CHAPTER XX

“You're the analyst, the fungus in my milk
When you want no-one and you got someone
Through the wind you crawl and laugh at burning dunes
When no-one else will ever see.

Now that you know why you feel like you do
They're turning their head whilst they wait for no one
And finally I know why you feel like letting go.

I'm watching you watch over me and I've got
The greatest view from here...”

(SILVERCHAIR – “The Greatest View”)

Blaise was deep in thought as he slowly started to figure out inside his head what was actually displayed in front of his restless dark eyes. He tried, without much luck, to understand how such perfection could actually exist, admiring it with fascination. He knew there was something very wrong with it, but he couldn’t deny that it had been brilliantly achieved.

The suffocating oppression was still latent inside him and he was so tired of feeling like that. Not even his remarkable will-power could brush off those feelings completely from his head and heart. He had to stop pretending like there was nothing wrong, for he was sick of lying to himself. He sighed and shook his head; he was so messed up yet didn’t care, not anymore. He took another sip of the near-empty ‘Ogden's Old Firewhiskey’ bottle he held tight in his left hand and began to shakily sob while caressing the image displayed in front of him before slamming his fist fiercely against the opposite wall.

Taking a couple of steps back, he rested his troubled humanity over a stone bench and looked up again, fixing his gaze at the six feet tall black and white photo of Draco displayed on centre of a large canvas tapestry that hanged besides the Great Hall’s main door. Around that photo were dozens of smaller ones of boys and girls from different houses sharing a moment together: laughing, exchanging Valentine letters, chocolates and sweets, singing, telling jokes, etc. Even the photo of himself and Luna, taken the previous night during their private chat, was added. The title of the canvas read with gold letters “VALENTINE’S DAY: THE UNITY OF THE 4 HOUSES IS POSSIBLE!”

Creevey had managed to capture those feline moves, that splendid grace and unique essence of Blaise’s object of affection in the most unexpected way possible: there was Draco balancing a huge ancient book on his right arm while with his left he encircled Hermione’s waist as she arched her unconscious body backwards. Draco’s splendid and agile moves resembled exactly those when following the compass of a waltz while Hermione’s passing out looked pretty much the incommensurable bliss anyone would experience for being that close with the Slytherin’s hero and dream of a man Draco Malfoy was. The tragedy in all that was that the photo showed the most romantic scene of the whole canvas! No wonder why Creevey chose it among the rest.

Blaise took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his eyes, then exhaled soundly and softly. “Here’s a toast to you, my dear friend.”

He then chuckled. “Everyone at Hogwarts would go ballistic after seeing your photo tomorrow morning, Lovegood included.”

The echo of tiredly dragged footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor awoke Blaise all of the sudden from his momentary nostalgic bliss. He turned very slightly looking at the slender figure that was slowly walking past by him, it was no other than Draco and he looked visible beaten and extremely exhausted.

Aware of a silent presence on his right, Draco took rapidly his wand from his pant’s pocket and aimed at the target with unfocused eyes, but then he immediately put it down for he realized who he’d come across, it was Blaise.

Even after taking the Blood-Replenishing potion, the blood level present in Draco’s system was still very low and the consequences were starting to show. He stared at the black jet haired young man for a long moment through the reigning shadows before speaking with child-like enthusiasm.

“Guess what I came across a few moments ago. There was this disgustingly huge snake and the funny thing is that it was harmless actually so I’ve kind of made it my pet. I’ve left it in the Room of Requirements but maybe I can find a way to keep it, but then I thought it was not such a good idea to enslave a creature like that.” He covered his mouth with a hand and slapped his forehead with the other in a fair attempt to stop himself from saying another word. “Damn. I’m starting to sound like Luna!”

Blaise merely blinked, staring at Draco, wondering if the blond had been brain-washed or what for acting in such stupid way. “I’d have preferred you continue with the policy of not talking to me rather than hearing such nonsense coming from your mouth.”

The blond walked tiredly towards his friend and came to a halt just in front of him, narrowing his eyes, seeing Blaise though his eyelids. “I wasn’t avoiding you if that’s what you’re implying. For your information I’ve got my whole time-table switched now and I no longer have free periods due to this task Snape forced me into accepting.”

“And what would that be?” He raised one suspious eyebrow and crossed his arms.

“It’s a secret.” Draco pursed his lips and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger, it was indeed a shameful one.

Blaise sighed soundly, pretending he didn’t care, but in fact Draco’s secrecy dug deep inside him and it hurt. “Whatever.”

Draco combed his silk blond fringe with both hands and rested them on the back of his neck as he evaluated Blaise’s facial features. If was evident that the black jet haired man was burdened with the fact that he’d just been labelled as not reliable person by no other than his best friend.

“You sound just like him. He also refused to tell me what you were doing.” Blaise complained.

Draco frowned. “You’ve talked to Snape?”

