~Anything But Ordinary~
~One: The Musings of a Slytherin~
Is it enough to love? Is it enough to breathe?
Somebody rip my heart out, and leave me here to bleed.
Is it enough to die? Somebody save my life.
I'd rather be anything but ordinary please.
Blaise Zabini was nothing special. Even he could acknowledge the fact. He wasn't suave or charismatic like his best friend, one Draco Malfoy and he wasn't cunning and manipulative like the rest of his classmates. At least, he didn't think he was. He was so different that sometimes he wondered if the sorting hat had a fit of insanity when sorting him into Slytherin. He had always thought his destiny had lay with Hufflepuff, even as a small child. Once or twice his mother had taken a break from fulfilling her wifely duties with husband number, 5 was it?, in the effort of preparing him for his seven years of magical schooling. He always felt that her description of Hufflepuff, somewhat symbolized his childhood. It was the forgotten house while he was the forgotten child, always there but not nearly as significant as the others.
It was like a dead weight resting on his shoulders. He knew his fellow classmates were expecting something magnificent out of him. He'd been in the house for six years already, and he hadn't really 'proven' himself. He knew the Slytherins wanted him to prove he was worthy of the name, no doubt by committing a heinous act or hurting a younger and weaker Gryffindor. They were waiting to discover what was so special about the olive-skinned, black-haired boy. He thought that with the end of the war, the trivialities of blood would be diminished, but he was wrong. In fact, they were stronger than ever. The Slytherins that had returned, had done so with one purpose. Revenge. People tended to forget that the 'Dark' side had lost loved ones as well. To be honest, he was a little scared. He'd seen the way Draco looked at the Golden Trio. He'd looked murderous, and it was only the first day of term. They still had another year living with the other houses and by the looks of it, the Slytherins weren't going to make it an easy one.
That was his biggest downfall. It's what set him apart from his other classmates. He didn't want revenge. He didn't need it to be happy. He wasn't particularly nasty and he certainly didn't find pleasure in others misfortune. Sure, a cleverly planned out prank was always funny but he drew a line at beating on a younger student simply because of their blood status or who their parents were. Well, at least he tried to draw a line. In the past, he'd found himself in the situation where his reputation depended on whether he walked away from teasing a student or joined in on the jeering. He was slightly ashamed to say he nearly always chose the latter. He figured it wasn't technically his fault, he could blame it on his upbringing. His family had stayed fairly neutral during the Great Wizarding War, perhaps teetering just a little too close to the 'Bad' side. But this didn't make them good people. They were prominent purebloods and acted accordingly so. Muggle-Borns were still filth to them and Blood Traitors came in a close second. They were exactly like the Malfoy's, just smart enough not to announce themselves. After seeing what had happened to Draco's family after the war, he was glad they hadn't. The Malfoy family name was mud these days, while the Zabini family had managed to keep their respectability. That's probably why he didn't need revenge as badly as Draco did.
These thoughts filled his mind that afternoon, as he lazed in the Slytherin common room, waiting for that night's dinner.
His day had been quite uneventful. In potions, he had very maturely burst into silent laughter as Neville Longbottom managed to melt his 8th cauldron. In Charms, he'd watched on in faint surprise as Seamus Finnegan finally mastered the Drought Charm. In Transfiguration, he'd dozed inconspicuously in the back corner, until some Ravenclaw student had ratted him out and he'd been given a weeks worth of detention. Finally, in Arithmancy he watched the clock tick, nestled into the crook of his elbow whilst willing time to move faster. All in all, it hadn't been very exciting and despite it being the first day of his seventh year, he was already bored out of his mind.
Suddenly, Blaise was rudely interrupted with a piece of crumpled parchment being launched at his head. He sat up from the armchair he was reclined into and rubbed his head.
"Brooding, are we Blaise?" the blonde haired boy said, before Blaise could speak. Draco was standing in front of the common room entrance, a very smug look on his face.
