"Ah! There you are!" Mrs. Zabini said when the two of them entered a very comfortable looking dining room. Like the rest of the mansion, the interior was very modern. It had a marble floor, that held a leopard pattern on it - when Ash saw this, her heart skipped a beat, because her German house had exactly the same marble - and in the middle of the room was a black table that was set with four plates - white with leopard print on the rim -, leopard coloured knifes and forks and (normal) wine glasses.

"Sorry about the delay mom," Blaise said before going over to her and giving his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"No problem, my dear. Hector isn't here yet either."

"Hector?" Blaise asked a bit confused.

"My fiancée."

"Oh..." Blaise said, with an grimace on his face. Chuckling Ash put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah! Ash! How lovely you look! I must say green is a perfect colour for you. You should be happy that you got into Slytherin!"

Ash laughed at her comment. "Yeah I was quite pleased with the house colours I must admit. Red always seemed to make me look a bit like a strawberry."

Mrs. Zabini laughed at that. "Oh, I'm sure red looks wonderful on you as well, but green... Perfect."

"Thank you."

"And how do you like your room?"

"Its wonderful, Mrs. Zabini. Absolutely gorgeous"

"Ash, please call me Oriana - Mrs. Zabini always makes me think I'm old..."

"No problem Mrs... I mean Oriana."

"Good girl. Now come on. sit down and talk with me!" Oriana said and gestured for Ash to sit on the chair to her right, while Blaise took the chair to her left.

"So tell me. Why have I never heard from you before this year?" Oriana asked.

"Um," Ash hesitated for a second, looking at Blaise. "I've just transferred to Hogwart's this year."

"Really? And where were you before?"

"I was in an wizardry school in Germany."

"Germany? What was it called? You see one of my late husbands was from Germany as well."

"Schwarzwälderkirsch"

"Isn't that a cake?"

"Our founder was a sweet tooth," Ash said her cheeks getting a reddish tint.

"Well, I like that name. But sadly that's not the school my husband was from."

"Are you hundred percent sure he's German or that he went to school in Germany? Because as far as I know its the only school for the German talking society. Meaning that not only Germans went there, but Austrians, German Swizz and the people from South Tirol."

"Hmm... let me think..."

"Mom, do you mean Sebastian?"

"Yeah, him."

"He went to school in Denmark."

"Oh... wasn't that Ben?"

"No, he was American."

"True true!" she said, turning to Ash she added laughing, "can you believe that my son knows more about my husbands than I do!"

"Seemingly."

"So, now tell me. How do you like Hogwart's?"

"I love it. At the start it was a bit weird for me, I had to get used to the teachers, the house system, the accents and the walking, etc. but now that I got used to it. Its fun!"

"The walking?"

"Well you see, our school was in an hollow mountain and a lot of the class rooms and dorms were only reachable when you fly with your broom, hence we always used our broom to get from A to B."

"You must be a very good flyer then!"

"I do believe I am."

"Then you should take part in the flying competition that my fiancée is taking part in next week! I bet he could get you in there!"

"Flying competition?"

"The Annual Broom Race. Surely you must have heard of it!"

"Oh, of course I did! Your fiancée is participating? He must be very brave. Not many wizards actually survive the race."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Well, its a race in Sweden that goes for 437 miles from Kopparberg to Arjeplog. If it were just the distance - no problem, but the course runs through a dragon reservation. Hence, if you get an Dragon angry... lets say its not very healthy."

"Huh... very interesting."

"But I would still love to take part in that race once. My problem is that my cousin would kill me if he found out - and he definitely would find out. He's a Dragonologist."

"Well, just sign up under a different name and wear a cape. He won't notice until its to late."

"When did you say it was?"

"Next week."

"I'll think about it!" Ash beamed at Blaise and his mother.

"No you wont," Blaise said.

"None of your business."

"It is. Its a deadly race, I don't want to lose a friend to that stupidity."

"Oh, don't shit your pants Blaise. I only said I'd think about it."

"But I know that if you say you'll think about it the probability that you'll say yes is 99%"

"If you say one more word I'll say yes."

"No"

"Alright Oriana. I would love to participate in the race"

Mrs. Zabini looked from her son to his friend and back. "Well, Blaise does have a point. It is dangerous. Do you really want to risk it?"

