Blaise's POV
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
I woke with a start, glanced at my alarm clock, and rolled over in bed. Today I was leaving for my sixth year at Hogwarts. Normally I am more excited than this. Normally I am glad to see my friends again and leave my home behind. Normally my sister stays home.
Not this year though. This year there will be two Zabini's at Hogwarts.
Biologically speaking she's not my sister. My mother adopted the girl when she was five. My mother was in the woods behind our manor, gathering ingredients for a potion when she spotted the girl lying down in the woods. She was unconscious and when my mother revived her, she knew nothing- not even her own name. Her memory had been obliviated. My mother took her home and named her Fiorella because she was found with flowers all around her head.
I love Ella like a true sister. But like a true sister she is a pain in my ass. Mother spoils her rotten and she always gets what she wants. More frustrating than that, however, is the fact that she's perfect. She's beautiful with tan skin, dark brown eyes, and long straight hair. Her voice sounds like she's singing. She is brilliantly smart and reads all day long. She is mischievous and is always causing trouble, but she always gets away with it. Either Mother doesn't notice, or she will let her off easily.
However Ella has dark magic in her and she doesn't know how to control it. She doesn't even need to use a wand. When she gets mad, she accidently sets things on fire. We stopped getting new pets because they would all drop dead suddenly. Sometimes she can even control the weather on our estate. When her dark magic comes out her eyes turn a bright purple color, so we normally can control her fits by immobilizing her or binding her down and distracting her. Afterwards, she always feels so guilty.
Because of Ella's magic, Mother never let her go to Hogwarts. It would be too dangerous for her and the other students. Instead she stayed home with Mother and was taught spells and about how to control her magic. This year she is a lot better, and after a lot of convincing, Mother finally agreed to let her go to Hogwarts. She'll be a fifth year student. This means I am going to have to keep a constant eye on her to make sure she controls her magic and stays out of trouble. Not to mention I'll have to keep all the boys away from her. Because of her exotic appearance, guys always stare at her when we go into town. Knowing my friends, I'll have to fend them off of her.
Groaning, I finally get out of bed. I get dressed into jeans and a sweater before stuffing the rest of my things in my trunk and going downstairs for breakfast. Ella is already there, dressed in a tee shirt and jeans and waving her wand around. We bought her a wand yesterday mainly so she looks like the other students. She finds it difficult to control and annoying. I watch from the doorway as she attempts to levitate the pitcher of orange juice towards her, but her wand twitches and it spills everywhere. I burst out laughing and her head snaps to my direction. Glaring at me, she puts her wand down and with a wave of her hand the orange juice disappears. I smile, thinking that now there is one thing I am better at than her.
"I'm never going to get this," she complains, "wands are so frustrating. "
"You'll get the hang out it in no time, sweetie," Mother says, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of biscotti and two cups of coffee.
"Plus, it will help you control your magic better," she adds as she hands one cup to me and the other to Ella.
Ella just grumbles to herself.
I check the time for my watch.
"Mother, it's 10:30. Shouldn't we be leaving now," I ask.
"Heavens, yes! Madonna mia! I don't know where the time went. Andiamo"
With a wave of her wand, she cleared the table. She grabbed her purse and called a few of our house elves to fetch our trunks. We piled into our black Lincoln car. Mother loves driving it when we go to muggle locations. She's a horrible driver, so the trip to King's Cross Station is not at all pleasant.
We arrive at the station and cross the divider to Platform 9 ¾. She gives me a tight hug goodbye and does the same to my sister. We quickly board the train. Before we can go down the hallway to find a compartment, Mother calls after me.
"Yes?" I say, leaning out the window.
"Look after her, I mean it. If anything happens send me an owl immediately."
I nod and wave back at her as the train whistle blows and we start moving. Ella and I make our way down the hallway. I stop when I see Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle all sitting in a compartment. I open the door and we walk in.
"Blaise! Good to see you!" Draco says, surprisingly cheerful. I've heard he has a lot of stuff going on at home so he's probably happy to get away from home.
"Same to you, man!" I smile as I take the seat next to him.
Ella clears her throat and looks at me expectantly.
"Right. Er. This is my sister Fiorella, you guys," I speak hesitantly.
"Just Ella," she corrects.
All of them look at her and then back to me surprised.
"You never mentioned you had a sister, Blaise" Pansy said slowly.
"Didn't I? I could have sworn I did," I say nervously.
"No matter. Have a seat," Draco spoke, cocking his head to the seat on the other side of him.
I looked at him in surprise. Draco is very rarely nice. Not even to Pansy. They have been romantically involved on and off for years, but he is never so much as polite to her, merely tolerant. As he watches Ella cross the small room and sit down next to him, I groan out loud. I recognized that look all too well. Draco has been known to be the Slytherin Player, or better yet the Slytherin Sex God. He jumps from one girl to another. They are always Slytherin because he only dates purebloods who meet his standards. These flings never last more than two weeks before he gets bored and looks for someone new. The last girl he was with at school was only thirteen! She had an impressive rack for her age, but it just seemed so wrong. I mentioned that to Draco but I didn't do anything. It was his business.
My sister, on the other hand, is off limits to Draco. Because she always was with my mother, Ella is completely inexperienced when it came to guys. She's only met boys who are related to us. She's never even been kissed. I intend on protecting her so she remains pure. I certainly don't want Draco using his charm and charisma on her to get her into his bed. She's only fifteen, for Merlin's sake!
I give Draco the death glare and kick him sharply in the shin.
"Ow! Bloody hell, what was that for?" Draco protested.
"You bloody hell better know what that was for."
Draco just shook his head and turned his attention to Ella. He asked her all about herself and she explained that she had been home taught until this year. As agreed upon, neither of us would mention her magic. The only person who knew was Dumbledore and Snape. Dumbledore had figured it out when he met Ella, and Mother told Snape so he could keep an eye on her as she will most likely be in Slytherin.
The rest of the time on the train, I chatted with Pansy. Crabbe and Goyle were being idiots and stuffing themselves with treats from the trolley. And Draco had not taken his eyes off of Ella. She blushed under his stare, and grinned flirtatiously back. I sighed, protecting my sister was going to be harder than I thought.
