Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update this! As you can see, this chapter's a lot longer than the others. (And I still don't think that it's done. --;; ) It just started getting really long and involved and I decided that I should finish it and take a breather. So, hopefully this chapter is good. I'm not really sure what I think of it. Oh yes, and before I forget, the reason Draco and Blaise are the only "kids" at Alexandro's banquet is because Draco is the man of the house since his father is in Azkaban so he has to show up, and Blaise is Alexandro's daughter so she has to sit there, look pretty, bitch about Harry and then go. Sorta.
Eniyou: I don't think of myself as defending the bad people, more like, giving them a voice. But hey, they do need someone to speak up for them, don't they? And, quite honestly, I don't think that Pansy is a slut. She's just a desperate, pug-faced girl. Besides, although their parents might not be that wonderful, Slytherins choose to be evil. Look at the luverly Sirius Black. His parents were evil and he wasn't.
Broadwaypoetess: Yup. Pansy was asking for it, wasn't she? And, about the ice cream, let's hear it for girls that can get guys to do anything for 'em!
Elven Sword: Thank you so much. Your reviews always make me feel really good about my writing. Because I've realized that having lots of detected errors is bad for a story (no, duh), I'm going to go back and correct everything. I hope you like this chapter too although it's more of a transition than anything else.
JeanB: Well, then it's a very good thing that you didn't stop reading! I started the story that way because I didn't want to get halfway through the first chapter and still have Blaise be the "amazing androgynous wonder." I've heard that JK made her a girl, but, in my opinion, it took JK forever to decide a frickin' character's gender, so who really cares anymore? And don't worry, it takes a lot to unnerve me.
Tynkerbell: -bows- Many thanks.
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Licking the remains of ice cream off her lips, Blaise rocked back in her chair, the majority of her temper gone and a content look on her face. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor truly did have the best sundaes in the Wizarding World. Well, she did have a really good ice cream one time when visiting her father's family in Rome, but she couldn't zip off to Rome every time she had a craving, not until she learned to Apparate that is.
"You have ice cream on your nose." Draco licked a drip off the side of his ice cream cone and raised an eyebrow in her direction. "How did you manage that?"
The girl made a face, trying to get her tongue to reach the tip of her nose and failing quite wonderfully. Intent on getting the ice cream off without using her napkin, she began wiggling her nose outrageously, similar to how some rabbit would. Her friend couldn't help but snort and roll his eyes at her antics.
"You're not succeeding, darling," he said patronizingly.
"You're not helping."
A small group of six-year-old children entered the parlor, seeking shelter from the rain. They all looked shockingly identical and, when two frazzled looking adults entered after them, it became painfully obvious that they were triplets. If either of the two Slytherins had been more compassionate, they probably would have felt for the poor parents.
Blaise stopped wriggling her nose when one of them pointed at her and shrieked with laughter. Glaring daggers at the small child, she wiped her nose with her napkin and found herself locked in a staring contest.
"Don't blink," Draco told her, smirking in amusement.
Viciously, the girl turned and whacked him upside the head before looking back at the six year old who widened his eyes in shock and ducked behind his two sisters.
"Please tell me why I haven't gotten brain damage from you yet," he grumbled, putting a hand to the back of his head and closing his eyes. It was a good thing that he had given up on gel before third year started or his aerodynamic hair would have probably been sticking up like he didn't know how to properly create a mohawk.
"You're too thick headed for that."
Snorting at her, he returned to his chocolate ice cream, eating it slowly and tantalizingly, trying Blaise's patience for having finished off her sundae so quickly. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her when she scowled at him and, to keep from laughing or showing any signs of amusement, Blaise turned away, forcing her lips to not twitch into any happy expression.
One of the girls looked at her siblings and they held a hushed conversation while their parents placed an order of two vanilla ice creams, one with chocolate sauce, one with caramel and both with magic wand and wizard hat shaped sprinkles and a Dragon Tracks Delight sundae. Finally, she made her way towards Blaise and stopped infront of the girl. Just in case she didn't already have the girl's attention, she poked her in the arm.
