Okay, first of all if you are reading this and you have not yet finished reading the Half-Blood Prince (Quite frankly I don't know why you'd be reading this and not the book, but I just wanted to be on the safe side), this little author's note has major SPOILERS for the sixth book in it. If you don't want to read the spoilers, you can just scroll on down to the song and hopefully enjoy the chapter. As you are well aware of, I started this story before the release of the sixth book, so the story will not align entirely with the premise of the new book.
First of all, the character of Blaise Zabini was developed and you will clearly note that he is absolutely nothing like the character I created in this story. When I started this story I did not know that JK Rowling had said that Blaise was a boy. The only Blaise I had ever heard of was a girl, so I assumed the same in this case. Really, it doesn't matter, even after the character development in the HBP, Blaise still seems like a character that if unmentioned, really wouldn't have any affect on the story what so ever. I am just adding this note to prevent future reviews that say "You know Blaise is a boy..." or "Blaise wasn't mentioned having a brother...". Although on this note, I want to make one clarification, I'd like to thank anonymous for telling me that Blaise was a guy, otherwise I wouldn't have found out until about two a.m. on Saturday morning when I was reading that part of the book. And reviews really are so appreciated and wonderful, I love reading them; I just didn't want them pointing out repeatedly that Blaise was a boy and that I was really quite stupid to not have picked up on that after reading HBP. (Yes, Kate, after reading HBP, I did know Blaise was a boy, I'm not that slow!)
Secondly, Draco Malfoy's character has quite the adventure and twist of fate in this book and his new found behaviors change his character dramatically. When he is pressed with killing Dumbledore, he is unable to go through with it and he is extremely scared that something bad will happen to his mother. This new presented Draco does sort of align with the Draco in my story, Draco is shown to be able to love someone (okay, his mother, but still it shows Draco has some compassion like in my story) and his inability to turn to the Dark Side.
I have finished my story. Well, okay, I haven't finished the story but I had the plot drawn out and knew how the story would end when I started this story and I have no plans to change them. I am however still writing the story so small details from the sixth book could slip in, but nothing would be dramatic enough to change the ending. On this note, I am not saying that all of what happened in HBP won't happen in this story, I'm just saying that when I decided how to end this story, nothing from the sixth book was involved because obviously I hadn't read the sixth book when I started this story and any major plot twist that does happen is a result of sheer coincidence. I just quite frankly don't want to hear a review for my story that is simply going to tell me that my story doesn't quite match the book. I do however, still love reviews, even if they are to tell me that my idea for the story was dumb, my writing is poor, or that something in my story doesn't add up. Those reviews are constructive criticism and help me write better, informing me for the bazillionth time that my story doesn't follow the book is just telling me something that I already know and is not helping my writing. About half of this particular chaapter was written before I read HBP, and for now the only thing I think that will change with the story is the teachers. (i.e. Slughorn teaches potions, Snape teaches DADA)
On a final note, I just want to to thank you for taking the additional time to read my long-winded note and for hopefully taking the time to finish reading this chapter and for reviewing. I hope you enjoyed reading HBP as much as I did and I am sure you are hoping as much as I am that JK Rowling hurries up and publishes that seventh book.
All of us believe that this is not up to you
The fact of the matter is that it's up to me
How can we fake this anymore?
Turn our backs away and choose to just ignore
Some say its ignorance
It makes me feel some innocence
It takes away a part of me but I won't let go
Tell me why, can't you see it's not the way
When we all fall down it will be too late
Why is there no reason we can't change
When we all fall down who will take the blame
What will it take?
If nothing could ever be this real
A life unsatisfied that I could never feel
This future's not so bright
Some can't make the sacrifice
It's more than just black and white
And I won't follow……
No Reason by Sum 41
Blaise had been handed her punishment. Fifty points from Slytherin and an apology to Granger. McGonagall seemed to think that this was an awfully light punishment, but to any Slytherin, even for the outcast Slytherins, apologizing to Gryffindor was about one of the worst punishments that could be concocted; that and fraternizing with Hufflepuffs. Of course, Snape thought that the punishment for Hermione was too light as well, but McGonagall was firm in her stance that being whacked in the stomach with a bludger was punishment enough for whatever comments she made.
"So how did it go?" Draco asked, waiting outside the hospital wing for Blaise to return from making her apology.
"Fine." She answered, leading the way away from the dreary hospital wing.
"Fine?" Draco asked, catching up so that he was now walking along side her.
"Fine." She repeated, the corners of her mouth starting to twitch as if she wanted to smile.
"How is a conversation with Hermione Granger 'fine'?" he asked.
The twitch grew into a full on smile. "Well, she may have been asleep when I apologized."
Draco burst out laughing. "Are you serious?" he laughed even harder when Blaise nodded. "Why, we might just make a Slytherin out of you yet." He teased, Blaise playfully slapping him on the arm.
"Shut up or I'll hit you again." Blaise said, shaking her head, knowing that he knew that she was teasing him yet at the same time serious.
"Oh, I feel threatened," Draco laughed. "OW!"
