Chapter 4; Holiday
'It's been an interesting month,' Blaise mused to herself from her compartment on the Hogwarts Express. As expected of him, Snape somehow managed to practically cover up the fact that one of his Slytherins had been involved in the 'Troll Incident', focusing more on Dumbledore's shortsightedness in sending his students into the proverbial fire by going to the troll's supposed location and Quirrell's ineptitude in naming said locations. The second floor isn't all that close to the dungeons, after all.
Despite the altered incident, Harry, Ron, and Hermione still became good friends. Ron still acted coldly to Blaise, but Hermione was a bit more social when they met up in the Library. In fact, the two were sitting in the same compartment on the Express, both reading books borrowed from the Library. It just so happened that Hermione had come across some random corner somewhere in the Library (Blaise still wasn't quite sure where) that served as their fiction section. Apparently, people only used the Hogwarts Library for research, which Blaise thought was utter rubbish, but what did she know?
Harry and the Weasleys were staying at Hogwarts again this time around. Blaise almost wanted to stay as well, if only to try and catch a glimpse of the Mirror of Erised once more. She had long ago realized that the writing around the mirror was in mirror-language; that is to say, it was written backwards; but she still wanted to read it, and possibly see her own desire. Call it natural curiosity or the beginnings of hormone imbalance or whatever, she still wanted to. Her thoughts were interrupted by the compartment door opening.
'Could've sworn I'd locked that…'
"Zabini, what are you doing?!" Pansy Parkinson's shrill voice resounded through the compartment. Hermione ducked her head slightly while Blaise stared at her, blinking owlishly.
"Surely you can't be that stupid, Parkinson? It's called reading a book. You know, those pieces of paper all tied together with fancy covers and sometimes pretty pictures as well? I know you've seen those somewhere before," Blaise commented with as straight a face as she could manage which, while her lips developed a slight twitch, Hermione had her face buried in her book, and she noticed Daphne and Tracey in the background covering their mouths and looking away. Just before she did, Daphne caught her eye and mouthed 'I'm not so sure she HAS'.
For her own part, Pansy's mouth kept opening and closing like a fish before she swelled with indignation.
"You know what I meant, Zabini! Why are you sitting with…with…with the mudblood!" she shrieked, which caused an unnatural quiet to surround them.
"And since when have I cared? You should know that my family's always been neutral in all those blood purity wars. Why ever should I be any different, because I'm in Slytherin? Don't confuse ambition with blood supremacy, Pansy," Blaise commented, before turning back to her book. "You can go now."
Pansy looked like she'd been slapped for a moment, and almost started shouting again, before storming away. As her little cohorts left with her, Daphne and Tracey stuck their heads into the compartment, and gave a smile and wave each. Blaise turned to them slightly and returning the actions before the two other Slytherin first years giggled and ran off after Pansy, most likely to tease her about her lack of knowledge on books or some other mundane thing like that.
'Sometimes those two really remind me of the Weasley Twins. I'll have to be sure to try and keep them that way,' Blaise thought, before trying to go back to her book.
"You didn't have to do that, you know," Hermione spoke up from the far corner by the compartment's window.
Blaise looked up at her for a moment with an unreadable expression, before smiling at the other girl.
"Do what?" she commented before turning back to her book. Nothing more was said, but the compartment seemed a bit less tense than itwas before.
As the train came to a stop at Platform 9 ¾, Blaise walked off the train with Daphne and Tracey, who were still chatting and laughing over how shrill they got Pansy's voice to get. Finally, Blaise mentioned her earlier thoughts on them being similar to the Weasley Twins, which caused the two to pause, and turn to each other.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Tracey asked.
"Depends," Daphne responded. "Are you thinking that maybe we should introduce ourselves?"
"Just leave me out of it when Filch starts trying to lynch you or something," Blaise commented with a small laugh as she began searching the crowd for someone she knew.
"See you in a couple of weeks," Tracey called over her shoulder as she vanished across the barrier into King's Cross. Daphne gave a similar statement as she branched off to where her parents were waiting to leave.
Wandering around a bit, Blaise eventually spotted John talking to none other than the Grangers, with Hermione waiting nearby.
"Heya Johnny," Blaise called out, purposefully bumping into him as she bounced over, happy to be going home.
"Now, now, Miss Blaise, it's rude to interrupt," John scolded. Or, he tried to, his lips kept quirking as she pouted at the semi formal title.
"No fair, you have too many names to call me that I don't like," Blaise commented with a slight pout, before turning to a bemused Hermione. "Hello again, Hermione."
The bushy haired Gryffindor blinked a few times before speaking up.
"Blaise, are you…feeling alright?" she asked before actually moving forward to check the temperature of her forehead. This just set John off laughing even more.
"What, can't I be happy to go home after about four months?" Blaise asked, leaning back and brushing the hand away. "You'd think I wasn't still a kid."
