The Way It Was
As told By Blaise Zabini
AN: Ummm yeah i foretold about this story on my profile... the summary is this...
You've heard this story before, Ginny moves up a grade in potions, gets paired with a slytherin and sees a different side of Draco Malfoy. Blah Blah Blah You've probably even heard it from Blaise Zabini's POV. But you have never heard it like this...
Ok so yes i suck at telling summaries. What are you going to do? Sue me? Please dont. I have no money from this and so i am completely broke.
Look i managed to insult myself and write a disclaimer in one line... five sentences yes but
Why am i still writing. And why are you still reading? You must be more insane then i am... I didnt acctually think that was possible... i guess its true. you do learn something every day. stop reading my rambles and start on the line below!
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I'm not sure when our parents met. I think it was at one of those fancy balls. The ones where you're surrounded by people you've only briefly met. My parents are terribly friendly for Slytherins so they started talking to some of the wealthiest people there. The Malfoy family is a closed bunch but apparently, they wanted to make good impressions that night.
When my parents found out that The Malfoy Bride, Narcissa, was pregnant and due around the time of me, my mother, being the nosey witch she is, insisted that they spend more time together. Thus a friendship was grudgingly formed.
I have known Draco Malfoy from the bright speck known as the dawn of time, or at least the dawn of my time. Let me tell you this. Draco Malfoy is and will forever be an arse. True, this story is not to exploit his faults. Rather, it is to describe his amazing 'transformation' into the caring, arse he is now.
This is the story of Draco and how he met his reason to change. I think that's a muggle song by the way…
I think the best place to begin, is at the beginning. As I mentioned above, Draco and I grew up together. He is exactly two weeks older. Though this fact is true, I am about five times more mature. But this story is not about me, fascinating as I may be.
Draco and I were sorted into Slytherin at the age of 11. He and I became closer, if possible, when we bunked next to each other in the dormitories.
Although, now that I think about it, that wasn't the real beginning of Draco's change. The real beginning came, I believe, in our second year. That year, a bright young star joined us at Hogwarts. Her effect on Draco, at that time, was terrifying. He loathed her with a passion.
The shining young star wouldn't even really come into his, or my, life at that point. So maybe the story doesn't start there either. Ahh, I have it. Third time to charm, eh?
The real beginning of this story doesn't begin with our arrival, or even hers. The true beginning started with a certain Potions Master.
Okay, I know what you're thinking. 'Hey! What the bloody hell are you doing? This was supposed to be about Draco changing his ways. Not about some stinking Potions Master.' If you'll hang on a second, I'll explain.
The Potions Master, at that time in Hogwarts, was Severus Snape. He was an evil bat, I'll admit. He terrified me and I was in his house.
Now Professor Snape was less than nice. Though with his awful childhood, who could turn out better? Although he was less than nice, he was usually fair, except, perhaps, when it came to Potter and Weasley.
Really, when the potion master announced that one of the 4th years had made it into our 5th year class, we were all shocked. Snape hadn't ever let a student from a below class move up. Draco was best in our class and he hadn't moved up to 6th year early. I later found out that Draco had been offered the move. He'd declined in order to stay with me. Not to mention, potions was the only class that Draco could ridicule Harry Potter and still live.
Any way, we found out that a Gryffindor 4th year was joining us in class. Through all the shock of this new revelation into Snape's "kindness" everyone was wondering what student would be bright enough to move up a grade in potions, especially someone in Gryffindor.
The first day of our Draco's and mine second term of 5th year, there was a new student in the class. She was a red haired girl about the size of my shoulder I can smugly say that at 15 years of age, I was 6 feet tall. She had too many freckles to count and was related to Weasel king. She was nervous and frightened by the Slytherins glares. Draco only smirked, now he had a new plaything to torment.
She was placed on the 'Slytherin' side of the room because there wasn't any room on the 'Gryffindor' side.
In potions, the professor doesn't trust the Gryffindors' to pay attention to their work. Either that or he hoped a partner would stop Longbottom from destroying the dungeons. So in the 5th year potions class there were partners. It just so happened that at the end of mid term break, my partner injured himself and had to be hospitalized in St. Mungo's for an undetermined time. Most likely until he stopped giving birth to miniature guinea pigs…
So with my clever Slytherin luck, I got to become partners with the Weaslette. That was Draco's name for her. He defined her as "A young Girl and a Weasley, therefore the Weaslette." I think he just didn't know her real name so he couldn't come up with anything better.
The first few days of our partnership was equal to a living hell. The 'Weaslette' was cautious of talking to me. I was aware that she thought I would bite. It was in the way she glared at me.
On the day we brewed the Sleeping Draught however, she seemed to gain confidence.
"Zabini, I think it was supposed to be three grams. Not four." I re-read the instructions and checked my measurements. She was right.
"Very quick, Weasley. I'm glad you pointed it out." the youngest Weasley looked up at me, shocked. I'm sure she'd stereotyped all Slytherins to fit either Draco Malfoy or Pansy Parkinson.
