Potions
The next morning, Blaise rolled out of his bed with dread. Pansy was going to be all over him today with questions about his mysterious "crush."
"Are you alright, Zabini?" Draco asked as he adjusted his green and silver tie. "You look a little grumpy this morning."
Blaise grunted in response. Draco would find out what his problem was soon enough.
They walked to the great hall in silence with Blaise glowering. It looked like the weather was agreeing with him too, judging by the gloomy dark clouds on the enchanted ceiling of the great hall.
"Good morning, Blaise," Pansy greeted with a bright smile. "Would you like some toast for breakfast? Or maybe a special someone?"
Draco choked and stared wide-eyed at Pansy. "Since when did you have a thing for Blaise?"
"I- what?!" Pansy shrieked. "That was me dropping hints, not flirting!" She huffed and crossed her arms with a pout.
"Hints?" Draco asked, glancing over to Blaise. "you mean Blaise likes someone?"
"Obviously," Pansy rolled her eyes. "He's just too stubborn to admit it, like a certain someone." She shot a dark look at Draco who shrunk back in his seat.
"At least I don't drop terrible hints," Draco sniffed, raising a thin brow. He smirked and proceeded to spread jam on his toast as if he had won the argument.
"Shut up, both of you," Blaise commanded. He was on edge with their constant bickering and his lack of sleep. If only they would just shut up.
"We have potions with the Gryffindorks after lunch today!" Pansy announced timidly after a brief moment of silence.
Draco grumbled something and stabbed at his eggs, making Blaise smirk. At least someone else was suffering today.
"What was that, my dear Draco?" Pansy sang, happily adding more jam to a slice of toast. "Do you have something to say? Perhaps a confession of your love for Potter? Or maybe even an announcement of your undying love for him? Your choice."
"Neither," he snapped. Blaise watched with amusement as Pansy's happy attitude morphed into one of dark amusement.
"Is that so?" She sweetly inquired, batting her dark eyes with faked innocence. It was always interesting to see Pansy's demeanor flip like a switch.
Blaise laughed when he saw Draco gulp. There was never a dull moment with those two. They were always bickering about something. But that didn't mean that he wasn't agitated with them.
"Don't think that you can get out of anything, mister," Pansy scolded Blaise. "I'm not exactly happy with you either at the moment and there is only one way to be forgiven."
"Oh Merlin," Draco muttered softly. "Please don't say anything more. I don't want to hear it. I know what you want."
"A new cloak?" Pansy asked. "How did you know what I wanted for Christmas this year?"
Draco stared at her as if she were mad while Blaise rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to admit my so called crush, if that's what you want," He said.
"Oh, don't be so selfish, Blaise dear. Not everything is about you, you know." Pansy smiled. "Just say that you both owe me a favor, and I will be happy."
"Do you think I care about how happy you are enough to say that I owe you a favor?" Draco asked.
"You better," Pansy snapped. "I am your friend after all, and I know things."
Blaise shook his head. "No way. You can leave me out of this. I'm not going to make any deals with you." Making deals with Pansy was the equivalent of selling your soul and watching helplessly as you watched your life crumble away before your very eyes.
Pansy smirked and tapped her chin with a manicured nail. "It would be a shame if a certain rumor suddenly broke out..."
"You better not!" Blaise fumed. "If I get when a little wind of a little rumor going around I will personally make sure that you are dealt with."
"That's a shame Blaise, but I think that it is safe to simply say that you owe me a favor or else risk your life becoming much more... difficult." Pansy trailed off.
"Fine," Blaise gave in, and he realized that he had been doing that a lot lately. "I owe you a favor. Now I'm leaving to my class." It was always safest to leave before Pansy was able to make your life any more miserable.
⚫⚫⚫
"Today we are brewing a simple strengthening potion," Snape announced that afternoon. His silhouette against the sun outside of the windows gave him an intimidating and dramatic appearance. He was glaring daggers at the Gryffindors' direction as usual.
"Since this seems to be so difficult for many of your peers, I am required to place you into pairs in hopes of better results... I hope that you will not fail as the previous classes have managed to do."
Pansy rolled her eyes and met Blaise's eyes from a few seats away. She swept her robes, brushed her hair back, and pulled her lips into a snarl mockingly, making Blaise have to hold back a laugh. She was one of the few Slytherins that strongly disliked Professor Snape, other than himself.
"Don't get too excited," Professor Snape raised his voice even though no one in the class had even uttered a word. "I will be choosing your partners."
Everyone was (still) silent. After five years of having Snape as a teacher, one kind of got used to disappointment. It was almost guaranteed, actually.
"Potter, with Draco," Snape sneered, and Blaise and Pansy tried not to laugh too hard when the potion partners exchanged friendly smiles cross the room.
After a while of Snape staring at the pair with shock and confusion, he continued to list off names from a piece of parchment. "Longbottom with Finnigan."
"Professor," Weasley called from the back, "Both Dean and Seamus are not attending classes today."
"And why is that?" Snape inquired.
"B-because-" the boy started.
"Because they are both, er, bedridden," interrupted Potter with a small smile. Pansy and Blaise exchanged glances and smirked. Dean and Seamus definitely had something going on, and they had been discussing how long it would take for them to get together, not to mention the fact that Terry Boot had just lost a five galleon bet. To both of them.
"Score," Pansy mouthed.
