Chapter 3

"Petrificus Totalis." To Ginny's immense surprise, the spell bounced right off, and the boy in front of her couldn't have looked more proud of himself. Of course, this emotion of his was communicated with a very irritating smirk.

"So..." He crossed his arms arrogantly. "Do I get a reward of some sort? A date perhaps?" The girl grimaced at the suggestion.

"You can't be serious."

"What?" Blaise's voice took on a playful tone. "I mean, you're not completely unbearable to look at," he mused.

She sighed. "Do you have to be such a prat?" Ginny wondered with the corners of her lips turned up ever so slightly.

"Can't help it," he admitted with a wide grin. "It's in my nature."

"Of course," she mumbled as she rolled her eyes before plopping down at the base of a large tree. He sat down beside her, stretching his long legs out in front of himself as he leaned back on his palms. The fact that he was so relaxed in her presence unnerved her to say the least — she had to constantly remind herself that this was a Slytherin lounging next to her and that she should be on guard at all times.

His next question interrupted her thoughts. "What else have you got for me?" She mentally cursed. When Ginny had told him that morning in the Great Hall to meet her by the lake after breakfast, she'd never actually expected him to be able to cast the spell. As a result of that belief, she hadn't planned anything to teach him that day.

"...What other spells are you supposed to be learning next week?" she inquired slowly after a moment. The knowing look in Blaise's eyes told her that he was aware of the fact that she was unprepared, but he thankfully didn't voice this.

"Well, we're supposed to be studying Disillusionment charms—"

"We'll work on that then, okay?" she replied brightly. He let out a warm chuckle.

"You didn't let me finish. We're supposed to be studying Disillusionment charms," Blaise repeated with amusement, "but not until the week after next, and I don't think we should jump that far ahead."

Ginny frowned as she racked her brain for something else to teach him. Of course, there were numerous charms that were in the Seventh year curriculum that Professor Flitwick had yet to teach, but, like he had just said, it would be better to help him with stuff he was learning at the moment. "What spells were you having trouble with before?"

"Well, I need some help with Locomotion charms," he casually mentioned, but there was a mild tone of chagrin in his voice that she could just barely detect.

"What? Having trouble admitting that you need help with something, Zabini? And from a Gryffindor no less," Ginny taunted, half expecting him to respond with an angry comment about her appearance or her family or any of the other things his House-mates usually picked. But then again, he kept on surprising her and this time was no different.

"Hey, you don't have to be so mean about it," he laughed, leaning over to push her. She avoided it by jumping up before sticking her tongue out at him.

"Missed me," she sang before offering him her hand with a bright smile. "Now let's get to work, shall we?"

Blaise laughed again before taking her hand. "Yeah, but first..." She let out a loud yelp as he pulled her back down to the ground with a jerk. "That's for making fun of me," he declared airily, though there was mirth laced in his voice as well. Ginny rolled over on her back and glared up at the now standing boy.

"That wasn't very fair!" she exclaimed, raising a hand to block the morning sun from her eyes.

"You should keep your guard up," he shrugged, and she grudgingly agreed, though she didn't say it out loud. He grabbed her hand and hoisted her to her feet. "Now, I think that's enough playing around, Ginny. You're supposed to be helping, not distracting me."

"I know, I know," she sighed before taking her wand out of her pocket, neither of them noticing how easily her name came to his lips.

So the tutoring sessions continued in much the same manner during the rest of the week. The two would start out focused (well, Ginny would, but she wasn't so sure about Blaise) and work on the material, but by the end of the sixty minutes their meetings generally lasted, at least half of it would be spent shooting playful insults at each other or just goofing off.

Before they knew it, it was the end of the week and Ginny had just finished aiding Blaise with a few simple Scouring charms that he hadn't been able to cast properly. Since it was already after dinner, and therefore too dark to get anything done at their usual outdoor meeting spot, they had decided to go to the most remote classroom they could find and just hope that they wouldn't get caught.

"Okay, one more time," she instructed, knocking over a small inkpot.

"But I've already cast it properly four times. I think that's enough," Blaise argued wearily. When she placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes slightly, he threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine. Scourgify." The ink that was leaking all over the table promptly disappeared and he sent her a questioning glance. "Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes, you did very well," she praised, hopping up onto the desk he had just cleaned.

