teenage love affair
Blair is happy. She is wildly, disgustingly, incandescently happy.
She and Daniel Humphrey, the only muggleborn in Slytherin, are sweethearts. Ha- what would Walburga think of that?
All through the year, they sneak out to see each other, agreeing that a clandestine relationship is best. Daniel is Slytherin enough to be wary about the fallout that would occur if anyone, even his best friend Reg, were to find out that he was dating the Black heiress.
Besides, the secrecy of the relationship doesn’t matter.
Sneaking around the owlery (their favorite place, apparently), abandoned charms classrooms, and the Hogwarts grounds is enough.
Blair has always known that Dan is intelligent (he outdoes her constantly; how can she forget?), but actually dating Dan Humphrey means that she finds out he is considerate and thoughtful and wise.
She finds out more about the muggle world, and all their, what’s the word - technology? She realizes that quite possibly, not all muggles are the heathens her parents and peers describe them to be. (“Reg figured this out in first year, Blair,” Dan laughs. “Do keep up.”) She also learns more about Dan’s dorky (his words, Blair wrinkles her nose at this) father and incorrigible sister.
Blair teaches Dan things too. She teaches him how to harness his magic more effectively by actively reaching into his magical core. (“I don’t know why I’m showing you this,” she says. “You’re just going to beat me in class even more.”) She teaches him about Samhain, Beltane, and Yule. (“None of your commercial holiday nonsense here,” Blair intones. “This is tradition.”) She even teaches him a bit about pureblood tradition. (“Sirius will be lord one day. Even now, I can feel the potency of his magic.”)
They do a lot of snogging too, but Blair tries not to dwell too much on that.
-
Over the summer, they write often.
“Did you know that my father was a rock star?” Dan asks.
“A rock what, Daniel? And I doubt you’d know a star if it hit you in the face,” Blair writes back.
“I’m more aware of stars than you know, Blair Cassiopeia,” he replies. “And by the way, since we’re referring to Sirius and Regulus by their constellation names, should I start calling you Cassie?"
“Don’t you dare, Humphrey,” she pens as soon as she receives it. “I will punish you for that. And for your information, Cassiopeia was difficult to pronounce even for a child as precocious as I.”
They even consider Blair sneaking out to visit and see a Muggle theater, but decide against it, Blair hesitant to incur her parents’ wrath. “Why don’t you just invite me there?” Dan jokes. Blair laughs at this, imagining Walburga’s face upon seeing a filthy muggleborn in her home.
Blair is so happy she hardly notices the growing tension at home. Orion and Walburga’s whispers about the Dark Lord become more commonplace. Sirius grows more defiant of them, fleeing to the Potter Manor more often than he used to. Reg tries to appease their parents in Sirius’s absence, but the strain weighs heavily on him, so he escapes to a Quidditch camp in the continent.
She misses her brothers, but in their absence, Blair has more time to correspond with Dan.
Who knew that an ungainly boy born in a Muggle town in Surrey could make her so happy?