"Fine," Snape sighed. "Then I will pair Longbottom with..." He glanced around the room and pointed. "Zabini."
Blaise smiled at Neville who turned slightly pink. Probably because of how their last conversation had ended with Blaise hightailing his way out of the infirmary like the absolute fool he was.
As if noticing Neville's lack of misery, Snape added, "Maybe then, Mr. Longbottom, you will manage to not completely ruin your potion, as you have an acceptable partner."
A few of the slytherins let out snickers while Blaise frowned, anger coursing through him. He may not have ever been in on the jokes about Neville, but he had never done anything about it either.
When Professor Snape finally finished pairing everyone, Blaise walked over to where Neville was fidgeting in place.
"Are you alright?" Blaise asked, a bit worried about Neville's unease. Did he really intimidate the poor boy that much? Or was he that humiliated by Snape earlier?
"I-I'm fine," he assured. His cheeks were pink and he wouldn't meet Blaise's eyes. "Just...f-flustered is all."
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Flustered?" he asked. "Why's that?"
Neville shrugged as the pink of his cheeks turned into a full blown cherry-red blush.
"I'm gonna go get all of the ingredients," Blaise said as he held back the urge to make a comment on the blush and walked to the storage room. He started to pick some jars off of the shelves when he was interrupted by Pansy.
"So..." she grinned. "You and Longbottom are certainly getting cozy."
Blaise rolled his eyes. There was no way that he had a crush on Neville, no matter how cute his blush looked. Pansy was just seeing things that she wanted to see. She had always been good with relationship advice, despite never having been in a serious relationship herself, but this case was different. Balise didn't have feelings for anyone. Pansy was simply complete bonkers.
He stomped off to the table that he and Neville shared and handed him the knife. "Please be careful when chopping the ingredients," he pleaded. "I wouldn't want to take you to the infirmary again."
His partner was quiet as Blaise added the ingredients into the cauldron and stirred. Perhaps he had said something wrong?
"What's the matter?" he asked worriedly. "Did I do something?"
Neville shook his head and continued to cut the ingredients in silence.
With a sigh, Blaise turned to Neville with a serious expression. "I just want you to know that if I ever say anything that offends you, I really don't mean to," he felt his cheeks heat up as he continued. "If I do say anything that you don't like, I want you to say something to me about it. I- I don't mean to make you uncomfortable..."
Neville's eyes widened as he searched Blaise's face for something. "Y-you really mean that?" he asked.
Suddenly feeling shy, Blaise nodded his head and mentally slapped himself. He was being too damn Hufflepuff about the whole situation.
They were both interrupted by a sudden hissing from the cauldron.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Neville cried as he backed away from the cauldron. "It's probably m-my fault, I shouldn't h-have distracted you o-or anything, or maybe I c-cut the wrong ingredient and gave it t-to you?!"
Blaise grabbed the shorter boy's shoulders gently and shook his head. "It's my fault," he sighed. "I was talking to you and completely forgot about the potion..." he glanced at Neville, who looked like he was going to cry.
"I-I'm so sorry..."
Blaise smoothed over his expression to one of control and assurance. "It's okay, Neville," he soothed. "All I need to do is stir it a couple of times and it will go back to normal." He didn't want Neville to have a panic attack right in the middle of class and give Snape the sick satisfaction.
He gave the potion a few counterclockwise stirs until it was back to simmering instead of hissing. He then turned to Neville and gave the poor boy a smile. He caught Professor Snape's eye from across the room and narrowed his eyes. Maybe if the stupid professor wasn't attacking and bringing Neville down all of the time, he would actually be decent at potions.
Blaise suddenly had an idea.
"Hey Neville?"
"Y-yes?" the shorter boy replied, smiling slightly.
"Would it be okay with you if I tutored you in potions?" Blaise offered. Merlin knew that the Gryffindor needed some help in this class, even if it was from a mediocre Slytherin student.
Nevilles mouth was in the shape of an 'O' as he stared at Blaise as if he had announced that he was in a serious relationship with the giant squid. He gave a slow nod and continued to stare.
"What?" He asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's j-just that-" He gulped and smiled bashfully. "No one h-has ever offered t-to do something like that for m-me."
"Really?" Blaise asked. "Not even Granger?"
Neville shook his head and chopped some of the ingredients while Blaise simply stared. Yes, he knew that the boy was bullied all of the time, but he didn't know the extent of it. Was he really that much of an outcast among his fellow Gryffindors that the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for him was offer to tutor him in potions?!
"A-are you okay?" A tiny voice next to him asked.
"No," Blaise growled. "No, I'm not okay. What do you mean that's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you? What about your friends? Do they not help you study?"
"Uh, Hermione helps m-me study sometimes," Neville mumbled, looking down at the floor.
Blaise's heart ached as he stared down at the boy's brown hair. Hermione was who he considered his friend? What about the other boys? What about Luna Lovegoo-
"Turn the heat off and leave the potions for me to examine after class. You are dismissed," Snape drawled, interrupting Blaise's train of thought.
He took a calming breath and looked over at Neville as he swung his bag over his shoulder. "Is this afternoon alright for tutoring?"
The boy nodded and sent Blaise a genuine smile that sent his stomach flipping and his heart fluttering as if he had just made a loop in the air with a broom.
"Meet me outside of the great hall after classes end," He said and walked off with a slight smile.