Chapter 13: Patience is a Virtue Someone Regrets

Zabini cursed the world as Malfoy scolded him for the nth time this evening.

He already told the platinum-blonde Slytherin that he wasn't expecting everything to spiral out of control like it that. All he wanted to do was call Matthias out on his immaturity and ingrain on that thick skull of his that he's had enough of his Muggle-loving arse. It wasn't his fault that Matthias didn't share much about his mother. It wasn't his fault he didn't know.

How could he have possibly known that Matthias' mother had been dead all this time?

Keeping personal secrets is a trait every Slytherin has. He does that. Malfoy does that. Nott does that. He should've known that Matthias does as well. Deep down, Zabini knew that he noticed. He just chose to ignore it because it wasn't important at that time. Zabini noticed, very early on, that Matthias had a habit of keeping things he wanted to keep secret, vague. Durmstrang was one of them, obviously, and his mother was one of them.

Matthias briefly mentioned his mother when they asked him about his parentage and blood purity, but didn't mention or show any indication about her fate. Everyone assumed Matthias just wasn't feeling up to talking about her, and that she was alive and well. How could he have possibly known that she wasn't?

Zabini thought he just didn't talk much about her out of respect for their bigotry, a noble gesture he thought, so he offered the same to Matthias. He kept a blind eye on just about everything Matthias did that annoyed him. The Muggle writing instruments, befriending Granger - of all people - he all ignored it.

Matthias didn't seem to notice his efforts though, because the younger only kept on pushing past the boundaries set for him. This became most apparent when they lost Malfoy for three days.

As the stand-in leader, regardless if they all denied him of that joy or not, Zabini felt like he was responsible for teaching Matthias his place. And so, he laid out rules. Rules that Matthias chose to ignore and tarnish their house's name and reputation in the process.

Zabini started the rumor that Matthias didn't belong in the snake house with them to hopefully damage Matthias' carefree nature. But somehow, someway, Matthias found a way to justify his actions to everyone. He even gained some of the Slytherin's respect for pulling off something like that. But Zabini knew better. He would bet his mother's next fiancee that Nott had something to do with it.

He didn't attempt to topple Matthias' reputation after that. Matthias basically had everyone's favor and to fight against that is social suicide. That didn't stop Zabini from being annoyed at him though. Somehow their playful banters made up for it. Zabini soon found himself forgetting his qualms with Matthias as they went on in better terms with each other, until Matthias did something stupid again.

Matthias started using a yellow colored pen on his books, that he somehow managed to get Nott to use too.

Zabini saw it as a breach of their mutual understanding, and a low blow to himself. Zabini's known Nott for three years, and he's tried to be his friend in that same time.

Much like everyone else, he knew Nott was the kind of person who preferred his own company than others. No one really minded that since he would join them whenever it was necessary, and Zabini thought similarly. He hardly even noticed Nott during their first year up until the last few hours they had left in the Express.

They somehow found each other's company in an isolated compartment and had a peaceful conversation about the year they just had. Even though it was brief and Nott was generally dismissive of him, Zabini found it remarkably comforting. In an attempt to pull him out of his shell that following year, Zabini tried to become Nott's first real friend.

His advances weren't met with enthusiasm however.

Around that time, he and Malfoy were almost inseparable because of their interests in Quidditch and almost similar stance onMudbloods. But whenever Malfoy was gone for practice, Zabini would be left alone with nothing to do. He chose to use this time to try his chances with Nott, and rubbed off wrong. It appeared as though he was only using Nott as a substitute for Malfoy, so he wasn't surprised to see Nott repeatedly rejected him.

Zabini remained stubborn despite this, and so did Nott. Their enmity towards the other remained till early this year until Matthias appeared and seemed to blur the line of acquaintance and friends among the three of them.

Zabini doesn't like losing, most especially if he hasn't won yet.

Matthias interest in befriending Nott appeared as though someone new was aiming for a prize he'd been priming for a year now. He wasn't going to let the new kid reap all of his hard work. And so, he gave Matthias the advice to forget about befriending Nott because it wasn't worth it.

True enough, Nott also denied Matthias attempts to befriend him much like he did with him; but somehow – someway – Matthias got a different result. At a much faster rate too. Suffice to say Zabini was incredibly jealous that Matthias did reaped what he's sown, but never showed it.

