He pushed it toward the first war gradually - specific engagements, specific Aurors, how the Dark side operated then versus now. Moody answered without apparent reluctance. The normal eye was steady throughout. Blake was watching the other one.
"You don't seem bothered saying his name," Blake noted, during a pause.
"Whose name," Moody said.
"Voldemort."
"Should I be?"
"Most people are."
Moody looked at him with the normal eye. "Most people didn't spend fifteen years hunting his followers. Fear of a name's a luxury for people who didn't have to say it every day for years."
Blake nodded. He was still watching Moody as carefully as he could without giving himself away, and finally, he noticed something, right in the middle of his face - his left cheek. A twitch. Small. Regular enough to be involuntary. What's that?
"Got a meeting shortly," Moody said abruptly, almost startling Blake. "Good questions, Renshaw. You've got the instincts for it."
"Oh - of course. Thanks for all your time, Professor," Blake said, and left.
He took a couple of steps out into the corridor, wand out, Disillusioned himself, and waited.
Nobody came.
He waited longer. His feet were going cold on the stone floor.
Still nobody.
Then footsteps from further down the corridor, and Blake vague made out the lumbering figure of Neville Longbottom appearing around the corner, looking slightly flustered, clutching his bag. Blake quickly Disillusioned himself and stepped out into the corridor.
"Blake!" Neville said, surprised. "Were you - I've got a meeting with Professor Moody, I hope I'm not-"
"What time did he say?" Blake asked.
Neville checked his watch. "Six o'clock. Am I late?"
Blake looked at his own watch. One minute to.
"Right on time," he said. "Sorry for stopping you."
He walked back to the dormitory slowly.
So he did have a meeting. He turned it over. But he kicked me out 30 minutes earlier. Why is that? Or Neville is exactly as convenient as he appears to be, and the eye was twitching for a different reason, and -
Forget it.
He didn't have proof. He only had a pattern, and a feeling, and three years of experience trusting both.
Not yet, he thought. Not yet.
/
Blake and Zabini were coming back from dinner when they noticed something at the same time - the piece of paper that they'd been leaving in the doorframe since the first day of Hogwarts was on the floor.
Sh*t.
Neither of them went in immediately.
"Did you reset it?" Blake said.
"Yes," Zabini said.
"This morning?"
"Yeah."
They went in. Blake did a full circuit of the room. Nothing visibly moved, nothing visibly taken, nothing he could point to with certainty.
He crouched down and picked up the piece of paper.
Moody, he thought to himself.
"You think it was Moody?" Zabini asked, echoing his thoughts.
"I wouldn't put it past him."
Blake set the paper down on his desk, silently praying in thanks that he'd left the book about Horcruxes buried in a box the garden.
Almost certain, he thought. Almost isn't enough. Find the proof.
/
One random day, after Potions on a Wednesday, Lavender Brown approached him with a shy smile on her face. Blake was confused for a moment - they had only ever spoken 3 times throughout their entire time at Hogwarts so what could she want? Unfortunately, it dawned on him too late.
Half the fourth years of both houses had spilled out behind them. A group of fifth years had stopped nearby for reasons of their own. The corridor was, in short, full. This is arguably the worst possible scenario ever.
"Hi, Blake," she said, still shy.
"Uh, hi?"
"How are you?"
"I'm doing fine, thanks - and you?"
Zabini, Tracey, Charlotte and Daphne stood somewhere to his left. None of them were making a sound, but he could feel their mental laughter and jeering.
"Oh, I'm doing good - y'know, just school, right?" She laughed awkwardly, and Blake tried his best to smile. Then, she cleared her throat, and looked over at Daphne suddenly. The Slytherin girl just stared back, and she quickly turned back to Blake.
"Are - are you and Daphne Greengrass going together?" Lavender asked, smiling hopefully. "To the Ball?"
He was aware of Daphne approximately six feet to his left. Why the f*ck would you ask that when she's right there?
"No," he said, slightly too quickly.
"Oh!" Lavender's smile changed into something more purposeful. "So you're not - are you going with anyone?"
"Oh - I'm alright," Blake said even quicker, taking a step back. "Thank you though, genuinely. I hope-"
He'd said it as kindly as he knew how, and he meant it.
Lavender Brown's eyes filled with tears, and she turned and walked away very quickly, and the corridor watched her go, and then the entire corridor looked at Blake. He felt his face go very red, very fast.
"I don't know what I did," he said, to no one in particular.
"No," Charlotte agreed, laughing properly for the first time in a while.
Tracey looked extraordinarily pleased with something, though Blake couldn't work out what.
He looked to where Daphne had been standing. She was already gone, expression cleared, walking ahead of the group.
/
"A French boy asked Daphne out at lunch," Zabini said that evening, appearing at Blake's shoulder in the common room. Since the events at the World Cup, no Slytherins were brave enough to even give them dirty looks anymore, and the group decided to use that to their advantage. Blake stiffened slightly, feeling something in his chest drop slightly.
"Okay?"
"She didn't even look at him," Zabini continued. "Just kept eating. As if he'd never spoken."
Blake kept his eyes on his essay. "Right."
He ignored the new feeling that arrived in his chest.
"You're welcome," Zabini said, sitting down with his own work.
"I didn't ask for anything."
"I know," Zabini replied serenely.
Tracey, Charlotte and Daphne soon joined them in the common room.
"Zabini."
"Greengrass," he replied, without turning.
"If you hurt her-"
Huh?
"I know, Greengrass."
Oh…
"I want to make sure you know."
So he finally asked her out.
"I know. I've been told twice."
Fair enough, Zabini.
"Would you like a third?"
Charlotte chimed in, "She means it."
"I know she means it," Zabini said, calmly. "Thank you, Charlotte."
Tracey threw a cushion at Zabini, which he caught without looking.
"Charlotte," Blake asked. "Are you going with anyone?"
Charlotte was quiet for a moment. "I'm not really in the mood for all of that," she said. "I'll come and watch."
"Fair enough," Blake said.
Nobody pushed it.
AN: If you would like to view up to 20 more bonus chapters on all my fics so far including this one, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces).
Thanks for reading and make sure ADD to your COLLECTION and VOTE with POWER STONES! Once we hit 100, I'll release a BONUS chapter!