Chapter Three:

Hermione's day went rather quick, and then the night came.

Shortly after, Hermione found herself waltzing into the library. Blaise was already there waiting for her.

"Hello." Hermione said cheerfully, sitting down opposite him.

"Hey!" Blaise replied, equally as cheerful.

"So let's just pick up where we left off yesterday?" Hermione suggested, and she explained how to transfigurate the colour or style of someone's hair.

Bravely, Hermione let him use her own hair; if he did anything bad, she could just reverse the spell.

Blaise was doing fairly well, so Hermione set a challenge for him; "Make my hair dead straight, and a dark blonde colour."

Blaise laughed, and muttered the spells.

After a few seconds, Hermione's brown, curly hair, turned a darkish blonde colour, and it was dead straight.

Hermione conjured a mirror, and looked at her reflection.

"Not bad Zabini." Hermione sneered, "Don't like this colour on me though. Like the straightness though. Another slight challenge; Change my hair back to it's normal colour but keep it straight."

Blaise chuckled again and did it perfectly.

"Thanks." Hermione giggled, "Always wanted straight hair, just couldn't be bothered doing the spell."

Blaise put a fake offended look on his face, "So I was just a hairdresser to you!" He scoffed, before punching her playfully on the arm.

"Ah but you did a very good job." Hermione laughed.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, and when Hermione looked at Blaise, she saw he was writing something in the back of one of his books.

He was absentmindedly writing some words. After studying them for a second, Hermione realised they were lyrics from a Paith song called Tears.

"And if I swum away in an ocean of my own tears, would you follow me in the salty sea, for my eyes leaked unintentionally… And I failed upon your grasp, as I watched you slip below, I watched you slip below the ocean of my own tears..." Hermione read the words out loud in amazement.

"You like Profusely Ascending Into The Haze?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I – yeah, they're okay." Blaise replied, amused.

"Okay? Okay?! They are better than okay! They are the best damn band in the world!" Hermione cried.

"I didn't know anyone else at Hogwarts knew about them, let alone like them!" She said again.

Blaise laughed at her, "I've been following them since they first started. Been to a couple of their concerts too." Okay that was a bit of an understatement. He was at every concert of theirs, because he was the lead singer.

"Oh you're so lucky!" Hermione wailed, "I got tickets to their concert on August 31st, but my bloody father confiscated them from me." Hermione said through gritted teeth.
"Oh my god, did Hermione Granger just swear?" Blaise laughed, "And that's too bad. I was at that concert. It was very good."

"ARGH I hate you now." Hermione giggled.

Blaise laughed as well, and then said "Hey Hermione, have you got anything planned on the Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Uhhhh nope don't think so. Why?" Hermione replied.

"Do you want to come with me on Saturday?" Blaise asked bravely.

Hermione was surprised, "Oh okay! Sure!" She replied a little too eagerly.

Blaise laughed, yet again, and said, "Do you want to meet at The Three Broomsticks at one o'clock?"

"Yeah sure." Hermione smiled at him, and then glanced at her watch, "Oh shit. Class is in five minutes. Better go."

"Hermione Granger! Stop with the language!" Blaise jokingly scolded.

Hermione stuck her tongue out, and shoved her books into her bag.

Blaise childishly stuck his out back, and then left the library with Hermione at his side.

---

The week went by relatively quickly, and before Hermione knew it, it was twelve o'clock on Saturday afternoon.

Her and Ginny were in the girls dormitory, fretting over what to wear to Hogsmeade, for both of the girls had been invited by boys, Hermione being invited by Blaise, and Ginny was invited by Terry Boot, of Ravenclaw, who was fairly good looking.

"Ginny what about this?" Hermione held up a tartan knee length skirt.

Ginny just cracked up laughing at the sight of it.

"Hermione you really need a new wardrobe. Besides what you wore on the Hogwarts Express. Come here and borrow some of my clothes." Ginny shook her head while laughing, and Hermione walked over to Ginny's dresser.

