A/N: I can do nothing but apologize for the wait. My sister recently broke up with her boyfriend and as a result her and my nephew moved in. He's a year and a half and an absolute handful. He walks (runs) on his little legs right into my room and basically demands my attention – and he's just too cute to turn away!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from the Harry Potter series.
The past week had not gone well for Blaise. He'd been expecting to avoid Daphne and spend his time with Ginny instead. What actually happened was Ginny avoided him while Daphne showed up at his place, demanding the return of her things from there. He'd let her in, of course, but instead of quickly gathering her stuff and leaving she took her dear sweet time and picked fights with him. In the end he'd packed for her and kicked her out, not even sparing the time it took to make up a fake excuse for doing so.
By Tuesday he had been certain that Ginny was avoiding him and he was in a rotten mood the rest of the week. She knew didn't she? Draco said he had told her. Did she doubt Draco's word? Did she think that he was lying to her as some weird way to get back at her for not telling everyone who she was? Maybe she thought Draco wanted her to make a move which would lead to Daphne coming after her in an angry, jealous rage.
When John paid him a visit Friday evening he eagerly welcomed the distraction. It wasn't unusual for one of his friends to show up on a whim so when John had said he had something he could use Blaise's help with he was instantly intrigued. While Blaise was closer to Draco, John was closer to Theo and it was rare for John to come to him for help. When he heard it had to do with Ginny it took all his control not to grill John with questions about her. It only took three seconds after the invite came for him to accept the offer to lunch the next day.
It wasn't until he walked in the door that he realized he didn't exactly know what to say to her. He cowardly hid behind John as long as he could, but when John moved to sit and he locked eyes with Ginny there was nothing he could do but wing it.
"Hello ladies," he smiled, making sure to greet Felicia with a quick glance first so his eyes could linger on Ginny in a less obvious way.
"What a pleasant surprise Blaise," Felicia said warmly. "Thanks for coming to keep John company."
"More like keep me sane," John joked.
"Don't give me that," Felicia rolled her eyes at him. "We both know you're the one who asked to join us for lunch."
"Can't pass up a good meal," John grinned, putting his arm around her.
As they continued to flirt and joke Blaise took the opportunity to greet Ginny. "Surprised to finally see you again," he said casually, moving to sit in the chair beside her. "I didn't think it would ever happen."
"I've been busy," Ginny said with a forced half smile. "Sorry."
He knew she wasn't really busy, but he didn't want to comment on it. Instead he didn't respond at all and waited for her to make the next move. He was here – now it was her turn. She didn't make any immediate moves to talk so he turned his attention to the other side of the table. "Did you have fun shopping this morning Felicia?"
"I did," she smiled warmly at him. "I'm so happy I got to meet Ginny. I'll have to thank Theo for asking her on that date."
Blaise gave her a tight smile in return, but it was Ginny who spoke up. "Well it's just a good thing we hit it off right away because I won't be going on any more dates with Theo."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Felicia said sincerely. Blaise realized she obviously had no idea about everything that had been going on. It appeared Ginny was not off having girl talk about him all morning as he momentarily feared before his arrival. "Blaise here's single now too," Felicia added. "You two get along right? So, the four of us can always hang out together."
"You're not with Daphne anymore Blaise?" Ginny asked, sounding too surprised for the effect to feel genuine.
"No," Blaise gave her a slight smirk. "I'm not."
"I'm sorry to hear that," she shook her head.
"I'm sure," he mumbled quietly enough for only her to hear. Louder, he said, "some things can't be helped."
Ginny spent the rest of the meal avoiding Blaise at every opportunity. He knew that his presence was a bother to her so, instead of letting her avoidance bother him, he decided to make a game of it. He would keep a running tally of every time she avoided him and, if it did not pass ten, he would find a way to invite himself into her after-meal plans. If it was more than ten, however, he would leave her be for the day and insert him self unexpectedly in her life tomorrow. It was Sunday, but he had been able to easily find out where she lived. He wasn't against showing up and acting like old friends with her brothers and being sickeningly sweet to her mother and treating her father with the utmost respect and manners just to get under her skin. And when the eleventh sign that she was trying to avoid contact with him finally came towards the end of the meal he smiled to himself.
Blaise showed up at her house at noon, not a minute before or after. It was Mrs. Weasley who had opened the door and he shot her his most charming grin.
"I'm sorry to intrude," he said, "but I was wondering if Ginny was home."
Mrs. Weasley eyed him apprehensively, "Who are you?"
"I apologize," he said smoothly. "I should have started with that information. My name is Blaise. I met Ginny when she was out with friends a while back."
"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley said brightly, her eyes shining happily. "Are you the young man she went on a date with?"
"I'm not," he sighed and shook his head, looking, for all extents and purposes like this truly saddened him, which, he noted, wasn't far from the truth. And though he wished he had gotten her out on something resembling a date, he couldn't help but take a sort of victorious joy out of the fact she had never mentioned her date's name, since it clearly wasn't important enough to her. "I was there but not as her date – that would have been a friend of mine, Theo, she was with."
"Oh," Mrs. Weasley repeated, sounding slightly less thrilled to see him but still hopeful. "I'm sorry for the confusion. You said you were from when she goes out so I just assumed…"
"It's not a problem at all," Blaise smiled in a friendly manner. "I can't blame Theo for asking her out before I could."
As he expected, Mrs. Weasley's interest was immediately piqued. "You want to ask out my Ginny?" she asked hopefully. Not bothering to wait for an answer, seeming to take his presence as enough of one, she smiled a warm smile at him. "She went out with her brother for a few hours today but I'm expecting her home any time now. Would you like to come in and wait for her? Maybe have a spot of lunch? Growing men need their meals."
"I don't want to intrude ma'am," he shook his head. "I should have written before just showing up. It was terribly rude of me."
