Author: C. Night
Rating: PG-13
Category: Action/Adventure & Romance (at least for this chapter)
Disclaimer: Anything that you, Harry Potter fan that you are, recognize does not belong to me nor do I claim credit for it. J.K. Rowling and all those other lucky people own the Harry Potter universe. I do NOT.
Note: I think I am pretty clear with it but just incase people get confused:
'...' indicates thinking &
"..." indicates talking.
Title: Getting Out or Dying Trying
Chapter 3: Tantalizingly, Dangerously Close
Standing on the concrete on top of the roof, apparently not the entire roof was made of glass, I finally felt the exhaustion kick in. I mean really I may be Harry Potter (insert mob of screaming and crying people), but even I have my limits. So I did what any famous person who happens to have not only an evil dark lord but also a swarm of losers dressed in blue robes after them would do... I sat my ass down.
Ok I started by sitting down but then I got even more tired and lied down... on a roof... watching the sunrise.
I've always thought sunrise was better than sunset, mainly because it is the symbol that miracle upon miracles you have managed to survive to see another day. That you, (yes you!) are going to continue on and make something out of this new day... this new day which you will never get the chance to do again.
So there I was. On the roof. Watching the sun paint the sky about 7 different shades of purples blues and reds and feeling the spell I had cast on the gash across my thigh take effect. I could feel it healing... it was pretty distracting. Fascinating actually. Feeling your skin somehow stitching itself back together at hyper speed. When it healed as much as it was going to for the time being I noticed some things.
I was a bit cold. Ok I was really cold. It was December after all. No snow on the ground though. If I was back at school I would no doubt be complaining that it wasn't going to be a white Christmas. I have a thing for white Christmases. It makes it so much better.
What I wouldn't give to be back there complaining about silly things like that. Goosebumps had developed on my skin by the time the sun fully rose and I could get a good idea of where I was.
I stood up (a hard task when just about half of your body has decided to freeze) and looked around. Well it appears that I am trapped in a castle. A rather large castle. Don't know whose... um... don't knew where. Shit. Ok yeah don't know anything except it's a castle with stained glass windows and prison cells in it. And snakes... oh and there was a rather large forest nearby.
As I stared at the forest I saw a pack of thestrals fly out of it and into the sky.
'Just like in the Forbidden Forest,' I thought idly.
I wondered how far I was from school. From Scotland... from... help.
'Alright' I decided in my mind, 'thinking like this will not help. I have my wand back and then some (2 extras actually- the one I just couldn't snap and the one I stole during the duel) it's time to do some spell casting.'
"Point Me Hogwarts!" I commanded. The wand pointed in the direction of the forest.
Struck with an odd thought I decided to use a spell Professor Moody... no just Moody had showed me during training. I mean there's no harm in it right?
"Circumspectus Effigia!" I shouted sweeping my wand in a circle over my head as I carefully pronounced the words.
Suddenly an image came to life all around me. The spell, just as Moody designed it to gave the caster the view of an area as if they were in an airplane about 250 feet above it. The downside of the spell was that it blocked off the caster's actual vision for around 45 seconds.
For the second time in the same day I found that I could not see what was actually in front of me. Instead I saw a castle with a forest on the right side of it. Then beyond that forest was another castle an even larger one with a lake and even beyond that a small village lay.
On the left side of the first castle (the one I was on) it seemed there was an endless expanse of grassy land. I was sure there were some houses over there but due to the height from which I was viewing I could not tell.
But that's not important. What mattered was that I was near Hogwarts. In fact very near to Hogwarts. Dangerously close.
Oh Merlin I could almost feel tears welling up in my eyes, but of course I didn't let them fall. I was close. Damned close. And I could do this. I knew I could. I would get out of this if only through the knowledge that I was already so close.
My vision cleared and I could see what was truly before me once more. I looked at the forest to my right and smiled. I felt like singing I was so happy. Estine who to be honest I think had been shocked by my mood swings (first I fight like mad and then I lie as if dying on the top of a freezing roof) seemed to now feel me happiness.
"What is it Master?" he hissed curiously.
"We're off to see the wizards Estine. The wonderful wizards of Hogwarts!" I declared goofily.
