Saturday, April 11
"Hello, fellow students, how are you?"
Blaise raised his brows in mild interest as Harry sauntered up to their group, a wide smile on his face, and Susan no where in sight. Blaise looked Harry over, very slowly, from top to bottom before scoffing.
"Harry's going to kill you if you scuff up those trainers," he drawled at the imposter he had been pretty sure was Tonks. "They're his favorite."
"Which is why he leant them to me," 'Harry' winked in a very not-Harry type of way.
"Oh for God's sake." Hermione sighed as she too looked over 'Harry'. "Tonks, is that you?"
'Harry' made a shushing motion and went to sit beside Neville, who very kindly pointed him towards his usual seat.
As if Harry would ever sit with his back to the Great Hall or in a spot where he couldn't see the doors. It was as if Tonks didn't know Harry at all, really.
"What are you doing?" Theo immediately hissed at Tonks as she took Harry's spot.
"Creating an alibi," Tonks said. She looked around, much too placidly curious to fit Harry's face, and shrugged before filling a plate with a variety of pastries.
"Wrong." Draco snickered and pulled the plate of pastries away, subtly moving it to Hermione. "Harry eats toast and coffee for breakfast," he whispered.
"Ugh." Tonks rolled Harry's eyes, which actually was quite characteristic for Harry, and grumpily grabbed a couple slices of toast. "Hogsmeade today, right?" she asked them all.
Blaise shared a quick smirk with Ron before leaning forward and shaking his head at her. "Quidditch finals," he whispered. "Merlin, did you not check his schedule before offering to be his alibi?"
Tonks froze with a piece of bread halfway to her mouth. "Oh, bloody hell," she breathed. "I can't fly at all."
"What?!" Ron gave her an incredulous look while the others hid amused smiles. "Harry is the seeker, are you saying you're going to make us lose? I've got a lot of gold riding on this."
"How much gold?" Tonks asked nervously, not sounding like Harry at all now.
Well. Perhaps not sounding like Harry when Harry is himself, anyway.
Sometimes, especially since he got back from Azkaban, Harry had been terribly nervous and on edge and Blaise personally hated it. He adored the loud mouthed, rude, snarky bloke that he'd befriended almost six years ago and despised the 'terrified of his own shadow' person that the dementors had turned Harry in to.
"Two hundred galleons," Blaise answered for Ron. He lifted a single disdainful brow at Tonks. "Do not tell us that you're planning on losing the match."
Harry's face paled so quickly that Blaise felt a small twist of guilt before reminding himself that it wasn't truly Harry he was teasing.
"I... I can't," Tonks hissed. "I truly can't fly at all." She glanced around the hall quickly, "Who's it against?"
"Hufflepuff," Neville said with a grin.
Tonks nodded absently and let her eyes wander down the Hufflepuff table. "Let's put a couple of their players in the hospital, alright? Then they'll have to reschedule, Ron doesn't lose his money, and Harry doesn't kill me."
Blaise and the others lost their composure at that and Tonks' eyes widened, then narrowed, as they all began laughing. Ron, ridiculous bloke he was, had tears pooling in his eyes as he hit the table with his fist.
"At least you finally sound like Harry," Hermione gasped around her laughter. "Bloody psycho, aren't you?"
"All in character," Tonks drawled in a passable imitation of Harry as she rolled her eyes. "Really though, we're just going to Hogsmeade, right?"
"Yes," Trent nodded.
Ron suddenly sat up straight and got a wicked smile on his face. "Oh my God."
Blaise looked at him. "What?"
Ron's smile grew so wide it had to be hurting his freckled face. "Who comes to every Hogsmeade weekend?"
Blaise's eyes immediately lit up with barely withheld laughter.
"Oh I am absolutely cancelling my date," he breathed. "Anthony and Millie can get by without me."
"Anthony and Millie?" Hermione asked, a bit reproachfully. "You scheduled two people for dates on one day?"
Ron and Neville, who Blaise had recently filled in on his current 'flavors of the week', snickered while Blaise smirked at Hermione.
"Obviously," he drawled slowly. "It's a bit hard to have a threesome without three people, Granger."
Luna, devious witch she was, giggled while Hermione and Tonks both sputtered.
Hermione, in fact, turned a truly hilarious shade of red. It was mostly hilarious because Hermione was sitting there, red faced with indignation, and pregnant.
Thank God Blaise hadn't accidentally knocked up one of his flavors.
Theo was a moron.
"Awkward teen sex-scapades aside," Tonks said in a voice too bright to be Harry. "Who's coming to Hogsmeade that's got you all so excited?"