"Can you go out if there are clouds in the sky?" she asked seriously, twirling a stick straight lock around her index finger.
"Excuse me?" Blaise asked, raising a dark eyebrow.
"My brother thought you were a banshee, but we decided that you're a vampire. Can you go out if there are clouds in the sky?"
While Blaise pressed her lips together tightly, Draco snorted into his ice cream, his face beginning to change colors as he choked on what was in his mouth.
Rather than reply, she looked at the little girl who anxiously awaited a response and then in one movement pulled back her lips to show her teeth, leaned forwards and made a cat-like hissing sound in the girl's face. She shrieked, positively quivering on the spot before running back to her brother and sister.
As soon as that distraction was taken care off, she rounded on Malfoy who had his face buried in his arms as he struggled to swallow and for air. She continued to stare at him blankly, as if he were rather slow, until he finally lifted his head, face flushed, and took a few gulping breaths.
"That was amusing in your opinion, wasn't it?" she asked simply.
He nodded and then, from the look on her face, began fighting back laughter once more, this time without the danger of choking. If Blaise had been in his position, she probably would have been laughing pretty hard as well.
The true breaking point for Draco's ability to conceal his laughter came when, after the parents returned with their children's ice cream, the only child who hadn't had any interaction with Blaise yet pointed at the dark haired girl and said loudly, "Mummy, Daddy, look! It's a real life goblin!"
"No! We said she was a vampire!"
"- Oh! Yeah! She's a real life vampire, Daddy!"
Poor Draco couldn't take it any more. He burst out laughing and began pounding a fist on the table, his sides positively splitting. Everyone her half of the parlor seemed to look at the children and then her, some of them snickering to themselves at the look of contempt on her face. The triplet's parents instantly herded their children to the other side of the parlor, telling them to eat their ice cream and not say another word.
Minute later, the blond looked up, a hand to his side and a broad grin on his face. "Blaise, that was priceless."
Not nearly as amused, she stood huffily, crossing her arms.
"Come on, Zabini. Laugh it out. You know you want to."
"Draco," she said, looking at him without any expression. "My sides are splitting."
Malfoy polished off his ice cream, standing slowly. "Shall we finish here and head to the privacy of your home?"
Blaise threw him a look, blowing some of her partially dry hair away from her face. "Haha, Malfoy."
"Told you you wanted to laugh."
"Shove it."
He made a face, sucking on his teeth before giving her a nudge towards the door. "Out to the elements, Zabini. Don't let the sun kill you."
Naturally, he was thrown a dirty look from Blaise while a couple of teenage girls at a table near him giggled and whispered something behind their hands. He winked at them cockily before being pulled by the arm out the door.
"You're the one who said we had to get going, Malfoy! Stop flirting with the bimbos!"
Still, as he was being half dragged out, he mouthed "Owl me" back to them and laughed.
"Mother!" Blaise shouted the instant she and Malfoy walked over the threshold of her fireplace. Getting no reply, she growled and screamed louder, making Draco wince in the process. "MOTHER!"
Instead of her mother, however, the Zabini's large, Grim-like dog came running at them from around the corner, barking madly with his fur standing on end. If Draco had been five or six years younger, he probably would have wet himself in fear.
Unfazed by the sight of her overly aggressive, somewhat bloodthirsty dog pounding towards her, Blaise cast it one look. "Dracul, at ease."
The dog instantly stopped barking and began panting, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. When his owner set down the bags she was carrying, he nudging her hand with a wet nose, begging for attention.
"Jesus Christ, Blaise. Put a muzzle on your dog," Draco said, breathing heavily and carefully edging around the dog, setting his things on the table. To say that he nearly had a heart attack would be a pretty good way to explain how the adrenaline was pumping through his veins.
