HOGWARTS STUDENT DEAD

The Wizarding Community is mourning the loss of Blaise Zabini, Hogwarts student. He proudly wore green and silver for nearly six years of his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To his friends, he was a soft-spoken, intelligent, and kind young man. His mother, Priscilla Zabini, is saddened and angered by the news of her only son's death. She is asking the question on everyone's mind: How did this happen?

It was reported that Zabini was on Diagon Alley completing his Christmas shopping when a spat between dark wizards and the Ministry broke out. Sadly, Zabini was killed in the cross hairs of this fight. It is unknown which dark wizards were present. Kingsley Shacklebot, high-ranking Auror and bodyguard to the Minister, released a statement on the behalf of the Minister of Magic; "The Minister is working tirelessly to bring justice to the Zabini family. Auror's responded quickly to the attacks on Diagon Alley and continue to fight against the darkness that threatens our world. It angers the Minister that we lost a young boy to the evil that plagues the wizarding world. As a people, we must work to ensure that Blaise Zabini did not die in vain. In the coming months, question what your role will be in protecting your children, friends, and fellow wizards. Our thoughts and well wishes are with Priscilla Zabini is this truly trying time."

This edition of the Daily Prophet is in respect of Blaise Zabini and the lasting memory he left on every soul he touched.

More on the attack on page 5.

The Daily Prophet slammed down on the kitchen table with a shriek from Hermione Granger. "YOU HAD HIM KILLED?" she screamed at Remus, who was currently stepping back from the angry witch.

"Would you please calm down? We had to protect him and killing him was the only way…" Remus lifted his hands in defense.

"Where is he then? I'd like a word with him."

"He's upstairs. You were never this rude to me in Hogwarts, Miss. Granger." Remus smirked and watched Hermione let out a huff of air as she stood up.

Hermione didn't even care to respond as she took the newspaper from the table and marched upstairs. She had returned from her holiday in France with her parents early than planned after receiving the Daily Prophet with the shocking headline. It was utter madness but the first person she thought of was Draco. She couldn't imagine loosing Harry or Ron. Draco was currently mourning the loss of his best friend and she had no way of telling him the truth.

"Blaise!" she pushed open the door to his guest bedroom with a growl.

"It's a pleasure seeing you too, Granger." He was lounging on the bed with a smirk gracing his lips, his hands behind his head. "Care to knock next time? I know it would've thrilled you but I could've been naked."

"Why did you let them do this?" she asked, throwing the paper at him. Blaise was suddenly attentive and leaned forward to read the article on the front page.

"Why did they choose that picture? Anyway, I thought they told you the moment it was happening…" he mumbled.

"Well they didn't. Couldn't you have been kidnapped or…I don't know. Anything else but killing you!"

"Granger! You can't be that daft," he looked up from the paper.

"I-I," she shook her head and snatched the paper back. She rolled it up with surprising speed and smacked him on the shoulder. "I'm not daft! I'm just thinking about your mother and your friends!" Blaise snatched the paper back with a sigh

"Well what would that have done then, hmm? Kidnapping it not good enough for the Death Eaters. Kidnapping means that there is still a high chance that I'm somewhere to be found. My mother could be used as bait to get me out of hiding. Being dead means she can go on living her life as a Death Eaters wife. She may not be completely free but I won't be the cause of her death." Blaise wasn't going to cry, he had done that already. He did it in the shower when no one could hear him sobbing over the loss of his mother, his friends, and his old life. While there were many dark moments scattered over the years, he had been lucky in so many ways. His mother made him angry and caused him pain but she was the only family he had. Now, they wouldn't be reunited for a long, long time.

"What about Draco?" she asked after a moment and watched Blaise's shoulders hunch over the paper.

"I actually did something you might not approve of. No one would approve of it…" Blaise stood up and walked to the window, throwing the paper onto the bed. He kept his back to her in an attempt to hide his wrongdoing.

"What did you do?" She was scared to think he might ruined this whole thing.

"Draco knows I'm not dead."

"WHAT?" she screamed and stalked into the room further, pulling his shoulder so that he faced her. "Please tell me you're lying."

Blaise shook his head with a sigh. "I had to let him know I was alive. So I sent him a note…one word. This one word was enough to let him know I was somewhere in the world. We used to talk about secret codes as kids. The code word I used basically tells him that I've run away and I'm okay." Blaise let out a sad laugh. "We always talked about running away…"

Hermione stared at him and wanted to be angry but at least Draco knew. The rest of the Order would be furious but she had gotten so good at telling lies, why stop now? "What's the word?"

"That, little Gryffindor, is a secret."

Hermione scowled and turned away but soon felt Blaise's hand on her arm. "Thank you, Granger. Really."

"My friends call my Hermione."

"Does Draco call you that?"

Hermione faltered and took her arm back. "He's the exception." Blaise chuckled and watched her walk to the door, stepping over clothes strewn on the floor. "And you're welcome. Don't make me regret it."

