Blaise snuck up the ramp that leads to the boys dorms. When he entered the Common room he crouched down to avoid the snogging couple in front of the fireplace. He crept across the floor on his stomach, humming the theme from Mission Impossible™ in his head. He rolled between two chairs and thunked into the back of the couch.

Blaise froze with wide eyes as Draco lifted his head at the noise. He slowed his breathing and attempted to think quiet thoughts as Draco's eyes searched the room. Ginny, having none of that distraction mess, yanked him around by his hair and reattached herself to his lips.

Blaise stifled his chuckles by biting his lip. 'Oh my, it seems my Prince has his hands full.' Blaise contemplated the pair for a moment. 'I think they need to cool off….'

He conjured a bucket of Ice Mice from his room quietly. 'On the count of three…Un…deux…trois!" He leapt up from behind the couch to throw his bucket onto the couple in a heated "discussion' in front of the fire. They came up sputtering, shivering and (in Draco's case) cursing. Both of them scoured the commons for whoever the culprit was, but it was Ginny who spotted Blaise on the floor rolling in uncontrollable fits of laughter. She motioned with her hand and Draco followed her finger to find his Second with his hands holding his sides.

Draco rose from the floor and helped Ginny to stand. They stalked over to loom over their 'friend'. Draco nudged him hard in the ribs with his foot.

Blaise looked up at his irate Prince from the floor. 'Aw damn I'm in deep shit now.'

"You do know you're in deep shit now right?" Draco growled, glaring down at him.

"Umm…..it was…um…Pansy's idea?" Blaise stuttered, inching away from the two of them.

"Blaise, you only stutter when you're lying." Ginny hissed, her face finally back to the color it was supposed to be.

'At least she doesn't clash anymore…' Blaise pondered before he scrambled up hurriedly and made a mad dash for the statue that guarded the door.

Draco moved to go after him, but Ginny snagged him by his pants and drug him back to the couch. "You can get revenge later. Now it's all about making up to your 'Bride'. Because I'm still rather pissed at you for keeping it a…"

Draco employed one of his favorite ways of shutting her up: Kissing her.

Blaise slowed his progress when he didn't hear a pursuit. 'Mmmmm….wasn't one of my smarter ideas. But it was funny as hell, and I'm fourteen Gallons richer.'

He was chuckling to himself when he rounded the corner and caught a glimpse of a grey cloak disappearing into the kitchens. It was a little known fact that the Slytherin commons were but two flights away from the fruit portrait. (Which is how Crabbe and Goyle had gotten so….mmm….large.) Blaise decided to let his nosiness get the better of him and followed.

He tickled the pear, and stepped through. He wasn't there but two minutes when Dobby, whom Blaise recognized from Malfoy's house, came up to him with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Here you are Sir. Dobby gots it himself, yes Sir. Is that all he can dos for you, Sir?"

Blaise bent down and took the plate from him, "Thank you Dobby, yes that will be all."

Dobby scurried away quickly and Blaise looked around for the person he saw come in. He heard a sniffle over by the ovens and paced over to investigate. Looking down he saw a girl huddled up next to the heat of the burner, her face bandaged from her right temple to the right side of her jaw.

He cleared his throat and the girl looked up quickly. Blaise recognized her at once as the Ravenclaw Prince and dropped to one knee. "Good evening Prince. Am I disturbing anything?"

She drew herself up slightly at her title and swiped a hand across her face. "Of course not Deuxième Serpent. Please, stand; the flagstones do nothing for knees. How is your Prince?"

"Draco is peeved with me." Blaise answered honestly, regaining his full height. 'I wonder if I should ask why she was crying? OR I could treat her like a Prince and assume it's not my business…' "Why were you crying?"

The girl cut her gold rimmed green eyes to the side before turning her gaze back to him, "It's a rebellion in Ravenclaw. Carmichael is insisting I cheated, that I used magic. But tell me this; if I used magic do you think I would now be scarred? No."

