After Blaise and Hermione had assigned round duties to the prefects, he decided to read a book in the common room. Granger had already retired to her room without saying anything to him.
He curled up on one of the couches and turned on the fireplace. His thoughts soon drifted to Granger despite his efforts to think of anything else. Although he hadn't expected her to come back, he definitely wasn't surprised that she was chosen as head girl. If seventh year hadn't been so horrendously screwed up, she probably would have been selected anyway.
Even though they hadn't really spoken to each other, and she reminded him of what he lost, he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her. Clearly she was lonely at Hogwarts without Potter and Weasley and most other students couldn't relate to her anymore. He wondered what she must think of him. The only other interactions he had with her before the battle were in class and in the Slug Club briefly. They hadn't been unfriendly, but she hung around with the Golden Boy and he chose to hang around Draco.
He didn't exactly like Draco, but it was expected of him due to his blood status and place in Slytherin. While he didn't believe in all the blood superiority nonsense, he never did or said anything to contest or support it. He managed to appear perfectly neutral through the first six years, so his fellow Slytherins never bothered him and the other houses just assumed he was a blood purist. It was only at the end of the sixth year did Draco begin telling him about his duties and Voldemort. Blaise nodded at whatever Draco said, but knew more and more each day that the dark lord was a madman that needed to be stopped, it just wasn't going to be him that stopped him. But being around the world of the Dark Lord, despite being neutral, it forced him into the same war habits as everyone else. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, gripping his wand tightly, and living with the eternal fear that one day he would be forced to fight in a cause he didn't believe in simply because of his heritage.
Before he could even finish the first chapter of his book, the warmth of the fire and softness of the couch cushions eased him to sleep.
Hermione sat in her room at her desk with a piece of parchment and a quill in front of her.
Dear Harry,
Hogwarts looks incredible. You really should come and see it. You'd never believe most of it had been destroyed if you hadn't been there. You'll also never believe who they selected as head boy. Blaise Zabini! I suppose it's fitting. He was quite smart after all and nearly beat my top scores in our classes together.
He seems different than before, not that I really knew him before. The war has changed all of us, but I don't regret my decision to come back.
Suddenly, she heard what sounded like muffled sobs from the common room.
Hope to hear from you soon when you're not too busy.
Love,
Hermione
After finishing the letter she grabbed her wand and slowly opened the door, ready to face an intruder. Instead, she saw Blaise curled up on the couch, his body shaking. He was making quiet whimpering sounds.
Feeling ridiculous for immediately jumping back to her war habits, she pocketed her wand and approached his sleeping form. He was obviously having a nightmare. He looked quite sad the way he was, face scrunched up in pain and small beads of sweat running down his face. It was a picture she had grown accustomed to when she and the boys were on the run last year.
She knelt down beside the couch and lightly placed a hand on his arm. "Zabini," she whispered, shaking him lightly.
This seemed to make him shake even harder. "No! Please not my mother," he murmured, brows furrowing together.
"Zabini." She tried shaking him a little bit harder but he still wouldn't wake up. "Blaise!" She said loudly this time, grasping both of his shoulders.
His eyes shot open as he woke with a shout. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, he had stood up and pointed his wand in between her eyes. He was breathing heavily and seemed like he was in a daze.
"It's alright," she said, gently pushing his wand away from her face and standing up. "You were having a nightmare."
He blinked a few times before pocketing his wand and rubbing his eyes.
"Sorry, Granger. And sorry about the wand, old habits I guess."
"It's okay. The war reflexes never really leave you," she replied. "When I heard you I thought that there might have been an intruder."
"Well…thank you for waking me." He picked up his book and resumed his place in front of the fire.
She eyed the book for a few seconds and turned to go back into her room, but the bookworm in her soon took over. "What book is that?"
Blaise raised his eyebrows, surprised that she wanted to keep talking.
"The Great Gatsby, have you heard of it?"
