Hello there. Sorry for the long lapse in updates, but hopefully, this
chapter will make up for it. Thank you all for your reviews; I really love
reading them.
*****'
Draco and Pansy's relationship had fallen apart, Millicent ha gotten absolutely nowhere in her quest for Gaspar, and all I had was a splitting headache and the knowledge of Granger's skin-disease-phobia. Not exactly what you'd all a successful week. It wasn't even a successful term, come to that. The only thing which hadn't gone wrong was getting Cain some friends. And that was truly the only thing. Not even Professor Lucas could stand me. The only reason to why he hadn't pitched me off the Astronomy Tower yet was because he wouldn't ever get away with student-murder with Dumbledore around.
Professor Lucas, now that was certainly the oddest teacher we'd had in a while. Where others had been strange, secretive, vile, or just plain crazy, Lucas was odd. Red eyes, looks like the most genuine vampire would be jealous of, and that freakish ability to just disappear, were only a few items on a rather long list. I still had to find out more about him before I could feel even remotely safe in his class. Too bad no one seemed to know anything about him. I had, in my spare time, gone through old records of Hogwarts, to see if he'd gone to school here, but the record-keeping of the school was less than good. Several years were missing, only half-complete and some were copies of others, just kept under a different year. Either Hogwarts was a permanent time-loop, or previous librarians had been disorganised. Our years, and every year that Irma Pince had been librarian of Hogwarts were perfectly organised and all there.
But those from the first war, and a few years before that, were sketchy at best. Snape's yearbook was split down the middle when it came to attendance; it was two hundred pages thick according to the index, but only half of the pages were filled. Most of the Slytherin House were missing, as well as a good number of Ravenclaws, and it looked as if someone had torn the pictures out in a rage. I noticed that Snape wasn't in any picture, except one; where he was standing in the background, behind a group of Hufflepuffs, looking sulky. And Lucas was nowhere to be found. I'd checked everywhere, but no Vincent Lucas. By the time I had upended the whole library, I left in a rather angry mood. I don't like being left with no answers. Hell, this time, I didn't even know what the question was.
I had run in to Granger a few more times after that incident in the library when she just upped and left. Turned out it wasn't just a one-time occurrence either. Every time I came across her in the corridors, or in the Great Hall, or even the library, alone, she stared at me, squeaked and ran for it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why; I hadn't done anything to her. Ever. The constant oddness of Granger's disappearances, Lucas' behaviour and the overbearing ache of my poorly abused head was getting the better of me, and I steadily got more and more irritated.
And so, in the middle of my growing irritation, Defence class rolled around again. Halloween was only a few days away, and everyone was getting jittery. Even in Lucas' class, where everyone were usually at perfect behaviour, most of the class were goofing off like a group of kids. That morning, I'd gotten up and my headache had been worse than normal. Not even five cups of coffee had helped it. In the chattering and bubbly atmosphere of the Defence classroom, I was trying to catch up on my sleep with my forehead against the desk. If I didn't get up soon, I would have permanent ink-imprints on my skin. Too bad my self-discipline wasn't what it had been.
"Good day class," Lucas sounded amused. "If all of you would please sit up straight and look at me, I would be glad."
Ouch. Stab at me, that was. But I straightened up and unstuck the parchment from my forehead. I must have looked like a complete moron, judging from the snickers I heard from the Gryffindor side of the room. They were rather quiet though. Either it was Lucas being intimidating or my reputation of beating Potter that did it. Whatever was causing my cursed headache felt as if there was a swarm of bumblebees buzzing around in my scull. Not a pleasant feeling at all.
"I'm sure you know that all students have to do a rather large project in each of their classes in sixth and seventh year." Lucas sat on his desk and started his usual ramble. "These projects have been spread out so that you won't have to sit up all night with seventeen different things you'd rather do, having to finish them two days before exams. I know I had enough of a hassle trying to finish them to ever put you under such circumstances. Though Mr Zabini seems to have managed that quite well himself."
I raised my eyebrow, and pulled off an almost perfect expression of indifference. If he would just stop rambling and actually get to the point, the lecture might even have been interesting.
