Chapter 25- Friends

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Luna left the Great Hall after dinner feeling perturbed. She had been trying to see Blaise for days, but the girl was avoiding her and everyone else.

In Muggle Studies, Blaise came in just as class began, looked down taking notes the entire time, and rushed out before anyone could say a word. Luna had even approached Malfoy and tried to ask him about their mutual friend. The conversation had not been a success. The Slytherin had glanced away when he said Zabini was okay, she just needed some space, and didn't want to talk to anyone.

Today, when Luna had tried for the third time in as many days to ask about Blaise, Malfoy told her icily to keep her nose out of other people's business. As she was walking away, feeling very upset, he called after her with the information that Blaise was in the library all evening...every evening.

"Luna, wait!"

She turned to watch Wesley hurry to catch up. She had been doing that a lot lately. Between certain classes, and on the way to and from the Great Hall for meals, Luna had begun to expect that Wesley would call her name and brighten her day with his smile and lively banter. She even found herself watching him study or talk to friends in the common room in the evenings.

Last night, when he had caught her looking and smiled, Luna's heart had pounded so hard, she'd fled to her room. Her pulse felt erratic right now, but she refused to run away. Instead, she waited serenely while inwardly wondering when she had stopped feeling guilty about noticing Wesley Roberts' appealing dimples.

He reached her side. "I don't suppose you're going to be seeing Blaise any time soon."

"She's in the library right now. I'm on my way to see her. Why?"

Wesley's expression was boyishly earnest. How had Fiona Flint been able to resist forgiving him for defending his friend? Blaise's roommate had passed them several times in the corridors since the scene in the compartment, and each time she'd either glared or pointedly ignored the boy. Blaise did have loyal friends. Wesley was lowering his chin and looking up in bashful appeal. Luna didn't buy it, but it was extremely cute.

He smiled in a way that could convince Merpeople to buy gillyweed. "Well, it's been five days since our little train wreck, and Terry's gone beyond worried to worrying me. Zabini hasn't eaten one meal in the Hall and they haven't had any doubled classes, so he hasn't seen her. Now he's picking at his food and staring at her picture for hours on end. I volunteered to see Blaise, tell him how she's doing, ease the misery. May I come with you?"

Nice to know Terry was suffering too. Luna nodded her acceptance of his company. As Wesley reached for the handle to enter the library, Ron Weasley pushed it open. Harry Potter was right behind. He looked at the two of them and frowned. "You two looking for Zabini?"

Wesley draped a friendly arm around Luna's shoulders. "Yes we are. Happen to know which section she's in?"

Ron said, "Yeah, she's back by the Restricted Section. The girl helping Pince in the afternoons told me she's been staying there for hours and hours every day, so I...uh...we...went over to see her."

Harry shrugged. "We said hello. She seemed okay."

"Okay? Do you need new glasses? She's not okay." Ron told Luna, "You talk to her. You're a girl. Girls are good at that stuff."

"Thank you, Ronald. I will."

Harry was scowling. Didn't like being ignored, did he? A little too used to her tripping over herself to getting his attention, was he?

Luna knew she was wrong to feel so hurt that Harry didn't seem to return her feelings. He had never asked her to dream about him. She'd done that all by herself. She hoped he missed her attention...missed her. Maybe then, he would want to spend some time with her. Go to the trouble of saying, 'Hello, Luna' one day.

That time was not now. Harry's eyes were as hard as the emeralds they resembled. Unwilling to look at him anymore, she brushed past the Gryffindors and went inside.

Luna could feel her companion's stare as Roberts tried to read her face. "Are you and Potter...? He paused and then said, "I know I haven't made my feelings a secret, but I don't want to make a move on someone else's girl. I'm no Slytherin."

Nervously, Luna tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear.

Before she could answer, Wesley fingered one of her earrings. "I adore radishes."

His fingers that close to her face made her stomach drop. "Do you?"