"Fred," Theo told Tonks with a smirk. "And you absolutely have to fuck with him."
Tonks looked like Christmas had come early, which was such an odd expression to see on Harry's face.
Though, Blaise did have a good time with Ron, Draco, and Theo as they all walked to Hogsmeade together and coached Tonks on 'Harry-isms.'
"Walk slower," Ron told her. "And tighten your shoulders a bit. You're a powerful teenager hell bent on taking over the world."
"And, if anyone says that to you, smirk and say 'that sounds like too much work, I'll stick with the United Kingdom, thanks'," Theo said.
Blaise smirked when they passed the Hogwarts gates and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Don't forget to smoke," he told Tonks with a wink. "It's Harry's new favorite hobby."
Tonks took the cigarette with a grimace and held it so awkwardly that even Hermione laughed at her.
"Disgusting," Tonks scowled. "Harry really should quit."
"He thinks if he ever goes back to Azkaban that he'll be released from his cell for smoke breaks," Draco said with a bit of the factual absurdity that Luna spoke with.
Apparently their mannerisms were rubbing off on each other. If it weren't so heartwarmingly disgusting, it may have been sweet.
"You don't get smoke breaks in Azkaban," Tonks said logically (as if Harry cared about logic) before she lit the cigarette and brought it to her lips. "Ugh." She coughed after a single inhale. "Disgusting!"
Blaise and the boys laughed while Hermione clicked her tongue at them and Luna hummed and squinted at the clouds.
"Alright, when you see Fred, be a bit shy," Ron instructed Tonks as they neared Hogsmeade. "He won't try and kiss you in front of us, Harry isn't a fan of public snogging really. Just don't be too eager, or he'll know something's up."
"Pinch your wrist on occasion," Trent said, proving he was much more observant than Blaise had given him credit for. "Harry does it when he's confused or stressed."
"Also squint a lot," Hermione said.
"Doesn't Harry wear contacts?" Tonks asked curiously.
Neville chuckled quietly. "Yeah, but he still squints his eyes when he's thinking or seeing if someone's lying to him." Neville squinted his blue eyes in imitation and looked much less threatening than when Harry did it.
"Oh! Act unhappy with the world," Luna said abruptly. "Harry's a quite unhappy person."
That... that was an accurate thing to say that sobered the playful mood almost immediately.
Harry was a rather unhappy person. Sure, he had moments where you could see his joy, but Blaise would prefer to see it more constantly.
"Let's get to the Hog's Head," Ron said gruffly. "That's where they always meet."
***
"Hey, darlin," Fred greeted Tonks with a wide smile once they all arrived inside the pub. Fred nodded at the rest of them before moving easily from the small booth he had been in to a larger table. "After you," Fred said, pulling Tonks' chair out politely.
"Thanks," Tonks said, almost immediately giving away her identity as Harry would have silently nodded.
Fred didn't notice though, he just quietly counted up everyone. "Where's Susie-Q?" he asked.
"Detention," Neville lied easily. "She hexed Ginny in front of Professor McGonagall."
Fred chuckled and shook his head. "Alright then, eleven lagers?"
Theo cleared his throat and shook his head. "Seven," he said. "PJ, Sapphire, Hermione, and myself aren't drinking."
It was good of Theo to not drink while Hermione couldn't. Blaise wouldn't have bothered, but Theo was much more of a sap than he was.
Fred nodded and winked at Trent. "Sorry, maybe next year your big brothers will let you drink."
Trent scowled and gave Sapphire an exasperated look. "Do you see what I deal with?" he asked her.
Sapphire tilted her head to his and whispered something that had Trent grinning and sitting straighter in his chair.
Young love; so cute, such a waste.
Blaise preferred to live fast, enjoy life while he could. Specifically, to enjoy as many varieties of life as he could. And that would be rather hampered by 'love'.
Susan used to agree with him on that, sharing a similar view of the world, but then she met Charles Weasley and decided that she liked the challenge he presented her with more.
Blaise had once thought that perhaps he could be persuaded to try out 'love', but then the bloke he fancied wound up engaged to a red-headed prankster.
Any idiot could see that Fred was quite devoted to Harry, but Blaise would have cherished his every breath. Of course, Blaise waited too long to make a move, and Harry had fallen fast and fallen hard for Fred's easygoing personality and his charms. Now Blaise would be a groomsmen in their wedding.
Mad.
Fred returned quickly with the drinks and passed them around. "Everyone cough up some coins for Abeforth, will ya?" he asked cheerfully. "He says he's gone temporarily blind and deaf while we're here."
Blaise turned in his seat and winked at the old bartender, whom he now knew to be Dumbledore's brother.
