Present
He hears the soft pattering of feet in the hallway that sound like the wings of dozens of humming birds. There is gentle laughter worthy of only a house as large as the room he habitats. The sweet smell of honey floats into his nostrils with a breeze of fresh air from the outside. The window is open in the large room to let cool air in because of the fireplace's refusal to stop self-igniting. The world is compressed into that one large square they slept on. His eyelids feel like iron curtains as he struggles to open them with the sun shining so brightly on his face. There are no actual feet pattering in the hallway leading to the empty room he is asleep in. He looks at the café au lait colored boy sleeping near the end of the bed. His curly red hair is cut short and he is dressed in his underwear and an oversized shirt. He moves closer to his father's legs for comfort, but the man stiffens for a moment. It appears he has forgotten where he is or most importantly, who he is. Then, it slams into him like a forbidden curse pushing into the heart of someone you care about. Ginny is dead.
He presses the pillow underneath his head into his face just to smell her again. She would be awake at that moment with their son Arthur at her side while she made some strange breakfast of random things she'd found in the kitchen. A wave of his hand through the air causes the window to close loudly. It is wintertime, but there is no large fireplace in the room he and his son sleep in. They boy whimpers when Blaise sits on the edge of the bed with an index finger against his lower lip. It is a habit he picked up from Ginny over the years. She'd do it whenever she was deep in thought or trying to pretend she didn't know something. He sighs in defeat as he stands and shoves the door open so he can go to the bathroom. The pearl tiles on the hallway floor are freezing against his feet, but he quickly adjusts to the change in texture. He turns the water on in the shower, but pauses as he begins to stand straight. Too silent. He almost regrets thinking the words when he hears the boy's soft sob.
Blaise adjusts the red tie around the boy's neck while standing behind him. The boy sits in a rich wooden high chair with a bowl of cold cereal in front of him. He'd just turned two years old three weeks before. They had had an elaborate party, just the three of them. Blaise absentmindedly chewed on a piece of bacon as he scanned through his issue of The Daily Prophet. It had been almost five years since Harry Potter killed Lord Voldemort on that cold spring night. Blaise smiles; it had been the coldest night they'd had that entire year, even compared to the winter nights. McGonagall is on the front page in reference to the many teaching positions open at Hogwarts at that moment. At the bottom of the newspaper, barely noticeable, he sees an article he is looking for.
Amelia Taylor is going to be released from Azkaban after five years for what she did that night at Hogwarts. Blaise and Ginny had always debated over whether or not her punishment was too harsh. Blaise had said no, she deserved longer, but Ginny said he was a man and Amelia probably felt like dirt after what he did. Blaise crumples the paper angrily, drawing the attention of the dark eyed boy playing with the floating fruit flavored figures in his milk. The boy smiles at him, and he is reminded of her again. Too bad her family didn't know she and Blaise had a child together. A mild sickness comes over him suddenly. They would have had two children if Ginny had not been prematurely taken away. He hates to leave his son with people he does not know as he goes out looking for revenge, but it is the only way he can do it. Very few people actually know that the child even exists. Hermione. Blaise throws the bowl of cereal into the sink and pulls the boy up into his arms in a hurry. If anyone were willing to help him it would be Hermione. He grabs a handful of white powder as he steps into the unlit fireplace. The boy in his arms giggles when his father mutters their destination and throws the powder down. Green flames consume them, but they appear where they should regardless.
Hermione sits on her red sofa with a bowl of hot cereal in front of her, books strewn across the table, and a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand. She glances at Blaise standing in her living room. The spoon in her hand falls to the bowl on the table just as the newspaper hits the ground. Her mouth is open in shock, but her eyes are squinting at the boy in his arms as if she is trying to place him someplace. Blaise forces a smile as the boy struggles to get out of his arms and onto the floor where he can destroy some things. Ginny always said he would be just as destructive in life as her brothers Fred and George were. The boy pulls several of the books from the table onto the floor with a smile on his face. He sits down and begins pulling at the pages, but they are charmed as to not be ripped. He throws the book away after realizing his yanking is pointless.
"Who... what do you want?" she stammers. Her brown eyes never leave the boy.
"Take care of him. I have business to tend to. I don't know how long I will be away," he says cautiously.
"He's your child. Why do you always have to be so cold? I'm sure spending time with…" A dark realization dawns upon her as she stares into his eyes. She glances at the boy again. "I thought you were just her friend. I'm so sorry," she whispers.
Blaise smiles at her and says, "You watch him and don't let anyone get to him. He's all I have left of her. I'll be back. I swear it. If I'm not, give him to Molly. Not before you see my name in the papers under the death list though. Do this for her, please." The boy wanders back over to him with a large smile on his face. Blaise hugs him tightly while staring at Hermione, who nods to him solemnly.
