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Blaise walked out of Thursday’s Careers class with a slight scowl, his head was filled with numbers he couldn’t make any sense of and he could feel his pulse in his left eye. He resisted the urge to swear under his breath when he remembered an unfinished DADA essay due the next morning. He dragged his feet to the library and grabbed a couple of books that looked useful quickly before curfew. As soon as Madam Pince had let him off with the usual warnings about abusing the books he headed for that seventh floor corridor with the silly picture in it.
He paced the hallway, thinking hard about what he would like right now and opened the door slowly when it appeared. He did not step inside. If he did, Blaise knew that would be the end of his plans for tonight, but now he had something to bribe himself with. He sighed, allowing himself a few moments to drink in the sight and commit it to memory before he left. He dropped his bag onto the floor and extracted a self-inking quill and a long piece of parchment.
Tonks, then, he thought, as he cast the handy Chameleon charm on himself, and Gi-the Wealey girl seemed to know her well, that could mean she was in the Order, which would make the information that could be got from her very interesting.
He was able to reach the grounds safely and positioned himself right under the gate, at the spot that the two Auror’s paths seemed to meet, without being spotted by anyone. Muttering a spell he had read about while researching Banishing Charms last year he settled down and opened the first book. This spell magnified in his ears any noise within a five meter radius of where he was sitting. It was dead useful.
Soon Blaise was drawn into the essay he was writing. The Aurors didn’t seem to be very talkative tonight, but he wasn’t too fussed because he had just found something about a spell that could make people or places temporarily disappear off the map. It required very powerful magic, since this wasn’t just used to hoodwink the Muggles, but other Wizards as well, but if it was only for a short period of time it was, as the book said, not too difficult to manage. He practiced the Wand movement and wondered, briefly, how one would go about actually testing this thing.
”Sorry, Dawlish, am I late?” Blaise looked up from the page and concentrated on the deep, calm voice.
”No, no, I’m just tired today, this job’s Bloody boring you know, I don’t think he really cares about the school now that Potter’s not here anymore.”
“You’re right, mate, but we get a bit of a break come Christmas Holidays.”
“True, true, well I’ve got to run; I’ll see you tomorrow, Shacklebolt.”
“Goodnight!”
There was no talk for a while after that and Blaise was able to finish his conclusion and stow the essay in his bag then practice the wrist-movement for the new spell a bit more. He was actually just stretching his aching muscles and preparing to get up when he heard Shacklebolt’s deep voice again.
”Looking good tonight, Tonks, I take it Remus has stopped being a prat.”
“Nah,” a woman’s voice interrupted, but there was laughter in it, “I think he’ll always be a prat, but I took a leaf out of my cousin’s book and decided to be forceful about it instead of moping. You need to bully him into doing anything exciting, can you believe it, with his past.”
Shacklebolt laughed aloud. “You know Dawlish was right,” he continued, “This job is bloody boring, but it makes me a little uneasy. And were you there yesterday? That bloke is starting to worry me, and I mean a lot more than Fudge and Barty ever did.”
“I know, I’ve talked to McGonagall about it, but there isn’t much she can do, she’s not exactly Dumbledore and I don’t think it would be wise to go to Scrimgeour about it.”
“No, Scrimgeour’s best left to his own devices, I wouldn’t give him more information or control than he already has.”
Blaise was becoming very intrigued but they apparently remembered their duties and began to pace again, leaving their conversation hanging like that. Finally, when his eyes began to close of their own accord he heard someone new talking to Tonks, apparently taking over her shift for her and decided that he should go get some rest for tonight.
He stumbled back up to the castle and wondered that no one had heard him, he was sure he was making enough noise to wake Filch’s crazy cat. Finally he reached the Room of Requirement and flung the door open. It was a good thing he had already opened it before going down to the grounds because right now his mind was refusing to do too much work and he could barely get out the words “I want the room to become what it was this evening”. He checked the corridors to make sure no one had heard him, cursing himself for having to say it out loud and then flung the door open.
