Chapter 9

I woke up at my usual time, showered, and dressed, before heading to the Great Hall to snag a bit of eggs on toast and some tea. I had until three in the afternoon to do whatever I wanted before I had to make my way to Potion's Club. A full six hours to do whatever I pleased. I chose to train more with Occlumency and Leglimency as well as attempt the exercises to slow my perception of time and speed my reaction times to enter what I would call Bullet Time Mode, but what Zorian's Notes referred to as il Momento Morto or the Dead Moment, if you only spoke English.

As it happened, those exercises were quite a bit more complex than the ones I'd been used to, even for Remote Viewing. It turned out, that the exercises for the Dead Moment came in four parts which all fed into one another and normally required days of training to get each part down correctly. Much of the heavy lifting was done with visualization, however, and I had experience with the effect from movies like The Matrix and video games like Max Payne that could help me.

The first step involved visualization of the world around you while in the Dead Moment in your mind's eye. The problem with that was that everyone's visualization was different. Zorian's visualization seemed to involve picturing the world slowing around him as if everyone were underwater, while he spoke of a Varangian Wizard he knew of who visualized it as if everyone else had been partially frozen in a blizzard. Meanwhile, a notation from the translator, my ancestor Federico Zabini, indicated his own visualization involved picturing the world being drenched in molasses. My own visualization involved visualizing time slow down like in the 'Dodge This' scene from there Matrix.

Once that had been accomplished, the next part was to imagine your own movement under the effect. This was the part many often had the most trouble with. Zorian claimed that visualizing yourself moving too quickly was a good way to tear your muscles when you attempted the last step. Federico Zabini, however, provided a helpful annotation that the trick was to visualize yourself moving at a normal running pace, and that step three would do the rest. I followed my ancestor's advice on that and moved on to step three.

Speaking of step three, it was the integration of parts one and two into the same mental construct. Fortunately, between my abilities as a Natural Leglimens, my prior observation of Bullet Time through the medium of movies and video games, and the guidance in the notes, step three would be easier for me by quite a bit than it would be for many, many, others. Soon enough, I was picturing how everything would look as I ran rings around people who were moving in slow motion.

That brought me to step four, initialization. I needed a mnemonic device that I could invoke mentally to flick on and off the Dead Moment. For me, I chose the Bullet Time Hourglass from Max Payne. I could have gone for something more Matrix-like, but this was more practical. Once I had my mnemonic firmly planted in my mind, all I had to do was concentrate on it and let my magic flow through the mental connection to toggle the Dead Moment.

By the time I completed all six steps and opened my eyes, I found everything was moving more or less in slow-motion, while my own movement was only mildly faster than what I would consider a decent pace. As I looked around my dorm, I saw that a housefly that had somehow gotten into the castle was practically crawling its way through the air. After about six seconds, however, the sand in the mnemonic hourglass ran out. It filled slowly, and I timed how long it took until I could do another six seconds. The answer, it turned out, was six minutes, which was hardly very good. The amount of time it took me to refill my Dead Moment tank compared to the amount of time it took to use up the tank entirely was an increase of almost six thousand percent. That meant that I'd effectively get a single full use of the Dead Moment per duel.

I could only hope that more training would increase that capability, but right now, I didn't exactly have time to do more of it. Just learning to access this basic level of the Dead Moment had used up my full six hours of training. I didn't even get the chance to train my Occlumency or Leglimency further, that's how complicated getting the Dead Moment to that level was, even with my various advantages.

Regardless, I made my way out of the Slytherin Dorms to the Potions Classroom, which had been given over for the Potion's Club's use. Surprisingly. Professor Snape was actually on hand to lend his expertise to the Club. I had to know why he decided to do that.

"All faculty members of Hogwarts are required to act as a Club Advisor if available. As the Potions Club has the possibility to cause damage to the castle, it would be quite dunderheaded of me not to attend the meetings in person, just in case." Answered Professor Snape when I asked.

"I suppose that makes sense." I nodded.

"Indeed, though I am surprised to see you join. Most first-years do not have the appreciation for the more subtle arts." Sniffed Professor Snape.

"I already joined the Dueling Club, and since Charms Club lost Flitwick as its Advisor, this was the only other Club I found that seemed a productive use of my time." I shrugged.

"Yes, he took over the Frog Choir for Silvanus as I recall. Who did Dumbledore get to replace him, I never bothered to find out?" Questioned Professor Snape.

