Neither Granger nor I mentioned the crying incident. In fact, we rarely
even looked at each other unless it was strictly necessary. My friends'
incessant questions about the bandages on my forearms and their
apparently desperate need to know where I had been on Valentine's Day
kept me busy trying to come up with lies. I could just have told them
the truth, that I'd gotten the marks when Granger had a nervous
breakdown and cried her little Gryffindor heart out, and then laughed
nastily as was every Slytherins right and duty. But I didn't. Somehow,
my twisted sense of honour, which rarely made itself heard, had kicked
in and kept me from saying anything.
It was an uncomfortable feeling, knowing that I was somehow more loyal to Granger at the moment than I was to my life-long friends.
Defence class was stiff and stilted, since Lucas had decided somewhere in his gnomic mind that seat-arrangements were a good things, and I'd ended up sitting right between Millicent and Granger. Right between a lion and serpent. It was only sheer luck on my part that Granger didn't feel like picking fights, and that Millicent believed my story about sneaking out to the Hog's Head and accidentally being in the middle of a bar-brawl. The atmosphere was tense, that was for sure.
"Good morning class," Lucas greeted us. "Ms Brown and Ms Patil won't be joining us today, since Madam Pomfrey will not let them out of the infirmary. However, at his own insistence, Mr Potter is here, against my own better judgement."
"Sir," Thomas put his hand up, "Will Lavender and Parvati be alright?"
"Yes, Mr Thomas, they will. They were traumatized, but will be perfectly alright with time." Lucas assured him. "I cannot, however, say the same thing for Firenze. He has taken a leave, and all Divination classes will be taken back by Professor Trelawney."
"I almost feel sorry for the old horse," Millicent muttered to me, "What happened to him anyway?"
"He tried to defend the students when the centaurs came," Granger said suddenly, startling both of us, "Lavender and Parvati were the only ones who didn't get away before he was knocked down."
"Brave chap," I muttered to myself. "Deserves a medal, he does."
Granger's head snapped around, and she stared at me in a mixture of horror, shock, and something that would clearly have been amusement on anyone else, but it was hard to tell with her. She must have been thinking about the Slytherin Cross I'd given her. For a split-second, I considered asking her about it, but then I looked away from her and stared at Lucas who had begun talking again. Ignorance was bliss, at least when it came to this situation, and ignoring Granger would only do me good.
"On a lighter note, the Headmaster has received the rather substantial list of names, concerning the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, and has agreed to let me hold the exam I want for your year." He said. "And you had better start to go over your notes from this class, since the exams are coming up fast. It's almost March, and after that it's only April and May left, before you take your exams in June."
I wondered where we would get those notes from, since the only thing we'd done was duel, at least when I was there. Maybe Millicent had some notes I could borrow. Lucas went on to demonstrate the rather hideous effect the Impedimenta hex had on a defenceless spider, and we dutifully wrote it down. Not that I had any idea why we needed to know it for our exams, but when Lucas told me something, I remembered it, if only because he might spring a test on me later. I wouldn't put it past him.
The lesson ended in short order after Lucas had given us some cryptic advice about the exam, and we trailed out of the classroom. To think about how fast our sixth year had passed was dizzying. It seemed like only yesterday that I had walked around like a miserable ghost in my father's sooty old shirt. And now it was almost over. It was sad, in a way, I reflected as I walked down to the Great Hall. Six years finished meant one year left. After that, I was truly on my own. Others had families to go home to, but I didn't. Come to think of it, I didn't even have anywhere to go this summer.
"What's with you Blaise? You look like your favourite cat died." Millicent asked, trying to keep up with my unconsciously long strides.
"I just remembered I'll be living on the street come summer," I shrugged and slowed down.
"Living on the street?"
"Mother wasn't very happy with me when I came home for Christmas." I explained. I could easily get out of this one and avoid talking about my wandless magic. I wasn't quite ready to talk about it yet. "She's been constantly drunk since Father passed away, and we had a fight that would make the Grindelwald war seem like a friendly spat between neighbours. She kicked me out."
