Chapter 3
Pansy's eyes darted over to Tomoko who was approaching their section of the Slytherin table at that moment. Blaise pushed his chair back a bit in case Pansy decided to do something violent. Crabbe and Goyle smirked and rubbed their hands together as they watched Tomoko lock eyes with Pansy once she arrived. Meanwhile, Draco had crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair, waiting to see how things would play out.
"Hey Pansy, could you talk any louder?" Tomoko asked as she put her hands on her hips.
Blaise snuck a look over at Tomoko who was actually giving Pansy an amused look, rather than the typical angry, I'm-going-to-kill-you look that Pansy seemed to get quite often.
"I don't answer to filthy blood traitors!" Pansy snapped.
Tomoko smiled a bit wider and looked over her shoulder at the Weasley twins seated at the Gryffindor table. Blaise kept a bored expression on his face to avoid coming off as suspicious but couldn't help but wonder why this girl wasn't leaping across the table to strangle the ringleader of the Slytherin girls.
"Yup Fred and George," Tomoko called over her shoulder. "She can definitely talk a lot louder! I'm sure that Beauxbatons can hear her now, if at least not the Ministry!"
The Gryffindor table burst into a round of laughter at Tomoko's words with Tomoko's fellow Ravenclaws joining in, all of them standing up and applauding her. Hufflepuff students added their voices to the laughing sea of students who supported her witty remark. This only made Pansy even angrier and she rose from her seat in a rage.
"How dare you mock me, you stupid blood traitor!" Pansy screamed. She kicked back her chair in a violent rage and began walking around the table to face Tomoko. She had only taken a few steps when she was suddenly swept off the ground and turned upside down. The noise in the Great Hall grew as students watched Pansy as she struggled to keep her skirt from falling down in her face.
Blaise happened to turn his head at the same time as Tomoko did to see that it was one of the Weasley twins who had performed the spell on the vertically floating Pansy. He swallowed hard then coughed before pushing back his chair and excusing himself from the table as a thought came to mind. He walked quickly out of the Great Hall and searched for an empty corridor or classroom to hide out in, for now. Luckily, he found one about 11 steps or so away from the Great Hall and he wasted no time opening the door and closing it behind him.
Blaise closed his eyes and let his head hit the wall behind him. He slid down to the ground and groaned. He didn't understand what was with him all of a sudden. He didn't care about girls or well, particularly having best friends of the sort. No, he was perfectly content being a loner if he could. But this time, Tomoko was bugging him, making him ask many questions. Why did she hang with those Weasley twins? Why did she taunt Pansy while acting like the so-called better person? Why did she smile at him?
He caught his breath and ran his hands through his hair. It couldn't be that...he, of all people...felt something for Tomoko? For a brief moment, Blaise wished that Tomoko had been the one floating thanks to the Levicorpus spell so he could have seen - NO! He opened his eyes and punched the ground beside him. This had to be someone's bad idea of slipping him a love potion or something. There was no way he could have been attracted to a blood-traitor from another House. Even though a Ravenclaw wasn't as bad as the thought of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin together, it still made him slightly uneasy.
Then he heard the sounds of students talking outside and stood up from the ground. He gathered up his book bag and snuck into the sea of students heading for the last few classes. As he darted through the groups of students for Potions, he bit his tongue as he accepted reality. He, Blaise Zabini, had feelings for Tomoko Kajiwara.