Chapter 21 – PTS and Cigarettes –Ron's POV

I felt something warm move beside me. Blaise roused me from sleep as he slowly rolled out from under the sheets and off the bed.

"Where are you going?" I croaked, eyes still closed.

He coughed quietly. "Toilet…I'll be back in a minute."

I rolled onto my stomach and buried my head under the pillow. I lay in that position for a full minute before I realized it was Christmas.

I sat bolt upright and nearly ran out the door before I realized I was still completely naked from the night before. I looked around for my pajama pants but it looked as if Blaise had taken mine so I quickly threw his on and nearly danced down the hall after him.

I found the bathroom door open a crack so I peered through to see what he was doing. It looked like he was just sitting on the bathroom counter so I knocked quietly and pushed the door open. Blaise jumped, squeaked, and nearly dropped the cigarette in his hand. He attempted to hide it behind his back but a trail of smoke soon appeared to be drifting up from behind his head.

The tiny bathroom window was open and it looked like he had been wafting the smoke out the window.

"Um…" he attempted to speak.

"Since when do you smoke…?" I asked slowly.

He sighed and stopped trying to hide it, but still looked nervous. "Since I was nine…" he said slowly.

My eyes widened. "And you didn't tell me?" I asked.

"I've tried to quit twice since we got together…I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you. It's not something I'm proud of."

"How did you hide the smell?"

"Magic…" he replied.

I nodded. "How did you start when you were nine?"

"I found some in my dad's study and asked him about them…he said I could have them if I promised not to tell anyone he was smoking muggle cigarettes. He was embarrassed. I was nine…I was hooked after the first pack."

I sighed. "Are you going to try to quit again?"

"Well…I'm trying to quit now and look how well that's working out." Blaise looked longingly at the cigarette, but seemed to be avoiding smoking it in front of me.

I cocked an eyebrow. "I've always thought guys smoking was kind of sexy," I said smirking.

He laughed. "Oh really…" he took a drag. "Well I've always thought that you in only a pair of pajama pants was kind of sexy." The he added "…Fire crotch," so quietly that I nearly missed it.

I rolled my eyes but I could feel a slight blush. "I still want you to quit…" I said quickly.

"I will," he whispered. He signaled me over to him. I pushed the door closed with my foot and he locked it withhis wand. I leaned against the counter between his thighs and kissed him softly. He pulled away after a few minutes to take another drag and then started biting my neck. I sighed and started running my fingertips over his toned stomach.

He stopped biting my neck for a minute and picked up his wand off the counter. "What are you doing?" I asked quickly.

"Putting up a silencing charm," he replied. "I'm so glad I'm of age before you. Puts me in a great position."

I rolled my eyes. "What makes you think you're going to need a silencing charm," I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Just a little hunch," he said, smirking right back.

Just as he was about to raise his wand again there was a loud banging on the door. "Who's in there?" Charlie called through the door. "I need the shower, now!"

I closed my eyes exasperatedly. I grabbed Blaise's cigarette and threw it out the window, and then pulled him off the counter and out the bathroom door. "Asshole," I muttered as I walked past Charlie. He just smirked when he saw Blaise.

"Sorry," he chuckled.

I pulled Blaise down the hall and into my room. I pushed him backwards towards the bed until his legs hit and he tumbled down backwards.

"Someone's in a hurry…" he said, but there wasn't a hint of complaint in his voice.

"Have to make up for lost time. It's 6:45 and we have to be downstairs at 7."

He smirked. "Want a quickie before Christmas, do yeh?"

I laughed, "You could call it that," and slid onto the bed on top of him, promptly shutting him up.

o

After gift opening and breakfast I decided to give Blaise a tour of the areas of the house which were unfinished. It was a good opportunity as the workers were not working on Christmas day, and we had nothing to do until two o'clock.

I was getting bored at looking at half-finished floor tiling and half-painted rooms, so I pushed Blaise into an almost-finished bathroom and closed the door, locking it and pinning him against it with my hips. I was just about to kiss him when he suddenly went stiff and shivered violently.