Blaise smirked. "What can I say? I'm a girl of my word."
"I'll say." He muttered. Nearly two weeks had passed since that unfortunate incident that resulted in Hermione being hit in the stomach with a bludger, Seamus Finnegan messing up his elbow after falling to the ground, Draco having to carry Blaise off the field, and Blaise having to apologize to the most annoying girl, pardon Pansy Parkinson, in the school.
"Where is everyone?" Blaise asked when they reached the common room only to find it deserted with a mere glow in the fireplace.
"Zabini, it took you nearly four hours to apologize. Everyone else went to bed. It's nearly one in the morning. Were you hiding from her until she fell asleep?" Draco asked, only joking.
"Kinda." She answered, gracefully sitting down on the window seat. The window looked out over the big moonlit lake on the east side of the castle. She started out for a few seconds, clearly waiting for Draco to sit down next to her.
"I heard what she said. Was that why you hit her?" Draco whispered, finally asking the question he and Blaise both knew was inevitable and necessary.
She sighed and hugged her knees, her eyes focused on the lake the entire time. "I am not a Death Eater. I never will be."
Draco remained silent. It took so much to convince her talk, he wasn't about to interrupt her when she finally began to open up. "If you are that's your prerogative and I'm not about to convince you otherwise." She continued, sighing again. "Just know that I'm not a Death Eater. I am not a servant to Voldemort. My brother was never a servant to Voldemort. He was willing to die before becoming one."
"You-Know-Who killed your brother?" Draco asked, watching her watch the ripples in the lake.
"Voldemort, Draco. Voldemort." Blaise corrected him, her eyes finally focusing on him not the lake. "And yes, he did."
"Was Voldemort the reason you left after third year?" He asked, praying he wasn't tiptoeing on thin ice with her. It was hard to tell what Blaise considered crossing the line when talking to her. The more he talked to her, the harder and harder she became to read.
"Yes and no." Blaise answered, the green eyes once again shifting from Draco. "Blake wasn't the reason we left." She said, purposely failing to elaborate.
"Oh." He replied, remaining silent for what seemed like forever. "I don't want to be a Death Eater either." He added.
"Good. I didn't have to try and change your mind." Blaise said with a smirk.
"I thought you said it was my prerogative." Draco pointed out.
"I lied. My way is the only right way." She stated, dead serious.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing we agree."
"Yeah."
They remained silent for a few moments, Blaise watching a single snowy owl soaring across the night sky; its white feathers causing it to stand out against the dark clouds and dimming stars, Draco watching Blaise. He watched her eyes follow the owl across the forest, across the moon, skimming over the lake, soaring over the castle, making its way home.
He wondered if Blaise had a home. Of course she had a home, it wasn't like she lived at Hogwarts all the time, but was it like his home? Cold and lonely, the normally silent house punctuated by a few screaming matches and secretive plans formed between members of a particular dark society. Were her parents Death Eaters? Apart from the attempted murder of Hermione Granger, he really saw nothing in Blaise that made her a Slytherin. Was she a Slytherin like him? The reason behind being a Slytherin to prevent an explosion and disappointment from her parents? Was she destined to be a Death Eater too? But then there was that one question that would really distinguish the difference between the two of them. Was she brave enough to fight her destiny? He wasn't sure that he was. Not alone, anyway.
"You know, it's much more interesting to look out the window than to stare at me," Blaise teased, never removing her eyes from the window. Draco hated, yet admired, how she always seemed to know what was going on around her. He could tell she was going to be the type of mother children were annoyed with. You know the type, the ones with the eyes in the back of their heads. The ones that knew when you were daydreaming, not working on that potions report; the ones that knew you were the one who left the back door open that allowed the cat to escape, without ever even turning around. Those kind. Still great mums, just amazingly frustrating at times.
At that comment, Draco turned away, his face heating up, once again hating her for something. Blaise was so different from anyone else. Never had he teased and laughed like he did when he was with her. Never had he spent so much alone time with one person. Never had he been this close to one person. Naturally, Slytherins aren't group-people, they aren't touchy-feely, they aren't sappy; in other words they aren't Hufflepuffs. But with Blaise it was different. He had carried her several times, even sort of hugging her after the Hermione-Bludger Incident, as it would later be known as.
He waited a few seconds, staring out at the lake, before daring to look back at her. This time she had no comment, her head against the wall, her eyes glazed over as if she was in her own little world, her world of thoughts and secrets, a world Draco wondered if he was a part of. He took her dazed state to really look at her. Her dark coffee colored hair hung straight, about midway down her back. Though glazed over, her eyes were a brilliant emerald green that seemed only slightly clearer than the day he met her. Her skin was pale, adorned with a sprinkle of dark freckles. Her lips were tightly closed not in a smile, but not quite a frown, still giving the air of a sometimes saddened girl. This seemed to be her normal look. Lonely, closed mouth, pale cold skin, but brilliant green eyes that if you took a quick glance when she wasn't looking, had a distinct sparkle to them.
"You really don't support Voldemort?" She asked, still not blinking.
