~Chapter Three~
The next day came fairly quickly and normally. Nobody woke up unnaturally early, and there were no major accidents in potions that day. In fact, the only suspicious thing that happened that day occurred during breakfast. During owl post, four owls came in holding identical, neon yellow parchments. These were delivered to Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Blaise Zabini. Of course, once they realized that these parchments were from the Headmaster, everyone presently forgot about it.
Slowly, the four opened their letters. Inside was a note from Dumbledore instructing them to come to his office again that night at 8:30 p.m.
When Ginny wanted a day to go slowly, it seemed to fly by. She was dreading the meeting tonight because she couldn't bear to face the people she had told her deepest and darkest secret to. Especially Malfoy and Zabini; who knew what kind of teasing or other form of torture they would submit her to. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop time, and so 8:30 did come around, much to Ginny's disappointment.
"Come on Gin, we're going to be late," Harry said from the portrait where he was waiting.
"Where are you two going?" Ron asked them suspiciously.
"Dumbledore wants to see us. Honestly Ron, we told you that this morning!" Ginny answered.
"I don't remember anything from the mornings; you of all people should know that by now."
"Whatever Ron, come on Harry lets go!" Ginny said, walking out of the portrait hole.
When Ginny and Harry walked into Dumbledore's office, they found the other two people involved in their meeting already there and sitting in the two green armchairs in Dumbledore's office. Predictably, Ginny and Harry sat in the two red ones.
Ginny glanced nervously at the two Slytherins. After a moment, she seemed to relax slightly as she slowly realized that there were not going to say anything about last night. A couple minutes later, Dumbledore entered the office.
"Ah, I see you are all here and ready to begin?"
"Yes Headmaster," they replied.
"Good, good. Now we have some matters to discuss. As you all know, you are the four that will defeat Voldemort. First off, is there anyone here who does not wish to defeat the Dark Lord? We will not hold anything against him or her if they do not want to be a part of this."
Both Ginny and Harry glanced at the two Slytherins, waiting to see their reactions. It was a well known secret (secret in that the Ministry was hesitant to convict them) that the Malfoys and the Zabinis were big Dark Arts families and Ginny and Harry wanted to see what their final decision would be. After a time when nobody spoke up, Dumbledore went on.
"Good, I'm glad you are all willing participants."
"Does that mean that you would've forced us is we refused?" Blaise asked.
"Not at all, I would have merely tried to convince you to lend us the use of your part of Voldemort so we could've completed our mission," Dumbledore replied. "Onto business; most of you are in your sixth year, which gives us just under 2 years to train you. We're shooting for defeating him just after your graduation since our information tells us that's when he's planning a big attack."
"That would be because I graduate huh?" Harry asked.
"Yes, we believe so. Voldemort is still very obsessed with killing you since you are the only person who continually slips out of his grasp. Anyways, Ginny, you are the only fifth year which means you are going to have to work extra hard to learn the spells that you are going to need. We need you up to their level as soon as possible. I have a schedule worked out using your evening hours that may get you caught up. It involves you three as well," Dumbledore said, indicating Harry, Blaise and Draco.
"What would we have to do Headmaster?" Blaise drawled.
"I am asking you to help tutor Virginia. Would that be alright?" Dumbledore replied.
"I guess," Blaise agreed. "What exactly would this entail?"
"Blaise, you would tutor Virginia in Charms and Transfiguration since they are your two strongest points. Harry, you take over Defense against the Dark Arts and Draco, you take Potions. Would that be alright?"
"Yes Headmaster," was heard from the three sixth years.
"Excellent. This also means that you three will have to work on strengthening your weak points. You now know the strongest subjects of your teammates, so please go to them for help. The schedule is as follows: Blaise has Mondays and Tuesdays for charms and transfiguration work; Harry has Wednesdays for Defense Against the Dark Arts; Draco has Thursdays for Potions; and you all will meet on Fridays for any extra help. The Room of Requirement is open for your use and I promise that nobody will disturb you while you are working in there. You will meet each day from the end of dinner until curfew. Are there any questions?"
"Is there anything specific that we should teach the little Weasley?" Draco asked.
"Just bring her up to par with you older ones." Draco nodded in reply.
