Who I was before we met
Stays hidden inside my chest
Within these memories of you and me
My empty heart falls asleep.

Now keep in mind that he bears no ill will towards him, nor the way things turned out, but you may never believe me. I don't even think he believes it.

I'll stop talking and get on with it. They soon learned that they had identical classes and fate wanted very much for them to get along...

Good old Fate.

''Buon Giorno!'' Someone said as he was walking towards his table.

He turned to look over his shoulder. It was Elena. Watching her in the early morning light, he couldn't but feel warmer and smile a little.

''Good morning.'' He replied calmly.

''What's wrong?'' She asked looking at him with a probing eye.

''Nothing...why do you ask?''

''You just-''

''Well, Well Zabini, got a girlfriend now?''

He turned to see Draco Malfoy.

Great, as if my day could get that much better, he groaned inwardly.

There was Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle behind him and he swore that if there was ever a pair of bumbling buffoons, more perfect for each other, the world would crumble into dust from their stupidity. There were never to more stuck up people meant to be together than Pansy and Draco and all four of them had decided to grace him with their presence.

Great.

''Oh and she's a Ravenclaw...''

''Say Ravenclaw, do you know what two plus two is?'' Pansy asked.

Crabbe and Goyle started counting on their fingers as Elena laughed at Pansy. He knew this would get ugly fast if Pansy didn't catch the first few hints Elena gave her. He'd learned quickly that as kind as Elena could be, as gracious as she was, she did have a finite amount of patience for people that couldn't take a hint. She was never nasty, or vicious when she decided to end the conversation, she was just very to the point and witty.

''If that was a test of my intelligence, you surely under estimate me.''

Strike one... he thought.

''The little mouse speaks. What's your name? I haven't seen you around.''

''Elena. Elena Valentin.'' She replied, "Nice to meet you."

He could tell that she was lying through her teeth and Elena could feel the meter of how much stupidity she could take in one sitting rising exponentially as Pansy continued to speak.

''What like the holiday?'' She asked looking Elena up and down. He saw the anger in her eyes and her hair turn red.

First Expecto Patronum and now she's a metamorphmagus...that had to be Strike Two.

He watched her calm down and hung his head as Pansy continued to talk. There was no way to save here now, not that he'd planned on it before. It was just that it made his life so much easier when the idiot quartet left him alone and being that he was in Slytherin, he would have to deal with the majority of the backlash from this encounter.

I should have just let the Sorting Hat put me in Ravenclaw...

But then, he would have had a whole world of trouble to deal with when he went home. No, he'd much rather deal with petty school drama than a full out war with his family. The entire Zabini family had been in Slytherin, aids to the Dark Lord and all and his father, whenever he did see him never let him forget it. If he didn't know better, and if he didn't know that Grandma Zabini had final say as matriarch of the family, his uncle or some other family member would be vying for himi to join up within the next few years while talk of the Dark Lord was still around.

''You're a freak.'' Pansy said, ''And you're ugly on top of that.''

''I'd rather be a freak than an uneducated, spoiled, selfish, blabbering idiot that degrades the entire species of women simply by breathing.''

He blinked. Pansy blinked and gawked at her Elena was harsh when she wanted to be and he sensed that the little meter that told her that she was surrounded by too many people that would cause her stress and annoyance had just hit the red zone.

''Who are you calling an idiot?'' Pansy asked.

''Oh, I'm sorry," she started, bowing slightly with a grand gesture. "Wrong term, what I meant to say was a babbling buffoon who's probably never learned to read since the day she was born.''

Blaise would've said something if Pansy had not swung at her. He watched Elena's movements with amazement. She dove under Pansy's arm grabbed in and tripped her and flung her over her shoulder. She was in a stand that resembled karate before Pansy even hit the ground.

''What are you crazy?'' Pansy asked sitting up. Draco and his two stooges stared at Elena in awe and a little bit of fear.

The sniveling twits, Blaise thought. If you would have just left us alone, this wouldn't have happened. Now Elena's in fight mode and I can't stop her.

He shrugged and reached for the orange juice and poured himself a cup.

''What in bloody hell are you?'' Pansy screeched.

''I'm a second degree black belt. And I do have the ability to kill you, without a wand.'' She said.

