sweet ; blaise zabini

02

"Definitely not!" Pansy's shrill tone brings Blaise back from wherever his mind had wandered off to.

"Oh, stuff it Pansy. You totally did!" Crabbe snickers, Goyle soon joining in when Pansy's face turns a deep red.

"I'll kill you if you dare tell anyone else - you bloody toads!" 

Pansy storms off towards the Great Hall, the offending two following after her, tripping over themselves from laughing so hard at her dismay. The first day's classes have finally come to an end after a long and stressful day but they never grow tired enough to quit their fighting. 

"What exactly were they arguing over this time?" Blaise asks, not finding it in himself to care but still curious.

Beside him, Draco shrugs. "No idea. You know how they are."

Stepping into the Great Hall, the two make their way to Slytherin table, automatically blocking out all sound - you get used to all the mingled screaming and laughter in the room, you don't even notice it after your first week. 

Even after subconsciously blocking out the mind-numbing sounds of the Great Hall, Blaise almost stills when one sound in particular meets his ears. It's warm and joyful and breaks into a snort at the same time Blaise fights off a smile. 

Blaise's heart pounds and he keeps walking.

Once he takes his usual seat beside the numb-scull duo, he lets his eyes roam. 

He scans the professor's table, noting nothing of interest. Then he moves his attention to the rest of the Hall. He finds nothing worth his entertainment - read: distraction - and when he can no longer fight it, he unwillingly sets his eyes on the Hufflepuff table. On one Hufflepuff in particular.

He sits between two larger boys - they're quite muscular but one is broad while the other seems on the slim side - they both dwarf the smaller boy, but he seems to not mind. He has a smile etched on his face as he fixes his dark hair, running a hand through the wavy strands. 

The smaller Hufflepuff breaks into another laugh, his face scrunching softly and his cheeks flushing, his eyes twinkling with joy as he grips the arm of the boy to his left to hold himself up and the taller boy looks down at him fondly. 

Blaise isn't sure why he finds himself frowning.

  ✧✧✧

They're sitting in the Slytherin common room, gathered around one of the many tables, working on their assignments. Parchment and quills litter the table, as well as pastries Crabbe and Goyle managed to sneak out of the Great Hall. They've been at it for two hours now and have hardly made any progress.

"...Right, Blaise?" 

To his left, Pansy looks at him with an arched eyebrow, awaiting a response.

Blaise turns to her, his usual deadpan expression in place, "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Just that Hufflepuff student. You've seen him, haven't you? He's in our Potions class."

Blaise shrugs, feigning disinterest while his heart begins to hammer a bit quicker in his chest and he isn't sure why. Must be all the sweets, he's probably bound to get a heart attack or something.

"What about him."

Pansy rolls her eyes but sets down her quill, "Really Blaise, you ought to pay more attention when I speak. Anyway, he's quite odd is all I was saying. Hufflepuffs do tend to be a bit off, don't they?" She snickers at her own ignorant joke, Crabbe and Goyle laughing in agreement.

Blaise sighs in exasperation. Annoyance at Pansy's statement begins to seep through his veins and he feels he should be used to this by now, after all he's participated in this kind of mockery his whole life - enjoyed it, even - but for some reason, he'd rather Pansy change the subject. But Pansy is Pansy, and Pansy is hard to stop once she begins. 

"He's ridiculously short, it's quite pathetic honestly! Even I tower over him a bit. We're sixth years and he looks like he belongs with those annoying little first years, those slugs." Pansy lets out a breath.

Goyle snickers from across the table, stuffing a muffin into his mouth before he adds his own two cents. "I could probably step on him like an ant. How d'you reckon he'd react to the cruciatus curse, a weak guy like him probably wouldn't survive a whole minute." 

"He'd drop like a pin!" Crabbe adds, holding his stomach and doubling over in laughter.

Blaise rolls his eyes and finds his mouth opening without thought, some strange bitter anger bubbling in his throat - but Draco cuts off whatever he was going to say with an annoyed huff, "Honestly, will you three shut the hell up? You're giving me a damn migraine." He shuts his book closed and stuffs his parchment into his bag with a scowl before he leaves.

The offending three sit with wide eyes but get over their surprise quickly, used to Draco exploding on them after so many years in each others company.

Blaise clicks his teeth and packs his things as well, not sparing either of them a glance before he storms off.

"Bunch of prunes." Crabbe mutters, reaching for the last muffin.

  ✧   

a/n: you guys don't know how sorry i am that it's taken me so long to update - i've just gotten incredibly busy and haven't had any time to sit down and write. i was also suffering from writers block and when i did write something - it was shit. so i hope you enjoy this, i'm trying to update sooner.

also, pansy will probably become more bearable in the future. she's actually one of my favorite characters so i plan on developing her more soon, she's more than just an annoying character honestly.