Blaise lowered his gaze, deciding whether to feel sorry with himself or annoyed with Draco. He kept racking his brains out: that was a tight competition indeed. “Taking into account everything that happened to you in the last time what was I supposed to do, wait patiently for you to appear? Hell no! I felt yet another odd vibe so I just wanted to know where you were. I went to see Snape because no-one but him saw you since you left the infirmary. He assured me you were okay, but I still wanted to double-check.”

Confusion cracked slightly Draco’s voice. “Define odd vibe.”

“Shit!” Blaise contorted his face with a painful frown as his teeth snapped down on his tongue. “I wish I knew.”

“Speak up. Now.” The blond demanded, raising his voice in the last word.

The other reflected upon his next words before speaking them. “Have you ever wonder why I’ve kept showing up whenever you least expect?”

Draco closed shut his eyes for a moment. His friend’s words had simultaneously shocked him and made sense. “How long…when did you start feeling those vibes?”

“For many years now, but they became stronger a week after my last birthday. That was when I finally understood what they meant.” Blaise’s voice was barely a whisper.

Draco’s heart missed a beat. He clenched his chest with one hand and forced himself to breathe again. That date matched with the death of his mother, Narcissa Black. Along with such revelation came crawling a piling headache that threatened to break his skull in two.

A sudden wave of weakness and freezing cold overcame the blond. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

“And say what exactly, that I was worried sick about you? Yeah…right.” Blaise lowered his head causing some of his messy ink-black blocks brush slightly the tip of his nose. “I chose to keep an eye on you instead and make sure nothing bad would happen to you again.”

Draco didn’t know what else to think at that rate, his head was a knotted mess of entangled confusion. He just kept staring at the nothingness in a deep state of trance that seemed to last forever.

Blaise then crossed his long legs over the bench and replied Draco’s unexistent but latent question. “Unlike you, Luna had her four daily meals and she attended to all her scheduled classes.”

“Will you stop doing that? You’re freaking me out!” The blond sounded frantic, to the point of losing his sanity altogether.

Welcoming his friend’s uneasiness, Blaise chuckled a bit. “Don’t worry. I haven’t found a way to read your mind, yet.” Then he sighed soundly. “But whenever you’ve got that hopeless and stupid lost look plastered all over your face is because you’re thinking about her.”

Draco narrowed his tired eyes with the attempt to focus his foggy vision field and take a closer look at Blaise. “I didn’t know you were checking on Luna too.”

“I had to since you were nowhere around…duh!” Blaise protested with a pissed-off expression.

The blond tensed a bit, trying to come up with the exact words to thank him. “I guess I…”

But Blaise cut him abruptly. “Don’t you dare to get used to it. I won’t let that nutcase become my headache!”

Draco smirked uncomfortably, it was terrifying how much Blaise knew him but there was something in his friend’s expression that upset him. After all, he also happened to read Blaise like an open book most of the time. “Spit it out.”

“Did you know that there’s a new Potion Master? He was recommended by professor Snape for the post. McFodaroy is a remarkable alchemist and I congratulate the man for pairing us in class with Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor. It’s obvious that he has deep-rooted issues with those gits, no wonder, he’d been a Slytherin. But there’s something about him…I don’t know how to explain it.” He paused and shot a confused look at Draco.

“If you’re short of words you’d better focus on building up your vocabulary before doing anything else.” The blond replied tiredly.

Shrugging, he started rocking himself slowly back and forth in his Buddha-style sitting position. “The eyes are the windows of the soul. No matter how hard that man tried to shield them behind those burgundy glasses, I still could feel his sadness so vividly inside me. I wish I knew why he’d affected me like that, it might sound crazy but I wanted to take some of his pain and make it part of me just to ease somehow his suffering.”

Draco replied tonelessly. “I don’t understand how you could let the burdens of a stranger get under your skin so easily.”

Blaise’s voice was cracking more and more. “That’s the problem, I felt like I knew him, as if he were...” His words died before even getting the chance to come to live.

“Finish what you were going to say.” The blond demanded to know after a long pause.

“I can’t, it’s a secret.” He returned the verbal slap he received from his friend earlier with a venomous smile.

“Whatever.” This time Draco copied the other’s reply, but contrary to Blaise’s annoyed look previously, Draco kept himself completely numbed, as if nothing had moved him really, and that only fuelled Blaise’s uneasiness.

The black jet haired young man had a sudden change of heart, he wasn’t going to let the subject drop dead, not completely at least. “Nobody can hold up the walls around him for long, sooner or later everyone ends up giving in some way or another. Probably that man was confronting a borderline today but that doesn’t mean he’s weak, he’s just human. It’s not a crime to feel down from time to time...shit happens, you know?”

At first, Draco said nothing, but then he smirked coldly. “Blaise, if you’re that bored instead of racking your brain with such existential rambling why don’t you nurture it and read a book from the library’s restricted section?”

“Not only books are meant to be read, people too.” His pitch-black eyes flashed with an eerie light. “Anyway, I guess I’m the only one who saw that because everybody else was just caught up in McFodaroy’s charisma. Most of the girls made a complete mess of their potions. They were only interested in imprint every inch of him in their heads rather than paying attention on what they were doing. So he put all them in detention right away without waiting for the end of the class: they had to clean everybody’s cauldrons and potion kits. That turned out to be fun to watch actually.”