"Relax, Malfoy. I only feed him Gryffindors," she said, stroking her dog's head before shouting once more, "Mother!"
"Blaise Adriana Zabini," her mother said tensely, entering the room and storming towards her daughter, her index finger extended. "If you shout one more time, no one will know what I did to your body."
"Hullo, Mum, nice to see you," Blaise replied, crossing over and kissing her mother's cheek. "Guess who I crashed into near what once was Knockturn Alley?"
"Who?"
"Potter, our favorite hero."
Nicoleta raised an eyebrow and then looked over at Draco, finally noticing his presence and how he was still trying to avoid the dog that kept walking towards him, looking for someone to pay attention to him. "He won't bite."
Muttering something suspiciously similar to, "Why would I think that?" he hesitantly patted the dog's head. Like magic, Dracul's tail began wagging madly and he licked the young man's hand, nearly giving him a heart attack again from surprise.
"So what was Potter doing around Knockturn Alley?" Blaise's mother asked, looking at what her daughter had bought. In curiosity, she opened a small box and took out a platinum ring with countless tiny stones that sparkled like diamonds imbedded around its length. "Blaise, why did you get this?"
The brunette took the ring from her mother, placed it on her thumb and twirled it. With each spin, the gems changed from rubies, to sapphires, emeralds and several others before back to diamonds. "Because it's pretty."
Her mother rolled her eyes and shook her head. "And Potter?"
"I have no idea," she snorted, watching Draco with amusement from the corner of her eye as he tried to stop Dracul from jumping up and licking his face. "I just crashed into him. Down, Dracul."
The dog stopped, looked over at Blaise and then trotted over, sniffing her bags curiously. It was hard to believe that only moments earlier it looked ready to rip out someone's throat.
"Your father is having several other people over for dinner tonight. Once word got out about Knockturn Alley, it spread like wild fire."
Blaise shrugged one shoulder, looking over at her mother. "And?"
"You are expected to be there, at least for part of the time, and it is a formal affair," her mother replied, watching her daughter's face fall. Alexandro's social engagements usually were tedious, even in Nicoleta's opinion. She could hardly imagine how dull they must be for her daughter. "In other words, Blaise, wear a dress."
Blaise positively grimaced, closing her eyes before whining, "Mother..."
"Come on, Blaise, lighten up," Draco said, leaning against the table where his schoolbooks and other purchases lay. "I'm sure you could find something to wear. Maybe with a sexy slit up the leg or plunging neckline."
He snickered softly as Blaise turned towards him, eyes on fire.
"I would hate to have to explain your body in my parlor to an investigator," she told him.
"Sure you would."
Taking a few steps towards him, she placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow slowly. "Do you want to find out?"
Nicoleta cleared her throat pointedly, raising her own eyebrow in a manner perfectly identical to how her daughter did. Blaise looked over her shoulder at her mother who continued to look at her with an eyebrow raised.
"What part of "get ready for one of your father's banquets" do you not understand?" she asked.
"The whole part?" Blaise offered. Groaning softly, she looked down at her black watch. "When are they coming?"
"7:30."
Her jaw dropped and she looked at her watch once more before staring up at her mother in complete shock. "What? An hour and a half? Mother, I have to shower, change and... and..."
"Do your hair? Put on make-up? Buy a dress?" Draco suggested, getting a sound punch in the arm for his comments.
"An hour and twenty minutes, darling," corrected Nicoleta.
Making a loud sound of complete frustration and throwing her hands in the air, Blaise left the room and stormed towards the stairs. She stomped up them heavily and her mother winced ever so slightly, as if the ceiling would come falling down right around her ears.
"Draco, you and your mother are expected to show up as well. Tell her that this is supposed to be a formal event, not auditions for being a harem girl," Blaise's mother said after the stomping had ended.
He shrugged one shoulder, taking his bags and returning to the fireplace. Setting them inside, he grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder, entered the grate and threw it down. "Malfoy Manor!"
