An Unexpected Encounter

Author's note:
This is my first try at a story with more than one chapter and I'm not sure how it'll turn out yet haha. I basically wrote this because I'm home sick today and realized there aren't too many Ginny/Blaise stories here at this site. That's a shame, because I really like them as a couple! Now, this one takes place during Ginny's sixth year (the Deathly Hallows) and it's, mostly, written from her point of view.

In case anyone's wondering, English is not my first language so if you find some grammar mistakes/typos that's probably why.

Oh and I'd really like reviews, no matter what they say :D

Everything in the wonderful and absolutely fantastic world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. And I owe her so much.

The Hog's Head

Ginny Weasley walked down the main street in Hogsmeade, trying to look busy despite the fact that all shops (that had once been full of life) were now either abandoned or just closed due to lack of customers. The truth was, she had no idea what she was doing here. She was not interested in buying anything, and even if she had been there wouldn't have been anything for her to buy. It hurt to think of how this village had once been full of life, just like Diagon Alley, and how she'd spent so many happy afternoons here with her friends.

With Harry.

Ginny took a deep breath, swallowing. She wouldn't let herself start cry in public, it was too humiliating. In fact, she wouldn't even allow herself to cry when she was alone in her dorm. He wasn't worth it. None of it was worth her tears. She heard Fred's words in her head: "Come on Ginny, you're the strongest girl I know! You'll manage just fine without him!" Ginny had nodded, forced herself to smile and said "I'm already over him, you know"

Then why did the bare memory, the bare thought, of being here in Hogsmeade with him hurt so much?

Ginny hated it. She hated the fact that she, despite what she told those who asked (even Hermione who was her best friend), hadn't gotten over him. She hated that she still couldn't stand to look at those "WANTED"-posters of him in the Daily Prophet and here in Hogsmeade. She hated herself for still being in love with him.

And the worst part was, that even though she'd gone over the last time they saw each other so many times in her mind that she'd already lost count, she couldn't figure out what she'd done wrong. They'd been so happy last year, it had been like a dream coming true. And she had actually been naive enough to think that it'd last. They they would last.

But she'd forgotten about the fact that he was Harry Bloody Potter. He couldn't ever just sit down and let somebody else take Voldemort down and bring peace to the wizarding world. No, he always needed to be in the middle of it all. "There's something I can't tell you, Ginny" he'd said. "Dumbledore has given me a task and Ron, Hermione and I need to fulfill it".

She hadn't even bothered asking if she could come with them. She knew what he'd say. What Ron would say. Not to mention what her mother would say. Ginny wasn't out of age yet, she wasn't allowed to make her own decisions. Like Ron was. Why did life have to be so unfair?

Out of frustration she kicked a small piece of rock that lay on the ground covered with snow and then wiped her eyes furiously. I'm not going to be weak. I'm not going to cry. I'm Ginny Weasley. The strongest girl Fred knows.

She looked up, noticing that the main street was now completely deserted. She sighed before she continued her walking. As she passed the Three Broomsticks she felt like crying again. Madame Rosmerta was in there, cleaning glasses. Before everything, before the war, she always had so much to take care of and she'd seemed to love it. Now the pub was almost empty, apart from a few witches who sat close together, obviously telling secrets. As Ginny got closer she noticed that a few girls from her year were in there as well and that settled her mind; she would not go in there today.

That the girls in her year constantly asked her questions about Harry, their relationship (or more likely, non-existing relationship) and his whereabouts didn't exactly make it easier for Ginny to forget. And that's what she really wanted right now. To forget everything.

She needed a drink.

She stopped when she reached the Hog's Head, allowing herself to go down memory lane for a split second. This was where they'd held their first Dumbledore's army-meeting. This was where she'd first noticed that Harry was interested in Cho Chang and that she liked him back... Stop it she told herself firmly. I'm going to go in here, have a drink and Harry won't cross my mind once. I couldn't care less about him.

Yeah, right...

As she opened the door she immediately recognized the smell of goats that reached her. But she didn't even bother covering her nose, instead she just walked over to the bar where an old man with a long, white beard stood cleaning glasses. He seemed to have even less guests to attend to than Madame Rosmerta; apart from Ginny herself and a boy sitting in the bar a few seats away from her the pub was completely empty. He looked to be about her age and probably attended Hogwarts, but at least it couldn't be any worse than the girls in her year...

The bartender didn't spare her a glance and she had to clear her throat twice before he looked up, asking:

"What can I give you?"

Ginny took a shot, hoping he wouldn't say anything about her age:

"Firewhiskey please"

The bartender eyed her suspiciously.

"How old are you?" he asked slowly and Ginny sighed tiredly before she sat down.

Then, something hit her. She nodded towards the boy sitting a few seats away from her, sipping his firewhiskey slowly. She still couldn't make out his face.

"I'm in his year. And you don't seem to have any trouble serving him"

The bartender didn't look away from her and seemed to have some kind of inner debate with himself. Then, he finally said:

"Fine. This is your lucky day girl"

Ginny nodded her thanks as he handed her a glass and took a sip from the golden liquid. It burned pleasantly in her throat. Finally.

