Mucho gracias to the reviewers! I feel warm and fuzzy inside. Keep it up and so shall I.

BLAISE ZABINI

Ronald and I waited for Smith to come to so that he could restore the crater that Anthony created. I wouldn't fancy too much having to go up against him, but if it is to be done, then I shall do it. As for now, we wait for Smith to get more conscious before Ronald and I begin our primary bout. Smith finally came to so Ronald and I went to a nice spot close to the lake. After a minute of silent preparation, eye contact told us that it was time to battle.

Ronald swiped his arm from behind and over his head. I almost didn't see the gathering flame until it was too late. But the point is that I did see it so I was prepared. A voice spoke in my head. It was silky and oily. It came in less than a split second, but I understood it. React just as much as is needed. I didn't quite understand it, but then it dawned upon me.

The flame got close enough to catch my hair, but it didn't because I simply slid to the left. I turned back and saw it disappear. I turned back to see Ronald swiping his hand through the air again. I ducked as it came closer. Haha! Ronald wasn't as great as I thought. I decided to attack.

I milked enough moisture from the air to create a small ball of it and have it hover between my hands. Focusing, I was able to shoot seven squirts of water out as hard as I'm not sure what. They seemed to sting him though. I took advantage of his moving back by summoning some water from the lake. I was going to have it whip him but I made it take the form of a square as his outstretched hands expelled a stream of fire.

It hit my water barrier, but at a price—for it was a stream of flame, so it was constantly flowing toward me—evaporating my water in the process! As the water began to move from the edges on in, I felt it weaken in the place I thought I was fortifying it: The middle. Steam began to push itself into my face. My eyes watered and I fell to the ground. I was glad I did because I saw the fire pushing itself over my head.

I didn't stay down for long though. The voice in my head congratulated me for acting without too much power. I nodded as though it wasn't my imagination and rolled into the lake that was about five feet away from me.

Down there, I felt the water that fed this reservoir from river a bit further up. That gave me an idea. I didn't need to hold my breath—it seemed that I could breathe the water like a merman or something. In the end though, I was able to carry out my plan. I made the water around me push me high upward into the air. But something that I wasn't prepared for happened—the water kept swirling about me.

I didn't want to hurt Ronald so I calmed myself and felt the water fall down with a rush. I opened my eyes and saw that I was floating all by myself. Floating downward at a rather high velocity, if I do say so myself. I braced myself for a burn of the water's slap. It never came—I simply fell back in. Without even creating a ripple! I didn't care about the elements at that point! That was not right! Even by magical standards! I swam (more quickly than I care to say) to the shore, only to see Ronald there waiting. He smiled, showing off as much of his teeth as was required in most of the photo shoot my mother taught me about. I melted. I simply lied there and allowed him to claim victory without putting up a fight.

What I am neglecting to tell you, however, is that he had me trapped in a two-foot high ring of fire. He really was as witty as I was—given the chance, I would have done the same or better. But who's competing? When you feel an attraction to someone, it doesn't too much feel like a competition. More like two people going at the best of their abilities to achieve the same goal. That's all. I swear it. However, I'm lying. Although I feel so much more, I'll end my story here for now. Thank you for listening.

RONALD WEASLEY

Blaise Zabini lost to me. I believe he only lost because he wanted to. If I know Slytherins, they can figure out every angle to anything and be out of any tight spot within moments. I think Blaise just did it out of boredom of the spar. He could have gone on—he attacked me with only water darts! But Zacharias, Anthony, and I did get a chance to see what he was made of, and the others, myself—if I'm wording that right.

After just talking about it, you know, both of the fights, we decided to hang out. Just us guys. We learned quite a bit about each other. It seemed that everyone was interested in the male species (but having to be different, Zacharias was bisexual). It was hard to tell with Blaise though—he seemed to be interested more in listening and keeping that model-like pout about him. He was really just asking to be questioned. So I took the liberty.

"So Blaise," I began, thinking on the spur of the moment, "what suits your fancy?" Blaise allowed a shadow of a smile to cross his mouth before he spoke in that articulate speech of his.

"What do you mean?" he rolled his eyes upward as though trying to understand—I know he could though. He was just baiting me. I went into laymen's terms (something Hermione thinks that needs to be done for me).

"What is your sexual preference?" I asked again, causing a snigger from Zacharias.

