Title: Concerning Plot Development

Summary: Professor Trelawney is in charge of Valentine's day this year, but her roses (supposed to lead you to happiness and your true soul mate) seem to bring more trouble than they're worth! (Slash)

Genre(s): Fluff, Slash, Romance

Books Referenced: None in particular

Warning(s): Contains slash.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. It owns me.

A/N: Aww, I'm getting spoiled. ^_~ I only got nine reviews this time! Thanks to my reviewers, I really AM going to catch up on thanking you-all, really I am!

A/N II: I was actually thinking of giving up the story, since I was uninspired, but I can't possibly abandon it now, not after I've been called a 'great addition to the slash fandom'! *feels special* Okay, the actual note I was putting here is this: Blaise is apparently a Greek name, so I'm assuming he's of some Greek origin; therefore his skin is kinda...er...olive? Darker than other Europeans'? *shrug* I'm horrible with adjectives. You get it, though, right? ^^;

~*~

-Very late the next night, in the Slytherin dorm-

Blaise was ashamed. Shame is not an emotion easily had by Slytherins, yet nonetheless, Blaise was ashamed. For the past twenty four hours, he had been thinking about nothing but what the Mirror had shown him. The Mirror, Blaise knew, was taunting him...showing him what he wanted - exactly what he wanted - but what he knew he couldn't have.

He turned over in his bed and punched his pillow. From the other side of the room came the sound of two people snoring stupidly, probably Crabbe and Goyle. *It's remarkable,* Blaise thought to himself, *how someone can sound stupid even in their sleep.* There was no sound coming from Draco's side of the room, though this may or may not have been due to lack of sleep. Draco was often a quiet sleeper, but just as often awake and watching the dorm. Blaise didn't want to risk angering the blond Slytherin further - he was already on his bad side, and on his way to being on his downright "To Kill" list. It didn't bear thinking about. Blaise sighed and sat up, pulling his Invisibility Cloak from under his pillow. He quickly threw it on, fastened it, and climbed over the shutters surrounding his bed, so as not to have to open them and let anyone know he was exiting. A few moments later found Blaise slipping out the castle doors. The doors shut quietly behind him, and he walked down the gently sloping lawn toward the lake.

Blaise took a seat near a willow tree and waited patiently. A few moments passed. Some crickets chirped. And then, a cloaked figure descended from a tower window, sliding easily down the ivy growing up the castle walls. Blaise watched the figure as it, too, walked down the lawn toward the lake. However, they turned toward the far side of the lake and sat down on the dock. Blaise watched quietly for a moment, then stood up and headed to the dock himself. The Mirror had convinced him, more than ever, to not sit around and let Draco get what should be (he thought) rightfully his.

"Potter," said Blaise quietly. The Gryffindor turned. A look passed quickly across Harry's face when he registered who it was, then just as quickly disappeared. Blaise quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Zabini," returned Harry coolly. Blaise settled himself at the end of the dock alongside Harry, who in turn ungraciously scooted a few inches away.

"You're up late," Blaise commented, not seeming to notice Harry's lack of friendliness. Harry eyed the darker boy suspiciously.

"As are you," Harry said. "What do you want, Zabini?" Blaise shook his head.

"Nothing wrong with making a little conversation, is there?"

"So make it with one of your Slytherin friends and at some time other than the middle of the night." Harry stood and made to leave the dock.

"You sure haven't got a problem with making conversation with Draco," said Blaise simply, making Harry freeze in his tracks.

"You don't know anything about that, Blaise, so get your nose out of my business," snapped Harry angrily.

"I thought it was the Gryffindors who wanted to ease the tension between themselves and Slytherin," Blaise said, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He moved closer to Harry, who backed away. "Aren't they?" he asked, moving closer. Harry shook his head and backed away further. He was now teetering on the very edge of the dock. "That's sure the impression I got, with you running around, trying to impress Draco all the time," he said, leaning closer to the cornered Gryffindor. The said Gryffindor shook his head again, somewhat more frantically this time.

"I don't try to impress him," Harry said. "There isn't anything going on between us."

Blaise's voice dropped lower, to a whisper, as he leaned closer to the other boy. "Are you sure?"

***

-in the Gryffindor common room, very late-

"Hermione!" hissed Ron. "Hermione! Wake up!"