It must be misery, being related to Albus Dumbledore. Outshined in your youth by a genius brother, overlooked as an adult by your powerful sibling. But since Blaise was fairly certain that Harry left that morning to go kill Albus Dumbledore, then Abeforth wouldn't be overshadowed for long.
Blaise should write to his mother though, thank her for only ever bringing one child in to the world.
"I've got good news," Fred told Tonks with a bright smile. "Bill and Fleur moved their wedding! They're going to get married on New Years Day so we can do it August first!"
"Oh, er... brill?" Tonks said hesitantly, subtly glancing around at the others, as if needing prompts on how Harry would respond.
Fred's face fell slightly at the lack of enthusiasm. "Do you not want to anymore?" he asked Tonks quietly. "I mean, we can do it whenever you want."
"Oh he does," Theo cut in quickly before Tonks could bugger it up more. "We're going the first day of summer to get dress robes."
Fred, so easily placated, perked back up immediately. "Brilliant! I'll bring my brothers too so we can all match." He gave Tonks such a look of utter adoration that it was nearly comical. Actually, it was comical considering that it was Tonks and not Harry. "Did you pick your best man then, love?"
Tonks said "No" just as Blaise said "Yes".
Fred looked between the two of them slowly as Tonks took a hasty sip of her drink, probably trying to find a way to correct herself without giving away the game.
"Idiot," Hermione sighed at Tonks, attempting to cover yet another blunder. "Theo told you that he'd be honored. He was only teasing you when he said he wouldn't do it."
"Right," Tonks nodded. She turned to Fred and lifted a single brow, somehow imitating Harry quite well. "I picked Theo."
"Not Susan?" Fred asked curiously.
Tonks scoffed, finally getting a little more in character. "Theo's my brother, isn't he? Plus," Tonks puffed her chest out, "I'm his baby's godfather."
"True." Fred smiled and stretched his arm over Tonks' shoulders, causing her to stiffen slightly.
Which would have been an entirely 'Harry-like' reaction six months ago. The 'pre-Azkaban' Harry hardly enjoyed physical touch, 'post-Azkaban' Harry seemed to soak it up like a desperate sponge.
Blaise and their friends had noticed, though no one spoke of it aloud, and had went out of their way to offer more physical comforts to Harry. It was rare to see Harry walk the corridors without one of them on his arm, or sitting for meals without Susan pressed against his side. And, despite the way that Harry thrashed quite a bit in his sleep, they typically took turns having 'sleepovers' with Harry.
Neville and Ron refused, citing 'awkwardness', but Blaise simply blamed it on their ceaseless heterosexuality.
Blaise did smirk slightly at Tonks as she obviously forced herself to relax beneath Fred's arm.
"Have you picked your people?" Ron asked his brother, narrowing his similarly blue eyes at him.
Fred laughed and took a long drink. "George is best man, obviously. Then Charlie, then Lee, then Ginny."
Fred winked at Blaise as Ron's ears turned a shade of red. Fred had decided, some time ago, that he and Blaise were apparently quite good friends. And, truthfully, Blaise liked Fred. He imagined that Fred was a difficult person to dislike. There were other times though, that Blaise thought he wouldn't be too torn up if Fred died.
Harry would need a shoulder to cry on, and Blaise would provide it.
Blaise was yanked from his wildly inappropriate fantasy of Fred dying tragically in the war by Ron's indignation.
"I'm your brother!" Ron cried. "You don't even like Ginny!"
"Right," Fred nodded slowly, "but you're a Slytherin. And I'm sure Harry's already filled his side with tons of snakes, haven't you, Darlin?"
"Theo is best man, and..."
"Then Susan, Blaise, and myself," Draco said smoothly, saving Tonks once more. "So you'll need another Slytherin to keep your side from being too Gryffindor."
"Fine." Fred sighed dramatically and gave Ron a crooked smile. "Ronniekins, my fifth favorite brother, would you like to be a groomsmen?"
"No," Ron said simply. "Piss off."
Tonks laughed at Fred's look of surprise. "Maybe you should beg," she suggested wryly.
"Nope. I've changed my mind again," Fred said. "Ginny it is."
Blaise sipped his drink while Fred picked on Ron for a few minutes before conceding and telling him he could be a groomsmen.
"You're being quiet," Fred murmured softly to Tonks as the others chatted amongst themselves for a moment.
Tonks shrugged and pinched her wrist before squinting up at Fred. "Not much to say," she said shortly.
Fred's brows furrowed and he slowly reached up to brush the fringe off 'Harry's' forehead. "What's going on?" he asked again. "You don't seem like yourself."
