Hogsmeade Weekend
It felt good to be able to just stroll out of Hogwarts in broad daylight without sneaking and casting secrecy charms. Blaise was worried that the large amount of healing potions and healing herbs in his bag would raise some sort of alarm because although the ministry was gone Filch was still…well, Filch.
It was nothing that couldn’t be easily explained away, only a couple more sophisticated potions along with some basic emergency healing stuff, but in Blaise’s position he didn’t want that spotlight for even a second. He didn’t need it right now. Thankfully, Filch’s screening process was not that sensitive.
He strolled through Hogsmeade casually and even stopped to buy some chocolates and a Buterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. They had been intending to leave last night, but had decided against it since going to Hogsmeade with all the other students was a much easier way to get out than sneaking in the middle of the night. And the time-turner made the issue of urgency obsolete.
Finally, when it was almost noon Blaise headed towards the Shreiking shack to meet Ginny. He went through the notes and maps one more time and the littlest Weasley looked about ready to burst with impatience. Blaise studied her face for a moment; there was a thrilled, excited look and a slight flush in her cheeks. This was her freedom.
The first place they tried turned out to be a large Quidditch club and they only escaped notice by a stroke of luck and very quick Apparition. The second place looked likely enough, it was the ruins of an old magical manor, dating back quite a few centuries, and Blaise could feel a distinctly magical air about the place.
They walked carefully through the crumbling archway of the gate and through the rubble, waiting for some sort of creature or spell to begin fighting them. Suddenly a rumbling noise could be heard and thousands of rocks, large and small, could be seen hurtling towards them. Blaise grabbed the Weasley’s arm and pulled her into a small alcove and they watched the rocks pass.
“Ron’s been here,” she whispered picking up a small piece of torn clothing, “This can only be a Weasley sweater and it even smells like him.”
“What if they didn’t get it?” he was a little reluctant to leave now that they’d found a very likely place.
“They’d still be here, looking for it. We’d be wasting our time, let’s try somewhere else Zabini, somewhere they haven’t been. I want this to be all mine; no big brother, no Potter. ”
He grabbed her arm and Apparated them to the nearest point he knew to the third spot on Regulus’s map. They would have to fly this time. It was a long, cold flight and Blaise knew that if not for the Quidditch Lessons he would not have been able to make it. The sport did have its uses after all.
They got there tired, wet, and squinting in the dark. Blaise used the pointer spell again and a couple more location charms to make sure they were in the right place. It looked like the middle of nowhere and there wasn’t that distinct taste of Dark Magic in the air.
A sharp intake of breath from Weasley made him look at her and then up to where she was staring. And, suddenly, he knew why this place had shown a high level of magical activity. High above Welsh Greens were soaring in and out of the clouds and turning his gaze down into the valley below he noticed a few scattered fires like little candles in the dark.
Blaise turned his gaze to the slopes of the small mountain they were on. It was bare rock except for several small caves. He looked into the closest one and cast several spells to ensure there wasn’t anything in there. Finally, he called for the Weasley and cast a protective charm that would form a clear, glassy barrier all along the mouth of the cave.
It wasn’t that difficult to transfigure some mattresses and thick, warming blankets. Weasley started a little fire in the middle of the cave before throwing herself onto her blankets near the mouth of the cave and turning back to watch the dragons.
They would have enough time, and much more energy, for dealing with the dragons and their search tomorrow morning. Meanwhile he was going to get as much sleep as he could.
…
Blaise came to consciousness slowly, feeling strangely warm. He had no desire to open his eyes or get up although his sleepy mind still remembered that he had something important to do. He was finally convinced to getup when the smell of cooking overwhelmed him.
“What are you doing, Wealsey?”
“What does it look like, Zabini?”
He sighed and sat in with his back to the wall, facing the Weasley as she worked. “I thought you were more the adventure type?” He looked at her carefully waiting for an answer; because while mother was very different from Weasley, they were both very strong women and Mother didn’t do menial house-work.
She finished scooping the scrambled eggs into the plates (which were still distinctly woody- apparently her transfiguration wasn’t that great) and then looked up at him, “There’s a difference between being a house-wife and knowing how to feed yourself, Zabini. My brothers Bill and Charlie know how to do a bit of good cooking too.”
He tasted a bite first before commenting further. It was good. Apparently, there was a good reason why Weasley’s mother was fat, “Why not the rest?”
“Hmmmm,” she began smiling, “Mum sort of gave up after Percy.”
After seeing his blank look, she clarified, “Big-Head git.”
“Oh!” Blaise said grinning, “Understandable.” And then he remembered that he was a Slytherin and Slytherins did not grin like idiots over their food…or at any time really.
They headed out after breakfast, first making sure to clear the cave of any signs of life and even checking to make sure that no traces of them remained for anyone to recognize. Blaise wasn’t going to repeat Weasel-boy’s stupidity; he intended to live after this little adventure. That is, if they made it through the obstacles they would surely encounter on their way to the prize.