It was heaven. Blaise kicked off his shoes and allowed himself to sink into the feathery mattress and pillows. He only had to reach out with his right hand and it found a mug of steaming hot chocolate. He stared into the fire as he sipped at his mug, pondering the shapes in the coals as intensely as if they were of utmost importance. He slept peacefully that night; it was a dreamless sleep that he awoke from feeling refreshed and energized.
He came back every night for the next few weeks. Between his lessons with the Weasley girl, spying on the Hogwarts Guard and the dreaded Career Classes he felt he both deserved and needed the rest. The room wasn’t really anything glamorous or special, but Blaise knew that was part of its power. It was just right. There would always be simple comforts that helped him relax after a hard day, an ice-cream, a first aid kit after a particularly rough Quidditch or Dueling lesson with the Weasley or a calming draught after his first disastrous test with the Gringott’s Goblin. Long gone was the day when he would scowl at the thought of taking a calming draught. Things were fast becoming serious.
The only thing he seemed to be making headway in was Quidditch. His body felt much stronger and he seemed to be eating a lot more hungrily and enjoying food more as result of the regular flying. He was merely holding up in classes. DADA was particularly interesting with McGonagall teaching them, but it was also demanding and he often wished for more time to really take in what she was teaching them. He did save some of the more interesting spells for his dueling with the Weasley girl, but felt that this wasn’t enough, and wouldn’t be when it came to his NEWT examinations. Then there were career classes, which he knew he was going to fail miserably no matter how long he spent staring at the pointless numbers or trying to remember the names and positions of the most important mines around the world.
Worst of all, of course, was his spying mission. He had found out quite a bit more than any student should know due to his diligent spying and poking around. But the more he heard, the more hesitant Blaise became to pass on any of it to his master. What if something he thought was petty and therefore harmless to pass on to Voldemort turned out to actually be very important? What if he one day opened the paper and found out that one of the horrific deaths was because of him?
Blaise was forced to act, or more accurately to speak, three weeks before the Christmas Holidays. It was a beautiful, snowy night and he had just landed on the roof and positioned himself in a good spot from which he was able to watch the redhead as she continued to spiral and do complicated moves in the air. He wondered when she would actually bring a Quaffle to the lessons, she kept smiling at him in that infuriating way and telling him he was far from ready to handle it.
Suddenly, in the middle of a particularly brave dive he was watching with wide-eyes, something pecked his right hand and he looked down to see a familiar owl. Blaise’s heart plummeted and he grabbed the small scroll quickly, pushing the owl away. He suppressed a stream of silent curses and checked to make sure that Ginny hadn’t noticed anything and was still flying around above. The familiar handwriting only confirmed what he had known the moment he saw the owl.
Forbidden Forest. Behind Hagrid’s Hut. Now
He stuffed the offending thing into his pocket and picked up his broom and bag quickly. Weasley would not miss him since it had become a custom for him to watch her for a bit then head downstairs when he was tired. She never allowed him to leave before an hour of flying, of course, but it was well over three now, so there was no danger of her becoming suspicious. He dropped his things into the Room of Requirement before heading down to the grounds.
Just as he expected he was accosted before he had walked two meters into the forest. Draco had always been very afraid of the “nameless horrors” that might lie hidden in the depths of those woods.
“What the Bloody Hell are you doing here?” he kept his voice low, but it was as intimidating as his voice could get.
“Saving your arse! You’re going to be killed if you don’t come up with something soon, Zabini, the Dark Lord is absolutely livid, no one knows why, but everyone’s outperforming themselves and… you’ll see it in the paper tomorrow no doubt. Just know that I was there and… you’re lucky you’re only giving information Zabini, you hear me? Come up with something, and something good before this week is out if you want…people’s necks to be saved.”
