Heading down to the great hall he paused by the Entrance Hall and watched as all the Durmstrang students submitted their names into the Goblet. He gave his charming smile to a couple of the girls who looked his way and then proceeded into the Great Hall sliding into a chair beside Anton. The seventh year kissed him chastely on the cheek and enquired after the Greengrass girls whom, Blaise assured him, had slept soundly.
The Hall was busier than it normally was, several people milling around with pieces of toast, watching people drop their names into the fyre. He heard snatches of conversation as he sat at his table, not thinking about anything in particular,
"...has to be Cedric" Hannah Abbott was saying intently to Susan Bones, "did you see him duel Nathan in the common room last week? He's amazing!" Blaise sorely doubted this, betting he could take the Hufflepuff with his hands tied behind his back, but he didn't voice this opinion and focused his attentions on Cho Chang and her curly haired friend Marietta, "...can't tell anyone" Chang whispered in hushed tones,
"I don't even know why I did it..." the conversation trailed off, and Blaise assumed she was referring to her 'sordid' affair with Sebastian. By the time he'd listened in to various peoples conversations many more of his house had wandered down to breakfast and he smiled as a sleepy Adrianne sat down in his lap, brushing sleepy dust from her eyes and grabbing a piece of toast from his plate. He smirked down at her and reached for the jam, to spread it more liberally on to his remaining toast. As they sat their quietly they heard a small bang from the entrance hall, and turned around to see to Weasley twins in a heap of the floor with long identical white beards, the Goblet spitting gold sparks furiously. Adrianne rolled her eyes at their being so simple minded and naive and they turned back to their toast.
Blaise wondered how two sixteen year olds thought they could trick the Fyre and indeed Dumbledore into believing they were old enough, he truly hoped they weren't stupid enough to have tried an ageing potion. Standing up with Adrianne they meandered out of the Hall and arrived in the entrance just as the Beaxbatons students dropped their names into the Goblet. His eyes lingered for a while on a girl who looked like a half veela and he watched as her thin frame danced out of the hall and into the grounds, he hair streaming out behind her and catching the light.
"I'll see you later," he said abandoning Adrianne in the hall and following the girls retreating back into the grounds. He followed as she practically floated to the lake and sat under a tree by herself, retrieving a book from her bag. He advanced towards her and stood next to the tree, "Mind if I join you?" he spoke fluently to her in their native tongue, she looked up and smiled a hundred watt smile at him, her eyes drinking him in, "not at all" she replied smoothly, "feel free". "Missing home?" he asked her quietly, indicating the French culture book she had on her lap, "only a little," she replied carefully, "its quite exciting to be here and mixing with all of you, and most of the people I have talked to have spoken my language." Blaise smiled, knowing she would be referring to people in his house, or maybe a few well educated Ravenclaws.
"You included" she said smiling at him again, "I aim to please," Blaise smiled back and looked at her from under his eyelashes, a favourite trick of Draco's. "What's your name sweetheart?" he asked her, running his fingers over the back of her knuckles, "Fleur Delacour" she replied, shivering slightly at his touch, "et toi?" she asked in return, he smiled, how appropriate he though her name was, "it suits you very well" he said smoothly, "et Blaise," he answered her question, "Blaise Zabini." As they conversed under the large tree, he examined her perfect face; her large, sky blue, almond shaped eyes, her profound cheekbones, her smooth, flawless skin and her dusty pink heart shaped lips. She inched closer to him as they moved the conversation to family, and he wondered whether to play the 'broken home' card to achieve her sympathies.
"Tell me about your parents" she said softly, "Describe them to me," he decided against it. "I live with my mother," he intoned quickly, "we live in the south of France, just off the coast in Zabini Manor and I have no siblings." She smiled encouragingly and so he continued, "I get on well enough with my mother," he said lying through his teeth, "I share her interest in trying new cuisine". Fleur smiled at him then looked at her watch, "Goodness!" she exclaimed as she realised the time, "I need to go and find my school, I must arrive at lunch with them." Blaise nodded and stood, offering her his hand, which she obligingly took and he pulled her up. He was taller than her, though not by much and she kissed him on the cheek as they drew apart. From across the lawns she turned evasively and gave him a smouldering glance, before spinning back round and moving away and advanced to the large blue carriage.