What he did do was try to include himself in their little bubble to figure out what he did wrong that Matthias did right. And to his surprise, the answer was staring at him right in the face. Nott accepted Matthias' hand in friendship because the latter humored the former's interest instead of his own. Matthias moved at Nott's pace and not his own, making Nott comfortable around him and yearn for his company.

Soon enough, Zabini realized that it was the same for everyone else too. Matthias won Parkinson's favor because he humored her infatuation with Malfoy and allowed her to paint his face with whatever beauty product she wanted. Malfoy, who was also initially wary of his presence, fell Matthias' charms because he played with Malfoy's need to be on top.

Zabini isn't sure if this was carefully planned from the beginning, or Matthias was simply doing this innately. Whichever it was, seeing it bear fruit around him was terrifying. Especially after witnessing that large con-act he pulled. Zabini knew there was more to Matthias than he's letting on, and he was going to find out what. And so, Zabini decided to join their two-man group in the library, despite not really wanting to spend an hour in silence surrounded by books.

What he learned was much worse than he imagined.

In groups, Matthias' charms are subverted by everyone's clashing personalities, but alone, he can be very dangerous,; especially when he has Nott helping him.

Zabini doesn't even remember how he got his hands on Matthias' toy. All he knows was that, there was some fishing that happened and he took the bait. And as much as it pains him to admit it, he actually did enjoy the game. It was a stupid, simple, and lifeless game created by Muggles, but he liked it.

He chose to deny that fact, however, choosing to blame Matthias for making him even feel a shred of interest in something made by them instead. And that's when he lost control of all his bottled emotions. The lid he put on his thoughts and emotions for the past months suddenly burst forth when Matthias begged for his toy back like it was his life; crying about this one sliver of happiness that connects him to his Muggle ancestry.

Zabini doesn't know why, but he got frustrated at that. He got frustrated with the thought that Matthias preferred his life as a Muggle than the one he has right now.

"Zabini," Malfoy's voice cracked. "Are you even listening to me?"

Zabini rolled his eyes. "Yes, your highness. I heard you loud and clear." He really didn't. It's much easier to tune out Malfoy when he's scolding his 'subjects' and pretend to listen than actually listening.

The door then suddenly creaked open, prompting everyone to their attention to it. Nott walked inside, looking a lot calmer than he did when he left; but Matthias didn't trail behind him.

"Did you find him?"

Nott shook his head. "No, but I know where he is."

"And pray, tell, where "that" is?" Zabini asked impatiently, guilt rising to his chest. Once again, he chose to ignore it.

Nott shot him a glare before turning to Malfoy, acting as though he was answering a question the blonde asked instead. "He's with the Macmillan. Abbott told me he'll be staying the night with them."

Zabini scoffed absentmindedly. How can those sweet eyed, law abiding badgers even have the guts to take in someone from Slytherin? More importantly, how did they smuggle Matthias inside their common room?

"She also told me to give this to you," Nott added as he fished out a relatively small bud, covered in thin flowering vines, from his pocket while looking Zabini.

"Me?" Zabini echoed. "I've never even talked to her."

"I know," Nott mumbled indifferently, "but she told me to give it to you anyway." He threw the bud towards Zabini and the latter tried to catch it with his hands, only to come short by a few.

The moment the bud hit the floor, it split into two halves to sprout much larger and thicker vines. Zabini backed away, yelling in panic when vines began coiling around his left ankle. "What's going on?!" he cried out, confused, "Nott!"

Nott blinked indifferently at Zabini and ignored the latter's cry for help. He simply turned on his heels and retreated to bed.

Zabini grit his teeth while he clung unto his bedpost for support when another vine wrapped around his right ankle. More vines sprout from the floret, forcing him to let go of his bed post and lose balance. He fell face first on the cobblestone floor in a loud thud. Despite feeling the pain explode from his forehead, Zabini forced himself to move and pushed himself upright. The vines slowly snaked its way up his legs, so Zabini tried pulling them off him; but this proved to be futile when about five more vines coiled up his body.

"A little help would be nice," he snapped at Malfoy who was simply watching him fumbled over the vines with slight amusement. Goyle kept glancing at Malfoy as though waiting for him to say something, while Crabbe frantically searched for his wand then aimed it at Zabini's face.

