Chapter 17

The next day had me focusing on saving Harry and Ron at least in my spare time, as I still had lessons with Magnus Gamp. During this class, he continued to drill me in Combat Magic and the Lecture portion of Second Year Defense via a pair of lectures on Trolls and Werewolves. I still was no closer to defeating him or even getting a draw on him, but I was inching closer and closer. I could already defeat all of my year mates in one-on-one duels, but I had no clue how I'd fair against a group. Tonight, I would be taking five on at once, with only Harry and Ron as allies. Fortunately, I would have the element of surprise. That might not be enough, though, even with my skills as a duelist.

To rectify that, I focused not on the Mind Arts outside my class with Magnus Gamp, as my normal training schedule tended to, but on the breadth of spell repertoire. Malfoy knew about my Flashbang Charm, so blinding and deafening him some other way was necessary. Ultimately, I grabbed a few spells I figured would work for the process while brewing up a few doses of Strength Potion and Girding Potion to add to the Gytrash Speed Potion I already had stockpiled.

Those charms were the aptly named Blinding Spell, with the incantation of Oculi Obscurus, and the Earwax Hex, with the incantation of Auris Cera. For good measure, I also learned the Peppermint Scent Charm, which was normally used by shopkeepers during the holidays to make their shops smell festive, but which could be used to inflict nose-blindness on someone. It had the incantation Festivus Odoratus. Finally, I learned the Numbing Jinx, which turned an opponent's body numb with the incantation Torpens.

That took me most of my free time before dinner, which I ate ravenously, barely talking to anyone in contrast to my usual conversational self. My body needed the extra calories because I'd burned so much magic today and it needed energy to replace the spent magic. This didn't go unnoticed by my friends, but it was Millie who broached the topic rather than anyone else.

"Your private lessons must really be taking a lot out of you if you're eating like that. You know it's all right to slow down, right?" Questioned Millie.

"I'm fine. I've got a lot on my plate right now is all." I waved off.

"Not at the rate you're eating." Joked Tracey.

"Yes, Zabini what is that, thirds? And here I was actually jealous of you getting private tutoring. It turns out, the tutor is practically a slave driver." Sneered Malfoy from another section of the House Table.

"Hey, back off, Malfoy. You don't get to make those sorts of jokes about Blaise. You aren't his friend. Remember your wager." Cut-in Daphne.

Malfoy briefly turned a shade of pink before taking a deep breath and composing himself. He took on an air of affected indifference, even though I could see right through it and I was pretty sure the others could too. Then he spoke again.

"Whatever, Greengrass. I have other fish to fry tonight anyway. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, Theo, we're heading back." He shrugged, before nodding at his assembled goon squad for tonight's ambush.

"I'm not finished, I wanted another Yorkshire Pudding." Frowned Theo Nott.

"Grab one to go, then." Intoned Malfoy.

Theo did so, casting a Cooling Charm on the hot, meat and gravy-filled pastry, before following Malfoy and the others out. I noticed that because it wasn't a standard cooling charm, but a German one, Essen Abkühlen. That was interesting. Actually, wasn't Theo's mother a German Witch? I think she was a member of the Trank Family by birth, a noted family of Alchemists and Potioneers from Magical Greater Bavaria. The most famous head of which, Karl Johan Trank, had joined with Aloysius Kemmler's Freiburg Circle and developed a reanimation serum that when injected into a fresh corpse will reanimate it into a Necromantic Zombie that is resistant to the normal bane of the Undead, that being Fire. Trank Zombies had been a nasty surprise during the Necromancer's War, as I recall reading, as it took the cutting apart of the Zombie to weaken the fire resistance enough to burn them to ash.

It might be worth keeping an eye on Theo, just in case he started developing certain tendencies. With that sort of family history, it might be a good idea to be on the lookout, just in case. At any rate, I finished my third portion of dinner for the evening before excusing myself. I still had to combine all of the spells I learned this afternoon into a more generic Blackout Curse if I wanted something usable by tonight.

