Ship (Team): Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini (Heroic Shadow)
List (Prompt): Sp Big (Beret)
Word count: 739
Notes: This is a fusion with Guardian and the terms...got a bit weird. I blame my tired brain last night that latched onto the idea and made me write it this morning. Apparently Dixing is now Hogwarts, Haixing is Muggle, and Yashou are now called Durmstrang because why not just make it completely ridiculous.

In all his ten thousand years of waiting, Harry had never expected to find Blaise dangling a young girl out of a window on the university campus. Blaise had promised him, on that cliffside so many years ago, that they would meet again and now here he was, ducking out of sight even as the girl fell the short distance to the ground. She was laughing, so Harry assumed she was alright, but it didn't stop him from approaching her to double check.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he offered a hand to help her up.

She smiled at him, dusting herself off and readjusting the purple beret she wore. "Oh yes, I've always liked flying."

A quiet meow caught Harry's attention and he had to slam his hypothetical mask on when he looked down to see the familiar form of Neville. The last time Harry had seen Neville was ten thousand years ago, with the cat Durmstrang sticking as close to Blaise's side as Harry did himself. If there had been any doubt that the face he'd seen in the window was Blaise's, that doubt was gone now.

He crouched down and offered Neville his hand, smiling when Neville deemed him worthy to bestow pats on his being. Another hand joined his on Neville's back and Harry had to stop himself from both launching forward to hug, kiss, or merely cling as tightly as he could to Blaise and Apparating as far as he could get because he had waited ten thousand years and wasn't even slightly prepared to see this man again.

"He's remarkably well behaved today," Blaise was saying. "Normally, he'd be putting up a huge fuss. You must be magic."

The smile aimed at Harry was so familiar and yet so foreign. There was no recognition in those eyes. Even Neville, accepting as he was, was acting as though he didn't actually know Harry. But then there was the teasing jab at Harry being magic, something which Blaise knew (or had known) very well Harry was. Harry wasn't even a normal Hogwartsian, he was the blasted Saviour of Hogwarts because he had fought the Rebels who had wanted to claim Hogwarts and Muggle for Hogwartsians only.

Harry ducked his head and stood up, removing himself from Neville's comforting presence and hoping that the professor mask he had taught his face to make was as effective as the mask he had worn into battle to hide his emotions. Blaise stood up with him and offered him a business card.

"Blaise Zabini, Chief of the Unspeakable Division. Were you around the campus last night?"

Harry took the card with hands that were thankfully steady. "No, I was… Home. Grading."

Technically he wasn't lying. He had been home, that home just happened to be Hogwarts—the world that lived under Muggle and considered a myth by most Muggles. And he had been grading, after a fashion; he'd been assessing the protections and barrier around the pillar that held the spirit of the Rebels Leader, making sure that the man inside couldn't break free and cause chaos.

"Did something happen?"

Blaise nodded. "There was an attack last night. Padma Patil was walking from the library when she was attacked. We wouldn't even be involved except she said the attacker kept asking about 'the Cup' and we like to keep an eye on mysterious artifacts that might cause innocent people to be jumped."

Harry wanted to close his eyes and curse. Of course the Founders Tools would resurface when he was down in Hogwarts. Parvati Patil, Padma's sister, was in one of his classes and he wondered if he could use that as an excuse to check in with them and see what else Padma remembered about her attacker. If the Founders Tools landed in the wrong hands, it could possibly lead to another long war that he'd be forced to participate in.

The ringing of a phone pulled Blaise away as he answered it and Harry took his opportunity to leave, smiling in farewell to Blaise, Neville, and the blonde girl he hadn't gotten the name of. He needed to investigate this himself and make sure Hufflepuff's Cup—for that was undoubtably the cup Padma's attacker had been after—wouldn't end up in the hands of someone who would use it for evil. As they always seemed to do, their duties pulled Harry and Blaise apart once more.