Draco and the others ran towards the other side of the table as the Golden Trio walked towards them. They had obviously seen the display.

''That was amazing. Who are you? I've never seen you around here before.'' The red haired one.

Weasley, he was pretty sure. Harry, Hermione and Weasley looked at him with a deep set in glare.

''Why are you hanging out with a Slytherin?''Harry asked glaring at Blaise.

He glared back unable to help himself. He hated it when Griffyndors do that. Just because he was in a rival house, Slytherin in this case, they lumped the entire house together as if students are defined by house and not the other way around. Just because he asked to be in Slytherin, did not mean he was Slytherin.

''What's wrong with hanging out with Slytherins?'' She asked the completely innocent.

Elena was going to be tainted by their biased views of his house and felt a slow decline into despair as he felt their slowly budding friendship begin to slip away.

''Their snakes and they can't be trusted. Trust me! Slytherins wouldn't think twice about slitting their best friend's throat for their precious Lord.'' Weasley said.

Elena gasped and almost slapped him but she stopped herself.

''Don't ever say that again. Just because someone is in a house, that house isn't who they are. Just like you, even though you're a Gryffindor, you may not be courageous or brave. And not all Slytherins are like that, just like all people aren't like that.'' She said; they all looked at Blaise as if he was supposed to say something. And he did.

''But he's friends with Malfoy...'' Weasley said.

''Don't lump me in with that idiot.'' He said crossing my arms probably more angry than Elena was.

Lumping him in with the house name of Slytherin, and some of the worst criminals in the history of magic: fine, but lumping him in with that sniveling git Malfoy? Unforgivable, it was the principle of the thing.

''Malfoy seems to let everyone know that he's the top of the Slytherin chain when really we all pretend so he will leave us alone and we can go on about our day to day life.'' He told them, setting the record straight for just about the entire Slytherin house. They looked at him disbelieving.

''Great," Elena cheered. "Now that we've got all of this cleared up. How about we eat breakfast together?''

''That's not exactly how it works... each house eats with their house.''

''That's no fun...'' She said softly.

Blaise gazed at her as if she was crazy.

''That's okay.'' She said thoughtfully and smiled. ''Blaise and I have all the same classes and I'm pretty sure you guys have classes with us too. By the way what is your name?'' They looked at her and laughed.

''You must be the new student. I'm Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.'' Harry said.

''Well, I'm Elena Valentin.''

Blaise felt that they would begin some type of friendship without him and he would be left alone again. He didn't mind being alone, it hurt a lot less that way. Occurences like this was just another reason he didn't have any real friends...

But she smiled at him as if he actually mattered. No one had ever done that except Noemi. Everyone else had always seen him as a quiet little speck, the last name on everyone's list: barely there, unnoticeable, and easily forgotten.

''By the way Blaise,'' She said with a smile,'' I would rather like it if my powers be kept under wraps. I'm trying to control it but sometimes it doesn't work out the way I plan. So,please don't say anything about it...''

He blinked.

Was she trusting me? A Slytherin, with a secret? Was she mad?

He had the perfect ammunition to place myself in the Slytherin mind as a true Slytherin...and would never use it. He nodded and gave his word that he would tell no one.

Without saying much, it was pretty obvious that he was a little new to this friendship thing. But that never changed the way they acted around each other. She trusted him, just as much as he trusted her. Sometimes they snuck up onto the observatory or in the Greenhouse and talked. Heart to Heart, swapping secrets and connecting over the darkest and deepest of their feeling. Neither of them could explain why, but it happened. Words rolled out of their mouths like water over a fall. Things he had never even told Noemi about came flowing out of his mouth before he could stop himself and think.

''So Blaise... when's your birthday?'' She asked suddenly as they sat in the Room of Requirements in the grotto they'd discovered as a secret place between the two of them. They'd made it their special hangout after they had a hard day and needed solitude and company.

The air around them was clean and fresh, the trees stretched as high as the sky and clouded the ceiling of stars and the full moon that shone down on her alone and left Blaise in darkness. He could help but think it fit them well. Where she was social and full of light he stuck to the corners of the room and slid and out of rooms like a shadow. He was never one for attention, he supposed that was because he never got much of it. The silver light played in her ebony curls and made it seem like a gothic's dream and he was lost in it for awhile and happy for it.

