Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
I slapped my hand onto the muggle alarm clock beside my bed and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "What are you doing up so early?" I heard Angelina call from the otherside of the bedroom, she must have a sunrise quidditch session.
"Tutoring!" I told her, voice full of false enthusiasm.
I rolled myself out of bed and glanced at my appearance in the full length mirror all of us shared. I was in light blue joggers and a Pearl Jam concert tee that I had gotten over the summer (Remus was absolutely thrilled that they had a tour stop in London, don't let him tell you otherwise). "Do you think I'm fine just wearing this? It is a Saturday morning after all, they can't expect much," I asked Angelina, gesturing to my shabby appearance.
Angelina looked up from tying her trainers to give me a once-over. "You sure you want to go looking like a scrub? You never know, you might be tutoring a hottie," She said, giving me a cheeky grin.
I rolled my honey-colored eyes at her. "McG said I'm tutoring a Slytherin, it's probably Crabbe or someone else icky," I shuddered.
"Nah I doubt it, you're only tutoring Charms! Crabbe's top priority is probably learning how to read!" Katie shouted from the bathroom. Me and Angelina both let out very unfeminine snorts.
"Didn't McGonagall say the Slytherin was a year below us? It could be Blaise Zabini! He's an absolute smoke!" Angelina exclaimed.
"OMG!" Katie screamed. In lightning speed she was out of the bathroom and pouncing on top of me with an eyelash curler in one hand and mascara in the other. I groaned as the back of my head hit the cold floor.
"Gehhft offf!" I tried to tell Katie, but the arm of her quidditch robe was stuffed in my mouth.
Katie scowled, "Stop fighting me! You were really going to pull up to a potential study date with THE Blaise Zabini without mascara! Honestly, Star, it's like you were raised by wolves!" I sniggered at her accidental joke. Little did she know.
I spit out her sleeve and sat up, rubbing my head and glaring at her. "Fine, I'll wear the mascara, but don't expect me to change," I huffed. "Besides, I doubt it's him, I heard everyone's favorite Italian Stallion is actually pretty smart,"
"A damn shame," Angelina tutted.
"At least shoot an anti-wrinkling charm at your shirt, you never know! Zabini's singular flaw could be Charms!" Katie pleaded. I laughed and muttered the spell, pointing my wand at my shirt.
The way Katie was smiling, you'd think I had just crowned her Queen of England. She clapped her hands together. "Now what to do with that hair," She whispered to herself, picking up a piece of my normally silky black hair, which was currently knotted in about thirty different places.
"Nice try," I scoffed, pulling my hair up into a messy bun rather than run a brush through it.
After quickly brushing my teeth I glanced at my watch. 6:37. "Shoot," I muttered. I had to be in the library by 7:00 and I was starving. Curse my never-satisfied appetite. "I'm heading out, have fun at quidditch!" I called and slipped on my trainers, not bothering to turn around and give them a proper goodbye.
"WAIT!" Angelina called. Before I even turned she was shoving my square black glasses onto my face.
I knitted my eyebrows together, "I hardly ever wear these."
She looked at me as if I were crazy. "You have to look smart for your first day as a tutor!"
I rolled my eyes and adjusted the glasses on my face. "Bye Angie," I called behind me and rushed to the Great Hall.
By the time I got there I was red-faced and panting. Man, whoever decided it was a good idea for students to sleep in a TOWER and make the trek down seven flights of stairs just for a meal deserves a piece of my mind. I spotted two familiar heads of red hair and made my way to our usual spot at the Gryffindor table.
"Miss me?" I asked them as I plopped myself down next to Fred.
"Well Georgie, if it isn't our favorite egghead! Off to her very first tutoring session! They grow up so fast," Fred pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. I threw a piece of bacon at him.
George glanced at the beads of sweat that had formed on my forehead. "Run a marathon before this?" He asked.
"Ha-ha you caught me," I replied sarcastically, too busy stuffing my face to come up with a better comeback.
"You know, for someone who looks so fit, you sure are out of shape," Fred observed.
I took a moment to swallow my mouthful of food before ruffling his hair. "Awww...that was almost sweet," I cooed.
"I have my moments," He shrugged, shooting me a toothy grin.
I returned his smile as I spread some jam on a piece of toast for the walk to the library. "Later boys," I blew them a kiss before rushing towards the library.
"Go mold some young minds!" Freddie yelled.
"So proud of our little scholar!" Shouted George.
"Don't fall off your brooms!" I called from the doors to the Great Hall.