Draco tried to smirk then, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do it either.

Blaise scratched his chin before continuing. “Since there was still time left for the class to end and the girls were still busy doing their chores, McFodaroy invited the rest of us to his office - actually Slughorn’s former office - to continue talking about potion brewing and alchemy but then we ended up talking mostly about our lives. That man inquired about our present concerns and future prospects but he did it in a way that everybody felt comfortable in his presence despite the fact it was the first time we saw him. Instead of acting like our Potion Master he resembled more like a caring parent. We’ll, at least to me, that man did remind me of my father in many aspects. Despite he remained distant, and I dare say a bit cold most of the time, there was something in the quality of his gaze and in his words that made us confide in him right away.”

“I can’t believe a con artist like yourself low the guard and allow to be swindled by someone you know nothing about.” Draco hesitated, as though he wished to tell his friend the truth, but he shook his head, discarding completely the idea. “That man could have been someone sent by the Dark Lord to get information about yourselves, haven’t you thought about that?”

Blaise’s eyes widened for a fraction of second and then narrowed. “Oh mate, you’re way too paranoid.” Then he tilted slightly his head to a side. “At first McFodaroy did look suspicious to me, but the moment I focused on his eyes I knew that man was incapable of hurting any of us. For your information not everything can be rationalized: there’s something in the guts called instincts, you should rely on them more often.”

The blond fixed a mocking look at his friend. “Now you’re the one who’s talking just like Luna.”

But Blaise continued to talk his mind out loud. “Even his name: Liam A McFodaroy…it sounds familiar.” He opened wide his ink-black eyes as suddenly and unexpectedly everything sank inside him. “Holy shit, you are him! That was the big secret?!”

“Not anymore.” Draco rubbed his eyes with one hand and shrugged. “I’m going to bed. I’m tired and cold.”

“Here, take my cloak.” Blaise motioned to get up from his sit and take it off, but when he saw that Draco refused the offer and remained with his feet glued to the ground shooting a dark look, he asked. “Want to take a sit?”

Draco refused again. He knew that if he dared to rest at least for a while he’d probably dozed off right there. Despite feeling extremely tired, he preferred to remain where he was, this way he wouldn’t fall asleep standing up…or that’s what he thought.

The blond shook his head slowly and yawned. “Just give me a fair reason why should I stay here freezing my arse off instead of procuring myself a comfortable good night’s sleep?”

“Because spending quality time with your best friend is worth enough the sacrifice?” Blaise replied pitifully.

“No, it’s not.” Draco said bluntly and started to walk away from him.

Blaise was tempted to follow him, but he chose to lay down on his sit instead and called out. “Did you know why Liam reminded me of my father?”

Draco paused to consider the question while he continued to give his back at Blaise, hiding the subtle worried frown that wrinkled his temple.

The jet hared young man’s cheeks were already burning with an infinite shade of reds, but he didn’t care. “I felt a strong protective figure in him, like the one of a parent or elder sibling. He really listened to what we were saying! He showed that he truly cared about us, that’s why!”

With a tired scolding tone, he turned to face Blaise and shot back. “Look, I did what I had to so that no-one would ever suspect that Liam and I are the same person, okay?”

“I can perfectly tell when someone’s acting. You might have fooled me with those new old looks, but the way you handled yourself with us was genuine.” Blaise’s lips then curled into a proud smile. “Without a doubt, you’re going to be a great father.”

It shouldn’t but that comment wounded Draco deeply. With the hurtful point of view of the blond concerning parenthood issues, it felt extremely painful. Maybe others would have taken it as compliment, but to Draco it was complete the opposite.

Blaise spoke quietly without removing his pitch-black eyes from Draco’s sick pale complexion. “You’ll never be like Lucius.”

“To stop history from repeating itself I’ve decided not to have children with Luna.” By the time Draco looked back at his friend, his eyes were dead-blank and cold as ice.

Blaise started humming in a fair attempt to tame his sudden rage. “If you don’t have faith in yourself, you’d better deposit it in those who believe in you.”

“Eitherway, Luna doesn’t even let me touch her.” Draco paused and half-closed his amethyst blue eyes in an effort to control his temper. “So that narrows even more that possibility, don’t you think?”

Letting go a sound and exaggeratedly sigh, Blaise broke the tense silence between them. “Just say the word and I’d do it.”

“Order you to kill Luna? Never!” The blond held his breath and fixed his gaze on the floor for a long moment, he felt his head spinning. “I don’t want her to die, not by my hand or by any other for that matter.”

“Do you love her that much?” Blaise asked, trying to ignore the stinging puncture of jealousy from trimming his temper.

“Is that so hard to believe?” Draco replied avoiding looking directly at Blaise, but he could perfectly hear his friend cracking his knuckles and shifting his position on the stone bench.

Blaise smacked his fist into the wall and hissed violently when his knuckles hit the harsh stone surface. “Yes, because I can’t stand the idea of your being the masochist kind!”