"I don't." He honestly answered, staring at the moonlight.
"I'll keep that in mind." She said softly with a tone that suggested to Draco that the thought of opening up to him may have, if only for an instant, crossed her mind.
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes longer, although it didn't really feel all that silent to Draco, he was sure Blaise could hear his heart pounding in his chest, it was that loud. But if she heard, she politely ignored it, just gazing out the window. "It's raining." She said, and sure enough the sky opened up and poured its contents out just as Blaise was starting to do with her heart.
Draco woke early the next morning to the sound of someone hammering. Still somewhat incoherent, it took him a second to realize that he had never made it to the dormitories the night before. He was sitting on the window seat, head against the window, but his late night conversation and observer was gone.
"Late night?" Joel asked, hammer in hand.
"Huh?" Draco asked, running his hand through his hair, trying to fix it.
"I came down twenty minutes ago and you were out." Joel commented, hopping over the common room sofa and plopping himself down.
"Have you seen Blaise?" Draco asked, unaware of the fact that Joel could perhaps take this comment the wrong way, as he obviously did.
"You were down here with Blaise all night?" Joel asked, his eyebrow raised in a true Slytherin fashion.
"Shut up!" Draco snapped, grumpily, after slowly catching on. "We were talking and I must've fallen asleep."
"You fell asleep while she was talking?" Joel laughed. "That's a sure way to win her over."
"We're just friends." Draco hissed.
"You'll be lucky if you're that if you fell asleep while she was talking." Joel snickered. "Dude, that's like relationship suicide."
"We had stopped talking and were just watching the rain….I think." Draco said, trying to recall what transpired him to fall asleep.
"Watching the rain? That sounds like such a girly thing to do." Joel replied.
"Hello? Did you not hear me? I was sitting with a girl!" Draco snapped. "And what's with the hammer?"
"I posted the quidditch team roster." He replied, pointing to the common room message board. Notes full of Gryffindor is for Losers! and Prefects Meeting: 7pm on the 13th and various others filled the board but right in the center was:
Slytherin Quidditich Roster:
Captain: Joel Pritchard, 7th year
Chasers: Joel Pritchard, 7th year
Clarissa Hawthorne, 7th year
Graham Pritchard, 3rd year
Seeker: Draco Malfoy, 6th year
Beaters: Jesse Green, 5th year
Blaise Zabini, 6th year
Keeper: Jamie Hart, 5th year
Quidditch Captain Roster
Gryffindor: Harry Potter, 6th year, Seeker
Hufflepuff: Eric Cadwallader, 7th year, Keeper
Ravenclaw: Cho Chang, 7th year, Seeker
Slytherin: Joel Pritchard, 7th year, Chaser
"Somebody made Cadwallader a captain?" Draco asked. "Oh, Eric, I was thinking Erin. I was going to say, Erin's only a fifth year, fifth years are never captains when they are older players."
"What do you think about our team?" Joel asked, looking for Draco's response. Since he received none, it was clear to him that Draco had not looked at it, because if Draco had read it, he surely would have had a response.
"BLAISE? She didn't even try out!" Draco pointed out.
"You don't want me on the team?" A voice behind him rang out.
"No, I mean, that's just got to be some kind of record or something. The only person that got on a quidditch team without trying out." Draco said, saving his butt.
"Nope, I'm not. Potter was picked for seeker without ever trying out." Blaise pointed out, plopping onto the sofa next to Joel.
"Potter's first for freaking everything." Draco muttered, hating the Boy Who Lived once again.
"Well, you're a beater. That's cool." Draco said.
Blaise looked at the watch fastened around her right wrist and stood up, claiming she had something to do. Draco didn't find her until much later that evening as he was finishing up his dinner when she came dashing into the Great Hall with only ten minutes of dinnertime left.
"Where have you been?" he asked, knowing very well that two pairs of eyes, besides his, were focused on the green eyed, out of breath girl.
"Bugger off and listen to someone else's conversation." Blaise snapped at Pansy and Millicent. Millicent tried to argue that she wasn't listening, but Pansy didn't give a damn whether or not Blaise knew that she was eavesdropping. "I'm thirsty." Blaise said to Draco, picking up his glass and sipping from up.
"Of course, you can have some of mine," he muttered, but only teasing. Blaise, knowing this, gave no response other than the downing of Draco's beverage.
"Chocolate milk?" Blaise asked, one eyebrow raised. "The choice beverage of six year olds?"
"Hey," Draco said defending himself. "I don't want to grow up and become a caffeine addict like you yet."
"I am not a caffeine addict." Blaise retorted, taking a new cup from the center of table and pouring whatever was in the pitcher into it.
"Says the girl that drinks coffee every chance she gets."
"I do no-" Blaise stopped, becoming aware that she was holding a mug of coffee.
"Oh look, who was right. I was right and Blaise Zabini was wrong. This has been the very day I've been waiting for-" He stopped short, noticing that Blaise was not paying the slightest bit of attention to him.