"Professor Sikander." I responded.

"And you thought the Muggle Studies Professor would be ill-suited for the position of advising the Charms Club?" Queried Professor Snape.

"I'm sure Professor Sikander is quite capable, but Professor Flitwick was a former Dueling Champion." I pointed out.

"He was, yes. However, would it surprise you to learn that Professor Sikander is capable of Non-Verbal Magic?" Pressed Professor Snape.

"Isn't that supposed to be. . ." I trailed off as Professor Snape cut in.

"Difficult? Yes. It requires exceptional talent or exceptional experience to pull off. Professor Sikander is from the Ponoćni Kvartal in Prizren. I'm sure you know the history there." Interjected Professor Snape.

I did, or rather, Blaise had before I'd bodyjacked him. The Ponoćni Kvartal, or Midnight Quarter of Prizren had effectively been contested between three different ethnic groups, the Bosniak Wizards whose families founded the district, the Albanian Wizards who made up a large portion of the District's Working Class, and the Serbian Wizards who came from the countryside to the East in search of better opportunities. Aside from a very brief pair of asides during Grindelwald's War and the Balkan Campaigns of Dolohov and Karkaroff at the direction of the Dark Lord, these three factions had remained at each other's throats for the last three centuries.

Every once in a while, the equilibrium swung in favor of one of the factions, like it had during the Necromancer's War where the Albanians had won the favor of the Hidden Porte. Recently, the pendulum had swung toward the Serbs in a big way as Serbian Wizards from Belgrade had come south in droves after the devastation wreaked on Kosovo in Grindelwald's War was nothing compared to what it had been in Serbia, especially after the battles of Skriveni Trg and Zmajgrad managed to wreck the main Wizarding District in Belgrade and the main Wizard-only Town in Serbia. With Grindelwald's Muggle Puppets having devastated the Muggle side of things.

Given all that, Kosovo had looked like a fairly decent place to settle for a lot of Serbian Wizards. Mind you, they brought their ideas about Serbian Wizards being superior to Bosniak and Albanian Wizards with them. That in turn had lent the centuries-long struggle a new sense of urgency and led to more bloodshed between factions.

With a background like that, I could well believe that Professor Sikander had managed to build up a formidable arsenal of charms that he had enough practice with to cast non-verbally. Anyone who could survive in that sort of environment long enough to escape it had to have that sort of repertoire almost by necessity.

"I see. It sounds as if I missed an opportunity, then." I acknowledged.

"The man may have chosen a ridiculous field of study, but that does not make him a less capable wizard. If you learn nothing else, learn that well. Underestimating other Wizards is a surefire way to lose out on opportunities and perhaps lose your life as well. Believe me, I know well what the most foolish-seeming of Wizards are capable of." Frowned Snape, face pinching as if reliving a personal experience of such a topic.

I refused to pry, and soon enough various older years began to filter in mostly third, fourth, and fifth years with a scant few sixth and seventh years scattered into the mix. Surprisingly, there were members of all four houses. A Trio of Gryffindor Girls, two third years and a second year were chatting about Quidditch while Marcus Flint from Fifth Year of my own House was attempting to chat up a Blonde Fifth Year Ravenclaw who seemed completely not-interested. Cedric Diggory from Third Year Hufflepuff, who would, if nothing changed, be killed by the Dark Lord at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, sat talking to a Blonde Fourth Year Hufflepuff Girl with a short haircut. Nearby a sixth-year Ravenclaw was sitting alone and writing something down on a piece of parchment, while Darius Travers from Sixth Year of my own House was trying to sneak peaks at the parchment when he thought the Ravenclaw wasn't looking. Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick of Fourth Year of my Own House sat taunting a fifth-year Hufflepuff Boy about his performance on the Quidditch Pitch last year, meanwhile, a blonde Ravenclaw seventh-year was trying to console the Fifth-Year Hufflepuff.

Eventually, however, the Club President and Vice-President entered. Terence Higgs and surprisingly, a Seventh Year Gryffindor Girl whose hair said Weasely, but whose Scottish Accent said MacDougal. As they called the club to order, I realized I was the only First Year here.

"All right, welcome back. Now, surprisingly, we have a new member from an unexpected place." Nodded Terence as he began the meeting.

"Aye, Blaise is from yer oan house. Dinna be shy, Blaise, say hello!" Grinned the Gryffindor.

I sighed, standing and offering a polite wave. "I'm Blaise Zabini, though some of you already know that. I hope to learn a lot from the club." I offered.

