Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 11
I was on a multi-day roadtrip, which delayed this chapter. Sorry.
Enjoy Chapter 11.
Disclaimer: This is the last one, because it's pointless. I don't own Harry Potter. 'Nuff said.
oOo
Blaise Zabini had never had a very happy relationship with his mother. Whenever he heard talk about loving family and caring parents, he'd snort with derision. He'd never known anything loving or caring. All he knew was a cruel, greedy woman who was way too good at killing for her own good.
Back when Blaise had been only nine years old, he had become disillusioned with his mother ever since his second stepdad had died. Blaise had genuinely liked the man, as the man had cared for him, despite not being his actual father. The man had acted as a father figure, which was someone Blaise had truly lacked throughout most of his childhood. He couldn't remember his true father, as he had died a few years after Blaise was born.
Blaise would never forget how his stepfather had just slumped silently to the floor one day during dinner. He had been perfectly fine moments before, but after taking a drink from a goblet of wine that a House Elf had given him, he had just slumped over. His mother had, obviously, played the role of a shocked wife, and later grieving widow, nearly perfectly. Except for one slight flaw. Blaise had noticed, right before stepfather number two had slumped over, a small, anticipatory, feral grin on his mother's face. He would never forget that look.
Now his mother had sent her a letter, expecting him to immediately obey her just like he used to. But the war had changed Blaise in more ways than one. He was no longer the scared, obedient child of his youth, where he was constantly worried that his mother was plotting to kill him. He could stand up for himself.
Blaise crumpled up the paper in anger. He would have to talk to Potter, and warn him about his mother's plans. He didn't want to be responsible or even taking part in a potential murder for his mother, and the fact that she was targeting the Boy-Who-Lived just made it all even worse.
Thankfully, it looked like Tracey and Daphne had somewhat became acquaintances with Potter. Perhaps, through them, he could set up a meeting somehow. He'd have to talk to Tracey about it.
oOo
Harry faced down Daphne Greengrass calmly. Or, well, as calmly as any male could face down the irate Ice Queen.
"What is it, Daphne?" Harry asked.
Daphne took a quick look around them, realizing that quite a few people were listening in on their conversation, especially interested that the Ice Queen was actually showing an interest in a boy, despite the fact that his name was Harry Potter.
Daphne replied, "Can we talk somewhere else?" clearly hinting that she wasn't comfortable with an audience.
Harry was tempted to refuse, and let the world see that the Ice Queen was human, but he knew that Tracey would not take kindly to him making her best friend's life difficult, and reluctantly agreed. All the bystanders, including a currently open-mouthed Neville as he got a close-up view of the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts for the first time, groaned in disappointment causing Daphne to direct her icy glare at them.
Neville was still staring, open-mouthed, until Daphne turned her gaze at him, causing him to close his mouth and turn his head in embarrassment.
"Where, Daphne?" Harry asked patiently.
"Come with me." She merely said, not wishing to disclose the location in case anybody nearby had Extendable Ears in their possession.
Harry waved for Neville to go to dinner without him, before turning to follow the girl who had already gone twenty steps ahead of him, and was now tapping her foot impatiently as she looked at him.
The two didn't speak until finally, they found a deserted corridor, and Daphne pulled him into an empty classroom.
Harry turned to find Daphne had her wand out and was looking rather angrily at him.
Harry immediately held his hands up and said, "Whoa, Whoa, what did I do? You touched me, not the other way around."
Daphne glared at him. "This has nothing to do with me, Potter. You hurt Tracey. She hasn't had the easiest life and you just had to turn her down. It was only just a party for Merlin's sake."
Harry stared at her, bewildered, until he realized that Tracey obviously hadn't gotten around to telling her about his change of heart.
"I talked to Tracey today, and I told her that it was all a misunderstanding. I'm going to the party with her. In fact, when you next see her, I suspect she'll tell you that. Now put that wand down, would you?"
Daphne was shocked. Potter had actually agreed to go with her friend?
Harry could clearly see the shock on Daphne's face, and chuckled, " Didn't think I'd go with a Slytherin, did you?"
Daphne slowly lowered her wand, the anger disappearing from her face.
Harry studied her curiously. He was surprised that she had cared enough about her friend in order for her to come and personally threaten him. However, his staring got Daphne to start glaring at him again.
"Can't stop drooling over me like half the idiots at the school, can you, Potter?" she said disdainfully.
Harry didn't say anything, but internally, he was disappointed that Daphne still thought so poorly of him. He'd have thought that she'd be polite enough to acknowledge the fact that he was more interested in her friend than herself at the moment, but Harry suspected that Daphne had let all the attention that she'd gotten from boys, no matter how unwelcome, get to her head.
