Would You Believe?

"Oh come on, Harry, it'll be so much fun!" Ron exclaimed with unnatural enthusiasm. He had become somewhat loathsome to be around since he and Hermione had finally started dating. To be honest, it was downright sickening at times.

"No thanks, Ron. You might have let Hermione rope you into joining try Guild but I think I'll pass," Harry said as he collapsed back into a plush chair by the fire.

"Harry!" Hermione said in a rather frosty manner. "I did not rope Ron into anything. I merely told him it would be a proper thing to do in order to help him prepare for the NEWTs."

"I'd rather snog Blaise Zabini then spend even more time studying with Binns," Harry said firmly as he rolled his eyes at Hermione's compulsion for studying shone through her exterior.

"I can help with that," a voice rang out as Blaise Zabini somehow appeared out of nowhere and promptly snogged Harry fiercely on the lips for a good thirty seconds. She then promptly released his robes where her hands had grabbed hold and proceeded to bolt for the exit.

Harry Potter sat there feeling stunned and confused. If he had bothered to ask, his friends would have told him he had the exact same look edged onto his face. Harry turned to the portrait hole to see the graceful figure in green-trimmed robes fleeing past the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Harry," Hermione tentatively asked, "are you alright?"

Harry turned back to lnned to speak. It appeared he was even having difficulty with the simple process of breathing.

"How in the world did she get in here in the first place?" Ron asked with an indescribable mix of fury and indignation edged in his voice. "We've got her now though. We all saw her in our common room, she was obviously out of bounds!"

At that remark, a silent voice in the back of his head made Harry want to remind his friend that they themselves had been equally out of out of bounds in their second year with the Polyjuice potion incident. But decided to remain silent instead.

"Harry?" Hermione asked again. "Say something. Please?"

Harry looked at her again, opened his mouth and said, "Something."

"Harry, mate, are you alright? You don't look so well," Ron said, leaning in to examine Harry's face.

"I'm...I'm fine," Harry murmured. "I think, I think I'm going to take a walk."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Ron hesitantly margin-top:4.95pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.95pt;margin-left: 0in'>

"No, that's OK. You two better get started on that essay for McGonagall so you can help me out later," Harry told his friend, nervously looking around the room as if desperately searching for something.

"Sure, Harry, sure," Ron said uncertainly, "alright."

And with that, Harry quickly bolted out of the common room, ignoring an indignant Fat Lady who yelled out something regarding impolite youngsters and running in the hallway.

Harry quickly made his way down the deserted corridor, turned the corner, and promptly collided with someone who promptly collapsed onto the floor. Or rather, they found themselves bouncing off of Harry's body, loosing their balance and falling right on their rear end. He looked down to see who he had literally bowled over and discovered it was the very person he was looking for.

"Why?" Harry croaked out with a gasp.

"Why what?" Blaise Zabini replitried to right herself.

"Why?" Harry croaked again.

"Why what, Potter? Why'd I sneak into your precious Gryffindor Tower? Or why did I kiss you?" Blaise asked again.

"Why'd you kiss me?" Harry gasped, finding it remarkably difficult to breathe. He also found himself completely indifferent to whatever reasons she might have had for having snuck into Gryffindor Tower.

"Oh." She took a moment to compose herself before responding, "Well, it was something to do, wasn't it?" Blaise said in a rather bland tone of voice.

Harry was skeptical and he gave her a look that said as much. "It wasn't as simple as that, was it?" he asked her as he knelt down in front of the blond sixth year Slytherin.

:0in;margin-right:-1.0in;margin-bottom:4.95pt;margin-left: 0in'>"Sod off, Potter! I don't have to answer your questions," Blaise shot back bitterly.

"I could get you expelled you know, Ron and Hermione both saw you. They could report you and not even Snape could protect you," Harry said, feeling frustrated at not only her tone but at her seeming unwillingness to respond.

"So why don't they then?" Blaise asked.

"Because I want to know why a Slytherin would sneak into the Gryffindor common room and kiss the King Ferret's arch-nemesis," Harry said with surprisingly dry aloofness.

Blaise chuckled at this. "Draco does have a bit of an obsession with you, doesn't he?"

Harry nodded rather firmly and grunted his agreement.

"Well, let's just say that not all Slytherins think you're the pompous and arrogant prat with ad Snape make you out to be," Blaise said in a smug tone.

"That's Professor Snape to you," Harry snidely corrected her.

Blaise snorted loudly before voicing her response.

"Right and you think he's the best teacher there ever was, right?" Blaise arched one of her blond eyebrows at this."Or have you taken too many bludgers to the head during Quidditch practice?"

Harry laughed at that. "Alright, fair enough," he replied, feeling somewhat relieved that the tension was beginning to drain from the conversation. "So why did you do it?"

"Because I wanted to," Blaise said without any trace of emotion as she looked away from him.

"To prove it could be done?" Harry asked.

"What? So you could say you kissed the great Harry Potter?" Harry said with a growl.

