Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Smirks (Zacharias Smith)

Before Zacharias Smith entered my life I had never thought that it was possible to be infuriated by a single facial expression. And if you don't believe me then you've never seen his smirk. Zacharias' smirk was the most maddening thing that I had ever seen.

Not only was it the most single annoying thing that I have ever seen, but he had a knack for making it so knowing that it creeps under your skin and makes you want to scream. But I had had to put up with him for most of my life. And wherever he went, his smirk wasn't far behind.

Our parents had been at Hogwarts together and had formed a friendship that continued into their adult lives. As a result of their close relationship, Zacharias and I had often been thrown together. To our parents it was perfect; we were both the same age, we would enter Hogwarts together and we could be just as close as they had been.

But if they had asked me then I wouldn't have hesitated to tell them that it sounded like my worst nightmare.

My first encounter with the smirk had been when I was probably no more than six and the memory was still engrained in my mind. He had been invited to spend the night in our home because his parents were going on a trip. And like almost every six year old in the planet I had a favourite stuffed animal that I slept with every night. It was a bunny. A bunny that I couldn't sleep through the night without.

Zacharias, being the annoying brat that he had been at age six (and still was), knew about the bunny and had made it his personal mission to get the bunny from me. That was how I had ended up standing before my dad as he tried to convince me to share with Zacharias because he was the guest in our house and he must've felt lonely in our home without his parents. I would have called bullshit except I didn't know that word at six.

"Daddy," I whined, hugging the bunny to my chest.

"Come on sweetheart," my dad cajoled as he kneeled in front of me, holding his hand out for the bunny. I shook my head and pressed the bunny tighter against me. Zacharias was standing by the doorway of the bedroom watching the proceedings with interest. "What do we say good girls do?"

"They share," I muttered under my breath.

"Exactly." Dad rubbed my hair affectionately. "So sweetheart, are you going to share with Zacharias?"

I considered it, looking between the devil by the door and my dad. Pulling the bunny off from my chest I glanced down at it and Zacharias chose that moment to pad over to me. He took the bunny from my arms, acting as though I had signalled for him to take it from me. Dad, being oblivious, called me a good girl and tucked me in to bed. I turned to look at the bunny thief knowing that there was no way for me to get the bunny back from him tonight.

It was then that I saw the smirk for the first time. He knew exactly what he had done.

**********

FIRST YEAR

We, all of the new first years, were waiting in the middle of the great hall for our turn to approach the sorting hat. A tense silence settled over us as we stood under the watchful eyes of hundreds of students who, we all knew, were just waiting for this to be over so they could start their feast.

The first dozen first years had already been called and there were still many to follow. I tapped my feet anxiously against the floor when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned slightly to see Zacharias standing behind me. Scrunching my nose in disdain, I turned to look away from him - I still didn't like him.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" He asked although I didn't look at him.

"I don't know. Hufflepuff maybe? My parents were both Hufflepuffs." I glanced back at him momentarily. "What about you? What house do you think you'll be in?"