Blaise and Hermione did not continue their conversation through the rest of the Arithmacy class as Hermione had completely ignored him after replying with a 'yes.' Blaise contemplated it the entire night, and when he walked into class the next day after lunch he decided to once again take the seat next to Hermione, just to make sure that she was still on the same page as him.
He showed up for class – uncharacteristically – five minutes early and just as he predicted Hermione was already seated, rifling through her bag and getting all her parchment and quills ready for class.
"Afternoon Granger," Blaise said as he sat down. Hermione had not seen him coming and stiffened when he took the seat next to her, this caused Blaise to smirk.
"Zabini," she didn't look at him when she greeted him; instead she continued to go through her stuff.
Blaise didn't say anything to her, just leaned back in his seat and watched her under the fringe of his hair, a skill he had mastered. He thought to himself how easy it would be to finally break up Weasley and Nicola with her on his side. If only he was sure that she was on his side. Hermione had said yes, but he knew her – well, he didn't know her, but what student at Hogwarts didn't know all about the Head Girl Hermione Granger? – and she wasn't one to put herself in front of the happiness of others. Blaise contemplated for a few minutes on how he was going to convince the annoying girl to help him when Professor Vector began her lesson and solved his problem for him.
"Seeing as this is your NEWTs year, I have decided to make things a bit more difficult for you," Professor Vector's statement earned a collective groan from everyone in the class other than Hermione as the class was already hard enough. "75 of your mark for the first semester will be based on a project that I shall assign for you in groups of two. It should take the entire semester to do this project, and that includes class time as well as additional time spent outside of class.
"Because there are only twelve of you in this class and you are all already sitting in pairs I shall assign the person each and every one of you is sitting next to as your partner for this project." Professor finished her speech and turned her back on the class, reaching into her desk for a stack of six thick booklets that contained everything they would need to know about this new assignment.
Blaise heard Hermione mutter a few words of surprise under her breath and chuckled. While he certainly didn't fancy spending extra time with the know-it-all Gryffindor, Blaise couldn't help but marvel at his luck. As a Slytherin he was by rule ambitious, conniving, and persuasive. All three of these attributes he was confident were going to help him convince Hermione to help him win back Nicola; after all, she was going to have spend a lot of time with him. Wouldn't it be a lovely break from studying to discuss ways to break up Hogwarts newest couple?
Blaise's smirk grew as he turned and winked at Hermione who scowled right back at him. "Lovely," Blaise exclaimed with a broad grin as Professor Vector dropped the booklet on their desk.
"What are you so happy about Zabini? You're stuck working with me for –"
"Precisely," Blaise cut off her tirade and smirked devilishly again at her obvious confusion.
"Pardon?" Hermione asked after a moment, obviously trying to deduce for herself what he meant but failing and having to ask him.
Blaise leaned forward in his seat and lowered his voice a bit, the rest of the class was beginning to discuss the project and not paying any attention to the two of them but he wanted to make sure no one heard any way. "We'll be working on the project, and whenever we need to take a break we can discuss how we're going to break up Weasley and Contadino."
Hermione 'hrrumphed' and then began to idly flip through the booklet much to his annoyance. She was avoiding the topic and he really wanted to know if she was going to help him or not. "Let's get to work on the project," Hermione said in her most studious voice and Blaise narrowed his eyes, glaring at the haughty Gryffindor. There was no point in arguing with her, he knew that. After all, nobody really wanted to be on her bad side and if he pushed the subject he most definitely would have to break them up on his own.
"Alright then," Blaise smiled at her and to his pleasant surprise this only seemed to annoy her more. They worked on the project for the remainder of the class, Blaise not trying his luck by mentioning his evil scheme regarding two of her fellow Gryffindor's. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but working with Hermione wasn't all that bad. She was smart and witty when she wanted to be, causing him to laugh more than once in the hour they worked together. She really was something else, Blaise thought to himself as they began to pack up at the end of class.
As Hermione began to leave the room Blaise thought of something to jump start his plan into action. "Granger!" Blaise called out, causing her to turn around and look at him, one eyebrow raised in question. "Want to meet in the Library after classes to get to work on the project?"
Blaise's emphasis on the word 'project' did not go unnoticed with Hermione and she smirked at him, pausing to think for a moment. When she nodded her head slightly Blaise was pleased. He finally had her on his side.