"You will, today, begin your Defence Against the Dark Arts project. You will however not work on it alone. I am not so cruel as to force you to endure those sleepless nights, those caffeine highs and and those sleep deprivation induced depressions alone. Going crazy is best done in company. So, I will be paring you up," Groans and mutterings broke out over the room, and he held up his hand to stave them off, "And no amount of complaints will make me let you choose for yourself. You will get this lesson to talk about it, but come next week you will have to have decided on a topic. This project will account for most of your final grade this year."
Then he started calling out names two and two. I rolled my eyes. With my luck, I'd end up with Potter and have to do all of it myself, getting addicted to sleep in the process. One addiction was enough, if I had any say in it. But of course, being me, I didn't. Gah. Lucas hated me enough already for me to complain the slightest about who I got paired with.
"Zabini and - Bones? Where's Bones? Has anyone seen Bones?" I looked up and scanned the room for her.
"She's in the infirmary with a cold sir," One of the Hufflepuffs piped up. The blonde one with pigtails, I think her name's Abbott.
"Ah. Well. No matter; I'll fix that later." Lucas made a quick note, and continued rattling off names. I wondered for a moment if he'd forgotten about me, but realised I must have ended up with Bones anyway, even if she wasn't here. Not too bad, all things considered. Could be worse. I glanced over at Potter and Weasley. Could definitely be worse.
The lesson continued in much the same fashion. Turned out that Terry Boot was off sick too. Granger didn't look too happy about that; maybe she had a crush on her project partner. Who knew? And for that matter, who cared? Everyone left, except for myself and Granger, to look for exciting projects. I remained seated, partly because class hadn't ended yet, and partly because I thought a lot better when I was sitting down. Granger seemed to think along the same lines, and was slow in gathering up her things and leave. Absently, I tugged at my sleeve, adjusting it slightly. Granger quite scared me when she spun around. Her eyes locked with mine for the fraction of a second, and I could see fear, shock and something I couldn't determine. I didn't even have time to blink before she had high- tailed out the door.
"Wha-. "I let my hand fall back to its original position on the desk, "What the heck did I do?"
"I haven't the faintest," Lucas replied, staring after Granger just as I was, "She does that often?"
"All the time," I nodded, "And I can't figure out why; I move one fraction of an inch, and she ups and runs away. Bloody annoying it is too."
Lucas raised his eyebrow. My outburst seemed to amuse him no end, but being Lucas, he didn't even crack a smile. Those freakish red eyes just looked at me and that cursed eyebrow stayed raised as I gathered up my things. I could have sworn I saw him flashing a grin to himself as I turned my back on him.
"There has been a slight rearrangement in the plans," Lucas said, clearing his throat. "Due to, hrm, unforeseen circumstances, Bones and Boot never turned up for this lesson. And, also due to these unforeseen circumstances, neither you nor Granger had your partners to plan with. And, this is completely out of my hands you must understand, you and Granger were forced to pair up for this project. All with no blame on either me or either of you. There was nothing I could do about it. I was under a holy oath to pair up every student in my class. There is also nothing you can do about it. Understand?"
"Not.... Really." I admitted. What was he on about? Unforeseen circumstances? He had bloody planned this, he had.
"No need. Suffice to say it all comes down to House loyalty." Lucas permitted himself a tiny smile. "And if Granger asks, tell her it was a last minute rearrangement of plans, due to certain events. Now, go and chase her down, Zabini. She's already got a head start on you."
I blinked. And blinked again. And, just for good measure, I blinked again. House loyalty, meaning Lucas had been a Slytherin. But what did House loyalty have to do with me working with Granger? Giving up on ever comprehending Lucas, I set out to find Granger. She couldn't be too far ahead, since she'd only left the classroom some two minutes ago.
******'
Stairs had a habit of knocking people over it seemed. I found Granger sitting on the stairs, trying to put all her books back in her bag, swearing to herself. I could hear her from the other end of the corridor, ranting about stairs, book bags and, oddly enough, Death Eaters. Maybe Draco had tripped her; everyone seemed to think he was in the Death Eater Youth League. She stared at my offered hand for a moment, before taking it and hauling herself back up onto her feet again.
"'Lo there Granger. Who tripped you?" I asked, trying to find a topic of conversation as innocent as possible.
"No one. I wasn't watching where I was going," She snapped, "Did you want something, or did you just happen to drop by?"