Both young men looked at each other for a whole minute without blinking, unable to say anything else. The darkness that haunted Draco’s amethyst blue eyes was nothing in comparison with the incommensurable pitch-black depth of Blaise’s infuriated eyes.

Defeated, Draco dropped his gaze to his friend's bleeding knuckles. “Don’t do that again you brute, it unnerves me.”

The comment shocked Blaise at first, but then he chuckled a bit despite himself and looked away as those words sink inside him: Draco also hated to see him getting hurt.

After pocketing his wand, the blond asked without much interest. “What were you doing here sitting all by yourself?”

“I’m just…” Blaise stopped and blinked twice once he repaired on his by then healed knuckles – thanks to Draco’s silent healing charm - before continuing. “Just making sure I’d have the better sit possible for tomorrow’s show.” His voice denoted a tense sarcasm.

“Show?!” The blond Slytherin glanced around, looking doubtful as he continued to watch his friend staring obsessively at something from above his shoulder. “What is it that you’re staring at?”

“See it for yourself.” Blaise limited to reply with a tight and uncomfortable smile curling his lips.

Draco turned round and stared at the canvas wide-eyed. “What the heck?” The tone of his voice sounded alarmed but confused at the same time. “What kind of sick joke is that?!”

Blaise suddenly laughed, the absurdity of the situation finally got the better of him, and he laughed out loud.

Draco stared back at his friend, puzzled for a split-second, but when he turned to look at the photo of himself and Hermione, he was enraged. "I’m going to burn that bloody thing to the ground!”

Without getting up from his seat, Blaise shrugged and asked incredulously. “Why would you destroy something beautiful?”

“Excuse me?!” The irritated tone in Draco’s voice sounded calmer than intended due to his tiredness, but the rage was clearly underneath the surface.

“I must admit that Creevey is an ingenious bastard. Just look at that photograph closely: the light and shade in your face, your hair, your eyes, every single detail of yours is…well…flawless.” Blaise said pulling back his dark hair as he stretched his legs over the bench, missing by a mere inch to knock down the firewhiskey bottle he’d left forgotten by his side.

Draco pointed a finger at his friend’s face, stabbing the air to make his point. “Will you stop making jokes at my expense? Cut it out, now.”

“Me…joking?!” Blaise stood up, smashing the bottle with a violent kick, as he tired desperately to fix his gaze anywhere else rather than Draco’s judging eyes.

Draco sniffed the air around Blaise and shot back with a disgusted frown. “You’re drunk?!”

Blaise turned to him, raising both his eyebrows up. His face looked impassive at first sight, but there was a slight shade of disturbance behind it. “No, I’m not drunk! I don’t need alcohol to excuse my words or encourage me to say the things I want to!”

“Come on mate.” Draco sighed soundly and paused a moment, backing off a bit without losing balance. “I don’t want us to fight. Don’t do this.”

Blaise looked right at Draco and suddenly, he snapped angrily, waving both arms in the air with exasperation. “What the hell are you complaining about? I’m not doing a fucking thing about anything!”

“It’s been a long day.” The worried tone in Draco’s voice changed to calm but sad. “Things would be better in the morning, you’ll see.”

Blaise tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms. There was a strange light in those dark eyes of him, as is they were fighting back the tears from filling them.

Shaking his uneasiness, Draco closed shut his eyes and aimed his wand towards the canvas. “Incen…”

And it was right when Blaise locked his arms around Draco’s chest from behind, preventing him from casting the spell that would have settled on fire on the whole canvas.

He pressed his cheek against Draco’s and hissed in his ear, breathing through his building frustration and anger. “Don’t you dare.”

“Okay, fine…I won’t burn that sodding photograph.” Draco muttered in between clenched teeth.

When he turned to meet Draco face to face, Blaise read through his friend’s real intentions and didn’t release him from his tight grip. “You filthy liar!”

Draco shot him a killing look and struggle to release himself from those strong arms that surrounded his slim frame in such tight manner. “You’re crossing the line, again. Why do you keep testing my patience?”

But Blaise wrapped his friend’s body even tighter against him. “I’ve got the message last time, don’t worry, I’ll behave. But let me tell you that you’re the one who’s shacking here, not me.”

“I’m bloody freezing here, damnit!” Draco spitted out but then he started to chocke, his breathing came in between violent spasms as his knees went weak for his lack of strength.

Noticing that something bad was visible happening to his friend, Blaise shoved one of the blonde’s arms over his shoulder as he encircled one of his around Draco’s slim waist and carried him to the nearest bench.

Desperation mixed with uncertainty threatened to rip Blaise’s heart as he examined the blending color of Draco’s eyes switching from dark amethyst-blue to a pale pearl-gray and back again.

Holding Draco’s face between his hands, Blaise muttered softly. “Something funny is happening to your eyes.”

Draco felt like throwing up, but the moment Blaise’s fingers started to rub in circular motion the sides of his temple to relieve the tension, Draco felt somewhat better. There was still a building band of pressure encircling his head with the most intense pain over his eyebrows.