Just before I entered the library I took a moment to regroup, taking some deep breaths and wiping the sweat from my brow. Man, I needed to go for a run every once in a while. I straightened my back and walked through the library's large doors.
"NO FOOD IN THE LIBRARY!" Madam Pince screeched as soon as I entered and I couldn't help but cringe at her high-pitched voice. I had forgotten I was still holding my toast. Quickly, I folded it up and shoved the whole thing in my mouth, shooting Madam Pince a thumbs-up. She just glared at me in return.
I sat down at a circular table by the window, resting my legs on the chair next to me. I looked around the library for my mystery snake and accidentally made eye contact with Madam Pince again. I quickly looked away as she fixed me her second icy stare of the day. "Merlin, what crawled up her arse and died."
"I'd guess one of the dozen cats she must own," Chimed in a smooth voice from behind me. I nearly jumped out of my seat, knocking the contents of my bag onto the floor in the process.
"Did I scare you?" The voice asked as it helped me pick the various quills and textbooks up.
"Psh, I'm a Gryff, we don't get sca--" I finally looked up and was met by a sharp jawline, big brown eyes, and a face with flawlessly tanned skin. I couldn't help the 'O' my mouth had formed. "Um… hi, I-I'm Star," I stuttered.
"I know," None other than Blaise Zabini answered with one of his trademark (sexy) smirks. "You're my tutor," He said. I couldn't believe it, wait til I tell Angie and Katie. They'll have a cow.
"Oh! Minni--Professor McGonagall didn't tell me who I'd be tutoring," I explained. Get it together Star, this boy is a year younger than you, he should not be having this effect.
"That disappearing act with the toast was rather impressive," Blaise smirked.
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as my eyes widened. Merlin Star, calm the heck down. "I have my moments," I shrugged, trying to play it cool. Freddie wouldn't mind me stealing his line from this morning, would he? Blaise chuckled.
"Should we get started?" I asked him, gesturing to my Charms textbook.
"About that…if I'm being honest I'm actually pretty good at Charms. I just forgot to write a paper about 'Accio' and rather than take the 'T' I fed Flitwick some sob story about how I was so confused. He said so long as I get a tutor to help me review for the next few weeks before school's out, I could make up the paper." Blaise sounded rather proud of his actions.
"How very Slytherin of you."
He grinned, "Well I am wearing green aren't I?"
I looked him up and down. He was indeed in a green button down shirt and black trousers, all neatly pressed. I cursed myself for not taking my doormates advice and dolling up a little.
"Do you always wear glasses?"
I shrugged. "Usually I just go through life slightly vision-impaired, but Angelina, my roommate, insisted I 'look smart' for my tutoring session."
Blaise flashed his perfect white teeth. "I like them."
My cheeks grew hot once again. "You know, you're different from the other Slytherins."
"How so?"
"Well, on the first day of First Year Andrea Avery convinced all the Slytherins in my year to call me four-eyes for wearing these," I gestured towards my glasses.
Blaise leaned in closer to me. "In Avery's defense, she probably wasn't as influenced by the fact that you are an extremely beautiful girl." The confidence that Blaise held as a third year was positively unnerving. Then again, if I looked like him, I'd probably be one confident son of a banshee too.
I gulped, attempting to put down all of the butterflies that were having an entire parade in my stomach. "Mmmm… I wouldn't be so sure. She once tried to impress Katie with her incredibly muscular biceps," I informed the handsome boy in front of me.
He snorted. Who knew they let Elite Purebloods snort? It seemed to me they usually opt for no emotion at all, probably to avoid wrinkles. "That's a good point, I've never met a girl so dedicated to lifting weights," Blaise said thoughtfully.
"I mean, it's paying off. In all seriousness I was pretty impressed (and a little scared) by Avery's gun show." The two of us let out loud laughs, earning an aggressive shush from Madame Pince
"The cat up her arse must be getting hungry, Pince is even testier than usual," Blaise whispered. Of course, his comment only made us laugh even harder.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE TWO OF YOU! ESPECIALLY YOU MCKINNON. GET OUT! BOTH OF YOU!" Madam Pince shrieked, chasing us out with a meter stick in her hand. We grabbed our bags and made a quick exit, laughing the entire way out.
"See you next week, McKinnon," Blaise winked before going off in the other direction.
"I'll be looking forward to it."
