(exert from the diary of Nathaniel Zabini)
January 29, 1982
I think it's going to happen soon... whatever that's
going to happen. I don't know what the future holds for my
family. I just know that I have to protect them no matter the
cost.
(flashback)
Voldemort had warned then that there was a spy among them. They had yet to find out who, but Nathaniel suspected that it's Malfoy. He refused to believe that that man is sane.
Nathaniel was invited to stay a week in Malfoy manor; though he was not was sure what Malfoy's purpose was. Most likely trying to suck up to him, as he had been doing heavily for awhile now. Lucius was most definitely up to something. He had told Nathaniel that they had to stick together, as they were both from prominent pureblood families. But, unfortunately for him, Nathaniel was having a hard time believing any words that came out of his mouth, as they were all most likely poisoned.
And it was that night Nathaniel saw something he had never wanted to see again.
He was restless; couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, as he rose from bed in one of the many guestrooms of the mansion. Nathaniel decided that it couldn't hurt to take a small walk around the floor; at least until he was able to bring himself to sleep.
But then he heard a small cry coming from one of the rooms. Nathaniel followed his curiosity, despite my usual good senses. But, perhaps it was for the better.
He crept closer to where the sound was coming from. It was the room of Lucius' son, Draco. The door was pushed slightly open and as he peeked around the corner he saw the man holding a knife to his-two year old son. He was currently carving along his side, crossing another gash that was already there. There were deep cuts all over the child's nude body. To the point that his entire body held a red sheen, due to being covered in the blood.
But it was the son who drew his attention. Draco's eyes were oddly intelligent, almost too smart for a toddler's. He knew that his father had meant to cause him pain. Lucius just grinned softly at him as the babe cried.
Lucius turned as Nathaniel gave a gasp of surprise. He didn't even pretend to look surprised that he was there. Then Nathaniel saw that he had been filling a vial with the blood that was still flowing, starting to stain the blanket below him.
"I knew that you would find your way here, Nathan." He grinned, was just as evil as when he had sliced his son.
"What are you doing, Malfoy!" Even if he wasn't his son Nathaniel felt my anger grow at the thought that he could hurt a child. There was no saying if this was the first time this had been done.
"I would like for you to join me, Nathan." he turned and put the cap on the full vial. "There is power in blood, you know. It is the reason for keeping it pure. I'm willing to share this power with you, if you join me." Lucius held it up in the air, admiring the red blood with more tenderness than he had ever shown his son. "His especially has power. Unlike his mother, who is practically a squib. I suspect that a squib's missing power is passed on to their offspring; my reason being for marrying Narcissa is that she came from a very powerful family. There was much power she had stored just to be passed on to a vessel, from which power is meant to be taken. Our son. Making this a very sweet treat indeed."
Nathaniel did my best to stay calm; it would do him no good to completely loose his temper now. "Why should I trust the man that would hack his own son to pieces?"
"Hack him to pieces? What do you mean? There is nothing wrong with my son, Nathan." he hated how Malfoy would speak his name with such familiarity. As he leered he waved his wand over his son and the cuts healed, but it still left the boy exceedingly pale. Then the blanket was clean along with the rest of him. Nathaniel almost bit my tongue in disgust. How much blood had once covered the baby blanket, meant to make him feel safe? What was almost as bad was that the blanket had been a present from my wife to Narcissa on the eve on Draco's birth.
As the blood disappeared the knowing look on the boy face left him, along with the tears. Nathaniel knew that he would most likely not remember these excursions of his fathers.
"I won't join you on your power trip, Malfoy. You disgust me." he said this all with a calm facade, fearing that he would attack the man if he didn't. Though Nathaniel desperately wanted to. "I will be telling Voldemort of you Malfoy. You can't stop me." he turned quickly to leave as quickly as I could, but then Lucius' words reached me.
"Fine. But then I will make your son dead. And your wife will quickly follow." Lucius finally looked furious. He must have seriously believed that I would help him on his trip for power. "Neither do you have evidence."
"I could have Voldemort look into my mind."
"But that doesn't keep me from getting your family while you're away. Besides I could always go to the ministry about you and yours, though that would cause me to fall out of grace with Voldemort."
"I don't think you were ever in Voldemort's good graces, Malfoy."
Nathaniel watched for a second more with revulsion as Malfoy petted his sons had, seemingly loving; though it was actually what was under the skin that Malfoy loved him for. He swept out of the manor as quickly as he could to rejoin his own family.
(end flashback)
Blaise growled before flinging the book across the room. Though it had happened long ago, the feelings were still fresh. It still hurt him greatly, what had happened to his parents. As much as he didn't want to believe a word that Voldemort said, he had begun to believe him. Blaise was actually starting to trust him. But he had actually seen what his father had experienced as he wrote the words on the page. There was no way Voldemort could have replicated that.
