Spera || Blaise Zabini x Female Reader

I

I wanted to hex Susan.

She had been smirking until we got to the Hufflepuff common room. We opened our bags and got to work on a fifteen inch essay given to us by Snape. Susan was smiling at her parchment.

"I have never seen someone act so enthusiastic to complete an essay on the Imperius Curse." I said. Susan shrugged, her grin getting wider. "Could you explain why you're so smiley all of a sudden?" I snapped. She finally looked up.

"You know why," she smirked.

"No I don't." I lied.

"Y/N, I see the way you look at him. And the same with him. He may glare and ignore you when you smile or talk to him but when you're looking the other way, it tends to change." I felt hot over as I pretended to check something in The Dictionary for Delinquents and edit my already-finished essay.

"I'm going to bed." I started to clear up my stuff. Susan shrugged.

"Fine. Be like that. I understand why you keep refusing to talk about this by the way. I hear his family are very educated when it comes to the Dark Arts." I jerked my hand over the ink bottle and its' contents spilled out. I'd forgotten about that.

"I don't know why your surprised." Susan continued. "He's in Slytherin, for Merlin's sake!"

"Scourgify." I muttered. "Not everyone in Slytherin has to be evil, Susan."

"I'm telling the truth! Did you know his mother got married to several rich men and they, all, coincidentally, died: each leaving pots and pots of gold behind for her?"

"That doesn't mean they were involved with the Dark Arts! His mother was rumoured to be a horrible person! It doesn't mean that he needs to be!" But Susan shrugged again.

I packed up the rest of my stuff and shouldered my bag, about to leave. "You know," said Susan smirking once more. "You two would make a pretty good couple."

I felt my cheeks burn "Yeah, right," I tried to sound indifferent and haughty but it came out a bit feeble. Susan raised her eyebrows.

"I'm telling the truth. Zabini: all quiet, mysterious and surly. And you: cheerful, sweet and shy. You try to change his horrible ways like the Dark Arts and his prejudiced opinions about Blood Status and at the end, he's a completely new person and desperately in love with you," she said this mock-awe.

"Good night, Susan," I grinned, turning away.

I changed into my pajamas and recounted the Year. It was only nearing the end of September but it felt as though so much had already happened.

Susan and I had not talked about her aunt, Amelia Bones, at all since arriving in September. It was quite clear that it was not counted as a topic for conversation. It was already enough for her that people were whispering and pointing at her shamelessly in the corridors.

Although, once, after a particularly draining Transfiguration lesson about turning horn-rimmed glasses into unicorn horns, she was crying into my shoulder about how her aunt always wore the exact same pair we were Transfiguring.

As I was trying to become a Healer, I also had to take Charms, Herbology, DADA and Potions. I found Charms quite easy but in Herbology, we were studying increasingly difficult and complex plants and in Defence Against the Dark Arts, we had started non-verbal spells (which would have been enjoyable if taught by anyone other than Snape) and the Unforgivable Curses.

In Potions however, Professor Slughorn had forcefully admitted me into the "Slug Club".

"Your surname, Y/N, sounds very familiar," said Professor Slughorn thoughtfully. "I'm sure Kirley mentioned you once..."

"Er-" I started, about to correct him.

"You don't mean Kirley Duke from the Weird Sisters, Professor?" asked Ernie Macmillan who was sitting on the same table as me.

"Why yes, Ernie! I do! I remember now!" said Professor Slughorn enthusiastically. "Kirley mentioned that he wouldn't be attending my last potluck because he was going to be visiting your family! The name 'Duke' doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

"Er-" I started again but this time, I was interrupted by the bell.

"I tell you what, Y/N," said Professor Slughorn beaming "We can talk about it at the meeting I'm hosting later this month!"

"Er-" but Slughorn walked back to his desk without another word and left almost immediately, humming to himself. That was when I realized that the whole class was staring at me. I glanced at the Slytherin's table and Draco Malfoy was scowling at me.

This was only because he tried to waddle his way into the club as well in the first lesson and failed, and I had somehow gotten an invitation without even saying anything.

Blaise Zabini was looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite place which was odd. He never really expressed anything apart from annoyance (when he glared), surliness (when he also glared) and when he wasn't glaring, he merely looked bored. But there was something to his features that made me taken to him, even though he rarely looked pleased about anything.

He was still looking at me so I gave him a half-smile.

He blinked at me very confusedly, glared and began to pack away. I don't know what had gotten into me that day. After that, I kept smiling at him once every lesson purely to witness his expressions.

At the beginning, he was taken aback but after, he was looking at me like I was weird. I told myself it was because of me childishness that I was doing I until I realized that I actually liked staring at him.

I mean, who wouldn't? His strong jaw, and high cheek bones and the way he looked elegantly bored when Professor Slughorn was saying something particularly uninteresting about The Law of [insert here]. I'd never seen him crack so much as a smile and the only emotion which he never seemed too bothered about exploiting was his surliness.

I didn't have time to think after that as I closed my eyes and fell asleep instantly.