"Actually," I said, a bit surprised at her waspish reply, "Lucas sent me running after you left. He's rearranged the project-pairings due to unforeseen.... circumstances...."
I slowed down at the end of my sentence, as the full force of what Lucas had implied in his rearrangement hit me in the back of my head like a rouge Bludger. He couldn't have meant that, could he? But he could. He actually had. Cripes, wasn't this the best realisation ever; my Defence teacher was stark raving mad. Granger looked at me curiously; I knew I had to look rather silly with my "I-can't-believe-it!" look. She waved her hand in front of my face, back and forth, a few times, just to test my sanity.
"Zabini, are you still all here?" She asked.
"No," I replied faintly, "I think my sanity went out the window along with Professor Lucas' grip on reality. In fact, had it not been for my healthy dose of coffee earlier today, the nice men in white suits would be coming for me with a new shirt already."
"You're delirious." She said, snapping her fingers in front of my nose, trying to get a reaction, "What was it you wanted?"
"Lucas rearranged the pairs, as I said. Since neither Boot nor Bones were in attendance, it seems we got stuck with each other," I pulled myself together. "And before you rip my head off and serve it to Potter on a silver plate, I want you to know none of this was my idea."
I tried to look as innocent as possible, but it looked as if Granger wasn't really believing me. This was not shaping up to be a good day, but then again, no day had been good since the start of term. From the looks of it, there wouldn't be a good day till I graduated. Granger just kept looking at me suspiciously, and I had had enough. This was it; I wasn't going to take it any more. If she wanted to be suspicious, fine, but she wasn't going to take it out on me. I sat down on the steps and twiddled my thumbs, waiting for her to say something.
"This is just great," Granger sighed, and sat down as well.
"Not really."
"No. But there's no choice."
"Yeah. We've no choice."
Amazing, really; we were agreeing, and we hadn't even been around each other for very long. Maybe Granger had gotten over her fear of skin diseases. Would be nice, not having to work with someone who ups and runs away at the sight of you. Would have been nice working with Bones too, but Hufflepuffs are such pushovers. It would have been like attacking a pudding with a sword. Insane, ridiculous, and ultimately pointless. Granger at least would put up a bit of a fight before going down. Who knew; it might even be fun.
"Lucas is insane." I pointed out.
"You don't say?"
"Oh, I do."
"Hrm."
Silence once more. Weren't we the most eloquent people in the world? At any moment now, Potter and Weasley would come looking for her, and Millicent would come looking for me, and our moment of absolute and utter agreement would be over. Good that; it was getting on my nerves a bit. I wasn't supposed to agree so completely with a Gryffindor, and Granger of all people. I needed, no, craved another cup of coffee. But we needed to arrive at a decision some time soon.
"What are we going to work on though?"
"Don't know."
"How about we meet in the library later and decide?" I kept staring at my feet. I was nervous, just waiting for her to jump at me and tear me limb from limb. You never know what to expect with Gryffindors after all.
"Why the library?" Once again, she was suspicious. What did she think? I would lure her into the library and kill her; she was annoying, not horrible enough to kill in the book stacks. "Because that's where all the books are?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Ah." She had the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry."
"What for?" I mumbled, "We're all out of it lately. I haven't slept properly for weeks."
"Try months, and you'd be closer," Granger shook her head.
"I've got to get some coffee. I'll see you in the library." I said, standing up.
Right. First confrontation of the day, won. Now I had to find Millicent, a cup of coffee, and catch up on my Charms homework. I could feel Granger's eyes boring into my back as I went. Couldn't blame her really; I would have been rather confused too, if I was her. I had to make some plans to, before I went to bed. Next confrontation would be extermination of Vincent Lucas. Maybe I could drown him in the lake. Maybe I could trick him into snogging Trelawney. Heavens knew that was enough of a shock to kill anyone.
*******'
"Snap."
The smoke cloud was choking, and I coughed with tears in my eyes. Exploding Snap, while not the most complicated games on the planet, has its appeals. No other game, wizard or Muggle, gives the opportunity to see the cards explode in your opponents' faces like Exploding Snap. Wiping my tears away, I reshuffled the cards. Even though it was a children's game, Exploding Snap had always been a common pastime among Slytherins. It trained hand-eye- mind coordination, something all of us thought important. And, playing with Millicent, it was a fair share of winning and losing.
