Only a Boy

Chapter 2

The Hogwarts Express drew into the station, sooty steam pouring from its funnel, and all around them students began gathering up trunks and suitcases, ready to depart. Blaise reached for the handle of her trunk, but was distracted momentarily by Pansy shrieking loudly in her ear.

"Draco! I'm so glad to see you!" Blaise straightened up and watched in vague disgust as Pansy flung her arms around the blond boy's neck and bestowed a heavy kiss on his cheek. Draco made no effort to reciprocate; he only stood there as if her enthusiastic welcome was something that was due to him.

Blaise looked over Draco's shoulder. "No Crabbe and Goyle?"

Draco smiled at her, the thousand-watt stunner that had much the same effect on most of the girls in Slytherin as a Jelly-Legs jinx. Blaise looked blandly back at him; Draco had ceased to fascinate her right around the time he had been bounced along a corridor as a ferret in their fourth year.

"I understand Goyle heard a rumour that there was a first-year with a box of Chocolate Frogs at the other end of the platform, so we probably won't see them for a while." He glanced behind him carelessly, searching the crowd for the lumbering forms of his cronies. Pansy had bent over, her ample backside blocking the way of several third-years, to croon through the bars of the cage containing her Siamese cat, Nagi. Blaise took the opportunity to shoot a look over at Potter and the others. Harry, Ginny, Dean and Neville had been joined by a girl with a turquoise quill stuck through her ponytail, and were heaving their trunks into a compartment. Beyond them, Blaise could just see Hermione and Ron making their way towards the front of the train.

"Blaise? Are you coming?" Pansy was looking at her impatiently.

"OK, OK, don't get your knickers in a twist," Blaise told her. "It's not going anywhere." She caught Draco's eye and smiled at him, knowing perfectly well that he would offer to carry her trunk for her before she even touched the handle.

They were joined in their compartment by Crabbe and Goyle, along with Andrew Rosier and Amy Hewitt, an airhead who nevertheless was slightly less of a pain than Pansy.

Draco and Pansy headed up the train to the Prefects' carriage, and Blaise settled back in her seat by the window, trying not to notice the way Andrew kept eyeing her legs as she listened to Amy chatter on about her holidays on the Costa del Sol.

By the time they reached the school, the sun was setting and the sky had darkened to saffron and buttery-gold blotted with heavy dark blue clouds. Blaise ignored Andrew's proffered hand and jumped down on to the platform unaided, although Pansy was more than willing to allow Goyle to manhandle her down the steps. Close by she could hear Hagrid's voice roaring: "Firs' years over here... c'mon, over here!"

Draco stepped down lightly beside her, the wind ruffling his silvery hair, and looked around with annoyance. "I always wish they'd put the lower years on a different train," he complained. "It's degrading having to mill around with a bunch of kids." He glared threateningly at two small girls who tried to cut in front of their group, causing them to retreat in alarm.

Having friends like Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise reflected, was perhaps not aesthetically pleasant, but at least they had their uses. Crabbe moved ahead of her and Draco like a Muggle bulldozer, cutting a clear path through the crowd towards the nearest empty coach. Draco sauntered along in his wake, hands in his pockets, acting as if the world was there for his own personal amusement.

They crowded into the coach for the ride up to the school, listening to Draco and Andrew talk about a Quidditch match they had attended over the summer. Blaise yawned behind her hand; although she loved flying, she found watching Quidditch about as interesting as watching paint dry. She leaned over Amy to get a glimpse of the castle as they rattled up the long drive. She could see lights blazing from the windows, and from the open front doors as the coaches stopped one by one to let out their passengers.

The Great Hall was almost half full when they walked through the doors. Draco immediately headed for their favourite seats at the Slytherin table: right beside the large fireplace. There were several fourth-years already sitting down, but they got up and moved with resigned expressions when Draco approached.

Blaise took her seat with her back to the flames, between Draco and Millicent Bulstrode. From where she sat, she could see Harry and his friends making their way along the Gryffindor table, greeting people as they went. Draco glanced up and followed the direction of her gaze. He snorted.

"Behold: The Great Saint Potter on his walkabout," he muttered, and Blaise smiled automatically. She looked towards the staff table and observed Hagrid jostling the other teachers as he made his way to his seat - doubtless the Sorting would begin soon.