"I should head back, I have some studying to do still." I insisted.

"All right, but don't overdo it, all right?" Queried Tracey.

"I won't." I answered.

"Promise?" Pressed Millie.

"I do." I promised.

"Very well. You know you're welcome to ask us for help at any time, yes? If there's something you need done?" Asked Daphne.

"I know and I appreciate it. This is something I need to do by myself, though." I nodded.

Then I got up and made my way out of the Great Hall and back down to the Slytherin Dorms via the Dungeons. The Password for today was Amortentia, which was honestly a little creepy that the password for a School Dorm was the magical equivalent of a roofie, but it didn't bear thinking about at the moment. Instead, I slipped into the Common Room, headed for my Dorm Room, and got to work.

Using the principles laid out in the Principia Arcana to combine spell effects was, in practice, somewhere halfway between spell modification and true spell creation. There were rituals involved in true spell creation, with difficult to get ingredients involved. The magic of the world had to be soothed and placated to allow a completely new spell to take effect. Magic, it seemed, didn't take to new concepts as freely as the combination and modification of old ones. While the instructions for one of the Accepted Rituals to appease the Magic of the World, The Ritual of Hecate and Gaia, was also present in the Principia Arcana, I wouldn't be trying that for a while yet. It was far too advanced.

The ritual requirement was why most supposedly new spells were actually modifications or combinations of already existing ones. It was also the reason for the prohibition on Muggleborns attempting to imitate spells from movies, comic books, television, and so on. If you attempted to create a completely new spell, without using the rituals so the Magic of the World accepted the new concepts within itself, the Magic of the World would reject the concept. At best, nothing would happen, and at worst, the results could be rather explosive.

Regardless, that wasn't what I was doing now. Instead, I was combining Festivus Oderatus, Torpens, Oculi Obscurus, and Auris Cera together into a single curse I was calling my Blackout Curse. It would effectively rob all five senses from the being it was cast on, rendering them helpless against a follow-up strike. I was using Oculi Obscurus as the base, and over the next three-and-a-half hours, went through a number of calculations and permutations until I arrived at the Blackout Curse.

The incantation was Sensus Obscurus, five syllables and only just barely doable in combat for me, while the wand motion was an upside-down U with a dash through the bottom. It looked sort of like a gravestone, now that I thought about it, which wasn't what I'd been going for, but it was the best I could do to make combat practical. The Curse would also be counterable with a Finite Incantatem, but it was the best I was going to get right now. Perfect was the enemy of good, after all.

By now, however, it was eleven-thirty at night and I would have to get moving in order to make it to the site of the duel in time to lie in wait. I went into my family trunk and threw on the Zabini Concealment Cloak. The black, hooded, cloak carried powerful enchantments, enhanced with the Tebo Leather lining the inside. Unless Malfoy and his cronies were secret Occlumens, there was no way they would spot me before I attacked them. Of course, a quirk of the enchantment is that the moment that I attacked, I'd become visible again. Just like how Tebos became visible when charging, but not when stalking intruders in their territory.

Just to be extra cautious, however, I had ordered something made in Hogsmeade special. A balaclava that had then been Owl-Ordered to Hogwarts. I'd not only paid for Owl Order but also for a quick job. It had to be ready in a few hours, after all. I paid the Twins to deliver it to me before dinner earlier. After all, if anyone in the castle could appreciate a good balaclava, it was those two. A pair of gloves to finish things off and I was fairly certain that even if Draco and his group should Finite Incantatem out of the Blackout Curse somehow, I wouldn't be identified.

I made my way to the Hogwarts Trophy Room, noting the password for the Common Room was set to change over to Serpensortia at midnight before leaving the Slytherin Dorms. As I did, I noticed a lack of others in the Common Room. Straining to listen at Draco's Door, I realized that Draco, Pansy, Crabb, Goyle, and Theo Nott were all gathered in Draco's Dorm Room going over the plan. Apparently, they were leaving in ten minutes to set up their ambush for fifteen minutes before the duel was supposed to start. I could hear them talking.