"Headmaster," Harry began. "Is there anything else that we should do to prepare us?"
"Well yes, now that you mention it. First off, Ginny and Blaise, you should join your Quidditch teams. I know that you, Ginny, joined it last year as seeker and I strongly suggest you continue. Quidditch is a good way to better your reaction time and learn to think on your feet. I recommend that you become chasers since they have to think about both dodging the bludgers and scoring points. Also, in time, I will have a training program set up for you guys. What you are called to do is very serious and many things can go wrong. I need to get you as prepared as possible. I hope that you do your best to follow this training program as soon as I get it completed. Also, each of you needs to keep up with your studies and possibly extend your knowledge as much as possible. You never know what you are going to need to know so it's better to know too much than too little."
"Great," Draco muttered to Blaise. "We're going to become like little Granger wannabes, spending every second of our free time in the library."
"I know that some of you may disagree with extra studying but it would be helpful. If you would put aside your bad feelings towards this boring but necessary pastime, I would be most grateful." The last statement of Dumbledore's seemed to be directed more at the Slytherins than anyone else in the room.
"If there are no more questions…" Dumbledore paused to allow any additional questions room to be voiced. "Good. The study sessions start this coming Monday. Now, would any of you like to deplete my supply of Lemon Drops?"
"What?" Harry asked.
"I'm offering Lemon Drops. Would you like one?" Dumbledore repeated with the familiar twinkle in his eyes.
"Er… no thanks," Harry replied.
"Blaise, Draco? Would you have one, or perhaps one of these other candies that I have?" Dumbledore asked.
"Err… okay," Blaise agreed while Draco shook his head no.
Ginny, who had by now recognized the other candies as the newest line of products from Fred and George's joke shop, leaned forward in anticipation. She watched as Blaise's hand reached towards one of the hair changing lollipops and started to grin. It was at that moment that she caught Dumbledore's eye.
"Now remember. The whole point of these study sessions, especially the Friday ones, is to build up trust between you and your companions. Since you are going to have to save the world together, it is imperative that you trust each other enough. You are each going to be responsible for the others lives. I suggest that you begin trusting and helping each other now." It seems as though Dumbledore knew that Ginny had recognized the sweets that he was offering to Blaise, making it a test to see if the group could help each other. Ginny sighed in annoyance; the prank would've been so funny.
"Don't eat that Zabini," Ginny said reluctantly.
"Why not little Weasley?" Blaise replied.
"Because your hair will change color and the effects will last for a week, no matter what you try to do to reverse them. I'm sure something else happens but I am not sure what. I recognize that candy; it's one of many in my brother's new supply. It is one of the less drastic ones though."
Blaise placed the candy back into the bowl that Dumbledore held, giving Ginny a confused look as she did so. It was a new thing to Blaise, to the whole school, a Gryffindor preventing a Slytherin from being humiliated. Blaise wasn't sure what to make of it.
Meanwhile Dumbledore smiled approvingly. Perhaps they will make it through, he thought. Perhaps we'll be saved.
"I thank you for your time. Remember what we have discussed. You are dismissed," Dumbledore said.
The four students got up slowly and walked out as if in a daze. Everything seemed so surreal. I guess you could say that reality was finally kicking them in the butt; they had only now realized what they were called to do.
"Do you think we can do it?" Ginny asked Harry as they walked towards Gryffindor Tower.
Harry seemed to ponder his answer to this question for a few minutes. "I think if we learn to work together and we work hard from now until my graduation, we'll have a good chance," he finally said. Ginny accepted this with a nod.
Meanwhile, the other two were worried about entirely different things.
"What are we going to tell everyone about where we'll be when we have to be in the Room of Requirement?" Blaise asked Draco as they headed to their own common room. "If anyone gets wind of the real reason we're gone…You know our families will stop at nothing to make us into the perfect Deatheaters."
"I know. Unfortunately, or fortunately, they don't know that they have already failed in that aspect. If they ever found out that their precious children had gone the other way and joined with that oaf Dumbledore, well, I don't want to know what they'd do," Draco replied.
"Yeah, especially since it's us."