"As long as they're earrings and I don't have to eat them, I'm insane about them...especially when they're dangling from ears as pretty as yours."

"Oh." Luna shook her head. "No, there's no me and Harry."

"Did you want there to be?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Well, then...since he's too stupid too know what he's missing, would you like to go with me?"

Her face felt hot. "I would like to be friends with you."

Slipping his arm around her, Wesley winked. "Close friends?" At her nod, he grew bolder. "Kissing friends?"

They had reached the last bookcase before an open area filled with tables and chairs scattered in front of the roped off restricted section. Luna allowed her 'Robin Goodfellow' to pull her between bookshelves. His lips were as firm, and gentle and the kiss every bit as sweet as she remembered.

She smiled. "Definitely."

Wesley grinned and pulled her by the hand over to where Blaise was working industriously on a long scroll on something, probably History of Magic. The slender girl finished and double-checked the parchment before rolling it up. Noticing the pair before her, Zabini's full lips curved slightly. "Oh, hello, Luna, Wesley. I've just finished my last assignment."

Watching the other girl stuff several scrolls into a school bag, Luna asked, "Homework due tomorrow?"

Something almost amused flickered in the girl's eyes. Waving an airy hand toward the stack of books on the table, Blaise said, "Oh no...I did that essay ages ago...maybe even first week. No, that was my last regular assignment for the year." She frowned. "If I knew what the professors were planning to assign over Easter Holiday I could do those too, but they won't tell me. Said something about tradition and perverse enjoyment…."

"Bet that was Snape," said Wesley.

Luna giggled, but Blaise acted as though she didn't hear. "Don't know what I'll do with myself now...maybe get some extra credit." Her lips twitched in detached amusement, "I might give Granger a run for the Swottiest Swot award. I scored two points higher on yesterday's History of Magic test. I think she almost cried."

Wesley was raising an incredulous brow. It was very dashing. He said carefully, "Are you telling us that you've completed all your assignments for the rest of the school year? When have you found the time?"

That tiny smile thingy Blaise kept doing was starting to creep Luna out. What was wrong with her?

The other girl's answer gave her a clue. "There are plenty of hours in the day if you don't sleep much, or eat in the Hall. I've slept maybe oh, an hour or two, if that, the last four days, and it's really helped me tear through my schoolwork."

Luna bet. All you had to do was trade your personality for that of a glassy-eyed zombie. She tried to ask casually, "Why did you start doing this?"

The mannequin currently posing as Blaise Zabini replied, "Sunday, when I came back from the infirmary, everyone was very supportive, but I had to find some way to bottle up my feelings. I had to get a hold of myself, so I took off my necklace, my ring, put them away, and figured that since I didn't want to sleep and dream about...you know...I'd stay up in the common room and work on some assignments. It's really helped. I don't think I've cried for days now, and just look how productive I've been."

Wesley's frown told Luna that he didn't like what he saw any more than she did. Gently, he kidded, "The purple shadows look wonderful with your Gypsy eyes, Zabini, and your cheekbones are incredible. Really, tragic heroine looks good on you, but have you actually eaten anything since Saturday?"

A look of faint surprise lifted dark brows. Looking underneath a tome, the girl lifted a scarlet coloured remembrall. "So that's what I forgot to do. Draco's been making me drink a potion since I don't like to stop working to eat...and I don't want to go to the Hall anymore."

Wesley slanted a look at Luna before softly asking, "Why not?"

Blaise got up and slung her school bag over her shoulder. She made an effort to smile and it just looked more pitiful. "You know why not, Wesley. Go back and tell...your friend...I'm fine, or I'm mental, whatever you like. I don't want to see him, or talk about him, or think about him...and since I promised to help Crabbe and Goyle with Herbology, I'd better get going. See you later."

The pair watched their friend drift out of the library like some sort of wraith. Luna turned to Wesley. "When do Slytherin and Ravenclaw Houses have potions together again?"