"What about Filch?" Questioned Theo.

"What about Filch? Don't tell me you're scared of that overblown squib?" Queried Draco.

"Overblown Squib or not, Theo has a point. He's still got the authority that Dumbledore invested in him." Reminded Pansy.

"Allow us to assuage your concerns. Crabbe, Goyle?" Prompted Draco.

"Right, we did like you said. Sent the Spiked Bottle of Firewhiskey to his office." Nodded Crabbe.

"He always has a nip or two before bed, that's what the rumors said, so he should be out like a light." Huffed Goyle.

"Good. I paid good galleons for that Sleeping Draught-infused Firewhiskey. It's good to know it wasn't wasted. Any other questions?" Asked Draco.

I'd heard enough. Ambushes were one thing, but drugging the groundskeeper to allow for the ambush to take place showed more cunning than Draco had shown this entire year so far. He was learning, apparently, though not fast enough. I still had more than enough of an edge on Draco Malfoy in the cunning department. Still, as I slinked out of the Slytherin Dorms ahead of Malfoy's Group, I reminded myself to keep an eye on them going forward. I wouldn't want to be taken unawares by some cunning ruse of Malfoy's once the terms of our wager expired, after all.

The Trophy Room was a Room that moved between the Third and Sixth Floor, depending on the Year. On years that ended in an odd number, the Trophy Room was on the Third Floor, while on years that ended in an even number, it was on the Sixth Floor. I made my way there, noting that the moving staircases could very easily deposit you on the wrong landing if you weren't careful, which would take you to the Forbidden Third-Floor Corridor where the Stone was being guarded if you didn't stop and wait for the staircase to return.

Regardless, I made my way into the Trophy Room, which was filled with the detritus of past victories, both academic and otherwise. Along with the trophy cups and gilded placards were other, less scholastic, trophies. Several suits of battered armor and various beaten weapons were lined up along and hung up on the walls. There were still many academic, trophies, however, including several Scholastic Quidditch League Cups, Scholastic Dueling League Trophy Plates, and all manner of academic awards. I even spotted one of the older golden replicas of the Goblet of Fire given to the victorious school of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, back before the death toll on the competition became too high for comfort at it was discontinued.

For less scholastic trophies, I spotted silvered Goblin Mail that was partially melted through by Fiendfyre alongside Suits of Dented Plate Armor that were punched through by various battle hexes. One corner of the room was taken up by a massive suit of Troll Armor from one of the Troll Guards of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Danish Viking Wizard who invaded what was, at the time, the Kingdom of Northumbria. On the other side of the room was a dusty, motheaten, banner, that had to be displayed in a special crystal case with preservative magics worked into it. Parts of the banner were torn away, punched through by arrows, or burned up by flames, I could still make out the golden dragon on a red background of Camelot, though. Hung on the walls were various partially melted swords, cracked shields, broken axes, unstrung bows, and blunted polearms, all bearing various deactivated runes. Hanging from the ceiling, a stuffed Hebridean Black showed the prowess of some long-gone alumnus.

I wedged myself into a small nook between suits of armor, got my wand out, downed the vials of Gytrash Speed, Girding, and Strength Potion I'd brought, and waited for Draco's Group to arrive while remaining very still. Thankfully, I was very good at making potions so the effects would last for another hour or so. Plenty of time to finish up here.

Speaking of time, five minutes later, they did so, with Theo, Pansy, and Crabbe hiding behind various display cases, leaving only Draco and Goyle, the two who Harry and Ron were expecting to be here, out in the open. Fifteen minutes later, Harry and Ron came walking into the Trophy Room, wands out with determined looks on their faces.

"All right, Malfoy. We're here." Nodded Harry.

"I'm surprised you showed. I thought for sure that you would be too much of a coward to face me." Sneered Malfoy.

