To say I was stunned at Lucas's revelation was passing up on a chance to
use to word paralysed. Our list of ludicrous Defence teachers had grown. A
stammering idiot, a self-obsessed liar, a werewolf, a madman undercover, a
Ministry bitch with too much power on her hands, and yet they all paled in
comparison to this one. A Dark Wizard. And not any Dark Wizard either; a
Slytherin who had been in the same year as Bellatrix Black, and all of
which turned Death Eaters. Lucas sat silently and waited for me to say
something.
"Why are you telling this to me?" I asked finally. "How do you know I'm not going to go and scream my head off to every student in school?"
"Because, Zabini, that would mean they would have to listen to you." Lucas raised one eyebrow, "You mightn't have noticed, but you aren't exactly the most popular student in the school. After your little fist fight with Weasley, most of them took his side, even though they didn't know the details. As a Slytherin, you had to be in the wrong. That's how they think, and that's how they will always think. But aside from that, it's because you remind me of myself at that age."
"I do?" Now I was confused; at my age, Lucas had been well on his way into the Dark Arts, and had probably duelled with more illegal curses than I would ever know.
"Yes. Think about it logically for a minute, Zabini. You might not be reading Dark Arts books, and you might not be practising curses on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but aside from that, you are so much like me it is frightening." He leaned forward and inspected me. "You're alone. No matter how much to try to explain it away, you are. There's your friends, but you much prefer your own company. There's the constant conflict, recently shown in the fight with Granger. And let us not forget the fact that you then turned around completely on that issue and applauded her in the Great Hall. Such sudden turns were very much my trademark at school. The loneliness, the intelligence I know you have and the aggressiveness, along with the sudden mood swings, are all so like me it scares me sometimes."
"So this is a warning to me, is that's what you're saying?" I almost laughed at the absurd aspect of me becoming a Dark Wizard.
"Yes. And it is no laughing matter, Zabini. Slytherins have always been more in the risk-zone than any other House, and with all things that has happened to you, the possibility that you would slide off the edge to the Dark side of things is too great for me to ignore." Lucas looked much too serious to be laughed at. He looked at my everything but understanding face, and sighed, "Damn it, Severus should have been here; he is much better at scaring people off things than I am."
"Nope, wouldn't say so; you're pretty frightening. Where is Snape, by the way?" I asked, steering him away from the whole Dark Wizard issue.
"I don't know." Lucas shook his head. "But I know that he hasn't been kidnapped, so you can bury that suspicion now. Promise me something, Zabini; do not turn your back on everyone, and if you feel the slightest hint of turning to the Dark, come to me. Promise me that."
"I will. I promise." I nodded slowly, "I have to go now; if I'm gone too long, they'll send out a search party after me."
I stood up and headed out the door, moving around the dangerously leaning piles of books and odd instruments, muttering under my breath. Lucas had really put thoughts in my head now, and I wouldn't be able to do anything for the rest of the day unless I distracted myself. Just as I closed the door, I head him whisper something.
"You don't know what you have, Blaise Zabini." Was what it sounded like.
'
The Slytherin Common Room was fit to burst with the buzzing noise of the Slytherins all talking at once. I found my group of friends sitting in their customary place in front of the fire, talking as well. Well, most of them were talking; Cain had stolen a pillow and was currently testing how good it was to sleep on. How anyone could sleep in the middle of the day amazed me, but he managed somehow. I stepped over him and collapsed on the rug.
"See, the triumphant returns," Gaspar said, "Where have you been?"
"Talking to our ever so mysterious Defence teacher." I said, "He's weird."
"You don't say?" Agnes questioned, "He keeps looking at me as if I'm about to break down in tears."
I bit my tongue to keep myself from telling her why. If Lucas's idea of helping me was unloading a heap of information on me that I couldn't share with anyone else, I didn't want to know what his idea of an unhelping hand was. Things had gone a bit too fast over the last few hours, so I decided to forget what Lucas had said, if only for a while, and hear around about what the case with Granger and Potter was.
"So what's the deal with Granger?" I asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Hasn't your little stalker told you that?" Agnes snorted. "I asked around, and Bones told me. Apparently Potter thought it was a good idea to try to set Granger up with someone, and the choice fell on Weasley. Granger didn't like that at all, but Weasley did. Weasley tried to snog her, or so Bones told me, and Granger protested. Fight happened, in which Granger told him off bad, and Weasley's sister helped. Granger found out Potter planned it all, and goes to slap him."
