CLOUDGAZING - blaise zabini

fifteen

Blaise's eyes widened. He stood, with Draco, in the Room of Requirement, a towering black cabinet looming over their heads. It was well crafted, with ornate detailing on the doors, and smelled faintly of the forbidden forest, like musty wood and soil.

"The hell is this thing, Draco?" Blaise asked. The cabinet looked mundane, but there was something strange about it, like the air around it wavered a bit.

"Vanishing cabinet," Draco said, putting his hands in his pockets before striding up to it, running his hand smoothly down the front. "He needs me to make it work," he whispered, his voice sounding unsteady.

"Who?" Blaise said quietly, though he already knew the answer.

Draco whipped around, his eyes brimming with tears. "You know who, Blaise."

Before, outside the Slytherin dormitory, Draco had seemed so sure of himself; so cool, so confident. But now, standing next to the towering cabinet, he was just a boy filled with fear.

"I don't want to be involved with this, man," Blaise sighed, putting a hand on his head. It was past curfew now, he should be warm in bed, away from any potential death eaters.

"I don't have a choice, and neither do you!" Draco shouted now, sure that the Room of Requirement would conceal the sound of his anger from those outside. "This is a war, you know."

Silence floated in the room, amongst the countless aging objects dumped by students past in the room. In the light cast by the lanterns from the ceiling, dust particles could be seen floating gently through the air. It seemed as if the boys were frozen in time.

"Draco," Blaise said firmly. "I'll help you this one time, If it means you'll stay the hell away from me, and more importantly, stay the hell away from Aurora."

"Sure, whatever," Draco spat, "let's just get on with it."

Draco pulled an apple from the depths of his robes, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he gripped it. As he opened the cabinet doors, they creaked a bit, and small particles of dust flew from the doors.

Draco placed the apple inside and shut the doors back. Without turning around to face Blaise, who'd been watching from behind, he spoke, "say it with me."

Blaises eyes narrowed, waiting to see what Draco was about to do. The blonde boy placed both his hands on the left door of the cabinet, closed his eyes, and began to chat, "harmonia nectere passus."

Blaise stepped to the right side of the cabinet, beginning to do the same. When his hands touched the dark wood, a harsh vibration passed through them, like he was touching something he wasn't supposed to touch. Reluctantly, he spoke the incantation alongside Draco. 

After five chants, Draco said abruptly, "stop."

Blaise did, stepping back from the cabinet as quickly as possible. Draco stayed in place, eyes still closed, one hand on the cabinet, waiting for something. 

When a tiny whoosh echoed from the cabinet, Draco reached for the door handles, slowly opening the cabinet, holding in a breath. The apple was still inside.

Draco reached for it, rotating it in his hand, and on the other side of the apple, a bite was taken out of it. Draco chuckled, tossing the apple of to the side, slamming the doors shut.

Blaise's eyes widened-- it was a vanishing cabinet.

How had he not recognized it? His mother had owned a similar one, using it to go from place to place clandestinely during his childhood. Vanishing cabinets were only used for, well, illegal, activities, Blaise knew that much. Whatever Blaise had just helped Draco do, it couldn't be good.

"Looks like we're done here," Draco said, readjusting his robes. "Definitely going to be some visitors here on campus soon," he chuckled.

Blaise closed his eyes, dread filling him. And then, he followed Draco out of the Room of Requirement, back down to the dungeons, where reality awaited him.

+++

The very next morning, the many halls of Hogwarts buzzed with excitement. "The quidditch schedules been announced! The first match is today!" several students cried as they greeted their friends on the way to the great hall. 

That morning Harry had corralled the Gryffindor team on the massive leather next to the fireplace in the common room.

"Our first match is this today," Harry said firmly, determination on his face. "I know we didn't get much of a warning, at all, but I've got confidence. Our first match," he paused, "is against Slytherin.

Now, Aurora made her way to breakfast along with the rest of the team and Jasmine, who Harry had begrudgingly allowed to sit in on the meeting. Her heart was still beating quickly from adrenaline. As they descended the main staircase, Jasmine linked her arm with Aurora's.

"You know," Jasmine said, "This means you'll be going against Blaise."

"I thought about that," Aurora chuckled. "It'll be fun though."

As if on cue, Blaise strode up to them, as he had spotted them on his way up from the Slytherin common room. The night before, the only thing that had allowed him to fall asleep was the idea of simply forgetting about the vanishing cabinet and returning to business as usual. Draco would have gotten the cabinet to work somehow anyway, so there was no point in worrying about it, right?

"Good morning ladies," he grinned as he fell into step with Jasmine and Aurora.

"Morning Blaise," Aurora said, smiling up at him. "Ready for us to beat the shit out of ya?"

"You wish," Blaise laughed. 

When they arrived at the Great Hall, even more excitement was present throughout the room. All the Gryffindors and Slytherins were decked out in their respective colors, and Aurora even noticed that a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had borrowed some apparel from their friends in the competing houses. 

Suddenly, a large pit appeared in Aurora's stomach as she realized that in less than two hours, she'd be playing on the field herself. On instinct, she was running through every possible thing that could go wrong when she remembered something.

"Shit, wait," Aurora said, grabbing Blaise's arm. "I forgot to drop my essay by Flitwick's office this morning. Damn him for making it due on a match day."

"I completely forgot too," Blaise realized as Jasmine shook her head at both of them. 

"We'd better go and get that done," Aurora sighed. "Catch you back here in thirty," she nodded at Jasmine, who walked over and took a seat near a rather sick-looking Ron.

Speeding out of the Great Hall,  Blaise and Aurora agreed to go to their respective dorms and get their essays, meeting back in front of the charms classroom. Aurora rushed up the stairs, Blaise striding to the Slytherin dormitories, and after they both rummaged desperately through their bags, took a quick glance in the mirror to ensure they didn't look too sweaty, and ran back down the stairs, they met in front of the charms room, where an enchanted slit in the large oak door labeled "sixth year essays" could be found. They each slid their essays in, and the slit contorted into what looked like a little mouth on the door and squeaked "thank you, Miss Bennett and Mr. Zabini" in a voice which was alarmingly similar to that of Flitwick.  Both of their eyebrows raised, the pair began to make their way back to the Great Hall.

But as they turned the corner that led to the main stairways, a sharp voice could be heard across the hall, in the shadows of a large gargoyle statue. 

It was the voice of Draco Malfoy.