Fan Fiction ❯ The Life and Times of a Girl Named Blaise Zabini ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The Life and Times of a Girl Named Blaise Zabini

By Rosy the Cat

Summary: Blaise Zabini isn't your average Slytherin. She's smart, she's loyal,
and she wants to kick Voldemort's arse. Oh, and she's not human. LotR (movie
and book canon) /Harry Potter fusion with elements from "The Sandman."

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned
by J. K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury
Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money
is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

The Lord of the Rings belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien, probably his family, New
Line Cinemas, and probably a bunch of other people.

The Sandman belongs to Neil Gaiman, and DC Comics/Vertigo.

Chapter 4

Notation: [...] means the words are being spoken in Elvish

*************************

"Hallo, Haldir. Sorry if I don't get up, but I've had a really lousy week."

Haldir of Lothlorien frowned, bending slightly so as to get a better look at
the half-elven girl's face.

"What has troubled you so, Blaise? I could feel your distress even unto the
far reaches of the Astral Plane that circumstances have forced me to make into
my home."

Blaise grunted slightly as she sat up on the bed, wiping tiredly at the tears
in her eyes and on her face. "What has been bothering me?" She raised an
eyebrow at her spectral friend, letting out a self-depreciating laugh, "More
like what *hasn't* been bothering me, Hal."

Haldir moved so as to appear to be standing in front of her, then crouched down
so that their eyes would be level. He didn't say anything, just offered his
comforting presence, the two of them having learned long since that they couldn't
touch one another, no matter how much it pained him to see his young friend so
sad, so alone.

She sniffled a bit more, then told him what had happened since his last visit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's take a time-out and let me, the author, explain to you, the reader, just
exactly all of the hows and whys towards Haldir's presence in this story while
the two of them re-hash information we already know.

You see, around the same time Blaise had started trying to make her "invisible
ink," in other words her first year at Hogwarts, she had also been searching
for any information on elves she could find in the school library, with the
intention of finding any and all information that would lead her to a method
for finding the Undying Lands.

Not for herself necessarily, of course, but more for the purpose of giving
Legolas and Dallandra a way to rejoin the rest of the family. Blaise hoped,
naturally, that her half-elven blood would be more than enough for her to
join them there, although she was planning on staying for a while before
heading off into the (for her) unknown. She was born and raised in this age,
and she liked it, darnit!

Ahem.

Well, to make a long story short...er, she didn't find anything pertaining
to that particular subject, or even much on Elves, which she supposed made
sense, considering how hard Legolas and Dallandra had worked to keep themselves
secret from the majority of the world. But, even so, she did find something
of interest that she felt might lead to finding the Undying Lands.

Ethric and Astral travel.

Essentially, the person in question created an ethric shell of a body to contain
their soul/spirit/whatever, and created a link between their body, and the Body
of Light, as it were. From there the person could move to the Ethric plane and
scry, looking for people or places or things based on auras and the suchlike.
Also from the Ethric, one could access the Astral plane, which was deeper into
the structure of Reality, and a bit more dangerous.

It was after three months of trying to figure out creating the Body of Light,
as well as the transfer over, and approximately a week after that that Blaise
stumbled upon an entrance to the Astral plane. And Haldir.

Apparently, when he had died at Helms Deep (meaning that the movie was correct
and the book was not, in this case), instead of his soul going straight to the
Undying Lands, as it should have, it somehow became trapped on the Astral,
unable to go forward, and kept (somehow) from going back. Blaise couldn't figure
out how to un-block his path to the Undying Lands, but she did manage to shred
the...whatever it was...keeping him from leaving the Astral with bolts of Light
and willpower, which she had read about while figuring out how to make a Body
of Light.

Since then, Haldir would make semi-regular visits to Blaise in a ghostly form,
although he seemed, to Blaise at least, to have more *oomph* to him then any
ghosts she had met before and since, answering almost any questions she asked
him as they both worked on trying to find a way to reach the Undying Lands, a
ssuming that any way found that would work for Hal, would, with some tweaking,
work for Legolas, Dallandra, and Blaise, and vice versa.

Hal also went to an effort to expand Blaise's Elven vocabulary, as well as
teaching her what had been the Common Tongue in his time. Blaise, in turn,
taught him English, and pretty much whatever bits of other modern languages
she knew or learned.

Blaise never could get him to tell her just *why* he was so insistent that
she learn Westron...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...So, that's essentially what's happened since the last time you visited."

Haldir suspected that, were he alive right then, his jaw would be dangerously
close to becoming unhinged.

It was one thing to know that his young friend was descended from his old
friend Legolas (Blaise introduced herself to him the first time they met on
the Astral as "Blaise, Granddaughter of Legolas Thranduilion" because, well,
she thought 'Hmm, Elven spirit-thingie, use Granda's name; maybe he, she, or
it knows/knew of him...'), but it was completely different to find out that
she was Legolas' daughter!