"She kicked you out?" Millicent asked, clearly shocked. "But why?"
"I don't really know. She wasn't very coherent." I admitted. "Something about blaming me for being such a freak. Apparently I'm a shame to the family honour."
"No offence, Blaise, but your mother is one crazy bint." Millicent shook her head. "What happens to your sister now?"
"I don't know," I sighed heavily. "I really don't know, and it's only by not thinking about it that I can keep from storming back there and kidnapping her."
Millicent's only comfort was a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. Gloomy might as well be written on my forehead. Thinking about my sister did not make matters any less gloomy. What I needed was a healthy dose of alcohol. Unfortunately, since the last time I had been drunk I'd traded hats with Granger and spent two hours on a frigid stone-floor, I'd rather not do it again.
'
Feverish was the only word to describe the studying rush that overtook all Hogwarts' students fifth year and above. The fifth years were studying like crazy for the upcoming O.W.L's, the seventh years for N.E.W.T's, and us sixth years for the promised Defence exam. Lucas had been very cryptic, and as one man (or woman, as the case might be) the Slytherin sixth years started reading up at every possible thing we could be tested on. Agnes, the blessed girl, had unearthed the original sixth-year Defence curriculum, which listed all the things a Hogwarts sixth year should know by the end of their year. I couldn't for the life of me remembering ever having studied Japanese burial rituals, or why we should have done so, but it was right there.
At first, we hadn't taken Lucas seriously when he warned us about how little time we had left, and had let days slip away from us, turning into weeks. Sometime in mid-April, we realised we had exactly six weeks left before we took our largest and most difficult exam ever, though it might be outmatched by the N.E.W.T's. The cacophony that went down in the Common Room when that star landed was nothing short of mutinous.
I could thereafter be found, most days, curled up in front of the fire out of uniform, attired in an old t-shirt I'd excavated out of the deep recesses of our wardrobe and a pair of faded and rather ripped jeans, which I'd brought from home. I was quite sure it wasn't my t-shirt, since I couldn't recall buying it and my mother would never buy something like it. It wasn't Draco's, since he'd laughed himself silly at it and wondered where I'd gotten it, and it was much to small to ever have fitted Crabbe and Goyle comfortable even while eleven years old. Besides, I couldn't imagine them wearing this faded old black t-shirt, especially not when the words "Gone crazy. Be back shortly." were written across the chest.
Millicent was getting help from Gaspar to study, and while it would have been a perfect opportunity for them to get further in whatever miserable relationship they had, she was too focused on passing her Defence exams to bother any more. Even Draco, who had mentally prepared himself for never having to pass exams by more than the skin of his teeth, was no longer trading quips and insults with us, but facts and quotations from his Defence notes. We were all going bloody mad, probably from cabin fever, which was why I volunteered to do the coffee and snacks supply-run, as well as drop into the library and get a few more books.
I didn't bother to change into my uniform again, even though if I met a professor, I'd lose House points. Everyone agreed that changing clothes would lose valuable time. Like mentioned, we were stark raving, all of us. Having procured the coffee and snacks and shrunk them to save space, I entered the library to pick up a copy of Woddeley's Occult ABC and Encyclopaedia of Curses. There was almost no one there, but there were distinct holes in the shelves. From the Herbology section, someone had taken about five books in a row, if the size of the hole was any judge. I set off between the shelves, looking for the two books I needed.
I found them, on the shelf just above Granger's searching hands. She was reaching for A History of Sorcery, on the shelf right next to the books I needed. I rolled my eyes. It was just my luck that the books I wanted were right next to the one she wanted. Sometimes, I was convinced the gods were laughing themselves sick at my expense. Walking up be hind her, I snatched my two books and the one she wanted, away from her questing fingertips. She jumped so hard she knocked her scalp into my jaw. I stumbled back at the sudden impact and clutched my poorly abused jaw, wincing in the process.