He would have destroyed Lucius then and there had he known what was in his past when Blaise had last seen him. They could have tested on Weasly for all he cared.
As he hung his head close to his chest he heard the door open and the talking from the people that came through it.
"Blaise. It's time." Hermione spoke softly. Harry and Draco peaked through the door around her, trying to spot the dark haired boy in the darkened room.
They almost recoiled as their eyes fell on the blank face, staring at the bed under him but not really looking. Hermione gasped and ran to him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He looked so completely lost, hopeless.
"Harry, Draco? Could you give us a-" She was sharply cut off when Draco close the door, locking it behind them.
"No! Hermione we have ignored what was going on with Blaise for a while now and I think that Harry agrees when I say enough is enough!" he then sat on the edge of the and waited for him to talk.
Harry glanced in the corner and spotted a book strewn on the floor across the room from Blaise. He crept over to it and bent over to pick it up. He stopped when he saw on the outside cover the words: Property of Nathan Zabini. He glanced up at the boy on the bed before picking it up and carrying it over to join the others with him.
"Do you mind?" he asked as he laid at Draco's feet, with the book his hand.
"I trust you, Harry. But you won't get much from it." Blaise said quietly as he place his hand on Harry's arm, as he was right in front of him.
He still didn't completely understand what was between the four of them. All of them were people who would normally shy away from others, for one way or another. Yet it always felt right to be around each other, more than anyone else they had once had in their lives.
Hermione, his love, had always found solace in her books. She preferred them to people, ordinarily. She had found the friendship that she hadn't even realized she needed from Harry; Ron had just been along for the ride. And you would think that Harry would be starved for attention, and in a way he was. Harry had desperately needed to be loved, and had eventually found that in Draco. His fear for others had made him not want to get close most people, but had been unable to resist friendship with Hermione. With Ron it had been pure desperation and loneliness, though he had made a decent friend for the time being.
Draco's reason wasn't as obvious and Blaise had finally been able to figure some of it out during the 'vision'. Maybe Draco had been affected by the fact that his father had hurt him and could allow for it to happen again. Either that or he just enjoyed being a bastard, which is very possible.
Blaise, on the other had almost the opposite problem, as far as most people noticed. But, really, it was the same thing. He would admit that he had been a slut for a while, craving the attention that he couldn't get from his parents. He had been seen as the boy who was too dangerous to not be attracted to, with his parents in Azkaban and him carrying a mysterious and brooding atmosphere with him when he thought he was alone. But when it came to dealing directly with others he had been shameless, and it had never bothered him until he met Hermione. But it didn't matter now.
But they had become like a family for him very quickly and couldn't imagine being apart. In a way, he found that he needed them.
So yes, even though he had questioned Harry's trusting Voldemort at first, he found that he could trust him unconditionally.
"Blaise?" Harry's voice cut into his thoughts.
"What?"
"I was asking about the journal. You said something about it."
"Oh, um. You can read it, but I don't think you'll be able to see what I saw. I saw my father's memories when I read it." he saw the curious looks on their faces and decided to give a straight answer, for once. "It was about Lucius Malfoy." he watched to see if Draco would have any reaction, but he simply continued to listen closely. "I think that it's Lucius' fault that my parents are in Azkaban. He invited my father to Malfoy manner; you were still a baby at the time Draco. My father could not sleep there so he decided to look around and found Lucius your room. He was cutting you into ribbons, Draco. He was insane even then. Your fath-"
"Please don't, Blaise. I do not claim that man as my father." Draco's fingers had found their way into Harry's hair, running his fingers through to let the feel calm him. Harry noticed when a something wet fell on his ear. He looked up and saw that Draco was crying. Draco's fingers were stopped when Harry pulled his hand, kissing it lightly before holding across his neck, keeping it intertwined with his own.
Blaise nodded. "He told my father about how he had been ridding you of your blood, for its power. Said something about you having an abundance since your mother was almost a squib. Lucius had tried to get my father on his side by offering to share it with him. My father threatened to go to Voldemort-"
He glanced at Harry, who was staring right back with eyes lidded.
"-Tom. But Lucius said he would kill me and my mother in my father's absence if he did. That was the end of it."
Still, as he watched Draco he, nothing changed about him.
"This doesn't change anything, Blaise." Draco suddenly spoke. "I don't think that I could hate that bastard even more than I already do, even if he had gone as far to try and kill me. What you said doesn't surprise me in the least. What hurt's me is what he did to my mother!"
"You do have a heart, Draco!" Harry quietly teased. At his lover's tranquil tone, he glanced down and saw that Harry would be asleep any second. Sniggering, Draco just rolled his eyes, not bothering to say anything.
Even Blaise smiled.
