Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters blahblahblah all the harry pooter stuff belongs to the WB and great and ever-so-talented J.K. Rowling
"Hello Hermione."
Hermione held her breath as she watched Blaise Zabini, a sixth year Slytherin walk towards her. She knew him, well, she had seen him from a distance but never talked to him. Though they had many of the same classes together, Griffindor and Slytherins were never very close and she had never had the chance to have a conversation with him.
"Hello Zabini. What are you doing here?" she asked. She did not trust him. She did not trust any Slytherin for that matter. What was he doing in the room of requirement anyway?
He did not answer her right away, but walked over to a cushion a few feet away from her and plopped down on to it gracefully. Hermione studied his face carefully. Blaise had never been mean to her like the other Slytherins. He seemed to be more of a loner than anything. Hermione never saw him with anyone. She had seen him around Hogwarts, reading alone in the library, sitting under a tree on the grounds or eating in the Great Hall. But, despite outward appearances, Hermione did not know wether he socialized with the other Slytherins. Though he seemed different was he really?
She turned to watch him as he sat there and their eyes caught. He was staring at her. Fine, Hermione thought, she would stare right back. They looked at each other square in the face for what seemed like an hour but could only have been thirty seconds.
" I need to talk to you," Blaise said, breaking eye contact and looking down into his hands.
Hermione was taken aback. A slytherin, come to talk to a griffindor? And peacefully at that? What was the world coming to?
" W-what? Pardon me, Im sorry Zabini, but I think I heard you wrong--" she stutterd.
"No, Granger, you didn't. I said I need to talk to you." Blaise said again looking into her eyes.
Hermione was caught offguard when his eyes met hers. He was looking at her like he really needed him and she believed him. Looking in his eyes she knew that he really needed her help. She had never felt that she could trust someone as much as she felt when she saw Blaise and it made her uneasy.
" Blaise, why do you need MY help? Im a griffindor. And a muggle-born. Aren't you a pureblood Slytherin, dont you all ask each other that instead of dipping into the 'lower class'?" She asked, standing up from her cushion and heading over to the bookcase so she wouldn't have to look in his eyes again.
Much to Hermione's dislike, Blaise stood as well and walked over to where she was.
" I know what the D.A. is Hermione. I know all the members, I know everything about what the group has done-"
"HOW DO YOU--" Hermione had begun screaming angrily.
"Shhh!!!!" Blaise said, looking around the room and walking over to the door where he looked out into the corridor and closed the door quickly. He walked over to Hermione who was about to begin questioning him angrily and put his hand over her mouth. She struggled until she heard a voice in the hallway.
" What is it Miss. Norris? Do you smell students? students out of bed?" Filch was roaming the corridor and Miss. Norris, his evil and ugly cat, must have heard them.
Hermione was quiet and much to her dislike comfortable. She was pressed against Blaise's side with his hand covering her mouth. Though she would like it better if his hand was not on her mouth (had he washed his hands recently?) she was still comfortable.
There was banging and clattering in the hallway and Hermione could just picture Filch shaking and banging stuff to bring students out. Stupid, stupid man.
He knew about the room of requirment. As soon as she realized that he must be going to enter she panicked. Obviously Blaise had thought of the same thing because he took her into the farthest cornor of the room and mutter an incantation to blow out all of the candles. He pulled Hermione under the table that and they huddled in the cornor. He still had his hand over her mouth and this frustrated Hermione. He must think she was stupid to expect her to say something at a time like this but she didnt want to move so she ignored it and huddled further into the corner.
Filch opened the room of requirement and looked around with his lantern. Hermione closed her eyes and tried to bury further into the corner of the room but she was as far back as she and Blaise could fit. Filch swung his lantern back and forth and just missed them.
"Well Miss. Norris, best be moving on, no students here." Filch muttered. Hermione stood next to Blaise listening to his footsteps as they slowly faded down to the other end of the corridor and out of ear shot.
Blaise pulled her out from under the table and waited.
They still stood there in the Room of Requirement, Blaise still had his hand over her mouth, and they listened. When there was no sounds coming for atleast a minute and Blaise still hadn't removed his hand Hermione started to get agitated. She bit down into Blaise's palm, hard.
"BLOODY HELL!" he shouted, wrenching his hand away from her and cradling it. He looked at her disgusted.
"Well maybe you shouldn't have put your hand there anyways." she replied, a smug grin on her face.
" Well I didn't want you to talk again. We could have gotten caught, and that was just disgusting!!! It hurt too!" he spat back at her, pacing across the room.
Hermione sighed and headed back over to the large fluffy red cushion on the floor and sat back down on it. She watched as Blaise paced, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. She looked out the window. The moon was bright and the stars were out. It was getting late.