The double doors to the hall swung open, and a line of anxious-looking first-years filed up between the tables behind Professor McGonagall. One by one they were called forward to try on the Sorting Hat, while Pansy and Theo Nott made snide comments.

"Look at that runt... we'll have to be careful where we walk this year, we might tread in something."

"Oh I just love that girl's hair - she's not another Weasley is she? We'll be overrun with them soon..."

Blaise rested her chin on her hand and watched lazily, ignoring the unpleasant rumbling noises coming from Millicent's stomach beside her.

Her own Sorting had been less than eventful - the Hat had taken only a few seconds to announce that she was a Slytherin. The stigma attached to the house, however, had lasted much longer. She wondered idly how many of the first-years currently being Sorted into Slytherin knew what they were in for.

* * *

Blaise was woken the following morning by a thin bright shaft of sunlight falling across her closed eyelids as Pansy brushed by the bed hangings on her way to the bathroom. She stretched luxuriously, reflecting that with Pansy in your dormitory there was absolutely no need for an alarm spell; the other girl insisted on being first in the bathroom and also on letting everyone else know it.

After dressing in her black school robes, Blaise moved to face the mirror on the dormitory wall, and reached for her wand to make a few adjustments. A Shrinking Charm on her skirt exposed a little more of her legs than was strictly permitted by the Hogwarts dress code [although never enough to be picked up on, of course]; she undid the top two buttons of her shirt and loosened her green-and-silver tie to achieve a more casual look. Her hair was charmed to fall straight and sleek down her back, and one or two cosmetic charms put the edge on an already-perfect face.

Behind her, Pansy re-entered the room. Blaise observed her jealous expression in the mirror and smiled to herself - Pansy was a more reliable judge of her appearance than any boy could ever be, and yet she never said a word.

"Ready to go?" she asked, and Pansy nodded silently, reaching for her schoolbag. Blaise swung her own bag on to her shoulder and the two girls left the dormitory.

It was early when they arrived in the Great Hall; most of the other students had yet to come down and the Slytherin table was largely empty. Blaise easily picked out Draco's silvery hair at the other end of the hall, and led the way across to join him. She took the seat facing him and drew a plate of toast towards her.

"Draco?" Pansy sat astride the bench, examining Draco's profile with simpering concern. "You're not eating anything." She reached out to push his hair away from his forehead. "Don't you feel well?"

Blaise glanced up from her own breakfast and noticed that Draco's bacon and eggs lay untouched before him [although he appeared to have been attempting open-heart surgery on his egg yolks]. Draco absentmindedly brushed Pansy away, and she lowered her hands to her lap, a forlorn expression on her face. She would almost have preferred for Draco to dislike her, Blaise thought; at least then he would have paid her some attention. As it was, he barely knew she existed.

"Quidditch?" Blaise enquired, and Draco nodded silently. He shoved his plate aside and stretched out his legs under the table.

Everyone has their own way of displaying nervousness - fingers drumming on a table, a tendency to talk faster than usual, sudden bad temper - but Draco, like Blaise, came from an upbringing in which demonstrations of one's feelings were discouraged. She could always tell when he was agitated, however - his posture became rigid, and he was abrupt almost to the point of rudeness when speaking.

"Who's left over from last year's team?" Blaise sipped coffee, watching Draco over the rim of the cup. He frowned in concentration.

"Montague left last year, so did Adrian Pucey and Miles Bletchley. That leaves me, Crabbe, Goyle, and Warrington."

"Warrington's a seventh-year, isn't he?" Pansy said brightly. "Maybe they'll make him captain."

Draco glared at her. "See you later," he muttered, and jumped up. He strode out of the hall, shoving rudely through a group of Ravenclaw girls coming the other way.

