Title: The Firebrand Chronicles Book Two: After Dark
Summary: No one knew what awaited them upon returning to Hogwarts that year. No one expected a monster to attack the students, and certainly no one expected anyone to assume that Harry Potter was the party responsible. Blaise Zabini certainly didn't. This is his story. Book Two
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter any of its characters or events. They belong to J.K. Rowling
Firebrand Chronicles
Book Two: After Dark
Chapter V
Fifteen minutes later I was dressed in my Muggle attire and standing in the center of the Quidditch Pitch, while the Slytherin team captain Marcus Flint stood by and watched as professor Snape gave me some last minute instructions.
"Add rapidi to the incantation, Mr. Zabini. That should speed things up a bit." He said finishing his instructions.
"You're sure he can mimic the snitch, Professor?" Flint asked for the seventh time.
"It should work well enough."
"Well, we'll start with basic flight patterns" Flint muttered running a hand through his short hair, "though I want you ready to go when I give the signal."
Basic flight patterns turned out to be a very good idea. They narrowed the contestants down to a round dozen when it quickly became apparent that the rest couldn't stay on their brooms..
"Now we're going to try catching the snitch," Flint called out to the participants some fifteen minutes later. "Or rather the practice ball Zabini will be controlling. You'll each get three tries and up to twenty minutes. Whoever catches the most the fastest will be our new Seeker. Zabini, if you're ready we'll start."
I grabbed the ball from my pocket, and threw it as high as I could before shouting "Asendere Rapidi" a streak of white light shot from my wand to hit the ball at the peak of its accent and immediately it began to respond to my commands at a speed, if not that of the Snitch was still high enough that it made it incredibly difficult for the human eye to follow. Of course a good snitch could disappear entirely.
It was hard work trying to keep that ball from the hands of my housemates, all the bending and twisting required was enough of a work out on its own, but the activity lasted three and a half hours and well before the end of it I was more than grateful for the hours upon hours of training Dr. Gertz had drilled into me. Without those lessons I would have been well beyond my capabilities. If Professor Snape had known of my training beforehand I have no clue, I knew only that he had confidence in my ability and I in no way wanted to let him down. By the end of it I was exhausted.
Of all the contestants Draco, as it turned out, was by far the best. He not only caught all three of his, but managed one in under five minutes. As everyone piled out of the stands to congratulate him I was allowed to rest. I brought the ball back to me, the last person had failed to catch it in the allotted time, and stuffed it back into my pocket before sinking back onto the grass, head doubled over my knees, panting and trying to catch my breath before I forced myself back to my feet to begin the stretching that would allow my body to cool down properly. I watched Draco in the limelight and smiled. He owed me now, and I would make sure he knew that.
Before long I sat down again, only this time I felt something lurch under me. I quickly reached down and pulled out a small fluttering golden ball. I couldn't help but break out in laughter, though tired as I was the sound came out half strangled.
"Are you alright, Mr. Zabini?" Professor Snape asked walking over to check on me, the only person who had even thought to do so.
"Exhausted, sir, but look" I held out the Snitch to him, "I just sat on it."
"Thank Merlin!" Flint yelled across the pitch when he realized what I had handed over, "now we can practice for real!" he walked across the grass to join us. "It would help if we could start tomorrow, but Gryffindor has the pitch booked."
"I'll write a note of permission," the Professor muttered, "Mr. Zabini," he grabbed me under the left arm and pulled me to my feet, "I suggest you eat a good dinner and go straight to bed. Sleep in tomorrow if you can. I better get this to Madam Hooch." And with that he marched back to the castle. Draco ran off to owl his father and I was left to follow the professor's advice which I did without fail.
The next morning was easily as chaotic As I blearily made my way to the breakfast table I heard all sorts of talk about the Slytherin's new brooms, but not until I found Pansy at the table did I know what all the talk was about. It turned out that earlier that morning a house elf had arrived in the common room with seven new brooms and a congratulatory note for Draco.
"Really Blaise, the common room was a riot. Seven new 2001s and you slept right through it."
To which I replied, "I performed an ascension charm for nearly three and a half hours last night. It's no wonder I slept through it." Pansy only shrugged.
"Isn't it just wonderful that Draco made Seeker?"
