Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Edward Matthew Carmichael hated his name. He didn't feel like an Edward, and he couldn't go by his middle name (like one Haakon Andrew Kirke) because he felt even less like a Matthew. The day before his first at Hogwarts, Edward rechristened himself "Eddie." It was a name he settled for because sometimes he felt like an Eddie, and sometimes he did not.
Today, he felt like an Eddie. He felt like spending quality time with Peeves, like ignoring all of his homework, like snogging every boy he ran into and having a dip in the lake. It was this last idea that tugged at him the most today, on an unseasonably, unendingly hot September afternoon. It was the first warm day England had encountered since the return of the wizard whose name alone put chills in the heart of Eddie, his family and, it seemed, Mother Nature.
Pushing the doors out to the stifling sunshine, Eddie observed the few students who had dared to step outside. A gaggle of giggling girls lay stretched out on the grass, hoping to obtain something resembling a tan. As Eddie approached, their whispers increased with significance. He gave them a brilliant grin, reducing them to nothing beyond hysterical laughter, and went on his way. He acknowledged to himself that the third-years were really coming into their own pretty selves, but they didn't promise the kind of fun for which he searched today. Of course, they rarely did.
Though the sun beat hard on his skin, Eddie walked with confidence and purpose through the soupy air until a solitary breeze brought the scent and cooling spray of the lake across his body. With these luxuries came the sight of Blaise Zabini in nothing but a pair of swimming trunks, perched on a tree and preparing to dive headfirst into the deep, black waters.
In his present state, this could be possibly the worst sight for Eddie (although in many ways it was the best sight for Eddie ever). He was not unfamiliar with Blaise Zabini, a beautiful Slytherin with velvety dark skin and slanted, sneering eyes. The stoic and admittedly arrogant sixth-year had been in Eddie's mind for quite some time now. Because of Eddie's current disposition, it was nearly impossible not to pounce on Blaise, his body strong and sinewy, his brow beaded with sweat, a look of peaceful determination on his face. But Blaise was the one person Eddie should not approach today. Eddie knew that Blaise was conservative, vain, and close-minded. He also knew that Blaise was gay. Mostly, Eddie knew that he wanted to act quickly, but that doing so would scare away his prey. It would take time to deconstruct the barriers surrounding Blaise Zabini's inner self, and so it was with patience that Eddie, forgetting his original plan, knelt behind a cluster of trees and watched Blaise make his first jump.
Blaise. Eddie tasted the name in his mind, liking it. Loving it. It was far too beautiful and sophisticated for himself, but it suited the boy before him perfectly.
It was the first impact that made swimming so powerful.
The crash against the water started from the tips of his fingers and in nothing more than a second (yet taking nothing less than eternity) stretched across his entire body. The water's skin had been warmed by sunlight, but as Blaise made his way into the murky depths it was as though he were shrouded in ice. He relished the delicious chills through his body as the hairs on his arms and legs pricked up in earnest. His heartbeat raced, protesting, but he didn't care. In the water, Blaise's mind found a peace that he had never experienced on land, because in the immeasurable moment it took for him to touch the lake, he was allowed without judgement to be alone. It was true that grindylows, merpeople, and the Giant Squid also inhabited this space, but in the end it was Blaise's world only, and this was precisely what Blaise liked best.
Blaise returned to the surface, his body straining to handle the drastic changes in temperature. He turned his face to the sky and floated on his back, closing his eyes against the blue. As he drifted slowly about the lake, he considered the past week, his first week as a sixth-year. Already, Blaise was bored at Hogwarts. The school was just as uninteresting as it had been in the previous year—perhaps even more so, without OWLs to worry about. His inclusion in the Slug Club—a name that made Blaise cringe even now—was not so much exciting as expected. Considering that Neville Longbottom had been invited, Blaise hardly felt honoured.
He was beginning to detest the familiar faces about him. No one Blaise knew was interesting, and the people he didn't know were sure to be just as dull. Malfoy certainly thought he was a remarkable creature, but Blaise didn't believe for a second that the ferrety twat had truly been made a Death Eater. It was possible that Blaise simply hadn't given the year enough of a chance, but it was just easier to resign oneself to endless boredom than it was to actually expect things from school.
It was really getting difficult for Blaise to care about anything at all.
After swimming aimlessly for another fifteen minutes (aimless . . . what a perfect word to describe life right now), Blaise reluctantly dragged himself from the lake. As he pulled a towel around his waist, he thought he heard a rustle in the nearby trees. It couldn't possibly be the wind; the breezes today were sparse and weak. Blaise carefully examined the area around him but could not find even a footprint in the hard, beaten dirt.
This should have piqued Blaise's interest. But he dismissed the noise, not caring if he'd imagined it or not, and walked back to the school. Not caring about anything, the sun warming his skin once more.
A/N: Dedicated to funnieduckie, since I promised this forever ago.