"If you get caught?" she whispers.
"That's the plan." He laughs when her eyes go round. "If you were referring to me being caught by Aurors, I doubt Potter and the two Weasleys would be in too big of a rush to catch someone who was avenging Ginny's death. Forget it. You'll understand when it's all done." He kisses the boy's soft red hair before pointing him towards Hermione. The boy's dark eyes fill with tears suddenly as he says dada. Hermione picks the boy up into her arms and gives Blaise a sincere smile as he steps back into the fireplace. He notices that her house is pleasantly warm for her not to have any fires lit in the place. After finding the vents in the ceilings, he realizes she has muggle heating and air installed. With one last smile to his son he drops the white powder and whispers the name of his house.
He sits on the couch in the den with papers in his hands a wizard working in one of his companies had sent him a few days before. The words on the white paper jumble together for a moment, but go back to normal. Of course Malfoy was still alive someplace hiding out with Pansy and whoever else had the sick notion that another dark lord would rise soon. Blaise chuckles softly to himself as he reads the last few lines of the report. Malfoy had indeed changed for the better in appearance. He now sports the black hair and green eyes whenever he leaves the house his mother owns.
People believe he is her new butler, but Blaise had pointed out to the man working for him that Narcissa believed in having house elves, not people working for her. Three days later the man sent him an owl with pictures of the new butler. It was Malfoy. Blaise laughs to himself softly as he gazes down at the pictures of his old friend. We'll meet again soon. The large grandfather clock in the hall chimes loudly. Blaise's eyes go from the pictures of Malfoy to a picture of him and Ginny when they'd went to that Christmas ball that time. The picture sat inside a small frame with dancing flowers, ladies, and unicorns around its edges. He smiles sadly as he remembers how much trouble he'd gotten into getting the picture frame for her.
Five years in the past
He fumbled with the galleons in his pocket nervously. What could he possibly give her to let her know he was grateful for what she'd done the night before and he cared about her? That picture frame. He pulled on his cloak on and muttered an excuse me to Adela as he ran past her. He went straight to the kitchen where house elves were busily fixing food, sewing, and doing other things he was accustomed to seeing his mother or paid witches to do. He saw the head elf standing near the fires with his hand in one of his pockets and a cup of tea in the other. He wore a dirty shirt with short blue pants underneath. There were about five multicolored ties draped around his neck, but even more horrible were the hideous gray socks he wore. Blaise forced a smile when the elf looked up at him with large green eyes.
"Mister Zabini is here to see Dobby? What brings you here?" The elf smiled happily.
"I need you to give me directions to a secret passage that would get me straight to Hogsmeade. I would be grateful. I would be so grateful in fact that I am willing to bring you back some proper socks," Blaise whispered. A house elf sitting a few feet away sewing a curtain glanced at them.
Dobby's large eyes grew larger, an action Blaise had believed would be physically possible. He nodded. "On the third floor near the Gryffindor Tower is a statue of a hump backed, one- eyed witch. Tap her hump with your wand and whisper the password. Follow the path."
Blaise nodded and stared at the elf expectantly. When he didn't say anything, Blaise sighed and asked, "What's the password?"
"Oh, yes. The password is toothflossing stringmint."
Blaise frowned deeply, but wrote the word down in his mind. He thanked the elf again before running out of the kitchen with a chocolate cupcake in each hand. Two elves had tried to force him to take the trays because they thought he looked starved. He chewed on the cupcake and laughed. He was three inches over six feet and weighed almost one hundred and eighty pounds. He spent many days running and doing exercises to keep in shape. Those stupid elves just wanted to throw some of their food off on someone. He stuffed the other cupcake into his mouth when he heard footsteps coming towards him down the corridor. The Headmistress stared at him strangely as he struggled to gulp down the thick piece of bread. He forced a smile.
"What are you doing down here, Zabini?" she asked casually.
Blaise suddenly realized he was standing in the corridor the elf had directed him to. He laughed and said, "Patrolling, headmistress. I know many of the prefects went home for the holidays. So, I'm trying to - -"
"Miss Weasley is in the great hall eating breakfast. You might want to check there."
Blaise nodded and laughed again. The Headmistress walked off. "Thanks!" He yelled after her.
He waited until he was sure she'd disappeared and continued his trek down the hall. Sure enough, he spied the hump back witch out the corner of his eye. He nearly dived behind it when he heard Dean and Seamus coming down the corridor with pastries in their hands.
"I never thought Ginny would fall for such scum. Zabini you say? What is the world coming to?" asked Seamus.
