Padma spun around just in time to see Akane hit the floor with a thud, out cold.
"Dammit, Ron!" Weaslette cursed, shoving her brother in the shoulder. "Look at what you did!" She stood up and rushed over to the fallen girl, Potter and Granger only a step behind. Once by her side, Potter and Weaslette hoisted Akane up Muggle style and booked it for the Hospital Wing. Granger darted back to the table to grab their things, and with help from Weasley, they too made way for the Hospital Wing.
Glancing around nervously, Padma ran out of the doors too, worried for the girl she had never met.
"Well, well, well," Pansy drawled, leaning forward in her seat. "What a turn of events! Word from the grapevine says that Akane and Cormac are done for, so who will rush to her side now?"
"You make it sound like she's a damsel in distress," Pucey said.
Pansy scoffed. "Is she not?"
"Eh, well," Pucey sighed, shrugging. "Not my business. My only business is quidditch, and we've got a game coming up. Halloween day, in fact. You lot better be ready to annihilate Hufflepuff."
"Quidditch, smidditch," Pansy said, waving a dismissive hand. Extremely offended, Pucey shot her a wide eyed glare. "What we need to be ready for is the evening Halloween celebration."
"I've heard the theme is masks this year," Millicent added.
Draco frowned. "Masks? Really?"
Daphne, too, was troubled by this. "Draco's right. Doesn't that seem a bit dangerous?"
Millicent shrugged. Humming out an unimpressed sigh, Pansy corrected the girl. "No, the theme would've been masks, but with the whole Death Eater raid thing, Dumbledore figured it would be in bad spirits. So," she paused, hands flying out for dramatic effect. "It's changed. We're doing characters now. I've got it all planned out."
Blaise raised a brow. "Do you now?"
"Yeah, now listen." Pansy beamed, glancing up and down the table at her friends. "We're gonna do a group thing. Minotaur: The Last Hornbreaker. Dig it? Good, because I do too." She didn't even wait for an answer. "Now, I will of course be Pazula, because she and I are very similar."
"Not really-"
"Yes really. Queen of the Fire Nymphs? Of course," Pansy laughed. "Draco, you'll be Xuko."
Draco frowned. "The emo kid? I don't-"
"It'll be perfect," Pansy reassured. "He's going through some things, you're going through some things. If you had a scar on the right side of your face, I'd think you were one and the same."
"I thought it was on the left," Draco said.
"No, it's on the right."
The blond shook his head and went about picking at his meal.
"Naturally, Theo, you'll be Met," Pansy continued.
Theo let out a single breathy laugh. "Cool."
"And Blaise, you're Hawka. Daphne will be Hatara, Millicent will be Cough, and Pucey, you're the Hornbreaker, Bang. Tracey and Astoria can be Ky Lee and Jai, respectively," Pansy finished. Her words brought about several complaints.
Pucey's was the loudest. "No, I can't be Bang! That kid can't ride a broom to save his life!" Several heads turned to stare at him, bewildered.
"Adrian, calm down. You're causing a scene," Pansy admonished.
Blaise didn't have a problem with his character. Hawka was a warrior from the Water Tyrants, a group of witches and wizards who specialized in potions and water spells. He and his sister, Hatara, were some of the first people in the series to aid the last Minotaur, Bang.
His outfit was brilliant but a tad bit complex.
Daphne seemed to be on a similar wavelength. "What about the costumes?"
"Don't worry about the costumes," Pansy said. "Just leave it to me, and I'll let you all know when they're ready." Pansy's sudden kindness caught several people off guard, and the rest of lunch was oddly quiet.
Blaise left the Great Hall with Draco and Theo, and the trio was intercepted by a waiting Diggory. The Hufflepuff had his hands stuffed in his pockets and perked up at the sight of Blaise, indicating he wanted to talk. Having some time to spare, Blaise sent the duo on ahead of him and lingered near Diggory until they were gone.
"What?" Blaise asked.
Diggory dove right in. "Marks is a toughy, but I've started talking to Borkan."
"Really?" It was no secret Diggory held contempt for the man, so it was surprising that the Hufflepuff had ditched efforts on the fascinating American woman to focus on someone he disliked so strongly.
"Yeah, it was really easy, actually," Diggory explained. "All I had to do was bring up Akane."
Blaise's brows pulled together. "That's… odd."
"It's obvious he's got a thing for her," Diggory said. "Which, like, isn't good in the slightest."
"All the more reason to set him up."
"Right." Diggory gave a quick nod. "Have you spoken to Marks?"
Cue an unnecessary flashback to that evening where Blaise spilled his entire life story to the woman. "Yeah. I've got that covered."
"Cool," Diggory replied. A beat. "That's that, then."
