Bright White Noise (III)

[bisharp]

Part II

Zacharias no longer let himself wonder about what Blaise's intentions were. Yes, he had no idea what Blaise was doing and what was the point of all this—but shagging and frotting and everything else was simply so good, perhaps the best thing in the world (why hadn't Zacharias done it sooner?) so he wasn't complaining. As long as Blaise continued having his way with him and Zacharias enjoyed it, everything was perfectly good and happy and dandy.

And of course he didn't let his friends know. What was he going to say? "Oh, Blaise Zabini and I have decided that we're fuck buddies. Friends with benefits." He doubted that Susan and Hannah would like it very much, and Ernie and Justin at all. So instead he just kept his mouth shut and told them that during all his free time and the periods when they didn't see him, that he was studying. Which he was supposed to be doing as well. But then Blaise's hand would touch his leg and then Blaise would be sitting so close to him and one thing would lead to another and the next thing they both knew, one (or both) of their hands were in each other's pants and they were orgasming all over the place.

Zacharias got very little accomplished nowadays.

But what he did accomplish were more blowjobs by the lake, which not only were immensely satisfying but allowed some time for them to stay next to each other for a few moments without worrying about some interrupted presence, until they'd both finally decide to get up. Or maybe they'd shag again, in the Slytherin boys' dormitory (they couldn't in the Hufflepuff dormitory, of course), and then Zacharias would stay the night and then sneak out during breakfast (because Goyle was always the first to leave the room); or if they had shagged during the daytime, they'd lie there for a few peaceful moments before getting dressed to avoid any awkward confrontations. Or maybe they'd be sitting in Charms and learning how to do a Tracking Spell and a teasing hand would run up Zacharias's thigh and Zacharias would say that he would need to put a Tracking Charm on Blaise's hand and Blaise would say something like, oh you know exactly where my hand was going.

Yes, Zacharias got very little accomplished nowadays indeed.

x x x

They got into a habit of walking between classes together an awful lot as well. Even though Blaise had eighth year Defense Against the Dark Arts while Zacharias had Transfiguration, and Zacharias had Potions when Blaise had Herbology, they still managed to find ways where they could remain together when going to their respective classes.

On Halloween evening, they walked back from Arithmancy and Divination (Blaise's and Zacharias's classes, respectively) toward the Great Hall. Inside, Zacharias felt very excited: he had heard that this year, there was going to be a surprise for Halloween.

He got the surprise as soon as he entered the room. There, in the middle of the Great Hall, was one large table, not looking like it could hold the entire population of Hogwarts at all, yet Zacharias had a distinct feeling that they could all sit down and there would be plenty of room left over.

He was not the only one confused; Blaise looked around and said, "What the hell is this?" Many of the other students were chatting away idly on the sides as well, casting dubious glances to the front table, where the teachers' table had been at before. Instead, there stood Professors Sinistra, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn, Slughorn looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"Zacharias! Do you know what's going on?" said a voice, and Zacharias spun around to see Hannah running toward him. Behind her were the rest of their friends, equally bemused.

"No," said Zacharias. "Why, do you?" He glanced at Blaise but Blaise seemed perfectly content in their presence.

Hannah looked at him as well, but then perhaps recalling their previous conversations which had been nothing short of civil, decided not to throw Blaise a glare, which Justin and Ernie were currently doing as their default "there's a Slytherin around" scowl. "No," Hannah echoed, shaking her head. "Is this what they're doing for Halloween?"

"I believe so." Blaise pointed up to the ceiling and the walls. "They did the decorations, didn't they?"

They did. It looked additionally morbid with the stains on the stone and floor from the leftovers from the war. Zacharias tried not to think about it.

"Let's just wait to see what Professor Sinistra has to say about it," said Zacharias, turning to them. Susan nodded in agreement.

Luckily, they didn't have to wait for very long. Soon enough it was seven o'clock and Professor McGonagall raised her hands up in the air. "May I have your attention please?" she called throughout the Great Hall. It immediately quieted.

Professor Sinistra stepped up beside her. "Thank you, Professor McGonagall," she said, nodding to the Deputy Headmistress before addressing the rest of the school. "Now, as you may have noticed," she said in her clear, strong voice, "all the tables are gone and have been replaced by this large, single table."

"No, we haven't noticed at all," Justin muttered sarcastically under his breath.

Zacharias swore for a moment that Professor Sinistra's gaze swept over Justin pointedly. "The Heads of Houses and I have decided that for this year, we will try to promote House Unity. It is not an easy task, nor do we expect you to cooperate immediately. However," continued Professor Sinistra, "as our Halloween Feast is a Hogwarts annual celebration, we have decided to change it this year. You all must sit here at this table together when we eat, and the persons on either side of you are not to be from your House."

There was a collective groan throughout the Great Hall, Zacharias's friends included. Zacharias, however, took a glimpse at Blaise. He saw that Blaise was smiling right back. Feeling his cheeks heat up, he quickly focused his attention back on Professor Sinistra.

"This is to provide an opportunity for all of you to create friendships and relationships from other Houses. Learn about each other. Know each other. Love each other."

"Fuck each other," Blaise whispered into Zacharias's ear, and Zacharias let out a nervous giggle. He noticed Susan look at them briefly.

"And now that that has all been said," said Professor Sinistra, clapping her hands. "Let's get started on the feast!"

Zacharias was pretty sure that even if someone wanted to leave because they were against House Unity and sitting with non-Housemates, they wouldn't have been able to, anyways. The giant table was suddenly filled with tons of dishes, varying from smoked chicken to lemon meringue pie. Zacharias immediately settled himself down at a bench and grabbed an empty plate.

"This looks good, doesn't it?" said Justin, clambering onto the bench with him. "I wonder if the house-elves made pumpkin—OUCH!"

As soon as he sat on the bench, he jumped off immediately. Zacharias looked at him, and raised an eyebrow.

"It burned me!" said Justin, jumping off of the bench and holding his bottom. "It burned! What kind of sick joke is this, putting spells on the benches—"

"Encouraging House Unity jokes, Mr. Finch-Fletchey," said Professor McGonagall, appearing out of nowhere. "Surely you had been listening when Professor Sinistra was speaking, correct?"

"Yes," said Justin. "But I didn't think that we were actually supposed to take it seriously—"

Apparently they were, though, because now many other students were jumping up, upon having discovered the same thing as Justin did. McGonagall raised a single eyebrow at Justin, and then said, "No two Housemates together."

Justin grumbled and stalked off with Ernie, while Hannah and Susan ran over to find Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Blaise, however, sat next to Zacharias.

"If this seat isn't taken, I suppose you won't mind," said Blaise, slipping his legs underneath the table.

Zacharias turned to him and smiled. "Of course," he replied, taking a bite out of his chicken leg enthusiastically.

Blaise chuckled and reached over for a piece of treacle tart. "Never in my life have I been more relieved that I'm not a Hufflepuff," he said, picking up his fork and digging into the tart.

"Well I've never wanted to be a Slytherin, if it makes you feel any better. Or worse." Zacharias smirked.

"Now boys, that's not how you should treat one another!"

Zacharias nearly screamed as a head popped out up through his plate. The face of Nearly Headless Nick grinned back at him.

"Haven't done that in ages, it feels like," said Nearly Headless Nick, floating up and resting on a plate of pumpkin pie. "The first years don't scare that easily."

"Hear that, Zach?" chuckled Blaise while Zacharias removed himself from nearly-sitting in Blaise's lap (as that was where he had jumped when he had seen the ghost.) "You scare like a first year."

"Shut up," said Zacharias, shooting him a look before returning to his food.

