Roommates

Eighteen

Something Overheard

"Blaise, you have got to take off the sweater," Hermione said to him, elbow propped up on the window-ledge of their compartment. "Really. You have to."

Blaise was lounging in the seat across from Hermione, wearing his Christmas sweater under his robes. "No," he answered. "This sweater is warm and comfortable. I don't believe I'd take it off if Snape himself demanded me to."

Hermione rolled her eyes discreetly. "How about if I told you I had another thermos of coffee that I'd give you if you took it off?"

"You might want to consider that I'm not wearing anything underneath the sweater," Blaise told her, clearly struggling with the decision of either keeping on his sweater or getting coffee.

Hermione blinked and reached up to fiddle with her tie. "Well, there is that," she admitted. "But, um, I really do, er, want you to take off the sweater. So, erm, why don't you. It's not a proper part of the uniform and I want to make a good impression on the students. I don't think we really tried too much last term and I'd like to make an effort this term. " She coughed, turning a bit pinker than normal.

Blaise grinned as he performed a warming charm on himself before he took off his robe and then peeled off his sweater, after he'd folded it. Hermione erupted into a larger coughing fit and turned fuchsia. "So," he said, leaning back in his seat, sipping the coffee directly from the thermos, "are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Hermione said, keeping her eyes firmly above his chest level. She was still bright red. "It's a bit hot in here, isn't it? Let me just open a window a tiny crack so it doesn't get completely freezing... Since it is winter..." The catch on the window was stuck. "Bully," she muttered as the compartment door slid open.

"Hermione?" the voices of Harry, Ron and Ginny chorused.

She whipped around quickly, and saw Harry looking a bit puzzled, Ron looking strange, his ears red, and Ginny gazing at Blaise with interest written across her face. Hermione tossed Blaise's sweater at him and he pulled it on, grinning at her.

"Oh, come on now, fair play," Ginny said, casting a disappointed glance at Hermione.

"There is no reason for you to be staring at my boyfriend's chest," Hermione said indignantly. 'Oops,' she thought. 'Just let the cat out of the bag.'

"Your what?" Ron and Harry yelled. Ginny grabbed their robes to keep them from lunging forwards.

"Look, I meant to explain to you in a letter, but I didn't think you would like that, Harry, Ron," she continued quickly. "It's just...Blaise and I really like each other-"

"-we really do," injected Blaise.

"-and I sort of forgot to mention it," Hermione finished, elbowing Blaise. "I'm really sorry." She cast a pleading glance at them; Ginny gave them both a bit of a shove and they sat down on the compartment seats.

"Well," Harry said, glancing at the brooding Ron, "it could be worse. It could be Malfoy." Ginny coughed and turned red. Hermione flicked her an amused glance, as did Blaise. "And Blaise doesn't seem the bad sort, even for a Slytherin."

"Everyone says 'Slytherin' like it's a bad thing," Blaise complained. Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at him while Hermione rolled her eyes. "Have you ever talked to a Slytherin? Most of us are quite happy in our house. I am. Draco is. Pansy, I believe, is. So are Crabbe and Goyle, but they don't really count, do they? Theodore Nott is, as is Millicent Bulstrode." He blinked at them blandly. "Most of us rather like dungeons and leather sofas. The atmosphere is peaceful, sometimes."

"You like being in Slytherin?" Ron asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I think it's rather fun," Blaise said. "And, of course, there are the House-wide sleepovers to consider..."

Ron choked. "What?!" Ron said, pushing some of his hair out of his eyes.

Hermione frowned at the laughing Blaise. "That's Blaise's idea of a joke, Ron. He doesn't mean that there are sleepovers. Are there?" She looked at him.

"No," he said firmly. "Most of the girls there would be awful-looking in pajamas. I have to see them enough in unflattering school robes, why pain myself more? Plus," he added, "Snape's not that cool."

"Well, that's true," Ron conceded. He eyed Blaise. "Are you sure about him, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded and Blaise took her hand in his. "Yes," she said. "Absolutely."

"Well, then." Ron coughed. Everyone sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments until Ginny sighed, exasperated.

"Oh, for Heavens' sake," she said, standing up, and crossing the short distance to Blaise, holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Zabini." She took the hand that came out to meet hers and shook it enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you, too," Blaise said, a smile playing at the corner of his lips and a sparkle in his eye.

Not to be outdone by Ginny, Harry stood up and shook Blaise's hand solemnly. "Be good to Hermione," he warned.

"Certainly," Blaise said, pulling a solemn look onto his face, too. They all turned to Ron, who was still sitting.

"What're you looking at?" he asked crossly. "Oh, bloody hell." He got up, briefly shook Blaise's hand and asked what his quidditch team was.

Once the train pulled into Hogsmeade and Hermione and Blaise left the others to help people with their things, he asked her about Ron.

"You never know, with Ron," she said, smiling a bit. "Though him asking you what your favorite team is like him saying, 'Oi, welcome into the fold, mate; we're watching you.'"