"Tomorrow."

"Good."

Standing to leave, Luna girl stiffened as Wesley encircled her with his arms. His hands smoothed down the length of her hair, and then began rubbing her back. It felt good. Tentatively, she returned the embrace. Luna wasn't confident enough to stroke his back, but she did slip her arms around him. He warmed her inside and out. She could get used to having a...friend...like Wesley.

Little by little, she relaxed against him, resting her head against his shoulder. When she felt his lips brush her hair, Luna closed her eyes and sighed.

-

-

"Psst...Red...Ginny...over here."

Long, pale fingers beckoned from behind the statue of Bertha the Behemoth. Ginny walked to where Draco was lounging against an ample backside. "My lips haven't recovered from our after lunch snog in the empty classroom on the fifth floor, so if you're desperate for affection..."

"Funny. I'll remind you of that the next time you drag me off to a broom cupboard like yesterday...which, by the way, I'm too bloody tall to be snogging in, you sadistic wench."

"Aw, does ickle Malfoy's back hurt?"

"Yes it does, as a matter of fact."

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

Gorgeous Slytherin love god lips pouted in a way that sorely tempted Ginny to make her own even puffier. She had to cover her mouth to stifle laughter when he said slyly, "Yes...but there's something else that would be even more effective."

His silver eyes were gleaming, so she knew this was going to be naughty. She shouldn't even ask. "What?"

"You could give me a massage. I just happened to pick up some oil over the holidays."

"Oh, really."

"Mmmm."

She smiled. The idea made her go Mmmm, too. She mock-frowned. "I suppose if I don't your mate Zabini will be only too happy to do her best friend a favour?"

Ginny expected playful banter, not a look of frustration. Draco shook his white-blond head as his face twisted unhappily. "Zabini's not doing too good. I didn't want to tell you, but she's gone mental over Boot wanting time apart."

Her thank-the-gods-it's-Friday cheer drained away. She should have known when Blaise avoided the Hall and sat so quietly in Muggle Studies that something was wrong. She just hadn't wanted to know. She had been too pre-occupied with her own romance. Damn. Guilt sucked. Malfoy's understanding nod told her he felt the same way.

Ginny didn't want to ask, but she did anyway. "Tell me."

Draco began to pace like the jungle cat she'd seen imprisoned at a horrible Muggle place her father had once taken her--the zoo. He said as he walked restlessly back and forth, "She doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, and spends all her time doing school-work. Last night she finished hers for the year and started on mine!" He made a face. "I didn't look forward to writing a three scroll parchment on how Wizard/Goblin relations have changed over the ages, but I didn't ask her to do it for me...in a perfect imitation of my handwriting." He raked a hand through his hair. "I'm going to feel horrible when I turn that in. I don't even want to think about the guilt I'll feel over the essays for Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts..."

Wow. That sounded bad, and she didn't mean letting his friend do his homework. One thing bothered her. "How is Blaise able to be super-swot girl if she doesn't eat or sleep? Doesn't your brain shut down or something if you do that?"

A frown line Ginny longed to smooth away appeared on Draco's aristocratic brow. He grimaced. "I make her drink meal replacement potions, but I'm afraid she's taking something else. She sent an owl to Eddy Sunday morning, and that night a package came." He said bitterly, "Our mothers take all kinds of potions to keep them going. The gods only know what Blaise is on."

"She won't say?"

"No. Just smiles at me like some bloody automaton and goes off to write another paper."

"You should tell Snape. He's your Head of House."

Draco smiled at her as if she was the most brilliant girl in the world. It was flattering, but it wasn't that amazing an idea. He should have thought of it. Ginny smiled. Maybe Slytherins didn't think like Gryffindors. More proof that he needed her desperately.

Happy to have something he could do to help his friend, Draco pulled her into a hug before unexpectedly bending her back over his arm. He stared into her eyes in the way that made her heart race. "No wonder I love you, Red. Whatever can I do to repay you?"

