Sorry for the long wait. I had vacation last week, and what can I say? I'm lazy. Woo.

Chapter 4—Conversations and Confrontations

Ginny walked out of her final class of the day and straight towards the front doors to sit by the lake. She wished she could stay out on the lush grass and soak her feet in the crystal blue lake for the rest of the evening, but people would eventually question her whereabouts. Ginny smiled, looking out at the grounds with not one soul in sight. As she made her way over to the gargantuan oak tree on the lakeside, Ginny caught a glimpse of Hagrid's hut, and her thoughts were immediately directed towards Harry. She shook her head and continued towards the tree. Ginny was shocked when she saw that her place underneath the tree was occupied. Blaise Zabini was sitting there, looking out on the lake with a content expression.

Ginny made to walk away, when she heard her name. "Hey, Weasley. Why so eager to be off?"

"Hi, uhm, I'm sorry I disturbed you. I'll just go back up to the castle." She turned around again.

"Eh, not so fast, Weasley. There's plenty of room under this tree." Ginny turned back around, with a confused expression. Was a Slytherin just asking her to sit with him? She sighed and walked back to the tree.

She sat down next to Blaise and took in his features, recording them to memory. She couldn't tell how tall he was, because he was sitting down, but if she had to guess it would be somewhere around six foot two. He had an athletic build, although he wasn't on the Quidditch team. His hair was ebony, and came to the nape of his neck in slight waves. His skin was an olive tone and his eyes were dark, dark brown, almost black.

Ginny smiled vaguely at him and redirected her gaze to lake. They sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence, until Blaise broke it.

"So, what brings you out here?"

"Well, I just wanted some time to unwind before my detention tonight. You saw what happened, didn't you?"

Blaise chuckled. "Yeah, that was ace. What did she do to you, though? Must have been pretty bad."

Ginny bit her lip, trying to decide if she could trust him or not with what had happened to her. He seemed pretty nice, but he was best friends with Draco Malfoy and she didn't want him to know.

"C'mon, Gin, it's okay. You can tell me. What happened?" Ginny looked up at him, slightly surprised at the nickname he used with her.

She made up her mind and huffed. "Okay, you know how I was going out with Har-, Potter, last year?" He nodded and she continued, "Well, everyone knows how I've always had a thing for him, so they thought it was about time that we got together. I had never been happier in, I don't know how long. Everything was great. I loved him, and I swore he loved me back. Then one day at the Burrow last year, I caught him…" Ginny stopped, unable to continue. Tears were forming in her eyes, but she didn't even try to stop them.

"Caught him…what? Ginny, please tell me. It's okay," Blaise encouraged her. Ginny was still slightly confused at this sentimental Slytherin's attitude.

"I caught him…cheating on me. With my best friend Mallory, the one I hexed earlier." Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now and landing on her lap. "I just don't know what to do to get over him, you know? I mean, he hurt me so bad. I've never been that hurt before in my life, I felt as if my heart was literally ripped apart like how a lion rips apart a zebra. And I can't even talk to him. My own brother won't even talk to me. Blaise, I-I just don't know what to do!" Ginny was sobbing openly now.

Blaise wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I-I don't know what to say, Gin. That's horrible. But you're strong, and you'll make it through this."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're a Gryffindor. It's as simple as that." He smiled at her and she tried to smile back.

"Thanks, Blaise. So does this mean that we're uhm, like friends now?"

"Yes, it does. You can tell me anything. I'm the best at keeping secrets."

"Thanks. This means a lot to me." Ginny stood up and offered her hand to Blaise to help him up, and he took it.

They walked back across the grounds and into the castle. As Ginny made her way to Gryffindor tower, Blaise stopped her. "Aren't you going to dinner?"

"Uhm, no, I'm not that hungry. Big lunch, you know? Maybe I'll go down to the kitchen later to get a snack."

Blaise looked at her suspiciously. "Okay, Gin. See you later."

"See you, Blaise."

As Blaise walked to the Great Hall, one thought floated in his mind. Ginny wasn't at lunch today… He shrugged it off and walked to the Slytherin table and plopped down next to Draco.

"Zabini, where have you been?" Draco asked as his best bud sat down.

"Out by the lake, just talking to a friend."

"Who?" As Blaise was reaching for a roll, he stopped, deciding whether or not he should say who exactly he had been comforting at the lakeside earlier.

"Uhm…Ginny Weasley," Blaise answered awkwardly as he reached for the roll again, picked it up, and began spreading butter on it.

Draco nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. "Weasley?! Why were you talking to her, of all people?" He asked incredulously.

Blaise looked at him. "She's not that bad, you know. And she has it pretty rough. Not to mention she's gorgeous."

"Gorgeous? Have you gone mad? Blaise, I suggest you see Madame Pomfrey immediately."

"Draco, you can't be serious. She is rather good looking. Admit it."

"No, that's ridiculous." Although, Draco thought to himself, she isn't that hard on the eyes. Draco mentally slapped himself. C'mon this is Weasley you're thinking about! "So, Blaise, why exactly does the littlest Weasley have it as rough as you say?"