Blaise was silent as he considered this new event. A rebellion would not be good for anyone, disobedience that was not punished usually bred resentment and bad manners. The professors counted on the individual Princes to keep their house in line and instruct them in the rules that governed the WW, who to respect and how to earn it. When a rebellion took place the entire school fell into disorder. As he thought he noticed the girl's wound had been sloppily bandaged and the heat of the burners was making it painfully reddened. His loyalty to his Prince aside, Blaise could not leave her to suffer in silence. He offered her his hand to assist her in standing and smiled at her when she took it.

He noticed right away the she was a petite girl, coming to rest just under his shoulder. Her skin was tanned from being outdoors and the dirty white of the bandage did little to hide her beauty. Her hands surprised him; being calloused and rough but strong too. She was not a well kept rose, she was a wild flower. He noticed this and his respect for her grew. Tucking her hand into his elbow he started for one of the small tables in the back of the kitchens.

Blaise turned his mind to her problem as he led the way to the table. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Invoke Open Challenge I suppose. What else is there?"

Blaise gasped, "Are you nutters? If you do that any half-wit can challenge you! They'll just run the idiots at you until you're tired then send the one they want to rule while you're weak! There's another way, there has to be!"

Alex got a strange look on her face. "I could choose an Aile Guard. One of those brave-to-the-point-of-stupidity Gryffindors could serve…."

"A GRYFFINDOR? Are you off your bloody rocker? They know nothing! They have no leader, no manners, no." He bit into the pb&j violently, taking his sudden anger out on the poor sandwich.

Alex looked at him bemusedly, "Are you volunteering?"

Blaise choked on his bite of sandwich. Alex waited patiently for him to recover his composure. She offered him her glass of water and he took a long swallow.

'She's not all that bad looking, and it would only be a farce to keep her House under control until they get used to her….I could do worse than a Prince I suppose. And my own Prince just might not kill me if I ally the Houses so closely.'

He looked deep into the eyes of Ravenclaw's Prince. He saw intelligence, cunning, bravery…but mostly mischief. "I'll do it."

Alex nodded solemnly. "Then as my first act as your Amoureux À ailes, I seal this deal."

She rose slowly from her seat at the table and came to stand in front of him. He put his sandwich back on the plate and wiped his fingers off on a cloth napkin that one of the house elves had thoughtfully provided. She waited patiently for him to settle his hands back in his lap before she stepped into the space between his knees. Shyly she glanced up into his silver eyes, her own tense with nerves. She knew what she had offered, what he had accepted. He sat with calm acceptance as she placed her hands delicately on his shoulders and used them to brace herself as she leaned forward.

Giving her time to adjust was killing Blaise's self control. He had a weakness for beauty and that weakness was compounded when the beauty concealed strength. Her small, strong hands were burning through his cotton polo and leaving what he was sure were permanent marks on his skin. He kept his steady silver gaze locked on hers, reassuring her with his smile that her knew and accepted what she offered. When she finally closed the distance and placed her soft lips on his, he knew. The small sting of Ravenclaws mark being placed on his chest above his heart was barely felt, the warmth coming from her small frame more than enough to drive the small pain out of his system.

Alex pulled back slightly, her own skin stinging from the marking. She raised a hand to her chest, not fully understanding until she tugger the shirt slightly to the side. On her tanned skin was a rune, which she did not recognize, that started just above her breast and ended just below her clavicle. In shock she looked to Blaise wonder apparent on her features. He had his own shirt pulled aside and his rune was bright blue against his mahogany skin.

"Do you know what these are?" Alex's question was whispered as she stared at the dark expanse of well muscled skin.

"You didn't know this would happen? They're the runes of your house; they mark the members of your flock, down to the lowest fledgling. The runes are different for every member and most of them are so faint at first that they are not noticed until the fourth or fifth year. You will have two others appear before long, one along your upper right arm and one across your spine. The spinal one will be your leadership rune, there hasn't been a true leader in Ravenclaw in forty years so I don't know what shape it will take. Your upper arm will be your rune, the rune your house assigned to you when you were sorted."