"What about..." Ginny was deep in thought as she rummaged through her drawers, "This, and this." She held up a deep red shirt, which one of the sleeves was meant to drape off one of Hermione's shoulders, and a pair of white skinny leg jeans.

"Oh it's perfect, thanks Gin!" Hermione squealed.

"And wear your black flats with it." Ginny commanded.

"Yes ma'am!" Hermione giggled, before quickly changing.

Forty-five minutes later, the two girls were dressed and ready, and walked out of the front gates of Hogwarts, and then up the main street of Hogsmeade.

"It's a beautiful day." Hermione murmured.

At exactly one o'clock, Hermione walked into The Three Broomsticks, and saw Blaise sitting by himself on a table in the far corner.

She smiled and walked over to him, sitting on the two seated table opposite him; obviously.

"Hello!" Blaise greeted her enthusiastically.

Hermione liked his style of clothes, when he wasn't in school uniform. He wore skinny jeans, and usually a t-shirt that would have a funny saying, or a skull or something on it. Today he wore dark blue skinny jeans, and a light yellow shirt that had the words on it, "Who are you and why are you reading my shirt?".

"Hey, how has your day been?" Hermione replied, smiling.

"Pretty good, yourself?" Blaise replied.

"Yeah, it's been great." Hermione said.

The two talked for the better part of two hours, before finally dropping a galleon each on the table, getting up, and then departing into the street.

Hermione started singing a Paith song called Disappearance.

"When you ran away, you left nothing but a note. A piece of paper that only said 'Guess what? I'm leaving.' I have nothing left to live for, since your disappearance..." Hermione was singing softly.

Blaise picked up where she left off, "Sometimes I cry, sometimes I scream. All I know is that because of your disappearance, I haven't been able to think straight. I need you baby..."

Hermione smiled at him, and then Blaise took her hand, squeezed it, and looked her straight in the eye. After a moment of staring into her brown orbs, he broke the concentration by kissing her softly.

Hermione, slightly surprised, kissed back, just as softly.

Blaise broke off the kiss, "I need you baby..." He seemed quite the romantic.

(A/N: Yeah yeah, I know its cheesy, get over it.)

Hermione bit her lip and smiled, "So what does this mean?" She asked.

Blaise looked at her questioningly.

"I mean, what does this do to us. You just kissed me Blaise. Are we just friends or do you want to be more?" Hermione said everything quite abruptly.

"Hermione Granger, I want to be your boyfriend." Blaise said, smiling.

"Well then, Blaise Zabini, I might just take that offer." Hermione giggled, before pressing her lips against his. He responded with such enthusiasm, that he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her off the ground.

Once again, Blaise broke off the kiss, and said "Hermione. I need to tell you something. But I need to take you somewhere first."
Hermione, this time looked at Blaise questioningly.

He grabbed her hand and lead her down a small, private alleyway, "Hold tight to my arm." He whispered, and Hermione did.

Suddenly, Hermione felt herself twisting, and felt as if she was being squeezed into a thin rubber tube. Blaise was apparating somewhere.

In a few seconds it was over, and Hermione found herself in a large kind of apartment, and there were three blokes sitting on couches in one of the rooms.

Blaise looked at Hermione, but said nothing, and grabbed her hand, leading her to the three men.

Hermione immediately recognised the three men as Sam, Kody and Tristan from Paith.

She squealed and clutched her heart.

"Blaise! That's – They're – Paith!" Hermione squeaked.

"Well Hermione, you know the lead singer of Paith? Blaise?" Blaise asked her slowly.

It all dawned upon Hermione. The voice he used when he was singing with Hermione, sounded just like when Hermione heard the song on her CD player. He looked almost exactly the same.

Why hadn't she picked it up before? Blaise Zabini is Blaise from Profusely Ascending Into The Haze!

Hermione's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell backwards, fainting.

Blaise caught her just before she hit the ground.

"I think you surprised her a bit, mate." Tristan was laughing.

