Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling and I am only playing around with it

Lesson learned

The first time he noticed her was when she hit Benjamin Bennett, a 4th year Slytherin, with a well aimed bat bogey hex. Her deep red hair went down to the middle of her back, and it looked so soft and touchable while her eyes sparkled with indignation about whatever Bennett had said or done. She was tall and slim but had nice curves. She was truly beautiful. He stood there staring at her in a blissful daze.

"Hey mate, what happened to you?" The drawl of his friend Draco Malfoy seemed to come from afar even though he stood right next to him.

This brought him back to reality rather quickly, he shook his had and just mumbled:

"Nothing I was just thinking about something."

He started walking to the great hall as fast as possible, hoping Draco would be satisfied with his answer. And Draco was, he started droning on about one thing or another his father said or did and Blaise feigned interest, by nodding and making appropriate sounds at the right time.

His thoughts however went to her. He started wondering when she had grown into that beautiful girl he had just seen in the corridor. And what her first name was again, Jenny, Mindy, his mind drifted off to find a name that would be suitable for her. It was then when the reasonable voice in his head piped up telling him how wrong it was to think about her in such a manner, after all she was a blood traitor, a Weasley and a Gryffindor. She stood for everything he despised so what if she looked nice so did lots of other girls.

Over the next few weeks he avoided looking or thinking of her, or at least he tried. But whenever his thoughts or gazes would drift off he gave himself a stern lecture. Flirting and dating other girls also helped to distract his mind. He couldn't help it though the girls he dated were all rather boring or silly or even worse both. Besides girls he also helped Draco to bully the younger students and of course studied- well occasionally at least, so yes he was a rather busy man and had only little time to dwell on Gryffindors no matter how beautiful they were.

***

Ginny's relationship with Michael Corner was – difficult, to say the least. They kissed, they fought, they broke up, got together again, just to repeat the whole cycle anew. Michael was a sore loser and had quite a jealous streak, while Ginny was stubborn and liked her independence.

Their friends hoped after every break up that this one was for good, and couldn't quite understand why they just wouldn't give up.

After a particularly nasty fight with Michael her friend Bianca tried to convince her to come to the charms club with her. Bianca wanted to join the club because she harboured a crush on a fellow Hufflepuff who just so happened to be in that particular club. Ginny, quite fond and good at charms and thinking this might take her mind of Michael agreed to join her.

And indeed upon entering the classroom all thoughts of Michael left her mind immediately. Because right in the middle, leaning casually against a table, looking incredibly handsome was Malfoy's sidekick Zabeli, or Zafini (she couldn't quite remember his name) chatting up a pretty blond girl that blushed and giggled and seemed unable to fathom her luck.

Nonchalantly he conjured a bunch of pink roses and handed them to the now almost hyperventilating girl with a brilliant smile. Ginny stared at the couple fascinated, true Zaffireli (damn she just couldn't remember his name) laid it on rather thick, but which teenage witch didn't dream of a handsome wizard with a romantic streak to make them feel like the queen of the world, or his world at least.

While Ginny was watching the scene hypnotised all of a sudden the boy turned his head and looked straight into her eyes for a moment. Ginny blushed bright red so that she started to look like a burning torch (and her face was as hot as a burning torch). She turned around so fast that she bumped into a third year who had been carrying a bowel with chocolate pudding that was now all over her shirt.

Ginny blushed even further, "really smooth, why do I always have to make an idiot out of myself in front of boys I like" she thought to herself "well wait a second I certainly don't like this guy" here her musings were stopped by her friend helping her to clean herself with a spell.

The rest of the time she spend with making a list in her mind as to why she was not interested in that Zafino guy (or whatever his name was, it was something with "Za" this much she was pretty sure about) even though he was handsome and great at charms (then she would start giving herself a stern lecture about not being so shallow).

Ginny decided, however, never to go to that charms club again. Luckily or more unfortunately (depending from which side you look at it) her friend found out that the guy she fancied herself in love with already had a girlfriend, so she wasn't interested in going to the club either, hence Ginny didn't have to make excuses why she couldn't go there anymore.

Apart from a few glances here and there during meals in the great hall and a few strayed thoughts that she firmly ended by listing the ingredients for the Pepperup Potion, she was quite successful in ignoring him

Plus she had her friends, the DA, classes and MICHAEL to keep her occupied.

***

A few weeks after that charms club incident, Ginny was sitting next to the lake. It was getting cold already, and a strong wind blew merciless into her face. But she didn't mind, she just had another bad fight with Michael and they had called each other pretty nasty names.

So Ginny was sitting in the cold, crying, half of sadness, half of anger, and cursing stupid boys in general and stupid Michael in particular.

This was the state in which Blaise found her in. He was going for a little walk, because he thought some fresh air would do him some good, and help him get rid of unwanted thoughts of a certain Ginny- Ginevra (what a beautiful name for a beautiful creature) Weasley, yes he had finally found out her name, purely by accident of course.

He had witnessed the fight between Ginny and Corner (as had everybody else who was in the Great Hall at that time) and had gotten inexplicably angry at Corner for treating her that way and at the injustice in this world, because she was with that jerk instead of him.