"Weasley tried to snog her?" I was shocked. "Why did she protest? Ever since the Yule Ball, she seemed all for him."
"The minds of women work in mysterious ways, Blaise," Gaspar smiled.
"That they do, and some men can't seem to see what's right in front of them." I raised my eyebrow at him, but he didn't catch my hint. "Weasley snogging Granger and Granger slapping Potter. You know, this has been a good day, fights with Granger aside."
"Oh?" Draco questioned.
"Yeah. Granger did us all a favour; if say Agnes had slapped Potter, she'd be expelled and excommunicated, but now that Granger did it, she'd only get a detention if she's got bad luck. Potter gets slapped, we don't have to do anything, a win-win situation." I pointed out, "And if Granger gets detention, it's just a bonus, eh?"
"Brilliant, Blaise." Theo snickered, "We should thank her really. I would, of course, but I have a feeling she'd slap me too. Would you do the honours, Blaise?"
"Why yes of course, and have Granger eat my heart out with spoon!" I grinned widely and extremely fake, "My mission in life!"
"Cut the sarcasm, Blaise." Agnes snorted, "You know, you could put some weight on that warning of yours. See if you can get her to apologise for Weasley's abuse too. The fist fight, remember?"
"Weasley's fist in my face isn't something that's easy to forget," I wrinkled my nose, "Oh fine, I'll go and get Granger and express the gratitude of all Slytherins. That fine with you?"
They laughed me out of the Common Room, and Theo even went as far as shouting me a mocking good luck. Spinning around, I flipped them the finger like I'd seen Muggles do, and walked out hastily, before anyone realised what I'd just done. While neither Gaspar nor Draco nor Theo were impressive in their own right, and even though neither of them could take me out on their own, they could be dangerous all at once, and especially if they got Agnes and Millicent with them. Cain was still out cold, snoring.
'
Finding Granger wasn't easy. She wasn't in the library, and even though I had a vague idea of where the Gryffindor Common Room was, I didn't want to try my luck at finding her there. So I just wandered aimlessly around for a while. After some time, I'd managed to get completely lost. Stopping and beating my head against the wall for a moment before continuing, I decided that now was a good time to get lost; I had all day, all night and the whole next day to find my way back. I walked past a particularly nasty tapestry, depicting the death of Angharad the Great, and stopped.
Someone was crying. It was faint, almost too quiet to hear, so it could be one of the paintings, but the only paintings in the corridor looked like they were all relatives of Christoph in the dungeon. Not very likely to burst out in sobs like a school girl. Wait, school girl. The sobs did sound less than male, and they were coming from the wall. Scratching my head did help this time, because the realisation hit me like a freight train. The tapestry. Sometimes, my own thick headedness astounded me. I pushed the tapestry aside to reveal a rather nice door, which was standing open.
"'Lo? Anyone there?"
More sobs. Something was seriously wrong. How perfect that I should get landed with comforting some random Hogwarts girl while looking for Granger. Never mind that looking for Granger wasn't something I wanted to do. All the more reason to get it over faster. Besides, I wasn't a very comforting person; I went more for the ´Belt up and stop wailing, brat!´ attitude.
"Hel-lo? Whoever's-sobbing-in-the-closet-please-stop-now?" I called. Not the best line ever, but I didn't exactly care at the moment.
"Go 'way."
How curious. That sounded like Granger. But there was no reason for Granger to shut herself up in a closet behind a tapestry and sob her heart out. That was just stupid. Kind of like suggesting Crabbe do the Arithmancy homework for the Slytherin House and expect good results. Ludicrous, really, but stranger things has been known to happen. It was Hogwarts, after all.
"I would, but you sound a lot like Granger, and that's who I'm looking for at the moment. As soon as I make sure you're not Granger, I'll leave," I promised. "How about that?"
"What do you want?" Oooh, that annoyed tone was definitely Granger. This wasn't going to take nearly as much time as I thought it would. "If you hadn't noticed I'm busy, Zabini."
"Well," I said, coming into the closet and the dark, and saw her sitting curled up in a chair, "I just wanted to thank you on the behalf of the Slytherin House. You do realise you've just done what we've all wanted to do for years, right?"
"Oh please," She muttered, rolling her rather red eyes.
"No, really. I can't count the times I've wanted to punch the lights out of Potter, and then you spared us all the trouble!" I grinned a little too widely. "Really nice of you. I was chosen by the almighty Slytherin counsel to come here and honour you with a medal; the Slytherin Cross."