Blaise did not go to the Great Hall for lunch; instead he wandered back to the common room. Upon his entering he saw Theo sat by himself on the couch nearest the fire, pouring over a book, so he approached him quietly and sat down. Anyone who knew Theo at all knew not to disturb him whilst he was reading, some of the Slytherins often jokingly referred to him as 'The Slytherin Granger', which amused Blaise greatly, but not so much Theodore. He noticed Blaise and glanced up,
"hey" he said briefly, "how come you're not at lunch with the others?" Blaise shrugged, not entirely sure why he had skipped out on food, "just didn't fancy it," he said finally and plucked the book out of Theo's hands to read the front cover, "Astronomy Uncovered" he read aloud rolling his eyes, "by Pamela Minett ... sounds riveting" Theo thumped Blaise and took his book back, "I'm not asking you to read it" he said simply, "why don't you go annoy someone else?"
"Excellent suggestion!" Blaise said jovially and his eyes scanned the room quickly. He spotted third year Genevieve Mason sat in a corner staring at the wall and he bounced cheerfully over to her, "Jenny darling" he said jauntily, "how've you been?" she fixed him with a hard stare, "don't call me 'Jenny darling'" she said monotonously, then she grinned at him, "not so bad" she said, "and yourself?" he returned her smile, "fine, just fine" he replied, then – "bored sweetheart?" he questioned, "only you seem to have been sat staring at a wall for a while, by yourself" he finished with a condescending tone and she rolled her eyes and said, "yeah, maybe a little, everyone else went to lunch, but I didn't fancy it." "Anything you do fancy doing" he said suggestively, walking his fingers up her leg. He'd had Genevieve before, actually he was fairly confident he'd been her first, and she hadn't been half bad considering.
"Nah, sorry babe" she said brushing of his hand, "I'm with someone." Blaise sighed dramatically, "who?" he said sounding exasperated, she grinned and said, "Danny Gregorovitch, he's meeting me here soon" Blaise stepped back sharply and glanced around, Anton's brother, a fifth year and notorious for jealousy. He'd been in plenty of duels with guys when he had suspicions of them being after his girl. A voice sounded from behind Blaise,
"Gen, hun, you ready?" Danny had appeared and came closer slipping an arm around Genevieve, he looked at Blaise and smiled, "how you doing Zabini?" he asked, "just keeping Gen company were you?" Blaise smiled easily at Danny, "Good thanks, Gregorovitch, and yeah, she was just asking me whether you thought her hair would look nice," he said smoothly, not missing a beat, "to which I replied she looked fine, and anyway, you wouldn't mind if she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards." Danny smiled looking pleased with himself, "yeah course," he said, then – "we'll be off then, come on Gen," he lead her out of the common room and Blaise shook his head smiling to himself. "I saw that" said Theo coming up behind Blaise, he, shaking his head at him. Blaise grinned impishly and shrugged, "I was bored" he said simply, "and she's hot" Theo supplied helpfully, looking at him. "Well, yeah" said Blaise grinning again, "that too."
They went back over to the sofa and talked briefly until the others started to drift back in from lunch. Nicolette came in with the girl he didn't know the first name of and wandered over to him, "hey sweetheart" he said cheerfully, "who's your friend?" she sat in his lap and smiled, "this is Jade Donovan" she said equally as cheerfully, "not really seen you today..." she trailed off and Blaise hugged her, "I know, yeah, I guess I've been busy." Theodore gave a scathing cough and Blaise smiled politely and stepped on his foot, hard. Nicolette smiled adoringly at Blaise, blissfully unaware and Blaise kissed the top of her head and she nestled into him.
