Chapter 6- Redheaded Rescue
It was a beautiful sunny weekend, despite a slight chill lingering in the air. Blaise, wrapped in a cloak, took a path down to the lake intending to read and enjoy the sunlight.
He picked a fairly quiet spot on the far side of the lake to sit and watch the antics of the other students, or to look for a sudden splash in the middle of the water- sometimes he’d glimpse a tentacle if he kept a sharp eye out.
There was a quiet snapping sound behind him and Blaise turned his head. He froze as he realized that there were three men crouching on the hard ground, behind the bush he was leaning on. They were at an angle where they could not be easily seen from the castle, but even though Blaise could see them he didn’t know who they were- all of them had hoods covering their faces.
They were obviously not supposed to be there, and Blaise wondered how they had managed to get on the grounds. What were they doing here?
Blaise was not left in doubt much longer.
“Blaise Zabini?” the closest one said in a low voice. Blaise jerked in surprise at hearing his name from these strange visitors and nearly scratched himself on a low branch.
“How do you- what are you doing?” he sputtered.
“Shh,” the second one hissed threateningly. “We all have wands pointed at you. No false moves.”
Blaise nodded slowly, and the first man continued. “Well, fellows, we’ve got to meet him at last.” He bowed mockingly, making the other two chortle. “Pleasure, Mr. Zabini.”
“How did you get onto the grounds?” Blaise said nervously.
The second man laughed mysteriously. “Well, we could hardly send you a letter,” he said. Blaise let his hand go unobtrusively near his pocket, within easy reach of his wand.
“What do you want?” he said, trying to sound bold.
“We have a proposal to make to you.” The man in the middle leaned closer toward him, giving him a sly grin.
“Just a proposal? Then why are your wands out?” Blaise tightened his grip on his own wand.
“We were worried you might be surprised to see us, and react too strongly,” the man said smoothly.
But Blaise knew that wasn’t it. He was hit with a sudden feeling that he really, really didn’t want to wait until he heard them out.
In a swift movement he’d often practiced, he yanked the wand out of his pocket.
“Stupefy! Impedimenta! Impedimenta!”
Blocking out their shouted replies, he cast a shield charm as powerfully as he knew how and ran for the castle, panic adding to his speed. Thankful he’d always been a good runner, he cast a subtle charm to his feet to go even faster. It was a spell he’d needed far too often- he’d often used it when he was younger, to escape a few of his mother’s more violent husbands.
Startled students looked up at him as he zipped between them, plowing into a few. He made it to one of the smaller castle doors and risked a glance back. Only two of the original three were following- he must have hit one. The remaining men apparently didn’t dare run through the students as he had, since they too obviously didn’t belong there. As he watched, they began circling around the students, where some trees provided patchy cover all the way up to where he was standing.
Blaise hurried inside the castle and down the corridor, where there was a staircase. At the top, the corridor thankfully split in two. He chose the one on the right and skidded down it, then realized that it only led to some rarely-used classrooms and not to anywhere that would help him hide.
Dashing back to the left corridor, he ran down it, not sure whether to bless or curse that it was empty. If he took that door he could get back to the common room- no, too far away. The Great Hall? If it was empty, though, he’d be caught like a deer in an empty field in that big room. Too big of a risk, he decided.
He ran through other plans in his mind as he ran, panting through a hallway and up some stairs to the third floor. Suddenly recognizing the entrance to a secret passage, he ripped aside a tapestry and darted into a corridor behind it, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t follow.
Pounding footsteps skidding behind him told him that his hopes had been disappointed. He rounded another corner at top speed, smacking into someone’s side. Blaise righted his direction and kept running.
“Hey! Aren’t you even going to apologize?” a girl’s voice shouted after him.
“I can’t! No time!” Blaise yelled as he dashed around a bend. “Run!” He hoped that she’d listen- he had caught a brief glimpse of red although he hadn’t really seen her, and it wouldn’t be good for a Gryffindor to meet the men chasing him.
A yelp came from the hall, and then a loud crash and then several simultaneous screams. Blaise paused, frozen with indecision. Those screams hadn’t been a girl’s.
No one came around the corner after him, and after a moment Blaise pulled himself together and stepped nervously back towards where the girl had been.
She was standing, unruffled, with her wand pointed at two men, one unconscious and the other seemingly frozen with nasty-looking goo all over his face.
“Zabini?” she said. “What’s going on around here?”
Blaise somehow wasn’t surprised that Ginny Weasley had managed to take down two probable Death Eaters.
“Thanks,” he said. “They were chasing me, yeah. Good bit of spell work there.”
“Thanks,” Ginny said in turn, looking surprised at the compliment. “Why were they chasing you? And how’d they get into Hogwarts?”
“Long story,” Blaise said, leaning back against the wall to catch his breath.
Ginny tapped her foot impatiently. “Well? I think I have a right to know what’s going on, after what I just did. Spill.”
