F&L: Chapter 47

Over the course of the next three weeks, classes rapidly began to wind down as the last week of the school year approached. The pall of the events of the Stone and those of the near-fatal miss with the Goblins that had almost led to war had lingered past those events' occurrences. Now, however, that gloom vanished as the excitement of the upcoming summer break began to replace it with a surge of enthusiasm. Of course, there were still a few more classes plus exams before the end of term to go through, and I was laser-focused on finishing the year out strong.

Much of what we learned in classes was revision, of course, as there was even more incentive now after the political disaster that had been the abortive Ministry Negotiation with the Goblins for test scores to be high. The Ministry wanted Hogwarts to at least beat Durmstrang and Beauxbatons in the ICW's Academic Rankings when it came to test scores this year, so Dumbledore had us doing two weeks of revision and one week of remaining lessons. I thought it was ridiculous, of course, but a lot of things in politics often could be.

Voicing such thoughts in front of my friend group during one of the Slytherin-Ravenclaw History Classes, though, had been my mistake. It didn't matter that Binns was so stuck in his post-mortem patterns that he just kept right on droning through his lessons, he wasn't the one who I was worried about. No, that would be Hermione.

"I think the Ministry simply knows the importance of tests." Huffed Hermione, scandalized.

"'Mione, tests are not the best gauge of how well you know the material." I scoffed.

"Oh? They're not, are they? Then why do we even have exams at all?" Questioned Hermione, frowning.

"Likely to justify someone's cousin's position in the Department of Magical Education." I smirked, rolling my eyes.

"Droll, but not an inaccurate assessment of Ministry Hiring Practices, I suppose." Admitted Daphne.

"I'm serious, Blaise." Frowned Hermione.

"So am I." I grinned.

"Can you skip the whole being you thing for the moment and just get to the point?" Queried Tracey.

"Fine, ruin my fun why don't you." I grumbled in mock indignation.

"If it gets you to stop doing that thing you like to do by turning conversations into games, then absolutely we will." Opined Millie.

"Face it, Mate. The Girls have you pegged." Chuckled Terry.

"Well, I'd like to hear an explanation. It would at least be less dry than whatever Binns is trying to teach us about the Prewett-Blishwick Tariff Act of Eighteen-fifty-seven." Pressed Padma.

"Right, well, the tests are all regurgitation of information. Question and answer stuff. That's fine and all, if your goal was just to test how much the students retain whatever information you taught them, but rote memorization will only get you so far in real life." I tried.

"I think I understand." Mused Daphne.

"Do you?" I asked.

"Please, at least give me some credit. It's like the difference between knowing the wand movements and incantations to cast a spell and understanding why the spell works the way it does." Scoffed Daphne.

"Exactly." I nodded.

"I'm not sure I follow. If we had to know all that, surely we'd be taught?" Questioned Hermione.

"That's not actually necessary to be able to cast the spell." Pointed out Tracey.

"It is necessary to be considered to have mastered the spell, though." Opined Millie.

"So it's like dueling." Nodded Terry, suddenly getting it.

"Dueling?" Questioned Padma.

"Loads of spells have different effects depending on how they're used in duels. My grandad has a story where he used the basic Ice Jinx to win a duel." Added Millie.

"Doesn't that just freeze a small area, though?" Queried Tracey.

"About an Ice Cube's Worth per casting." Affirmed Hermione.

"I'm not certain how that would be useful, save as a distraction." Frowned Daphne.

"I can think of a way to use it to win the duel." I smirked.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense here, Mate. Out with it." Prodded Terry.

"Millie, did your Grandad use it to coat his opponent's wand grip in ice?" I asked.

"He did. His opponent tried to cast a Blasting Curse at him and his wand just slipped right out of his grasp because of it." Beamed Millie.

"I see. You're saying that just being able to regurgitate facts won't help you when it comes time for application." Hedged Hermione.

"Exactly." I confirmed.

"Not by itself, at any rate." Added Daphne.

"That's all well and good, but the fact is we still have to take the exams." Pointed out Padma.

"It's just something to think about. Anyway, I think we'll all do just fine on the exams." I shrugged.

"You, Hermione, and Daphne maybe. I'm still a bit shaky with the conjuration bits of Transfiguration." Sighed Millie.

"I can help you there." Offered Tracey.

"See? We've got this. Collectively, I mean." I grinned.

"Thanks to you, you mean." Smirked Terry.

"That was implied, Terry. No need to spell it out like that." I snarked.

