A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 87 ~ Blaise's Outlook

The next morning found Snape, Ron and Harry in the kitchen of the main gatehouse, eating their breakfasts, sans witches. They had left the confines of Boleskine early for their "girls' day out," with Hermione intent on purchasing the items they would need for the banishing of the demons. She had access to Snape's bank account in order to procure the necessities. The expenditures would be listed under "house cleaning supplies."

Last night, Blaise had half-heartedly waited outside the boathouse for Ginny. Since Draco had moved into the boathouse, he had planned to take her to a secluded area on the grounds. Doing it outside was a turn on, after all. But, in his heart, he knew she wouldn't come.

She didn't.

Blaise finally returned to Boleskine house to have a little one-on-one with his hand.

Ron carefully ate the quarter of potent diet cookie Susan left for him before digging into the breakfast plate she'd prepared. She had left each wizard a plate of food wrapped in foil in the oven before she left, so everyone would have a good meal. She had also cleared out all the meat, including tinned meat so there would be no cheating, and used her cornucopia to provide vegetarian bangers. One could hardly tell the difference in taste. But the texture was a little off. Altogether, not too bad with toast, beans and fresh tomato slices.

All three wizards ate in relative silence, their minds still on the night before and how good the sex had been for all of them.

After they took the edge off their hunger, Ron was the first to speak.

"You know, last night was supposed to let us get our fill of our girlfriends," he said, cutting a banger, "but—gods, it didn't work out that way. I feel like I could spend the entire week in bed with Susan."

Snape and Harry understood how he felt.

Especially, Harry. His night with Ginny had been different than any night before. Harry loved Ginny very much, and his lovemaking showed that. He was always tender and gentle with her and had been from the first time they shagged.

Well, last night Ginny told him she didn't want that. That she wanted him to be rough—strong and selfish. It took Harry a while to wrap his mind around that, but not too long a while, and he made a very good showing. He also had a somewhat guilty sense of satisfaction afterwards. Pounding a shrieking Ginny face-first into the mattress did something for him. He felt more—manly somehow.

It had done something for Ginny, too. It broke the illicit attraction she was feeling toward Blaise. Part of her had wanted to go to the dark wizard, to find out for herself what he was about. It was almost an animal attraction. The demons had little to do with it. Luckily, she had subconsciously figured out what Snape did, in a way. By totally getting into Harry, she'd fought off Blaise's influence. He was no demon, but pretty close to it as far as she was concerned, tempting her the way he did.

Ginny and Harry were closer than ever now.

Snape chewed his food slowly. On one pale cheek, three pink stripes were just visible, a reminder how Hermione had scratched him. But considering what a hot night they had, a couple of scratches were definitely worth it. He had a couple of matching ones on his back as well.

"I know how you feel, Ron," Harry said softly, but he didn't say anything more. Ginny was Ron's sister, so he couldn't go into details.

Ron's blue eyes shifted towards Severus and the faint lines on his cheek.

"How was your night, Severus?" he asked him curiously.

"The demons set upon Hermione almost instantly—but I managed to handle it," he said softly, not looking up from his food.

Ron wanted to inquire further. He knew Hermione had to have put those scratches on Snape's face, but—that would be too intrusive, considering he used to be Hermione's boyfriend. If she was a witch he had never been with, he could have asked. But to do so under the circumstances would be bad form. He'd just have to wonder.

"Where's breakfast?"

Draco Malfoy had walked in, and was glaring at the three of them as they ate.

"In the oven," Ron said, tossing his head toward the stove.

Draco stalked over and retrieved his breakfast. He sat down at the kitchen table, looked at the food, then picked up a banger and bit into it. He chewed, frowning slightly.

"This banger tastes a little off," he complained.

"It's meatless," Harry informed him. "We can't eat meat for a week, remember?"

Draco scowled.

"This is unacceptable. I can't live off of this," he grumbled.

"There's always Malfoy Manor," Ron replied.

"No. I've already told you I'm staying," Draco replied. "But you're going to have to make room in your gatehouse. The boathouse is completely unsuitable. The lapping water kept me up most of the night, not to mention all the buzzing and croaking."

"Why didn't you cast a Silencing spell?" Harry asked him.

"Because," Draco said, reddening a little. "I don't like using that charm when I'm asleep. If something is approaching me, I won't hear it coming."

"Scared of the dark, eh, Malfoy?" Ron said with a leer.

"No. I'm not afraid of the dark, just what could be in the dark. It's a precaution, you dolt!"

Ron was about to make another sneering comment when Snape stepped in.