Blaise shrugged. She was right, she had helped him. He should tell her what had happened, as much as he would normally hate to share anything. “Well, the short version is, I was sitting by the lake, and they snuck up on me, wands out. All they really said was that they had a proposal for me, before I pulled my wand on them and ran for it. I’ve been avoiding trouble for a while, truthfully. I wish I knew how they got in. They must be getting really determined to get me now.”
Blaise looked down at Ginny’s face, and was surprised to see a flash of a pitying expression, although she quickly replaced it with a blank frown. It made him uncomfortable, though- he didn’t want her pity.
“Go to Dumbledore,” Ginny said abruptly.
“Sorry?”
“I said, go to Dumbledore.”
“Why would I do that?”
Ginny looked at him incredulously. “He could help you. Drop the Slytherin mentality for a second, and you’d know that yourself. It’s hard to believe that there’s a Slytherin who’s actually trying to stay out of the Dark side. It’d be a shame to lose you to it just because you won’t go to Dumbledore for help. You’re all such idiots, honestly.”
“Not all Slytherins are the same,” Blaise said. “Are all Gryffindors exactly alike? I mean, Neville Longbottom the dweeb isn’t quite Harry Potter, is he?”
“Don’t insult Neville, please,” Ginny snapped. “Your point?”
“There are Slytherins and then there are Slytherins,” Blaise said. “I, for one, don’t want to end up in virtual slavery to any master. What kind of a favor would Dumbledore ask in return for saving me from one possible unpleasant fate?”
“You…” Ginny’s voice trailed off, and her hazel eyes looked at him speculatively. “You really think that Dumbledore would-- Look, don’t compare You-know-who to Dumbledore, all right? It’s a totally different potion in the cauldron. Dumbledore has actually heard of altruism.”
“Who mentioned You-know-who?” Blaise scowled. “I don’t know whose men these are.”
“I don’t want to get any closer, or I’d roll up their sleeves and check for you,” Ginny said with mock sweetness. “Honestly, Zabini, do they have to tell you themselves before you’ll wake up to the obvious? Look at them- thugs in dark robes chasing you, trying to get you to join something.”
“All right,” Blaise conceded. He hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself, but she was right. Blaise cast a sidelong glance at Ginny, and blurted out, “You’re bleeding!”
Ginny’s hand went involuntarily to her cheek, where a cut had begun to drip blood.
“Oh, I am. I’ll clean up later,” she said with a shrug, and wiped the red trickle away with a finger. “We need to tell someone about these men.”
“There’s another outside somewhere, I think,” Blaise admitted. “There used to be three. I may have hit him, but I don’t know.”
“Three of them?” Ginny’s eyes widened. “If they are Death Eaters, how did they get in, anyway? Doesn’t Dumbledore have protections up against that?”
“I thought so,” Blaise said, “And I guess Dumbledore thought so too. We’d better go tell him now- we can’t go after the third one now, even if he is still there.”
“Yeah, let’s get moving, then. Mobilicorpus,” Ginny said, pointing her wand at the unconscious one.
Blaise did the same for the other, refraining from his urge to ask what the sickening pale goo on the man’s face was. They walked without speaking down the hallways, Ginny leading, towards the headmaster’s office.
Ginny suddenly turned and looked at Blaise somewhat nervously. “The third man outside- what if he’s gone to report?”
“To- to other Death Eaters, you mean?” Blaise asked.
“Or worse.”
“Well, nothing we can do about it now.” Blaise shrugged and walked a bit faster.
“You don’t want him to report, do you?” Ginny said, giving him another funny look.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Blaise demanded. When she didn’t say anything, he retorted, “They were chasing me, hello? I’m avoiding them here.”
“You’ve already said there are different types of Slytherins. What type are you, Zabini?”
“Look, I know things about- about Potter- that you wouldn’t want these men knowing, and I haven’t said anything.”
“You know things?” Ginny repeated, looking suddenly fierce. “What could you know?”
“Nothing really,” Blaise said with a shrug. “Overheard a conversation or two- not even on purpose. I’m saying it’s for your good too, to help keep them from getting hold of me.”
“Ugh,” Ginny groaned. “Slytherins. I am helping you, if you haven’t noticed, you great twit.”
“I”“ Blaise said awkwardly. “I know. Thanks. Sorry.”
“Humph,” she sniffed, walking a bit faster to get ahead of him, and they walked the remaining minute to the office without talking.
“Shall we go up?” Ginny said when they arrived, staring at the gargoyle at the entrance.
“You know the password?” Blaise said.
“No, but I can guess. Fizzing Whizzbees. Blood pops. Ginger snaps. Er…help me, will you?”
“Cockroach clusters?” Blaise offered tentatively. “Are you sure it’s a candy?”
“It usually is,” Ginny said, shrugging. “Fever Fudge. Puking Pastilles.”
They both stared in surprise when the entrance ground open.
“Puking Pastilles?” they said in unison.
“I’ll have to tell my brothers- they’ll take it as a tribute,” Ginny said. “Come on.” She directed the unconscious body up the stairs and followed it, Blaise right behind.
“Albus, I don’t want you telling me what’s most important. This is what matters to me, and you know it,” an angry voice growled from behind the partly open door of Dumbledore’s office.