"So... they're still watching me?" Blaise asked, amused. "Lovely imitation, by the way."

"You pick these things up," she said absently, walking along the platform. "Yes, and they most likely will be. Forever," Hermione warned, helping a third-year with her bag. "You'll have to get used to it, I'm afraid."

Blaise was silent for a moment before she looked at him. Then he shrugged and grinned. "Eh, it's worth it," he replied. "You there! Yes, you, with the basket! No Kneazles!" He rushed after a fifth-year who was presumably trying to bring her pet Kneazle into school without permission, since she ran towards the carriages as fast as she could.

~*~

The feast that awaited them when they arrived at the castle was grand. Blaise and Hermione were almost too tired to enjoy it since they had been arguing with the fifth-year about the importation of unauthorized Magical Creatures. At the end of their 'discussion', Hermione had admitted in a rather relieved tone of voice that she was glad the student was in Hufflepuff, not Gryffindor.

Hermione was so tired that she neglected to make her House-Elf liberation speech that she made for everyone sitting near her during large feasts. The rest of Gryffindor was supremely glad for that, as they really wanted to enjoy their first night back. So, after the feast, Hermione trudged up to her and Blaise's chambers alone, since Blaise "had business to settle" in the Slytherin common room. She was greeted raucously by Godric, whom she ignored and passed by to fall into bed, barely able to pull on her nightclothes. She heard when Blaise got back in the rooms, but fell asleep shortly after.

Blaise's night was nowhere near as peaceful as Hermione's. There was a power struggle at the Slytherin table between Pansy Parkinson and Millicent. Pansy won, as she always did, and flounced off to meet her boyfriend of a year, who was still a "secret boyfriend" though everyone in Slytherin knew everything about him--except his name.

After that, he got stuck hiding in an alcove midway between the Gryffindor Tower and the Slytherin dungeons and heard every word of the particularly nasty break-up of Draco and his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley.

It started off simply. Both parties said hello and Blaise thought they'd go off to wherever they went and he could continue. But no. They got into an argument about whether or not to tell people and then Draco said something that, upon Blaise's later reflection, was a completely idiotic thing to say.

"There are two reasons," Draco said angrily to Ginny, "why you don't want to tell people. Either 'A', you're embarrassed of me, which is virtually impossible, or 'B', you want to break up with me so you aren't going to tell anyone about me because of that."

"God, Draco! Just because I don't want to announce to the world that we're dating doesn't mean I'm embarrassed of you!" Ginny exclaimed. Blaise could hear her pacing as Draco tapped his foot on the ground.

"So that leaves one explanation," Draco said icily. "You want to break up, don't you?"

Ginny sounded a bit desperate as she said, "I didn't want to tell you this way-"

"It's Potter, isn't it?" Draco said, his voice still encrusted with ice. "That rat bastard. I knew that if you went to wherever you go to spend time with him you'd-"

"It's not Harry!" Ginny yelled. "God! Why does everything have to revolve around Harry? You always think that I'm somehow going to leave you for him!"

"Well, you are, aren't you?" Draco asked. Blaise could hear a tirade coming on, and it was probably one of nasty proportions as far as he could tell from his hiding place. "You're always asking after him. 'Oh, I wonder what Harry's doing?' 'Hmm... Harry'd like this.' 'I should tell Harry about this...we could do it together!'" Blaise heard Draco stomping around as his voice got angrier and angrier. "It's bloody obvious, Ginny. It's been bloody obvious since your first year, you just won't acknowledge it -- you're in love with Potter." At this, Blaise took a chance and peered around the edge of the alcove to see Ginny's face. Her mouth was hanging open and her face was tomato-red; she looked as if she was about to cry.

"You've known you are, and you've tried to get his attention. But he won't give you the time of day, will he? He's always panting after someone else, isn't he. Never noticing little Ginny, right. Ginny's just background noise, aren't you? Background noise in the life of famous Harry Potter." This, Blaise thought, was the first time he heard Draco speak Harry's name with complete and utter hatred. Before he had just disliked Harry; now he spoke of him as if he hated every fiber of Harry's being. Draco paused then, and when he spoke again, his voice was so quiet that Blaise had to strain his ears to hear him. "But she doesn't want to be, does she. So she goes after his arch-enemy in hopes of attracting the Boy Wonder. But he still doesn't notice, does he. So, over Christmas vacation, when she's alone with him, she-"

"STOP!" Ginny shrieked; the word drowned Draco's whisper and resounded through the tall walls of the corridor. "Just... stop!" Blaise edged over again until he could see them; Ginny was standing with one hand wiping away tears and the other clenching something in her pocket. Draco was standing across from her, face out of view, with his arms crossed in a calm position. "Why... why are you doing this?" she asked, holding back great racking sobs.