"And the game is mine," Millicent smiled like a cat.
"So it is. Rematch?" I questioned.
"Don't think so. I've got some homework to finish before tomorrow," She wrinkled her nose.
"Millie!" I whined.
She threw the exploded cards on me. I was about to throw some back at her, when I caught a glance at the clock above the fireplace. And nearly had a heart attack. I'd told Granger to be on time in the library, after dinner. Which was now, and I was sitting in the Common Room, playing cards. She would have my head if I was late; never mind Slytherins, Gryffindors were the really frightening people of Hogwarts. Granger was downright frightening when she was mad, and mad she would be if I was late. I got up and was running for the door as soon as I was on my feet.
"Blaise! Where are you going?" Pansy called after me.
"Library, closing time, I'm late!" The words came out in a jumble, nowhere near any semblance of order, as I nearly crashed into the door on the way out.
Once again, I was running headlong along the corridors, heart racing and knowing, just knowing that I was going to be late. If I was late, Granger would tell Lucas, and then any pretences of House loyalty would be thrown out the window. Lucas had the complete wrong idea, and the idea he had was utterly revolting, but he'd shown that he didn't resent me any more, and I didn't want that to end for anything in the world. I was a dead man walking already. Skidding around a corner, I almost knocked McGonagall off her feet. A shouted apology over my shoulder was all I had time for; I didn't stop running for a moment. I could foresee large amounts of points be taken off Slytherin for my less than polite handling of the situation, but I couldn't care less.
Thankfully, Granger must have been a bit late too, because she was only setting up her things on the table when I arrived, out of breath and with my tie loose. I must have made quite the picture, because she stared at me wordlessly for a moment, seemingly shocked. Then, in a move that surprised me completely, she picked up a tiny piece of parchment, screwed it up into a ball, and threw it at me. It hit me squarely between the eyes, and I could do nothing but stare at her in amazement.
"Granger, what the sodding hell - ?" I managed. I could feel my self- control crumbling by the minute.
"I just wanted to make sure it was you and not just some figment of my imagination," She shrugged, "You're early."
"No, I'm not Granger, I'm - "I looked at my watch, "I'm early. How the – Don't tell me the clock stopped again! I just ran across the whole damn castle, knocked down McGonagall, and worsened my headache, and I'm early? Is there no justice in the world?"
I was shouting by then, and everyone in the library, Pince included, were staring at me as if I'd gone crazy. Truth was, I was damn close. I collapsed in a chair and glared at Granger. All this was of course her fault. If she hadn't been so damn scary when she was mad, I wouldn't have run like crazy across the castle, and my headache wouldn't be so bad. And there they were, just staring at me as if hinkypunks had just landed on my head and raised a colony. For all I knew they could have; my hair was just as much of a tangled mess now that Granger's was.
"Stop glaring Zabini, we've got a project to do," Granger snapped at me.
"Alright," I pulled myself together, "What are we going to do it about then?"
"Don't know. Any suggestions?"
"The Grindelwald War?" I suggested, leaning back in my chair and plopping my feet on the table, "You know, the one back in the nineteen thirties and forties?"
"The only war back in 1940 was World War II, Zabini," Granger wrinkled her brow disapprovingly, "Be serious for once."
"I am!" I exclaimed, "Just because the Muggles were fighting a war at the same time doesn't mean it was the only war! In fact, some historians are convinced World War II was started as a cover-up for Grindelwald; some even say Grindelwald started it himself. Don't assume you know all the facts just because you're Muggleborn. I say we do a work on it, and specifically the Dark Curses he invented during that time. Serious enough for you, Granger?"
She just nodded tightly and glared at me. I could tell she didn't enjoy being told she was wrong. Grudgingly, she picked up a book about Grindlewald and set to work. I followed suit some moments later when I'd finally calmed down. I could breathe normally, but it took a while before my headache diminished into its normal, annoying and constant state. The air was filled with the sound of paper rustling, quills scratching and the low buzzing mumble of students doing what students to best; pretend to study.
*******'
Ending Notes; shorter chapter this time, and a bit less coherent than I might have liked. Blaise seemed OOC in this chapter, even though he doesn't have a canon-character as such. I'll get better though, and I think I might even begin to see the plot in the next chapter.
