Chapter Seven: Defend Yourselves

A/N: This is a chapter mainly about Draco and Blaise; sorry about all the viewpoint changes, but I thought I should vary a bit in this situation. REVIEW PEOPLE! They keep me happy and they keep me going :')

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A comforting hand found its way to Draco's shoulder as Blaise watched him stare at the ruins of his once grand house. Draco looked down at his feet and looked as though he was struggling to put the situation into words.

"Draco I am lost for words that would be any comfort to you, I do not know what to do but may I suggest we go and search for things that may be precious to you?" Snape felt uncomfortable around the two grieving young men, he knew they would prefer to be alone to help each other but he was under strict instruction to not let them wonder off alone.

The young blond did not answer but walked in the direction of the ashes that were once his home, Blaise and Snape walked behind him.

Draco's eyes searched for anything he recognized, but what was left of his possessions was charred and twisted, he noticed a gleam of white beyond the blackened surroundings. He picked up the object and to his disgust found it was his fathers death eater mask, he looked angrily up at Snape.

"Typical, this would be the only thing that survived, the only thing my father cared about," he hurled the mask and watched it shatter into pieces, this gave him some satisfaction. He smirked in the same old fashion he had done for years, it was a smirk that bored into Blaise's very being feel and made him feel sick. It showed all of Draco's hatred towards Voldemort and the Death-eaters and reminded Blaise of the pain he had seen his best friend go through.

Draco had grown up in the manor, it was where he had first rode a broom, where he had first met Blaise when their mothers arranged a play date, and where he first started to appreciate his talents. The house had not been gone long but he missed it. Although there were bad memories, he would miss sitting on his window ledge and looking out over the many hills and dales that rolled around the outer edge of the Malfoy grounds. He would miss the serenity that came from sitting under a tree in mid springtime with one of his many books and analysing it until he knew every thought and feeling that went into it. He liked to spend time alone in the house and its grounds and he would most certainly miss his mother, now he had little reminder of her. Yes, the Malfoy heir owned several other mansions in the English countryside but none of them would have his mothers touch, none of his rooms would have his silk pyjamas neatly folded at the end of the bed, nor would they be pristinely clean with everything sparkling and precise order; biggest to smallest, alphabetical or just in order from favourite to least favourite. He missed his mother dearly and it saddened him to think of his childhood where she had picked him up and swung him round then folded him into her soft yet strong arms. Arms that were ever so protective of him, they stopped him receiving the dark mark and also from time to time had held him while he was unconscious on the floor from Lucius's torture.

"Shall we head over to yours now?" Draco looked worriedly at Blaise, he did not want to see the Zabini mansion like this, Blaise's parents had adored him and Draco, and the young Malfoy boy knew how much home meant to his companion.

Blaise swallowed hard and nodded, they turned to Snape and with a flick of the man's wand they were stood outside a similar wreckage. The Zabini Mansion had once been a hosting place of Christmas balls and Birthday Dinner Parties. Draco had enjoyed these times so much, where he and Blaise would sneak out and either sit just talking or play Quidditch – he knew exactly how his best friend was feeling at this exact moment and he wanted nothing more than to comfort him and tell him that everything was going to be okay, but he knew nothing would really ever be the same again.

Blaise took a step forward, his body shaking he scanned the ruins for some small comfort, and his eyes widened.

"What the fuck?" His voice penetrated the deadly silence, Snape quickly turned round to see what was wrong.

"What? What is it?" He felt protective of the two boys and would help with whatever Blaise's problem was, the tanned boy in front of him pointed to the blazed out building.

Draco was already picking up the Zabini fathers death-eater mask and examining it.

"Not a scratch, how weird," he studied it more and held it out to Blaise.

"I don't fucking want it, do I? That's the thing that lost me my parents and now my fucking home too," his eyes sparkled as tears began to form, he looked at Draco in a way that said 'What can I do?' but he knew even his intelligent friend could not answer this, or even begin to work it out. He snatched the mask and threw it to the ground before vending his anger onto it and stamping on the porcelain until it looked more like white sand.

Snape pulled his cloak tightly round himself; he had a bad feeling about this, but now was not the time to discuss it with the boys. He brought them both back to him from the burnt site and apparated to the dock that brought first years to Hogwarts via boats. As they sailed towards the school the air fell cold and all were silent, contemplating the masks and how oddly they had been the only things to survive the flames at both estates. Draco sat with his head in his hands, not knowing what to do frustrated him and he needed to have some sort of answer, some link to why the masks had been the only things to survive, perfect as if they were new. Too perfect at that, they did not even look worn, this worried the boy to the point the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

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Upon arrival back into Hogwarts grounds, Snape left the two boys to talk alone. Draco sat on a bench near to the front doors of the school and motioned for Blaise to join him. The dark haired boy sat down but did not speak; he looked down at his feet as his cheeks reddened with anger.