"NO! HEY! WHOA!" Zabini panicked when he saw the tip glow a faint reddish hue. As if he'd trust any spell Crabbe throws at him. "ANYONE BUT YOU! MALFOY?!"

"I don't know," Malfoy mumbled with a shake of his head. "I've never been any good in Herbology. Maybe we have to wait it out?" he wondered out loud.

"That's bullshit, Malfoy, you're above" – Zabini cut off another vine wrapping around his leg and struggled to say – "average in Herbology!"

Malfoy shrugged, a small mischievous smile escaping his lips. "Above average does not mean I know how to stop a Wrapping Ivy. We should sleep it off and see how it goes. Good night, Zabini."

"Malfoy don't you dare–" The blonde closed his hangings on him and left him Zabini to suffer his punishment.

The following morning, Zabini mumbled profanities under his breath while he pulled out miniscule flower petals off his hair, which prompted curious looks from the girls who haven't the faintest of what happened last night. He caught Parkinson's eyes staring oddly at him and hissed angrily at her, "What?"

"Why do you have flowers on your hair? Last I checked it wasn't May yet," she asked in her shrilly voice that Zabini found to be really, really irritating right now.

"None of your business," he snapped.

"Alright grunkle," she retreated. "I'm not dealing with you with that attitude. But... you do have one more right there, dear," she said pointing to a spot Zabini missed. He shook it off with a small grunt. "There you go. A little thank you would be nice right about now."

Zabini scoffed at her then proceeded to get some sausage and eggs for breakfast. Halfway through finishing his sausage, Zabini noticed that Matthias hasn't joined them yet. "He's still not here…"

"Why would he be?" Nott dryly asked from across the table. "You've been quite the tosser last night."

"Again, not entirely my fault," Zabini insisted. "Malfoy was calling him out on it too!"

"I was telling him to watch himself before it got any worse," Malfoy said in his defense. "You lost control and burned the damned thing. You crossed the line when you brought his dead mother into it."

"What dead mother?" Parkinson suddenly perked up, her gossip radar picking up on something juicy. "Whose dead mother? Is it Matthias? Oh, oh! You have to tell me –"

"Not now Parkinson!" all three boys shouted at her, causing the pug-faced girl to cross her arms defiantly and turn her attention to the other girls instead. Probably to try and guess what Zabini did to piss off Matthias.

Then as if Matthias heard them talking about him from a mile away, the Slytherin in question suddenly sat beside Zabini with a smile on his face. It was like all the bad blood they had from yesterday just dissipated overnight. Zabini knew it was all too convenient to think that all was forgiven however and watched him carefully.

"Good morning," Matthias greeted them in his usual cheery tone.

"G – good morning," Nott said. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Really great actually," Matthias replied almost immediately. "It's a lot peaceful in their dorm than it is in ours." He briefly glanced at Zabini and bitterly added, "No one there calls my mother useless or insignificant either. How was yours?" his tone abruptly shifting to a kinder tone.

"Lonely," Nott added truthfully. "You weren't frantically trying to change into your uniform after you realize what time it is. You'll be back tonight though won't you?"

Matthias hummed. "I'll think about it." He then grabbed two pieces of toast, slapped two hotdogs in between them, and wrapped it in a paper towel. "I'll see you guys at next period," he said before leaving their table shortly. He stepped in beside Ernie Macmillan and his friends, who were waiting for him at the end of the hall.

From the corner of his eyes, Zabini could've sworn he saw Hannah Abbott sneaking a look at him with a weirdly, terrifying smile on her face.

"Something did happen!" Parkinson cried, breaking the unsaid tension in the air. "Come on, you have to tell us! You promised no secrets, Draco. Dracooooooo–" she pestered the blonde continuously until the latter finally had enough of her shrilly voice and explained everything as fast as he can.

Parkinson gasped scandalously, "He did not" – she turned to Zabini and shook her head in disbelief – "You did not."

"For the millionth time," Zabini growled, "I didn't know!"

"You're still a knob head for saying something against his mother in the first place!" Nott yelled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a bit more venom than actual sympathy. "Maybe if you told everyone that his mum was such a trigger word we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Hey! Don't pin this on Nott," Parkinson went to Nott's rescue. "That wasn't his secret to tell and you know it. Stop trying to escape the cause and blame someone else. So you listen up –"

"I'm not going to do as you tell me Parkinson."

