Blaise Zabini and the Magical Cat

'Good afterrnoon,' Balkis said.

'Good afternoon,' the students said.

'Wrriting yourr essssayss?' Balkis asked.

'Yes, today we have one on trolls for the Defense against the Dark Arts, one on transfiguring small mammals into small mammals of other species for Transfiguration, and one on the Snake Summoning Charm for the Charms,' Harry said. Balkis recalled:

'I did not know you arre afrraid of sspiderss, Rron. Neverr would guessss.'

'Oh, you heard the Longbottom incident?' Ron said. 'Yes, I am. Our Neville didn't intend it, of course, but he is a very clumsy person.'

'I'm ssorrrry,' Balkis said. 'I met that charrming Prrofessssorr Lupin, by the way. I behaved mysself as a cat, of courrsse. He called me a beautiful cat and sstrroked me.'

'Yes, he would,' Blaise smiled. 'I have an essay on Younger Runes - I had Ancient Runes first in the day, with other Slytherins, instead of the Defense against the Dark Arts.'

'Yes, and Transfiguration and Charms we had together,' Harry said.

'And we have an essay on the Goblin Rebellions for the History of Magic and an essay on Pixies for the Defense against the Dark Arts,' Mortie said.

'Yourr Hisstorry of Magic teacherr is a borre,' Balkis announced.

'Piper's news,' Mortie smiled. ' He drones on and on. One day he got up and left his own body behind, and now he is a ghost but continues to be a teacher here.'

'He is a ghost?' Balkis asked. 'What's his name?'

'Professor Binns,' Mortie answered.

'Mr. Zabini, can you help me with my History of Magic essay?' Maloney asked. 'I keep forgetting the names of all those Goblin chiefs.'

'Blaise, Fergal,' Blaise smiled.

'What?' Maloney asked.

'Blaise. My name,' Blaise said. 'We call each other by our first names since yesterday evening, remember?'

'Yes, Blaise,' Maloney blushed.

'That is better,' Blaise said. 'Well, what have you there, Fergal?'

He sat by Maloney's side and began to look his essay over hemming there and again.

'So you explored the castle?' Mortie asked.

'Yess, I ssaw all - the passssagess, the classssrroomss, the Trrophy Rroom, the Arrmorry, the Grreat Hall - it is magnificcent! - the porrtrraitss, the ssuitss of arrmorr, the Quidditch Pitch, Hagrrid'ss hut, the lake, the Forrbidden Forresst - frrom a disstancce, of courrsse. Something howled in therre,' Balkis said. 'Was it the werrewolves?'

'Who else could howl so?' Mortie answered.

'Brr,' Balkis said. 'I met Hagrrid, Fang and the ssnake. He calls him Bobbie.'

'He says the Flier in the Green is for him too difficult to pronounce,' Mortie explained. 'He called the dragon Norbert and the dog Fluffy.'

'I ssee,' Balkis said. 'I sspoke with Hagrrid. I intrroducced mysself as Blaise'ss cat, of courrsse. He was verry nicce. He pourred a ssauccerr of milk forr me. Verry good milk.'

She did not tell him of the mirror.

'Yes, Hagrid is very kind,' Harry smiled.

'Was Prrofessorr Lupin sseverral yearrss youngerr than yourr fatherr, Harrrry?' Balkis asked.

'No, they entered Hogwarts the same year,' Harry answered. 'Why, Balkis?'

'He lookss verry young,' Balkis answered.

'He is a werewolf,' Harry answered. 'It makes him weak and look younger.'

'I ssee. Interressting,' Balkis said. She leapt on Harry's table and began to look as he was writing his essay on trolls. Some time later Maloney said:

'Thank you, Blaise. You are so learned!'

'Oh, nothing special,' Blaise said. 'I always have bad marks in Charms. It is that I love history, even read by Professor Binns. He is an awful bore, of course.'

He smiled and sat to write his own essay on the Younger Runes. Balkis moved to his table and looked at the characters he was writing. She asked Blaise:

'What is thiss charracterr herre, Blaise?'

'This?' Blaise said. 'It is the rune 'thorn', one for the sound 'th', as in Kay Thorn, lecturer in Ancient Runes, a suitable name.'

'Thorrn is the name of your Ancient Rrunes teacherr?' Balkis said.

'Yes, Kay Thorn, K. Thorn, you see?' Blaise said. 'Kay is the name for the letter K in English.'