"Fine Zabini, we'll meet by my chair after dinner." Hermione said before turning around and continuing out of class. Blaise chuckled to himself as he packed his things into his bag. This was going to be nothing if not interesting.
Blaise left dinner a bit early so that he could grab Granger's chair for their meeting. He couldn't fathom why he did it, but he knew that he really wanted to annoy her. Fifteen minutes later when Hermione walked in Blaise looked up from his book to see the scowl on her face. He smiled in greeting.
"Fine. Take the chair." Hermione said bitterly, not even bothering to greet him properly. Blaise outright laughed.
"So, are we going to work at all on the real project, or am I just here to help you get yourself a girlfriend?" Hermione got right to the point, causing Blaise to laugh even more.
"Well, we can do both," Blaise said with a laugh, knowing that Hermione was desperate to get their school project done even though they had another five months to do it. She was such a keener, Blaise thought, leaning back in her chair as she sat down.
Blaise had never had a real conversation with Hermione before today in their class, and now it seemed so easy.
Hermione smirked at him wearily. She didn't trust him, he knew that. She had no good reason to trust him. Blaise was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor. "So, got any sort of plan?"
It took Blaise a moment to realize what Hermione was talking about. He had been sure she would've wanted to start on the project. It was his hesitation that made her roll her eyes.
"Look, if you've enlisted my help in this just for me to do all the work then you're up for a rude awakening –"
"Don't be daft Granger. You know very well why I want your help in this," Blaise said, annoyed at her righteousness.
Hermione glared for a moment before shutting her eyes for what he could only assume was the count of ten. Blaise pressed on. "You're on the inside, little Miss Gryffindor. You're friends with Weasley, and no one would ever suspect you of treachery. You're far too boring for that".
It was an underhanded thing to say, but Blaise felt no remorse. He was a Slytherin after all.
Hermione did not respond to his taunt, she only arched an eyebrow and stared him down with eyes that made him nervous with their earnestness. He decided he didn't like the tension so he spoke, breaking the silence. "There is a Hogsmeade weekend coming up. We can start with that."
"Start how? Are you going to profess your undying love to Nicola and sweep her off her feet?" Hermione snickered at him Blaise scowled. Granger was laughing at him!
"No," he replied, condescending in a way he knew would annoy her. "You're going to be a tag-along, following Weasley around like the lost puppy you are Granger, and I am going to observe."
She once again ignored his barb. "Observe what?"
"How Nicola and Weasley react to each other and to you. Trust me Granger," he ignored her bark like laugh and continued. "I'm good at observing people and learning from it. It's what I've been doing for the last six years at this Muggle invested school and it's what I am going to do at the Hogsmeade trip. After the trip you and I will meet in the library and discuss what we've learned and then we'll come up with a plan." His use of the word Muggle instead of Mudblood was not lost on her and her expression softened slightly.
"Discuss what we've learned?" Blaise rolled his eyes, her tendancy to repeat everything he said was starting to grate on his already stretched nerves. "Can't we just observe them for the next few weeks at school? Or do you need to draw this out?"
Blaise rolled his eyes and stared at her as if she were a stupid child and not the smartest witch Hogwarts had ever seen.
"No, Granger, I can't just observe them now. There is no way I can with the two of them always locked up in that damn Gryffindor common room. You're just going to have to learn to stop being so rash and to be patient. I know it's hard to wait for things - you Gryffindor's and your pride – but if we're going to do this we have to do it right."
Hermione paused and nodded. The two were silent for a moment and Blaise grew apprehensive, wondering what she was thinking and what she was going to say next, but no matter how worried he was he could have never prepared himself for her next words.
"Arithmacy is a very important class for me and I intend to pass my NEWTs just as I've passed all my exams – with outstanding marks. So why don't we stop this little melodrama for long enough to get some groundwork done on our project now that you've gotten us stuck working together for the rest of the year …" She pulled out the package Professor Vector had given him earlier that day and began to show him the copious notes she had already taken.
Hermione continued to lecture Blaise about the work they needed to get done and how she wanted to do it, choosing to ignore his laughter and obvious amusement.
Blaise couldn't help but think to himself, this girl was nothing if not interesting.