A/N: Thank you to Sheep's Queen for letting me know the site messed up the formatting of this chapter! Let's try this again. Hope you all enjoy!

Pansy

All she knew was that it was far too early for this rubbish.

It was so early that the sun hadn't even considered rising for the day yet. If it weren't for sodding Blaise, she'd be perfectly content to push off her run for another day and curl right back into bed. As it was, however, she'd confided in Blaise - probably her best mate, aside from Draco - that she'd been slacking in the exercise department. An avid runner himself, this ended up being quite the mistake as he was now waiting for her in the common room and wouldn't take no for an answer the evening before.

"Morning," she grumbled, pulling her jumper around her shoulders. She wasn't sure whether Blaise was aware of her fear that Graham would find out they'd been alone, but he'd not said a word when she folded under the condition they run in the early hours. She didn't like being seen a sweaty, anyway.

"Morning, sunshine," Blaise said with a grin, revealing his perfectly straight, bright smile. There'd been a time in third year when she fancied him, but managed to keep her feelings under lock and key. Probably would have been better off chasing him than ever getting involved with Graham.

Pansy only grunted in return, which earned a rich laugh from her friend. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in fear that maybe Graham was nearby doing early rounds and would hear them. "Let's go," she grumbled, tucking her arms around herself. Even in the darkness of the common rooms - and dungeons once they were on their way - she felt self-conscious without her makeup done. Blaise was one of the few people she didn't mind being naked-faced in front of.

Hogwarts was always eerie and still through the night. Pansy recalled a few weeks prior, when she slipped out under cover of night to release Weasley. How they'd laughed, out of breath, at nearly being mauled.

"What're you grinnin' at?" Blaise asked, nudging her shoulder with his own. Pansy immediately dropped the smile she didn't even realize she'd let grow across her face.

"Nothing, you git," she muttered, sliding out through the large door in the entrance hall. The coolness of the mid-October air bit at her cheeks. Blaise followed close behind and a soft thud sounded across the grounds at the large door closing after them.

Blaise only hummed in return, a short noise signaling he knew better. She told herself it was the chill that caused the heat to rise to her face.

"Let's do this, then," she said with abruptness, pointedly not looking at him. Why in Merlin's beard she was blushing, she had no idea. It felt dirty being caught smiling over that ginger idiot.

"Race down to the Pitch?" he asked with a grin. She nodded in return and he was off like lightning. Not that she expected to beat him, but Pansy did shoot forward after him. Her short legs did little to help and he beat her by a large margin. Once she made it to the Pitch, she was doubled over, gasping for air. Blaise seemed unfazed - not even winded in the slightest.

"You are out of practice," he said with a laugh. "Go on, then. We'll do ten laps this morning -"

"Ten?!" Pansy interrupted. "Ten laps around the Pitch? You'll kill me!"

Blaise raised an eyebrow, amusement obvious. "Ten," he said. "You're the one who wants to be in shape. You can't even run downhill without sounding like you've been smoking for years. Ten laps, no complaining."

If there was anything she knew about her friend, it was that he hated excuses. Despite that, she still made a whining noise and took off at a slow pace. Blaise easily passed her up and, even though she was sure he'd have something smart to say about her slow jog, let her be. Maybe he was pleased enough that she'd even bothered to get out of bed. It probably pleased him more to have a chance to boss her around. Between Pansy and Draco, Blaise never got to be the one bossing others around.

"How you holding up?" he asked as he passed her on his eighth lap and Pansy's sixth. The only answer he received was heavy breathing and an angry scowl. Blaise passed her with ease, not even winded, and continued on his way. He wasn't too far ahead when the sound of jaunty voices trailed down their way.

"Johnson's trying to kill us," one was saying. "Ridiculous, having practice this early," said another. "Oi!" said the loudest, a female, "Enough! Slytherin is first match of the year, I'm not losing to them on my first game as captain!"

Merlin's fucking pants, it was the sodding Gryffindor team. A quick noise of annoyance grunted out of her before she could stop it - even her secret time alone was being tainted by the Weasley twins. Blaise trailed to a stop and looked back at her. The small tuck in his brow would have looked like annoyance to anyone else, but Pansy knew her friend well enough to see concern. They were both thinking the same thing - the Hunt.

Surely they wouldn't try anything in front of their captain. But...what if Johnson played, too? Pansy quickly recalled the Gryffindor roster, recalling Potter, of course, but also Alicia Spinnet. Head Girl. Pansy's nerves calmed in just the slightest. She slowed, but continued a quick walk to close the gap between herself and Blaise, who had placed himself between her and the Gryffindor team.

"It's fine," she muttered as the team grew quiet, noticing them. "Spinnet is Head Girl. She won't risk losing her badge."

"Oi!" Johnson called. The distance between them seemed to shrink with the sound of her voice. Blaise still positioned his shoulder slightly in front of her. "Gryffindor booked the Pitch a month ago!" The tone was one of blame and suspicion - Blaise raised his hands.

"Didn't know," he said, making a slight movement with his head and beckoning Pansy to follow behind him as he stepped forward. "We were just doing our morning laps, we'll go."

The sun was beginning to rise over the grounds and it reflected off the bright hair of the Weasley twins and their younger brother, who Pansy didn't know had made the quidditch team this year. She couldn't help her eyes lingering on the twins before looking over to Blaise. He eyed the team warily, but none of the Gryffindor players made a peep. They all just stared at the two of them like they were slugs.

"Let's go," Pansy whispered, nudging Blaise. He nodded and the two took off walking, though they had to pass Gryffindor to avoid going clear around the Pitch and risk looking like they were afraid.

Gods, she really didn't want to pass the twins. They'd practically stalked her for the past few weeks over Lizzie's seeds - it was all growing quite tiresome. The team stood their ground as they passed. Pansy knew she ought to keep her eyes on the ground, but she couldn't help looking up at the twins as she passed. A quick assessment of their faces - George on the left, Fred on the right - made her angry at herself for now being able to tell them apart by looking at them. Or rather, their mannerisms.

Both of them looked rather shocked as she and Blaise drew close and passed. She realized they'd never seen her in jogging clothes, red-faced and sans makeup. It was just a bunch of Gryffindor idiots, right? What did they matter?

But it did bother her. Quite a bit. As she and Blaise finished their walk up to the castle in silence, Pansy kept running her hand through her hair - a nervous habit brought on by the realization that she cared quite a bit what the Weasley twins thought of her.