"You don't act like it," Hermione commented, this time with a small quirk of her own lips.
"Would you rather I acted like Malfoy or Weasley?" she quipped back and looked over to find the adults staring at them in amusement. "What, weren't you all kids once too?"
"Ah, she's getting sarcastic again. I guess it's time to go before she gets bored and annoys me with pointless observations the whole ride home," John mentioned with fake distress, while Blaise perked up and began smiling at his 'suggestion'. "Don't you dare. Silencing spells may be golden, but duct tape is silver."
"You're no fun," Blaise commented with another pout, as Hermione tried to stifle her laughter; key word, tried. "Ah, quiet you. By the by, it may interest you to know some of the better philosophers and inventors lived far before this century. Keep that in mind, would you, Hermione?"
Ignoring the Gryffindor's look of confusion, Blaise turned and began to follow John out to the car he drove. The squib may never be able to fully fit into the muggle or the magical worlds, but he enjoyed finding different things to 'experiment' (read 'play') with. Personally, Blaise was slightly disappointed that he didn't bring the motorcycle.
The Zabini household was a rather odd one as far as pureblood homes go. Oh, the manor looked like many of the others, to an extent. It's the company kept that might strike one as odd. Not many purebloods tolerated squibs, yet there was John living with the family year round as a 'butler'. Then there was Zippy, the house elf. He was a rather old thing, working for the household since about Blaise's father's childhood. He practically lived in the kitchen, most of his old jobs slowly being taken over by John as Zippy got too old to do them. The one task he would not let go of, was cooking all their meals.
Blaise's parents were normal enough as far as purebloods go, her father, Aaron Zabini was rather tall, somewhere over six feet, with dirty blond hair kept short. He was around at the manor most often than not, unless he left on a 'business trip', as he called them. Whenever he'd announce one of these 'trips', his wife shook her head and paid him no mind, continuing whatever she'd been doing beforehand.
Maria Zabini was a petite woman with rich chocolate hair who was rather easygoing, always wanting to be a good mother for her child. The fact that she lost her first child along with the ability to have any other children naturally had hurt her emotionally. Of course, Blaise kept her days interesting; always wanting to do things 'no proper young lady should even be thinking of doing', not that she tried too hard to stop her daughter. Currently, both parents were sitting in the family room waiting for Blaise to return with John. They'd know the instant she was back, mainly because-
"I'm BACK!" an eleven year old blur announced as she jumped onto the wide couch where her parents had left barely enough room for her to squeeze in.
"So we hear," Aaron commented, giving Blaise a hug before getting up to spell the luggage in the car upstairs before John was stuck lifting it by hand.
"I suppose it was a rather foolish hope that time away from home studying in an actual school would mellow you out a bit," Maria teased her daughter lightly, also giving the young girl a hug.
"Nah, other way around. No expression creates a back-up build up, and you all just have to deal with the explosion. Lucky you," Blaise commented, cheeky grin firmly in place.
"You know, you really should stop doing that," Maria commented gently, as her daughter just hummed noncommittal. They sat there for a time, Blaise simply happy to be back in a loving home, and her family, however mismatched it may seem, was happy to have her back as well.
The remainder of the holiday break was spent with a great deal of lazing about. Now that she was finally away from the other Slytherin pureblood's watchful eyes, Blaise was taking every chance she had to just have fun. This whole 'new life' was her first real chance to be a kid, and she wasn't going to miss out on a single minute of it.
However, no matter how 'normal' her parents were, they were also purebloods as well. Both had been rather pleased that she wasn't actively making enemies in 'the pureblood house', and also seemed happy that she got along well with Daphne and Tracey. Of course, she also took the time to tell them that unless drastic changes occur, she wasn't likely to get along well, if at all, with some of her classmates like Draco and Pansy.
Christmas turned out to be a small event, only really consisting of the members of the Zabini household. Most of the gifts were small little trinkets (what could you expect from various pureblood families who really know nothing about your hobbies and likes?), but Blaise had managed to get Harry an assortment of Wizard sweets. Looking back, it seemed rather amusing how ignorant she'd been when first entering the Wizarding World as Harry Potter, celebrity, and Boy-Who-Would-Not-Die (Voldemort had actually called her that once, and she found it infinitely more amusing that any of her other hyphenated names). It was her excuse to also give him a somewhat comical book about Wizarding customs, and their society as a whole. No help in navigating pureblood circles, but good for a few laughs, and the information was rather accurate. She also managed to send Albus Dumbledore an unsigned, unmarked parcel containing a couple pairs of 'thick, woolen socks', idly wondering what he'd tell Harry now, when they met before the mirror of Erised.