Tonks sent a furtive look up towards the ceiling before sighing heavily and giving Fred a soft and sad smile.
"Fred, can I be honest with you?"
Fred became instantly nervous while the rest of them went utterly silent. Blaise, Ron, and Neville seemed to lean in simultaneously to hear what terrible thing Tonks planned to say.
She took a heavy breath and looked around the empty pub quickly, the flicking eyes a very good imitation of Harry, before looking straight in to Fred's eyes.
"I'm in love with someone else," she said.
Blaise hissed out a warning breath- that was too cruel.
Before Fred's face had the time to fully crumple, Tonks quickly, and quite smoothly, added:
"It's Professor McGonagall."
Blaise let out a startled laugh at the same time it sounded as if a bottle shattered behind the bar.
Fred's look of impending devastation slowly cleared away as he replaced it with an amused smile. "McGonagall, huh?" he grinned. "Alright, well, suppose I'll just go kill her then."
Everyone's heads bounced back and forth between Tonks and Fred as they sparred verbally.
"Also, Flitwick," Tonks said in a perfectly calm and pleasant voice that Harry hardly used. "He's quite fit."
Fred's smile increased. "You want me to kill my favorite teacher and the three time world dueling champion? Fine."
Tonks tapped Harry's bitten nails on the table. "Sprout, too."
"Done," Fred said. "I'll win your love back by murdering all of them, shall I?"
Tonks' lips seemed to curl up in to a smile unconsciously. "Remus as well."
Mistake.
Harry was afraid of Lupin. And Harry always called him Lupin.
Fred's smile stayed in place, but it didn't match the suddenly hard look in his eyes. "Speaking of Remus," Fred said, a calculating tone to his words, "he's wanting to know if we're still coming tomorrow at two, for our private meeting."
Aah. Fred was testing Tonks now. Blaise raised a brow at Draco, but Draco merely smirked. He was obviously content to watch Tonks flounder since she couldn't possibly know about Harry's disdain and distrust of sessions with Lupin.
And, as expected, Tonks looked towards Hermione and Theo, as if hoping for a cue on how to respond, but they gave her nearly identical looks of polite curiosity.
"Er... yes," Tonks told Fred, turning back to him. "Two it is."
Fred grabbed Tonks' wrist and pinned it much harder to the tabletop than he would have if it had truly been Harry— Blaise hoped.
"Where is Harry, Tonks?" Fred asked Tonks quietly, his voice as warm as an iceberg now.
"With Susan," Theo told him quickly, since Tonks seemed unwilling to answer.
"Not in detention?" Fred asked without looking away from Tonks or releasing her hand.
"No, but they're with Snape," Hermione said in a rushed whisper. "He's fine, Fred, really."
Fred jerked his chin in a nod, releasing a heavy breath as he did. He let go of Tonks' hand and raised an unimpressed brow at her (a look Blaise was certain he picked up from Harry, who got it from Snape, who was probably born looking unimpressed).
It had probably been a bit cruel, teasing Fred like that, when the last time he lost Harry it was to Azkaban.
And it wasn't as if all of Harry came back either.
"If you don't mind changing back," Fred told Tonks flatly as he took his arm off her shoulders, "I don't fancy checking out the wrong arse."
Everyone chuckled, even Tonks, but she also shook her head.
"Can't," she told him. She looked around the pub before leaning closer to him and whispering something the others couldn't hear, no doubt informing him of her status as Harry's alibi.
Fred pulled away and scooted his chair a small amount from her before taking a sip of his lager and shrugging. "Your funeral when Harry finds out I called you darlin and put my arm on you," Fred grinned.
"Excellent," Draco said, sharing a quick look with Ron. "Odds on Harry contesting Tonks to a duel?"
"4 to 1," Blaise said confidently. "2 to 1 if his secret mission went badly."
"Odds on Tonks winning?" Sapphire grinned.
Trent rolled his eyes before stretching his arm, very casually, over her shoulders. "Nobody'd take that bet," he said. "Harry's a genius. He only loses to Snape."
"Maybe Snape loses to me," Tonks said in a sulky way that fit Harry very well.
Luna leaned forward so she could look at Tonks better. "Has he?"
Tonks crossed her arms and scowled. "We haven't dueled before," she huffed. "I'm an auror though."
"Hmm. Ex auror, I think," Luna hummed. "And Professor Snape was a death eater."
"Yeah." Tonks grinned and winked at Luna. "It's rather inappropriately attractive, isn't it?"
"Hermione thinks so too," Theo murmured with a smirk for his girlfriend.