I made up the medal, but it had a nice ring to it. The Slytherin Cross, given to all worthy of it. I had to write that down somewhere and remember it. Granger raised her eyebrow sceptically, and managed to look every inch the stern prefect, even with red eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks. Smirking at her, I tried to convince her I was telling the truth.
"Really?"
"Nope," Oh hell, I should have known I couldn't lie to her; not only does she make me lose my temper, she makes sure I tell her the truth too. "But since I'm feeling nice today, you'll get the Cross anyway."
I took out my wand, or tried to, before I remembered it was still under my pillow in the dormitory. Right, judging from the sceptical look on Granger's face, I needed to get the Cross fast, or I'd be facing the same slap Potter had. I turned around and dug in my pockets desperately, for anything resembling a cross. I came up with some bent needles I'd twisted around each other one boring Transfiguration lesson. Now, what I needed was some of that Transfiguration. Unfortunately, the only thing I had to rely on was my more than unreliable wandless magic, and Transfiguration was among the most difficult magics too. What had McGonagall said about transfiguring small things into jewellery? To concentrate on a familiar form first, and have the thing resemble it to make it easier. Right, got both of those. The needles looked like a cross already, and since it was going to be a Slytherin Cross, I could go with snakes, which turned up all over the Common Room.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the picture of two snakes making a cross. Not knowing the correct spell, I reached out with my mind and twisted. It felt strange, nauseating almost, to do magic without wand or spells. It was like someone drove a stick into my brain and twisted, and I felt myself go green, but when I opened my eyes, I grinned. Despite the light-headedness, the nausea, and the certainty that I would have a headache the size of Rome in a few minutes, I had managed to transfigure the needless into something that resembled a Slytherin Cross. Completely made up, faked to the extreme and probably laughable, but still, it was mine. I turned around again.
"Here," I tossed it at her, and she caught it, slightly startled, "I had to look around in my pockets a bit first. Now, I've got places to vandalise and people to terrorize. You enjoy your new medal, be sure to wear it sometime, I'll see you around. Ta ta."
She certainly wasn't sobbing when I left her. It was more of a shock- amazement-I'm-going-crazy expression on her face. Nice to know I could still shock some people. If she wore the Slytherin Cross tomorrow, or even on Monday, it would be even better; a Gryffindor walking around, parading a cross of snakes on her robe would be perfect. Another crack for Potter's reputation. And maybe finally, Granger would get over the ludicrous illusion that I was a Death Eater. Come to think of it, I still didn't know why she had been hiding in a closet and crying.
Not that it mattered.
'
Sleep was good. Sleep was wonderful. Pillows were nice. Beds were even nicer. Headaches were bad, and so were Draco who tried to keep me awake. Covers up over my head, good, Draco pulling them down and chattering, bad. Definition became so much easier with a headache and a wish to sleep. My hand shot up and fingers curled around his neck, nearly choking him in the process.
"Go 'way." I told him sleepily. "Need sleep."
"I'll go away as soon as you tell me what happened with Granger." Draco promised. "Come on, tell me?"
"Foun' her. Thanked her. Got 'nother point f'r our side." I mumbled, face down in the pillow. "Pott'r won't be laughing. "
"What did you do?"
"You'll see tomorrow. Or Monday." I shoved him down on the floor and turned over, falling asleep almost immediately.
I had been right; the headache had blind sided me as soon as I stepped inside the Common Room. It had turned out I wasn't as lost as I thought I'd been, and I'd found my way rather quickly. Maybe I should take walks while thinking more often; it led me right more often than not. What had puzzled me this time was Granger's lack of fear for me. I had pushed her up against a bookcase and acted more threatening in five minutes than Draco had in five years, and yet when alone in a closet with me, she barely raised an eyebrow. That girl was more than odd.
'
Sunday passed with nothing but nosey questions and some homework. Monday rolled around earlier than either of us wanted, but it was with a certain measure of excitement we left the Common Room that morning. I wanted to know if Granger would take me up on the challenge I'd present, though unspoken, and the others wanted to know what I'd done. Her lack of fear still puzzled me, but it wasn't as if it really mattered. What did matter though was whether or not she'd wear the Cross. If she did, I couldn't wait to see the expressions of Potter's and Weasley's faces. Agnes had pestered me for hours, even promised she'd sell her soul to Fudge if I told her what I'd done, but shaking with laughter, I'd refused. It had earned me a shoe to the head.