"– No." Pansy insisted, "You will or I'll have Crabbe and Goyle beat some sense into you."

Zabini laughed, thinking that it was a good joke but noticed that no one else was laughing with him and stopped. He glanced at Malfoy, silently asking him if he'll go along with Pansy's request. The blonde gave no indication whether he was going with or against Parkinson's wishes.

Zabini groaned. He really hated Malfoy's motivation or lack thereof for certain things when it's the least of his worries.

"You're going to apologize to him and fix this," Parkinson ordered. "We can't have him being taken in by the Hufflepuffs. They'll make him too nice and cowardly!" she said in horror.

"I'm not apologizing to him," Zabini declared as he moved to leave. "He wronged me first, so if anyone's in need of an apology it's me." He knows that he's in the wrong here, but it's not like any of them are safe from the blame as well.

Matthias refused to tell anyone about his deceased mother, and sooner or later someone is going to slip and call her names as well. Probably not. But Zabini stands by his logic. Matthias has a knack for pissing people off subconsciously, Daphne and Davis can attest to that, so one way or another, one of them is going to snap like he did.

In his defense, he only shouted and lost control of his thoughts because Matthias kept on pushing his stupid Muggle toy on him. Matthias was the one who lit the match that burned through his emotions. Matthias was the one who pushed him to his limit. Matthias was the one who made him disrespect the former's Muggle mother because he was being stubborn. It was all Matthias' fault.

Zabini won't – will never – apologize for something he isn't responsible for. He's hell bent on hearing an apology from Matthias first, and until he hears those three words from his mouth, Zabini will continue to ignore him.

Turns out Matthias had the same idea too.

Matthias generally avoids all of them but acts like his usual self whenever he does sit with them in classes. He completely ignores Zabini though, acting like the latter doesn't even exist.

Zabini found it very, very irritating. He didn't like being sidelined like this, much more so being treated like he's invisible. He's tried throwing a couple of jinxes at the younger Slytherin to make him notice his presence, but for some reason Matthias always knows the right time to deflect it.

Parkinson tried her best to include Zabini in their conversations to try and get him to apologize first and fix the problem, but Matthias wasn't interested in half-attempts. The younger would always back away and be quick to excuse himself whenever she does. Those actions were enough for Zabini to read Matthias' message loud and clear.

Matthias wanted to hear the apology from him first and was forcing his hand to do it.

Everyone else figured the same and egged him to apologize even more, most especially because the entire student body was beginning to notice Matthias' animosity with them. Questions were beginning to sprout and still, Zabini refused.

This little waiting game of theirs spanned for a few more days, with Matthias eventually retaliating with jinx and hexes of his own. It's probably the only interaction they ever had between them, but it was always short lived because Nott – or Crabbe and Goyle, under Malfoy's orders– would stop them.

It was one of the many opportunities Zabini had to apologize, but he chose to remain stubborn. And so did Matthias. He still hasn't returned to their dorm room after two nights. And around the same time, rumors were flying about again.

Zabini really hated how gossip runs fast in Hogwarts and how just about anyone can be the target of it. Usually it's the famous Harry Potter that's the center of the school's attention, but ever since Matthias arrived, the Slytherin house has been a monthly favorite.

He blamed that on Matthias' un-traditional Slytherin qualities too, but it's also possible that the other houses, fed up with the usual cunning and manipulative Slytherin image, was curious about their newest addition. So when it became obvious that something happened within the snake house that made the new kid actively seek shelter elsewhere, it became everyone's interest.

Fortunately for them, none of the rumors came close to the truth of what really happened, nor who was responsible for making it so. A few people appeared to know, but never said a word about it to anyone. Once again, Matthias was using his connections to keep this feud between them.

Whether Matthias did that to keep his mother's death a secret, or it was to avoid either of them from being implicated, Zabini will never know. But he at least appreciated Matthias' decision. It was wise and mature of him. By the end of the week, however, neither of them showed any signs of yielding.

Except for Nott, who was already at his wits end.

"Aren't you the least bit worried for him?" the brunette asked.

"Why should I be?" Zabini shrugged as he flipped over an Exploding Snap card. "He's a big boy who can handle himself. I'm sure the Puffs keeping him well feed in their comfy little cabin," he added apathetically.