"He's obviously bisexual," the haughty Hufflepuff explained. "I mean, he's got features that appeal to both guys and girls, he's never been seen with a girl, and his walk entails me to believe that he's trying to appeal to both guys and girls." Before I could retort, Anthony did.

"No, you moron. His features are genetic, much like that snout-like nose you've always got in the clouds; maybe he doesn't want to have been seen with a girl, cause I'm pretty sure I've never seen you with a girl either; and it's called 'conditioning.' Obviously, if he models, he may be used to walking that way, sort of the way your nose is always stuck up."

I had to hand it to him. For a small guy, he really could dish it. But then again, he really was only small in stature. He was our age, after all. Zacharias only scowled and turned away. Blaise nodded in what seemed to be thanks. I couldn't tell. His natural features were so much like Zacharias' that it was kind of hard to say that he wasn't so stuck up. But still, he hadn't wronged me as of yet. Blaise did speak on it though.

"I'm asexual, like mostly everyone says. Only, they're right, but they've got the wrong interpretation for me. I'm attracted to personalities, not genders or races or anything."

I nodded nice-like. I didn't understand that too much, though. I mean, I was attracted to both females and males so I had double of what he had—or didn't have. So let me see… at this rate, I could win Blaise over within seventy-five years when he was senile and had no idea that I wanted him. Of course, neither did I at the time. So it was cool.

Blaise had gotten up to look around the area. He seemed so at ease with the soft grasses and green-bark trees that had vines falling from them. I wonder what happened to the superficial, superior Blaise Zabini that I'd always seen in the Potions laboratory. He seemed to melt into the at-ease-with-nature male I saw then. Appearances really weren't always what they seemed.

One thing you could count on Zacharias to do was come up with something remotely fun to do. Oh, yes, I do mean remotely fun as in: We can't have any other type of fun because we were stuck in this place. Yeah, we wandered so far away from the portal that we forgot where it was. We're still looking, of course, but Professor McGonagall told me about time being completely frozen here. So by the time we are able to get out, no time should have passed in the real world. That's what's so cool about this place.

Anyway, Zacharias decided that he wanted to take a dip. He also decided that he was God's gift to mankind, so he stripped to his stark naked form and jumped into the startling-clear water. Anthony and I looked at each other and decided that it was in the name of fun so we too went starkers and jumped in. Only Blaise Zabini didn't. He did take off his robe and cuff his pants up a bit so that his feet could dip themselves into the clear-blue liquid.

I swam up to him and rested my arms on the soft, grassy bank. "So, what do you think?"

"Concerning…?" he looked down at me with the same soft, gentle eyes that he had when he was messing about with the plants.

"The Spot. Is it hot or is it not?" He thought for a moment.

"It's amazing. It's brilliant. It almost makes me want to go naked and join you all."

"Then why don't you?"

"It isn't my thing."

"What can I do to make it your thing?" I ask. I can tell he's pleasantly tired of the questioning, but I don't stop my assault of interrogation. Sooner than later, he finally agreed and came in.

I don't care what anyone says. He was a definite beau. Now I see why he avoids those harpy-girls. They'd claw him out of his clothes if he dozed off for a minute. He was as tall as I was with a brown, toned physique. Me, I wasn't as toned, but I was strong. He ran straight up to me and dove in right over my head without so much as a decent ripple in the water. He resurfaced rather strangely. I mean, the water is clear enough to see to the bottom. Even though Blaise wasn't exactly white-complexion, it should have been easy to spot him. It wasn't. I didn't think too much of it though.

We swam around and talked about stuff that had no significant value. I then had to ask a question. "So what do you think of us?"

"Us… who?" he asked, his eyes softening to resemble muddy clay.

"Gryffindors. Because my whole perception of Slytherins have changed."

"Don't," he snapped. Blaise's earth-brown eyes had returned to the same hardness they usually were. "Don't you ever let your perception of them change. Slytherins are cold, intelligent, and will drag you through a muddy puddle on a dry summer day because they can."

"But you're not—" he cut me off. "You don't know what I am and what I am not!" His eyes did not pull a Harry. Normally when Harry was ticked, his eyes hardened for a minute, and then they softened back up. Blaise was not Harry. He did, however, soften his voice up again as it had been when he asked about what I was talking about. "I'm not proud of it, but I'm a Slytherin. And I know how they operate. If you let one oddball change your perception of those snake-worshiping pseudo-druids, then you'd be a lot worse off than you began." Curiosity got the best of me… I had to ask.

"And how did I begin?"

"You're a Gryffindor. You're their enemy."