"You know that your lack of annoyed-ness is really spoiling my gloating." Draco muttered.
"Huh? What?" Blaise asked, no longer focusing on whatever was going on at the Gryffindor table.
"Never mind." He replied, looking down at his half eaten sandwich rather than at her.
" 'kay " She said absentmindedly.
"So……quidditch?" He said, phrasing it more like a question, although he really didn't have one. He just wanted to fill the awkward silence.
"Yeah!" Blaise said, her eyes lighting up. "I meant to ask you if you wanted to go flying later tonight. I'm a little rusty."
"Sure." Draco said, glad the silence was over.
"Great. I'll meet you at the quidditch pitch at seven thirty, 'kay?" She said, barely waiting for him to answer her with a nod of the head. She snatched her books off the bench next to her and took off in a mad dart out of the hall leaving him with two half empty glasses, one of chocolate milk and one of coffee.
"So, where'd your new best buddy go?" A shrill voice behind him asked, the voice's hand clamping him on the shoulder.
"Go away," he muttered, quite frankly not having the enthusiasm to deal with Pansy Parkinson at the moment.
"You know, you've really changed." Pansy shouted as he walked away. A few of the neighboring Ravenclaws turned to stare. Draco recognized one; Ginny Weasley's strange friend, Luna Lovegood. "And that is not a good thing."
Draco kept walking, now slightly annoyed with the knowledge that Pansy and the Ravenclaws were staring.
"Are you even listening to me?" Pansy asked, a furious note in her voice.
Draco answered her question for her, his response was a mere disappearance around the corner of the Great Hall, out of sight.
"Change isn't always bad you know." A different voice said. Luna Lovegood's voice to be exact. Draco couldn't ever remember hearing her talk. All he could think about was the fact that she used to wear radishes as earrings. Talk about weird.
"Where did you come from?" Draco asked, now realizing that she instantly appeared at his side and he was sure that he saw her still sitting at the Ravenclaw table when he left the Great Hall. She wasn't out of breath, she couldn't have run.
"Do you really want me to explain it to you?" She asked him, with a smirk that suggested that she was a little more clued in than she led people to believe.
"Um, no, that's quite all right." Draco replied, a little taken back by the unusually blunt girl.
"Change isn't always bad." She repeated, not at all shy about talking to a stranger.
"Do you even know me?" He asked, pretty much ignoring her comments.
"I don't know about you. But I know you." She explained.
"Well, that just clears it up." Draco muttered under his breath.
"I know that you don't quite understand why you are changing your ways. I know that you aren't sure if it's a good thing or not. I know that you hold many secrets, secrets that you don't want anyone to know yet at the same time you are dying to tell someone." She said, hugging her book to her chest. Draco noted that her earrings actually seemed normal; a pair of turquoise dangling earrings.
"And how did you become an expert at reading people?" Draco asked, subtly admitting that everything she said was true.
"It's in the eyes. You can always sense secrets in the eyes." She said, looking him directly in the eyes. Draco tensed up at hearing these words. They were the words he thought when he first met Blaise. Her eyes held secrets. Luna's eyes held secrets and now he knew that his eyes held secrets.
"People notice change." Luna told him, shaking her head, her earrings jangling. Was that her way of changing? Her earrings?
"Yeah, they do." He agreed, shaking his head. Was he actually talking to a Ravenclaw and not minding it? Weird.
"LUNA!"
Both Draco and Luna turned around to see Ginny Weasley running towards them, her book bag hitting her leg with each step she took."Ouch, ouch, Luna, you won't believe what happened- Malfoy?"
Clearly, she had only just noticed that he was standing there with her now radish-free friend. But she didn't say his name like the rest of the Dream Team did. She didn't say it to be mean or insuitiating, she was just calling him by his name. Weird.
"Nice to meet you Malfoy," Luna said, turning and extending her hand. Draco shook it, completely bewildered.
"What are you two doing?" Ginny asked.
"Discussing change." Luna answered before Draco could. "We decided we like it."
Ginny looked at Draco, giving him a look that clearly suggested that even though Luna was her friend she still did not understand some of her ways. Draco just shrugged.
"Apparently we like change." Draco replied, more to Ginny than to Luna because by now Luna seemed to have drifted away from her insightful self back to her day dreaming self. Change is a slow process.
"Well, your choice of conversationalists certainly is a change." Ginny commented, clearly still a little confused about the whole situation.
"Yeah, she's cool" Draco answered honestly.
"Well, I'll be off now. Promised to show Neville the latest article so he would learn that Hermione Granger isn't always right. The Crumple Horned Snorkack is real!" Luna said, not really waiting for a response before darting off down the hall towards the forgetful boy.
"Well, that comment right there just earns her way more cool points." Draco said, causing Ginny to laugh. He hadn't meant to, but it was nice. Wait, did he say it was nice?
"I have to admit that I would've predicted that you'd be friends with Ron before you'd be chatting with Luna."
"Oh, you didn't hear? I'm on my way to meet him for tea," Draco smirked, Ginny laughed a little and then seemed to question why she was enjoying this conversation just the way Draco was questioning himself.