"He's still a Slytherin!" Nott growled. "We're supposed to look after one another, not pass them to another house."

"He did that all on his own," Zabini drawled as he flipped over another card that matched the previous one. "Your turn, Crabbe."

Nott narrowed his eyes at him. He had no patience for Zabini's attitude right now, and stepped over the cards Crabbe was reaching for. He glared at the plump Slytherin but said nothing.

Crabbe shuddered at the intensity of his glare, and instantly drew back his arm. "I – I'm going to think it over for a while."

"You heard him," Nott huffed. "We have time."

Zabini rolled his eyes, growing tired of everyone telling him to apologize first. Doesn't anyone care about what he feels or wants? Maybe he wants to be right for once and prove Matthias wrong so he'll finally, really learn, to control himself. "What do you want me do then, hm?"

"Apologize!"

"He knows what I hate and how much I hate it. He pushed my limits," Zabini said defensively. "I said some things I regret, sure, but do I want to apologize for it?" He shook his head. "No, not really because he still hasn't learned his lesson. If I just forgive him like everyone else does, he's never going to stop."

"This week long silent treatment is a lesson?" Malfoy joined in, a little confounded.

"Yes!" Zabini cried. It never really was, or maybe it is? He isn't sure of it himself.

"I doubt that," Nott sighed. "And I understand that Matthias can get a little carried away with playing and showing off his Muggle things, but you also could have told him off –" Zabini opened his mouth to tell him that he did tell Matthias to stop using them but Nott didn't let him. "Properly," he finished. "Not go on scolding him like you know better than he does; then drag his mother along for it."

"We're never going to see the end of this," Malfoy moaned. "Look Nott, if you want to hear an apology ask Braun to do it. We've asked Zabini to do it multiple times for the past week. You know he's never going to do it."

"He stepped out of line," Nott reminded them. "Zabini's more in the wrong here than Matthias is."

"And so we're back to this being all my fault now?" Zabini asked, taken aback by his words.

"It still is," Nott snapped. "And if I was Matthias I would want to hear it from you too first. You used his mother against him, Zabini… That's still pretty low, even for you."

Zabini may not be close friends with Nott - yet - but he knows of his mother's fate. Nott lost his mother at a young age. So young that he never even had the chance to meet her. While Zabini cannot find it in his heart to sympathize with Matthias, he can with Nott's.

He knows that Nott cries himself to sleep during his birthday, dreaming of the life he could have had if his mother survived. He also knows that talking about Nott's mother is a touchy topic for him too; and that Nott prefers not to talk about at all. Nott hides his pain the same way Matthias does, but does it a lot better than Matthias because Nott never met her. Zabini frowned in realization.

Matthias was probably still grieving.

Zabini rubbed his face, finally accepting the truth that he was avoiding all this time.

Nott was right. He is being a gigantic knob-head for the past few days. He insulted Matthias' mother and when he felt even the slightest feeling of guilt for doing so, he decided to discard those too because his pride couldn't handle him being wrong. He was also too angry at Matthias to feel sorry for him.

Great... Now he felt like a twat.

There is no way he can come up with an apology that doesn't end with him losing an ounce of his dignity. A simple apology won't cure it either - then a candlestick lit up in his head. He's probably going to hate and regret doing this for the rest of his life, but if he doesn't do it, then he'll also regret it for the rest of his life.

"Fine," Zabini sighed, surprising everyone in the room, most especially Malfoy whose mouth opened aghast. "Only if we do it on my terms," he said.

"And… what would that be?" Nott reluctantly asked.

"I'll need Malfoy's help," said Zabini with a smug grin, a plan already forming in his head, "and the Quidditch pitch."

Malfoy tilted his head intriguingly. "This better good or you'll owe me."

"Oh, it will be," he beckoned for the group to huddle closer and pitched in his idea.

A/N: Last POV switch goes to Blaise Zabini! The man of the hour who fucked up big time. I really had fun writing this one despite wracking my brain for how to write Zabini up. There's barely any canon information about him and even fewer fanfiction I can model my version of him around. In the end I was happy with how I ended up with. He's going to be interesting to develop later on. Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Blaise Zabini. How are you liking him so far? How about everyone else? And what could he possibly have in mind for an apology? Don't forget to leave a review, and follow/favorite to have your quick updates! Love, love.

Sushi out~