Sing To Me the Song of the Stars

Their Worlds Disappeared

"Granger, get up. Apparently my mum's making waffles." a voice growled in Hermione's ear.

Giving a frightened yelp, the girl shot up and looked around frantically. After spotting Zabini, a ghost of a smile crossed her face before she rubbed her eyes tiredly and it disappeared.

"Alright then, I'll be down in a few minutes." She replied as she forced herself out of bed and over to the wardrobe.

She paid no mind to him as she took off a pair of jeans and a yellow tank top from their hangers. After hearing the door close behind her she changed into her chosen attire and threw her nightwear aside. She grabbed a pair of earrings, put them on, and quickly brushed the knots out of her hair.

As she descended the stairs, she dully noticed her head throbbing and frowned. Note to self, don't stay out in the rain for long.

Hermione pushed her thoughts aside as the opened the dinning room door. Mrs. Zabini and Blaise were sitting on the side opposite her of a rather long table. She cautiously sat down next to Blaise as a house elf scurried over with her breakfast.

'Shite, that boy looks hot,' she mused, 'Merlin; I did not just think that. Did not, did not, did not. Okay, maybe I did, but who will ever know? Oh gods, he's starring at me. Would he stop already? Bloody hell. I'll just stare back at the bugger.'

Hermione locked her eyes with Blaise's, daring him to look away. When he didn't after quite some time, she rolled her eyes at him and looked over to Mrs. Zabini. A smirk graced her pretty face, and Hermione could feel a blush creeping up her neck.

"Hermione, did you sleep well? I hope the bed wasn't too uncomfortable; we haven't had someone in there yet to break it in."

"I did, thanks. You wouldn't have any aspirin, by chance, would you? I've got a bit of a headache." She smiled sheepishly and missed the knowing looks Blaise was giving her.

"Aspirin? What's that? A muggle medicine?"

"Yes?" Hermione answered quietly, unsure of whether or not she'd said the right thing.

"Of coarse not! We've nothing muggle in this house!" the woman exclaimed in mock horror.

Blaise erupted in a coughing fit, though it sounded like he was saying something along the lines of, 'except a television, a radio, a--'.

"Blaise!" Mrs. Zabini's tone warned him not to continue.

To avoid the rising awkwardness, Hermione began on the waffles set out in front of her. She'd never had much of a taste for waffles, but today she found a newfound liking for them.

"I've never liked waffles much, but these are delicious," said Hermione.

"How sweet of you, Hermione. I actually haven't cooked in awhile, so I doubted whether they'd be edible. But since it's a special occasion . . ." she answered.

"Father coming home was never a special occasion." Blaise muttered, receiving a glare from his mother.

Hermione darted her eyes between them, and she went back to eating. They lapsed in the silence for over ten minutes, when she finally cleared her throat and smiled awkwardly.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Zabini, it was wonderful. May I be excused?" she asked.

"Of course, I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I insist, call me Mary." Mrs. Zabini replied warmly

Blaise's head shot up at that, "Oh, no, I insist. Call her Mrs. Zabini," he said firmly.

"Blaise." Mrs. Zabini shot in a venomous tone.

Hermione pushed her chair back and hastily exited the room, wanting to get away from what she new was coming. From behind the closed door, she heard two voiced arguing, and less than a minute later she heard the door slam shut. Looking back, she saw Zabini stomping up the stairs behind her. She gave him a questioning glance as she approached.

"Never mind, Granger," he growled as he pushed her aside.

Hermione lay on her new bed, listening to one of her favorite songs on her muggle mp3 player. She was curled up in a blanket and resting her weary eyes when the door creaked open. Sighing, she took her headphones off and opened her eyes.

"Granger, what are you doing?" Blaise asked as he shut the door and made his way over to her bed.

"Thinking." her soft voice answered.

"About what?" he asked when he sat down.

"Just things."

"Oh, come now, Granger. Aren't you going to tell me?" he pouted.

"It's not likely, Zabini." Hermione stated as she rolled over to face him.

"And here I thought we were close."

She laughed and poked his side, causing him to yelp and scoot away from her. She found this amusing, and was laughing again.

"Of so you think you're funny, do you?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do." she answered smugly.

For a while, they sat in silence, but before long Blaise gave sigh of frustration and moved closer to her again.

"So, Granger. What brings you here, anyways?"

Hearing no answer, he patiently waited for her to reply. Just when he was about to repeat the question, she sat up and smiled vaguely at him. His breathe hitched momentarily as he marveled at how beautiful she was. When she opened her mouth to speak, he shook his head lightly and shook off his thoughts.

"Ran away." she answered, acting as though it meant nothing to her.

He stared at her wordlessly. Never had he imagined she would run away, it was so unlike her. It was something he would have never expected from the Gryffindor bookworm. That's when he realized; he really knew nothing about her.

"Why?"

"Err, my step dad." she replied, averting his eyes.

"What's so bad about him?" he whispered softly.

Blaise watched as she once again closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She looked as though she couldn't breathe, and his heart went out to the girl. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and his brows came together in worry when he saw her flinch.

"He's just . . . Not a good guy. Do we have to talk about it?" she inquired weakly.

"No, we don't." he smiled softly.

"What were you and your mother fighting about?" she asked after a moments hesitation.

Blaise sat, unsure of whether or not to answer. He wasn't friends with her, and he didn't know her well. Still, he couldn't help but feel it was safe to trust her.

"My father, mostly. Mum doesn't like how I can be so open about him always leaving. She doesn't love him though, she never did. It was just about the name, about the money."

"But she seems no nice!" Hermione exclaimed.

"She is, it's just that sometimes she doesn't have the best interests at heart."

"Yeah." she responded bitterly.

"So what are you going to do after Hogwarts?" she asked in a cheerful voice, one he could sense was forced.

"There are certain things . . . expected of me." he answered carefully.

"But is it what you want to do?" Hermione knew of these expectations, she knew of his supposed loyalty to he-who-must-not-be-named.

Blaise pondered the question. Just because he was a pureblood, didn't mean he wanted to bow down to the dark lord. From a young age, such desired had been branded into him, but he knew better. Blaise knew how to fight the evil that was to spoil his heart; he knew how to resent all he was supposed to believe in.

"No. . . I- no. I don't know. ." he answered truthfully.

"That's good enough for me." Hermione smiled and crossed her legs Indian style in front of him.

"So, how do you reckon your family's doing?" He tried a stab at a decent conversation.

Almost immediately, she got a distant look in her eyes, and stood they were clouded with unshed tears. She closed her eyes, not wanting her tears to fall.

"It's okay, love." Blaise whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed soothing circles across her back.

He sat, comforting someone who needed it greatly. It felt as though they were forever safe in each other's presence, and together their worlds could disappear. If they let go of their trust, the moment would be ruined, and their lives would return to them.

A/N So now, my faithful reviewers whom I love and re-wrote this chapter for, it's time to tell me whether or not this chapter lived up to your expectations.

readyformycloseup.