Hello one and all, I have finally been able to upload the new chapter (I've been trying for three days). I hope you like it.
ATTENTION: This has not been looked over by a beta so excuse pleaseany errors.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, J.K. Rowling does. Chracters are given the attitudes that I feel they should have for the story.
The weekend had gone quicker than Hermione would have liked but was thankfully uneventful. Now she found herself sitting in Transfiguration class on Monday afternoon.
"Psst...Hermione." She looked over to see Ron looking up to the front of the classroom before he looked back at her. "What is…?"
"Mr. Weasley, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Professor McGonagall interrupted.
Ron winced and mumbled 'nothing' before looking down at his desk, his ears pink. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the front of the classroom. That was until a piece of folded parchment landed on her desk. She stared at it for a few seconds before her thoughts were interrupted once again with a whisper.
"Open it up."
"Mr. Weasley?"
Hermione bit her lip to hide the smile that threatened to show itself and looked at Ron with a sympathetic look.
"Sorry, professor." He said to his desk.
"mm-hmm." The deputy headmistress said in a disapproving tone before she continued her lecture, though she gave Ron a stern look for the first five minutes as she continued her lecture.
The head girl gave Ron an odd look before she opened the parchment and sighed at the question scrawled onto it. It read:
'Why is Zabini staring at you?'
She turned around and looked at the boy in question and was startled to see him look away from her quickly.
"Miss Granger, I'm sorry I haven't been interesting enough to keep you attention."
"I'm sorry, professor." Hermione answered as she felt the blood rushing to her face in embarrassment.
"Because it is Monday I'm willing to forgive you but do not let it happen again, Miss Granger." The professor explained before she, for the third time, continued to speak of the complicated transfiguration that the class would have to complete next week.
Half an hour later Hermione was in the library researching the spell that Professor McGonagall had discussed when the chair from across from her was pulled out, something she was now growing used to.
"Hermione?"
Hermione looked up at the girl across from her and pushed her books aside knowing it was pointless to try to multi-task when she was involved.
"Yes, Ginny?" She answered with a tight smile, not knowing if the youngest Weasley had spoken to her brother or not.
"What is wrong?" the ginger hair girl asked immediately.
"Nothing is wrong with me." Hermione shot back instantly.
"Are you sure, you seemed to be acting a bit odd just now?"
Hermione silently thanked whoever it was that was listening that she hadn't run into Ron and gave a genuine smile before answering. "I'm sorry; I was trying to figure out the ending of this spell."
"Oh." Ginny answered with a shrug that had Hermione silently sighing with relief. "So did you hear about that Zambia guy?"
"Zambia, is he new?" Hermione asked as she tried to think of so the boy that would match the name, she was coming up with nothing so far.
"You know who he is, 'Mione! You're always in the library with him." Ginny said as she leaned across the table to say the last part quietly.
"Zabini?" Hermione corrected with a roll of her eyes.
"Are you sure? Lavender said it was Zambia." Ginny asked with a questioning look.
"His name is Zabini, Blaise Zabini." Hermione assured her friend.
"Oh, well have you heard about him?" Ginny asked again, her eyes darting around to make sure they were alone.
"No I haven't heard. What has he done now?" the frizzy haired Gryffindor asked when she saw that the girl across from her looked likely to burst if she didn't get whatever she knew out.
"You really haven't heard?" Ginny asked with surprise evident in her voice.
"If you would just tell me than I will have heard."
"He's been telling everyone that he fancies someone in Gryffindor but he's scared to ask her out. It's all over the common room."
"Oh?" Hermione asked with a look she hoped look bored. Her mind raced to figure out who it could be. It could be Lavender but she threw herself at every boy that said hello to her and it couldn't be Ginny, she was Harry's girlfriend. Maybe that was why he was being so…odd towards her he's trying to get on her good side to get one of her friends.
"Who do you think it could be?"
"I don't know, Gin' but may the deity's help whoever it is. He's an odd one." Hermione said with a shrug.
"Mm-hmm. Well, I have to go do some homework to do for Charms; I'll see you later in the common room." Ginny excused herself which made Hermione look at her oddly, not because of what she said but of how she said it. It sounded almost as if she were disappointed.
"Alright, Ginny. I'll see you later." She answered almost cautiously, unable to detect why there had been a sudden shift in her attitude or how to approach it.
Hermione watched as her friend left and then went back to her homework, getting absorbed in her work almost instantly and forgetting the conversation, if they wanted to gossip about Zabini that was their problem. She was interrupted once again by the chair across from her becoming occupied once again.
"What else, Ginny?" Hermione asked without looking up.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you but not only am I not Ginny, I do not know who this Ginny is." A deep voice corrected her with a chuckle.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione looked up and asked the smirking Blaise Zabini who sat across from her.