"Merlin knows. Bloody hell if that goes anyplace other than to the hippogriffs." They laughed as they continued past him. Their chatter disappeared.
Blaise snatched his wand from his pocket and struggled with the impulse to run after them and hex them. He tapped the witch's hump with his wand and whispered, "Uh... toothpaste string." Nothing happened. Wonderful. He thought for a moment. He tapped the hump again and whispered, "Stringlemint toothpaste." Nothing. Bloody hell. He groaned, but went dead silent when he heard Ginny's voice. She was talking to one of the Patil twins about the exam for advanced history of magic. Blaise laughed silently as he thought back to how he'd "tutored" her.
He gazed at her from behind the witch's head with a smile. He ducked when she turned to stare in that direction. She laughed nervously and went back to her conversation with the girl as they continued on their way. Blaise let out a deep sigh and turned back to the statue. Oh, yes! "Toothflossing stringmint," he muttered as he tapped the witch's hump. The hump opened up and he was sure there was no way in hell he would fit inside. He fit perfectly and ignored the hump closing behind him as he crawled down the passage. He got bored after what seemed like hours and started singing old tunes. Stairs. He ran up them happily, but slowed down after realizing there were over two hundred of them. With a loud groan his head hit the ceiling. A trap door. He climbed out and stared around the empty store with a smirk. Finally, he was there. He apparated outside.
The old man who ran the shop he looked for was just locking the door. Blaise grabbed his wrist and leaned over to catch his breath. "No…wait. I need…gift."
The old man looked at him bewildered. His gray eyes were almost covered by bushy eyebrows. His thin lips smiled underneath a mustache that looked thicker than the hair of his eyebrows. "Make it worth my while."
Blaise frowned. He finally caught his breath and stood up straight. "You have a smaller version of this frame?" he motioned to the large frame in the window. The old man nodded. "I will pay you double your asking price and give you two extra galleons to deliver it to Hogwarts." Thank Merlin he came from a rich family.
"Deal. Come on inside," the old man said happily.
Blaise ended up buying Ana a hand sized realistic unicorn with white and pale pink hair. The horse ran around wildly on whatever surface it was on. The old man led the small horse into a glass that looked like a grassy terrain on the inside. He pushed a cork into the end of the glass, which was as wide and tall as Blaise's potion book. He dumped his gold on the counter and wrote down the names of the people who'd be receiving the gifts. The old man remained in the store attaching the packages to owls. Blaise ran around the corner and apparated back into Honeydukes. He snatched a few strawberry-flavored toffees from the counter and ducked back into the trap door. Chewing the candy and crawling through the passage appeared to be a hard task. It was the hardest toffee he'd ever eaten in his life. He could hardly move his mouth by the time he made it back to the beginning of the passage. He climbed out and came face to face with Ginny Weasley.
"Blaise!" she shouted. He climbed out the hump quickly and glared at her. He pushed her aside and glanced both ways down the corridor. "What are you doing? Where have you been?"
He tried to open his mouth to speak, but it was impossible. He pulled the other piece of toffee from his pocket and stared at it with an angry expression on his face: Honeydukes Hard Bonding Flavored Toffee (bond your friends' mouths shut for hours). He shoved the candy into Ginny's hand. She looked down at the paper and burst into laughter. He glared at her as she doubled over clutching her stomach with her face red from laughter. She continued to laugh even after she came up with the bright idea to take him to Madame Pomfrey. She handed the woman the candy and pointed to Blaise. He stared at Ginny indignantly as Madame Pomfrey ushered him to one of the beds.
"How exactly did you manage to get that candy? I saw them on display the last time we went to Hogsmeade, but the woman working there said they wouldn't be for sale until after Christmas."
Blaise rolled his eyes. Madame Pomfrey draped a silvery cloth over his cloak and poured some purple liquid on his mouth. It ran down on the sides until his lips opened a little and she poured the remaining into his mouth. He frowned. It tasted like outdated grape juice. Ginny wiped his mouth with the silver cloth and handed it back to the woman standing beside her. Blaise tried to move his mouth. His lips opened, but his teeth were still bonded.
"Give it a few minutes. If you hadn't been so busily eating things you didn't need in the first place you wouldn't be here." She took the silver cloth and the bottle and disappeared through the doors.
Ginny sat down on the stool beside the bed with a smile on her face. Blaise laughed suddenly, causing Ginny to blush. She looked down at her feet. He lifted her chin with his index finger and looked into her eyes. She leaned forward to kiss him.
"Don't you dare!" shouted Madame Pomfrey. She glared at both of them. "Open your mouth."
