Chapter 1 - Silver Spangled Robes

Blaise Zabini had always prided himself in his ability to not give a damn about anyone or what they thought about him.

While he was sure many would call him an arrogant sod, he could confidently say they wouldn't be able to find a fault in him. He was a Pureblood. He had inherited his mother's infamous good looks that had made her rich. He was great at Quidditch which kept him fit. He had received only Outstandings and Exceeds Expectations in all of his subjects. And he kept as far away as possible from any Death Eater related bullshit. As his mother had taught him early on, Zabini's never got their hands dirty. Impassiveness and neutrality were the best defences you could have.

Blaise had taken this advice to heart and had over the past 5 years at Hogwarts made his armour impeccable. It hadn't always been easy. The only negative comments that could come his way were the sly questioning remarks were about the demise of his father and 6 of his step-fathers. But they were always met with a stony and unimpressed silence. And so the questions had stopped coming and Blaise had gotten on with his life. Sharing a dormitory with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle wasn't a walk in the park. The latter two minions were both oafs and generally harmless to him. But with the rise of Lord Voldemort, the goons were steadily becoming more sure of themselves and bullies even within the Slytherin house. Malfoy's status on the other hand seemed to be going in reverse. He had changed from an obnoxious peacock to a sneaky slithering snake. But instead of being an impressive cobra or even a Basilisk, he more resembled a haggard and scared rattlesnake, desperate to get away from whatever that was chasing him. Blaise found him pathetic.

But he wasn't a fool, and would never air such opinions in front of his house mates. A little comment here and there would keep them on their toes but nothing to truly antagonise them. Neutrality and impassive. Qualities that had gotten him as only one of their dorm to be invited into Slughorn's Circle, otherwise none as the Slug Club. And his mates were jealous, though they were far too proud to show it. Blaise couldn't say if he really enjoyed his own membership. Most gatherings were rather dull. He didn't find any of the members interesting in the slightest, no even Harry Potter, the Chosen One. Professor Slughorn was someone you never quite knew how to think about. Full of contradictions. An intelligent man that with enough wine and sugared pineapple could turn into a blithering idiot. Greedy yet extravagant in his dinners and favours. Welcoming yet unwavering in his rejection if there was a whiff of controversy in your family. That last Blaise had found both surprising and amusing, especially coming from Death Eater families. He had heard that Slughorn had been on the run from Lord Voldemort and his followers which he couldn't help but admire. Especially then coming to teach the Death Eater kids. But of course with Albus Dumbledore as Head Master, the Potion Master would feel protected.

Perhaps that too was a foolish thought, Blaise couldn't help but mull over as he swirled a drink in his hand. Dressed in his best and striking black and emerald dress robes, he stood in the Slughorn's elaborately decorated office for his exclusive Christmas party. His date, Daphne Greengrass had already abandoned him to get a closer look at Sanguini, the guest vampire with several other girls. He didn't mind one bit. Although on paper Daphne would be an ideal girlfriend, beautiful with excellent Pureblood bloodlines, she could barely hold his interest. Which wasn't necessarily a fault of her own… he simply had very high standards, just as his mother taught him. Although he would deny it to his grave, he almost found it a shame Ginny Weasley was a blood traitor because she checked all of his other boxes. But there was no way he would shame himself and his family name to marry a Weasley. No, if it came down to that, then even Daphne would be perfectly adequate.

With a sigh, Blaise took a healthy swing of punch that had been spiced with fire whiskey. They were only half an hour in and he was already so bored that he had been thinking about potential life partners. Merlin help him, it was ridiculous. There was no reason for him to be thinking about that. Neither would there be any need for desperation. Zabini's always had excellent matches, without having to worry about inbreeding with cousins, money or social status. A loud voice caught his attention.

