Title: Tangled up in Darkness

Author: Tzippi Meshugah

Summery: War changes people, in ways we never would have known. Old rivalries are put behind us as we forge new alliances. War is upon us now and Hogwarts is changing. Students that were light are going dark, arch enemies are joining together and becoming friends. Unimaginable sacrifices will be made and it all comes down to the final battle to determine who will be victorious and what the consequences of that victory will be. We are tangled up in darkness and we must escape before the light flickers out for good. Narrated by Millicent Bulstrode.

Tangled up in Darkness

Chapter 6

Her thin white face glowed in the light of the dying fire, her gray eyes flashed as the flames flickered. Her red hair shined and seemed to be a part of the fire itself. It was late, past midnight, but still Ginny sat staring at the fire, unable to sleep. She had not been able to sleep for many weeks now, but even if she was deprived of an entire night's sleep, that didn't prevent her from staying up another night. She was never alone in the common room; Gryffindor housed another insomniac. He was kept awake for other reasons: nightmares. His nightmares were so painful, so horrific, so alarming that he was afraid to allow his eyes to close. Sometimes they talked quietly, sometimes they just sat, each one aware of the other's presence. Tonight was different, tonight, and another girl was attempting to cheer up her companion.

Blaise Zabini had shown up at the portrait several minutes earlier with Hermione sleeping angelically in his arms. Somehow he knew of their insomnia, though, being as observant as he is, it did not come as a shock. Unable to climb the stairs to the girl's dormitory, he set her gently down on the couch, which resulted to her awakening immediately. After quietly bidding them goodnight, and promising never to tell of his venture into the forbidden Gryffindor haven, the first Slytherin ever to enter the Gryffindor tower exited thought the portrait hole. Hermione and Harry had been talking ever since. They spoke of light and normal activities taking place at Hogwarts. Not moments after had the conversation drifted, shifting over to her as the subject of concern.

"You have to go to the ball, Harry, even if you don't go with anybody!"

"I'm suffering through enough torture right now, Hermione," was the bleak response.

"This is what Voldemort wants, Harry. He wants you to be unhappy and suffering, he wants to make you so miserable that you hand your life over to him and die. You have to fight it, Harry, be strong!"

"If that's really what Voldemort wants, then he's in luck; his plan is working. You have no idea how it is to be me, you have no idea what kind of troubles I'm suffering through. There is no way to explain it, there's no way you could know the extent of my pain. I don't sleep because nightmares haunt me, but the alternative, being awake is no better, because thoughts invade my waking life too. There is no escape; death is the only way out."

"That's not true, Harry, if you brood on your pain and let it take control of you- he will succeed, but if you fight it, and stay strong… good will triumph."

"Thanks, Hermione, you over estimate me"

"No, you underestimate yourself."

Harry leaned over and hugged Hermione Granger. Ginny felt a pang of jealousy run through her. She was over her crush on Harry, but she wished he would regard her as a friend. After nights and nights of sitting with him, talking to him, re-assuring him, he still ignored her unless they were alone in the common room at the break of dawn. It wasn't fair! She had done so much to help him, she had comforted him, walked with him talked with him, nurtured him, and he gave her no credit, he didn't even acknowledge it. When he was worried or scared, she comforted him, when he felt the weight of the world crushing him it was she who helped him carry its weight. Despite all she did, and all she tried to do, she would always be a good-for-nothing nobody. Ginny Weasley did not want to be an overlooked nobody.

Sighing to herself, she stuck her hand into her pocket. Her secret was still safe, and like a ghost, she glided quietly over to the portrait hole.

"You do know it's after curfew," Hermione asked her. And that was apparently one of the last things Ginny wanted to hear at the moment. Out of everything Hermione could say, she had to say the one thing that insinuated that Ginny was an oblivious child.

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth. Without another word she slipped out of the portrait hole and up to the Astronomy tower. She pulled the gleaming blade out of her pocket and held it to her scarred wrist. Unbeknownst to Ginny, she was not alone on the tower. From under an invisibility cloak, someone was watching her. The mysterious figure smiled knowingly and slipped from the tower to formulate a plan.

"Hermione?" Blaise called nervously to the bushy haired girl as she prepared to exit the Arithmancy classroom. They were the last two students there, giving Blaise the perfect opportunity to ask her. He vaguely suspected that I had something to do with this, but pushed the thought out of his mind as her captivating brown eyes met his indigo ones.

"I…er…um… was… uh…" Blaise stuttered, entirely at a loss for words.

"Cat got your tongue? I pity that poor animal." Hermione taunted.

"I don't know how to say this,"

"Eloquent, composed Blaise is stuttering and at a loss for words. I must make a note of this!"

