Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Blaise Zabini

Overview
 Blaise Zabini  is a Hogwarts student in Harry's year. He is a member of Slytherin House.

Philosopher's Stone
Blaise Zabini is Sorted into Slytherin. He is the final student to be Sorted.

Half-Blood Prince
Blaise Zabini is invited to dine with Professor Slughorn on the Hogwarts Express, along with Harry, in Professor Slughorn's renascent Slug Club. Zabini's claim to fame is apparently that his mother is a famously beautiful witch, whose seven successive husbands all died mysteriously and left her pots of Galleons.

Harry follows Blaise back to his compartment on the Hogwarts Express, hoping to overhear some conversation with Draco Malfoy that would give him some clue as to what Malfoy had planned. Malfoy drops some hints, but does not say anything particularly helpful, perhaps because he has seen Harry's foot as Harry climbed into the luggage rack.

Later in the book, Harry notices Zabini "lolling against a pillar" near where he is standing, and makes sure not to say anything incriminating.

Strengths
Blaise Zabini is intelligent. He is also presumably well-off as a result of having a wealthy mother.

Weaknesses
Blaise is described as being excessively vain, as well as bitter, self-centered, and clever. He does not actively participate in the fight against the Light, but is rather more concerned with protecting himself. He does not associate himself fully with anyone, he is considered a loner, although he is somewhat of a friend of Malfoy's. He finds Ginny Weasley attractive, but would never pursue a relationship with her, due to her family's Blood Traitor status.

Relationships with Other Characters
He is a friend of Draco Malfoy's, and seems to get along with Pansy Parkinson, to an extent. Other than that, he doesn't really associate himself with the other students.

As outlined above, he has a small crush on Ginny Weasley.

Analysis
Blaise is a typical Slytherin, with a streak of elitism and self-centred attitude in addition to the traditional Slytherin traits. It may be of note that Malfoy doesn't say too much in the train, although he is aware of Harry's presence, which may explain his reticence to reveal anything. Not being in Malfoy's inner circle, he probably wouldn't hear the finer details anyway.

Questions

 * 1) What side is Zabini on, if indeed he takes sides?

Greater Picture
After his mention in the early stages of Philosopher's Stone, Zabini is not mentioned again until his appearance in Half-Blood Prince. During the intervening time, Blaise appeared in a fair number of fanfics, with a number of variations in loyalty, appearance and gender.

His appearance also serves to "flesh out" the Slytherin roster - as we see very little of Slytherin house in Harry's year (Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, Pansy, and possibly Millicent Bulstrode), Zabini serves as a reminder that Hogwarts is comprised of more than just a handful of main characters.