Nearly Headless Nick looked between them. His gaze seemed to linger on the badges on their robes. "A Slytherin and a Hufflepuff?" he said, disbelief clear in his voice. "Don't tell me you two are friends."

Zacharias glowered up at him. "Actually, Blaise and I happen to be—"

"—perfectly good acquaintances, thank you very much," interrupted Blaise before Zacharias realized what exactly he was about to say. "And yes, I know it's astonishing. I must say, when I met Zacharias, I thought he was a fellow Slytherin like myself."

"I am absolutely nothing like a Slytherin," said Zacharias, sticking his nose up in the air.

"Could have fooled me," mused Nearly Headless Nick. Ignoring Zacharias's outcry of, "Hey!" he floated around and observed Zacharias. Zacharias felt like an animal trapped in a cage.

"You are most definitely a Hufflepuff," he said to Zacharias. "Though I do not doubt that you could do well in Slytherin. As for you," and he turned to Blaise. "You are a Slytherin if I ever knew one."

"I thank you," said Blaise, inclining his head.

"And you are both most definitely compatible," Nearly Headless Nick concluded. He glanced around the Great Hall. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if I can scare some of the Ravenclaw first years…"

As he floated off, Blaise smirked to Zacharias. "We're compatible, apparently," he said, forking over a piece of blueberry cake to put into his place.

"We are," said Zacharias. "And why are you eating dessert for dinner?"

"Because I like having dessert for dinner," said Blaise rather defensively. But then a mischievous smile crept up his face as he looked at Zacharias, and he said, "Although I can think of much, much better desserts…"

Zacharias shifted in his seat. Blaise's gaze bore into him.

"I'm still eating," he said quickly, to stifle the heat that had been rising up his cheeks. He could see from his peripheral vision that Blaise smirked again, but said no more for the next few minutes.

They talked a little bit about Quidditch, and then about their classes. But throughout, Zacharias would notice how Blaise's eyes couldn't seem to keep themselves off of Zacharias's lips, no matter how much Zacharias tried to draw his attention back to the conversation. It was like trying to get a bee away from honey. Zacharias finally resorted to stop talking and to continue eating, because as much as he really wasn't opposed to doing… otherthings with Blaise, there was a time and place for everything.

Right?

"Hey," said Blaise, nudging Zacharias's thigh with his own as Zacharias finished his third plate of food. Blaise was done with his fifth. "Want to leave?"

"Leave? Why?" Zacharias licked a stray piece of rhubarb at the corner of his mouth.

Blaise's gaze flickered to where his tongue had been. "You know why," he said, staring straight at Zacharias.

Zacharias did his best to resist the temptation, although he didn't do very well when he weakly croaked out to Blaise, "But I want to finish eating…"

"You can finish eating some other time." Blaise tugged on Zacharias's forearm. "Come on, let's go."

The walk from their seat in the Great Hall to the large doors seemed to take forever, and Zacharias was growing more and more aware about how Blaise's fingers were fastened tightly around him. How Blaise was staring straight forward, nothing but lust and sex in his mind. How Zacharias wanted the same thing, needed the same thing, Blaise on him, against him, with him. How throughout their entire dinner, even though Zacharias had been eating and told himself to concentrate, his mind would frequently project dirtier images in his mind's eye with Blaise's mouth and Blaise's tongue doing anything but eating to him and oh Merlin he really should stop thinking right now or else he'd be hard for the whole world to see.

As soon as they were out of the Great Hall, Blaise pushed Zacharias against the stone walls of the Entrance Hall, making all of Zacharias's blood run south. He whimpered as he looked Blaise in the eye.

"I bloody love Halloween," Blaise growled, before diving in and ravishing Zacharias's lips with his mouth. Zacharias moaned and rubbed himself dry against Blaise, trying to increase the friction already.

"We're compatible, remember?" Zacharias teased as Blaise drew back for a breath. He swore he saw a smirk in Blaise's eyes before Blaise kissed him again, all teeth and tongue and tasting very much like berries and pie and sugar.

It was probably cold outside, but it was very hot here in the Entrance Hall, at least for Zacharias and Blaise. Blaise snogged him senseless until Zacharias was sure he was going to run out of breath and die of overexposure to heat, especially since the stones of the walls were still digging into his back every time Blaise kissed him, their black robes like large barriers between their bodies.

When Blaise drew back for a second time, Zacharias shook the tousled blond hair out from his face—tousled mostly because Blaise had crumpled it every time he kissed him—and looked right at Blaise, aware of his cheeks flushed bright pink. Blaise breathed in exhilaration; Blaise looked fantastic, dark skin glistening slightly with sweat, eyes almost completely black. Zacharias brought him closer again and kissed his bottom lip, raking his teeth over Blaise's chin.

He felt Blaise's hand go towards the front of his trousers; just as eagerly, he felt for the front of Blaise's. Blaise was hard and full already, there was no doubt, and Zacharias was surprised by the way he could feel him through the fabric in his hand. Blaise was large and heavy on his fingertips, and suddenly Zacharias was itching to touch his skin, touch him.

Blaise moaned and gripped Zacharias's cock tighter and then Zacharias moaned as well. Zacharias pushed the bottom of Blaise's robe up and then slid his hand under, and worked around the outline of Blaise's cock until he was firm on Zacharias's palm. He lifted and stroked him steadily, and almost staggered when Blaise threw his body over Zacharias's shoulder.

"Merlin…" Blaise breathed into his ear, and his own fingers fumbled with the waistband of Zacharias's trousers and felt for his own cock as well. Zacharias hitched a breath as Blaise's calloused fingers rubbed him, quick and easy, almost as if they knew what turned him on, knew exactly what they were doing. Zacharias did the same with Blaise, gripping his cock and squeezing it gently in his hand; Blaise's fingers pressed against the slit of Zacharias's prick and Zacharias practically shuddered in his hand.

"Blaise…" He squeezed harder and tighter, running his fingers and then his fingernails along Blaise, trying to get him to come while throbbing in Blaise's hand at the same time. Blaise thrusted into his own hand, almost slipping out of Zacharias's palm; Zacharias tightened and then Blaise was rocking a steady beat, then Zacharias was doing the same and they were in sync together, fucking each other in each other's hands.

Zacharias didn't know who came first; all he knew was that he squeezed his eyes shut and saw a flash of white right behind his eyelids, and then his cries were muffled by the Blaise's robe covered shoulder as he came right into his pants, splaying over Blaise as well, just as hot liquid landed on his palm, and then more and more and Zacharias didn't know if he should be fascinated or turned on by feeling Blaise's release on his hand. And when they finally, finally drew back, Zacharias tugged his wand out of the sleeve of his robe and murmured, "Scourgify," to both his and Blaise's own messes in their robes, and then pointed his wand at his hand and repeated the incantation.

He looked to Blaise questioningly, about to do the same thing—but Blaise shook his head and put Zacharias's wand hand down with his clean hand. He brought his soiled hand up to his face, his eyes never leaving Zacharias's—and then he licked his palm.

It was torturous, teasing, and Zacharias could only watch and stop himself from drooling at the way Blaise's dark tongue would work its way all over Blaise's palm, licking his come off, and Zacharias was pretty sure he had never seen anything else so hot in his life. When Blaise was done, Zacharias caught a glimpse of his hand—dark, pretty and wet.

Zacharias was suddenly very hard again.

"Your dormitory," was all he said, and then they ran off to the dungeons, no longer hungry for the Halloween feast.

x x x

Blaise concentrated very hard on Zacharias's hand. He pointed his wand at it.

"Frigus Ignitum."

Nothing. Zacharias watched as Blaise sighed and slouched back in his chair, looking ultimately defeated.

"I can't do it!" said Blaise, throwing his wand to the side. It clattered onto the desk. "I can't!"