Blaise snapped his teeth together twice before smiling at the woman. He drank the clear liquid she gave him. She checked his mouth with a small flashlight and told him he could go. Thank Merlin. Surely, Madame Pomfrey was losing her grip after working there for so long. Blaise made up an excuse to go to his room, but not before giving Ginny a soft peck on the cheek. He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. It would be nice to take a nap before dinner.
The great hall was filled when he went down dressed in khaki slacks and a short sleeved green polo shirt. He sat at the end of the bench again and filled his plate with potatoes, ham, and dressing. Ana waved at him from across the room. He could tell she'd already gotten his gift. Ginny just gave him a small nod when he looked at her. Hmm. He began eating his food, but then he heard it. People glanced up from their plates with frowns on their faces. It was the most horrible sound he'd ever heard coming from any animal. A small brown owl cruised into the great hall with a parcel tied to his ankle. He landed in front of Ginny with a loud thud. The thing was outright exhausted. Blaise rolled his eyes. How could a storeowner use such as useless animal to do business? He was glad he hadn't put Ana's parcel on that owl or it would have never made to the school. He laughed and went back to eating his potatoes. Ginny unhooked the parcel and gave the owl some of her pumpkin juice and some pastry. It flew out of the great hall quicker than it had come. Ginny opened the parcel with a smile as she wondered who could have sent it. Her friends leaned towards her with curious expressions. They gasped when they saw what was inside.
Ginny looked at him with a large smile on her face. It was a picture of him staring at her as she laughed at something. The Blaise in the picture turned his head when she looked at him. She laughed. The picture frame was a rich gold with running white unicorns that had silver and purple hair, ladies dressed in canary colored gowns twirling, and pink and purple and green colored poppies dancing. The girls around her argued over how beautiful the frame was while the boys muttered about her and Zabini being in a picture together. Ginny gazed back down at the boy watching her in the picture. His eyes were filled with wonderment, kindness, and longing. She looked at Blaise across the room and nodded.
He didn't think twice about Headmistress McGonagall calling him from the great hall and into her office. If he had a weak heart, he would have fainted at the sight of the man and woman sitting in the headmistress's office. The owners of Honeydukes smiled at him widely. His lips pressed into a tight line he hoped was convincing enough for them. McGonagall pushed aside some parchment and quills on her desk so she could pretend to be interested in something.
"If I broke anything, I'll pay for it." His voice was monotonous.
The woman smiled. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay. We saw that you got the umm-hardening toffee off the desk, but you didn't get the strawberry rinse to go with it. It tastes quite sugary."
Blaise looked at the woman bewildered. "There's a piece of the candy in my room if you want me to get it."
"How exactly did you manage to leave Hogwarts and get into Honeydukes?" asked McGonagall with a frown.
"One of the elves let me out. That elf really didn't need much convincing. She seemed to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. Quite drunk on butter - -"
"Fine. Have you anything else to say to Mr. Christiansen and his wife?"
"Err I apologize."
"It's okay. At least you didn't steal anything important. Then, your hands would be gone." The man and woman both laughed as they left the room.
McGonagall glared at him. "You are head boy, Mr. Zabini. You're supposed to set examples for the other students. Now, I won't have you not being head boy, but rest assured you will receive detention for this. Thirty points from Slytherin and detention until classes begin again. Go finish your dinner."
"Thank you," he said mildly. He forced a smile as he left her office.
Ginny was standing some feet away from the entrance to McGonagall's office with the frame pressed against her chest. She chewed on her lip absentmindedly as her eyes searched his face. Her hand was soft when he wrapped his cold one around hers. He kissed her on the cheek softly and squeezed her hand. Ginny wrapped her free arm around his neck and kissed him deeply. Their tongues brushed and she smiled against his lips to stifle a moan.
"No kissing in the corridors. A prefect and head boy nonetheless," said Professor Dylan. The woman glared at Ginny and looked at Blaise with distaste. Of course she was the head of Slytherin house, but still.
Blaise gave the woman a glare that would have caused one of the students to recoil, but her expression softened somewhat. He pulled Ginny down the hall and ignored her barraging him to tell her how he'd gotten the frame. He left her in front of the Gryffindor common room. When he entered his room, he noticed someone small sitting at his desk. The candles flicked on and it was Dobby. Blaise breathed a sigh of relief as the rich wooden trunk flew out from underneath his neatly made bed. The trunk opened as he turned towards the window and stared at McGonagall pacing her office. She was so much like Dumbledore it was eerily disturbing. He pointed to one of the two new packs of dressing socks his mother had sent. The socks floated over to the elf sitting at the table that accepted them happily. The trunk shut and locked itself again before sliding back under the bed.
"Master Zabini is good with magic without his wand? Good when fighting nasty wizards."
"Have a nice Christmas," Blaise said as the creature hopped out of his room.
