20th November 1997

The Carrows were incensed with the rebellion that the army was causing; there were more casualties in the last five days than there had been in the last month. Detention was now handed out for sneezing, or coughing in class or not attending class because of torture induced fatigue. Snape had a difficult time raining in the Carrows who were getting frustrated by the non-compliance of every other house apart from Slytherin. More and more students were being pulled out of school and sent to America, France, Bulgaria, Africa, Japan, India, pretty much all over the world but England. The total population of First to Third years in each house had reduced to around 20 students per house. Crabbe had inspired some more Slytherin bullies into sexually assaulting other students and they weren't even waiting for the students to get detention. Only this morning, Blaise had to hex that scrawny fifth year Cobblepot from his house because the kid dared grab some Hufflepuff forcing her to kiss him threatening her with detention and torture if she resisted.

The army was working double time at patrol, but it was not enough because half of them were in detention almost daily. The fools just didn't know how to lie low and keep functioning, but Blaise didn't think lying low would have solved any problem. Had they not rebelled openly, some other Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw or Gryffindor would have been punished in their stead and to the fair and loyal that did not seem like a good idea. Not that Blaise really thought there was much credit to their stance, in case of impending torture, always save your neck but he understood it, Ginny had made sure that he understood this stance. He sighed, he disliked patrolling the corridors on his own, and he surprised himself when he realized that he missed Ginny. He missed the constant bickering with her but the stupid girl had to go hex Crabbe in broad daylight, she had been serving detention, rather being tortured for the better part of the night. Blaise was heading over to the dungeons to ensure that Ginny, Boot and Corner reached the hospital wing safely. He could hear their muffled groans from his position. He thanked Merlin for the dim lighting and the disillusionment charm.

He slinked cautiously towards the dungeon the three were being tortured in. He hoped to Merlin that the two men had it in them to protect Ginny from Crabbe who had lately taken to attempting to rape students in the detention chambers itself. A shadow moved on his right, Blaise instantly had his wand out but before he could utter a curse, a cloaked figure walked by him stealthily. He recognized the cloak immediately. The cloak belonged to Tracey Davis, one of the most invisible Slytherins that there were. Nobody talked to her, she was an outcaste among the high breed; A half-blood among the purebloods. Her father was a mugglerborn wizard while her mother belonged to the illustrious Hawthorn family who were one of the most powerful neutral families right along with the Greengrasses. The Hawthorns had not accepted their daughter's marriage to a muggleborn but had readily accepted the child born out of the wedlock, after Tracey's parents were murdered by the Death Eaters at the end of the first war. They had accepted Tracey on the grounds that at least both her parents were magical and though they had tried to mingle Tracey in the pureblood circles she had mostly been ignored by all.

Tracey peeked into the dungeon from the crack of the door. She had thrown the hood of her cloak back and as Blaise inched near her, he notices a faint scar on the side of her neck, going all the way to the other side which was covered in darkness. She looked pale, her chestnut brown hair was tied in a knot and her eyes were afraid but determined as she listened through the door. Blaise grabbed her and spun her around, backing her against a wall as he placed his palm against her mouth to keep her from screaming. "Davis!" He whispered, "Its me! Blaise." He said as he removed the disillusionment charm. She struggled against him, her eyes wild. "Do you want to get caught?" He hissed.

"Stop moving and I will let you go. And then we will talk." He waited for her to nod before removing his hand. "What are you doing here anyway? Do you have a death wish?" He spat with a cruel sneer, mad at the girl's stupidity.

"Even if I did have a death wish, it wouldn't have made any difference to you." She said sharply, "Now get out of my way."

Blaise wanted to get out of her way and let her go to hell but he couldn't. Something in the way Tracey was holding herself was so familiar, so vulnerable that he felt this compulsion to stand where he was and protect her from whatever it was that she was running towards.

"I would gladly let you go to your death, Davis." Blaise said, "But I am curious, what are you doing here?"

She glared at him, struggling to push him away. He took a step closer, flushing his body against her, till she was trapped between him and the wall. She looked at him, her eyes wide with panic before they filled with a dull fire.

"Oh! So you are no different either. Are any of you different? I thought you had some honour." She said venomously.

"Well, we don't have any honour. Now talk."

"I bet you don't want me to talk. So do what you want to do with me but spare her; she is a pureblood!" She said angrily.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act innocent with me, Zabini. I know all of you are the same. Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, Nott, you- you are all just the same. So, I am giving you an offer, do what you want to do with me. I have already been through it once but let the others go."

"Davis, what are you talking about?"

"Stop playing innocent." She said angrily, tears shining in her eyes.

"Davis? Hey, calm down." Blaise said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know what happened to you. I don't know what you are talking about but if you don't want to talk about it; we won't talk about it. Okay? But you need to get out of here before they catch you."

"I am not going anywhere." She said stubbornly, glaring at him. "I will not let you- you won't- I will-" Her breath hitched with each word till she was breathless. Blaise did what he always did with his mother in such a situation; he hugged her and held on to her till she calmed down. She struggled against him before going limp in his arms, sobbing hysterically.

