The days drifted by slowly, almost too slowly for my taste, and I sank
into a comfortable daze. I wasn't bothered by others, and they didn't
bother me. I did my homework, I attended my lessons, and while I didn't
do as well as Granger did, I wasn't failing either. So I spent all of
January, and the first week and a half of February.
February 14th dropped like a stone on my head.
I hate Valentine's Day. It's not the simpering teenage love-declarations, it's not the roses or the chocolates, and it's not even the horrid colours everywhere. What gets me though, is how people seem to think that Valentine's Day is the only time to truly appreciate girlfriends or boyfriends or husbands or wives. Stupid really. But Valentine's Day came knocking before I had time to barricade myself in my dorm.
Therefore, my mood wasn't the best when I sat down at breakfast. Agnes and Theo were discreetly holding each other's hands, and looking quite happy. Well, that did lighten my mood a bit. It was nice that there was one boy in Slytherin who wasn't stumped in the romantic area. Gaspar seemed to watch Millicent a bit more, but it hadn't gone any further than that, and Draco, well, Draco was a story all by himself. He'd been working his way through the sixth year girls, changing the girl he fancied about once every three days. He hadn't gotten further than fancying and a stolen kiss or two, though.
And still, my friends had not found me a girlfriend. I was rather happy with the way things were – I didn't need a girlfriend, nor did I want one. For that matter, there wasn't a girl in school who wanted to be more than friends with me. And even those girls numbered about two, being Millicent and Pansy. And Agnes, of course. I was pathetic, and planned to stay that way. It was better for the world if I didn't even get the chance to put Zabini-offspring on the earth.
It seemed everyone was attending breakfast, if only because it was a perfect time to see girls' or boys' reaction to Valentines. Leaning back, I watched the other tables. Hufflepuffs always seem to like Valentine's Day: Macmillan was trying to charm Hannah Abbott, and failing utterly, but Abbott didn't seem to mind. In fact, she was smiling. Lisa Turpin was looking attentively at Terry Boot, and Cho Chang was playing tonsil-hockey with Michael Corner.
Harry Potter was blushing in the general direction of Ginny Weasley, Dean Thomas handed a picture to the She-Weasley as well, so it seemed Potter had competition. Her older brother was picking in his food and making eyes at Susan Bones. Granger was looking disgusted. Seems she didn't like Valentine's Day either. She got up and left. Without thinking, I got up as well.
Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so no classes. Like Lucas said, no one in their right mind would bother teachers on weekends, unless they were named Hermione Granger or in deadly trouble. Since anyone likely to be in deadly trouble was Potter, and he was mooning over Weasely, most of the teachers had somehow excused themselves from breakfast, and in fact all of the meals, and retreated either to their offices or to the Hog's Head. For February, it was unusually warm, and some couples opted to take a walk around the lake. Since the rest of them were infesting the castle, I was left with the choice of Hogsmeade or barricading myself in my dorm. Draco would no doubt stop by the dorm, and I wouldn't have a choice but to let him in, so I chose to sneak off to Hogsmeade.
If the teachers found me, they couldn't exactly blame me.
Hogsmeade wasn't any better, I realised upon my arrival. The pink was everywhere, and when I entered the Three Broomsticks, I changed my mind immediately when seeing Madam Rosmerta being snogged by a random customer. Sod it, even if the Hog's Head was full of teachers, it had to be better than this. Even detention was better than full exposure to Valentine's Day. The midgets from our second year had left bad memories.
'
The Hog's Head was, as usual, rather empty: there was a warlock near the door, two Scotsmen at the bar, a woman with red hair talking to the bartender, and a fair number of Hogwarts staff at the big table. McGonagall, Flitwick, (funny, I thought he'd like Valentine's Day), Vector, Sinistra and Lucas. Snape would have been there too, had he not been missing, since he hated Valentine's Day with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Not for the first time, I wondered where Snape was. Dumbledore hadn't reacted severely enough for him to have been kidnapped, but since all teachers were looking like the Bloody Baron were haunting them, something must be wrong.
After ordering a Butterbeer, I settled down at the bar, keeping my head turned from the teachers. Someone had probably seen me when I came in, but hopefully I'd shut the door fast enough. The Hog's Head was dark, even on a sunny day, and with the back-lighting I'd had, I shouldn't have been recognisable. Either way, it didn't bother me. Detentions were something of a Slytherin habit. Maybe this time I wouldn't have to clean the Owlery though. Nothing was worth cleaning the Owlery. Sure enough, just as I was halfway though my Butterbeer, a hand clamped down on my shoulder.
"You're out of bounds, Mr Zabini." McGonagall's stern voice told me. "This is no Hogsmeade weekend."
"Nope. It's Valentine's Day," I said, wrinkling my nose and turning around, "And staying at school would been a choice between barricading myself and having to stand the celebrations, which is more or less a choice between a plague or cholera."
"Really now, Mr Zabini, that was uncalled for," She chastised me, though I could see a smile tugging at her mouth. Apparently the old bird had a sense of humour. "Though if you believe you will catch cholera if I send you back to the castle, it is surely a case for Madam Pomfrey. Since she happens to be here, I'll let her make an assessment of the situation. If there is any risk of illness, you will of course be forced to stay here."
Amazing, the woman even made it sound like a punishment. She dragged me over to the teacher's table, and made me sit between Pomfrey and Lucas. Pomfrey gave me a medical once-over, and pronounced me unfit to return to the castle. Sometimes, making friends with the school nurse is a very, very bright move. McGonagall, Lucas and Ponfrey managed to pull off the thing so well that Vector even asked if it was a disease that ran in the family. It bothered me a bit though, that they were paying so much attention to me, and treating me as if I was special.
