January 22, 1998

2008-03-22T00:31:18Z

My new charges (the Gryffindors) have been rather quiet of late. Too quiet - at that back table where many of them sit. Perhaps they are plotting to steal some more of my ancestors' magic, or at the very least this square of lasagna. I could have sworn that I was able to perform that charm in class before Finnigan - I think it was him - glowered at me, and now I find I cannot. Is this cause for concern? Should I take this matter to our esteemed headmaster?

...

2008-03-15T01:17:39Z

Name: Blaise Aidric Zabini

Blood Status: Pureblood. The various gentlemen Blaise's mother has married over the years makes his blood lineage appear stellar, but the truth is that Blaise is only a first or second generation pureblood, and at least one of his mother's grandparents was a Muggleborn. Dun-dun-dun.

Age/Birthday: September 29, 1979 (18)

House/Year: Slytherin, seventh year

Classes: Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration. He certainly is capable of taking more than four and doing reasonably well in them had he the inclination. However, simply put he doesn't. While he's not adverse to learning for learning's sake and often reads for leisure, he considers furthering his mind something he is capable of doing in his own time and neither puts great value on the constraints of a conventional class environment or in what many professors would try to teach him.

Sexuality: Blaise is heterosexual, but so picky that he may as well be asexual. If he has had sex, it would not be with a fellow Hogwarts attendee and would be done over one holiday with a minimal amount of fuss. There are few female classmates he has any amount of regard for, and even if that were the case, he doesn't believe in shitting in his own nest or screwing the crew. Affairs close to home would be too muddled, too messy, too complicated, and he would prefer his life to be kept as drama-free as possible. It is for this reason that he would never sleep with any female servants.

Ironically enough given his cynicism towards them, the stability he requires to be able to have sex with another student would mean that he would only contemplate sex within a relationship. His high standards make one night stands unlikely. How could he know what sort of shrew he had entangled himself with if he had only met her that evening?

Appearance: As his looks in the book are never noted in a derogatory manner by Harry (unlike most other Slytherins) and he is described as having an exceptionally beautiful mother, it is safe to assume that gazing upon Blaise is a none-too-torturous act. Unless you're one Daphne Greengrass and pining, "Why oh why can't I have him?" He may be the object of a few infatuations, none of which he has the inclination of returning and all of which cause him more amusement than they would in a nicer and more decent boy. In the books he is described as being tall and black with slanted eyes.

He is in decent shape and likes to stay healthy, though he doesn't believe in organized sports. The concept of teamwork both eludes and irks him and he'd rather maintain his already naturally trim form by going for a jog around the school grounds and lake. While he doesn't care what other people think per se, Blaise is rather prideful and likes to present himself well to other students. If he dresses casually, the jeans will be clean and belted, the sneakers with a recent polish and the t-shirt in good condition and well-cut. He would never sleep in a t-shirt and trackpants or boxers, preferring pyjama sets of fine cotton or flannel.

PB: Getty Guy, seen here

History:

Family

Blaise's upbringing has not exactly prompted him to form deep and long-lasting attachments. He managed to develop bonds with his real father and the first one or two stepfathers and learned certain things from each of them, such the rudimentary understandings of a second language or two. However, not long after he became attached to one, he would be replaced by another. After a while he just stopped bothering.

As an adolescent he was able to take or leave most of his stepfathers and would like to have had as little to do with them as possible. He however recognized that all were rich and successful in their chosen fields, and therefore had some sort of knowledge to impart upon him that he may be able to use to his advantage in the future. So he started to pick their brains at the dinner table and ask questions about their chosen fields and/or vocations. Because of this Blaise has a solid foundation of general knowledge and a good head for business.

In terms of his mother, Blaise loves and is protective over her but doesn't like or respect her. As he grows older, he finds himself to be put in an increasingly parental role, something that he resents. It is his job to keep track of the family finances at home, and his dim-witted mother is always owling him for assistance in managing her affairs. Monetary, not personal, fortunately!

Hogwarts

Blaise figured out very early on in his Hogwarts career what he needed to do to survive Slytherin. Despite the mystique attached to his person he somehow manages to be good at flying under the radar since Harry did not know his name until the inaugural Slug Club gathering on the Hogwarts Express, and he has similarly not being reported on as being pranked by Fred and George like so many other Slytherin males.