It took a good two hours to find the actual spot where it was hidden and they came dangerously close to the Dragons. Wealsey seemed to be thrilled about this; apparently she didn’t mind dying by Dragon any more than by Death Eater.
Soon enough a small, dark cave was found, meters from a Dragon’s eggs and they both squeezed themselves in. Blaise could hear the roar that came from behind as they rushed forward through the darkness. The ground, no the entire cave, shook with the wrath of the dragon. And then Blaise realized that although the hole was too small for the creature to follow them, they could be followed by its fire.
He turned around and cast several barrier and protection charms that would hopefully protect them from behind. Charms was a bloody useful subject, he’d have to let Flitwick know sometime.
Soon the long, cold tunnel came to and end and they found themselves in a large circular cave. Several tiny holes in the top of the cave let some light in, but it was feeble and didn’t help much. It only created shadows.
“What’s wrong, Zabini,” Blaise looked around, but the voice echoed around the cave and he couldn’t tell where it came from, “Come to finish me off for your master?”
Blaise kept looking around, almost frantically, for a sign of the other boy. “I’m not here to kill you, Nott, I’m-“
“Here to fix it, here to make it all go away?” Theo’s voice was uncharacteristically harsh, but after months on the run he had a right to be bitter, “Where were you when I stood up like a man, Zabini? You were groveling at the feet of some lunatic. I knew Draco would do it, and of course those goons never knew better, but you?”
“You had a mother once, Theo. I needed to protect her while I could figure things out, you know that.” Blaise was vaguely aware that he was being too insistent, too desperate, to make Nott understand.
“Yeah, Zabini, I had a mother once and he killed her, they killed her.” Blaise realized that he was shaking a little when suddenly another voice joined in on the conversation. There was a very small far away screaming in the back of Blaise’s mind as he listened to Draco’s voice with horror.
“I’m sorry, Theo, but I had to do this.” Draco said with a shaky voice. His hands were shaking visibly, but somehow he managed to let a killing curse fly and it hit Theo right in the chest. The screaming in the back of Blaise’s mind was getting louder and louder and he was cold. Freezing.
“You idiot!” he yelled, “You idiot, Draco, we were going to fix this, I was supposed to fix it!”
He stumbled towards Nott’s dead body, but then it suddenly disappeared and so did Draco and Blaise found himself alone in the dark cave again, but not completely alone. Weasley was on her knees a few meters away, gasping for breath and holding her wand out in front of her.
“What the hell?” Blaise’s voice quavered in his own ears, but he had no time to feel ashamed of that. He had to figure out…
“That was the bloody best Boggart I’ve ever seen, Zabini. All of them were.”
Suddenly Blaise felt very foolish. Of course, boggarts, defense mechanism for the Dark Lord’s piece of soul. He’d been fooled by a creature they’d studied in third year. He straightened up and held a hand out to the Weasley girl. She was shaking visibly, and as she straightened up Blaise realized that she was still afraid.
“Where next, Weasley?” he said conversationally to fill up the silence, but the way it echoed made him cringe.
They soon found a stretch of wall that was clearly the doorway. It seemed to be a very thin piece of rock, but it would not budge. Weasley even tried a blasting charm, but it was no use. She kicked at the thing irritably.
Blaise sat himself down before the spot and closed his eyes. He had completed two entire lessons of Spell-Invention. Latin words and prefixes. Spell roots and how to concentrate a power through wrist-movements. That must help him, if not in inventing a spell, maybe thinking about them would jog his memory and remind him of a good spell he’d learned before.
“Zabini?” Wealsey whispered, “Whatever it is you’re trying to figure out, you’d better do it quick because we’re about to be joined for a little…snack.”
He could not help looking back and the sight that met his eyes was one he had hoped he would never have to see. They would soon be trapped in a circle of about a hundred Inferi. And behind the advancing army of the dead there seemed to be something else going on as well.
Blaise gulped and turned back to the wall.
“Hurry, I don’t think the bloke that wrote the ministry leaflets had a clue how to actually fight these!”
The Dark Lord must have left himself a way to get back in. This meant that the wall would open up for the Dark Lord somehow. Blaise blinked and looked back at the Wealsey, it was uncanny. And it was probably illegal, but something had stuck in his mind from the lessons and it was possibly the most sinister part of what they’d learnt so far.
“Zabini, this isn’t working!”
“Blast them!” Blaise yelled as he waved his wand experimentally before him. “Cruci-Memori-revelio.” It was awkward magic, he knew it was, and it could go horribly wrong, but then again, the only other alternative was to let themselves get killed by the Inferi.
“Weasley!” he called remembering that she had six brothers who would hunt him down and tear him to shreds if anything went wrong, “Get over here I have an idea.”
“What?” she said breathlessly, edging towards him with her wand still turned towards the approaching army of dead bodies.
“Being possessed is your worst memory, right?”
“Yes.” She turned towards him with a stony face.
“I need you to remember the feeling; I need you to remember having part of the Dark Lord inside you for me. Just for a while.”
