Roommates

Nine

Sibling Rivalry Often Leads To Arguements

Later that evening, Hermione carefully ventured into the living room, after hearing Blaise storm in fifteen minutes earlier. He was sitting on his sofa, muttering darkly, photograph in his hands.

"Blaise?" she said, trying not to upset him further. "What's the matter?"

He looked up from the photo, eyes a dark shade of blue. "Lil is being a prat," he said. "Actually, she's mostly like that, and now she's a bitchy prat."

"Blaise!" Hermione gasped.

"I know, I know, 'Don't swear'," he said tiredly.

"No, not just that," Hermione said, frowning at him. "How can you say that about your sister?"

"Easy," Blaise replied, glaring at the photo again. "Let me demonstrate: She. Is. A. Bitchy. Prat."

"But-- why would you say that about Lilithe?" Hermione asked.

"Hmm..." he said, looking off into space.

"Trying to remember?" Hermione asked, smiling slightly.

"No, no," he said, looking back at her, face carefully blank, "trying to figure out how I would say the number." Hermione blinked several times and his mouth twitched. "Lil," he went on, "while being an excellent mother and wonderful daughter, is a crap older sister to Zel and me. She and June get on like bears and honey, but she's always been rather distant and airy to me," he said bitterly. "Mum didn't really 'plan' on me. Didn't really want a son, I think." He shrugged. "So, she got a-" he blushed slightly "-wet nurse after I was born. Then, as soon as she had recuperated, she went back to her job and took Lil with her. She left Zel and me, her two lonely children, at home with Dad. So we--that is, Zel and me--started helping Dad out with books in the library and with his work. I suppose this is more of a rant against Mum than Lil," he said ruefully.

"Well, yeah," Hermione agreed.

He leaned back into the sofa and made himself more comfortable. "Then, by all means, let me move on to my oldest sister," he said, bitter grin stretching across his face. "On my fifth birthday, right in the middle of opening presents, Lil told me that I was a 'mistake.' Mum was standing right there. She said nothing. Two months later, Lil started reading Zel's mind and mine, and there's an express rule of the house was that she isn't allowed. She would go and tell Mum everything I was thinking, and they would laugh about it. This went on until Lil went off to Beauxbatons, when I was six. She did it when she came home for holidays, and would do it now, except I found a something to block that. It's in jewelry form, but it needs the runic shape to keep it that way." He fished around under his shirt and pulled up an image of a rune, formed out of silver, which hung on a silver chain along with a ring. "Lil's form of mind reading is different than Legillimency. That you learn, and Occlumency is hard to learn, and I'm not sure if it works on her kind." He shrugged. "And isn't Legillimency more of reading memories? I believe, from what I've read, that it is, and Lil reads thoughts, not memories."

"But," Hermione said, motioning towards the ring on his left hand, "if your mum didn't want you, why did she make you that charm-ring?"

Blaise looked at it, fingering the ring on his left-hand middle finger. "Hmm..." he hesitated. "I'm not sure if it really came from Mum."

"How so?"

"Well, it was outside my bedroom door the summer after fourth year, when You-Know-Who came back, wrapped with 'Mum' scrawled on a small piece of paper. I like to think it came from Mum, but I think Dad made it because he didn't want me to hate Mum."

"You don't hate your mum?"

Blaise thought about that. "I... don't," he said, surprised at it. "I even love her. Well, sort of. Not as much like a mother than as a hardly-there aunt. I hate what she did to me, how she treated me, but I don't really hate her. She's done some good, like June, who isn't like her or Lil at all."

"What's June li-" Hermione started to ask, before someone knocked on the portrait rather heavily. Blaise started to get up, but she waved him away, and went to answer the call. "Who is it?" she called.

"Lilithe Sererotti," came the muffled voice.

Hermione jerked a bit, and half-turned to look at Blaise. He shrugged, and nodded. Nodding back at him, she opened the portrait.

Lilithe swept into the room and walked over to Blaise, standing imposingly over him as if expecting him to stand up. He looked at her from his position on the sofa and waved at the other seats. "Make yourself comfortable," he said, smiling with a sarcastic twinge to it.

Lilithe pursed her lips and sat on a Hufflepuff couch to the left of his sofa. "Why--" she started.

"Wait a minute, sister dear," he interrupted her. "Hermione, come over and sit down, please." Lilithe turned and narrowed her eyes slightly at Hermione.

Hermione felt a prickling feeling on the back of her neck, that crept up until it disappeared into her head, and she carefully thought about her upcoming Potions test. When the feeling receded, she moved over to sit on the Gryffindor couch and Blaise shook his head a bit and motioned for her to sit beside him.

As she sat down beside him, he whispered in her ear while Lilithe was occupied with sitting down and placing a package next to her, "Hermione, hold my hand if you don't want her to read your mind. The physical contact will let the charm flow to you. It's your choice, though. Be careful of what you think."

Hermione quickly took a hold of his right hand, and felt a slight tingling flow through her before it settled down.

"May I continue now?" Lilithe said, voice icy.

"Please do," Blaise replied, face almost blank, except for a snide twist of his mouth.

"What I was going to say," Lilithe continued, "was, why didn't you come and speak to me? You know I wanted you to. You purposefully ignored my looks and went off with that delinquent Malfoy boy instead of speaking to me, your family."

