Dare

*

Hermione awoke the next morning feel warm and comfortable. A dim light was streaming in through a high window, peeking through the curtains. She didn’t move for a second, blinking and feeling a dull pounding in her head.

She realized she was fully clothed and wondered at that. Then she opened her eyes fully, peeking over the fluffy comforter. Her eyes took in the dormitory and her mouth fell open slightly. She shifted and immediately, a sharp pain pierced her temples.

Her first thought was that she needed to get out of there, wherever there was. She moved slowly, sliding her legs out straight but freezing when she felt another set of legs. Her eyes widened as details began trickling back from the night before.

She knew where she was now, as if all the green shouldn’t have tipped her off. Moving very carefully, she slipped out of the bed, trying not to disturb anything.

As she moved, she felt a blinding pain in her temple and swore that she would never drink again. Trying desperately to ignore the pounding in her head, she tiptoed around the bed and grabbed her shoes from the floor.

She glanced at Blaise before leaving. He was sleeping quite soundly, his hair falling messily over his face. She thought he looked just as beautiful in sleep as in real life. Making a quick decision, she bent over and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before sneaking to the door and slipping out, closing it as quietly as she could behind her.

Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was still quite early. She was glad for this as she stole down the dark corridor to the Slytherin common room. Only two students were up, and they seemed to be having a debate of some kind.

Hermione ducked behind one of the high-backed chairs and crawled slowly toward the door, hoping not to be seen. It was embarrassing enough to be sneaking out of the Slytherin dormitories in the morning. Add in her ruffled clothes and messy hair, and she was sure the rumors would fly, if Parvati and Lavender hadn’t already started them.

Luckily, she made it unspotted to the door of the common room and left as quickly as possible. She stole through the dark passageways of the castle, taking every shortcut she knew to make it to the Gryffindor common room.

When she made it there, she gave the password to the Fat Lady, whose only response was, “What are you doing coming in at six in the morning?”

Hermione ignored her and entered the common room, carefully avoiding the main room and sneaking up to her dormitory. Upon entering, she found Parvati and Lavender already up, each sitting on their beds respectively.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but was stopped as Parvati held out a little bottle of purple liquid.

“Hangover Potion,” she said by way of explanation.

Hermione nodded gratefully and seized the little bottle, downing it in one gulp and grimacing at its taste. When she lowered the bottle, she found both Parvati and Lavender watching her interestedly.

“What?” she asked, setting down the bottle on her bedside table and sitting down on her bed. She knew she needed to shower and get dressed but she just felt so tired.

“What happened last night?” Lavender asked finally.

“Nothing,” Hermione said, shrugging. “I feel asleep.”

“In his bed, though, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So he didn’t try to do anything?” Parvati asked.

“No,” Hermione said slowly. “He was really nice.”

“Wow,” Lavender said quietly. “I was sure when he invited you in it was to have sex.”

“But I was drunk, he wouldn’t do that,” Hermione said, sounding scandalized.

“Hermione, you give people too much credit.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.

“Most guys would have seen last night as a perfect opportunity to have sex.”

“Yeah,” Parvati chimed in. “Most guys wouldn’t have cared if you’d remember it in the morning. You got lucky, Hermione.”

“Lucky that there’s a guy in this world with some sense of morals?” Hermione shot back. She didn’t like the way this sounded.

“Yeah,” Lavender said seriously. “I didn’t think he existed, but you’ve got him.”

“What do you mean, got him?” Hermione asked defensively. “We didn’t do anything, and he’s not mine!”

“Well, why not? He’s perfect. And I think he likes you.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, he didn’t just send you home drunk, and he didn’t make any moves on you.”

“Maybe he just has respect for women.”

Lavender rolled her eyes. “You’re so naïve when it comes to boys, Hermione. At the very least, you ought to thank him for last night.”

“You actually think I should?” She’d been considering it after hearing what usually happened, but hearing Lavender suggest it was something else.

“Of course, and from there you can see what he really thinks,” she said slyly, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

“I’ll thank him, but that’s all,” she said firmly. She then stood up and went to take a shower.

Parvati and Lavender watched her go, skeptical expressions on their faces.

“You think she knows she likes him?” Lavender asked, glancing at Parvati.

“No, but I bet she will soon.”

**

By eight o’clock, Hermione had showered and changed her clothes. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to face the day, but there was really no alternative; she had to go to class.

She shoved the last of her books in her bag and ran a brush quickly through her still-damp hair. She preformed her usual charm to help it stay sleek. Parvati and Lavender had taken it upon themselves to teach her how to take care of her appearance at the beginning of the year.