Ignoring Estine's puzzled hissing I moved to the edge of the roof I was on. The castle (as most do) seemed to have several towers, but I appeared to be on the roof of the main part of the building. I walked over to the very edge pulled out my wand a power-filled Wingardium Leviosa on my lips and hurled myself off the roof.
Alright not the best idea in the world, but I had to get off the roof right? And it wasn't as if I didn't have a wand. It should have been a bit of a jolt and then smooth sailing to the grass many feet below, right?
Wrong! I had forgotten, once again, that this was a magical castle. Thus there were all kinds of barrier spells set up preventing people from accidentally falling off the roof or to prevent anyone from committing suicide off the roof.
So what happened when I tried to jump off the roof? Just about the loudest 'Snap!' I had ever heard went off and I was hurled away from the edge of the room. I landed with a thud right on my bottom and I knew... I KNEW there was going to be a bruise.
Ok, so maybe I am even more trapped on this room than I thought. Well, now I am going to have to get back in the building, find an exit, and then make my way to the forest. Trek through it and get to Hogwarts. Don't forget the fact that there were who knows how many traps set in this castle and millions of dangerous creatures in that forest. So I had to get through all of that... without dying. Great...
As I sat on my butt still contemplating my problem, Estine was hissing up a storm.
He seemed very agitated and I couldn't even make out a word. "What is it?!?" I finally hissed in an angry voice.
Estine seemed to start at my tone and backed away a bit before answering, "Master please don't be mad. Master promise no harm come Estine. No harm. No hurt Estine. Please, Master! Please!"
I felt my heart breaking as I moved toward the snake and he backed away even further. "I am sorry Estine, very sorry. I did promise and I intend to keep that promise. Your Master has never gone back on his word before and doesn't intend to now. I swear that I won't hurt you and I won't let anyone else either. I swear nothing bad will happen. I promise."
Saying those words, I jerk faintly. I distinctly remember saying those exact words 'I swear that I won't hurt you and I won't let anyone else either' to someone very special on a night not too long ago. I smile very slightly at the memory.
Nothing bad has really happened there so far, but dear Merlin, I hope that she doesn't find out that I am here. If she knew that I had somehow managed to get myself into this situation she would absolutely murder me.
My smile gets wider as I imagine her, light brown eyes flashing dangerously jet black hair (just as dark as mine... although she insists hers is darker) getting all strewn out of its usual perfect curls as she gives my a good talking to about my 'damn Gryffindor bravery' (Replace bravery with stupidity) and my 'inborn magnetism to danger'.
Then at her mention of the word magnetism I would inevitably lead the conversation to my animal magnetism which she would scoff at, as she (with her trained Slytherin eyes) calmly watched me discretely get closer and closer to her.
Once I was close enough to put her on edge and get a slight blush to develop on her cheeks I would then talk about something completely irrelevant such as the upcoming history assignment or how my astrology chart came out perfectly.
At which point she would inform me that I was much more a Slytherin than I would ever admit. I, of course, would deny this claim profusely all the while bringing my lips tantalizingly close to her own.
She would pretend not to notice and continue to argue that I had more Slytherin in me than any Gryffindor in history (which is probably true) until I admitted that she had a point. ("Albeit a small one," I would always add.)
Then she would allow her attention to wander to my face which, at this point, is always dangerously close to her own and as the smallest of blushes lit up her cheeks I would say, "And what are you, Blaise Zabini, going to do with your most Slytherinish Gryffindor?"
"Oh, do you belong to me now?" she would reply coyly her eyes beginning to close in anticipation of the kiss she knew was coming. Then I would lean in even closer kiss her slowly on each cheek, then on the nose and then...
...pull away so swiftly I'm surprised she doesn't suffer from separation anxiety by now.
I would then say in response to her coy statement (which she usually by this time forgets that she even said), "Of course I belong to you, who else could handle me? Hmmm?"
The first time I did this she nearly killed me, but recently she has simply opened her eyes half way, tilted her head down slightly and exhaled slowly through her barely parted and half smiling lips.
It is the damned sexiest thing I have ever seen and I swear that she knows that. Slytherins. You can never pull something on them without having them get you back double.
