Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.
Author Notes: Here's Chapter Two... I'm having issues with my chaptermanager and editing the story, because I'm not very used to using it yet, but oh well...Hope you enjoy! Oh yes, there's also a little bit of Ron coming up! And Draco!
Finding Gray
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep..."
-The Tempest, William Shakespeare
(IV, i, 156-157)
Chapter Two: The Beginning
The dreamless void in which Blaise was embedded in was shaking, something pulling her out of her sleep.
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a pointy nose. And then noticed a slightly curved mouth and pale, blond hair. Then Blaise looked into eyes that closely resembled her own.
She shrieked and jumped, making the rather uncomfortable armchair tip back on its heels and rock forward again.
"Whoa, whoa, Blaise, it's just me," Draco Malfoy drawled amusedly as he steadied the teetering armchair.
"Well bloody hell Draco, you expect me to know that when I wake up and all I see is this big, looming face?" Blaise said exasperatedly.
"Well, who else is as good-looking as I am?" He teased.
"Oh, believe me, I could name a few and then some," she tossed back.
He made a small pout.
Blaise just laughed in his face.
"Well, come on sleeping beauty," he drawled. "Better get dressed. Don't want to miss the first day breakfast banquet."
"Alright, alright. I'll be back in a second."
Blaise walked up to her dormitory, where she then changed into fresh, crisp robes and tied her light brown hair up into a ponytail. Studying herself in the mirror, she looked at her eyes and shivered. Draco and she were reflections of each other's eyes, both pairs blue-grey in color and glittering. Usually, anybody could read Blaise like an open book, but she was working on that. Draco was always much more difficult to read, because he could close off the rest of his face whenever he pleased. However, one cannot make the eyes blank, and Blaise knew in her gut what emotions Draco was having at any given time.
It was eerie, the was both of their eyes sparkled and crinkled when they genuinely laughed, how both eyes seemed to pulse when they were angry or frustrated.
Fed up with thinking about their disturbing similarities, Blaise walked down to the common room, where Draco was waiting for her.
Upon entering the Great hall, Draco put on his well-developed smirk and flaunted his swaggering walk, causing every eye to follow his movements. It was slightly obnoxious anda littleembarrassing to have everyone watching her as she walked with him, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Blaise took a seat beside Millicent and across from Draco.
"Just imagine," Millicent commented, "today is our last first day here at Hogwarts."
"I cannot wait to get out of here," Pansy told them. "One more year and I would have cracked. This place is infested with Mudbloods and muggle-lovers."
The muggle comments and barbs her friends constantly made did not offend Blaise. She was used to it; besides, hadn't she had enough of anything to do with muggles since her parents died? The orphanage was the worst part about it. On the contrary, Blaise agreed with her fellow Slytherins on some points. Wizards who interacted with muggles were just setting themselves up for conflict.
"I agree," Draco said, condescendingly flipping his gaze over the Great Hall. "If I have to look at one more Gryffindor, I might as well perform an Avada Kedavra on myself."
"Here, here," Pansy agreed. "I'd rather be at home than in a school with a lot of good-goodies who think they're better than us. And wanting to go home is saying something," she added as an afterthought.
Blaise suddenly felt shy, but she also felt that she was obligated to say something. "I wouldn't mind staying here as long as I could," she said quietly.
The group went quiet and stopped grumbling. Blaise felt put on the spot and knew she was sending the other three on guilt trips, but she had to say something.
"We're sorry Blaise," Millicent said after clearing her throat in an attempt to make her voice sound softer.
"It's alright…" she muttered. "I didn't mean to make the rest of you guilty. It's just that I told the truth: I wouldn't mind staying here…It's not like there is anywhere else to go but back to the orphanage."
The looks on their faces were so sad and apologetic that Blaise wished she had kept a cap on it for once. Obviously she had more regret-inducing power then she gave herself credit for. It always happened- the others would start complaining about this or that, she would tell them her opinion, and they melted like butter on hot toast. Somehow, Blaise's life situation made them soft-hearted towards her.