"No offence, really, I appreciate being allowed to stay in Hogsmeade, but why?" I piped up after a while.
"Because we all loathe Valentine's Day, boy," Sinistra said, surprising me. I hadn't had Astronomy lessons in almost a year, and had become unused to her voice. She sounded as if she'd just bitten an ice-cube. Eos Sinistra had been a Slytherin at school, and had perfected the art of verbal abuse, at least if you could trust the school yearbooks and chronicles. "And wouldn't send another human into that madness without a very good cause."
"Right."
So there I sat, glass in hand, between the school nurse and the school nutcase, who just happened to be an ex-Dark Wizard. Vector and Sinistra discussed the names of stars, while Flitwick and Pomfrey were talking about magical theory and the use of charms in medical care. McGonagall was slowly drinking herself into a stupor, while Lucas and I watched silently. Drinking really was a spectator sport. There's few things funnier than guessing what someone's like drunk, and finding out.
McGonagall, for example, was a quiet drunk. She just kept on drinking, not even stopping to order new ones. The others just did it for her. Pomfrey wasn't very drunk, but enjoyed talking to Flitwick, who was. The tiny Charms' professor was a verbal drunk. He chattered on endlessly, never losing his sunny smile. Sometimes, I thought it was glued on every morning No one could possibly be that happy. Vector was just slightly drunk, and the same as she ever was. Lucas was drinking water, and even I couldn't get drunk on only one bottle of alcohol.
The drunk that surprised me though, was Sinistra. She got more and more verbal as the drinks progressed, but she also got more and more insulting as time went on. She slurred a bit in her speech, and tapered off to one side like a broken spinning top, rudely insulting everyone she could think of, but with the touch of wit that marked most Slytherins. The part that surprised me wasn't the fact that she got rude, or even that her speech slurred: it was that she was leaning more and more into Lucas shoulder as she got less sober. Lucas didn't seem to mind though, and just kept drinking his water.
"What gets me though," Sinistra said, waving her glass, deep in a speech about Valentine's Day, the topic dearest to her heart, "Is that men seem to think that as long as they act nicely to women on Valentine's Day, they're allowed to be pigs the rest of the year. I mean, just because the 14th of February has been elevated to some kind of day of love doesn't mean one should ignore one's partner all other days. One day of love and devotion doesn't open up for a year of acrimony."
"Trust you to use big words when you're drunk, Eos," Lucas chuckled.
"Shutup, Vinnie," Sinistra smacked him over the head, "You're the one who held a speech on the details of quantum mechanics when you were pissed off your rocker in seventh year."
"Quantum mechanics?" I asked, trying to keep from laughing.
"Yeah, something about tiny particles and how fast they moved," Sinistra waved me off. "Didn't make much sense when I was sober, and then I couldn't touch sobriety with a ten foot pole."
We didn't get much further on the topic of Valentine's Day and why men are pigs or quantum mechanics, because the door was thrown open by none other than Hermione Granger, the perpetual annoyance. She looked like she had been crying, for some reason, and as soon as she spotted the teachers, she made a beeline for our table. McGonagall, who had been well on her way to unconsciousness, woke up a bit and stared at her. Even Sinistra, who didn't seem to care about anyone as long as she got something said, shut up for a moment.
"Ms Granger?" McGonagall said, "What in the world is it?"
"Professor, it's Harry," She was breathing as if she'd been running. "He's gone off to the Forest!"
"Why on earth would he do such a daft thing?" Vector asked. "There's werewolves in that forest."
"It's the centaurs, they took Lavender and Parvati, and Firenze is hurt!" She was wringing her hands and crying for real now. "Please, you have to help!"
"Calm down, Ms Granger, of course we are going to help," Madam Pomfrey tried to calm her. "The Potter boy just has the worst timing. On Valentine's Day when half the staff is drunk."
"Drunk? Now?" She was almost screeching. I clapped my hands over my ears and winced.
"How come I am always the only sober person in a group full of women?" Lucas asked the ceiling, "No offence, Filius, I didn't count you. Or Eos." He added.
"I don't think I'm drunk enough to allow that kind of talk," Sinistra said, before taking a long look at Lucas, and tipping back the rest of her Firewhiskey in one go.
"Please, we must do something!" Granger pleaded, nearly breaking down, though she tried her best to stop the tears.
"As much as it pains me to admit, I've got to agree with Granger. Potter's in a fix, and he needs help." I chipped in. "Could you please organise the drunks, Professor Lucas?"
"Shortly." He replied, and proceeded to do just that.
Flitwick, who was still passably sober, was sent back to Hogwarts on the double, together with Madam Pomfrey. Vector, McGonagall and Lucas himself readied themselves to head out into the forest to rope in Potter, while Sinistra fell asleep on the table. Before they left, Lucas roped me in for a quick talk.
"You take Granger back to the castle, and when you're there, make sure she doesn't leave without you. I'm serious about this, Zabini. If you let her leave for the Forest or anywhere but the bathroom without you, I'm going to behead you when I come back. And that's nothing compared to what McGonagall and Dumbledore, not to mention the other Gryffindors would do." He gestured to Granger, who was discreetly trying to wake Sinistra up. "I mean it: I will take it as a personal insult if you let her out of your sight. Hogwarts can't afford to lose another child."
"I give you my word, then." I shrugged.
"This is no joke." Lucas looked too serious for me to shrug it off again. "Granger is, after Potter and you, the most valuable student Hogwarts has. Don't let her go astray."
"Yes, captain." I muttered to myself as Lucas disappeared with the other two. Looking over at the decidedly awkward, and still sniffling Granger I rolled my eyes. It was going to be a long day.