"From what I recall the library is a public place."
"Fine, then what are you doing at this table?" she asked through clenched teeth and wishing that it had been Ginny across from her again even with her odd behavior.
"I also don't recall being able to call a table in said public place yours."
After a deep breath Hermione forced herself to return to her work to finish as quickly as possible.
"What are you working on?"
"schoolwork." She said shortly.
"Which class?"
"I'm trying to study."
"I just asked which class you were studying for."
"If I tell you will you leave me alone?"
"I make no promises." He answered with a shrug and a smirk.
"Transfiguration."
"Not your favorite class, I'm assuming." Blaise said sympathetically.
"Why would you say that?"
"Well your acting as if you'd rather be doing anything else than what you're doing now."
"No, I love Transfiguration." Hermione snapped and raised an eyebrow as he figured out what she meant.
"If one didn't know better they would think that was intended to be an insult." He said as he shook his finger at her.
"Really?" Hermione asked in mock innocence.
"You're claws are rather dull, kitten."
"Don't call me kitten, you loon." Hermione ordered as she slammed the book closed and glared.
"I'm not a Ravenclaw so your pet name for me is completely unfitting." Blaise said with a smile he tried to contain.
"Not that I want to know but what are you talking about?"
"You just contradicted yourself, you know." The Italian boy said with a raised eyebrow before he answered. "You are a Gryffindor, Hermione, and I am a Slytherin. A kitten is the offspring of a cat which is a relative to a Lion which, if you didn't know, is the mascot of the Gryffindor House. I think the pet name snake would be in order."
"Only you could come up with something so odd. And stop with the 'pet name' business, people might get the wrong idea."
"Or they might get the right idea." That phrase was said as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked as she felt a headache begin to build.
"I am sure I don't know what you are talking about." He said as he rested his elbow on the table and placed his chin in his hand.
"Why are you here?" she asked with a sigh at his deliberate obtuseness.
"Because I want to talk to you." He answered with a shrug and a lazy smile, although it was ruined by half of his face being pressed into his hand.
"Not that, why are you talking to me at all? If you want to talk to Lavender or Hannah just do it. Don't use me to get to someone else." She snapped before she stood up and left the library.
She was just down the hallway when she realized she'd forgotten her bag and was just ready to turn back when she felt someone put their arm through hers and lead her away from the library.
"Excuse me I need to do something." She said as she tried, without success, to pull her arm free.
"Is this what you need to do?"
Blaise held up her bag while still holding onto her arm. She looked at the bag and muttered a yes before trying to pull away again.
"Stop trying to get away, it's pointless. I outweigh you and run faster." He threatened with a pleasant smile before he continued. "Now what is this about me using you to get to other girls?" he asked as his tone turned to confusion rather than smugness.
"It's all around school so you can stop pretending you have no idea what I'm talking about."
"I would like to pretend that I have an idea as to what you are talking about."
"Can you please let me go?" she asked as she failed once again in freeing her arm.
"Of course I will let you go. As soon as we talk about what ever it is that you blurted out about me before your rather rude exit." The Italian boy said with an overly patient smile on his face as if he were dealing with a child.
"Where are we going?" she asked after a lengthy silence and an uncessecary amount of walking in her opinion.
"'È qui, a destra. Non…dov'è?" he was muttering to himself while he practically dragged her behind him.
"What are you saying? Where are we going?" she demanded, as she stopped in the hallway. She gave a small smile of satisfaction when he stopped as well and looked back at her with a slightly annoyed
"Curiosity killed the cat, kitten." He answered with a smirk.
"I am not a kitten."
"Do we have to go through this again?" he asked with a sigh, although the smirk returned with a vengeance as he began leading her down the hallway again. "You are a Gryffindor and the Gryffindor mascot is a…"
"Oh shut up."
"I was merely explaining why you are a kitten. Here we are." He said with a smile that had Hermione worried. She looked around but looked back at him in shock at his next words. "Doxie Proxie."
"How did you get the password?" she asked in shock as he led her through the short hallway that opened up into the Heads common room.
"We all have our secrets." Was his only answer.
She sat in her regular chair and stared at the fire while the boy that had taken a seat in the chair next to her got settled.
"How do you know the password?" she asked again as her gaze turned to him.
"We all have our secrets. It is getting rather troublesome to keep repeating myself, perhaps I should invest in dicta-quills." He mused as he gave a small smile. "Alright, now what is all this rubbish about me wanting someone in the Gryffindor house?" he asked after he pulled himself out of his thoughts.
Hermione looked away from him quickly and stared at the fire once more. It was bad enough that she even knew about it, to talk about it with him would just be disastrous.
"I believe that's called cannibalism and I am sure you don't support that so will you please answer me, Bella?" he asked and she could hear the grin on his face.