Granger wasn't at breakfast, but I wasn't worried. We had Arithmancy after breakfast, and that meant I'd find out whether or not she'd worn the Cross. Ignoring my friend's nagging, I ate my breakfast. Lucas was at the High Table, an odd occurrence in itself, made odder by the fact that he was talking quietly to Sinistra, and even cracked a smile. Frowning again, I remembered what he'd told me. I'd been trying to forget, but it seemed he was determined not to let me do that. Which was good really; it would keep me on my toes – I'd learned how to deal with him now, I knew him now. And even though he'd shown the ultimate untrustworthiness, I knew I could trust him. He wouldn't think twice before stabbing someone in the back, which meant I knew where I had him. I could always trust him to be untrustworthy. It was the trustworthy ones I had to watch out for. He looked up and stared at me for a split second. A grin broke out over my face, and he raised an eyebrow.
Just as I was about to nod or something, Millicent touched my shoulder, reminding me I had lessons to attend and a Cross to find. I stood up and walked out of the Hall whistling. I had been strangely happy these last few days. Must have something to do with the upcoming Christmas holidays.
Vector was late, so I leaned against the wall next to the classroom door instead of going in. I could take whatever seat was left when she came. I was waiting for Granger. As was Granger's habit, I didn't have to wait long. She came walking down the corridor, looking immensely annoyed with something, and I noticed some Gryffindors further down the corridor were pointing at her and whispering. It was obvious why; pinned to her robes, right next to the Gryffindor lion, was my home-made Slytherin Cross. Had it not been incredibly embarrassing, I would I jumped up and down. We'd won another point in the never-ending Gryffindor-Slytherin game. It seemed we were getting out ahead on this one.
"I see you have finally gotten some sense, Granger." I smirked, "The Cross wins us another point. Thanks for helping. I really do appreciate it."
"Another point?" She echoed, confused.
"In the game, of course. Slytherins always play games, and this is another one. We've got to keep ourselves entertained while avoiding the Death Eaters and being annoyed with the lack of Hogsmeade weekends, no?" I raised my eyebrow.
To say she looked angry would be the understatement of the century. To say the slap hurt would be the understatement of the millennium. She raised her hand to slap me once more, but this time, I caught her wrist. Rage burned in her eyes, and she didn't even flinch as I glared at her. I had to give her that; she was a true Gryffindor in her bravery. But that slap had hurt, and I could already feel the bruise forming. She was in trouble now, Cross or not.
"How dare you?" I asked slowly, so angry I wasn't thinking straight. "How dare you do that? You accuse me of being a Death Eater, you practically stalk me for weeks, you drive me absolutely mad in anger, and now you dare hit me?"
"Let. Go." A flicker of fear, and then her anger was back.
"Not. Yet." I answered. "I - "
"Mr Zabini! Ms Granger! What are you doing?" Vector asked, aghast as she came walking down the corridor. "Fighting in the corridors, at your age! Detention, both of you, and I don't want to see you in my class today. Leave!"
"Fine." I said, before letting go of Granger's wrist and storming down the corridor.
In the background, I could hear Granger try to reason with Vector, but having no success. Vector might have overreacted, but it was oh so sweet to see Granger get detention. It didn't matter that I had detention as well; all that mattered was that she'd gotten what was coming to her. How dare that little perfect Gryffindor bitch slap me? She accused me of Death Eater- ship, she drove me mad, she slapped me, and through it all I had done nothing to deserve it. My temper was boiling, and I took the steps down to the Common Room three at the time, grumbling under my breath about evil Gryffindors and unfair detentions.
My anger had triggered my headache again, which was reaching nausea-state. I didn't get further than the Common Room before I had to run up the stairs and into the bathroom. I reached it just in time to bowl over and start vomiting in the toilet. I threw up until there was nothing left to throw up, and I crawled to the wall, curling up and hiding my face against my arms. The headache slowly faded, even as my laboured breathing echoed in the empty room. I lowered my arms and stared out in the bathroom. A few of the towels were lying in a heap on the floor, and a bottle that had been standing on the sink was lying in a marvellous puddle of goo and glass- shards under it. Seemed I'd had another breakdown, but not as big this time.
"How the hell does she do it?" I whispered into thin air. "How the hell does she manage to upset me so damn much?"
Bowing my head down again, my shoulders began to shake. Not since my last breakdown had I been so upset. The tears came unbidden, and in my weak state it was impossible to stop them. The bathroom echoed with my strangled sobbing, and the mirror on the wall whispered to itself over and over.
