Blaise's Story…
The day I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was perhaps one of the worst days of my life. My father was a Death Eater you see, so he wasn't home very often, but when he was home things would get real terrible real quick. Making my home life, much more difficult…
I woke-up from another one of my restless nights to find my mother in the kitchen cooking me breakfast. She turned to face me; her face had lines that showed her age. Her once full head of thick black hair had now consisted of many grays. Her eyes looked to be of tiredness and they were always watery from crying about my father.
"Morning Mum," I said while giving her a peck on the cheek.
"Morning Blaise," she sighed.
"Is it dad?" I asked nervously, my mother hated talking about my father, but I felt a need to ask.
"The real question would be when is it NOT your father?
I looked down at the table before finally sitting at it, my mother put a plate of eggs and bacon before me, but I wasn't in the mood to eat them. I was more worried about my father coming home in a couple of minutes. It was Saturday, and he always came home in the mornings from work to have some time off. Those were the worst times of my life; they were an endless parade of arguments and my father threatening my mother. He made me sit and watch and when I wasn't paying attention he'd grab my arm and scream in my face for about an hour.
"Got something on your mind Blaise?" my mother asked peculiarly.
"I hate dad!" I spat out, immediately regretting it. My mother just came over and put her fragile hand on my head. She tilted my chin up so I could look into her dark eyes.
"My boy," my mother started "Your father has issues because of his job, he is under constant pressure."
"Yet he wants me to be a Death Eater! He wants me to be under the same pressure!" I snapped. It pained me to be yelling at my mother, she had done nothing wrong; my anger got the advantage of me. That was a trait that I inherited from my father, a bad one at that. "Sorry Mum" I mumbled.
"It's alright." My mother cooed.
"Mum, one day I'll get us both out of here, one day when I'm old enough."
My mother softly smiled, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She hadn't smiled for a long time; it was good to see that I brought her some happiness. My mother and I heard our front door fly open and hit the wall; we both had a shock of terror spread across our faces.
"BLAISE!" my father roared I immediately got up to go to him.
"Yes dad?" I asked politely.
"Have you even bothered to look at the mail, there's something here for you." He growled. He thrust an envelope at me; it said 'To Blaise Zabini' I flipped it over to find a splotch of what appeared to be blood sealing the envelope, I gently tore it open.
Dear Mr. Zabini,
I am pleased to announce that you have been accepted to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Below you will see the necessary school supplies. Congratulations!
With all due respect,
Minerva McGonagall
A rush of excitement came over me; both of my parents were wizards and witches. Even though my mother hadn't used magic or whipped out her wand for a while. I looked up into the dark eyes of my father; his nostrils were flaring with anger.
"What was it?" he hissed.
"I got into Hogwarts." I replied. My father's hand projected backward as he smacked me across the face. He took out a cigarette from his pocket –something muggles use to relieve stress- and lit the end of it. He bent down and puffed smoke in my face, making me cough.
"You have to start doing more things around the house my boy. You just lock yourself up in your room all day without a sound. If I hadn't given you that letter to open you wouldn't have known ANYTHING! Do you hear me?"
"I do loads around the house dad! I help mum in every way that I can, while you come home and abuse us!" I snapped. A noise erupted from him and I was pinned up against a wall.
"Maybe this, will teach you to have more respect towards me!" my father shouted. He took my wrist and smashed the end of his cigarette on it. I winced and gritted my teeth, the burning and stinging sensation was a difficult one to tolerate. My father threw that cigarette on the floor as he took another one out to light it; he puffed more smoke in my face.
My mother came striding in, her eyes widened as she saw what my father did to me. She turned him to face her and she slapped him, he turned in anger to do something to her, but for the first time in many years she took out her wand from her apron pocket.
"You will not hurt our son any longer! If you do I will contact the police do you understand? Our boy just made it to Hogwarts and you're sitting here abusing him!" she shouted.
"I think I'll just be leaving!" my father snarled. He went out the front door, slamming it behind him. My mother kissed the top of my head and kneeled down beside me.
"You listen to me Blaise," she said her voice soft, but firm "You go to that school, and make me proud. Become a Death Eater, be their little spy for me. Tell me what happens at that horrible place all day. If it helps us understand why your father is so angry and depressed all the time, then maybe that's what we need to make this family better. You hear?"
I nodded my head; my mother smiled and told me to pack my things. She said that she was happy to be returning to Diagon Alley because it had been so long since she was last there purchasing her school supplies for Hogwarts.
My home life hasn't been a marvelous cup of tea, but when I'm at Hogwarts I know I'm free. Now that I'm at my last year here, and now that I'm all grown-up, my father doesn't hurt my mother as much as he used to. I always look down at my wrist and see the cigarette scar there, making me never forget what my life was like, and when I received my acceptance letter to Hogwarts.