So this is the longest chapter yet! WOO HOO! so anyway, please please please review. Yes i am begging.
"So are you afraid of losing, Ginger?" Blaise asked in a playful voice.
Ginny rolled her eyes and said "Nope. Are you? Because you should be," adding an evil grin at the end.
He mimicked her actions before by rolling his eyes and said "Let's see if you play as good as you talk."
She waggled her eyebrows and waved goodbye. The boy frowned, but nonetheless walked away from the girl he was growing so fond of. These conversations they had always seemed to put him in a better mood, and he was glad that they were becoming more frequent since he joined DA. As he walked away all he could think was Screw the Carrow's.
They only talked to each other in empty hallways or a Dumbledore's Army. Ginny worried that the Carrow's would notice they were friend, which would ruin Blaise being their spy if they ever needed him. So Blaise walked away from the red head as she walked through the Great Hall doors, for her sake. Honestly he couldn't care less if he got caught doing something the Carrow's disliked. But Ginny needed him to do this.
A smile appeared on his face. Not a joking or smirking smile, a real smile. She needs me…
The silly smile on his face stayed in place until he reached the common room, where the weird looks he was receiving from Crabbe and Goyle didn't even bother him.
Meanwhile, Ginny felt the same way Blaise did about the Carrow's. She wanted to be friends with whomever she liked despite their feelings. She walked into the Great Hall and as she sat down at the table she could hear her fellow Gryffindor's wishing her good luck.
She glanced over at the Slytherin table and they were all booing her. She looked down at her toast and lost her appetite. Tonight was the first Quidditch match of the year, and it was against Slytherin. She had been working hard with the team for the last few weeks to help increase their chances of winning.
Ginny looked around for her team mates to make sure they were eating. When she saw them she almost laughed at the sight. The whole team was sitting together looking extremely nervous. But her amusement quickly went away when she realized that their nerves could mess up the game tonight.
She stood up with her plate of food, trying to set a good example for the team, and walked over to them. They all looked up at her as if she would send their troubles away. Well, she could try. "C'mon mates, start eating. We need to be ready whoop Slytherin's arses!"
They all laughed halfheartedly and she sat in between Collin and her roommate Luisa. She purposely steered the conversation away from Quidditch and brought up some stories about childhood memories with Fred and George. By the end of the story everyone was chortling with laughter. She looked up and realized that the entrance hall was almost empty, and that breakfast was over.
She sighed knowing that she should get some studying done because she had a test in McGonagall's class on Monday. She dragged herself to the library trying to think of what Hermione would be saying right now. She laughed to herself and walked to an empty table in the corner of the library. She pulled out the transfiguration book and immersed herself in it as much as she could.
After about twenty minutes she felt a chair slide out next to her and she looked up to see Neville smiling at her. She pushed her book away and put her head on the table. "I really hate learning."
Neville laughed and pat her on the back and said "Don't we all?" Ginny nodded and Neville pulled out his Herbology book.
"Are you ready to show Zabini whose boss tonight?" Neville asked.
A grin came onto Ginny's face and she thought of how Blaise would look like when she beat him.
"Are you fantasizing about a certain Slytherin?" Neville asked as he waggled his eyebrows.
Ginny blinked and shook her head a little harder than necessary. "No!" she said loudly.
Neville held back a laugh as he stared at his friend. He shot a knowing look at her and she quickly grabbed her Transfiguration book and said " How do you pronounce this spell on how to turn a mouse…."
Neville gave another look at Ginny before helping her with studying. Ha! He thought, Who would of thought I'd be the one helping someone study?
Hours later Ginny thanked Neville for helping her and left the library to get ready for the game. He stomach plunged as she thought about the match. She now completely understood why Harry got so irritable or nervous before a game. If she messed up, it wasn't just letting herself down, it was letting Gryffindor down.
"Ginger? Are you getting ready to fail to me, the most handsome Slytherin around, tonight?" Blaise said, coming up behind her.
In her usual fashion, she rolled her eyes and adding her witty remark said "Haven't I already seen your big head once today?"
"Oh, that hurt." He said in mock sadness.