Blaise did not know why, because they had experienced things in their lives that were just as bad, if not worse, than anything she had gone through. Millicent's father was always on her case, beating her if the slightest action she made went against his wishes. The Parkinson couplewere practically Death Eaters, tyrants of doing the Dark Lord's wishes without realistically having a Dark Mark branded on their arms. Of course she knew all about Draco's family, after all, who didn't? One of the Dark Lord's closest servants, Lucius didn't have the patience for anyone who got in his way, his own son included.
Blaise was raised in a small, loving family in a small, pretty house. Her friends lived in massive, forlorn mansions with families that were powerfully versed in the Dark Arts and had torn relationships with their family members. Millicent, Pansy, and Draco had it worse off than Blaise did, and yet she was still the only person to strike sympathy in their hearts of stone.
Blaise honestly thought that life should have worn away the hardness of their hearts, but the difficulties just added stone on top of stone. For Blaise, every tragedy melted the ice, softened her even more. By now she thought her heart was a puddle of mush, smashed up by a spatula or thrown in a blender.
Her reverie of thoughts was broken as the schedules for the new year were passed out. Hers consisted of N.E.W.T Potions first, lunch, and following that was N.E.W.T Herbology.
"Not too bad for a first day," she commented. "Potions and Herbology. How about you guys?"
They all had Potions together, and only she and Millicent had Herbology together. Draco was going to Ancient Runes in the afternoon, while Pansy had Divination.
Sixth and Seventh years took less courses than in previous years. This was partly because some failed to receive the appropriate O.W.Ls to apply for a specific course, and partly because the work load of these two years was enormous. Even though students took all of their classes with their House and another House, not all of their fellow housemates were taking the same course. Blaise often wondered how the school organized their schedules to fit so many students' individual needs, but she had a suspicion that magic played a principle role.
After breakfast, Pansy, Millicent, and Blaise all headed down to the dungeons for Potions, while Draco caught up with some other friends.
"Do you think I should ask Theo Nott to the first Hogsmeade weekend or not?" Millicent asked them as they walked. "I mean, it could look a little quick, you know, since it's only the first day of school. Maybe it'll seem like I've been thinking of him all summer. Even though I have been thinking of him all summer, I don't want him to know that."
"I think you should just ask him," Pansy replied.
"Besides, if he does think you have been thinking of him all summer, he should be flattered," Blaise put in.
"Well, I don't know," Millicent answered. "What if he thinks it's gross though? Like I'm stalking him?"
"Why would any guy think it's gross when a girl thinks about him?" Pansy asked.
Millicent stopped walking and looked down at her feet. "Well, I don't know. I mean, I'm not all confident like you are Pansy. Well, I may look like I am, but really, I don't feel that way."
"Oh come on Mill! That's a load of dung!" Pansy protested. "Why wouldn't you-"
Millicent cut her off and barreled on. "I'm not tiny like Blaise either, and I'm not as nice as she is. I'm not pretty, at least I don't see it, and I swing my arms like a monkey when I walk. I feel so awkward and gawky and then I have all of these stupid bruises all over from my dam father!" Her voice cracked at the end, and Blaise knew it was all downhill from there.
Pansy turned to Blaise with eyes wide as saucers, and Blaise knew Pansy was no good when it came to comforting people. Blaise immediately stepped into action, and sat Millicent down against the corridor wall.
"Hey Mill? I know you think all of these things, but they aren't true. Would I ever lie to you?" She asked Millicent, who shook her head. "Okay, then I'm going to tell you how I see you, alright? I think you are a beautiful person because you don't accept stupid crap from people. You hold your head high no matter how you feel- and that's confidence. It's one of your quirks, swinging your arms, and you don't look like a monkey in the least bit. And you are beautiful, just because you are not tiny," Blaise finished.
Pansy nodded, "Besides, we love you the way you are, and if you ever change, we'll chop your head off."
Millicent grinned wryly. "Not if I sock you in the face first."
"There's our lovely Milly," Pansy said playfully. "We'd better get to class. As lenient as Snape is, he does tend to get rather moody whenever we're late,"she remarked.
"Or maybe that's because we share a class with the Gryffindors," Pansy said.
The girls barely made it to the Potions dungeon before Snape did, hustling into their long-time seats. The door opened with a bang and closed with a solid snap, leaving the students with no guesses as to who had just entered the classroom.
"Welcome to Seventh year N.E.W.T Potions," Snape said icily. I expected some of you to be enrolled in this course, while others I suppose met the requirements with an excessive amount of divine intervention."