I deduced that if I winked at her, she'd faint. So I settled for a smile. What can I say? I inherited my parents' lack of Slytherin qualities. At least the qualities that insisted all Slytherins are rude, jackasses.
I made the adjustments and our potion went the way it should have. Weasley bottled it up and I took it up to the front desk. We had managed to be one of the first ones done, therefore, able to finish any homework we had from other classes.
When I got back to the table we shared, she was looking up at me oddly, as though she were assessing me. I suppose she was trying to fit me neatly into her little circle of thought that concluded Slytherins. I am not a nice circle though. I am firmly a square Or perhaps it is the other way around with the squares and the circles…Oh the headache and I sure as hell don't do neat.
So she continued looking at me as I sat down and began to do homework for Transfiguration. I'm studying so that when I come of age I can become an Animagus. What the professor doesn't know is that I almost am an Animagus already.
Were I the type of person who got mad when people look at me too long, I might have snapped. For all the attention he collects, Draco detests people who stare at him too long. I think this is because Draco's father stares at him before yelling at him.
Anyways, Weaslette because the name was growing on me continued staring until I gently nudged her. She jumped and made a funny squeaking noise while blushing quite a remarkable color of red.
This noise, of course, granted us with quite a bit of odd looks. I grinned at many of them as Weasley sank lower down in her chair. It was interesting to see her red face become her red neck, ears, and face. Before long I swore I could see red on the hands she held in her lap.
According to many rumors that went around the Slytherin side of the room in that short minute, the girl Weasley and I were in the middle of something very naughty.Although the thought of doing that in the classroom was disturbing. Maybe if the class room were empty… I merely sat with a smile and let the room believe what it might. Any persuasion on my part to discourage the rumors would result in the thought that they were completely true.
At the end of ten minutes, I had expected the Weaslette's blush to be gone. However when I glanced over at her, She was still red.
I questioned my sanity as I opened my mouth to talk.
"Weasley, you really should become flustered more often. That shade of red is really quite amusing." She should be immediately re-housed into Slytherin on account of the glare she gave me.
There was about 20 minutes of class before the bell rang for lunch. The girl next to me took a deep breath and sat up straight. Her red skin slowly returned to its former pale shade again.
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you." I said. She gave me a quick wide eyed look at my apology. Somewhere, these Gryffs get the idea that we have no manners and never do anything polite. With Draco as their main model for the Slytherins, I suppose I can't be surprised.
"I wasn't embarrassed by you," she said quietly. I know it's a cliché but her voice was oddly musical.
"Well that's a start." I smiled at her.
"I've got one question for you, Zabini." She said looking at me with curiosity in her big browns.
"Fire away." I said. Half of my attention had been distributed back to my homework that was due in two classes.
"Why are you so strange?" She slapped her hand to her mouth as this slipped out. I raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want to drag that past me again?" She had small splotches of red forming on her cheeks.
"Err, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I meant to ask why you are so different from the other Slytherins." She offered a smile that was so small it was almost non-existent.
"And how many Slytherins do you profess to know?" I kept my brow raised in a good imitation of Draco.
"Um" she thought for a second.
"You really shouldn't stereotype all Slytherins as Draco and Pansy, especially since you really don't know them," I yawned. It must be time for lunch soon. I was always tired before lunch.
"You mean I should get to know my enemies before I judge them?" she said giving me a skeptical look.
"Not at all judge away. That is human nature. But remember that not every one's like them. And keep your judgments to yourself." I could tell that I was confusing her. I thought for a moment then decided how I could try to make it easier for her.
"Maybe you should get to know some other Slytherins. Or at least other sides of Slytherins." She looked at me again only instead of curiosity in her gaze, she held shock.
"Are you offering to be friends?" She asked as her lip was in danger of being bitten through.
"Friends with a Gryff? That could have benefits." I grinned widely and held out my hand.
"Hello. My name is Blaise Zabini." She took my hand cautiously, clearly shocked.
"Ginny Weasley," I shook her hand.
"Is 'Ginny' short for something?" I asked. She nodded but didn't elaborate.
"Well?" I asked.
"Technically, you didn't ask what it was short for. You simply asked if it was short for something," she smiled. This smile was more noticeable then her previous one. This was very clever and I found myself growing respect for her. "Ginny is short for Ginevra. Why my parents named me that, I'll never guess."
"I believe Ginevra is the Italian version of Guinevere. It is beautiful. Why don't you use it more? Ginny, Ha, No. No 'Ginny' for you." She looked at me and I shook my head at her. "From now on if it is agreeable to you, and even if it is not, I will call you Ginevra."
"Do I even have a say in the matter?" she asked, resigned.
"None, Mia Cara." My normally squashed Italian side had popped up.
I can fluently speak English, Italian, Spanish, and German. I can only roughly speak some Oriental tongues and a slight amount of American. Their language is so alike, yet so different. I can barely understand tourists sometimes. Ah well.
And so from there on the Potions class was far more enjoyable
Chapter 2
Snape assigns a big project for the partners, Blaise gets a sickness. Also Ginny ventures into the Big Bad chilly Slytherin Common room. BTW this has no relations to Ootp and currently has no relations to GoF
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