A/N: I am so proud to announce that Blaise Zabini appears in the sixth book and actually has dialogue! The only thing is... is that he's actually African-American...(or African-British?) from my understanding. Mind you, I only fast read the part about Blaise in it... I haven't read the whole book...
But of course, my Blaise has to be totally non-canon in this story compared to the books, which there, he's described as, A. He appears to be evil and is friends with Malfoy. And B. He actually might find Ginny attractive - though he firmly says he doesn't like her (That, of course, is in the books)
But, blah... blah... blah... In this story Blaise is Italian and will fancy Hermione. So obviously, that means I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, because if I did... just think of the possibilities...
All That You Haven't Got
Chapter Three:
Yet Gryffindors Still Help Slytherins
What had just happened? Was she actually rejected? No, Granger's aren't rejected… they're just… not accepted, or not given what they wanted. Hermione was never rejected. Never. No. No. No.
As exhausting thoughts and excuses continued to swirl about in her head, Hermione wearily walked toward the Great Hall and found Ron and Harry seated at their usual spots with an empty seat opened for her. She graciously took it, sighing almost depressingly as she sat down. Ginny, who was seated aside of her, glanced at Hermione's tired eyes and frowned instantly at her friend's crestfallen face.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" she asked the brunette quietly.
"Nothing," dismissed Hermione. She looked dully at her plate with food that Harry and Ron had piled onto it, deciding that it would be in her best interest if she didn't touch the meal presented in front of her. "I'm just a bit tired, you could say…" She then pushed her plate filled with food away from her and toward Ron. Ron shrugged in return when he and Harry exchanged questionable glances and began eating whatever was on the plate.
"Musta be'n too muk readin'," he muffled through the food.
"It's not reading, Ron," Hermione snapped loudly, glaring at her friend.
"Then what is it?" he inquired once the food stuffed in his face had disappeared down his throat. Hermione sighed and opened her mouth, ready to speak.
"Where's Zabini, Granger?" called Malfoy, he smirked as she turned around and glared at him. "Must have given him a snog before dinner, eh Granger?" Hermione flashed him a dangerous look and, with one swift movement, pulled out her wand. Panic grew in his eyes as he glanced at her readied wand and instantly crossed his legs (Of course, now, you all have an idea where Hermione had recently hexed him). He then turned himself away quickly, taking a large chug from his pumpkin juice to render himself voiceless.
"What was that about you and Zabini?" asked Ginny.
"Nothing," Hermione answered tiredly. The redhead eyed her suspiciously. "What?"
"Sure. Nothing happened," Ginny whispered dryly.
Hermione shot her friend a glare but reluctantly gave in. She knew she would eventually tell Ginny one way or another whether it be today or tomorrow. "All right… I scared Malfoy and his lot away from Zabini. They were teasing him. Which, to be completely honest, was useless because the stupid Slytherin couldn't even manage a thank you for saving his arse."
"Right on!" Ron encouraged. "What have the Zabini's ever done for –"
Two female Slytherin's, Hermione saw earlier in the library, stopped the redhead from finishing his sentence and the moment between the two houses appeared to have stretched.
"Got a problem with Zabini?" snarled the larger girl. It was Millicent Bulstrode from earlier.
"N-no!" Ron squeaked as he turned red.
"Good," hissed Daphne, eying him dangerously. "I hoped there wasn't a problem with Blaise and there better not be one." And with that, the two females departed the Gryffindor table.
"W-What was th-that b-blo-bloody about?" stuttered Ron, clearly still stunned from the near attack.
"It's Zabini's friends," Hermione supplied. Ron looked at her blankly. "I've seen the three of them in the library plenty of times – and since they're not confronting Zabini, I assumed those two as friends of his."
Harry, Ron, and Ginny looked at each other slightly dumbstruck. Hermione cocked an eyebrow at their questionable expressions. "What? What did I say?"
"It's just…" began Ginny.
"We didn't know Zabini had friends." Ron finished.
"Well… he does."
