Chapter 2

The rest of the week went by fairly quickly for Ginny Weasley. With the exception of the incident with Zabini, things had gone smoothly. Professor Carrow hadn't been suspicious at all and she had passed all of her tests with ease. In fact, Ginny had almost forgotten about the impending headache that was a tutoring session with a Slytherin until the night beforehand and even then, the thought didn't phase her unusually high spirits too much. With the trio gone, things were pretty quiet in the Common Room and she often found herself immersed in her studies just to keep away the boredom. Even her good friend Colin Creevey was absent, and her ex-boyfriend Dean Thomas was no where to be found. In some ways, she looked at this new development with Blaise Zabini as a welcomed break in her relatively uneventful life.

It wasn't till she was on her way to the library that she began to regret her decision. Willingly dealing with a Slytherin would be considered absurd by most of the student population, especially with the state of the school at the moment. The fact that she was helping one with their academics would surely not go unnoticed. Maybe I should've just let him turn me in... she thought bitterly as she entered the library.

The large room was crowded — it was a Saturday after all, and students would be getting their work done early so they could enjoy a bit of afternoon sun. However, she was unable to find the young man she was supposed to be tutoring. Feeling her Weasley temper quickly heat up, she stalked over to a nearly empty table and tossed her bag on the smooth surface before plopping down in one of the chairs. With clenched teeth, she rested her cheek on the palm of her hand and began to drum her fingers on the wood as she waited for Zabini to show up. A few minutes later, she heard someone clear their throat from beside her. Glancing up, she saw the Slytherin standing above her with a raised eyebrow.

"You're late," she snapped, sitting up in her chair. To her surprise, he responded with that grin of his.

"I believe that's my stuff on the table next to you," he noted with a small gesture towards the bag and pile of books in front of the chair beside her. "I've been here for nearly half an hour." She opened her mouth to retort, but found herself lacking a witty comment and simply closed it. Blaise said nothing as he slid into his chair.

"So, what do you have planned, Weaslette?" The book Ginny was taking out of her bag made a loud thud on the table.

"If I'm helping you with this, you are not going to call me that," she stated evenly, opening the Seventh year Charms book she had borrowed from Seamus and flipping through the pages.

He chuckled, and Ginny mused that the action didn't seem so foreign to this particular Slytherin. "What do you want me to call you them?"

"Oh, the general 'Weasley' is fine," she answered, glancing up from the book to meet his eyes before returning to the text. "As long as you don't say it with that awful sneer like Malfoy does."

Blaise laughed again, and she could, regrettably, feel herself fighting back a small smile as he did so. "I always tell him he needs to stop doing that. It's not intimidating all." This time, her lips did quirk at the corners.

"Especially after he got turned into a ferret. Merlin, I'll never forget that."

"Or that time you hit him with that brilliant Bat Bogey Hex," he recalled, grinning widely as he leaned back in his seat. The red-head felt her cheeks warm slightly at the compliment. "It still bugs the hell out of him when I bring that up."

"Well, the prat deserved it," she muttered before turning the page once more and stopping. After glancing over the information, she looked up with a questioning expression. "Professor Flitwick hasn't covered shield charms yet, has he?"

The Slytherin almost seemed sad that the focus had so quickly diverted back to Charms. "We're supposed to be getting around to it next week."

"Then I'm sure he'll be very impressed if you already know it," Ginny replied brightly. "Of course, the definition is pretty simple. It-"

"Creates a magical barrier of some sort that deflects hexes," he interrupted lazily. "I don't have a problem with the theoretical stuff. It's the practical portion that gets me."

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" she sighed with mild exasperation, rising from her chair as she stuffed the book back in her bag.

"Where do you think you're going? We had an agreement," Blaise reminded her.

"We can't exactly practice in here. Madam Pince would have a fit." His mouth broke into an amused smile.

"And why is that a problem?"
Ginny frowned at the lofty tone of his voice before slinging her bag over her shoulder. "As entertaining as it may be to you, I don't want to spend my weekend in detention."

"That would put a damper on things, wouldn't it?" He also packed up his stuff and stood. "Where are we going?"

"The grounds."

"Why there?"

She sighed once more. "Why do you think, Zabini?" Ginny replied sharply. When he didn't answer, she continued. "I figure it's the best spot for you to get in some practice," she explained in a hushed tone as they made their way to the exit. "It's not like we can practice in the halls, and I don't think the Death Eater scum infesting the place will be happy if they find us in one of the classrooms."

Blaise let out a snort as they came out into the hallway. "'Death Eater scum?' Not exactly something you should say around a Slytherin." A momentary look of realization dawned on her face before covered it with a small cough as she brushed a lock of hair off her face.

"Oh please, like you could be a Death Eater."

"What makes you so sure?" he said teasingly. Suddenly, she came to an abrupt halt and reached out to grab his left hand. When she lifted up his sleeve, she grinned smugly.

"No mark," she stated with satisfaction before releasing his hand and continued to walk down the corridor. With a look of surprise at her action still plastered on his face, Blaise caught up to the younger girl.

"What makes you think you can get away with doing something like that?" he demanded, though his voice lacked any obvious annoyance. If anything, he was a tad taken-aback by her daring.

