He was in love with her. As much as he hated to admit it, as much as he wanted to ignore it, he was in love with her. That was why he tried so hard to annoy her, to make her hate him, to push her away. He was too cowardly to be in love.
But that didn't stop him from dreaming about her, about her red hair or her warm brown eyes. It didn't keep him from stopping dead whenever his senses caught the slightest hint of vanilla bean and coconut. That was her smell, it was intoxicating.
He hoped she would always hate him. He hoped that he could push her so far away that there were oceans between that would be impossible to wade. He would keep pushing Ginny Weasley until she couldn't bear the sight of him because that was what he had to do. He had to protect himself because Zacharias Smith was a coward and he was too afraid to be in love.
an. Word Count: 168
for Cheeky's Weekly Drabbles, easy: write about a non-canon couple. I just had to write these too, I don't know why.