Rigel Black Oneshots

A Haze So Clear

Something like disbelief warped through Zabini's features, and then he snorted, "You think Rigel did the work."

"Yes. Was he ever caught sneaking to the Owlery with suspiciously thick letters?"

"I have no doubt he was good at avoiding people while doing so. But I did notice that despite sleeping and waking at what appeared to be the same time as the rest of us, some days he appeared a lot more tired, as though he went for midnight strolls. In fact, he even displayed his knowledge of the perfect timings for early morning pranks where he could avoid everyone in the castle one day…" Zabini let his voice go wistful for a moment.

"No doubt that would be an interesting story." Aldon said softly.

"Should we be going to Snape right now?"

Aldon raised an amused eyebrow, "I haven't even started."

"Oh?" Zabini tilted his head, "I find myself suddenly full of information as well."

"That is gratifying. Do enlighten me." Aldon drawled.

"Rigel, as you know, has always been a little shy in comparison to the rest of us."

"Well, yes," Aldon said, "other than avoiding changing in public or seeing others do so, though, Draco mentioned something during their third year that might indicate Rigel was uncomfortable with touch in general."

"Rigel seemed to have some sort of physical condition that got aggravated at contact with most things." Blaise said carefully, "I heard him and Draco talk of something vaguely of the sort in my dreams, until I realised it was a real conversation those two nitwits were having in the dormitory. For several days afterward, Draco overreacted whenever anything came too close to Rigel."

Aldon processed this information slowly. How clever the girl had been.

"The Potter Heiress." Aldon said slyly, "What is your opinion of her?"

"Suspicious." Zabini murmured, "At the Parkinsons' Gala, which I believe to be our only interaction, Rigel was so… different. He was cheerful and relaxed most of the time, except, at the oddest of moments, he would tense with an ever so slightly confused look, then laugh like it was an inside joke."

"Harriet Potter, however, was familiar." Aldon finished for him.

Blaise Zabini's gaze sharpened so much that Aldon had to hold back a natural wince, "Yes. Although she had some key differences from Rigel, she constantly looked wary, which is natural, I suppose, considering that she was a halfblood in the middle of purebloods-" he cut off abruptly.

Aldon cleared his throat, "She looked Rigel wary, yes. As though she was living a life so complicated no one understood and she had to weigh her words every time she spoke. As though everyone around her was someone far off, and yet, in her eyes I saw the strangest of intensities when she looked at me. Not to mention, every time Rigel was brought up between the two of us she looked as though she was in on a joke only she would get."

Zabini just stared into nothing, lost in his own thoughts.

"You know," said Aldon, attempting half-heartedly to break the growing ice, "I never thought I'd see the day I'd recognize someone because of wariness."

"Rigel..." Zabini looked close to swearing, "Potions, really? What was so appealing about a subject, you stupid girl, that you would..." he seemed to be, for the first time, at a complete loss of words except ones that displayed disbelief, "How..? We saw- during the fourth task, he- she- had the body and structure of a boy. There was no change from how he usually looked, so she couldn't have retaken modified polyjuice to turn into a boy, her own genius invention, for the task itself, and the alternative- taking on the form of a boy for as long as we're assuming- that would really damage her reproductive organs. She wouldn't do it. Not because she would be afraid, the idiot, but because it would be a strong evidence against her when they switched back."