Roommates

Seven

A Meeting Continued, Sleep Deprivation, And A Letter

Hermione sat on the couch, watching Blaise usher Ron, Lavender, Ginny, Theo, and the new fifth-year Prefects back into the meeting room, amused at how fast his manner had changed.

Then, someone started to bang on the entrance portrait. Hermione went over and opened it.

Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Jack Ustar, Myrna Firth, and Slytherin's two new fifth-year Prefects entered. Draco sneered at her.

"Granger," he said.

"Malfoy." Hermione looked away, seeing Blaise walking down the hall.

"Draco, Pansy, Jack, Myrna, Elle, Lee," Blaise said, cool as a cucumber towards his Housemates. "Welcome."

"Blaise," Draco walked over and started to speak to Blaise in low tones as they went back to the meeting room.

As they walked away, she wondered where the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Prefects were. Shrugging, she walked to the meeting room behind Blaise and Draco.

₤ ₤ ₤ ₤ ₤

Hermione sat at one end of the table, talking to Ron and Lavender as Blaise sat down next to Draco, shaking hands about something. Blaise nodded, face twisted into an unpleasant grimace.

Hermione's eyes drifted to Draco, who was looking at someone near her. When she tried to see, Ron tapped her on her shoulder, asking her about Transfiguration.

Blaise coughed, "Ahem." Everyone's chatter stopped and their attention turned to Blaise. "Thank you. This is the first Prefects and Heads meeting of the year. If you would look at your outlines, we'll get started."

They all looked down at the table and examined a sheet of paper detailing who would patrol when.

"I can't patrol on Thursday's, Blaise," Pansy Parkinson whined.

Blaise looked at her. "Why?"

She squirmed. Blaise could be very intimidating in his own way sometimes. "I, erm, um," she said. She sighed. "I'll do it."

"Good," Blaise said. "Moving on..."

"Wait a minute," Hermione said, looking at the Friday night schedule. "I can't patrol on Friday's, it's my Charms study group."

Blaise shuffled some papers around. "Would you be able to take it then, erm, Luna?" he asked Luna Lovegood.

Luna looked a bit vague. "Yes," she said.

The rest of the meeting was all business, as the new Prefects were assigned patrolling duties and the date for the next meeting was settled upon.

Ron was the last Prefect to leave. He and Hermione talked about what was happening with Harry, and they hugged before Ron said goodnight and went back to the Tower.

"So, you aren't dating?" Blaise asked sarcastically, before going into his room.

Hermione's mouth fell open in anger, but before she could yell, music started to play in Blaise's room.

"Eyes

Boring a way through me

Paralyze

Controlling completely

Now

There is a fire in me

Fire that burns

Fire that burns...

This fire is out of control

I'm gonna burn this city

Burn this city

Then I

I'm out of control

And I burn..."

She rolled her eyes and went into her room, slamming the door behind her. The song went on, and eventually the MMD played out, but Blaise started it again.

Finally, she had had enough. She pulled a bathrobe on over her red pajamas and stormed over to his door. She banged on it, not stopping until it started to open.

Blaise stood there, eyes half closed, wearing pajama bottoms but no top. Hermione stared for a moment, not being able to help herself.

Later, she would admit to herself--and herself only--that Blaise Zabini had a very nice chest. But at that moment, she ignored it and fixed her eyes on his.

"Would you please, for the love of God, turn off your bloody music!" she said, irate.

Blaise rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "What? You don't like it?" he said, teasing even when he was half asleep.

Hermione made an indignant sound and glared harder. "Blaise, I'm asking you, please turn off your music so I can sleep!"

"That sounded more like a demand than a question," Blaise said, grinning a bit.

"Argh!" Hermione cried. She stomped on Blaise's foot and rushed back to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Blaise looked at her closed door for a moment and shrugged. Yawning, he turned his music off and went back to bed.

₤ ₤ ₤ ₤ ₤

Their week was jam-packed, and Hermione felt she barely had time to breathe, with her research about their Potions project and her Arithmancy homework, plus watching after Harry and helping the Order out when she could.

Blaise felt just as pressured, but he handled it in a different way than Hermione. On Saturday, he went into his room, put on his pajamas, turned on his favorite MMD and lay on his bed, reading old Potions texts.

He was betting with himself when Hermione would finally pop and start banging on his door again like the last time. He actually started timing it.

Glancing over at his timer, he found that it had been two hours since he started playing the disk, and she still hadn't exploded.

So, he did what every other seventeen-year-old boy bent on annoying someone would do. He turned the music up.

Fifteen minutes later, there was still no response. He gathered up his reading things and went into the living room and lay on the Slytherin couch, across from her, and turned the MMD up again.

Hermione sat on the Gryffindor couch reading the Daily Prophet, or, at least, pretending to. She was actually trying to do anything but stare at the cool and composed Blaise Zabini. He glanced at his watch and swore.

"Bloody hell!" he said. Running back into his room, he changed into his Quidditch robes. "Bloody noon practices," he muttered. Walking over to Hermione, he asked, "Can you zip me up? I can't reach it."