Blaise was somewhat antagonistic towards others up until his sixth year, but when the reality of war set in, realised that there were some people it would be distinctly unwise to piss off. Draco is the Dark Lord's creature, and similarly while he finds Crabbe and Goyle ridiculous beyond words, he will be very wary of who is nearby before he openly mocks them. There are some Slytherins who are not well-connected enough to be a threat, and he siphons off his frustrations onto them.

As a student Blaise likes learning but not particularly fond of studying. While he doesn't slack off exactly, he very much goes through the motions where schoolwork is concerned, unless it is a class he has a strong interest in. He does know when to apply and not apply himself though, and worked fittingly hard for OWLs. As Ron and Harry were the only two students who needed new textbooks in Potions when students had only recently found out that their new teacher permitted "E" students to take the subject, it is safe to assume that he received an "O" for that OWL.

In terms of academics Blaise is lazily intelligent. He is the type of student who could get an "E," even an "O," if he pushed himself to his utmost. He however did not push himself to the utmost. Instead after skimming his text for information, something far more interesting caught his attention and he spent most of the evening reading up about that instead. By ten oclock he decided it was a lost cause and went to bed to get up seven hours later and complete his homework in a blissfully deserted common room. He therefore received only an "A" for that assessment. Which isn't to say that he completely slacks off. He doesn't study himself to the bone a la Theodore or brown-nose a la Draco, but is aware of his own scholastic strengths and limits and what he needs to do in order to get the marks that he requires.

Needless to say this self-realisation didn't occur overnight. During his first year a typical pattern would be him working thoroughly for the first few weeks and earning chiefly "O's" and "E's," then thinking, "Well, this is a stroll in the park" and slacking off only for those marks to drop to "A's" and "P's." The younger Blaise would then panic and go into Granger or Nottlike study mode and manage to pull up most to "E's" or "A's." Being attuned to theory and classes that don't require a lot of reading, unless he has a genuine interest in the subject and respect for the professor, he tends to be strongest in subjects like Ancient Runes and Potions and weakest in History of Magic.

Personality:

In Regards to Himself

Blaise is not cruel exactly, or at least seldom for only the sake of being cruel. If he is, it will be as a by-product of some deeper goal he had to accomplish. He however is rather deadpan and blunt. Very seldom does he tells outright lies, but he is regularly not entirely truthful. Most falsehoods are actually done by stretching the truth or hiding part of it. Aware that while not cerebrally endowed to the Theodore Nott, Padma Patil or Hermione Granger level of things (though he considers Granger to be an unnecessary show-off and ridiculous), he is still more intelligent that the majority of the people in his year - and especially his house. He therefore delights in being able to give others the slip through homonyms, obscure and outdated meanings of words, and by omitting one aspect of the truth. For example he may tell Daphne Greengrass that she is "nice," when in reality he means the old English connotation of the word, which was "stupid."

An apathetic individual generally, Blaise does however have standards and therefore certain things that he sets store by do exist. Dignity is one of them. He hates to look bad or give a bad impression among others. And since one's image is most easily controlled when one is not particularly close to others, he keeps to himself to an extent. Fellow students (he mentally refers to them as "inmates") could spend an entire hour conversing with Blaise and while he would be civil (if not entirely gregarious and welcoming and as for warm, forget it) and answer most questions courteously enough, unless they were an exceptionally astute or skilled conversationalist, the other party would leave feeling flummoxed and as if the seventh year Slytherin was still an enigma to them. And that's the way Blaise is happy to keep it. Not having much respect towards his mother, he doesn't feel especially protective of her and little short of calling her words suited to a woman of ill repute would earn more than a sense of "don't they have anything better to do?" amusement.

While Blaise finds violence distasteful and considers Crabbe and Goyle to be uncouth, he feels no pressure to make a stand against their behaviour. It's all very well for the Gryffindors (those champions of lost causes) to talk about fighting the good fight and putting a stop to Crabbe and Goyle's role in the Carrows' tyranny, but they don't share sleeping quaters with the most brain-malnourished school occupants since groundskeeper Hagrid was expelled. So Slytherins should play a greater role in school affairs? A positive one at that? They can talk, in that welcoming gold and scarlet tower of theirs. It's easy for them to be heroic when they're in an environment that fosters it. In Slytherin if you're surviving, you're doing well. No on expects heroism from them, and no one would appreciate it if one of his house were to commit an extremely uncharacteristic and unlikely act of gallantry. So why bother, Blaise wonders. Would you in his situation?

In Regards to Others

Not growing up with close attachments to his fellow students, he has been the most influenced by his stepfathers and thus possesses quite sophisticated tastes for a teenaged boy - and really doesn't see what the deuce is wrong with that. This lends a world-weariness to his take on life and a feeling that he outgrew the majority of his so-called peers years ago.