Her face was turning pink, and it wasn't due to the blood rushing to her head, "I love you too…and I'll think of something."

After giving her a kiss, Draco returned her to an upright position. He murmured wickedly, "I hope it involves massage oil."

Ginny looked up into Bertha's eternally grinning face after he left and said, "What are you smiling at...the thought of Hagrid and a barrel of oil? That's disgusting, and I won't stand here another moment with a sex-crazed statue." Tossing her fiery tresses, she flounced away--grinning.

"Were you just talking to a statue?"

Trust Ronald to show up where she least wanted him to. Luckily, Ginny could run verbal rings around the boy until he fell down dizzily--figuratively speaking. "No."

"But I heard..."

"What?"

"Something about being sex-crazed."

"Really? Sure it wasn't a projection of your own thoughts, brother?"

"Huh?"

Was it nice to twist your brother's mind up in order to watch him spin madly as it unwound? Perhaps not, but it was fun. As they walked up the stairs toward their next classes, Ginny explained, "Maybe you're having 'sex-crazed' thoughts, Ron, so you think I'm the one saying it so you won't have to deal with it."

The scrunched up freckled face tried to follow her logic. "You mean I'm really the one thinking about sex?"

"You did bring it up. Anything you want to share with your younger, but wiser, sister?"

"No...well, yeah. I was wondering...can you like someone without liking them?"

Well, well, brother dear was deeper than she had thought. How interesting. Ginny smiled. "Are you asking me if it's possible to be attracted to someone, without wanting to be their girlfriend or boyfriend? Sure you can. Why?"

"No reason."

This conversation was just what she needed. It was so amusing. She decided to pull Ron's leg and see what he would do. His sputtering was always good for a laugh. Ginny said, "Come off it, Ron. You wonder about Quidditch, not boy/girl stuff. Confess...you kissed Blaise up in your room over holiday and now you're wondering how you could like it and still want Hermione to be your girlfriend."

Ron didn't answer. He looked away. His face was red.

Merlin's underwear, he had kissed Blaise! Fred and George both acted so funny after fetching the pair, making those comments...Yuck! Ginny did not want to imagine her brother using his tongue in a 'pleasurable manner.' Eeuwww! Quickly, she advised, "Don't tell me, and whatever you do, don't tell Hermione." Her brother looked horrified at the thought. Good...or was it? An awful suspicion struck, "You don't want to do...what didn't happen and we're not talking about...again...do you?"

Red hair shook wildly. "No! Never! No way! I don't want to ruin my chance with Hermione. It's only, Zabini looks so sad."

Oh, brother--he had Dad's soft heart. "Don't worry about Blaise. Snape is going to help and she'll be fine. You just worry about your own love-life, and keep those lips to yourself and Hermione!" Ron nodded, relieved. She waved goodbye and looked forward to Arithmancy, where everything added up the way it was supposed to.

-

-

"Hey, Night Owl."

Glancing up from the 'Importance of Ethics in Potions Making' essay she had just finished for Draco, Blaise met her roommate's coolly amused gaze. "Hello, Cassandra."

"Done?"

"Yes."

The girl dressed in a long black cape, with heavy black eyeliner and lipstick looked back at the four Slytherins who waited behind her. "This girl needs to see the sunrise."

The group of three boys and a girl nodded their agreement. They all were as equally pale and fond of the colour black. One of the boys carried a guitar. A faint stirring of interest caused Blaise to rise and take the cloak Priam had brought for her.

Cassandra held out her hand to the group. Each one gave her a galleon. Lips curved smugly, the girl's dark eyes gleamed as she pocketed the money. "I told you she would greet the day with us, but no, you foolish mortals never heed my visions. I pity you."

Trailing behind the group with her roommate, Blaise was content not to think, just walk. The Slytherins sauntered out the front entrance and lounged on the steps. She sat beside Cassandra, who offered her a pair of dark glasses. Placing them over her eyes, and leaning back on her elbows like the other girl, Blaise asked, "Why are we doing this?"