'
"Granger?"
"Yes? Where did the professors go?" She snapped out of her daze.
"After Potter." I waved vaguely towards the door. "We're going back to the castle."
"What about - "
"Sinistra will be fine." I cut her off. "We're going."
She looked like she was going to protest again, but I intercepted it, and grabbed her arm. Dragging her out of the pub, I headed by the quickest route back to Hogwarts. She struggled, but since I was taller and stronger than she was, I easily manhandled her. The kicking was a bit distracting though. After reaching the edge of Hogsmeade, I finally lost my temper, after having had my legs kicked all the way from the Hog's Head, and stopped so abruptly that she bumped into me.
"What the hell is your problem?" I snapped, letting go of her arm.
"You, that's what my problem is!" She snapped back, "Why did you drag me out of the pub like that? I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself!"
"Yes, but we're in a hurry." I breathed very slowly through my nose. Granger was very adept at getting on my sorely tested nerves. She was going to go down in history as the only girl to be the cause of multiple nervous breakdowns, as well as one memorable night spent in the bathroom, vomiting and crying. The last part wasn't something I liked to think about.
"I'm going after Harry." She announced, and turned to walk away.
She got four steps away before I sent her sprawling to the ground with a well-placed tackle. Unorthodox, to be sure, but I hadn't brought my wand and blowing the cover to my secret wasn't something I was too keen on doing. However, I misjudged her weight. I had planned on just knocking her over, but she was lighter than I expected, and I couldn't regain my balance. This resulted in a rather embarrassing situation. I was not prepared to be lying face down in the grubby snow with a rather crushed Granger beneath me.
Severe miscalculation, that.
"Zabini," She said with a very thinly-veiled anger in her voice, "What are you doing?"
"Stopping you from doing something foolish?" I tried.
"By crushing me into a snowdrift? Zabini, that's not logical even to Dumbledore."
"I didn't have my wand, all right? I didn't think you weighed about as much as a handful of feathers." I pushed myself up to avoid breaking any of her bones. "I apologise for crushing you."
"That's fine," Granger rolled her eyes, sounding sarcastic. "Warn me next time, will you? Now I have to go after Harry, alright?"
"No."
"What?"
"You heard me the first time, Granger," I sighed, pulling both of us up, "No. You're not going after Potter."
The change in her was almost instantaneous. She snarled like a cat, but she moved like a lion, spinning around and heading for the edge of the Forest closest to us. I barely caught her arm in time. She struggled for a while, before giving up realising that I was stronger than her. Apparently she was reluctant to pull a wand on her fellow students.
"Granger," I tried reasoning with her, in my own way, "Potter's gone into the Forbidden Forest. There are things in there that would gladly eat both our livers for breakfast. You're just a girl with a stick in her hand to them. He's got McGonagall, whom I wouldn't want to face down with the rest of my year behind me, he's got Vector, whom, for all her bookishness, is quite fearsome when she lets go of the numerals, and he's got Lucas. Lucas is about as scary as you can get before you turn into a Death Eater. I wouldn't want to see the monster that wouldn't think twice before taking him on. If you go in there, they'll just have another student to worry about."
"Why do you care if I get lost in the Forest?" She was about ready to spit nails. "I can't just leave Harry in there alone!"
"Are you deaf, woman? He's not alone! He's got two of the three most fearsome teachers in there with him, and the third isn't exactly a first year either," I was losing my sorely tested patience. "The worst you can do is go in after him."
She opened her mouth to protest some more, but I snapped. Grabbing her around the waist, I started dragging her physically from the snow-covered street and back to the castle. She froze up like a board at first, allowing me enough time to drag her far enough to stop her protesting. The silence was wonderful, I must say.
The closer we got to the castle, the deeper the snow got. Despite the warm weather, it hadn't started to melt yet, though it was getting hard to walk through. It stuck to my boots and to Granger's robes, which wee dragging through the snow quite liberally, since I hadn't let go yet. She was fuming, but had stopped trying to kick me, which was an improvement. She'd settled for glaring a hole in the side of my scull, even though she had to twist her neck rather uncomfortably to do so. I mostly ignored her.
The celebrating students had abandoned the lake, and had retreated inside the castle, for which I was garetful. We must have been a strange sight, coming up the road from Hogsmeade, a Slytherin dragging a Gryffindor like a rag-doll. It was only when we reached the doors of the castle that I let her down again.
"There," I said. "Minimum amount of fuss, wouldn't you say?"
"What are you playing at, Zabini?"
Ouch. Suspicion. Damage control. Or not, depending.
"What do you mean?" I asked, testing the waters.
"Why did you drag me all the way here? You don't give a rotten fig is I get lost in the Forest." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yes, I do. I'm not so morbid that I take pleasure from imagining your death, believe me." I told her. "There's also the part where Lucas promised to behead me if I let you get away into the Forest, and I'm not too keen on finding out whether he means it or not."
Granger gaped at me like a fool. The fury burned in her eyes, a promise of future pain if I didn't run very, very fast and very, very far. But, being a suicidal fool, I stayed. I was taller and stronger than Granger, and if she tried magic on me, I'd just wait until she had her back turned, and break the hexes. Hopefully, my magic was controlled enough for that. Otherwise, I was in quite a bad fix. I prayed to myself and any deity that might listen, that she wouldn't consider using magic on me. I was walking thin ice by now.
"Is there no way you will let me go into that Forest?" Her tone turned pleading.
"No. Not if Merlin ordered me to."
"Not even if you go with me?"
"And have five lost students instead of three? Granger, don't ever take me for a fool again."