Ginny paused and faced him, meeting his deep brown eyes with her chocolate ones. "What are you gonna do? Hex me in the middle of the hall?" After a moment, he looked away with an irritated huff, which only caused her to let out a dry chuckle as she started towards the grounds once more. "Who am I kidding? You're not the type to do that anyway..."

This time, a smirk quickly appeared on his face. "'Not the type,' am I?"
"You may act like you are, but, as much as it pains me to say it, I don't think you're really like that," she answered smoothly, glancing over at him. He shrugged in response, though the expression in his eyes was one of clear amusement. They continued the rest of the way in silence until they came to the lake, where Ginny promptly dumped her bag under a large tree before scanning the area. There were a few students lounging around, not nearly as many as there were before, but enough to maintain consistent chatter. She returned her gaze to her momentary pupil, who had also put his stuff at the base of the tree and had removed his robe to reveal the typical black trousers and crisp, white shirt.

"So, where do we start?" he wondered, rolling up his sleeves to the elbow before pulling his wand out of back pocket.

"Well, the incantation is 'Protego.'" He opened his mouth to interject, but she beat him to the chase. "As I'm sure you already know. The tricky part is in the wand movement." Ginny demonstrated with a few quick flicks of her wrist before murmuring, "Protego."

He studied her quizzically for a moment before saying, "...Is that it?"

"Yup."

The boy continued to gaze at her a bit longer. "There's no visible effect?"

Ginny let out a soft sigh. "I can't believe I'm about to say this to a Slytherin," she raised her open arms slightly, "but go ahead and hex me." She regretted the words as soon as his irritating smirk was revived on his face.

"If you say so..." Blaise raised his wand before clearing shouting, "Locomotor Mortis!" He waited a second for her legs to lock together, which would undoubtedly lead to her falling flat on her face, but the curse simply bounced off. "...It actually worked?" he asked incredulously, a tone that caused a look of offense to appear on the girl's face.

"I'm not the top in my class for nothing."

"I guess I didn't give you enough credit, Weaslette." The Gryffindor scowled at the name, but he just ignored her and grinned. "That's Seventh year material. You must be one hell of a student." She was secretly appreciative of his comment, but the emotion didn't make it to her face.

"Now you give it a go," she instructed, but judging from the look on his face he hadn't really been paying attention when she showed him the wand movements. Stepping forward, she grabbed his hand. "This is how you do it," she sighed before leading his hand in the action of casting the spell. Then she dropped his hand and sent him an expectant glance.

"What? You expect me to just to pick it up like that?"

"Just go ahead and try it," Ginny muttered. He could tell her patience was running thin, so he just raised his wand and attempted to duplicate her movements before saying the incantation.

"Now what?"

With a nonchalant air and a wave of her hand, she said, "Time to test-" Before she could finish, she was cut off by Blaise bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Zabini..." She walked over and gently whacked him over the head, but he just doubled over, consumed by his hysterical chortling. "Hey! What's wrong with you?"

Between guffaws, he managed to gasp out, "Dra-," another laugh, "-co." With startled eyes, she looked up to see Malfoy standing a little ways a way, his lips forming his trademark smirk.

Concluding that he had cast 'Rictusempra,' Ginny pointed her wand at Blaise and quietly said, "Finite." He stopped mid-laugh, but stayed slightly bent at the waist with his hand over his stomach as he drew in deep breathes. Malfoy sauntered over to the pair, only to be greeted by a rough shove from his fellow Slytherin.

"That wasn't fair, you git!"

"It's not my fault you cast the spell wrong," Malfoy pointed out with a grin. Blaise opened his mouth to protest, but Ginny cut him off.

"Unfortunately, Malfoy's right," she admitted tiredly. "Your wand movement was off." Blaise could only glare as his friend sent him a superior look.

"Perhaps you should find a better tutor, Blaise. She's clearly not teaching you well enough," the Slytherin drawled with a glance towards the youngest Weasley. She knew he was trying to bait her, but she still couldn't stop her temper from flaring.

"Or maybe you're just annoyed that a Sixth year is better at Charms than you?" she countered icily. Malfoy laughed — actually laughed — and Ginny's jaw nearly dropped in shock.

"I seriously doubt that." He was amused, and that fact that she was the source of his entertainment pissed her off more than anything.

"Then why aren't you tutoring him?" she spat.

"Hey! Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?" Blaise exclaimed with a frown.

A small huff escaped her lips before Ginny spun on her heel and walking back to the tree she had dropped her stuff at. Pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder, she began retracing her steps towards the castle. When she passed the Slytherin duo, she evenly stated, "Practice the spell tonight, Zabini. If you don't have it down by tomorrow, then this deal we have is over." And with that, she briskly headed for the school's entrance.

Blaise sighed before crossing his arms over his chest. "Thanks a lot," he mumbled as he passed his friend to get to his belongings.

"Hey, it's not my fault," Draco objected. "You're going to be in for quite a tough time though, mate... That's not an easy spell."

"That's what you think. It's you're fault she left," he mentioned, turning towards the school as a grin appeared on his face. "So you're going to help me."

A/N - As always, reviews totally make my day : ) So if you have anything you like/dislike, suggestions about how I can improve, or just something you want to say, I'd love to hear it! Also, I'll be starting another of my original fiction stories soon, so updates may be a little delayed, but I'll still try to post new chapters at least twice a month. I hope you all are enjoying the story!

-Twilight-Songstress