Note: This is going to be slash. This is also mainly about Blaise Zabini and Ginny Weasley, although other characters will have their roles. Blaise and Ginny may end up together by the end, they may end up together in the middle, or they may not end up together at all. (That was my attempt at creating an air of mystery, by the way.) I'm not telling who will end up with who. I hope you enjoy reading this.
Oh, of course, the usual, I own no character in this story, they all belong to the publishers and J.K Rowling, who didn't ever explain to us who, or what, Blaise Zabini was and therefore this is all her fault;
Playing with fire
"You know," Declared Draco Malfoy, looking up from his chair by the fire, a smirk on his face, "You get so much more masculine each year, I fear you may get moved into our dormitories soon." He was talking to Blaise Zabini, another newly sixth year Slytherin who had just stepped into the common room for the first time after the summer holidays. She was far from masculine, being rather sleek and elegant and around 5 foot 6".
"No chance!" She declared with a look of mock disgust, "I've heard about the things you get up to in there with Crabbe and Goyle! If I had to look at and listen to Vincent go on about his slug collection all night I may have to stuff the lot down his throat! You lot are far too boring!"
Draco's smirk grew. "Well, at least there's no confusion when I need to use the bathroom, been chucked out of anymore ladies loos over the summer Zabini?"
"You really think I would use public lavatories?" she said with raised eyebrows before smiling back at him. "Besides, your just jealous of the fact that I'm more of a man than you'll ever be - " She began walking towards the corridor that lead to her new dormitory " – and more woman than you'll ever get." She flashed him a grin over her shoulder as she entered the flame lit tunnel.
"It's good to see you again Malfoy." She called from within the stone passage.
"Yeah, you too." Draco said quietly, making sure no one could see him smile.
*****
Blaise began to unpack the chest that contained most of her possessions. She grabbed her wash things and went to arrange them in the bathroom, catching sight of herself in the large mirrors by the sinks. She'd had her hair cut recently (after much protest from her mother) and she still wasn't used to it, she felt a giddy thrill just thinking about her waist length hair lying on the tiles of 'Madam Quaffs'. Madam Quaff herself had performed the styling spell "Oh, but you-a-have such-a-magnificent hair!" the woman had said in her vaguely Italian accent, running her fingers through Blaise's soft, claret coloured hair, "It would be sacrilege to let anyone else-a-cut it! I know the-a perfect style!"
By the time Blaise's eyes had recovered from the blinding white flash of the spell it was all over. She saw her hair lying all around her in little piles and saw her new style; hair cut to just above her chin and messed up slightly. She loved it instantly; it made her look- she sought for the word, tougher, leaner. After a thank you to Madam Quaff (Who looked on at her creation with a gleam of pride in her eyes) and two galleons tip, Blaise strode from the shop, feeling as though she could take on the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team by herself.
*****
Realising that she was staring at herself in the mirror, and scalding herself for being so vain she left the bathroom and carried on unpacking her things. About 6pm Draco raped curtly on the open girls dormitory door. Blaise glanced up from her position on her bed where she was busily polishing her new broomstick, an Aquila mark IV.
"Yes?" She asked, turning her attention back to her prized possession.
"The Sorting ceremony is about to start, I don't think you would be setting a very good example to all the new little Slytherins if you didn't bother to show up, although I know you've given missing it serious thought. I'm your conscience and I'm here to tell you to do the right thing-" she made no effort whatsoever to move, "- now" he added with a little more feeling. Blaise snorted with indignant laughter,
"Right Malfoy, you don't even have a conscience of your own, how could you be mine?" Draco was taken aback for a moment and something akin to offence flashed across his face, but he recovered and would have given her a 'look' but she wasn't looking at him, her attention was still on the broom. "You must have been thinking of skiving off the dinner," she continued, "otherwise you wouldn't be up here either, I don't see any one else around do you? What kind of example are you setting?"
"I am not a prefect." Said Draco, with amusement, "And, to be honest, I'm beginning to wonder how you got the job. And the example I'm setting is that I don't like people and I want them to be quite sure of the fact."
"Ahh, so you only want me to go to save you from sitting in between Crabbe and Goyle, not that I blame you, and you don't know anyone else well enough to just randomly sit next to them so you need me to sit next to." Draco made to object, but it was true and he couldn't argue.
Blaise suddenly looked up at him, with a knowing grin. "You need me," she exclaimed as if just struck by the thought and highly amused by it, "You actually need me." There was a moments pause before Draco replied, his voice laced with feigned defeat,
"Yes," he sighed dramatically, "It's true."
Blaise got up from her bed and grabbed her black school robes, pulling them on over her uniform as she walked out the door with Draco by her side, she turned to him and grinned like a Cheshire cat,
"You know," she said pleasantly, "I think this year is going to be fun."
"Well, I have a feeling it may be eventful." Said Draco, more to himself than Blaise, she gave him a probing sideways look.
"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, sensing Draco knew something she didn't.
"Nothing, well, something, but I don't know if I can tell you."
