A/N- QLFC, Kenmare Kestrels, Chaser 1, Round 11

Main Prompt- You Can't Predict It All

Additional Prompts- [dialogue] "You're the worst." / "But you love me anyway.", [emotion] surprise, [dialogue] "This isn't a game."

Word Count: 1364

Twelve-year-old Daphne sat in the bleachers with Pansy just before the quidditch match began. She wasn't exactly surprised when Blaise squeezed himself between the two girls.

"Signore," he said in greeting, an arm thrown over each of their shoulders. "So what do we think? Is Malfoy going to win his first quidditch match?"

"Of course he is," replied Pansy easily.

Pansy's boisterous affirmation was almost loud enough to block out Daphne's soft response. Almost.

"No," she'd uttered, the single syllable falling from her lips without thought. Daphne really hated when that happened.

"Excuse me?!" shrieked Pansy as she glared at Daphne from her seat on the other side of Blaise. "How could you say such a thing?"

Blaise dropped his arms and eyed Daphne curiously. "You don't think Slytherin's going to win, Daph?"

Daphne sighed. This ability of hers was starting to become a real nuisance. "Let's just say… I'd be really surprised if they did."

Pansy huffed. "I can't believe you!" she squawked, popping up to her feet like the wood bench personally offended her. "I'm going to sit somewhere else. Somewhere more spirited." Then she stalked off leaving Daphne alone with Blaise.

"Wow," said Blaise. "Are you guys even friends?"

Daphne felt her lips curl up into a tiny smile as the answer to Blaise's question fluttered across her eyes. "She'll apologize by tonight, I'm sure," explained Daphne fondly.

Blaise angled his body toward Daphne, elbow on knee, chin resting in the palm of his hand. He squinted his eyes at her in a studying manner. "You intrigue me."

Daphne looked him dead in the eye. It was the kind of dead-eyed stare she was known for, the one that dubbed her the Ice Queen of Hogwarts. Her smile grew sad and she sighed. Her gaze returned to the Slytherin/Gryffindor quidditch match, the one with which she'd already predicted the outcome.

"Nothing intrigues me," she muttered under her breath.

As soon as Professor Sprout called for partners, Blaise appeared at Daphne's side. "Let's be partners."

Daphne nodded her head.

"Excellent."

Thankfully, most of the class was spent trying not to be attacked by a fanged geranium whose leaves they were supposed to be learning to trim. Daphne had no issues, of course, but Blaise was a mess of little cuts and bruises by the end of the lesson.

As they were packing up their things before heading to lunch, Blaise turned to Daphne and asked, "Do you think I'll pass the herbology OWL exam after that terrible display?"

"Yes," Daphne responded instantly.

Blaise took a startled step back at the certainty in Daphne's voice. "Oh yeah?" Blaise chuckled. "Since you seem so sure, what grade do I get?"

This answer took a little longer to come to Daphne's mind. The more variety in answer, the longer it took to receive the correct one. Daphne waited patiently for it to come. "Exceeds Expectations," she stated after about ten seconds or so.

Blaise stopped packing up his book bag, all of his attention focused on Daphne. "How do you know that?"

Daphne had gotten asked this question a lot over the years, and she liked it. There was no correct answer to it, for some reason. It was the only time she got to say, "I don't know," and mean it.

"I don't know. I suppose I'm just a good guesser."

Blaise raised an eyebrow and grabbed up his herbology textbook. He wagged his finger at Daphne as he slowly backed out of the classroom. "We should hang out more, Greengrass. You're pretty cool."

Daphne watched after Blaise as he twisted around on his heel, his long legs practically skipping out of the greenhouse.

Her brows were very slightly furrowed. She felt…

Actually, she didn't know how to describe it as she'd never felt it before.

Was it confusion, perhaps? Maybe, curiosity?

She wasn't sure if she liked this feeling, whatever it was.

But she also wasn't sure if she disliked it.

Daphne curled up with a new book under an ancient oak tree near the Black Lake. Reading had never been all that much fun for Daphne. Her gift made it almost impossible to enjoy. But sometimes Daphne was able to read fast enough to feel a small fraction of what others might consider to be wonder. It was enough.

Blaise plopped down into the grass next to her, his long fingers picking at the emerald blades, his gaze faraway and dreamy.

Daphne snapped her book shut and forced the plot from her mind so she wouldn't accidentally divine the ending. She stared at Blaise instead, waiting patiently for him to speak his mind.

"Does my mother love me?"

"No." Daphne gasped. Her heart felt split in two. "Wait—I didn't mean that," she rushed out. "I didn't…"

"It's okay," said Blaise, his tone full of resignation. "I asked. And it was the answer I expected anyway."

Daphne frowned, suddenly very upset. "How dare you use me like that," she growled, her voice low and deadly. "This isn't a game. I don't want to know these things, Zabini. I don't want to blurt out the answer and see the evidence of how that truth hurts you written across your face. Don't you dare do that again. Don't. You. Dare."

Daphne made to stand up when Blaise rested a steady hand on her forearm. She paused and looked at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry."

Daphne tried not to ask herself too many questions. The information overload was too much sometimes. It made her dizzy.

But this time, her thoughts were too quick.

Is he really sorry? she asked.

Yes, came the answer.

Daphne deflated back to a seated position. Relief flooded her system and a tension she hadn't even realized she'd been feeling drifted away. Because of Blaise.

She squinted at this boy that always made her feel… something… everything. How does he do that?

How does he do that? she asked.

The answer took nearly a minute of silence before it flitted across her eyes.

I don't know, it read.

Oh. Well, that's… unexpected, she thought.

"So, how many exams have you cheated on?"

Daphne sighed with irritation and threw one of the green and silver sofa pillows at Blaise's face. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning and Blaise and Daphne were the only two people left in the Slytherin common room. They sat opposite each other on the same couch. Blaise caught the pillow effortlessly.

Daphne blushed as the answer to Blaise's flitted across her eyes about 15 seconds later. "All of them," she replied in embarrassment. She covered her face with her hands. Her cheeks were hot to the touch.

Blaise pried her palms from her face and leaned down to catch her gaze with his own. "That's incredible," he enthused. "How are you not first in the class?"

"I purposely pick wrong answers sometimes," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Her hands were still in his. She wanted them to stay there. "And my essays aren't the greatest. It would take too long to cheat on an essay. There's too much sentence variation."

"That's fascinating!" Blaise laughed, loud and boisterous.

Daphne hushed him. "You might wake someone up."

Blaise smirked. "Will I wake someone up?" he asked plainly.

"No." Daphne snarled with frustration at her immediate response. "You can't keep doing that!"

"But it's fun! Imagine how much trouble we could get into, and then out of."

"Ugh!" Daphne groaned. "You're the worst."

Blaise smiled. "But you love me anyway."

It wasn't a question so she wouldn't be getting an answer. And maybe she didn't want an answer. Maybe she didn't want to know all the answers in the universe, to always predict what might come next.

So she wouldn't ask the question. Daphne wouldn't ask if she loved Blaise. Besides… the answer seemed pretty obvious.

Blaise didn't seem surprised when Daphne crawled into his lap and pulled him in for a kiss. But she was a little surprised at how quickly he responded in kind.

After years of predicting everything under the sun, she kind of liked being surprised. She could get used to it.