"I do not!" Hermione cried, her blush giving her away.
"You do too," Ron smirked. "You told us all at the World Cup, remember?"
"I will kill you," Hermione hissed down the table at him.
Tonks laughed, entirely unconcerned with Hermione's crush on her boyfriend.
"He is quite handsome," she grinned.
"Maybe don't say that when you're disguised as Harry," Neville said, scrunching his nose. "Disgusting."
It was rather disgusting.
Tonks shrugged and the others quickly moved the conversation to much safer topics.
Trent and Sapphire chatted quietly with Ron and Fred about quidditch.
Draco and Luna held some sort of private conversation between the two of them that involved a lot of whispers and giggles.
Theo and Hermione nearly upset Blaise's stomach as they stared in each other's eyes, wordlessly communicating their love and happiness.
Neville, shockingly, asked Tonks about the Auror program before finding out he was already disqualified since he dropped potions for a NEWT.
Blaise sipped his drink and wondered what Harry and Susan were up to.
Things were simply more exciting with the two of them around.
"We should probably go," Tonks eventually said, glancing towards the windows. "Make a great deal of noise walking back, go to dinner, show that Harry has been here all day long."
"Alright." Fred got to his feet and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Tonks. "Tell Harry to call me when you see him, got it?"
"Got it," Tonks winked.
They all made sure to drop a few coins in Abeforth's tip jar as they went; Blaise left a few extra considering Abeforth's brother was probably dying that day.
***
Their group made their way towards the castle, everyone in rather high spirits and buoyant at the idea of hearing about Harry and Susan's mischief soon.
Blaise loved hearing about the trouble they got in to. He didn't much love being involved in it, but he loved hearing about it.
"What should I order for dinner if You-Know-Who isn't there?" Tonks asked Draco.
Draco pondered it for a moment. "Whatever looks the unhealthiest," he said. "And—"
And whatever Draco thought Harry would eat was cut off as someone suddenly popped in to existence long enough to grab Draco in a bear hold and pop away with him.
"Run," Tonks said intently as she pulled her wand. "N—"
Tonks was unable to even finish her sentence before someone apparated in quickly enough to grab Hermione's arms and disapparate.
Crack!
Crack!
"Wha—"
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
"Fuck!" Tonks snarled after Ron was snatched. She grabbed Trent's arm and shoved him. "Go!"
Trent and Sapphire barely made it ten paces before they too were grabbed quickly by (what Blaise had finally noticed to be) masked death eaters.
Blaise and Theo seemed to gravitate easily to a back to back position with their wands out, but everything became a bit of a blur as multiple people begin popping in and out randomly now, confusing the hell out of the dwindling group.
Blaise held a defensive pose, but dear Theo lost his mind entirely and fired off a stunner just in time for the masked death eater to disappear and it to hit Neville, who was snatched almost immediately.
What in the blazes was happening?!
Tonks had her wand out and was rapidly firing spells, not as quickly or effortlessly as Harry would have, but impressive nonetheless. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Harry had killed off the less intelligent and incapable death eaters, as these were apparating in and out in a random frenzy, causing everyone's heads to swivel around before being captured by surprise.
Which, of course, is how Blaise felt himself getting snatched by a strong pair of arms that immediately clamped down on his wrist to force his wand to aim uselessly at the ground. Blaise could no more than grunt before the twisting sensation of apparation took him away from the village he had just been in.
Blaise barely had time to feel his feet touch the ground before his wrist was twisted backwards and his wand was forcibly yanked from his hand.
"Get your disgusting hands off me," Blaise snarled. He reached upward with his open hand and attempted to grab the hair of the man who had him pulled flush against him.
The man laughed a wheezing laugh and easily pinned that arm to Blaise's side while twisting the other behind his back, pulling it up far enough that Blaise felt the tendons in his shoulder strain.
"I'll break it," the man said in his ear. "Keep testing my patience, poppet."
Blaise quit struggling and instead began to take in the sights and sounds around him.
Neville. Hermione. Trent. Sapphire. Ron. Draco.
Crack!
Luna.
… was Luna a prisoner or did she come willingly? She looked much too calm in the loose embrace of the death eater who held her wand.
Crack!
Theo.
"Get your fucking hands off her!" Theo howled as soon as he saw the masked witch or wizard with Hermione in a tight headlock. Theo renewed his struggles and Blaise did as well, desperate to assist his friends. "Don't fucking touch her!"
"I'm fine," Hermione said thickly, her voice choked from the grip the death eater had on her neck. "We're fine."
Merlin and Morgana.
The fucking baby.
Had there ever been a worse time for Theo to knock up his girlfriend?
