Chapter 1: I believe in Santa
For quiet people who tend to keep their thoughts to themselves, sharing anything of a truly meaningful and personal nature feels like a confession. When something wonderful and more magical than you ever expected to experience happens to you, over and over, however, you can't help but share...or confess if it happens to be a little naughty at times.
In this chapter I'd like to confess to you exactly why I believe in Santa. No I've never seen him. No I don't believe he is a wizard as many do. I believe he is a Christmas Faerie of sorts whose wish is to spread joy, magic and new opportunities around the world at this particular time of year. Late December closes out the year, opening the way for the new year, and thus new beginnings.
Often opportunities offer themselves in the most casual of ways. Often they don't even appear to be what they truly are. When my friend Millicent Bulstrode asked me to help out with a project that, while extremely illegal and dangerous, promised to keep us safe from Voldemort, of course I was intrigued. The year was nineteen-ninety-seven, so as you can imagine, Voldemort was truly putting the pressure on the wizarding world. What a lot of people don't consider about Slytherins, is that we don't like to be controlled or told what to do by anyone.
Though enough chose to follow Voldemort, they CHOSE for one reason or another. For those of us who did not choose, being forced into his service wasn't an option we relished in the least. Having our choice taken wasn't in our nature to tolerate, so we sought to do something about it in true Slytherin fashion.
One might be surprised that such an amazing plan came to me via Millicent Bulstrode of all people, but don't be. Millie is probably the most cowardly person I know, but hey I'm not insulting her. She gets things done to protect herself.
In the summer of ninety-seven, she began dating a bloke about ten years older than the rest of us. A strapping German named Wolfgang Adler. He knew a lot of interesting dark magic and had a lot of valuable connections, so as he and Millie grew more serious I became friends with him.
I shouldn't call her Millie here because she may very well read this, and she strongly dislikes being called Millie to the point that whoever does it ends up getting hit, and she has a mean right hook. Come to think of it her left hook isn't bad either. It's just that Millicent is such a bother to say at times and Millie is simply easier.
So if you are reading this, MILLICENT, I am sorry, but I've had a few drinks and I don't feel like continuously writing MILLICENT when I could just write Millie and have done with it. You may be a bit of a fright, but don't forget who my mother is...and she trained me.
In case you lot aren't aware of who I am yet, the name is Blaise Zabini. My mother is renowned for killing seven of her husbands and getting away with it. Rather impressive considering she's only been married once and he's still alive, quite well, and up stairs sleeping in bed with her as I write.
All that is an entirely different story, though and I'm not going into it here so if you're curious, go and read Mrs. Zabini, the Black Widow's Secret, also uploaded here. It's good, if a bit insane, but that's just who my parents are, and there is no changing them. Anyway, now that I've reminded Millicent of why I am not to be trifled with, I can get on with this bloody confession. Oh don't worry, this time there is no blood.
It was near summer's end when Wolfgang and Millicent put their plan to me and a few others to break Gellert Grindelwald out of Nurmengard in case we needed more help against Voldemort. My hobby, aka passion aka pride in life is enchanting objects.
I love the intricacy of the magic involved, and I love being able to craft things that no one else can. I enjoy producing items that no one else has ever even considered. In doing this, I am creating children. I am bringing magic into the world just like greats such as the Peverell brothers or old Slytherin himself.
I am creating artifacts that will long outlive me and go on to be a valued treasure to others. At the point that this confession begins, though, I wasn't nearly as established and only a few friends were aware of my abilities and aspirations. I'd only made a few things including a protective spider amulet for myself that would alert me to any harmful magic being directed at me among other things. One of my friends, a fellow Slytherin a year ahead of me at Hogwarts, was so impressed that she paid me to make her a ring like my spider amulet, and word got out to a degree.
For this reason, it seemed natural to Millicent and Wolfgang to ask me to make an amulet that would dispel the protective wards that held Gellert Grindelwald in Nurmengard. Whoever went in to free him would wear this amulet. As I had no precise idea of the wards used to hold him, I made an amulet that simply unraveled any magic in its vicinity.