With difficulty Draco managed to say. “Side effect…pumped out…completely.”

Exhaling his worry out of his lungs all of a sudden, Blaise yelled. “WANKER!”

Chocking and blushing with a self-restrained laughter, the blond shot back. “No, you stupid git! I’ve got most of my blood drained performing a Necromancy Ritual earlier. It will take some time for the Blood-Replenishing Potion to finally kick in.”

Blaise cursed under his breath as he rested Draco’s back against his muscular torso and placed both his arms around him, wrapping Draco upper body in a protective way. He then rested his chin one of the blonde’s sharp shoulder blades and pulled up the shirt’s sleeves inspecting the two profound fang marks on both Draco’s wrists.

“Why would you do such thing?” Blaise sounded more worried than angry towards Draco.

“I needed answers.” Draco yawn a couple of times as he tried to keep his eyes open.

But Draco knew that he was fighting a lost battle; the tiredness of his body got the best of him as he submissively succumbed to it. He rested his head against Blaise’s toned and muscular chest that served as improvised pillow and sighed deeply. The rhythm of his friend’s heartbeats were starting to lull him, inviting him to close his eyes and sink in the depths of sleep.

The hours past by like seconds for Blaise, he couldn’t help but smile at the sudden turn of events of that night. There he was sitting over a stone bench embracing Draco with his strong shapely arms, using his own cloak to wrap the blond in a cocoon, comforting the freezing sleeping beauty with the warmth of his body. Blaise was experiencing in the flesh the happiest moment of his life. He was delighted with that unique and priceless view of Draco fast asleep, breathing slowly and deeply, the blond looked so calm and carefree cuddled against him.

Blaise sighed deeply once more and combed back with his fingers the silk blond curls from that gorgeous sculpted face of Draco before resting his head against the wall. The bright yellowish halo of the full moon that was coming from one of the windows illuminated with its powerful light the entire hall. If it was a dream he’d certainly never wanted to wake up, but this was the real thing, this was actually happening. Blaise never thought it would be possible for him to feel so complete and happy, he wanted to stop time and make it last forever: it was heaven on earth.

Draco woke up quietly and softly, narrowing his eyes for they still hurt a bit. “Mother?”

“You’ve fell asleep, it was a dream.” Blaise soothed him.

The blond then exhaled soundly, getting in touch with reality as he slowly regain consciousness and looked back up at his friend, trying to open more his eyes this time as he continue to rub them with one hand.

“I don’t recall what I’ve just dreamt but it felt exactly like when my mother used to watch over me in my sleep as a child because I felt protected, loved and warm.” He stopped all of a sudden, seeing trough his eyelids Blaise looking at him with an understanding smile.

Draco realized then that his best friend’s arms were wrapped tightly around him; still he didn’t move and swallowed hard, feeling awkward. “Blaise?”

“Uhm?” Blaise just froze, staring at Draco, too stunned to speak and afraid of what his blond friend would say or do to him this time after realizing he’d fell asleep wrapped in his arms without his even knowing.

“How long was I asleep?” Draco asked casually stretching his back, gaining some space for himself before he took sit besides Blaise.

Letting go a silent sigh of relief, the black jet haired man replied immediately. “Just a couple of hours, it’s still dark outside. According to the moon’s position, I dare say it must be around three o’clock.”

Draco frowned and stood up from his sit as if being pulled by an invisible string from the bench. He looked worried, as if something about Blaise’s statement struck him. Then he realized something as he looked around.

“What’s the matter?” Blaise asked incredulously.

Right then Draco felt an uneasy building sensation running through his body. “Something’s out there, lurking in the darkness and it’s coming closer.”

Lifting himself up from his sit without getting alarmed, the other asked. “Death Eaters?”

Draco nodded as he rubbed unconsciously a slight puncture on his right forearm.

Very calmed and resolved, Blaise said. “It’s your call, what do you want to do next?”

Draco swallowed hard and looked at his friend seriously. “I want you out of this Castle. Now.”

“Bollocks! I won’t leave your side.” The other shot back getting immediately angry with his friend.

Pulling back his blond silk hair with both hands making a mental countdown, in a clear sign of trying to regain some composure, Draco shot back. “Why do you bother asking me then?”

The other shrugged. “It comes involuntarily I guess.”

Draco arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “I know. You always end up doing whatever the hell you want.”

“Does that bother you?” Blaise asked pursing his lips.

The blond sighed soundly after shaking his head twice. “No, because that proves that you’re the only one in charge of your life and that’s admirable. What does bother me is that whenever you seem to come up with a firm resolution, you still demand to know what I think about it, giving me the impression that you’re not confident enough with yourself.”

Blaise dropped his gaze to the floor and chuckled nervously. “The day I stop waiting for your approval you’d end up getting pissed to high hell with me for my actions.”

“ARGG!” Draco pressed his forearm against his chest and hunched forwards as the bubbling burning pain beneath his skin gained intensity. His pupils dilated when he caught sight of something from over Blaise’s shoulder.