The group snickered. The girl with long, straight, reddish-black hair--Scarlett --explained, "I saw it in a film once. A group of vampires sat and greeted the day with sunglasses on. It was cool. Our little group usually comes out every Monday to see the sunrise, because Mondays suck and we find it amusing, but Cass told us you needed us today."

Curving her lips to feign interest, Blaise saw the boy with blue-black spiky hair and a guitar staring at her in awe. "What are you on?"

Her refusal to answer didn't offend. Instead, the boy, who introduced himself as Lexx, started strumming his guitar and telling the others, "Night Owl here's a Ramones girl. Let's sing for her."

The music he played was familiar. Her mother had an orb of the group. Some remote impulse caused Blaise to sing along with Lexx, I Want to be Sedated.

Cassandra held out her hand. The group groaned and reluctantly coughed up sickles. She sneered at them, "Shut up. I could've bet you galleons. The sun's almost up, so keep singing, vamps."

Sitting on the steps of Hogwarts, wearing sunglasses and singing a song with bizarre Slytherins seemed logical to Blaise.

"May I join you?"

The group turned and stared at the tall boy who was standing at the top of the steps. He stood with his hands in the pockets of his trousers, with only a black fisherman's jumper to ward off the chill. Strangely, he didn't look cold. Blaise had a vague impression of pearly white skin and not quite long hair with a fringe falling into eyes of the same shade of deep black. Uninterested, she turned back around, although Cassandra and Scarlett continued to gape as if bewitched.

Finally, her roommate said in a breathy voice, "Have a seat."

The boy sat between Cassandra and Blaise.

Scarlett asked eagerly, "What's your name?"

Still looking at Blaise, he answered, "Kieran."

The lilting, almost musical inflection in the boy's voice made the other girls sigh, and the boys frown. Lexx said almost belligerently, "I've never seen you before. Are you a new student or what?"

"I am a...visitor...I suppose." Looking directly into Blaise's eyes, he asked softly, "Why are you so empty inside? I am unable to sense your feelings, what you need to make you happy. That makes me sad."

She didn't want to make him sad, but she'd worked too hard not to feel emotion, and she wasn't about to give in to the invitation to share the pain she'd buried so deep. The boy could go sell empathy somewhere else. Rising to her feet, Blaise curved her lips and said goodbye to the group.

Kieran trailed after her, catching up to her in the entry. He put a hand on her arm to get her attention. Apathetically, she waited for him to say whatever he was going to and leave her alone.

"What is your name, what year are you in...and what...is it House?"

"Blaise Zabini, sixth year, Slytherin House. Why?" Avoiding the sad eyes, Blaise looked at his chin instead. It had a dimple.

The boy was talking again. He said, "I will ask my sister Lorelei to let me stay in your House. She tells me I am a sixth year, too. I will be in your classes, and perhaps tomorrow, you will be more...open...to making a new friend."

"Perhaps...bye..." Blaise was aware that the odd boy...Kieran...watched her until she turned a corner and moved out of sight but she didn't care enough to look back and wave. Pushing thoughts of the strange encounter away, Blaise lethargically drifted upstairs to take a shower.

That afternoon, inside the dungeon where she had arrived well before the rest of the class, Blaise heard a voice say impassively, "Class does not begin for ten minutes, Miss Zabini."

Professor Snape's words caused Blaise to look up from the table where she was setting out potion ingredients. He was standing in the doorway holding a flagon of something. She watched him walk toward her. "Yes. I hoped to finish and leave early."

"Are you unwell?"

Something in the way he stressed the last word caused a faint stir of alarm. Serenely, she shook her head. "I'm fine. Maybe a little tired." She arranged the jars in order of use and began to grind dragonfly wings with a pestle. She could feel dark eyes assessing her with clinical detachment. She didn't mind. She felt rather detached herself.