Hermione blinked sleepily and looked up from the large pile of books she had been studying in the common room. The embers of the fire had burned to nearly nothing, and the magical clock in the corner was quietly informing the almost empty room that it was three-o-clock AM.

"Hmm...what? I wasn't sleeping, I promise," she said drowsily. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Hermione, Harry's missing," Ron said. Hermione blinked at him.

"What? Why are you awake at three o clock in the morning?"

"I couldn't sleep," the red-headed boy replied shortly. "Didn't you hear me? I said Harry's missing!" Hermione finally woke up enough to figure out what Ron was saying and stood up quickly. As she stood, she knocked the table and several books tumbled off of it. Hermione cringed at the noise and bent over to pick up the books. "Forget the books, Herm. Come on!" Ron grabbed her hand and drug her out the entrance tunnel to Gryffindor tower.



***

-back at the lake-

"Are you sure Draco is who you want?" asked Blaise silkily, moving even closer to Harry.

"Get away from me. I told you, it's not anything like that," said Harry. Blaise raised his hand and placed it on the other boy's cheek.

"Good," he purred. "More for me."



***

-in the Slytherin dorm-

Draco couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, telling him that all was not right with the world. He stretched, sat up, and promptly knocked his head on the shelf above his bed. The contents of it came tumbling noisily down on top of him. From the next beds over, he heard two sleepy grunts that indicated Crabbe and Goyle were still asleep. There was no noise from Blaise's side of the room, however.

*Odd,* thought Draco. *Zabini is a light sleeper. I'm surprised he didn't wake up, what with all the noise.* His suspicion awakened, Draco noiselessly opened the shutters around his bed and padded to the other side of the small dorm. There was no noise from inside Blaise's bedshutters.

Draco carefully pulled on one of the slats on the shutter. It popped out quietly, and he peered inside the barrier to the bed. There was nobody in it.

The Slytherin quickly threw on some school robes and headed for the common room. He crossed the common room and had just reached the beginning of the stairs leading up to the main dungeon hallway when a voice stopped him short.

"Dracy, dear, why are you leaving the dungeon at three in the morning?" Draco rolled his eyes at the wall and turned to face the speaker.

"Because, Pansy, darling, I was hungry and wanted a midnight snack," he replied gracefully, using the pet name Pansy insisted Draco call her at all times.

"Take me with you," said Pansy. "I'm hungry, too!"

"I would, Pansy," he said, "but I was going to get a very, very big special treat for a very, very special person and I don't want that person to be with me when I get it." Draco smiled falsely.

"Oh, really, Dracy? You mean it?" simpered Pansy. Draco nodded quickly and left the room before she could say anything else. Once out, he rolled his eyes again, this time at the suit of armour across the hall. The suit of armour responded by swinging off of the wall on a magical hinge. Draco stared.

Behind the coat of armour appeared a hole, and from the hole appeared Ron and Hermione. They stared at Draco, who was staring back at them.

"Ron?" said Hermione faintly. "This doesn't look like the Great Hall." Draco shook his head disbelievingly at the pair.

"Must've taken a wrong right turn somewhere," muttered Ron, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "Sorry." Draco glanced at the armour, then remembered the network of tunnels that ran through Hogwarts. He had forgotten that one of the exits was right outside the Slytherin dorm.

"Well, now we're hopelessly lost," Hermione said expasperatedly. "Unless you happen to have a map of the tunnels or something hidden up your robe sleeve." Draco cleared his throat and the two looked at him.

"No need for a map," said the Slytherin. "You have your very own personal map right here. Though I shouldn't help you, seeing as you stood there and argued for five minutes without saying a single thing to me."

"Sorry Malfoy," said Hermione, sighing. "Would you be willing to get us outside without anyone knowing?"

"Depends on what you're getting outside to do," replied Draco. "What brings two Gryffindors to the Slytherin dowm in the middle of the night, besides lack of directional skills?"

"We're looking for Harry," explained Hermione. Ron was keeping determinedly quiet. "He's not in his bed." Draco's already pale skin paled further, something that was not missed by the bushy haired girl. "What? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"It's Blaise. He's not in his bed, either."

~*~

TBC

A/N: Hope I didn't skip around too much or anything; the story's kinda spreading out and stuff. If it's confusing, you tell me and I'll rewrite the chapter. Sorry for abandoning the story for so long. It won't happen again, I promise! ^^;;; Next chapter coming as soon as I get inspiration and/or finish typing it up.