Chapter 4

The next day, I woke up, showered, dressed, and headed down to the Great Hall to catch a bit of breakfast before classes. Most of my yearmates had already come down and eaten, with only some of the slower kids still remaining to eat. Millicent Bullstrode and Theodore Nott apparently shared my habit of sleeping longer, as both were just starting breakfast at the same time as I was. Theodore was a stringy boy, tall and thin with light brown hair that was just a touch longer than average for a boy. Millicent was the opposite, she was short and stout like a powerlifter, though obviously in miniature, with black hair she kept in a short bob. Both were purebloods from established families, though of the two, Theo's was more senior in status.

Ironically, Millicent was actually fairly friendly. I'd been imagining most of Slytherin as falling more on the Malfoy side of things than on the Daphne side. Theo certainly fit that mold, sniffing at my arrival before finishing his breakfast of toast and tea and sauntering off to our first class. Not Millicent, though. She had my class schedule and club pamphlet, as both Prefects had already come and gone. She handed them off to me with a nod.

"First time's a freebie, Zabini. Trying to make friends and you seem like the sort who's going places." She waved off.

"Thank you, Bulstrode." I nodded.

"Millie." Supplied Millicent.

"Pardon?" I questioned.

"My friends call me Millie, not that I have many of those." Repeated Millicent, smile dimming a bit.

That's when I realized that for all that she seemed to hang around Pansy Parkinson, she was still just a kid. With the way she was talking, it sounded like Pansy was possibly her only friend. No wonder she'd picked up Draco's attitude in the books. Pansy practically hung on Draco's every word and if Pansy was her only friend, then Millie probably picked up Draco's bullshit attitude via Pansy-related osmosis. When it was put like that, there really was only one thing for me to say in response.

"Then I'm going to have to insist you call me Blaise." I grinned.

"Cracking! So, you know we have Defense Against the Dark Arts today, yes? Only, Grandfather says they changed the name from Combat Magic after the Dark Lord was defeated. Either way, I can't wait to get stuck in!" Grinned Millie.

I shoveled some eggs onto a piece of toast and began munching. It was obvious that whoever had raised Millie hadn't mentioned anything about the First Year Curriculum for Defense. Not with the way she was going on about curses and countercurses. Apparently, her Grandfather had been an accomplished duellist in the thirties and was fond of reminiscing about various duels he'd partaken in. That would have put the man as old enough and with the right skill set to have been a part of the Ministry Expeditionary Force fighting on the continent in Grindelwald's War. Since the man was still alive, he had to know his stuff.

"What about your parents?" I queried.

"Oh. They're dead, Werewolf attack. One of the last of the epidemic of nineteen-eighty. Mum had her throat clawed out and died on the spot. Dad lingered a few days in Saint Mungo's before he died too. Grandad raised me." Sighed Millie.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Millie. I didn't realize." I frowned.

"It's all right. I didn't know them, not really, not outside of Grandad's stories." Played off Millie.

"No. It's not all right. My own mother died recently, I should know better." I insisted.

We sat there eating for a few minutes in silence. It was long enough for me to finish two slices of eggs on toast and for Millie to go through a bowl of oatmeal. It was kind of an awkward silence and I was just praying for an interruption. The interruption I got wasn't what I had in mind, however. I got a flash of white paint in my mind's eye, a premonition of mischief moments before it happened. As I came back to the present, I pulled Millie down under the Slytherin Table with a shout. She made a tiny, indignant, squawk at the motion but didn't fight my pull. That was a good thing on her part because an instant later, Peeves came flying into the great hall, dumping pails of whitewash over the various House Tables as he flew a circuit around the Hall.

"Tick tock, Ickle Firsties! Time to get to classes!" Cackled Peeves before phasing through the wall away from any potential retaliation.

As Millie and I vacated our spot under the Slytherin Table, I saw that the other remaining kids at the other House Tables had gotten spattered with whitewash to varying degrees. Neville Longbottom over at the Gryffindor Table got it the worst. The entire front of his robes was soaked in whitewash. With that, I figured it was time to head to class and Millie seemed to agree, following me out of the Great Hall with a wide-eyed gaze that I could practically feel boring into the back of my head. With a sigh, I realized she was just going to keep staring until I said something and resolved to bite the bullet on that front.

"What?" I asked.

"How did you know about Peeves?" Questioned Millie.

"I'm a Seer, Millie. It's my job to know, so to speak." I answered.

"Oh. Does that mean you know about today's assignment?" Queried Millie.

"I don't choose what the Sight shows me, Millie." I pointed out.

"Oh. So do you?" Pressed Millie.

"As it happens? Yes." I relented.

"Cracking! Mind if I partner with you, then?" Asked Millie.

