Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I AM BACK! Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Better late than never!

Gheihsghwhe. Sorry about that. That was my cousin, trying to type fast.

Anyway, enjoy!

-Scars

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Chapter 2:

Confusing the Signs

The rest of the Transfigurations class, Padma could barely concentrate. All that was on her mind was the dark Slytherin she met today, and how whenever she attempted to even catch a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye, she always found him staring right back at her. She couldn't even concentrate on her Animagus quiz! She only felt Blaise's eyes on her, watching her.

When they were all finally dismissed, Padma nearly ran out of the door, glad to be out of there, and going to search for her sister.

Too bad she was blocked by Blaise Zabini.

The minute she began to walk away from the classroom and was nearly twenty feet away from the airtight class, she felt the familiar feeling of someone studying her.

Padma turned to face Blaise, who was walking close behind her.

"Hey, I didn't see you there," Blaise said smoothly, though Padma could tell he was lying through his teeth. Of course he saw her there. He had basically FOLLOWED her out of the room.

"Sure you didn't," Padma replied, just as he would do to her. She didn't know much about Blaise Zabini, but from what she had learned about him from the last hour was that he was cocky and certainly didn't mind using sarcasm. But… he didn't seem like any other Slytherin to her. He seemed… almost bearable.

Blaise grinned at her, and for some reason, Padma's cheeks lit aflame. "Man, a guy can't hide ANYTHING from a Ravenclaw, especially one as clever as yourself."

Padma's face was burning brighter by the second. "Um… thank you, I guess."

She still couldn't tell if he was really complimenting her, calling her smart and whatnot, or if he was making fun of her. Sort of teasing her about being a Ravenclaw, like any Slytherin would do.

But… Blaise seemed so… different from the rest. Why would he do that?

Padma, at that moment, felt very confused and the redness in her checks still wasn't receding.

"So," he asked suddenly, breaking Padma away from her train of thought and back to reality, "where are you headed, now that it's the end of the school day? And, might I add, it is also a beautiful Friday afternoon."

Padma just shrugged, not totally sure of what to do. "I was just planning on finding my sister--"

Blaise looked at her with a quizzical look on his face. "You have a sister?"

"Yes," she answered simply. "We're twins."

"Twins, huh?" he asked, sound very curious. "So, there's another girl who looks exactly like you, walking around this castle?"

Padma just nodded. "Yes, we're identical. Why, is that a bad thing that there's basically another Padma in the school?" She smiled at him.

Blaise returned the grin, and then replied, "No, actually, that, to me, is a good thing. A miracle, even."

Padma blushed harder than ever and looked down at the floor as they walked.

Had he just called her pretty… or was he teasing her? Teasing her about being a twin?

Slytherins were so confusing.

There she was, thinking all of them were evil slime balls that couldn't be trusted or befriended. But… here comes along the one Slytherin that ISN'T that way. Or… was he just pretending?

Padma groaned inwardly in her head.

When Blaise noticed her silence, her turned to her, feeling concerned.

"Padma… are you alright?" he asked, suddenly stopped walking and looked at her. "Do you feel ok?"

Padma stopped too, not knowing what made her feet stop moving. "I'm fine. It's ok. Let's just go."

"Are you sure?" he questioned her again.

"Yeah, let's go, really."

Blaise could tell that by the sound of her voice, she was lying. She WASN'T ok.

He grabbed her arm to stop her from walking away, causing Padma to become frozen.

The only thing she was fully aware of was Blaise, holding her arm. She was under the penetrating gaze of his dark brown eyes that seemed to match his short hair perfectly.

"I'm not sure that you're alright," he said, putting his hand up. "Come here, let me see."

Padma's brain was telling her to pull away and to run, far away from this Slytherin boy. He was setting of the alarms in her head like there was no tomorrow. But… Padma was ignoring reason and her common sense of Slytherins, for the first time in her life. She was disregarding safety and everything that she knew.

He was standing directly in front of her. Padma had to look up to at him to look him in the eyes. His eyes weren't harsh; they were actually soft… and looked almost… kind.

"Are you REALLY sure you're ok?" he asked once more, his hand half raised at his side.

Padma's tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. She shook her head, not certain if she was alright.

