Waltz
Watashi wo Sagashite
Hermione Granger was the bookworm-y type, according to everyone else. And it came as a very, very big shock when the gorgeous date of Viktor Krum's was revealed to be none other than Hermione.
She had turned her bushy, shining brown hair into a sleek, smooth curled updo and her face held the bearest trace of kohl liner, mascara, and lipgloss. She wore perrywinkle blue robes that hugged her curvy body and just seemed to float around her. A small matching clutch and some strappy stilettos finished her look. Any male at the Yule Ball that night could tell you that she was gorgeous. But one male in particular couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
Blaise Zabini sat at one of the cozy but elegant looking tables, his eyes never leaving the dancing form of his favourite perrywinkle clad witch. She was looking divine tonight. Even fellow housemate Draco Malfoy- who hated her with a passion- was seen gaping at her. As Blaise sipped his butterbeer and continued to watch Hermione, he couldn't help but remember what had drawn the two of them together in the first place.
Blaise was in a relatively good mood. November threatened constant bucketfuls of rain, and everyone was too absorbed in their own lives to bother him.
"Zabini! Zabini!" he was surprised to see "Gryffindor Princess" Hermione Granger trailing behind him, looking determined to catch up to his long strides. Feeling curious, he stopped and waited for the girl to catch up.
"What do you want Granger?" he asked her impatiently. She flushed a little, obviously having a bit of trouble vocalizing whatever it was she had to say. She opened her mouth several times before timidly launching into what would become a request.
"You know that the Yule Ball is coming up right?" she began anxiously. Blaise nodded bemusedly. 'Is she going to ask me to accompany her?' he wondered. The chances that he'd say yes was an absolute zero and he was pretty sure she knew it, so why was she wasting her time? "Well, since it's a wizard's ball, I assume there'll be wizard style dancing only. I looked it up and the standard dances are like formal waltzes and stuff," she continued, bringing his focus back onto her, "I honestly don't know how to dance like that and I suppose being a traditional Pureblood you would..." she trailed off and Blaise realized where she was going with this.
"You want me to teach you," he stated flatly, looking down into her amber eyes. If anyone had told him Hermione bloody Granger was going to ask him how to waltz, he would have personally shipped them to St. Mungo's. Unfortunately, he found himself in this predicament. "What's in it for me?" Ah, the ever present Slytherin personality had found its way to the surface.
"What do you want?" Hermione asked him, feeling slightly more hopeful. She was eighty percent sure he was going to say no, and he was her best hope. She saw the Slytherin think, his beautiful, unusual indigo eyes narrow calculatingly.
"A few conditions," he decided, feeling he could use this to his advantage. "First of all, you cannot go with Weasley or Potter." He thought that this would devastate either of the losers if they were rejected. And he liked seeing Boy Wonder and his sidekick suffer, he really did. "And you have to get Theodore Nott a date." Kill two birds with one stone, since Nott had pleaded with him to help him out. "Of course," he added smoothly, "You won't tell anyone of course."
"You have yourself a deal." Hermione grinned at him and they shook on it. She turned and left, a definite bounce in her step. Blaise shook his head. What a surreal world he was living in.
"The steps are one-two-three half turn. And move closer," he instructed her, one hand enveloping hers, the other on her waist. "Now we move towards each other like so," he stepped closer to her gracefully, and moved his hand from her waist. He spun her away from his body and they resumed their starting position.
"This is a lot of fun," Hermione admitted, "I can't wait to dance at the Ball." She seemed excited, very unlike her stereotype as a bookworm. If Blaise had been Draco, he would have been hardpressed to stop the "You can't wait for a ball? Are you going with a book?" but he could tell from the way she was floating about the room with him, that she was not as two dimensionally boring as she was painted. Her face shone with a gleeful happiness and it obviously affected her dancing ability- she was very light on her feet, like she was floating.
The lessons continued for another month until Hermione had mastered the whole dance and a few variations. By then, the two had become more comfortable with each other, even using each others' given names occassionally. They had been just finishing their last session together when Hermione spoke thoughtfully.
"You know," she said, "I enjoyed our lessons, and you're a really good teacher." She smiled kindly at him and Blaise felt an unfamiliar leap in his chest.
"At first I was wondering, why did you ask me to teach you?" he told her. She blushed before speaking almost apologetically.
"Because I knew a Slytherin- or at least an old fashioned pureblood family- would know it best. And you're better than a lot of them. I didn't want to ask a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw either because they'd assume that afterwards, we'd go to the ball together," she admitted.
"But," she continued, and the blush came back again, "I dunno... Hey Blaise, do you want to go to the ball with me? As friends," she added quickly, glancing shyly at him. Blaise looked at her. He remembered when she first made her proposal and he thought she was going to ask him to the ball, and he remembered how he'd felt so strongly against it. And now that she was asking him, that strong opposition was gone. He bit his lip.
"I don't think anyone will be too chuffed to see us together, even if we go as just friends," he remarked finally, and her face fell. She sighed.
"That's alright then," she replied, "thanks anyway though." Then she did something that neither expected her to do. She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. "I won't forget this though."
That had been two weeks ago. Blaise had expected she would get a date, how could she not? She wore baggy clothes and wasn't all that flirty, but he expected she'd show up with some Gryff or something. He definitely hadn't expected her to show up with Viktor bleeding Krum, the international superstar quidditch player of all things. And as he watched her floating about on the dance floor, her robes swirling elegantly around her, he wished he hadn't rejected her offer so quickly.
He wished that they could waltz again.
Hermione was having fun, but something was missing. If she could be honest with herself, she missed a certain Slytherin. She laughed halfheartedly at something Viktor said to her, and smiled at Harry as he passed her, with Parvati Patil steering him all over the dance floor but she was still thinking about Blaise Zabini.
She caught his eye as Viktor twirled her around on the dance floor. She caught sight of his beautiful indigo eyes. He was wearing dark blue robes that brought out his eyes and his hair was tousled sexily (as always!). His olive complexion was brilliantly smooth. She blushed remembering the feel of his smooth, large hands holding hers and the tingling warmth of his hand on her waist. His eyes were locked on hers and she felt her breath tighten in her throat.
Finally, she tore her eyes away, faking a brilliant smile at Viktor.
But what she really wished for was Blaise to waltz with her again.
The End