Hermione shook herself, and zipped the back of his robes up. "When's the first game?" she asked.

Blaise turned around. "Three weeks from now. Gryffindor versus Slytherin, you know," he said. "So, are you going to be bipartisan, or are you going to root for Gryffindor, Gryff?" A twinkle appeared in his sparkling blue eyes.

"I'm going to root for Gryffindor, of course," Hermione responded. "What, did you think I was going to cheer you on?" She laughed. "I'd watch out for Ginny, I've seen some of the team's practices, and she's wicked fast. I believe Fred and George bought Ron and Ginny new brooms with their money from the joke shop."

"I'll keep that in mind," Blaise said, smiling. He tweaked her nose. "And, now, Gryff, I must be off. Draco will skin me otherwise." He nodded, picked up his broom and ran out of the chambers.

Hermione sank back into her sofa, a bit shocked. "Was that Blaise Zabini?" she muttered to herself.

₤ ₤ ₤ ₤ ₤

Blaise ran onto the Quidditch pitch to come face-to-face with an unhappy Draco.

"You're late," Draco said, fingering something in his pocket.

Blaise twisted his ring. "I wouldn't, if I was you," he said pointedly, nodding towards a red-haired figure in the stands.

Draco glared at him. "Spy," he muttered to the rest of the team, and flew off towards Ginny.

Blaise mounted his broom and took off, circling the pitch, getting his talents back.

Mountjoy, another Chaser, threw the Quaffle to Hubb, the third Chaser, and Blaise zoomed through the fifteen-foot gap, caught the Quaffle, and tossed it through a ring.

Practice went on, and the Slytherin team was cheered up by Blaise's skills. Draco even admitted that, "with Blaise on the team, we might even win the tournament this year." So Blaise felt pretty good when he walked back towards the Castle, whistling good-naturedly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Draco and Ginny heading down to the lake. Deciding to ignore them, he looked back towards the Castle and Hermione entered his line of vision. Panicking, he ran over to her.

"'Lo Gryff," he said. She dropped her books.

"Oh, hi, er, Blaise."

"What're you doing?" Blaise asked cheerfully.

"I just thought I'd get some fresh air and study down by the lake," Hermione replied, picking up her books and putting them in her bag.

"You know what's a good place to study?" Blaise said. "The Quidditch pitch. C'mon with me, and I'll help you. Here, get on."

Hermione eyed the broom with a suspicious expression, but Blaise swept her on before she could object.

Kicking off, he flew towards the pitch. He touched down in a Gryffindor section of the stands and helped Hermione off his broom.

"That was... interesting," Hermione said, pulling her hair out of her face. "Blasted hair," she muttered.

They settled down to reading, and Blaise helped her with the Potions term project, writing about a foot of facts about the potion.

₤ ₤ ₤ ₤ ₤

That evening, they were back in their living room, reading. But this time Hermione was reading a Muggle book, and Blaise was reading his latest Wizarding action novel.

An owl pecked on a skylight. Blaise glanced up, and frowned. But, as the owl pecked once more, it fell through the glass, as if it were jelly.

The owl righted itself midair and flew down to gently land on the arm of the Slytherin couch. It offered its leg to Blaise. He took the letter and smiled.

"Thanks, Oddsbreath," he said, patting the owl on its head. It hooted, and he fished in a drawer to give the owl a treat.

He opened the letter.

Dear Blaise,

How's Hogwarts? I can't believe Mum and Dad let you go when they made Lilithe, Juniper and me go to France for school. I'm still annoyed. But, I'm writing to give you a heads-up. Lilithe is coming to Hogwarts. Yes, you read that right. Lilithe is coming to Hogwarts. I'm sorry! I think I was the one who gave her the idea, but it could've been Roberto. Whatever you do, don't think about what I told you. By the way, Eduardo says hello. I still can't figure out how to tell Mum that I married a Venetian wizard. Lilithe already married into the Italian stock, now darling Zelphinia. Middle child syndrome, sorry Blaise.

But anyway, don't think about Eddie when Lil's around, or she'll know!

Love,

Zel

PS: I'm pregnant!

Blaise sat in shock. He reread the letter.

"Shit!" he yelled. Hermione looked up, startled.

"Zabini!" she said, sounding somewhat like a broken record. "Don't--"

"Swear?" Blaise supplied helpfully. "I know. But my oldest sister is coming to Hogwarts from Naples for reasons unknown, and my best friend, my other sister, Zel, married a Venetian wizard named Eduardo, and is now pregnant!" He sat down, the letter crumpled in his hand. "And Lil, though I love her, she's my sister, is the favorite and she is a huge tattletale. Add the fact that she's a mind reader means she'll find out about Zel in no time when she shows up. And Mum hates being the last to know, and if she finds out about Zel before Zel gets a chance to tell her, it'll be hell at Christmas."

"Oh, my," Hermione said. "Is your family always so dramatic?"

"You should meet my aunts and uncles," Blaise said, voice muffled.