Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: This was supposed to be minimum WC & done, but it ran away.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Best Stories (Y); La Vie Boheme; Fix-It Felix; Gryffindor MC; Slytherin MC; Magical MC (x2); Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Ethnic & Present (x2); Setting Sail; Gwen's HP Bribery; Hold the Mayo; Gender Bender; Go Fluff Yourself; Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Bucket Listing (Y); Short Jog; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 04
Subject (Task No.): Travel & Tourism (Task#1: Write about reaching high for something.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [44](Book); Fantastic Beasts [184](Someone who prefers isolation to being around people); Auction [D30-A3](Secret Genius Harry)
Other MC4A Challenges: Ship (Heroic Shadow)[Bingo (First Kiss)]; Chim [Loride] (Gender Bend); Fire (Hold the Mayo); Garden [Bed Types (Library)]
Representation(s): Desi & Fem Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: n/a
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: War (Obstruction)
Word Count: 1242 words

(^^)
Watching Harini
(^^)

Blaise noticed her right from the start, of course. Hogwarts didn't have a lot of brown students, which would have made Harini Potter stand out even if she hadn't been the Girl-Who-Lived. He noticed she struggled more with the bulk of her school trunk than its weight. He noticed her casual clothes were very worn, even if they were in good repair, but her school robes were brand new. He noticed that she was thin but seemed to have good appetite unless upset about something.

He noticed the scars on her hands that made them look like an old potioner's hands, all nicks and burns that were forever etched on her sienna skin. He noticed how expertly she handled all aspects of potion-making, even if it seemed sometimes as if she had never seen the ingredients before. He noticed how reliant she was on her textbook, and how lost she was any time Snape made them work with a recipe on the board rather than letting them use their books. Her vibrant green eyes always became pinched from squinting on those days, and she would likely only pick at whatever the next meal was, if she didn't miss it entirely.

He noticed Harini enough that his friends Daphne and Tracey would exchange looks whenever they noticed that he had been watching her instead of whatever it was he was to actually be doing. Thankfully, neither of them teased him any about it. He had certainly given them both a lot of material for it over the years.

The point is that when they came back for their sixth year at Hogwarts, Blaise noticed immediately that something had shifted in the so-called Golden Trio. He had never understood how Harini could stand either Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger, when neither seemed to actually be kind of to her. But he had always figured that maybe there was something that he wasn't seeing, something they kept just for themselves. It made sense, after all, because Harini's status would carry even more of the implications that being a Greengrass would or how his own mother's reputation made many wixen make assumptions if they saw anything resembling affection from him to his friends.

But this year, there seemed to be a breach between the three, something even larger than back in fourth year when Weasley started snubbing Harini entirely or the frigid tension of several stretches that happened in third between Weasley and Granger. Both Weasley and Granger seemed to have stepped away from Harini entirely. Neville Longbottom had taken to escorting Harini around in the same fashion that an overprotective brother might have had Harini not been the Last Potter.

It made it difficult for his watching to continue, as Longbottom noticed Blaise's interest. In response, Longbottom started positioning himself between them, blocking the view whenever possible. It was as frustrating as it was reasonable. Blaise had done it himself a few times with wizards watching Daphne and Tracey.

It did mean that Blaise had to get more creative about how he went about watching Harini. Maybe he should have stopped entirely. He knew what he was doing was creepy. It had been the only criticism that Daphne and Tracey had made of his behavior. But he had to watch her; he couldn't not.

Finding excuses to sit closer to her was frustratingly limited. The old rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor certainly didn't help, but it wasn't the main barrier between them. Even Longbottom's new protectiveness wasn't the main barrier. Neither helped, of course, nor did the need to be circumspect when it came to anything public. Even the old burden of his mother's reputation (and the silent accusations that came with it) wasn't the problem.

It call came down to the assumption of his allegiance based solely on his House and the way it forced him into Malfoy's insufferable company more often than not. With the entire school set against them, it was in all of Slytherin's best interest to present a united front outside of their common room. Unfortunately, real world politics meant that there were discrepancies in how accurately that united front represented what was actually common ideology within the house as a whole let alone within a specific year group.

Because of the assumed belief that all Slytherins were Death Eaters, Blaise's best opportunities turned out to be whenever Harini slipped away to the library. She always did so several times a week, and it wasn't a new thing that Blaise had noticed. Despite how reportedly lackluster her performance in classes was, Harini did love to learn. He kept being surprised at how dedicated she seemed to be to staying in the middle of the class rankings, given how often he had seen her studying on her own and things that were much more advanced than what they were covering in classes.

During practical lessons, she was typically the first to either do the spell or to be able to do it consistently. In Potions, she typically only ruined a brew if it was a board recipe day or if someone sabotaged it. Even then, if Snape didn't vanish the brew immediately, Harini could usually salvage it.

All that without the preening swottiness that Granger loved to use when showing off her knowledge.

It was such a simple thing and yet still so impressive.

It was one of Harini's trips to the library that Blaise had the unexpected opportunity to move beyond his endless observation. Honestly, he might have stayed in the shadows if Harini hadn't looked like she was about three seconds away from physically climbing the shelves like a ladder to reach the book she wanted. Madam Pince had spelled all the books in the library against summoning and levitation charms as a matter of course. It was standard archival procedure according to his mother. It did mean that someone as short as Harini was would have trouble reaching anything on the top two shelves of each bookcase, especially if the ladder had been shifted to another section.

Thankfully, Blaise had already grown into his own height.

Careful to not pin Harini in, Blaise plucked the book at the other end of Harini's outstretched fingers off the shelf. The tiny Gryffindor jumped away from him. He found himself facing down the glowing red tip of her wand before he could even blink. He felt his magic flexing slightly in response to the way hers had flared protectively around her, but it was surprising calm for the threat he was facing.

Without saying anything, he held out the book, A Compendium of Theses on the Soulful Arts, so that she could take it. He certainly wasn't going to comment on how the book was easily higher than NEWT level for anywhere in Europe. He had seen that Harini was more than a bit skittish about her intelligence.

Harini slowly lowered her wand and reached out for the book. She seemed surprise when he let it go easily. She gave him a shy smile, her cheeks darkening slightly. Clutching the book to her chest with one arm, she used the other to lightly touch his chest as she leaned up to give him a brief kiss to the cheek.

Then she was gone, disappearing like a fox in the woods on his mother's estate.

He touched his cheek, dazed at what had happened but pleased with the results just the same.