"That wasn't very nice of you, Granger." I said. "What with me helping you and all."
"I would say I'm sorry, Zabini, but it's your own lousy fault," She snapped, with more backbone than I had expected, "You snuck up on me!"
"Just take your bloody book, and leave off it, will you?" I growled, dumped the book in her hands and walked away fuming. How that girl riled me up was nothing short of amazing at times.
Stomping down the corridors angrily, clutching the books, I ran into Lucas coming the other way. My nose would have connected rather painfully with his face if he hadn't had such quick reflexes. I stumbled to a stop and started to a apologise, before I realised Lucas was staring at my chest in utter shock. I'd never seen that expression on him before, nor had he ever stared at my chest, so I shut up rather quickly.
"Where did you find that shirt?" He asked, completely ignorant of the fact that I had just run into him.
"So far back in our the wardrobe in our dorm that small tribes of sentient pygmy dust-bunnies greeted me when I arrived." I exaggerated.
"That's my shirt, that is." He said, ignoring my dubious claims. "I got it from a lost and found stand in the London Underground when I was fifteen."
"This T-shirt is older than I am. How pleasant." I grumbled. "If you don't mind, I've got a bad case of multiple exams to study for, and I'd like to get some of it out of the way before I turn thirty."
I left him standing there, muttering to himself, as I headed down to the Common Room once more. The thought of having spent the last three weeks wearing my less than sane Defence professor's ancient t-shirt was rather revolting. Not that I disliked the man too much: he was merely moderately annoying, but wearing a t-shirt older than I was, having been found in the London Underground and left at the back of a dusty wardrobe for more than ten years was disgusting.
Millicent held out her hand demandingly when I entered, and I dropped a chocolate chip cookie and Woddeley's Occult ABC in her hands. I claimed Encyclopaedia of Curses for myself, and settled back down in the worn armchair. The studying went on in relative silence, broken only by Draco sometimes rattling off the ingredients to some obscure potion, or Pansy reciting the location and specifics of a plant. I was deep in my book, reading about a Burning Curse invented by an Arabian wizard in the third century, not noticing that time dragged on.
I fell asleep in the armchair that night. Most of us didn't make it to the dormitory. My dreams were a jumble of curses and books and holes in the shelves, of Granger knocking her head in my jaw and Lucas wearing the t- shirt he claimed as his. The scene with Granger in the library replayed itself several times for some reason, but the last time was most disturbing. Then she was wearing the t-shirt, and instead of knocking into my jaw, she hugged me. I woke up rather quickly after that.
It was by now the beginning of May, and the weather was warming up. It was unusually warm, even for May, and the only place to take refuge were our dungeons. No sunlight got in, and though it was shaping up to be the hottest summer in living memory, we weren't too bothered. The Gryffindors though, whose tower was constantly in the sun, were claiming they'd die of heat before exams. I'd even heard Potter and Weasley try to use it as an excuse to skip studying. Imbeciles.
I dragged myself up from the dungeons to breakfast that morning, a crick in my neck the size of Atlantis. Breakfast and a large cup of coffee sounded like a wonderful idea at the moment. My head was pounding for no particular reason, but the heat might have had something to do with it. Constant studying might be part of it too, but it wasn't as if I could avoid it. In fact, for everyone but Granger, it was a necessity.
Lucas was at breakfast, which was a surprise. He was looking preoccupied with something, which wasn't one. The rest of the Hogwarts alumni, fifth year and up were looking as if they'd foregone sleep the past few weeks. Which was more or less what they had done. Everyone was dreading the exam, except Granger, who but for the rings under her eyes would almost merit the description "cheerful". Disgusting that girl was, at least when it came to studying.
"It's only three weeks left till exams now," A hollow-eyes Draco said, "And after that, it's only a week and a half left of the term. Wonderful, isn't it?"
"If we can live that long," Millicent grumbled. "Sleep deprivation causes temporary insanity, you know, and if Blaise goes insane he's bound to throw himself off the Astronomy Tower."
