was Draco Malfoy.
But that pairing would have been absurd.
And yet, it was also true.
The protective way Malfoy had acted towards her when the Dark Mark was sighted over the forest had almost confirmed it. Blaise prided himself on his ability to catalogue such details.
After the bludger accident on the pitch, Pansy had told everyone who had been willing to hear, that she would sneak down to the Infirmary to check on Malfoy the morning after.
She had stormed back to the dungeons in tears. Apparently, Draco already had a visitor.
The Dark Mark incident in the forest could have been a monumental blunder for their cause. Blaise had made his thoughts known to Wormtail during their meeting the previous week. Of all the wands the Death Eaters could have stolen, they simply had to go and supply him with Lucius Malfoy's, Ministry-tainted wand.
Casting the Mark was supposed to have been a moment of significance for Blaise. His first Morsmorde for the service! And the blasted thing had transformed into the Malfoy family symbol, right before his very eyes.
Why did everything have to revolve around Draco Malfoy?
It had been easy enough to organise the rogue Bludgers that had so very nearly put an end to Tandish Dodders. Blaise had a proven talent for laying traps. Putting Malfoy in harm' s way was the means by which he could be sure of Granger' s feelings for the boy.
Being inconveniently afflicted with a binding marriage spell was one thing, being in love with your husband was quite another.
Blaise had to make sure. For all he knew, he was jumping to wild, improbable conclusions.
Of course, using Dodders as an excuse had been ideal. The child had a long standing vendetta against Malfoy. Had either of them perished as a result of the incident, questions would not need to be asked. Intra-House enmity was a sensitive issue and Slytherin House was nothing if not secretive.
There were many reasons why Malfoy was not suited to being a Death Eater. One was the fact that he expressed no interest in such a life, after the very public downfall of his father. The other was the fact that he had been willing to walk into danger to prevent harm to an utterly useless classmate.
Blaise has known Draco would do it. He had been counting on it. The son of a bitch had certainly not disappointed. Perhaps there was a bit of Potter in Malfoy after all. Maybe this was what Hermione saw.
It had been acutely painful to sit in the Deputy Headmistress's office and witness Granger go pale and wraith-like at what Blaise could only guess was realisation that something had happened to her husband on the pitch. He wanted to shake her. Slap her.
He wanted to see that look of horror and worry for him, not Malfoy. His little test had worked and his suspicions were confirmed.
After that day, he decided that he would very much like to arrange Malfoy's death.
Doing so without the Dark Lord's approval was going to be tricky, but not impossible. His Master wanted Malfoy recruited post haste, despite at least a dozen other followers insisting that the boy could never be trusted.
The Dark Lord would not listen. If Albus Dumbledore had Harry Potter, than he, Voldemort would groom his own star pupil. His protege. It should have been Blaise. Anyone with a half a brain could see that.
What was it his Master had said? The sins of the father would not determine the future of the son. Or some such horse shit that owed to Tom Riddle's baggage about his own sire.
Merlin, but the man could crap on when he wanted to.
Voldemort. He was a bigger waste of time and talent than Harry Potter. To have built a following inspired by fear, a name that people still dreaded to mention, to have that much power in one being and to use it so foolishly.
The regime would never last. Voldemort did not have the foresight or the policies to make it last.
Blaise did, though. He had long term plans that did not begin and end with the death of Harry Potter. Voldemort would not reign forever. Blaise's ambitions were not the smoky, elusive stuff of Voldemort's. They were solid.
He had already swayed a few senior Death Eaters to his way of thinking. Subtly, of course. To them, he was a rising lieutenant among Voldemort's thinning ranks. A useful tool. A necessity, even.
His future within the Dark Order was not in doubt.
And events continued to unfold