For Hermione it was a relief that there was one thing she didn't have to lie to Harry and Ron about. They knew of her involvement with saving Blaise and were a bit perturbed that she hadn't confided in them right away. The members of the Order reassured them that she had no choice but to stay quiet. They had protected her knowledge of Occlumency, probably under the orders of Dumbledore.

Ron had also taken a few days to ignore Hermione after she told him of her tutoring sessions with Draco. He was as confused as Harry and warned her that even if she tried to help him, there was nothing she could do. To Ron, the Slytherin was so far gone into darkness that not even Hermione could help him.

Remus, Tonks, and Arthur had waited until Hermione had arrived to tell the story of how they faked Blaise's death. Needless to say, Arthur was excited to get into the details of their epic mission.

"We head news from our sources that the Death Eaters were planning on attacking Diagon Alley so we made sure we were there before them. We wanted to protect civilians but this was the perfect opportunity for us to execute our plan. The Order had decided that having Blaise mysteriously disappear wasn't good enough so putting him in the midst of a duel between Death Eaters and Aurors would be completely plausible. So how do you think we did it then?" he asked, clasping his hands in front of him. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at how much Arthur looked like his sons.

"Uh…body double?"

"No Ron…"

"A potion."

"Okay, yes Hermione! But what potion?"

Hermione leaned back in her seat and thought for a moment. A potion that could feign death. "Draught of Living Death."

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Snape stood in the doorway with a roll of his eyes.

Hermione spun in her seat to stare at him, knowing immediately he was the one that made the potion. "So I'm right then, sir?" she asked expectedly.

He ignored her and entered the room, standing next to the farthest chair from the group. Harry and Ron looked immediately uncomfortable at the sight of their former Potions teacher. If it wasn't enough that Blaise Zabini was suddenly sleeping in the room next to them, they had to deal with Snape's sour mood.

As a result of their cold behavior, Blaise decided that staying in his room most of the time was better for everyone. While Blaise wasn't a Mudblood hating, Dark Lord loving Slytherin, he still didn't care for the boy wonder and his sidekick; Weaselbee. Blaise had almost gotten into a full on duel with both of them after the news of his admission to the "good side" reached their ears. Harry doubted his loyalty immediately while Ron was stuck on how rotten his character was. Now, a week later, they were able to sit at the kitchen table without an argument breaking out. The two Gryffindors had managed to understand that Blaise wasn't his Slytherin counterparts…and he wasn't the enemy anymore.

"So how did you fake his death with the Ministry?" Harry was still focusing on Arthur's riveting story.

"We had Kingsley to thank for that. All he had to do was forge the evidence and once Blaise woke up, they were able to smuggle him out," Tonks nodded her head and smiled at Remus, their successful mission was a shining light over the recent darkness. As the stories continued and laughter commenced, Hermione glanced over at Snape who was already looking straight at her.

"I'd like a word, Miss. Granger."

Hermione rose wordlessly to follow Snape towards a silent room away from the living room. She could faintly hear Harry and Ron speaking to Remus about how slimy Snape was but she chose to ignore them. They just didn't understand.

When they finally found a room in the expansive Grimmauld Place, the older man placed a silencing charm on the door. He placed his wand back into his pocket before turning his eyes on Hermione. "Malfoy did exceptionally well on his grades this term. He also seemed to keep himself out of trouble until the incident at Slughorn's ridiculous party. He has you to thank for that."

Hermione merely nodded as she stared at him. It was like he had more to say but didn't know how to tell her. She was about to excuse herself when he finally spoke again.

"Despite your fainting spell after voyaging into Mr. Zabini's mind, you did an adequate job."

"Thank you. Coming from you that means a lot, sir."

Snape eyed her and nodded his head. "Do not mistake my small amount of praise for an excuse to stop practicing. While our lessons are complete –"

"Wait, why? There is still so much to learn."

"Believe it or not, there are more important things I have to tend to." In that moment Hermione realized Snape sounded so much like Draco. What were these 'important things'? She could only imagine.

"Sorry..." she told him apologetically. "Sir," she let out in an afterthought but her mentor was already moving to leave the room.

"Should I continue to help him? Draco, I mean?"

Snape held the doorknob in his hand and turned to look at her. "That's entirely up to you. You never seem to listen to what anyone has to say so I won't even waste my breath."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest defensively but found it hard to be upset with the man in front of him. Around this time of year, she could only assume he was feeling even angrier. As he turned to open the door she stopped him in his tracks. "I hope you'll be able to join us for Christmas dinner." She would kill him with kindness in return for his snarky remarks. Snape stared at her for a moment, his eyes opening from the usual slits he looked at her with. It was going to be a work in progress to make Snape her friend. He merely nodded and left the room with his signature flurry of his black robes.

Authors Note: Enjoy! Have a wonderful week and see you soon! For those of you that are waiting for Dramione interactions: it will come! I won't ruin it but the next chapter is chock full of them.