Hi, i'm ~Hedwig-Patronus and this is my first attempt at writing FanFiction! I hope you enjoy this, and please don't hesitate to give me constructive criticism, God knows i need it! Read and Review, it'll be much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own none of J.K. Rowling's magical world. I'm only borrowing it.

"Blaise? BLAISE!"

Blaise Zabini jerked himself out of his thoughts. He turned around irritably to the loud, whining voice of one Draco Malfoy, and snapped, "What?"

Draco smirked, and took a swig of butterbeer. He slowly and purposefully trained his eye onto the back of the girls head whom Blaise was currently ogling. The girl in question happened to have glossy, curly brown hair, which was currently swept up in a messy ponytail, displaying a creamy white neck.

"Having dirty thoughts about the Mud-... Granger again?" Draco hastily amended, when Blaises glare deeped considerably.

"Watch it, Malfoy." Blaise growled, picking up his own butterbeer, and downing it in one gulp. "I'm going back up to Hogwarts."

Blaise stood up, his chair scraping painfully over the stone floor, causing Draco to wince. He pulled his cloak around him, and gracefully swept out of the Three Broomsticks. Draco's eyes followed him out, and happened to notice that Granger was also watching Blaise leave the pub just as intently as he was. He smirked, and turned back around to Astoria, throwing his arm around her shoulders. She playfully smacked his shoulder, and said,

"You shouldn't tease him so, Draco!"

Draco put on a wounded expession "What? I was just asking a question!"

Hermione trudged into the Three Broomsticks behind Harry and Ron, who were chattering excitedly about the Quidditch match that had happened...a week ago.

"...And honestly, that dive that Ginny made at the end to catch the Quaffle, wow!" Harry exclaimed, starry eyed.

"...Which you've mentioned at least a dozen times before today.." grumbled Hermione, thankfully unheard by Harry and Ron.

"Yeah and did you see the save i made at the end? Boot's face was worth 50 points!" Ron boasted gleefully.

"...Which you mentioned on the walk down from the castle, TEN minutes ago!" Hermione snorted.

"What was that, 'Mione?" Harry asked.

"Oh, nothing, I was just saying that I really wanted a butterbeer, it's freezing out here!" She lied quickly, and thankfully - even though there was no doubt to begin with - Harry and Ron swallowed the lie happily, and agreed with her. They walked in, and looked for a table. Hermione quickly sat down at a small table near the door, much to Ron and Harry's disdain.

"Look, Malfoy and his cronies are just behind us 'Mione! Can't we sit somewhere else" Ron half hissed, half whined.

"No. the war is over Ron, its time to get over your prejudices, they certainly have. I'm friends with Astoria!" Hermione whispered hotly back, waving a little at Astoria to prove her point. Astoria smiled widely in return, and Hermione hastily averted her eyes as Blaise Zabini whipped around to see what has caught Astoria's attention. Feeling his eyes on her, Hermione blushed furiously, and, clearing her throat, asked the boys what they wanted. Harry was looking curiously at Blaise, who had now turned his attention back to whatever Malfoy was saying, while Ron just looked confused.

"Umm, butterbeer for me..." Harry trailed off, looked expectantly at Ron.

"Me too, 'Mione." Ron replied, still looking slightly lost.

Hermione stood up quickly, and walked over to the bar. Harry turned around to Ron, and asked,

"And idea whats on her mind, mate?"

"Not a clue..."

Hermione came back to the table, balancing 3 pints of butterbeer while huffing irritably. She sighed, "Harry! Help me out here, will you?"

Harry switched his attention to Hermione, helping her lower the pints onto the table. Hermione practically collapsed onto the chair, and sighed, loudly. Harry frowned again, and opened his mouth to ask what was bothering her. Hermione sensed the incoming question and frantically tried to think of an excuse, when thankfully, Ginny Weasley swooped down upon Harry, kissing his cheek, which promptly turned bright red. Ron started grumbling things under his breath, which sounded something like "my bloody sister and my bloody best friend..." Hermione half sighed in relief, half laughed at Ron's mumblings. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, and caught dark eyes staring right into hers. For a moment, she was frozen. Those eyes..Those LIPS!. She whipped around, shaking her head to get rid of the not so innocent images of those lips on hers...Her breathing was slightly unsteady. What is WRONG with you, girl? Pull yourself together! She scolded herself. She kept her eyes on her butterbeer, refusing to meet the eyes she could feel burning into her back. Then she heard a chair scraping loudly. She automatically turned her head towards the sound, and saw him sweeping towards the pub door. His walk was so graceful, she went into a kind of trance, watching him leave.

She was unaware of the other grey eyes watching her reaction. Shaking herself back into the present again, she turned towards Harry, Ron and Ginny, and feigned interest in their conversation. Her mind kept drifting to what had happened earlier...but no. She wouldn't think about him.

An hour later, Hermione was stumbling up to the Castle, hanging onto Ron's arm for support. She had never handled alcohol very well, and the shot of firewhiskey she had taken before leaving the pub made her dizzy. She was worried, I hope we don't bump into a teacher! The sober part of her mind said. When they had reached the castle, Hermione waved goodbye to her friends, and made her way to the Heads' common room, which she shared with Blaise. She halted next to the small painting, which featured a beautiful Mermaid, not dissimilar to the one in the prefects' bathroom. "ductus" she whispered the password, and pushed her way into the room.