"You can," Zacharias encouraged. It was strange to try to urge Blaise-anyone-on, but it also pained him to see Blaise behave so despondently. "You just have to mean it. You're going to light yourself on fire, but you're going to feel nothing... except for maybe a little bit of tickling," he added, remembering when he first did it without enough deliberation. He swished his arm and pointed at Blaise's wrist. Blaise nearly jumped up out of his seat as a fire erupted on his sleeve.

"Put that out," he said quickly, and Zacharias muttered, "Finite." "It's not that I don't think I can," said Blaise, staring at the place where the fire had been previously. "It's just that I don't want to light you on fire."

"As much as I appreciate the gesture, you'll need to do so in order to pass this class." Zacharias pushed a piece of parchment toward him. "Here, do it on this, first."

Blaise pointed his wand and said, "Frigus Ignitum," again. Immediately, the parchment was caught up in flames but did not burn.

"See? You can do it. Now do it to me," said Zacharias.

"What I don't get," complained Blaise, turning around to face Zacharias, "is why we're supposed to perform this on a person. I mean, what if we cast Incendio accidentally?"

"Well I don't think you'd do that unless you really wanted to light someone on fire," said Zacharias. "And you'd probably be expelled. Plus, Flitwick said that we had to practice Spelling people instead of objects this year, right?" He gestured to Blaise's wand. "Now come on, set me on fire!"

"Rather not," said Blaise, but all the same, he pointed his wand directly at Zacharias's neck and said, "Frigus Ignitum!"

Zacharias waited patiently to see flames licking up his throat. But when he looked down, he saw that he was completely, cleanly, not on fire.

"Come on, it's really not that hard," he said, lazily flicking his own wand. "Frigus Ignitum."

Blaise's crotch caught on fire.

"Zach!" Blaise yelped, jumping up and covering his groin with his hand. It looked a bit odd, to see Blaise's hands trying to move the fire out of sight without getting burned at all. "What was that for?"

Zacharias twirled his wand in his fingers and smirked. "And I'm not going to stop it until you cast this spell properly."

"But-" Blaise struggled to keep his hands over his robes, and twisted his thighs into a rather uncomfortable position. "But it tickles."

"That's what you get," Zacharias said smugly.

But then without warning, Blaise grabbed Zacharias's hand and placed it over his groin as well. "See what I mean?" Blaise hissed, shoving Zacharias even further down on him.

Zacharias's eyes widened. He could definitely feel Blaise's cock swelling underneath his fingers.

"Oh, um-" he started, but was cut off when Professor Flitwick's tiny voice sounded behind them, "Boys, let's see what you can do!"

Zacharias turned around, startled to see him. Blaise quickly wrenched Zacharias's hand away from him, and Zacharias could feel his cheeks heating up. He pointed to Blaise's shoe and hastily murmured, "Frigus Ignitum," for the umpteenth time in the class period.

"Splendid!" Professor Flitwick clapped his hands and jumped up and down as Blaise's leather boots were engulfed in flames. Zacharias quickly dimmed them down. "And how about you, Mr. Zabini?"

This time, Zacharias was sure Blaise didn't even try at all. "Frigus Ignitum," he said, pointing to Zacharias's head. As expected, not even a single cooling spark came out from his wand.

"Disappointing." Professor Flitwick tutted as class ended. "Thirteen inches on why it didn't work, and what you can do to improve it. Off you go!"

Zacharias quickly gathered his books and left, well aware of Blaise right behind him. As soon as they were out of the classroom, Blaise said into his ear, "Bathroom," and they quickly made their way to the boys' bathroom at the end of the Charms corridor.

As soon as Zacharias entered the first stall, Blaise came in right behind him and shut the stall door, and then kissed Zacharias harshly on the lips, knocking him into the wall. "Fucking tease," Blaise murmured right against his mouth, his breath hot on Zacharias's tongue.

"You're the one who made me touch you in class," Zacharias pointed out, gasping when Blaise's hand wormed its way into his pants. "Fuck."

"Gladly," whispered Blaise, tugging the fly of his denims down.

It felt like a long time before Zacharias's pants were finally tugged down to his knees, his cock out and in Blaise's warm wet mouth, the front of his robes parted slightly, and his back strained against the cool metal of the bathroom stall. He dug his fist into Blaise's shoulder as he came, squeezing his eyes and parting his mouth, arching his back on the stall and crying out. When the extent of his orgasm was over, he looked down to see Blaise's dark eyes staring up at him, his mouth dripping with Zacharias's come.

Blaise lifted his head up and kissed Zacharias languidly on the lips; immediately Zacharias felt around Blaise's robes until he found the bulge in there. "Feels different now, doesn't it?" Zacharias whispered, stroking and squeezing him.

Blaise whimpered into Zacharias's mouth and shoved his shoulders down, until Zacharias was on his knees at the foot of his robes. Zacharias ducked his head down and parted the fold of Blaise's robes, tugging them open, and then slipped Blaise's underwear down. He stared at the cock in his face; never before had he seen anything so glorious, and the way Blaise's cock was throbbing, full, leaking a little at the head made Zacharias's mouth water.

"Go already," said Blaise in a strained voice, and Zacharias moved his lips forward and drew Blaise's cock into his mouth. He was hard and a bit bitter, but Zacharias sucked on him like he was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. In and out, his tongue sliding along Blaise's length, he drew him between his lips little by little, delighting in the sounds of Blaise's moans and whimpers above him. Blaise's fingers knotted themselves into his blond hair and yanked, but Zacharias didn't care; he wanted to do anything to make Blaise come.

"You like this?" said Zacharias, looking up at him and feeling his eyes water from the pressure inside his mouth. His voice was muffled by Blaise's erection, though, and his throat vibrated rather painfully.

But apparently this was all Blaise needed; one more second and then Blaise was coming all into his mouth, crying, "Zach!" and rocking his hips back and forth against Zacharias's face. Zacharias's nose bumped with the layer of pubic hair above Blaise's cock, and then his mouth was being filled with something bitter and salty. He drew back, trying not to gag but instinctively swallowing as Blaise spilled all into him, relentlessly pulling and tugging at Zacharias's sweat ridden hair.

Then they stopped and collapsed. Zacharias cast Scourgify around his face and then to his and Blaise's bodies-and to the bathroom floor, just in case. When he turned back to Blaise, he saw that Blaise was panting and his cheeks were dimly flushed, despite his dark skin. It suddenly occurred to Zacharias that he was the one who had done this. He was the one who made Blaise unravel. The thought was infinitely appealing to him.

"Want to go out by the lake?" he asked, and Blaise let out a breathy laugh.

"Sure," said Blaise, turning and grinning at him. Zacharias's cheeks heated up, as he felt a beatific smile spreading across his face as well.

They got up from the bathroom floor and walked out, and then made their way through the corridors to the front door. It was lucky that there weren't many people in the halls; otherwise anyone would have noticed that they were both disheveled and slightly pink-faced (in Zacharias's case, at least), to which their shagging would be all the more obvious.

As they stepped out of the castle and onto the grounds, Blaise suddenly turned to him and lifted a hand to Zacharias's cheek. "You have a little… there."

"Oh." Zacharias ducked his head down and blushed even more. He had probably cast Scourgify too lazily to siphon off all of Blaise's come. And upon thinking this, his cheeks got even hotter. He quickly wiped his sleeve on his cheek and avoided Blaise's eyes.

Blaise chuckled. "Maybe I should be the only one to cast Cleaning Charms from now on."

"My Cleaning Charms are perfectly competent, thank you very much," said Zacharias, sticking his nose up in the air. He glanced at Blaise from the corner of his eyes. "And I was distracted, all right?"

