Blaire Zabini || Draco Malfoy

10 - The Other Seeker

"What the fuck is that?!"

"It's our tent," Draco blinked bemusedly down at me as though it was perfectly normal for a tent to resemble a miniature silk palace complete with several live peacocks tethered at the entrance.

"And you're quite sure it's got room for a fourth person? I mean, I wouldn't want anyone to feel cramped by my presence or anything."

"Sure, it'll do," Draco shrugged, my sarcasm flying completely over the top of his pretty blonde head. "Come on, I'll show you your room."

Sadly, it lacked the hot tub and sauna that Malfoy Manor had, but the Olympic sized swimming pool on the ground floor made up for it.

"I'm afraid the rules permit only two house-elves per family, so we might find service somewhat slacking." Draco explained gravely after I asked what the delay was with my suitcase. "But we must remember, it's only for one night."

I didn't dwell on it, instead suggesting we take a walk around the campsite to check the place out and see who else was about.

"But why would we want to do that?" Draco asked with a revolted expression on his face, "we might catch something."

"Because we've got hours to kill before the game and I want to check out everyone's tents." I explained, striding on purposefully towards the door without bothering to wait for him to argue otherwise.

I was still sore about the way he had ignored me for a whole year, and I wasn't ready to completely forgive him yet.

"Wait up!" he called after me, urgently trying to keep up as I marched down the tent's front footpath, causing the peacocks to squawk in a mad fluttering of panicked feathers as they tried unsuccessfully to fly away.

This campsite was something else. We walked past tent after tent, gawping at all the strange shapes and sizes, each tent having its own wacky personality.

After passing what had clearly been the Irish, given all the green and shamrocks on display, Draco came to a sudden and dramatic halt, reaching out and grabbing my arm.

"What's up?" I asked, blinking up at his suddenly scowling face.

"Look," he snarled, lifting his other arm to shakily point at a spot ahead.

My gaze followed to where he was pointing to and, sure enough, a dilapidated, patched up clump of rags stood sorrowfully up ahead with a couple of red headed wizards standing out the front.

"Oh," I said, squinting to see if I could work out who they were, "is that-?"

"Red hair and a hand me down tent," Draco sneered, "must be the Weasley's."

I shrugged, going to move on, but Draco tightened his grip on my arm. "C'mon Blaire, let's go another way."

"You're not scared of them, are you?" I asked; a bubble of laughter escaping the back of my throat, "don't worry, Drac, I'll protect you from the scary redheads."

"I just don't want this day being ruined by a bunch of filthy blood traitors!" Draco spat, his face flushing angrily as he swivelled on the spot and marched determinedly off in another direction.

"Pfft," I muttered under my breath, following him behind, "says the wannabe Muggle himself."

It turned out Draco's change of course was a fortunate one after all. Well, for me it was anyway, because Draco would most certainly disagree.

We had just passed a wizard sporting a flowery nightgown and shamelessly scratching his nuts when, out of nowhere, a body slammed hard into mine.

"Shit, sorry," a silky soft voice spoke as hands immediately shot out to cup my elbows, steadying me. "Are you okay?"

I blinked up into the concerned grey eyes of the familiar Hufflepuff, feeling my stomach do an unexpected, yet not unpleasant, flip.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, Diggory!" Draco bellowed, getting between us to jab his finger in Cedric's chest.

"Chill, Drac," I said calmly, lowering his arm down, "it was just an accident and he said sorry. No harm done."

"He could have knocked you over!" Draco spat furiously.

"Hey- hey-" Cedric said in a smooth and velvety voice, putting his hands up in surrender, "you're quite right, I should have looked where I was going. It's Blaire, isn't it?" He added, turning to me.

"Zabini to you," Draco snarled, making a point of draping his arm possessively over my shoulders. "Only her close friends call her Blaire."

"Yes, it's Blaire," I gritted, shrugging Draco off at once, pissed off that he was trying to claim me like this. "And don't mind him," I added to Cedric, beckoning my head over at Draco, "he's just on his period."

"I am not-" Draco began, his mouth opening and closing furiously as his face coloured deeper and deeper.

"It's okay," Cedric chuckled, bringing a hand up to his head and ruffling his hair so that it flopped back down in a tousled mess, "as long as you're sure I didn't hurt you. I'm Cedric, by the way."

"I know," I said, my lips tugging into a coy smile, "I've watched you play Quidditch. You fly well."

I could hear Draco continue to wordlessly splutter next to me, but I took no notice. He was quite frankly being unnecessarily rude, where Cedric was being nothing but friendly.

"Well, nice to finally chat with you, Blaire," Cedric murmured huskily, his eyes twinkling as he flashed me a smile that made my stomach flip yet again, "I'd stay a little longer but as you can probably tell, I'm in a hurry. Maybe I'll see you around Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, maybe," I shrugged lightly, deciding to play it cool despite the mad fluttering that was going on inside my chest.

"What do you mean he flies well?!" Draco demanded after Cedric had gone on his merry way. "He's our rival!"

"No, Draco," I sighed, striding on ahead of him, "he's your rival not mine. I don't play Quidditch, remember?"

"You're still a Slytherin!" He huffed moodily, "And besides, you've never told me that I fly well, before."

"For god's sake, Drac," I sighed, rolling my eyes, "stop being so needy. I'm sure Pansy told you enough times by sticking her tongue down your throat."

"Oh, so this is what it's all about!" Draco hissed. "You want to kiss that stupid Hufflepuff to get back at me."

"Oh god forbid I might want to kiss someone for myself," I scoffed, increasing my pace; trying to ignore the irritation that was ruining my happy high. "Not everything is about you, Draco Lucius Malfoy!"

"So you're not denying it, then?" He said breathlessly, hurrying to keep up with me. "He's SEVENTEEN! Does he even realise you're only fourteen?"

"Give it a rest, please," I sighed exasperatedly, stopping in my tracks and whirling round to face him. "It was literally a twenty second conversation. Can we not start arguing about it?"

Draco looked pained, as if he was struggling with something; but then his frown flickered and disappeared, his silver grey eyes immediately softening.

"Of course," he murmured, his voice now low and sincere as he swiftly stepped forwards, closing the gap between us.

For a startling second I thought he was going to kiss me, but instead, what he actually did was somehow sweeter; he reached out, taking my hands in his.

"I really am sorry about the way I treated you last year, Blaire," he said, his eyes piercing intently into mine, "you didn't deserve that. And I missed you, I missed you so much."

I was hyper aware of the way his long slender fingers cradled around mine; the feel of their cool, firm touch against my skin.

We'd never held hands like this before, and I was suddenly overcome with a strange sensation that settled within my very core and spread throughout my entirety as though I was being cocooned in a warm blanket.

And as I looked back up into his eyes, exploring this new and unfamiliar feeling, I realised what it was;

I felt safe.

******