The two remained in awkward silence for a few seconds before they both tried to break the uncomfortableness by talking rather than just running away, "Quidditch?" they both asked in unison.
The laughed awkwardly. Ginny tucked a piece of fiery red hair behind her ear, "Chaser." She answered, nodding her head.
"Seeker."
"I figured that." Ginny replied quickly. Why was he sticking around to talk to her? Both of them clearly knew that this was an uncomfortable situation, yet neither one was willing to be the one to break away They weren't arguing, they weren't hating each other verbally, so it wasn't like either wasn't leaving because they didn't want to be the one to run scared from a fight. So, they kept walking, they kept talking, unsure of what was holding them together, unsure of why they couldn't seem to part.
"Well, I'm headed down this way." Draco said when the pair reached an intersection of the long lonely halls.
Ginny's face blushed, but only the tiniest bit. "So am I," She replied rather softly for her,both of them noting that their plan to separate didn't work.
"Oh, well, let's keep going then." Draco answered, slightly embarrassed.
Draco cast a glance at Ginny out of the corner of his eye. She was staring at her knees, clearly trying to avoid her bag from hitting them; she didn't want to wince in pain in front of him. He could understand that; no one liked to show even the slightest sign of weakness. She was strikingly beautiful without trying; porcelain skin marked only by freckles, warm brown sparkling eyes with dark lashes, rather tall and athletically fit, and fiery red hair pulled in a ponytail with a green ribbon. Green, an interesting choice of color on her part...
"Green?" He asked, motioning to her ribbon.
Ginny looked up as if she could see it, when it would be obvious to even Crabbe and Goyle that if you looked up, you'd still be unable to see the back of your head. "Oh," She said, it suddenly dawning on her that this color of ribbon could be deemed traitorous to her own house. "It matches my favorite sweater."
"Oh."
"So, why are we talking?" Ginny asked, kind of laughing.
"Um," Draco replied, straining to remember why. "Luna."
"Ah, Luna." Ginny said.
"She's...uh, different." Draco said, not quite sure why other than to keep the silence from returning.
"That's one way to describe her." Ginny replied. "How did you start talking to her?"
"She just appeared right next to me, babbling that change wasn't bad after Pansy shouted that I changed!" Draco said, eager to actually have something to say, making this conversation less painful.
"She doesn't talk a lot, but when she does it's normally pretty insightful." Ginny said, nodding. "Or pretty stupid. Stupid or insightful, never in between."
"So, I've noticed."
"I mean, the whole Crumple Horned Snorkack thing-"
"-what exactly is a Crumple Horned Snorkack?"
"I have no idea! Something that her father thinks exists and that she is dead set on proving to Hermione, who of course, love her to death, but is a complete skeptic when it comes to anything without documented proof from a credited book."
"I think I have heard something of this though, I just never knew what it was-"
"Ever read the Quibbler?"
"LIke I'd willing admit something as embarrassing as that." Draco smirked, barely noticing the now fast paced flow of their conversation, it was coming, well...naturally.
"Well, the name of the editor is Lovegood-"
"No! Loony is an editor?"
Ginny looked like she was going to explode with laughter. "You cannot possibly be that stupid."
"Luna's not the editor? But you said Lovego- oh. Her father is."
"Okay, Luna isn't even that blonde." Ginny said, still laughing.
"Wait, I just made a mistake. I wasn't thi-" He stopped, abruptly when Ginny stopped laughing and walking. He looked at her and then followed her gaze straight to Dean Thomas.
Dean was standing there, arms folded over his chest, just staring at the pair with an icy glare. The strap of his messenger bag crossed directly over the Gryffindor patch on his vest, his dark eyes lingered on the Slytherin patch on Draco's cloak. This was not going to be good.
"Dean!" Ginny called, leaving Draco's side and running over to Dean, placing her hands on his arm and kissing him. So, she had a boyfriend. Draco didn't find this information surprising. She was pretty and witty and popular. An ideal girlfriend. Not for someone like him, of course, he certainly wasn't thinking that, it's just- she was pretty.
Dean didn't respond to Ginny's kiss. He kept looking between Draco and Ginny, as if trying to decide who to accuse first. Ginny took his hand and tried to pull him down the intersecting hall, but Dean remained in his place in front of the outside entrance to the path to the quidditch pitch. The quidditch pitch where Draco was supposed to be meeting Blaise. Where was she?
Ginny tried to make Dean move again. His eyes were now fixed on Draco, his cold calculating eyes. In fact, Dean Thomas looked downright murderous. "Deeaann..." Ginny hissed, trying to break his stare. She was unsuccessful, but Blaise was not.
"Draco! You left your broom in your dorm but I brought it." Blaise said to him, holding two sleek racing brroms. "What are you doing?" She asked, before noticing the Gryffindors, the red haired girl and the red faced boy. "Hello." She added after noticing them when Draco didn't reply.
Dean grumbled something under his breath and with Ginny still attached to his hand, he rounded the corner where the four stood. "What were you doing with him?" Draco heard Dean say as soon as they started walking. "In case you didn't notice that's Malfoy."