Friendships are too much work and too unstable for Blaise, but the closest thing he has to a friend is Theodore Nott. He is relatively pleasant and gets along with most housemates because he has to. While suspicious of outsiders, he has a grudging respect for Ravenclaws as they share similar interests to him. He however has no time at all for Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors, considering loyalty to be a misplaced concept and finding Gryffindors loud, irksome, annoying and totally without any form of class.

One could never accuse Blaise of being overly sentimental or of wearing his heart on his sleeve. By all appearances he is too detached to feel strong emotions for others. Basically he is capable of only irritation at one end of the spectrum and sympathy at the other. People he feels sorry for include Theodore, Lydia Greengrass and McGonagall. People he feels irritated towards include everyone else in his house at some point or another. For all the faults the Gryffindors have, he can allow that their one big redeeming quality in his eyes is that he doesn't have to live with them.

It is not that Blaise is incapable of acts of kindness, even compassion. A housemate who confided in him may find him to be a perceptive listener and good sounding board, adept at asking proving questions designed to make you realise what the crux of your problem (and therein the solution) was. Additionally he's so subtle at it that often the subject isn't aware of what he's doing. Plus he's not especially judgemental. With his upbringing he's in no position to be.

Not sounding too bad at the moment, is he? However, a large part of that impartiality comes from a lack of stands with others, and a large part of that lack of standards comes from simply not giving a rat's arse about many things other than himself. Yes, he believes that companionship, fraternity and goodwill towards your fellow wizard (or witch, and more so towards them in fact - wink, nudge) has a place. But that place is ranked a fair few rungs below his top priority, taking care of numero uno. If social ties - which are as fragile and as fine as a spider's web anyway - conflict with his own wellbeing, he'll cut them off without remorse or regret. There will seldom be any malice in this act. It is simply what needed to be done, but it will be done with scarcely a second's thought.

In Regards to Housemates

Blaise is sociable within his own kind but aloof. Barring any pressing academic needs he will idle away in the common room after supper, if there is company above Croylian intelligence about, but will give very little about himself away. When you open yourself to someone, he reasons, you give them power over you, and he is very reluctant to confide secrets. If he is let in on the confidences of someone he has a decent amount of respect for, he will keep mum but privately consider the person to be rash and weak for making themselves vulnerable and putting him a potential position to abuse that trust.

He has the necessary intelligence and people skills to do so if he put his mind to it, but doesn't really aspire to be a leader in the Draco mould. Or a loner in the Theodore mould, for that matter. While he doesn't want relationships of any form and realises that there is a limit to their uses, there is still a part of him that enjoys conversation and company in moderate dosages and when he considers the person to be worthy of his attention. Most in his house aren't. While Draco survived in Slytherin due to intimidation, Blaise would have leaned heavily on his sense of diplomacy and guile.

Blaise's view of Draco for revelling in the "special task" Voldemort had given him during sixth year is one of disdain. One of the few times in which Blaise had left his disdain towards Draco slip (with the exception of times in front of Theo) was in the Slytherin compartment after the inaugural "Slug Club" meeting. He couldn't believe how lightly Draco appeared to be taking the matter, and how he possibly thought being so deeply immersed in the Dark Lord's plans would reap any benefits significant enough to take such a risk. Once he reflected on how dangerous this may make Draco, he resolved to - not get on his and his henchmen's good side exactly (the notion of bootlicking he finds undignified) - but make sure that he did not stray onto their bad side.

In Regards to Schooling, Academics and Politics

Having grown up watching a mother who charmed and cajoled her way to the top, Blaise sets very little score by favouritism. It is not so much that he is morally against it or that he considers it to be "wrong" or "unfair," but sees such things as being tools that lack dignity or class and that he'd prefer not to use. He therefore wasn't overjoyed when he was summoned to Slughorn's cabin at the start of sixth year, though he went anyway, being astute enough to realise that his inside knowledge would give him leverage over a clearly envious Draco and likewise that "Sluggie" wasn't a wizard one could afford to piss off. So while pragmatic enough to be not adverse to profiting from it, he does not set much by professors such as Slughorn and Snape, and those who he respects are teachers such as McGonagall.

