Prologue He was cold, his feet were bare against the gray slate floor and his ebony hair dripped cold water down his neck. He did not know where he was and his arm hurt vaguely, like the memory of a broken heart. Hanging on the wall before him was the portrait of an unfamiliar man dressed in the expensive, elaborate manner of an sixteenth century dandy. Suddenly he had locked eyes with the man in the portrait and the man's eyes, terribly out of place his effeminate face with its sweet cupid-bow mouth and long, curly blonde hair, are a familiar piercing gray. A chill runs down his spine and he is horribly afraid of what lies behind the portrait's awful gaze. The portrait's pretty mouth opens: "Vladimir." Blaise Zabini startled awoke, doused in pumpkin juice. Amused gray eyes met his furious glare. "Well," said Draco Malfoy, "I tried to wake you." Groaning, Blaise leaned back onto his pillow, disregarding his present sticky situation, only to be harshly reminded by another splash of the sweet liquid. "Draco" Blaise said evenly, "would you mind? I'm trying to sleep." "Now that you mention it," Draco said cheerfully, "I would mind. Otherwise I would've been perfectly content to let you sleep through the train and be left behind" He was quite evidently enjoying himself. "You're coming home with me for the holidays." Lazily Blaise opened one eye. "You mean, he corrected his friend, "you're asking me to come home for the holidays." "No," Draco replied smugly, "I'm telling you." More soberly he added, "Father's orders." Both of Blaise's dark blue eyes were now open wide. "So," Draco concluded, "you'd better pack."

A fully awake Blaise minus the pumpkin juice soon joined Draco in the compartment on the Hogwart's Express once shared by Crabbe and Goyle which unsavory duo had "decided" they preferred the company of the grade below them, the fifth years. Draco promptly dozed off after reminding Blaise not to let him oversleep or neither of them would get to the manor. Moodily, Blaise settled back to contemplate the strange dream he had been having prior to his rude awakening.