Zacharias Smith/Pansy Parkinson – Halting
Pansy, unlike the majority of Slytherin, held no ill-will towards the other houses – not in general at least. She held ill-will towards students from those houses, the Golden Trio of Gryffindor in particular, but not towards the houses in general. She'd once been close with the Patil twins but, due to the Golden Trio of course, she was now only friends with Padma. And, in fourth year, she'd held a bit of a crush on Cedric Diggory, yellow and black colors be damned. Therefore, it was no surprise to her when she fell for someone from a different house: Zacharias Smith, Hufflepuff.
Contrary to popular belief, she and Draco were not dating. Her parents wanted her to date him, but she held no interest in him. No, the center of her attentions were with a Hufflepuff who wasn't very Hufflepuff-ish, a Hufflepuff she was determined to have.
Luckily for her, Zacharias felt the same way.
Zacharias held no love or loyalty to the House of the Badger. He regretted talking the hat out of placing him in Slytherin; his ambition and cunning would've been better suited for the House of Green and Silver, not where he was now with their dumpy notions of loyalty and equality. Blergh. This view was all the more reinforced when he met Pansy who he fell head over heels with at first sight, quickly picking up the courage and introducing himself as they stood in the middle of the library.
Pansy, he thought, was beautiful. Her sun-kissed skin and dark hair wasn't exotic but ethereal. Her dark eyes smoldered with passion, burned with vitality. She was everything.
Zacharias was imaging her vibrant eyes, dark hair, and tanned skin when she sat across from him, a smirk on her face.
"Head in the clouds, Smith?" Her voice was mocking but the grin on her face was friendly.
"It's a great view," he responded, grinning in return.
"I'm sure it is." She pulled out a textbook, Potions, and thumped it down on the table. He shifted in his seat. "Ugh, I can't believe Snape assigned us three feet."
He nodded his head. "It is pretty ridiculous," he stated, resting his chin on his hand as he watched her flip through the textbook.
"So you want to go to Hogsmeade?" Her question, the question, was said with all the passion of someone talking about a clean piece of parchment but her indifference was only masking a boiling cauldron of nerves.
Zacharias sputtered. Had she…? "Like- like a date?" he asked haltingly. She glanced up and nodded. She had! After a moment, he eagerly spoke; "I'd love to."
She beamed. "Wonderful."