"Yeah," Blaise said. He could've asked Diggory about the fight, about what really transpired, but he didn't want to dig himself a hole he couldn't get out of. Once he got Diggory talking, it was unlikely Blaise would be able to get him to stop. Admittedly, Blaise was surprised that Diggory didn't rush after the girl and her ragtag group of friends, carrying her off to get medical help, but he was glad, deep down, that the guy had gotten a clue.
He was also surprised that he was glad Diggory and Akane seemed about done for good, but Blaise didn't feel like thinking too far into that one.
Diggory parted ways with a wave, walking off down the opposite hallway. Blaise followed Draco and Theo's initial route, but seeing as he wasn't sure where they went, he ended up wandering off towards the Hospital Wing.
He passed the Golden Trio and Weaslette on his way there, but they didn't pay him much attention. Weaslette offered a small smile and he gave a jerky nod back. That was it.
The Hospital Wing was mostly empty except for Akane, Padma, and a third-year Ravenclaw with a broken arm. Akane was still out cold, but Padma stood by her side, watching the resting girl. She noticed Blaise and beckoned him over.
"She's that new girl, right? The one from Mahoutokoro?" Padma wondered.
Blaise nodded. "Yeah."
Padma smiled. "I've never even met her before, but she risked her safety for mine. Rather Gryffindor-like, wouldn't you say?"
"She does hang around the Lions."
"She seems nice," Padma continued, arms crossing as though she was cold.
Blaise hummed.
"Do you know her?"
"Not very well," he replied.
"You came here," Padma noted.
That fact didn't go unnoticed by Blaise, either. "Dunno why."
"Sure you do." Padma smiled at him. "Are you two friends?"
"Something like that."
Akane shifted, and Madam Pomfrey came rushing over, bottles of potions in hand and wand at the ready.
"Welcome back, Mr. Zabini," Pomfrey greeted him dryly. "Are we expecting another argument?"
For a moment there, Blaise forgot what she was talking about, but he was struck with the sudden memory him and Akane shouting at each other over Diggory's bed. "No, ma'am," he replied.
She harrumphed and went about checking Akane's vials. The two students watched the nurse go about her business. After she was done, Madam Pomfrey said, "She'll be up in just a bit, if you'd like to wait."
"No, I'm good," Blaise blurted, taking a step back. Padma didn't look like she was moving anytime soon. "See you, Patil."
"Bye, Blaise."
Pansy corned him later that afternoon with a tape measure in hand. She pushed him into her dorm and made him stand in the middle of the room as she collected sizes for his costume.
"You'll make a perfect Hawka," she claimed, waving her wand and directing the tape. Beside her, a quill wrote down the measurements she listed.
"Thanks," Blaise said, blandly.
"I took a lot of time figuring this out, you know. It had to be perfect. I refuse to submit the costume contest trophy to that Brown girl from Gryffindor. She's always right behind me in score, glaring at me like some wild animal," Pansy drawled. "It's not my fault she puts so many blasted bows on things."
Blaise grunted. He couldn't move much, as every time he shifted Pansy would snap at him.
"Last year we came in second place," Pansy reminded him. "I thought our Lord of the Kings costumes were rather phenomenal, but of course Lovegood and her team outdid us with incredibly realistic fruit costumes."
He remembered it clearly. Lovegood, a bunch of other Ravenclaws, and a few Hufflepuffs showed up to the celebration in massive fruit costumes. The sodding outfits were so inconvenient that they kept bumping into people and knocking off props and bits of other students' costumes. Both Draco and Pansy were rather furious with Belby- a walking banana- for knocking off their elf ears.
Lavender Brown and her group had put together Sailor Wolf costumes, with Brown as the main character and several gossipy females as the others. They probably would've scored higher- a whopping fifth place- if Brown hadn't "accidentally" used her staff to trip an underclassman dressed as the same character.
"This year, I'm aiming for first," Pansy declared. She always did. "These costumes are going to be the best bloody costumes at the celebration and if anyone says otherwise, so help me-"
"They'll look great, Pans," Blaise appeased the girl.
She smiled, sickly-sweet. "We can only hope, Blaise." A quick note of the measurement around his chest, then: "You're being very cooperative. I appreciate this. I tried to get Pucey's out of the way, but he kept running away and trying to hit me with his broom."
Blaise scoffed. "Sounds like him."
"He's an arse," Pansy said. "I got Millicent and Davis done, and Daphne's coming in after you. Draco and Theo, on the other hand, have disappeared."
Sounds like them.
"It's fine," Pansy reassured herself. "We've got time." She shook her head and gave a final wave of her wand, told the quill a couple more measurements, and gave him a smile before pushing him harshly out of the room with a hasty "Thanks!"
Daphne stood up from the sofa and walked over to him.
"How is she?" she asked.
Blaise shrugged. "Bearable."
(A/N) Shout out to Avatar: The Last Airbender (a fantastic show that we also did not create!)