"Draco," he said, "is no more of a delinquent than you are, Miss Cow-Tipper." Lilithe flushed angrily. "And he is, in fact, family through Dad's grandfather's sister, who married Narcissa Malfoy's grandfather. And, yes, I did ignore you to go and play Exploding Snap in the Slytherin common room, as is my right as a student and Head Boy of Hogwarts." Hermione could tell he had touched a nerve in his sister, by the slight maroon that was shading her cheeks.

"Mum and Dad didn't let me go to Hogwarts because-"

"Correction: mum didn't let you go to Hogwarts. Do go on with your pitiful justification," he said smoothly.

"Because," ground out Lilithe, "they wouldn't have understood a special child like me here."

Blaise disguised his laughter with a racking cough. "Ha. There's special, and then there's 'special,'" he said. "You fall into the second category, which puts you in as a freak."

Hermione stared at the two siblings sitting beside and across from her. They were going for each other's jugulars.

"You're just mad because Mum took me and June with her on trips and not you and- and- her!" Lilithe spat back at her younger brother.

"And you," Blaise retaliated, standing up and pulling Hermione up along with him, "are a freak who is a complete bitch! How your children can stand you is beyond me!"

They glared at one another for barely a moment before Lilithe responded, "Oh, that's lovely, Blaise. Why don't you tell me how you really feel?"

"You want to know how I feel about you?" he yelled, advancing on her.

"Yes!" she yelled back.

"I HATE YOU! I've always hated you! I hate the way you're a stuck-up, spoiled, pompous BITCH! I hate how you treated Zel and me! I hate the way you SUCKED UP to Mum! And how you always PUT DOWN Dad! I hate how, no matter how hard we tried, you always looked down your ugly, wide nose at Dad, Zel and me! And," he said, taking a breath, "I hate how you lorded everything over us. 'Oh, Blaisey-poo,'" he said, mimicking her voice rather badly, "'I'm going to Rome! You want to come? Well, you can't!'" He stood, seething at her, pale skin red with the blood that had rushed to his head.

Lilithe stood in silence. She had clearly not expected him to respond that way. "Well," she said, picking up a package she had put on the couch next to her, "I had no idea you felt that way."

"How," Blaise said, still seeing red, "could you even think that I could love, or even like you, after all of my childhood spent being mocked and put down by you? Are you that stupid?"

"I suppose," Lilithe said, "I didn't think you would care. Here. Dad sent this to you. Too heavy for owls, he said. Have a nice life Blaise. I'll see you at the lectures, if I decide to stay." She walked past them and left the living room.

As soon as the portrait closed, Blaise sat down heavily on the Slytherin sofa. He rested his head on one hand, looking shocked. "I can't believe I said all of that," he said.

"It was rather, erm, forceful," Hermione said, trying to be tactful.

"Sorry to pull you into it," he said. "I didn't know that Lil and I would get so...honest, I suppose." He laughed a short and jerky laugh. "Actually, if I think about it, that's the first honest exchange of dialogue I've had with Lil since I asked her if she wanted any toast this summer and she said no."

"Wow," Hermione said. Realizing she still held his hand, she let go quickly.

"I know." He sighed and propped his feet up on the table. He looked at the package that lay on the table. "I wonder what Dad sent me," he said, leaning over and grabbing it. On top was a letter. Blaise opened it and read it aloud.

"Dear Blaise,

Congratulations on being Head Boy. I'm sorry to have missed that tidbit; I was far too wrapped up in the Blocking Charm research. However, the research paid off. I'm having Lil (don't scowl) deliver this package; it was too heavy for owls, I'm sure she told you. I actually sent it with her because it's too valuable to be sent by owl. No, it's not a new broomstick. That's a Christmas or birthday present.

But, before I tell you what it is, I'm going to ask you a few things. Firstly, is the Head Girl cute? Or, rather, do you think she's cute? Also, is the charm working? How's Zel? And Eduardo? Are you working hard on your grades?

Now on to my gift. This is a small package of rings enchanted with the Blocking Charm; I've put about fifteen in. Give them to your friends, and please send a few to Zel and Eddie (my new nickname for Eduardo) because L. is continuing on her lecturing tour and her next stop is Zel's college, the Vienna University of W. & W.

Please use these wisely.

All my love,

Dad"

Blaise coughed. "Sorry, he's a bit out there sometimes," he said, motioning vaguely. "He likes to be 'hip with the A-crowd' or something like that."

"I think it's funny," Hermione said. "So. Am I?"

"Are you what?" Blaise asked, confused.

"Am I cute? Are you going to tell your dad I'm cute, or what?" Hermione smiled at him, plainly amused.

Blaise's cheeks, which had gone back to being a cream color, turned reddish again. "Er," he said, looking away from her. "YesIthinkyou'recute," he said, all in a rush. "AndI'mgoingtotellmydadthat."

Hermione thought for a moment until she translated what he had said. "That's very sweet of you, Blaise," she said. "Thanks." She patted his shoulder and went back to her room.

Blaise sat, and blinked for several minutes. Walking back to his room, he muttered, "I can't believe I said that."

He put his pajamas on and sat on his bed, thinking.

"YesIthinkyou'recute."

"AndI'mgoingtotellmydadthat."

With his head cradled in his arms, he moaned, "I really can't believe I told her that!" Getting underneath the sheets, he thought, 'I owe Draco ten Galleons. There goes my bet that I wouldn't think the Head Girl was cute.'