Taking one look around her, and then down at the casual clothes she still wore, Nicoleta snapped for a House Elf to come clean up and then went up to her room with Dracul at her heels. She hesitated at her daughter's door, but continued on her way in relief when she heard the sound of water running. At least she was able to get Blaise moving in the right direction without much nagging. She hated having to nag all the time.
Naturally, Blaise wasn't happy with having to get ready in less than an hour and a half when it usually took her twice that long. She'd have to pick up the pace. Washing her thick hair alone would probably take half an hour. If she had it her way, she would have hacked it all off and thrown it away without a second thought. Obviously, she didn't have it her way.
With all of her dark hair piled up on her head and shampoo on her forehead, threatening to drip into her eyes, she reached for her wand that she had brought in and placed on the floor beside the large bathtub. Muttering a charm under her breath, she traced the wand down her leg, a soft blue glowing across her skin before performing the same ritual on her other leg and then under her arms. It was much more effective than shaving or waxing and it completely killed the roots after being done a dozen or so times. Being a witch had many perks.
"Shit!" she hissed. The mix of shampoo and water on her hands had made it impossible for her to hold the wand for long and it fell under the water, hidden under the thick blanket of bubbles. Just as luck would have it, as soon as she bent over to search for it, the shampoo on her forehead dripped into her eyes, burning them madly. "God dammit!!"
So, after having lost her wand, a bar of soap, the bottle of conditioner and having to look for them all, Blaise finally finished washing off and only lost 42 minutes. She had to pick up the pace and quickly.
Towel wrapped around her, she entered her room, leaving the door to her bathroom open and enough steam running into her bedroom to create a sauna affect. A sharp yelp left her as she slid across her hardwood floor, the water dripping from her hair having made it difficult for her to walk without slipping.
"Ow..." Very carefully she picked herself up from the ground, leaning on her vanity and using it to keep herself balanced as she went to her large closet to find a dress.
And yes, a dress, not dress robes. Dress robes had been popular for a very long time, but the wave of women who decided to go against conformity had begun wearing dresses. In other words, for now, dress robes had begun slipping out of sight. Men still wore them naturally and women did on occasion, but it was much more common to see a woman in some sort of dress than in dress robes.
Blaise stepped into her walk-in closet, turned her back to her Muggle and school clothes and pushed back dress after dress in the hopes that she could find something in which she could make an entrance, eat and then disappear in just as quickly. Taking out three, she left the closet and laid them on her bed, side by side, so she could compare the pros and cons of each. After nibbling her thumbnail in thought, she chose a deep purple one with an intricate pattern embroidered along the hem of the skirt.
Careful to not slip again and get more bruises that would really make people think that Slytherins were abused in their homes, she pulled on some underwear and then slipped into the dark dress. Zipping the zipper without any help was a bit of a challenge and she had to twist her arm into several strange positions, but she did eventually manage.
She twirled in front of her mirror, examining her reflection. The dress hung off one of her shoulders, the shimmering fabric folding upon itself a couple of times, and was held up on her other by a thin spaghetti strap. Draco would probably be disappointed when he saw it as it had no "sexy slits", "plunging necklines" or anything of the sort, with only a slightly plunging back. But it did fit rather snugly and comfortably around her waist before billowing out around her legs and trailing onto the floor. As she twisted and turned, the dark purple, silky material reflected a much brighter shade when caught properly with the light. This dress, of course, was chosen mostly for that reason, as there would be countless candles floating around the gigantic dining room.
The very minute she had turned thirteen, Blaise had been taught how to walk properly, how to dress oneself to attract the most attention, how to apply make up for any occasion - even funerals, and the importance of appearances. Well, at least her mother had tried to raise her properly. Then again, even Pansy probably knew just as much as Blaise did, but that didn't mean that she knew how to make a proper appearance.
Her hair was still dripping very slightly down her back when her mother entered the room, nearly scaring ten years of life out of her daughter.
