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
Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed :) Here is the second to last chapter . . . finally.
Firebrand Chronicles
Book Two: After Dark
Chapter XV
I stayed up late in the common room unable to shake the vision of Granger and the Revenclaw prefect. In the end it meant I was awake long after everyone else had gone to bed, awake to witness the arrival of Lucius Malfoy. My encounter with the attacked victim had left me with a new resolve to discover the source and so I once again sat, my genealogy book open across my lap, pouring over everything I already knew. I had been this way for some time when Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy entered.
"Zabini why aren't you in bed?" Professor Snape looked worried but I only shrugged.
"Couldn't sleep. Want me to wake Draco?"
"Yes I need to speak to him, " Lucius muttered.
I rose and laid the book on the coffee table still open to the pages of the Gaunt family, and left the room. When I returned with a grumbling Draco a few minutes later I found the book in Lucius Malfoy's hand.
"Not unusual for someone in your position to have this." He stated handing the book back to me, "but you might want to be careful who sees you with it. You might find yourself playing a very dangerous game."
"Sometime it seems my life is nothing but games." I replied trying to sound intelligent, his stare intimidated me, but I ruined the statement by stifling a yawn. Mr. Malfoy gave me a considering look and I realized what his comments mean. The Gaunt family was still very important. It was a fact I filed away before returning to the dorm room and finally crawling into bed.
It was announced the next morning that not only had Hagrid, the groundskeeper, been arrested, but also that Professor Dumbledore was suspended from office for the time being and I couldn't help but wonder if the school board of directors was trying to get the students killed. One other thing occurred to me. How much influence did Lucius Malfoy actually have? I put the thought from my mind. Surly he wouldn't intentionally put Draco in danger, unless their talk last night . . . I shook the thought from my head. Unfounded, un-provable suspicions would do no one any good. Dumbledore's absence worried the staff, and the hospital wing was now barred to all persons not needing medical attention.
As more time passed summer crept up on us though inside it still felt like the depths of winter. The arrest of the groundkeeper had taken a toll on quite a few students including Theo. "He always seemed so nice," Theo muttered, "and he knows so much about the forest creatures." This was of course stated outside the hearing of Draco who would never have let such a statement go. Worse than that, Lucius Malfoy's involvement in Dumbledore's suspension seemed to have made Draco king of the moment as he sauntered around waving that fact under everyone's noses. He was particularly arrogant during potions with the Gryffindors even going so far as to suggest that Professor Snape apply for the position himself. Though our head of house seemed pleased I had suspicions that he admired the headmaster too much to attempt to undermine him.
Days passed slowly and gloomily, the only bright spot being the morning Bandit pilfered madam Hooch's whistle and Filch charged across the entrance hall chasing her. Hooch of course didn't mind too much commenting upon the return of her property that, "at least someone can have a little fun"
We were informed that morning of the fact that exams would still take place. It was of course logical to assume they would, but one still had hope. Hope was unfortunately on short supply. As things progressed Tracey began to take on a very drawn and pale appearance. Theo and I worried she was stressing herself sick and tried to lighten her load in any way we could. Pansy and Daphne confessed that she hadn't been sleeping well and the two of them took turns making sure she went to bed early and guarding their hall against noise makers, and Millicent tried to give her the best food at meals. Tracey was generally liked by most of those she met, though not adored and looked up to like Pansy, and it was not unusual for people to want to help and take care of her. Oh she could be a complete snob at times, but she truly had a heart of gold and we all worried that if she were getting sick it was an omen of ill fortune for the rest of us.
Tracey's ill health hit its climax about a week before exams at some time before one in the morning. We woke to a shrill scream. Knowing it was from the girls' dorm, and that we couldn't get in, the male population of the Slytherin House gathered in the common room and waited for one of the females to come and inform us of what had happened.
Soon enough Daphne Greengrass appeared in the door way. "It's alright, it's all alright you can go to bed. Tracey had a nightmare and it's made her ill that's all." Daphne began shooing the boys back to their own hall, and most of them went.
Some stayed though. "Ill? How?" one asked. curious.
"Ill, sick, vomited . . ." Daphne stated as if that should be obvious.
"Well maybe being sick gave her the nightmare," a third year suggested. "She should go see Madam Pomfrey."
"At this time of night you've got to be kidding me." a fifth year scoffed.
"Under normal circumstances I'd take her myself, but with the restriction . . ." this came from one of our prefects.
Worried myself I had to know, "is she just stomach sick or . . ."
"Sick, complaining of a terrible headache, might be running a fever, she says she's cold and we've got three blankets on her but she's still shivering," Daphne shrugged as if it were no big deal, but the rest of us shared a look.
"Then she has to get to the hospital wing" Theo started in protest, "if the prefects and maybe few of the seventh years . . ."