"Good. Someone needs to knock that oversized ego of yours down a few notches." She said in a serious voice.
He laughed and said "I love talking to you. You actually know how to have a good, sarcastic conversation with someone. I swear I'm going to end up ripping out Pansy's vocal chords one day."
Ginny's loud laughter echoed around the room in a way that made Blaise grin. Her laugh was so much better than the giggles he was used to hearing, or Pansy's shrieks. He shuddered involuntarily at the latter part of that thought.
Ginny stood up straight and said "It must be a gift I inherited. I do have six brothers who rubbed off on me."
Blaise's nose wrinkled in distaste as he said "How could you handle that? Wouldn't you guys have murdered each other?"
With a reminiscent smile she answered his question with a vauge "I have no idea. We did get pretty \close to it."
Blaise shook his head in disbelief. He could never imagine his mother handling more than one child. Without even realizing it the thought had brought a chuckle up his throat. Ginny arched a red eyebrow and he just shrugged.
"Well as great as this is, hearing how great of a sarcastic person I am, I need to go get ready for the game. I think I'm going to have someone have a camera ready to photograph your face when you lose to a ginger blood traitor."
"Keep telling yourself that." He said skeptically.
She just cheerily waved goodbye to him and got ready for the game. He waved back and walked his separate way to the dungeons, tonight's game would definitely be interesting…
"Oh Merlin." Luisa said. "How are we going to do this! We're going to lose! Why did I join the team, again?"
This was the general conversation going on around the Gryffindor players. Ginny looked at the team fighting the urge to either bang her head against the wall or roll her eyes; both seemed like very tempting offers. Instead, however, she decided to go with the very useful command "Shut it!"
Everyone's heads snapped up to look at their captain. Ginny felt queasy as she felt their eyes looking expectantly at her. Her feet shuffled and she cleared her throat. "I'm not going to give some inspirational speech to you guys, because quite honestly that would just be awkward and weird."
Several people chuckled and Ginny got the courage to continue. "But I am going to tell you that I know we can do this. You guys are acting like this is the Quidditch world cup and millions of people are watching." Her eyes connected with everyone else's before she continued.
"Well it's not, and we're not. This is a Quidditch game against two rival houses in a school. Yes, the whole school is watching, but ignore them. These kids are your friends. If we lose, yes they will most likely tease us, but they will still be our friends. And quite honestly we are used to crap from the Slytherin's anyway, so that won't be new.
"But the thing is, we won't lose. I haven't worked you guys so hard for no reason. Our practice's have been great and I am very confident about this game. So let's win this game." She finished.
Seamus stood up and said "Let's do this!" Dean quickly followed and the two started fist pumping the air.
Collin stood up and high fived his captain. "That was a great speech Gin." She grinned at him and they both walked over to their brooms. "I think we'll win." He said confidently.
"One can only hope." Ginny said hesitantly.
She walked up to the edge of the field and listened the roar of noise from above. She looked around and saw the Gryffindor's all shooting dirty looks at the Slytherin's who shot them right back. A flush came over her face when she saw her other room mates were holding a sign that said "Go Ginny, the best captain seen since Potter." She rolled her eyes due to the fact Harry was the Quidditch captain right before her.
She felt the presence of her team behind her and she quietly said "This is it. Good Luck."
Everyone sucked in their breath as they walked across the field. The Gryffindor's all started cheering loudly and jeers could be heard from the Slytherin's. She heard the familiar lion growl that came off of Luna's lion hat. She let out a quick laugh before turning serious again as the Slytherin team strutted onto the field.
The two teams soared into the air besides the two captains. Ginny walked over to Madam Hooch who stood in the middle of the field with the Slytherin team captain, Blaise Zabini. She tried to keep the smile off of her face as she looked at his serious face.
When she reached the center Madam Hooch said "Let's make this a good game, no dirty tricks." She shot a dark look at Blaise who just grinned cheekily. "Captains shake." Blaise held out his large hand and Ginny quickly grabbed it. She felt the warmth spread over her fingers and up her arm when they touched and she gave the slightest smile up at the tall frame of Blaise. He returned it before letting go and hopping on his broom. Ginny followed his lead and soared up to Dean and Seamus, the other two keepers.
