Chapter Text
Out of all the people in Hogwarts, Hiraeth just had to fall in love with a Slytherin. A bloody Slytherin! She just couldn't believe her luck. First, her name comes out of the Goblet of Fire which makes Ron and practically the entire school hate her. Then, she falls in love with a Slytherin! And not only is he a Slytherin, he's a friend of Malfoy too!
Hiraeth hastily threw her atrociously chopped up roots into the cauldron and groaned as she realized just what this meant. "I got over my crush on Oliver Wood, I can get over this aswell. " Hiraeth muttered, exasperated.
Back in her first and second year she had an embarrassingly huge crush on Oliver. Fred and George used to tease her endlessly about it. It wasn't until the beginning of her third year that she realized her crush on Oliver was gone. Sure she still thinks the man is attractive but not to the degree she used too. The Weasley twins, once they realized she was no longer in love with Oliver, went on to tease Ginny about her crush on Hiraeth instead.
But this doesn't feel the same as her crush on Oliver did. This feels more . . . intimate. If someone asked her to describe Blaise Zabini, she'd refuse to do it and ask why they're asking her about a Slytherin but in her mind she'd envisage every single detail about him. From his lavender eyes to his rich sepia brown skin, Hiraeth can envision him perfectly in mere seconds.
"Hiraeth!" Ron whisper-shouted at her. She was snapped out of her daydreaming as she realized that her poorly chopped roots were coming back to bite her in the arse as her cauldron started to slowly overfill. "Shit!" Hiraeth quietly shouted as she grabbed a unicorn horn and quickly crushed it, shoving it into the cauldron and effectively stopping it from overfilling. Thank Merlin she was slightly paying attention to Snape's lecture earlier and heard him mention something about how adding a crushed unicorn horn will stop this potion from overfilling.
"That was a close one. " Ron sighed as he looked over the cauldron. "What did we do wrong this time?"
"A number of things, I'm sure, to get a reaction like that. " Hiraeth said, slowly adding powdered Dittany to the potion.
She sighed in relief as the potion didn't attempt to melt her cauldron again. Glancing around, she saw that, thankfully, Snape hadn't noticed them almost flooding the classroom as he was too busy praising Malfoy's potion, even though it looked slightly off colour. "Good thing we don't have to start over-- at least I don't think we do. "
"Let's hope we don't. There's no way we'd be able to complete this again in less than 10 minutes. " Ron said while checking the clock.
Hiraeth added more powdered Dittany to (hopefully) make it the right shade of blue and instructed Ron to start stirring counter-clockwise. Hermione had finally knocked some sense into Ron after the first task and convinced him to apologize to Hiraeth and become friends again. With not only the second task but the Yule Ball as well coming up, Hiraeth felt more pressure than ever. Since she was a champion she had to have a date to the Yule Ball. But Hiraeth didn't have a date yet. Every time someone has asked her out, she could tell that they were just doing it because she's the girl-who-lived, not because she's someone they'd actually consider going with.
At this point, everyone she knows already has a date. People she thought about going with already have dates too. Cho Chang is going with Cedric Diggory and Lee Jordan is going with Fay Dunbar. She has very few options now. Either she sucks it up and asks Blaise Zabini to go with her (and probably get rejected and mocked) or she convinces George Weasley, one of the few older Gryffindors still without a date, to go with her to cause mayhem and give Rita Skeeter a heart attack. The latter sounds more fun.
Adding more powdered Dittany to the potion, she finally realized that in doing so, she had made the potion even worse. "It's supposed to be blue not yellow, how'd we mess it up this badly?!" Were the chopped up roots the key ingredient or something?
"I don't know, mate, but it better turn blue in the next 3 minutes or we're screwed. " Ron said as he sped up his stirring.
Re-reading the directions on the board, she saw that they did nothing wrong; other than poorly chop the roots. Were the chopped up roots really that important? Maybe she should chop up some more just to be safe. Hiraeth quickly chopped up the roots (making them as perfect as she could in very little time) and threw them in the cauldron. Hiraeth noticed Ron glance at the clock and immediately start stirring faster. "No way we're fixing this potion in a minute. Let's hope Snape doesn't try to use this potion on a Gryffindor. "
Hiraeth threw nearly the entire pouch of powdered Dittany into the cauldron but she knew there was no hope. The potion had turned a murky green and had a foul stench to it. This was yet another reason why Blaise Zabini was likely to reject her. He's incredibly talented at Potions while she's mediocre at best. Hiraeth shook her head, this isn't the time to be thinking about Zabini. She should be focusing on her potion because they only have-- 20 SECONDS!