"Yeah"
What Draco and Blaise were referring to was their unique position in the circle of Deatheaters. Many people don't know the true nature of Blaise and Draco's birth. It was two years before the Potter's deaths when Voldemort realized that he would need an heir. He knew that because of his plans to become immortal, that it wouldn't be for a while that he would need this heir; in fact he wouldn't really need an heir necessarily, just a means to produce someone like him if anything should go wrong. Voldemort decided to create different children who would each hold a part of him. In the end he decided to only use two, a boy and a girl, since they could then pass on their parts through children that they may have together. He ordered his most trusted followers to have children, and patiently waited the nine months for these children to be born. Of course, we all know that by patiently waiting, we mean that Voldemort went on a rampage, terrorizing as many wizards and muggles as he could. Finally the week came when many of the children were born. He carefully examined each one. There was the Crabbe's, the Goyle's, the Malfoy's, the Parkinson's, and the Zabini's kids to consider, but there really wasn't a hard decision involved there. From the very first, it was painfully obvious that Crabbe and Goyle junior would be just as stupid as their fathers are. Pansy, the Parkinson's kid, already had a pug nose and she was clingy, always wailing for her mother. Only Draco and Blaise stayed silent and displayed the potential that Voldemort was looking for. Within months Voldemort had made a copy of his knowledge and stored it in Blaise's brain. It was spelled to not overwhelm the baby; meaning that it would only reveal itself when Blaise was able to handle such knowledge. He didn't want to risk the carrier of his knowledge to insanity. In Draco, he placed some of his blood, for Voldemort was the heir of Slytherin and such a line had to be passed on only in blood. He was planning on also storing some of his power in Draco, but that was before the fateful day when he went to kill the Potters. On that day, the power he was planning to give Draco, invested itself in Harry instead. It was yet another reason why Draco was taught to hate Harry.
It wasn't until many years later that Draco and Blaise began to hate the dark side. I guess you could even say that it began on their first real trip to Diagon Alley, when they had received their first Hogwarts Letters. As they were walking through the Alley, they noticed all the happy faces, all the parents who praised their children. This completely contradicted their life as they were faced with grim parents who only paid attention to Draco and Blaise when they got into trouble and needed punishment. Draco and Blaise became showcase children, only needed to put on a good show when guests were over. It struck them as odd that other families were happy being poor, as long as they had their families to love and care for them. Neither would admit it, but they were actually jealous of the Weasleys. Anyways, it was around their fifth year when they realized how utterly idiotic their families and their dark ways were. By then, Voldemort had begun to gain back his original power and Blaise and Draco were being introduced to the ways of Death Eaters. They watched silently as Voldemort obsessed over making Potter get the prophecy. They each thought it pathetic that the fearsome Dark Lord would be completely unhinged by the continual escape of one mere, wretched boy. It struck them how pointless it would be to join such a side, a side where the obsession with money and power was everything and nobody realized the value of love. Draco and Blaise didn't even fully realize the value of love, but they knew that other families were happy just being rich in love while their lives were miserable and they were rich in the money sense.
"Well shit, I'm beat and its only 9:30. Oh well. All this good behavior crap is tiring me out. Good thing we won't be talking to ol' Dumbledore for a while now. I don't have to do without the insults anymore!" Blaise said.
"Don't count on it. The old bat wants us to try and get along with Pothead and his loyal follower."
"Yeah, well getting along to me means not beating each other up every chance we get. Besides, we have to work on their mental toughness, can't have them crying whenever the Death Eaters make a mean comment about their hair or something," Blaise replied. "I'm heading for my nice bed; see you in the morning Drake."
"Yeah, whatever Blaise."
* * * *
A/N: Okay, I'm sorry if that last part was confusing… I realized that I didn't tell the story of why Blaise and Draco are the blood and mind and why they don't like the dark side as much anymore so I figured I should probably tell it! If there are any questions, feel free to email me or ask it in a review! And I know that the part with Dumbledore sounds like a question and answer sorta thing, but I couldn't figure out how to change it and still get all the info in there! Sorry if this chap's boring!
Thanks to: WhiteRosePetal, i-don't-have-a-heart, and kelz* who have reviewed so far, you're the best!
~Irish