Now, it had just become a habit to fix her hair every morning. After a quick glance in the mirror, she grabbed her bag and headed out the door.

In the Great Hall, she sat down at the Gryffindor table, her eyes wandering over to the Slytherin table. She didn’t know exactly how she was supposed to thank Blaise. Should she just go up to him and say thank you? Somehow, that sounded inadequate.

She caught sight of him sitting at the far end of the table, not talking to anyone. He wasn’t looking at her, and he had an odd expression on his face. He looked almost thoughtful.

Hermione frowned, looking back at her plate. A few places down, Parvati and Lavender were whispering together. She rolled her eyes at them and, instead, concentrated on her breakfast.

After finishing, she left for her first class, Arithmancy. When she got there, she was one of the first. She slid into her usual seat in the second row, taking her books out and setting them on the edge of her desk.

Other students began filtering in and she couldn’t stop herself from glancing at the door every time it swung open. She told herself to stop and turned toward the front, resolutely keeping her eyes straight forward and resisting the urge to turn every time the door opened.

Finally, at one minute to the bell, Blaise came in the room, sitting down in his usual chair in the back. Hermione resisted the pulling urge to turn around and look at him.

She found it incredibly difficult to concentrate that day in class and was relieved when they were finally excused. She grabbed her books and stood up quickly, turning around only to see Blaise leaving the room.

She frowned to herself, wondering what was going on. She walked slowly to her next class, Charms. He was in there too. In fact, she thought, he was in all her N.E.W.T. level classes. She’d never thought too much of it before.

Sitting in the back of Charms, she watched as Blaise did his incantation. He sat next to Pansy, who was trying to talk to him, it seemed. Blaise merely rebuffed her attempts and she settled for huffing and falling silent.

Hermione found herself looking Blaise over. He had a nice body, long and lean. His top robe had been removed and he was wearing the white uniform shirt. She thought that he had very nice skin. It was smooth and soft from what she remembered of the night before.

Lavender and Parvati’s words came back to her, “He’s perfect.” She had to admit that he certainly did have a very nice body, but that wasn’t everything. Alright, so he was smart as well, but still. She didn’t have time to think about these things. She needed to concentrate on helping Ron and Harry.

That didn’t stop her from wanting to thank Blaise for the previous night, though. She had no opportunity through Charms, and afterward it seemed he was just a step ahead of her the rest of the day.

Finally, it was time for dinner and Hermione made her way to the Great Hall, feeling disappointed by her failure. She hadn’t managed to work up her courage to talk to him most of the day, and the times that she had, he’d disappeared on her.

Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, she was immediately surrounded by Parvati and Lavender. She sighed as she glanced at both of them. They merely smiled at her.

“So, did you talk to him?” Lavender asked eagerly.

“No,” Hermione replied.

“Why not?”

“I tried, but I think he’s avoiding me.”

“Why would he avoid you?” Parvati asked, looking at the Slytherin table where Blaise was sitting at the far end again.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should just let it go.”

“You don’t want to thank him?”

“Yes, I do, but if he doesn’t want to talk to me, why should I force him?”

Parvati and Lavender were silent for a moment until Lavender placed her hands on her hips. “Because you’re Hermione Granger and you never take no for an answer! You always do what you think is right. Don’t you think this is right?”

Hermione stared at Lavender for a moment. She did have a point, no matter how odd it was to hear it from Lavender.

“I guess so,” she said finally. After another hard look from Lavender, she sighed. “Oh, fine. I’ll talk to him after dinner.”

The rest of the meal passed slowly for Hermione. She kept glancing up at Blaise, wondering what was going on. Why was he ignoring her? Had she done something last night that she didn’t remember?

These questions plagued her all the way to Gryffindor Tower. As she threw her bag on her bed, she thought that she probably should just go thank him and let it go. A tiny part of her was saying that maybe she didn’t want to let it go. Maybe last night had meant more than she knew. Maybe there was something else there.

After half an hour of thinking, she finally rose from her bed, prepared to go find Blaise and thank him for all that he’d done. It was the right thing to do after all.

She left the common room, wondering where he might be at this time of night. First she stuck her head in the library, but didn’t see him there. As she walked away, she realized where he was. The thought didn’t make her want to see him any more.

Slowly, she turned and made her way down to the Entrance Hall. She went down into the dark dungeon corridors, lighting her wand as she did so. She followed a few turns, searching for the Slytherin common room.