"And I suppose saying please isn't going to get me anywhere but the town called embarrassment."
"It's a town?"
Her plan of making me let her go wasn't going anywhere, so she collapsed on the steps to the school, and looked generally miserable. Having nothing better to do, I sat down some steps away. Granger didn't say a word, and I saw no reason to start a conversation. I turned my attention to the lake and the edge of the Forbidden Forest instead. Something was happening there; just beyond the trees, I could see shapes moving around, though it was too far to make out what they were. But something had angered the denizens of the Forest. It was fairly boiling underneath. Distantly, I wondered how Potter, Brown and Patil were doing. Hopefully, Lucas and the others would reach them in time.
God forbid what would happen if they didn't.
Granger got up and started pacing in front of me, never letting her eyes leave the Forest. She was holding her wand so tightly her knuckles had turned white, and her hands shook. Not that I could blame her. Had it been Millicent, or Agnes, or anyone else I trusted that much in the Forest, not even Dumbledore would have been able to keep me from finding them. Thank goodness for Gryffindor honour and obedience. I had to admire her self- control. I'd have been screaming a long time ago.
Our vigil dragged on for what seemed an eternity, time ticking slowly by. Soon enough, even my hands began to itch, and it was only by severe checking that I kept sitting down. We must have been sitting there for at least an hour and a half, because I could no longer feel my fingers and my toes when Lucas emerged from the Forest, followed by the rest. I was on my feet faster than I thought possible, catching Granger as her legs gave way, staring at Lucas in horror.
Beside him, Levitated and hanging like a rag-doll, was Harry Potter.
Granger fought to get free, but I wouldn't let go. She clawed at my arms, drawing blood and cursing me until she choked on her tears, but I didn't let go. If I did, she would have slipped on the ice and fallen and bashed herself senseless in the process. McGonagall and Vector came out after Lucas, each one leading one of the missing Gryffindor girls. They looked dazed and shaken, had a few scrapes and a few streaks of mud on their clothing, but other than that, seemed no worse for wear. A momentary flash of surprise lanced through me. If that was all they'd gotten, Potter must have done a load of work.
The bleak procession reached the castle rather quickly, and Granger struggled even more to get loose and get to Potter's unconscious body. I still wouldn't let her. Superior strength is a good thing sometimes, even though it earns you scratches and cuts. When I still wouldn't let go, she stopped struggling, but her knees buckled and I had to tighten my hold so that she wouldn't fall. Her shoulders shook and she dropped her wand, gripping my arms so tightly the skin broke.
"Harry!" She tried to shout, but her voice broke.
"He will be fine, Ms Granger," Lucas said wearily, "As fast as I get him to the hospital wing."
"Harry!" She croaked again, crying openly. I never knew Granger was such a spectacular water-hose. "Oh gods, Harry!"
I followed them inside the castle, dragging Granger with me. She seemed to have given up getting free, and just hung like a rag-doll, quite like Potter did. McGonagall and Vector had taken over for Lucas, who was standing in the Entrance Hall looking like he just fought off Cerberus. There was mud on his clothes and twigs and leaves in his hair.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Renegade centaurs happened," Lucas replied. "You can let Ms Granger go now: I'm sure she wants to visit Mr Potter."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with a crying Hermione Granger. Not something I was used to, and as quickly as I could, I let go of her so that she could stand on her own. Angrily, she wiped her tears away and glared at me. It took all my self-control not to glare back. I knew that if I did, she'd soon enough be clawing my eyes out and not just marking my arms.
"Zabini," She said, "We never speak of this again."
"Yeah," I agreed wholeheartedly. "Let's not." Spending time with Granger while she cried was not something I wanted on my list of merits.
She turned and, like Lucas, walked away, though in a less dignified manner. She turned towards the hospital wing immediately, and started running when she reached the stairs. Going to the hospital wing would be a good idea for me too: looking down on my forearms, I noted the now drying blood and the variety of cuts and scrapes. Who knew Granger had such claws. She'd carved her name on my arms as easily as I had ever carved mine with my fathers razors.
Following Granger a bit more slowly, I made my own way to the infirmary.
'
Potter had woken up when I arrived, and even though he was at the other end of the room, I could hear his rather delirious talking of centaurs and Brown and Patil, and how the centaurs had hurt Firenze. Granger was trying to get him to calm down, but Potter didn't seem to realise he was back in the hospital wing and not in the Forest, and was giving her quite a hard time. I stood by the door, rather lost for what to do, until Pomfrey forced some sedatives down his throat and turned to me.
"Why, pray tell, are your arms red from the elbow down, Mr Zabini?" She asked.
"Because no one has told Granger that nails are vicious weapons to be outlawed." I shrugged. "I'm just looking for bandages."
"Bandages? Nonsense! A quick healing charm will do the trick." Pomfrey said, pulling out her wand.
I looked at my forearms. In some places, Granger's nails had gone rather deep, but the rest of it was just superficial scratches. There really was no need to waste the nurse's energy on a couple of cuts when she had a lot more on her hands. Shaking my head and pushing her helping hands out of the way, I declined the charm.
"They're not very deep, and you've got more important things to take care of. Just point me towards the bandages and I'll be on my way before you know it." I said.
I walked away five minutes later with bandages wrapped around my cuts, looking as if I was wearing a rather worn white shirt beneath my robes. There was bound to be some questions when I came back to the Common Room, but I didn't particularly care at the moment. The deeper cuts were sure to become scars, which would be a useful thing to have if I ever needed to blackmail Granger into anything. Whistling to myself, I walked slowly back to my dorm, deciding that barricading oneself was definitely less volatile to one's health than drinking in Hogsmeade was.
