The Gifted Amissio

Chapter 5

The Guests

The rest of October passed without any interesting occurrences, with the exception of Professor Flitwick falling into a pumpkin at the Halloween Feast.

It was now mid-November, and rain was hammering against the window of the History of Magic classroom.

Professor Binns was droning on and on again, when he said something that pricked Harry's ears up.

"...was the last known Skeltic, and lived over five hundred years ago."

He paused. Everyone else in the room looked bored (except for Seamus, because you cannot look bored when you are asleep.) Professor Binns, however, had Harry's rapt attention.

"Do you all know what a Skeltic is?" he asked, his voice tinged with the presumption that none of them knew what on earth he was trying to teach them.

A hand rose in the air.

"Yes?"

Harry saw the bored eyes move towards him as a single unit, now supplied with some sort of source of interest for the day.

"A Skeltic is someone gifted with Skelsis, the ability to control the sky," he said.

Professor Binns looked mildly impressed. "Yes. Well done. As I said, the last Skeltics..."

Harry zoned out the professor's voice again. He felt Hermione jab her pen into his side.

"Ow, what?" he whispered, turning to face her.

"How did you know that?" she asked, clearly upset by the fact that he knew something she didn't.

He very badly wanted to tell her, "Because I am one. Surprise!" but held back. He never needed to answer her question, because just then Professor Binns had started screeching at the student in the back row.

"Mr.Fergin! PAY ATTENTION!"

* * *

"Mr.Fergin! PAY ATTENTION!"

Draco looked on with bored amusement as the professor tried to wake up Seamus. So far his attempts were not going over very well; when he had demanded that Seamus wake up, he had replied, "no", and went back to sleep.

The bells rung, signaling the end of classes for the day.

"Two rolls of parchment on Jin Floyer for Monday!"

Ugh. Draco hated professor Binns. He really did.

He walked along the corridor to the common room, staring at the ring that sat upon one of his thin fingers. He had had it in his possession since he was a child, but had only recently taken to wearing it. He knew he probably shouldn't, as it was ancient looking and presumably very valuable; but that was just too bad, because he happened to be very fond of it.

* * *

He fingered his ring anxiously as the students filtered out through the oak doors. It was December holidays, and he and Blaise walked together through the snow, somber expressions on their faces. He turned to her.

"Well, have a safe trip," he said.

"Draco..." She began, her face looking worried and agitated.

"Don't," he stopped her, "I'll be fine, alright? Just make sure you get there safely."

She nodded and reached her arms around his neck, standing on tip toe to reach him. He was like her brother; she would die if he didn't make it. Dumbledore had arranged for two cars to take them separately, so that if one of them was discovered the other could still stand a chance. Blaise didn't like this idea.

"Ok," she said, straightening herself out. "I'll see you."

"Bye," he said, as he turned towards the black car that was parked in the snow.

Blaise paused for a moment, walked to the door of a silver car in front of her, and slid inside.

* * *

She arrived at the Burrow early the next morning. They had had to go the muggle route, which was incredibly slower than the train, and had been forced to stay overnight in a motel.

The cab driver, a Squib named Chris, escorted her up to the doorstep.

Ok, she told herself, deep breaths, it's only for a couple of weeks...

The door opened and Blaise was led inside.

* * *

The Burrow was swamped with Weasleys. Bill and Charlie had come home for the holidays; Fred and George were also taking a few days off work to visit with the family. Percy, having apologized the previous year for being such an asshole, was also taking up residence at the Weasley household, however still spent majority of his time in his room.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny sat at the kitchen table.

Mr.Weasley strode in.

"Weasleys, I need you all in here, now!" he shouted.

"What's up, dad?" asked Ron, eating a large piece of cheese. Well, he did say he liked cheese, Harry thought, remembering hearing that in August.

"Oh, you'll see," said Arthur, looking a bit...guilty? Of the information he was about to tell them. Charlie, Percy and Bill walked in shortly after that; Molly had come in from the living room and was standing by Arthur's side, which meant this was to be a speech from the two of them.

Ron looked slightly peeved by the fact that a possible rant was coming.

Fred and George apparated in to join them ("really boys, just take the stairs!"), and Arthur and Molly began.

"Well, you see boys, and Ginny," (Ginny smiled at the recognition of the fact that she had breasts and was not, in fact, a boy), "for protection reasons we are going to have a few extra guests staying with us."

The Weasley children stared blankly back at their parents.

Finally, it was Charlie who spoke.

"So?"

"Well," Molly cut in, "you may not all be on friendly terms with our guests. So I want no complaining, and you will treat them nicely," she finished, a stern look on her face.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Oh, that must be one of them..." Mrs.Weasley said, as she drifted off towards the door.

"Who are the guests, dad?" Ron asked once his mother was out of the kitchen.

"Oh. Um...well Ron, I think it would be best not to dwell on that right now." Mr. Weasley replied, not in a hurry to announce to his son that it was his enemy that would be living with them for two and a half weeks.

Mrs.Weasley came back into the kitchen with a girl on her left side. She had a long mane of straight, silky black hair, and bright green eyes.

"Everyone, please welcome Miss Zabini," Molly grinned, trying to ignore the identical looks of shock on the faces of her children.

* * *

It was the day of the Death Eater meeting, and also the day that Narcissa would be escaping. Draco ordered his driver to stop at the mansion.

"Mr.Malfoy, you are not to go to the Manor," the driver had said.

"Then park somewhere outside the Manor. I need to get my mum."

The driver reluctantly agreed; two hours later they arrived outside the mansion. Draco looked at the clock adorning the dashboard.

"Seven o'clock...the meeting should be starting now..." Draco murmured to himself.

It was then that Narcissa burst from the iron gates, clutching her bags. Draco opened the door.

"MUM!" he called; she turned to face him. "OVER HERE!"

She climbed in to the back seat and hugged her son.

"Draco," she said, pulling away, "Draco honey, we're free, we don't ever have to go back to him..." Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she had on the biggest smile Draco had ever seen her with.

The car pulled out and drove in the direction of the Burrow.

* * *

Blaise sat in her new room, wondering where on earth Draco was. Despite the Burrow's initial appearance from the outside, it was actually quite spacious and had many rooms.

There was a knock at her door.

"Yes?" Blaise said.

The door slipped open a crack, and Virginia Weasley's face appeared. Blaise had secretly envied her; she was most undoubtedly the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts.

"Hi. I was just thinking we could...talk, or something. I mean, if you want any company..."

"Sure, come on in," Blaise said, forcing a smile; she wanted to make sure everyone felt comfortable with her being here.

"Thank GOD," exclaimed the youngest Weasley, opening the door all the way and stepping inside. "You don't know how glad I am that there's another girl here for once!"

This made Blaise smile. "I thought that Granger chick stayed with you?"

Ginny paused.

"She doesn't count."

Two hours later, they were gossiping excitedly (some of the topics being tampons, masturbation, the quality of bras and dirty underwear.) Anyone who hadn't known better would have thought that they had been best friends since they were both still fetuses.

There was a rap at the door.

"Yes?" called Blaise, much as she had done before.

The door opened, and Draco Malfoy entered the room.