"Wakey wakey sleepy head!" A familiar voice shouted all too familiar words at him and Blaise jolted awake. Nicolette was still curled up on him, but now with her eyes open, squinting slightly and Draco stood above them, wearing a satisfied smirk and looking quite pleased with himself. Blaise reached out to kick Draco in the shins, but he stepped back, his grin broadening and looking even more pleased.
"The feast's about to start" Draco announced to them both, "everyone else has gone, but I volunteered to be the one to gently wake you two from your slumber. Aren't I kind?" Draco beamed at them and Blaise shook the sleep off him and stood up, taking Nicolette with him. He took Nicky's hand and Draco took her other and they exited the common room together, walking down to the Great Hall. They slid into an available niche in the bench and Blaise gave Anton, beside him, a small smile. As Nicolette squirmed beside him, Blaise looked around the hall to see many other people getting inpatient and craning their necks to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating. When at long last he had he got to his feet, the hall was silenced almost immediately and everyone gazed expectantly at him some of the other teachers and judges looking tense and slightly uncomfortable.
"Well the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore, "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the hall, walk along the staff table and go through into the next chamber' - he indicated the door behind the staff table –'where they will be receiving their first instructions." With a wave of his wand all the usual candles went out, leaving only those in the pumpkin decorations still lit. The fyre in the Goblet was now so bright it almost hurt to look at it, but everyone stayed firmly fixed on it, watching and waiting. The flames turned suddenly red and sparks flew from it, Blaise glanced down slightly as he heard Nicolette's sharp intake of breath as a tongue of flame shot in the air and a piece of charred parchment floated down. The flames turned back to their natural blue-white colour and Dumbledore held the parchment by it to read it,
"The champion for Durmstrang" he read in a strong, clear voice, "Will be Victor Krum." The hall cheered and clapped loudly for him as he got up from their table and slouched towards the top table, Blaise could hear Karkaroff loudly congratulating his student even over all the noise. When the cheers had dies down, everyone focused again on the Goblet, and it wasn't long before the flames glowed red again and another piece of parchment was shot into the air. Dumbledore caught it expertly and read,
"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" as cheers erupted, Blaise smiled to himself at is newfound friends retreating back, ne felt a small nudge in his side and Anton pointed at the Ravenclaw table at the openly sobbing girls who hadn't been chosen, "reckon they'll need a bit of consoling afterwards." He said with a small wink and Blaise smirked back at him and craned his neck slightly to get a better view of the upset Beauxbatons students. "I want the pouty brunette." Blaise said slyly to Anton, "that's fine by me, mate" he replied, "You know I prefer blondes anyway."
Blaise grinned slightly as he remembered the moment when he'd walked in on Anton and Draco, in quite a compromising position, to discover that Anton did indeed prefer Blondes. They turned back to the Goblet just as the third piece of parchment shot out of the Goblet to reveal Hogwarts champion. "The Hogwarts champion" Dumbledore called, "Is Cedric Diggory!" Blaise raised his eyebrows sceptically as the entire Hufflepuff table jumped to their feet stamping and screaming for their champion. "Well," said Draco, leaning around Nicolette, "I think I'll be cheering for Krum." Blaise half smiled at Draco, and then winked, "I think I'm rooting for Fleur" he said coyly. Draco smirked at him, "I saw you with her the other day." He said suggestively, "Any chance of" – but he was cut off as the Goblet glowed for a fourth time and another piece of parchment floated down. Almost automatically it seemed Dumbledore reached and caught it and there was a deadly silence before he cleared his throat and read out, "Harry Potter." Blaise could hear people muttering all around him, but as of yet Potter hadn't moved and he stretched to look over peoples heads and see where Potter sat unmoving.