"Oh, piss off, Malfoy. Now are you gonna duel or what?" Demanded Ron.

"Please, as if I would lower myself to a formal duel with Blood-Traitors like you two." Scoffed Malfoy.

"Then what are we doing here, Malfoy?" Frowned Harry.

Malfoy cracked a positively wolfish grin at that and nodded once. Suddenly, Pansy, Theo, and Crabbe moved from their hiding spots. Draco's group had picked their spots well. Draco had set up in the center of the Trophy Room, forcing Harry and Ron to walk further in to meet him. Meanwhile, Theo and Pansy had taken up hiding places near the door into the Trophy Room so all they had to do was emerge from hiding and take a few steps and they'd be blocking Harry and Ron's escape. Crabbe was hiding behind the crystal display case that had the preserved corpse of a Kelpie taking up a large section in the center of the trophy room, off to Draco's right. He only had to walk out to the left a few paces to take up his customary position at Draco's side.

It was a well-executed and decently-planned ambush. No wonder my Sight had shown me this, Harry and Ron absolutely needed the help here. It was lucky for them that while Draco had shown up fifteen minutes early, I'd gotten there twenty minutes early.

"I said I wouldn't lower myself to a duel with Blood-Traitors. A plain old-fashioned fight will have to do for you lot." Sneered Draco.

Harry and Ron looked around. Draco's sneer widened, as he seemed to like giving them just enough time to realize how utterly screwed they were before attacking. It was a classic bully move, gloating before a beating. I figured there was no better time than the present to pre-empt that. Sighting down on Draco from my hiding spot, I whispered my incantation.

Then all Hell broke loose in the Trophy Room. . .

XXXX

Harry Potter was worried. It honestly figured that Malfoy would try something like this. After all, while Harry hadn't been allowed to watch Television himself, the snippets he caught while doing chores during Dudley's Telly Time had always seemed to show the villains of his Cousin's action shows backstabbing people. Harry couldn't think of much worse of a backstab than luring someone into an ambush under false pretenses.

Sure, he had Ron with him, but that wasn't saying much. The pair of them hadn't exactly done a whole lot of Combat Spellcraft during the Cross-House Study Group. Harry had been too busy getting flying tips from Cedric Diggory and learning to use basic alchemy to bottle a few Household Charms that would make his life easier when he inevitably had to return to Privet Drive for the Summer. His parents had left him something called a Mokeskin Pouch which he'd since learned he could use to smuggle things back into Dudley's Second Bedroom, even if the Durseleys locked up his wand and other school things over the Summer.

He'd thought he would have time to learn more combat-capable spells later in the year. After all, he already had the Expeliarmus thanks to picking it up in Dueling Club. He didn't think he'd need any others for a while yet. Ron, on the other hand, had missed several Cross-House Study Groups and had invested most of his time there trying to learn Occlumency. He had a single, combat-capable, spell, the Arrow-Shooting Spell. That was it.

All this was to say that as Harry Potter looked around, he fully realized exactly how buggered he and Ron were right now. Two on five, while the five likely had learned a few combat spells whilst being tutored at home and you knew precisely one if you didn't count the stuff that was in the defense curriculum, which Harry didn't, weren't exactly great odds. Harry could only sigh. He'd learned how to take a beating growing up around Dudley and his friend Piers Polkiss. They would sometimes chase him down and beat him while playing a game they called 'Harry Hunting'. Harry had thought having magic would have meant he'd be done with that. Apparently not, though. That didn't mean he had to simply take it.

Just as Harry resigned himself to going down fighting, however, there was a bolt of black light from nowhere and an incantation of 'Sensus Obscurus', and suddenly, Draco was lying on the floor, not moving as if stunned. A pair of similar black beams lanced out at Pansy and she went down too, followed by a third at Theo Nott. Harry followed the direction they'd come from and spotted someone in a black cloak with the hood pulled down low over their face, which was in turn covered by some sort of cloth mask.

