House: Slytherin
Year: 3
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Speech] "I'm gonna die and I don't even know your name."
Word Count: 1990
Blaise Zabini had been spoiled as a child and he knew it. His often-absent mother smothered him with money and luxury. His house elves gave him whatever he fancied. Whilst very accommodating, his lifestyle quickly became monotonous. As a result, growing up, Blaise developed quite the eye and attachment for oddities.
When the war ended, he spent countless years travelling the world in search of its most unique and hidden treasures. He never had a home nor a family and thus realised that the nomadic lifestyle suited him just fine. He made it his business, finding that some people would pay insane amounts of Galleons for the most ridiculous things he could acquire.
That was how, for professional reasons strictly, Blaise found himself back in England for the Circus Arcanus.
"'The travelling Circus Arcanus, founded by the famous wizard Skepter, returns to proudly present for the next fortnight their best show as of yet in the square of Knockturn Alley.
Come for an evening of fantastic delights featuring the most terrifying beasts of the wizarding world, a foretelling from the wisest of Augureys and an incomparable congress of human oddities.'
Well, they certainly know how to draw a crowd," commented Draco as he looked up from the poster he was reading.
Blaise acknowledged him with a hum as he scanned the area. He had never seen the square so lit up, music floating in the air and bustling with people as they stared in awe at the multitude of things happening around them.
"Alright mate, you wander and I'll track you down later," the Italian said calmly, readjusting his jacket over his black sweater.
"Seriously Blaise, try to enjoy yourself a bit, will you?" Draco replied.
"I've got more important work to do," Blaise waved him off and stepped into the crowd.
Tonight, it was very important for him to observe and find out about the new eccentricities making the rounds and gaining in popularity. These might make for profitable business once the circus traveled on to another city.
The wizard moved swiftly, striding in the shadows of the tents, ears strained for muffled conversations between circus helpers. He spotted the main tent, red and white, illuminated by floating orbs of lights.
'A Deluminator?' he wondered, circling to the back where the performers' area was set up and studied the ensemble.
"Not bad," he murmured, as he ambled in between small tents of creatures, a group of ghosts and a banshee. He passed a cage of Occamies and counted three hatched silver eggs that he fully intended to take off the hands of the owner tomorrow for future resale.
"And what are you?" he asked out loud, stopping in front of a tied, sleeping ape-like creature. He took a step forward and scrutinised the beast. He lifted his right hand to take out his wand when a quiet but firm order rang out from behind him.
"Don't move!"
"Excuse me?" he asked incredulously when a woman appeared on his right, just in the corner of his eye.
"A Hidebehind," she explained in a whisper. "You absolutely do not want to disturb her."
"Right, a Hidebehind…how dangerous could a giant fluffy monkey be?" he scoffed, shifting his right hand to wave at the beast to prove his point.
Before he could even lift another finger, the witch aimed her wand at him.
"Immobulus," she whispered furiously, coming to stand fully in front of him.
Immediately, Blaise felt his breathing stutter. While he could blame it on the spell, he was wizard enough to acknowledge the beauty before him. The witch had eyes that could drown any wizard, grey and dreamy with just a little spark that showed she understood more than she let on. They were eyes that defined mystery and the Italian found himself entirely too drawn to them.
"Blaise Zabini, I hardly think that you want to take your chances with a vicious animal that you cannot even properly fight," she explained calmly, head tilted to the side as she gazed at him while pocketing her wand in flowy red trousers.
'She knows my name,' he thought, bewildered and rifling through his memory to put a name to that enchanting face.
Gently, with incredible deliberation in her actions, the witch reached out to cover his outstretched arm and quietly released the spell. She brought his arm gently back to his right side.
"Now, we are going to back away slowly and whatever you do…"
Blaise tried to concentrate on her words but his mind was too fascinated by her. She was short and slender, long blonde tresses cascading to her waist. She was dressed in a riot of colours; green shirt, red trousers, orange shoes and surprisingly a black jacket, emblazoned with the Ministry's symbol.
'An Auror? Impossible! Someone with gentle hands and that lilting voice didn't fit the bill!' he reasoned to himself.
"Beg your pardon," he said quickly, pulling out of her grasp. "Who are you exactly?" he asked as he took a step back to look at her properly.
As soon as he moved, her eyes widened and he felt a shift behind him. He looked over his shoulder and found the Hidebehind sniffing in their direction.
"Oh no!" the witch cried, as she intertwined their hands and pulled him to her side. "She's caught your scent."
They watched as the creature struggled against its restraints, thrashing to find its balance to get up.
"What is it doing?" Blaise asked, confused, quickly drawing out his wand. Suddenly, the Hidebehind just disappeared in thin air. "Where did it go?"
"You have to leave, Blaise," the witch said firmly as she gripped her wand tighter. "A Hidebehind is very dangerous, especially when it uses its invisibility."
