Blaise was in his lab, dreading the conversation he was going to have with Hannah when she got home. It was early still for him, and he was stalling by preparing useless potions and then storing them in the back of his storage closet, where they would probably never be seen again. He had just finished bottling a potion to turn a rock's color to bright orange when a house elf poked its head in and announced that Hannah had arrived home. Sighing, he stopped the flame under the cauldron and headed up to their rooms.

Hannah had gone in to help with the breakfast crowd this morning. Kristen has sent her home. Sunday was supposed to be her day off now. They'd hired a new girl to answer the owl and floo orders. She was doing well, but tended to be a bit quiet. Since Mac and Angelina tended to not be around most weekends, Hannah was putting an ad in the Prophet for a new waitress. Today Kirsten's little sister Sarah and Mac's cousin Donnan were helping. Because of their family situation, McGonagall tended to let Sarah go home and help her mother most weekends anyhow, and Donnan was only helping because Brody and Duff made him.

"Hannah?" Blaise called out once he reached the main sitting room. "I need to chat with you. Are you busy?"

"Of course not," Hannah said smiling. "What do you... what's wrong?"

He looked nervous.

"Blaise? What's happened? Here. Sit down. Do you need tea? Didly! Tea! Now!"

It wasn't everyday that you had to ask your girlfriend to entice a possessed man into conversation, and it was stressing Blaise out. He didn't do well under this kind of stress. This stress was reserved for when he talked to his mother.

With a groan, he leaned over and rubbed his forehead. He was getting a migraine. "Didly, skip the tea and bring me a Migraine Mollify potion please?"

Blaise grimaced. "This is not how I envisioned this going."

Hannah started petting him. "Are you sick? And I shouted. Oh Blaise, I'm sorry. Here."

She dropped and started removing his shoes and socks. She rubbed his feet a little.

He took his feet from her grasp. "Hannah, the pain is on the opposite end of my body. Don't worry about it. I get migraines for two reasons: I talk to my mother or I'm under a lot of stress. This falls under the second one."

There was a pause and Blaise motioned her up onto the couch again. Didly arrived with the tea and Blaise's potion, which he downed in a few gulps. He could feel the migraine slowly bleed away and let out a small sigh of relief.

"You've noticed that Longbottom has been acting strange, yeah?"

Hannah snorted. "Is he ever. I'd like to send him a fat batch of special bikkies, the poophead."

Blaise glared at Hannah. "I've heard you swear. Hearing you say things like poophead afterwards makes it even sillier. And I'd hold off on those bikkies. It wasn't Longbottom doing the dirty work. He's got a spirit inside him. He's possessed."

Hannah gasped and put a hand to her mouth. "Like by the devil?" She didn't wait for an answer. "No matter. We have to do something. Like an exorcism or something. Oh dear, I hope he doesn't vomit split pea soup. That's just nasty."

He could feel the migraine coming back. "What are you talking about? Pea soup? Are you drunk?"

"It was in a Muggle film. Scared me to death as a child. Girl was possessed and she vomited green and her head spun all the way around. It was terrible. I had nightmares for months." Hannah sighed. "That's not important. Neville is. We have to do something Blaise. Oh dear, does Mac know? I'll bet that's why he did her like that. It was not even him."

Blaise had never gotten into the Muggle Cinema, and now he knew why. He shook his head and straightened his thoughts.

"Magpie knows. Ironically, it was me who told her, and I thought she already knew." This was the hard part, for him, of the conversation. "And there is a plan. An exorcism of sorts. Draco, Pansy and I have been working on it, and there's a tentative plan to capture him. But we need your help."

Hannah blinked. "All right. Just tell me what to do."

That irritated him--her blind willingness to risk herself to save someone and not ask questions. He would certainly do the same for her or Draco, but not for someone he was barely friends with. This was not the place for the argument, however.

"After talking with some people from Hogsmeade, we found out he's been snooping around the bakery. We need you to close it for a day, and then pose as bait inside. We think he has an interest in you, and maybe Bones. We'll be asking her to be with you as well. Once he's there, we trap him and bring him here, and get the spirit out of him." Blaise looked at her. "You don't have to do this if you're scared."

Hannah straightened her spine. "I am not afraid. I'll do it. Neville is my friend, and so is Mac. This must be killing her."

Hannah leaned over and hugged him.

"I'll help. I'll do anything you want."

"Merlin, I wish you weren't a Hufflepuff. It's just as bad as being a Gryffindor right now," he complained as he hugged her back. "Maybe then you'd think of your own health first and not someone else's."

Hannah let out a flat laugh. "Would you truly like me as much if I were anything but they way I am though? I like people, Blaise. Mostly I want to help them when they get into trouble, but I love you most."

Blaise grinned and leaned in to kiss her. He brought a hand up and placed it on her neck, his thumb rubbing back and forth over the smooth skin. "I know. If you weren't so Hufflepuff, I wouldn't worry as much. But if you were a Slytherin, I probably wouldn't like you. The only Slytherins I can stand are Draco and Pansy."

"I've noticed. Daphne told me all about it."

He immediately pulled back. "When the fuck did you talk to Greengrass?"

"This past Wednesday. Billy Jessup knocked her over in the street. I helped her up. Then we had lunch in the bakery. She's really not that terrible, Blaise."

"This is yet another reason I dislike you being a Hufflepuff. You'd befriend Voldemort even as he raised his wand to AK you," Blaise scoffed. "I know she's trying to do better and all, but this isn't like Nott. I don't like her on principle. Stay away from her, Hannah. She is dangerous. I very nearly watched Ginny Weasley die before my eyes because of what that bitch did."

"People change, Blaise. She was perfectly pleasant at lunch. She even tried to tell me no, but I wasn't having it. She ate everything I put in front of her. Anyone who likes my biscuits that much can't be wholly evil."

"Please tell me they were your special biscuits," he pleaded.

Hannah made a face at him. "I'm saving those for Marcus Flint."

Blaise leaned forward and kissed her again. "Good girl."

"It's nice I have you so fooled," Hannah said, kissing him in return. "I'm pretty sure one hundred percent good girls don't bind their boyfriends to the bed."


{SUMMARY} Blaise asks Hannah to help with being the bait for the trap for the exorcism and is a bit irritated by how quickly she agrees and without knowing the details.