"Yeah, great" I answered making myself a sandwich of eggs, bacon and toast and heading out to the Quidditch pitch hoping to catch practice thinking it would be nice just to sit down and watch, but Professor Flitwick waylaid me in the entrance hall.
"I heard about your charm work yesterday, I'm sorry I missed seeing it . . . perhaps . . ."Though perhaps the oldest professor at Hogwarts Professor Flitwick was also widely considered to be one of the kindest. He desire to see his students succeed was genuine and his enthusiasm was catching.
"I'll stay late after next class." I promised feeling very pleased that someone at least recognized that I had done something. He nodded and motioned me onwards. Eating my breakfast I made my way to the pitch.
I arrive there to find the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams snarling at each other though the Slytherin team did seem to be suppressing laughter. "What did I miss?" I asked stuffing the last bite of my sandwich into my mouth. And then noting the one member of the Gryffindor team who was missing asked, "And where's Potter? Out taking pictures with Lockhart again?"
The Slytherin team roared with laughter, but Gryffindor chaser Angelina Johnson was not amused. "And what are you Zabini? Team mascot?"
"Aside from the fact that I wanted to remind Draco that he owes me for helping him practice, I heard someone was kind enough to re-outfit out team," I held my hands up defensively, "I wanted a look that's all."
"You mean bribe" Gryffindor's second chaser Katie Bell asked. I nearly chocked. After all my hard work the night before I did not appreciate the implication that Draco had bought his way in.
"It's like Zabini said," Flint growled obviously angry for a number of reasons, "it was a generous donation nothing more. Now if you excuse us we have a practice to run."
Eventually the Gryffindor team agreed to stick to half of the field so both teams could practice, though the Weasley twins did hit an abnormally large amount of bludgers at Draco as opposed to the rest of the Slytherin team. Apparently their brother's wand had backfired and they blamed Draco for the incident. Not that the Slytherin beaters minded at all. It gave them the ammunition required to mount their own attack at the opposite end of the field. As Potter never returned from taking Weasley to the hospital wing, the Gryffindor team only remain about a half hour, I didn't stay much longer needing to finish the homework I had set aside to help Draco practice, though usually I had a policy of finishing before the weekend.
The day being warm however, I decided to take my work outside on to the lawn after lunch Theo agreed that it was a good idea and followed. Unfortunately we had just passed the hut of the grounds keeper when a large dog apparently smelling the cat treats that I had hidden in my pocket for Bandit decided to search them out for himself. In an instant I found myself flat on my back with a paw on each shoulder as a drooling muzzle sniffed at my robe's chest pocket. Theo instantly grabbed the beast's collar and tried to pull him off to no avail.
"Here, fang, heal!" a large voice shouted as an equally large man hauled him off. "Name's Hagrid," the man said, "this here's fang. He wouldn't hurt a fly honest."
"He's certainly seemed friendly" Theo laughed a gleam in his eye I'd never seen before. "You're the ground keeper right? I'll be you get to take care of all sorts of interesting animals like thestrals, and bicorns and . . ." I felt a slight jolt of alarm at the mention of thestrals but Theo had hid the name in a string of others and I wondered if he even knew what he had said.
Hagrid seemed willing enough to answer. "Reckon Hogwarts has the only domesticated herd of thestrals . . ." well that answered that question, "and we have some bicorns but yeh want' ta stay away from them.
"Theo?" I asked suddenly realizing what the look I was seeing from him was, passion akin to my own for the sword, "you never mentioned how much you like magical creatures."
"Like them, awe Blaise, sometime you're gonna have to come to my place. We've got a herd of Algerian wingbacks, and I recon there's a griffin in the woods behind the house though Pa never lets me explore back there, ever since one attacked mum . . ." he looked suddenly sad for a moment and Hagrid gave him an odd look as if something had just been pieced together for him.
"We'll if yer wanten to learn about interesting creatures you should talk to 'fessor kettleburn about the class in third year, but a . . . theoretically speaking, I'm always willing to discuss dragons and such." Theo thanked him ecstatically though explained that at the moment we had homework to finish. He did promise to drop by when we were done though. Understanding completely the giant man waved us on and headed up to the castle the large dog on his heels. We headed on towards a grassy place near the shore of the lake where I plopped down on the ground and pulled the required martials out of my bag to start my Herbology essay.