Millie was to be disappointed, however, by our Double Defense Class with Gryffindor. Quirinus Quirell, our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor and secret minion of Voldemort, taught primarily theory in his class. Mind you, the theory was all correct, but there was limited time to practice any of it in class. Whether this was because Quirell just sucked as a teacher or as a deliberate method to weaken potential opponents of his Dark Master, who could say. The results would wind up being the same in either case. Regardless of a lack of practice time in class, today's lecture, which was on the Vermillious Charm, was mostly spent with me researching green sparks, which doubtless was to be the next lesson covered. I'd just finished reading the section of the book about the Verdimillious or Green Sparks spell when Quirell approached me.

"M-mister Zabini, p-perhaps there is s-something m-more p-pressing for you to s-study?" Demanded Quirell, stuttering.

"Oh, no Professor. It's just that I can already cast Red Sparks." I answered.

"I-is that s-so? P-perhaps you m-might be willing to d-demonstrate?" Commanded Quirell.

"Of course, Professor." I replied. Then, with a hook-shaped wand movement and an incantation of Vermillious, I cast the spell. Red sparks burst forth from the tip of my wand, scoring the floorboards a bit.

"S-such p-power for one s-so young. You s-scored the f-floorboards! I'd s-say that m-merits t-ten p-points for S-Slytherin f-for diligent s-study." Nodded Professor Quirell.

"Thank you, Professor." I responded.

Quirell walked away to continue his lecture. I was correct in my assessment of him moving onto Green Sparks next. The rest of the class got maybe three tries to cast Red Sparks before Quirell moved onto Green Sparks. I helped Millie to get the spell, but I also helped Neville, who'd arrived late after having to track down a professor to scourgify his robes free of Peeves' whitewash. That last part earned me a disapproving glare from Draco, Pansy, and their lot, though Daphne and Tracey seemed to get why, or at least they thought they did. The Longbottoms were Pureblood Nobility, after all, Daphne and Tracey probably thought I was angling for an exchange of favors. I was, mind you, but it wasn't the sole reason. Millie was somewhat more confused when I sat back down.

"You helped Longbottom." She stated.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"Why? Everyone knows he almost turned out a squib. Why help what can't be helped?" Questioned Millie.

"Two reasons. The first is enlightened self-interest. The Longbottoms are Pureblood Nobility, it would be nice to have the heir of that family-friendly. The second has more to do with personal feelings than anything else. Longbottom was late and he didn't get to hear a good chunk of Professor Quirell's lecture because of it. Euergetism, it's a practice dating back to the days of Classical Greece and Rome. Those who have power have the responsibility to use it well and use it to benefit not just themselves." I explained.

"Noblesse Oblige." Came Daphne's voice from nearby. I turned to look at her.

"I suppose it is a concept that's fairly universal." I agreed.

"Not as much as you might think." Scoffed Daphne, gaze wandering over to where Malfoy and his cronies sat making snide remarks about Ron Weasley and his difficulties casting.

"Weasley does make it easy to mock him with his bluster, but there's such a thing as too much." I concurred.

Eventually, however, the lesson proceeded with Green Sparks once Professor Quirell had eventually gathered everyone together and corraled us all back into our seats. I used the first part of the lecture to reread the section on Green Sparks, but once I figured I had it down, moved on to reading the sections in the book about Verdimillious Duo. Once again, when we had our limited casting time, I managed to cast the basic Green Sparks spell easily enough and moved to help Millie and Neville. Looking over at Daphne, I saw that she had moved to help out not just Tracey, but also a Gryffindor Girl who I didn't know the name of. That drew a few murmurs from Draco's group but also seemed to not go down so well with some of the Gryffindors. As I finished helping Neville, who finally managed to get his wand to make green sparks on the fourth and last try, Ron Weasley came stomping over with a sour look on his face.

"What game are you playing, Zabini?" Demanded Ron.

"I'm not sure I follow?" I frowned.

"Come off it! You Snakes wouldn't help someone else without some sort of agenda. What's your angle?" Pressed Ron.

"Weasley, if I had an agenda, I would have mentioned it upfront to Longbottom so he would know he was getting into an exchange of favors. This one is on the house." I answered.

"I don't believe you. You've got to be pulling a fast one on Neville here, it's just how Snakes operate." Refused Ron.

"I see. So we're working in stereotypes, then? Should I start treating you like a stereotype of a Gryffindor? Or maybe a stereotype of a Weasley? I assure you, you won't like the outcome of either." I sighed.

"What did you say about my family?" Growled Ron.

"Just that there's a stereotype floating around that's not exactly flattering." I pointed out.

"Oh yeah? Well, at least my Mum isn't a murderer!" Spat Ron.

"Gentlemen that's quite enough!" Shouted Professor Quirell, catching both Ron's and my attention. I think it caught my attention for other reasons than Ron's. I noticed that Quirell had dropped his stutter trying to interject. Ron probably thought that it was just a teacher being angry at him.

