"Merde!" Blaise cursed. Climbing up a fire escape, the Italian boy started roof hopping at top speed, going so far as to enhance himself with reiatsu. Coming up to a road, he used the streetlights to lessen the distance he'd have to jump. Making it to the other side, he ducked behind a raised section for a window as bullets flew past him.

"Mamma always has the weirdest ways of welcoming me back," Blaise murmured. Sliding the rest of the way down the roof, he used the momentum to fling himself over to the opposite wall and hung there, gripping at the brickwork. Hearing a noise below him, Blaise looked down to find a pair of men, heavily armed and clearly following a route. Patrolling mercenaries then, difficult but not impossible to deal with.

Taking a deep breath, Blaise noticed one of them walking ahead, muttering something in Italian while the other waited impatiently. Probably an impromptu bathroom break. When the Mercenary rounded the corner, the living Arrancar donned his mask and counted from five. At zero, he pushed himself off from the wall and dropped.

Blaise landed directly on the man's shoulders, dislocating them both with a muffled pop. the boy reached down to cover their opponent's mouth and prevent a scream, before leaning back sending both of them tumbling to the floor. Blaise leveraged his mask-enhanced strength to keep the merc in a sleeper hold until he was certain they were unconscious before finally letting go.

Leaning them against a wall carefully, Blaise checked the man's equipment: two modified P90s with fully loaded clips, four extra clips for the handguns, a Belgian FN SCAR painted black - also fully loaded and with two spare clips, and three combat knives. Taking the handguns and knives, Blaise unsheathed one of them, a Cold Steel GI, and inserted it blade-first into the owner's shadow.

Drawing it back revealed a katana blade of writhing shadow, occasionally flickering about. A mumbled curse from around the corner heralded the return of the other mercenary. Counting to three this time and listening to the man fumbling for something on his belt, Blaise turned the corner back into the main alley before swiping his weapon forwards!

A wave of dark energy, the same light-eating aura of the shadow, shot forward. It cut the mercenary's radio in half and knocked the man backward, sending him flying before the adult crashed back to the ground. Walking over, Blaise cracked the man over the head with the knife's handle to knock him out before finally letting the mask dissolve.

The remains of the extended blade, half its original length, dissolved into shadow again, leaving only a tanto once more. Sighing, Blaise popped his neck, a habit picked up from his freerunning teacher. He took to the roofs again, using the mask as sparingly as possible; while he could maintain it for longer than most Vizards could at first, the personality shift it caused when worn was still distinctly unpleasant.

Finally he arrived at his location: a large villa, the central mansion being patrolled by more of the mercenaries, this time in groups of four. Luckily it seemed like they only had one radio per group. Donning his mask once more, Blaise launched a Shadow Shot at one squad's radio, wincing at the energy cost. It was one of the main reasons he'd figured out how to use other's shadows.

Once he'd eliminated the isolated group's communication, he revealed himself. Blaise kept close to the ground as he rushed at them, weaving back and forth to avoid the spray of bullets. The area they were in was far enough that he'd be able to finish the fight before another patrol came across them. He parried a hastily drawn knife before slamming the pommel into the first opponent's kidney to drop them, then stomped on their dominant wrist for good measure.

Drawing a new Void Blade (Su was surprisingly good at naming techniques) from his fallen foe, Blaise took a stance. Two of the remaining mercenaries approached simultaneously, one going for an overhead stab while the other went for a side shot at his ribs. Stepping into the second's guard, the attack breezed past him while he retaliated with a headbut.

The staggered fighter was then used as a step stool to launch Blaise into the air, bypassing the other opponent's attack and landing behind them. Placing his dominant hand's elbow and other hand against their spine, Blaise channelled reiatsu and the world seemed to stand still. Then, a shockwave erupted from the point of impact as the mercenary was sent flying into their friend, knocking them both over and out.

Hearing rapid footsteps, Blaise turned again to see the final mercenary… running away? Shrugging, he used a full powered Void Wave, simultaneously dispelling the weapon enhancement and sending the would-be opponent ass-over-teakettle to the land of Morpheus. Blaise put his knife away once again and continued to the mansion.