"Nonsense," she waved off his words, "you're not intruding at all. Blaise you said your name was? That's a wonderful name." She ushered him in to the room gesturing for his cloak as she kept talking. "I'm sure Ginny will be just delighted to see you. She's been out of sorts this week for some reason. I was convinced she was going to fall ill but as it turns out that was not the case. She went out with a friend yesterday and, though she still seemed bothered, she was in a marginally better mood upon her return. It'll be a pleasant surprise for her to see another friend."
The whole time she talked she maneuvered them into the kitchen, where he now stood ready to truly test how well this would work out. There were three men, seated at the table with a plate of sandwiches between them, two of her brothers and whom he had to assume was Mr. Weasley. They looked up as they entered, no doubt to find out who had shown up, and he smiled at them.
"Who is this?" Mr. Weasley asked in a kindly confused way.
"He's here to see Ginny dear," Mrs. Weasley answered, directing Blaise towards the table and indicating for him to sit opposite the two brothers. Once he was settled she asked, "Would you like a drink dear?"
"Some water would be lovely," he answered. She nodded and went to fetch him a cup, talking to Mr. Weasley over her shoulder while she did.
"I invited him in to wait for her to return," she explained. "She's a friend of his from all those times she goes out with her friends. As it turns out it was his friend she went on the date with last weekend." She paused for a moment in her speech, placing his water before him as well as a plate for a sandwich. "What did you say his name was again dear?"
"Theo," Blaise answered.
"Yes, that's right," she nodded, absently sitting down beside him. "Anyway, this Theo she went on a date with was his friend. Though I believe he said he was there as well."
"I was," he nodded in response to the question in her voice. "It was a triple date: Theo, my self and another of our friends."
"So you've a girlfriend then?" she asked, looking a bit discouraged, but sounding just as chipper.
"I do not," he answered. "We recently separated."
"I'm so sorry to hear that," she responded politely, a smile fighting to take over her face. She pulled the plate of sandwiches closer, gesturing for him to take one. He looked over the selection before selecting one that looked stuffed full the least. She returned the tray to its original spot, looking to her sons and letting the smile finally take its place. "Do you either of you boys know him by chance?"
"Looks a bit familiar," one of them shrugged. "I might have seen him around the ministry or something. What was your name?"
"Oh dear did I forget to introduce him?" Mrs. Weasley said sheepishly. "This is Blaise. Blaise, these are two of my sons, Ron" she said pointing to the one who had spoken, "and Bill, and my husband."
"It's nice to meet you all," Blaise nodded to each man. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Not at all," Mr. Weasley smiled, "just another calm lunch before the storm."
"The storm?" Blaise raised an eyebrow in question.
"Also known as Sunday dinner," Bill spoke up. "One Sunday a month every one in the family comes for dinner. It gets hectic."
"The whole family?" he asked in interest.
"All but one of our brothers," he confirmed with a nod. "He lives in Romania working with dragons so it's harder for him to get off work and travel here."
"That would be Charlie right?" Blaise asked, pleased he'd spent his time going over anything Ginny had ever mentioned about her family the night before.
"That's him," Bill nodded, looking impressed Blaise knew that information. "He only comes around every few months. Other than him it's the whole group though."
"I don't know what your family's like, but imagine it mate," Ron shook his head. "You've got our parents, their five sons, two that come with girlfriends, one that comes with a wife and daughter, their one daughter and one close family friend who comes with a girlfriend and a godson."
Blaise shook his head, truly in awe at the size of their family. "I'm an only child."
"So is Harry's girlfriend," Ron laughed. "I swear the first time he brought her, her eyes were the size of a quaffle when she realized how many people were here."
"When some one thinks they're coming to a family dinner," Bill explained, "they think it's just the family, you know, my parents, my brothers and my sister, they don't realize they aren't the only extra members."
"I don't know why," Mr. Weasley said, sounding amused. "It just seems logical to me. Of course, I have grown so accustomed to the large numbers that they barely faze me. It's the small meals that make me feel out of place."
"At least we're not completely on our own yet," Mrs. Weasley smile encouragingly at her husband. "Ginny is still here most nights with us."
"Too true," Mr. Weasley nodded happily. "She's a gem!"
"Fifteen people," Blaise shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around the idea. "How do you fit them all at the table?"
"Oh we don't," Mr. Weasley laughed, "even with magic that would be a miracle to make happen."
"We set up tables out side," Bill answered better. "In the winter we just divide between eating at the table and eating in the sitting room."
"Which is actually the more interesting time," Ron spoke up. "We always eat at the table, so it's a race to see who can manage to make it into a sitting room chair before they fill up. It's only after dinner that we conjure up all the extra chairs and stuff in there for the occasion."
"Funnily enough," Bill chuckled. "It's only the guys that actually care to race though."
"And doesn't is figure that while we're rushing around trying to stop each other from getting the sitting room spots the girls just waltz right in there and take them right from under our noses," Ron shook his head. "It's not right I tell you."
Blaise was about to comment, maybe suggesting the guys work together against the girls to get the seats, when the sound of the door opening and closing drifted into the kitchen. A moment later he heard a call of "We're back!" that was unmistakably Ginny's voice and turned to the kitchen entrance expectantly, waiting for her arrival.
Mrs. Weasley stood and moved to greet them, as seemed to be custom for her. "Ginny dear there's a lovely surprise in the kitchen for you!"
"No surprise for me?" whichever brother she was with asked playfully. "I can feel the love mum."
He heard the sound of hurried footsteps and waited expectantly. The second she rounded the corner, a broad, excited grin on her face, her eyes found him. He smirked at the shocked look that took over her features.
A/N: I'm sure you know the drill by now, the next part will be in Ginny's point of view. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!