As quickly as it had gone, the beast reappeared, a few feet away from the wizard; ropes gone and stomping towards the pair.
"Protego," the witch shouted, turning to push him to leave.
Not ready to part from her, he tightened his hold on her hand and disapparated them on the far edge of the square, dimly illuminated by the trails of dancing fireworks overhead.
"Lumos," he said, pointing the light between them.
"What have you done?" the witch pulled herself away from him and turned to search the area around them. "Now you've baited her to come out."
"Well you told me to leave, so I did," he countered defensively.
"I need to find the Hidebehind and return her to …"
"Wait, we can just go to the owner and let…"
She turned to him abruptly, a strange force in her eyes.
"It would be very nice if you stopped interrupting me, Blaise. I am a Magizoologist on duty to look after the creatures here. I need to find the Hidebehind before she finds you."
Taken aback by the familiarity she used to address him, he hurriedly asked instead, "How do you know my name? Have we met before?"
"The Hidebehind is a hunter. She will inevitably find you," she said, ignoring his questions, making his teeth grit with her reluctance to divulge her identity. She did not seem at all familiar to him. He would've have remembered meeting a witch so unlike the others; calm and collected, an aura of assuredness to her and those eyes of hers…
"Whatever you do, please do not injure her. Try a stunning spell but be very precise," she was advising.
'Why am I so drawn to her?' he wondered.
"I'm gonna die and I don't even know your name," he told her in a soft voice, hoping she couldn't see the effect she had on him.
"Of course, you do," she said distractedly. "And you will not die. I am here to protect you."
"Were we at Hogwarts together?" he heard the desperation in his voice and did a double take. He was Blaise Zabini. He never chased girls.
"Well yes. Though you always preferred to talk to my housemates who were more likely to invite you to their rooms."
"Have I met you before?"
She stopped scanning the area and finally looked at him.
"You have talked to me twice. Now that I think about it, you have always referred to me as Loony. Maybe, you do not know my name after all. Now, remember, only stun her," she finished urgently, pointing to a spot on their left.
Blaise spun around to find the beast staring at him, with a wild glint in the abyss of its eyes.
'Loony.' He ignored the voice in his head.
"Its focus is solely on me. I'll lure it away, find a way to stun from behind!" he called out to her, as he ran away from the lights and sounds, delving into the darkness of closed shops and narrow cobbled streets.
He heard stampeding paws behind him but a quick glance revealed nothing but the witch ducking into an alley towards The White Wyvern pub.
'Shite! How do you escape something invisible?' he wondered bitterly, diving under the awning of Mr Mulpepper's Apothecary and pressing himself against the shop's window.
"Nox," he murmured quickly, casting a disillusionment charm over him as he tried not to worry about the blond witch.
'Loony,' he heard her voice in his head again. 'Blond hair, dreamy eyes, weird clothes…Oh Salazar I'm bloody attracted to Luna Lovegood.'
Over the pounding in his head, he could hear the faint sounds of laughter and explosions, otherwise there were no movement nearby.
"Aparecium," he tried tentatively, scrutinising the narrow passageway for any ripple indicating the spell had hit something.
On his fifth try, an angry growl shook the pane at his back and something flew over his head to smash the glass. Cursing, he went low and swung to the left, revealing himself and fired a running stun in the direction of the shop. The vials exploded, sending liquids and shards of glass flying everywhere. The Hidebehind appeared, its large eyes wheeling wildly and fur covered in several substances. It immediately careened after him, growling louder and louder in rage.
The ruckus alerted Luna and soon she burst out into the alley and came to a stop between him and the animal. Blaise knew an instant of pure fear and changed direction in order to yank her away with him. However, with the reflexes of a true fighter, she dodged a paw to the head, pivoting to the back of the animal and cast an Incarcerus.
"Freeze her," she yelled at him, face tight in a struggle to maintain her hold on the creature.
He released the breath he didn't know he was holding and felt his muscles snap back into action.
"Petrificus Totalus," he cried out, a flash of silver leaving his wand and immobilised the Hidebehind.
The witch released the bindings on the creature and cast a rapid cushioning spell on the stones seconds before the beast fell to the ground.
In the silence that ensued, Blaise could only stare at Luna.
Granted he'd never looked her way twice at school but now, he felt he could never look away from her anymore. His hands itched to cup her face and smooth the worry lines from her forehead.
"Thank you for your help," she said quietly. "The others would be here to help me soon."
"Luna," her name rolled off his tongue as easily as if he'd said it a thousand times before. She shifted shyly under the intensity of his gaze.
"Yes?"
"Meet me tomorrow, six o'clock at the Leaky Cauldron. Let me repay you for saving my life," he said in a tone that brook no argument, before striding away towards the Circus again.
And this was how, after years of searching, Blaise finally found the most unique and invaluable treasure of his life; a witch with a penchant for oddities that rivalled his, with whom he found love, home and all the treasures he could never have imagined.