"Okay, okay." Blaise laughed. "Just don't get distracted too often."

"It's not my bloody fault," Zacharias muttered, thinking of how Blaise had been watching him with this look in his dark eyes when they had finished. He didn't know what the look meant, just that it made him feel like he had just swallowed a mug full of Butterbeer.

They sat in their usual spot by the lake, although this time they were much too tired to go for another round. Instead, Zacharias yawned and leaned his head against Blaise's shoulder. He felt Blaise nearly jump up in surprise beneath him.

"Don't do that, I'm trying to fall asleep," Zacharias murmured, lethargically burying his nose into Blaise's neck. "And you smell good."

"Strange how you say that after we just came out of the bathroom." But Blaise didn't try to shake him off. On the contrary, Zacharias could feel a hand running down the small of his back. He smiled against Blaise's shoulder.

"You don't smell like the bathroom," he said, tilting his head to the side and looking Blaise in the eye.

Blaise smiled back at him, and his gaze looked like that again. "Well neither do you," he said, leaning forward slightly and pecking Zacharias on the lips.

Zacharias's stomach did a backflip, but he merely pressed his face back into Blaise's neck and didn't say anything.

x x x

"Just add the part about the Love Potions and you should be fine," said Blaise.

Zacharias nodded, and bended over to scribble the last few sentences of his Transfiguration essay. It was already over four feet long, and his handwriting was tiny. How he finally managed to finish this essay, he didn't know. Actually, he did know. If it wasn't for Blaise's help, he'd still be wandering around the library aimlessly, trying to find books on magic misuse rather than Transfiguration laws.

"There," he said, satisfied, putting his quill down and looking over his parchment. "All done."

"Let me see." Blaise gestured to him. Zacharias handed him the paper and rested back in the library chair. Even though Blaise had been a load of help over the past few weeks, they certainly get distracted. A lot. Zacharias had to gather up a lot of self-restraint to tell Blaise today that he had to finish his Transfiguration essay before they could shag, just like he had done yesterday. And the day before. Not on Sunday though, because apparently that was some day where the Slytherins got together to gossip… or something. Zacharias never understood the Slytherins.

They also had been spending a lot of time in the Slytherin boys' dormitory lately, during late nights when they were the last ones in the library and were snogging instead of studying. Zacharias had thought that after all the kissing and the fucking and all the things in between that he would have gotten tired of it already, but that seemed near impossible. He could never get tired of Blaise, and Blaise's mouth, and Blaise's neck, and Blaise's shoulders, and Blaise's… other parts of his body.

He turned pink at the thought, and moved his head to the side that Blaise wouldn't see him.

Blaise handed his essay back. "Looks good," he said, as Zacharias placed it on the table next to them. "You'll get an O on that, for sure."

"Thanks to you," said Zacharias, feeling the heat creeping up his face. He was pretty sure that his skin would probably turn pink from all the blushing he'd been doing lately.

"Only because I wanted you to get a good mark. And to get it done soon," said Blaise, moving over from his chair and toward Zacharias. "And now… we can do this."

His lips had just found Zacharias's when a voice behind them suddenly exclaimed, "Blaise!"

Blaise whipped around and Zacharias nearly shoved him off. Or at least, he tried to, except evidently Blaise was too strong. Blaise moved away, anyways.

"Hi Pansy," he said, almost grudgingly. Zacharias was pretty disappointed that they had been interrupted as well, though he supposed that snogging in the library in broad daylight wasn't exactly the brightest idea that they could come up with.

Parkinson seemed undeterred by their previous positions. "Could you help me with my Pleasing Draught? The book said that we should let it simmer for three minutes, but Slughorn said for two. And I don't think I have any troll nose hairs left…"

"Did you try looking up your own nose?" Zacharias said.

Parkinson sneered at him, but then addressed Blaise instead. "Lovely boy toy you've got here." Her tone was nasty.

"My favorite," said Blaise without an ounce of uncertainty. "And later, Pansy, okay? We're kind of busy right now."

"Fine. But you owe me later," said Pansy. She stalked off to another side of the library.

Zacharias glanced at Blaise worriedly. "I'm not your boy toy, am I?"

"Only if you want to be." Blaise smiled at him. "You could be my boyfriend, too, if you'd like."

Zacharias blushed but said nothing.

x x x

Zacharias jittered in his seat. Where was he? It wasn't like Blaise to be late. He had seen him earlier today, of course, when they were snogging in a broom closet, right after breakfast.

Professor Flitwick started talking, but Zacharias didn't pay any attention. Instead, he doodled on his parchment, waiting for Blaise to come. Blaise would often draw inappropriate things next to him and then spell his doodles so that they would move and dance. Once, he had made Zacharias draw a picture of the two of them, and then cast a spell so that their drawn figures were shagging. They did a rendition of it later after class, by the lake.

Zacharias was decorating a swirly i on his paper when suddenly the door to the classroom opened. His head immediately perked up. There, standing in the doorway, was Blaise.

"Sorry Professor," he said, bowing his head respectfully at Professor Flitwick.

"It's all right, it's all right!" said Professor Flitwick, eyeing him. "Just don't come late again, Zabini."

"Will do, Professor," said Blaise cheerily, and then slid into his seat next Zacharias. "What did I miss?" he whispered to him.

"Something about Housework Charms," said Zacharias dismissively. "What kept you? Why were you late?"

"Oh." Blaise shrugged. "I was talking to Granger about Ancient Runes. I didn't realize the time until she reminded me that I should be in class about now."

"You were talking to Hermione?" said Zacharias, scandalized.

Blaise nodded, not seeming to note the disbelief in Zacharias's tone. "Yeah. Well, I mean, she's not that bad when Weasley and Potter aren't around." He chuckled.

Zacharias slumped over on the desk, his chin resting on his arms. He knew that it was stupid to get over something jealous like this, but the fact that Blaise had been talking to Hermione made anger bubble up in his stomach.

Blaise prodded him in his side. "And why were you writing my name on your paper?" he asked, amused.

Zacharias glanced down to the parchment he had been doodling on before, and blushed. There, in his fancy cursive handwriting, read Blaise Zabini.

x x x

"Are you all right?" asked Hannah from spreading jam on her toast.

Zacharias looked at her. "I'm fine."

He tried to catch another glimpse at Slytherin table. Though, of course, he was looking at the wrong side—Blaise usually sat more towards the left. Still, seeing the Slytherins made him feel slightly happy. It was a bit disturbing when he thought this over.

"Are you sure?" said Hannah. "You've been jumpy for the past few days."

This was probably true. Zacharias had just realized—that the sight of Blaise made his heart skip a beat. Quite a few beats. And that talking to Blaise could make his entire day, even though a lot of times there was a lot less talking going on between them. Still, Zacharias had been impeccably cheerful for weeks, and only got in touch with his feelings last Saturday.

"I'm great," he said enthusiastically, and completely honestly. "Can't wait for Charms, you know."

This was true as well. He really couldn't wait for Charms. And the period afterwards. Because that meant that he had Blaise all to himself, and there was no one who could interrupt them. Well, unless they happened to stumble by the spot where they sat at the lake, or wherever else they chose to shag/snog/do other sexual things today.

Hannah seemed troubled, even though Zacharias wasn't quite sure why. He had actually told her (and Susan) about his little flings with Blaise—although they actually didn't seem like flings by the way they were seeing each other regularly. But that was beside the point. Hannah and Susan had been delighted, slightly disgusted (but not really), and a tiny bit suspicious until Zacharias assured them that Blaise didn't have another agenda or anything else like that.

"Zacharias," she said, moving forward and lowering her voice that none of their Housemates at the table could hear them. "Doesn't it bother you that a boy whose mother has claimed that you've stolen his heart has… well, has made it a routine to kiss you? And… do other stuff?"