"Really Madam, I'm quite fine," assured a Blaise Zabini. Yeah, he was fine all right, with his broken and throbbing nose. Just peachy, really. "I just need to visit the common room to fetch my clothes."
"Zabini," the nurse scolded. She looked at Blaise's defeated face and sighed. "Okay Mr. Zabini, go ahead. But come back! I must mend your nose."
"Thank you," Blaise smiled weakly before he quickly exited the hospital wing and headed toward the Slytherin common room. "Imbecile Malfoy." He muttered lowly to himself as he walked down the empty halls. He touched his nose, feeling a sharp pain shoot through his head in return.
"Merlin," he muttered. "Thanks a lot, Malfoy. Now I possibly have to go around Hogwarts with a cast on my nose." Personally, he wasn't concerned what he would look like, he just cared about his family's reputation. There had been a few times when he almost destroyed his family's reputation, and let's just say his father wasn't exactly pleased with his son.
"Ohh, Zabini's out and about!" He frowned at the taunting voice. It was Pansy. He knew Malfoy and his two lugs wouldn't be far behind.
"We haven't finished Zabini," hissed another familiar one. He turned his head to see Malfoy with his wand up, directing toward Blaise. Surprisingly, Crabbe nor Goyle was present at the blond's side.
"Not now Malfoy," Blaise sighed, though he guided his hand toward his hidden wand just in case Malfoy wanted to call foul play. "You know I haven't got the time for this."
"You haven't got a lot of things Zabini," Draco drawled. Blaise paused as the blond began to walk taunting circles around him. "You haven't got money Zabini, how does that make you feel? Your parents could hardly pay for your school uniform and books this year." Blaise felt his hands tighten into fists.
'No, no, no' He told himself. He wouldn't lose his considerably shortened temper – not now…
"It was brilliant, wasn't it? It was brilliant when you first came here – you were rich," Draco continued loudly. His eyes looked accusingly at Blaise as he continued to circle around Blaise with his wand out. "That is, until you tried to assault me – then suddenly, somehow your pathetic father of yours lost his job in the ministry. I wondered how that happened." Blaise looked at Draco shocked. "Oh, you didn't know that Zabini? That your father was dismissed from working in the ministry because you and I gotten into a fight?"
Pansy snickered hysterically in the background, admiring Draco's arrogance. Yeah, definitely a gene any girl would want in her man. She smiled with delight as he flashed her a confident smirk, her ruby red lipstick smeared across her teeth. Blaise tried not to gag.
"You didn't know that, because of your petty insults towards me, your beloved father lost his job?" Draco smirked. He looked tauntingly at Blaise. "You see Zabini, unlike what you believe, you don't know everything. In fact, you're dead wrong – dead wrong."
Blaise inhaled a sharp breath and managed to regain somewhat of control over his raging temper. "That's too bad, isn't Malfoy? I really must say, you shouldn't be the one talking." He felt Draco's cold, grey eyes pierce into him.
"Aestuo!" Draco yelled. A blast of hot liquid shot out at the end of his wand, hitting Blaise. The taller of the two fell onto his back from the powerful and unexpected blow, moaning in pain. A near silent gasp came from the shadows. The gasp came from, you guessed it: Hermione Granger. Her eyes rested on Zabini's still body, praying the damage Draco had done wasn't fatal, relaxing slightly when Blaise sat up, glaring at Malfoy with determination flaring in his indigo eyes.
His arm shot up with his wand in hand instantly, a curse ready to roll off his tongue. "Flabra!" he yelled fiercely. Suddenly strong winds appearing from the top of his wand had picked up and headed straight for Draco. The blond wasn't able to dodge them and was thrown roughly against a nearby wall. Pansy screamed and dashed toward her boyfriend, lifting him up.
"Damn you, Zabini," Draco breathed. Hermione sunk even further into the breeding shadows. She had to find a Professor – quickly. But what if they had came too late? She felt her stomach lurch as she pictured Blaise's lifeless body sprawled out in the hallway. She had to help Blaise – now. She took a deep breath, quite aware she'd regret helping a Slytherin twice in the same day. But now she couldn't turn back.