I stepped back and looked at him. His eyes were glazed over and he was staring at the wall behind me. I turned around to see a blank wall with a plumbing pipe sticking only a few millimeters out of it at about knee level. There was a small trickle of water running down the tiled wall.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly, turning back to Blaise. I found him leaning against the door shivering. "Blaise?" I waved my hand in front of his eyes but they remained unfocused. He suddenly shook violently and slid down the door to the floor.

"Blaise! Look at me. What's going on? Blaise!" He jumped at my yelling and his eyes came back into focus.

"Oh…shit." He leaned over to the side and vomited on the floor.

I froze in shock. "What the fuck…what's going on?"

He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and groaned.

"Seriously, Zabini, you're scaring me..."

Blaise clutched at his stomach with one hand and buried his face in the other.

I had no idea what to do. "Do you want to go lie down?" I asked worriedly. He nodded. I quickly hauled him off the floor, slung his arm over my shoulder, stepped over the pile of vomit, and dragged him all the way up to my room.

I put him down on the bed and pulled the covers up to his waist. "I'll be back in a minute, ok?" I whispered. He nodded slowly and I ran off down the hall and into the bathroom. I got a glass of water, and took a bucket out of the closet just in case.

I set the bucket on the floor next to my bed and propped Blaise up against some pillows to drink the water. After a few sips I set the glass down on the nightstand and ran back out of the room do find anyone who could legally clean up the mess in the unfinished bathroom by magic.

I found Fred and quickly explained the problem to him, and he said he would take care of it. Then I ran back up to my room and sat down on the bed next to Blaise. My heart was pounding with nervousness.

"Ok, tell me what happened," I said soothingly, brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes.

"Um…" he hesitated. "Remember when I told you about last summer?" Blaise croaked. I nodded. "And…do you remember how I told you that all I wad was water for two weeks?"

"Yes…" I said slowly.

"Well…my father didn't exactly know I had water…"

"What?" I asked, confused. "But you would have died if you didn't have water for two weeks."

Blaise shuddered slightly. "The water came from a leaky pipe like the one in that bathroom. Seeing it kind of…shocked me. I sort of…relived…um…"

I slid into the bed next to him and wrapped my arms around him. "You can tell me…" I whispered into his ear.

He rested his head on my shoulder. "Well…When I was still…alive…after a week and a half, he wanted to know why. He found the water. He wasn't too happy about it…That's why I was in such bad shape when Dumbledore came for me. He went crazy."

I rubbed his back soothingly for about ten minutes before he relaxed and fell into a light sleep on my shoulder. I let him sleep for a little while until, looking at my clock, I realized that the guests would be arriving in ten minutes.

"Blaise," I whispered, brushing his cheek lightly with my fingertips. "Blaise, wake up. Everyone's going to be here soon."

Blaise stirred and buried his head further into my shoulder, groaning tiredly.

"Come on, baby. You have to get up."

Blaise lifted his head off my shoulder slowly, blinking blearily. "Come on," I said, "You should brush your teeth. I bet that tastes awful."

He nodded and we both climbed out of bed and walked slowly down the hall and into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth three times before he was satisfied.

"Can you close the door?" he asked croakily.

"Why?" I asked, but did as he had said.

"I need a smoke…" The door clicked shut and locked. "Thanks."

He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with his wand.

"Can I…try it?" I asked, intrigued.

"No," Blaise answered quickly.

"What? Come on. Just let me try," I protested.

"No way. I am not letting you get hooked just because I am. I love you way too much to let you do this to yourself."

"I'm not going to get hooked! I just want to try it."

"Ron…" Blaise sighed.

"Ok…ok, you're right. That was stupid," I said resignedly after a few seconds. "…I love you too…"

Blaise smiled, brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes and kissed my lightly.

"Are you feeling ok?"Iasked concernedly.

"Yeah, much better."

"Good. Hurry up. Everyone's going to be here in a couple minutes.

Blaise took one last drag, put it out with his wand, and flushed it down the toilet. "Let's go," he said.

(A/N – I'm so, so sorry about the wait. I couldn't get anything out, and I also had to do a little research on Post Traumatic Stress disorder…so it took a little longer than usual. I'll try and get the next one up asap. Please review! Thanks.)