AN: Hello everyone, I'd firstly like to say how sorry I am for making it seem like I've abandoned my works - to reassure you, I haven't. Long story short, before the Christmas holidays I had an extremely important event coming up that couldn't be avoided and completely forgot about all of this. Uploads will still be shaky but will return back to normal eventually. Thank you for reading and enjoy!
Reminder: When we hit 10 REVIEWS, I'll release an EXTRA chapter! Only 2 more needed!
"Another wasted day," Greengrass muttered, her annoyance unusually showing. Today marked Day 6 of searching for Sirius Black with no luck.
Lupin sighed.
"It's not likely we'll find him for a while, to be honest. S- Black is intelligent, I wouldn't put it past him to know we're here."
"And if he's hiding in his dog form, he'll probably be able to sniff us out," Blake added. The three of them walked in silence back to the castle.
"Well, I'll see you both later," Lupin said tiredly. "Good evening."
Greengrass and Blake slowly began walking back towards the Slytherin dorms.
"Lupin seems to have warmed up to us," Blake said thoughtfully.
"Agreed, although he may just be pretending to go along with us, looking for an escape. I doubt it though," she added quickly, seeing the doubtful look Blake cast at her.
"Anyway- Zabini?"
Blake and Greengrass turned back to look at their friend's retreating figure. I've never seen him so angry, Blake wondered, concerned. That expression on Zabini's face - clenched jaw, scowling, murderous eyes - he'd never seen it before. Suddenly, another pair of footsteps came from the direction Zabini had come from.
"Tracey!" Greengrass said, surprised.
"Wait, Blaise!" Tracey shouted desperately, her voice deep with worry as she too ignored them and ran past.
"Ok, something's wrong," Blake said, as the pair moved to follow them.
"Really, genius?" Greengrass hissed. By now, both Zabini and Tracey had gone out of sight.
"Did you see where they went?" Charlotte asked, seemingly coming from nowhere.
"No," Blake said as the three hurried towards the direction he'd seen them go. "What happened?"
"I don't know!" Charlotte cried. "Blaise was opening a letter from his mum when I left to get my Defence textbook, and on the way back I saw them both storming out! It looked like they'd had a fight, but-"
All three of them froze as they saw their friends through the window.
Zabini was standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, shielding Tracey, as what seemed like a hundred Dementors stood against him. Blake couldn't see either of their faces. A bright, unmistakable silvery glow emerged from his wand and Tracey's - powerful, yes, but there was no corporeal Patronus. Panic welled from deep in Blake's chest. Without a corporeal Patronus, they don't stand a chance.
"Reducto!" he yelled, wand pointed at the window. The glass shattered, and all three students seemed to have the same idea as they leapt through the gap and ran towards their friends as that disgustingly familiar, cold, wet, depressing environment enveloped them.
"James!"
"Pulse-"
No. Not right now.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Blake and Charlotte's blazing light joined Zabini and Tracey's, slightly pushing the Dementors back, but the real game changer was Greengrass's.
From her wand, a figure of beautiful, blinding silver light emerged. That's…
The creature circled Greengrass once, before rushing towards the Dementors, growling lowly. It was a sight to behold - one lone Patronus against what seemed like an endless amount of Dementors, but just as Blake expected, it was enough. It was as if there was a repelling wall between them and the Dementors, and the dark creatures quickly fled.
The Patronus stayed for a while, as if to make sure no more Dementors would return, as Zabini and Tracey collapsed onto the ground together, panting from exhaustion - or in Tracey's case, sobbing as Zabini held her.
Blake, Charlotte and Greengrass looked on wordlessly for a few moments. Blake didn't really know what to say. I didn't know Zabini was brave like that, he thought, remembering how his roommate had literally put his body between Tracey and the Dementors. He thought back to what Zabini had told him the first time they met.
"I'm only looking out for myself here."
I wonder what that Zabini would have to say to him now, Blake mused, a small smile on his face despite the situation. Greengrass walked towards Tracey, gently lowering herself down and stroking her friend's hair, until she stopped crying.
"Ready to go back?" Greengrass said gently, in a tone Blake had never even heard before.
"Yeah," Tracey responded, her voice still shaking slightly.
In a complete but comfortable silence, the five of them made their way back to their dorm room. Unbeknownst to them, an old wizard with a long, wispy white beard looking down at them from a window above. He smiled - not just from the fact that Daphne Greengrass apparently had the same Patronus as him - but also because his plan was working.
I told you, Minerva. Slowly but surely, Slytherin is changing.
/
"So…" Blake said, somewhat awkwardly. They'd all been sitting in silence in Blake and Zabini's room for 5 minutes straight now.
"What happened?"
All heads in the room turned to Zabini, who (after a lot of chocolate and a Cheering Charm) seemed to have recovered well. The boy had the grace to look slightly embarrassed, before speaking.
"I got-" he paused, as if unsure of whether or not to continue.
"You don't have to say, Blaise," Tracey said seriously. The rest of the group nodded their agreement.
Zabini looked relieved, and nodded, seemingly thankful that he didn't have to say.
"Exploding Snap?" Blake quickly suggested, trying to fill in the silence before it got awkward again, and hopefully preventing Zabini from being pressured into talking.
Luckily, the rest of them seemed to pick up on what Blake was trying to do, and quickly became engaged in the game. Soon enough, it was as if the Dementor attack had never even happened. Until suddenly, Zabini began to speak.
"The letter was from my mother," he said quietly. Everyone in the room paused for a moment, before continuing the game, albeit more silently this time.
"What was it about?" Blake asked, placing down a card.
"There was an attempt on her life."
The rest of them froze as Zabini placed down another card.
"Your turn, Charlotte."
"Right," the girl in question said hastily, continuing the game. "Um… why?" she squeaked.
"My mother… used to live a complicated life," he said, placing down his deck. Mirroring him, so did the rest of them.
"When she was about our age, she was betrothed to a pureblood man - he was 39 at the time, 25 years older. As you can imagine, she hated the idea. The summer after that, while her parents were away on business, she snuck out and went to the nearest Muggle town - and coincidentally, there she met my father."
Zabini drew in a deep breath and looked around at each other, as if afraid they'd not be listening - but his fears were for nothing. Everyone had their eyes trained on Zabini's, listening intently.
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