"I noticed, Dean." Ginny huffed.
"He's a Slytherin. And a Malfoy. Malfoy is in Slytherin. Do you not realize that? And what's with this ribbon?" Dean interrogated her. Blaise and Draco stood still in their places, unable to not hear Dean's accusations. He was as loud as he was upset. In other words, he was shouting.
"Shuh!" Ginny said, looking at him. "We were just talking."
"You were talking to MALFOY?" Dean harped, stopping in his tracks. The couple seemed to have forgotten the pair of Slytherins that were still in earshot, only a few yards away. Both Blaise and Draco knew that moving at this point would draw unwanted attention upon themselves, perhaps coaxing an explosion from Dean. Draco always thought that Seamus Finnegan, Dean's best friend, was the fiery, hot-headed one of the pair, but clearly the Gryffindors were two of a kind.
"So was Luna!" Ginny said as if this made all the difference. Draco doubted that this comment would calm Dean. He doubted a heavy dose of Calming Potion would calm Dean.
"You were with Malfoy! Ron would agree with me when I say he's no good!"
"You know, you didn't value Ron's opinion too much last week when you kissed me good morning at breakfast."
"That was different."
"Really? 'Cause I think my brother was the same person last week that he is today."
"It was different and you know it. You're my girlfriend, I'm allowed to kiss you. Ron was being stupid. This is you being stupid. Fraternizing with a git like Malfoy. STUPID!"
"I am being stupid? Way to talk to "you're girlfriend"!" Ginny hissed, no longer worried about quieting Dean. "I was just talking to him! It's not like we're friends! We were just talking!"
The last comment hit Draco. Not friends? Well of course not, he realized after thinking about it. He didn't even know why this comment hit him like it did. It wasn't a blow really, it just caught his attention. Really. Okay, now he was ready to drop it. Really.
"Fine." Dean grumbled and put his arm around her shoulder, but it was quite obvious that neither was particularly happy with the other.
Ginny sighed and adjusted her bag as it was still hitting her when she walked. Dean took the bag and the two disappeared up the staircase.
Blaise glanced at him as if to ask how she should even begin to try and understand what she had just witnessed.
"So.." she started to say.
"Thanks," Draco said, taking his sleek black and silver broom out of her hand.
"No problem." She answered. "So, let me get this straight - you were talking to Ginny Weasley?"
Draco opened the door to the outside. It was chilly, the air was crisp and brisk; Draco loved the autumn air. "Well, I was talking to Luna and then Ginny came-"
"You were talking to Luna?" Blaise asked with a smile. "Lovegood?"
"Do you know any other Luna?" He retorted. "Anyway, Pansy told me that I had changed and then Luna appeared out of nowhere, babbling about how change was a good thing and then Ginny showed up to talk to Luna and then Luna left and I was stuck with Ginny and we were walking cause I had to meet you here and she was headed in the same direction when we ran into Dean and you saw the rest."
"So, you just spent the evening walking around with one girl after another, did you?" Blaise teased. "First a Ravenclaw, then a Gryffindor, now a Slytherin. When is your date with a Hufflepuff?"
"Funny. Not." Draco said, opening the door to the pitch.
"Ooh, is it Hannah Abbott, she's cute, huh?" Blaise laughed. "Maybe Susan Bones?"
"All right, I get it, very cute," Draco replied, but Blaise wasn't finished.
"Oh, how 'bout Erin Cadwallader? She likes quidditch, you have something in common-"
"Has anyone ever told you that you are annoying?"
"Oh, I know it's Rose Zeller!"
"Who?"
"Rose Zeller: petite girl, dark brown hair, blue eyes, hyper, second year."
"You think I'd have a date with a second year?"
"Well, you two would have the same maturity level..."
"Very funny, Zabini, very funny."
"Thank you, I'll be here all week..."
And their witty banter continued well into dusk. They flew around the pitch several times and then tossed the quaffle around, Draco realizing that he was quite glad that he hadn't chosen to try out for chaser; it was quite hard to catch the quaffle and stay on the broom. Later, they released one of the bludgers and batted it back and forth, Blaise, a considerably better player than Draco.
"So how did you manage it?" Draco asked, smacking the bludger away after it was a little too close for comfort.
"Manage what?" Blaise asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The wind picked up and blew it again. A storm was brewing. The only question was when it would hit. It was too early to tell.
"Becoming beater." Draco asked.
"Well, Joel saw me whack that bludger at Granger, so that pretty much proved I could player beater." Blaise said, giving Draco a look for even having to ask.
"I know that, I meant how did you get away with becoming a beater? Surely, there is a rule against injuring guilty spectators?" He asked.
"On a mere technicality. I wasn't on the quidditch team when I hurt her, so Madam Hooch couldn't penalize me for a quidditch infraction. If I had been on the team, I would have been suspended from the team for at least a year, maybe longer."
"There's a loophole in every law."
"Isn't that what we all count on?"
"Well, I'm glad you're on the team."