As it happened the weeks of revision breezed past, with only a small pause for clubs. I used our Cross-House Study Group time for revision and ritual practice, spending my Silver Points lavishly in ways that would bankrupt me if I didn't have a whole mess of them squared away from earlier in the year. I used them to get study material, tutors, and of course, ritual space for the various rituals that my group needed to perform before the year ended. Those last two in this case being the Rituals of Summer's Renewal and the Ritual of Mercury's Favor.

For the latter, I made certain everyone had a sufficiently expensive ritual bowl. Granted those were primarily smaller gold bowls, one and a half pounds of solid gold set with a single good quality gemstone, depending on the house of the friend in question. My Ravenclaw Friends got sapphires, Gryffindor Friends got rubies, Slytherin Friends got Emeralds, and Hufflepuff Friends got Black and Yellow Flecked Opals. Everyone's Bowl was valued at around two-thousand-one-hundred Galleons, which guaranteed each of my friends a return of around twenty-one-thousand Galleons over the course of the next year.

While that was a drop in the bucket for people like myself, Harry, or Daphne, not everyone in our friend group benefitted from the sort of generational wealth that came with being a scion of very wealthy nobility whose family had been rich going back to the time of the Norman Conquest or beyond. Ron, for instance, sorely needed the money, and I'd bet that while Hermione didn't need the money per se, having a source of funds that didn't come from her parents' muggle dentistry practice would be incredibly freeing for her. The same could probably also be said for Tracey, whose family spent what funds they did on her begrudgingly due to prejudices.

Then there was the Ritual of Summer's Renewal which should keep everyone healthy, barring mishap or enemy action, for the next year and a day. None of us would be getting sick or anything, at least. Added onto that the supplementary effect of attracting material wealth, which synergized with the Ritual of Mercury's Favor, and I was pretty sure all of us would be in for a very lucrative summer.

Regardless, by the time Exams rolled around, I was certain that everyone who made regular appearances at our Cross-House Study Group would be more than capable of acing them all. The First Week of May passed in a flurry of Exams and anxiety as we moved to take each of our exams in turn. Of course, thanks to my accelerated courseload, I was forced to sit the Second-Year Exams in Defense, Potions, and Charms. That gave me some amount of pause in a way that the First-Year Exams didn't. I probably shouldn't have bothered sweating that, though.

I managed to get O's on the Exams in all three of those subjects. In fact, the only Subject I didn't get an O in was History, where I got an E for Exceeds Expectations. The reason for that was clear, as I'd written my essay on that portion of the Exam in such a way that seemed to offer a broader view of the subject of the Last Goblin War of Fourteen-Seventy-Nine to Fourteen-Eighty-Five than the Ministry had apparently been looking for. Apparently, the fact that I'd spent time on the Goblin's Point of View of the War had docked me enough points to bump my overall grade on the Exam down a full letter. More politics, I assumed, especially in light of how petty a bump this was.

Unfortunately, that also had me tied in the number one spot of the year for exam marks with Hermione, who had lost points on Defense enough to bump her down from an O to an E. Daphne wasn't far behind us, though, getting two E's in History and Charms, while everything else had her getting O's. She was tied with Padma in that, though Padma's E's were in Defense and Astronomy. In fact, out of the entire Cross-House Study Group, nobody got below an A in any subject, and that last bit only happened to Ron in Potions because my Head of House was a petty asshole to literal children sometimes.

Ironically, it seemed the worst grades in our Year came from Malfoy's Circle. Pansy Parkinson just barely passed most of her classes, only managing E's in Potions and Charms. Meanwhile, both Crabbe and Goyle received mostly A's with a smattering of P's meaning they failed at least one or two classes. In Goyle's Case, it was Astronomy and Transfiguration and in Crabbe's, it was Transfiguration and History. Privately, I suspected Snape of Padding out their scores on the Potions Exam to bump them over the line to an A and pass.

Of course, I couldn't stay too mad at Snape about that, given how our Iron-Making Potion had turned out to be a total success. He had walked me through the Patent Process and we now jointly owned the Patent on the Ferrus Solution. I'd already received an Owl from Gringotts telling me that an Industrial Concern for the Manufacture of Quidditch Equipment had licensed the formula for the production of Bludgers and Beaters Bats four days before the End of Term Feast, and the day after that I got word that it was also being licensed by Lord Gunn, the Magical Earl of Orkney in the Magical Peerage, whose primary business concern was the manufacture of Cauldrons. Gringotts was already predicting massive profits from those two license agreements alone, after their own fees and Snape's Share were deducted, of course.

With that in mind, of course, I gave Snape a pass on the petty bullshit he did with exam scores. In fact, I was in such a good mood heading into the End of Term Feast that I practically cornered Daphne in the corridor outside the Great Hall without pausing to think about how it might look to others who might be watching.