Pansy looked upset. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked Blaise anxiously. Blaise raised her eyebrows and said nothing. Few people, even within their house, knew how badly Draco wanted to be Captain of the Slytherin team this year. It was almost a certainty that Harry Potter would be the new Gryffindor captain, since Angelina and Alicia had left, and Katie Bell had never shown any signs of wanting to head the team. Ron Weasley was a vague possibility as well, although Blaise thought he was too inexperienced. The idea of Harry becoming Captain before Draco was more than he would be able to stand.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, Harry entered the hall flanked by Ron and Hermione. Blaise studied him reflectively as Amy arrived, and she and Pansy struck up a conversation about Dumbledore's reappointment of Professor Lupin as their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

In order to seduce Harry, she would first have to get to know him. And that, Blaise thought, was going to be the hard part. They had absolutely nothing in common that she knew of. Plus there was the fact that he would probably dislike her on general principles, her being a Slytherin and all... She was startled out of her reverie by the new Head Girl, Valerie Aberswyth, dumping a thick pile of parchment on the table in front of her.

"New sixth-year timetables," she told them brusquely. Blaise reached out and drew hers from the stack, studying it thoughtfully. While Pansy and Amy immediately got busy comparing lessons, Blaise slipped the sheet into her bag and drained her coffee. Timetables... that had given her an idea. She got up swiftly and left the hall.

* * *

Jonathan Davenport, the new Head Boy, was a lean Ravenclaw with ash-blond hair and wire-rimmed glasses, who had a look about him like a plant grown in a dark place - pale, thin and unhealthy. His eyes darted about constantly; it was as if he couldn't bear to focus on a single point for more than a few seconds. When Blaise tapped on the door of the office he shared with Valerie, he jumped violently.

"Calm down, Johnny, it's just me." Blaise closed the door behind her and strolled across to his desk. The older boy watched her with alarmed fascination.

The Davenports were not as old a wizarding family as some, but they were pure-blood for enough generations that it was acceptable to associate with them for business purposes. Howard Zabini had done so on numerous occasions, and Blaise had met Jonathan once or twice when his family had been invited for dinner at her uncle's home in Wiltshire, not far from where Draco lived. Jonathan's attraction to her had been evident on these occasions, and it often proved useful.

"Blaise. Can I - um, how are you?" He sat back slightly in his chair as she took a seat on the battered desk and crossed one leg over the other, her toes resting lightly on his knee.

"Oh, I'm just fine," Blaise told him reassuringly. "After all, it's the first day of term, there are all those wonderful lessons to go to... what could be better?"

Jonathan laughed a little shrilly. "Right! Well, can I do something for you?"

Blaise's smile became suggestive. "Not in your office, Johnny. Younger students might hear something, and besides, this desk doesn't look too stable." She watched with interest as he went scarlet. He blushed so easily, it was fascinating.

Eventually he recovered enough to peer up at her again from behind his glasses. "So, if you didn't want anything, why are you here? Don't lessons start soon? Not," he added hastily, "that I'm trying to get rid of you or anything, it's just I've got things to do, first day, you know..." His voice trailed off.

Blaise leaned back on the desk, her hands behind her. Jonathan watched avidly as her shirt pulled tight across her breasts. "I never said I didn't want anything. As it happens, Johnny, I need a favour."

His expression became wary. "A favour?"

Blaise sighed. "Why is it that whenever I say that, you look scared?"

He frowned slightly. "Maybe because every time you say that, it involves me getting into trouble."

"It does not!" she protested. "Just because you couldn't think of a good reason why you would have bought girls' dress robes in Hogsmeade, and your entire year thought you were a cross-dresser..."

"All right, fine," he interrupted. "What is it this time?"

She glared at him and hopped off the desk. "Well, if you're going to be like that, I won't bother!" She started towards the door in a huff. Jonathan called after her frantically.

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Blaise?"

She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob, and with her back to him, she smirked. Jonathan was just so predictable.

"Please. Sit down. Tell me how I can help," Jonathan coaxed. Pulling a hurt expression on to her face, Blaise turned around and looked at him. He winced from her gaze.

"Come on. Please? Don't be mad at me. It's the first day of term, it's always stressful, but I have no right to take it out on you. I'm sorry..."

Blaise hesitated a little more, then gave in and re-crossed the room. Instead of sitting on his desk, however, she swung her leg across his knees and sat on his lap. Jonathan went so red he vaguely resembled one of Hagrid's salamanders. "Blaise! What if a teacher walks in here?" She ignored his stuttering and slipped her arms around his neck.

"Well, the thing is, I need a copy of a timetable," she told him. Jonathan sagged with relief.