"I haven't yet," I pointed out.
"It's only a matter of time, boy," The normally cheerful Pansy said gloomily. "It's only a matter of time."
I snorted at her claims. While I was certainly crazy, and the frantic studying hadn't made it any better, I wasn't about to commit suicide. I wouldn't ever be able to see the look on Lucas' face if I passed the exams, or McGonagall's, when I tackled her tests easily, for one thing. Drinking my coffee, I tore my bleary eyes from the table-top and looked out over the Great Hall again. Potter had fallen asleep on his breakfast cereal, which should prove for some entertainment when he woke up. The Ravenclaws looked about half as dead as we Slytherins did, which meant they looked like they'd been dead for a week and a half. The only ones who didn't look half- way dead were the Hufflepuffs, maybe because so few of them were in the Defence class any more, and didn't have to worry as much.
We sleepwalked through out classes that day. The professors seemed to know better than to ask us questions, and instead droned through their lectures slowly, and let us off early. My head was fairly buzzing with incantations, wand-gestures and complex mathematics as I sought the refuge of my well- worn armchair again. I was much too tired to move, to it looked like another night in the armchair, with only my mind for company. It was a nice old chair, with a rather bad ink sketch of a snake on one arm. I rather liked it. Everyone else were off somewhere, doing Merlin knows what. Hopefully, Gaspar would wake up some day soon and realise Millicent's stares weren't because he'd forgotten to shave. He truly was a stupid blighter at times.
Their little crusade to get me a girlfriend seemed to have lost its appeal after Lucas announced the exams were due, thankfully. Independent as I was, the idea of my friends shopping for a girlfriend for me was more than a little uncomfortable. Besides, when I tried to picture the currently available girls at Hogwarts, they ended up being sorted into categories, none of them appealing. Some were inexcusably stupid, some were too vain, while some were too studious. There was no problems with studying, as I saw it, but some of the girls studied like it was the week before the N.E.W.T's constantly. Strangely enough, Granger wasn't part of that crowd. I'd even seen her reading for pleasure once or twice, something the overly studious never did.
The rest of them were just not noticeable to me, since I couldn't for the life of me remember what, for example, Hannah Abbott looked like. It wasn't that I was forgetful, just that I ignored her so much her face hadn't stuck in my memory. Granger on the other hand, while I disliked her greatly at times, stuck in my mind like marrow in a bone.
Millicent had been right, it seemed: sleep deprivation really did cause insanity. I would never have been contemplating the girls of Hogwarts otherwise. Especially not Granger.
I curled up tighter and closed my eyes. I would have fallen asleep if it hadn't been for Cain, who came sneaking down the stairs as quietly as he could. Being a clumsy, eleven-year-old boy, it wasn't very quiet. I opened my eyes again and stared at him, too tired to ask the question, but too awake to ignore him.
"Couldn't sleep," He informs me quietly. "Everyone's so jumpy, and some of them snore."
"And you came to wake me up?" I asked grumpily. "Fine plan that, Cain."
"You shouldn't be sleeping down here anyway," He went on, ignoring me. "You won't be able to walk in the morning. And Theo will laugh at you when he comes back from Agnes."
"Theo's in Agnes bed?" My eyes nearly popped out of my scull at that revelation, and I resisted the urge to pinch my own arm as Cain nodded. "That boy surely moves fast."
"They're just sleeping," Cain shook his head. "Theo said it helps his nightmares. I eavesdropped."
"No honour among Slytherins, eh?" I chuckled, my voice sounding rusty.
"No honour among thieves," Cain corrected me, "No heroes among Slytherins."
"Sounds about right." I agreed. "If I had anything to drink, I'd drink to that."
He sat down on the couch, and I kept sitting in the armchair, too tired to move. No heroes among Slytherins. I liked the sound of it, and went back to sleep with the words ringing in my head like bells.