''November 13th.''

''So...you're birthday is the during the school year? That's great!"

"I always get gifts on the first of September," he said blankly.

"But why?"

"Because no one ever remembers that the day I go back to school is nowhere near my birthday...except for Noemi and my grandmother."

"That's...terrible," she said sadly.

''Yes well...there's nothing much I can do about that...''

''DO you at least get any good presents?'' She asked. "You know, something better than school supplies?"

''Yeah. Every year I get 400 Galleons from my stepfather and my Father, a gift from my grandmother, a gift from Noemi and usually gift certificates from my other three sisters and my mother.''

''Oh...that's so sad...'' She said, was it the way he'd said it?

It wasn't that the gifts were ever particularly bad. His grandmother always sent him Italian food that he longed for during the school year. He'd always bring a stash with him but had to restock at Christmas break. Especially sweets, he really did have such a sweet tooth. That was something even Elena had not discovered yet. He'd kept his sweets addiction a secret, even from his roommate. When they went to Hogsmeade, he'd steal away from whatever group he'd been adopted by and get chocolate enough to last him for a while. He'd never gone to Hogsmeade with Elena though, so she didn't know.

''What is?'' He asked sitting up to look at her.

''You never talk about your family much," she pointed out. "I take it your three sisters are...aren't exactly what you call... supportive.''

''Hm..."

He should have expected her to notice, she was very observant even without her extra powers. When he found out that she had a bit of telepathy, the same kind Muggles talked about as a super power, he was surprised and kept in mind to keep his more secret thoughts under wraps. It explained how observant she was of other people emotions and how short of a fuse she'd had sometimes. Who wouldn't be easily angered when everyone else's thoughts came barreling into their minds?

She had a charm to keep it in check, a ring that she usually wore, but when she forgot it or lost it one day, he'd realized it when she was quoting things that only he'd known back to him and not realized that he hadn't said it out loud. It had been a very interesting experience after realizing that she wasn't joking or just a really good guesser. They'd spent almost three hours searching the castle for that ring and found it crushed underneath the Grand Hall door. She'd threaded through a chain and wore it as a necklace though it didn't work all the time or as well as it had when it wasn't crushed. She'd have to home and get a new one.

''I mean...the way you speak of your family it's almost as if...you're alone.'' She said softly and looked at him, the silver light making her eyes glow in the darkness.

''I am...''

''What?''

''The only people that care about me are my Grandmother and Noemi, my other sister. Everyone else just...seems me as unimportant or that after thought of an obligation...''

She stayed silent as he continued on. He did't know why he was telling her this, but he couldn't stop. He just didn't want to, it felt so relieving to finally talk to someone about all the insanity he lived with every day of his life.

''My mother has never said even once that she loves me. It's always been Gabriel, Elaine and Isabelle. And those three think I'm a useless waste of space, hardly worth noticing, they wouldn't even remember I existed outside of their perfect world of thievery and whoring around. My mother has had ten husbands within the last thirteen years, she's on her eleventh and only one of the thirteen are alive. My stepfather seems to like torturing me to no end...''

He knew he was stepping into dangerous, forbidden ground when he felt the tears spill over and down his cheeks and his body started to tremble. He'd kept it all pent up and pressed down underneath all the sarcasm and nonchalance that it was overflowing now and he couldn't stop it, no matter how much he wanted to.

''His favorite weapon seems to be the whip as of late, my father... I haven't seen my father in four years. He's always been somewhere whoring around, and he thinks he can buy my affection like he did my mother. No one listens to me... no one even makes the attempt to... even acknowledge I'm alive half the time and the other half it's barely a glance-'' He stopped, feeling that it was too much.

His head began to hurt like it always did and he felt a sudden distance in his mind as his vision zoned out like slipping into a trance.

Something warm...really warm...it smells like flowers...sakura... He felt something wet dripping onto his cheek through the complete and absolute protection of the darkness.

''Oh Blaise...Benissmo...''She said softly.

Her tears falling on his face as she embraced me gently, he realized that she was crying- crying for him. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her and moved closer to her warmth. Blaise had never felt so alive before that moment. It was then realized that he was hooked.