"That's a lie, you know"

She jumped at the sound of the voice and noticing it came from her left she turned to look at the boy. He still didn't look up at her but as she leaned a bit closer she recognized his face.

"Zabini" she said, trying her best to hide her shock.

For some reason, that was not what she'd expected.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted out and Blaise chuckled silently, but the sound was hollow.

"I could ask you the same question Weasley. Shouldn't you be with your Gryffindor mates back at Hogwarts, celebrating?"

Ginny snorted, taking another sip from her glass. She was actually surprised that he hadn't called her a mudblood or a bloodtraitor once yet; that seemed to be compulsory for everyone who was friends with Draco Malfoy.

"What's there to celebrate?" she asked.

Blaise shrugged slightly, pouring himself some more firewhiskey. Apparently, he'd bought himself a whole bottle...

"I don't know, maybe the fact that Potter hasn't been caught" he said, his voice soft. "Yet"

The word "Potter" was enough to make Ginny feel sick again and she took a big sip from her glass. Don't let Zabini get into your head. Don't think about Harry. Forget. Forget. Forget.

"What did you mean, I lied?" she asked, desperately looking for a change of subject.

Blaise looked up, checking that the bartender had left the bar to go cleaning one of the abandoned tables, before he said:

"I'm not in your year. And you..." Another sip. "... are not out of age"

Ginny glared at him. The last thing she needed right now was to be thrown out of here, thanks to Blaise Bloody Zabini. Who was he to comment on her age anyway?

"Well, that's none of your business Zabini" she snapped. "And don't tell me that you never had firewhiskey before you turned 17"

Blaise chuckled again, slowly moving his glass over the table in front of him.

"Good point"

They both fell silent, but for some inexplicable reason Ginny didn't want it to stay that way. Apart from when he reminded her of that Harry still hadn't been caught, he'd make her think of other things. If she didn't talk to anyone it wouldn't take long before she'd be back where she started... That night of Dumbledore's funeral. The night that everything had ended...

"Well, why are you not at Hogwarts celebrating?" she asked, thinking she might as well see how far she could go before she annoyed him. "You-know-who is still powerful and from the look of things that's not going to change anytime soon..."

But the look in his dark eyes as he turned towards her, made her stop speaking abruptly. There was something there, something she'd never seen so clear and pure before. Fury. Hatred. Hurt?

"That..." he started, his voice low and dangerous. "... is no reason for me to celebrate"

Ginny eyed him challengingly. He obviously refused to look away.

"Really?"

"Really"

She was confused. It seemed like he actually meant what he said (or he was just a really good actor, being a slytherin and all) but that didn't make sense. She'd heard Blaise talk about "mudbloods", seen how he'd smirked when Skeeter published those fake articles about Harry... She'd noticed the pleased look on his face as the mass-break out from Azkaban took place a few months ago...

"Why are you here?"

She had to ask. She still needed something to distract her. He turned back to his firewhiskey.

"You ask a lot of questions, Weasley"

"And yet you refuse to give me any answers, Zabini"

He looked at her again, his eyes and voice cold:

"Give me a reason to"

She could tell that if she wanted to know, if she wanted to be distracted from her thoughts of Harry, she had to tell him something. And what was better than the truth. Why lie?

"Because I need to get my mind off things"

"Well..."

Blaise slowly put the glass down, turning slightly in his seat so that his whole body was now facing her. She noticed that he wasn't wearing his school uniform, but a simple pair of dark jeans and a dark grey, knitted shirt.

"What if I'm here... to get my mind off things as well? Wouldn't be very clever of me to spill it all to you then, now would it?"

For a moment Ginny forgot how to speak. Could it really be, that he was here for the same reason as she was? What could he possibly want to forget? It was people like him who'd created this whole situation, people like him who wanted Voldemort to win... Or at least that's what she'd thought...

"I guess not" she finally said.

After a few seconds he slowly turned away from her again, taking another sip from his glass. It was almost empty now. He poured himself some more firewhiskey and then said:

"Though I must say I'm surprised Weasley"

She hadn't expected him to speak up again. In fact, she'd almost considered leaving now that her glass was as good as empty. The bartender surely wouldn't give her another one...

"And why is that?" she asked shortly.

Blaise looked at her again.

"I've always been told that you're smart. A bloodtraitor of course, but smart"

And there it was. The true Blaise Zabini stepping forward...

"So do you honestly believe that your love problems will go away if only you have a single glass of firewhiskey?"

He caught her off guard again. Completely.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about" she said, trying to sound confused but knowing that she failed.

"Really?" Blaise asked. "So you expect me to believe that everything is fine between you and Potter? You two seemed inseparable last year and then the Golden Trio takes off without you? And you're okay with that?"

"No, I'm not!" Ginny said hotly.

She couldn't explain why the things he'd just said made her so angry; maybe he'd just put words to what she'd been trying to tell herself all along. Maybe she wasn't okay with it. Maybe Harry was an ass for leaving her like that, despite saying that it was because she'd safe at school. Maybe she needed someone to take her seriously and not treat her like a bloody child!

Blaise smirked slightly.