Zacharias frowned. "No. Why would it bother me?"

"Well…" Hannah struggled for words. "Well has he stolen your heart?"

Zacharias blinked.

"I mean, do you like him?" asked Hannah.

"Well I'm not in love with him, if that's what you were asking," Zacharias said immediately. He hadn't given it much thought. "And, well. I dunno, truthfully."

Hannah drew back. "So you are routinely shagging a boy you don't even know you like?"

"Hey!" Zacharias blushed and quickly covered her mouth in case anyone had heard. "Don't say that so loudly!" he hissed. "And besides… you can shag someone without liking them."

Hannah moved away and shook her head, but spoke no further on the subject.

Herbology, Potions and lunch were torturous. During Herbology, Zacharias had only been thinking about Blaise and their ventures from yesterday, and hadn't been paying attention to what he was doing until a small pot of Devil's Snare had tripped him when he was on the way to getting a pair of gloves. In Potions, Slughorn's voice had nearly bored him to tears so he busied himself with daydreaming about Blaise instead (the daydream involving a lot of ropes and one of those high-backed chairs in the Slytherin common room), which evidently led him to not paying attention to the directions for their Hiccupping Solution on the board that he ended up making some thick gooey liquid that caused one of his quills to turn into a banana. And all throughout lunch, he was so subdued with his thoughts about Blaise that his friends had ultimately given up with trying to get him in the conversation about Quidditch tryouts this year.

When Charms finally came, Zacharias happily sat himself in the seat next to Blaise. Blaise turned to him.

"You seem happy today," he said.

"That's because I am. Now, anyways," Zacharias clarified. He beamed at Blaise. "How are you?"

Either Blaise was completely oblivious or didn't seem to care about Zacharias's uncharacteristic exuberance, because he responded, "Great, though it's completely ludicrous how Vaisey became Captain of the Quidditch team. He's never liked me; it'd be impossible for me to get on the team this year."

"I'm sure you're a great player, though," Zacharias encouraged.

Blaise shrugged. "I'm not horrible, though I prefer Keeping to Chasing. Maybe if he bumped off Pritchard…"

Class started then, and they shut up as Professor Flitwick started on a lecture about common Household Charms, and how they were rooted in many basic Charms, with a few modifications to the theory and the intent. Unfortunately, he told them that they wouldn't be doing any practice today, just taking notes, so Zacharias couldn't talk to Blaise as much as he had hoped, today. Though it did cheer him up slightly when Blaise passed a note to him on a piece of parchment paper, and they spend half the class passing notes to each other and not paying too much attention to Professor Flitwick.

When class was finally over, Blaise whispered in his ear as they gathered up their bags, "Classroom twenty-one is empty right now." Zacharias nodded. He wondered slightly how Blaise had come to know this—but then again, this was Blaise who just happened to figure out things like this. Quickly and quietly, they slipped out of the Charms classroom, walked down the Charms corridor until they found classroom twenty-one.

It was indeed deserted, and Zacharias had only stepped in when Blaise grabbed his shoulder and pinned him against the wall. His mouth immediately worked along Zacharias's pale collarbone, and Zacharias let out a small moan.

"The door, it's still open," he gasped, struggling to keep his eyes open and looking at Blaise.

"Right," said Blaise absentmindedly against his skin. He flicked his wand toward the door, and it closed shut.

Zacharias let himself fall into the soothing feeling of Blaise biting and licking at his neck (although he hoped that this time Blaise wouldn't forget to spell them away; he had last time and Susan only barely covered for him when Ernie asked that he had bumped into a moving staircase), and then whimpered when Blais's fingers slipped below the waistband of his trousers. He pressed himself against Blaise, though Blaise's hands kept his back firmly pressed against the cold stone wall. Zacharias's knees were starting to buckle already.

"We should… move," Zacharias muttered, and then gasped again when Blaise's full hand was inside of his trousers, and his fingers brushed against Zacharias's cock. "Fuck…"

"Indeed," murmured Blaise, although Zacharias wasn't sure if he was referring to them moving or his second statement. Still, Blaise moved Zacharias's hips and spun them around, and then shoved him into a desk, making Zacharias perch on top of it.

"That better?" asked Blaise, leaning in to kiss him again.

Zacharias smiled against his lips. "Much better."

Blaise continued kissing him, his tongue languidly roaming around the inside of Zacharias's mouth, while his hand fumbled with the front of Zacharias's trousers until they were completely off. Then he parted the front of Zacharias's robes and moved his mouth down, kissing the side of Zacharias's neck, then the top of his shoulder, then a place on his shirt achingly close to Zacharias's nipple, and then all the way to the head of Zacharias's erection.

Zacharias moaned, gripping on the edge of the desk and squirming his bare arse on top o it. He felt Blaise chuckle as Blaise wrap his mouth around his entire cock, and didn't know if he should feel mildly amused or strangely turned on. It turned out to be a combination of both, though, as he felt his cock harden the longer it was in Blaise's mouth.

Blaise started sucking, and Zacharias nearly blacked out at the pleasure that raced through his veins. He was distinctly aware of Blaise's hands moving around him, but it wasn't until Blaise squeezed his right arsecheek when he realized where this was going. He made a little noise of pained pleasure, just as a single one of Blaise's fingers slipped inside of him.

With Blaise fingering him and Blaise's mouth sucking on him, faster and faster by the moment, it was only mere seconds before Zacharias spilled all into Blaise's mouth. His eyelids drooped but he watched through his eyelashes as Blaise swallowed him whole, and the sight made his orgasm keep going as his toes curled and he nearly fell over. Blaise's hand seemed to have a bit of difficulty with Zacharias still seated on the desk, but he kept moving his finger around and it felt like forever until Zacharias's orgasm finally finished.

"That was nice," said Zacharias, falling over onto the desk as soon as they were done. His head felt light.

Blaise laughed at him. "You're always so tired when we finish," he said.

"Yeah, well only you can make me come this hard," Zacharias pointed out.

Blaise looked pleased at this. "I do?" he asked.

Zacharias nodded. "You do."

x x x

Blaise kissed him, muffling the sound that Zacharias let out, and pushed Zacharias onto his bed. He quickly waved his wand at the both of them, and immediately both of them were naked.

"Best spell ever," Zacharias murmured as Blaise set aside his wand and continued kissing him.

Blaise made a little noise of agreement as his hands snaked down to Zacharias's thighs. He squeezed them gently and then parted them, fumbling around with Zacharias's cock. Zacharias gasped into his mouth, but Blaise was intently on nipping at his lips more than anything else.

"Fuck… Blaise…" Zacharias groaned as Blaise continued fondling him. It wasn't long until he came, and Blaise's fingers were slick with his come.

"Mm." Blaise nodded and grabbed his wand from the table he had placed it on before, and cleaned off his hand. Then he flicked his wand at his fingers, and immediately they were dripping with some magical lubricant.

"Learned that the other day," he whispered as he pulled Zacharias's thighs again and slipped a finger inside of him.

Zacharias whined and thrashed about, and made to turn so that Blaise could have better access when Blaise stopped him.

"No. I want to see your face," said Blaise, looking intently into Zacharias's eyes.

Zacharias whimpered again and nodded. Seeing Blaise looking at him like that made his bones feel like liquid.

Blaise propped Zacharias's legs over his shoulders and moved his wet finger inside of Zacharias, making Zacharias twist and turn on the bed as he did his best not to kick Blaise in the side of his head. He settled for shoving his hands in his mouth and forcing his head down onto the pillow so hard that the back of his head hurt; but he didn't stop.

