A/N: So sorry about the delay last week. I actually did try and post the chapter several times on Monday and Tuesday. But was doing that weird "server overload" thing that it does so I couldn't log in. Thanks so much for the reminder BTW and I'll try not to let that happen if I can.
Apart from that, here we go. The beginning of the great Yule Ball arc(:snickers: Yeah right. "great" my…:grin:).
Well, whatever was wrong with her it would seem Malfoy handled it all nicely. I hope this lasts, for both of their sakes. Draco needs stirring up and Lex needs someone to take care of her… Blaise grinned. Though she'd kill me for saying so.
"Hey Zabini." Caroline Stevens, a startlingly blonde seventh year Ravenclaw walked over to him. He eyed her slowly then decided to let his grin stay.
"Caroline. What can I do for you?" he did his usual half-bow glancing longingly at the open door to Ancient Runes only a few steps past her.
"Tell me Zabini," she offered him a look he knew just a little too well. "do you have any plans for after the Yule Ball?"
At least, he thought, she remembers enough to not expect me to actually take her to the Ball. "I don't, now that you mention it. Why?"
Her eyes flashed lightly. She knew very well he was playing with her. "Would you like some?"
He laughed. "We'll see. I don't have any plans after class, let's start there."
Caroline smiled. "Sure, Zabini. You know how to find me."
"And I always do." He stepped lightly around her and walked into class. As he took his seat Blaise chuckled slightly. Later would be a pleasant diversion, and it had been almost a week for him.
"Welcome back Mr Zabini." Professor Jackson said. "And how did your research go?"
Blaise cast a look around and, seeing that no one else had yet arrived, opened up about his project. Well, not so much a project like Alex's, more he just wanted to know. "Pretty well so far sir. The books you recommended helped a great deal. I never knew that the codes Julius Caesar used during his rule were actually the basis for our current Alpha Rune set."
"In a rather abstract way, Zabini. It was the rhythm of those codings that got used, not the actual codes themselves. "
He frowned. "But the style of writing, at least the writing tools and the spiral form are both greatly present in both."
"Yes but Caesar got those from some of the Greek art we'll be covering after Christmas break, who, in their turn, probably got some of their inspiration from Babylon."
Blaise felt that shivery goodness begin to tingle in the back of his brain. All this information to know and this was just from the Alpha set. There were more than enough Sets to keep him busy for the rest of his life.
And it wasn't so much the power of the knowledge, for how a Rune came into being did not better allow a person the use of it. It was a whole different thing to learn how to use the Runes, and Blaise was neck deep in that as well, but this, this was fun!
He grinned openly, obviously shocking the heck out of his Professor, but them the rest of the class was trickling into the cool room and he could say nothing. Blaise turned his attentions to other things as he waited for the lesson to start, namely, where the heck was Alex? She was in this class too.
Blaise sighed. It didn't really matter, he could always just go over the lesson with her later...which was exactly what she was counting on he knew. Sighing lightly he let his mind drift.
It suddenly struck him that the room they were in was awfully bright considering it was situated entirely within the castle and had no windows. The only light source was a chandeliers made of tarnished brass hanging above their heads, but even that shouldn't giving off this much light?
Was it a Runes thing? Or would that mess up the spells taught here? And if it wasn't then was it just another part of the castle's legendary magics?
Blaise...decided to find out. There was a spell he knew, one he was actually supposed to know, but one he wasn't supposed to be using in this class right now. It was supposed to help you spot magical traps but it should give him a clear view of the Runes being used in the room if there were any.
"Alright class. Let's get started." The Professor move to the front of the room and tapped the black board. A series of letters and page numbers scrolled slowly up front the chalk-holder at the bottom. "Beginning where we left off at the end of Thursday's class, please turn to page 215 of you main text and the diagrams on 476 to 480 in the Addendum of Rune Technology."
