Chapter Text
Blaise woke, slightly uncomfortable from sleeping sitting up for the second night in a row. He looked down at the beautiful girl in his arms, and softly kissed her on the top of her head. He had no idea how he was so blessed that they found each other.
She stirred and turned to smile up at him.
“Good morning!” She whispered.
“Any morning that I wake up to see you is a good one, Moonshine!” He responded, grinning at her. She giggled, and sat up.
“Moonshine?”
“Like sunshine, except I didn’t think that quite worked because of your name, so… Moonshine!”
“Isn’t that alcohol or something?
“Shit, I forgot. It is. Because you’re addicting?”
Luna laughed, and Blaise laughed with her.
“Works for me!”
“To be fair, you are pretty addicting!”
“All right, but what do I call you? Blaisey-pie?”
They both fake gagged.
“Don’t you already have it? I mean you called me it the first night.”
Luna looked confused.
“Pretty boy?”
She laughed, a sweet sound that made his heart swell, along with something else.
“Of course! Pretty boy it is!”
The atmosphere grew solemn as they remembered their circumstances.
“Except that’s only for here.” She murmured.
“Yeah.” He agreed quietly.
“What are we going to do?” She asked in a barely audible voice. “I’m scared to go back out there. But I can’t really stay here all day, can I? And It wouldn’t be fair to keep you here either.”
“I’m honestly surprised that Filch hasn’t put me in detention yet for not being in my dorm. You know now that he can, he uses every chance he gets to chain and whip us. But you’re right, we can’t stay here all day. I promise I will be at your side at all times.”
Luna leaned into him, and he pulled her lithe body onto his lap. He kissed her head once more, and then she tilted her head up, and pulled his mouth to hers. He savored her taste, so bright and hopeful, a stark contrast to the current situation at Hogwarts.
She sighed pulling back, and Blaise, grumbled, disappointed.
“We’ve got to get going.” She pointed out, and Blaise reluctantly rose from the couch, stretching, catching Luna admiring him as he did so. He pulled her into a hug, and gave her one last kiss, before they both stepped behind changing screens provided by the room, so they could prepare themselves for the day.
They took a deep breath, and stepped through the door. They both knew that they couldn’t just stay in the room of requirement all day, but Luna wasn’t nearly ready to go out by herself. And Blaise couldn’t be disillusioned all day, so they had to blow their cover. They were both scared, but it was the best of their choices, which were, admittedly, all shitty. At least this way she would feel at least somewhat safe.
Trying to stay unnoticed, they made their way into the great hall for breakfast. Luna was willing to brave the Slytherin table, having no friends at her house’s table, and Blaise might have potential allies in his house. And if they turned against them, Blaise was willing to do anything to protect her. Although Blaise knew Vince and Greg were completely and utterly sadistic, and were thoroughly delighted with the Carrow’s reign, he thought he could see reluctance in the eyes of his friends.
For years Draco had confided in his friends how his father kept pressuring him, and while Theo might be a bit of a stereotypical bad boy, he didn’t genuinely want to hurt anyone. Sure, he would beat someone up, but never to the point of permanent damage, and they usually deserved it. One of Blaise’s few good memories from this year (excepting the recent time spent with Luna) was of Theo beating up Zacharias Smith. That asshole always deserved it, but this specific instance was when he was making fun of Daphne for crying because her cat had died.
Holding Luna’s hand, he led her to the Slytherin table, ignoring the hushed murmur of surprise, quelled by fear of the Carrows. They sat down at the end claimed by Blaise’s yearmates, next to Draco, letting Luna have the edge, so she’d be farther away if fighting broke out.
“Where have you been?” Draco hissed, “I’ve had to cover for you when Filch came in, and hide it from Vince and Greg, because you know they’d tell. But they’re all starting to get suspicious.”
“I’ve been… somewhere hidden.” Blaise replied slowly, glad that it seemed like Draco was on his side.
“You like ‘em tender?” Vince sneered across the table.
Blaise delicately rose an elegant eyebrow, daring him to say more. To no one’s surprise, his skull was too thick for the message to reach his brain, and he clarified.
“It’s the bitch you got to have fun with in class yesterday.”
For once Blaise was glad they were being taught dark curses as he raised his wand, but he felt a soft touch on his arm, and he let Luna guide his wand back to his pocket, only to see her draw her wand and slash it at Vincent Crabbe. Purple flame sunk into his chest and he collapsed. No one made a move to help him, except for Greg, who shot them a nasty look, but was too scared to confront them.
“Shit!” Blaise gasped, “where the fuck did you learn that?”
“Tell you later.” She replied.
“Holy fuck!” Theo was just as astonished as Blaise was. “I’ve wanted to do that for forever!”
“Don’t want to get on your bad side!” Remarked Draco. “But seriously Blaise, where have you been? With Lovegood?”
“Not originally. It’s a recent development. But I really don’t want this getting back to Greg or Vince. Or Filch. And through them, the Carrows.”
“Why the fuck would we tell them?” Theo scoffed.
Blaise glanced at Luna, and she nodded slightly. He sighed.
“Meet us outside the great hall after dinner. We’ll show you.”
“Ok. Now that’s over, so, dude! That little Ravenclaw you liked?”
Luna raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Blaise, as he looked incredulously at Theo.
“What? I never said anything!”