"That's it?" He reached for his wand. "Honestly, Blaise, it's not even break yet and you already lost your timetable?"

Blaise laid a hand on his wrist. "Not exactly. It's not my timetable I need a copy of."

Jonathan looked up at her in surprise. "No? Whose, then?"

"Harry Potter's."

He stared at her. "Harry's? What on earth for?"

She sighed. "Because I'm madly in love with him and I plan on stalking him all over the castle, Colin Creevey-style."

Jonathan blinked. "Seriously?" Blaise rolled her eyes.

"No, of course not seriously. Honestly, sarcasm is lost on you, isn't it?"

"Then why-"

She placed a finger on his lips. "That's not your problem," she assured him. "All you need to do is give me what I want, and then I go away and leave you alone."

Jonathan hesitated. "I really would like to know why you want it..."

"Because it's less hassle than breaking into your office later and stealing a copy."

"That's not what I asked."

"It's nothing I can't find out on my own, given enough time," Blaise told him. "But then, it would look a little strange if I followed Potter all over the castle. Plus it would make me late for all my own lessons."

Jonathan frowned. "Do you always dodge this many questions?"

"Do you always ask this many questions?" she retorted.

"Okay, okay, fine." Jonathan picked up his wand and touched it to a narrow drawer at the top of his desk. "Harry Potter!"

He tugged the drawer open and took out the single sheet of parchment lying there. Blaise could make out lists of subjects, followed by days and times. Jonathan held the timetable out of her reach for a moment.

"If you're doing anything you shouldn't be with this -"

"Honestly, anyone would think you didn't trust me," Blaise told him. She twitched the parchment from his hand and slipped it into her bag. "Thanks, Johnny. I owe you." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before slipping off his lap and heading for the door.

It opened before she could reach it, revealing Valerie on the threshold. She looked from Blaise to Jonathan, whose face was once again bright red. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Oh no," Blaise assured her. "I just needed to check something on my timetable with Jonathan." She glanced over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at the Head Boy, who blushed even harder, if that was possible, and hastily buried his head in some paperwork. "See you later, Jonathan."

* * *

As it turned out, Blaise reached Arithmancy ten minutes late, and had to endure Professor Vector lecturing her on timekeeping before she could take her seat beside Amy. She noticed Hermione Granger's sanctimonious expression as she passed the Gryffindor girl's desk, and had to restrain herself from accidentally-on-purpose knocking an ink pot across her notebooks. Counterproductive, she told herself, you're supposed to be getting along with these people. Instead, she spent the lesson diligently taking notes rather than gossiping with Amy, and deliberately stopped by Professor Vector's desk at the end of the lesson to apologize a second time, earning herself extra work in the process.

Their next lesson was Transfiguration, in which Professor McGonagall told them that they would be beginning Human Transfiguration in preparation for their NEWTs. They were to begin, she told them, by attempting Transfiguration on various animals before they tried the same spells on each other. They were then each presented with a large black spider, to which they had to attempt to give an extra leg.

By the end of the lesson, only a few people had managed to produce anything that vaguely resembled a leg - Blaise's spider had a wiggling lump protruding from its back, while Andrew appeared to have stuck two legs together. After returning all the spiders to their former state, Professor McGonagall gave them three chapters to read and summarise as homework for the next lesson.

At break Blaise followed a sea of chattering students out of the castle, allowing herself to become separated from the other Slytherins. She wanted to have a better look at Harry's timetable, and fewer questions would be raised if she was alone. She followed the crowd down towards the lake, then broke away and sat on the grass in the shade of an ash tree, facing the castle. She pulled Harry's timetable from her bag and began to read.

He appeared to be taking much the same subjects as her - Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Care of Magical Creatures. Herbology. Her eyes traced the list downward and she noticed with surprise that he was still taking Potions. Professor Snape's hatred of Harry was a well-known fact among the students, as were Snape's high standards in his subject. Blaise had seen Harry at work in their shared Potions classes, and Draco had told her that he had actually had to take remedial lessons last year. She could only assume that Harry had been able to produce a better mark in his Potions OWL than expected, and that Dumbledore had intervened on his behalf in order to allow his golden boy to take the subject. At any rate, other than DADA it was the only lesson they shared.