"What was that for?" Blaise retorted, ignoring Draco's jab.
"I do hate to see you moping about," Draco shrugged, before flopping down beside Blaise on an empty seat. Blaise sighed.
"I don't brood," he snipped at his friend. Draco looked unperturbed. He leant back into the armchair and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"You know Blaise," he mused, "I've had an idea." Blaise groaned. He never rejoiced at the thought of Draco having an idea. It usually, no, always, spelt trouble. The pair either ended up with a months worth of detentions under their belts or naked. Sometimes both, if they were particularly unlucky.
"No Draco," Blaise said firmly, "I don't want to hear your ideas anymore. I'm sick of the whole common room seeing my crown jewels". Draco laughed and Blaise raised an eyebrow. Draco's laugh quickly turned into a shiver as he remembered their last prank.
"But this one's a good one!" he cried resolutely, "No nakedness involved. Just good ol' fashioned fun."
Blaise snorted and looked over at Draco. He was perched on the edge of the armchair, his eyes were gleaming with excitement. He looked like a little boy who'd just found a golden galleon. Blaise sighed and shook his head.
"Ok then, let's hear it. But it better be good," he warned. Draco whooped and pleasure and Blaise couldn't help but smile. His enthusiasm was infectious.
"Well, as you well know," Draco began, "We always start the school year off with a bang."
Blaise nodded. "You don't have to remind me what we're notorious for."
Draco shook his head slowly, before opening his satchel and revealing a large cardboard box.
"What I pose to you, my brother in arms, is simple. Why don't we really start the year of with a bang." he grinned wickedly. Blaise looked at Draco in confusion. He pointed towards the box. Before he had a chance to ask, Draco cured his confusion.
"They're fireworks. And not just any fireworks, but one's purchased directly from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. As much as I hate to congratulate those filthy Weasles, these are definitely the best of the best." Blaise looked at Draco blankly, waiting for the plan to click. It didn't.
"I still don't understand. I mean, fireworks are pretty cool. But what are we going to do with them?" he asked. Draco sighed and reached down into his satchel. He rummaged around for a few moments until extracting a piece of paper. He held up the small square of crumpled parchment, waving it in front of Blaises' face.
"Do you have any idea what this is?" he asked. Blaise shrugged.
"Look like a piece of parchment to me," he replied sarcastically. Draco rolled his eyes and ignored Blaises' sarcasm.
"This," he said, fingering the piece of paper delicately, "This is the password to the Gryffindor common room."
Draco's plan clicked. He was planning on letting the fireworks off in the Gryffindor common room, with the purpose of getting the unsuspecting Gryffindors' in trouble. Blaise was confused.
He frowned. "If this is your idea of revenge, well, it's not very vicious, is it?" He said lightly. Draco waved his hand dismissively.
"This isn't revenge Blaise. This is just a prank, you know, keep it simple for the first night."
Blaise chuckled at his friend. "You've gotten rather mellow in your old age," he joked. Draco smiled smugly and leant back into the chair.
"Don't worry. I'll get my revenge on every last one of them. But for tonight, we'll have some fun. Perhaps if I'm lucky, one of the fireworks will poke out Potter's eye."
Hey! I'm new to fan fiction and this is my very first story. I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter. I've dabbled in fiction stories over at fiction press, but this is my first fan fiction.
I love Harry Potter so I thought it only fitting to write a story about it. But, I don't know it word-for-word so from time to time I'll probably make some mistakes with timing, spells etc. I've decided to centre the story around Blaise because I think he is sometimes a forgotten character. Also, this story is AU as you could probably tell. It's set in the seventh year and I know people like Blaise and Draco completed their seventh year in the last book. But for the purpose of my story, I'm assuming that everyone survived and came back for their seventh year.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or better yet REVIEW! I promise to return every review!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and anything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. The song title and lyrics, Anything But Ordinary, belong to Avril Lavigne.