*****'
Draco and Pansy's relationship had fallen apart, Millicent ha gotten absolutely nowhere in her quest for Gaspar, and all I had was a splitting headache and the knowledge of Granger's skin-disease-phobia. Not exactly what you'd all a successful week. It wasn't even a successful term, come to that. The only thing which hadn't gone wrong was getting Cain some friends. And that was truly the only thing. Not even Professor Lucas could stand me. The only reason to why he hadn't pitched me off the Astronomy Tower yet was because he wouldn't ever get away with student-murder with Dumbledore around.
Professor Lucas, now that was certainly the oddest teacher we'd had in a while. Where others had been strange, secretive, vile, or just plain crazy, Lucas was odd. Red eyes, looks like the most genuine vampire would be jealous of, and that freakish ability to just disappear, were only a few items on a rather long list. I still had to find out more about him before I could feel even remotely safe in his class. Too bad no one seemed to know anything about him. I had, in my spare time, gone through old records of Hogwarts, to see if he'd gone to school here, but the record-keeping of the school was less than good. Several years were missing, only half-complete and some were copies of others, just kept under a different year. Either Hogwarts was a permanent time-loop, or previous librarians had been disorganised. Our years, and every year that Irma Pince had been librarian of Hogwarts were perfectly organised and all there.
But those from the first war, and a few years before that, were sketchy at best. Snape's yearbook was split down the middle when it came to attendance; it was two hundred pages thick according to the index, but only half of the pages were filled. Most of the Slytherin House were missing, as well as a good number of Ravenclaws, and it looked as if someone had torn the pictures out in a rage. I noticed that Snape wasn't in any picture, except one; where he was standing in the background, behind a group of Hufflepuffs, looking sulky. And Lucas was nowhere to be found. I'd checked everywhere, but no Vincent Lucas. By the time I had upended the whole library, I left in a rather angry mood. I don't like being left with no answers. Hell, this time, I didn't even know what the question was.
I had run in to Granger a few more times after that incident in the library when she just upped and left. Turned out it wasn't just a one-time occurrence either. Every time I came across her in the corridors, or in the Great Hall, or even the library, alone, she stared at me, squeaked and ran for it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why; I hadn't done anything to her. Ever. The constant oddness of Granger's disappearances, Lucas' behaviour and the overbearing ache of my poorly abused head was getting the better of me, and I steadily got more and more irritated.
And so, in the middle of my growing irritation, Defence class rolled around again. Halloween was only a few days away, and everyone was getting jittery. Even in Lucas' class, where everyone were usually at perfect behaviour, most of the class were goofing off like a group of kids. That morning, I'd gotten up and my headache had been worse than normal. Not even five cups of coffee had helped it. In the chattering and bubbly atmosphere of the Defence classroom, I was trying to catch up on my sleep with my forehead against the desk. If I didn't get up soon, I would have permanent ink-imprints on my skin. Too bad my self-discipline wasn't what it had been.
"Good day class," Lucas sounded amused. "If all of you would please sit up straight and look at me, I would be glad."
Ouch. Stab at me, that was. But I straightened up and unstuck the parchment from my forehead. I must have looked like a complete moron, judging from the snickers I heard from the Gryffindor side of the room. They were rather quiet though. Either it was Lucas being intimidating or my reputation of beating Potter that did it. Whatever was causing my cursed headache felt as if there was a swarm of bumblebees buzzing around in my scull. Not a pleasant feeling at all.
"I'm sure you know that all students have to do a rather large project in each of their classes in sixth and seventh year." Lucas sat on his desk and started his usual ramble. "These projects have been spread out so that you won't have to sit up all night with seventeen different things you'd rather do, having to finish them two days before exams. I know I had enough of a hassle trying to finish them to ever put you under such circumstances. Though Mr Zabini seems to have managed that quite well himself."
I raised my eyebrow, and pulled off an almost perfect expression of indifference. If he would just stop rambling and actually get to the point, the lecture might even have been interesting.