"What on earth are you talking about?" she asked although she knew it was a mistake to show interest as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Well I am quite certain the phrase is 'cats' got your tongue' and because you are a Gryffindor and have the widely known pet name of kitten it is fare to say that it is a form of cannibalism." He explained as if she'd asked about the weather.
"There are groups for people like you, you know?" she asked as she looked back at him. "They all get matching white coats that allow you to hug yourself and you get your own private room with soft walls."
"That does sound interesting but I'd much rather talk about my personal affairs."
"Is it impossible for you to stay on one topic for more than a few seconds?" she asked as she avoided the subject for a few seconds.
"I would say that we have the same problem but we've dealt with it well enough so far that I think that we can work through it. Now about me wanting to date Lavender?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hermione...you know you want to ask me, you are to curious not to want to get the information from the source."
"I am not nosy." She defended as she threw him a wounded expression.
"I never said you were nosy, merely curious." He corrected her while shaking his finger at her. "Now come on, out with it."
"Out with what?" she asked with an innocent expression. She knew she was being childish but this subject didn't sit well with her for some reason and she didn't want to discuss it with him of all people.
"Playing dumb doesn't suit you, Hermione. Now tell me or I will tell McGonagall who broke into the library." He threatened with a practiced ease.
"You wouldn't dare." She gasped.
"'Deputy-Headmistress, I saw the books laying about the Heads common room. I didn't realize that they were the books until I asked Madame Pince for the list of books for Theodore.'" He said this speech as if he'd had it prepared for some time and even had a look of innocence that almost fooled her, almost.
"You are a snake." She hissed with narrowed eyes.
"Now you've gotten an appropriate pet name for me."
"There are you pet names between us." She denied immediately.
"mmm." He answered with a smile before he asked his question again. "What were you talking about in the library?"
"There is a rumor going around that you fancy a girl in Gryffindor and because you are my Potions partner and stalking me people seem to think that you are using me to get to whoever it is." Hermione explained after a silence that stretched for a few minutes.
"Really? I love it when I am finally let in on my private life. When do you think you can find out who I fancy? I am dying to know."
Hermione gave him an odd look but shut her mouth.
"Come on now, don't mussel up on me now." He said with a smirk that made Hermione laugh. "What is so funny?"
"'Mussel up'? What on earth is that?" she asked through her giggles.
"It's a muggle phrase." He defended himself with a defiant look on his face.
"That's odd, I've never heard it. Now I have heard clam up." She said while she tried to control her now involuntary laughter.
"Clam up?" he asked although it sounded to Hermione as if he wanted to test it out rather than ask her if she were correct. "They should both be valid." He informed her after he thought over what she had said.
Hermione rolled her eyes but gave a nod of her head none the less.
"Now, who did you hear that tale from?"
"You really must try to stay on topic." Hermione advised as she kept quiet about her source.
"It was one of the Gryffindor four, wasn't it?" he asked even as he nodded. "I thought it would be one of them."
"Who on earth are the Gryffindor four?" she asked with genuine curiosity.
"I'm sorry; you're used to the trio. I am sorry to say that you are not involved in the Gryffindor four. Potter, Weasley one and two and Longbottom." He clarified for her. "They seem to think that it is their business to know everyone else's'."
Hermione thought about what he had told her for a few seconds before answering. "Why should I tell you?" She asked.
"That is a good question." He acknowledged with a nod.
"Why thank you." She said sarcastically.
"Oh, it's no problem." He answered with a wave of his hand. "Who told you?" he asked again.
"You are horrible at subtlety." She informed him with a small smile.
"I feel the opposite but we will deal with that at another time." He dismissed the statement with a wave of his hand before he stood and began to pace. "I have a plan and I need your involvement in order for it to work."
"Why should I help you?"
"Because I have the feeling that they are trying to get into your head, not mine." He answered with a shrug.
"What on earth are you talking about?" she asked with anger growing and evident in her voice.
"I have a plan but it won't work unless you are on board with me." He explained as he paced.
"I think you're crazy." She said with a scoff.
"Just listen to what is said around you when you are with your friends. If you don't hear anything odd then listen when they don't think you are around."
"You're asking me to spy on my friends?" she said with indignation in her voice.
"Just do it, you want to find out what is going on as much as I do."
"Who says I do?" she asked as she raised her chin defiantly.
"Past experiences say that you do." He answered as he gave her a droll stare. "Just do what I say. I'll explain it all to you tomorrow but I have to think about it tonight to get the details straight."
Hermione watched as he walked out of the door and sat back to watch the fire. She did want to know what was going on but if it meant working with Blaise she would have to think about it.
Did you like the chapter? I know some might think it's a bit odd but it is going somewhere so never fear.
Leave a review to tell me what ya think.