'
Ending Notes: I thought about making this chapter longer, but realised I'd run out of things to write by the end of the eight page. So, here it is folks, chapter 27.
February 14th dropped like a stone on my head.
I hate Valentine's Day. It's not the simpering teenage love-declarations, it's not the roses or the chocolates, and it's not even the horrid colours everywhere. What gets me though, is how people seem to think that Valentine's Day is the only time to truly appreciate girlfriends or boyfriends or husbands or wives. Stupid really. But Valentine's Day came knocking before I had time to barricade myself in my dorm.
Therefore, my mood wasn't the best when I sat down at breakfast. Agnes and Theo were discreetly holding each other's hands, and looking quite happy. Well, that did lighten my mood a bit. It was nice that there was one boy in Slytherin who wasn't stumped in the romantic area. Gaspar seemed to watch Millicent a bit more, but it hadn't gone any further than that, and Draco, well, Draco was a story all by himself. He'd been working his way through the sixth year girls, changing the girl he fancied about once every three days. He hadn't gotten further than fancying and a stolen kiss or two, though.
And still, my friends had not found me a girlfriend. I was rather happy with the way things were – I didn't need a girlfriend, nor did I want one. For that matter, there wasn't a girl in school who wanted to be more than friends with me. And even those girls numbered about two, being Millicent and Pansy. And Agnes, of course. I was pathetic, and planned to stay that way. It was better for the world if I didn't even get the chance to put Zabini-offspring on the earth.
It seemed everyone was attending breakfast, if only because it was a perfect time to see girls' or boys' reaction to Valentines. Leaning back, I watched the other tables. Hufflepuffs always seem to like Valentine's Day: Macmillan was trying to charm Hannah Abbott, and failing utterly, but Abbott didn't seem to mind. In fact, she was smiling. Lisa Turpin was looking attentively at Terry Boot, and Cho Chang was playing tonsil-hockey with Michael Corner.
Harry Potter was blushing in the general direction of Ginny Weasley, Dean Thomas handed a picture to the She-Weasley as well, so it seemed Potter had competition. Her older brother was picking in his food and making eyes at Susan Bones. Granger was looking disgusted. Seems she didn't like Valentine's Day either. She got up and left. Without thinking, I got up as well.
Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so no classes. Like Lucas said, no one in their right mind would bother teachers on weekends, unless they were named Hermione Granger or in deadly trouble. Since anyone likely to be in deadly trouble was Potter, and he was mooning over Weasely, most of the teachers had somehow excused themselves from breakfast, and in fact all of the meals, and retreated either to their offices or to the Hog's Head. For February, it was unusually warm, and some couples opted to take a walk around the lake. Since the rest of them were infesting the castle, I was left with the choice of Hogsmeade or barricading myself in my dorm. Draco would no doubt stop by the dorm, and I wouldn't have a choice but to let him in, so I chose to sneak off to Hogsmeade.
If the teachers found me, they couldn't exactly blame me.
Hogsmeade wasn't any better, I realised upon my arrival. The pink was everywhere, and when I entered the Three Broomsticks, I changed my mind immediately when seeing Madam Rosmerta being snogged by a random customer. Sod it, even if the Hog's Head was full of teachers, it had to be better than this. Even detention was better than full exposure to Valentine's Day. The midgets from our second year had left bad memories.
'
The Hog's Head was, as usual, rather empty: there was a warlock near the door, two Scotsmen at the bar, a woman with red hair talking to the bartender, and a fair number of Hogwarts staff at the big table. McGonagall, Flitwick, (funny, I thought he'd like Valentine's Day), Vector, Sinistra and Lucas. Snape would have been there too, had he not been missing, since he hated Valentine's Day with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Not for the first time, I wondered where Snape was. Dumbledore hadn't reacted severely enough for him to have been kidnapped, but since all teachers were looking like the Bloody Baron were haunting them, something must be wrong.
After ordering a Butterbeer, I settled down at the bar, keeping my head turned from the teachers. Someone had probably seen me when I came in, but hopefully I'd shut the door fast enough. The Hog's Head was dark, even on a sunny day, and with the back-lighting I'd had, I shouldn't have been recognisable. Either way, it didn't bother me. Detentions were something of a Slytherin habit. Maybe this time I wouldn't have to clean the Owlery though. Nothing was worth cleaning the Owlery. Sure enough, just as I was halfway though my Butterbeer, a hand clamped down on my shoulder.
"You're out of bounds, Mr Zabini." McGonagall's stern voice told me. "This is no Hogsmeade weekend."
"Nope. It's Valentine's Day," I said, wrinkling my nose and turning around, "And staying at school would been a choice between barricading myself and having to stand the celebrations, which is more or less a choice between a plague or cholera."
"Really now, Mr Zabini, that was uncalled for," She chastised me, though I could see a smile tugging at her mouth. Apparently the old bird had a sense of humour. "Though if you believe you will catch cholera if I send you back to the castle, it is surely a case for Madam Pomfrey. Since she happens to be here, I'll let her make an assessment of the situation. If there is any risk of illness, you will of course be forced to stay here."
Amazing, the woman even made it sound like a punishment. She dragged me over to the teacher's table, and made me sit between Pomfrey and Lucas. Pomfrey gave me a medical once-over, and pronounced me unfit to return to the castle. Sometimes, making friends with the school nurse is a very, very bright move. McGonagall, Lucas and Ponfrey managed to pull off the thing so well that Vector even asked if it was a disease that ran in the family. It bothered me a bit though, that they were paying so much attention to me, and treating me as if I was special.
"No offence, really, I appreciate being allowed to stay in Hogsmeade, but why?" I piped up after a while.