When he found her sitting on a bench, tears streaming down her face and her eyes red and puffy, he felt the strong urge to take her in his arms and hold her, but he had enough sense to refrain from doing so.

He said however: "That guy is an idiot, you deserve much better, someone who treats you well and appreciates you." The words were out before he could stop them, and he looked very uncomfortable after uttering them.

Ginny looked up at him and just stared at him in astonishment, then a small smile formed on her face and a low "Thank you" followed by a loud hiccup escaped her mouth.

Blaise just gave her a short nod and then left her quickly before he could say or do anything even more foolish.

Ginnystarted wondering how it would feel to be with someone who treated her well and appreciated her. Her crush on Harry had been rather onesided, true he had rescued her like a knight in shining armour, but he would have done the same for anyone else, and right now he was drooling all over Cho Chang.

Then there was Tom Riddle who she had considered her closest friend, and developed a crush on, only to have him tell her then, that he thought that she was only a stupid, little girl.

Now she was with Michael, but she really didn't want to think about him right now.

Maybe it was possible that Blaise Zabini (yes, she had found out his name, coincidentally of course) was that guy to make her feel loved and wanted?

***

After that day they started to greet each other with a slight nod of the head whenever they met in the corridors and during the meals in the Great Hall their eyes would seek out each other of their own accord.

Then they grew even bolder and whenever they met in the library they would exchange a few words about classes, the weather, quidditch or Hogwarts gossip, all the time carefully avoiding the prying eyes of their friends.

As the weather grew colder and stormier they would meet at a secluded place near the lake, since nobody else was crazy enough to go outside which ensured their privacy. After the Christmas break, during which they missed each other terribly, they soon moved on from talking to kissing, huddled against each other to protect each other from the cold.

The fact that they had to keep their relationship a secret made it even more exciting and appealing.

And so they spent two weeks in absolute bliss. Blaise would tell her how beautiful she was, laugh at her jokes and give her little presents. The rest of their short time together they would spend kissing.

***

After those first two weeks, they had their first argument. Ginny had seen him flirting with a dark haired Slytherin girl, and was clearly not amused.

But when she addressed the issue, he was quickly able to appease her by telling her, that she was the only one he cared about and that the other girl was just a friend nothing more.

Ginny wanted to believe him and after he started kissing her, her brain stopped working and so the topic was settled.

When she was in bed that night however, a feeling of unease came over her and concern that maybe they were too different after all.

She ignored the feeling and for the next one and a half weeks they returned to that blissful state. But then Blaise made an improper comment about her brother and the financial situation of her family. This time she was really angry and not that easily appeased. She yelled at him calling him a "spoiled and arrogant git" and sent a bat bogey hex his way.

At first he was angry, how dare she call him that and hex him. Then after some deliberation he came to the conclusion that he kind of deserved it (even though she was a little sensitive). So he set out to win her back. He sent notes saying how sorry he was, looked at her with puppy dog eyes and turned on his charm. Finally after four days he could see her cracking.

She didn't want to give in to him, she really didn't. But it seemed that he was truly sorry. And after his declaration that he truly was an insensitive git, didn't deserve her, was deeply sorry and would from now on strive to be a better person just for her, while looking at her with big eyes and a miserable expression on his face, she felt her resolve crumble.

So they went back to secret glances and notes, short conversations in a secluded area in the library and snogging sessions near the lake.

After three more weeks, the novelty and excitement of their secret relationship wore off and they both wished they could openly show everybody that they were a couple, hold hands in the corridors and go on proper dates. They never mentioned that to the other one and subconsciously they knew that their relationship might not be able to survive when confronted with reality.

But reality caught up with them and was the reason for their third and final argument. Blaise joined Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad and to make matters worse made snide comments about mudbloods (they shouldn't be allowed to Hogwarts) and scolded her for her friendship with Granger (the filthiest of them all). This led to a huge fight and they both had to realize, that their morals and believes were opposites and that neither was willing to change for the other and neither was able to ignore those differences any longer.

So they broke up with a lot of ill will towards each other.

***

Ginny couldn't understand anymore how she could find Zabini appealing at all and just wondered how stupid she could have been to fall for someone like him. Now she was very glad that their relationship had been a secret.

She got back together with Michael, but soon broke up with him again, and this time for good (after the Ravenclaw- Gryffindor quidditch match, when he again proved how much of a sore loser he was). She had enough of all the fighting. There were enough other guys who would happily date her and Dean had been exceptionally nice to her over the last few days.

All the while she tried not to think about why she felt so pleased that Harry had broken up with Cho.

After the incident in the Ministry she changed, she had learned that she was able to stand her ground. Gone was the shy and insecure girl and was replaced by a confident Ginny who knew what she wanted.

And she would make sure to get it.

Author's Note: This story was a plot bunny that came to my mind and wouldn't leave me alone anymore. It was actually inspired by HBP when Harry heard Blaise say that he would never touch Ginny Weasley because she was a blood traitor, I thought well if given the opportunity I am sure you would. Also Ginny's passionate dislike of him made me think there might be more to it. The story, however, didn't come out easily, it took me a while and I kept making changes. So I am quite happy that it is finally finished and I can move on to other stories.

Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think about it, I appreciate every review ;)