The rest of the Holiday break was mostly spent just lazing around, with a bit of study, homework, and swordplay thrown in for good measure. Apparently, although hidden from most of the school population, Professor Snape still mailed her parents of her involvement in the whole Troll Incident. He'd also mentioned the troll seemed to have its throat cut out, which was more than enough information for Blaise's father to put her through her paces.
"It seems," he commented once, "That you're too active for your own good. If you're going to go around hunting down trolls, giants, and dragons, might as well make sure you do it right."
He'd been kidding about the whole troll/giant/dragon hunting bit, but Maria still took the opportunity to sling a few jinxes and curses at him, which he managed to weave around, all the while lecturing Blaise the importance of movement and footwork, not only in sword fighting, but dueling as well. This lasted until his wife finally banished the entire rack of weapons at him (all of which he claimed able to wield; Maria openly scoffed at that one), which was a little too big and pointy for him to actually dodge. Needless to say, John took over her lesson for that day, himself having a somewhat higher than average skill due to his inability to use magic (although, he seemed more comfortable with a pair of handguns than a sword), while Aaron was treated by Zippy, with much muttering about 'masochistic masters who don't know when to keep their traps shut'.
The train ride back to Hogwarts was also rather amusing; Blaise sat in a compartment with both Tracey and Daphne, who had decided it would be better to 'introduce' themselves to Hogwarts' resident 'Prank Kings' with a small gag of their own. They weren't specific, but it apparently involved a letter, some kind of dust, a camera, and a toilet seat. Blaise decided she probably didn't want to know how the heck a couple of first years managed to pull of any prank involving such things, let alone where they got the ideas from. She vaguely remembered Fred and George mentioning sending their sister a toilet seat…
Classes still proved to be rather dull, but they were slowly moving away from theory-exclusive classes, so there was actually time to practice spells. Blaise still had slight trouble 'willing' her magic into spells, only to discover an unnatural affinity for fire spells (she'd been trying to 'will' a feather to levitate again, and ended up throwing down her wand to glare at the innocent feather, only to have it burst into flame. Tracey teased her about having a literal 'death glare', and playfully hid behind Daphne when Blaise shot her an annoyed look).
News about Snape refereeing the next Quidditch match had been the talk of Slytherin House for a while, conspiracy theories flying left and right filled with mirth and speculation. Many were wondering exactly how he'd managed to convince Dumbledore to let him, and hopeful pleas to let him ref one of their own games with amused comments on what he'd do to the other teams during such games. During the time before previously mentioned anticipated Quidditch Match, Blaise managed to run into Harry once while wandering around after dark.
Blaise was walking around the corridors, trying to bleed off a little of the restlessness that came from the rather repetitive days of schoolwork. Slytherin didn't believe females to be any good at playing Quidditch, so she wasn't able to try out even if she wanted to, and the weather was horrible enough that she'd rather stick it out with some light reading and spell practice instead of flying about.
As she was passing by another hallway, Blaise paused for a moment, glancing down the hall with a slight smirk, before continuing on her way, mirth dancing in her eyes. She continued walking for a bit, her smirk steadily growing, before glancing over her shoulder.
"You know it's kinda rude to be following people around, all invisible like that," she commented easily, inwardly laughing at the slight noise of surprise she managed to catch. "One might think you were beginning to develop a creepy stalker fetish. You're not developing a creepy stalker fetish, are you, Harry?"
"Wha? …No, I'm…but…what? How?"
A moment later, Harry threw off blushing and stuttering out denials while trying to ask questions.
"Heh, you know, this school wouldn't be half as fun if you weren't around, Harry. A near endless source of amusement, hmm?"
"How'd you know I was there, anyway?" Harry finally managed to ask, ignoring Blaise's teasing for the time being.
"That cloak of yours merely bends the light around you, thus making you invisible to normal sight. There are, however, other ways to know someone's following you around, aside from seeing them, you know," Blaise commented, while turning to keep on walking while motioning for Harry to come along. They walked for a bit in silence, before Harry suddenly spoke up.
"We found him," he said, causing Blaise to pause.
"Beg pardon?"
"Nicolas Flamel. We found him," Harry clarified, giving Blaise a calculating look.
"I suppose congratulations are in order?" Blaise asked with a combination of confusion and amusement. Harry wasn't deterred.
"I don't know how you knew, but that hint you apparently gave Hermione during Christmas break and one more clue lead us to him. So, thanks for that."
"Whatever you say," Blaise commented with a slight wave, not really saying anything about her assistance. "Don't tell me you spent all of break looking in dusty old books for this Flamel person?"
"Nah, mostly just relaxing," Harry said, a reminiscent look coming to his face. "First real Christmas, really. Even got to see my parent…Thanks for your gift, by the way. It gave everyone a few laughs."
"Your welcome. I'm guessing that none of them know that book was from one of the 'nasty' Slytherins, hmm?" Blaise commented with a slight smile, which Harry returned, understanding the lighthearted mood. "You mentioned your…parents?"