"Because we all loathe Valentine's Day, boy," Sinistra said, surprising me. I hadn't had Astronomy lessons in almost a year, and had become unused to her voice. She sounded as if she'd just bitten an ice-cube. Eos Sinistra had been a Slytherin at school, and had perfected the art of verbal abuse, at least if you could trust the school yearbooks and chronicles. "And wouldn't send another human into that madness without a very good cause."
"Right."
So there I sat, glass in hand, between the school nurse and the school nutcase, who just happened to be an ex-Dark Wizard. Vector and Sinistra discussed the names of stars, while Flitwick and Pomfrey were talking about magical theory and the use of charms in medical care. McGonagall was slowly drinking herself into a stupor, while Lucas and I watched silently. Drinking really was a spectator sport. There's few things funnier than guessing what someone's like drunk, and finding out.
McGonagall, for example, was a quiet drunk. She just kept on drinking, not even stopping to order new ones. The others just did it for her. Pomfrey wasn't very drunk, but enjoyed talking to Flitwick, who was. The tiny Charms' professor was a verbal drunk. He chattered on endlessly, never losing his sunny smile. Sometimes, I thought it was glued on every morning No one could possibly be that happy. Vector was just slightly drunk, and the same as she ever was. Lucas was drinking water, and even I couldn't get drunk on only one bottle of alcohol.
The drunk that surprised me though, was Sinistra. She got more and more verbal as the drinks progressed, but she also got more and more insulting as time went on. She slurred a bit in her speech, and tapered off to one side like a broken spinning top, rudely insulting everyone she could think of, but with the touch of wit that marked most Slytherins. The part that surprised me wasn't the fact that she got rude, or even that her speech slurred: it was that she was leaning more and more into Lucas shoulder as she got less sober. Lucas didn't seem to mind though, and just kept drinking his water.
"What gets me though," Sinistra said, waving her glass, deep in a speech about Valentine's Day, the topic dearest to her heart, "Is that men seem to think that as long as they act nicely to women on Valentine's Day, they're allowed to be pigs the rest of the year. I mean, just because the 14th of February has been elevated to some kind of day of love doesn't mean one should ignore one's partner all other days. One day of love and devotion doesn't open up for a year of acrimony."
"Trust you to use big words when you're drunk, Eos," Lucas chuckled.
"Shutup, Vinnie," Sinistra smacked him over the head, "You're the one who held a speech on the details of quantum mechanics when you were pissed off your rocker in seventh year."
"Quantum mechanics?" I asked, trying to keep from laughing.
"Yeah, something about tiny particles and how fast they moved," Sinistra waved me off. "Didn't make much sense when I was sober, and then I couldn't touch sobriety with a ten foot pole."
We didn't get much further on the topic of Valentine's Day and why men are pigs or quantum mechanics, because the door was thrown open by none other than Hermione Granger, the perpetual annoyance. She looked like she had been crying, for some reason, and as soon as she spotted the teachers, she made a beeline for our table. McGonagall, who had been well on her way to unconsciousness, woke up a bit and stared at her. Even Sinistra, who didn't seem to care about anyone as long as she got something said, shut up for a moment.
"Ms Granger?" McGonagall said, "What in the world is it?"
"Professor, it's Harry," She was breathing as if she'd been running. "He's gone off to the Forest!"
"Why on earth would he do such a daft thing?" Vector asked. "There's werewolves in that forest."
"It's the centaurs, they took Lavender and Parvati, and Firenze is hurt!" She was wringing her hands and crying for real now. "Please, you have to help!"
"Calm down, Ms Granger, of course we are going to help," Madam Pomfrey tried to calm her. "The Potter boy just has the worst timing. On Valentine's Day when half the staff is drunk."
"Drunk? Now?" She was almost screeching. I clapped my hands over my ears and winced.
"How come I am always the only sober person in a group full of women?" Lucas asked the ceiling, "No offence, Filius, I didn't count you. Or Eos." He added.
"I don't think I'm drunk enough to allow that kind of talk," Sinistra said, before taking a long look at Lucas, and tipping back the rest of her Firewhiskey in one go.
"Please, we must do something!" Granger pleaded, nearly breaking down, though she tried her best to stop the tears.
"As much as it pains me to admit, I've got to agree with Granger. Potter's in a fix, and he needs help." I chipped in. "Could you please organise the drunks, Professor Lucas?"
"Shortly." He replied, and proceeded to do just that.
Flitwick, who was still passably sober, was sent back to Hogwarts on the double, together with Madam Pomfrey. Vector, McGonagall and Lucas himself readied themselves to head out into the forest to rope in Potter, while Sinistra fell asleep on the table. Before they left, Lucas roped me in for a quick talk.
"You take Granger back to the castle, and when you're there, make sure she doesn't leave without you. I'm serious about this, Zabini. If you let her leave for the Forest or anywhere but the bathroom without you, I'm going to behead you when I come back. And that's nothing compared to what McGonagall and Dumbledore, not to mention the other Gryffindors would do." He gestured to Granger, who was discreetly trying to wake Sinistra up. "I mean it: I will take it as a personal insult if you let her out of your sight. Hogwarts can't afford to lose another child."
"I give you my word, then." I shrugged.
"This is no joke." Lucas looked too serious for me to shrug it off again. "Granger is, after Potter and you, the most valuable student Hogwarts has. Don't let her go astray."
"Yes, captain." I muttered to myself as Lucas disappeared with the other two. Looking over at the decidedly awkward, and still sniffling Granger I rolled my eyes. It was going to be a long day.
'
"Granger?"
"Yes? Where did the professors go?" She snapped out of her daze.