"Petriculus Totalis!" she cried suddenly as she stepped out from the shadows. Fortunately, it was too late for Draco and Pansy to react and they immediately stood frozen in their positions. Blaise craned his neck to glance at Hermione running towards him and a look of incredulous appeared across his eyes. Once she reached him, her eyebrows furrowed together when she noticed his upper body was scorched from Draco's earlier liquid fire assault. "Merlin, we've better get you to the Hospital Wing right away."
She began to lift the tall boy onto his feet, straining her back as he leaned most of his weight onto her. Once she managed to get him onto his feet, he began coughing. Her stomach lurched as she saw traces of blood being coughed up.
"Come on," she ordered hastily, "try to walk as quickly as you can – we have to get you out of here… before the spell wears off." She glanced quickly at Draco and Pansy still frozen into place. "Here, rest your body weight on me." Blaise lowered his head, as he shamefully and reluctantly had to rest a majority of his weight on Hermione in order to walk properly and sturdier.
"Blimey Hermione!" gasped a voice. Blaise raised his head to see her Weasley friend watch the two in astonishment. "What the –"
"Get Madam Pomfrey," she ordered sharply. "Where's Harry and Ginny?" Ron shrugged. "Fine – just get Madam Pomfrey or any Professor – hurry!" Blaise watched the boy run ahead of them. Once the red headed boy was out of sight, he directed his attention towards Hermione. He couldn't really see her face. He was a least a head taller than her, towering over her significantly smaller body.
"Merlin," she muttered lowly to herself. "Stupid, stupid Malfoy. I can't believe he would do something like this to a Slytherin… I can't believe I'm doing this for a Slytherin." He scowled at that remark. Then again, he hadn't been terribly friendly towards her either… even after she had saved him from being beaten earlier.
"I can walk on my own, Granger," he informed bitterly, even though they both knew he couldn't.
"Shut up, Zabini," was all she muttered.
The two barged into the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomfrey, once again, gasped on their arrival. Ron pointed to the two for Professor McGonagall to see.
"Oh heavens!" gasped Madam Pomfrey as she looked at Blaise. "One minute," she said loudly and dramatically, "one minute I let you out of mind – and here you come – even worse then before. You might have second or third degree burns! Oh heavens, and I thought your nose was bad enough!" Blaise was practically pushed onto a bed by the hysterical nurse, rolling his eyes. He was never one for dramatics. Professor McGonagall then dismissed Ron, Hermione watching him depart the Hospital a little shaken up.
"Oh thank goodness you were here Miss Granger to help Mr. Zabini," exclaimed Madam Pomfrey. "He'll be out now for at least two weeks."
"Two weeks?" he groaned.
"I'm going to volunteer you to tutor Mr. Zabini for the next few weeks," the nurse informed quickly as she began to heal his more minor wounds.
Hermione's jaw immediately dropped. "You've got to be kidding –"
"Please Miss Granger," Pomfrey begged her. "I need someone that's in the same classes as Mr. Zabini. I believe you both have the same classes – Miss Granger, please help."
"But – " she tried to argue.
"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Madam Pomfrey has requested you to do something and I do believe you comply." The Professor was right. Hermione had to do what the nurse ordered. She groaned inwardly but stiffly nodded her head. Blaise and Hermione looked at each other, wondering how they'd get through such studying hours.
A/N: All spell words have a latin base. Blah, blah, blah. Example:
Aestuo means a hot liquid fire in Latin. (Blaise was sprayed with it, which led to his second or third degree burns)
Flabra means a gust of wind in Latin. (Draco was thrown against a wall… by a gust of wind!) Anyways, yeah… stay tuned for the next chapter.
Oh, and sorry for making Blaise seem a little... sissy (with Draco constantly fighting him and Blaise constantly losing. And Hermione coming to his rescue...) BUT, I needed an idea and reason for Hermione to tutor Blaise. So, yeah, stay tuned because there WILL be romance later. Eventually. Sometime. Yeah.
Thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter! I would love to give you all virtual hugs or send you cookies or something...
