Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I do not own Harry Potter and/or any other characters used in this fic. They are all property of J.K. Rowling.

A/N: I've only written het once before, but I fell in love with this couple, so enjoy!

Blaise was… well, there was no other word for it. Blaise was perfect. Bloody perfect as a matter of fact. He was intelligent, mysterious, and gorgeous.

No wonder that half the female population was in love with him, exempting the fact that they knew nothing about him. Whispers followed him everywhere he went. Fervent murmurs behind hands, eyes trailing longingly over the dark, tanned skin, "accidental" brushings against his fingers as they reached for something across the table.

Blushes would creep onto even the most stubborn of girls if Blaise happened to glance their way, his deep blue eyes dancing amusedly as he watched the rose color seep into their cheeks. He would say nothing and look away, giving them ample time to control their hormones, if only for a moment.

He was, perhaps, the most sought after male in Hogwarts, aside from Draco, that is, whom the girls still threw themselves over, despite the fact that he'd been in a committed relationship with Harry Potter for several months now.

Blaise knew all of this. It was what kept his Slytherin smirk firmly in place as he strolled the castle late at night, never in danger of being caught because of his status as Head Boy. Many people had been surprised when he had been appointed the position rather than Draco.

He was the quiet Slytherin. He studied and did his homework. If someone went looking for him, the best place to find him would either be in the Slytherin common room or in the library, a small stack of books piled neatly next to his quill and parchment. Behind his back, he was often referred to as a "closet Ravenclaw."

These names didn't bother him. He chose to take the high road and ignore them. And if someone just happened to wind up in the Hospital Wing with raven permanently stuck to their heads, why should he have anything to say about it?

Yes, Blaise Zabini, the handsome Italian, was perfect. He was also extremely unattainable.

He dated Slytherin girls. He dated Ravenclaws. He would never dream of touching a Hufflepuff, not because of the impurities of blood, but for the simple sake that they had to be the most boring people on Earth. When it came to Gryffindors, Blaise didn't date them. There was no reason why. Oddly enough, no rumor circled as to why and no one questioned it.

One such Gryffindor couldn't be bothered with such trivialities. Hermione Granger spent her time in the library, feverishly studying for her N.E.W.T.s that were to take place in just under three months.

She noticed Blaise Zabini, oh yes, she did. He was in the library with her. He was there in the morning. He was there in the night. He was there in the middle of a freaking Saturday!

He sat approximately three tables down and two across from the table Hermione had dubbed hers. He always had his neat little pile of three books. Always exactly three books, no matter what the subject. He had his bottle of ink and eagle feather quills placed perpendicular to his extra scroll of parchment.

When he hit a particularly difficult question, a crease would appear in his brow and he would tap the end of his quill slowly against the table until he figured it out. Not that Hermione was noticing any of these things. No. She merely happened to be forced to see him nearly every day in the library.

She was also obliged to spend time with him as her Head Girl duty. They kept it mainly to formalities and small pleasantries with the occasional dispute about how many points the Slytherin's seemed to be amassing and the Hufflepuffs losing.

For the most part, Hermione tended to ignore Blaise and all his better qualities. Or at least that's what she told herself.

OoOoO

Hermione Granger was… annoying. There was no other word for it. She was a know-it-all who never missed a chance to answer a teacher's question. She was the one with her hand perpetually in the air, bouncing up on the balls of her feet in an effort to be noticed.

She was the one whom everyone wanted to be paired with when it came to joint assignments. And yet, she wasn't. Inevitably, she would spend the entire time making the partner do their share as well, instead of letting them slack off as they had hoped.

Hermione was moderately pretty, by Hogwart's standards at least. Her long, chestnut hair cascaded over her shoulders in dark, finally tamed, waves. Her eyes, though calculating at times, held a softened quality she really only reserved for Harry and Ron in their moments of stupidity. They blazed with fire when she was angry and sparkled when she was feeling devious.

She'd been made Head Girl, which was no surprise to anyone who'd been paying attention. She took her responsibility seriously, dealing out punishment only when really warranted. She was fair and listened to people. She did her duty well.

