Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for the writing.
Prologue
At a normal day, everything should be perfectly fine. Witches and wizards alike would be minding their own business and doing their respectable jobs. However in the lives of Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley, everything crashes to the ground. Their best friends might be really happy but Draco and Ginny are not satisfied at all. Okay, maybe a little bit as they are happy for their best friends. Though now, they have to endure each other's presence more than they had bargained for.
See, Draco has this best friend called Blaise Zabini, the Slytherin cute hottie. Blaise was mostly known because of his mysterious stepfathers and his famously beautiful mother. However, he was only recognizable to fellow Gryffindors after hanging out with Draco. After the war, Blaise had returned to Hogwarts with Draco to finish his seventh year. That was where he met Hermione Granger.
Now we all know who Hermione is. The badass Gryffindor who was Harry Potter's best friend. But nobody seems to know how she warmed up to Blaise. They soon became the best of friends. Originally, Ginny was not satisfied with Hermione and Blaise's friendship. Ginny and Hermione had bonded well after they had shared a dormitory in their last year at Hogwarts. So, Ginny knew well enough that Hermione wouldn't like company in the likes of Blaise Zabini.
Blaise and Hermione's first meeting was rather filled with tension and angst. Professor Snape has paired both of them up for Potions. Of course, being the Slytherin and Gryffindor they were, they started cussing and calling each other names but that was not enough. In an effort to never get paired up again, they ruined their own potion. They were hoping so badly that Professor Snape would separate them right then. Detention had not crossed their minds.
Unfortunately, not only Snape had given them detention together, but he also had paired them up for the whole semester. Luck had not been on anyone's side that day. As Blaise and Hermione had angered him, Snape also made a new rule. None was allowed to change their partners. Some were happy with theirs, like Seamus and Dean. Some were not, like Draco and Ginny. Nobody spoke to Blaise and Hermione for a fortnight.
That was the first time Draco and Ginny were properly acquainted. As much as they wanted to quarrel, kick and pull each other's hair, it was a Potions lesson and they both wanted full marks. And so it started, Gryffindors and Slytherins working together because nothing escaped Snape's eagle eyes, not even a little playful, hair pulling as what Draco did and got into detention.
As classes went on, Ginny found Draco's arrogant attitude more and more annoying but alas, he was way better in Potions than her. She couldn't even whip up a simple Swelling Solution whereas; Draco could produce the perfect Draught of Living Death, much like how Snape had done it in his years. So Ginny made Draco do all the work, most of the time anyway. Whenever Snape as much as glances at them, she would pretend to help Draco, but when he turns away, she returns to her spot on the other side of the table, away from Draco. Draco didn't mind though, he prefers to work alone, even if his partner was a fellow Slytherin, so he never complained. He would always tease her saying she doesn't know anything about Potions which gets her angry, so she does both of their homework as payback. Draco, of course, would spell check his essay and read through again, making changes to her mistakes and pointing them out to her.
Defence Against the Dark Arts was another total nightmare. Not only was it the same pairs, but they also got pair assignments meaning they had to do it together. So Blaise, Draco, Hermione and Ginny arranged to meet at the library three times a week. This happened until the end of the semester. Ginny had never been more exited for winter break. It was after the winter break that Hermione and Blaise's relationship took a step to the next level. They started spending more time together as their Hogwarts days gradually ended, including Draco and Ginny as they had to tag along.
After graduating from Hogwarts however, Ginny had warmed to the idea of having Blaise around as he often pops up in the flat the two girls share. Ginny is proud to say that she is good friends with Blaise, even though her family are against their platonic relationship.
Draco on the other side was not that convincible. He despised the idea of Hermione coming along with Blaise to his house so he carefully avoided the situation by never inviting Blaise to the Manor. Instead, he would present himself at Blaise's house whenever he was called for and tried his best to tolerate Hermione and Ginny's presence.
Often, Blaise and Hermione would get up from the coffee table and wander around Blaise's house, mostly his French inspired garden, and the lake beyond that, which left Draco and Ginny alone in the company of the other. Draco would get up to fill his drink from the bar or he would make tiny fireworks with his wand, in an attempt to avoid a conversation with Ginny. Ginny would browse Blaise's bookshelf by the fireplace, memorizing each and every book in the household, running her hands down the spines of the books. But there came a time when neither had anything else to do, instead stared at each other in silence.
A couple of months ago, the four had met up at the Leaky Cauldron over a Quidditch match. If there's one thing that brought Draco and Ginny together, it's Quidditch, as they both support the Chudley Cannons. Ginny had long gotten over her the Holyhead Harpies and Ron's obsession infected Ginny as well. This time however, it was Blaise and Hermione who were the third and fourth wheelers.
They had bought drinks of course. A few bottles of Firewhiskey and a pint of Butterbeer for Hermione. Plus, they had a deal. Since the Chudley Cannons are playing the Arrow Hawskworth, Blaise's favourite team, each team's supporter has to take a shot each time the opponent scores. So if the Chudley Cannons score, Blaise has to take a shot and vice versa. As the game started, the Chudley Cannons kept scoring and Blaise kept taking shots. Soon, he was well into his third bottle.
So, in his drunken stupor, Blaise blurted out his feelings towards Hermione who was shocked and hastily left without a word. Draco and Ginny just shook their heads and kept on drinking the rest of the Firewhiskey until the game came to an abrupt end and the Chudley Cannons won 300-60 full time. They had Side-Apparate Blaise to his house.
Hermione had avoided Blaise after that and didn't answer to Ginny much either. It was a month later, when Hermione had finally given up and confronted Blaise. She said she was confused and didn't know what to decide upon, so she didn't want to see Blaise yet. Then, she confessed her undying love for him and the two reconciled. Draco almost fainted and Ginny mentally slapped herself in the background.
A/N: This fic was written for the 2015 Fic Exchange by the DG Forum.