" Zabini, it's getting late. Now, How in the name of god, do you know about the D.A?" she asked.
Blaise didn't stop pacing but did manage to look at her and then back at his hands. He seemed extrememly stressed.
"Well, now I overheard a conversation this summer." He said pacing back and forth.
"Where? And between who?" Hermione asked. The members of the D.A. were not stupid and knew better than to talk about it in public. The only other people that knew that the D.A were still running was all of the members of the order, who Hermione knew, would never talk about D.A. with anyone.
Blaise continued pacing, this was beginning to become annoying.
" Well, now its not what you think, but I heard it at another meeting from some wizards. I don't know who they are, they were wearing masks..." Blaise replied. He mumbled the last part and Hermione had to strain to hear him. He looked extremely nervous, and he was wringing his hands as he walked.
" I didn't want to be there... my family, they made me. But I don't want to. I never wanted to go. I never want to see the things I saw again," he was mumbling again but Hermione managed to hear him over his footsteps that echoed throught the room.
Despite the fact that she had never really talked to him before, Hermione was worried about him and stood up, walking over to him.
" Zabini?" she asked, he seemed to have forgotten that he was talking to her. Wrapped up in some memory that Hermione did not know about.
"My uncle, he made me do it Hermione, I d-don't want to be a part of it, I hate them Hermione. They are so vial, so evil. It wasn't my choice I swear, that's why I need your help. I need the help of the D.A. please Hermione!!" Blaise sounded desperate but hermione still had no clue what he was talking about.
"Zabini, what are you talking about?" she asked, she reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from pacing.
He turned and looked down at his feet, his black curls hanging in his face. Hermione looked at him and felt her heart skip a beat. He looked so vulnerable, so much like a child, it scared her. He looked back up into her eyes, his dark blue eyes shook her. They seemed to reach down and see her soul and she was caught off guard again. He stared into her cinnamon eyes and she stared back. His hands were shaking and his hair was in his face. Despite herself she reached out and pushed back a thick black curl and his eyes looked at her wildly. She was so shocked to see a Slytherin this distraught, this upset. It made her uncomfortable.
"Blaise, what is wrong? Tell me. You came here for my help and I will help you, if you tell what is wrong." she said, but it came out as a whisper. It was the first time she had said his first name instead of his last name.
" The Dark Lord Hermione. My family, they are deatheaters." he said, he looked around wildly, almost as though he was expecting someone to appear and attack him now that he had told her something.
" And?" Hermione pushed for more, she knew that he wasnt this upset just because his family was following the dark lord.
"And this summer they-they took me to one of the gatherings..." he said, his blue eyes glazed over and Hermione had to give him a little shake and he looked down at her again.
He was sacaring her. But she wasnt scared of him, she was scared for him.
" They made me get it Hermione, you can't understand the pressure. They put so much pressure and when you say no, when you say no merlin, they make you feel pain that you never thought was possible." he whispered the last part and Hermione felt a chill run through her.
" What did they do to you Blaise?" she whispered, looking into his eyes.
He closed his eyes and pulled off his cloak. Hermione stepped back, not sure what he was doing. He turned around and slowly rolled up his sleeve. Hermione felt as though she was waiting for something horrible and the air seemed to drop to a chill. He took a deep breath before he turned around to show her.
The dark mark was imprinted on his olive skin. It was fairly new, she could tell because it was still red, and soar looking. She winced when she saw it and covered her eyes.
" It hurt so much Hermione, I tried to cut it off--but It won't come off." Blaise was whispering now.
" I don't want to be a deatheater Hermione, I want to join the D.A."
(A/N: So that is another chapter! Yay! I really love writing this story its so much fun. I hope that you guys like it and that you review and tell me your input. Anything is welcome, good or bad, I dont care as long as you review I will be happy! Do you like it? Hope so!)
Broadwaypoetess: Thank you so much! That would be super cool of you! I will try sending you the next chapter! Thanks!
JeanB: I love Zabini too! The potion that tonks sent will be coming up soon! I promise! In the next few chapters! Thank you so much for reviewing!
ShimmeringEvil: Thanks so much for reviewing, it really means a lot to me! I can't tell you if it is going to be a Blaise/Hermione shipper really, its in the works though and it could be!
weirdochelle: I promise I will keep going with it, Im glad you like it! I hope this chapter was ok!?!? Review and tell me what you think, it would mean a lot!
Jessi: So I wrote this because you guys really wanted me too but Im going out of town for a few days so it there may not be another chapter for like, a week, but i PROMISE after that, it will start again!!!