It was a wonderful day at Hogwarts, perhaps the best day that had come along in weeks. The sun was shining, and even the darkened air inside the castle hummed with anticipation. A celebration was at hand, the greatest celebration any student could ever look forward to.

Today was Blaise Zabini's birthday.

One of Blaise's many admirers had gone off in order to distract him while the rest of the students busied themselves in the Great Hall as they decorated for the surprise party--despite the fact that any moron knows that if he is being taken somewhere random on his birthday, someone out there is planning a surprise party for him.

"Blaise is just going to love these streamers!" Ginny Weasley exclaimed as she levitated sparkling candy ribbons onto the upper walls. "They have all the house colors! There is, of course, Blaise's native Slytherin colors, but there are the other house colors as well!"

"Tribute to the love that every student, no matter what the house, adores Blaise!" Cho Chang replied happily as she added last minute icing and plastic dinosaurs to the enormous cake.

"Yes!" chimed in Harry Potter. "We all love Blaise! Every single one of us!"

The Great Hall echoed with agreement. Yes, it was a fact that Blaise was the most popular student at Hogwarts.

"And why do we love Blaise?" Luna Lovegood felt it necessary to break into cheerleader mode, an effort to get everyone even more enthusiastic about their love for Mr. Zabini. She shot her fist into the air, happily awaiting the reply she'd get.

A thousand breaths filled the air, ready to declare the reasons of their infatuation.

But then all went silent.

Luna's hand fell.

"Why do we love Blaise so much?" Hermione Granger asked.

"I know why," said Ginny. "I'm sure I do. I just... nothing's really coming to mind."

Harry nodded, looking rather bewildered.

"He has nice hair," Pansy Parkinson suggested. "I love the... color of it. I don't quite remember the color, but..."

"Does anyone know what color Blaise's hair is?" Cho asked.

Nervous chatter now filled the room.

"What about his leadership skills?" Ron Weasley suggested. "He's an excellent leader! Remember the time he... wait... That was Harry."

No one could precisely remember the specifics of anything Blaise had done.

"Well, let's get back to the party," Hermione said, rather regretting pressing the question. "What are we going to do when he comes in?"

Ron raised his hand. "How will we know it's him? I... I'm afraid I can't recall what he even looks like."

"Well? When was the last time anyone spoke to him?"

Everyone just sort of looked at each other.

Hermione sighed. "Has anyone ever actually spoken to Blaise?"

A cricket chirped somewhere.

She threw up her hands with another defeated sigh.

"So why are we having this party?" Dean Thomas asked.

After another long moment of silence, it was decided that no one knew. So they all took a share of the cake and went off to do their homework.

Somewhere, almost lost in the grounds of Hogwarts, a lone figure of a indistinct personality or appearance wandered, pondering life and his place in it.

"Who am I?" Blaise Zabini asked the shadows.

The End!