"You will, today, begin your Defence Against the Dark Arts project. You will however not work on it alone. I am not so cruel as to force you to endure those sleepless nights, those caffeine highs and and those sleep deprivation induced depressions alone. Going crazy is best done in company. So, I will be paring you up," Groans and mutterings broke out over the room, and he held up his hand to stave them off, "And no amount of complaints will make me let you choose for yourself. You will get this lesson to talk about it, but come next week you will have to have decided on a topic. This project will account for most of your final grade this year."
Then he started calling out names two and two. I rolled my eyes. With my luck, I'd end up with Potter and have to do all of it myself, getting addicted to sleep in the process. One addiction was enough, if I had any say in it. But of course, being me, I didn't. Gah. Lucas hated me enough already for me to complain the slightest about who I got paired with.
"Zabini and - Bones? Where's Bones? Has anyone seen Bones?" I looked up and scanned the room for her.
"She's in the infirmary with a cold sir," One of the Hufflepuffs piped up. The blonde one with pigtails, I think her name's Abbott.
"Ah. Well. No matter; I'll fix that later." Lucas made a quick note, and continued rattling off names. I wondered for a moment if he'd forgotten about me, but realised I must have ended up with Bones anyway, even if she wasn't here. Not too bad, all things considered. Could be worse. I glanced over at Potter and Weasley. Could definitely be worse.
The lesson continued in much the same fashion. Turned out that Terry Boot was off sick too. Granger didn't look too happy about that; maybe she had a crush on her project partner. Who knew? And for that matter, who cared? Everyone left, except for myself and Granger, to look for exciting projects. I remained seated, partly because class hadn't ended yet, and partly because I thought a lot better when I was sitting down. Granger seemed to think along the same lines, and was slow in gathering up her things and leave. Absently, I tugged at my sleeve, adjusting it slightly. Granger quite scared me when she spun around. Her eyes locked with mine for the fraction of a second, and I could see fear, shock and something I couldn't determine. I didn't even have time to blink before she had high- tailed out the door.
"Wha-. "I let my hand fall back to its original position on the desk, "What the heck did I do?"
"I haven't the faintest," Lucas replied, staring after Granger just as I was, "She does that often?"
"All the time," I nodded, "And I can't figure out why; I move one fraction of an inch, and she ups and runs away. Bloody annoying it is too."
Lucas raised his eyebrow. My outburst seemed to amuse him no end, but being Lucas, he didn't even crack a smile. Those freakish red eyes just looked at me and that cursed eyebrow stayed raised as I gathered up my things. I could have sworn I saw him flashing a grin to himself as I turned my back on him.
"There has been a slight rearrangement in the plans," Lucas said, clearing his throat. "Due to, hrm, unforeseen circumstances, Bones and Boot never turned up for this lesson. And, also due to these unforeseen circumstances, neither you nor Granger had your partners to plan with. And, this is completely out of my hands you must understand, you and Granger were forced to pair up for this project. All with no blame on either me or either of you. There was nothing I could do about it. I was under a holy oath to pair up every student in my class. There is also nothing you can do about it. Understand?"
"Not.... Really." I admitted. What was he on about? Unforeseen circumstances? He had bloody planned this, he had.
"No need. Suffice to say it all comes down to House loyalty." Lucas permitted himself a tiny smile. "And if Granger asks, tell her it was a last minute rearrangement of plans, due to certain events. Now, go and chase her down, Zabini. She's already got a head start on you."
I blinked. And blinked again. And, just for good measure, I blinked again. House loyalty, meaning Lucas had been a Slytherin. But what did House loyalty have to do with me working with Granger? Giving up on ever comprehending Lucas, I set out to find Granger. She couldn't be too far ahead, since she'd only left the classroom some two minutes ago.
******'
Stairs had a habit of knocking people over it seemed. I found Granger sitting on the stairs, trying to put all her books back in her bag, swearing to herself. I could hear her from the other end of the corridor, ranting about stairs, book bags and, oddly enough, Death Eaters. Maybe Draco had tripped her; everyone seemed to think he was in the Death Eater Youth League. She stared at my offered hand for a moment, before taking it and hauling herself back up onto her feet again.
"'Lo there Granger. Who tripped you?" I asked, trying to find a topic of conversation as innocent as possible.
"No one. I wasn't watching where I was going," She snapped, "Did you want something, or did you just happen to drop by?"
"Actually," I said, a bit surprised at her waspish reply, "Lucas sent me running after you left. He's rearranged the project-pairings due to unforeseen.... circumstances...."
