The unusual quartet quickly got into a routine of going to breakfast together, splitting for morning classes, getting all together for lunch, going together to afternoon lessons, having dinner together, and they were frequently joined by Neville and Hannah, because Hannah pushed for it after watching them from afar and hearing from Susan that Pansy Parkinson was now super sweet and attached by the hip to Harry Potter. She never brought that up at dinner though, it was not her place to carry gossip. She just wanted to feel reassured that the war was over and they were all capable of living in peace. Although what she saw was a lot of tension. A lot of sexual tension. Blaise was hitting on Hermione so hard that Hannah joked to her boyfriend she was scared he would hit her unconscious. Hermione didn't seem to believe it, though. Or she really needed to lift her nose from the books once in a while and smell the cologne. And Draco Malfoy was obviously slowly dying of a broken heart, waiting for Ginny to give him a sign. Although, to Hannah's opinion, Ginny was leaving a trail of breadcrumbs so obvious that maybe Malfoy was not as smart as she thought he was. Or he was way too scared to get hurt.

The quartet were all oblivious to the school gossip about them. Even Blaise was so consumed with the idea of making Hermione like him that he didn't hear the rumors, which were already as far as to talk about secret engagements between the Slytherin Princes and the Gryffindor Princesses, only they kept it all under wraps to avoid a scandal.

Blaise however figured out a way to guarantee some one on one time for both him and his friend. He saw Ginny asking Hermione for help with some schoolwork and he managed to interrupt them, throw away a few jokes, buy some time and somehow talk Ginny into going earlier with him to the greenhouses for their Herbology class. Hermione was disappointed when she saw them go but assumed Ginny was more Blaise's type. More open and extroverted.

Meanwhile, Blaise was chastising Ginny

"Are you crazy? Why are you asking Hermione for help with your school work?"

Ginny rolled her eyes

"Because she is my best friend and she is a genius?"

"Well, dum-dum, let me remind you who else is a genius. His name starts with Dra and ends in co."

Ginny opened her eyes like saucers

"You know Blaise, I think you are the genius. How do we do this?"

He smirked

"Hermione is a bleeding heart, so I can easily sequester her to help me with my homework, and then you go and cry to Draco that you can't find her and need help," he said triumphantly.

Ginny broke into an outrageous victory dance. Blaise scowled at her but then joined in and added a raunchy song to it.

"We're getting laid, we're getting laid, we're getting laid."

Ginny swat his arm hard but then hummed the song to herself.

Draco had been scrambling his brain for a way to impress Ginny. Then it hit him. He took a copy of the Prophet and searched for a certain delivery service, then sent an owl and a bag heavy with galleons with it. Then he would have to wait. This would take at least two weeks. he hoped that was not too long. He didn't want someone more proactive to sweep in and scoop Ginny from under his nose. But he didn't really have it in him to tell her straight up. Not yet at least. Luckily for him, Ginny came to him two days later at the library. He was sitting alone, waiting for the rest of them, wondering where did everybody go. Ginny sat next to him, and since they were at the library, she had to whisper in his ear.

"I'm sorry to ask, but I need help with my potions essay, and I can't find Hermione anywhere. Can you help me?" she gave him her best puppy eyes. He looked at her, desperate to kiss her. He did the next best thing. He spoke in her ear, brushing it with his lips softly.

"Of course, I would love to."

That became the best part of their routine. Blaise and Ginny agreed on not being too obvious by asking for only two tutoring sessions a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They would sit at the library but in different sections, preferably towards the back. Whispers, secret smiles, inside little jokes, stolen touches. It was all very enticing, and excruciatingly slow.

It took a whole three weeks for Draco's order to arrive. He was almost losing his mind. When it finally did, he sent an owl to Ginny that found her one Saturday morning in the Gryffindor common room. They had not made plans to hang out beyond breakfast and she was frustrated because she wanted to see Draco outside of classes or the library. When the owl knocked she let it in, gave it a treat and took the small piece of parchment.

Do you think you are fast?

Let's see, then

Meet me at the Quidditch pitch in 20 minutes

DM

Ginny's heart almost burst out of her chest. She ran to change into flying gear and then headed towards the pitch. On the way there, she was thinking there was no way she could race against Draco. Her broom was good, a Nimbus 3000 that her brothers had bought her, but Draco probably had whatever the very latest and greatest model was. They had never gone against each other, the only time she played seeker it was against Ravenclaw. She felt nervous, excited to have an excuse to see him but feeling that she may make a fool of herself. When she got to the pitch he was on the bleachers, so she flew up there.

"Miss Weasley. Are you up for a race?" he said, holding his broom at his side. It was a Firebolt 3. Shit, he was going to hand her her arse.

"You know you are cheating, right? That broom has much more acceleration than mine", she said, holding her Nimbus.

He smirked

"I thought you may say that," he pointed his wand to the bench and said "Finite".

A disillusionment charm lifted and there was another Firebolt 3 lying on the bench.

Ginny's eyes were huge.

"What is this?" she asked incredulously.

"It's a Firebolt 3. And it's yours."

She stammered

"Draco, you don't have to do this. you can't do this, this is absurd."

"If you want to go pro, you better get used to pro equipment and you definitely need to get used to pro speed. And I owe so many things to the Golden trio and therefore to the Weasley family that a broom is nothing, it wouldn't even make a dent in our history," he said with a sad smile.

Her eyes filled with tears and she wrapped her arms around him. He held her sweetly, waiting for her to calm down.

"Thank you," she said, wiping her tears.

"My pleasure. Now, show me what you got."

She grinned widely and jumped on the broom, took off like a bolt of lighting and called from high above.

"Come on Malfoy. Let's see who is the best flier."