Saturday morning came in the blink of an eye, and Ginny, despite how uncharacteristic it was of her, got up early so that she could get ready. She didn't dare do too much, for fear of lowering Riddle's already shaky opinion of her, but the Head Girl did
take the time to curl her hair and apply eyeliner and a dash of lip gloss.
Lavender would be flipping her lid if she knew I was going on a date with a Malfoy like this, Ginny thought wryly as she adjusted the Stone of Eons around her neck.
Satisfied that she was presentable enough, Ginny exited her room and skipped down her staircase, planning on heading straight for the Great Hall to wait for Abraxas. She was more than a little surprised when a familiar voice asked, "Can I have a moment of your time, Peverell?"
The Head Girl screeched to a halt and whirled around, shocked to see Tom Riddle sitting in his usual chair, another thick tome in his lap. If it was possible, he seemed to have been reading more than ever over the last few days.
"Um," Ginny said hesitantly, then kicked herself. The fate of the world kind of outweighed a silly little date. "Yeah, I have a few minutes. What's up?"
Riddle closed his book, and, sitting up a little bit straighter (if that was even possible), began speaking.
"You said that you do not believe I will find true power on my current path, and some extensive research on my own part has proved you to be correct. The great empires of the past have all died out and are now largely unremembered. I do not want this happening to me. What do you think that I should do differently, Peverell?"
If Ginny hadn't gotten so much experience in acting over the past few weeks, she would have gaped like a fish.
Tom Riddle, the impossibly smart, stuck-up Head Boy, had just admitted to listening to her advice. Not only that, but he was even asking her to help him.
Ginny, with an enormous smile plastered on her face, hurried over to her usual chair and sat down across from him. She'd been on the receiving end of enough of Dumbledore's pep talks to know exactly what to say.
"You want something that'll give you the power to do anything?" the Head Girl asked excitedly.
"Yes," said Riddle, his voice annoyed and impatient. As if he could sense her answer was not going to be what he had in mind, his jaw was already clenched, his hands balled up into tight fists.
"Something that will make world domination appear childish and wasteful? Something that'll make everything you have ever experienced seem silly and insignificant?"
"Yes," he grit out, evidently regretting asking her the question. Ginny didn't care. He'd given her a wonderful opportunity to plant a little seed in his head, one that she hoped would root itself deep in that super-smart brain of his.
"Then find someone to care about," Ginny grinned, choosing her words carefully to go along with Dumbledore's rather accurate-seeming theory that Riddle couldn't love. "I mean, really, really care about."
The common room went quiet, and Ginny could hear the grandfather clock ticking away in the background, reminding her that she was probably late for her date.
Exactly thirty six long, awkward seconds passed before Riddle spoke again, amusement in his voice.
"You may be tolerable, but I suppose that you will always have foolish Hufflepuff ideals that are impossible to overcome. Caring is nothing more than a weakness, foolish girl, one that I will have nothing to do with."
Ginny stood up, telling herself that Riddle would warm up to her idea eventually.
"Don't laugh at what you don't understand, Riddle," she said, making her voice warm and friendly to emphasize her point. Staring right into his dark eyes, Ginny continued, "Until you can honestly tell me that you've felt what it's like to have a real friend, nothing that you say on this matter is valid."
"I do not-"
"What in the bloody hell will it hurt?" Ginny interrupted, taking two big steps, so that she was standing directly in front of his emerald green chair. "Would it really kill you to open your mind for a day or two, just to try to make a friend? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. You have absolutely nothing to lose."
"No," Riddle said angrily. There was loathing written plainly in his eyes. Ginny stepped slightly closer, bravely putting her hands on the arms of his chair so that she could get right up in his face.
"Why? Are you too scared of what you might find?" she asked heatedly. Then, before he could yell at her, Ginny whirled around and exited the room in a dramatic manner that she was rather proud of.
…
Abraxas was waiting when Ginny finally jogged into the Great Hall, but, to Ginny's great consternation, he wasn't alone. Orion Black was standing next to Abraxas.
