Disclaimer: Not JK…

A/n: Written for tat1312(tat) for her birthday. Happy birthday! It's a sort of companion piece to my other Blasie/Parvati, 'In search of Unicorns and friendship', but this could be read alone too.

"Why is Zabini gawking at you?" Parvati turned her gaze reluctantly from the book she had been reading only to find Blaise's eyes move away from her and towards the book he was holding. Parvati knew he was waiting for her to leave the library.

Ever since they had been stuck in the Forbidden Forest and she had agreed to be friends, their secret meetings had become something of a ritual. He'd greet her whenever they passed the halls, would smile at her when she entered a classroom, would even carry her books to her commonroom. As long as they were out of sight of the others, that was. When in the presence of other students, he'd act like normal and would either ignore her or would taunt her, but his retorts would lack the distinct sharpness and his eyes, if she bothered to look, would be jovial rather than disgusted. It was all just a show. She knew it, and couldn't help but chuckle at his antics. So, far noone had noticed that they seemed to be closer than normal and she was thankful for that. Personally, she thought he was taking this friendship thing far too seriously. Or may be he just didn't know how to act around friends. Whatever the reason, Parvati couldn't ignore the fact that she was coming to depend on him and it surprised her. Sure, she hadn't been completely independent before. You can't be a twin and not rely on each other. But with Blaise, she felt as if there was something else. It was almost as if she felt, special with him. She consoled herself saying that it must be because he rarely ever spoke with anyone else but was almost doting towards her. He was the kind of friend anyone would kill for and she knew this only too well.

So she didn't mind it so much when he began looking at her more often. He must have been worried that they were drifting apart, or something. But she knew Blaise wasn't the type of guy to cling on to her like that. For the first few months in their third year he had barely spoken with her and she had begun to worry that it had all been a dream. Of course that had all changed when the announcement had come that Sirius Black, a renowned murdered had escaped Azkaban. He had become so worried and she had thought it kind of childish of him. Things had continued as such even after that threat had disappeared but Parvati had by now gotten so used to it that she welcomed his presence because one, he was much more sensible than her friends and two, she was fascinated by him. Often, she wondered how he had come to be in Slytherin at all. Sure, he was vain, selfish and cunning and such, but he still managed to come out as a rather compassionate person. And with her, it was even more pronounced. Sometimes she felt as if she was seeing two sides of the coin at once. His behavior was confusing altogether and she couldn't manage to forget it either.

"May be he wants to ask you to the ball or something" Lavender whispered from behind the book she was using to hide her gossiping. Parvati shook her head in resignation. Why did he have to go and behave so…abnormally, now of all times? There would be no stopping Lavendar's schemes if she knew the truth and the girl was extravagant at the least.

"Don't be stupid. If he did, he knows the answer. I'll be at the dorms. Too crowded here" Parvati stood up abruptly and left the library, taking care to walk as far from the table he was seated at as was possible. As she neared the exit, she thought she heard a distinct chuckle. Her irritation mounted.

When she was at the fifth floor corridor, she heard hurrying footsteps. She did not stop, but increased her pace. The footsteps hurried as hers did and soon she could see his jogging form from the corner of her eye. "Parvati! Stop!" She stopped abruptly and he ran a few steps ahead of her before he walked back to her.

"What's the hurry?" he asked casually, his hands in his pockets.

"Would you rather everybody saw us together?" she snapped, her annoyance from before resurfacing.

"Oh, so it was your reputation you were bothered about, was it?" he was smirking irritatingly. She narrowed her eyes, which were shooting imaginary spells at him.

"Yes" the one word rang in the deserted corridor loudly and Blaise shuffled his feet, apparently uneasy. Parvati bit her tongue. She had been harsher than she had intended.

"Oh, okay, then" a tense silence rang in the corridor and Blaise looked at Parvati intently for a minute before he began retreating.

"Blaise wait" he stopped, but did not look at her. She rushed towards him instead, pausing to stand before him. He still did not turn his face towards her, opting to look at the portrait behind her head.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid of me to say. Of course, I did not mean that. What I meant was that you should stop looking at me like that. What if someone starts to suspect?"