"Enough," Snape said, "You can share the living room with me, Draco. But you'll have to sleep on the floor. The couch is mine."

"The floor? You must be kidding me. I'll bring my cot. The floor. No possible way."

Snape just shrugged. Blaise walked in the door and looked at the four wizards, his brown eyes drifting over the food. He was dressed in his running gear and had a little sheen on his body. He wiped his face with a towel he had draped around his neck, then picked up a glass from the kitchen counter, rinsed it out in the sink and walked over to the cooler. He opened it and retrieved a pitcher of cold water and poured himself a glass. He put the pitcher back, then slowly drank the water down. He put the glass in the sink, then asked, "Is there any breakfast left?"

"You have a plate in the oven, Blaise," Snape told him.

Blaise removed his plate from the stove, sat down at the table, took a bite out of the banger and promptly spit it back on the plate.

"What is that?" he demanded, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

"A vegetarian banger," Draco told him as the wizard stared down at the sausages as if they were made of shit.

"A vegetarian banger? It's disgusting. How can any of you eat that?" he marveled. "These are real beans and tomatoes, aren't they?"

"Of course," Harry said, frowning at him.

"I don't see why we can't eat meat," Blaise complained as he speared a slice of tomato.

"Because things of the flesh block the spiritual," Snape said softly. "We have to be open to the spiritual, Blaise, if we want to rid Boleskine house of the demon influence."

"Bollocks," Blaise snorted. "You don't know that at all. In fact—"

"Listen, Blaise," Ron said. "Hermione has saved my and Harry's arses on a number of occasions because she was smart enough to figure out what had to be done. We wouldn't even be here if not for her brilliance. If she says we aren't to eat meat, we won't eat it. We're going to do exactly as she says. I'm not going to question her, and I'm not going to let you do it, either."

Blaise inserted a forkful of beans into his mouth, chewed, then swallowed.

"Gryffindors," he said disdainfully. "You lot can't think for yourselves at all."

Blaise's brown eyes shifted to Snape, who looked back at him steadily.

"You're shagging her, so—it's to be expected on your part, Snape. But I don't believe in blind obedience. Everything should be challenged to see if it holds up—"

"We've been challenged enough, Blaise. Hermione's always come through—"

"Fine, Weasley. You just do whatever Granger says to do and see where it gets you. All of you. Go ahead."

Blaise rose from the table, taking his plate with him.

"I'll be at Boleskine House if you need me for anything," he said, leaving the kitchen.

Draco rose, too.

"Blaise, wait!" he called.

"Draco, you're supposed to be staying out of Boleskine," Harry said to the blond wizard.

"I'm not going to go in. We can eat outside. I don't know about the rest of you, but Blaise is smart. If he thinks there's something wrong with Granger's approach to all of this, I want to bloody know what that is. He could be right."

"He's not right," Ron hissed as Draco rose.

"You don't know that," Draco said. "Blaise's right about you Gryffindors. You're willing to believe things on face value. We Slytherins—"

Draco's gray eyes rested on Snape with a slight frown.

"Aren't," he finished.

Draco exited the kitchen.

"They're both idiots. Hermione is the brightest witch of her age in the wizarding world. She knows what she's doing," Ron said defensively. "Right, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"I trust her with my life," Harry declared, then said, "What about you, Severus?"

Snape looked at her two friends.

"I trust her with my life as well," he said softly.

But what he didn't say was Blaise was correct about one thing, and that was no one idea should be just blindly accepted. There could be different approaches to the same situations.

"I'm going to go talk to Blaise and Draco," Snape said, rising.

"Good. You tell them what's what, Severus. That they're to do exactly what Hermione says or go home," Ron advised him.

Snape didn't say anything as he threw away the disposable plate his food had been on. He left the kitchen.

"Snape will straighten them out," Ron told Harry confidently.

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"We aren't Muggles," Blaise said to Snape and Draco as they stood a distance away from Boleskine house. "We shouldn't be involving ourselves with their rituals. Besides, I've seen no concrete evidence of anything being in Boleskine house. Weasley's always been a glutton, Granger, a know-it-all and Draco . . . "

Blaise hesitated for a moment, trying to find a diplomatic way of stating things without insulting Draco.

". . . has always been used to the finer things."

That worked fine. Draco just nodded.

"You have to admit, Blaise, that all three have acted out of character. Their less attractive traits seemed to have been amplified. Enhanced," Snape responded.

"It could just be suggestion. Nerves. Anything. It doesn't mean it's demons. I looked at the terrace today. The sand is still smooth. There are no footprints or anything."