"Me too. McGonagall wasn't though. She tried to overturn Joel's ruling but Madam Hooch said since I wasn't a quidditch player it was up to the Head of House and Snape said I could play just so he could see the look on McGonagall's face."
"I'm sure Snape let you play because you deserve to, not because he simply wanted to piss McGonagall off."
"Have you been to our DADA class? Snape doesn't like me." Blaise pointed out, aiming the bludger at the center hoop. It contacted it and a loud metal clang rang out.
"He just doesn't call on you much."
"Draco,he avoids me like you avoid muggles."
"Well, muggles are just annoying."
"Believe me. He doesn't like me."
"Why?"
At this Blaise remained silent, it seemingly dawned upon her that she should have dropped the issue had she wanted to avoid answering the questioning. It was too late now. The sky rumbled overhead.
"Promise, you won't tell anyone anything I say?" She asked, placing the bludger back in the box and then kicked off the ground again to about ten feet above where Draco was hovering.
"Well, I do have this date with a Hufflepuff later and if we run out of coversation topics - okay, I get it, not the time, yeah, I promise."
"My parents are pretty much some of Voldemort's closest supporters. They always have been. It's just they've never been connected with anything, so we didn't really have any trouble until a few years ago." She stopped to take a breath.
"I'm not entirely sure of what all transpired between them, but my parents and Snape never got along. My mother said he wasn't to be trusted. She said that he was too close to Dumbledore. Now, Voldemort trusts him, so Voldemort didn't like hearing the my mother doesn't trust Snape, implying that she doesn't trust him in a way. My parents quickly explained that this wasn't what they meant and they tried to defend themselves. Snape is good at Occulmency. Voldemort is good at Occulmency. But Dumbledore is the best at Occulmency. She pointed out that Dumbledore would know, Dumbledore always knows. Snape tried to say that Dumbledore always gives people a second chance, at which point my mother said he only got that second chance because he denied that he was involved with Voldemort, something she and my father had never done."
"That really must've upset him." Draco said, amazed at how much Blaise seemed to know. She gave the impression that she wasn't actually present at this argument, so someone must have told her, probably her mother. Which then occured to Draco that her mother would have only told her if she trusted her because she thought they were on the same side. Which means that Blaise was able to fool her mother, a highly powerful Dark Witch. If Blaise's mother had spoken directly with Voldemort before his return to power, then the Zabinis really were among the strongest, darkest of them all. And Blaise could fool them, making her perhaps, even stronger than both of them?
"Yeah. They didn't really talk unless they had to. Then the whole thing with Sorcerer's Stone. Snape had ample amounts of time to steal that stone and yet he never did. My parents questioned his motives again, convincing some of the other Death Eaters that they were right. If they wanted Voldemort back to power they would have to do something. So my mother mentioned the diary. Then they needed to choose a target."
"Ginny Weasley." Draco whispered, so drawn in to Blaise's story. She knew so many more details than him; it was like he was there.
"That's the one. They spents weeks deliberating. Your father was involved too. She was perfect. Voldemort was quite happy when my mother told him. What better a person to open the chamber than the Heir of Gryffindor? Of course, I'm not sure Ginny knows, I know it took our parents a long time to figure out exactly who was a descendent to the founders and who was an heir, because they are very different things. Apparently, with whatever information they found, they had little doubt that Ginny was indeed at least strongly connected to Grodic Gryffindor. Something about her being heir; she was special. I don't remember all the details, I was twelve, but anyway she was an heir not just a descendent because of her powers. They agreed that something was to be said about her being the only female Weasley in many, many generations. That and she was pure-blood and my mother said she could just see it in her. And that I think is the most powerful information yet. My mother has always had a gift for being able to point out the strong wizards and witches even when they aren't demonstrating their powers. Something about their auras."
Blaise paused for a second. The sky rumbled again. "Anyway, I'm getting off topic. They were thrilled with the idea of bringing Voldemort to life via this book. My parents were favs again. Snape was supposed to slip Ginny the book, he was the Death Eater with the easiest opportunity. Just slip it into her school bag during class. Easy enough. Well, he forgot the book. Left it at your manor. Your father ended up finding an opportunity to give it to her, but the fact that Snape forgot the most important piece of the plan, really alerted my mother."
"That's why Father came to Diagon Alley that day." Draco said, now realizing why his father came on a trip that was usually reserved for just him and his mother.
"Maybe" Blaise replied, swallowing nervously. "When the plan fell through, Voldemort was really weak. Some Death Eaters blamed Snape, twice now plans at Hogwarts had failed when he was at Hogwarts 24/7. My mother was the one who led the protest. They wanted a different spy for Hogwarts. My mother argued that Snape couldn't be trusted. He had obivous connections to the Death Eaters and yet Dumbledore trusted him to teach? She thought they were being played. Snape told them very little information about Dumbledore and this Order thing, and whatever he did tell them was rather useless apparently. My mother wanted him to resign as potions master. My parents have never been accused, formally or informally, of being Death Eaters unlike Snape. So, it was their reasoning that if Snape resigned, my mother could apply for the job as potions master. Dumbledore would have no reason not to trust her. Snape didn't want to. He swore that he was loyal. Of course, this wasn't enough for my parents."