"One more?" asked Blaise, and Zacharias nodded, still biting down on his fist. He was pretty sure he tasted his own blood, but all worries of that went away when Blaise twisted both of his fingers inside of him, moving and spreading him apart. His eyes glittered with something more than lust as he watched Zacharias, and Zacharias was about to unwind again if Blaise continued looking at him like that.

Blaise drew his fingers out and grabbed for his wand again, his shoulders still holding up Zacharias's ankles; he cast the spell nonverbally once again, this time on his own erection, and Zacharias's mouth watered at the sight of Blaise's dark cock, so close to him.

"Come on already," Zacharias said hoarsely, moving a hand away from his mouth, faintly aware that it was covered with saliva and little ruts where his teeth had dug in. He saw Blaise's gaze flicker towards him—and then suddenly Blaise had slipped his cock inside of Zacharias's hole, making Zacharias nearly scream out in pain.

"Sorry," Blaise whispered, adjusting Zacharias's knee over him and looking Zacharias in the eye. "You all right?"

Zacharias whimpered and nodded, and then cried out again as Blaise thrusted into him once more. Then he cries became something more like pleading sounds of pleasure, as ecstasy ran through his veins every time Blaise hitthat spot, and he struggled to keep his fist in his mouth once again. Blaise's eyes darkened the more he watched him, but he didn't stop; and then more than just Blaise's thick cock was inside of him, and a warmth was filling him and Zacharias came as well, right onto Blaise's chest. Blaise didn't seem bothered though, and he finally closed his eyes as he did the last of his orgasm, and Zacharias just moaned as his spent cock fell over across his chest.

And then they were done. Blaise moved over and lay on the bed next to Zacharias, nuzzling against him and drawing Zacharias into his arms. Zacharias smiled to himself. He knew that only someone like Blaise would want to cuddle every time after they had sex.

"Goodnight," Blaise whispered, even though it was only late in the afternoon.

Zacharias turned to look at him. The intensity of Blaise's eyes staring into him was fiery, causing a warmth to spread throughout his body, from head to toe.

And then suddenly, Zacharias knew.

x x x

"I have a problem," Zacharias said at breakfast the next day.

Justin didn't look up from his copy of the Daily Prophet. Ernie and Hannah, however, glanced at him, interested.

"I think I'm in love with Blaise Zabini."

He heard a gagging noise; he turned his head to see that Justin had put his newspaper down, probably from hearing him, and was now choking on a mouthful of egg. Ernie thumped him on the back, and then looked back at Zacharias.

"What?"

"I said, I think I'm in love with him," said Zacharias.

Hannah sighed. "Oh Zacharias, finally. I was wondering when you would realize."

"Yeah, well," said Zacharias defensively. "I guess I always knew, but it wasn't until we had finished shagging yesterday—"

"You WHAT?" shouted Justin, now with cleared airways.

"—and then he looked at me and it was like he loved me, and I was pretty sure I was looking at him the same way that I loved him back, so…"

"Since when were you and Zabini shagging?" squeaked Ernie, looking extremely mortified. He sounded a bit like Professor Flitwick, too.

"For about the past two months. You two were too thick to notice it," said Hannah, waving a hand dismissively at him. "And Zacharias, you should tell him, you know. In case he doesn't know already, either."

"You think he knows?" Zacharias let out a moan of despair. "Oh no, what am I going to do…?"

"It's not a bad thing to be in love with him," said Hannah reasonably. "Especially when he loves you back."

"Yeah, but it's not a good thing!" said Zacharias. "I mean, I'm all right with shagging and all that… but when emotions come in…"

"You're shagging?" Ernie still didn't seem quite used to the idea. Even Justin was turning green.

Hannah ignored them. "Honestly, boys," she said to Zacharias. "There's nothing wrong with emotions, you know. Especially since you both feel the same way towards each other."

"Yeah, but—"

"Don't tell me that you don't want to be in love with him," said Hannah, sternly looking at him over her breakfast plate.

Zacharias fidgeted uncomfortably. "I just don't know what to do…"

"Nothing! Nothing should change between you two," said Hannah. "Although," she added thoughtfully, "you should stop saying that you're shagging him just because you want to shag him, and start saying that you're doing so because you're boyfriends."

Zacharias shifted in his seat, recalling Blaise's words from a few weeks ago.

"Anyways," said Hannah. "Just see how it goes, okay? You two should be fine."

The truth was, Zacharias certainly hoped so. But his damned feelings were in the way, and unless he was very much mistaken, he was pretty sure that they wouldn't go away soon. He just didn't like knowing and feeling that he was wholeheartedly in love with Blaise, or at least liked him very, very much. He felt a bit vulnerable. And extremely sensitive, like a girl. And Zacharias was not a girl.

He half looked forward to, half dreaded Charms due to his recent revelation, and gave Blaise a weary sort of hello when he sat down next to him. Blaise seemed untroubled, however.

"So I was researching that clothes-removing spell, and I found out that there are different forms where you can remove certain pieces of clothing," said Blaise casually, leaning back on his chair and gazing at Zacharias.

Zacharias shifted around in his seat. The feeling of Blaise watching him made his stomach flip, and the thought was very much appealing. But he remembered the part where, Oh right, I'm in love with him, and did his best to control his facial expression so that he didn't gawk at him like some sort of lovesick third-year.

"Oh… really," he finally managed out, his voice oddly strained.

"Yeah." Blaise moved forward and brought his mouth close to Zacharias's ear. "Want to try it out after class?"

Zacharias opened his mouth, although he wasn't sure if he was going to be a coward and say yes or be a coward and say no. He was saved from this decision when Professor Flitwick suddenly waved his wand, casting blue sparks to signal the beginning of class. Blaise moved away and back to his part of the desk. Zacharias didn't know whether to feel relieved or sorely disappointed.

Throughout the class period, as they worked on trying to make dishes clean themselves (though Zacharias mastered it within several minutes; he had seen his mother use this same spell quite often at home), Blaise was constantly teasing him. He was either winking at Zacharias as he Charmed his own dish, or moving his hand around the inside of Zacharias's thigh whenever he could, or even going around and gripping Zacharias's arse. More than once, Zacharias wanted to push him away because he loved him and he didn't want to complicate his love with their continuous sexual activities; but he was very bad at pushing Blaise away. Either that, or Blaise didn't notice, or Zacharias barely made any effort to keep Blaise away from him at all. Zacharias wasn't sure if this was better or worse.

When the class was over, they walked out of the classroom, Zacharias still battling with his emotions inside of his head. They walked out to the lake in silence, Blaise seemingly content despite the fact that Zacharias felt quite sullen.

"You're thinking too much," Blaise said as soon as they stopped in their usual spot. They didn't sit down, though Blaise did move toward the nearby tree.

"Am I?" said Zacharias vaguely, wondering how long he could avoid looking Blaise in the eye. He was afraid that if he did… Well, he just knew that if he did, he would be a slave to his emotions. And he didn't want that.

"Well of course; you've been quiet all day." Blaise chuckled. "And I think that you should stop thinking and do something else."

"What—" Zacharias started, but Blaise cut him off by closing the space between them and moving Zacharias's hand to the front of his own crotch.

Well, if Zacharias wasn't a slave to his emotions, he certainly was a slave to his libido.

x x x

The next week passed uneventfully, mostly because every time Zacharias tried to get himself to talk to Blaise about loving-him-but-not-wanting-to-love-him (or something like that; he just didn't want to love anyone. If he did want to love someone, though, he wasn't quite opposed to the idea of loving Blaise of all people. Actually, he'd rather be in love with Blaise than anyone else), he would get distracted. As in, they didn't have the time, they were interrupted, or Blaise's hand was down his pants while his mouth was fastened to the side of Zacharias's neck so that all of Zacharias's coherent thoughts—and all thoughts at that—flew right out of his head.

