Summary: At the masquerade, Harry meets a fascinating girl who has come as Elayne. A companion to "Masquerade." HP/BZ
Disclaimer: Not mine, eh? Not the Harry Potter reality, not Vanyel, and not Elayne.
She was gorgeous, and something about the way she moved made it obvious that it wasn't all because of her costume. Something about her made him tingle slightly, and every move she made seemed to be angled to catch his interest.
Hidden behind his midnight mask and the gorgeous character whose form he had adopted for the masquerade, Harry found that slightly intimidating. All he'd changed was the length of his hair and the color of his eyes, and he had removed his scar. He wondered if she somehow recognized him.
"So—er—Elayne."
"Yes, Vanyel?" she replied, smiling coyly at him.
"Would you like to dance?"
Still smiling, she accepted.
"Who are you?" he blurted after several minutes.
Elayne laughed. "Can't you wait until midnight?"
"I must admit that I don't want to," Harry told her.
"Any particular reason why?"
"Because I'm impatient," he told her honestly. "And I wanted to ask you to come to Hogsmeade with me next time."
Elayne's smile turned victorious. "Why would that be?"
Harry smiled at the beauty before him, looking into the eyes behind the golden mask. She was beautiful, with fair skin and a tumble of red-gold curls. But that was all superficial; she could be Pansy Parkinson or Millicent Bullstrode, though neither seemed as intelligent as the beauty before him. "You're fascinating," he told her seriously. "You're intelligent, you're witty, you're . . . amazing."
Elayne laughed, her eyes sparkling. "In that case, I accept."
Harry smiled. "Meet me in the entrance hall after breakfast?"
"Of course."
Just then the clock struck twelve, and Harry reluctantly removed his mask. As Elayne removed her golden mask, her red-gold curls turned to blond waves and the tingle faded somewhat. Both stared at each other in shock, Harry squinting because he had stupidly left his glasses in the dorm, as the flock of girls fluttered noisily upon discovering his identity.
"Blaise Zabini?" The girl nodded, sea green eyes wide with shock and perhaps a touch of fear. "You're beautiful."
A nervous twitter of laughter escaped the Slytherin's lips. "You're not wearing your glasses."
Harry shrugged. "I don't have to be able to see you clearly to know that." Smiling, he kissed her.
She did not object in the slightest.