Spying an open window, he began parkouring up the side of the home towards the third-floor opening, climbing the brickwork and architecture with the speed only achievable with incredible skill… or long practice. Finally reaching his point of entry, Blaise pulled it open just a bit further, before climbing through the gap.

Rolling down the other side, Blaise dusted himself off and kept an eye on the window for a moment as he walked backwards, making sure no one saw him. Sighing in relief, he dismissed his mask once more and turned around only to walk face first into the reason for his stealthy approach. "Oh," slender yet strong arms locked Blaise in a hug. "That was quite the showing, but you aren't quite at my level, il mio bambino," the voice purred.

Blaise sighed again, this time out of tiredness. "Ciao Madre," he groaned, although the words were muffled. When his mother finally let him go, he made a point of glaring at the statuesque woman. At 5'10" in tennis shoes, Sienna Zabini was often the tallest person in a given room. Her presence demanded respect, not at all helped by the fact that all of her previous husbands died under mysterious circumstances.

This aura of intimidation didn't affect Blaise just as his indignant rage only made Sienna coo at her son trying to act seriously. Still, it was rather late and Blaise had exerted himself heavily during his cityscape fight from the airport. "As much as I'd like to question you as to how your time at Hogwarts has been going bambino, you look dead on your feet. Go and rest, we'll discuss things in the morning, sì?" she said while gently pushing him into the hall.

"Sì, Madre. Buona notte." Blaise yawned. Making his way to his room, he was hit with an additional wave of exhaustion, barely having the energy to remove the weapons he had on his person before collapsing on the bed. He was out before his head hit the pillow.


Waking up the next morning provided an interesting dichotomy: on the one hand, the immensely comfy bed made for a convincing argument to not leave the land of dreams. On the other was the fact that his muscles ached like nothing else, and required sustenance to continue repairs. Eventually the latter won out, and with a groan Blaise rolled out of the bed.

Lying face down on the floor for a minute while he adjusted to full consciousness, the Italian teen felt something repeatedly tap at his head. Lifting himself off of the ground revealed a black cat, looking immensely smug at getting their human to react. "Good morning to you too, Plagg," Blaise groused, and got a happy mrow in return.

Picking the bundle of fur and chaos up, Blaise made his way out of the room. The mansion was quiet for how late in the morning it was, and sparsely populated. Considering that this was the headquarters for his mother's business it was weird for there to not be more than the average skeleton crew running around.

Heading into the kitchen, the boy spotted his mother sitting by the island. "Morning," she yawned. Apparently she'd decided sleep was for the weak, though since she'd set a bunch of mercs on him on the logic of making sure he'd kept up with his training, Blaise wasn't feeling all that charitable. As previously stated, his everything hurt like a bitch.

"Morning, Madre." He grunted. Dropping Plagg on the table, Blaise stumbled over to the fridge and started looking over the contents. "Oh hey, leftovers. Hey Madre, is the takeaway good?" he asked.

"It should be, it's from yesterday. I saved some because it's your favourite," Sienna replied. A muttered thanks and a few minutes later they were both sat at the counter, eating their respective breakfasts. "So tell me Bambino, how was your first term at Hogwarts?" she pressed.

"It's certainly not short on interesting moments, I can tell you that much. I got sorted into Slytherin, so I have to put up with Malfoy for the next several years. But I've also managed to make friends with a number of people both inside and outside the house." Blaise started.

"...well, don't just sit there and mope about having to put up with Lucy's crotch spawn, tell me about your friends!" Sienna needled, and Blaise choked on the chip he'd caught in his mouth a moment prior.

"Pft, crotch spawn. Alright, you already know two of them from those high-society slogfests the high influence families keep sending invites to. They're Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass, and they're also the friends in Slytherin." Blaise continued after his near-death experience by potato wedge.

"Davis and Greengrass… oh, the little biologist and her valkyrie friend! That's nice, they both seemed to have their heads on straight. So who's next? Anyone from Hufflepuff?" Sienna asked.