"N-now, I w-was going t-to offer m-more points to S-Slytherin for helping c-classmates across house l-lines, b-but now it seems I m-must take p-points away f-for fighting. F-five points from b-both S-Slytherin and G-Gryffindor. N-now, please t-take your s-seats!" Intoned Professor Quirell, the stutter returning.

I headed back to my seat and Ron practically dragged Neville back over to his seat. The rest of the class turned out to be a lecture on Zombies, generalities about how the Houngans and Bokor of the Caribbean and West Africa made them, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to avoid or, if necessary, defeat them. This was all spliced together with anecdotes about Quirell's time in the Wizarding Oyo Empire in West Africa in such a way as to make it difficult to pick out the actual information on how to deal with Zombies from the anecdotal information.

That had to be an intentional move on Quirell's part to weaken potential future enemies of his Master. There was no way that someone this incompetent at teaching would be allowed to take the Defense Professorship. Not unless they had the kind of fame that Lockhart had to be able to blitz through any objections. Quirell didn't have that going for him, so this had to be deliberate. By the time class ended, I was positive that the sooner I got into those advanced tutoring classes the better off I would be. Of course, that would leave others behind, but maybe I could offer extracurricular tutoring to make up for it? It was something to think about anyway.

Now, though, I had free time. The schedule for the year was actually fairly light most days. The exception was Wednesdays, when we had Herbology in the morning and Astronomy from ten to midnight, and Thursdays when we had History of Magic in the morning and Transfiguration in the afternoon. The schedule on Wednesdays and Thursdays was helpfully alleviated by History of Magic being taught by Professor Binns, a Ghost who apparently did not care if you slept through his class and would pass you regardless. That was the rumor, at any rate, and one that was seemingly confirmed by my memories of the books. It was honestly likely they had scheduled classes to take advantage of that fact, too. That seemed a Dumbledorish thing to do, anyway.

What that largely meant for me was looking into various clubs. The pamphlet I had been given outlined a few, at least two of which I was planning on joining. The Dueling Club seemed an excellent way to pick up more combat spells than I was likely to get from Quirell's sandbagging. Meanwhile, the Potions Club spoke to my interest there. Sadly, the Charms Club seemed to have lost Professor Flitwick as its faculty advisor thanks to Flitwick taking over the Frog Choir last year from the aging Professor Kettleburn. Kettleburn was just a few years away from retirement, after all. I was guessing he'd be winding down his extracurricular responsibilities accordingly. Speaking of the Frog Choir, that was right out. Given my. . .difficulties with handling magical creatures, it wasn't an option.

Of the other clubs I was interested in, unfortunately, the Artifice Club required you to be a third-year student and taking Study of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy as electives, and the Divination Club was being advised by Trelawney, who was a well-known quack. I had no interest in the Intramural Quidditch League or the Amateur Wizarding Wireless Clubs, nor did I care at all about the Arts Club or the Exploding Snap Club. All of those were fine for people who didn't know that Voldemort was going to be coming back from the dead in a few short years, but I did. If I wanted any chance at getting out of whatever Voldemort was going to be planning alive, then I needed my extracurriculars to be a bit more practical.

"Still, that isn't going to make me join a club that Trelawney is advising. You either have the Sight or you don't. It's not something that can be taught. No, I'll join the Dueling Club and Potions Club and let that fraud hoodwink other people." I scoffed.

I hadn't known it at the time, but that remark had been overheard. It would make its way back to Trelawney over the course of the following weeks. I didn't think she'd get as bent out of shape over a single flippant remark as she would wind up being, but by the first week of October, bent out of shape she would be and looking for excuses to assign me detention over it. That would be for the future, however. In the meantime, I would sign up for the Dueling and Potions Clubs and continue going to classes. The first meeting of the Dueling Club would be tomorrow afternoon, while Potions Club met on Saturdays.

I would find my Tuesday Charms Class easier than Dueling Club would be. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, friends are being made here, some even in Gryffindor. Enemies too, though, and not just Ron 'Inferiority Complex' Weasley or Malfoy but also Professor Trelawney, though she won't enter into the picture just yet. However, Ron is balanced out by Neville, while Blaise is also making inroads inside Slytherin with Millicent Bullstrode. At the same time, Daphne is also forming friendships outside Slytherin as well. That Gryffindor she helped out was Lavender Brown, not that Blaise would have known that. He only has memories of the books up until Goblet of Fire and Lavender was a background character still at that point. Meanwhile, Draco is relying on his same old clique.

Speaking of Millicent Bullstrode, there's a few things going on with her in this story that didn't happen in canon. For one thing, her parents are dead and she was raised by her Grandad. There's stuff going on there that may not be as it appears, but that will be detailed later. Suffice it to say, her prejudices are less ingrained than in canon, largely because she isn't getting the Pureblood party line spoonfed to her from birth this time around.

At any rate, the next chapter will continue Blaise's first week of classes.

Stay tuned. . .