The Barrier to be Broken (Blaise)

[blaise leo zabini]

@rivtrois

The seventh year’s class had finally finished, meaning his last class of the week, with Blaise leaving them to stew over the weekend on a few questions he had posed about combining nonverbal spellcasting with wandless magic. The majority of them would never be able to accomplish the latter, a statistic that had held trite and true for hundreds of years. Only the best of the best could do anything more than a simple hand flick for a levitation charm or to close the curtains on a window. That didn’t mean it was impossible. While Blaise was somewhere in the middle of those two (having never really held an interest in wandless magic), he still knew how to cast basic deflection and shield charms in the off chance he was ever disarmed. That had won over a few of the hardcore dueling students, at least until Blaise put them to the test and they all failed miserably. Those that had a solid grasp on nonverbal casting were directed to continue with that; it was a huge advantage in almost everything, and splitting training between nonverbal and wandless magic was silly. Only idiots tried doing both.

He finished the class having to explain that point again, for what seemed like the umpteenth time. As the students snatched up their bags and ran out of the classroom to begin their weekend, a knock on his door drew his attention towards the front of the room. “Miss Hawke,” Blaise responded, his voice sounding funny as it echoed in an empty room. It wasn’t often that it was this empty, except late in the evening or early in the morning. Flicking his wand at the door to the classroom, he slammed shut, the heavy, metallic lock sliding into place as it did so. “Can’t have the children see it, apparently,” he explained, referring to the smoking. “And I’m sure you don’t want undesirable parties listening in, either.” Sitting down behind his desk, Blaise popped open a locked cabinet, which was normally hidden behind a layer of books. A false front used to hide his extensive whiskey collection. Like hell he was going to spend an entire year teaching at Hogwarts without his alcohol with him. “How do you like it?” he asked as he set two glasses on the top of his desk, bottle of his personal favorite next to them. “Start whenever you’re ready. No need to leave anything out, because the more details I have, the more I can help you.” The letters she had sent him prior to this meeting had explained briefly why she was here in the first place, but that was it. Had he turned down the teaching position, he would have been one of her trainers, so it wasn’t like it mattered that he was still helping her now. Every hit-witch and wizard needed a mentor, and having a few young ones still reaching out to him like this meant he had left quite an impression while he was there.

[blaise leo zabini]

@rivtrois

The offer of the drink was turned down, but Blaise poured it after his anyways. More often than not it was eventually accepted. It was better to get it ready sooner rather than later. And if she still decided not to drink it, he was never one to let it go to waste. Especially this brand. As he leaned back in his chair and sipped on his drink, he watched the Hawke girl unravel what was covering her arm. Magical prosthetics weren’t uncommon in the field, though they were on someone her age. He expected there would be a lengthy explanation for why she was sporting one, considering her current methodical show of it.

And so, the story began. While short, she covered everything he needed to know in a normal debriefing. That was just like the department to train her that way. Her reasons for wanting to shatter the barrier surrounding her family’s house were far beyond the scope of the Ministry, and to an extent, even the Hit department. Blaise kept that to himself though. Personal vendettas had to be solved from time to time, especially when they hit close to home. In this case, that happened to be quite literal.

“Have you considered this a false lead? An intentional block to keep your interest in what lay beyond satiated until someone with the capabilities to let you inside comes along?” They were valid questions and he was sure she had thought about that already. She had said so herself already – the team with her had entered and hadn’t found anything of interest, and she did know her parents better than they did. “Have you ever had trouble with that arm before? Other wards preventing you from going somewhere or magical kickback while performing certain spells?” Seeing as the arm had been on her since she was five, there was no telling how ingrained the magical roots were in her now. He could probably shatter the ward with a little help from his team, but there was no telling what that could do to her arm. Were the two spells associated or connected in any way? Most of the hypotheses he could develop from this would rely on how she answered his prior questions.

[blaise leo zabini]

@rivtrois

All of this to waste time. Blaise had figured as much, considering the amount of effort that her parents had gone through just to place an enchantment to keep her out. Again, that could mean many more things. The arm was clearly the key for a lot more than either of them knew at this point in time. The trick was getting it through the barrier that was apparently impossible to take down.

Blaise had taken another sip of his drink by this point, nodding his head every now and then as Marcia went into detail about how there was another part of the house that had been inaccessible to her at one point in time, the arm being her Achilles heel. That was a lead if he had ever seen one, and she had figured it out all on her own. Brainstorming sessions had a habit of bringing out critical thinking that would otherwise be absent in a normal situation. Even for hit witches and wizards. “Ever been in the Room of Requirement here?” Blaise asked. “I’ve been in it a few times. It has a habit of becoming what we need most, but not always to those that are looking for it. Now that’s not to say this empty attic is the same thing, but it’s definitely been altered to prevent that arm of yours from getting through. At the same time, I also believe the arm is the way to get into it. Removing it isn’t going to suddenly make it possible for you to find clues that are otherwise hidden. You’ll become a regular person with one less arm.”

As he finished, he took another long sip of his glass before setting it back down on his desk, the amber liquid gently spinning. “You might need to find yourself a really good Curse-Breaker. This sounds right up their alley, if I’m to be frank. I can crack minds and barriers no problem, but magical limbs and hidden rooms that might not even exist? They do a much better job at tracing those things than I can.” It killed him to throw in the towel like that, but that lot was basically an army of magical explorers. They were always finding weird shit out there in the world. An arm that couldn’t pass through a barrier was probably something they could figure out in their sleep. They could even write an essay on it if they wanted. That’s what the academic sorts did anyways, wasn’t it?