The sky roared, the winds picked up. Blaise lowered her broom, so she was closer to the ground. It was getting harder to stay on the broom. Draco wanted to suggest going inside but he knew that if he mentioned it now, Blaise might not finish opening up, she might think bettter of it and once again leave him in the dark. He lowered his altitude to match hers. "By that time, the only other open staff position had been filled. They couldn't use an adult. They needed a student. I heard these deliberations by eavesdropping. The ones that didn't trust Snape, Voldemort slowly going to this group but not there, were in my house talking, all of the children of death eaters potential choices. They ruled out most of them rather quickly, Claire Colt, Corrine's older sister was loyal but cracked under even the mention of torture, Emile Hershey had an accident with a memory charm when he was little, his parents bewitched him after he witnessed a murder on their part and has been extremely forgetful ever since. Lance Claiborne tended to stray from following procedure; Audrey Lee's parents' loyalty was questionable at best; Crabbe and Goyle are too stupid to actually notice details; Rachel Henson tends to talk to much if you know what I mean; Marcus Flint's loyalty can be bought, by either side, Clarissa Hawthorne is a little too blonde to get some things; Joel Pritchard's admiration of quidditch captain Flint could be risky, they thought he might let details slip for a spot on the team and a recommendation as captain for the next year. So that left five choices."
"Five?" Draco repeated, unable to think of even one.
"Five." Blaise said. "Phoenix Sommer, a second year at the time, Leonardo Taylor, a first year, Blake, a sixth year, Me, a third year, and you."
"Me?"
"You."
"Wow." This was the first time he had heard of this.
"Well, quite frankly if your child was chosen as important enough to be a spy for Voldemort, then that must be something. I remember Leonardo's dad and Phoenix's dad practically screaming that their child would be better, the fighting almost become messy."
"They decided on Blake, didn't they?" Draco asked, knowing the answer.
Blaise shook her head. "They decided on me. My mother thought I was more trustworthy than Blake. Leonardo was too young, he knew nothing of the school. Phoenix was more interested in boys and beauty potions than anything that remotely resembled work. It came down to me or you. They suspected that Dumbledore would be less suspicious of me because he was less suspicious of my parents. At the time, I really didn't have any issues with it, I was invisible as it was, it shouldn't have been too hard to sneak around unnoticed. But Blake wouldn't let me do it. He said it was wrong, it was sick how my parents just followed Voldemort's words like he was a god. He wasn't going to do it and he wasn't going to let me either. Blake was my best friend. The person I trusted most in the whole world. If he said it was wrong, then I believed him. He knew of Voldemort's plans to rise again. And his mistake was that he didn't hide it. He threatened to tell the whole world because he wasn't going to be labeled as a 'mindless death eater'. My parents tried to silence him but Voldemort learned that he knew. Voldemort was furious that his Death Eaters weren't being secretive and secure enough in their discussions and plans. Then Blake made some comment about knowing secrets about Voldemort, something that not even all of his Death Eaters knew, after all, he had not officially come back yet because he did not have a body. Only select Death Eaters, the few that could be entirely trusted, could hear his voice. Some guy named Worm something or other made sure of that. Anyway, Blake had apparently told him that he knew about the Triwizard Tournament and would foil the plan, he would be the school champion and prevent him from coming back. Wormtail killed him on Voldemort's order."
The tears were streaming down Blaise's face at this point but she continued on. "My parents now had to do some serious butt kissing to make up for Blake. They didn't mention him ever again, he was erased. Their plans for me as a spy were dropped. They began to focus on you instead, but clearly nothing ever came of it. That summer, my father announced that we had to move, he had a new job. He was sent to look for missing Death Eater suspected wizards for the Ministry. I didn't go back to Hogwarts, my parents were still embarrassed by the Blake incident. The Ministry said that I could stay with them on the grounds that I was still traumatized about my brother's "suicide" and they wanted to keep an eye on me. LIke Blake would've wasted his life by committing suicide. Some of the wizards he found were sent to Voldemort, some went to the Ministry after their minds were wiped clean of Voldemort related information. After they found all that were suspected to be in North America, we came back to Ireland. The Ministry now deemed me okay to attend school, so here I am."
The tears were now heavier. Draco pulled her into a hug as the sky opended up and poured out it's contents just as Blaise had done with her heart. They both just stood there, soaking in the details, details which could potentially drown them.
Thank you so much for reading!
Special Thanks to:
Sao & Anni: I'm glad that you think it is believable. I mean, I didn't think there would be too many Slytherins, but I didn't want to go introducing too many new characters that weren't really relevant to the plot. Thanks so much for reading this story too!
Dolface456: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!
Anonymous: Thank you for that bit of information. I had no idea! I just knew of a girl named Blaise so I assumed. You know what they say when you assume...anyway, thanks for reading!
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Preppy in Pink