The first Astronomy lesson of the year I had made the attempt to get through without the aid of stimulants. After a whole year of practice I had finally become comfortable enough with the astronomy tower that as long as I did not look down I felt perfectly safe and so when out of habit the others gave me the centermost spot to set up my telescope I immediately reverted to my second bad habit and began to dose off. I truly have no idea what it is, but there is something about gazing at the stars that puts me to sleep. After the third time Tracey poked me awake I resolved to see professor Snape about Grandfather's coffee idea. I was sure I could get a thermos full from the kitchens but I had no idea where they were located, and after the head of Slytherin's warning over the drought of wakefulness the previous year, which mother called tonic, I was certain he would help.
Saturday evening while the Slytherin Quidditch team still practiced and Theo sat on the lawn with the gamekeeper discussing the care of fire-crabs of all things, I made my way inside and down to the dungeons where fortunately I found Professor Snape in his office and willing to talk.
"I did ask you to find a better solution, Mr. Zabini, though this is not what I expected." He said when I had explained my request. "You will of course be held responsible for your coarse work regardless of how well this works and I expect you to use the information I'm about to give you responsibly."
"Of course sir."
That was how fifteen minutes later I found myself in the dungeons below the great hall reaching out to tickle a pear. It was ridiculous. Not the fact that a large painting of a fruit bowl guarded the kitchens, which made perfect sense, but that I had to tickle the pear. Tickle the pear I did and it giggled and turned into a large green door knob which I then turned and entered the room.
Pie pans, pots, stove, fireplace, extremely large pantry . . . I ticked them off mentally as I looked around though I didn't manage a very good look because no sooner than I had stepped into the room I was ushered into a ladder backed chair beside a small wood table which I was sure had just been set up.
"Has sir missed dinner?" a house elf dressed in a Hogwarts emblem embroidered tea towel bobbed before me. "We can make something, perhaps some tea or maybe pumpkin juice while you wait? The wait won't be long. . ." I motioned him to silence but he kept talking
"Beef or chicken?"
"No, no I . . ."
"Bread? We have cinnamon buns?"
"Really I . . ."
"Or ice-cream? Chocolate?"
"Wait a moment."
"I can make sir some cookies!"
"Will you PLEASE be quiet for a moment!" The house elf's ears drooped and he looked at the floor shuffling a bare foot along the flagstones. I suppressed a sigh, though having experience with Bert I knew how to deal with this.
"I apologies for shouting I should have more polite to such an enthusiastic and helpful elf like yourself," he looked up at me. "What's your name?" I asked gently.
"Hink, sir,"
"Hink, I am Blaise Zabini, It's very nice to meet you." His back straightened and he looked me in the eye. Though by this time I was bending double in the chair to be on eye level with him. "Listen, Hink, I have a very important request. I take astronomy on Thursdays and I need something to help keep me awake. If you or one of you colleagues could provide a large thermos full of coffee and have it ready for me by eleven thirty those nights I would be extremely grateful."
"Of course, sir," the elf was practically dancing with joy both at the request and the fact that I was no longer mad, "Hink will see to it personally, sir!"
October arrived in no time, my birthday passed and several colds went around. I caught all of them and had to be bullied to the hospital wing by Theo who claimed he wasn't going to help me in transfiguration unless I could stop sneezing. Tracey said the same about astronomy. Classes got progressively harder though I continued to breeze through charms with ease and Herbology consisted of caring for the mandrakes. Astronomy introduced a battle of wills with Professor Sinistra who declared it was a miracle I even showed up considering it took a thermos of coffee to keep me awake. She seemed offended by the very principle that anybody could consider her subject anything less than completely fascinating.
Potions got more complicated as well and when one class Professor Snape explained the more advanced ones we might see in the future I listened with interest. "Polyjuice," he said one afternoon," is probably one of the most complex you may ever come across. It allows the drinker to transform completely into another person, though I would advise you all not to go looking this up. Most Potent Potions is kept in the restricted section and if you truly want to learn more I would be more than happy to speak with you after class."
Overriding the class anxiety however was the much anticipated Halloween feast. It was rumored that Headmaster Dumbledore had booked a troop of dancing skeletons.