Her eyes flitted towards the Inferi and then she nodded slowly. “This had better work, Zabini.”
Blaise took a deep breath and began reciting the incantation he hoped would make the door open for them. Weasley girl’s face was chalk, white now and she was swaying from side to side and clenching and unclenching her jaw.
“No, please, Tom, no…” she whispered breathlessly, “Please…please...”
Blaise grabbed her hand and steered her closer to the wall. He pressed her cold, shaking hand against the wall and as soon as it had touched the stone a rumbling noise began. The stone before them began to slip forward and Blaise pushed them both into the tunnel that was being formed. After a few meters the stone slab stopped sliding forward and opened up like a door opening on its hinges. He pulled her through and watched it shut behind him.
A gasp made him look back at the Weasley and he could not suppress his own small gasp of surprise. Only a few feet before them was a large pit filled with lava. This was no ordinary mountain and this, he realized, was why the Dark Lord did not need as much Dark magic to protect the place with. The Dragons and the fact that it was a volcano ensured that anyone trying to steal the Horcrux would not have it easy.
Blaise waited for a few moments to make sure that the shuddering redhead regained her bearings. Finally, she seemed to be much calmer and he was about to suggest they try walking along the thin stone bridge when she spoke. “I don’t think levitation would work very well, Zabini, I think he wanted us to walk across.”
“Right, but keep your wand at the ready just in case.”
“Actually, I’d rather not do any magic on that bridge,” she took the small shrunken broom out of her pocket and returned it to its original size and Blaise followed suit. “They’ll help us balance and we wouldn’t need to use a spell that might trigger some sort of…something.”
“Weasley, are you sure-”
“The good thing about your spell, Zabini, is that it goes away afterwards. And I know it wasn’t real.”
Blaise nodded and stepped forward, but the Weasley pushed him aside and stepped out into the bridge first. “Ladies first, Zabini.”
An agonizing half an hour later they landed safely on the other side, watching the crumbling bridge behind them. Blaise heaved a deep sigh and turned his head to the circular platform they were on. There really shouldn’t be any more obstructions; the thing had better be here.
There wasn’t much on the smooth stone surface, but in the center there was a round groove filled with a clear liquid. Blaise could clearly see Rowena’s wand beneath but he resisted the urge to reach for it. This could not just be water.
“Reckon it’ll make our hands shrivel up or something?” she said it casually as if it would be a mildly entertaining experience.
Blaise cast the three strongest protection charms on his hand and then he cast the undetectable charm on himself for good luck. He took a deep breath and stuck his hand in before he could change him mind. There was a slight tickling, fizzing sensation, but his hand looked intact. Weasley dried both his hand and the wand off with the edge of her cloak and then she severed it off just in case.
They placed the wand on the floor and stared at it.
“Harry stabbed the diary with a sword and that seemed to work.”
“Yes, but Weasley, I think this must be the most heavily protected of the Horcruxes and no one other than the Dark Lord should have been able to get through that wall. If we can make it seem as if this one is still safe and untouched then we’ve got an advantage.”
“What then?”
“I don’t know.”
It was Ginny who finally came up with the solution. She suggested they take the wand apart and take out the core and then repair it to make it look intact. If they did it carefully enough it would be worth the trouble.
They disassembled the wand quickly, but putting it back together was a different matter altogether. The sun filtering in from the small holes was beginning to fade and eventually the sun set and they were still staring at scattered pieces of wood. They could not seem to repair it using a simple Reparo charm, of course wandmakers were more sophisticated than that.
Finally, as Blaise was thinking of giving up, the pieces came together like a puzzle and they were able to seal the cracks and make it look as good as new. They both turned to the core. Apparently, it was unicorn hair. A long, white hair that did not show its age. “Ready, Weasley?”
“Let’s go, Zabini!”
They began casting charm after charm and scanned their minds for the most destructive spells that they could remember. Weasley lost a considerable amount of hair before Blaise was able to put the fire out and a few minutes later Blaise nearly lost his fingers.
Finally, Blaise turned his wand to the liquid in the groove and used some of it on the wand core. It began to sizzle and crackle and they both stepped as far away as they could, casting protective charms. Those charms saved their life. Moments later a large explosion occurred that sent them flying backwards. But they lived, and they were intact.
Blaise heaved a deep sigh of relief and then looked at the Wealsey to find her grinning like a cat. “Good job, Weasley.”
It took them a while to erase their tracks and it was tedious work that went on until Sunday morning. Blaise kept reminding himself that he was doing this because he wanted to live, at least long enough to see the result of his hard work.
Finally, they were standing before their Apparition point, looking at the same scene but in the daylight this time. “Weasley,” Blaise began, “This is a Hogsmeade Weekend; I think we deserve some rest and relaxation. Besides, when are we going to get another chance to watch dragons?”
“Ok,” she agreed immediately, “But we use the time-turner to watch the game. The Hufflepuff team has been shaping up this year…good seeker…”