I slowed down at the end of my sentence, as the full force of what Lucas had implied in his rearrangement hit me in the back of my head like a rouge Bludger. He couldn't have meant that, could he? But he could. He actually had. Cripes, wasn't this the best realisation ever; my Defence teacher was stark raving mad. Granger looked at me curiously; I knew I had to look rather silly with my "I-can't-believe-it!" look. She waved her hand in front of my face, back and forth, a few times, just to test my sanity.
"Zabini, are you still all here?" She asked.
"No," I replied faintly, "I think my sanity went out the window along with Professor Lucas' grip on reality. In fact, had it not been for my healthy dose of coffee earlier today, the nice men in white suits would be coming for me with a new shirt already."
"You're delirious." She said, snapping her fingers in front of my nose, trying to get a reaction, "What was it you wanted?"
"Lucas rearranged the pairs, as I said. Since neither Boot nor Bones were in attendance, it seems we got stuck with each other," I pulled myself together. "And before you rip my head off and serve it to Potter on a silver plate, I want you to know none of this was my idea."
I tried to look as innocent as possible, but it looked as if Granger wasn't really believing me. This was not shaping up to be a good day, but then again, no day had been good since the start of term. From the looks of it, there wouldn't be a good day till I graduated. Granger just kept looking at me suspiciously, and I had had enough. This was it; I wasn't going to take it any more. If she wanted to be suspicious, fine, but she wasn't going to take it out on me. I sat down on the steps and twiddled my thumbs, waiting for her to say something.
"This is just great," Granger sighed, and sat down as well.
"Not really."
"No. But there's no choice."
"Yeah. We've no choice."
Amazing, really; we were agreeing, and we hadn't even been around each other for very long. Maybe Granger had gotten over her fear of skin diseases. Would be nice, not having to work with someone who ups and runs away at the sight of you. Would have been nice working with Bones too, but Hufflepuffs are such pushovers. It would have been like attacking a pudding with a sword. Insane, ridiculous, and ultimately pointless. Granger at least would put up a bit of a fight before going down. Who knew; it might even be fun.
"Lucas is insane." I pointed out.
"You don't say?"
"Oh, I do."
"Hrm."
Silence once more. Weren't we the most eloquent people in the world? At any moment now, Potter and Weasley would come looking for her, and Millicent would come looking for me, and our moment of absolute and utter agreement would be over. Good that; it was getting on my nerves a bit. I wasn't supposed to agree so completely with a Gryffindor, and Granger of all people. I needed, no, craved another cup of coffee. But we needed to arrive at a decision some time soon.
"What are we going to work on though?"
"Don't know."
"How about we meet in the library later and decide?" I kept staring at my feet. I was nervous, just waiting for her to jump at me and tear me limb from limb. You never know what to expect with Gryffindors after all.
"Why the library?" Once again, she was suspicious. What did she think? I would lure her into the library and kill her; she was annoying, not horrible enough to kill in the book stacks. "Because that's where all the books are?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Ah." She had the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry."
"What for?" I mumbled, "We're all out of it lately. I haven't slept properly for weeks."
"Try months, and you'd be closer," Granger shook her head.
"I've got to get some coffee. I'll see you in the library." I said, standing up.
Right. First confrontation of the day, won. Now I had to find Millicent, a cup of coffee, and catch up on my Charms homework. I could feel Granger's eyes boring into my back as I went. Couldn't blame her really; I would have been rather confused too, if I was her. I had to make some plans to, before I went to bed. Next confrontation would be extermination of Vincent Lucas. Maybe I could drown him in the lake. Maybe I could trick him into snogging Trelawney. Heavens knew that was enough of a shock to kill anyone.
*******'
"Snap."
The smoke cloud was choking, and I coughed with tears in my eyes. Exploding Snap, while not the most complicated games on the planet, has its appeals. No other game, wizard or Muggle, gives the opportunity to see the cards explode in your opponents' faces like Exploding Snap. Wiping my tears away, I reshuffled the cards. Even though it was a children's game, Exploding Snap had always been a common pastime among Slytherins. It trained hand-eye- mind coordination, something all of us thought important. And, playing with Millicent, it was a fair share of winning and losing.