No wonder the hat thought I should go there. Payback is engaging. And as far as Blaise and I are concerned: Anticipation is the name of the game. And damn am I having fun playing. We haven't even kissed yet, but I can't even look at any other girls. It's just she and I.
Slowly being drawn out of my slightly arousing thoughts I snort. Professor Snape didn't know what the hell he was doing making us... "Study Partners."
I know one thing though, if I had gotten some other Slytherin as a partner I know I'd be doing a hell of a lot better in Newt Potions... so perhaps Snape did know what he was doing.
I laugh aloud at the thought you just never know with those Slytherins do you?
Estine once again seems drawn to me by laughter. He slithers closer as if inspecting me. I wipe the smile off my face, remembering that I was in the midst of apologizing to the snake before my thoughts took me away.
Estine seems to sense my true remorse for yelling at him and allows me to pick him up and hold his cold body to my chest.
He then hisses quietly, "Too cold Master and Estine must go now," and slithers off of my and back to the ground.
"Estine!" I say alarmed. "Where are you going?"
"Follow Master. Follow," he answers cryptically.
And for once in my life. I just do. I follow blindly. I trust someone (well I guess in this case something but this is Estine... he's as much a someone as Professor Snape... if not more so) fully and with no doubt.
Estine cares. I know he does. So I follow. And I am really glad I did.
Estine leads me to the other side of the ceiling where there seems to be the top of a chimney. It was a round structure much too small for me to fit through but roomy enough for Estine to slide down with ease. He begins to do just that when he suddenly seems to remember me.
"Master... come?" the small snake asks hesitantly as though afraid I'll yell at him for asking such a dumb question.
However he is shocked when I answer, "Of course I'll come Estine, you just go ahead first tell me if there is anyone down there and then if you say its ok I'll follow."
Estine looks at me for a moment as if doubting my sanity but slides down the chimney to check the coast as I asked.
About 2 minutes later he emerged once more. "There is a little human in the room master. Very little. Sitting in room with large table. Playing. Did not see Estine. No Master, little human no see Estine, but will see Master when he... comes down," Estine tells me, hesitating at the last part once again doubting my ability to fit down the small chimney.
I start thinking furiously. So there is a kid in the room. What the hell a kid is doing in the place of my incarceration is a matter I won't even begin to think about, but I don't know if I should risk it.
I hear the wind whistle in my ears and look down at my attire. Though my Hogwarts school robes are somewhat warm there is no way I will last up here long enough to wait for someone to find me or even long enough to look for an alternate exit.
Oh well, I decide at last. What the hell could this kid do to me anyway?
I tell Estine to slide down once more and try to scare the kid out of the room, then wait for me to arrive.
I wait a minute and hear a startled shriek. Taking it as my cue I cast a spell on the chimney, "Divarico!"
The spell which I nicknamed the 'Santa Spell' is usually used for expanding an enclosed area to accommodate your size... and your size alone. The spell should not be used by claustrophobics as it is still a tight fit.
Most commonly used by Aurors when trying to get through a small space in either an alley way or possibly the site of an accident Tonks found it amusing when I told her my nickname for it.
"You know I've never heard of anyone using it to get down chimneys but I guess it could work. Don't you run off looking for chimneys to try it on though," I recall her saying.
"Well Tonks," I say aloud "We're about to find out if it works and I didn't even have to run off to find a chimney. It came to me! Hurray!"
I stand on top of the chimney and gasp when it seems to almost come to life and swallow my feet. It then begins to move me down itself just as an esophagus moves food down to one's stomach.
Once my head it no longer outside I close my eyes. This is not the most enjoyable experience as is and the last thing I need is to get soot stuck in my eyes on the way down.
I start to think of Blaise again on the way down. I think it's because of that feeling of being surrounded. Of almost suffocating. Of drowning in something, but knowing that it's just what you have to endure. The feeling that I get in here- surrounded by a chimney- is a lot like the feelings I get around her.
Her presence is so all encompassing. Nothing else matters when she and I are together. Take for instance our meeting place. The only place the two of us really ever talk for long stretches is the library. Out in public like that, it's very dangerous.
A Slytherin talking to a Gryffindor and laughing? Flirting? Kissing (although it is never on the lips)? If we were caught the rumors and speculation around the school would ruin both our reputations and cause many a headache.
