rarepair_shorts Ficlet- PG-13- I'm so scared
Title: I'm so scared
Character Pairing: Luna/Blaise
Prompt: once upon a midnight dreary
Rating: PG-13 for language
Word Count: 1,023
Summary: Blaise Zabini is an enigma, even to those closest to him. He also get bored very easily. Luna Lovegood is anything but boring.
Author's Notes:The previous 'forget most of canon' still applies. Also, Luna directly quotes Poe's 'The Raven'.
Link to Prompt Table: This way...
Luna stepped through the Floo and into the main parlour of The Vale with the book Blaise had given her for her fourteenth birthday tucked under her arm. She glanced outside at the vicious summer storm and was quite thankful she was a witch and that she could travel without going out into the weather to visit her friend. In fact, the storm had sent her running for him in the first place. She loathed storms, the loud sounds reminding her of the explosions that followed her mummy's faulty spell and her resulting death.
The years had passed swiftly, and yet through it all she and Blaise had retained their friendship, even if very few people realised that they knew each other existed let alone that they were best friends. He understood her like no one else, not even her Dad. The months following her mummy's death had been horrific, for the both of them. When he'd left for his first year at Hogwarts, she'd been inconsolable, certain that he'd forget all about her, that she would be alone again. But, he'd not let her down. He was her rock. Blaise didn't care if she spun whimsical tales, or believed in obscure creatures that everyone else passed off as fairy tales, or even that she was more than a little off-beat.
She smiled when Azriel, the Ocicat that Blaise gave her and that lived here since she wasn't allowed to keep him at home, raced into the room and immediately wrapped himself around her ankles. She laughed aloud, setting the First Edition of Poe's The Raven, which was his wicked sense of humour in regards to her house at Hogwarts at play, aside to scoop up her cat.
A moment later a very flustered house elf raced into the room. "Mizzy Luna! It is Bad Cat's bath time."
She snickered, now knowing why Azriel was trying to burrow under her jumper. She picked up her book and said, "I'll bring him to you shortly. Where is Master Blaise?"
The elf bowed. "Master is in his rooms, Mizzy."
Luna skipped out of the room and ran up the stairs. She stopped in the doorway and giggled. Blaise was at his desk in front of the huge windows, looking rather like a character in one of Poe's stories with the candelabra on the desk and the storm raging outside, of which she owned every last one thanks to Callista's love of the author. She couldn't resist quipping, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.`'Tis some visitor."
Blaise turned, smiling as he dropped his book and stood. "Well, if it isn't my own little Raven come to call."
She set Azriel on the floor and her book on the bed before racing over and throwing herself at him, hugging his as tightly as she possibly could. She felt safe here in his arms. She decided to try out the Italian that he'd been teaching her in preparation for the trip they would be taking over the Easter hols. "Ritengo sicuro con voi, il mio demone."
He kissed her brow, picking her up and moving over to the sofa in front of the fireplace, sitting down with her in his lap. He was grinning, and looking more than a bit proud of her when he said, "Grazie, il mio piccolo corvo."
She laid her head on his shoulder and tucked her bare feet (as she'd been in too much of a rush to remember shoes) between the cushions. "I actually understood that! I must have a good tutor."
Chuckling, he pulled a mink blanket off the arm of the sofa and tucked it around her. "Of course you do, he's the best tutor ever, don't you know. He's also likely to hex any Italian wizards who offer to continue your education."
"Will you use the same hexes that you used last term on that boy-"
He sneered and interjected, "Stephen Cornfoot, the ruddy bastard."
"Yes, yes, the ruddy bastard," she replied, well used to his coarse language. "Him, the one that stole my books and hid them. Are those the hexes you plan on using?"
Blaise was quiet, staring into the fire with his chin resting on the top of her head. "I don't know, the ones I used on that wanker Boot lasted longer."
She would have laughed if she didn't know exactly how serious he was. The only other person she'd seen as overprotective as Blaise was happened to be Greg Goyle. Greg had been known to break numerous bones if a bloke dared offend Tracey Davis even slightly. She remembered the first time Blaise had introduced those two to her, her mind drifting off as she was prone to do, totally losing herself in the memories.
"Oh, Luna," Blaise whispered in her ear, his tone light and teasing, almost lyrical even. He was as used to her mental vacations as she was of his habit of hexing first and thinking up excuses afterward.
"I'm back with you."
He laughed. "Have a nice trip? Where did you go off to this time?"
Grinning she didn't reply, knowing it would vex him. Then she remembered the news her Daddy had given her earlier in the day. "Never you mind. Oh, did you hear the news?"
"That depends on the news you are referring to."
"The Triwizard Tournament and Yule Ball." She sat up and smiled dreamily before she frowned when she realised that no one would dare ask her to the ball.
"A ball?" Blaise muttered. "Will you go with me so I won't be bored the entire evening?"
She clapped her hands, nearly bouncing with excitement. "Of course I will!" She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed both of his cheeks. "I won't embarrass you, I swear!"
"You never do," he assured her.