And that wasn't even taking in account her real name...

After one last sniffle to clear up her nose, Blaise looked up at the older,
tactually-challenged Elf, stared for a moment, and erupted into a severe case
of the giggles.

Haldir looked at her pointedly, raised an eyebrow, and cocked his head to one
side in a purely Haldir sort of way, as if to ask what she found so amusing.
This, of course, simply resulted in Blaise taking another good look at him,
and the giggles turning into full-blown hysterical cackling.

Finally Haldir could not take it any more and said, "Is there something
particularly amusing about me today, or have you snapped under the stress,
Your Highness?"

That broke her out of her laughter, though there was a great deal of amusement
and good humor still sparkling in her dark eyes as she dignifiedly stated,
"That's 'Your Extremely Kooky Highness-Ness' to you, mister!"

At this, both broke down laughing, that particular title being a little in-joke
that had developed between them over the past few years.

Finally, Blaise reigned her mirth back in as best as she could, and continued
with, "I'm sorry about all the laughing and such, but you didn't see the look
on your face! You looked like someone had just told you that Cele... No, wait,
that wouldn't work... That Galadriel was a Drag Queen!" She grinned and nodded
when he gave her a most incredulous look. (Let's just say Blaise had told him
many of the weirder aspects of modern Human culture along with the not-so-weird
over the past few years...)

"...Galadriel as a Drag Queen?"

Blaise shrugged and said, "I couldn't think of anything else that could be much
more shocking that wouldn't be affected by any cultural gaps."

Haldir simply shook his head and said in a tone of dry amusement, "You are a
singular, unique and utterly strange girl, Elessario of Mirkwood."

Blaise perked up and said, "Ooh, idea! I could use that as my pen name if I
ever put my Anime fan fiction up on the Internet, and I'd be technically u
sing my real name, only people would just assume that it isn't and that I'm
a rabid Legolas fangirl, which I am, only I don't go around lusting after him,
because, eww, my father, and I get to hug him almost whenever I want, and no
other Legolas fangirl can say that, and I'm babbling again, aren't I?"

Haldir merely smiled and said, "Yes, but I find that to be one of your more
endearing faults."

"Eh?"

The full-blooded elf opened his mouth to explain himself, but was interrupted
by the bedroom door opening, letting in the distant sound of chattering
mourners, a.k.a. "funeral guests," from downstairs. What really stopped the
two friends in their figurative tracks was the looming form of Legolas, sans
Glamour, standing in the doorway.

He did not look amused.

"I assume that there is an explanation for why you are in my daughter's room,
Haldir. Not to mention how it is that you are here, when I remember you dying
quite a long time ago, and thus should be in Valinor."

*************************

Author's Notes: Ooh, another cliffhanger! I really do seem to have gotten
addicted to these suckers...

I finally bullied myself into finishing this darn chapter. The thing is, I
know where I want to take this story; it's the stuff in between all of the
major action, like the explanations for stuff that happened before the story
took place, that stops me in my tracks.

That and not-so-good old-fashioned Writer's Block, for when I'm trying to
figure out how best to put my next idea... CURSE YOU, WRITER'S BLOCK!!! It's
even worse then Toey, the First Ring, which curses us poor writers with Typo
Demons.

Don't worry if you don't get the reference; you'd have to have read about
OFUM, or The Official Fanfiction University of Middle-earth, first. I've
already sent in my application for the new school year! Woot! Soon-to-be-
licensed ficcie-writer here! Here's the address for the story, those of you
who are interested: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.hp?storyid=644826

Thanks:

My loyal (and loony) reviewers at FF.net-

muggle: Thank you! I'm glad you like the crossover!

kurleyhawk2: I'm on to you, mister/miss/miz thang! Being all cheating and
reviewing anonymously so you can review the chapter more than once! ...I can't
believe you're really that impatient for me to write some more! Anyhoo, I'm
glad you like it.

And over at Fiction Alley-

andrea116_1976: Yes, I find myself rather amused by Blaise's hatred of the
Sorting Hat myself. I'm already planning on her Revenge on the Hat.

Lady Velvet: *jumps up and down excitedly too!* YAY! I'm glad you like Blaise
s a girl! I hope this chapter had plenty more funny and neat stuff you will
like, too.

FEEL da POWWA of da FIC!!!

=^^;=

Ahem.

Kuroneko Kashikoi: Yup, as far as Slytherins come, Blaise Zabini nee Elessario
is about as abnormal as they come. Wait 'till you see her, Lina (ya know, her
muggle best friend that was mentioned in, like, chapter two?) and Draco debating
nonsensical things in a very fanboy/fangirl fashion.

Yup, I've made Draco a LotR fan.

Tremble in my cannon-rendering I-don't-give-a-hoot-ness! =^-^;=

Revision Notes: Minor changes of content. 5-6-04

-- Rosy the Cat