"Blaise. . .what?" Sputtered Daphne as I dragged her off toward an alcove.

"Real quick, Daphne. Just in case you were planning to take the Hogwarts Express back to London instead of the Floo in the Headmaster's Office tomorrow morning. I have something I need to give you." I insisted.

"Blaise! This is hardly an appropriate way to. . ." Began Daphne.

Of course, the fact that I quickly pressed a trio of vials of Elixir of Life into her hands cut off any protests. She looked down at the vials in her hands, back at me, and then down at the vials again.

"Elixir of Life. Enough for you, your sister, and your father. One dose each. My theory is that it will cure your Bloodline Curse permanently. If it can help resurrect a dead man, it should be capable of that much as well, I should think." I explained.

"Blaise. Tell me you didn't just drag me into an alcove, in full view of everyone, just to give me these." Demanded Daphne completely serious.

"Oh. . .Oh. Ooooh. . .I guess I didn't think of how it might look." I blinked, finally getting it.

"Blaise you utter pratt!" Exclaimed Daphne, slapping me in the face with the hand not holding the vials. My own hand went up to my stinging cheek on reflex and thus was out of position to stop Daphne from giving me a quick peck on the lips.

"Thank you though. You have no idea how much this means to my family, you beautiful, idiotic, pillock." Offered Daphne before tucking the vials away and brushing past me.

"You're welcome?" I questioned, watching Daphne make her way back into the great hall, much to the sniggering of onlookers.

"Seriously, what just happened?" I queried to empty air.

Seeing that nobody was around to answer me, I simply shrugged it off as puberty hitting Daphne all of a sudden and headed back inside. As I took my seat and the feast began, however, Dumbledore stood at the faculty table on the High Dais and got everyone's attention with an Amplifying Charm and a clearing of his Throat. The raucous din of hundreds of students eagerly chatting about summer plans faded away as Dumbledore cleared his throat and prepared to go through what I knew to be his little song and dance about the House Cup. I wondered how he would attempt to rig it this time. After all, it wasn't as if everyone in the Underground Corridors was Gryffindor this time around.

As he began to go through the rankings as they stood in the House Cup, with Gryffindor in the rear and Slytherin in the Lead, I frowned at the rankings. Ravenclaw wasn't too far behind us. He might be able to try and pull an upset with that, though it would be close. Oh well, it didn't really matter too much in the grand scheme of things. The House Cup was bogus, after all. It was still interesting to speculate. Eventually, however, Dumbledore got around to the bit that I'd been waiting for, the awarding of last-minute points, and I no longer had to speculate. I was about to find out, after all.

"First! To Mister Ronald Weasley, for the Finest-Played Game of Chess that this School has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor one hundred points!" Announced Dumbledore.

Raucous applause followed from the Gryffindor table as the students of the House of Lions suddenly realized that the Headmaster was going to bat for them. It figured. Dumbledore was a Gryffindor Alumnus, after all.

"Next! To Mister Harry Potter, for pure love and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor One Hundred Points!" Continued Dumbledore.

As the cheers from the Gryffindor table grew even louder as people realized this put Gryffindor solidly in the lead, they were joined by jeers from Malfoy's end of the Slytherin Table. However, I got the sense that Dumbledore wasn't done just yet. To my credit, I was correct about that.

"Finally, to Mister Blaise Zabini, for the cunning use of foresight to reach across House Boundaries and build bridges where others would erect walls, I award Slytherin Forty Points!" Finished Dumbledore.

That, it seemed, brought the jeers and cheers both to a standstill as people realized exactly what this meant. I had to hand it to the Old Man, he sure knew how to keep things interesting, the sly old bastard.

"I believe that means for the first time in over a century, we have a tie for the House Cup. How uncharacteristic. But then, this has been an uncharacteristic year after all. That being so, I think a bit of redecoration is in order!" Exclaimed Dumbledore.

As he said that, Dumbledore pointed his want out from his place at the podium and gave a swish and flick of the oddly-shaped Elderwood wand that he carried. Immediately, half the banners that were done up in green and silver suddenly changed over to red and gold, Lions interspersed with Snakes along the walls of the Great Hall. Meanwhile, the House Cup itself changed to reflect the tie, with the emeralds encrusting the cup changing partially to be half rubies.

As the food appeared and people began to clap confusedly at the tie, I couldn't help but tip my metaphorical hat to Dumbledore. He still had a knack for bringing people together, even if in this case it didn't involve forming a secret paramilitary organization to fight against a Dark Lord. With that thought, I dug in and ate my fill. It had certainly been a hell of a year, at least.

