer: If you recognise it, then it isn't mine.
Prologue
"Alright, class." Snape barked. "Silence now. Take notes off the board, and then we'll be making a Clarity Potion. There will be no need to talk."
He began writing on the blackboard, back turned to the class. The Gryffindors were all dutifully taking notes, but most of the Slytherins didn't bother.
Pansy Parkinson was filing her nails, gossiping with Millie Bulstrode over one of the summer parties they'd been to back in August. Crabbe and Goyle were busy stuffing their faces full of chocolate frogs now that Snape wasn't looking. Draco was writing a letter to his mother, and next to him Blaise Zabini was staring into space.
He couldn't concentrate this morning. First day back, his mind was on the summer just passed and all the things he wished he was doing instead of this. He'd been in Australia for the holidays, portkeying back to the UK for all the big parties that he was expected to attend by his parents. He'd done tons of flying over the bush, and looking at some of the Muggle attractions such as Ayer's Rock and the big bridge in Sydney. It had been a good time, mostly. And the parties too- usually they were unbearable, but the girl he'd been escorting for the summer season, Christina Black, had turned out to actually be a good laugh. Draco had been stuck with the dullest girl in existence, Felicity Nott, which had pissed him off no end.
His parents had been so pleased at his behaviour during all the parties that they'd given him permission to use the chalet in France during the Christmas holidays to entertain friends. Something they'd always refused before. Blaise had told Pansy, who would organise the whole thing. She was good at that, if not much else.
"Hey, Blaise." Draco hissed without moving his mouth or even looking up, poking him under the table. "Snape's looking at you. Write something down."
It creeped Blaise out how Draco could tell things like that. He immediately started scribbling down the first things that came to his head, and when he glanced up Snape looked gratified.
Some of the Gryffindors had finished their notes. What's-her-face, the one with the bushy hair, and a few others. They were setting up their cauldrons, being annoyingly noisy and not at all efficient. Blaise rolled his eyes at them.
Amateurs.
Draco set down his quill as Blaise scribbled down the ingredients and went to get them from the cupboard. He had his hands full of jars and vials when he walked smack into someone, dropping the entire lot.
He howled in pain as something nasty seeped through his shoes and he felt a burning sensation on his feet. The person he'd walked into, one of the Gryffindors, had a faceful of something that was turning her skin green. Snape came striding over, looking very irritated.
"Be more careful next time, Zabini." He snapped. "The ingredients aren't easy to replace."
Blaise nodded, wincing.
"Right. Hospital wing." Snape pointed him towards the door. The Gryffindor girl followed, but Snape told her to wait until the lesson was over and sent her back to her cauldron.
Blaise hobbled up the stairs to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey pumped him full of some nasty-tasting potion and performed a couple of spells. His shoes were completely ruined, so he had to walk all the way through the dungeons in bare feet back to the dorms to get another pair. His feet were numb by the time he got there, and he cursed himself for not wearing socks that morning.
At lunch, he was miserable. First day back and he'd already fucked up royally. He sat down next to Judas, a friend of his, and helped himself to some lasagne.
"Heard what happened in Potions." Judas said. He was in the same year as Blaise, but a lot smarter. He had lessons with the seventh year, but they were still both in the same dorm. "Bad luck."
Blaise sighed.
"At least Snape likes me. Would have been horrible if I were a Gryffindor or something. But still."
Judas waved over Draco, who was looking hassled. He sat down on the other side of Blaise.
"Can't find my bloody timetable." Draco snarled, not bothering to get any food but drinking a whole glass of pumpkin juice in one gulp.
"Go to Snape and get a new one." Judas suggested.
"Can't be bothered right now. Got stuff to do. See you later. And Jude, watch out. Pansy's cat is under the table by your foot. It's about to bite you." And Draco took off again. Judas moved his feet and went back to his food.
"Anyway, Blaise. Got something that'll cheer you up."
"What?" Blaise asked. Jude gestured towards the end corner of the table, by the window. Hardly anyone sat down there.
"Late arrival. Take a look."
Blaise looked. And his mouth fell open. She was beautiful. Long dark hair, tied back with a silver ribbon. The kind a child would wear, but it looked elegant on her. Her eyes were dark, framed by pretty lashes. Pale skin was covered in faint freckles, and her lips were painted the most beautiful red. Not as bright as Gryffindor red, but darker. More sensual.
She was enveloped in a dark green cloak, and there was a thin silver bracelet on her wrist. She was completely alone, poking at a plate of food but not really eating anything.
"Who is she?" Blaise breathed, completely entranced. Judas smirked at him.
"The Nolan girl."
"What, Margot?" Blaise was taken aback. Margot Noland was a clingy blonde who did nothing but whine about how bad the food was at her school, Beauxbatons. Or at least, she had been the last time Blaise saw her.
"Merlin, no. Her cousin. Aegon Nolan's daughter- he owns all the castles up in the north?"
"What's her name?" He couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Rain."
"Why hasn't she been at any of the arties in the past few years?" he asked. Everyone in their circle went to these things. There was the summer season and the winter season- six weeks with a party each Thursday night and a final ball on the last night. All the families took turns hosting. They all knew each other, and their children had just about grown up together. Each season, one of the young men would be assigned an escort. One of the girls his age from another family. The idea was that this would lead to betrothal as it had in the olden days, but recently it hadn't really been working like that.
"Her father doesn't like her to go. Or any of his children, for that matter." Jude took a drink of water from his glass. "Something about superficial nonsense, from what I've heard."
"I see." Blaise was still staring.
"Cool it, Blaise." Judas warned. "Don't stare. Pansy will see and tell people."
Blaise sighed, averting his eyes and going back to his food. He knew his friend was right. Pansy had a tendency to get overexcited about things and spread rumours all over Slytherin house. Anything she saw would undoubtedly be all over the common room within hours. She was great if you needed some information on anyone, but terrible if you wanted to keep something a secret.
"She's not taken, is she?" He asked. Jude shrugged.
"I don't know. I can find out for you."
"Please do." His appetite was gone now. He had never felt so attracted to anyone at first sight, and that was saying something considering he was a sixteen-year-old boy whose mother had been introducing him to the most beautiful girls in the upper class of wizarding England since he was tiny.
"She's got sisters, I think. But they don't go here. I'm not sure why she's here." Judas remarked. Blaise shrugged, he didn't care.
For the rest of the day, all he could think about was her. A girl he'd seen once, whose voice he'd never heard, whose eyes had never met his.
A girl called Rain.