This wasn't simple so it took me a few months. I could've managed it in one, but I also had stupid classes at Hogwarts taking up aka wasting my time. The amulet was finished in early December, but Wolfgang wanted to wait for Christmas break to free Grindelwald because he believed the guards would be more lax over the holidays.
That sounded logical to me, and with Grindelwald being freed over the holidays, that meant I would get to meet him right away which of course I was eager to do. He'd accomplished many admirable magical feats in his time, after all, and I was certain history didn't know the half of them. Though I honestly knew little of the man himself, I was aware of his own ability with making enchanted items. As I never truly expected to meet anyone on my level in that field, the idea of talking shop with him was exciting. As little truly excites me, I was very much looking forward to the holidays.
In addition to my magic unraveling talisman to break through the wards that imprisoned Grindelwald, Wolfgang had another plan to ensure the man remained free. That was simply making certain no one even knew he'd escaped. Achieving this was actually easy. Wolfgang simply paid someone else to take Grindelwald's place.
That may sound dubious to you, but trust me, enough old men are glad to take a hefty payment that will provide for their family in exchange for spending their final years in prison. Enough may be willing but we only needed one, and Wolfgang found him with relative ease in East Germany. As house elves can apparate in and out even through the blocks at Hogwarts, I offered my family's elf to Wolfgang for getting Grindelwald out of Nurmengard and his replacement in.
I'm proud to say it all worked like...a charm! Or perhaps to be fair to Santa and share some of the credit, like a bit of Christmas magic. I would say it is astonishing that no one else thought to use the precise methods that we did to break Gellert Grindelwald out, but then again most people really don't use their brains well.
People don't like hearing that but it's never my goal to people please, and it's the truth. There was one more step in Wolfgang's plan to have Grindelwald willing and able to aid us against Voldemort if we ended up requiring such aid. A man old and defeated from fifty-three years in prison may not be the best fighter. This is not certain, but as Wolfgang had stumbled across a way to make him young and strong, he saw no reason to take the risk. No, not the philosopher's stone or anything similar. It was far darker and more illegal than that, but desperate times called for equally desperate measures.
The solution was called the draft of life. It was made by having someone willingly breathing their last breath into a bottle as they expired. The reason the draft is extremely illegal is that if the person is old and on their last legs, the life given won't last very long. The draft of life provides whoever takes it with the amount of years the person has left so if someone old wishes to be young again, a draft from someone else who is old won't get them very far.
For someone young enough to matter to give up their life, one must convince them to do so in ways that would surely be frowned upon in polite circles. So how can my friends and I live with ourselves after doing such a thing, you ask? Well there are ways to manage, but we didn't have to. Wolfgang bought the draft on the black market at a very illegal magical auction. Actually finding that draft was what gave him the idea to free Grindelwald from Nurmengard in the first place!
The draft is mixed with a potion that is of course rather tricky to make, so we asked none other than Severus Snape to help as he was the obvious choice. Of course he bitched and moaned about the illegalness and consequent risk, but as our goal was a worthy one, he did his part to see it carried out.
Once everything was ready, it was nearly Christmas and I was home from Hogwarts. My family's elf, Bramble, took the replacement old man to Nurmengard, and gave Gellert our proposition. As could be expected Grindelwald accepted at once. It was all accomplished in under three minutes. Bramble took Gellert directly to Wolfgang's manor where he was promptly given the draft of life.
When I met Gellert Grindelwald half an hour later he was young and beautiful. Slender with long blonde curls past his shoulders and laughing blue eyes with fire in them, at least to my mind. Gods I'd never looked at anyone and found it difficult to catch my breath, certainly never a man, but he was breath taking!
I'd arrived just in time for lunch. Wolfgang felt it pertinent to get sustenance into Gellert right away. He'd taken the draft of life on an empty stomach plus the prison food likely hadn't been the most nutritious. Several other dark wizards dined with us, including my own parents, Snape, Millicent and a few of Wolfgang's friends. All were eager to meet the great Grindelwald, but the blonde himself seemed a bit overwhelmed.
Not being much of a people person I could completely understand that. Later Gellert told me he was as introverted as I, which I found difficult to believe considering he'd led an army that would've literally changed the world had he not been taken down. As he said, and as I have come to understand, if one feels very strongly about a thing, he can talk about it with great enthusiasm rather as I am doing now. Being generally social and talking to people one on one, however, is an entirely different matter.