"Don't kid yourself," a gravelly voice overrode him, another of our prefects, "that monster, whatever it is, petrifies things. Strength and numbers won't do anything against that. What you need are brains and skill."
"Well don't look at me!" our current head girl Rosa Wild, a Slytherin seventh year, stated. "I'm not taking her!"
"Theo," I whispered.
"Yeah I got you, I'll get our wands and things, you convince the girls to bring Tracey in here." and in an instant Theo was gone, disappearing back down the hall towards our dorm.
"Daphne," I smiled maneuvering my way through the crown and sliding up to her, "Theo and I are willing to risk it if Tracey is. Will you see if she'll come?"
"You have got to be kidding me Zabini!" she scoffed.
I smiled all the wider. "If she says no then she says no, but if she's really sick then . . ."
"Alright already, Gah I knew your Mother's face had to be in you somewhere, I just didn't expect it to come out in the smile. Stop doing that!" she snapped as my grin grew, if possible, even wider at this unexpected turn of events. "The puppy dog eyes worked. Knock it off!" I knew Mother used her looks to get her way I just hadn't expected it to work for me. "I'll ask her I'll ask her!" and Daphne disappeared into the girl's hall.
Second later Theo appeared with dressing gowns and shoes instead of slippers, which I approved of since if we had to run loose footwear would be a problem. He'd also brought my wrist sheath as well as my wand, which I was grateful for as it allowed me to tuck the tool safely away as I began mapping out school hallways with a barrowed quill and parchment that had been left out on the coffee table.
"What are you doing?" Theo asked.
"Figuring out the quickest route with the most possible teachers between here and the hospital wing."
"You want to get caught?" Theo asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. This time we do. I'm good with a wand Theo, between Dr. Gertz and Grandfather Alexander I know enough to best potentially best most of the fifth years in a duel, but against a monster the petrifies- If possible I'd much rather have a Professor with years more experience than myself do the legwork."
"Ah, gotcha," he smirked at me in understanding, "well I'll brave a detention if you will!"
At that moment Pansy and Daphne appeared supporting Tracey between them. "Well if you boys really want to do this." Pansy started.
"Let's get this over with." Tracey smiled wearily and clutched her blankets even tighter. Theo and I shared another look.
"I'll carry her, you do the rest," Theo stated. "Tracey, give Blaise your wand." She looked confused but did so. Seconds later Theo had her lifted in his arms, his wand in the hand supporting her knees and the two of us had slipped past the older students and out the door.
"Which way?" Theo asked once we were out of the common room.
"Past Professor Snape's office. If he's there it'll make things that much simpler," and raising Tracey's wand in my right hand muttered, "Speculum Globus," to create a bubble of air that reflected light in such away it made a perfect mirror, sending it out ahead of us. Professor Flitwick had once stated it made a good substitute for a disco ball, whatever that was. My own wand and left hand I left free for fighting.
As we walked Tracey seemed to be fading fast she drifted in and out of consciousness muttering, "Unseen, it haunts the walls, unheard it stalks is prey . . . one only hears its voice, who knows it's a voice? Only when the voice is known can there be a victor . . ."
"What she talking about?" I whispered agitatedly to Theo.
"Don't know," Theo answered, "I think she's dreaming again.
"No spider to give warning, they all are gone . . . no rooster to bring death, they all are gone . . . the innocent, innocent no longer . . . tainted by words on a page . . . to lure the chosen to his grave . . ." Tracey murmured in her sleep.
"Whatever she's dreaming about I don't like it, see if you can wake her up will you?" I hissed.
"Past fight, present fight, future fight . . . not the beginning nor the end . . . but a point only." Her muttering faded away and Theo grunted in frustration.
"Still asleep, but she looks calmer, whatever that was, sounded almost like a seer's prophecy."
"I hope not." I responded. "Those things are supposed to be tricky to deal with. Hey here we are Snape's office." Unfortunately the Professor wasn't in his office. There was no answer when I rapped at the door. So we continued onwards to the main stairs out of the dungeons though before we got, as if sensing he was needed Professor Snape found us several halls away.
"What are you up to?" there was a tone to his voice that let us know immediately that not only were we in trouble, but he expected us to explain ourselves.
"Please sir," I started, "we'll take any punishment you give us, but Tracey's sick and has to go to the hospital wing."
"And none of the older students bothered to use the flew to call a Professor?"
"We can do that?" Theo asked. I felt my own eyes widening at my own stupidity. Why had I not seen that solution? Professor Snape nodded and Theo continued, "They were so busy arguing about what to do that I don't think they even noticed we'd left."
"And Rosa Wild?" he questioned.
"One of the main arguers Sir."