"It could be they only appear during rituals," Snape countered.

"Should. Could. Would. Don't you see it's all conjecture? If these were magical creatures that we know exist, that would be one thing. All things religious are nothing more than the product of Muggle dreaming. There's no truth in any of it. The existence of these things can't be proven. And even if they did exist, they aren't a part of our culture, our way of life. To act like they are is a mistake, Snape. I'm telling you. It relinquishes power, weakens who we are. It makes things Muggle seem more powerful than our own. They aren't."

Snape frowned at him.

"Are you sure this just isn't a reaction to being raised to believe in pureblood superiority?" he asked Blaise pointedly.

Blaise frowned at him.

"We are superior to Muggles. We have real magic and no need to believe in false gods. Surely you can see that. Doing this ritual is—is demeaning and an insult to our people," Blaise declared, shaking slightly.

"I'm half Muggle. They are my people, too," Snape replied, a bit of anger in his voice.

"That's probably why you're so accepting of this madness," Blaise shot back at him.

"Are you calling me tainted, Blaise?"

Blaise's eyes narrowed. Snape was a very talented wizard. The pureblood really couldn't discern any differences between Snape's magical abilities and his own.

"No, not you, but maybe your way of thinking, Snape. You put more truck in it than I do," Blaise said, again, being diplomatic.

Draco just listened as the two went at it.

"Well, I am intimately familiar with Hermione, and I know for fact something in that house is influencing her, and it's unnatural. Weasley was affected as well. You may have been around them longer than I have, Blaise, but I am more familiar with them than you are. Possibly, Draco is just a spoiled, privileged git, and I didn't get that sense about him initially—"

"Hey!" Draco spluttered.

Snape ignored him. He continued to address Blaise

"But, I'm inclined to follow Hermione's lead on this one. Your disbelief and disdain for things Muggle isn't enough to convince me we're going down the wrong path, Blaise. If you can't do this, I suggest you leave Boleskine."

Snape turned and walked away, Draco looking after him.

"Maybe he's right, Blaise. I mean, I understand what you're saying about Muggles and their supposed magic, but what if there are demons here that are different than what we're used to dealing with?"

"That's why I came here, Draco. It's just that I haven't seen anything that proves there is. And if there are, we can't count on Muggle rituals to deal with them. We aren't Muggles. There's something—something more to us," Blaise said.

"Or maybe something lacking?" Draco suggested.

"No!" Blaise snarled at him. "It's ludicrous to think they can be better at anything than we are."

"Not better, Blaise, just have a different approach."

Blaise snorted.

"Draco, you need to find out where your loyalties lie. In the meantime, I'm going into town and get a decent meal. Real bangers," the wizard said.

"Blaise, aren't you going to participate?"

"Sure I am, but I'm going to be well-fed when I do. No meat. Granger is nutters. It can't possibly make any difference."
"But, you took an oath to do what was necessary. If you don't follow it, there will be magical repercussions. Painful ones."

Blaise quirked an eyebrow at Draco.

"Did I? With all of us present, and all that magic swirling about, who's to say who took an oath? Granger would have done better if she'd asked us to take the oath individually, not as a group," he said craftily. "That way she could have been sure each person did. I still have my freedom of choice."

Blaise was Slytherin to the bone.

"See you later, Draco," he said to the gobsmacked wizard.

Blaise turned and walked toward Boleskine House to change clothes. Draco looked after him, still unable to believe he deceived everyone. But deception was a well cultivated Slytherin skill and a highly prized one in Slytherin circles. Blaise had it nearly mastered.

Because of Draco's night in the boathouse, he could think a bit clearer. The wizard had matured because of his experiences under Voldemort. His dark mark reminded him of what he'd been through every time he pulled up his sleeve. It would always remind him how he almost lost everything by taking an immovable position on the side of wrong. He'd learned from that.

So, although he understood Blaise's outlook, he was with Snape on this one. Granger really was a brilliant witch who had pulled plenty of arses out of the fire.

There was no reason to doubt her abilities now.

Draco headed for the boathouse to miniaturize his cot and transfer it to the gatehouse. He didn't agree with what Blaise was doing, but he wouldn't betray him.

Unlike Potter, Weasley and Snape, Draco was his friend.

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A/N: At last, a Looping chapter. I felt I needed to explore Blaise's outlook a bit, because everyone was shooting him down so badly. Now that we know that, we can move toward the adventure portion. I think it's going to be very interesting. Thanks for reading.