“Blaise,” Draco sighed, “For the last few years you haven’t been able to keep your eyes off her. You haven’t even been emotionally invested in a relationship since fourth year, after you broke up with Daph’s little sister after she tricked you into taking her to the Yule ball, and even then, the extent of the emotions were mainly embarrassment.”
Blaise shook his head.
“I can’t hide anything from you two.”
Luckily, for their charms and potions class they had Alecto instead of her brother looming over them, which was rather impressive that she managed to loom, considering her stature. Amycus was supervising the classes of the younger students, making sure they weren’t taught anything ‘harmful’.
Then it was lunch, sitting again with Theo and Draco, Greg shooting them nasty looks, and Vince presumably in the infirmary. On the other side of Theo sat the Slytherin girls from his year, Pansy, Daphne, and Tracey whispering together, while Millicent just glared at the world.
After lunch was the mandatory ‘muggle studies’ class, where Alecto Carrow droned on about how muggles were filthy animals that rolled around in one another’s shit. Even Blaise, being raised in pureblood societies with limited muggle interaction knew how far from the truth this was.
“I think she might have disturbed a nest of nargles.” Commented Luna, in a whisper. It was nearly impossible for Blaise to hold in his laughter. Only the reminder of the chains, whips, and the cruciatus that would’ve awaited him if he lost his composure were enough to stifle his guffaw.
After that, it was back to the great hall for dinner, where Blaise, Luna, Theo, and Draco ate in silence, not wanting to draw any attention. Gregory Goyle still glowered at them, and Vince still wasn’t back. The girls continued to whisper amongst themselves, and Millie had settled herself next to Greg. It was clear where her loyalties lay.
Once they had eaten their fill, Blaise and Luna left with the slow trickle of people heading back to their dorms. They stood outside the doors for a minute, waiting in tense silence, until Draco and Theo emerged.
“So, where is this top secret hideout?” Theo asked.
Blaise rolled his eyes. “You’ll see when we get there. Although, Draco, I have to thank you. You’re the one who made this place known to me.”
“Wha– oh! Is it–”
“You’ll see.” Blaise cut him off. “First, we need to get somewhere where we can disillusion ourselves.”
They made their way to the nearest bathroom, pausing to let Pansy, Daphne, and Tracey head into the girls room, and snuck Luna into the boys room with them. Once inside, they each cast the spell on themselves, and Blaise did Luna’s spell. He had been working on teaching her, but it wasn’t a spell you could learn first try. It had took him a few months to perfect it, and, false modesty aside, he was a rather talented wizard.
They re-emerged into the hall, finding it empty, but the charm was a necessary precaution. Using each other’s echoing footsteps to stay together, they made their way up to the entrance to the room of requirement. They paced back and forth three times until the door appeared, and they quickly went inside, although the door seemed stubborn for some reason, and it took a few tries to close.
“I guessed it!” Yelled Draco as he removed the spell. “Well, I didn’t guess it until you gave me the hint, but then I guessed it!”
“Good job, ferret boy!” Theo exclaimed sarcastically, to which Draco responded with a jelly legs jinx, although Theo easily threw up a shield.
“Quit it, you two.” Blaise rolled his eyes as he removed Luna’s charm. “Acting like first years.”
Theo flipped him off, while Draco stuck out his tongue, but Blaise just smiled, glad to have his friends back. They turned to actually get a good look at the room, when something confusing jumped out at all four of them.
“Why are there six beds?” Draco asked warily.
“Shit!” Swore a disembodied voice, “Fucking magical room blowing our cover!”
“Pansy?” Blaise asked, looking around incredulously, “The fuck are you doing here?” He only knew one person with that voice and that extensive of unprovoked vulgarity.
Pansy appeared behind them, followed by Daphne and Tracey.
“Well, you weren’t exactly being silent at breakfast, and we wanted to see what you were talking about.”
“Fuck! Did anyone else hear?” Blaise asked frantically.
“Nah. We were the only ones close enough. If Millie had tried she could’ve heard, but she was too busy hating the world in an effort to impress Greg. Fucking idiot.”
“But don’t worry!” Daphne jumped in, “We won’t tell. Especially not me, not after what those fuckers did.”
The Carrows were the reason behind the death of her cat.
“And we stand by our friends. We don’t need anyone else getting tortured.” Tracey added quietly.
“Ok, that’s settled, but there are still seven of us, and only six beds. Care to explain, anyone?” Theo asked, smirking at Blaise and Luna’s entwined hands. Both blushed, and while Blaise flipped Theo off, Luna quietly asked the room for another bed.
“It-its not like that- I mean we haven’t- we didn’t-”
For the first time in months, Blaise had all of his friends around him, laughing.
“Ok, while this is all hilarious, could we laugh sitting down? I’m still sore.”
They all winced as the room provided a semi-circle couch around the lit fire place. Tracey had been one of Amycus’s cruciatus demonstrations the day before.
They’d all made their way to the couch and sat down, Luna and Blaise cuddled up together, to the snickers of all. The other girls huddled together, leaving Theo and Draco just stiffly sitting upright, looking around, unsure what to do.
“No, but seriously, Blaise, and you too, Luna,” Draco said once they were all settled down, “We won’t blow your cover. Blaise, you’re our friend, and Luna, you’re with him, so you’re practically one of us.”
“Feel free to stay here. There’s obviously an abundance of space. But really, thank you, everyone.”
Blaise was interrupted by a strange grating sound coming from the fireplace. A big dark hole had opened up right next to it.