"Before you publicly humiliate me, would you accompany me to the dance? This way you won't be humiliated by going with me." He blurted out, fighting the blush that was threatening to creep up his neck. Hermione's jaw dropped.

"I mean as friends. Last time I went with a pitcher of pumpkin juice. They're not the greatest dancers if you know what I mean…" He said, his voice trailing off. Hermione still stood staring at him, and it was now her turn to be at a loss for words.

"Well, Miss Granger, you seem to have landed yourself in the same predicament as I had, so I guess we're even." Blaise teased in attempt to cover up the embarrassment, nervousness, and ice cold dread that was flooding his body.

"Now would be a good time to say something… Hermione?"

"What? Sorry. Sure, I'll go with you." She said, sounding very flustered.

"Great! So I'll meet you outside your common room at 7?"

"Sure, great, I, errr, have to go meet Ginny," Hermione lied and raced out of the classroom.

"Well, that was interesting, not exactly what I had in mind, but interesting nonetheless." Blaise said to himself.

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." An old man in one of the portraits on the wall wheezed.

"I thought it was hearing voices in your head," Blaise replied picking up his books.

"That's the second,"

"Right, well, good day," Blaise called as he exited the classroom.

Hermione looked at her reflection in the mirror above the mantel in the common room. She scarcely recognized the person that stared back at her. The only thing that seemed to belong to her, were her honey brown eyes that stared out from under her lightly made-up eyes. Her normally bushy brown hair had been magic-ed blond by Ginny, and hung in silky ringlets past her shoulders framing her delicate face that was often hidden by the bushy mess. Her black gown complimented her small figure. It was held up by two thin straps. The top was laced with pink vines sprouting pink roses that spread up from her left hip. The dress was slit at that point, letting pink satin show through. The long elbow length black gloves completed her ensemble.

Taking a deep breath, she floated over to the portrait hole and stepped out. Blaise was pacing nervously past the portrait.

"You'll wear out the floor that way" She said softly to him. Blaise looked up, ready with a smart cheeky response, but one look at her rendered him speechless. He seemed to be having the same effect on Hermione. He was dressed in black dress robes that complimented his swarthy skin and black curls. His hair was normally pulled back into his sad excuse for a ponytail, but tonight it hung loose in all of its chin length curly glory framing his angular face wonderfully. Blaise was not what one would consider handsome, nor was he ugly. He was tall, but not overly so, muscled slightly, but not very much. His only really astounding feature was his eyes. The deep orbs of indigo captured Hermione's soft brown ones, even though he was five inches taller than her, standing at a grand five feet ten inches.

After several minutes of awkward staring, Blaise broke the silence. "You look stunning, Hermione," he said, offering her his arm, which she accepted, blushing profusely.

"As do you," she said quietly as he led her down to the ball. They made their way over to a table where I was sitting, accompanied by a pitcher of butterbeer.

"Blaise, Hermione, meet my date," I joked, gesturing at the pitcher.

Hermione grinned as she sat down beside me, followed by Blaise beside her. Over the top of her head he shot me a triumphant smile.

"Ask her to dance," I mouthed.

"No," he mouthed back.

"You better, before I tell her."

A horrified expression flashed across Blaise's face. He looked down at Hermione who was trying to make out our silent conversation.

"Would you like to dance" He asked, after a sharp kick from me.

"Alright," She agreed hesitantly.

I was sure to go insane by the end of tonight, they had to loosen up. Maybe a bit of firewhisky mixed into whatever they were drinking would do the trick, but where would I get my hands on a bottle of firewhisky? I pondered the question as I watched them gliding gracefully across the dance floor weaving in and out of the other couples. With a roll of my eyes I placed my date back on the refreshment table where it belonged and headed for the Slytherin common room where I would wait to press Blaise for details upon his return, if he was to return.

After two hours of thumb-twiddling and many half hearted attempts to study for my N.E.W.Ts, a surly sullen Blaise shuffled into the common room and slumped down onto the couch.

"What happened?" I asked, throwing aside my Herbology text.

"Everything was perfect, we were dancing, we went on a stroll through the garden, I had the time of my life and from the look in her eyes I knew she did too. Then I went and ruined it." He said in his sarcastic tone of voice.

"What did you do?"

"I walked her back to her common room and I couldn't help myself, I kissed her." He paused to build suspense, but I stole the moment to ask the first stupid question that popped into my head. "Was it nice?"

"Yeah, she even kissed me back. It was like a dream." A dreamy look crossed his face. I groaned inwardly.

"I still don't get how this was bad," I pointed out loudly, jolting him out of his daydream.