Nicoleta winced as her daughter spun around quickly to see who had suddenly appeared at her door, got her legs tangled with her dress and also slipped in a puddle of water. Blaise fell with a loud crash, dragging the unfortunate wall hanging beside her down with her.
"The guests have arrived," her mother said slowly, looking at her daughter with exasperation. "And I shall have to explain the crashing noise over their heads to them, won't I?"
"Please do," she replied, picking herself up slowly while trying not to make a bigger mess of her room.
"I would suggest small heels. If you can't walk in barefeet, how could you make it down the stairs in your stilettos?"
"Don't remind me."
Closing the door behind her, Nicoleta blew a strand or two of hair away from her face and carefully made her way downstairs, a hand on the banister to keep herself from tumbling like her daughter had seconds before.
"Ah, Ptolemy, Marissa, how wonderful to see you," she said, greeting Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson with a smile to rival that of a beauty pageant contestant.
"Nicoleta, you look more radiant each time we see you," replied Ptolemy. Poor Pansy, if she had a different father, she actually would have been a pretty young girl. Her mother at least was fairly good looking. She wasn't as elegant or exotic as the Zabini women nor did she look like a model like the Black sisters did, but she wasn't that bad looking either.
Just when she was about to respond, Nicoleta was distracted by yet another crashing noise from several floors up. Her smile faltering ever so slightly, her eyes scanned the people's faces until she found Draco. She approached him and grabbed his upper arm viciously before leading him towards the stairs.
"Go find Blaise and tell her to get down here without breaking anything else," she ordered through the clenched teeth of her forced smile. After giving him a push up the stairs, she turned quickly to her guests and flashed them another fake smile. "Hors d'oeuvres anyone?"
Draco hesitated outside of Blaise's door, listening for a moment to see if anything would fall on his head or kill him if he entered.
"You really shouldn't go in there."
He turned quickly, searching for whoever had spoken, but found that he was completely alone in the corridor.
"There are several people downstairs."
His steel eyes shot towards a picture on the wall, one of an incredibly stiff and serene looking woman who was probably one of the Zabini ancestors. "Excuse me?"
"Not that I approve of what you are planning to do," she continued, looking down at him as if he were a peasant. "But shouldn't you wait for a more private time?"
"What?"
She stared at him before glancing down the hall and fanning herself lightly with her lacy fan. "If you want to sleep with you, you should wait for a more appropriate time."
He blinked in surprise and stumbled for words. However, he found none before the door opened and Blaise stood there, looking very calm and collected for all the times she had fallen over in the last half hour.
"I am coming. My mother didn't need to send the cavalry," she commented lightly, closing the door behind her. Very slowly and carefully, she took a few steps, testing out the new shoes she was wearing. Tossing a curl out of her eyes, Blaise looked over at the painting and then at Draco. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing at all," the boy responded before the painting could say anything.
"Alright then."
Draco watched as Blaise carefully put a hand on the banister and held her dress up enough to keep it from being a tripping hazard. He caught up with her rather quickly, not having to worry about tripping over anything.
"That's a lovely dress, Zabini," he commented, eyes lingering on her bare shoulders.
"Thank you, Malfoy."
"It'll be hard for you to slip away unnoticed in it."
She stopped quickly and turned to stare at him, mouth slightly open. "Excuse me?"
He merely smirked and plucked a fallen hair off her shoulder before holding out his arm for her. "Shall we?"
Tossing her head haughtily, her curled hair bouncing lightly, she ignored him. Blaise twirled the ring until the gems turned into amethysts. Unfortunately, she hadn't been paying enough attention to what she was doing and nearly fell head over heels down the steps. Grabbing Draco's arm at the last minute was all that saved her from that fate.
"That was graceful," he commented dryly.
"Malfoy..."
"Yes?"
"Shove it," she ordered sweetly before putting on a calm facade and mingling with her parents' guests.