"Mr. Malfoy tells me that you have not been sleeping or eating."

Pausing before starting to mince kookaburra tongue, Blaise said mildly, "He exaggerates."

"Does he? I am curious, Miss Zabini. How are you able to excel without proper rest or nourishment?"

The faint stir of panic was becoming more pronounced. She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Don't you? Look at me."

Blaise put her knife down and turned to face her Head of House. His fathomless orbs gauged her pupils, her shadowed eyes, sharp cheekbones and overall weight loss. His lips turned down. "Have you been taking Bottled Sleep?"

Maybe she had, but she wasn't going to admit a thing, "Why do you say that?"

The professor's slight smile admired her Slytherin/Socratic method of answering with a question, but he wasn't going to let her off. "Bottled Sleep is a controlled substance administered only by Healers for good reason. It is not intended to be taken more than once a week. Daily utilisation can result in dangerous side-effects, and you show signs of several."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

The professor's voice was soft and deadly serious. She would be alarmed if she could feel anything. That was her favourite 'side effect'...numbness. He held out the flagon. She automatically took it, and then blinked. "What's this?"

"Antidote...it should take effect one hour after ingestion. You should have time to complete your potion before needing to return to Slytherin House. After one or two hours of healing sleep, you should return to normal."

"I don't want to return to normal."

"Perhaps not, but I must insist...or I will inform the Headmaster, who will be obliged to owl the Ministry...to investigate how a student came into possession of an illegal substance."

Eddy wouldn't like Azkaban. There was no happy hour.

Blaise drank the potion and handed it back to the professor. He inclined his head and left her to continue assembling her ingredients.

Other students came in. Fiona sat beside her. "Wow. You've done all the prep work. Thanks."

"No problem."

Blaise could feel someone gazing at her, but she refused to look. She added the ingredients to her cauldron meticulously.

One item made her partner laugh. "Virgin's tears? Is that what makes this a Draught of Sorrow, a girl crying over being a bloody virgin?"

After time passed and the potion came to the point where the tears were added and the solution turned from murky grey to a sparkling clear liquid, Blaise began to move more and more slowly. Carefully, she ladled her potion into a flagon and labelled it.

She was too tired to fight the urge to return the gaze of the boy staring at her from across the aisle. He looked thinner too, but his eyes were as blue and his hair as long and silky as she had tried so hard not to remember.

Fiona asked the exasperated man admonishing a boy for breaking his vial of tears, "Will breathing the fumes make you cry, Professor?"

Irritably, the teacher spat without looking, "Of course not. If you would bother to read the course material, you would know that the Draught of Sorrows is used to end melancholy, not cause it. Why?"

"Because Zabini's crying."

Blaise looked down at her wet fingertips. She was crying? When had that happened? When she'd looked at Terry's face and wondered if she'd ever touch it again?

She ignored her classmates gaping and picked up an empty vial. Blaise held it up to her cheek and let several tears roll into it. Slinging her school bag over her shoulder, the girl who wanted to leave and fall into bed--forget what was causing her chest to hurt so badly--picked up the vial and flagon.

Disregarding the boy whispering her name, she handed the potion to the professor and the vial to the classmate who had dropped his. It was the Ravenclaw who had sneered at her in the Hall as he'd given her Terry's note.

He sneered at her now. "Are you trying to say these are virgin's tears, Zabini? Yeah, right, look...I pour them in and... It turns clear?"

It took concentrated effort to put one foot in front of the other. The boy's disbelieving words were heard, but she didn't turn around, not even after she heard Snape say pointedly, "Go sit down, Mr. Boot. I did not give you permission to leave your table. Ten points from Ravenclaw. You may take your seat also, Mr. Malfoy."

Reaching her house, the drained girl slowly pulled herself up the stairs. Her bed had never looked so good. Blaise dropped her bag on the floor, and collapsed across it, falling into dreamless oblivion.