He looked so childlike Draco had to put an arm round him. "Blaise…I don't understand this, and I don't think I will for a long time but, I think we should go back during the Christmas holidays, there are some charms that can repair small objects. You know, things we can remember our parents by."

Blaise sniffed, "You seriously want to remember your dad? He was nuts," the Italian smiled and looked up, "But I know what you mean, and I think it's a good idea."

"I just don't understand the ma-"

"Don't," Blaise's jaw clenched, "I don't want to talk about that."

"One day?"

The boy nodded in reply and repeated softly, "One day."

Draco's arm slid from round his best friend and he used it to hold himself instead, small protection from the cold, he was not ready to go in, the sun was just going down and the sky high above the two boys would soon be netted with the lights of a thousand stars and more. His lips curved upwards at this thought, he loved to gaze at the glittering orbs that twinkled at night, it made him feel small and insignificant, he could ruin everything for himself and yet nothing up there would change. He would never make a difference. This thought comforted Draco Malfoy in many ways.

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Harry left Hermione in the library, taking her mind off the day's events, instead of going to dinner he decided to visit Hagrid, he had not seen much of him this year and he wanted to thank him for his help during the war. The half-giant had fought so selflessly, marking Harry and defending him every step of the way, even when faced with the horror of Lord Voldemort. He walked along the corridors, the paintings flashed past him, he had never gazed upon them long enough to figure out their meaning, he promised himself he would as he turned into the entrance hall and pushed the heavy oak door.

The wind was sharp and cold; it stung Harry's eyes until they streamed. Harry jumped as voices came from round a curved corner, he looked round to see who was out in such awful weather and saw Draco comforting Blaise. He paused for a while not sure of what to do, he didn't want to be an intruder, yet he wanted so badly to express his own outrage at the ministry. He stepped quietly over to them and waited until they looked up.

"Hello Harry," Draco said, budging up to allow his new found friend to sit beside him.

"Hi… you two okay?" he bit his lip, ready for some sort of bitter reply.

"We're okay, just fucking furious," Blaise replied, he smiled at Harry, glad someone cared to ask how they were instead of avoiding the question as most would have done.

"I don't blame you; that were completely unnecessary and vicious."

Draco nodded, "Bastards." He frowned, "I ought to sue; I had a lot of valuables."

Harry grinned; his tummy had flipped as Draco's elegant eyebrows had narrowed to create a stern and powerful look.

Draco's shoulders relaxed, he felt so much more at ease around Harry, he didn't know if it was the boys open aura or warmth that made him feel so free or whether it was something completely different, but he liked being so relaxed.

"How was potions without Snape?" he asked, he was annoyed to have missed his favourite lesson but glad it wouldn't have been that bad because he had been with his master while it had been in order.

"Brilliant, we did absolutely nothing, Tonks was in charge," Harry smiled at Draco and got a breathtaking smile in return.

The looks lingered for a while and the Gryffindor boy felt his heart begin to pound in his chest, he was about to break the bond when Draco's eyes narrowed and his head swung to Blaise who was gripping onto his arm with some force.

"What is it?" Draco asked, swallowing hard.

"Over there," his friend nodded over to the trees on the outer edge of the forbidden forest.

Harry concentrated and finally found a small figure silhouetted, half hiding behind a trunk.

"Who is it?" he whispered, he knew whoever it was could not hear but something inside warned him, he knew nothing good would come of the person who was stood watching them from across the lawn.

"No idea, but they're about to get a blasting," Blaise stood and pulled his wand from inside his robes, his best friend pulled the instrument from his grip.

"We don't know who it is, moron."

"I don't care who it is, their creepy."

"He has a point," Harry inputted.

"No, he doesn't, for all we know, that could be Flitwick's tiny frame spying on us wondering why we aren't eating," Draco said heatedly, pointing towards their spectator.

Blaise looked at Harry and raised his eyebrows, "Tell him Harry."

"Don't you try and manipulate him," Draco shook the boy a bit.

"I'm not but seriously Dray, I'm not that sure that the gawping git over there has our best interests at heart."

"Neither am I Blaise and I'm sure Harry's wary too, but, we'll wait here and see who it is before we fire them into oblivion okay?" He unhanded the edgy teen he was addressing and stepped back.

"Are you kidding? I'm freezing my arse off here and that could take hours."

"Not really, their heading this way," Harry was stiff with nerves as he pointed this out, he agreed with Blaise and was suspicious of the character whose face they could not see.

