Many, many and infinite thanks to my reviewers.The feedback you give me is deeply appreciated.
Partners
Eloise Midgeon's POV
"Oh sit down! Will you, you stupid git!" Eloise snapped, getting seriously tired of Zabini's little game. He'd continued staring at her unmoving for the last minute.
"Do it now or I will destroy the merchandise and as you have already paid a good part of your side of the bargain where will that leave you?!"
He just continued staring.
"Or would you prefer I practice some of the spells I improvised this summer. Those Dark Art books you passed me were very, shall we say, inspirational?" she smirked maliciously.
"Well, there was this spell for ripping your enemies' skin to shreds. Very dark, obviously banned, if I was to use it here I would get thrown out of Hogwarts for sure. But I was inspired while I was doing the cooking and figured that the spell for skinning potatoes would adapt to my purpose rather nicely. Would you care for a demonstration?" Eloise finished with a dangerous gleam in her eye.
Silence reigned for a few more second before Zabini smirked in reply.
"My little Hufflepuff is getting better at her threats, though they still need a little work. A spell for skinning potatoes, honestly!" and Zabini broke into laughter.
"Hey! I'll have you know that spell actually works with the right modifications!"
Zabini, still chuckling, now looked rather interested. "Really?"
"Yes, but as it is such an un-intimidating spell I'm sure a Slytherin such as yourself wouldn't appreciate it."
"OK, ok, fine, I relent. I really would like to know."
"But not before you give me all of the updates on the wizarding world," Eloise smiled.
"You're not supposed to turn on your teacher!" he protested jokingly.
Nevertheless, Zabini soon continued more seriously. "Scrimegour is the newly elected Minister of Magic as you undoubtedly know. He has taken a much harder stance against the Dark Lord than Fudge ever did. It's almost like having Barty Crouch in Office, the same philosophy: fight fire with fire. He's receiving almost unconditional support from most of the light and grey families that are not attached to Dumbledore. Susan Bones' aunt, Amelia Bones, almost made it, but she decided to back off from the elections as the votes would have been split, perhaps allowing the Dark Lord to install a puppet regime. She also obviously thought the ministry needed a strong backing at this point, which I don't disagree with. He-who-must-not-be-named is quickly gaining ground, intimidating old allies into joining again and forming new alliances. My guess is that the war will really heat up in about a year's time, I would not plan on coming back to Hogwarts next year."
They both sat reflecting on the dark days ahead.
Eloise spoke up. "I hear that Draco Malfoy has joined the Death Eaters and has a special task to complete for You-Know-Who. Is it true? And if it is, who else has joined his ranks? Snape got out of Azkaban after having Dumbledore vouch that he had been spying for him. So we know that he was definitely a Death Eater at some point. Personally, I think he's on his own side. He will survive, and tread a fine line until the outcome is evident, or until he is forced to make a choice. Choice that he might yet betray if it were in his best interest. In any case, back to Malfoy?…"
"You are right, Draco has joined his ranks, I do not know what his task entails, even the Malfoy heir is not foolish enough to speak of it. I will endeavour to find out with time. He will no doubt be under a lot of pressure, I will try to crack him then," Zabini then turned to her, looking vaguely impressed. "How did you find out so soon?"
"Well, between Malfoy's loud bragging and Potter's overtly suspicious conversations, it was almost impossible not to overhear. Besides which, nobody suspects a Hufflepuff," she smirked. "Very nice diversionary tactic there by the way, but in this case, flattery won't get you everywhere. Now do you swear to tell me everything you discover of Malfoy' task?"
"Oh all right, I swear."
"Swear to what?"
"I swear that I will disclose to you any and all information that I will discover relating to Draco Malfoy's task that he must complete for the dark Lord. Happy?"
"Quite," Eloise sniffed. "I've questioned Neville on the events pertaining to the Department of Mysteries and it seems that your Slytherin yearmates' claims were entirely based in fact. You-Know-Who really did lure Potter to the MoM by a vision of someone named Sirius – most likely Sirius Black- needing to be saved. This was all apparently a ploy to get Potter to remove a prophecy. What does this mean? How come You-Know-Who needed Potter to remove it? It doesn't make any sense. If only the people mentioned in the prophesy could take it, then He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named could have gotten out himself as I doubt very much that he would care about a prophecy that didn't concern him. He didn't need Potter at all. And if it was all an elaborate ploy so that the Ministry wouldn't be notified of his return, why did he show up in the end?"
"To be honest – and stop looking at me like that a Slytherin is perfectly capable of being truthful - I don't know. You-Know-Who's action don't seem very rational."