Blaise let his eyes drift half shut, calming his mind and pulling up the memory of that Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"As you can tell, these formations cover both the Alpha and Gamma sets but, as most of you have no practical knowledge of anything beyond Alpha and certainly not to the level of Gamma, we'll be ignoring that set. That would make it the dark red lines on your diagrams that you'll be ignoring. Now then, who can tell me…"
He lost track of the lesson as the appropriate words found their place into his head. Videor…
"So the word it sounds like isn't anywhere close to the actual use/definition of the rune. Very good Jordan…."
Veneficus…
"…I want you all to keep that in mind as you continue to study these Runes. This particular sub-grouping was created, or discovered if you will, by a one Marcus Vinvenn…."
Absconditus…
"…A notoriously paranoid roman he was, and that's not just hearsay, recently researchers have uncovered some of his original journals."
Videor.
"But I digress. My apologies students. The point, as I usually tend to have one, is that these particular runes are of the more twisted and confusing variety so please try and not take them at face value."
Blaise was in shock, and not just the surprised kind. He quite literally couldn't pull his eyes from the glowing designs currently etching themselves forever into his brain.
The seemingly random patterns of lines, dots, dashes, curls and letters of various languages rippled slowly.
Idly he wondered why his eyeballs weren't burning as he certainly was blinking. But it was just magical light, not real light. Maybe that was it.
But, still not blinking, he noticed something else. The colors were different. And while yes, most of it was the gold people commonly associated with magic the gold itself ranged from the palest of shimmers to the rich fullness of the metal to a dark dull kind almost bronze. And beyond…under…around? That were the other colors. A tiny hint of blue on that window, fluttering slightly in his vision as if by wings. A deep undercurrent of browns lacing the stone of the castle, solid and unmoving. And, in the far corner, almost directly around an empty desk beside him, was a dark purple-ish red.
The runes written in that last…Blaise swallowed. They seemed to pulse in time with his breathing. In fact, as he looked on, the color itself seemed to move and flow in his vision. It was mesmerizing.
Quiet.
Calm.
Powerful.
Alluring.
Unending………….
"F…fini…"
………….he was drowning quietly. It was really quite pleasant.
"Finite Incantatem!"
"Blaise?" Professor Jones looked over inquiringly.
Blaise himself was discovering that, at some point, he had, in fact, stopped breathing.
"Did you say something?"
"No sir." He covered smoothly. "Just a cough, and he proceeded to cough again to prove his cover story. Well that and he really did need to cough.
Important note to Blaise from Blaise: DON'T DO THAT AGAIN, STUPID!
"Very well. As I was saying, the FGE rune, or more likely know as the "Fugo" rune is composed of a twelve point swirl and, unlike our commonly used spell of "Fugo" has absolutely nothing to do with spatial movement at all…"
.
"Ha! I'd just as soon marry a Mud-blood!"
"Oh really? And where are you two registered?"
Blaise grinned. The "argument" could only be coming from two of his favorite people. Stopping, and permanently disrupting the smooth flow of students from Point A to Point food, he started tracking the sound.
By the time he found them, disrupting the flow themselves and entirely oblivious to it, Alex was sighing.
"Oh alright, Draco. I'll be ready when you need me to be."
It was said grudgingly, almost prompting another grin past Blaise's mouth. Trust Alex to be annoyed when she got asked out on a date.
"So, Zabini," Draco turned to greet his dorm mate instead of being gracious about Lex's capitulation, "who're you taking to the Yule Ball?"
Ooooh! So that was it! He thought fast. Obviously his plan of taking Alex by default had fallen through.
"Not sure yet. None of my girls are of the right…breeding to be seen with me in public and I haven't had the time to start investigating and evaluating the Slytherin females."
"I'd ask you to look younger." Draco stated. "I'm sure all of the younger girls, at least, will manage to get invited and it would be better if they went with someone In-House….unless of course you're going to go with someone your own age. May I suggest you avoid Pansy?"
A slightly strange expression flickered over Alex's face. "Milli already has a date. But he's right. In fact, you should take Tania. Otherwise she'll just end up going with Hunter."
"And no one deserves to have a relative escort them to an event like this."
