Silver Lining • Harry Potter X Blaise Zabini •

Chapter 4: The enigma of Blaise Zabini

Blaise sighed, re-reading the letter from his mother with a bored expression on his face. Thankfully she didn't care to much about his life about Hogwarts nor his life after Hogwarts, not as long as he maintained the family name on some level. No, she hadn't written to enquire about him or his daily activities, besides the cursory 'how are you' he got nothing. Instead he got a four page letter on her latest husband, one Duke William of Kennsington, a pureblood wizard who happened to be a Duke. Not that he cared, he doubted he'd be home in time to meet the Duke, especially since the moron planned to marry his mother of all people. Lady Zabini had an interesting reputation in the wizarding world. She had had eight extremely wealthy husbands, all of them dying rather interesting deaths after leaving their entire fortune to her. Law enforcement could never prove she had anything to do with the accidental deaths, and she'd mourn for a time, which was proper and then marry again. It probably helped that his mother was gorgeous, but having seven step-fathers was bad for a teenage boys psyche, and he really detested dealing with any of them. Honestly he didn't even bother to remember names anymore, and secretly referred to them by their number, Duke William would be known as Idiot Number Nine to Blaise and anyone he bothered to share that information with.

He glanced around the empty common room, it was Christmas eve and the only Slytherin remaining at Hogwarts besides himself was Pansy. He hadn't seen her yet, but figured she was off reading or doing something feminine and boring, not that Blaise minded being alone, just today he was feeling a bit saddened, and wanted some company. Standing up, he tossed the letter in the fire, he'd send his mother a congratulations note tomorrow or something along with a Happy Christmas. It wasn't as if his mother didn't love him, Blaise knew she cared, but she just got so caught up in the moment that her son didn't really register on her internal radar when he was away at school. He knew he'd get showered with Christmas presents, that was normal, and when he went home for the summer she'd be happy to see him, but sometimes he wished she noticed him while he was away. Most kids parents wrote them weekly, asking about grades and other stuff, showing interest in their lives, his mother wrote maybe once a month and only filled him in on need-to-know information, rarely asking him about his own life.

He sighed, debating on where to head, he didn't want to sit in the Common Room all day, nor did he really feel like going to the Hall or anything. Standing, he went into his room, digging out his scarf, gloves and warm winter coat before he braved the snow covered grounds for a walk.
Leaving the warm Common Room, he made his way out of the dungeon, heading past the great hall towards the main doors.
"Where are you off to Mr. Zabini?" A voice sounded behind him, and Blaise turned to find Professor Snape standing at the foot of the stairway, Silver sitting in his arms watching him.
"Just for a walk, need some fresh air" Blaise replied, smiling at his head of house. Silver perked at this and mewed softly, looking from Severus to Blaise with pleading green eyes.
"It seems my familiar wishes to join you Mr. Zabini, is that acceptable?" Sev asked, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at Silver's actions. Silly kitten.
"No, I don't mind at all" Blaise said, grinning. He loved spending time with the imp of a kitten, and playing with him in the snow might be fun.
"Alright then, bring him to my quarters when you're ready, I'll expect you before supper" Severus said, pulling out a tiny green sweater and putting it on the kitten. Silver's species was used designed for the warm weather of South America and the kitten's coat was not thick enough to handle the frigid winter of Scotland. Blaise accepted the squirming kitten from his head, resisting the urge to chuckle at the poor creature who looked miserable at being wrapped up in the sweater.
"See that he keeps that on, he hates them, but no one wants to deal with a cat with a head cold" Severus said, his black eyes dancing with amusement.
"Sure thing, I'll make sure he stays warm" Blaise said with a grin, carrying the kitten out the door and towards the lake.

The lake was covered in a thick ice, though a few places were broken near the shallows by either the giant squid or students tossing rocks at it. Blaise loved coming down here, the scenery was gorgeous and generally the Gryffindors avoided this place, preferring to have snowball fights over on the Quidditch Pitch.
"Here you go" Blaise murmured, setting the kitten down on the snowy path and watching in amusement as Silver began to bounce about, playing in the deep snow beside the path. Blaise found a nearby rock, casting a drying charm and heating charm on the small boulder, he sat down, keeping a close watch on the tiny kitten.