“Severus, I know. But it’s not fair to Ha-“ Dumbledore’s voice stopped abruptly. “Come in!”
Ginny pushed the door open and they entered, Ginny first. Blaise noted the surprised look on Dumbledore’s face at the sight of the suspended, unconscious bodies. Snape, however, stood up abruptly.
“I have to go, Headmaster. Urgent work I’ve neglected.” His face was closed and harsh, with his jaw set in a hard line and his eyes flat and furious.
“If you’re sure, Severus,” Dumbledore said, staring hard into Snape’s eyes. Blaise had an odd feeling there was more to the conversation than he knew about. After a moment of glaring at his Headmaster, Snape turned sharply and fairly ran out of the room. Dumbledore turned his attention to the newcomers, looking over them both in an assessing way.
“Blaise, Ginny. However did you get ahold of…Gracious! Deneb and Baulman, if I’m not mistaken.”
“You know them, sir?” Ginny said in surprise.
“Unfortunately. So do the Aurors, I’m afraid. They will be glad to see you two have gotten them ahead in their work. I’ll owl them at once,” Dumbledore said, and gestured for them to be seated. He began scribbling on a piece of parchment and went over to the window of his office. “Would you two mind telling me what happened?”
“Zabini ran into me in the corridor, sir, and screamed for me to run. I took a step back and got these two as they ran past,” Ginny said, not without pride.
“And why were they chasing you here at Hogwarts, Blaise?” Dumbledore tied the letter onto an owl’s leg and tossed it gently towards the afternoon sun.
Blaise glanced uncomfortably at Ginny. “Er, it’s like this, sir,” he began. “I’ve been sought after for a while. Some Slytherin seventh-years, even my friends were giving me messages or warnings, and now these people approaching me down by the lake- oh! Sir, there was a third man also- I may have hit him with a spell, or he may have left, I don’t know-“
“I’ll send someone after him,” Dumbledore said quickly, and he pointed his wand out the window. Blaise saw a silver streak rush out of the wand tip in the direction of the grounds.
“There, if he’s still there, he’ll be taken care of,” Dumbledore said, returning to his seat behind his desk. “So you have been approached a couple of times by various persons- to do what, exactly?”
“The seventh-years wanted me to join their club- that was the most direct, but the result would have been the same as if I joined You-Know-Who right now,” Blaise said.
Dumbledore opened his mouth, probably to tell him to use You-Know-Who’s name, Blaise thought with annoyance, and he continued quickly, “And a friend of mine passed on a message from- from some of his family members. About…recruitment. I’ve been careful for the past couple of months to avoid anyone who might approach me with a more direct request. So even if there was supposed to be one, they wouldn’t have caught me. I didn’t expect them to come up from behind while I was on the grounds,” he finished bitterly.
“Yes, I’ll be looking into that. They shouldn’t have been able to get into Hogwarts, but that is for me to deal with. So what do you propose to do now, Blaise?” Dumbledore asked directly.
“Er-“ Blaise was taken by surprise. “Don’t know. Sir,” he added belatedly.
“You are here to ask my protection?”
Blaise looked helplessly at Ginny, who was leaning forward in her chair, wide-eyed.
“Er, I suppose so, sir,” he said.
“You don’t want to be forced to join Voldemort’s forces, but you are afraid you will be forced to say yes…” Dumbledore fingered his long beard thoughtfully.
“For now, stick with your plan to avoid the situation altogether. Stay inside as much as you can, or with crowds, and I will work on whatever breach in security let these men in. When summer comes closer, come here and we will make plans for you. For now, finish with your classes and if anything happens, come to me. If I am not here, go to Professor McGonagall- I’ll talk to her about it. Does that sound all right, Blaise?”
“Yes, sir.” Blaise hoped it would be all right, anyway. And the summer- he hadn’t even thought about what he would do in the summer!
“Then you may go. Good luck. Remember, come to me if anything happens, or if you think of anything else, or even if you think something is about to happen. Ginevra, will you stay here a moment?”
“Yes, Headmaster,” Ginny said. Blaise gave her one last glance before he left the office.
He thought about Dumbledore’s words as he walked. Would that be enough to protect him? He wasn’t sure how seriously Dumbledore had taken him. And was the threat so serious, after all?
But Blaise reminded himself of what Draco had said about suspecting there was something more to this push to recruit him, possibly from higher up in the ranks. And then, there were the men who had actually gotten into Hogwarts to go after him- Dumbledore surely wouldn’t take that lightly, and he shouldn’t either.
Blaise was taken aback as he turned a corner approaching the Slytherin dormitory and came face to face with a ghostly pale, wheezing Draco Malfoy.
A Blaze of Light by Leahr
Chapter Notes: I had some trouble getting this chapter up- hopefully everything will be working now.
I disclaim everything except what is mine. Obviously. Everyone knows that disclaimers probably wouldn't hold up legally speaking, but they seem to be a good oppurtunity for a joke. You may laugh now.
Thanks to Dara for a really great beta job!