Using one leg he pushed off from the wall until he was standing directly in front of Hermione, reaching out to shake her hand, moving along the line until he reached Luna. He lifted her hand to his mouth planting a kiss on it. "It will be a pleasure working with you." As he did so Blaise's grin turned into a snarl as he moved closer to Luna almost protectively, despite this Zacharias moved her hand to the crook of his arm to lead her away. Blaise went to shout after him, but Hermione just dragged him behind them, linking arms with him and patting his hand trying to calm him. Blaise just rolled his eyes and leant down to whisper to Hermione.
"Why choose him as Head Boy, he does not have one attractive quality. I mean, just look at him pawing at Luna." He sighed dejectedly at Hermione who had one eyebrow raised inquisitively.
"Oh its Luna now is it?" She asked cheekily, glancing towards the pair walking arm in front of her then back to Blaise who was composed, but had eyes flashing with jealousy. "Don't worry, I get what you mean. He's a slimy git and right now I'm all for ripping his arm off. But," She looked intently at Blaise indicating that he was to listen carefully to what she was saying, "McGonagall chose him for a reason so if we kick up a fuss now we will be the ones that suffer the consequences. All we can do is to go along with it and wait for him to show his true colours. In the mean time we can get him away from Luna, there is no way he is getting close enough to hurt her." The four heads had just about reached the kitchens and they slowed to allow Zacharias to tickle the pear on the portrait. As soon as he let go of Luna, Hermione grabbed her arm and pulled her away shouting "bathroom break" at the boys and smiling at Luna as they ran down the corridor. The two boys remained staring bemusedly down the corridor at the retreating rears of the girls. Suddenly Blaise turned to Zacharias pinning to the wall with his hand against his throat, the younger boy was no match for his strength and was left feet dangling making strangled choking noises. Blaise lowered his voice and slowly spoke into his left ear, "Keep your filthy hands off Luna, do you understand." He paused allowing Zacharias to nod as frantically as he could while being pinned to the wall, "Good, I am glad we understand each other." He growled menacingly as he dropped him to the floor and stood over him. "I think it would do you well to stay out of my way as well."
Blaise spun around as a hand landed on his shoulder, his protective instincts flaring and his wand raised. He was shocked to only see Draco stood behind him smirking.
"Up to your old tricks my friend? Haven't changed as much as you thought huh?" He laughed mockingly joining Blaise standing over Zacharias, "Well, well, well, little whiney Smith. What has the pimple faced prick done this time? He steal your stuff? Insult your Mum? Insult me? Hah! Gotta be a bit thick headed to do that!" Draco turned to Blaise expectantly and when he got no answer he turned on Zacharias, wand out stretched, levitating him until he was standing pressed against the wall. His hand grazed the wall close to Zacharias's neck and he continued his interrogation. "So, Smith. Wanna tell me what you could have done to my good friend to turn him in to such a savage that he would bruise your lovely neck here," He calmly spoke in a low tone while placing his left hand to the tip of Zacharias' adam's apple. Zacharias glanced over at Blaise with fear emulating from his entire being. At that point Blaise moved forward and disarmed Draco with a quick and unexpected silent charm, pushing him back a couple of feet.
"What the hell man! We were just having a bit of fun, can't we have fun anymore?" Draco reached out his hand to grab his wand back, but Blaise moved quickly and tucked it into his back jean pocket. Blaise indicated to Zacharias with his head for him to leave, the duo watching as he scuttled over to the portrait where he sidled through and shut the painting. Blaise sighed and turned to try and explain the situation to Draco.
"Look, Zacharias is the other head bo-". Before Blaise could even finish his sentence Draco had jumped in, clearly annoyed at the appointment of the Hufflepuff boy.
"You have got to be kidding me! That dickhead is worse than half of the Slytherins"
"I know, he was all over Looney and Hermione, I don't trust him. Just let me deal with him, you don't want to be caught fighting before school even starts, plus he can take points from you – I'm the head boy as well he can't threaten me."
"Fine. If that's what you want I'll keep my hands of the tosser." Draco begrudgingly agreed to Blaise request but it was clear that he was not happy with the decision, he hadn't had a good fight in months and Zacharias was asking for it. Their discussion came to an abrupt end when the two head girls rounded the corner chatting, until they saw the two men stood outside the kitchens. Hermione stormed towards them, pulling Blaise along and practically pushing him through the portrait muttering all the while.
"I can't believe you are still out here, what would McGonagall say about the Head Boy slacking off like that! You don't want to lose your position do you? That would be the worst thing in the world" Hermione trailed off, coming to a stop behind Blaise as she took in the sight of the kitchens. It was clear that the place had been up and running for some time, as the inhabitants of the castle would need to be fed, but it was by no means up to its usual standard. House elves were scurrying everywhere cooking and cleaning, moving around the pairs of volunteers helping to fix the room. A slight woman approached them with a floating board following her that looked as if it detailed the jobs that needed doing. Hermione saw that the two remaining jobs were working on the fireplace and helping to fix the spells on the dinner tables. Usually she would jump at the chance to help with wand work that was included in the set up of the food being transported to the great Hall, but she spied Zacharias working on one of the tables.
"Hello, you must be the remaining head students, nice to meet you I'm Lisa McKenzie I'm the supervisor for this level. For the next couple of hours you will be joining the teams here working on the kitchens before dinner." The four teenagers nodded and followed the woman as she led them through the kitchens. It was only then that Hermione noticed that the tables were not laid out as usual. Instead of four long house tables, the room was set out more like a regular dining hall with smaller tables of between six and eight scattered about. The heads table was the same at the end of the room, already being set for dinner that evening.
"Two of you will be working on this section of tables here with the other head boy and Miss Parkinson, and the other two will be working on the fireplace with a couple of house elves. Any preferences?" Hermione shared a look with Blaise as they both clearly wanted to be as far away from Zacharias as possible, but also wanted to keep Luna away from him. However before either of them could say anything Draco was signing himself and Blaise up to work on the fireplace.