She spent most of her time holed up in the library, buried amidst mountains of text books relating to all sorts of subjects. She truly was the smartest witch of her age, with one exception.

Of all her natural talents, beauty, and thirst for knowledge, Hermione Granger never seemed to be able to grasp the concept of companionship other than Harry and Ron as best friends. She had other female friends and was well-acquainted with most of the male inhabitants of Gryffindor Tower, but for the most part, Hermione stuck to Harry and Ron as far as male companions went.

Harry, of course, was far too busy snogging Draco to wonder much about Hermione's dating life, or lack thereof. Ron was off in his relationship with Hannah Abbott and noticed little else that was going on around him.

No, Hermione chose instead to spend her companionless hours in the library with the thousands of books to keep her company. She hardly noticed the lack of a male figure in her life.

Blaise Zabini, on the other hand, was quite quick to notice the obvious lack of any sort of boyfriend. It had been pointed out to him, none too nicely, by a drunk and angry Pansy, who had just been turned down by Draco.

To Blaise, Hermione was the girl who sat three tables down and two across everyday in the library, surrounded by a mass of books and scribbling furiously until the parchment was so scrunched with writing that it looked black.

She was the girl he had to meet with monthly to discuss the treatment of the first year's in all the Houses. Somehow, it always seemed to digress into a push for Elf rights on Hermione's part. Blaise usually sighed and sat back in his chair when this happened and waited for the end.

Hermione was the girl that had spent too much of her time worrying over two boys who hardly spent any time with her now. She had worked too hard to just be ignored now that the danger had passed.

Unlike Hermione, Blaise fully acknowledged the fact that he noticed her. Well, maybe not to her face, but to himself at least. He knew he watched her sometimes during mealtimes or class.

He admitted to knowing that when she was angry, her fist would curl around her wand, although that wasn't always her weapon of choice. Her eyes would flash and he knew that whoever she was looking at, it would be a good idea to run away.

He knew that she preferred to get to the library first, even before the earliest Ravenclaws. Even if they had no homework, she would be there. He knew she chose to write in a scarlet ink, in honor of her house. Her handwriting was small and she usually wrote in cursive instead of print as most people favored.

Yes, Blaise admitted to knowing all these things. He knew his eyes lingered over her legs and hair for too long sometimes, but he didn't care.

OoOoO

It was a Tuesday. Classes had finished for the day and most students had retreated to their dormitories to rest, or they were on the grounds enjoying the early spring sun.

Hermione, on the other hand, was in the library, preparing to start another enjoyable evening buried in books on Charms. This week was Charms. Last week had been Potions and next week would be Transfiguration.

Today, she would be making a list of obscure charms that would surely be useful, if not beneficial for the exams, to know. She planned on getting down as many as possible before dinner so she could go to the Tower afterward and begin learning them all.

She had just dropped the last of her collected books on the table when he came in. A quick glance to her table, and he moved on to his own; three down and two up. Hermione watched him for just a second before she remembered that she was supposed to be ignoring him and she slid into her seat, crossing her legs under the table, and pulling the first book of many towards herself.

Over at his table, Blaise dumped his bag in the chair to claim it as his own and went off in search of his books. He returned moments later with three books, which he placed at one corner, perfectly stacked together.

From her table, Hermione caught herself watching as Blaise straightened the books and pulled his parchment, ink, and quill from his bag, setting them at the exact right angle. She mentally rolled her eyes and looked back to her book.

Blaise slid into his chair gracefully and picked the top book off the stack, flipping it open.

The silence in the library fell slowly, along with the sun outside as it slowly turned to dusk. Blaise would occasionally rise to exchange a book, but otherwise, all was quiet.

About two hours after first arriving in the library, Hermione's list of charms was at least two feet long of tiny handwriting cramped together. She picked up the parchment and frowned. The list was long, but it seemed like something was missing. She flexed her hand, trying to relax the sore muscles from gripping the quill.

"If you didn't try to cram so much on a parchment, your hand wouldn't hurt so much."