"Hand her over and follow closely." Snape took Tracey from Theo and lead us up into the entrance hall, but instead up going up the main stairs and towards the hospital wing he sidetracked slightly to the staff room.
"Is Madam Pomfrey in here?" Theo ventured.
"Don't ask stupid questions," Snape snapped pushing the door open. "Binns-"
"What huh, Severus I was sleeping." Came a droning voice belonging to our only ghost professor.
"You're a ghost, you don't need sleep, and you can sit in front of the staffroom fire and do me a favor at the same time." It was not a question, it was a fact, and Professor Snape practically shoved Theo and I inside the room as he said it.
"What oh hello Norris, Zingby," the ghost peered at me and Theo once again getting our names wrong.
"Aside from the common rooms and the headmaster's office, this is the safest place I know to leave you two. You are to stay here until I return, understood!"
"Yes sir. " Theo and I chorused. We were left with Binns who eventually stopped staring at us and retreated back to a chair in front of the fireplace. I remember hearing a story that that chair was where he had died of old age once upon a time. Theo gave me a look, sighed, and settled onto a nearby sofa.
"Might as well catch some zs while we can. Bet we have at least a half hour before he returns," he grumbled.
I nodded and, claiming a second sofa, settled in myself. I didn't believe I could sleep but I did. I woke up twice during the night. Once to find myself covered with an emerald fleece blanket and register the fact that Professor Snape was asleep in an arm chair with his feet propped on an ottoman facing the door as if guarding it, and the second time was to hear McGonagall's extremely annoyed voice.
"They did what?" she snapped. "Well at least there's someone in your house to give it credit."
"So does this mean you'll agree not to give them detentions?" Snape's wry voice answered.
"Under the circumstances, no I don't think we can."
Tracey recovered by Monday morning and claimed it had only been a combination of a touch of flue and nerves, though there was something about her that suggested there was more. Whatever it was the danger, for her at least, was past and that was all Theo and I truly cared about. We asked her about her dreams, but Tracey didn't seem to remember what we were talking about so Theo and I chalked it up to a stress induced nightmare. There was enough going on at the school that it was a miracle more people weren't having the same type of problems.
Three days before exams things finally began to look up. McGonagall announced the mandrakes were ready and only a few of my fellow Slytherins refused to join in the cheering. Just before morning break however everything went to hell in a hand basket.
Professor Sprout was walking around the room checking our progress when Professor McGonagall's voice echoed from some unknown place. "All students return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately please!" there was no mistaking the urgency in her voice.
"We all looked at each other knowing this could mean only one thing and then Sprout was ordering us into a neat line.
"Mr. Zabini," Sprout pointed me out. "I hope you will see that no one wanders off."
"Yes ma'am." It was a very subdued group that headed back to the Slytherin common room. Everyone was so disturbed at this turn of events that no one even bothered to voice a theory as to what was happening. It was in shocked silence that we learned that Ginny Weasley had been taken. She was in fact a pureblood no matter what opinions her family may have held. Thankfully Draco kept his opinions about filthy blood traitors to murmuring quietly to himself. I was able to escape them by moving to the other side of the room. It was a testy afternoon with none of us wanting to talk. I spent the time flipping absentmindedly through the school library's books of dangerous beasts of the wizarding world, which Theo had checked out, absently noticing that a page was missing. Theo was studying for exams, and Tracey had retired very early to bed her recent illness having taken its toll.
It grew late. Outside the sunlight would be failing. I continued to return to the torn page. Eventually I turned to the index curious which page a student would continue important enough to risk Pince's wrath by damaging one of her precious books. For a moment I could only gap at the word staring up at me from near the beginning of the table of contents.
Basilisk.
Immediately everything clicked into place and I mentally beat myself up for being so stupid. I had been so concerned with the who that I had foolishly neglected the what. And we had even discussed the matter at the beginning of the year in history on magic,
" . . . then perhaps you can tell me who invented the basilisk . . .
"That would be Harpo the foul . . ."
It all made since, the paralysis, Potter blamed for being parcel tongued. Someone else could be one too. Potter couldn't, he wouldn't have attacked Granger, but another, even someone unrelated to the gaunt family, someone who actually understood the meaning of the gift of their heritage . . . they may have idealized the wizard most famous for the ability and taken it upon themselves to finish his work. One problem, the gaze of the serpent was death and no one had died yet.
"What are you doing Zabini?" Pansy asked quietly waltzing over to sit next to me and pulling out a mirror to fix her hair. I was about to answer when I looked over and caught her reflection in the glass, and suddenly I knew. No one had died because no one had looked directly at it.
"If you'll excuse me I have to go see Professor Snape." I stood abruptly and headed for the door.
"Are you crazy we're not supposed to leave, especially not now!" she cried scrambling after me.
"I know!" I called over my shoulder. I didn't care. This was important.