"Not yet, but I do have two from each of the other houses. In Ravenclaw I'm friends with Su Li and Harry Potter. Su, from what I know because she doesn't talk about it often, comes from an obscenely long line of spellswords that originated in China, and have some sort of Drakonic link. Harry, meanwhile, grew up ignorant of magic, until something happened that was too big for him to ignore."

"Oh lord, what did he do?" The mercenary groaned. Every few years a non-magically raised child too young for the relevant academy wound up developing a number of abilities due to misunderstanding. Accidental magic allowed for a great number of feats, and the resulting savants often became leaders in their respective fields, at the expense of nearly crippling themselves in anything else.

"Surprisingly little actually, in terms of self damage at least. He Apparated but mistook it for the shadow travel ability of his favourite story. Turns out the plot was the only thing not real, and wizards were born from a collaboration between two of the factions' precursors." Blaise refuted. "While he can't access the Solomon Pillar, he's got a device that can record its own formulae, and his unique aspect seems like it'll be able to cover any weak points in his repertoire."

"Oh really? What sort of skill-set did he end up developing then?" Sienna inquired. It was rare for someone to come close to the way in which magic operated of their own accord, or at least provided enough wiggle room to become somewhat competent in conventional magic.

"Uh, raw energy manipulation specially suited for shaping, specifically in the form of a bow and arrow, so an arcane archer with supplementary techniques. The other basic part is an instinctual affinity for artificing. They work in conjunction, taking care of the fine shaping and expanding his arsenal. There's also unique abilities depending on the user, but they appear in every system, and aren't fully active yet, so I don't think that's relevant."

Sienna nodded, before moving on. "And Gryffindor?" She asked. Privately she was pleased at the implication behind his previous words. While she'd raised her son to always look for allies if not friends, there had been the worry of peer pressure limiting Blaise's interaction options.

The teen smiled. "Those would be Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger, Mamma. The seven of us have actually been researching how the spirit powers interact with magic, and what we've been able to figure out is that learning after you have a wand, even if it isn't bonded or suited to you, lets you bypass the key weakness Harry has of being unable to link to the Solomon Pillar. Currently those two have the most raw power."

"Oh really? What are you all doing?" Sienna questioned. She might have been a mercenary by trade, but that was just a career, and one she inherited in much the same way her son would. At her core Sienna Zabini was an immensely curious person, and loved researching magic in all its forms.

"According to what we can tell, the most common type of spiritual affinity is that of a Fullbringer, someone who can manipulate the souls of objects. Su, Tracy and Daphne are all Fullbringers, as is Neville, who's managed to achieve an Object Affinity, the unique ability that separates Fullbringers. Harry is a Quincy who's most of the way to his Schrift, which is the Quincy equivalent.

"Myself and Hermione is where it gets strange, though," Blaise continued. "Hermione is a hybrid between a Quincy and Shinigami, the afterlife equivalent of an Auror. She's partway unlocked her Zanpakuto, a sentient weapon grown from the undeveloped aspects of the user's soul, and can combine it with her Quincy skills. I, meanwhile, am a living Hollow, another afterlife entity created when someone dies with great negative emotion.

"My ability gives me the power to manipulate shadows, although I feel that's more the vector by which my powers will operate when fully realised. Our current theory is that mine and Hermione's less conventional abilities are due, at least in part, to reincarnation. But that's not important currently, a situation is happening. Something inside Hogwarts is having weird effects on the inhabitants, there's already been two incidents, and we're worried that it's going to come to a head some time soon." Blaise frowned.

Sienna's mood shifted immediately, dropping all sense of playfulness. "Ah, I knew there was another side to the coin. Finish your food, and we'll head to my office. We'll discuss things there."


Entering the room, Sienna set up an empty cork board while Blaise made notes about everything relevant to the circumstances at Hogwarts. When he was younger, his mother would go through a similar process with him, constructing fake scenarios for him to plan for. However, he didn't think he'd be going through a process so soon, nor about something he was so personally involved with.

