As We Fall (Blaise Zabini Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Zoe

"So, wait, I thought that the Venomous Tentacula didn't bite humans?"

Flint is concentrating, and hard. An exhausting, brow-furrowing, brain-stimulating concentration.

It's finally the weekend, and the professors have really been piling on the homework in the past few days. It's my second week at Hogwarts, and things have taken a turn for the better. I spend most of my time with Stevie, Eric, Seamus, and Flint, and have barely interacted with Blaise since I confronted him in the common room a week ago. The most I can get out of him anymore is a cold glance or a snippy little comment, and I'm not complaining.

Flint and I are in the common room, working on a Herbology essay that's due Monday. Herbology has proven to be one of two things that I'm actually half-decent at. Besides that and Charms, I'm still no better than a second-year level in most of my other classes, which is quite damaging.

"No." I say, finally answering. "They bite humans all the time. We don't just wear those gloves around them for fashion, y'know."

Flint shoots me a crooked-toothed grin.

"Well, you sure know what you're talking about." He says. "Maybe I should just start copying off of you, huh?"

"You'd never learn anything if you did that." I say. "You told me you wanted to actually learn this stuff, right?"

"Right." He sighs, the smile on his face dissolving into a look of exasperation. "But we've been working for what, two hours now? And I haven't learned anything yet."

I am wondering whether or not this is an insult when I feel his hand rest upon my knee.

"I think you just make it a little hard for me to concentrate."

He is looking directly at me now, but I don't dare look back. His cold and calloused touch on my bare flesh has startled me. I feel the heat of discomfort flooding my cheeks and pray that he isn't able to see it.

"It's getting late, though." He says, his eyes flicking down towards his watch. His hand is still on my knee. "I should probably go to bed."

He claps his hand down once more, and rises to his feet with a tired smile. He's right - it's almost midnight, and he told me he has Quidditch practice in the morning.

"Goodnight, Zoe."

With that, he plods around the couch and towards the stairs, where he climbs up to the boys' dormitories. I am left by myself, eerily alone in the empty common room.

My cheeks are still stinging with the heat of the blush brought on by Flint's gesture. Why did he do such a thing? Up until now, I'd thought that the two of us were just friends - an unspoken agreement. I try to picture him as something more, but the idea makes me squirm uncomfortably. I've never had a boyfriend, nor have I even kissed a boy, and I certainly don't want Flint to be the first for either of those.

I try to focus on my Charms homework next, my deep exhaustion shaking the thought of Flint from my mind. The words on the assignment page are small, and I keep drifting in and out of light unconsciousness as I try to focus on them.

Eventually, the combination of the plush leather couch beneath me and my own fatigue coaxes me into an unintentional but absolute slumber.

***

When I wake, it is easily two o'clock in the morning.

I am a slow riser - hollywood style. A lethargic transition to consciousness, a volitant flutter of the lids. I toss and turn, trance-like, stir a little, rub my eyes with curled fists, and fold into a fetal position before finally opening them.