“What now?” Turning his head back, Blaise discovered then the reason of his best friend’s uneasiness as he looked from the window.

The menacing vivid green silhouette of the Dark Mark was coming right from above the Astronomy Tower. The blond Slytherin noticed that his breathing was faltering again, but this time it was remotely related with lack of strength or tiredness...it was something else.

“Your deepest fear is not your weakness. Your deepest fear is that you are powerful beyond measure. It is your light, not your darkness, what frightens you the most.” Whispered a voice inside Draco’s head, a voice he couldn’t recognize because it was completely foreign to him.

An overwhelming rush of feelings overcame Draco just then, he shook his head twice resolving is was useless to shut it down and looked at Blaise in the eye. “We’ve got to warn everybody about this.”

Blaise took his wand from his pocket, there was a confident smile curling his lips. “Together we’ll bring those fuckers down!”

What Draco was experiencing was something beyond rationality, for it was a matter of the heart it its purest and rawest manifestation. “EXPECTO PATRONUM!”

From his wand erupted a massive silvery halo that morphed into three gorgeous winged dragons, each one carrying a warning message: one was specially addressed to Luna, other meant for the whole staff and student body at Hogwarts and the last one addressed to the Order of The Phoenix.

Blaise looked at his friend with a blank stare after the departing of those unique messengers. He never saw the blond looking so worried, unstable and threatening at the same time.

“I can’t find a way to give you everything you deserve.” Draco’s amethyst blue eyes blinked away for a brief moment and when he turned back to meet his friend, they were completely changed. “But I’m willing to share with you what’s left in me.”

Blaise looked up, astonished, and held his breath in anticipation of what was coming.

In the half light, Draco’s eyes looked smoke grey. “The Malfoy’s Clan carries one of the most ancient, vilest yet strongest pure-blood lines in the Wizardry World plus I did my share to corrupt it even more.” He paused, a devilish smirk curled his pale lips but then he got darkly serious. “With that said, I want you to consider carefully what I’m about to offer.”

Guessing his best friend’s thoughts, Blaise replied without hesitation. “I accept.”

Draco then raised his wand over his head and moved it in a clockwise turn, drawing three invisible circles around him. “The union of the blood-lines is nothing but a myth for it actually implies the ruling of the strongest over the weakest one: after all, that is nature’s primary law. The Zabini’s Clan essence within you will be completely erased once you step into the circle with free will and full trust.” Looking up at Blaise, he asked. “Do you trust me?”

Taking a step closer and into the inner circle, Blaise replied with a confident smile. “One hundred per cent.”

“That was always your biggest mistake.” Draco smirked to himself as he took out from his pocket his black handled knife and held it tight. “Extend your right arm with your palm facing up.”

Blaise did as requested, and felt the blond cupping his hand from beneath as he made a clean deep cut on Blaise’s palm and then he made one on his own.

Without breaking eye contact with his friend, fingers entwined, Draco raised both his and Blaise’s hands up and called out. “Three times round the circle’s cast, the first to cleanse, the second to consecrate, the third to empower.”

Pressing both bleeding palms together, squeezing them tight against each other, the blond locked his eyes with his friend and called out again. “I, Draco Malfoy, cast this unbreakable circle with you, Blaise Zabini as I conjure thee, oh mother-earth to surround and seal the circle, out of the black and into the white, out of the white and into the red, out of the red and into the world, prepare the way for this sacred rite, send your protection from above unto us and let his and my blood be blend together as one.”

As his concentration got deeper, Draco’s face got tense and focused on his pursue. Blaise found almost impossible to make out what was going on inside his friend’s mind, but those pearl grey eyes, Draco’s true eyes, sparkled like blazing fire. Both young men then blinked hard startled with a blinding light that emanated from within the circles and washed them both with its luminescence.

After a long, deep breath Draco spoke once more and this time Blaise recited along with him. “Elementals of fire, air, earth and water may be bound to us like two component parts of one same self, let us reborn as equals. We now share one same blood and earth is our centre, we now share one same blood and air is our wisdom, we now share one same blood and fire is our power, we now share one same blood and water is our energy. Oh mother-earth, ground us, guide us and empower us as we open willingly to you. As above, so below, this sacred circle is cast. So mote it be!”

Taking a step backwards at the same time, the blinding light disappeared completely and both friends found themselves back in the corridor haunted with foggy shadows cast by the moonlight on the sparking stone walls and floor. For a brief moment, neither could speak. Blaise remained still, feeling his face burning hot with overwhelming happiness as he stared in silence at Draco without being able to say a word or make a sound as his heartbeats increased dramatically their speed inside his chest.

“Thank you.” Blaise breathed softly the words, they sounded barely a whisper.

Draco raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply as he clenched his bleeding hand into a tight fist.

“I wanted this, stop looking at me like that.” He felt all of a sudden scrupulously examined by the blonde’s tormented gaze.

Locking a blazing grey-amethyst stare into the pitch-black darkness of Blaise’s eyes, Draco finally spoke. “You’re officially damned.”

