The Color Yellow ~ Blaise Zabini

five

Isabelle walked into Potions late the next day to find two choices in seating. Two seats next to Slytherins. One beside Blaise Zabini and one beside Draco Malfoy, desks right across the aisle from each other. She sat her bags down beside Draco. She needed a friend almost as much as he did.

The blond's once proud posture was downcast and Isabelle didn't like the sadness she saw in him. Draco lifted his head to give her a weak glare with no trace of malice. She was starting to wonder if that was his twisted version of a grin. She smiled brightly in return and went back to unpacking her things as Draco went back to brooding.

Throughout the lesson Isabelle counted a total of 15 times she caught Blaise staring at her. Each time she did her best to ignore him. That had proven to be quite the difficult task for Isabelle, he was just so intriguing. He was special and Isabelle wanted to know why she felt that way about the ice-coated Blaise Zabini. She figured it was because she saw beyond the ice. She saw that he didn't want to be who he was expected to be. And she saw that he wasn't perfect, and she liked his imperfections like they were a part of herself.

But she was angry with him, a fact she constantly had to remind herself of. He had quit talking to her, ignored her even, and then suddenly walked back in expecting her to just let him. And she could not let the boy do that. Isabelle had always worn her heart in her sleeve but now she knew she needed to learn how to hide it.

So now Isabelle was avoiding Blaise. But the surprising thing was, she hated it.

She missed the grin he fought to hide. She missed the softness of his ebony skin as he pulled her along the corridors or sat beside her. She missed how he provoked her mind and made her look at things in a new light. She missed the twinkle in his eyes when he was excited. Isabelle really just missed all of the tiny things that fit together like puzzle pieces that made up Blaise.

Potions was never worse for Blaise. Isabelle was still ignoring him. And worse than that, she chose Draco over him. Draco! Infamous, stone hearted Prince of Slytherin. Draco would eat someone as soft and adorable as Isabelle alive. Oddly enough however, he didn't. Draco didn't even make a single rude remark about Isabelle, and Blaise would know (he was listening for it after all). He even gave Isabelle the Malfoy famous "I'm-gonna-pretend-I-don't like- you-but-I-do glare". There were even a few times that Blaise noticed the pair whispering amongst themselves, getting along.

Blaise didn't like that, he didn't like that at all.

He hated watching his best friend and his- well his- his Isabelle enjoy eachother's company without him. Admittedly, it didn't seem like they liked each other in that way. But they liked each other! Draco hardly liked anyone! It must have rooted with Isabelle, she adored everyone she met. She saw them as just another Hogwarts student; she didn't see him and Draco as Death-Eaters or children of Death-Eaters, she saw them as two kids who had no choice.

That was Blaise's favorite part about Isabelle, she really saw them. She could have stopped looking and just seen the surface, just seen what they wanted the world to see. But Isabelle, was not one to skim, she really looked. He wished he could look at people, at the world really, the way Izzy did. With such hope and compassion.

In that moment Blaise realized something. He realized that he has to do whatever it takes to get Isabelle back. To get her to speak to him again at least. Because Isabelle brought sunshine into the dark corners of Blaise's existence.

As soon as Potions was over, Blaise followed through. He searched for Isabelle in the crowded corridor. He found her walking with Draco. Blaise conjured a single yellow rose with pink tips and bounded down the hall. He caught up to the pair and slung an arm around Isabelle's small shoulders.