"After Potter." I waved vaguely towards the door. "We're going back to the castle."
"What about - "
"Sinistra will be fine." I cut her off. "We're going."
She looked like she was going to protest again, but I intercepted it, and grabbed her arm. Dragging her out of the pub, I headed by the quickest route back to Hogwarts. She struggled, but since I was taller and stronger than she was, I easily manhandled her. The kicking was a bit distracting though. After reaching the edge of Hogsmeade, I finally lost my temper, after having had my legs kicked all the way from the Hog's Head, and stopped so abruptly that she bumped into me.
"What the hell is your problem?" I snapped, letting go of her arm.
"You, that's what my problem is!" She snapped back, "Why did you drag me out of the pub like that? I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself!"
"Yes, but we're in a hurry." I breathed very slowly through my nose. Granger was very adept at getting on my sorely tested nerves. She was going to go down in history as the only girl to be the cause of multiple nervous breakdowns, as well as one memorable night spent in the bathroom, vomiting and crying. The last part wasn't something I liked to think about.
"I'm going after Harry." She announced, and turned to walk away.
She got four steps away before I sent her sprawling to the ground with a well-placed tackle. Unorthodox, to be sure, but I hadn't brought my wand and blowing the cover to my secret wasn't something I was too keen on doing. However, I misjudged her weight. I had planned on just knocking her over, but she was lighter than I expected, and I couldn't regain my balance. This resulted in a rather embarrassing situation. I was not prepared to be lying face down in the grubby snow with a rather crushed Granger beneath me.
Severe miscalculation, that.
"Zabini," She said with a very thinly-veiled anger in her voice, "What are you doing?"
"Stopping you from doing something foolish?" I tried.
"By crushing me into a snowdrift? Zabini, that's not logical even to Dumbledore."
"I didn't have my wand, all right? I didn't think you weighed about as much as a handful of feathers." I pushed myself up to avoid breaking any of her bones. "I apologise for crushing you."
"That's fine," Granger rolled her eyes, sounding sarcastic. "Warn me next time, will you? Now I have to go after Harry, alright?"
"No."
"What?"
"You heard me the first time, Granger," I sighed, pulling both of us up, "No. You're not going after Potter."
The change in her was almost instantaneous. She snarled like a cat, but she moved like a lion, spinning around and heading for the edge of the Forest closest to us. I barely caught her arm in time. She struggled for a while, before giving up realising that I was stronger than her. Apparently she was reluctant to pull a wand on her fellow students.
"Granger," I tried reasoning with her, in my own way, "Potter's gone into the Forbidden Forest. There are things in there that would gladly eat both our livers for breakfast. You're just a girl with a stick in her hand to them. He's got McGonagall, whom I wouldn't want to face down with the rest of my year behind me, he's got Vector, whom, for all her bookishness, is quite fearsome when she lets go of the numerals, and he's got Lucas. Lucas is about as scary as you can get before you turn into a Death Eater. I wouldn't want to see the monster that wouldn't think twice before taking him on. If you go in there, they'll just have another student to worry about."
"Why do you care if I get lost in the Forest?" She was about ready to spit nails. "I can't just leave Harry in there alone!"
"Are you deaf, woman? He's not alone! He's got two of the three most fearsome teachers in there with him, and the third isn't exactly a first year either," I was losing my sorely tested patience. "The worst you can do is go in after him."
She opened her mouth to protest some more, but I snapped. Grabbing her around the waist, I started dragging her physically from the snow-covered street and back to the castle. She froze up like a board at first, allowing me enough time to drag her far enough to stop her protesting. The silence was wonderful, I must say.
The closer we got to the castle, the deeper the snow got. Despite the warm weather, it hadn't started to melt yet, though it was getting hard to walk through. It stuck to my boots and to Granger's robes, which wee dragging through the snow quite liberally, since I hadn't let go yet. She was fuming, but had stopped trying to kick me, which was an improvement. She'd settled for glaring a hole in the side of my scull, even though she had to twist her neck rather uncomfortably to do so. I mostly ignored her.
The celebrating students had abandoned the lake, and had retreated inside the castle, for which I was garetful. We must have been a strange sight, coming up the road from Hogsmeade, a Slytherin dragging a Gryffindor like a rag-doll. It was only when we reached the doors of the castle that I let her down again.
"There," I said. "Minimum amount of fuss, wouldn't you say?"
"What are you playing at, Zabini?"
Ouch. Suspicion. Damage control. Or not, depending.
"What do you mean?" I asked, testing the waters.
"Why did you drag me all the way here? You don't give a rotten fig is I get lost in the Forest." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yes, I do. I'm not so morbid that I take pleasure from imagining your death, believe me." I told her. "There's also the part where Lucas promised to behead me if I let you get away into the Forest, and I'm not too keen on finding out whether he means it or not."
Granger gaped at me like a fool. The fury burned in her eyes, a promise of future pain if I didn't run very, very fast and very, very far. But, being a suicidal fool, I stayed. I was taller and stronger than Granger, and if she tried magic on me, I'd just wait until she had her back turned, and break the hexes. Hopefully, my magic was controlled enough for that. Otherwise, I was in quite a bad fix. I prayed to myself and any deity that might listen, that she wouldn't consider using magic on me. I was walking thin ice by now.
"Is there no way you will let me go into that Forest?" Her tone turned pleading.
"No. Not if Merlin ordered me to."
"Not even if you go with me?"
"And have five lost students instead of three? Granger, don't ever take me for a fool again."
"And I suppose saying please isn't going to get me anywhere but the town called embarrassment."
"It's a town?"