"Ah cangt see!" Exclaimed Draco, mangling the words as if struck deaf.

"Wut jus' happned?" Demanded Pansy, likewise deaf and struggling to form words.

Theo Knott, meanwhile just laid on the ground. He'd knocked himself unconscious as he'd fallen into a display of blunt weaponry and been conked on the head with a troll club. Crabbe and Goyle on the other hand, were still up and kicking, and turning to begin casting at the Cloaked Ambusher. Harry wasn't having that, though.

"Expeliarmus!" Spat Harry, shoving his wand at Goyle. Goyle's wand flew out of his hand and he was sent stumbling to the side from the force of the blow.

"Carpe Retractum!" Called out the Cloaked Ambusher, a mystic tether shooting from his wand to hit the stumbling Goyle.

"Expeliarmus!" Shouted Ron, disarming Crabbe at the same time.

Then, with a heave that must have taken the strength of a troll, their Cloaked Savior managed to use the pull part of the Seize and Pull Charm to swing Goyle into Crabbe with enough force to knock bother boys out. The Cloaked Ambusher then moved over to the incapacitated members of Draco's Ambush Party before casting Immobilus on each one and tying all of Draco's Ambush Party up with Incarcerous to boot.

"Get their wands." Hissed their Cloaked Savior, intentionally trying to pitch his voice low and gravely.

"What?" Questioned Ron.

"I said get their wands. Just in case." Repeated their Cloaked Savior.

"Mate, you're not exactly Batman." Chuckled Harry. It might be a lost reference, but Harry had always taken refuge in snark when he could. It helped him cope with how offensively arse his life generally was.

"What's a Batman?" Queried Ron.

"Just get their wands, pile them up over there." Reiterated their Cloaked Savior.

Ron just shrugged and began grabbing wands off the ground where they'd fallen, moving them to the section of the trophy room near where the Troll Armor was standing. Soon, not only were Draco's Ambush Party somehow rendered blind, deaf, immobilized, and tied up, but they were also separated from their wands.

"Follow me." Growled their Cloaked Savior before walking out of the Hogwarts Trophy Room.

Harry looked over at Ron, who simply offered a helpless shrug of his shoulders. Then both of them followed after their Mysterious Cloaked Savior. After all, if he'd wanted to hurt them, he could have done that at any point. What was the harm in hearing him out?

They did owe him, after all. . .

XXXX

I led Harry and Ron away from the trophy room, pausing near the statue of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor that I knew from reading the Prisoner of Azkaban in my old life hid a secret passage to the cellar of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. That wasn't super relevant now, but it would be later. Regardless, as I ducked behind the statue of the Humpbacked, One-Eyed, Witch, Harry and Ron followed.

"All right mate, thanks for the help and all, but what's this about?" Demanded Ron.

"And who are you?" Asked Harry.

Now was as good a time as any to unmask. I pulled my hood and balaclava down and off to reveal my face. The gobsmacked expressions of Ron and Harry were satisfying on a level I didn't know existed. I figured I needed to be careful about that if I didn't want to get hooked on teasing people like this. Then, I figured I could indulge in being mysterious just this once.

"Surprised aren't you?" I grinned.

"Zabini? You went against Malfoy to help us out?" Blinked Ron.

"I did." I confirmed.

"How did you figure out that Malfoy was going to ambush us?" Questioned Harry.

"Mate, he's a Seer, remember? He probably got a vision or something." Reminded Ron, proving that while he may put his foot in his mouth sometimes, Ron Weasley can be just as smart as anyone.

"Correct." I confirmed.

"So you helped us out. Thanks for that by the way, we would've been buggered if it weren't for you." Thanked Harry.

"I doubt he did it for free. Zabini might be an all-right sort, for a Snake, but he's still a Slytherin." Groused Ron.

"You know, ordinarily, I'd be offended and make a big speech about prejudices and everything." I sighed.

"But not this time?" Queried Harry.