"Well I knew she was in love with the band, and well, I think I'm in love with her. She had a right to know." Blaise said quietly, setting Hermione down on the couch.

"What's her name? Is she a witch?" Sam asked Blaise.

"Her name is Hermione. And yes, she's a witch." Blaise laughed.

"Hermione? That's a nice name." Kody said.

---

Hermione stirred, and awoke.

Four males were crowded around her, Blaise at her side, holding her hand.

"How are you feeling 'Mione?" Blaise asked, worried.

"I'm fine. Was just a bit shocked." Hermione mumbled, and then she sat up.

"Hi I'm Tristan!" The electric guitarist said to Hermione, holding out his hand for her to shake.

Hermione shook it shakily. It was like she had gotten backstage passes.

"Hey Hermione! I'm Kody." Kody then said, offering his hand this time.

"And I'm Sam." Sam chuckled, offering his hand as well.

Hermione shook both of their hands, and squeaked, "It's brilliant to meet you. Paith is my favourite band of all time!"

Tristan laughed, "It's nice to know we're loved."

Hermione smiled faintly.

"Blaise I never even guessed that you're the Blaise from Paith! I guess I just never put two and two together…" Hermione said.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Blaise apologised, "It's just, not a single person at Hogwarts knows…"

"Um Blaise, do they (She gestured towards Sam, Tristan and Kody) know about, um, what we are?" Hermione asked slowly.

"Yes Hermione they do. Tristan himself is a wizard from America." Blaise laughed.

"Oh! Okay! So Sam and Kody are Muggles?" Hermione asked.

"I swear to god we're always being referred to as Muggle's from Tristan and Blaise." Sam laughed.

Hermione let out a nervous chuckle.

"So Hermione, what's your favourite Paith song?" Kody wanted to know.

"Oh gosh I can't just choose one." Hermione giggled, "I'll say my top three; Disappearance, Tears and then Rocking." Hermione said after a bit of thought.

"Ah I love performing Tears. The crowd always goes all quiet, and they wave their hands and everything." Tristan laughed.

"Yeah and I love performing Rocking cause it's like our happy song." Sam laughed, "You know, most of our songs are slightly slow and have meaningful lyrics, but Rocking is like our up-beat song with kinda random lyrics."

Hermione laughed, finally easing up.

"Who wants a drink?" Kody called out, as he walked towards the very large kitchen.

Everyone replied with a "Yes." Or "Yes please." And Kody came back with five cans of soft drink (Soda, as known in America?).

Hermione accepted hers and murmured her thanks, gratefully taking a sip.

"I feel like I've won very exclusive backstage passes." Hermione laughed.

The members of Paith joined in, and the laughter rung through Hermione's ears.

After at least two hours of talking, Blaise checked his wristwatch and decided they had better apparate back to Hogsmeade.

"See you later Hermione." Tristan waved.

"Bye!" Hermione replied, and she waved to the other band members.

Blaise twisted, bringing Hermione with him.

Hermione still wasn't comfortable with the whole apparation experience, and she only breathed once she was back on solid ground.

"Well wasn't that a bit of a surprise for you?" Blaise said, amused.

"A bit? A bit?!" Hermione joked, "You just introduced me to my favourite band of all time, and then tell me that you're the lead singer! That wasn't a bit of a surprise, it was a bloody MAJOR surprise!"

"Oh I'm sorry." Blaise laughed.

Hermione giggled.

"Hate to burst the happy bubble, but what exactly are you going to tell Potter and Weasley? You know, about us." Blaise asked her uncomfortably.

"I'm not going to 'tell' them anything. We're going to have an open relationship, if that's alright with you, and they can bloody figure it out on their own." Hermione scowled, "I'm always telling them things. I'm going to shut up for once."
Blaise laughed, "Yes it is okay with me. I don't care what the Slytherin's say." And with those words, he held Hermione's hand as they walked back to Hogwarts.

A/N: I love the name Tristan. It's my favourite boys name. Anyways, review my lovelies because Big Bird is your leader and he told you too.