Now it was Hermione's turn to look surprised. "Yes of course. It's very famous in the muggle world. You're reading a muggle book?"
"Books are books," he said simply. "It doesn't matter who writes them, as long as they are good."
She smiled. "How true. Nice to see at least one Slytherin has some common sense about literature." Usually Slytherins would avoid anything remotely muggle.
"Well most of my housemates are pureblood snobs still, despite losing the war," he scoffed.
"And you're not a pureblood snob?" She thought back to all the times she had seen him hanging around with Malfoy.
"I never had any beliefs about blood status, Granger." He eyed her warily. "I stayed with my housemates until the end because I had attempted to remain neutral. Being neutral also doesn't mean I had to run around with you crazy Gryffindors."
"If I remember correctly, you turned into one of us crazy Gryffindors with your sudden attack on Bellatrix Lestrange."
Blaise frowned at the memory and turned away from her. "She killed my mother."
Hermione mentally slapped herself. How could she bring up something that would clearly bring back such painful memories for both of them, but more so him. "I'm sorry, Blaise. I didn't mean to-"
"I don't want to talk about it," he said curtly, not turning around.
She sighed and went back into her room.
Blaise stared intently at the words on the pages, but was unable to focus. The whole avoiding Granger tactic clearly wasn't going to work if she had to wake him up from nightmares every time he fell asleep in the common room. Nightmares had become a regular occurrence over the summer. He would have to see his mother die in front of him over and over again. He had taken so many dreamless sleep potions his body had become immune to them. It also wouldn't help him to be antisocial, but when it all came down to it he didn't have anyone. Maybe if he just befriended her everything would be easier.
Just because she reminded him of losing his mother shouldn't keep him from being able to interact with her. He probably had the same effect on her, especially since she had gone through even more violence during the war than he had. She had been out there on the front lines while he remained relatively safe at Hogwarts playing neutral like a coward.
He decided that he would apologize to her in the morning for his behavior. Suddenly, he remembered something from their conversation. She called him Blaise. Twice. He couldn't help the smile that formed on his face as he realized how lovely his name sounded in her voice.
Hermione felt rather lousy as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling. What a fool she was. She had just isolated herself from the one person she had to talk to and work with for the rest of the year. Her arrival at Hogwarts hadn't been what she was expecting. The only people who seemed like they wanted to talk to her were Luna and Neville. Even though she didn't care much for Ron at the moment, she did miss the days when Harry and Ron were here with her. Maybe people really didn't like her as much as they let on and only tolerated her because of those two.
After all, if Harry hadn't come looking for her during first year, she probably wouldn't have any friends. She simply couldn't relate to the other students when she was younger, and could barely relate to them now. Her peers may admire her intellect and bravery, but when it came down to knowing her as a person, they weren't interested unless they needed help with homework.
Hermione thought back to when she had saved Blaise at the battle. She didn't even hesitate once she saw the green spell to quickly use a pulling spell to move him out of the way. He had passed out from the pain of his wounds before looking at her, so he probably didn't even know it had been her. Something about that moment though made her think of him differently. He had chosen to fight one of the craziest death eaters in existence. He had been brave, a quality that not many people in Slytherin often embodied.
During dinner she had watched Blaise sit in silence with Malfoy, another face she hadn't been expecting to see. However, he was uncharacteristically quiet and pretended like he didn't notice her. She also noticed the subtle glares the other Slytherins shot at Blaise when they thought he wasn't looking. Maybe people in Gryffindor had done the same to her.
Blaise was clearly uncomfortable with being recognized as head boy the same way she felt when people applauded for her. If anything, he seemed as lost and unwanted in his own house as she felt with the rest of her old friends.
Perhaps it would be best to try to befriend him, or at least try to be friendly with him so that working together wouldn't be awkward.
She decided that she would apologize to him in the morning for her behavior. Content with her resolution, she drifted to sleep plagued by her own nightmares.