"How does she do it?"
'
Ending Notes; cue breakdown. Poor little Blaise. I can't remember when I tortured a character this much before. Oh. Wait. That would be Dante, the poor vampire who got stuck with a girl having her period. But that was last year, this is now, and I really do pity him.
"Why are you telling this to me?" I asked finally. "How do you know I'm not going to go and scream my head off to every student in school?"
"Because, Zabini, that would mean they would have to listen to you." Lucas raised one eyebrow, "You mightn't have noticed, but you aren't exactly the most popular student in the school. After your little fist fight with Weasley, most of them took his side, even though they didn't know the details. As a Slytherin, you had to be in the wrong. That's how they think, and that's how they will always think. But aside from that, it's because you remind me of myself at that age."
"I do?" Now I was confused; at my age, Lucas had been well on his way into the Dark Arts, and had probably duelled with more illegal curses than I would ever know.
"Yes. Think about it logically for a minute, Zabini. You might not be reading Dark Arts books, and you might not be practising curses on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but aside from that, you are so much like me it is frightening." He leaned forward and inspected me. "You're alone. No matter how much to try to explain it away, you are. There's your friends, but you much prefer your own company. There's the constant conflict, recently shown in the fight with Granger. And let us not forget the fact that you then turned around completely on that issue and applauded her in the Great Hall. Such sudden turns were very much my trademark at school. The loneliness, the intelligence I know you have and the aggressiveness, along with the sudden mood swings, are all so like me it scares me sometimes."
"So this is a warning to me, is that's what you're saying?" I almost laughed at the absurd aspect of me becoming a Dark Wizard.
"Yes. And it is no laughing matter, Zabini. Slytherins have always been more in the risk-zone than any other House, and with all things that has happened to you, the possibility that you would slide off the edge to the Dark side of things is too great for me to ignore." Lucas looked much too serious to be laughed at. He looked at my everything but understanding face, and sighed, "Damn it, Severus should have been here; he is much better at scaring people off things than I am."
"Nope, wouldn't say so; you're pretty frightening. Where is Snape, by the way?" I asked, steering him away from the whole Dark Wizard issue.
"I don't know." Lucas shook his head. "But I know that he hasn't been kidnapped, so you can bury that suspicion now. Promise me something, Zabini; do not turn your back on everyone, and if you feel the slightest hint of turning to the Dark, come to me. Promise me that."
"I will. I promise." I nodded slowly, "I have to go now; if I'm gone too long, they'll send out a search party after me."
I stood up and headed out the door, moving around the dangerously leaning piles of books and odd instruments, muttering under my breath. Lucas had really put thoughts in my head now, and I wouldn't be able to do anything for the rest of the day unless I distracted myself. Just as I closed the door, I head him whisper something.
"You don't know what you have, Blaise Zabini." Was what it sounded like.
'
The Slytherin Common Room was fit to burst with the buzzing noise of the Slytherins all talking at once. I found my group of friends sitting in their customary place in front of the fire, talking as well. Well, most of them were talking; Cain had stolen a pillow and was currently testing how good it was to sleep on. How anyone could sleep in the middle of the day amazed me, but he managed somehow. I stepped over him and collapsed on the rug.
"See, the triumphant returns," Gaspar said, "Where have you been?"
"Talking to our ever so mysterious Defence teacher." I said, "He's weird."
"You don't say?" Agnes questioned, "He keeps looking at me as if I'm about to break down in tears."
I bit my tongue to keep myself from telling her why. If Lucas's idea of helping me was unloading a heap of information on me that I couldn't share with anyone else, I didn't want to know what his idea of an unhelping hand was. Things had gone a bit too fast over the last few hours, so I decided to forget what Lucas had said, if only for a while, and hear around about what the case with Granger and Potter was.
"So what's the deal with Granger?" I asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Hasn't your little stalker told you that?" Agnes snorted. "I asked around, and Bones told me. Apparently Potter thought it was a good idea to try to set Granger up with someone, and the choice fell on Weasley. Granger didn't like that at all, but Weasley did. Weasley tried to snog her, or so Bones told me, and Granger protested. Fight happened, in which Granger told him off bad, and Weasley's sister helped. Granger found out Potter planned it all, and goes to slap him."
"Weasley tried to snog her?" I was shocked. "Why did she protest? Ever since the Yule Ball, she seemed all for him."
"The minds of women work in mysterious ways, Blaise," Gaspar smiled.