Blaise is a blood supremist, but not to the extent of running off to join the Death Eaters or wanting Muggleborns all exterminated or enslaved. Such a level of hatred would need too much effort on his behalf, and as stated elsewhere he really isn't emotionally invested enough to feel a strong level of loathing for anything. Yes, he does refer to the likes of Hermione as "mudbloods" and the Weasleys as "old blood traitors," but this mild vitriol more comes from a lack of regard at their behaviour and absense of propriety (and in Hermione's case, a rightful respect and awe of the new environment she is entering) rather than his truly believing there is anything inherently wrong or "dirty" about them. He talks as if he feels more vehemently about blood purity than what he actually does. Which isn't a bad move in his position.

Like Theodore, Blaise seems to view blood purity as more cultural than anything, such as a Muggle marrying one's own religion. While he would prefer to date pureblood witches in theory, he wouldn't be adverse to a halfblood so long as she was mostly of wizarding descent, had been raised as one and didn't have any near Muggle relatives.

In a Nutshell

The watchword on Blaise's temperament is apathy. He could care more or less about certain people, but that would take too much effort. While possessing better social skills than Draco or Theodore (for the love of Salazar, SOMEONE has to), he doesn't feel inclined to use them. His upbringing has conditioned him against developing emotions towards others, both positive or negative. Because of this he seldom feels grateful towards others, but at the same time any grudges are short-lived. He is cynical and critical but not innately malicious. That, and consequentally being loving or strongly compassionate, would require a wider emotional range than what he is capable of or perhaps rather what he allows himself to feel. In three words: cynical, detached and opportunistic.

Questions

What does your character think of the current situation at Hogwarts, especially the Carrows?

Blaise is neutral about the war. Privately he hopes Harry will emerge victorious, but not out of any selflessness or regard for such people as the Boy Who Lived. He merely realises that things would be better for himself and he would have greater freedom of movement if Voldemort is defeated. A wealthy and reasonably intelligent pureblood would likely not go unnoticed for long under the Dark Lord's reign, and he is apprehensive about what would happen if that ever came to pass. He is therefore not entirely happy with things under the Carrows. While he's privately amused at being appointed Gryffindor prefect and while he's not the type to take up arms against it, nor care that this is so, he is astute enough to recognise the bias and ludicrousness of the situation. In the same vein while he never took Muggle Studies until it was made compulsory and has a keep-on-your-side-of-the-fence attitude towards Muggles and Muggleborns at best, he sees the material as being propaganda rather than instructional, and thinks Crabbe and Goyle bear closer resemblance to a couple of primates than anything which might have sired the likes of Granger or Justin Finch-Fletchley. As he knows how to play the game, he is likely faring rather well in the subject. Conversely he knows that there is something intrinsically wrong with doing so in a class he has never taken before, which does his good opinion of the Carrows no favours.

What's your character's deepest, darkest secret? Who might know this?

There was one particular stepfather acquired the summer before Blaise's third year who was able to get through the chinks in his armour. When he received an owl from home stating that this particular model of paternal figure was in hospital and not likely to see out the week, he was privately inconsolable. While he hasn't truly considered that his mother may be responsible for the comings-and-goings of his various stepparents (in truth most are geratrics at the point she gets her claws into them and death can usually be put down to natural causes!), that this was the first he had ever felt significantly close to one put an unfavourable sheen on events. For the first time in his life he began to wonder about his mother's role, about how her various husbands seem to come and go at points most fortuitious to herself. Added to his guilt at not being there, at housing an even passing suspicion of his mother, at resentment towards her, Blaise's summer home from his fifth year was an especially strained one in the Zabini household. Even if she hadn't been involved in that or any other of her husbands' passings, for Blaises' liking Mrs Zabini seemed far too flippant and blithe towards the whole affair, and not given it the weight that he felt it deserved. While aware that relations between the two of them had never been rosy, Blaise knew with certainity that while he may still love her, there would never be a day when he liked or respected his mother.

Describe your character's Sorting. What about them caused them to go in their house?

Had he not gone to Slytherin, Blaise would have certainly be Sorted into Ravenclaw. The two remaining houses would have been out of the question since as discussed previously, bravery and loyalty are two traits he can have, but only situationally. He does not value them for their own sakes and has no qualms about discarding both or either if the situation fits. He however has a high regard for intelligence and is more likely to respect those who feel the same, so long as they do not push his buttons in other ways. Thus poised this way, the strongly pragmatic and opportunistic side of Blaise's nature would have swung him towards the serpentine quarter of the school. He values people, but only insofar as they are useful to him. He understands that everyone has a purpose and could potentially be useful. So into Slytherin he went.

Lyrics from "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen

Blaise Aidric Zabini

February 17, 1998

January 22, 1998

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