-

-

"Malfoy!"

Draco looked up and saw Blaise's roommates rushing down the girls' staircase. He had returned from the library, where time spent with Red worked better than a Draught of Sorrow for relieving melancholy. He needed to clean up before dinner.

It looked like proper grooming would have to wait, though. Flint's lips were pressed together as if holding back tears and MacDuff's face was distraught too. Snape had assured him that after a couple hours' healing sleep his friend would be fine. Why wasn't she up by now?

Fiona answered his question. "Blaise won't wake up! We've tried cold water, shaking the bed, even slapping her face. We don't know what else to do!"

He held up a hand to halt the flow of explanation. His eyes grew flinty with determination. "Go and open the double window, I'm going to get my broom and fly up."

The girls nodded eagerly and ran back upstairs.

Draco jogged to the broom shed. It was pathetically easy to counter Hagrid's wards and retrieve his broom. Impatiently, he sprang upwards and flew toward Slytherin Tower. The opened window was a tight fit, but he drew up his legs and leaned low as possible to make it through the opening.

Inside the room, he jumped off and handed his broom to Morrigan. Blaise was lying asleep on her bed. As he drew near, she rolled her head and frowned.

"She's been doing that for awhile now. If you try to talk to her she murmurs, 'No'," said Morrigan.

Draco sat by Blaise and said sharply, "Wake up."

The sleeping girl frowned and turned her head away.

His temper flared. "Damn it Blaise, I order you to wake the hell up right this bloody minute!"

The door opened and several girls looked in, shocked at hearing and then seeing a boy in the girls' section of the tower.

Draco snarled, "Get out...and if anybody says anything, I'll make them wish they had purple pustules!"

The girls gasped and quickly slammed the door shut once more. He looked down at Blaise again. Even in sleep she looked defiant as she murmured, "No," and turned away.

He'd had it with the kid glove treatment. Nobody said no to Draco Malfoy in Slytherin House. With a grunt, he slung Blaise over his shoulder like Terry-Boy used to--it wasn't as easy as it looked when the Ape-Man did it--and ignored the girls' shrieks of 'What are you doing?' and 'What are you thinking?' to carry Blaise into the shower.

Draco activated the water to spray a lukewarm blast and propped the girl against the wall.

Blaise was now gasping and trying to turn away from the water. He yelled, "Wake up! I'm tired of putting up with your shite Blaise, so open your eyes!"

Wet curly hair shook violently as she cried, "No! I don't want to! I don't want to open my eyes. I don't want to feel. I just want to sleep!"

"Too bad, Blaise, because I'm not leaving. I know it's my fault that picture got taken and I feel guilty as hell. I'm a selfish bastard, and I'm sorry. I'm so bloody damn sorry, but I can't stand this anymore. I want my best mate back!"

Brown eyes opened. Sorrowfully, Blaise whispered, "It hurts so bad!"

"I know."

Draco hugged his friend tightly. He said softly, "Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia."

He pulled back to see her face. She gazed at him sadly but didn't cry. If she did, he might do something embarrassing that he would never live down. Draco's spirits lifted immeasurably when after stroking his cheek, his mate's lips curved. "And therefore I forbid my tears."

They turned when Fiona ran into the lavatory. "One of the girls went to tell Snape! Crabbe just came into the common room shouting that the he's on his way. You'd better get out of here!"

Draco snapped the command to turn off the water. He looked at Blaise. "Will you be okay?"

She smiled her first real smile in days. "Yeah."

At the window, he hesitated.

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Go ahead. Say it, so you can fly out of here before Snape catches you."

Levering himself out the window and onto his broom, Draco ignored the cold to smirk. "I always knew I'd see you in the shower, Zabini."

The re-animated wench taunted before shutting the window, "I saw you first, Malfoy...poolside, on my birthday...nice arse."