"Fantastic," sighed Eloise. "The greatest dark Lord in centuries can't keep his priorities strait. That's all the further confirmation I needed that the world, the universe and everything is raving mad."
"No kidding," added Zabini.
"In any case," said Eloise, trying to be more upbeat. "I have your shipment."
Reaching into her pockets, she took out four tiny boxes of wood. "I really must thank you Blaise, the unregistered wand you sold me made smuggling these in was far easier than usual. Do you want to inspect them?"
Blaise nodded and waved his wand over the tiny boxes Eloise had placed on the floor. They promptly grew in size and he quickly plied the lids off. Sitting carefully packed in hay were dozens of kinds of Muggle alcohol.
As Zabini examined the products greedily, Eloise looked on dispassionately. "I charmed all of the bottles to be unbreakable, but packed them all in hay so they would make less noise. Couldn't have my parents discovering my little business. As you can see, there's a lot more than in previous years, I asked my cousin to select a wide variety. This should ensure your continued status in Slytherin house, if not increase it. I suppose we should both be glad that the wizarding world has but a very limited selection of alcohol to offer – only two kinds: butterbeer and firewisky. No wonder your house has a preference for the more exotic and refined. And as you don't have any trouble dealing with such a lowly muggleborn as I – who is, if I do say so myself, a very good supplier thanks to my cousin running a pub- you are thus well established in a position of power."
Zabini was now dreamily caressing a bottle of Hazelnut liqueur, smiling stupidly while gazing into the distance, no doubt imagining what he could accomplish with so much merchandise.
Eloise looked at him and snorted. "I'm going to stop you right now Zabini, I have no desire of observing a Slytherin wank off to the thought of future deals. So please, restrain yourself until you get back to your quarters."
This brought Zabini back to reality. He snapped his attention back to her and protested hotly. "I was doing no such thing!"
"Well you know what they say: Those who protest too loudly…Besides which, I do believe that is a blush staining you cheeks," Eloise teased before descending into and uncontrollable fit of laugher.
Zabini, whose face was getting redder by the second, busied himself by putting all of the bottles he had taken out back in their respective crates.
Still giggling, Eloise asked: "I do have a question for you though."
"Yes?" ground out Zabini, sounding very irritated.
"Where do wizards get their food?"
This was such an unexpected question that Blaise turned around and stared at her in puzzlement.
"Sorry, I could have sworn that I heard you asking where wizards get their food."
"That's what I asked," replied Eloise, now completely serious. "Where do wizards get their food? I've never heard of wizard farmers, and those that do care for plants always seems to be into the more dangerous and exotic varieties. You'll never catch professor Sprout lecturing on the best way to cultivate carrots. I highly doubt that the wizarding world would buy its food from the Muggles. The thought of House Elves walking into the local grocer every week is inconceivable. I suppose you could buy it directly from the Muggle farmers, but then, where are the mills that would turn the wheat into flour? And what would the wizarding world have done in times of Muggle famine? No, there are too many things wrong with that hypothesis. Besides which, I've never seen a grocer in either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. Surely you don't conjure all the food? It would be a phenomenal waste of magical energy. I've already asked around Hufflepuff house tonight and nobody knew," she then looked at Zabini expectantly.
Blaise stared back at her for a few seconds then scratched his head before muttering: "And THIS is what goes through a Hufflepuff's brain all day ?!?"
He then answered. "I don't know."
Eloise listened to him aghast. "You've got to be kidding me. You're supposed to be my source for insight into all of the finicky workings of the wizarding world! Don't wizards EVER think about their food?"
"We think about our food!" Zabini retorted. "How not to get it poisoned on its way from the kitchen to our plates!"
"But what about before the kitchens?" Eloise stated in disbelief. "How can a bunch of sixteen year olds not have the slightest idea where food comes from?"
Blaise shrugged. "Dunno".
"Well you better find out if you want another shipment at Christmas."
"Awww, come on," whined Blaise. "Who am I supposed to ask? It'll tarnish my image. They'll all think I'm as crazy as a Hufflepuff. At least from you they'll expect it. Remember the terms to our deal: I'll do all of the asking for anything illegal or political as they would be expected questions from a Slytherin. Questions about food weren't covered."
Eloise smiled, disappointed. "I suppose they weren't mentioned at all. Fine, you're off the hook for this one Blaise. Though I do have a list of information I want you to supply."
Zabini nodded. "You may list your requirements."
"First of all," said Eloise, peering at him intently. "I need more on wandless magic. The books you passed me, enlightening as they were, all expressed the same opinion. It is obvious that these were mere hypothesizes. The lack of concrete knowledge is understandable as so few are able to perform wandless magic and as those who can guard their secrets obsessively. What I do not understand is that all of these hypothesises express the same views on the subject."