"We're not fixing this in time. " Hiraeth admitted defeat as the putrid stench threatened to consume her. She could see the groups next to them glancing at her and Ron's potion and sagging in relief when they realize their potion wouldn't be the worst of the class.
"Times up. " Snapes monotone voice snapped.
"No . . ." Ron muttered almost silently as Snape continued. "Collect your potion in a vial and bring it to me. "
"How many points do you think he's going to take away from Gryffindor this time? " Hiraeth asked as she collected the potion into the vial.
"Only 20, if we're lucky. " Ron responded.
Hiraeth got up and walked towards the end of the line. In front of her was none other than Blaise Zabini, himself. "Fuckkkk, " Hiraeth said almost regretful.
She should've gotten into line slower then she would've been behind someone else instead. From this close, she could smell his strong forest cologne. His black curly hair was chopped neatly and was barely an inch in length. With how close she was, she noticed that his robes were somehow still perfectly smooth despite being sat on for an hour straight. Is there a spell that does that? Straighten your clothes? As he handed his potion to Snape, she mentally apologized to her future self for the detentions she and Ron were about to get.
After Snape was done praising Zabini's potion and giving Slytherin 5 points for his incredible potion (he has said this for every Slytherin), she handed him her potion and mentally prepared for the insults that were bound to come. And come they did, "You absolute imbecile, Potter, how did you manage to turn a supposed-to-be blue potion, green?"
"We put in too much powdered Dittany. " Hiraeth answered, silently begging that he wouldn't take way too many points-- especially in front of Zabini.
"Adding too much powdered Dittany would've turned your potion purple, Potter. " Snape drew out, seemingly enjoying her embarrassment. "All the fame and attention from being a Triwizard Champion must be taking over your head. 10 points from Gryffindor. Each. From both you and Weasley. For this abysmal potion. "
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"Ten points each, that's absurd!" Ron complained as they swiftly left the Dungeons, where the Potions classroom is located.
"Just be glad it was only 20 points-- hey, your estimate came true. " Hiraeth pointed out.
"Oh yeah, but still-- with a normal Professor that would've only been 10 points, COMBINED, at most. " Ron stated. His face was starting to turn red with anger.
"Yeah, well Snapes not exactly a normal Professor, now is he? " Hiraeth said rounding the corner.
"True . . ." Ron said, looking towards the ground in thought. He seemed to be deep in thought for a few seconds before he asked, "Do you have a date for the Yule Ball yet?"
Hiraeth was hoping to avoid this topic, "No, not yet. Everyone who's good is taken. "
"Right!? All the hot girls-- and guys in your case-- are taken! The only single people I can think of are the Patil twins, George (though I will kill you if you choose him), Romilda Vane, and some Ravenclaws and Slytherins. " Ron said disappointed.
Ron's reaction to her possibly choosing George is making that option seem more and more interesting.
"I think I'll just go with either one of the Patil twins or some random Ravenclaw. " Ron stared at the groups of girls flocking around the hallway. "After that mess with Fleur Delacour, I think I'll avoid girls in groups from now on. "
"You have no one to blame but yourself for that one, mate. " Hiraeth chuckled as Ron turned beet red.
"There's gotta be someone you're thinking about asking! " Ron shouted, not even trying to find the fact that he's avoiding that subject.
"No one I can think of off the top of my head. " Hiraeth lied. If there was one person she was going to ask to the Yule Ball, it's Blaise Zabini. But she couldn't just tell Ron that. After all, Zabini is a Slytherin and everyone knows that Gryffindors and Slytherins don't mix-- especially if the Gryffindor in question is the bloody girl-who-lived!
"We'll get dates soon. " Ron said, hopeful. But Hiraeth could tell that, even though hes the one that said it, he didn't quite believe that was true. The Yule Ball is only two weeks away and neither her nor Ron have dates yet. Maybe she should just suck it up and ask Zabini to the Yule Ball . . . or she could just go with George Weasley and create mayhem with him.
Sighing exasperated, she heard Ginny's voice float around in her head. 'When it comes to love, you should always follow your heart, Hiraeth.' She's pretty sure that Ginny wasn't including Slytherins in that statement and was probably talking about Hiraeth falling in love with her but for once, she's planning on following Ginny's advice. She's gonna follow her heart and ask Blaise Zabini to the Yule Ball. And probably get rejected but hey, at least she tried-- after all, she was sorted into Gryffindor for a reason, Hiraeth is no coward.