"What about? That we are friends? Will it be so hazardous?"

"It's not that. What if someone thinks…you fancy me or something like that? I mean, I know that's absurd but…Lavender already asked me once. She is not the type of person to back down that easily"

"Oh, I never thought of it like that, I guess." He ran a hand through his raven locks, messing it up.

"You're messing it up" Parvati stated and he looked at her quizzically.

"Your hair. You should stop running your hand through it so much. It'll probably fall off soon" she stood up to straighten the wayward locks.

"Yeah, I probably should. Or the female population of Hogwarts would be deprived of…"

"Yeah, yeah! Stop it with the vanity speech. You aren't all that 'dreamy', you know?"

"Aren't I, now? I'm sure your twin and your dear friend would disagree"

"Don't remind me. It's hard enough, hearing them talk about you. I feel like puking" she pretended to gag, and he laughed.

"That bad?" his jovial mood was back and he took a hold of her hand and tugged her towards him.

"Your head would bloat to the size of a Quidditch pitch if you heard half the things they said" she shook her head in disbelief.

"Why would I have to worry when I have my very own voice of wisdom right by me?" he chuckled as she came to stand close by him.

"As if you listen to anything I even say" she retorted, recalling a time in their third year when he had insisted on accompanying her to the commonroom. It had been right after the incident by the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Hey! I was worried! What did you expect me to do? Leave you alone in the corridors when a mass murderer was on the loose?"

"Well, everyone else seemed to get by quite well" she raised an eyebrow and he looked sheepish.

"Ah! Well…"

"Don't try too hard, Blaise. Your brain's gonna hurt" she laughed at the outraged look on his face.

"Just because you manage to keep your head inside a divination book all the time…"

"You know what I read behind them, Blaise so don't even start" she warned. He was the one other person on the planet who knew about her habit of reading the library books behind the divination ones she pretended to read.

"But I do think you read too much. I mean, most of the time I have to stare at you incessantly to even get you to look at me" he complained.

"Is that why you keep doing that?" she asked incredulously, and it was a minute before he answered.

"Yeah…yeah, that's why." It was partly true, anyway, "But you should take sometime off. To just…relax" he suggested, eager to change the topic.

"And you have an idea?"

"Sure I do." he remained silent, and an air of hesitation surrounded him, surprising Parvati.

"Let's hear it then" she replied, trying to stop him from gazing at her in that intense manner. Something about the expression in his eyes made her heart race.

"How about you dance with me?" he proposed suddenly.

"Dance? In the middle of the corridor?" she asked mockingly. He opened his mouth a few times and closed it immediately, earning a confused expression from her.

"Why not?" he said finally, and drew her near him. He waved his wand once and soft music began playing.

"What if someone sees?" she asked, looking around all the while.

"Whoever comes to this corridor will find that they have an appointment that can't be missed, on the other side of the castle" he replied off handedly and she snorted.

"Slytherin, should have known" she muttered but he heard it and chuckled. They swayed together, with her head on his chest and his arms around her for a few minutes before she noticed the strands of the music that was playing.

"It's muggle" she observed, raising an eyebrow.

"It is a rather nice song. Good music is good music, no matter who creates it" he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Would this freelance philosophy apply to muggleborns too?"

"Parvati…let's not get into this now, please?" he almost pleaded. This was probably the one thing they seriously disagreed on. It always made them drift apart a bit more and this time was no different. She stopped dancing and stood away from him.

"Parvati…" he extended her hand but she had already turned away and had begun walking towards the staircase. There was no use arguing with him, and she was too self-righteous to even consider being in the same room as him when he harbored such demeaning views.

"Idiot!" he kicked the edge of the wall and walked away, not even bothering to lessen the throbbing pain pulsing through his toes.

She stayed away from him from then on, though he sometimes thought he sensed her eyes on him. But he knew one thing for sure; he had missed his opportunity. He should have asked her to the dance when he had had the chance.

He had let her go. So he'd have to spend the Yule Ball watching her dance with first Harry Potter and then with some random Beauxbaton guy, knowing it could have been him, if only…

A/n: Sorry I made this not so happy.

Review!