A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 89 ~ A Secret Revealed

As the wizards departed, Ben Weatherstaff emerged from the cover of a nearby copse of trees, the robin on his shoulder. He looked after the young men and shook his head.

"It's happening again, robin me boy-o. No one likes to leave well enough alone," he muttered. "Some things are best left alone."

Robin twittered in agreement, then Ben turned and headed for the garden house to sharpen some tools.

Snape retrieved Blaise and the group of young men explored the grounds on brooms, then Disillusioned themselves and flew over the Loch.

"You think we'll see the monster?" Ron called to the shimmer on his right.

The shimmer, which was Harry, replied, "I don't think the legend is true, Ron."

"It's true," Blaise said from behind them. "The Loch Ness Monster is a water horse. A proper magical creature. It's just that Muggles can't see them clearly. They only catch glimpses of them here and there. Look over by that cove, on the left, by the rocks."

They all looked over to see several Loch Ness Monsters in the distance, gamboling about in the water. There were large ones, medium-sized ones and little ones. All were jet black, had long necks, thick bodies, four flippers and a long, flat, almost whale-like tails, just a bit rounder.

"I'll be gobsmacked. Look at all of them," Ron breathed. "I can't believe they're here and no one sees them."

"They're a bit like Thestrals, but you have to have magic to see them, rather than see someone die," Blaise said.

"It's a wonder Hagrid hasn't taken one and put it in the lake at Hogwarts," Harry observed as a small monster slid down the back of a larger one, splashing into the water playfully as another climbed up its lowered neck.

"Probably wouldn't get along with the Giant Squid. You know how territorial it is. It flings anything in the water back to shore," Harry responded.

"Enough about monsters," Draco said, unimpressed by the beasts. "How about a game of 'Kill the Wizard with the Quaffle?' "

Now, that sounded fun, and would work of some tension. There was something visceral about battling for the ball and knocking people off their brooms in the process.

"Come on, I'll get my Quaffle," Harry said, turning back toward shore, followed by the others.

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"I wonder where they are?" Hermione said impatiently from the doorway of the main gatehouse. "I told them when we'd be back."

"They probably got caught up in something," Susan said as she fixed lunch. "I'm sure they'll be along."

"I see them!" Ginny called. She was standing further out on the grounds.

"It's about time," Hermione muttered, returning to the house.

Ginny watched as they all approached, her eyes rounding as she looked at their condition. Every wizard was covered in dirt, and she could see tears in a couple of their robes. Snape's robes had the collar so stretched, it hung away from his neck.

"What were you all doing?" Ginny asked as soon as they were close enough. All five of them looked tired.

"We were playing 'Kill the Wizard with the Quaffle,'" Harry explained. Ginny just shook her head as she followed them into the gatehouse.

"It's about ti—what happened to all of you?" Hermione demanded, taking in their disheveled condition.

"They were playing 'Kill the Wizard with the Quaffle,'" Ginny informed her with a smirk.

Hermione scowled at Snape, who had quite a bit of dirt on his nose and grass in his hair. He shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Honestly. There's serious business afoot, and you all are out there playing games."

"Well, we're going to have to do something physical to hold us over for the rest of the week, Hermione. We're cut off from all of you," Ron said in their defense. "We need to work off our frustrations. Well, most of us."

Ron looked at Draco and waggled his eyebrows before looking back at Hermione.

"Wanking off isn't really considered sex, is it? So, Draco can keep up his on-going relationship with his hand."

"Shut up, Weasley," Draco snapped at him.

"I have something else to occupy your time," Hermione sniffed. "Now, go clean up and come into the kitchen for lunch. We can go over everything while we eat."

She stalked into the kitchen, followed by a smiling Ginny. She hadn't even noticed Blaise looking at her.

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"You've got to be kidding us," Blaise said with a frown, leafing through the stapled parchments Hermione had handed out to all of them.

"I assure you, Blaise, I'm not kidding anyone. This is the script we'll be following for the ritual. I want everyone to memorize all the lines, even though you won't all be using them. Ron, Blaise, Severus, Harry, Draco, Ginny and I will be the 'chorus.' Our part will be chanting and responding. Susan will be the lead. Harry, you have to learn Susan's part as her understudy, in case anything goes wrong and she's unable to finish."

"Go wrong? Like what?" Ron said, his eyes narrowed.

"She might get laryngitis or something, Ronald. I don't know. And I'll study her part, too, in case Harry comes down with something."

"There's more than thirty pages here. I'm no actor," Blaise complained.

"You don't have to be. Just pretend you're memorizing lessons. You can do it. And you have to do it, Blaise. You took an oath," Hermione said evenly.

Blaise looked up at her, then back down at the script. He didn't answer her. Draco's gray eyes shifted towards him for a moment, then he too, looked back at the script.

"Now, we have a whole week to get this right. As you can see, the actions are written in. When to raise your hands, when to lower them, when to make signs—"

"Signs?" Blaise asked.

"Yes. They're just hand movements. They're the same as wand movements. Mostly to and fro, then back and forth. You do it over your heart. Top, bottom, left, then right."

Blaise didn't like this. He just shook his head.

"I think it's going to be interesting. We can learn our lines and practice together in the evenings," she said with a smile.

"All I ask is that you put Silencing charms around yourselves when you read out loud. I don't want the chants carrying to Boleskine house. I want to keep the element of surprise. So, Blaise, be careful when you're studying. It might be better to leave the house completely."

Blaise sighed.

"Fine. I'll study with Draco," he replied.

Draco felt a sense of relief that Blaise was going to participate.

"Well, there's no time like the present. I'm going to start studying right away," Hermione said, picking up her script and leaving the kitchen.