'
Ending Notes: Shorter chapter this time, and we're getting closer and closer to the end of sixth year. Don't worry, we're only halfway through Ascent. There's a lot of plot-strands to be resolved, and after that's there's the third part of the trilogy left. Oh, and anyone who can tell me where I just ripped the armchair from gets an imaginary cookie.
It was an uncomfortable feeling, knowing that I was somehow more loyal to Granger at the moment than I was to my life-long friends.
Defence class was stiff and stilted, since Lucas had decided somewhere in his gnomic mind that seat-arrangements were a good things, and I'd ended up sitting right between Millicent and Granger. Right between a lion and serpent. It was only sheer luck on my part that Granger didn't feel like picking fights, and that Millicent believed my story about sneaking out to the Hog's Head and accidentally being in the middle of a bar-brawl. The atmosphere was tense, that was for sure.
"Good morning class," Lucas greeted us. "Ms Brown and Ms Patil won't be joining us today, since Madam Pomfrey will not let them out of the infirmary. However, at his own insistence, Mr Potter is here, against my own better judgement."
"Sir," Thomas put his hand up, "Will Lavender and Parvati be alright?"
"Yes, Mr Thomas, they will. They were traumatized, but will be perfectly alright with time." Lucas assured him. "I cannot, however, say the same thing for Firenze. He has taken a leave, and all Divination classes will be taken back by Professor Trelawney."
"I almost feel sorry for the old horse," Millicent muttered to me, "What happened to him anyway?"
"He tried to defend the students when the centaurs came," Granger said suddenly, startling both of us, "Lavender and Parvati were the only ones who didn't get away before he was knocked down."
"Brave chap," I muttered to myself. "Deserves a medal, he does."
Granger's head snapped around, and she stared at me in a mixture of horror, shock, and something that would clearly have been amusement on anyone else, but it was hard to tell with her. She must have been thinking about the Slytherin Cross I'd given her. For a split-second, I considered asking her about it, but then I looked away from her and stared at Lucas who had begun talking again. Ignorance was bliss, at least when it came to this situation, and ignoring Granger would only do me good.
"On a lighter note, the Headmaster has received the rather substantial list of names, concerning the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, and has agreed to let me hold the exam I want for your year." He said. "And you had better start to go over your notes from this class, since the exams are coming up fast. It's almost March, and after that it's only April and May left, before you take your exams in June."
I wondered where we would get those notes from, since the only thing we'd done was duel, at least when I was there. Maybe Millicent had some notes I could borrow. Lucas went on to demonstrate the rather hideous effect the Impedimenta hex had on a defenceless spider, and we dutifully wrote it down. Not that I had any idea why we needed to know it for our exams, but when Lucas told me something, I remembered it, if only because he might spring a test on me later. I wouldn't put it past him.
The lesson ended in short order after Lucas had given us some cryptic advice about the exam, and we trailed out of the classroom. To think about how fast our sixth year had passed was dizzying. It seemed like only yesterday that I had walked around like a miserable ghost in my father's sooty old shirt. And now it was almost over. It was sad, in a way, I reflected as I walked down to the Great Hall. Six years finished meant one year left. After that, I was truly on my own. Others had families to go home to, but I didn't. Come to think of it, I didn't even have anywhere to go this summer.
"What's with you Blaise? You look like your favourite cat died." Millicent asked, trying to keep up with my unconsciously long strides.
"I just remembered I'll be living on the street come summer," I shrugged and slowed down.
"Living on the street?"
"Mother wasn't very happy with me when I came home for Christmas." I explained. I could easily get out of this one and avoid talking about my wandless magic. I wasn't quite ready to talk about it yet. "She's been constantly drunk since Father passed away, and we had a fight that would make the Grindelwald war seem like a friendly spat between neighbours. She kicked me out."
"She kicked you out?" Millicent asked, clearly shocked. "But why?"
"I don't really know. She wasn't very coherent." I admitted. "Something about blaming me for being such a freak. Apparently I'm a shame to the family honour."