Her plan of making me let her go wasn't going anywhere, so she collapsed on the steps to the school, and looked generally miserable. Having nothing better to do, I sat down some steps away. Granger didn't say a word, and I saw no reason to start a conversation. I turned my attention to the lake and the edge of the Forbidden Forest instead. Something was happening there; just beyond the trees, I could see shapes moving around, though it was too far to make out what they were. But something had angered the denizens of the Forest. It was fairly boiling underneath. Distantly, I wondered how Potter, Brown and Patil were doing. Hopefully, Lucas and the others would reach them in time.
God forbid what would happen if they didn't.
Granger got up and started pacing in front of me, never letting her eyes leave the Forest. She was holding her wand so tightly her knuckles had turned white, and her hands shook. Not that I could blame her. Had it been Millicent, or Agnes, or anyone else I trusted that much in the Forest, not even Dumbledore would have been able to keep me from finding them. Thank goodness for Gryffindor honour and obedience. I had to admire her self- control. I'd have been screaming a long time ago.
Our vigil dragged on for what seemed an eternity, time ticking slowly by. Soon enough, even my hands began to itch, and it was only by severe checking that I kept sitting down. We must have been sitting there for at least an hour and a half, because I could no longer feel my fingers and my toes when Lucas emerged from the Forest, followed by the rest. I was on my feet faster than I thought possible, catching Granger as her legs gave way, staring at Lucas in horror.
Beside him, Levitated and hanging like a rag-doll, was Harry Potter.
Granger fought to get free, but I wouldn't let go. She clawed at my arms, drawing blood and cursing me until she choked on her tears, but I didn't let go. If I did, she would have slipped on the ice and fallen and bashed herself senseless in the process. McGonagall and Vector came out after Lucas, each one leading one of the missing Gryffindor girls. They looked dazed and shaken, had a few scrapes and a few streaks of mud on their clothing, but other than that, seemed no worse for wear. A momentary flash of surprise lanced through me. If that was all they'd gotten, Potter must have done a load of work.
The bleak procession reached the castle rather quickly, and Granger struggled even more to get loose and get to Potter's unconscious body. I still wouldn't let her. Superior strength is a good thing sometimes, even though it earns you scratches and cuts. When I still wouldn't let go, she stopped struggling, but her knees buckled and I had to tighten my hold so that she wouldn't fall. Her shoulders shook and she dropped her wand, gripping my arms so tightly the skin broke.
"Harry!" She tried to shout, but her voice broke.
"He will be fine, Ms Granger," Lucas said wearily, "As fast as I get him to the hospital wing."
"Harry!" She croaked again, crying openly. I never knew Granger was such a spectacular water-hose. "Oh gods, Harry!"
I followed them inside the castle, dragging Granger with me. She seemed to have given up getting free, and just hung like a rag-doll, quite like Potter did. McGonagall and Vector had taken over for Lucas, who was standing in the Entrance Hall looking like he just fought off Cerberus. There was mud on his clothes and twigs and leaves in his hair.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Renegade centaurs happened," Lucas replied. "You can let Ms Granger go now: I'm sure she wants to visit Mr Potter."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with a crying Hermione Granger. Not something I was used to, and as quickly as I could, I let go of her so that she could stand on her own. Angrily, she wiped her tears away and glared at me. It took all my self-control not to glare back. I knew that if I did, she'd soon enough be clawing my eyes out and not just marking my arms.
"Zabini," She said, "We never speak of this again."
"Yeah," I agreed wholeheartedly. "Let's not." Spending time with Granger while she cried was not something I wanted on my list of merits.
She turned and, like Lucas, walked away, though in a less dignified manner. She turned towards the hospital wing immediately, and started running when she reached the stairs. Going to the hospital wing would be a good idea for me too: looking down on my forearms, I noted the now drying blood and the variety of cuts and scrapes. Who knew Granger had such claws. She'd carved her name on my arms as easily as I had ever carved mine with my fathers razors.
Following Granger a bit more slowly, I made my own way to the infirmary.
'
Potter had woken up when I arrived, and even though he was at the other end of the room, I could hear his rather delirious talking of centaurs and Brown and Patil, and how the centaurs had hurt Firenze. Granger was trying to get him to calm down, but Potter didn't seem to realise he was back in the hospital wing and not in the Forest, and was giving her quite a hard time. I stood by the door, rather lost for what to do, until Pomfrey forced some sedatives down his throat and turned to me.
"Why, pray tell, are your arms red from the elbow down, Mr Zabini?" She asked.
"Because no one has told Granger that nails are vicious weapons to be outlawed." I shrugged. "I'm just looking for bandages."
"Bandages? Nonsense! A quick healing charm will do the trick." Pomfrey said, pulling out her wand.
I looked at my forearms. In some places, Granger's nails had gone rather deep, but the rest of it was just superficial scratches. There really was no need to waste the nurse's energy on a couple of cuts when she had a lot more on her hands. Shaking my head and pushing her helping hands out of the way, I declined the charm.
"They're not very deep, and you've got more important things to take care of. Just point me towards the bandages and I'll be on my way before you know it." I said.
I walked away five minutes later with bandages wrapped around my cuts, looking as if I was wearing a rather worn white shirt beneath my robes. There was bound to be some questions when I came back to the Common Room, but I didn't particularly care at the moment. The deeper cuts were sure to become scars, which would be a useful thing to have if I ever needed to blackmail Granger into anything. Whistling to myself, I walked slowly back to my dorm, deciding that barricading oneself was definitely less volatile to one's health than drinking in Hogsmeade was.
'
Ending Notes: I thought about making this chapter longer, but realised I'd run out of things to write by the end of the eight page. So, here it is folks, chapter 27.