Blaise stood staring at his former classmate his mind working furiously but coming up with nothing more intelligent than “What the hell?” His old classmate looked like a wraith now and there was a note of urgency in his voice, and although it made no sense for Malfoy to risk coming this close to the school, risk so much for anyone else he did not dare disbelieve what he was being told.
“Malfoy!” he called the boy back when he realized he was fleeing, “Thanks, mate.”
He did not, of course, waste another minute. If he left now; and if he was lucky he would be able to return by morning and pretend he had been in the school the entire night. Malfoy had clearly come in by way of some sort of secret passage a little further in inside the Forbidden Forest, but he had no time to search for it now and it would not do to follow the other boy.
He took out the letter in his pocket and burned it quickly then closed his eyed, trying to remember the spell. Now was the time to find out if it actually worked or not. He would walk right out of the castle. Of course opening the door was stupid, but he would basically scale the wall, the top of which at least two Aurors were pacing, armed with nothing more than a Chameleon curse, a magically conjured rope and a spell to make himself undetectable. If this set off some sort of Alarm spell or backfired he was done for, but there was no other choice. This had to be done now before he had time to think about it and hesitate.
He was at the place in less than an hour. The wall took the longest and then it was a simple matter of Apparition. Since he had already obtained his license there was no danger of being detected by the Ministry. At least he hoped that was how it worked. The Death Eaters guarding the place gave him a bit of trouble, though, which only proved Draco’s words to be true. They dragged him in to face the Dark Lord, cackling as if they’d stopped some sort of spy. Idiots.
“Leave us!” Blaise was not prepared for the cold fear that seized his body when he heard that voice. He stumbled towards the throne and kissed the hem of the Dark Lord’s robes before straightening up, but keeping his eyes lowered.
“My Lord I have been spying at Hogwarts for the past few months as you know and although not much seems to be going on within its walls many things are said. I have been listening and storing things away and I believe now is a good time, I have enough small things to tell you that might be worth the time you waste on this meeting.”
He had not stuttered and his voice was no as shaky as he felt and this apparently had been the correct way to begin because the answer was a simple, “Very well then, you may go on.”
“Hogwarts is guarded by Aurors sir, day and night, I believe, to protect the students, but it seems that they are not entirely loyal to the Ministry.”
“Is that so?” there was a mock curiosity in the voice that told he’d better get to it, if there was anything, very quickly.
“Yes, my Lord I am sure that most of these Aurors are in the Order of the Phoenix. There are meetings that take place regularly, I have been able to deduce that they are still using their old headquarters, but they seem almost posed for attack now that Dumbledore is gone. They relied heavily on his protection. And although the Potter boy is not at Hogwarts I have also heard a lot about him from McGonagall, sir, she seems to be becoming increasingly resentful of both him and the Minister for Magic, quite a bit more than I can understand sir.”
Voldemort just looked bored now. Blaise pressed on quickly, “I don’t know where they are hiding him, but it seems that he is being hidden somewhere by the order to the increasing agitation of Scrimgeour. McGonagall is teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, sir, as you must already know, but I am not sure if you know that she has dropped all pretenses and is, in fact training students to fight you. I believe she may even recruit for the Order from our class before the year even ends and-”
“Does she suspect you, Zabini?”
“No my Lord, I am sure she does not.”
“How have you been able to acquire this information?”
“I have been listening to the exchanges of the Patrolling Aurors, my Lord.” Blaise suddenly saw images of his night-time excursions clearly in his mind’s eye and when it ended he found he had been bodily flung a few meters backwards.
“You are hopeless at Occlumency, Zabini, you tell the truth. Do you think the woman may attempt to recruit you?”
“After Snape, my Lord, I believe they will be very cautious of Slytherins in general, but I have so far been on her good side, and I am doing quite well in her class.”
“I have it from other sources that there are five Aurors who regularly patrol Hogwarts, I know them by name, can you name which ones are in the Order for me?”