"Yes, I've decided."

"Well, then there's nothing I can do. I'll ask Hector if he'll get you a place... Ah! speak of the devil!" she said with a broad smile and stood up walking over to the door, where a man in his early 40ies entered the door. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. His skin was very tanned - which looked a bit weird in the middle of winter.

"Darling. May I introduce, my son Blaise. Blaise this is Hector."

Hector held out his hand for Blaise to shake. "Nice to finally meet you"

Blaise looked at the hand and then at the man that it belonged to with a scowl.

After a few seconds, Blaise's face scrunched up in pain and he glared at Ash, who had just kicked his shin under the table.

"Be nice," she mouthed at him.

Rolling his eyes he took the man's hand.

"- and this is Ash," Oriana went on.

"Wow, Blaise has a very beautiful girlfriend," he said with a smile.

"Oh no, Blaise and I are only friends."

"So you're single?"

"No, I've got a boyfriend."

"But its not Blaise."

"Exactly."

"Why not?"

"What do you mean?"

"You'd be a nice couple."

"Um... thank you," she said with an awkward smile and Hector and Oriana looked at each other, shrugged and sat down as well.

"Honey, we were just talking about the race next week."

"Oh really? Do you want to participate Blaise?"

"No, but Ash was thinking about it," he said in a bored yet a bit aggravated tone of voice.

"Really? You like to race?"

"I live for it."

"Well, the entrances are already over, but I can see if I could get you on the list somehow."

"I thought that maybe she could take your place, honey. I wouldn't want anything happening to you when we just met," Oriana said in a sweet and velvet voice. "Our wedding is in the summer, I really don't want anything happening to you before that. You can always participate again next year."

Hector sighed. "I'll see if I can get you on the list, if not you can race instead of me," he said, smiling at the blond girl next to him.

"I don't know how I can thank you for this! I've been dreaming about it since forever!" Ash said beaming.

"No problem. I'd do anything for a beauty like yourself."

Ash's eye twitched a bit and her smile froze for a second as his words creeped her out, but she quickly hid it by turning to Oriana and asking what they would have for dinner.

"You'll know as soon as it appears," and just when she finished saying that sentence, four house elves rushed into the room, balancing plates above their heads.

"Rocket salad with melted goat cheese," one of their high pitched voices chimed and raced back to the kitchen to let her masters dine in peace.

"Guten Appetit," Ash muttered under her breath - she still wasn't used to not saying anything before eating.

During dinner they talked a bit more about their plans for the holidays, while eating lamb cutlets as the main dish and a chocolate mouse for dessert.

"Well, we didn't really think about that, did we?" Ash asked Blaise who shook his head. "We were invited to the Christmas party and New Years Party at the Malfoy's and also I'm going to have dinner with his family at one point. But other than that... " Ash shook her head.

"And now you've also got the race you've got to include into your plans!"

"Correct. So both Tuesday are booked by the Malfoy party's. And somewhere in between that I think I'll have dinner with them.. What we could do is a little trip to the Alps and go skiing!"

"Skiing? As in the muggle sport?"

"Yes. But its fun! Trust me in that!"

Blaise sighed "I'll try it."

Ash beamed at her friend. Best we do that next week end... By the way, when is the race?"

"Its on the 26th."

"Good," Ash cheered. "This will be so much fun!" she grinned at Blaise.

"Good Morning!" she yelled as she stormed into his room at eight o'clock in the morning and jumped onto his bed.

"Arrg..." was the only response she got - if you don't include the annoyed grimace and him throwing her off his bed.

"Hey that was mean!" she yelled and pulled herself up again. Her answer was a light snore as the boy fell asleep again. "Blaise?... Blaise... wake up. I'm hungry." Swiftly she pushed her whole body onto the bed and crawled towards the sleeping boy. When she reached his face she took a deep breath and yelled "BLAISE!" right into his ear, earning a bruised eye and cheek as Blaise's head snapped up in shock and hit the girls.

"Wh-What? What's happening? Who's there?" he yelled frantically looking around him, only a groan coming from below his bed made him look over the edge and see a blond girl curled up in a ball holding her face. "Ash?"

"Ouch."