"No you prat!" Blaise growled back before lifting one of her hands and resting it on Harry's cheek. "So I could say I kissed you." Blaise seemed to have made an incredible effort to emphasize the last word she had spoken with crystalline clarity.

Harry, who had been looking down the hallway at that point, whipped his head around and looked intently at the girl. He sputtered, "What?"

"Oh come off it, Potter. For all your heroics and melodrama, you are quite the catch, even if you are too dense to realize it," her voice seemed to be taking a gentler tone as she said this.

Harry scoffed, feeling irritably skeptical.

"I'm serious, Potter. Look, you have this aura around you that most people don't bother to look past," Blaise said, lifting her hand to his chin and tilting his head so that he was looking straight into her hazel toned eyes. "I'd imagine you know all about that, not looking past what's on the surface."

Harry looked at her with a mix of curiosity and suspicion etched upon his face. Had he noticed, he would have been surprised to discover he was holding his breath, but all he could feel was the girl's palm upon his face.

"We're not all junior Death Eaters you know," Blaise continued, "some of us actually have consciences."

"Really?" Harry asked, suddenly unsure if he cared for the sarcastic tone he felt on his voice.

"Really?" Blaise mimicked back, a sneer rising on her face. "Look, with everything that you've had to deal with, you still haven't packed it in and quit. That says a lot about you, heroics and bravery be damned."

"Oh? So if it isn't bravery, then what is it?" Harry asked, waiting for her response with baited breath.

 

"Stubbornness for one thing," Blaise responded without hesitation. "Or it could just be downright stupidity."

Harry snorted once again. "That's definitely an option."

"I'll keep that in mind for future reference," Blaise said with a faint smile forming on her lips. "But seriously...Harry" --Blaise seemed somewhat hesitant to call him by his given name-- "just because I have ambition, it doesn't mean I can't appreciate bravery and courage in a person. And let's be honest, you've got both of them in spades."

"That still doesn't explain why you broke into Gryffindor Tower and proceeded to kiss me square on the lips, and in front of everybody else to boot," Harry said, the beginning of an insane idea as to why forming in his head.

"I wasn't planning to you know, not at first," Blaise admitted, and she started to blush, "but after that crack about preferring to kiss me rather then spend time with Binns, how could I refuse the dare? I had to prove to everyone that you lot aren't the only ones who're known for being bold. After all, I am a Slytherin to boot, and we do have something of a reputation for being cunning and clever."

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Harry laughed. "You certainly proved that to me tonight."

"Thanks," she responded dryly, "I think."

"So," Harry said tentatively, "was it a good kiss?"

"Why are you asking me for? You were there weren't you?" Blaise responded incredulously.

"Well it's..." Harry paused to think things over for a moment before continuing, "it's not like I have a lot of experience in the realm of kissing."

"Really?" Blaise drawled, "I find that hard to believe."

"Really?" Harry boggled at this, not realizing he was mimicking the girl just as she had done to him just a moment ago; he was too shocked that anyone might want to compliment him for his skills as a kisser.

"Well you're the one that's friends with Granger," Blaise said acidly, crossing her legs as she continued to sit upon the stone floor. "Are you telling me you've never been tempted to sample what she has to offer?"

It took a moment for it to register in Harry's mind what she had said, and then another moment to suffocate the rage he felt boiling his blood. "Please! Me and Hermione? It'd be like kissing my sister. If I had one."

"Well let me tell you, Potter, that was definitely one hell of a snog," Blaise said, her eyes clouding over for a moment.

Suddenly, Harry felt an urge to look into the girl's eyes again and as he did he found her staring back at him. They stayed that way for several minutes, looking into each other's eyes as if nothing else in the world existed.

"Well," Blaise said, breaking the comfortable, yet tense silence and turning away from Harry, "I should be going now. Too much sunlight and I turn to dust."

Harry blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what the girl in front of him had just said, as well as what it was he was feeling for her.

He shook his head and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, lets see if we can't find an empty classroom."

"Why on earth would I do that, Potter?" Blaise asked indignantly, clearly unsure as to what Harry was up to.

"So we can find out if that one kiss wasn't just a fluke," Harry said as he began walking down the hall, their hands still intertwined, Blaise stumbling after him, trying to keep up.

Blaise made a stop as if to say something before a look of recognition dawned upon her face.

"Are you sure?" she asked tentatively, nervousness dripping off her voice.

"Sure? Not on your life," Harry said with unmistakable conviction. "But I'm damn positive I want to find out."

Two hours later, Harry stumbled back into Gryffindor tower, several smudges of pink lipstick littering his shirt collar and an unmistakable grin plastered upon his face. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him.

"Harry! Where on earth have you been?" Hermione chided him. "It's almost past curfew!"

"Yeah, mate. You weren't looking so good when you left, where'd you go and what's that stuff on your shirt?" Ron asked, looking up from his homework and catching the look on his friend's face.

"Well guys it's like this," Harry said with a pause, "it looks like I'm dating a Slytherin."