"That they do, and some men can't seem to see what's right in front of them." I raised my eyebrow at him, but he didn't catch my hint. "Weasley snogging Granger and Granger slapping Potter. You know, this has been a good day, fights with Granger aside."
"Oh?" Draco questioned.
"Yeah. Granger did us all a favour; if say Agnes had slapped Potter, she'd be expelled and excommunicated, but now that Granger did it, she'd only get a detention if she's got bad luck. Potter gets slapped, we don't have to do anything, a win-win situation." I pointed out, "And if Granger gets detention, it's just a bonus, eh?"
"Brilliant, Blaise." Theo snickered, "We should thank her really. I would, of course, but I have a feeling she'd slap me too. Would you do the honours, Blaise?"
"Why yes of course, and have Granger eat my heart out with spoon!" I grinned widely and extremely fake, "My mission in life!"
"Cut the sarcasm, Blaise." Agnes snorted, "You know, you could put some weight on that warning of yours. See if you can get her to apologise for Weasley's abuse too. The fist fight, remember?"
"Weasley's fist in my face isn't something that's easy to forget," I wrinkled my nose, "Oh fine, I'll go and get Granger and express the gratitude of all Slytherins. That fine with you?"
They laughed me out of the Common Room, and Theo even went as far as shouting me a mocking good luck. Spinning around, I flipped them the finger like I'd seen Muggles do, and walked out hastily, before anyone realised what I'd just done. While neither Gaspar nor Draco nor Theo were impressive in their own right, and even though neither of them could take me out on their own, they could be dangerous all at once, and especially if they got Agnes and Millicent with them. Cain was still out cold, snoring.
'
Finding Granger wasn't easy. She wasn't in the library, and even though I had a vague idea of where the Gryffindor Common Room was, I didn't want to try my luck at finding her there. So I just wandered aimlessly around for a while. After some time, I'd managed to get completely lost. Stopping and beating my head against the wall for a moment before continuing, I decided that now was a good time to get lost; I had all day, all night and the whole next day to find my way back. I walked past a particularly nasty tapestry, depicting the death of Angharad the Great, and stopped.
Someone was crying. It was faint, almost too quiet to hear, so it could be one of the paintings, but the only paintings in the corridor looked like they were all relatives of Christoph in the dungeon. Not very likely to burst out in sobs like a school girl. Wait, school girl. The sobs did sound less than male, and they were coming from the wall. Scratching my head did help this time, because the realisation hit me like a freight train. The tapestry. Sometimes, my own thick headedness astounded me. I pushed the tapestry aside to reveal a rather nice door, which was standing open.
"'Lo? Anyone there?"
More sobs. Something was seriously wrong. How perfect that I should get landed with comforting some random Hogwarts girl while looking for Granger. Never mind that looking for Granger wasn't something I wanted to do. All the more reason to get it over faster. Besides, I wasn't a very comforting person; I went more for the ´Belt up and stop wailing, brat!´ attitude.
"Hel-lo? Whoever's-sobbing-in-the-closet-please-stop-now?" I called. Not the best line ever, but I didn't exactly care at the moment.
"Go 'way."
How curious. That sounded like Granger. But there was no reason for Granger to shut herself up in a closet behind a tapestry and sob her heart out. That was just stupid. Kind of like suggesting Crabbe do the Arithmancy homework for the Slytherin House and expect good results. Ludicrous, really, but stranger things has been known to happen. It was Hogwarts, after all.
"I would, but you sound a lot like Granger, and that's who I'm looking for at the moment. As soon as I make sure you're not Granger, I'll leave," I promised. "How about that?"
"What do you want?" Oooh, that annoyed tone was definitely Granger. This wasn't going to take nearly as much time as I thought it would. "If you hadn't noticed I'm busy, Zabini."
"Well," I said, coming into the closet and the dark, and saw her sitting curled up in a chair, "I just wanted to thank you on the behalf of the Slytherin House. You do realise you've just done what we've all wanted to do for years, right?"
"Oh please," She muttered, rolling her rather red eyes.
"No, really. I can't count the times I've wanted to punch the lights out of Potter, and then you spared us all the trouble!" I grinned a little too widely. "Really nice of you. I was chosen by the almighty Slytherin counsel to come here and honour you with a medal; the Slytherin Cross."
I made up the medal, but it had a nice ring to it. The Slytherin Cross, given to all worthy of it. I had to write that down somewhere and remember it. Granger raised her eyebrow sceptically, and managed to look every inch the stern prefect, even with red eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks. Smirking at her, I tried to convince her I was telling the truth.