Finally, she found what she thought was the entrance. After a moment of indecision, she knocked on the wall and waited.

After a few moments, she knocked again, louder. Seconds later, the door was pulled open and a small first year stuck his head out. He frowned when he caught sight of Hermione.

“What do you want?” he demanded.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at his tone. “I’m here to see Blaise Zabini. Tell him I’m here, will you?”

The boy scowled but disappeared back in the room, slamming the door shut in her face. She rolled her eyes at his disrespect for authority and took a step back, crossing her arms in front of her, partly in defense and partly because she didn’t know what to do with her hands.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Blaise stepped out elegantly. He took a sweeping look around him and his eyes landed on Hermione. His eyes looked her up and down before he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, waiting for her to speak.

“Zabini,” she said, feeling suddenly awkward. She pressed her arms together harder. “I came to thank you for last night. I know there are many things you could have done last night and I appreciate your restraint and what you did for me.”

Blaise was silent for a moment. “Gee, Granger, you make me sound like I could have raped you last night. No need to sound so gracious.”

Hermione frowned slightly. “I just meant that you were very nice last night and I wanted to thank you.”

“I’m not always nice, you know,” Blaise said, watching Hermione for her reaction.

Hermione’s eyebrows came together and she kept her arms up. “What are you talking about?”

“Hermione, last night when you came by, did you want to kiss me?”

Hermione hesitated. “I was drunk.”

“Alcohol loosens your inhibitions.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Hermione asked carefully.

Blaise took a moment to study her, then pushed himself off the wall. “I’m simply interested in what your real intentions are.”

“My intentions?” Hermione repeated. “I don’t intend anything. Just what do you intend, Zabini?”

“I intend a lot of things. Whether they’re carried out or not is another question.”

Hermione scowled. He was speaking in riddles and it made no sense to her. “What does that mean?”

He took a step closer to her. “Last night, you kissed me and you said you wanted to.”

“So?” she asked defensively. “I didn’t mean it.”

“Didn’t you?”

“Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“Argh!” Hermione cried, throwing up her hands. “You know, Zabini, even if I did like you, your pompous nature and self-centeredness bothers me to no end!”

“So you admit to noticing me?”

Hermione let out a frustrated noise. “That isn’t the point. I came here to thank you, so that is what I’m doing. Thank you and goodnight.”

She made to turn around but found herself stopped by a hand on her wrist. “It’s only a good night if you don’t go alone.”

“Wha—“ she said as she found herself suddenly tugged back towards Blaise and directly in front of him.

One hand was wrapped around her wrist and the other at her neck, sliding over her jaw and tilting her head upward. She was staring into his eyes that had turned a dark aquamarine. They didn’t flicker as she felt her head being drawn closer.

Her eyes closed slowly as he drew nearer and pressed his warm, soft lips against hers. She felt his tongue flick over her lower lip in a silent request. Tentatively, she opened her mouth and allowed his glorious tongue entrance.

Immediately, she was lost in the taste and sense of him. His hand was on the back of her neck and the other had slid up her arm to grasp her upper arm. Her own hands hung limply by her side, as if unsure what to do.

His tongue slid into her mouth, running over her teeth and urging her to respond. He pressed his lips harder against her, nipping at her lower lip. She gasped and her eyes shot open for a second. They soon closed again when she felt his hand slide down her neck to her lower back, pressing her forward against him.

She broke the kiss momentarily, feeling winded, and looked up at Blaise. “Z-Zabini,” she said breathlessly, “just what do you intend to do?”

“My intentions,” Blaise murmured, leaning into her neck, “are best kept secret, don’t you think?”

“But I—ohhh,” Hermione breathed when he began sucking on her neck.

His tongue slid over her neck and up to her ear where he licked it teasingly before pulling the lobe into his mouth. “Hermione, would you care to come in?”

Hermione pulled away. “In there?” she asked, pointing at the now closed door.

“Where else?”

“But they would kill me,” she said, thinking of the disastrous results simply walking into that common room would incur.

“They’ll do what I say,” Blaise said dismissively. “Now,” he pulled her closer, his fingers dancing over her hip, “what say you?”

Hermione hesitated for a second but knew this was a golden opportunity and would not be the one to throw it away.

“Okay,” she said firmly, sounding more confident than she felt.

Blaise smirked, his eyes dancing and turned around, putting a hand on her lower back and giving the password, giving her a small push and following her through the door into the common room.


~~**~~

A/N: Just so you all know, I don't have a beta, for any of my fics really. So any and all mistakes are mine, my apologies. Alright, so please review!