Hermione looked up, surprised as a low, melodious voice sounded above her. She was caught as she stared into Blaise's deep blue eyes. It took her a moment to pull herself back, but when she did, she was perfectly able to handle him.

"Blaise," she said politely, dropping her gaze and picking up the parchment again. She seemed determined not to look at him. This was counting as out of class, and out of duty, conversation, something she had tended to avoid with him. She ignored him, remember?

"Granger," Blaise said again, looking for her attention. "You could save yourself a lot of pain by writing larger."

Hermione sighed as it became obvious Blaise wasn't going to stick to pleasantries that day. "Well, Zabini," she replied in an annoyed tone, "that would be wasting valuable trees and I'm not willing to aid in the destruction of our environment simply so my hand won't hurt as much."

"Have you forgotten something?"

Hermione stopped with her hand poised over the parchment. She looked up at Blaise slowly, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. She quirked an eyebrow and waited.

"Wizards and witches create parchment out of thin air with special permits. There's nothing to do with trees in it. What a Muggle way of thinking."

Hermione bristled at his words. "If it's so Muggle, then why do you even know about it?"

Blaise shrugged nonchalantly and ran a hand through his dark hair, making it handsomely disheveled. "I read."

Hermione tore her eyes away from his hair and went back to glaring at him. She rolled her eyes at his response. "No really?" she replied sarcastically.

His only response was a roguish smirk.

She sighed, growing frustrated. "Did you want something?" she asked finally, becoming impatient at the way he was hovering over her table, preventing her from studying or getting anything else done.

"As a matter of fact, yes," he replied smoothly, sliding into the chair opposite hers.

She frowned at his action. This wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind. She'd much rather he be leaving right now, or at least safely back at his own table, with three others in between them.

"Well?" she asked impatiently.

"Now, now," Blaise admonished, smiling at her, "don't be so eager."

Hermione scowled again. "Just tell me what it is," she said, forcing herself to remain calm.

"Well," Blaise said thoughtfully, his hands sliding flat onto the table. "It's not something so much as I can tell you, more like I have to show you."

Under the table, he leg slid forward, coming in between Hermione's now uncrossed legs. Hermione's expression became more and more shocked as his leg slid further in until their thighs were touching.

"Z-Zabini," she said slowly, her eyes wider than normal and her heart rate steadily increasing.

She saw Blaise's tongue flick out to wet his lips as he stared at her, his gaze locked with her own. "Hermione," he said softly.

Hermione's eyes opened even wider and she swallowed hard. She was beginning to get a foreign fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach. The feeling had jumped when Blaise had said her given name.

"U-um…" she stuttered, for once not knowing what to do. There was no textbook solution to what she was feeling and she couldn't explain it.

This was Blaise; the boy with whom she barely spoke, hardly spent any time with, hardly knew at all. He was the boy she found vaguely annoying because he always seemed to be hanging around the library when she was. He was the boy everyone wanted but no one had.

He was the boy who currently had his leg pressed in between hers and his eyes boring into her own. His hands were mere inches away from hers. His face was slowly inching closer. And suddenly, she had pushed her chair back and was on her feet.

"I… have to… go," she said awkwardly, stumbling backwards and nearly tripping over the chair in her haste. Blaise rose too and looked like he was going to say something, but he wasn't quick enough and she had disappeared from the library.

He stared after her for a moment, but in the end, merely shrugged and returned to his table, gathering his things and leaving far slower than she had.

OoO

Hermione walked quickly away from the library, ignoring the fact that she had left all her things there. At the moment, she wasn't particularly worried about them.

Her mind was on a different matter. One moment she had been perfectly content studying on her own and the next, Blaise was too close for comfort and invading her personal space. She was sure that what he had wanted to "show" her hadn't been done.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to know, and yet the butterflies that were pounding against her stomach said otherwise. The nervous fluttering had somehow turned hopeful just before she had run.

She shook her head and let out a breath as she finally stopped walking, hiding in the shadows of a dark passage. She took a moment to calm her pounding heart and try to think clearly.