And next year was only going to get even more interesting in the Chinese Sense. . .

XXXX

It was the day to leave Hogwarts, and while most students would be leaving Via the Hogwarts Express to go back home, some of us had business arrangements that couldn't wait. For my part, I had to check in with my Accounts Manager at Gringotts to talk about the new license agreements with various companies for the use of Ferrous Solution. Dumbledore had graciously allowed me to use the Floo in his office for that purpose, though I got the sense he wanted to speak to me before I left.

"Mister Zabini, all packed and ready to leave, I trust?" Asked Dumbledore.

"I am, Headmaster." I nodded, moving over toward the Floo.

"A moment, if you please." Intoned Dumbledore. I stopped, taking a deep breath, I turned and nodded at the Old Wizard.

"Yes, Headmaster?" I questioned.

"I wonder if you've given any thought to rejoining regular classes next year in Potions, Charms, and Defense?" Queried Dumbledore.

"I can't say that I have, Headmaster. Nor can I say that such would be very practical at this juncture." I responded.

"Might I inquire as to why you feel that way?" Asked Dumbledore.

"Magnus Gamp has already completed my Second-Year Education in those subjects, as you've seen from the Ministry Test Scores, no doubt. Any attempt to place me back into the normal courseload of those classes for my age would simply be retreading old ground." I answered.

"Yes, so it would seem." Sighed Dumbledore.

"Headmaster? This isn't about my Courseload. What's really on your mind?" I questioned.

"It is nothing, Mister Zabini. Your trajectory this year merely reminds me of an Old Friend I haven't seen or spoken to in some time." Admitted Dumbledore.

"I see. Anyone I might have heard of?" I queried.

While Dumbledore could be talking about any number of people, I had a sneaking suspicion I knew exactly who he was referring to. After all, it was well documented that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had been best friends in their youth. As close as brothers, they said. Some claimed they had been even closer than that, but I don't know if I believed that. Illicit Gay Romance seemed just too much like bad fanfiction when added onto the whole best friends to worst enemies thing. It just wasn't that believable.

"I would be shocked if you had not." Nodded Dumbledore, confirming my suspicions.

"And you think I may be going down a similar path?" I asked.

"No. Though I must confess I had for much of the year. However, your willingness to stick by your friends even at the cost of harm to yourself and your willingness to give up such a potent artifact as the Philosopher's Stone are both qualities that my Old Friend had become incapable of before the end." Refuted Dumbledore.

"I see. So what is this about, then Headmaster?" I pressed.

"I simply wish to see you continue to avoid my Old Friend's Mistakes. Perhaps it is simply an Old Man's nostalgia for times gone by. I would not trouble yourself any further with it." Sighed Dumbledore.

"If you're sure, Headmaster. Though, for what it's worth, I will say that in the event I ever turn out like that Particular Old Friend of yours, I would hope that one of my friends had the courage to do what you did for him and stop my rampage." I offered.

"And for what it's worth, I sincerely hope that day never dawns for you as it did for me." Returned Dumbledore.

And with that, the Headmaster stepped aside and allowed me access to the Floo. I grabbed a handful of green Floo Powder and tossed it into the flames.

"Pallazzo Zabini, Kent." I called out.

The flames flared up green, signifying they were ready to be used to transport me home. Then, I gave Dumbledore a final nod and wave, tugged on my levitated luggage, and stepped through the flames. When I stepped out again, I gave myself a quick Scourgify and looked around with a grin on my face. I was finally back home for the summer. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay. Rotwile, my Gringotts Accounts Manager wouldn't be kept waiting for long. I would have just enough time to change and stow my trunk before having to head out to the bank.

No rest for the weary, I supposed, even on Summer Break. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see the last bit of First Year Proper. Dumbledore effectively manipulated the House Cup into being a Tie this time around, not that Blaise particularly cares, since he sees the House Cup as a load of bunk anyway. At the same time, Dumbledore finally up and told Blaise why he was keeping such a close eye on him this year, at least beyond the usual reasons. Of course, Blaise has no intention of turning out like Grindelwald did. Finally, Daphne actually kissed Blaise, which is all sorts of confusing as Blaise is about to start undergoing puberty which is likely to futz with his more rational, mature, brain somewhat due to hormones. I still don't plan to have anything more mature than the equivalent of a date to the Junior High Dance or something put into the fic anytime soon, though.

At any rate, this officially wraps up the events of the Alternate Version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone this Fic had going. The next Chapter will be part one of Blaise's Summer projects.

Stay tuned. . .