"We can study together," Ron said to everyone.

"I'd rather not," Blaise replied. "But, I'll know my parts by the end of the week."

He took his script and left. After a moment of hesitation, Draco followed him.

"That figures. Well, we can study together," Ron said to Harry, Snape, Susan and Ginny.

"I'm going to study with Hermione for now," Snape said, also exiting the kitchen.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Susan looked at each other.

"Guess that leaves us," Ginny said.

"That's fine," Harry responded with a smile as he flipped open his script. Susan cast a Silencing spell around them and they all began to read.

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Later that evening, Susan went for her nightly walk around the grounds. She left Ron at the gatehouse, but Ginny wanted to come with her.

"I walk at a pretty good pace, Ginny," Susan said as she laced up her trainers.

"I'm sure I can keep up," Ginny responded with the certainly of the slender.

Well, she was wrong. Half a mile in, Susan began to leave her behind. She had a certain pace that she kept to keep in shape and she wasn't going to hedge on it.

"Ginny, I've got to keep to my usual pace," she said to the redhead apologetically.

"Go ahead, Susan," Ginny said. "You warned me. I don't want to slow you down."

"Thanks."

Susan walked away. Ginny was determined to finish the walk, however, so kept going. It was getting dark, so she pulled out her wand and lit it.

She'd walked another half mile, when she had the creepy feeling she was being followed. She turned and shined her wand behind her, making it brighter. She didn't see anything.

She began to walk faster, her eyes sliding back and forth. She thought she heard something and spun again.

"All right! I know somebody's out there. This isn't funny! Show yourself!" she exclaimed.

She heard a sound from the right.

"Stupefy!" she cried, sending a stunner in that direction. She didn't hit anything.

Now, a low snarl sounded from the left. That was an animal! And a savage one from the sound of it. Ginny took off running, her wand brightly lit. She heard another snarl and turned around, running backwards, shining her wand and ready to hex anything that moved.

Suddenly she tripped over a root and fell to her back. Suddenly, a form hovered over her, slitted green eyes meeting brown ones.

It was a panther and it showed its teeth at her.

Ginny was too terrified to move as the big cat looked down at her. Then suddenly, Blaise stood in its place, offering her his hand.

"You should look where you're going," he said with a smile.

Ginny scowled at him.

"You're an Animagus!" she hissed, ignoring his hand and getting up herself, dusting off her jeans.

"Yep," he said shortly.

"You're also a git! Stupefy!"

And Ginny blasted him right off his feet.

"Chase me across the grounds, will you?" she muttered, walking back toward the gatehouse as Blaise laid there, out cold.

He should have figured it would end this way, based on how Ginny was when they were reviewing.

Live and learn.

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Ginny stormed into the gatehouse. Snape, Ron, Harry, Draco and Hermione looked up at her.

"Where's Susan?" Ron asked.

"She's still out walking," Ginny muttered, plopping down on the couch next to Harry, who knew something was wrong immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Did any of you know Blaise was an Animagus?" she asked her shocked companions.

Even Draco hadn't known. A chorus of "no" answered her question.

"Well, he is. And he just chased me across the grounds for sport, the bastard," Ginny huffed.

"What?" Harry exclaimed, incensed. "I'll blast him into yesterday! Where is he?"

"Blasted into yesterday. I Stupefied him and left him out there," Ginny responded.

Blaise wasn't very social, so it wasn't odd to anyone when he didn't show up to study. The script was still new, so it wasn't that important he be there yet, just that he learn his lines. Everyone just thought he was at Boleskine house or something. Not running around harassing Ginny.

"What's his form?" Ron asked curiously.

"A panther. A black panther," she answered.

"Cool," Draco breathed. Ginny frowned at him.

"I can't believe that you didn't know. You're his friend," Ginny said accusingly.

"Just because we're friends, it doesn't mean we tell each other everything. We're also Slytherins. Slytherins keep secrets," he responded loftily.

"Yeah, well I wonder what other secrets you're keeping, Draco," Ginny shot back at him.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Weasley," Draco replied, his gray eyes narrowed.

"It just sounds like Blaise was having a bit of sport with you, Ginny," Snape said diplomatically.

Hermione turned toward him, frowning.

"That wasn't sport, Severus. That was frightening. He nearly scared her to death. Surely you don't condone this?"

"She was never in any danger, Hermione," Snape replied evenly. "Blaise was just having a bit of fun."

"Fun. That's not fun," she said coldly.

Snape sighed inwardly. There were some very different outlooks between Slytherins and Gryffindors. Scaring people could be fun. Period. But to Gryffindors, it was some kind of cardinal sin if it were happening to one of their own. If Ginny had scored on Blaise, it would have been fine. Snape remembered how it was with James and the others. They'd done more than scared him and nothing had been done about that. He had been left to his own defenses, just like Ginny had been. If he could handle it, she could.

"Well, Ginny hexed him, so, he's paid for his 'crime,'" Snape said. "Let's just get back to studying this script. All right?"

Hermione looked as if she wanted to say more, but she didn't.

They returned to studying, Harry's face dark.

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Blaise sat up on his elbows and blinked before pulling out his wand and lighting it.

"Oh, blast," he hissed as he realized what happened. He should have had his wand out when he transformed. He knew how volatile Ginny Weasley was. But—she had looked so scared and helpless that he'd let his guard down. Never good to do with anyone.

Particularly Ginny Weasley

No doubt she'd told on him by now, and probably Potter wanted his bit of flesh, too. Blaise stood up and brushed himself off.

Well, it was only fair. After all, he wanted a bit of flesh, too.

Ginny's flesh that is.

He hadn't given up yet.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.