RECKLESS FUN | Blaise Zabini | Au

11- EVENING FLY WITH SLYTHERINS

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ZOE FELT LIKE HER HEAD COULDN'T WRAP AROUND all the confusing details Harry and Ron explained to them: apparently, Sirius Black was after Harry, to finish what Voldemort had started.

Whenever she thought about her father, it was like her brain was about to run overlaps and she ended up with a headache. She had absolutely no opinion about him because whenever she thought he was only a mad murderer, the mental image of her and him in the photograph when she was a baby came to her mind. And when she thought that maybe his mind just hadn't been able to handle the war and went crazy, she started to feel slightly sorry for him. All the things she had ever heard him do were ringing in her ears and haunting her thoughts if she started thinking the matter for a few seconds too long.

"Zoe, you didn't get any presents without a note who it was from, didn't you?" Hermione questioned, worried, when the girl finally entered their dorm in order to lay face down on her bed.

"No, I didn't," Zoe let out an annoyed sigh, "like I told Professor McGonagall: it's a ridiculous thought that the Firebolt was from Sirius Black. - I mean he could afford the Firebolt, yes, but it's not like that he could just walk into Gringotts and say he would like to visit his vault where all of his money are. And why would he spent hundreds of gallons if he would actually send Harry something, why wouldn't he just send something like a poisoned chocolate?"

Unfortunately, like Professor McGonagall, Hermione wasn't convinced it wasn't a possibility the broom would not be sent from Sirius Black by this reasoning.

Harry and Ron were both angry with Hermione. Zoe completely understood why: Harry had been the owner of the best broom in the world, and as far as she, Fred, George and Ron were concerned, the stripping down of a brand-new Firebolt was nothing less than criminal damage.  Even though Harry and Ron didn't, Zoe still remained in speaking manners with Hermione because the matter of Harry's broom didn't really involve her. However, she did think Hermione's reaction was annoying and unnecessary. Why would Sirius Black go through all the trouble of buying the same broom the English National team would have in the Quidditch World Cup next summer just to kill off Harry when there much cheaper things to jinx?

Fred, George and Zoe used the rest of the holiday still having fun by taking the advantage of the empty castle and playing Exploding Snap with Harry and Ron.

All in all, they were glad when the rest of the school returned shortly after New Year, Lee among them and Gryffindor Tower became crowded and noisy again.

The night before the term started, Zoe saw Draco and Blaise in the corridors as they were heading back to their common room after dinner, which reminded her that she would have to talk to Draco about the Hippogriff. However, the idea of getting Draco to tell his father the Hippogriff which attacked him should be released after all, especially, after he had seen what it did to Hagrid, Harry, Ron and Hermione - just because Zoe asked was impossible. She would just have to get Draco somehow convinced the Hippogriff was too great to die.

She had a brilliant thought as she sat down in front of the fire in the common room with Fred, George and Lee.

"That's it!" Zoe let out in joy, abruptly.

Fred, George and Lee all turned to look at her, slightly confused.

"What?" Lee wondered, his brows knitting together.

"I'm going to need your help in this, if you please, and we're making records on one of the most stupid things I've done yet..."

They didn't realize it, but the boys all leaned in slightly at the mention of this. It was rare when Zoe understood herself she would do something stupid. The girl then proceeded to explain to the three boys how she was planning her cousin to ride the Hippogriff which he at the moment wanted to be sentenced to death.