"Well that was an infuriating answer! You can't fob people off with answers like that!"
"Yes I can." He replied calmly as he turned his head away from her and concentrated on the passage in front of them, deciding to change the subject before Blaise asked anything else. She didn't demand information exactly. But she had ways of getting it out of you without you realising. He picked a topic on which he knew Blaise would talk for hours,
"Are you looking forward to the Quidditch cup?" Draco asked as they walked into the Great hall, which was alive with activity. As if on que, Blaise's eyes lit up, she seemed to forget her anger.
"Are you kidding? Of course I'm looking forward to it Draco, you know this the first year my mother and father have let me play!" She fell silent for a while; a dark cloud passed over her features. Her parents had outright refused to buy her a broom and forbade her to play Quidditch on the school team, even though Bletchley, the new captain, had written to them. He wrote to say that, even on the old school comets, she showed great potential and could really help Slytherin triumph over Gryffindor. Despite the fact that both the Zabinis' were former Slytherins, they had not been swayed, her mother thought it was barbaric, un-ladylike and that no girls should be allowed in the team, her father (who had never played Quidditch at Hogwarts) had described it as a waste of time. Time that could be spent reading and learning, learning a useful skill to use in later life to get a good job and make something of yourself.
They sat down at the very end of the Slytherin table, with a good view of the new students who would file into the hall.
"So why were you allowed a broom this year?" Draco asked. "And what a broom! I can't believe they got you a mark four!" He added with a sigh, "my father say's that If can't beat Potter on any of the other brooms I've had, I never will."
Blaise gave him a sly grin, "It all comes back to Harry Potter with you doesn't it."
Draco scowled, and looked around him to check that no one had heard. "Just shut it, you are not to start with the you-know-what's about you-know-who, you understand?"
Blaise snorted in an attempt repress laughter. "Just about."
The nervous first years had filed into the great hall and were standing around staring in wonderment and looking very small and very young, They don't half throw them in at the deep end, thought Blaise, reminded of her own first year, poor buggers.
"So why your father's uncharacteristic change of heart? Is it something to with why my owl couldn't find you this summer?" Draco was asking, hints of suspicion tainting his smooth, clear voice "It's not like your dad to back down on, well, anything. Didn't he say that Quidditch and flying were a waste of time? Does your mother still think your being disgustingly un-feminine and worry that you'll ruin-" he put on a funny, high pitched voice which Blaise suspected was a really poor attempt at her mothers voice, "- 'your beautiful face.' Although if you ask me-" he said reverting to his usual drawl, "- she's got nothing to worry about. Not even a high speed bludger could make your face look even the slightest bit wor…Ouch!" Blaise had jabbed her wand into his ribs.
"I didn't really mean it!" he protested, still rubbing his side, "You're so bloody violent."
"You never mean anything you say Draco," She replied calmly, "and I'm not violent, I'm just easily irritated." She fell silent for a moment, and seemed to be contemplating what to say next. She lowered her head towards Draco so she could speak quietly, although no one would have heard her over the din of clapping houses welcoming their newest members.
" I think my parents know Draco." She said, the smallest amount of panic in her voice, "Well, at least I think they suspect really strongly. I wasn't around this summer because they had sent me to a sort of finishing school for girls in Venice, they teach you to be more 'feminine'." She screwed up her face in disgust, "my mother said that I have to start growing up, that I can't act like a child anymore, I have to act like a woman. I think she's desperate to marry me off." She paused and sighed. "My father pleaded with me to go, not that I had any choice in the end anyway, I think it just made him feel better if he thought I went by choice. I told him that I would only go if I was allowed a broom and allowed to play Quidditch. Mother threw a fit." Draco's eyes widened, but a small smile crept onto his face
"Wow Zabini, I'm impressed." He said in an amused tone. Blaise frowned at him as though he were mad, in fact she told him,
"Are you mad! These are my parents we are talking about!"
"I know," he said as though it was perfectly obvious, "I know what your father is like….and, by the sounds of things, you managed to blackmail him!" He sighed in a self-satisfied way and looked thougherley pleased, "We may make a Slytherin out of you yet."
She glared at him incredulously for a moment, then laughed, just loudly enough for the nearest Slytherins to stare in suspicion.
"Thank you." She said, still smiling. Draco looked worried, he looked as though he wasn't used to being thanked for anything, which, of course, he wasn't.
"For what?" He asked.
"For trivialising my problems."
"Err, you're welcome?" Draco said, silently wondering if the school Blaise had attended over the summer hadn't turned her quite mad. "As long as you are available for practice tomorrow, the first match is in two weeks, and would you believe it-" he said in a tone that implied he wouldn't have believed anything else "-it's Slytherin verses Gryffindor!"
Blaise smirked, "Probably so madam Pomfrey will have the rest of the term to treat the injuries." Draco smiled,
"As long as the injuries are sustained by the Gryffindor team I don't really care, but you've never flown with the team before, I let Bletchley know that you wanted to join the team as soon as you owled me telling me you were allowed to play Quidditch. He wants to see what your like and what position you're best at, so he scheduled an early practice session."