He had Quidditch practice every Thursday evening at five. It seemed to be his only extra-curricular activity. Blaise looked up from the parchment towards the distant shapes of the goalposts on the Quidditch pitch. It seemed she would have to become interested in the sport somehow, if she was to have any hope of getting Harry's attention.

"Blaise!"

She turned her head and Draco was running towards her across the lawn, dodging between other students with the same ease that he dodged Bludgers on the Quidditch pitch. Even from this distance she could tell he was grinning, and she could think of only one thing that could have made him this happy [other than Harry being expelled, and if that had happened, he probably would have been hanging around the Dream Team gloating].

Blaise smiled to herself. Of course it was her he wanted to tell first; it always had been. As children, Draco's parents had never been the type to congratulate their son on his achievements, so it had been common practice for his eagle owl to turn up outside her bedroom window bearing news, and she had often done the same. She slipped the timetable into her bag as he approached.

Draco reached her tree and dropped to his knees in the grass in front of her, panting slightly. "Guess what!"

His excitement made him appear much younger than sixteen; his face was flushed and he was grinning from ear to ear. Blaise smiled back at him. "What? Tell me."

"I'm Captain!" Draco caught her hand in his and kissed it. Blaise fought the urge to laugh; Draco had the kind of courtly manners that were almost old-fashioned, learned from his parents in order to impress guests at high-class social functions, and for some reason these were displayed most often at times like this, when he was pleased about something. "Yes!" He dropped into the grass on his back, and punched the air with both fists.

Blaise did laugh then; she couldn't help it, although she knew he hated to be laughed at. This was a side of Draco so rarely displayed, even to her, that she had to laugh at the level of exuberance shown by a boy who was usually so much in control of himself.

Draco laughed with her, and let his hands fall into the grass at his sides. "Can you believe it? I thought it would be me, Warrington was the only other choice and he's nowhere near smart enough to captain the team, seventh-year or not. And Crabbe and Goyle aren't choices, they're a lack of options."

Blaise grinned. "I knew it would be you," she told him. "That's great, Draco, congratulations. Now you just have to get a team together."

He rolled over and rested his chin on his folded arms, studying her with interest. "Are you going to try out?"

"Me?" She looked down at him in surprise. "I never thought about it."

"You should," he said emphatically. "You're a great flier, I know that. And Quidditch isn't hard to learn, we've got weeks before the season starts. I think you should try out for Chaser. Will you?"

She considered the idea, turning it over in her mind. It was like Providence. Just when she had been thinking that she would have to get into the sport to get to Harry, the opportunity dropped straight into her lap, courtesy of Draco Malfoy.

"Who are the other house Captains?" she asked, playing for time. Draco pulled a face.

"Ravenclaw's Captain is still Roger Davies, it's his last year," he said resentfully. "Hufflepuff's - not that they count - is some girl called Lianna Wilkes. And - big surprise - everyone's favourite superhero got Captain for Gryffindor. Don't change the subject."

"I don't know," she told him thoughtfully. "After all, I've never played before. Flying is one thing, but I'd have to learn all the tactics and everything as well."

"No problem," Draco said confidently. "You're really smart, you'll pick it all up in no time. And I need some players this year who can think for themselves."

Blaise giggled. "That's not a nice way to talk about your team-mates, Draco."

"Only the truth. Will you do it?"

"I'm going to have loads of work to do this year. Have you seen the grades I need to get on to the Medical Magic course? It's going to be a nightmare, I don't know if I'll have enough time..."

He sat up and frowned earnestly at her. "Would I ask you for this if I didn't think I needed you? You're smart enough to do that course standing on your head juggling scarab beetles. Quidditch is great, you'll love it."

Blaise sighed. "All right, all right, I'll try out. Don't be surprised if I'm no good, though."

Draco grinned. "Excellent! And you will be good, because I'm going to make sure you are. Meet me on the pitch this afternoon?"

"When I've finished Vector's homework. I've got too much to let myself fall behind."

"All work and no play make Blaise a dull witch," Draco told her. "I'll come find you in the common room at five. Thanks loads." He kissed her cheek swiftly, grabbed his bag, and headed off across the lawn.