When I saw an empty seat beside Gellert at Wolfgang's large dining table, my heart leapt like a silly school girl, I am embarrassed to say. I smiled and introduced myself to Gellert. Later he told me he liked the way I just treated him like a person rather than a commodity, and that set him at ease. Where he was shy and withdrawn before I took a seat at his side, in my company he quickly became animated and conversive. He and I talked about various obscure branches of magic, both of us thrilled to find someone else who shared the same interest and level of understanding. I am told we were quite rude, murmuring to one another while everyone else was trying to have a meeting about Voldemort. I didn't care and still don't.
As the meal ended, Millicent commented that we were behaving like rude prats, then her Mum added that we even looked the same age. Whoever had given up the life force for the draft, had been very young, so Gellert had regained quite a substantial bit of his life. While at the time he and I found the fact we were likely the same age to be amusing, we now see it as another Christmas miracle. One more puzzle piece that fit for us so perfectly. One more star aligned with the rest in our sky of destiny as it were. One more reason to believe in Santa...but I get ahead of myself a bit.
During lunch, Gellert and I had come up with a few plans for items we wished to construct. Things that would definitely help to keep everyone safe against Voldemort. I asked Wolfgang if he minded putting me up for a few days so I could work with Gellert. Wolfgang had made it clear early on that he expected Gellert to remain with him until Voldemort was dead. He didn't know or trust Grindelwald and would not have his efforts wasted. Though I saw no reason Gellert would betray us, I didn't bother arguing with Wolfgang on the matter if I could just as easily work with Gellert there.
Wolfgang was more than willing to have me stay and work with Gellert. He wanted the protective enchanted items we would produce as much as anyone else, after all. I sent my house elf and parents off with a supply list and Gellert and I read and researched in Wolfgang's library while we waited for them to return.
Though Wolfgang was no enchanter, he had rare books on just about anything, enchantments included, so Gellert and I had plenty of reading material to keep us interested. My family was back with a large bag of supplies in less than an hour. They are ever efficient and resourceful. Gellert and I got to work in the guest room that Wolfgang had prepared for Gellert. Mine was to be next door, but I'd never end up using it.
We spread out our supplies and got to work. I'd never created an enchanted item with another person, but working with Gellert was amazing. With our combined magics, we were able to produce results five times faster than either of us could've alone and of course we were both excited and thrilled!
We'd just completed a new scrying mirror that could see any part of Hogwarts to give to Snape when Gellert said he needed a rest before we moved onto something else. It was then that I decided to make my move. I gave him that slow lazy grin of mine that the girls have always gone for and told him I knew something else we could do.
He brightened at once and asked what I had in mind so I kissed him. Apparently he wasn't expecting that, for those beautiful eyes of his widened in momentary surprise. That didn't hinder his eager response in the least. Needless to say we did not come down for dinner. We were far too busy exploring one another, body, mind, magic and spirit!
Here's another confession. I'd never felt romance before. Sure I'd shagged a few girls, but I easily get bored and no one ever impressed me deeply or for long. Not until Gellert Grindelwald, that is. He keeps impressing and enchanting me to this day, and it's been a few decades now, though we still look young and beautiful, rest assured. I want you to know that I believe in Santa because he gave me the love of my life that Christmas break back in Nineteen-ninety-seven. Gel believes in Santa because he freed him from Nurmengard, restored his youth, and gave him the love of his life that Christmas break back in nineteen-ninety-seven. You may say it was Wolfgang, Snape, Bramble and me, but Santa pulls the strings in mysterious ways, and don't ever doubt it.
If it seems a lot is covered here in far too little detail, there is a point to that. My goal in these confessions is to share tales of Christmas truth, and all else is less relevant. Everything is explained in much more depth in the full length novel that Gellert and I wrote about our lives called In The Dark, also uploaded here so do give it a read. It's spicy and full of thrills and intrigue, but it's all true nonetheless. What can I say, our lives are just interesting. Until my next confession, enjoy that Mistletoe with the one you love.