"Harry Potter". Dumbledore called again. "Harry! Up here, if you please!" he saw the mudblood give Potter a slight push and he stood up and began the slow walk up to the table. Blaise watched as the Hufflepuffs glared daggers at him, but other people just looked shocked and confused. "So, how do you reckon Potters managed that one" Seb leaned across to talk just as Potter disappeared into the side chamber. The table joined in to talk animatedly about the hot new topic, but Blaise thought. Potter. He thought, Potter was not an exceptionally gifted wizard; his magic wasn't that special, hell, even he, Blaise, had more chance of getting his name in by himself than potter would have done. "I don't think he entered himself." Blaise said slowly, and the table turned to look at him, "Let's be realistic," he continued, "Potter isn't that clever, and it takes a lot of powerful magic to trick that Goblet." It let this sink in and saw Theo nodding at him from across the table, "you're probably right," he said, "I mean, Potters only our age, what chance could he have with the Fyre?" "Yeah, I agree," Pansy joined in the conversation, "If we don't know how to trick the Goblet, then Potter definitely doesn't." "Yeah" Draco said, "even if he had help from the mudblood, our magic is certainly superior to theirs." There were murmurings of agreement around the table and then Christina stood up, "I think if we're going to continue this discussion we should go back to the dorm" she said, "just in case."
More people nodded and the majority off their table stood up to walk back to the dorms. Blaise gave a half smile as he recognised Nicolette's small fingers clasp his own, running her thumb over the back of his knuckles. He brushed her hair off her forehead and they advanced to the common room together. Settling in their usual squashy chair by the fire she said nothing as she leaned back into him and Blaise knew she'd be asleep in moments. Anton and another seventh year, named Damon Rowle sat on the sofa opposite him, still in deep conversation about the recent turn of events. Blaise half listened and then was suddenly forced to join in as he was addressed,
"you're in Potters classes, aren't you Blaise?" Blaise inclined his head slightly "quite a few of them yes, I see him in Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow." "No, that's not why I was asking" Damon intoned, "We were just continuing to doubt Potters magical skill and therefore his ability to have got his name into the Goblet." "Ah" Blaise caught on, "this is what we were discussing at the table, it's impossible for Potter to have entered himself, some of our second years have more power than he does." Anton leaned back satisfied, "That's what I thought" he said smugly, then – "so, the question is, how did his name end up in that Goblet?" Sebastian and Janette sat on one of the other sofas joining in the conversation, "We think it's unlikely that another student put it in for him," Seb said animated, "One, would that even work? Would the Goblet recognise the trick? And two, the personal risk, in case it backfired or a teacher found out." "Very true" Christina's voice joined the conversation as she and Carter sat down in front of the fire, "So that leaves very few options." The circle nodded, "The most likely" Blaise continue, "is it's someone who wants to hurt Potter." "Which," said Damon, "Isn't a problem in itself, but it's who's done it that's the issue." "Do you think this and the content of Daphne's letter are connected?" a new voice joined the group. Blaise glanced up and saw 6th year Dallas Macnair, settling next to Janette,
"That's actually a very interesting idea," Anton said approvingly, and Dallas smirked, "If interesting is the right word." "yeah, its a bit odd, that the second we get a letter announcing the Dark Lords revival, Potter is entered in the one of the most dangerous competitions ever." Christina said, "An extremely unlikely coincidence." "So who do we think actually put his name in?" said a voice, and Blaise turned again, not realising Draco had joined the circle. "Its not like the place is crawling with deatheaters." "It's also unlikely that he was entered from someone outside." Janette said cautiously and Seb nodded, encouraging her, "The walls of Hogwarts are too strongly protected for someone to have entered and left without detection." "Also a fair point" said Anton objectively, "Which means its someone we know," said Blaise, "Someone from inside the castle has magic strong enough to get Potters name in there - which isn't a very uncomfortable thought." Everyone in the group nodded, "This doesn't sit well." Said Christina, "Someone here is dangerous and in league with him." There was an uneasy silence around the circle until Anton stood up, "Well," he said, somewhat finally, "We can weigh up the possibilities tomorrow, but for now, I think everyone should go to bed."
