I'm No Expert | Bleville

13. Disaster

Disaster

That afternoon, Blaise was late to his charms class and received a detention. He wasn't that bothered by it, as Flitwick's detentions were never too harsh or unbearable. It was why he was pretty relaxed about missing some of the lesson in the first place.

When Blaise had sat down next to Draco and Pansy, he could feel a sort of victorious smirk on his own face. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stop whatever satisfied expression that would stretch across his face after learning of Neville's feelings anyway, so he wouldn't deny that he was wearing a rather gloating expression.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Pansy asked, tilting her head and squinting her eyes at him. "What about your cool reputation?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. She sure knew how to sour his mood with her mocking humor.

"What happened anyway?" Draco asked, waving his wand about lazily as he practiced the charm that they were supposed to be learning. "Something to do with you and lover boy?"

"If by lover boy, you mean Potter, then yes," Blaise replied, pleased when a quizzical expression crossed Draco's face. It was funny how obviously curious he was, as it had something to do with Potter (naturally).

"What?" Pansy whispered in confusion. She turned to Blaise which wide, confused eyes.

"You heard me," Blaise said, leaning back in his chair carelessly. "Potter payed me a visit in an empty classroom to give me a little something."

Draco was scowling at Blaise with so much intensity he felt that he would crack from the pressure. He would feel sorry about all of the insinuations, but he just couldn't bring himself to. It was simply too much fun to tease Draco, even more since Blaise knew all of the coming out of his mouth to be true.

Oh, Potter, you bring it upon yourself.

"What did he give you?" Pansy asked with a disbelieving expression.

"Information," he answered cheekily.

It was good information, that was for sure. Who knew he would get along so well with Draco's future husband?

"What kind of information?" Draco asked.

"The kind that is valuable to me," he answered. There was no need to tell them anything, since they would only meddle with his business. He wanted to make the big step of asking out Neville first...without Pansy's "help".

The charms class passed in a blur of nagging from Pansy and whining from Draco. They were like children, and Blaise had no idea how he had tolerated them for so long. It was a good thing that his resolve was so strong, or else he would have given in to feed the gossip monsters he called friends.

When it was time for Potions with Snape, Blaise felt jittery with nerves. The knowledge that Neville liked him came as a relief, but it was also...nerve wracking somehow. It was as if everything was suddenly in an entirely different light. Everything was more serious now and he felt more alive and determined than he had in a while.

"You're smiling again," Pansy said, nudging him in the ribs as they gathered outside of the potions classroom.

"Shut up," he mumbled.

His heart skipped a beat as he caught sight of Neville rushing over to stand with the rest of the students waiting for Snape to arrive.

Blaise had no idea what he was supposed to do. Judging by what Potter had said, Neville was aware of their almost-kiss and had even asked Granger for advice on it, so walking over and saying anything would be too awkward. Acting as if nothing had happened would do more damage than good, but he couldn't just outright say anything about it either.

Why did everything have to be so damn difficult?!

"What are you waiting for?" Pansy asked, catching where Blaise was looking. "Go talk to him!"

"I can't just do that!" He said, wondering why he was even trying to protest when it was the same as doing so to a brick wall.

"Yes, you can," Pansy said, setting a hand against her hip in a bossy manner. "Just go talk to him."

Blaise glanced over to Draco for help but with no avail. The blond was obviously suspicious of Blaise after the mention of Potter and probably realized that he was being given vague answers for the sheer fun of it.

"Sorry, Zabini," Draco shrugged, not looking sorry at all.

"Yeah. Sorry, Zabini," Pansy parroted with glee as she pushed Blaise over to Neville with more force than what was possible for her small frame.

Sometimes he wondered why he even considered them to be his friends.

Blaise stumbled gracelessly in front of Neville, and to make it worse, he was blushing. Sure, he found it cute when Neville blushed, but when he did it? It completely ruined his charm and made him look like a fumbling boy who was having an internal panic attack (which he was, by the way).

There was only one way to save the situation and win Neville over: charm him with witty conversation.

"H-hey," Blaise choked out, "how are you doing...today?" He then made an attempted smile which probably looked like he had something stuck in his mouth. Merlin, he should have sent a stunning spell at himself the moment those first words left his mouth, but no, he just had to continue the suffering.

Somehow, Neville was able to smile warmly at the greeting instead of hightailing it, and sure, his mouth was twitching a bit from contained laughter, but Blaise couldn't have asked for anything else.

"Hi," Neville said, voice shaking with little giggles that sent a shock right through Blaise's heart, almost killing him on the spot. "I'm good today, thanks for asking, Blaise."

That did it. Blaise felt his soul immediately leave his body as Neville said a sentence without the nervous stuttering to Blaise. It was finally happening! And he had even called him by his first name!

Not only that, but Neville's demeanor was more sure and confident than this morning, which added to Blaise's fatality. Cute, shy Neville was great, but confident Neville? Oh, Salazar, save him now, he was blushing again.

Blaise would have simply continued to stand there staring at Neville with amazement for however much longer if not for Snape billowing past to open the classroom.

Everyone followed into the potions class in a hurry, not wanting to be yelled at by the easily angered professor, including Neville, who muttered a quick "bye" with a sweet smile before following along, delivering the final blow to Blaise's heart. He was now officially shell shocked, to say in the least.

"Merlin's tits!" Draco exclaimed, his face pale with shock as he approached Blaise, who was staring blankly ahead, as if hit with the Body-Bind Curse. "I've never seen you like this before!"

"Yeah, I think Longbottom killed him," Pansy said solemnly, shaking her head. "Poor Blaise."

Draco waved a hand in front of Blaise who slapped it away half-heartedly. He was still processing everything that had happened in that short time, and he wanted to remember every second of it.

"He's just weak for Neville's smile," Pansy continued, lips twitching as another blush crept up his cheeks at the reminder.

"Yeah," Draco said, "you weren't kidding when you said Blaise had it bad."

"Shut up, Draco Potter," Blaise grumbled, pleased when Draco's pale complextion turned scarlet.

"Hurry up guys, class is starting," Pansy said. "Don't wanna get Professor grumpy in a rage."