Blaise looked around the room, taking note of where they were, and stilled his struggles as he realized it was a rather posh sitting room.
Gaudy, for sure though. The golden and silver thrones in the front were so tacky his mother would sob. As were the deep black velvet curtains blocking any natural light from entering the room.
And then…
Holy Mother of Hades.
Timmy himself glided in the room.
Blaise hadn't really noticed before, as distracted as he had been with not dying, but Timmy was tall. He was graceful in a truly villainous way too. His long black robes trailed around his feet as he moved to the golden throne, not even acknowledging the others in the room.
Once he sat, he deigned himself to look around at the nine suddenly still students. His pale face was entirely neutral, but there was a calculating look of amusement in his deep red eyes.
"Aah, I'm so pleased you could join us," he said, his voice something between a sibilant hiss and a raspy whisper. "But where is our guest of honor?"
"They're getting him, My Lord," the masked (witch, apparently) holding Sapphire said with enough of a bow to give Sapphire the ability to jam an elbow back in to her face.
Blaise smirked and Trent let out a satisfied grunt from where he was nearly being strangled by the death eater holding him.
"Loosen your hold on him," Timmy hissed at the one holding Trent. His nearly nonexistent lips curled up in to a mocking sneer. "It isn't as if they're able to leave."
Oh, Blaise's mother was positively going to kill this man with her bare hands, anomaly or not.
Timmy didn't seem inclined to do anything other than watch them all with benign curiosity- he was clearly content to wait for them to bring him Harry.
And Blaise couldn't think of a single bloody way to escape.
He could see Hermione's lips moving, no doubt trying to pull off a bit of wandless magic, and Neville's feet were twisting and turning, probably trying to apparate away.
It was as if Neville couldn't feel the magic tingling across the floor, the magic that told Blaise that apparation, for them, would be pointless.
Crack!
Aah. But not for the quartet who brought 'Harry' in a mess of limbs and fists and blood.
The four death eaters quickly dropped him and stepped away; and they were lucky it was Tonks and not Harry, because they would be dead otherwise for grabbing him in such a way.
Tonks hit the floor on her hands and knees in the center of the room and her head immediately began swiveling around as she rapidly took in all the surroundings.
"You're a difficult wizard to speak with," Timmy said, watching Tonks with a hungry look in his eyes. "Stand, Harry."
'Harry' now, was he? Blaise was fairly certain he had been 'Potter' last year.
Tonks' eyes were ripped from the restrained, and wandless, students to Timmy as one of the death eaters that brought her along took Timmy her wand and laid it at his feet with a deep bow.
Tonks slowly got to her feet, the cogs no doubt whirling in her brain as she tried to find the best tactical advantage in their situation.
But damn if she didn't look like Harry as she stood up straight and dropped her hands to her side, her fingers twitching endlessly.
"You could have sent a patronus," she said with Harry-level disdain to her voice.
Timmy didn't look furious at her cheek, he looked amused.
He probably would have been much angrier if it had come from Tonks instead of 'Harry', though.
"Mm, some invites are better in person," Timmy said carelessly.
"And he can't cast a bloody patronus," Neville sneered.
"Crucio."
Neville was a mad bastard, Blaise would give him that. Took a lot of bravery to mouth off to the Dark Lord, but it took even more to bear his curse nearly silently aside from his harsh breaths.
Timmy watched him thrash and occasionally whimper for a long minute while the others struggled to get to him before lowering his wand and ending the curse.
"As I was saying," Timmy turned back to Tonks, "some things are simpler to do face-to-face."
"Yeah?" Tonks thrust her chin out and squinted at Timmy. "Kill me then."
"Kill you?" Timmy let out a soft, and disgustingly creepy, laugh. "Never, dear Harry, you and I will live forever."
Blaise strained in the sweaty arms of whoever held him to try and find Draco's face.
What the hell? Blaise said with his eyes.
Draco's raised brows responded, No idea.
"Join me," Timmy told Tonks. "Join me and I will let them live. Refuse me again, and they die."
Almost at once, the death eaters holding his friends all raised wands and put them to their heads. Oddly enough, the one holding Blaise only shifted his arm enough to put his forearm tightly over Blaise's windpipe.
Timmy was mildly more intelligent than Blaise had given him credit for.
Timmy wanted the strongest wizard in history on his side, helping him do whatever it was that 'dark wizards' do. 'Refuse me again' meant Harry wasn't interested (which was terribly amusing that he quest for revenge overtook his deep thirst for power), so Timmy found a way to trap Harry in to it:
Take almost all the people he cared about and threaten to kill them.