"Dinna worry, Blaise. If yer half as Braw as Terence says ye are, ye'll do fine here." Offered the Redhead.

"And since you're our only new member, I'm sure plenty of people will be willing to help you out if you ask." Added Terence, the unspoken subtext being that some of them will charge me for it.

"So, let's crack on, then, aye?" Grinned the Redhead.

"Isobel's right. Today we'll be prepping the Wideye Potion. Something I know some of you specifically requested, given how OWLs are going on this year. This should help you stay awake for all those late-night study sessions." Grinned Terence.

"But dinna go an' overdo it. We dinna want tae have tae drag yer sorry carcasses out to Madame Pomfrey for Sleep Deprivation, aye?" Warned the Redhead.

Once she got her affirmative, the Redhead handed out ingredients while Terence started to write out the recipe on the chalkboard. It seemed simple enough Crushed Snake Fangs, Powdered Billywig Stings, and Chopped Wolfsbane Sprigs all needed to be added in specific ways at specific times in the brewing process. The cauldron needed to be taken off the heat as the ingredients were added, then put back on the heat for thirty minutes after each added ingredient while the potion was stirred three times clockwise and one time counter-clockwise, then set to steep for another half an hour to reach the desired potency.

If everything went well with the brewing process, the mixture should first turn an opaque black then lighten into dark blue, then lighten more into aqua, before finally turning teal. After steeping, the mixture should be teal with blue and green whorls inside the teal mixture. If it turned turquoise, you'd screwed up on the timing and instead of keeping you awake when drunk, the potion would send you into a medically-induced coma that required special healing spells only known by Saint Mungos to wake up from. The difference was only a few shades lighter but could be catastrophic if it went unnoticed and was drunk at an inopportune time.

Fortunately, nobody seemed to get any potion failures. The Club Captains had Professor Snape check our potions as the two hours of brewing time ended. He passed by mine with only a single comment of 'Acceptable' before continuing on. That wasn't what bothered me so much as the fact that I now had a gallon and a quarter of Wideye Potion and a standard-size potion dose was six fluid ounces. I had enough potion for twenty-six full doses of Wideye Potion. Fortunately, I had plenty of bottles. I just wasn't sure what I'd do with all of the doses. Sell them maybe?

At least I noticed that when I returned to my Dorm to get changed for dinner that I'd clawed my way back to fifteen Silver Points after expending all of them on reserving the Ritual Chamber for the Ritual of Selene's Inner Flame the other night. I'd started the day with ten after exchanging favors with Daphne and Millie, and now it seemed that my brewing of a potion of Third Year Complexity had earned me five more. As I changed and headed down to dinner, I idly wondered how much I would be up by the time I finished stomping Malfoy into the sand of the Slytherin Dueling Pit after Dinner.

At any rate, Daphne and Millie both wanted to be my second though Daphne seemed to want it more. That reminded me of the fact that Millie still considered Pansy Parkinson a friend for some reason, even though I'd heard Pansy insult the shape of Millie's nose just this morning as she left breakfast. When I pointed that out, Millie simply shrugged.

"That's just banter, Blaise. She doesn't mean it." Frowned Millie over a forkful of mushy peas.

"Regardless, if Millie doesn't wish to be your second, I will. It's about time Malfoy faces some consequences for how he acts." Scoffed Daphne.

"You mean like a Massive Bell-End?" I questioned, cutting into my chicken breast.

"I was going to say prat, it's less overtly vulgar." Sniffed Daphne before sipping her goblet of lemonade.

"Plus, hey, ringside seats to the humiliation of a guy who's done nothing but insult me ever since we were both old enough to talk." Grinned Tracey, popping a brussel sprout into her mouth.

"You know there's no room in the pit for that." Pointed out Millie, buttering a dinner roll.

"So? Let me have this one." Insisted Tracey, before popping a bit of sausage into her mouth.

"Fine, Daphne, you're my second." I decided, munching a forkful of rice.

"You know, you'd think you would have picked something tastier for a last meal. Grilled Chicken over Rice, Zabini? Are you suddenly on a diet?" Sneered Malfoy from the other side of the table.

"When I beat you into the ground like a tent pole, I'll go to the kitchens and have the house elves make me a steak. Until then, I'll eat light." I shot back.

"We'll just see how well you back your words soon enough, Zabini. My Galleons are on not well enough. Once we're done with Dinner, the whole house will watch me destroy you." Spat Malfoy.

