…The Second Task…

After a scream or two, I take out my sketchbook to draw. Izzy and Ginny enter cautiously. "We heard your screams from downstairs. Are you ok?" Ginny asks not completely in the room. I nod. She rushes back out and came back. "Everyone was worried." she states as I give her a weird look.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Izzy asks, but changes her mind. "Oh, come on Izzy. You can't let her keep those emotions bottled up." Ginny nudges Izzy who was looking at the floor. "That jerk." I growl through gritted teeth. "He thinks he can just make calls on my life for me and then I'm just supposed to accept it. Well he has another thing coming." I shake with supressed anger. "And then he had the nerve, the audacity, the gall to kiss my forehead like it was calming or something. That prick." I screech. Ginny came over and put my things away. She and Izzy guide me out of the dorm and back out the portrait hole. The other Gryffindors try to act uninterested as we pass, but I can hear the whispering.

We arrived at an empty classroom. Izzy turns to me "Spill!". I do and they listen as I tell them about the dance and the classroom. They look at each other in stunned silence as I finish the tale and collapse onto a desk. "Suspicious. I saw you that night and your date didn't look upset. Blaise did. Even more so when you danced with others. And this thing he does where he tries to downgrade you for not being a pure-blood, but then he does something like giving you advice to keep you 'safe', or calling you pretty. It's all very weird." Izzy whispers. I finally have completely calmed down. "I'm still stuck on the forehead kissing part." Ginny jokes raising her hand. I leap up giving her hug. Izzy joins in happy I was laughing. The incident was forgotten temporarily.

Over the next week, I take special preventative measures, so I don't have to run into that evil boy by accident. He did try to talk to me on many an occasion, but we were both with friends and he didn't have a chance. Fred and George were telling Hermione about my fit the other day at breakfast one morning. "We were barely able to jump out of the way! She was terrifying." they state solemnly.

I receive a letter from mum and dad. Izzy slowly got up from the table. Ginny eyed her giving her a weird look. I read the letter. I stand slowly. "Isabella Black!" I growl making everyone jump. Izzy tears from the hall with me chasing after her and Ginny and Luna right behind me highly confused at the situation.

"What's going on with you two?!" Ginny whisper yells as she pulls us into an empty classroom. Luna sits on me preventing me from getting up. Luna grabs the letter from my hand and reads it. She glances at Izzy as she finishes and hands the letter to Ginny. "I didn't mean to, but I've never had as much talent keeping secrets from mum and dad." Izzy rambles. "You told mum and dad that Blaise was interested in me. First uncle Remus and Severus and now you. We don't even know if it's true." I pout. "Aww, sure. We don't know." Luna coos patronizingly and pets my head. "When did they say something?" Izzy wonders.

Time passes and soon the second task was upon us. I was just leaving the Great Hall to go to the lake. "Hey." Blaise says from my right. I continue down to the stadium ignoring him. There weren't many people outside yet. "I do have a name you know." I snap glaring at him. He thinks for a bit and shrugs. "What do you want now?" I ask impatiently. "I wanted to ask you something." he start, but then he saw his friends and he went join them.

I join Luna and Izzy who are smiling as I make my way over. "Not a single word. Not even a peep." I order jokingly. The task started and the champions dive into the water. People were cheering loudly. I chatted with others around me as we watched Fred and George counting the last of the bets they'd received.

Cedric emerged first followed by Krum. Fleur didn't finish because she'd been attacked by the creatures below. Harry finally emerged and everyone cheered. The judges gave the scores.

Everyone started to make their way inside. I said bye to Luna at the entrance hall. I started up the steps to Gryffindor Tower. Blaise was leaning on a wall in front of me. "We never got to finish our conversation." he mutters. "You left. Not me. What did you want to ask me." I say bouncing on heels, still slightly cold from being outside. He nods his head towards an empty corridor. I follow him apprehensively.

Just then a group of Gryffindors pass by not seeing us in the corridor. They continue on their way still discussing the second task. I turn to him waiting for him to speak. "I've had some time to think, and I've come to the conclusion that maybe I've been acting a bit weird lately." he starts. I give him a dumbfounded look.

"A bit? A bit weird? Lately? You've been acting weird since you first met me." I tell him in disbelief. He opens his mouth to say something but chooses not to. "I'm truly sorry if you feel that way." he says smiling slightly. "There's something about you that seems to render my ability to think properly amuck. You interest me a lot, but sometimes when I see you with your friends, I get a bit weird." he explains leaning against the wall.

He seems extremely puzzled as he tries to work out his thoughts. "How is it that you think I'd be able to help you? I don't even know why you continuously seek me out just to repeat the same damn things. You can't even speak to me like a decent human being. You don't use my name when you talk to me. You keep acting like you control everything I do. Well I have news for you Mr. Zabini, you do not own or control everything I do. In fact, I'd prefer it if until you sorted yourself out you did not appear in front of me." I state holding my head high.

He gives me an amused look. He pins me to the wall. "Your quite interesting Charlotte, but if you don't like my 'control' I certainly don't like you telling me not to appear in front of you." he smirks. He leans and kisses me. He pulls me towards him until I was fully pressed against him. "Until next time Miss Black." he strides off in the opposite direction.