She looked round the common room, which she'd not quite gotten used to yet. The room was circular, not unlike the Gryffindor room, but instead of the raucous red, it was a deep royal purple. Hermione thought that the reason for the neutral colouring was due to there being a Gryffindor head girl and a Slytherin head boy. She didn't mind red, but it was nice to get a break from the loud colours of the Gryffindor common room, it was very distracting when she was trying to study. Purple was...calming.

Hermione treaded softly up the stairs at the opposite side of the room, which lead to a small landing. On one side there was Blaise's room, and on the other was hers. In the middle was a bathroom, which they both shared. She stared at Blaise's door for a long second, then shook her head and made her way into her own room. She gathered up her pyjamas, and tip-toed up along to the bathroom. She hurriedly brushed her teeth, washed her face, and changed into her pyjamas; a fitted forest green tshirt and a pair of dark grey cotton shorts. She chuckled slightly; how fitting it was that her favourite colour happened to be the colour of her former nemesis house. Peering in the mirror, she gathered all her hair and twisted it into a bun. Thank God she'd finally figured out a solution to keep it relatively tamed. With one last glance, she spun around and made her way to the door, when she froze. There was Blaise, casually leaning against the doorframe, smirking slightly as he looked at her.

She blushed as his eyes slowly took her in, head to toe, and back again. Her lips became dry, and she willed herself to keep her eyes on the floor, anything but stare at his perfectly sculpted chest, which he'd clearly not bothered to cover up. He cleared his throat.

"Are you done here? I need to brush my teeth." He said, half-smiling.

Hermione swallowed. "Yeah, i'm done. Goodnight, Blaise." She walked out the bathroom, hugging her arms, which were suddenly covered in goosebumps, and made her way to her bedroom. Tugging the door shut behind her, she made her way over to her four-poster bed and collapsed on top of it, her head spinning from both the alcohol in her system, and the encounter with the guy she'd been, without a better word, besotted with for over two years.

She'd paused in her inner jubilation after reading that she had been elected to be Head Girl, and blinked, surprised, when she saw the name of the chosen Head Boy on the congratulatory parchment sent to her at the end of summer. She wasn't altogether sure if the idea of sharing the Head's common room with Blaise made her happy or terrified. Biting her lip, she shook out her shiny new badge from the envelope, and stared at the shiny badge, stating her new duty of "Head Girl". Tuning back into the babble of conversation, she plastered a fake smile on her face, and declared to her practically adopted family, the Weasleys; "I'm Head Girl!"

Blaise stood at the bathroom door, which Hermione had obviously forgotten to close properly. He knew he should probably make his presence known, but he was hypnotised by her actions. How could she make sweeping her hair back look so damn hot? He stared at her slender neck, and then realised that she was turning around. He quickly composed his expression, just in time for Hermione noticing him. He smirked as he noticed her reaction to his -lack of- attire, and mentally congratulated himself on working out that morning. His smile became even wider as he noticed her absent-mindedly licking her lips, those plump, rosy lips that he wanted to -WHAT ON EARTH. Blaise shook his head slightly to remove the sudden image from his head. Deciding to break the silence, he make an excuse for wanting to use the bathroom, and then watched her walk out, swinging her hips gently as she went. He groaned softly to himself, and resignedly began the task he had used as an excuse, despite that he had done it only twenty minutes before.

Hermione's eyes flew open, quickly adjusting to the dim light filtering through a gap in her curtains. Her breathing was shallow and uneven. She tried to remember her dream, but it was really hazy. The only thing that really stood out in her subconscious memory was a pair of dark brown eyes smiling at her...Hermione shook her head, ridding herself from the fleeting memory. She leant over to her beside table to check the time on her clock. 4.06am. Knowing that she'd struggle in returning to sleep, Hermione flung her heavy covers off her, and padded softly across the room and out to the communal area. Not bothering to light a candle, she used instinct and the dawn light to guide her in making tea. She was sleepy, and decided to use the more therapeutic muggle way of making tea, rather than the magical way, she'd probably mess it up in her tired state.

A gentle cough.

Hermione spun around, startled. Blaise was sitting on one of the arm chairs in the sitting area, his arms stretched and resting at the back of his neck, meaning that his t-shirt had ridden up slightly and she could see a sliver of tanned, toned stomach...Her breathing hitched, and she stuttered

"B-Blaise! I didn't realise y-you were in here!" She mumbled, blushing furiously as she realised he'd caught her staring, as he gazed at her with a sly, knowing expression. "Um...would you like a cup of Jasmine Earl Grey tea? I was just making some before i got back to bed so.."

"Sure..." He drawled, taking in her dishevelled, bed crumpled appearance. She was well aware that her hair was probably looking completely crazy, and she self-consciously attempted to smooth it down.

"Leave it. Your hair looks cute like that" Blaise smiled at her warmly, catching her off guard. Did he just compliment me? Hermione thought to herself, baffled.

"Errr...thanks Blaise." Awkward silence. She cleared her throat, smiling brightly and changing the subject. "Milk or Sugar?"

Blaise looked at her, a strangle, unreadable expression on his face. "Nah, i'm fine."

Hermione handed him his mug, smiling shyly as she did so. Their hands touched briefly, and Hermione felt a sort of warm glow as their fingers ghosted against each other. His hands were so soft...i wonder what it would feel like cupping my face as he leant down to ki-

Blaise cleared his throat, interrupting her thoughts. "Well, thanks Granger. I'll see you in the morning. Head duties and such."

He winked, and began walking back to his dorm. Hermione let out her breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding, and turned back to making another cup of tea, seeing as she'd given Blaise her one. When she heard his voice again, about 10 seconds later, she froze;

"Oh, and Granger, nice t-shirt."