"Have you sorted your notes out?" Sienna ordered. The moment she'd discovered the scope, both potential and actual, of the situation at school the mercenary had dropped into full business mode. It was something Blaise had always found cool, if a little jarring to watch in real time, her ability to become calm and collected at the drop of a hat.

"Yeah, I think I have all of the major points, plus some theories we've come up with," he replied. "So the first point that comes to mind is the source, the proper source of we're right, of us all gaining the ability to use Reiatsu as quickly as we did. One idea is that it was a stone Hagrid collected for Dumbledore, as it apparently felt similar to descriptions of a spiritual evolution catalyst called the Hogyouku."

"The problem there, however," Blaise pointed out, "is that the Hogyouku has enough range to cover a city, and only works once the individual has hit their limit in potential as they are. While an amusing idea, I highly doubt we were all destined to peak at age thirteen."

Sienna snorted. "Quite right, though the object likely isn't much to focus on unless it's being used directly. Now, you mentioned trolls with Hollow masks. Is there any reason why we can't assume that they were just affected by the same phenomena you and your friends were?"

Blaise's eyes lit up. "Yes, actually! For one, they possessed identical masks. That doesn't happen unless the Hollow is a low level Menos class, who all possess the same mask at first due to them being a bunch of Hollows fused together with no single one in control. On top of that, we all agreed that the Hollow reiatsu felt grafted on, and really unstable besides."

"Oh, and what significance do you think that holds?"

"Well Hollows have the ability to infect an individual with their Reiatsu, which can do anything from poison the recipient to act as a save point for the Hollow in question, depending on their qualities. Combined with the much more stable signature from the quidditch match, Hermione suggested that the trolls being empowered may have been accidental on the part of whoever let them in, and they discovered their abilities properly since."

"Hmm. So, you have the threat in question's strength level partially locked down, and a likely cause for their empowerment located." Sienna listed, pinning each note to the corkboard. "Next, let's figure out the likeliest option for whatever this item is."

"Right, that's been bugging me. There's something on the tip of my tongue, and it isn't registering. It's a solid object, about the size of a child's fist, and apparently radiates reiatsu on a scale that should be near impossible for its size. It acts as a catalyst for spiritual evolutions so there might be some kind of alchemical component, and it can be associated with Dumbledore…" Blaise stopped pacing in the middle of the floor.

"Shit. The biggest option would be the philosopher's stone." Blaise cursed, glancing at his mother. The Zabini matriarch's face was stony as ever in a professional environment, but her eyes glazed over slightly as odds ran through her mind. "It'd fit perfectly. Immensely powerful, capable of at least two normally impossible acts and likely several more, and there wouldn't be many others who Flamelle trusted to look after it."

"It gets worse." Sienna's dire tone made the hair on Blaise's neck stand up. "If it is the philosopher's stone then that establishes a motive, immortality and endless wealth. There are a great number of people who'd do a great number of things for such a prize, but none so dangerous as the monster that claimed to surpass death."

"Voldemort."

Word count: 3100 words

Hey laddies and lassies, how've you been? Me? I'm doing great, except this fuckin' chapter was supposed to be done over two weeks ago now, and Hermione's on Friday, so I've got a reverse backlog going if that makes sense. There's also the chapter due on new years, which should be simple enough admittedly.

Sorry about that, but can you tell that I wasn't having fun this chapter? It's honestly really shoddy, and I'll probably go and rewrite it sometime, but it gets the point across well enough for now. something else obvious is that I don't know how to describe attractive people, which kind of sucks when you're working with a character whose only stable, agreed upon trait "bunch of husbands that died under mysterious circumstances".

Yes, you still haven't seen Blaise's actual ability, as he points out. This was more of an awakening of his tactical mind and potential as a commander. I will be nice though and say that it's cracked, as well as tell you it's name: "Shadow of yourself". I kind of want to see if anyone will figure it out, should be interesting. you'll likely have a few months in that regard.

Anyway, next is Hermione, who's getting three consecutive fights! Well more than three, but three onscreen on-doesn't matter.

Ja ne!