"Merlin! What happened?"

"You happened. I just wanted to wake you up and get you to breakfast... but no you had to hit me for my niceness...Bastard..."

"Oh I'm sorry, I - wait ... what time is it?"

"Eight."

"And what day?"

"Sunday"

"Why did you wake me at eight... on a sunday?"

"Because I'm hungry... and already awake for two hours..." she groaned, still holding the left side of her face.

"Its eight o'clock in the morning on a holiday sunday... I take back the sorry. Now let me sleep"

"You mean person! I'm in pain because of you!"

"Nope it was your own fault. Now go back to your room and sleep."

"Such a meany... I'll go to get breakfast myself then," Ash muttered and went out of Blaise's room with a huff. "Now... where do I go from here?" she muttered looking left and right from her... she turned left and started roaming the corridors. Soon she had found the room they had eaten last night. 'Buhya! I rock this house' she thought cheerfully.

When she entered the house nobody was there yet, so she quietly went to the door that she thought lead to the kitchen and opened it. A horde of House elves froze in place and starred at her.

"How may we help you, my lady?" one of the chirpy little things asked her with a low bow.

"I would like some breakfast, if its not too much work," she said with a soft smile at the creature.

"No of course not, certainly not, my lady! It will be made right away. What do you wish to eat?"

"Surprise me," she said with a smile. But before she left them, she asked for a ice pack - her left side of her face was throbbing. After taking the ice from them she left the House elves to fret over her breakfast. Once the door closed behind her, she looked around the room, asking herself what to do while she waited for her breakfast to be served.

Bored she glided through the room and took in every detail, then she sat down at her table and began picking at her nails... When she got bored of that - which didn't take long - she stood up again and went over to the kitchen door again.

When she opened the door, hustling little house elves froze up again, looking up at her. "Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt... but could I maybe... watch you cook, or something like that?"

The house elves looked at each other.

"Whatever the lady wants," one of them said and gestured for her to enter and sit on a chair at the far end of the kitchen.

"Thank you."

Ash watched with interest as the little creatures hurried about and prepared her breakfast. She saw one of them make pancakes, another one was making mozzarella with tomatoes another one was making scrambled eggs with bacon... yummy...

"Excuse me miss."

"Yes?"

"One of the masters is in the dining room now, if you would like to join him?"

"Oh, sure I wont disturb you any further!"

"You didn't."

Ash just smiled at the cute creature in response and started making her way back to the door she had come through a few minutes ago. When she passed through it again, she saw Hector sit at the table reading the papers.

"Good Morning," she said smiling as she joined him at the table.

"Good Morning, Ash... What happened to your face?" he asked as he saw her holding ice against it.

"Blaise head butted me when I woke him up."

"And where is Blaise?"

"He should be coming soon," she smiled at the man, lying through her teeth. As far as she knew, he'd still be sleeping for at least two hours.

"Ah, alright."

"And where is Oriana?"

"She's still sleeping."

"Huh."

The awkward silence that erupted got interrupted by the house elves bringing in the heaps of breakfast they did.

"Thank you," Ash told them as they came in and allowed her to focus on the food in front of her, instead of the man that was creeping the living shit out of her.

After a few minutes of silence, Hector cleared his throat. "So, I've talked to the people who are doing the race." Ash looked up at him.

"Already? What did they say?"

"Well, they wont accept any new participants, but they said that you could race in my stead."

Ash smiled at him, "that is very nice of them and of you."

"Yeah, isn't it? I don't know why, but Oriana is very stubborn to not let me race this year."

"Well, its understandable, she doesn't want her fiancée hurt before the marriage."

"Yes, I guess it is understandable."

Ash smiled again and prayed for one of the others to join them here. She was unsure why, but she didn't like being in one room with him. He somehow reminded her of Patrick.

Silence fell over them again, until a grumpy looking Blaise entered the room.

"Blaise!"

Grumble...

"Have you slept well?"

"After you terrorized me earlier, I couldn't fall asleep any more... What happened to you face?"

"You head butted me."

"Oh... Sorry bout that."

"No worries, I just hope it wont show."

"To late for that. Your left half of the face is blue."

"Damn... Lets pray that its gone until Tuesday then! Anyway, what do you want to do today?"