Ginny gulped at the sight of Sirius Black's father, and not because of any tender comparisons. She had seen Orion dozens of times during classes, and there was very little about the leader of Slytherin's upper class that reminded the redhead of Harry's godfather.
He was shorter than Sirius, and built more solidly, with darker skin and rougher features. With a broken nose that hadn't set right and hair somewhere between artfully tousled and hideously messy, the seventeen-year-old boy would have looked more like an orphan than Tom Riddle if it hadn't been for his fancy robes and the priceless rings adorning his fingers.
"Merlin you're beautiful," Abraxas grinned, pulling Ginny's attention away from Orion and over to him. He sauntered over to her and pecked her quickly on the lips. "I'll probably have to fight off all the blokes that'll be throwing themselves at you."
Elbowing him lightly in the ribs, Ginny snorted.
"Brownnosing is not becoming. But, for the record, you look pretty decent yourself."
Decent. Now that was an understatement. His navy blue button-down shirt and khakis, despite not being half as flattering as a pair of jeans and a nice snug t-shirt would have been, were an infinite improvement over his shapeless school robes.
"Decent," scoffed Abraxas. "I'm breathtaking and you know it. Now, if you don't mind, I have someone I would like you to meet."
Ginny nervously took the hand Abraxas offered and let him lead her to where Orion was lounging languidly against a wall. Orion straightened when Ginny and Abraxas stopped in front of him, and a roguish smirk danced across his lips. Without even thinking about it, Ginny smiled back. She had to. Charisma poured off of the Slytherin in bucketfuls.
"This is Orion Black," Abraxas said to Ginny. "If you're going to be hanging around me, you'll probably have to get used to him, too."
"Pleased to meet you," Ginny said easily. She was already starting to relax around the dark-haired Slytherin. Everything about him screamed 'likable'.
"And I'm just as pleased to meet you," Orion drawled. His voice had the same low, rough sound that Sirius's had. "Abraxas has been going on about the amazing Hufflepuff he found for weeks."
Cracking a smile at Orion's tone, Ginny joked, "You probably thought I slipped him a love potion at first, huh?"
Then Orion let out one easy, bark-like laugh, and if Ginny had closed her eyes, she could have been back at Grimmauld Place over Christmas break her fourth year, listening to Harry's godfather chuckle about something or another. The sound was loud and unadulterated. The laugh of someone who wanted people to stare.
"You're definitely not a normal Hufflepuff," Orion snorted. "I don't intimidate you at all, do I?"
"Not particularly," said Ginny, even though she suspected she would have been nervous if she hadn't gotten so used to dealing with tall, dark and handsome Slytherins over the past three weeks. Or one in particular, anyway. "Are you supposed to?"
"No," said Orion. "I'm not." Then, looking at Abraxas, the black-haired boy smiled and shrugged. "Go ahead. Keep her. She's obviously adept at playing with snakes."
Then he walked away, leaving Ginny with the feeling that she'd just received something akin to a compliment.
"He adores you," Abraxas assured her, then, with a smile, added, "Now come on. We should get going before we miss the carriages."
…
The rest of the day seemed to pass by within minutes. Abraxas bought her lunch at the Three Broomsticks when they got to Hogsmeade, and the remainder of the afternoon was spent touring the village's quaint little shops. Abraxas was by her side all day, offering to purchase anything that she showed even the slightest interest in. He opened doors and held her hand, and wasn't even a little embarrassed to be walking around with a Hufflepuff.
It was like something from a dream. When Ginny shivered from the September chill, Abraxas even slung a warm arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side. Absolutely nothing went wrong, and even the few teasing arguments that the couple had only made the day better. It was the kind of date that no one imagined could actually happen in real life.
Once they returned to Hogwarts, weighted down with packages, Abraxas finished the perfect day with a sweet, tender kiss that Ginny felt all the way to the tips of her toes.
Happiness bubbled up into Ginny's gut and settled there, not fading until much, much later.
Despite the obvious drawbacks, she couldn't help but think that maybe her mission wasn't such a bad thing after all.