"And the game is mine," Millicent smiled like a cat.
"So it is. Rematch?" I questioned.
"Don't think so. I've got some homework to finish before tomorrow," She wrinkled her nose.
"Millie!" I whined.
She threw the exploded cards on me. I was about to throw some back at her, when I caught a glance at the clock above the fireplace. And nearly had a heart attack. I'd told Granger to be on time in the library, after dinner. Which was now, and I was sitting in the Common Room, playing cards. She would have my head if I was late; never mind Slytherins, Gryffindors were the really frightening people of Hogwarts. Granger was downright frightening when she was mad, and mad she would be if I was late. I got up and was running for the door as soon as I was on my feet.
"Blaise! Where are you going?" Pansy called after me.
"Library, closing time, I'm late!" The words came out in a jumble, nowhere near any semblance of order, as I nearly crashed into the door on the way out.
Once again, I was running headlong along the corridors, heart racing and knowing, just knowing that I was going to be late. If I was late, Granger would tell Lucas, and then any pretences of House loyalty would be thrown out the window. Lucas had the complete wrong idea, and the idea he had was utterly revolting, but he'd shown that he didn't resent me any more, and I didn't want that to end for anything in the world. I was a dead man walking already. Skidding around a corner, I almost knocked McGonagall off her feet. A shouted apology over my shoulder was all I had time for; I didn't stop running for a moment. I could foresee large amounts of points be taken off Slytherin for my less than polite handling of the situation, but I couldn't care less.
Thankfully, Granger must have been a bit late too, because she was only setting up her things on the table when I arrived, out of breath and with my tie loose. I must have made quite the picture, because she stared at me wordlessly for a moment, seemingly shocked. Then, in a move that surprised me completely, she picked up a tiny piece of parchment, screwed it up into a ball, and threw it at me. It hit me squarely between the eyes, and I could do nothing but stare at her in amazement.
"Granger, what the sodding hell - ?" I managed. I could feel my self- control crumbling by the minute.
"I just wanted to make sure it was you and not just some figment of my imagination," She shrugged, "You're early."
"No, I'm not Granger, I'm - "I looked at my watch, "I'm early. How the – Don't tell me the clock stopped again! I just ran across the whole damn castle, knocked down McGonagall, and worsened my headache, and I'm early? Is there no justice in the world?"
I was shouting by then, and everyone in the library, Pince included, were staring at me as if I'd gone crazy. Truth was, I was damn close. I collapsed in a chair and glared at Granger. All this was of course her fault. If she hadn't been so damn scary when she was mad, I wouldn't have run like crazy across the castle, and my headache wouldn't be so bad. And there they were, just staring at me as if hinkypunks had just landed on my head and raised a colony. For all I knew they could have; my hair was just as much of a tangled mess now that Granger's was.
"Stop glaring Zabini, we've got a project to do," Granger snapped at me.
"Alright," I pulled myself together, "What are we going to do it about then?"
"Don't know. Any suggestions?"
"The Grindelwald War?" I suggested, leaning back in my chair and plopping my feet on the table, "You know, the one back in the nineteen thirties and forties?"
"The only war back in 1940 was World War II, Zabini," Granger wrinkled her brow disapprovingly, "Be serious for once."
"I am!" I exclaimed, "Just because the Muggles were fighting a war at the same time doesn't mean it was the only war! In fact, some historians are convinced World War II was started as a cover-up for Grindelwald; some even say Grindelwald started it himself. Don't assume you know all the facts just because you're Muggleborn. I say we do a work on it, and specifically the Dark Curses he invented during that time. Serious enough for you, Granger?"
She just nodded tightly and glared at me. I could tell she didn't enjoy being told she was wrong. Grudgingly, she picked up a book about Grindlewald and set to work. I followed suit some moments later when I'd finally calmed down. I could breathe normally, but it took a while before my headache diminished into its normal, annoying and constant state. The air was filled with the sound of paper rustling, quills scratching and the low buzzing mumble of students doing what students to best; pretend to study.
*******'
Ending Notes; shorter chapter this time, and a bit less coherent than I might have liked. Blaise seemed OOC in this chapter, even though he doesn't have a canon-character as such. I'll get better though, and I think I might even begin to see the plot in the next chapter.