He emphasized his last bit of words by directing a vulture-like gaze towards the Gryffindors, who clearly looked like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.
"This course is not only a continuation of your Sixth Year N.E.W.T Potions, but cumulative of your previous years at Hogwarts. In addition to brewing dangerous potions, there will be an ongoing, year-long project in which you and a partner shall be extensively studying and concocting a difficult potion that I will assign you to. You must, in addition, find and brew a counter potion."
He paused mid-speech for dramatic effect and picked up a sheet of parchment in a slow, almost sinister way.
"As such, seeing as I highly doubt any pairs you form yourselves will be efficient, I will be assigning the pairs," Snape finished with a slightly cruel smile.
Blaise inwardly groaned and her stomach flipped over. She did not think that the arrival of Voldemort at the school this moment would have been worse than the fact that Snape was assigning them in pairs.
Of course. Pairs of Gryffindors and Slytherins.
Blaise was aware that Snape believed assigning Gryffindor and Slytherin pairings would be amusing to the Slytherins. The only problem was, for people like herself, the prospect of attempting to cooperate with a Gryffindor was nothing short of daunting. Most of them immediately branded her as evil, ascheming person who should be removed from the face of the Earth before she Avada Kedavra'ed a million people. That's what they thought of all Slytherins after all. Blaise would have thought the image of her casting an Unforgivable was almost comical if she wasn't outraged by the Gryffindor's automatic assumptions.
"Tomorrow I shall inform you of your partner, but as for now…"
Great, Blaise thought. Now my misery is prolonged.
The rest of the class period passed without notable event, and by the time of lunch, Blaise was already wishing the day would end. Why couldn't Snape have just given them their partner assignments today?
Herbology was also relatively uneventful, besides recieiving a whole weeks worth of homework that was due in three days time. Blaise had to stay after and inquire after two unfamiliar flowering lilies that apparently contained the essence of a unicorn in their petals, creating a natural purifier.
Blaise trudged back to the castle alone. She could already tell this year was going to be stressful. Only two classes and she had five hours' worth of work that she wanted to get done tonight, so tomorrow was free for the work she would inevitably receive for tomorrow's classes.
She decided to quickly visit the library to check out a book she needed for her Potions homework. On her way to the Great Hall for dinner, she turned a corner and blindly walked right into a boy walking the opposite direction.
Books and parchment flew into the air in a flutter, and the force of the slam knocked Blaise to the floor.
"Aw Merlin…" the boy muttered. "I'm really sorry, I just wasn't looking where I was going and…"
He offered her his hand, and just as she was about to accept it,he looked her in the eyes and she looked at him. Both seemed to make an immediate connection. Blaise recognized the boy as a Gryffindor, and she was well aware he knew she was a Slytherin.
That was all either needed. As she scampered to her feet, he stepped back and raked his hand anxiously through his vibrant red hair. She placed his face next to the name Ron Weasley, Potter's best friend and partner in crime. Draco was always complaining about him, how could Blaise not remember? He was about as famous as Potter was, and she hadn't realized it.
Not that it mattered who he was. What he was- that was the only relevant issue at the moment.
It was too bad, he had seemed genuinely sorry and nice- offering a hand to help her up. She would never have guessed that Ron really was a Gryffindor if she hadn't already known.
He looked at Blaise through narrow, suspicious eyes for a minute. When she defensively glared back, he seemed to come to an inward conclusion and stooped to pick up his books. Blaise did the same, willing her hands to move as quickly as possible.
Her heart leapt to her throat when they both reached for the same book, each thinking it was their own.
Ron glared at her. "That's mine," he said defiantly.
She then realized that the book was a Transfiguration textbook, a class she wasn't taking, and that he was right.
"I'm sorry," Blaise said with a bit of biting sarcasm. "I wasn't trying to steal it," she huffed.
Ron snatched the book away and tossed it in his book bag. He stood up, rifled a hand through his bright red hair again, and walked away.
It took Blaise a second to realize her palms were sweaty and her heart was pounding. She hated one-on-one confrontations with Gryffindors, they scared the devil out of her. Other Slytherins took it as a chance to mock their enemies, but Blaise was far too shy and far too sweet to be so bold.
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