"No. Not this time. This time, he's actually right. I need your help with something and I figured if you owed me for saving you from Malfoy, you'd be more likely to accept." I admitted.

"See? So what's this thing you need our help with and why can't you just get your Mates to help you?" Asked Ron, nodding sagely.

"It's exactly cause of my Mates I need your help. I need your help to keep them alive." I answered.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, then back at me, before looking at each other again. They seemed to be having the sort of silent conversation that only best friends and close siblings tended to be capable of, conveying things by dint of facial expression alone. When they'd come to some sort of agreement, Harry turned back to me.

"Tell me everything. Start from the beginning." He insisted.

So I did. I told him about my Sight-based Nightmare of Doom, how I foresaw the deaths of multiple of my friends, but that the only one I knew for sure was happening was Millie's Death by Troll on Halloween. How my vision showed me that I wouldn't be fast enough to take out both Trolls before one of them killed Millie and how I needed their help to keep her alive. By the end of it, I got an agreement from both Harry and Ron to help me out, at least as far as saving Millie was concerned. They did owe me, after all. By the time that was done, we both split up, me heading one way and Harry and Ron heading another.

I headed back to the Slytherin Common Room, pulling the Zabini Concealment Cloak back up to avoid any potential entanglements with a potentially revived Argus Filch. I needn't have bothered, as I made it back without running into a single soul. I slipped into my dorm room, shucked off my gloves, balaclava, and Cloak, put them in my trunk for later skullduggery, and changed into my Pajamas before heading to bed. My dreams weren't Nightmares of Doom, though I did get the Complete Results of the Magical Britain National Quidditch Tourney that would be played this weekend. I woke up Tuesday morning intending to place bets with the Weasley Twins, who were absolutely keeping a book on the results.

The Magical Britain Tourney was hosted by the Ministry's Regional Sports Department. It consisted of teams from each of the Regions of Magical Britain, which included the Channel Isles, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Mann, Wales, Scotland, England, and The Northern Isles, which comprised Shetland, Orkney, the Faroes, and Azkaban. Apparently, the Faroes were under British Jurisdiction thanks to how things with the Orkneys and Shetlands shook out in Wizarding History, and Azkaban was just helping the Ministry keep hold of them instead of having them be part of Wizarding Denmark or Norway.

At any rate, The Channel Isles Team would take the cup after beating the Welsh Team, then the Irish Team, before defeating the Northern Isles Team in the Finals for the cup. I fully intended to place a bet today after getting dressed and heading to breakfast, but that wasn't going to happen. Apparently, the Weasley Twins had been the ones to find Draco's Ambush Party after sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower in the early hours of the morning. They'd been summoned to Dumbledore's Office to discuss what they'd found. I'd have to wait until later to place that bet. Such was life, though.

As I sat down to breakfast, taking a rasher of bacon and biting into the crispy pork, I reflected that I could take solace in the fact that everything was proceeding as planned. The bacon, which until I'd thought that, tasted like victory, lost that taste afterward. I should have known better than to taunt Murphy like that, even in my thoughts. Sighing, I took another bite of bacon that tasted less good. I'd just have to hope that Murphy hadn't heard that and trust in the plan.

Somehow, I doubted that would turn out the way I'd like. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here we have the events of the Monday of the Second Week of October, including saving Harry and Ron from Draco's Ambush at the Duel in the Trophy Room. Draco's being forced to get more cunning to compete with Blaise and this is the first indication of that. His ambush was textbook and Harry and Ron would have been in a world of hurt if not for Blaise.

That just means they owe him, a fact that Blaise exploited to get them to help keep Millie alive. Of course, Harry being Harry would have helped anyway, and Ron would have tagged along to watch Harry's back, but Blaise couldn't count on that. So much was different from what he knew already, after all. It seemed that though the main story beats were on track, a lot of smaller details and background events have been altered. Better to cash in the fact they owe him.

At any rate, the next chapter will be another timeskippy chapter as we head on through to Halloween.

Stay tuned. . .