Except, if it were Harry, then Harry would just snap his fingers and kill every death eater in the room before grabbing his friends and popping them all back to his place for that disgusting hot chocolate he loves.
"Okay, yeah."
Blaise nearly closed his eyes in absolute, inappropriate, amusement at the look of utter shock on Timmy's reptilian face.
"You will join me?" Timmy asked Tonks.
Tonks looked around at Blaise and his friends, all restrained by death eaters, before turning back to Timmy and nodding with a very Harry-like shrug.
"If it means these guys can all go home, then yeah," she said. "I'll join you."
Luna whimpered and Blaise tried to stretch his foot out to reach her as she was the closest to him. Luna must have realized the same thing he did- Timmy would kill Tonks the moment he released them and realized he'd been tricked.
Blaise thought Tonks must have realized it as well.
Blaise also thought that Tonks was perhaps the bravest witch he had ever met before.
Someone should say that at her funeral.
"Excellent," Timmy said, a truly disturbing smile curling his lipless mouth upwards.
And then, no matter how brave Tonks was, no matter how hard she worked to imitate Harry- they were absolutely fucked. Because Timmy started hissing in Parsletongue.
Tonks froze and blinked. Then she nodded slowly.
Which had obviously been the wrong response because Timmy tilted his head curiously at her and hissed something else.
"Who are you?" Timmy yelled at Tonks after she didn't respond again. He pointed his wand at Draco while staring Tonks down. "WHO ARE YOU?"
Draco started screaming as a silent red curse, probably the cruciatus, struck him in Tonks' silence.
"Nymphadora Tonks!" Tonks screamed, morphing to her own appearance quickly. "I'm Nymphadora Tonks!!"
The curse causing Draco to scream, and the girls to sob, ended quickly as Timmy tuned his wand on Tonks now.
"Where is Harry Potter?" Timmy hissed at her.
"I don't know," Tonks said. Blaise saw her fingers twitching much quicker now as she assessed who was closest to her.
Timmy abruptly closed his eyes, giving Tonks an opportunity to step closer to Hermione, the only student she could reasonably reach. It had been rather pointless since she wasn't Harry and didn't even have her damn wand. When Timmy opened his eyes back up a few moments later though, he laughed.
Fucking laughed.
What is this nonsense?
"Dear Harry is quite busy right now." He narrowed his disgusting red eyes at Tonks contemplatively before curling his lips up in a smirk and nodding slowly. "Aah, you are his alibi?"
Tonks drew herself up as tall as she could. "I am."
"Then she must not be injured," Timmy said thoughtfully. "A metamorphmagus is a useful follower to have. My Harry is clever indeed."
Blaise sent a flabbergasted look towards Neville, who looked as confused and surprised as he was.
Was this the same madman who tried to kill Harry last year?
... and the year before that?
... and two before that?
... and the year before that?
... AND ten years before that?!
Now 'his Harry' was clever?
"Take them to the dungeon," Timmy ordered abruptly. "Do not hurt the red head boy, the metamorphmagus, or the small one."
The death eater holding Theo looked between Trent, Sapphire, and Luna.
"Which small one, My Lord?"
If they all made it out alive, Blaise would laugh about that at some point.
Trent looked apoplectically indignant, Sapphire looked confused, and Luna smiled as if it were already a joke to her.
"The one that looks like Potter," Timmy snarled. "The small boy is Potter's godfather's son, the other is his betrothed."
Oh yeah. If they all lived then Blaise would laugh about this for years to come.
For the most feared Dark Lord in history, and as much credit as Blaise had been willing to give him for his plan, Timmy was actually a moron.
If Harry had to pick three people to protect, it would be Hermione, Theo, and Trent. Or perhaps Hermione, Luna, and Trent.
Blaise personally wasn't offended by that- it was Harry's odd way of always protecting the ones he viewed as weak. Since Blaise wasn't on that list, then Harry viewed him as moderately competent. Truly it was a compliment to not be in Harry's top three 'people to protect' list.
Either way, Ron would hardly qualify. Especially since it was Fred that Harry was betrothed to.
The death eaters moved quickly though. The four that brought Tonks lunged for her and, after a brief struggle, each of them had a limb. Tonks spat in one of their faces though, driving them to quickly stun her. The others began dragging the suddenly noisy students away.
"Theo!" Hermione yelled as she was drug towards a staircase. Her face was pasty white and she tried to stick a hand out to Theo. "Theo!"
"Shut up or I'll stun you as well," the wizard dragging her grunted.
Luna was…
So damn weird.
Her eyes were misty as she kept glancing towards Draco, who was limp in the arms of the death eater dragging him, but she was simply walking alongside the death eater holding her arm tightly.