"Let me see," he said, placing his hand on her forehead. He looked at her, and, while Padma's brain was telling her to run away again, her feet lost the ability to move. The skin beneath his fingers seemed to tingle with warmth.

After they had stood like that, time seeming to be frozen for about two seconds, Blaise put his hand down and backed away.

"Well, you don't feel warm… maybe you're just tired."

"Tired… yeah." Padma backed away too.

"Padma!" someone yelled her name from behind her.

Padma turned around, and saw her sister, running toward her, Parvati's best friend Lavender barely keeping up.

"Is that your sister?" Blaise asked, looking at Parvati. "She looks JUST like you."

"I know," Padma replied, looking down at her feet.

"But, personally," he said, smiling at her, "I think you're the prettier twin."

Padma blushed and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thanks," she said sheepishly, barely muttering it.

"Well, I can see you have to go," Blaise said, clapping his hands together and backing further away from her, "so… bye, Padma." He walked away a little before turning around and adding, "See you around, Ravenclaw." He laughed to himself as he walked away.

Padma meekly waved at him, murmuring, "Later, Slytherin." But he was too far away to hear her.

"Padma! Paddy, there you are!" Her sister came up behind her and tapped her shoulder, hardly breathing hard after her run to the other side of the castle.

Lavender, on the other hand, was breathing VERY hard. After Lavender had regained her breath enough to talk, she turned to Padma and asked, "Was that Blaise Zabini?"

Padma nodded. "Yeah."

Parvati scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "What was he doing talking to you?"

She just shook her head. "I… I don't know."

"Well, let's go," Parvati said, putting her arm through her sister's, pulling her feet from where she had stood rooted, then grabbed her best friend's arm. "It's Friday, after all."

Padma just walked with her, not thinking about where she was going, just letting Parvati lead her outside, her thoughts only on Blaise and about how confusing he was.

* * *

That afternoon, when the three girls were outside, Lavender had left to go to the bathroom. Padma had taken this time to confront her sister.

"Parvati?"

"Yeah?" she replied curiously, both of them lying and the base of a giant oak tree.

"Can I talk to you?" Padma asked her, a little uncertain about telling her sister what was on her mind.

Parvati smiled at her. "Isn't that what you are doing?"

Padma grinned a little bit, before the grin disappeared from her face. "Vati… I want to talk to you about… about Blaise."

Parvati fell silent for a while before she said, "Yeah, you were talking to him earlier. What about him?"

"It just that…." Padma didn't know how to say it. "He's sort of confusing me."

Parvati sat up a little straighter to look at her sister in the eye. "What do you mean by that, Paddy?"

Padma took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "It's just that… I think he's making fun of me… in a way."

"What?!" Parvati felt enraged that someone would make fun of her sister, her twin, her blood. "He's making fun of you?!"

"Sort of," Padma replied. "Like… he says things like I'm a smart little Ravenclaw and how I think quizzes are easy, being so smart, and he called me…." She felt herself blushing at the memory. How could she tell her sister?

"What? What did he call you, Paddy?" Parvati asked, wanting to know so she could destroy Zabini.

"He… he called me pretty."

When Padma received no reply, she blushed even harder.

"He called you pretty?" Parvati smiled, and then giggled a little. "Well, what's so bad about that, Padma?"

Padma's face was a deep crimson as she replied, "Well, I just don't know if he's being serious OR if he's saying it in a way that… that's meant to hurt me, or make fun of me."

Parvati scrunched her eyebrows together. "Paddy… usually, when a boy says that you're pretty, he doesn't say it in a way that's meant to hurt you--"

"But… he's a SLYTHERIN!" Padma groaned in frustration. "He CAN'T be different! He CAN'T be nice!"

Parvati nodded and smiled sadly. "I see where you're coming from, but you never really know a person until… you get to know them. Who knows? Maybe Blaise could be… nice."

Padma nodded, but still felt uneasy. "But, what if he IS making fun of me? When he left, he said, 'See you around, Ravenclaw,' and he laughed. He laughed Paddy, like he was teasing me. It's just so confusing." Padma sighed, sinking lower as she laid down by the enormous tree.

"Don't worry, Paddy," Parvati replied, hugging her confused sister. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

And she WOULD. No one made fun of her sister, even if they WERE just kidding.