Rolling his eyes, dismissing Draco’s words completely, Blaise held his wand and aimed it at his own hand in order to cast a healing spell towards his deep open wound.

But Draco jumped right at him as he encircled his fingers around Blaise’s wrist. “Don’t.”

“I also happen to know how to perform a stupid healing spell…geez.” But when Blaise looked down into his own palm, he saw the open cut closing by itself leaving just a thin trace of dried blood.

Without releasing his friend’s hand, Draco’s said with a thread of voice. “I wasn’t joking earlier: you’ve just got yourself a ticket to hell.”

Blaise nodded as he broke the silence of his own amazement smiling widely. “Hades, front row, sitting next to my brother: the perfect after-life plan.”

Draco swallowed hard, his voice sounded raspy. “This is serious, damnit!”

Blaise spoke again, his grin was still there. “Forgive me for rejoicing with the idea that you’re not going to be alone in the after-life.”

The blond sucked up a silent and sound breath and looked up.

The moment Blaise levelled those determined pitch-black eyes with Draco’s greyish-blue gems, his facial features hardened. “Draco, whatever torment you’d suffer in the underworld, I’d be there to take half the burden.”

Draco closed shut his eyes and tightened the grip around Blaise’s wrist, he was visible shacking. “No matter what happens tonight, don’t turn back on your steps, don’t you dare to look back. You just run and keep running as far away from Hogwarts as possible.”

Anticipating the blonde’s intentions Blaise replied without contradicting Draco. “Heroes don’t live to tell the tale. Check.”

Draco leaned closer, speaking with a thread of voice. “Just promise me something.”

Raising both eyebrows with an accomplice look, the other replied. “Anything.”

“I’m counting on you, to survive and to protect Luna.” Draco then lifted his head up and looked through the window at the Dark Mark as his eyes got wider and darker, blurred with a tint of insanity. “One of us has to make it alive tonight: my bet is on you, brother.” That last word trembled in the blonde’s lips proudly.

Easing the lump on his throat, Blaise swallowed painfully. “What are you trying to prove by going to that Tower?”

“I finally know what I’ve got to do.” Draco caged Blaise’s head in his shaky hands and forced his lungs to breath steadily, smirking nervously. “You’ve once said to me you’d take care of Luna and make sure she honoured my memory in case I die: prove that you’re a man of your word!”

Blaise nodded, holding the tears from surfacing. “I’ll do it, I promise.” But right after that he hugged Draco tight in his arms in an attempt to hold him a couple of minutes more. “Please stay, don’t leave me.”

Draco whispered in his friend’s ear. “What runs through your veins is my blood. I’d never ever leave you: you’re a Malfoy now.”

Blaise shook his head; tears were already rolling down his cheeks. “You agreed to give me your blood because you’re looking forward to get yourself killed tonight?!”

“I did it because that’s the only way I’d be able to protect my family, always.” Draco’s glassy eyes fluttered thinking the words he couldn’t say out loud. “Even after I’m gone.”

Without breaking the embrace, Blaise wrapped his arms even tighter around Draco, both were shaking badly. “How can you possibly ask me to let you go there all by yourself?! Are you insane?!”

“I’m aware of all the pain and suffering I’ve caused to you and to Luna.” Keeping his voice low, the blond added. “I hope one day you’ll both be able to forgive me for loving too much but also too little the two people I care the most in this world.”

Draco broke the embrace, looked up at - a perplexed, moved and speechless - Blaise one last time and fairly flied down the corridor, dashing for the Astronomy Tower.

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Moments after being alerted with the warning message of the imminent Death Eaters’ attack delivered by an incommensurable silvery dragon, Draco’s Patronus, all the students at Hogwarts launched themselves into a massive runaway to get as far away as possible from the Castle’s grounds.

Luna lifted herself up from the floor after getting rid of the menace of two Death Eaters. One lied unconscious a couple of feet away from her, the other had been crushed under what was left of a gargoyle statue. She looked overwhelmed, trying to maintain control of a very large group of scared and confused students from her same House.

She leaned against the wall for support, her shaking body screamed in protest, her muscles burned with incredible tiredness. “I’m afraid we’ve got to find another way out, that exit is blocked.”

No-one moved as a third Death Eater suddenly, violently shoved the remainings of the statue out of the way and walked determined towards Luna breathing soundly and angrily beneath the mask.

She pushed herself from the wall, forcing her legs to defy gravity and support her one last time.

“Expelliarmus! After failing to disarm her attacker she tried again. “Impedimenta!” Noticing that didn’t work either, she tried one more time. “Incarcerous!” But the all-black figure was quick, he managed to dodge every single spell.

The Death Eater then grabbed her by her throat, dragging her up till she was off the ground. Luna was then eye-to-eye with him; she could hear him grinning hideously through his mask as she started chocking.