"That's what I thought" he said quietly.

Why did it always have to come back to Harry? She tried to change the subject again:

"Well, Parkinson isn't away trying to save the world" she said sourly. "Why aren't you with her?"

Blaise slowly put his glass down, shaking his head once.

"Pansy and I were never a couple" he replied simply. "At least not from my point of view"

Ginny snorted, thinking of how Pansy always sat close to Blaise in the Great Hall, even stole food from his plate...

"Yeah, I don't think she'd agree on that"

"Maybe not"

Once again, Ginny didn't know what to say. She'd gained so much new information in the past twenty minutes that everything she'd known to be true suddenly seemed... well, false. Blaise wasn't happy Voldemort was returning to power, he wasn't dating Pansy and he'd known about her and Harry... She hated to think about it but she had to know:

"How did you know?" she mumbled, looking down so she wouldn't have to meet his gaze. "About me and Harry, I mean"

She could see from the corner of her eye how he raised his eyebrows.

"Everybody knows about that. After all, he's Harry Potter"

Blaise made a sound that sounded something like a snort. Ginny bit her lip. It was worth a try...

"Well, you can't hate Harry that much if you want him to defeat You-know-who..."

"That's not what I said" he said, his voice cold again.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes you did, you said that it wasn't..."

"I said that You-know-who's return to power wasn't worth celebrating" he interrupted her. "Not that I want Potter to play hero"

Ginny stared at him.

"That doesn't really make sense" she stated and to her great surprise, he smirked again.

"Not everything does Weasley, you'll learn that one day"

If she wasn't already about to... For example, it made no sense whatsoever that she sat here, having a somewhat normal conversation with Blaise Zabini and actually enjoying it.

"You brought up Harry even though you somehow knew that's what I came here to forget" she said after a short silence. "Then it's only fair if we discuss what you're here to forget as well"

But the moment their gazes locked Ginny knew that was not going to happen. Blaise opened and then closed his mouth without saying anything. Then, after almost a minute's silence he almost whispered, his voice triumphant:

"It's not my problem that you're so easy to see through, Weasley"

And for some reason she couldn't quite explain, that hurt. Was she really easy to see through? Obvious? Boring? Was that the real reason why Harry had ended things with her?

"Besides..." Blaise added, bringing her back to reality and taking another sip of his firewhiskey. "You can't blame me for being a good reader"

A good reader... She snorted. What did he know, he didn't even know her! If it was really that easy then why not...?

"Well, so am I" she said defiantly, knowing this was a pure lie.

It was based on nothing but her own reflections, and since she'd never discussed it with anyone she had no proves whatsoever. But it was her only shot... He looked at her challengingly.

"Fine, let's hear it then"

Ginny took a deep breath and then she said:

"You're here because whenever you're around the people you usually spend time with you can't speak your mind out loud, because they might go straight to their parents who will tell your parents about your 'disloyalty'. You're here because whether you want to admit it or not, you're scared. You don't know any more than I do if this war will lead to anything good, if things will ever go back to the way they were"

He simply looked at her, but she didn't waste any time reflecting on what she could see in his eyes before she continued:

"You're here because it's the only place where no one will question your thoughts and with some firewhiskey you don't even have to question them yourself. You're here because you're trying to figure out if all this is right, if this is what you really wanted with your life"

She locked her gaze with his. She couldn't read his face. What was he thinking? She took another deep breath and then finished, her voice softer than before:

"You're here because you're no longer sure whether it's about 'mudbloods' and 'purebloods', or if maybe it's about something else entirely. And it scares the hell out of you Zabini, because that would mean that everything you've ever been taught, everything you've ever known to be true... is a lie"

For a second she was sure he'd get up and leave. What had she said, really? Once she'd started speaking, there was nothing there to stop her. She had simply emptied her brain of the thoughts she'd kept there for several years now and seeing him like this, noticing how he could actually act like a normal person, had made her lose control.

Maybe she'd gone too far.

But Blaise didn't leave. He still looked at her, and eventually he said:

"Well, maybe I've underestimated you"

He didn't smile. Neither did she.

"I'm sorry" she said, without really knowing why.

She'd come to question a lot since she entered this pub. Question herself.

"Don't be"

But she was sorry. She was sorry because she seemed to have hurt him, and no matter how odd that was that's not what she wanted. She was sorry because she felt more alone than she ever had in her whole life as he stood up and she knew that the conversation was over.

"I have to go back to school Weasley" he said quietly, placing four galleons on the table in front of him before nodding towards her empty glass.

"My treat"

She opened her mouth to protest but he simply held up his hand to silence her. As he started to walk away from her she said, once again without really thinking:

"I'll see you around"

Blaise stopped and Ginny knew what they were both thinking.

Yeah, she'd see him around. She'd see him every day, between classes and during breakfast, lunch and dinner. But they wouldn't say hi. They wouldn't talk to each other like they just had. Because the rest of the world wouldn't allow it. Ever.

"If it makes you feel any better Weasley..." he started, still not turning around.

Ginny waited. He waited.

"Potter never deserved you"

And before she had time to even think about what to reply, he'd disappeared through the exit.