It was Slughorn announcing to everyone that Harry Potter, the Chosen One had arrived. Despite Blaise' complete ambivalence towards his classmate at least it caused an interesting stir. From his vantage point he could see the overdramatic introductions towards Eldred Worple who was more or less Sanguini's baby sitter. He had already spoken to the wizard who had made it perfectly clear that if his mother ever wanted to collaborate for a biography, she only needed to send an owl. There was no way in hell Blaise would tell his mother this. Despite her lessons in discretion, he knew she was becoming bored lately and despite her stunning beauty, aging was something she had always been insecure about. Although, she never admitted this outright of course. But he had been able to piece it together. Having a man interesting in her story would not be good, he decided.

He then heard a muffled giggle from somewhere behind him.

"Is that… Loony Lovegood? Loony Lovegood is Harry Potter's date? And what is she wearing?"

Blaise didn't bother to turn around to see who said it. Instead he slightly craned his neck. At well over 6'3, he could always easily look over a crowd. Now with the added height, he could see Slughorn, Potter and a girl beside him more clearly. She instantly reminded him of a Christmas tree ornament but not necessarily in a bad way. No, she rather looked like a Christmas angels or pixie that his mother preferred to put in the trees at home. She wore silver spangled robes that shimmered with every movement. There were star earrings dangling from her ears and pale blonde hair spilled in wavy down her back. Even her eyes, which were rather large in her pale face looked like silvery orbs. If ever there was someone that looked the complete opposite of him, he had found her. And he couldn't fathom why, but he was intrigued. Which was ridiculous, because he was never intrigued. But before he could rack his brains as to who Loony Lovegood was, Potter had dragged her away into the crowd.

"Did you see that too?" Daphne's voice was now beside him and he looked down and saw her gaze where Potter and the Lovegood girl had been.

"What did I see?"

"Potter and Lovegood. Merlin, they say the girl is demented."

"I believe Loony is what I've heard."

"Yes well, same thing. I can't believe Potter brought her here."

"Who is she exactly? Her name can't really be Loony?" Daphne rolled her eyes at him.

"No of course not. It's Luna I think. Ravenclaw. A year below us. Apparently she was at the Ministry with Potter and his friends this summer."

Suddenly everything clicked in his mind. So that was her. How very interesting.

Of course everyone had heard about what happened at the Ministry. Although Malfoy refused to discuss it with him, there had been enough gossip going around the Slytherin Common Room. She had been part of the teenagers that had fought and essentially beaten the Death Eaters there. Which had of course been dreadfully embarrassing to those involved. And now Blaise thought about it, he was sure he had heard this dormitory mates discuss 'the Loony girl' that had been part of the DA last school year. Good for her, he thought. Although he always kept away from such dealings, he had admired the group for their dedication in learning how to fight and put theory into practice. Professor Umbridge had never bothered him of course, but if there was one thing Blaise Zabini abhorred it was incompetency. Even the idiot Lockhart had been able to teach him something. It was only by his uncle's and cousin's tutoring during the school holidays that he had managed to get an Exceeds Expectations for his Defence Against the Dark Arts last year. And Zabini's never had to get their hands dirty, including schoolwork.

He wondered what his fellow classmates had learned together. He had heard about patronuses. Apparently Potter's corporeal patronus had been so impressive, the examinator had wet himself and given Potter an Outstanding. Now that was something he wanted to learn.

"Her father is completely bonkers." Daphne told him again, disgust filling her voice. "He's head of that ghastly paper, The Quibbler." Now that gave Zabini pause.

"The one with all that nonsense?"

"It's lunatic. The only reason it's still running is because of that article Potter did last year."

"The one about Cedric Diggory and Who-Know-Who?" Daphne nodded and Blaise couldn't help a grin. "Not complete nonsense then." Daphne shot him a furious look.

"You know what I mean Zabini."

"Yes of course. I am going to get another drink. Would you like one?" She waved him away, clearly still annoyed.

"No thank you. I'll see you later." She told him and walked over to the group of girls that had initially caught her attention.

