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