"Lets go out."

"Sounds good! Where too?"

"London?"

"Will we aparate this time?"

"Yeah."

"OK, then lets!"

"Just let me eat first, OK?"

"Aye Aye sir!" she grinned and shoved some more food into her mouth.

Ash was excited about the trip to London. Not only because she loved London as a city, but because they where aparating there!

As soon as she finished eating, she raced up to her room to get a jacket and put on different shoes, before rushing to the entrance again and waiting for Blaise to finally show up, so that they could move.

When Blaise finally showed up, Ash couldn't hold her excitement any longer and was jumping up and down on the spot.

"Excited?" Blaise asked snickering, while Ash frantically nodded her head. "Good. Well we will get to London with two stops." Blaise told her.

"Two stops?"

"Yeah."

"Why so many?"

"You can go further?"

"Course. I can get to London in one go."

"From here?"

"No problem."

Blaise looked at her - face his usual arrogant way, but Ash could see a hint of respect in his eyes. "How far can you aparate?"

"Well, last time I checked I think it was about 1000 kilometres."

"What's that in miles?"

"Let me think... about 700?" she said uncertain, but with a grin on her face.

Still a normal person wouldn't see a new emotion in Blaise's face but Ash could see his shock at the revelation.

"I know I'm good... When I started learning it, I over did it a bit and tested my limits again and again that I became really good at it! My plan is to be one of the few witches that can cross the Atlantic one day!" she grinned at her friend. "So... do you want a ride? Or should we make the stops?"

"I prefer aparating alone."

"Whatever suits your boat," Ash smiled and looked over his shoulder at the pictures he was holding in his hands. "Those are our stops?"

"Yeah."

"OK. Then I'll see you there," she said and vanished with a silent plop.

Quickly Blaise followed Ash and appeared 10 meters next to her on the beach.

"Its nice here," Ash said quietly before looking at the next picture and vanishing before his eyes again.

"Merlin, why is she in such a hurry?" Blaise wondered to himself and followed her once again.

"So where our final halt?" Ash said when Blaise appeared beside her.

"Gringotts, Diagon Alley."

"You don't have a picture of the place we're going too, do you?"

"Haven't you been there before?"

"Nope, I still had all my school supplies from Germany and the uniform I have was borrowed from Ginny. We didn't have the money to buy new ones."

"Oh... well, best you ride with me then," Blaise muttered and Ash quickly took a hold of his waist, pressing her body against his.

Squeezing through the tube together Blaise and Ash quickly appeared in the middle of the Diagon Alley and moved away from each other,

"Exciting!" Ash cried and grabbed Blaise's hand before rushing from shop to shop staring at the different items the shops sold.

After about three hours of running across Diagon Alley, Ash was standing in Flourish and Blotts looking through the newest books, when she saw Draco pass by them together with his parents, a couple of other shady looking characters and... Pansy?

Gulping hard, Ash followed the suspicious looking group with her eyes and saw them turn into another alley together.

Quickly Ash looked around her, before swiftly running out of the book store and following her boyfriend into the dark alley he went into. When she passed the sign she read Knockturn Alley...

Silently she followed the dark roped group of five, wondering what Draco was doing with these people, but most of all she was wondering why Pansy was with them.

She didn't want to sound jealous or possessive or anything... but Draco was hers, Pansy had no right to be with him while she wasn't allowed to.

Growling she turned into her animal form and followed them unnoticed. When they walked into a shop named Borgin and Burkes, Ash wasn't able to follow them any further, therefore she searched for a way to look inside the shop, unnoticed.

After a few moments of sniffing around she jumped onto a low roof and was able to climb along the roof until she was able to see into the shop. In it Draco was looking at a big black cabin like thing, together with Pug-face.

She watched them look at every centimetre of the cupboard for the next two hours, while wishing Pansy every curse and jinx that she could think of.

Annoyed that she couldn't do anything against Pansy and Draco in that shop - together with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and those other weird people, Ash grumpily hoped of the roof and went back to search for Blaise, who was probably already worrying his cute little head off.

But what were Draco and Pansy doing in the shop? she wondered as she transformed back into her original form and wand-called Blaise, telling him where he could find her and that she wanted to go back home.