"No offence, Blaise, but your mother is one crazy bint." Millicent shook her head. "What happens to your sister now?"
"I don't know," I sighed heavily. "I really don't know, and it's only by not thinking about it that I can keep from storming back there and kidnapping her."
Millicent's only comfort was a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. Gloomy might as well be written on my forehead. Thinking about my sister did not make matters any less gloomy. What I needed was a healthy dose of alcohol. Unfortunately, since the last time I had been drunk I'd traded hats with Granger and spent two hours on a frigid stone-floor, I'd rather not do it again.
'
Feverish was the only word to describe the studying rush that overtook all Hogwarts' students fifth year and above. The fifth years were studying like crazy for the upcoming O.W.L's, the seventh years for N.E.W.T's, and us sixth years for the promised Defence exam. Lucas had been very cryptic, and as one man (or woman, as the case might be) the Slytherin sixth years started reading up at every possible thing we could be tested on. Agnes, the blessed girl, had unearthed the original sixth-year Defence curriculum, which listed all the things a Hogwarts sixth year should know by the end of their year. I couldn't for the life of me remembering ever having studied Japanese burial rituals, or why we should have done so, but it was right there.
At first, we hadn't taken Lucas seriously when he warned us about how little time we had left, and had let days slip away from us, turning into weeks. Sometime in mid-April, we realised we had exactly six weeks left before we took our largest and most difficult exam ever, though it might be outmatched by the N.E.W.T's. The cacophony that went down in the Common Room when that star landed was nothing short of mutinous.
I could thereafter be found, most days, curled up in front of the fire out of uniform, attired in an old t-shirt I'd excavated out of the deep recesses of our wardrobe and a pair of faded and rather ripped jeans, which I'd brought from home. I was quite sure it wasn't my t-shirt, since I couldn't recall buying it and my mother would never buy something like it. It wasn't Draco's, since he'd laughed himself silly at it and wondered where I'd gotten it, and it was much to small to ever have fitted Crabbe and Goyle comfortable even while eleven years old. Besides, I couldn't imagine them wearing this faded old black t-shirt, especially not when the words "Gone crazy. Be back shortly." were written across the chest.
Millicent was getting help from Gaspar to study, and while it would have been a perfect opportunity for them to get further in whatever miserable relationship they had, she was too focused on passing her Defence exams to bother any more. Even Draco, who had mentally prepared himself for never having to pass exams by more than the skin of his teeth, was no longer trading quips and insults with us, but facts and quotations from his Defence notes. We were all going bloody mad, probably from cabin fever, which was why I volunteered to do the coffee and snacks supply-run, as well as drop into the library and get a few more books.
I didn't bother to change into my uniform again, even though if I met a professor, I'd lose House points. Everyone agreed that changing clothes would lose valuable time. Like mentioned, we were stark raving, all of us. Having procured the coffee and snacks and shrunk them to save space, I entered the library to pick up a copy of Woddeley's Occult ABC and Encyclopaedia of Curses. There was almost no one there, but there were distinct holes in the shelves. From the Herbology section, someone had taken about five books in a row, if the size of the hole was any judge. I set off between the shelves, looking for the two books I needed.
I found them, on the shelf just above Granger's searching hands. She was reaching for A History of Sorcery, on the shelf right next to the books I needed. I rolled my eyes. It was just my luck that the books I wanted were right next to the one she wanted. Sometimes, I was convinced the gods were laughing themselves sick at my expense. Walking up be hind her, I snatched my two books and the one she wanted, away from her questing fingertips. She jumped so hard she knocked her scalp into my jaw. I stumbled back at the sudden impact and clutched my poorly abused jaw, wincing in the process.
"That wasn't very nice of you, Granger." I said. "What with me helping you and all."
"I would say I'm sorry, Zabini, but it's your own lousy fault," She snapped, with more backbone than I had expected, "You snuck up on me!"