"Good to hear," he grinned, sitting on the wood table opposite her. "You know, Flitwick actually complimented me yesterday," he mentioned as he watch her swing her legs back and forth. "You should've seen the look on his face when I cast Protego correctly."

Ginny giggled as she pictured Professor Flitwick gaping with surprise. "I've been wondering..." she started after a second. "How did you learn that so quickly? You were pretty hopeless when I left you that day."

"Actually, Draco helped me with it." She turned to him, shocked.

"He did?" The boy nodded his head as he tried not to burst out laughing at her expression. "Then why am I tutoring you?"

"Don't tell him this, but you're a much better tutor." Blaise leaned back and rested his head on his folded arms, his legs dangling off the side of the desk as he tilted his head towards her. "He gets annoyed when I don't pay attention."

"And I don't?" she clarified with a raise eyebrow and her lips quirked.

"Well, let me rephrase that," he laughed. "Draco just gives up when I stop listening, but you get me back on track. It took him nearly three hours to teach me that one spell."

"I just can't believe he willingly helped you."

"Yeah... I think he felt a bit guilty for causing you to leave," Blaise reasoned, before smiling. "Not that he would admit that."

Ginny mimicked the gesture before sliding off the desk. "Well, I need to head back to the Common Room. I've got some DADA homework that isn't done yet." He noticed the way her nose wrinkled slightly as she mentioned the subject and sat up.

"Don't you mean Dark Arts?" he replied with a smirk. Her face scrunched up again.

"I can't believe they're teaching us that stuff. Not to mention most of it is unfamiliar material..."

"Need some help with it?" She sent him a curious look. "Hey, I'm a Slytherin." He shrugged. "We know most of those spells."

Ginny crossed her arms and gazed at him skeptically. "Why are you offering?"

"It's the least I can do for you helping me out." She opened her mouth to respond, but he continued. "You can forget about the whole incident with Carrow. I wasn't planning on telling anyway." She frowned and stared at the floor in thought as she considered his offer. "But just out of curiosity, what were you doing in there?"

"Oh, I was planting a dung bomb under her desk before you came in," she told him nonchalantly, her gaze unwavering as she continued to mule over the proposal. After a minute, she met his eyes. "I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea..."

"Brilliant. Then do you want to meet after classes tomorrow?"

"By the lake?" He nodded. "I guess I'll see ya then," she piped with a wide smile before slipping out the door.

Unfortunately, they woke up the next morning to a relentless rain — bordering on sleet — that continued even after their last class of the day. Since the halls were still heavily populated, making it difficult to sneak into an empty classroom without being seen, they decided to just meet in the library. Of course, this meant that Blaise wouldn't be able to practice working on Disillusionment charms, but they had found something else to keep them busy.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Ginny murmured under her breath, levitating a Potions book that belonged to a young Ravenclaw a few tables away. The boy looked up suddenly and she quickly dropped the spell. An alarmed looked crossed his face before he reached out to catch it just before it hit the table, thereby preventing the echoing thud that would have undeniably attracted the strict librarian. Blaise had to stifle a laugh as the Ravenclaw scanned the area with a frightened expression, while Ginny hid her smile behind a book.

"You shouldn't be doing that, you know," Blaise scolded half-heartedly once the boy had cautiously returned to his studies. "The poor kid looked like he was about to wet himself."

"You were the one who started it, Zabini," she retorted, glancing back down at the paper she was supposed to be writing for Dark Arts. Her companion had been helping her before he proposed the more interesting activity of levitating people's possessions.

"Touché," he said with a nod. Suddenly a mischievous glint flashed through his dark eyes. "Care to make things a bit more interesting?"

"...What are you suggesting?" she asked hesitantly.

"Just a little contest," he shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "I can understand if you're too scared to do it."

"Fine," she grumbled, and Blaise fought back a smirk. She was the same as Draco — all you had to do was make a jibe at their pride and they'd agree to virtually anything. "But if I win, you have to help me prank the Carrows, which includes taking part of the blame if we get caught."

"And if I win, as I'm sure the case will be," he grinned at her frown, "then you have to call me by my first name." Ignoring the confused looked that crossed her face at his odd request, he added, "Oh, and you have to accompany me on a little trip to the kitchens after curfew. Just to make the prizes a bit more even."

