This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 4
Category: Drabble
Prompt: [Setting] Graveyard
Additional requirement: One Character Per House: Blaise Zabini.
Word Count: 702
Warnings: Curses, torture and graveyard destruction.
AU canon
Unconventional Introductions
Mrs. Zabini had a one-night stand with an attractive man and awoke to find he had abandoned her during the night. Enraged by the audacity that he believed she was some cheap fling, she placed a curse on his bloodline. Any child born from the man would be cursed to become a werewolf. She had no idea that within her, she was already carrying a child of this man's lineage. When Mrs. Zabini found out she was pregnant, she had sobbed, realising the implications of what she had done.
She had unintentionally cursed her own son!
Blaise never knew his father. His mother refused to talk about him. As far as he could tell, his conception had been a one-night-stand, and his father had gone on his way never knowing the truth.
When Blaise had turned ten, the curse started manifesting. He started showing signs of heightened hearing and smell, as well as being prone to bursts of anger, which indicated his more active predatory instincts. His mother knew what was happening, but couldn't bear to tell her husband.
When Blaise had found out his mother had cursed him, he started looking for a counter-curse to cure him. All he ever found was rumours. The rumour had it that the curse can only be lifted by finding the body of the original cursed wizard and placing a copper coin in the hands of the corpse.
After a lot of searching he found the place his father was buried; and in desperation he decided to try and lift the curse, there was just no other way.
"This is your own fault, you know." Blaise spoke as he dug; his lantern lighting the graveyard where his father lay with an eerie light. On top of his discarded cloak lay a copper coin, glittering in the light of the lantern. Sweat dripped from him as he dug, knowing that this needed to be done by midnight on tonight's full moon.
"This is my last chance, you know," he muttered to the half-dug grave. "Mother says that when I turn 16 it will be too late." He shovelled out another lot of dirt, finally hitting something solid: the coffin. He sighed in relief. Finally. "You know my step-dad beats and tortures me, see this black eye?" He gestured to his left eye, words echoing in the quiet graveyard. He felt almost cleansed, confessing his troubles to the man that caused them all, just by leaving a desperate woman all alone to raise a child neither of them had planned. Just then, a small girl appeared wearing a powder blue cloak carrying a shovel and a lantern.
"What are you doing to Daddy's grave?" she asked with all the menace she could muster.
"Daddy?" Blaise questioned, being made aware of the time as the clock-tower struck eleven.
"I'm here to end the curse," the tiny girl said confidently.
I have a sister? Blaise considered this for a moment, also wondering why anyone would let this girl go out by herself this late at night.
"Well, then, you should thank me for helping, little sister," Blaise said, pulling the lid from the coffin.
"Sister?" The girl paused, only noticing the familiar traits now: the dark skin tone, the black eyes, as well as the same jawline.
"Where is your family, little girl?" He asked.
"I snuck out. I needed to break the curse, you see. Mother doesn't believe we have been cursed, but it's the only thing that makes sense," she said easily. "I'm Emily by the way," she added after observing him.
"My name is Blaise," he answered the small girl, making sure to keep an eye on the time. He couldn't afford to miss midnight because of chatting with his random sibling.
"Get your coin then, Emily," he said, pausing to allow her room to move in beside him.
"The extra one wouldn't hurt, would it?" she asked curiously, hopping down into the grave as well.
Just minutes before the clock struck midnight; both children bent down and placed their copper coins, in the hands of the skeleton of their dead father.
Dong! Went the clock-tower, announcing midnight.
"And now we wait," Blaise said with a sigh.
"And now we wait," Emily repeated.
When they left, there was no sign of the transgression except the freshly dug earth on the old grave.