Both Slytherins turned quickly, and true to Harry's word the silhouette was moving slowly towards them, fighting against the wind and trying not to lose their footing, it looked so sinister, all three boys stood watching took hold of their wands, ready for the unexpected to happen. Unknowing that their friends had done the same as them, and unknowing that this was probably the wisest choice they would ever make.

--

Hermione sighed as she flicked through the pages of a book on mountain trolls and how to trick or defeat them, she couldn't concentrate. She wanted Harry to come back, just so she would have some form of company, and someone to talk about the fires with. She smiled at the thought of Harry's confession; he and Draco would make such a handsome couple she could hardly argue against her friend's choice of partner. Although Ron would not be happy about it, not one bit. Then again, Ron Weasley was not happy about much these days, she missed his company and let herself fall forwards to bang her head on the desk.

"Ow," her muffled voice said, to what she thought was an empty room.

Someone sat beside her and she looked up, said redhead was smiling apologetically at her, his crystal blue eyes deep with concern. For a second she thought she was dreaming, but had it been a dream the hair would be black and fluffy, and the face would belong to Blaise Zabini. But it was not a dream and the boy in front of her did not hesitate to speak.

"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry about giving you and Harry the cold shoulder for so long. It'll take me a long time to get used to you two liking Malfoy and that lot, but I want my friends back and I know how stubborn I am, and I really am sorry, he looked down, embarrassed.

"Its fine Ronald, I understand, I know how awful he's been to all of us in the past and I understand your concern about him and Harry being close, after all they were after each others blood for years."

"Yeah, I'm glad you understand 'Mione, I guess I was a bit jealous of that extreme magic class too. How's that going?" He smiled, now relaxing; it had gone easier than he expected, there had been no rant from his friend.

Hermione noticed Ron's nickname and wondered if he had seen her talking to Blaise and thought he would stop them getting together, 'He can think again if he thinks he's stopping me dating who I like,' she thought, before replying, "It's nothing worth being jealous about, just small wandless magic, your mother could teach you."

"Cool, yeah I suppose your right, so, where's Harry? I need to talk to him too."

Hermione's eyes widened, she had thought Harry had gone to dinner, Ron would have seen him there, one word popped into her head. 'Draco,' She regretfully shrugged Ron off "I don't know, maybe he's gone to get an early night."

"Oh, I'll tackle him tomorrow then," the boy nodded in agreement to his own sentence. "So, what's he like?"

Hermione looked confused at the last statement; the boy looking at her rolled his eyes as if she were stupid.

"Malfoy, what's he really like? Who is the man behind the ice mask?"

Hermione snorted, "Ice mask?! And he's lovely, he's charming and funny and intelligent and he's the kind of head boy this school needs to keep things running smoothly."

Ron nodded again, "He's certainly impressed you fast, I hope you're not falling for him."

"No, I'm most certainly not," Hermione frowned, if she was falling for anyone, it was Blaise. Her thoughts wondered off at this tangent as she remembered how he'd stroked her hair and given her a sweet nickname, and how every time he saw her he'd smile, showing off his pearly white teeth that beautifully clashed with his tanned smooth skin. She daydreamed of how it would feel to lie in his arms, or how it would be to kiss him and be loved by him. She thought about how girls would be so jealous and shocked, they would never expect him to like someone like her, he was drop dead gorgeous and she was the shy studious girl. Yet somehow when they were together they fitted perfectly.

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"Hermione? Are you even listening to me?" Apparently Ron had been talking at her for some time.

"Sorry, sorry, I was away with the fairies, what did you say?"

"I said, are you doing homework?" he tutted folded his arms.

"No, I'm just reading, I can't really get into it tonight," Her hand shoved the book closed and pushed it away from her.

"Right, then, come on, let's go sit in the common room and talk, I'm bloody freezing here!" The red head pulled at her arm impatiently, she stood to walk with him. She would have to find Blaise to speak with him in the morning. And would have to corner Harry about his emotions too.

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"Can anyone make out who it is yet?" Draco asked, squinting in the darkness to try and figure out whose shape it was. It was too plump to be Flitwick.

"Not me." Harry breathed, condensation clouding in front of his mouth.

"Me neither, but I suggest you both do as I have and get ready to defend yourselves."

"I'm ready," Harry and Draco said in unison, they looked at each other and smiled before turning back to the strange shape moving increasingly further towards them.

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A/N: So that's it for you I'll get right to work on the next bit around Monday night, I've had writers black for a while now, but the next chapter should be interesting PLEASEE REVIEW PEOPLE. I appreciate it and I need them to keep me in the mood for updating (: thanks, VIKEMON x

P.S; thank you to those who have added this story to their alerts/ favourites list- much gratitude [= KEEP READING.