"Well," replied Blaise. "the general opinion held of wandless magic is that only the most powerful wizards can perform it and that …"
"Yes, Yes," Eloise cut in impatiently. "I know all that. No need to reiterate the contents of those books to me. The wand allows for the amplification and control of the wizards magic – accidental magic is the result of the wizard's emotions reacting to the ambient magic – therefore the normal witch and wizard are incapable of performing wandless magic. If that was the case, how on earth did the wizarding community ever get established in the first place? If wand are as particular to the individual witch's and wizard's magic as Ollivander claims, how did they get invented? If someone did at some point decide to stuff a bit of dragon heartstring into a wooden stick and wave it pointlessly around, the most likely outcome would be that his magic wasn't suited to the wand, and it would end there."
"Listen, I don't know, nobody knows. There's no point getting so aggressive about it. I provided you with the most respected academic works. But at your insistence, I am perfectly willing to dig up the most ridiculous conjectures that were ever dreamed up on the subject by Wizardkind." Zabini snapped rather ungraciously.
Eloise sighed and ran a hand through her hair, trying to soothe her irritation. "Sorry mate, I just didn't like what I read. It kinda flew in the face of my opinions."
"Oh yes" Blaise sneered "Let's all sit down and have a pity party for poor, poor mudblood Midgeon. She can escape all the problem of the upcoming war by disappearing into the Muggle world for a few years, until it's all over. Not like the rest of us poor sods, whose families and fortunes are trapped in the conflict. Why did you even bother coming back this year at all?"
"Because I need to learn all I can about magical tracing, combat and transportation. The files on my family are sitting at the ministry waiting to be picked up by You-Know-Who and his band of merry followers. Unless I figure out how to fool magical tracing and hide my magical signature, my family and I can be traced wherever we go. In addition to which, I will need to use magic to fool the Muggle system. You're not exactly at the heart of the conflict either. Thanks to your mother's activities, even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named isn't stupid enough to get her near his Death Eaters. And that includes pressuring you to join. Though I am muggleborn, I have a very low profile and should be able to keep out of this as long as I take measures of adequate protection. That's where you come in. I need your help, your access to semi-legal knowledge. "
"You do know that telling your business partners you need them is generally held to be bad form," stated Zabini in a hard voice. "It gives them too much leverage."
Midgeon shrugged. "I know. But what most Slytherins seem to miss is that having them royally pissed at you makes them more inclined not to act in their best interest, just to spite you. In most cases, the harm that anyone can do to you, outweighs any benefits by far."
A ghost of a smirk drifted over his face. "I suppose you may have a point. Apart from more books on wandless magic what else do you want?"
Eloise smiled at him in thanks. "I'll need more books on spell creation, on defence, on the dark arts, on occlumency, on forms of magical tracing and on making untraceable illegal portkeys and other less popular forms of magical transportation."
"That's quite a list."
"Which is why I will be teaching you my potato spell and all that I have learnt at the Muggle women's self-defence course I took this summer."
"Women's self-defence course?" commented Zabini distastefully.
"Which translates to 'Cheap ways to incapacitate a stronger opponent' but if you don't want to learn, I won't force you," smirked Eloise.
"Well, when you put it that way…"
Eloise nodded, "I'll teach you as soon as you bring the books, a little incentive never hurt anyone."
"Deal. How is your occlumency training coming?"
"Pretty good. It's hard to tell without a skilled opponent to practice against. But I'm becoming even more sensitive to intrusion, which is a good thing."
"Did Snape try to read you mind again?"
"Yup!" Eloise giggled. "He does it to all of the non Slytherin students he crosses gazes with at the beginning of the year. As I couldn't reveal my occlumency training as it would be too suspicious coming from a Hufflepuff , I had to use rather more .. shall we say… creative methods?"
Zabini's eyes lit up in anticipation. "I noticed that Snape suddenly looked utterly disgusted at the beginning of the meal. Was that you?"
"Sure was."
"So what did you do?" he prompted.
"Same technique as usual," Eloise chortled. "This time, the theme was Dumbledore, Hagrid and the naughty nurse Pomfrey. I've never seen anyone put down their fork so fast."
At this point, Zabini was howling in laughter, beating his fist on the seat, utterly incapable of coherent speech.
They joked around a few minutes more before shrinking the crates and parting ways.
It had been a successful night for both, the strange and often unstable partnership was safe for now.
Good or bad? Please review to tell me what you think!
If this story stinks - plz plz plz let me know!