Disclaimer: Not JK…

Chapter 7: An unusual meeting

It was a pointless evening, Blaise decided as he escaped out of the house discreetly. There'd be hell to pay when his wife fond out but Blaise couldn't stand a minute longer of that celebration. He was a Slytherin damn it, let him sulk and plot the downfall of the world in peace. He was sick and tired of the baffled looks he had been getting all through the evening. It followed the same routine; a petrified expression, and look to his right where Parvati would be, a resigned sigh, and regretful acceptance. He wasn't a charity case and he was fed up of being treated like one. There was another kind of reaction, one he hated even more than the first one, if that was at all possible; ignorance. It wasn't them they ignored, but their fake cheerfulness made him think that that would be better. It irked him that they tried acting as if he wasn't a person they had once thought of as an enemy; couldn't there be one person who'd treat him like he wanted to be treated, with polite indifference?

Blaise seated himself on the lawn of the Potter household, relaxing under a large birch tree. The shade protected him from the cool breeze that was blowing. It was almost spring; the snow had melted away, leaving the grass fresh and spring green. Hearing faint footsteps behind him, Blaise turned away from one spring green to another. It took him a minute to understand that he was looking at Potter's youngest and only daughter; Lily Potter the second. The girl was barely three years old and small for her age. Her raven hair swung around her shoulders unhindered, the mild sunlight bringing out the strands of red in them. She had the Potter eyes, though not as deep. Blaise guessed that the hazel of Ginny Potter's eyes had prevented that, leaving the girl with a lighter version.

As Blaise watched, the girl walked to him unsurely, atleast she appreciated the fact that he wasn't a guy to be trifled with. As she neared, her speed picked up, and the girl jogged the last few steps to stand behind him. Her face was upside down as it asked.

"Can I sit on you?"

"What?" Blaise couldn't believe his ears. What did this girl think he was? Her soft toy? Before he could retort, she walked around him and threw her leg on his other side, settling herself on his stomach. His legs folded on instinct to give the girl some support and she leaned on his legs which formed an impromptu seat for her. Blaise found the situation somehow funny and comfortable. There was no need for him to impress this girl, neither was she going to judge him except to see if he'd make a good enough chair for her.

The girl stared at him unnervingly from her position, almost as if she was looking down upon him. Her eyebrows scrunched together, deep in thought. Her face cleared after a few minutes and she exclaimed.

"Uncle Zabini!" Wait, when did he become an Uncle? He wouldn't even let his godson call him that!

"Just Zabini would do, child." But she just shook her head resolutely. Great, so the Potter stubbornness had survived another generation.

"Why are you here, Uncle Zabini?" She seemed affronted, as if him escaping the party had personally offended her.

"I was bored." He saw no reason to lie to a little girl. What could she do about it, anyway?

"You mean you escaped?" She seemed oddly delighted by the prospect, as if sneaking away from the party was an exciting adventure she wished to undertake. Just then, Blaise remembered that the children were supposed to be asleep on the fourth floor of the house. How had she escaped?

"Shouldn't you be asleep, little one?" Lily looked around expectantly, as if expecting an army of people to jump out of the bushes, come to capture her and lock her up in Azkaban. She leaned in close to his ear before whispering.

"I snuck out." She seemed so tense that Blaise had to laugh. If there was a Slytherin in the making, Lily Potter was it.

"Like me?" The girl nodded, bobbing her head up and down rapidly.

"Will you be punished too?"

"I guess Parvati would be pretty peeved, yes. But I don't think I'll be grounded, unlike you."

"Peeved?" Blaise jumped, only then realizing that he had used that word. Why couldn't the little brat have picked up some other word? Like pretty? Or grounded? Now he was going to have both Parvati and Ginny Potter at his back.

"Forget I said that word, okay? And never repeat it again to anyone. Okay?" He thought it was a fair deal. The girl got her vocabulary lesson and he got out of trouble.

"And you'll give me something?" Blaise now really regretted ever thinking that she was a Slytherin in training, she was just too sneaky.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Ice cream. Mum said she'd never buy me one since I was behaving like the devil." The girl appeared somber, unaware of the humor of her words.

"Sure, of course. So you swear?" He felt silly, asking a little child for a promise but she nodded solemnly enough.

Her eyes traveled away from his face to the distant house where she could see a figure approaching. Her eyes returned to his, panicky; Blaise knew her absence had been noticed. He lifted her up with him as he stood, holding her on one of his arms.

"Lily! What are you doing outside? I thought you were asleep!" Ginny barely noticed him, turning her full attention and consequently her wrath towards her daughter.

She extended her arms, and Lily jumped into them calmly enough, all her previous tension replaced with a look of resignation that looked far too old on her.

"Sorry if she bothered you, Zabini." She turned to him finally, and before he could so much as nod his head, began walking back to the house.

Lily looked back at him over her mother's shoulder, and he swore he saw her mouth the words 'peeved' and 'ice cream'.

The little blackmailing bugger.

A/n: This was entirely difficult to write, without including romance so do tell me how I fared?

Review, please!