Over the cheers of the crowd Ginny could faintly hear Madam Hooch blow her whistle. The Quaffle was thrown into the air and the game begin. Ginny zoomed for it at the same time as Blaise and two nearly collided. Ginny got a hold of the ball and zoomed towards the Slytherin goal posts. She dodged a bludger neatly, but was hit on the side by Blaise who stole the ball from her.
This was going to be a long game.
The rest of the game followed the same suit, the scores going back and forth. Right now it was 60-50, Slytherin in the lead. Ginny knew that the game was really between the seekers right now. Collin was currently circling around the field and seemed to have no luck finding the snitch.
However the Slytherin Seeker was racing towards a fleck of gold. Ginny's heart sank. They were going to lose. She knew it, and Blaise knew it. He was shouting and sending evil gloating looks toward Ginny.
But then a miracle happened. The Gryffindor beater, Jimmy Peakes, who was the worst of the two beaters they had on the team, hit his bat against the bludger. Everyone seemed to go silent as the bludger raced towards the oblivious Slytherin seeker. It hit him square in the back and he went soaring through the air. Collin raced faster than Ginny had ever seen him go and then his hand wrapped around the golden ball.
The Gryffindor's senses came back to them and the loudest amount of cheers Ginny had ever heard erupted. The Ravenclaw's and the Hufflepuff's soon joined in. The Gryffindor team raced together embracing a stunned Jimmy and a grinning Collin. Ginny felt like she could cry in happiness. She glanced over to the Slytherin team to see Blaise yelling at his scowling team.
Ginny clapped Collin and Jimmy on the back and the team soared down to the ground together. Everyone was in a rush to get back to the Common room, where surly there was going to be a party of some sort. Ginny hung around, not yet ready to go back to the chaos that was awaiting her.
She got into her normal clothes and decided to go on a walk around the grounds. As she walked past Hagrid's hut she felt a fleet of disappointment wash around her. He wasn't there. She had forgotten he had fled once Snape began his dictatorship at Hogwarts.
She quickly walked away and decided to take a stroll around the lake. She was surprised the see another person sitting against the tree. Ginny's curiosity got the better of her and she inched her way closer to the figure.
"Blaise!" she said
He looked up and smiled up at her. Ginny sat next to him and said "So are you skulking because I beat you?"
He shook his head and said "More like hiding from my house."
Ginny laughed and said "Is somebody scared?" in a mocking baby voice.
He elbowed her and said "We can't all be brave Gyffindor's."
She looked up at him and studied his features. His blue eyes were laced with amusement and his lips were turned in a small smile. She laid her head on his shoulder and said "That would just be weird if you were in Gryffindor."
"It would be terrible being around you pompous little freaks all the time. I would go and Avada Kedavra myself." He said, wrapping an arm around her.
It was then that Ginny realized how close they were. He seemed to realize it too and their eyes connected. If anyone had ever told Ginny Weasley that she would be leaning closer and closer to the lips of Blaise Zabini, she would have hexed them into oblivion. Yet her she was, doing that exact thing willingly. She could feel his breath on her lips when-
"Ginny? Are you out here?"
They both froze and looked at each other in surprise. Blaise swore under his breath and Ginny quickly scooted away from him. Collin appeared from behind the tree and it was a shock he couldn't feel the tension going on between the two people in front of him. "There you are Ginny! I went looking for you because there's a huge party going on up in the common room."
Ginny awkwardly stood up and let Collin drag her back to the castle. The whole time she and Blaise's eyes were connected. Ginny could see wanting in his eyes and she knew it could be seen in hers too.
Collin dragged her up through the whole castle and up into the Gryffindor common room. She was embraced by what seemed like the whole Gryffindor house and they were all shouting. "We won!" Everyone was shouting.
Ginny felt in a daze. She was physically there celebrating their victory, but mentally, she was with Blaise. She realized with a start how much she wanted that kiss, and how determined she was to get it.