She was sure he'd been about to kiss her. But did she want that? This was Blaise, after all. He was her co-Head. She had to work with him professionally and in class. He was someone she didn't particularly know.

Now that she thought about it, she had to admit that she hadn't been ignoring him as much as she would like to pretend. She couldn't deny that she was somewhat, if only the tiniest bit, attracted to him. Who wouldn't be? He was good-looking, intelligent, sly, and he just had some unnamable quality that made him so attractive. No wonder all the girls were in love with him.

This, of course, begged the question why he hadn't dated anyone for the past few months. Hermione had tried her best to ignore the rumors, but not all had been so easy to forget. There was a rumor that he was in love with a girl, that he wanted someone he couldn't get.

At the time, Hermione had dismissed those rumors. Now, though, she wondered if maybe they didn't have a bit of truth to them. It was true he hadn't dated anyone for a while. She hadn't paid much attention, or she hadn't tried to anyway. She couldn't deny that she had found it highly suspicious. A man of such… endowments was surely desired by many and could have whoever he wanted.

Standing against the cold, stone wall, Hermione shook her head sharply. She didn't want to think about the last few months when ten minutes ago was still so fresh and sharp in her mind.

Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was time for dinner. Carefully, she slipped out of her hiding place, hoping she looked calmer than she felt. She managed to make it to the Great Hall without running into anyone.

Once there, she slid quietly into her seat next to Harry, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. Harry gave her an odd look as she shrunk down in her seat.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said, remaining slumped in her seat.

Harry's eyebrows were raised skeptically but he just shook his head and didn't question any further.

Hermione felt herself calming down as the meal went on and sat up straighter, pointedly avoiding looking over at the Slytherin table where she knew he would be. Instead, she served herself some potatoes and engaged Ron in a conversation about Quidditch, which he was all too willing to launch into an explanation for her.

Every so often, she would nod and make a noise of understanding to keep Ron going. Her thoughts, of course, were nowhere near Quidditch. At one point in Ron's spiel, she glanced up to nod and her eyes landed on the Slytherin table.

She was shocked to find Blaise's clear blue gaze on her. She stared back for a second until she realized what she was doing and quickly broke the connection. She nodded again to Ron. "Uh huh."

Finally, the meal was over. She stood up with Harry and Ron.

"Are you going back to the library?" Harry asked as she grabbed her bag.

"Uh, no," she said, thinking of what had happened last time at the library. "I think I've done enough studying for today."

At that, Harry stopped and turned to her, confusion etched in his face. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Harry," she said, "really," she added at his continued disbelieving look.

She picked up her things and led the way out before Harry had any more time to question her actions. Ron didn't notice anything at all and merely followed her out with Harry and up the stairs to the Tower.

She spent most of the rest of the night in the Tower trying to make sense of what had happened. She didn't understand what would drive Blaise to want to kiss her. There wasn't anything special about her. She was just Hermione, a normal girl devoted to her studies and furthering her education.

She didn't know why someone like Blaise-smart and gorgeous, would want to be with her. She thought it must all be part of some joke. Yes, that was it. Some Slytherin joke.

Feeling slightly better, she sat back in the chair and finally turned her mind to other things. She watched Harry lose to Ron in chess for the millionth time. After a while, Harry looked at Hermione. "Don't you have to do rounds?" he asked.

Hermione's eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. "Oh my goodness, I completely forgot!" she exclaimed, frantically grabbing her sweater and pulling it on. Without another word, she rushed out the portrait hole.

Harry, feeling slightly confused for now the third time that evening just rolled his eyes and turned back to the chess board, only to see his knight lose in a violent struggle that resulted with his head in pieces.

Hermione silently berated herself as she walked down the corridors. She couldn't believe she had actually forgotten about her rounds. She guessed she'd just been too distracted.

She sighed as she looked at her watch and realized it was much later than she normally went. She hurried to catch up with her schedule, breezing through her normal check points.