"Huh? Oh, I just found this mirror…" Harry stopped, becoming aware that he probably shouldn't be talking about that mirror after his talk with Dumbledore. Blaise wasn't really going to just let that go, though.
"Your parents were in a mirror? I think it'd be easier to hide in a portrait."
"It was a magical mirror, supposed to show what your heart really wants. How it could show me my parent's faces, even if I didn't really know what they even looked like before this, though…"
"That's incorrect," Blaise commented, getting a look from Harry. "You were over a year old when your parents died; you knew what they looked like, you just couldn't remember. Besides, this is a magic mirror, apparently. Shouldn't it just be special like that?" she finished in a rather lighthearted manner.
"Hey, I'm new to all this, remember?" Harry said, although he was smiling.
"Yeah, yeah," Blaise waived him off. "Do you still remember where this mirror was, anyway? Call it morbid curiosity, but, I wonder what exactly it would show me…" She trailed off, as Harry looked rather uncomfortable.
"I actually got caught the last time I went; Dumbledore said he'd be moving it, and told me not to search for it…"
"Dumbledore, huh? You're lucky he likes you so much," Blaise commented, while Harry gave some sort of halfhearted denial. They were silent for a moment, before Harry let out a soft snort of amusement. At Blaise's questioning look, he tried to elaborate.
"I actually asked Professor Dumbledore what he saw in the mirror, after he told me what it does, exactly. He probably wasn't really being entirely truthful, but he said something about wanting more socks for Christmas or something. Said someone actually got him some, but he was still trying to figure out who it was that actually gave them to him. Wanted to personally thank them or something." Both shared a small laugh at the thought, although each had entirely different reasons.
"So, what are you doing out here anyway? Don't tell me you actually are trying to stalk me or something," Blaise asked as they came across a staircase and started heading up.
"Nah, just couldn't sleep," Harry said, slight worry creeping into his voice.
"Quidditch?" Blaise asked, to which he nodded. "I wouldn't worry too much; you did fine last time."
"I was just about thrown off my broom, then nearly swallowed the snitch," Harry said with a rather flat voice.
"Still caught it," Blaise countered, before continuing. "And it's your own fault for not having your wand with you. A simple finite incantatem would have probably fixed it for you."
"Huh?"
"Oh, right. You mostly rely on Hermione Granger for the whole book-smart thing," Blaise commented, seeing Harry's confused look. "It's a spell used to undue most common spells and jinxes and such."
"Yeah, well, I'm more worried about Snape overdoi…" Harry trailed off, remembering that Snape was Blaise's Head of House.
"Ah, come on. He may be a right son of a bitch, but he's not that bad," Blaise remarked, realizing just what in general Harry had been about to say.
"Isn't that some kind of contradiction?" Harry asked with an over-done thinking pose.
"Eh, whatever. This is your stop, right?" Blaise mentioned, stopping slightly down the hall from the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Harry commented, before starting. "Hey, how'd we get here, anyway?"
"Well, we walked of course. It's how normal people get from point A to point B," Blaise commented in a sarcastic tone.
"But…how'd you know where the Gryffindor Common Room is, anyway?"
"I know everything," Blaise said with a tone of arrogance, before ruining it by breaking into giggles.
"Yeah, yeah, see you later Blaise," Harry commented, before turning off to the portrait, but he had a slight smile all the same.
"G'night Harry," Blaise commented, before turning to head to her own bed, while commenting in a whisper; "Just a bit longer, then this year will be done, and everything can truly begin."
chapter 4; end
AN: Eh, sorry to anyone actually waiting for this to be finished. I have no excuse as to why this has taken almost a year. A combination of boredom, overactive imagination, and a number of reviews are what spawned this update (although, sitting in a hotel room on vacation with a computer and no internet could have also played a big part :D. If it makes anyone feel any better, I'll be in the same/similar situation soon, so there may be another chapter out soon).
I know I'm rushing things a bit, but really? The first couple of years aren't really all that interesting. Again, special thanks to all the reviewers, and a bit of a special thanks to reviewers like Fire Dolphin, notBald, and Wzd JA who left some extra comments and such for me to think on. It actually helps somewhat, seeing as half the time this story seems to be writing itself (honestly? One of the reasons this took so long; most of this wasn't really planned out beforehand at all :P). I might just end up incorporating some of the things people suggest, so don't be shy! :)
For any commenting on a pairing (since that seems to be a favorite topic, no matter what), I'm not really sure. What happens, will happen. Although, to be honest, I'm not quite sure who I would pair Blaise with. This may turn off a few readers, but the only one I probably would pair her with, if anyone, would be Harry (kinda odd, but by my definition of existence and sense-of-self, they are different people. No clue about genetics, though).
Any questions, comments, suggestions, and/or concerns can be directed in the form of a review or PM (*hinthint*)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JKR, not me