"Speaking from personal experience Draco?"
"Who me!" Draco pulled back in mock insult. He sniffed. "I assure you Miss Bellmonte, I have always attended every event I wished with whoever I wished and, if that person was a family member then it was only at my choosing. Thus not even remotely like our current topic of discussi-"
"Wow. Okay. Shut up." Alex sent him a look of extreme female disbelief and exasperation.
"Wow. Okay. Lunch?" Blaise replied, diverting the conversation.
"Always."
"Sure. Why not?"
They spoke at the same time and, as Blaise could see either response coming from either person, he didn't discern who which had originated.
He didn't have the brain power to devote to it anyway. After all, he still had to find a date.
Man it was gonna be annoying to not go with Alex anymore.
.
"Well, here I am. Just like I said I'd be."
Alex was, Draco noted, not entirely enthused. But then, apparently she'd just as soon marry a Mud-blood so he'd kinda already known that. He eyed he outfit.
"Interesting look. Making a fashion statement?"
"Yes, well, since I'm being treated like one I thought I'd dress like a servant." she gripped a handful of the worn once-black but now grey-ish robe and dipped a curtsey.
"You're really playing this up aren't you?"
Before that night he would never have said it. It was by far too real, too honest for either of them. And even though "That Night" and the events therein went entirely unspoken about, it had in fact, changed things. This being one of them.
"Of course." She snorted. "Why in the world would I want to go trekking through the edges of the Not-so-Forbidden part of the Forest for your Herbology homework?"
Draco smirked, his eyes flicking briefly towards that Not-so Forbidden, and quickly approaching Forest. "Because you'd have to do it for your homework one of these days and it'll go faster with two people."
"Ah, but there's where you're wrong. I wouldn't need to go anywhere but to the owlery."
"The owlery? What…"
Alex shot him a Look, stepping lightly over a muddy root. "I'd order the plants, Malfoy."
"And get in trouble with the Professor. You think she won't be able to tell that they aren't fresh?"
It was Alex's turn to smirk. "She hasn't yet."
"Why Alex!"
They both burst out laughing, Alex leaning on his shoulder as she stumbled slightly.
"Why Alex!" she mimicked shrilly, mirthful eyes already scanning the ground around them for the plant he needed. "What was that, Draco?"
"A horrified response to the news that you've been cheating?"
"I have not been cheating! She never said we had to get the plants from out here. She just said that we'd be able to find them here and that they must be fresh."
"Fresh, Alex. That's the point."
"All of mine are fresh!" she sniffed. "It's in the guarantee."
That inspired another round of laughter. A few minutes later, their search still fruitless, Draco settled himself onto a large boulder.
"What are you doing?" Alex demanded indignantly.
"Keeping watch for bad things."
She sighed. "Bad things, huh? Well, I think I have a mirror on me somewhere…"
"Ha. Ha. So funny Alex."
"About as funny as me doing your homework for you Draco."
Obedient to the unspoken order Draco climbed back to his feet. "So, Bellmonte, who're you taking to the Ball?"
Silence met his teasing question and he glanced over his shoulder to see a slightly tense set to her shoulders.
"You know, I'm not sure if I'll be going yet."
Draco frowned. She was telling him the truth, but not really.
"Oh? Why not?"
She stood up and stretched a little. "I sent off an owl to my parents explaining the situation and asking if I could stay over break, but I haven't gotten a reply yet."
Which was also the truth. Question: When did I figure out how to tell when she's lying? But she still didn't look happy about something.
"Hey there it is!" Draco followed the pointing finger and sure enough, red stem, brown veining and a slightly furry look. That was it all right.
"D'you have the spade?"
"No. I gave it to you."
"So you did." And the subject was dropped.
.
A/N: First things first.
Videor to be seen
Veneficus magical/witch
Absconditus hidden, also occultus
Fugo, to 'chase away'. Used in the Jaina fic on Sirius Black.
Also, expect some Pansy and some of Hunter's Marauders(from the Tania fic) in the next chapter(or two?).
Review