But I only think about these things after we meet or just before. When I am with her I am not Harry Potter- the boy who lived. I'm Harry Pothead- the boy who wouldn't shut up and let me finish my homework. Or Harry Potter- the boy who toys with my emotions (alright she's never actually said that, but I can read it in her eyes).
I have so much freaking fun when I am with her. It's like Cat and Mouse for the pros (amateurs need not apply). Now I have never really been a ladies man or one to tease. But she brings that out in me. I am really beginning to love it. Because as the anticipation grows I feel both myself and herself getting more desperate and more needy. When we do kiss I know its going to be outrageous, mind blowing and completely-
I feel the air around me get warmer. And it's not even from the flush developing on my cheeks from thinking about her.
The chimney, I feel, is getting larger.
'Almost out now,' I think. With the extra room I now have I am able to pull my wand from my holster and grip it tightly. Then I land with a plop on the floor in front of the chimney. 'Seems the chimney was nice enough not to spit me out directly into the logs and ash. Thank goodness for that.' I think gratefully.
I then stand swiftly and look for the child Estine had warned me about. Looking around I see no one, not even Estine. I can feel my heart start to race.
'Oh no, that kid better not have done anything to my snake. I never go back on a promise. I said nothing would happen.'
Snapping out of my panic I call out, "Estine? Where are you?" as I look under the large table in the room just as Estine described.
"Master! Here!" I hear the snake call and I smack my head on the bottom of the table in my haste to look up.
Sitting in one of the over sized chairs at the oversized table is Estine. In the lap of a sky blue eyed, red haired child. The little girl looks at me and says in calm tones, "Does this snake belong to you, sir?"
I decide that if she wants to play the innocent I'll let her. I am still on my guard however as I approach. For all I know this girl is some death eater on Polyjuice or something. I mean who keeps there kid in the same house as they do their hostages.
"Why yes it is my snake, little girl. Would you like to give him to me now?" I say in my best Dumbledore tones. You know the tone that betrays nothing except a very, very happy person.
The girl is still examining Estine, "She's mine now." She declares and looks at me expectantly, as if her declaration is supposed to make me leave.
I am starting to get pissed now. "Listen to me... er-"
"Adrianna," she informs me.
"Alright then," I say, "Listen to me Adrianna, Estine is mine. HE has been helping me out for the past few hours and you are not taking him from me."
"What if Eline wants to be with me now? You left HER out in the cold she was freezing when she came here for my help. She can have a better Mum than you. I can be her new Mum. Right Eline?"
"HIS NAME IS ESTINE!" I whisper harshly at the girl, "And you will hand him to me now or I will take him by force!"
The girl seems to get irritated by my tone as she frustrated, brushes some of her curly red locks out of her face. "This is MY house!" she says, "You cannot take anything from me here! I will call my father if you don't get out of my room right now!"
"Your room?" I say skeptically. "If this was your room wouldn't it have a bed? Or some clothes? Or toys or any of the normal things little girls have in their rooms?"
Her clear blue eyes start to cloud over and she looks down at the table, "I... I mean...I"
I use her distraction to my advantage and I quietly hiss for Estine, "Come here my Estine. Come slowly. Do not alert the human."
The girl I notice has given up on explaining herself and seems to be beginning to panic, "Please mister. Please don't tell my... tell my...not supposed to be," she is interrupted by a bout of the hiccups but tries to continue to talk. Tears are beginning to stream down her cheeks, "Please don't –hiccup- tell my Dad. Not supposed to be –hiccup- here. Forbidden wing... meant only for the - hiccup- elaminaton. I shouldn't be... -hiccup- here now!"
By this time Estine had slipped unnoticed from the girl's lap and was sliding underneath my robes up my leg on his way to my arm.
I was going to try to discreetly slip from the room while the girl was still blithering, but something she said caught my attention. Meant only for the WHAT?!?
"Adrianna!" I said rushing over to the child. "What is this wing meant for?"
The girl slowly turned her blue eyes at me and mumbled something that I couldn't hear.
"What was that?" I asked trying my very best not to get the girl scared by my anxiousness.
Adrianna did not respond. She simply cried harder and I realized that if I wanted any information I was going to have to do some very fast but very effective comforting.