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, as if she had just realized what she was doing, she broke away, mumbled the password and ran inside the common room and left me there staring at a fat lady in a pink dress who was shaking her head sympathetically at me."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow, go get some rest, everything will work out, I promise." I reassured him.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, and slumped up the stairs to his dormitory. I had half a mind to run over to Gryffindor tower and break that girl for breaking my friend's heart. In fact, the only thing that kept me from doing just that, was, I didn't know the password. I also figured that she would need time to sort things out, but normally that would not be enough to stop me in my blind frenzy.

Back at Gryffindor tower, Hermione was staring out the window wondering if she was high up enough for a jump to kill her. She was mortified beyond belief, and she knew she had hurt Blaise. Why did he have to go and complicate things? For months she had accepted that she fancied Blaise. She also accepted that he would never want her back. Nor would any other boy for that matter, she was the bushy haired know-it-all who was turning from Gryffindor to Slytherin. Therefore, using her newfound ability to mask emotion, she blocked that feeling from her being, even when in the presence of Millicent and Blaise when she normally let her mask fall. But now she knew Blaise liked her, which threw her whole way of thinking into question. She was a very practical person, even in her Slytherin state of mind and complications were unsolicited. N.E.W.Ts were around the corner, Voldemort was out to get her, and distractions were not embraced in the least bit. Friends were necessities, and quite frankly, she needed Blaise and Millicent's friendship, as well as Harry's, Ginny's, and the other Slytherins she was bonding with, if she was going to survive this year. However, boyfriends and commitments like that were unwelcome distractions.

With a loud sigh she dropped the charm on her hair and changed into plaid flannel pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt vowing to put the event behind her and pretend it never happened. Tomorrow was Christmas and she did not want to destroy the spirit by mourning over the loss of a boy she could not have despite the fact that he liked her. Maybe it had all been a dream. The thought was highly unlikely and not the slightest bit of comfort. Rolling over onto her side, Hermione drifted into a fitful sleep.

"Explain yourself," I demanded, throwing Hermione against a wall.

"Explain what?" She asked, unable to prevent her fear from clouding her eyes and seeping into her voice.

"Why you broke his heart," I said, relaxing my grip on her.

"Well, uh…" She began.

"Not to me, to him, he's in the room of requirement, moping. I fear he may do something drastic and dangerous. Please, Hermione?" I begged.

"Alright, alright, just let go of me first." I released her and Hermione ran her fingers through her bushy hair and hurried off to meet Blaise.

The only time Hermione spent in the Room of Requirement was DA meetings, where the atmosphere was bright and cheery. The place where she found Blaise was its opposite. He sat alone in a dark room that reminded her of a funeral parlor after dark.

We need some light in here. Hermione thought to herself as she tried to read his expression. Hurt was the only emotion present in his eyes and it pained her to know that she was its cause. No sooner than that train of thought came to a halt, the room brightened considerably.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean-"

"Yes, you did mean it, and I'm the one who should be sorry. I left because I was confused."

"And are you still confused?" He asked, hope prevalent in his voice.

"No, I care deeply for you Blaise, and my feelings go farther than just being friends," Hermione paused, guilt spreading through her veins as she saw the smile that was spreading across his pale face.

"But," She added watching as the smile turned into one of worry.

"But?"

"But, I can't be anything more than your friend."

"Why?"

"I'm one of Voldemort's main targets at the moment and he would use you to get to me and I don't want to be responsible for your death."

"That's dung, Hermione; you know he can't get to you here. Even if he did, I would gladly give up my life for yours."

"We also have N.E.W.Ts and I can't afford any distractions right now."

"So that's it, I'm just a distraction now?"

"You know what I mean Blaise; I need you to be here for me as a friend. I wish we could be more, but now is not a good time, some day in the future if you still want me, I'll be ready for you."

"I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes." He agreed, enveloping her in a hug. Hermione felt her heart grow heavy and sink several feet. What had she just done?

a/n: You got your fluffy romance chapter, even if it wasn't exactly what you were expecting. I'm terribly sorry it took so long, especially since its half the length of what I normally write, I've been rather ill.

Chaste-aeon- Your help is always appreciated, I'm sure it was much worse before. I was really unimpressed with how I wrote that chapter. I may replace it later. The content would be the same, but it would be worded differently.

PP Ruffie- Thanks for the desert ideas, that should hopefully last me until the end of the story. I'm glad you like it and I wish I had more reviews and I'm very appreciative of your review.

Excuse me Mr. Mister- Opps blushes I shall fix that immediately.

I'm sending brownies to all of you, since I also love chocolate and I happen just to have really made them. Nobody aside from me is eating them because I'm sick, but that's perfectly fine with me. Yours can be store bought if you desire them to be.