It wasn't until the fourth floor that she saw anyone out. A tall figure stood at the end of a hallway. She braced herself and took out her wand. She started towards the figure, calling out as she drew near. "You're out after hours," she informed him.

The figure turned towards her and she gave a small yet audible gasp.

"I know." The voice was deep and sent a shiver down her spine. "What are you doing out this late, Hermione?"

Hermione was taken aback by the use of her first name twice in the span of one day, and slightly unnerved by finding Blaise here. No matter how much she had comforted herself with thoughts that it was all a joke, she hadn't quite shaken the events of the afternoon.

"Bla—Zabini," she said quickly. "I… I was late."

"Distracted?"

Hermione could hear the amusement laced in his statement and it merely brought a scowl to her face. "No," she replied defiantly.

"Oh really?" Blaise took a step toward her in the corridor, turning so that her back was to the wall. In her wand light, Hermione could see the ever-present Slytherin smirk on his face that all the girls swooned over.

"Yes, really," she said, trying to sound firm. She didn't feel quite so confident, though, as Blaise took another step toward her and she took one back, coming just inches from the wall. "Zabini, what are you doing? Y-you should be doing your rounds."

Blaise took one last step and Hermione felt her back hit the wall. His smirk was soft and his blue eyes sparkled in the wand light. "Don't worry," he said softly. "It'll get done. I have other things I need to attend to."

Hermione's eyes were wide with apprehension as he closed the gap of space between them until they were just barely touching. His hand was on the wall beside her and she could have sworn her heart was trying to escape through her throat.

"B-Blaise," she said, hoping that maybe using his real name would help. Indeed, he did perk up at the sound of it.

"Yes, Hermione?" he murmured, his eyes roving over her face leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world.

"What's going on?"

Blaise sighed, as if exasperated. "I would have thought you would have it all figured out by now. You are supposed to be the 'smartest witch of your age.'"

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "The rumors aren't all they're cracked up to be."

"Oh, I know," he said quietly. "But anyway, Hermione, I've only really known you for a few months, and barely at that. We don't talk much, and you mainly study otherwise. It's hard to get to know you, you know that?"

Hermione didn't say anything. She wasn't quite sure what he was getting at. She was also painfully aware of the fact that his eyes hadn't left hers this entire time and that his face was less than a foot away.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors," Blaise said, going in a different direction now. "About how I haven't been with anyone for a while? That I'm secretly in love with some mystery girl? Well, I'm not in love with her. I don't know her that well. But," he said, his eyes holding Hermione's, "I'd like to."

Hermione was still in shock as Blaise leaned in to kiss her, just a soft brush of the lips against her. He paused for a second afterward and moved in again, pressing a firmer kiss to her lips.

She was tentative to continue the kiss, opening her mouth to his tongue and falling to his charms. Her eyes drifted closed as his tongue slid into her open mouth, and his hand dropped to her waist.

Her own hand slipped around his neck as the kiss continued, slow and careful. When they finally pulled away, she opened her eyes slowly, dropping her hand from his neck.

"Blaise," she said quietly, but he placed a finger to her lips.

"Shhh," he silenced her and dropped a light kiss to her lips. "Just say you'll go out with me, Granger."

Hermione was silent for a moment, thinking it all through. She had never been one to rush into a situation after all. That was Ron and Harry's job.

She glanced up at Blaise and saw that the cool mask had dropped for a second. It was replaced with a real emotion, anxiousness. He was waiting and he was worried. She knew it wasn't a game. That had been her subconscious trying to rationalize it all away, but she couldn't explain everything all the time, she knew.

"Hogsmeade?" she said finally, giving Blaise a small smile.

Blaise's face split into a warm grin. "Hogsmeade," he said simply.

With a quick, or not so quick, kiss, the two parted ways, Hermione continuing on her rounds and Blaise to the dungeons to celebrate his victory.

Yes, Hermione was annoying and Blaise was bloody perfect, but as they say, opposites attract and love can be found in the oddest of places.

A/N: Ooh, so? How was it? I like the pairing a lot :D Not sure why, just do. Please review!