Such as now. They were in the Slytherin boys' dormitory again, the hangings drawn back since Goyle was at dinner and Nott was in the library (as Blaise has reported), Zacharias's clothes in a pile next to Blaise's bed, the comforter rising up on his stomach as Blaise licked around at his hole. He cried out and his muscles contracted, while Blaise's tongue continued moving around and doing things to him, inside of him.

"B-Blaise…" he panted, and for a moment he wondered if this was how it was going to be for the rest of his life. That they were going to keep fucking without really discussing their relationship.

Blaise made out a little sound with his red tongue still out of his mouth, causing his tongue to vibrate a little inside of him. Zacharias gasped and nearly uncoiled at the feeling.

"Blaise," he said, with more strength this time and finding control over himself to stop giving into Blaise's touches and actually speaking to him. When Blaise looked at him, he nearly gave way again.

"Blaise," he said for a third time, this time more firmly, and Blaise drew his tongue back from out of him. Zacharias bit back a whine of protest.

"Yes?" said Blaise. Zacharias suddenly realized that he must have sounded like he wanted to talk to him, after all. He internally patted himself on the back.

"I… we should talk," said Zacharias.

"Now?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Well, I mean, I think we should." Zacharias squirmed. He missed the feeling of Blaise inside of him already.

"All right. What do you want to talk about?" As much as Blaise seemed disappointed, he watched Zacharias intently.

"I…" What was he supposed to say? I'm in love with you? It didn't sound right; at least, not now.

Blaise cocked his head to the side. "Is something wrong?"

Oh Merlin, he sounded worried now, too. Zacharias didn't want to worry him. He just wanted to enlighten Blaise to the fact that, hey, he was just a bloke who was in love with him.

Still, with Blaise's naked body pressed so close to him like this, it was suddenly hard for Zacharias to think again.

"Nothing," said Zacharias, and moved up against the comforter and kissed Blaise on the mouth before Blaise could ask any more questions. Besides, this conversation could be saved for another time. Right now, they had much more pressing matters at hand. Matters that involved Blaise's hand pressing into him.

x x x

It was several days later when Zacharias finally, finally got the courage.

"So, um," he said to Blaise, picking at the grass beside him. They both didn't feel like shagging today, and so instead they were sitting next to each other beside the lake. Zacharias was near in Blaise's lap at this point from the way they were so close together.

"Yeah?" Blaise looked at him, his eyes twinkling. Zacharias felt his heart dislodge into his throat.

"I, um." He quickly glanced down to his knees. "IthinkI'minlovewithyou."

"You might want to say that a bit slower," chuckled Blaise.

"I… I think I'm in love with you." Zacharias focused on a grass stain in his trousers. "And, um… I'm not quite sure if it's a good thing."

"Oh?" Blaise looked at him. He didn't look surprised at all, only mildly interested. "Why not?"

"Because… Because I don't want to be in love. At all," Zacharias added hastily. "But, um, I'm in love with you… and, er. I think we should stop." The last sentence sounded more like a question than anything else.

"So," said Blaise, gazing out to the lake. "You're in love with me. And you think we should stop…"

"Having sex," finished Zacharias, his cheeks feeling hot. And when Blaise opened his mouth again, he added, "And snogging."

"All right." Blaise looked amused, which was odd. Zacharias thought he would have been disappointed. "Does this mean I can do this?" He slipped a hand between Zacharias's thighs and grabbed there.

"No!" Zacharias quickly moved aside and nearly jumped out of Blaise's lap. He didn't though.

"And does that mean that I can do this?" Blaise drew Zacharias closer to him and brought him into an embrace, one of his hands stroking the back of Zacharias's head. His face was buried into the side of Zacharias's neck, his cheek on Zacharias's shoulder;

"N-No…" stammered Zacharias, as Blaise's breath ghosted the side of his neck.

Blaise let out a laugh and pulled back, and looked Zacharias in the eye. "You're a silly Hufflepuff, aren't you?" he said teasingly, gazing at Zacharias fondly. "Come on, let's snog."

"But—But—I just said—"

"I know what you just said," said Blaise, bringing their faces closer together so that their noses bumped and their foreheads pressed together. "And I think you're in love with me too. At least, I know I love you."

"What?" said Zacharias dazedly.

"Don't worry about it. I think my bed is calling our names." Blaise chuckled and stood up, and then offered his hand out to Zacharias. "Coming?"

Zacharias looked at his hand. He wasn't quite sure what their conversation had just been about. But unless he hadn't heard correctly, he was pretty sure that Blaise had definitely confessed to loving him as well. So that their feelings were mutual. So that they were equally vulnerable to their emotions. So that… they could both turn to each other when they needed to.

"Yes," said Zacharias, taking Blaise's hand. "I'm coming."

Blaise grinned at him, glowing. He squeezed Zacharias's fingers. Zacharias squeezed back.

Comments

BECAUSE EPIC!LONGSHOT DESERVES EPIC!REVIEWS

[gossamereux.livejournal.com]

Things I adored:
- Blaise's 
passive-aggressiveness in his letter especially you will be just as pleased as I will if you come and use of Zacharias's first name
- Zacharias being wtf, who the hell is he? then ok, sure, why not. /shrugs
- Zacharias's use of euphemisms especially about courage just wasn't his strong suit
- Zacharias's Slytherinesque jibes ex: Harry's personality which saving the world just couldn't cover
- the physical contact between them on Hogwarts Express and Blaise's literal flirting with the thigh pressing and the fabric teasing makes the gestures sexual read: HOT without involving lips, saliva, and components of male anatomy
- Zacharias thinking of himself as an opportunist and Blaise as an opportunity: Besides, if anyone was going to like him, they were going to be at least good-looking, and there was no denying that Blaise was exactly that.
- Zacharias's blatant jealousy at the end of part I, just imagining him huffing throughout his stroll with a frown on his face and his nose pointed to the sky like a wronged child
- Perfectly characterized Zacharias as the oddball Hufflepuff, especially with all the times he crosses the courtesy barrier like herbology and muggle studies, saying things that should be left unsaid aka the obvious
- McGonagall is mad.
- The occassional references to HP7 because I love me some well-written backstory
- The fact that the Hufflepuffs can now see thestrals, which strikes me as osm :O
- Justin was busy being prodded with one of Filch's Dark stuff detectors in uncomfortable places. Oh Justin, you awkward Hufflepuff, you. XD
- "Why doesn't he [Filch] just die already?"
"That was rude," said Hannah, glancing up at him and pulling out a quill from her bag.
"You know you agree," said Justin. Sensing double-standards here. So it's okay to state ugly/rude truths as long as it's about someone you don't even like? Just pointing it out since Hannah just scolded Justin practically perfunctorily instead of giving him the 'look' as she did with Zacharias and his statements on Neville and herbology or Hermione and muggle studies
- Thigh touching being their couple thing read: kink
- Blaise saying Draco's name. bros. forever ;)
- Hannah, Zacharias and Blaise ganging up on Justin, lol
- Blaise treating Honeydukes as his own Willy Wonka Factory (I imagine him overcome with joy and delight and other food-associated feelings to the point of breaking into song)
- Blaise + oral suction = umumumumum (hnnnnngg)
- Blaise being Slytherin and faking poor Charms skills just to get one-on-one tutoring ;) going from a poorly executed Moistening Charm to perfect nonverbal Lightening Charm (icwudt Blaise, icu)
- Realizing that Blaise can perform Charms properly but only when he genuinely wants to, just like a Slytherin
- Indirect kissing at Three Broomsticks just kiss already
- Reaching the point of actual kissing. CB /finger dances/
- Zacharias being Zacharias and slithering away from the obvious like the coward he is :) ex: blushing + denial, more flustering, oblivious flirting, unsure of feelings, refusal to address feelings, etc. etc.
- Blaise's tongue was warm and wet, and now Zacharias was sure that every other part of his body felt horrible in comparison to how his dick felt. The arousing truth. .___. ♥
- Blaise's snogging skills are over 9000
- How you can go from this: "tasting as much of him as he could like he was a man dying of thirst and Zacharias's skin was every drop of water in the world." to this: "Zacharias stared at it, and remembered faintly that that hand had been stroking his stomach, had felt every beat of his heart." Basically, UNF. to aaaaaaawwww :') Props to you. /snaps fingers wildly/