"Lioness," I whispered to the Fat Lady. The portrait flew open to reveal Katie lounging on a plush red chair reading a magazine and Angelina and George in the middle of what looks to be an intense game of Exploding Snap, of which Fred and Harry were providing avid commentary. All of them were still in their quidditch robes. I walked over and wrinkled my nose. "Weren't in the mood for showers today boys?"
George looked up from his game. "The locker room was closed. Rumor has it two Seventh Years on the Ravenclaw team got caught shagging in one by Madam Hooch,"
"And what about the showers upstairs?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't want to wake anyone up, being the considerate roommates we are," Fred shrugged. I rolled my eyes.
"So tell me, who was your mystery snake?" Katie wiggled her perfectly plucked eyebrows.
I muttered my answer incoherently. I didn't really want to talk about boys in front of the twins, Merlin only knows how much they'd tease me about it.
Angelina turned away from George and looked at me with a questioning gaze. "Pardon?"
"Blaise Zabini," I murmured, pretending to examine something incredibly fascinating on the carpet.
Katie and Angelina both squealed. "Tell us EVERYTHING!" They exclaimed in unison.
I couldn't contain myself any longer, and I felt my face split into a massive grin. I fiddled with a few strands of my hair that had broken free from its bun, doing my best to look disinterested. "Welllll, he may or may not have called me beautiful," I shrugged, trying and failing to stop smiling.
The girls squealed even louder this time. I didn't know they could reach that volume! Pretty impressive if you ask me.
"What's the big deal if a Third Year complimented you?" Fred frowned.
"Only the most handsome Third Year to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts," Katie said dreamily.
"He's a Slytherin!" George and Harry cried.
"A Slytherin with the potential to be a male model!" Angelina pointed out. The three boys all glared at her.
"Blaise was actually quite nice," I said in an effort to somewhat defrost the boys.
"Blaise was probably just trying to get in your pants and you were too blind to see it!" Fred rolled his eyes.
I clenched my fist. That's how my best friend wants to treat me? Fine. "You know what Freddie, it is possible for a boy to actually like me!" I turned on a dime and stormed up the stairs.
"You're in for it now," I heard George whistle while Freddie mumbled a string of curse words.
"Is she really going to date a Slyth—" Harry started, but I slammed my bedroom door shut before he finished.
After about three minutes of brooding to myself I heard my name being called from the common room, but being my petty self, I pretended not to notice.
"STAR JOSEPHINE MCKINNON CAN YOU PLEASE COME DOWN AND LET ME APOLOGIZE FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!" Fred's exasperated voice rang through the dorm and I couldn't help but giggle. I never was one for holding grudges, anyways.
I cracked the door open and sat with my back leaning against the frame. "I'm listening," I called down the staircase.
Fred yelled up the stairs, "Star, I'm sorry for being a right pig. There's plenty of reasons Zabini would want to talk to you. Like you're er-"
"Funny!" George yelled.
"Yeah! And uhhh...you don't care about what other people think of you! And you...er...,"
"You've got a nice smile!" Harry shouted.
I snorted. "Freddie it's mildly concerning that you have been able to name a total of one redeeming quality of mine without help!"
"For honesty's sake, I feel like I should let you know Katie had to whisper that one to me!" Fred yelled cheekily.
I walked down the stairs and gave him a bear hug that was probably strong enough to realign his spine. "You're a prick," I mumbled into his shoulder.
"Yeah I know," He laughed while he stroked my hair.
I disentangled myself from Fred and pinched my nostrils together. "Ick. You really do smell like dragon dung!"
He smiled innocently, but I knew him well enough to notice the mischievous glint in his eye. Before I could make a quick escape, my face was being shoved into his armpit. "Someone, save me, please!" I shouted dramatically, doing my best 'damsel in distress' voice. My pleas were only met by laughter from the rest of my friends so I did what any logical person would do.
"Did you just pinch my bum?" Fred asked incredulously.
I shrugged and gave him a playful smile that he couldn't help but return. "I would've kissed you right on the lips to breathe sweet, sweet fresh air again," I sighed, clutching my hands to my chest. I wrote off the pink tinge to his cheeks as being warm from the fire.
"I'm going upstairs to listen to some music, see you guys later. Thanks for actually being able to say nice things about me, Georgie and Harbear!" I laughed, blowing them a kiss before strutting back up the stairs.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! This will probably be the length of most of my chapters. Expect more from Blaise in the next chapter! Sirius will be coming soon as this is currently set at the end of Chamber of Secrets. I can't wait to incorporate Remus into the fanfic as well. Thanks for reading!!! Please review, I'd love to hear feedback!