I picked the small girl up off from her seat and placed her on my lap. 'Um.. right.. now what?' I thought.
I have never really been the best when it comes to comforting. Fighting evil lords? You got it. Slaying basilisks? Bring it on. Comforting a five year old? Get her the hell away form me!
But I knew I had to try, and fast who knows how long I had before the mysteriously robed losers caught up with me.
"Adrianna" I said quietly rubbing the girl's back with one hand and conjuring up a glass of water with the other. "I want you to breathe and calm down; everything is going to be fine. Ok?"
The girl seemed to nod as she drank the water- eradicating her hiccups in doing so. Once she finished the small glass she wiped at her now red rimmed eyes and gave me a smile.
"Maybe Eline can stay with you. You are not a bad Mum," she said looking into my eyes.
"Thank you very much Adrianna, now I would really like to go home with my snake. Do you think you can tell me how to get out of here?" I asked.
The girl looked at me and scratched at her mop of curly red locks, "Are you a 'risner?" she asked me.
"A what?" I questioned.
"A risner. Cuz risners can't leave til dey are finished. I've never seen you before," she said getting off my lap as she spoke. "You must be a risner. So no I can't tell you how to leave."
My face must have fell for she ran back over to my lap and gave me a hug, "I am sorry little boy. I am sorry little snake. You have to stay here. But I shouldn't be here. I must leave. Adrianna was very bad, coming around where risners stay. Papa will be angry if he sees. Goodbye little boy. Be good to your Mum little snake."
She got up and ran clumsily to the large door. Then as she opened it she turned around and whispered to me, "No body is out here 'cept me. Try to finish quick and you can leave sooner. And please, please, please don't tell Papa!"
Before I could respond she had rushed out the door and pulled it closed behind her. I sat on the floor until I could no longer hear the pitter-pattering of her shoes on the marble floor.
Then I stood. Apparently I had a job to do before I could leave. Hiding in a room wasn't going to get me any where so I walked over to the door with Eline... er- ESTINE wrapped loosely around my wrist.
As I pulled it open I wished I had followed Adrianna immediately after she left the room then I could have seen where the main part of the castle was. The part that she lived in. The part where I could get out.
'Oh well, too late now,' I thought taking out my wand.
"Point me Exit!" I said calmly. The wand pointed to the right, on his left the hallway led to a series of doors, but on his right it seemed to get darker and there were no doors.
Well... it's not like I'm choosing between heaven and hell here. The wand points right then I go right.
As I walked along the hall I cast a modification of the lumos spell which caused a ball of light to trail along after the caster.
"Walking down the dark hallway seems much simpler now doesn't it," I hissed to Estine who simply bobbed his head in response.
As I walked down the hall and hopefully closer to the exit, I tried to figure out what Adrianna had been talking about. Apparently I was a risner. What a risner was however... I had no idea. All I knew though was that I wasn't here by chance. Someone had brought me here. Brought me here to accomplish something and it seemed as though I wouldn't be getting out until I did it.
"But I need a sign! Damn it! If you want me to do something tell me what it is! Just tell me so I can try... so I can leave! Give me a signal! Where do you want me?" I screamed thoroughly frightening Estine and causing a score of echoes to reverberate along the stone walls and marble floors.
And then I heard it. A scream. Chilling and piercing; terrifying and desperate. The scream of one in need of rescuing. Just like mine, but yet very different. For this was the scream of a child...
...and the poor kid was pretty close. What to do?
You know, I always did have a hero complex.
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Author (C. Night) Notes: Another chapter done. Hurrah! And look! Harry isn't even trapped any where this time. Not yet anyway... Thank you to my three wonderful reviewers (Elayne Sedai, Linky2 & Sea-Turtles) and please do come again! All I can say is- if you like it do me a favor and tell your friends lol. But I am having a damn good time writing this so just to know that at least three people are reading it and have like it enough to show their appreciation is great. Let me know how the Harry/Blaise thing was in your opinions. It was fun to write something a bit different. And I've been going back and fixing little things in the previous chapters... nothing major so far but if you spot any errors grammatically let me know. Good news folks this chapter was the longest yet a whopping four thousand something words (and that's upper four thousand thank you very much)!
Until next time... REVIEW!
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