Blaise deftly made his way through the crowd. Keeping his eyes focussed on the elaborate table decked out in glittering glasses, he deterred anyone from striking up a conversation. Anyone who knew him, knew he usually kept to himself. Unless he was with his Quidditch team. But unfortunately neither Vaisley nor Urquhart had been deemed good enough to join the Slug Club, and those were the only ones Blaise really cared about.

As approached his destination, he started to regret his plan. He heard Slughorn before he could see him and smelled Professor Trelawney even sooner. But then there was Professor Snape along with Potter and the interesting Lovegood girl. Blaise heard Slughorn's obvious and sickening praise of Potter's newfound Potions abilities. Like his head of house, Blaise too had been surprised at Potter's skill. He had never found him impressive before.

"Really?" He heard Snape say, doubt clear in his voice.

"Remind me what other subjects you're taking, Harry?" Slughorn asked.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology…" Potter told him and Snape sneered at him.

"All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror."

"Yeah, well, that's what I'd like to be." Potter said defiantly and Blaise resisted rolling his eyes. Of course that's what the Chosen One wanted to be.

"And a great one you'll make, too!" Slughorn boomed a great encouraging smile on his face.

And then the most unexpected thing happened. She started to speak, her voice calm and serene but Blaise didn't miss the passion on her face as she did.

"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry." Everyone went silent around her and Blaise found himself coming even closer. He sensed he didn't want to miss this.

"The Aurors," she continued, "are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working from within to bring down the Ministry of Magic using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."

Blaise' own surprising burst of laughter was disguised by Potter's, who chocked on his goblet of mead, as he both coughed and laughed, giving Lovegood a brilliant grin. It was that grin that made Blaise' stomach do something it had never done before. It turned and he felt a pang of… something… he couldn't place it. But he felt something and that was new to him to. The whole thing had him so stunned, that he hardly noticed Flinch dragging in Malfoy, who had pathetically been trying to crash the party. Nor did he register that Potter too seemed to have left. It was only when suddenly he heard her dreamy voice beside him that he came back to himself.

"Oh dear. Have the Nargles taken hold of you?"

"Wh… what?"

"The Nargles. They can be quite nasty. Once they're in your head you lose track of your thoughts." She told him seriously and he looked down into her large moonlike eyes. In fact, with her dreamy aura, she reminded him of Mooncalves he had read about in 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them.'

"I have never heard of Nargles before." He said simply and she apparently found this amusing.

"Well, that's silly. I can lend you a copy of The Quibbler if you like?"

"Oh I am not sure…" He began as Daphne's words started to ring in his mind.

"It's no problem. I'll owl it. What's your name? I don't believe we have met. I am Luna Lovegood." And she held out a dainty hand. He stared at it, unsure how to proceed. This was ridiculous.

She, for all accounts was crazy and ridiculous. Someone he would never be introduced to. But here she was, bold and unmoving and… damn him… she was nice and damn it even more, interesting. And so, he took her small cool hand into his own large warm one, unable to look away at the contrast of his rich brown skin against her moonlit pale one.

"Zabini, Blaise Zabini." He said, finding his voice rough. She simply smiled.

"Blaise, that's a lovely name." He suddenly felt as if someone had pulled a rug out from under him. He was completely off balance. As if he had accidently miss stepped onto one of those blasted stairs that caved in on itself, trapping your foot and generally making you land straight on your face. They had all been right, she was loony. No one in their right mind would introduce themselves to him, especially not in such a candid way. And no one would then simply disregard his infamous Zabini family name and tell him Blaise was a nice name, which it bloody wasn't. It either meant 'flame' in Old English, which his mother had liked. Or it was linked to some stupid Saint Blaise, who was associated with lisps and stammering, which of course had been the favourite definition of other children learning how to use a dictionary. That admittedly had been another weakness his armour had had to defend against.

But instead of doing what any normal sane person would do and run away, he replied with a stupid smile of his own.

"Thank you. Luna is a nice name too." And she beamed brighter than another Christmas tree ever could.

Well, fuck.