"Really?"
"Nope," Oh hell, I should have known I couldn't lie to her; not only does she make me lose my temper, she makes sure I tell her the truth too. "But since I'm feeling nice today, you'll get the Cross anyway."
I took out my wand, or tried to, before I remembered it was still under my pillow in the dormitory. Right, judging from the sceptical look on Granger's face, I needed to get the Cross fast, or I'd be facing the same slap Potter had. I turned around and dug in my pockets desperately, for anything resembling a cross. I came up with some bent needles I'd twisted around each other one boring Transfiguration lesson. Now, what I needed was some of that Transfiguration. Unfortunately, the only thing I had to rely on was my more than unreliable wandless magic, and Transfiguration was among the most difficult magics too. What had McGonagall said about transfiguring small things into jewellery? To concentrate on a familiar form first, and have the thing resemble it to make it easier. Right, got both of those. The needles looked like a cross already, and since it was going to be a Slytherin Cross, I could go with snakes, which turned up all over the Common Room.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the picture of two snakes making a cross. Not knowing the correct spell, I reached out with my mind and twisted. It felt strange, nauseating almost, to do magic without wand or spells. It was like someone drove a stick into my brain and twisted, and I felt myself go green, but when I opened my eyes, I grinned. Despite the light-headedness, the nausea, and the certainty that I would have a headache the size of Rome in a few minutes, I had managed to transfigure the needless into something that resembled a Slytherin Cross. Completely made up, faked to the extreme and probably laughable, but still, it was mine. I turned around again.
"Here," I tossed it at her, and she caught it, slightly startled, "I had to look around in my pockets a bit first. Now, I've got places to vandalise and people to terrorize. You enjoy your new medal, be sure to wear it sometime, I'll see you around. Ta ta."
She certainly wasn't sobbing when I left her. It was more of a shock- amazement-I'm-going-crazy expression on her face. Nice to know I could still shock some people. If she wore the Slytherin Cross tomorrow, or even on Monday, it would be even better; a Gryffindor walking around, parading a cross of snakes on her robe would be perfect. Another crack for Potter's reputation. And maybe finally, Granger would get over the ludicrous illusion that I was a Death Eater. Come to think of it, I still didn't know why she had been hiding in a closet and crying.
Not that it mattered.
'
Sleep was good. Sleep was wonderful. Pillows were nice. Beds were even nicer. Headaches were bad, and so were Draco who tried to keep me awake. Covers up over my head, good, Draco pulling them down and chattering, bad. Definition became so much easier with a headache and a wish to sleep. My hand shot up and fingers curled around his neck, nearly choking him in the process.
"Go 'way." I told him sleepily. "Need sleep."
"I'll go away as soon as you tell me what happened with Granger." Draco promised. "Come on, tell me?"
"Foun' her. Thanked her. Got 'nother point f'r our side." I mumbled, face down in the pillow. "Pott'r won't be laughing. "
"What did you do?"
"You'll see tomorrow. Or Monday." I shoved him down on the floor and turned over, falling asleep almost immediately.
I had been right; the headache had blind sided me as soon as I stepped inside the Common Room. It had turned out I wasn't as lost as I thought I'd been, and I'd found my way rather quickly. Maybe I should take walks while thinking more often; it led me right more often than not. What had puzzled me this time was Granger's lack of fear for me. I had pushed her up against a bookcase and acted more threatening in five minutes than Draco had in five years, and yet when alone in a closet with me, she barely raised an eyebrow. That girl was more than odd.
'
Sunday passed with nothing but nosey questions and some homework. Monday rolled around earlier than either of us wanted, but it was with a certain measure of excitement we left the Common Room that morning. I wanted to know if Granger would take me up on the challenge I'd present, though unspoken, and the others wanted to know what I'd done. Her lack of fear still puzzled me, but it wasn't as if it really mattered. What did matter though was whether or not she'd wear the Cross. If she did, I couldn't wait to see the expressions of Potter's and Weasley's faces. Agnes had pestered me for hours, even promised she'd sell her soul to Fudge if I told her what I'd done, but shaking with laughter, I'd refused. It had earned me a shoe to the head.