"He does have a way of breaking the tension." Hermione said, also grinning at Harry.
"Yes." Blaise pulled Hermione into a hug and they all sat/laid there for a few more minutes.
"Blaise, we came to tell you that me and Harry will be leaving first thing in the morning." Hermione sighed, quite contented.
"So this might be the last time we see each other for a while."
"Yeah..."
"Quit mopping, Blaise. Harry promised that they would be back." Draco stated. Of course, by now, Harry was fast asleep, still holding Draco's hand, which had gotten a cramp. He tried to pull it away, without waking Harry, but the boy just gripped it harder before rolling over, with Harry on top. This was rather hard on Draco, as he was now stretched over Harry, trying to not topple over on him.
"Mine..." Harry mumbled in his sleep.
"Yes yours. Though I would like to borrow it for a minute, at least." but Harry was too sleep to notice his lovers begging. No not begging, Draco thought, Malfoy's, or at least me, never beg.
Hermione giggled at Harry's antics.
"No... Mine."
Draco huffed before glaring at Hermione and Blaise. "You could help you know!"
"But he's your boyfriend, Draco!" Blaise was making a hissing noise, trying to not burst out laughing.
"Fine. I tried to do this the easy way, but no! I'll just have to wake him up my way." Draco smile evilly before shifting to put him leg on the other side of Harry, straddling him. Hermione stared at him, wondering what exactly he was planning to do when she saw his hand disappearing down the back of Harry's pants.
"Draco!" she was wide-eyed in shock that Draco was doing this right there in front of them.
Her and Blaise almost fell into the floor, when Harry all of a sudden yelped and scrambled out from under Draco as quickly as possible. He ended up falling promptly in the floor, but was quickly back up.
"You pinched me!" Harry shrieked. He was busily rubbing at the cheek with his other hand trying to ease the pain.
This time Blaise and Hermione did fall off the bed, howling in laughter, at Harry's reddened face.
"You didn't leave me much choice, Harry." Draco grinned at the boy, who was still trying to figure out what exactly had happened. "Besides, I just had to pinch that cute little cheek of yours!" He said, teasingly.
Draco then took off, flying out the room, as soon as he had seen Harry start to advance on him. Both were gone from the room, within a blink of an eye.
Hermione and Blaise continued to laugh as they watched them leave.
"He certainly seems be awake now! Someone's getting some tonight..." Hermione giggled.
"I still haven't figured out who's on top!" he countered.
"Don't think we ever will." She smiled at Blaise as they slowly stopped to giggle. "Blaise."
"Yes." he smiled right back.
"I want you to know that I love you. I wanted to tell you before we leave."
He leaned to kiss her softly. "I love you to."
"Great. Now can we get up? The stone isn't exactly the most comfortable thing to be lying on, you know."
He simply smiled before kissing her again.
Harry and Hermione laid side by side on the mattress in the back of the knight bus as they waited to get to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
They had waked up, saying a last goodbye to their respective loves, before setting out early. Harry had wanted to tell Tom farewell as well, but he had been fast asleep in the infirmary and Harry hadn't wanted to disturb him, instead leaving a note. Afterwards they placed a glamour on Harry to keep from being recognised.
"Oh shit." Harry suddenly sat up, panicked.
"What?" Hermione mumbled.
"Today is Christmas! I forgot to give Draco a present!" Harry whined. "He's going to kill me once he realizes."
"Did he give you something?"
Harry nodded and lifted his sleeve to reveal a silver watch with a black face. In the place of numbers were emeralds. It was also large enough to cover the Dark Mark.
"Looks expensive." Hermione smiled, thinking of Blaise's gift. "I gave Blaise my present last night."
"What was it?" he asked in curiosity.
Hermione suddenly blushed, not saying anything. Harry could figure it out.
It took Harry a second before he realized. "You didn't!"
"Yes. We did." Though she and Blaise had gone pretty far before, this was the first time they had gone all the way with each other.
"Um... congratulations?" Harry said uncertainly. Hermione's having sex was not something he really wanted to think about.
"Thanks. It was great. He was s-"
"Hermione!" Harry looked at her, panicked. "It's ok! I don't need details." He smiled at her. "Really, that's great."
"Thank you, Harry."
"Sure." He was actually somewhat overwhelmed. Sure, he and Draco had first had sex a long time ago, but this was kind of like hearing that his sister had lost her virginity. "You're certain?"
"Yes, Harry I was there." she rolled her eyes. "I would have killed him had it been anyone else."
Harry just nodded.
Hermione sighed, before she noticed something.
"Harry. Look, your pocket."
Harry glanced down and saw a piece of paper poking out. He then unfolded it to read it. "It's from Draco."
Hermione then read it over Harry's shoulder.