"We'll see." Was all I responded.

Dinner finished about twenty minutes after that brief exchange. Five minutes after that, I found myself in the Slytherin House Dueling Pit, with Malfoy facing off against me. Naturally, he'd gotten one of his Trolls pretending to be Humans that he called retainers to second him. I only knew it was Goyle because Goyle was tall and clearly in decent shape, whereas Crabbe was squat and fat. Aside from those distinguishing characteristics, you could be forgiven for thinking they were clones of each other. Both were into the same sorts of things, both were none too bright, and both had the same sort of aura about them. It was as if someone had taken the thickest, beefiest, East End Hard Man Stereotype, given it magic, and then Xeroxed it, only the copy came out smushed down a bit.

The Dueling Pit itself was exactly what you'd think a room with a name like that was. A sunken pit with sand lining the bottom like some Ancient Roman colosseum. Much like the one in the Dueling Club Room, this pit was surrounded by various balustrades where the House could look in on the action. Unlike the Pit in the Dueling Club Room, the second floor had an official space for keeping track of wagers, a duty currently being taken on by Gemma Farley. I suppose the thinking was that with a Prefect in control of the Wagers, no one would dare try to welch. Of course, the ambiance was also wrong. Whereas the stained glass window in the ceiling of the Dueling Club Room reflected a number of colors, here everything was painted in dark shades of green.

Technically, the Slytherin Dueling Pit was dug even further under the Black Lake than normal, which technically made it a vault, though it had never been used as such to my knowledge. This did have the effect of throwing odd, shifting, light patterns onto the walls of the balustrade area as the green witch lights that lit up the Dueling Pit reflected off the windows that looked out into the Black Lake. That didn't concern me, however, Draco did.

"This Duel has been scheduled to settle a matter of honor between Mister Malfoy and Mister Zabini. I am told a wager has been agreed to? If so, have your seconds declare your names and your aims for those present to hear." Intoned Professor Snape from one of the Balustrades.

Daphne strode forward and cleared her throat, before announcing me. She'd done a bunch of research into my familial titles that I never bothered using because my Aunt had cut me out of the succession. It was actually fairly sweet of her and she was being a good friend to do it.

"Blaise of the Princely, Imperial, and Senatorial House of Zabini, Rightful Conte del Villagio del Mistero, Rightful Lord of the Castello Dell'occhio Interiore, Favored of Fortuna, Darling of the Fates, Last Descendant of the Claudii of Rome, and Principe del Sangue of the Kingdom of Magical Italy has accepted the Challenge of Draco of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, that should he win Draco must henceforth cease all harassment, verbal, physical, or otherwise, of Blaise and his associates, for a period of no less than one year!" Recited Daphne before stepping back.

Goyle stepped forward next and began his own little speech. I didn't really do much to pay attention to his speech, halting as it was, except to note how the Malfoys were apparently Counts of Wiltshire in the Magical Peerage of Great Britain. Beyond that, I only cared that he got Malfoy's conditions for the wager correct since I was wary of Malfoy trying to sneak something in at the last second. Fortunately, everything was in order as Goyle stepped back.

"Very well. You will duel under the standard rules until one of you gives up, cannot duel any longer, or I call a halt to these proceedings. If I call a halt, you will immediately cease combat and await my judgment. Do not test me on that. Am I understood?" Queried Professor Snape.

"Yes, Professor." I responded.

"Of course." Agreed Draco.

"Then bow to each other and take your positions." Commanded Professor Snape. Draco and I bowed to each other, and as we straightened to take our positions, Draco couldn't resist taunting me one last time before we began.

"I'm going to enjoy putting you in your place, Zabini." He sneered.

"Good luck with that." I shot back.

"Begin!" Called out Professor Snape.

True to my vision from earlier in the week, Draco snarled out a Serpensortia spell to summon a massive Cobra. I was already moving my wand in the motions for the severing charm, however, and my Diffindo immediately cut the Cobra's head off, discorporating the summoned snake into the aether. Draco fired off a curse of his own, but I was already moving to the side as Draco's Leg Locker Curse sailed past me.

For about a minute, we traded spells back and forth ineffectually, dodging each other's spells and trying to get an opening to try something big. That opening came when Draco got the idea to attempt to use a Ventulus spell like he'd seen Terry use in the Dueling Club to kick up a bunch of sand in my face and force me to back away from the sudden sandspout. That gave Draco his opening to try something new that I hadn't seen before. With an unfamiliar wand motion and a snarl, Draco shouted the incantation, "Brassica Dentata Maxima!"