"Just take your bloody book, and leave off it, will you?" I growled, dumped the book in her hands and walked away fuming. How that girl riled me up was nothing short of amazing at times.
Stomping down the corridors angrily, clutching the books, I ran into Lucas coming the other way. My nose would have connected rather painfully with his face if he hadn't had such quick reflexes. I stumbled to a stop and started to a apologise, before I realised Lucas was staring at my chest in utter shock. I'd never seen that expression on him before, nor had he ever stared at my chest, so I shut up rather quickly.
"Where did you find that shirt?" He asked, completely ignorant of the fact that I had just run into him.
"So far back in our the wardrobe in our dorm that small tribes of sentient pygmy dust-bunnies greeted me when I arrived." I exaggerated.
"That's my shirt, that is." He said, ignoring my dubious claims. "I got it from a lost and found stand in the London Underground when I was fifteen."
"This T-shirt is older than I am. How pleasant." I grumbled. "If you don't mind, I've got a bad case of multiple exams to study for, and I'd like to get some of it out of the way before I turn thirty."
I left him standing there, muttering to himself, as I headed down to the Common Room once more. The thought of having spent the last three weeks wearing my less than sane Defence professor's ancient t-shirt was rather revolting. Not that I disliked the man too much: he was merely moderately annoying, but wearing a t-shirt older than I was, having been found in the London Underground and left at the back of a dusty wardrobe for more than ten years was disgusting.
Millicent held out her hand demandingly when I entered, and I dropped a chocolate chip cookie and Woddeley's Occult ABC in her hands. I claimed Encyclopaedia of Curses for myself, and settled back down in the worn armchair. The studying went on in relative silence, broken only by Draco sometimes rattling off the ingredients to some obscure potion, or Pansy reciting the location and specifics of a plant. I was deep in my book, reading about a Burning Curse invented by an Arabian wizard in the third century, not noticing that time dragged on.
I fell asleep in the armchair that night. Most of us didn't make it to the dormitory. My dreams were a jumble of curses and books and holes in the shelves, of Granger knocking her head in my jaw and Lucas wearing the t- shirt he claimed as his. The scene with Granger in the library replayed itself several times for some reason, but the last time was most disturbing. Then she was wearing the t-shirt, and instead of knocking into my jaw, she hugged me. I woke up rather quickly after that.
It was by now the beginning of May, and the weather was warming up. It was unusually warm, even for May, and the only place to take refuge were our dungeons. No sunlight got in, and though it was shaping up to be the hottest summer in living memory, we weren't too bothered. The Gryffindors though, whose tower was constantly in the sun, were claiming they'd die of heat before exams. I'd even heard Potter and Weasley try to use it as an excuse to skip studying. Imbeciles.
I dragged myself up from the dungeons to breakfast that morning, a crick in my neck the size of Atlantis. Breakfast and a large cup of coffee sounded like a wonderful idea at the moment. My head was pounding for no particular reason, but the heat might have had something to do with it. Constant studying might be part of it too, but it wasn't as if I could avoid it. In fact, for everyone but Granger, it was a necessity.
Lucas was at breakfast, which was a surprise. He was looking preoccupied with something, which wasn't one. The rest of the Hogwarts alumni, fifth year and up were looking as if they'd foregone sleep the past few weeks. Which was more or less what they had done. Everyone was dreading the exam, except Granger, who but for the rings under her eyes would almost merit the description "cheerful". Disgusting that girl was, at least when it came to studying.
"It's only three weeks left till exams now," A hollow-eyes Draco said, "And after that, it's only a week and a half left of the term. Wonderful, isn't it?"
"If we can live that long," Millicent grumbled. "Sleep deprivation causes temporary insanity, you know, and if Blaise goes insane he's bound to throw himself off the Astronomy Tower."
"I haven't yet," I pointed out.
"It's only a matter of time, boy," The normally cheerful Pansy said gloomily. "It's only a matter of time."