Harry-
I know that you forgot about my present.
I'll forgive you all long as you get me something
worth my wait by the time you get back!
Love,
Draco
"Well, I'm screwed." Harry sighed in dismay.
"Don't worry, Harry. I'll help you find him something." She hoped that Harry would really stop moping. It wasn't that bad! Draco would forgive him.
"What did Blaise give you?" Harry asked, and was once again greeted to a blush.
"He asked me to marry him after all this is over."
What was about to say was lost when the drivers disconnected voice came on over the speakers. /you would really think that wizards would be able to fix something like a broken speaker/ Harry glared at the offending object.
"Next stop: Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry! Arrival in five minutes." the bus driver called back, amplifying his voice.
"Well, it's time to start the act."
Hermione silently nodded.
They got into Hogwarts easily enough, carrying their luggage behind them. But that was where it ended. Then Harry dropped the glamour. It wasn't long before the wards had alerted their return.
"I thought I expelled you, boy."
They turned to see Dumbledore storming down the hall towards them.
Harry jumped, then did his best to cower. "Sir, we have come to ask for your forgiveness and for sanctuary."
"Yes, we found we were misled." Hermione attempted to look humbled and scared, though the latter was not necessarily part of the act. /What if he doesn't believe us.../
The headmaster stared them down for a moment, trying to read them, especially Harry. But he couldn't hear a single thought in his head. "Follow me to my office." Dumbledore turned, waiting until followed.
/on the other hand, maybe he really is as much of an idiot as we thought/ Quietly, Hermione and Harry followed the headmaster.
Once there and seated, the man begun again.
"Now, with detail, why are you here." /he crawled back the way I thought he would/ he cackled silently.
Harry tried his best to look forlorn and sorry, as Hermione had. "We were mislead by the Slytherins. They tricked us into trusting them, then kidnapped us to take us to Voldemort as soon as we were out of your sight."
"You are a known murderer, Harry. I cannot simply overlook that. And neither will the rest of the school."
"I was forced!" Harry tried to bring tears to his eye as he went. "They, and Voldemort held Hermione and said if I didn't work for them they would kill her!" at this Hermione seemed to crumble into herself. /good girl/ Harry thought. "Then they used my dark-mark as a way to continue to black-mail me."
Dumbledore watched in fascination. /finally, someone has managed to control the boy! I'm tempted to do the same.../ but the old man hid all this as he watched them with seemingly pity. "Go on." he urged.
"I had no idea what to do anymore... but still it continued! We finally managed to escape while they concentrated on another escape."
"And what of Miss Granger's problem." /I should really thank Tom. He sent him running right back to me…/
"Then Snape cured me. While they weren't watching. He told them that he was using me for an experiment."
"Was Severus still there, when you last saw him?" he questioned.
She did her best to look confused. "Yes..."
He noticed the look in her eyes and figured it couldn't hurt to give a bit. "I have been looking for him, as we are in desperate need of our potions master. He has been gone more often than not, lately. I am beginning to worry. About his health, of course." he hastily added, to cover himself.
"Of course." Harry agreed.
"He had a run in with a traitor. He was comatose the last we heard."
"Lucius turned against them, sir!" Harry simpered.
"Maybe-"
"No, you can't trust him! He tried to kill me and Hermione right before he escaped! He's insane!" Harry pleaded.
"Stop, Harry!" Dumbledore admonished. "I will have no more of that, if you are to come back." /Lucius, what are you doing!/ "He is my trusted personal friend."
"Sorry, sir." Harry bowed his head in regret.
"We can still come back?" Hermione held what was hopefully a hopeful look on her face.
"Yes, miss Granger. I trust that you would not lie to me." /The vacuous girl doesn't seem to know top from bottom! Just look at her, she's a mess... What a waste of a brain on such a female/
"Thank you."
"In the mean time, you will probably like to have time to catch up on your studies." he winked at Hermione, who tried to keep her skin from crawling.
They got up to leave, but Dumbledore seemed to notice they were hesitating. "Yes, is there something else you would like?"
Harry seemed to hesitate again before speaking. "It's just that once the others get back from break... I don't know what will happen. They do still think me a killer and Hermione a traitor. Would it be possible for the both of us to stay in the Room of Requirement? Please, sir. We would do anything!"
The old man looked uncertain. What if they weren't telling the truth? They could do any number of things in that room and he would not know. On the other hand, what Harry said had validation. "Fine. I will contact you later on further details of our arrangement."
"Oh, thank you!" Hermione smiled, before she took Harry's hand and they raced to the room.
/but I will most certainly have to keep a close eye on you two... don't think I will trust you again so quickly. And if you ever do betray me again, boy, you wont find your much needed 'evidence'. And know I have it hidden right under your nose./
Chapter 15
Chapter 17