Immediately, a large, go-cart-sized, green, Cabbage sprouted up out of the ground, cracking in half to reveal a fanged maw. It roared at me and hopped for me. That was a Chinese Chomping Cabbage, which if I remember correctly, my Mother had always told me that I wouldn't be expected to handle stuff like that practically until my fifth year. With nothing for it, I poured my Ritual-boosted power into an Incendio Spell, even as I engaged the Dead Moment for the first time in combat.

My Incendio ignited half the Cabbage even as I dodged to the side. It had just sent its slow-moving, flaming, chomping, bulk. Hurtling toward where I had been moments ago in a lunging, bite. I hit it again with a second Incendio that finally caught the rest of it alight and dodged away from a Spell that Malfoy was pointing my way and casting an Expeliarmus. Then my six seconds of power ran out and time returned to its normal flow.

A number of things happened as time returned to its normal flow. The first was that the Chinese Chomping Cabbage landed where I had previously been before bursting into a pile of ashes from my ritually empowered flames hitting it twice, even as I dodged its attack. As I did so, Malfoy tried firing a Knee Reverser Curse at me, only for me to dodge that too and hit him with a disarming charm. Malfoy's wand went flying into the sand even as he tried to dive for it.

As he did so, I hit him with the Jelly Brain Jinx. Malfoy snatched up his wand just as the Jelly Brain Curse robbed him of his wits. Malfoy stumbled and tripped over his own feet, the Jelly Brain Jinx rendering him an uncoordinated halfwit. He just lay there on the sand, staring up at the ceiling for long enough for me to point my wand at him and make clear I had plenty of time to end this.

"Enough! I've seen enough! Zabini is clearly the victor here. I expect Mister Malfoy to uphold his end of the bargain. Mister Goyle, please bring Mister Malfoy to Madame Pomfrey and tell her he was hit by a Jelly Brain Jinx. She should have the proper potion to counter it." Intoned Professor Snape before stalking out of the room.

To the onlookers, it must have seemed like it had ended in a blur of motion and spellfire. For a full minute before the Chomping Cabbage had come out, we'd looked to be evenly matched. Then the Chomping Cabbage had been conjured and it took ten seconds between the time the Cabbage was conjured to Snape calling a halt to the duel for me to win. Ten seconds to put away Draco Malfoy with a speed that some of them were still literally boggling at by the time I made my way back up to the Balustrades.

It had sent a message to the House that I had been holding back against Draco for some reason and tolerating his shenanigans only so long as they didn't affect me. As soon as Draco put out something that could have been a problem, I stopped holding back, removed the problem, and trounced Draco. It was a very Slytherin Mindset to have, even if it was wrong. I just really didn't want to get bitten by that Cabbage.

Perhaps that mindset was why, on my return to the Common Room, I saw my Silver Point Total had been granted a full fifty points more than it had been previously. At any rate, I really was bluffing when I said I would go to the kitchens to get the House Elves to make me a steak. All I wanted to do right now was go to sleep. Apparently, using the Dead Moment twice in one day was pushing up against some other limit I had with the technique that would presumably require further training to get rid of. It left me feeling like I could sleep for a full day.

I got to my dorm room, locked the door behind me, shucked off my robes, and headed to bed. Tomorrow was a free day for me since I'd switched Daphne's Italian lesson to earlier in the week. I planned to use part of it sleeping and part of it making up for that Occlumency and Leglimency training I'd missed today. I drew the privacy curtains on my bed and turned in to sleep the sleep of the dead. I wouldn't wake up for another twelve hours.

I definitely needed to train the Dead Moment more. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so important chapter here. Mostly because it means that Malfoy got his shit rocked in the duel and now has to abide by the terms he set, namely, to not harass Blaise and his group for the rest of the year. Expect Draco to turn his bullying on Harry, Ron, and their friend group now that Blaise isn't a viable target anymore. Bully's gonna bully, after all.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the last day of the first week of Hogwarts, mostly it will involve Blaise getting called into the Headmaster's Office to talk to Dumbledore, ostensibly about his getting put in advanced classes. Really, Dumbledore wants to try feeling Blaise out a bit to see if his fears about a new Grindelwald are founded or not. That will be up next.

Stay tuned. . .