Her lungs were desperately sucking in air, that was the only thing filling Luna’s thoughts, the simple act of inhaling. She knew that long as she kept breathing, she and her classmates stood a chance to get out of there alive as she watched at the ceiling with her vision plagued with the black spots of near unconsciousness. But then a vivid green light illuminated the place, she noticed that the Death Eater’s breathing ceased all of a sudden and released her abruptly.

Luna felt that someone had caught her from behind before she could hit the floor and saw the menacing figure of her attacker getting literally crushed against the wall; blood was coming from beneath the Death Eater’s mask.

“Lovegood.” A harsh voice murmured as she turned to face the person who had just saved her.

“Blaise?” She barely managed to speak as she grabbed her rescuer’s shoulders to steady herself back in her two feet.

“I saw you’ve placed yourself in the front line, so brave.” He brushed off her hands from him and straightened his cloak, shooting a pissed-off look at her. “And so bloody stupid. You’ve almost got yourself killed.”

Gasping between breaths, Luna shot back. “I perfectly know…how to defend…myself.”

Blaise looked at her violated throat with a sceptic look and added. “Sure you do.”

Easing the drumming inside her aching chest, she looked up at him with watery eyes. “I’ve improved a lot learning from Dra…”

Blaise waved an arm in the air and cut her abruptly. “…from the best, yes. I picked up my best tricks from him as well. But you haven’t got what it takes to win a fight, at least not yet, love.”

They exchanged heated looks, she feared whenever he addressed her in such cold and threatening way, it was like he literally spitted that word out with the venom of his resentment towards her.

He then inspected her from head to toe and, to make things worse, once Blaise repaired on what she was wearing - an oversized black satin buttoned shirt with an embroidery crest that read “DM” on its pocket and drawstring pants - his enraged look blended into a mesmerized yet disgusted frown. She was dressed with one of Draco’s pyjamas. How dared she!

Obviously misinterpreting the whole scene, the rest of Luna’s classmates looked at each other exchanging amusing looks after hearing the Slytherin addressing her as “love”. They started wondering if the rumors of their snogging at the girl’s bathroom days ago were true and if he was indeed her boyfriend for his eyes seemed somewhat glued to her.

Blaise removed his judging gaze from Luna as the humming of gossips got louder inside his skull. When he paid attention at the overwhelmed audience, he noticed that the whispering ceased all of a sudden as the faces of Luna classmates, all girls, started blushing madly.

“What?!” He asked with an exasperated tone in his voice.

The silent that followed revealed a major fact that Blaise had skipped due to his zero interest in the matter. Those students were dressed in their sleeping clothes, translated in other words: Blaise was the only man among a large group of girls dressed in comfy but somewhat brief clothing.

Rolling his eyes at the bizarre turn of events, he confessed. “No worries, I’ve seen women wearing less than that.”

Blaise then got haunted by images of his mother’s girlfriends holding sleep-over parties after the many weddings and funerals he had to endure thought the years, no wonder his mother was tilted as “The Black Widow” by so many people. He then felt really sick remembering the many times those women come at him offering everything he’d desire, but he never granted them the slightest chance for he’d devoted his heart and body to one person only: Draco Malfoy.

As he got rid of the trance, Blaise blinked twice and focused his attention on a girl from 7th year of long ink-black hair and perfect ebony skin dressed only with a turquoise tank top over her underwear that hardly covered her generous, voluptuous built body. She kind of reminded him of his mother. Walking towards her, he leaned in as he took off his cloak and handled it to her.

“Here babe, you'll catch a cold with such a low neck.” Blaise offered with the grace of a true gentleman.

Blushing even more, the girl muttered her thanks and giggled hysterically. Blaise limited himself to smirk tightly at her for a brief moment.

Then, as he inspected the surroundings he got serious and turned to face the group of students with a serious look. “Ladies, I’d suggest you get away from here as fast as your precious legs could manage.”

“I’m so glad a brave man came to the rescue!” Shot back a red-haired girl without removing her curious eyes on him.

Glancing nervously over his shoulder, Blaise noticed the shadow of a new threat coming towards them. “Everybody…RUN!”

Luna froze a couple of inches from Blaise as she chocked with desperation. “Wait! Aren’t you coming with us?”

Without looking at her, he raised his wand and assumed position. “I’ll create some divestment in order to gain time so that you can find a safe place to hide.”

Noticing that Luna’s feet were still glued to the ground, he spun his head at her and ordered. “Lovegood, those girls need someone to lead them. Take them away from here, NOW!”

She nodded in silence, trying to ease the lump of her throat.

“Bring it on, fuckers!” Blaise roared at the group of Death Eaters that popped up right in front of him.

Luna stopped in the corridor and looked up at the Slytherin, startled to hear Draco’s acerbic sense of humour surfacing in Blaise.

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A/N:

Woohoo! This is the longest chapter so far! I was really inspired while listening to Silverchair and that's why I chose a song of this amazing group that resumes perfect the meaning and feelings of what you've just read.

Want to know what happens next? Post a review! I'm greedy, hehe!

Question: Does anyone know the name of Blaise's mom? In the HP books they briefly mentioned her as Mrs. Zabini. If you know, please drop me a line!