'Then what is his full name?' Balkis said.

'Kay is his name, spelled K-A-Y,' Blaise explained. 'Kay was one of the knights of King Arthur, a legendary king of old. He lived long ago, and not much is known of him, but there are many legends about him and his knights. Sir Kay de Maris was one of them, King Arthur's foster-brother, and very sharp-tongued. So is our Professor Thorn. When Malfoy tried to look smart in his class, Professor Thorn gave him a good retort. He didn't pay attention to Professor Thorn when he was speaking of Salazar Slytherin's verse - he was called Serpent-tongue not only for his gift to speak Parseltongue, but also for being a sharp-tongued skald whose invective was feared. You know, skaldic verses have magical power, and if a skald makes a very powerful invective, it can do much harm to its addressee, and Slytherin was a very gifted skald. So, you see, verses have magic power in our world sometimes, but skaldic poetry is long abandoned now. Of course, the verses are remembered by scholars and can serve even nowadays, and Malfoy was making caustic remarks about other students. You ought to hear what Professor Thorn said to him! Yes, Professor Thorn is a strict and just one.'

'He ssoundss a good one,' Balkis said.

'He is,' Blaise said and continued to write his Ancient Runes essay. He finished it in time and began to write his Transfiguration essay. Mortie and Maloney finished their Defense against the Dark Arts essays and sat to play Exploding Snap. Balkis leapt from the table, went to the table at which Mortie and Maloney were sitting, and sat to observe them. Macavity appeared from thin air on Blaise's table and stood with his tasseled tail up, looking over Blaise's left arm, lying on Blaise's left cheekbone.

'I and red Macavity,

Each of us two keeps at his specialty...' Blaise said. Balkis cocked her ears:

'What was that?'

'A poem by an ancient Irish scholar,' Blaise answered. 'Pangur Ban, White Pangur. White Pangur is the name of the cat in the poem. I learned this poem in Ancient Runes, when we were studying Ogham, an ancient Irish alphabet.'

Blaise wrote on and on. He finished his Transfiguration essay successfully and set himself to work at his Charms essay.

'I wish I could do charms as easily as I write essays!' Blaise said. 'Professor Flitwick once said to me: 'How can it be, Mr. Zabini, that you write such good essays on my subject but work spells so badly?' Mortie is much better than me at charms. He is Professor Flitwick's favorite pupil, and Professor Flitwick is sorry Mortie isn't in the Ravenclaw House. Not that I am envious.'

'You are a genius at potions, Blaise,' Mortie smiled. 'You have no reason to be bitter, surely. It's simply not your field.'

'True, and Potions are,' Blaise smiled. 'It's like cooking, and I can cook very well.'

'You can cook?' Balkis asked.

'Yes, most Italians can, and I am Italian and not French by blood,' Blaise said.

'In my worrld not many men can cook,' Balkis said. 'Except the cooks, it'ss theirr trrade.'

'Well, I like it,' Blaise said.

'And of what birrth you arre?' Balkis asked.

'A gentleman,' Blaise answered. 'Very old Corsican family, the Zabinis. Our motto is Malgre du tout or Malgrado di tutto.'

'In spite of all,' Mortie smiled.

'And my arms is a twig of savine - see my signet ring? Carnelian, in gold, ancient Moorish work,' Blaise added. 'You know Geoffrey Plantagenet - he wore genista on his helmet. Well, my ancestor Ruggero wore savine.'

'It is beautiful,' Balkis agreed.

Macavity disappeared in his sudden manner. Balkis went back to Blaise's table and sat to read what he was writing.

The door opened, and in came Professor Lupin. In his hand he was holding a penknife.

'You left it behind, Blaise,' Professor Lupin said. 'It has initials B. Z. engraved on it'.

Blaise looked at the exquisite penknife with a mother-of-pearl handle, took it and said:

'Thank you, Professor Lupin. It is indeed mine.'

Blaise hid the penknife in his pocket, and Professor Lupin saw Balkis and said:

'Is she your cat? I met her on the main staircase. She is very beautiful. I didn't know you had another cat, Blaise.'

'I adopted her yesterday evening,' Blaise said. 'Her name is Balkis, like the Queen of Sheba, Professor Lupin.'

'Balkis,' Professor Lupin said and stroked Balkis. Balkis purred and raised her head for Professor Lupin to stroke it. Professor Lupin stroked her head and smiled:

'She took a liking to me, you know.'

