Never

Ch. 5 - Settling in

"No way you're leaving alone. Absolutely not."

Harrison tugged his arm away, "I'm can take care of myself. Find someone else to follow for the next few days."

"You don't see the way they look at you, they're all eying you like prey to be feasted upon."

"You've said that one already. And wait, before you say it - they won't kill me."

"And it's a pretty good point! Just because you're magically powerful, doesn't mean Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott couldn't gang up on you!"

"What are we? Eleven? Twelve at most? You think us shooting some sparks at each other is gonna hurt?"

"Crabbe and Goyle don't need their wands to kill you," Blaise said grimly

"Ha!" Harrison laughed, "Again? Really?"

"Come on, please Harrison."

"I haven't seen any of them except in classes for days, and I haven't spoken to them at all. I'm sure this has all blown over."

"Trust me, it hasn't. Malfoy can hold a hell of a grudge. Just let me go with you at least."

"Merlin's beard, I'm not Malfoy. I don't want my own personal bodyguard."

"You need one though."

"You're just being paranoid, Zabini. I'm not spending one more day cooped up in this room anymore."

---------------

A week or so later, Blaise made a sudden declaration. "I think Malfoy might have forgiven you. That, or he's actually plotting to murder you and just wants you to let your guard down."

"Oh really? Why?"

"Nott has started talking to you again. He wouldn't ever disobey Malfoy, he understands that his entire family relies on the 'generous' support of the Malfoy family."

"What do you mean?" Harrison asked, "Why?"

Blaise grinned, "The Malfoys and Notts are both death eater families, but their connection goes far beyond that. Both houses are ancient, they've been in the same alliance for hundreds of years, along with the Crabbes, Goyles, Parkinsons, and Greengrasses. Bones and Slughorn recently having withdrawn over the last few decades, and the Gaunts - well they've been extinct for a while now. But the Notts and Malfoys have always been especially close."

"What do pureblood hierarchies have to do with this?"

"Everything," Blaise responded, "After You-Know-Who fell, the Malfoys got away scot free. But Theodore's dad? He was caught red-handed performing raids during the war, the public couldn't stand for his release - no matter how much money Nott Sr. offered the ministry. But that's just surface level, the Ministry didn't simply refuse the bribes that Nott Sr. offered. They actually took the money, obviously they lied. Nott was put on trial and found guilty. Then they closed the Nott vaults, all of them - making them inaccessible by anyone - except for Nott. Sr., they couldn't exactly close the master of a house out of his own vaults. But he wasn't a problem, he was rotting away in Azkaban. This way, the Ministry hoped that if the vaults remained untouched and stagnant for fifty years - the accounts would be closed and the money would be turned over to them. This left the Notts dirt poor, they had no access to the majority of their money. They still had their properties and a small portion of funds stored in other places, but all their prestige and power? It would've been destroyed, the Notts would be forgotten in years. If not..." Blaise trailed off, allowing Harrison to finish the thought

"If not for their helpful friend, the Malfoy family," he said

"Exactly! The Malfoys kept them afloat; young Theo Jr. and his grandparents lived comfortably, but only on the whims of Lucius Malfoy."