BECAUSE EPIC!LONGSHOT DESERVES EPIC!REVIEWS pt. ii

[gossamereux.livejournal.com]

- "Wanted to... look at you," Zacharias breathed. 
... /checks pants/ dammit.
- Love how the sex scenes are written ♥♥♥ long sentences jam-packed with extra juicy details for the win. always.
- ...he was studying. Which he was supposed to be doing as well. But then Blaise's hand would touch his leg and then Blaise would be sitting so close to him and one thing would lead to another and the next thing they both knew, one (or both) of their hands were in each other's pants and they were orgasming all over the place. brilliant syllogism, right there.
- as much as he really wasn't opposed to doing… other things with Blaise, there was a time and place for everything.
Right? <--- /dies/
- Zacharias setting Blaise's crotch on fire, literally.
- "You like this?" said Zacharias, looking up at him and feeling his eyes water from the pressure inside his mouth. His voice was muffled by Blaise's erection, though, and his throat vibrated rather painfully. As weird as it may sound, I really like how you didn't write out Zacharias's muffled talk but described it. To me, it seemed more sophisticated, as much as a blowjob can be... >>;
- Favorite lines (of MANY):
Once, he had made Zacharias draw a picture of the two of them, and then cast a spell so that their drawn figures were shagging. They did a rendition of it later after class, by the lake. I imagined there were gratuitous improvisations. :P
- Zacharias glanced down to the parchment he had been doodling on before, and blushed. There, in his fancy cursive handwriting, read Blaise Zabini. Zacharias, you are adorable.
- he didn't want to complicate his love with their continuous sexual activities wrong time to be a prudent Hufflepuff e__e; (Huffleprude?)
- Hannah's exasperated patience
- The surprise element: Zacharias's Slytherinesque wit and aptitude for Charms and Blaise's utterly melting passion and Hufflepuffish earnest nature (towards sweets and the violation of one Zacharias Smith)
- Juxtaposition of black and white imagery, whether it's relating to colors of the flesh or figments of sexual gratification i.e. white stars and blinding darkness, etc. etc.
- Couple Dynamics: Blaise - ACTION, Zacharias - REACTION
- Since reading the tea and crumpets scenes in part I, all that is running through my head: THEY ARE SO BOYFRIENDS FFFFFFF
- Overall: amazing writing. Couple errors here and there but generally made of awesomeness which cannot be contained by comment boxes' character/word limit. 8D Love how the plot flows smoothly from parts I-III, the pendulum of rising and falling action- rinse and repeat, how wonderfully stitched together sentences are by well-used semicolons, and the terminal quality of each well-place periods.

Things that inspired bemusement:
- "You're a Veela! You're supposed to love him!" cried Hannah at her book. in part II, don't get ;__; is it related to Blaise supposedly being part Veela?
- Zacharias just moaned as his spent cock fell over across his chest. :O Zacharias is insanely gifted in his pants.
- You probably already knew this but I'm just throwing it out there. :D Muggle-borns are the result of Squibs (magic-less wizards and witches)  living as Muggles. The magic gene will eventually resurface thanks to genetics and probability. ;)



iloveitiloveitiloveit
I dont' even like Blaise and Zacharias but this this makes me ship them like Chinese-manufactured goods. I really loved how you write two characters whose personalities, quirks, roles and histories aren't very defined in canon because you make this seem so plausible, so real. For me, it's like reading pages from a Harry Potter book- just on the Internet. You are an amazing writer, and flocks of people and maybe the occasional inanimate writing utensil will say the same thing.
Thank you.




And sorry for breaking the word/charcter limit for this comment. my love for this story knows no bounds. ;~;

Re: BECAUSE EPIC!LONGSHOT DESERVES EPIC!REVIEWS pt. ii

[bisharp]

L-LOL YOU OMG WHAT IS THIS COMMENT /GLOMPS ON YOU EXTENSIVELY AND SOBS!!! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS ♥♥♥ AND YOUR LIKE TOTAL ANALYZATION OF MY STORY you are too great omg i love you

haha i love zacharias so much and i deff thinks he cares more about harry's personality than his ~saving the world~, for seriously. DOESN'T STOP HIM FROM DISLIKING THE POTTER!! and i never saw him as a typical puff in the first place lol (jkr even mentions it!) but he's still a hufflepuff to me through and through 8DD;

THESTRALS. everyone can see them, to me, now XD except for maybe the sixth years and younger O: and of course the seventh/eighth years will let them live on in fright 8DD;

BLAISE/DRACO IS LIKE MY FAVORITE BFF SHIP. well actually harry/ron is but blaise/draco is a close second! though i also like harry/ron romantically but but but you know

ZACHARIAS IS SUCH AN AWKWARD BADGER I LOVE HIM DON'T YOU ♥

lol sobs this was just an excuse for me to write shitloads of smut omg

i really don't see how i managed to write zacharias lighting blaise's crotch on fire with a straight face SOMEHOW I MANAGED TO DO IT

HUFFLEPRUDE!

t-thank you so much omg /glommps again /throws love and love and more love at ♥♥♥!

l-lol, they were supposed to be studying but instead hannah was reading a veela!fic rather than a textbook and shouted at her book in exasperation when everyone else was quiet XDD

[kyudreamz39.livejournal.com]

OMG I LOVE YOUR BLAISE. SO MUCH. his nonchalant take-it-as-it-comes attitude is so amusing, especially because he basically uses it to unnerve zach.

and zach ... he really could probably pull off being a slytherin - both him and blaise are always on the same sort of wavelength (well it goes without saying that they're on the same page when it comes to sex but you know ... ><).

anyway, i loved it lots and will probably read more blaise/zach. OTL i don't need more pairings to read/ship and get distracted by. which reminds me, YOU ARE EVIL. YOU REC-ED 982457209847 DRARRY FICS AND NOW I NEED TO READ THEM at least the non-complete-angst ones if there are any BUT I NEED TO STUDY AND LAKSJDFLAKSDJFAL;DJKSF i'll go do that now. study that is. /sigh

[kyudreamz39.livejournal.com]

and yes alice it was LONG. i was getting closer to the bottom of part 1 and my first thought was i don't know why don't judge me how are you going to fit all the gratuitous amounts of sex that you mentioned in the warning. and then i realized it went into part 2 and i was like oohhhh /keeps reading. and then i realized it went into part 3. by which time i realized that you've already fulfilled your promise warning. not that i'm complaining XD~

ugh sorry for the deleted messages but i've already mentioned that i'm bit anal about spelling right? yeah. D: D: /runs off

[bisharp]

keke i love blaise so much and i started to love blaise/zach which then led me to love zach and now they are so awesome arent' they ;~~; AND PUAHAHAHA WAIT FOR AN ONSLAUGHT OF MORE I READ WAY TOO MUCH DRARRY IN MY FREE TIME

lmfao lmfao lmfao i just wrote loads and loads of smut because i just wanted to write so many oTL;;;;

THANK YOU DRYSHAAAA ♥♥