Blaise paused and drew Alex closer to him. Her bandage had started to stain from the blood seeping through and he decided to assist her in caring for it. Waving Dobby over ha politely asked the house elf for dressing supplies and a healing potion. With a positive response Dobby wisked away to do as he was asked, leaving the pair alone.

"Blaise? Will the marks fade when I leave the school?" Alex asked, still entranced by his skin.

"It depends on you Alex. Some Ravenclaws hate their marks and wish them gone as soon as the graduate. The magic that put them there isn't cruel and will fade them if desired. They are always below the surface however, waiting to be revealed again."

"Can you read them?" Alex reached out her hand to trace lightly over Blaise's rune, her rough fingertips light.

"You're is eite. It translates to 'feather'. Mine it eite thuathail, translated 'reverse feather'. Together they give us wings. Poetic, yes?" Blaise's breath hitched as her fingers continued to trace the lines on his chest, her body stepping closer to him as she did so.

He brought his hands up carefully, resting them on her waist. He wasn't surprised to feel how solid she was, her muscles bunching and shifting under his hands. He was relieved and disappointed when Dobby popped into being next to them, startling the Prince and causing her to step back.

"If you'd allow it, Prince, I would like to redress your wound." Blaise waited patiently for the girl to decide if she would open herself up to him.

Alex lifted a hand to her cheek and came away sticky with blood. She thought back to her basic patching job and decided it couldn't hurt to let her Aile Guard keep her from scarring too badly. After all she had just kissed the man and practically groped his chest. She moved to sit closer to him, her nearing proximity permission enough.

Blaise was pleased by her show of trust and the faint tint of color on her cheeks. He took the supplies from the patient Dobby and set them on the table. Dobby excused himself once again leaving the two alone.

Blaise's hands were gentle as they pulled the soiled dressing from her face. The angry red gash that met his eyes cause a feeling of protectiveness to well in his chest. His hands did not translate his anger as he discarded the old bandage and dipped the first gauze into a cleansing solution. Warning his Amoureux À ailes about the sting he dabbed it gently to her wound. The hissing breath she drew through her teeth made his stomach clench, but he continued the pattern of dabbing and cleaning until he was sure that the wound would not fester. After he was sure of the wound's cleanliness he applied a salve to take away the pain, if only for a little while, and placed a clean square of gauze over the lot. With white medical tape holding it secure he turned Alex's head from side to side to ensure a good seal.

Satisfied Blaise removed his hand and observed. Alex's eyelids were drooping, her head nodding to her chest. With a chuckle Blaise stroked her arm to rouse her.

"Mmm?" Alex's sleepy murmur convinced him that she would not make it safely to her common room by herself. With a frown he realized that may not be the safest place for her at all right now and determined to escort her to her brother's care.

Urging her up and guiding her down the kitchen corridor was harder than he thought, getting her out of the portrait was harder, and in the end picking her up and carrying her seemed the better idea when she nearly smacked her face into the cobblestone floor.

Arriving at the Hufflepuff portrait he politely asked the older gentleman to retrieve the Compte De Blaireau. Within minutes a sleepy Damien appeared at the portrait and took in the sight before him. With a grunt he gestured Blaise in and showed him to his room.

"Just put her there mate." Damien waved his hand to the lavish king bed in the middle of his room. The yellow and black reminded Blaise of a bumble bee, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Laying his bundle down on the rumpled bed sheets, he removed her shoes and tie before tucking the sheets around her. Brushing her tangled hair out of her eyes, he tenderly brushed his fingers over her cheek before turning to go. A younger badger showed him out while his Prince crawled into bed next to his twin.

His dear older sister was going to get payback for him being woken so late at night, oh yes. Payback indeed…

Author's notes:

OK new concepts:

Amoureux À ailes- Translated as "Winged Lover"- Alex is RAVENclaw's Prince, WINGS…..

Aile Guard - Translated as Wing Guard. Ravenclaws call their Prince the "Winged One" when not addressing an assembly.

Deuxième Serpent. - The Second Serpent. Blaise is Draco's second-in-command