Granger wasn't at breakfast, but I wasn't worried. We had Arithmancy after breakfast, and that meant I'd find out whether or not she'd worn the Cross. Ignoring my friend's nagging, I ate my breakfast. Lucas was at the High Table, an odd occurrence in itself, made odder by the fact that he was talking quietly to Sinistra, and even cracked a smile. Frowning again, I remembered what he'd told me. I'd been trying to forget, but it seemed he was determined not to let me do that. Which was good really; it would keep me on my toes – I'd learned how to deal with him now, I knew him now. And even though he'd shown the ultimate untrustworthiness, I knew I could trust him. He wouldn't think twice before stabbing someone in the back, which meant I knew where I had him. I could always trust him to be untrustworthy. It was the trustworthy ones I had to watch out for. He looked up and stared at me for a split second. A grin broke out over my face, and he raised an eyebrow.
Just as I was about to nod or something, Millicent touched my shoulder, reminding me I had lessons to attend and a Cross to find. I stood up and walked out of the Hall whistling. I had been strangely happy these last few days. Must have something to do with the upcoming Christmas holidays.
Vector was late, so I leaned against the wall next to the classroom door instead of going in. I could take whatever seat was left when she came. I was waiting for Granger. As was Granger's habit, I didn't have to wait long. She came walking down the corridor, looking immensely annoyed with something, and I noticed some Gryffindors further down the corridor were pointing at her and whispering. It was obvious why; pinned to her robes, right next to the Gryffindor lion, was my home-made Slytherin Cross. Had it not been incredibly embarrassing, I would I jumped up and down. We'd won another point in the never-ending Gryffindor-Slytherin game. It seemed we were getting out ahead on this one.
"I see you have finally gotten some sense, Granger." I smirked, "The Cross wins us another point. Thanks for helping. I really do appreciate it."
"Another point?" She echoed, confused.
"In the game, of course. Slytherins always play games, and this is another one. We've got to keep ourselves entertained while avoiding the Death Eaters and being annoyed with the lack of Hogsmeade weekends, no?" I raised my eyebrow.
To say she looked angry would be the understatement of the century. To say the slap hurt would be the understatement of the millennium. She raised her hand to slap me once more, but this time, I caught her wrist. Rage burned in her eyes, and she didn't even flinch as I glared at her. I had to give her that; she was a true Gryffindor in her bravery. But that slap had hurt, and I could already feel the bruise forming. She was in trouble now, Cross or not.
"How dare you?" I asked slowly, so angry I wasn't thinking straight. "How dare you do that? You accuse me of being a Death Eater, you practically stalk me for weeks, you drive me absolutely mad in anger, and now you dare hit me?"
"Let. Go." A flicker of fear, and then her anger was back.
"Not. Yet." I answered. "I - "
"Mr Zabini! Ms Granger! What are you doing?" Vector asked, aghast as she came walking down the corridor. "Fighting in the corridors, at your age! Detention, both of you, and I don't want to see you in my class today. Leave!"
"Fine." I said, before letting go of Granger's wrist and storming down the corridor.
In the background, I could hear Granger try to reason with Vector, but having no success. Vector might have overreacted, but it was oh so sweet to see Granger get detention. It didn't matter that I had detention as well; all that mattered was that she'd gotten what was coming to her. How dare that little perfect Gryffindor bitch slap me? She accused me of Death Eater- ship, she drove me mad, she slapped me, and through it all I had done nothing to deserve it. My temper was boiling, and I took the steps down to the Common Room three at the time, grumbling under my breath about evil Gryffindors and unfair detentions.
My anger had triggered my headache again, which was reaching nausea-state. I didn't get further than the Common Room before I had to run up the stairs and into the bathroom. I reached it just in time to bowl over and start vomiting in the toilet. I threw up until there was nothing left to throw up, and I crawled to the wall, curling up and hiding my face against my arms. The headache slowly faded, even as my laboured breathing echoed in the empty room. I lowered my arms and stared out in the bathroom. A few of the towels were lying in a heap on the floor, and a bottle that had been standing on the sink was lying in a marvellous puddle of goo and glass- shards under it. Seemed I'd had another breakdown, but not as big this time.
"How the hell does she do it?" I whispered into thin air. "How the hell does she manage to upset me so damn much?"
Bowing my head down again, my shoulders began to shake. Not since my last breakdown had I been so upset. The tears came unbidden, and in my weak state it was impossible to stop them. The bathroom echoed with my strangled sobbing, and the mirror on the wall whispered to itself over and over.
"How does she do it?"
'
Ending Notes; cue breakdown. Poor little Blaise. I can't remember when I tortured a character this much before. Oh. Wait. That would be Dante, the poor vampire who got stuck with a girl having her period. But that was last year, this is now, and I really do pity him.