I snorted at her claims. While I was certainly crazy, and the frantic studying hadn't made it any better, I wasn't about to commit suicide. I wouldn't ever be able to see the look on Lucas' face if I passed the exams, or McGonagall's, when I tackled her tests easily, for one thing. Drinking my coffee, I tore my bleary eyes from the table-top and looked out over the Great Hall again. Potter had fallen asleep on his breakfast cereal, which should prove for some entertainment when he woke up. The Ravenclaws looked about half as dead as we Slytherins did, which meant they looked like they'd been dead for a week and a half. The only ones who didn't look half- way dead were the Hufflepuffs, maybe because so few of them were in the Defence class any more, and didn't have to worry as much.
We sleepwalked through out classes that day. The professors seemed to know better than to ask us questions, and instead droned through their lectures slowly, and let us off early. My head was fairly buzzing with incantations, wand-gestures and complex mathematics as I sought the refuge of my well- worn armchair again. I was much too tired to move, to it looked like another night in the armchair, with only my mind for company. It was a nice old chair, with a rather bad ink sketch of a snake on one arm. I rather liked it. Everyone else were off somewhere, doing Merlin knows what. Hopefully, Gaspar would wake up some day soon and realise Millicent's stares weren't because he'd forgotten to shave. He truly was a stupid blighter at times.
Their little crusade to get me a girlfriend seemed to have lost its appeal after Lucas announced the exams were due, thankfully. Independent as I was, the idea of my friends shopping for a girlfriend for me was more than a little uncomfortable. Besides, when I tried to picture the currently available girls at Hogwarts, they ended up being sorted into categories, none of them appealing. Some were inexcusably stupid, some were too vain, while some were too studious. There was no problems with studying, as I saw it, but some of the girls studied like it was the week before the N.E.W.T's constantly. Strangely enough, Granger wasn't part of that crowd. I'd even seen her reading for pleasure once or twice, something the overly studious never did.
The rest of them were just not noticeable to me, since I couldn't for the life of me remember what, for example, Hannah Abbott looked like. It wasn't that I was forgetful, just that I ignored her so much her face hadn't stuck in my memory. Granger on the other hand, while I disliked her greatly at times, stuck in my mind like marrow in a bone.
Millicent had been right, it seemed: sleep deprivation really did cause insanity. I would never have been contemplating the girls of Hogwarts otherwise. Especially not Granger.
I curled up tighter and closed my eyes. I would have fallen asleep if it hadn't been for Cain, who came sneaking down the stairs as quietly as he could. Being a clumsy, eleven-year-old boy, it wasn't very quiet. I opened my eyes again and stared at him, too tired to ask the question, but too awake to ignore him.
"Couldn't sleep," He informs me quietly. "Everyone's so jumpy, and some of them snore."
"And you came to wake me up?" I asked grumpily. "Fine plan that, Cain."
"You shouldn't be sleeping down here anyway," He went on, ignoring me. "You won't be able to walk in the morning. And Theo will laugh at you when he comes back from Agnes."
"Theo's in Agnes bed?" My eyes nearly popped out of my scull at that revelation, and I resisted the urge to pinch my own arm as Cain nodded. "That boy surely moves fast."
"They're just sleeping," Cain shook his head. "Theo said it helps his nightmares. I eavesdropped."
"No honour among Slytherins, eh?" I chuckled, my voice sounding rusty.
"No honour among thieves," Cain corrected me, "No heroes among Slytherins."
"Sounds about right." I agreed. "If I had anything to drink, I'd drink to that."
He sat down on the couch, and I kept sitting in the armchair, too tired to move. No heroes among Slytherins. I liked the sound of it, and went back to sleep with the words ringing in my head like bells.
'
Ending Notes: Shorter chapter this time, and we're getting closer and closer to the end of sixth year. Don't worry, we're only halfway through Ascent. There's a lot of plot-strands to be resolved, and after that's there's the third part of the trilogy left. Oh, and anyone who can tell me where I just ripped the armchair from gets an imaginary cookie.