'I see,' Blaise said. 'Good night, Professor.'

'Good night, Blaise,' Professor Lupin smiled and exited the Gryffindor Common Room.

'You made friends with Professor Lupin, I see,' Blaise said to Balkis. Balkis said:

'Yess. He is a nicce man. I like him.'

'Everyone does, except the likes of Malfoy, of course,' Blaise said, spitting the name Malfoy. 'Nobody minds he is a werewolf.'

Blaise, Harry, Ron and Hermione finished their Charms essays. Blaise opened a book, Hermione sat to read, and Harry sat to play Wizard chess with Ron. Balkis said:

'You play chessss good, Rron.'

'Yes, Ron is our Grand Master,' Harry said.

'Grrand Massterr?' Balkis asked.

'Harry meant an aliyah,' Blaise explained.

'Oh, I see,' Balkis said.

'For Balkis a Grand Master is a head of a military order,' Blaise said. 'Isn't he?'

'Yess, he is,' Balkis said.

'In your world great chess players in Europe don't have a special name, do they, Balkis?' Blaise asked confidently.

'They don't,' Balkis said. 'Grrand Massterr?'

'Yes, Grand Master of chess,' Blaise said.

'I ssee,' Balkis said. Blaise continued to read. When half past ten came and Blaise didn't go out, Balkis asked:

'Blaise, why you arre not going? Did you forrget about the currfew?'

'No,' Blaise said. 'We have Astronomy at twelve tonight, Gryffindors and Slytherins.'

'Oh,' Balkis said. 'And wherrre is it?'

'In the highest tower of the castle,' Blaise answered. 'The middle one, on one level with the dormitories and the Divination Classroom, it is in the Slytherin Tower.'

'Ssincce Sslytherrin is in the dungeonss,' Balkis said. 'I ssee. How do you get therre?'

'By a spiral staircase from the fifth floor or through the dormitory doors of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,' Blaise explained. 'There are passages which lead to Astronomy Tower from four other.'

'I ssee. And the Sslytherrinss arre to go a long way to therre,' Balkis said.

'From the dungeons, yes,' Blaise grinned. 'It is another reason to be happy that I am friends with Gryffindors.'

'Indeed,' Balkis said.

So they sat up long after Mortie and Maloney went to their beds. Shortly before midnight, Ron and Harry left their chessboard, Hermione her book and Blaise closed his book with an exasperated sigh.

'No ssuccessss?' Balkis asked.

'Have drawn a complete blank,' Blaise said. 'Stiff upper lip, Balkis, where there is a wand, there is a way, as the old proverb says. Well, maybe not exactly a wand, but a cauldron, sure.'

Blaise smiled and got up. So did Harry Ron and Hermione. They said: 'See you.'

'Ssee you, frriendss,' Balkis said. The three Gryffindors and the Slytherin exited the Gryffindor Tower door. Balkis waited a little and followed them, along the passage on the right, up the spiral staircase, and along a passage to the right and another time to the right. She slid behind them through a door, and saw a round room with tables, benches, and charts of the night skies, astrolabes and globes. A handsome, stern tall woman with brown hair and blue eyes, in dark blue robes, told the students about the constellation Draco. A slight, short boy with cold gray eyes and sleeked-back pale blond hair, wearing a white and green scarf, smirked. Balkis knew he had to be Draco Malfoy. Balkis went out of the Astronomy classroom to the Slytherin Tower. It was locked. Balkis felt envious of Macavity and went back to the Gryffindor Tower. She leapt on her favorite chair and dozed off. Blaise's approach, and then creaking of the door, his smell and footsteps, waked her up. Balkis stood up.

'Good evening, Blaise,' she said.

'Good evening, Balkis,' Blaise said.

'I felt yourr apprroach and yourr ssmell and hearrd yourr footsstepss,' Balkis said. 'Yourr footsstepss arre verry light, and you ssmell of bookss, paperr, ink, herrbss and Macavity.'

'Do I?' Blaise smiled.

'Yess. You have ssignss on you that you arre Macavity'ss,' Balkis said.

'Indeed?' Blaise laughed. 'Good night.'

'Good night, Blaise,' Balkis said.

Blaise went to the door and out of the Gryffindor Tower. Balkis curled up again and went to sleep immediately.