Teeth chattering, Draco laughed as he put away his broom and used the Disillusionment Charm to sneak up to his room. He hurriedly got ready for dinner. On the way out, he removed an item out of a desk drawer and slipped it into a pocket.

Inside the Great Hall, conversations hushed the moment he entered. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't wearing school robes, but a comfortable black tee and trousers that allowed him a full range of movement.

Roberts nudged Boot, who quickly rose to his feet. As Draco approached, Terry drew his wand. "Expelliarmus!"

Laughing derisively, Draco kept coming. "Shielding Charm, Ape-Man."

Girly-locks threw a powerful straight punch aimed at his opponent's nose, but Draco raised his arm and took the blow in the elbow, which caused Pretty-Boy lots of distracting pain. Smiling viciously, Malfoy side kicked Boot in the knee. Terry-Boy got in a decent hook to the side of the head on the way down.

The two tables erupted as boys from each one jumped up onto their benches and tables to see their housemates battle it out. The teachers at the staff table screamed for order. The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors climbed onto their tables to scream support for their favourite contender.

It wasn't Draco.

"Kick Malfoy's butt, Boot!"

How pathetic! Hufflepuff's can't make themselves say arse...the arseholes.

"Punch that Snake bastard again!"

Male weasels are such nasty creatures. Good thing for me they're as stupid as they are brutal.

The boy who instigated the brawl smiled viciously as he blocked a punch by the limping but still feral-looking wild man. Maybe Boot would fight better if no girly-hair obstructed his vision. Jabbing the Ravenclaw in the eye, Draco said while Terry's head rocked back with the impact, "I hope I'm hurting you as much as you've hurt Blaise."

The jammy bastard intercepted the next blow and attacked in a fluid movement that said he wasn't going to go down without a fight. Boot gritted, "Same to you, Malfoy."

Before either could make another move, Dumbledore waved his wand and froze everyone in the Hall. Draco watched in grudging awe as the headmaster walked down the aisle, moving around spectators to reach the two boys that remained unfrozen. Professors Snape and Flitwick followed behind the white-haired wizard.

"What is the meaning of this disgraceful exhibition of Muggle-Duelling, Mr. Malfoy? Mr. Boot?"

Covertly taking off his wizard version of brass knuckles and slipping them back into his pocket, Draco sneered. "Ask Boot. He threw the first punch."

Terry-Boy was miffed. "You were going to attack me, Malfoy, and you know it!"

"It would seem that you boys are equally at fault. Therefore, you shall share an equal punishment. Two weeks detention, served together--one week with each of your Heads of House. Professor Snape has graciously volunteered to oversee the both of you starting Monday at seven. You will return to your Houses at once."

Returning Tarzan's snarl as they left the Hall, Draco jeered, "Better go let Pomfrey take care of that knee, Boot. Can't swing on vines without it."

"Shut the hell up, Malfoy."

"I'll shut up. After all, I now have my best mate Jane all to myself, while you're stuck with only Cheetah to groom your girly-locks." Astonishing how satisfying it was to hear the bellow of rage. If that didn't bring the Jungle-Boy back to his woman, then nothing would.

"Psssst...Malfoy...Draco...over here."

Slender pale fingers were beckoning from behind the statue of Bertha the Behemoth. Smiling, and then hissing as blood trickled from his lip, Draco walked stiffly over to Ginny. She held a basket of first aid items. A pale brow rose. "How?"

"I knew the moment you started punching Terry that you'd need me to patch you up...amazing fighting ferret that you are."

Sitting stiffly with his back against the wall, Draco's battered lips tilted up. "I was amazing, wasn't I?"

A soft, loving, kiss was placed against the corner of his mouth not swollen and bleeding.

"You're a Black Knight in Shining Armour."

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A/N: Both Shakespeare lines are from Laertes speech in Hamlet. Thought of the first part, looked it up and said, Oh, I like that following bit, too! lol. Stories are so interesting when they twist and turn aren't they? Hope you've enjoyed this chap. Let me know in a Review!