Forever and Always - Dramione/Blinny Veela Sequel

Ch. 21

Blaise tried very hard to keep his unhappiness to himself as he and Ron landed outside of the Carrows' house. Ron seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face as they quietly trudged up the walkway to the dark house.

They stopped at the door and waited for the other to do something. It was an awkward couple of seconds before Blaise finally sighed and looked down. "Do you want to blast it open or shall I?"

"Is blasting really the best idea?" Ron asked, looking the door up and down. "What if there are any curses on it?"

Blaise raised an eyebrow at the red head in surprise. "That's rather smart to think of, Weasley."

Ron shrugged. "You hang around Harry and Hermione enough and you start to think of everything. And when you run into nearly every kind of obstacle, it becomes second nature to doubt how easy something seems."

Blaise was silent, looking over at Ron with almost a newfound appreciation. Ron looked over and scowled before looking away and pointing his wand towards the door. "Well, what are we going to do?"

"I honestly doubt the Carrows are smart enough to put that kind of curse on their door," Blaise mused. "Especially since it looks like no one's lived here for months. Stand back."

Ron took a few steps back and Blaise stepped to the middle of the door, somewhat blocking Ron and pointing his wand at the door. "Bombarda!"

As the door blasted back into the house, Blaise and Ron waited for the dust to settle before carefully stepping over the threshold.

"Probably best if we stick together," Blaise said quietly, illuminating his wand.

Ron scoffed. "Scared to be alone, Zabini?"

"No, I just think it might be smart to not split up since they can't really attack two wizards at once," Blaise answered, annoyed. "And Ginny would never forgive me if I let her stubborn brother die in a situation where I could've done something."

"How charitable of you," Ron muttered bitterly.

The two of them searched the house in silence, Blaise taking point and Ron taking up the rear. Blaise became increasingly anxious as they continued to come up with nothing. Everything was covered in dust, untouched for months.

"This is such a waste of time," Blaise muttered as they left another room.

"Can't say I disagree," Ron said, looking around. "Come on, let's check the library."

Blaise followed him into a large room filled with books. It was a typical old library in a noble house, walls filled with books from floor to ceiling. He smiled to himself and said, "Still smaller than Hermione's library."

Ron chuckled slightly at this, but his scowl soon returned as he looked over all the books. It was completely silent for a few moments before Ron quietly asked, "Is Hermione happy?"

Turning around at this, Blaise looked at Ron. "Why do you ask?"

"Is she happy?" Ron asked again, pausing his searching and turning around to look at Blaise with an expressionless face.

Blaise looked him up and down, unsure of what to say. "Aside from everything that's happening, yeah; she always has a smile on her face when I see her."

Ron looked at him for a few moments before looking down at the ground and nodding. "Alright, good."

They began searching again in silence, but it only took a few minutes for Ron to start talking again. "What about Ginny? Is she alright?"

Blaise sighed and turned around, leaning against the bookshelf. "Why the sudden interest in your sister's life? You hardly talked to her after the Halloween Ball back in our last year."