Either she knew resistance was futile, or she knew everything would work out okay.
Blaise wasn't confident in either of those assessments.
Blaise made a daring attempt to kick the bloke behind him in the groin. A daring attempt, but ultimately pointless as all he achieved was getting his kneecap and having that arm over his throat tighten more.
"I wanted the blonde boy, but I suppose you'll do," he whispered as he drug Blaise along with the others, out of the room and towards an open staircase. "Between us, I almost hope Potter refuses my Lord so I can eat the red-head, do you think he will?"
Blaise scoffed as the man easily lifted him with an arm around his stomach and an arm around his neck to carry him down the stairs.
"Potter will kill you all." Blaise's voice was mildly hoarse, a side effect of the pressure on his throat, but still sounded much more steady than his heart rate was. "He will slit your throat with a flick of his wrist."
He would too.
Blaise had seen it before.
"Not on your behalf," the man said in a leer as Blaise watched his friends being tossed in various cells—
Did Timmy truly convert a manor dungeon in to a prison? Good Lord, how gauche. The dungeon villa in Italy had been converted in to a wine cellar and housing for the elves.
Perhaps Timmy lost good taste when he did his nose.
The man dropped Blaise, rather unceremoniously, on to a stone floor in the dank and dark cell closest to the stairs. It was only when he took slow measured steps around Blaise, looking him over from top to bottom, that Blaise realized who he was.
"No wonder you don't have a wand," Blaise sneered right in his scarred face. "Disgusting little wolf."
Not all werewolves were disgusting, but this one was. His face was filthy and his pointed teeth were nearly as yellow as his eyes.
The comment about wanting to eat Ron made more sense as well now. Draco had mentioned Ron saving him from a cannibalistic werewolf by stabbing the wolf in the back. Pity Ron didn't linger to finish the job.
"Disgusting little wolf, am I?" The man suddenly pushed Blaise harshly backwards, causing his head and back to hit the stone wall before lunging forward and grabbing him by the shirt and lifting him to his tip toes. "Maybe you're jealous, poppet," he sneered quietly. "Maybe you've always wanted to be a wolf as well."
Was today the full moon?
No… no it had been last week.
The wolf-man couldn't turn him, only kill him.
Blaise gave the man a look of near boredom, burying his fear beneath his disgust and disdain.
"If you touch a single hair on my head, my mother will kill you," he sneered. "And if she doesn't, Harry certainly will."
Harry might be in love with Fred, but Harry still loved Blaise. They were best friends- practically brothers in Harry's opinion.
And Harry was a possessive son of a bitch; nobody would ever be allowed to kill one of his friends except for him.
The wolf-man let out a raspy laugh, his acidic breath blowing in Blaise's face. His disgusting and grubby claws grasped the top of Blaise's head and he jerked his head backwards, tilting his face from side to side.
"Oh, you'll do nicely," he said. He licked his lips slowly. "Mm, maybe if I still have room for dessert afterwards, I'll go back for the little fairy-like one, what d'you think, lovey?"
Despite his current predicament, Blaise smiled cruelly. "You're going to die," he told the wolf-man with only a slight rasp from his suddenly bone dry mouth. "Harry Potter is going to drain every drop of blood from your body and burn your corpse to ash. You're committing a capitol offense and you don't even realize it, you mad bastard."
The wolf-man let out another wheezing laugh and yanked Blaise to his feet by his curls.
Blaise kept up a cool mask as he was drug through the stone basement, passing the cells that he knew his friends were behind.
If the wolf planned on killing him tonight, he damn well didn't get to see Blaise's fear. And Blaise wouldn't leave his friends with even more fear than their sobs and shouts betrayed.
It had been his last thought as the wolf-man tossed him in a small room and locked the door behind him.
"Delicious," he said. He approached Blaise slowly, likely in an attempt to see fear in Blaise's eyes. "Am I not scary, lovey?" he whispered, reaching for Blaise's face.
Blaise waited until he was right in front of him before bringing a knee up to his groin and knocking him over just as Harry once taught them in a DADA meeting. As soon as the man toppled over, Blaise leapt over him and rushed to the door.
The Merlin damned locked door.
Blaise had decided to simply try and choke the life from the wolf-man (a mad and desperate plan) when he heard the man getting back on his feet- and in an instant he had a grip on the top of Blaise's head and his shoulder.
"Give me a smile, handsome," the man whispered as Blaise struggled out of his inhuman grip. "No? Alright."
And then he sunk his teeth in Blaise's neck and the entire world before him spun in circles and went black.