Harry realized that whatever crush or feelings he'd had for Daphne were all but gone. She was truly an Ice Queen, and he didn't want to spend another moment in her condescending, cold, and unwelcoming presence. He was, admittedly, still curious about why she asked to talk to him about Tracey, and hoped that she had some form of human emotions behind the mask, but he no longer cared. Without another word, he stood, and left Daphne sitting there in the classroom. He ignored her questioning "Potter?" and just closed the door behind him, before slipping into a secret passageway leading up to Gryffindor Tower.
oOo
Daphne sat there, feeling rather shocked and a little ashamed of herself. She hadn't been thinking when she saw Potter staring at her, and had reacted negatively just as she would have if she caught any member of the opposite sex staring at her. In hindsight, Potter hadn't been staring at her in any sort of perverted way, he looked more like he was judging her. He had looked almost curious, and held some measure of respect in her eyes.
Then she just opened her mouth and was cold and hostile towards him like she was towards almost all others. She regretted it, but she hadn't expected his reaction to actually… affect her.
The look on his face was a look of disappointment, as if she'd failed to meet his expectations or something. That wasn't surprising, many gave her that look when she'd rejected them or done something nasty to them because of their foolish advances. The surprising part was that she found she cared, to some extent, about Potter's opinion of herself.
She desperately tried to rationalize to herself as to why she cared. None of them sounded even remotely legitimate.
Daphne glanced at the clock and gave a start. She'd been down here brooding about the way Potter had left her for nearly an hour. She would have to get down to the Slytherin Common Room soon, or else she'd be breaking curfew. While the Headmistress wasn't as strict as she once was over curfew, Daphne had no wish of being dragged by the ear to the Headmistress's office by Filch as it was both humiliating and painful.
She had actually cursed Filch once, back in her Second Year, when the cantankerous caretaker had pushed her past her breaking point with absurd accusations after he'd lost his cat to the basilisk that had roamed the school halls that year. She still shuddered at the memory of an irate Filch covered in boils chasing after her with a broom and attempting to smack her with it. In the end, Dumbledore had put an end to the conflict, and taken thirty points from Slytherin as well as giving her a week's worth of detentions. She made sure never to curse Filch again, at least until the Battle of Hogwarts. There, she got her revenge. It wasn't as if anybody would know who had caused Filch's body hair to grow at an alarmingly fast rate, or if anybody could figure out who had silenced and bound the caretaker upside down.
As she entered her dorm, she was immediately grabbed by Tracey who, after squealing quite excitedly for the first few seconds, told her all about what Harry had told her on top of the Astronomy Tower. She also told her about how Harry had comforted her, and how he'd made her feel better and brighten her outlook on life.
Daphne was quite impressed by Potter after her conversation with Tracey. As she lay in bed, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she'd made a mistake antagonizing Potter. He seemed to be so much more than what she knew about him. She had a strange feeling whenever she thought about Potter, that she had never felt before for any boy. She couldn't really put a description on it, until just as she was falling asleep.
It was respect.
oOo
The next morning, as Daphne and Tracey were walking down to the Great Hall, they were suddenly accosted by Blaise and dragged into an empty classroom. Daphne wasn't in the best of moods, as she was not a morning person.
"What is it, Blaise?" she said irritably.
"I need you to talk to Potter to set up a meeting between us." Blaise said urgently.
Tracey raised her eyebrows, "And why would you need to talk to Harry?"
Blaise was rather surprised that Tracey hadn't used Potter's surname, but decided not to comment.
"My mother sent me this." He said simply, handing her the crumpled letter.
Tracey quickly read through the contents, and passed it to Daphne, before turning to Blaise with a pleading look in her eyes.
"You've got to help him, Blaise. I know your mother is a master assassin, but surely you can convince her not to do it, or get her to choose another target?"'
Daphne didn't say anything, merely observing Tracey's reactions. It seemed that her best friend had become rather attached to Potter. That was dangerous, especially if he was marked for death by an assassin. Being with Potter would be dangerous, and she also had no wish to see her best friend's heartbroken. It was one of the reasons she had kept up her Ice Queen façade. She was also protecting her heart, at least until boys matured enough to not be so… flighty.
Blaise himself was even more taken aback by Tracey's interest in the well-being of Potter. Evidently, the two were a lot more than regular acquaintances.
"The best solution to this is to just tell Potter. I'm sure that he'll be able to figure something out. He defeated Voldemort, for Merlin's sake, I don't think my mom will pose much of a problem so long as he KNOWS what's coming."
After thinking it through, Tracey nodded fervently.
"I'll go tell him." She took the letter from Daphne, and ran off.
Blaise turned to Daphne with a questioning look on his face.
Daphne merely shrugged him off, and headed out the door, leaving Blaise alone, shaking his head.
What on Earth had Potter done to Tracey?
oOo
Fairly short, filler chapter. Still rather brain-dead from the all-nighter I pulled on that road trip.
Acknowledgements: wisebeyondyears (beta), James Spookie (advisor…?)
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