“There is one woman, my Lord, a Tonks and a big man with a deep voice, Kingsley; I believe those are the only two in the order, or perhaps the only ones that have night shifts.”
Voldemort laughed. “You see, Zabini, they always fall into this trap of trust. Always. If these two are really in the order-”
“I am sure of it, Master.”
“Then they can’t be taking enough care to be wary of Slytherins. It is their old blindness time and time again. I want you to be among the ones recruited, Zabini, at all costs. You are not any good at Occlumency, but this can be dealt with when the time comes. Now, I have some questions for you if you have nothing more for me.”
“Not too much of importance, My Lord,” Blaise said, wondering if he was really going to be questioned or tortured, “By your leave I will continue after your questions.”
For one heartbeat he thought he was finished, thought he had gone too far, spoken too much, tried to exert too much control over the conversation. But Voldemort’s piercing gaze left his and he heard the first question: “Horace Slughorn, is he in the Order?”
“My Lord, he is one of the few Professors I can answer that question about with complete certainty. He is too afraid to be in the order, he is in fact too afraid to be found doing anything other than teaching and stuffing himself or drinking. I think the only reason he stayed at Hogwarts is that he thinks it’s still safer than anywhere else, too scared to be caught in the crossfire.”
“Nevertheless you will keep an eye on him, he is Head of Slytherin of course, and he is known for manipulation.”
Blaise decided to be bold and go for it: “Sir, the thin little girl, fourth year Slytherin, she’s too obvious.”
“What was that?”
“I know she’s been watching me for some time, My Lord and she’s too obvious, she skulks and sneaks about in a way that would make anyone suspicious and I’m afraid someone might notice her keen interest in my activities and become suspicious.”
“You are very clever, Zabini,” he Dark Lord hissed, “She will be told to take more caution, but you must not think there are not others.”
“I have no doubt, my Lord, I would not expect any less, I merely mentioned it because of McGonagall.”
“Of course.”
It seemed that the questions were over so Blaise continued, feeling like a little boy confessing some terrible crime to his mother, with the last piece of information he had. “There is one more thing, My Lord, if you will.”
“Go on.”
“In the Daily Prophet there was a short, very vague article about some raids on Pureblood estates.”
Blaise paused momentarily, unsure of how to continue, but the Dark Lord was becoming impatient, “There was a fleeting mention of some libraries that had been raided, the Crabbes and MacNairs, it said some dangerous Dark Arts books were found and confiscated. This is no doubt a way for the minister to show that he is doing something important, but sir, there is some information the Ministry either wants to get their hands on or doesn’t want anyone else to read because the Restricted Section in the Hogwarts Library has become somewhat diminished. And sir, I believe the Ministry still fears some sort of uprising in Hogwarts because I heard many Professors actually complaining about this.”
“Don’t bother too much with the books, Zabini, but I want to know every detail of the Split between Hogwarts and the Ministry.”
“Yes my-”
He did not have to finish his sentence or even register the Dark Lord’s spell before it was upon him. Hot, sharp knives were attacking every part of his body and he opened his eyes to the dingy hall outside the Dark Lord’s room. He fled, as quickly as he could, but to his surprise Draco was standing guard at the apparition point.
“How long did it last? The Cruciatus, I mean.”
“Bloody Forever,” he chocked.
“You’re talking, that means you did great, Zabini. See you at Christmas.”
Blaise Apparated in Hogsmeade but he was sure he must have left half his brain hanging in thin air in front of Draco. He fell to his knees right where he was and wondered hoe on earth he was going to get back in. Waves of desperation had ust seized him when a pop announced an arrival right before him.
“Master is tired,” a very familiar squeaky voice said, “Master will need some rest and then he can write to Mistress.”
He felt excruciating pain once more but he knew that this was just the result of apparition. The elf had grabbed him and Side-Along-Apparated him right into a warm, comfortable…sot place that he could not see. His last thought before he went unconscious was that Mother knew.