"Please." She moaned through her sobs. "Please, just rape me again if you have to. Crabbe, Cobblepot and Slinker have already done it. Just let the others go. Please. Hurt me but just let them go. Please. I beg you." She was now sobbing beyond control as Blaise stood rooted in his spot, holding this broken girl in his arms. She continued sobbing as he stroked her hair. Suddenly, his entire being was on fire. "Stay here." He whispered hoarsely. "Don't do anything, just stay here. I promise you, I will not let any harm come to you. Do you believe me? Davis? Tracey? Do you believe me?"

She stared at him for a brief minute before nodding slowly, Blaise nodded once, pressing his lips to her forehead before performing the charm on him again and slinking into the room. Boot and Corner were on the floor under full body bind curse their eyes wide with horror while Slinker had his wand pointed at Ginny who was floating in the air, struggling as he spun her around. Crabbe was sitting in a corner, his pants down, massaging himself as he watched her spin; Cobblepot was nowhere to be seen.

"Turn her upside, Slinker. I want to see this blood- traitor's knickers. Let's go easy on her before we start with the real fun." Crabbe said, his voice as soft as ever and just as menacing. Blaise saw red, without even thinking twice, he had cast the imperius curse on both Crabbe and Slinker. He knew his curse won't last for more than a few hours but that would be enough. He instructed them to chain themselves on the walls. As soon as he gave his instructions, Ginny fell on the ground heavily. He removed the curses from Boot and Corner and ran to Ginny who looked like she was knocked out.

They heard footsteps behind them. Tracey burst in seconds later, her wand out; she saw Blaise on the floor next to Ginny and growled. "Oh no, you don't!" She screeched, before hurling a cutting hex towards him. Blaise, Corner and Boot rolled out of the way and the curse flew to a nearby wrought iron chain, which was neatly sliced in two. Blaise was amazed at the power of the curse. Before he could take a breather, another curse soared his way; he jumped out of the way, casting a shield charm simultaneously. His shield shattered on impact. Tracey Davis was a force to be reckoned with. Blaise started duelling with Tracey, sending mostly self defensive spells; she stalked him as she sent curses flying towards him. Luckily, her foot slipped and she momentary lost her balance; Blaise saw his opening and sent a stunner towards her. She crumpled on the floor. Boot ran towards her but Blaise was there quicker.

He covered her body and growled at Boot to not touch her. Boot stepped back immediately. After instructing the two boys to take Ginny to the hospital wing; Blaise picked up Tracey's prone form and took her to the one place he considered as his safe haven in Hogwarts. He looked at the room which now resembled Professor Lupin's office from the time when he was Blaise's teacher. Blaise had found the room of requirement in his third year. He had returned with the heavy knowledge of his mother's past and the knowledge that the kind Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher could have been a father figure to him was breaking him to pieces. A kind house elf had told him about the room, after catching him awake for the 5th night in a row. He had asked for a safe space to sleep in and the room had turned into Remus Lupin's office. Blaise stood by the window thinking about his mother and Tracey when he heard her screech.

"YOU!" She screamed wildly, looking around for her wand which was safely tucked in his pocket.

She got out of the camp bed she was in and advanced towards him, "What did you do to me?" She growled.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" She screamed as she got near enough to grab his collar and shake him roughly. Blaise stared at her calmly as she hit his chest, screaming all the time. Suddenly her head hit his chest, her finger crushing his shirt as she sobbed. "What did you do to me, Zabini?"

"Nothing." He said gently. She looked at him dumbfounded. "I swear; I did nothing to you. I promised you, I won't let anything hurt you. I intend to keep that promise."

"Why? Why are you being so considerate?"

"I have my reasons. But you don't have to be afraid of me. I would have taken you to the hospital wing but I don't know if that's what you want."

"I have to go." She said turning to leave. He caught hold of her wrist.

"You can't."

"You said I shouldn't be afraid of you. Then let me go."

"I can't. I asked the room to seal itself till the morning."

"Then ask it to unseal itself."

"You can't go."

"Why not?"

"Because, they will be looking for someone to blame for imperiusing Crabbe and Slinker. If you go now, they will blame you and you know what would happen then. In the morning, we could pretend that we were together for the night."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I told you, I have my reasons. Now we have the entire night to ourselves." She looked at him apprehensively as he crossed the room to sit on a chair.

"So Davis, what is your favourite colour?" He asked with an innocent smile.

AN: Remember the Stacy Davis I mentioned a few chapters ago, yeah well that would be Stacy Davies, Roger Davies' sister and this one Slytherin Davis is our good old Tracey Davis. So now that I have cleared that. Please do read and review. Drop in your comments and let me know how you find this story. I am trying to develop all these complex characters here because they would be instrumental in my other fics. So please, do read and review and let me know what you think about them.

Happy Reading.

Much love

The fishes