"You'll just have to find out for yourself." Blaise excused himself from the table, and Draco watched his back with a look of confusion and curiosity.

Ginny walked into the Gryffindor Common Room, running through her conversation with Blaise in her mind. Who knew a Slytherin could be so…well…sweet, almost. Let alone a guy. I wish all guys could be that nice. She walked over to the couch in front of the fire and saw her brother sitting there. As she drew near, he looked up at her. He patted the couch next to him, inviting her to sit down, which she did, a bit tentatively.

"Hey Gin. So, how's it going?" Ron asked her a bit awkwardly.

"Well, considering the fact that my own brother has been ignoring me, I'd say that life is just smashing," she answered, sarcasm dripping off each word.

"Gin, look. I'm sorry. It's just that, Harry's my best mate and—"

"And I'm your sister! Your only sister! Your family, flesh and blood, all that! And all you can say is 'Harry is my best mate.' Ron, that's not fair, and you know it." Ginny's face was flushed with anger and she was breathing deeply.

"Ginny, I'm sorry! Honestly, what he did to you was wrong, and I regret not doing anything about it. I should have been there for you. I'm a horrible brother and I know it. I just, didn't know what to do. This whole thing was hard for me too."

"Ron, you're not a horrible brother. I'm sorry for yelling at you. You're not a horrible brother. If you and Hermione were dating and she cheated on you, I'd be in a tough situation also. I'm sorry I didn't understand." She reached over and hugged her brother, which he returned eagerly.

"Gin, I don't want to push it or anything, but are you ever going to talk to Harry? I mean, about this whole thing?"

"I don't know, Ron. I honestly don't know." Ginny got up and headed for her dorm, then changed direction. "Ron, I'm going to the library." She walked out of the portrait hole, feeling that this day was not as dreary as the ones previous to it.

Ginny entered the library and headed for a table in the far corner, away from a lot of the other students who were reading and studying. She dropped her bag on the table and jumped when she saw that the table was occupied. It was the Ravenclaw boy who was smiling at her in the Great Hall before.

"Hey, sorry I interrupted your work."

"Oh, it's no problem, none at all." He smiled up at her. "My name's Logan Harvey."

"Hey, Logan. I'm Ginny Weasley." She smiled back at him. He was a cute guy. He had blonde hair that came straight down past his ears and an odd shade of blue eyes; like bluish-gray. He had an adorable smile, as well. Ginny was simply attracted to him.

"I don't want to sound forward, or weird, but has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Ginny blushed and felt extremely self-conscious. "No, never."

Logan immediately took on a face of shock. "Are you serious? That should be an offense! You are absolutely gorgeous, Ginny Weasley, and no one better say otherwise."

"Thanks, Logan. You're not so bad looking yourself." Yeah, this day was definitely getting better. She sat down and took out her Charms homework.

"So, Ginny. The first Hogsmeade weekend is in a couple of weeks. How would you like to go with me? I'd really like to get to know you better."

"I'd love that, Logan. I'd like to get to know you, too. Oh, shoot. It's 8:30. I have a detention tonight at 9. I'll see you around Logan." Ginny got up from her seat at the table and walked away.

"Bye, Ginny." She flashed a last smile at him before going around the bookshelf.

Ginny sighed happily as she left the library. As she rounded a corridor, her happiness was swept into an abyss of despair. Harry was about two feet away from her. Ginny looked to the ground and tried to just walk around him, forget that she even saw him. No such luck.

"Ginny," Harry called her as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "C'mon, Gin, just talk to me."

"Harry, I have nothing to say to you. Please let me go." Ginny tried to stay as calm as possible throughout the encounter.

"Ginny, come on. I'm sorry, okay? Please forgive me."

"Harry, we both know that that'll never happen. Now let me go, or I yell."

"Gin-"

"One…" Ginny warned him.

"C'mon, let's just talk—"

"Two…"

"I'm sorry, Gin—"

"THREE! Harry you let me go right now! HARRY!" Ginny yelled as loud as she could, hoping someone would come and get this delusional boy away from her. There was no way in Heaven or Hell that she would forgive him. Then, Ginny heard footsteps.

"What is going on?" Ginny right away recognized the bored and lazy tone of none other than Draco Malfoy, and she huffed in annoyance.

"Potter won't let me go. I have a detention in five minutes and if he doesn't let me go then I'm going to get into trouble."

"Well, well, well. Weasel, you weren't lying when you said he was a bastard, eh?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow in her direction.

Ginny scowled at him. "I don't lie. Ever. This means that I'm telling the truth in saying," she directed her gaze to Harry, "that I will never forgive you. So step off!"

Harry let go of her shoulder and she walked away towards the dungeons, to serve her detention with Snape. Well, this day went slightly downhill...

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A/N: woo. This chapter's kinda longer than the rest. I'll be honest and say I have no idea where this story is going, just kinda wingin' it. Reviews make me happy :D