I slide down to the floor. I clutch at my chest trying to calm myself. Ugh, I might have to concede that the others are right, I think with disdain at the thought of being wrong. I sit there trying to piece together every detail until I give up. I'd finally stopped shaking and made way out of the corridor and up to Gryffindor Tower.

I collapse onto my bed. The next morning at breakfast, Ginny and Izzy wriggle their eyebrows at me. Izzy points discretely towards the Slytherin table where every now and then Blaise was looks over thoroughly entertained. I grab some bagels and toast and rush from the hall, but not before they saw my blush spreading across my face.

I eat my food on the way to my art class and try to focus on the new techniques we'd be learning. "You know if you blush like that and leave in a hurry rumors will fly around faster." Luna smiles skipping along behind me. I choke on my toast. "There is absolutely nothing going on. There's no need for rumors to fly. I just wasn't looking forward to the questions my parents would ask when I get home this summer." I try and fail to regain my composure. She laughs and we skip up the steps.

I went to my classes and ignored the looks from my friends. I tried desperately to forget the corridor conversation. I sat in the courtyard drawing things from real life and my imagination. "Something happened after the second task didn't it." Izzy demands standing in front of me. I look at an imaginary watch on my arm "Why look at the time! I have to meet Ava and Lucas in the common room." I gather my things and rush off.

I skid to halt when Luna and Ginny step from a side passage. "Shall we have a little chat young one." Ginny giggled. They had me completely cornered and I give up. We went up to the library and found a quiet corner. They look at me in earnest. I tell them about the conversation but stopped before almost telling them about the kiss. "You're still holding something back." Luna giggles lightly. I take a deep breath and tell them.

Izzy and Luna were stunned, and Ginny clapped lightly. "I think you guys might have been right." I force the words out. "Oh, you think. A guy convinces you to talk to him in an empty corridor then kisses you." Izzy gapes. I lay my head on the cool table. "Geez, you must be really worn out avoiding him." Luna sighs. I nod. They stopped talking after a bit. "Well I think that I should help Luna find her missing things. Ginny would you like to help?" Izzy said standing and the girls took off and I lifted my head. I look in the direction they ran off in. Blaise was smiling at the table where the other girls had been.

He sits across from me. "Beautiful day out. Why aren't you in Hogsmeade with the rest of the school?" he asks twirling a book in his hand. "I was working on some art." I reply. "Are you avoiding me? If you are, I thought we already discussed that I didn't like it when you did that." he tilts his head staring at me intently. I scoff and roll my eyes. "You discussed. Not me. I did not agree." I huff. "The way you responded to that kiss said otherwise." he smirks. I pick up my bag and go to leave.

He stands too and grabs me by my waist pulling me deeper into the library. He stops when we reach a dimly lit section. "I'm not done talking to you, Charlotte.", he whispers leaning down, "Are you avoiding me?" I look anywhere, but at him. "Should I ask you another way?" he had a bit of a smile in his voice. He turns my head towards him. He has a mischievous smile on his face. He gives me a small kiss. I don't answer. He tsks disapprovingly. He kisses me again pulling me to him. He releases me from the kiss, but not his hold. "Are you avoiding me?" he asks again. I shrug and he laughs. "Silly girl. Do you think that I'm going to try something?" he shakes his head.

He sits down on a chair and pulls me onto his lap. "You've got beautiful eyes." he murmurs. I turn away. "Do you think I'm lying to you? I'm not. At the Yule Ball you looked positively enchanting." he sighs as the memory reemerges. He curls a strand of my hair around his finger. He looks into my eyes. "Beautiful." he mumbles.

That night at dinner, I ignore the looks from Ginny and Izzy. Luna came over halfway through dinner. "You seem like you have Wrackspurts in your brain. Had a lovely time?" she asks. I busy myself with my ice cream. "Wow! There's even more Wrackspurts now." she laughs in excitement. Ginny covers her mouth trying to hide her laughter. Izzy shakes with laughter.

It was getting harder to keep up with my studying and homework. Every time I was in the library at the same time as Blaise, he kept walking by grazing my arm as he passed.

The third task was approaching. Thankfully, this distracted everyone enough and even Blaise had stopped going out of his way to mess with me. Ginny had begun dating Michael Corner.

All the teasing about Blaise was diverted to Ginny and Michael. I was finishing the last bit of my homework in the library. I felt a hand slide up and down my arm. I shiver. "Hey, Miss Black, how are you?" Blaise whispers in my ear. He slides into the seat beside me. "Did you miss me?" he asks leaning his head on his hand on the table.

I slide away from him slightly trying to focus on the last bit of my essay. I finish it and turned to Blaise. "Did you need something?" I ask innocently. He raises his eyebrows. "Well, if I could have you it'd be very nice." he chuckles with a smile. I roll my eyes sassily. I gather my things and put them in my bag. "You know what would be really nice? A kiss for good luck on exams." he whispers happily. "I don't think so." I smirk giving him a smile. His face falls into a pout.

I rise from my chair and head out of the library, Blaise right at my heels. I slide into a side corridor that was empty. "Where do you think you're going?" he growls in my ear. "To my dorm. Back off to your dorm. Shoo.", I say waving my hands at him. He doesn't like that. He spins me around with his hands on my hips. "That's not very nice." he smirks as he leans down to kiss me.