He glanced pointedly at Blaise who realised Nicolette was asleep on his chest. He smiled at her fondly as the circle disbanded, wishing each other good night and heading to their respective dormitories. Blaise carefully picked up Nicolette and carried her into the first year girl's dorm. He went in and found Jade already in Nicky's bed, and with a smile he tucked them both up together and kissed their foreheads. He smiled down at their angelic forms and then headed back through the common room to his own dorm. He saw Anton still there, stood and gazing into the fire, Blaise went over and put an arm around his waist leaning his head on the taller boys shoulder. Anton half smiled at Blaise, slipping his arm around his shoulders and pulling him closer.
"It's gone wrong so quickly Blaise," he said forlornly, "and it's going to get alot worse." He sighed and Blaise was sure he saw his eyes glistening. Anton gripped Blaise tighter and spun him round to face him, "we're going to have to be even more careful this year," he said, "everyone must be accounted for at all times and believe you me, the Greengrasses are only the first to suffer." Blaise nodded as Anton pressed his lips to his, the kiss was desperate and fierce and Blaise welcomed it. He opened his mouth slightly and Anton forced his tongue inside and they began the fight for dominance. He shoved Blaise up against the wall and ravished his mouth. Anton won in the end and Blaise had no idea how long he stood against the wall, Anton pressing against him. He suddenly pulled away and lay on the sofa, holding his arms open to Blaise, he went to him straight away and they continued to kiss. Blaise felt Anton's slender fingers glide up his shirt and caress his toned chest. The kiss was broken briefly as Blaise pulled Anton's sweater over his head, but their lips were soon locked as they each unbuttoned the others shirt, leaving them half torn on the floor. As Anton started on Blaise's belt buckle they heard a small gasp behind them,
"Oh!" and opening one eye Blaise saw Nicolette staring at them, with tears sliding down her face. He sat bolt upright pulling Anton with him, who only just registered the first year. "What is it baby girl" Blaise asked, half exasperated, half deathly concerned for his weeping child. "No," she said turning slightly, "No, you're er... busy." Blaise smirked at Anton slightly, but his concern for his girl beat his lust. Anton sat up fully and looked at the little girl stood before him, tears pouring down her face and he thought what he said to Blaise earlier this evening, "It's alright sweetheart," he said, "come here, I don't bite, promise." Blaise felt he could argue this point quite strongly, considering the incriminating evidence he had on his neck, bur felt this would certainly not encourage Nicky, so he merely smiled and beckoned her over. She came willingly enough and then paused before sitting in Blaise's lap, she wrapped her little arms around his neck and sobbed onto his shoulder. Anton sighed and rubbed her back reassuringly, before kissing Blaise's cheek and standing up,
"I'll see you both tomorrow." He said quietly exiting the room, leaving Blaise with his crying child. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, baby?" he said softly "or shall I have a guess?" Nicolette shrugged slightly, "nightmare" she said in her tiny voice, "and you told me to come to you if I had one!" "Nicky, Nicky!" he stroked her cheek, "You don't need to try and justify yourself." He hugged her small frame and her shoulders drooped as she relaxed, "Do you want to tell me what it was about?" He said gently, she looked at him through her long, wet eyelashes and opened her mouth. "I don't really like my house," she said delicately, "or rather, I don't like the people who live in my house." She closed her eyes for a second as though she expected him to rebuke her, when he did not she carried on, "well, I suppose mother can be alright, she doesn't hurt me like he does, but neither does she stop him." When she said those words Blaise realised he had been right and he clutched her more tightly to him, "he tells me he loves me," said Nicolette, "but if he truly did then I wouldn't have had to learn glamour charms." Blaise cringed inwardly as he thought of someone hurting the dainty little gem that he held so dearly. "Not anymore" said Blaise, "he won't hurt you anymore." He stood up wrapping the tiny girl into his arms and turned down the stairs to his dorm room. She said nothing as he slipped on some pyjama bottoms and tucked her up next to him in bed. She said nothing as he pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead. And she said nothing as she relaxed into him and closed her eyes.