"All right... So what's the competition?"

"We'll take turns levitating people's stuff. Whoever gets caught first loses," he explained casually. "Simple enough for you?"

"Of course." She rolled her eyes as she raised her wand once again. Her target this time was a piece of parchment belonging to Stephen Cornfoot, since he was too busy quietly chatting with the Gryffindor girl beside him to notice. "Your turn," she prompted after the item had settled back on the table. Blaise lazily said the spell and made a Hufflepuff girl's quill whiz around the table. He placed it back where it was a moment later before the confused girl could locate who the caster was. They continued in the same manner for a good amount of time before Blaise decided to cause a bit of trouble.

Ginny was toying with a large tome when he interrupted her by saying, "Hey, Weaslette. Madam Pince is coming." She turned to him immediately, her eyes slightly widened.

"What?" She realized only after a tremendous bang echoed throughout the library that the spell had faltered and the text was sent crashing to the table.

"Weasley!" Madam Pince's screeching voice rang out, causing Ginny to noticeably flinch. "No casting spells in the library!"

"Sorry," she replied feebly as the woman reminiscent of a vulture shot a stern look in her direction before returning to reshelving some books.

Blaise was soon met with a piercing glare as a fuming Ginny hissed, "You cheated!"

"Ah, but there was never a rule against speaking to your opponent," he noted loftily, smirk in place. "So technically, I did nothing wrong."

"Zabini, you-" she growled before being cut off by him tutting.

"Remember our agreement," he said with a grin. Her eyes narrowed dangerously once more.

"Fine, Blaise, you cheating git," she snapped before taking a deep breath and picking up the quill laying next to her Dark Arts paper. "Now, didn't you say you were going to help me with this essay?" she continued tersely.

Glad for the opportunity to change the subject — and to avoid making Ginny any more livid — he smiled. "Yeah. Let me see what you have so far..."

That night, Blaise returned to the Common Room early because of the pounding headache the rainy atmosphere had given him. Thankfully, nearly all of the Slytherins were at supper, with the exception of a few stragglers, which left the area nice and quiet. After trudging along the dim hallway that led to the Seventh year boys' dormitories and opening the door, he wasn't surprised to find Draco lounging on a bed with a book propped up on his stomach.

"What are you doing here?" he wondered, his eyes darting to the new occupant of the room for only a brief moment before returning to his book.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Blaise quipped with a slight grin as he tossed his bag on the floor next to his bed. "I've got a headache, so I'm skipping out on dinner," he continued. "I'll just pick up something from the kitchens later."

"Get me something too when you go."

He ignored the order and flopped down on his bed. "Why aren't you at dinner?"

"I didn't feel like going." Blaise let out an exasperated sigh at his friend's vague answers before lying back on the green comforter, folding his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "Did you come from meeting with the Weaslette?"

"Yeah."

"She seemed pretty pissed off in the library earlier," Draco continued. "I was sure she was going to hex you."

Blaise's eyes widened as he tilted his head to look at the blonde boy. "You were there?"

"No, someone just happened to tell me about it," he responded sarcastically, lowering his book and turning to the other boy. "Of course I was there. Where do you think I got this book from?"

"Good point," he agreed before sitting up with a chuckle. "She was pretty mad wasn't she?"

"I don't know why you put up with her," Draco mumbled, shaking his head.

"You're just jealous because I've been spending so much time with a girl," he teased. "A very attractive girl, at that."

The blonde scoffed. "Like anyone actually finds that filthy Muggle-lover attractive," he drawled in the same way Blaise had. "Not to mention her temper is just as awful as that garish red hair of hers."

"Hey, she's not that bad," he frowned. "Maybe if you actually got to know her, you'd see that she's nothing like her moronic brother." Draco raised his eyebrow, a gesture that was accompanied by an amused twitch of his lips. "Well... except for the temper and red hair," Blaise admitted with a grin.

Draco chuckled before returning to his book, seeming to be in a bit better mood than before. "I think I'll just take your word for it."

A/N - As always, I really appreciate reviews : ) The next chapter should be up in about a week and a half, and I promise you'll see more of Malfoy then. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!

-Twilight-Songstress