"Doing what?" Draco sneered. "I'm only doing what you did to me. You play me on a stick, waving me in front of Potter so he can see little Ginny needs to be rescued again and he doesn't see what's right in front of him. Well, Weasley, the bastard can have you and your schemes, too. So I'm going to beat you to it. I'm breaking up with you before you break up with me. Goodbye." He turned and walked away and Blaise quickly moved further into the shadows.

Ginny ran after him and grabbed his shoulder. "Wait, Draco, please!"

Draco shrugged her off and told her, without looking back, "There are two words that solve an enormous amount of problems, Weasley. I'm about to tell them to you. Bugger. Off." He strode away quicker, ignoring her cries for him to come back.

Once they were both gone, Blaise ventured out from his hiding place and ran back to his and Hermione's chambers, eager for sleep at long last. When he arrived, he ignored Godric and Salazar (who were once again fighting about something; he suspected it was some sort of décor), went into his room and stripped to his underwear before pulling on a t-shirt and pajama bottoms and crawling into bed.

Within three minutes he was asleep.

~*~

The next morning, Blaise got out of bed only after he had thoroughly demolished his Muggle alarm clock by bashing the snooze button too many times, which he knew he'd regret because it was a "souvenir" of one of his rare trips into the Muggle world. He cleaned up, got dressed quickly and rushed to the Great Hall for coffee. And food. But most of all, coffee

He saw Hermione nursing her own mug of coffee from across the hall; picking up his plate and mug, he went to sit next to her. It caused a slight stir among the few students already awake and in the Great Hall, who were mostly Ravenclaws, but too not much of one. After all, they were the Head Boy and Girl. They were allowed to sit at the same table if they wanted to.

"So," Hermione said, "it must've been a wild night in the Slytherin common room last night. You didn't get back until late."

Blaise sighed. "I got in between a break-up," he said, taking a large sip of his coffee. "One that might hold great interest to you, as a matter of fact.

Hermione perked up. "I really regret being this shallow, but I must know -- who?"

He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Draco and Ginny."

"Oh, my," she said, looking at him. "What did you say to them?"

"I didn't say anything," he responded. She gave him a questioning glance. "I was hiding," he explained. "In an alcove. I didn't mean to get between them, I just sort of...heard everything. By mistake. I was actually on my way back to the chambers when I saw them coming. I didn't want to talk to anyone else, so I hid." He explained the rest to her as the hall filled with students.

"Wow," she said softly, glancing at Ginny, who had sat down across from her. Ginny's eyes were red-rimmed; she looked like she had been crying all night. Which, Blaise figured, seeing as how her boyfriend had broken up with her the previous night, she probably had been. "Ginny, are you all right?" Hermione asked quietly.

Ginny shook her head and glanced pointedly at Blaise, who took the hint. "I gather that I am not wanted," he said, smiling at Hermione and kissing her cheek. "I'll see you later, in Ancient Runes, right?"

"Right, see you," Hermione said.

Blaise walked back to the Slytherin table, leaving his plate back at the Gryffindor table, but bringing his precious coffee mug. Half the students at the Slytherin table were bent over mugs, and there were minor scuffles when people took someone else's pot of coffee or creamer or sugar. Blaise counted himself fortunate that he preferred his coffee the blackest black you could get. The rest, which were first-, second- and third-years were all sipping tea. For some reason, only the older students drank coffee.

Draco was at the head of the table with his customary two pots of coffee sitting in front of him. He nodded as Blaise reached for one and refilled his mug, sipping the fragrant liquid and smiling as it warmed him from the inside out.

"Good morning," Draco said, looking away from Gryffindor table and making small show of not acknowledging Ginny's tearful stare.

"G'morning," Blaise said through his coffee.

"Once more, with feeling, please," Draco said, poking Blaise with the back of a knife.

Blaise coughed. "Good morning, sirrah," he replied.

"Much better," Draco said. "So. Who do you think I should go out with now?"

"What?" Blaise asked, pretending to be confused.

"Oh, come on," Draco said crabbily. "You were over at the Gryffindor table. You know I broke up with Ginny," he hissed.

"Oh. Right. Yes, of course," Blaise said. "Hmm.... Who should you go out with? That girl from Gryffindor, what was her name? Purple? Maroon? Lavender? Yes, Lavender. That's her name. Lavender Brown. You should ask her out."

"No more Gryffindors," Draco said, shaking his head. "None. No more!"

Blaise rolled his eyes and drank his coffee by the swallows now. "Then what about Padma Patil? She's a Ravenclaw. Smart, pretty, nice. You'd like her."

Draco considered this. "That sounds smart," he said slowly. "Nice choice, Blaise. Very nice."

"You know me," Blaise said, pouring more coffee. "The man to go to when you are looking for dating advice, coffee advice or snappy one-liners."

Draco laughed. "Right. You think that. 'Snappy'? Right..." He got up and started to walk from the room.

Blaise started after him. "Hey!" he called, following Draco. "What's the matter with my one-liners?"