The sorting over, the long table suddenly filled with food of all kinds and the large golden jugs filled with pumpkin juice and water.
"I'll be there with bells on." Blaise said, reaching for the nearest jug. Draco stared at her,
"Well that's an attractive mental picture, although if you do wear bells at least we'll be able to tell you apart from Weasley come the match." Blaise scoffed,
"Yeah, because green and red robes look so similar Draco. And I look nothing like Ginny!" She glanced over at the Gryffindor table and saw Ginny talking to one of the new Gryffindors who was looking decidley overwhelmed. Ginny had placed a comforting hand on the new girl's shoulder and was sweeping the other around the hall in all-encompassing gesture, her long loose curls falling around her shoulders. The new girl suddenly smiled and laughed, relaxing as she did so and Ginny removed her hand and picked up a plate filled with bread rolls from the centre of the table to offer to the young girl. It was a nice gesture, one which Blaise wondered if she herself was capable of. She found that she was less outraged that she would have thought at being compared to the youngest Weasley, even though the only thing they had in common was the red hair and even then Ginny's was quite a bit brighter than her own. Blaise had watched Ginny fly in the Quidditch matches she'd played in since joining the Gryffindor team as chaser in her fourth year; Blaise had been in the fifth year. She had to admit the kid was damn good, she made her Nimbus 2000 look as though it were a Firebolt. She flew, not in the instinctive, determined way of Potter or Draco, but by seeming to consider every move she made, she acted as though she always had a back up plan, every move was calculated and contro-
"Checking out the competition Zabini? -" Blaise's train of thought was broken as her head snapped back to face Draco and she realised she had been staring at Ginny. Draco laughed "-'cos it looks like she's been checking you out too." Blaise turned around to look at the Gryffindor table once more and, sure enough, Ginny was staring at her, confusion etched on her face. Blaise felt the blood rise in her cheeks, embarrassment at being caught by a rival house she assumed. Before she realised what she was doing the corners of her mouth had been pulled in to what could, loosely, be called a smile. A deliberate cough brought her to her senses once more. She tore her eyes away and noticed the emotion that passed over Draco's face, what was it, Anxiety? Anger?
"Don't even think about it Zabini" he said in warning tones, "She's a Gryffindor, and more importantly, she's a Weasley."
"Oh sod off, I wasn't 'thinking about it' as you so succinctly put it. I know who and what she is, but she's also the Gryffindor Chaser and therefore the subject of scrutiny. She's fast and if I'm to play opposite her I'll need to know what I'm up against. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they move on the ground."
"Right, and do you want me to believe that now, or never?" Draco shook his head and finally reached for some food, scooping some roast potatoes and vegetables from the serving dishes into his plate. "You know-" he said, as he reached for the sliced roast beef "-I wonder how the Weasels managed to afford to buy little weasel a broom. They were probably so shocked to find out that someone in their family actually had talent they sold off one of those garish twins as a house elf to raise the money. Just so they could bask in the reflected glory."
Blaise laughed and Malfoy was glad he had got that reaction out of her.
"Oh my god!" she said in a half exasperated, half amazed tone. Draco, not expecting this response turned to face her in confusion. "You're still calling them 'the Weasels'-"
"And?!" Draco demanded, annoyed.
"-And you need to grow up! Although-" she offered him her best smirk "-you did admit that a Weasley had talent. Sounds like you think more of Ginny than you let on."
Draco looked mutinous. "That is not what I meant and you know it." He stabbed ruthlessly at a potato on his plate. "Just leave it, and her, alone. You need to be totally focused if you want to play on the team and it would be…well, just, wrong, if you suddenly developed feelings for Weasley. She's little Miss goodness and light, a perfect little Gryffindor, and your-" he smiled, "- a corrupt ruthless Slytherin. What makes you think she'd go for you? Besides, it's so obvious that she's in love with Potter."
Blaise smiled at him, "Ahh, anyone can be persuaded Draco. Wouldn't it be funny if I managed to corrupt such an upstanding member of the Gryffindor community? Can you imagine the scandal? It would also leave Potter open for attack." She nudged him and winked in a dramatic fashion that she knew would embarrass him, and embarrass him she did.
"You know, I wonder why I ever tell you anything sometimes." He said, his cheekbones tinged with red.
"Because I can keep a secret and no one else will listen to you?" she replied sweetly. "who else could you tell?"
"I don't know," Draco mumbled, "The werewolves in the forbidden forest are looking like a good option right now, at least they aren't as conniving as you."
"You know Malfoy, I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me this year."
******
"You don't have to be worried," Ginny said to Elizabeth O'Brien, a new Gryffindor recruit, "all the houses are really nice, just look around." She waved an arm around the hall in an all-encompassing gesture, "they don't look that scary do they? Just don't let them know-" she whispered conspiratorially "- that Gryffindor is the best house really." The young girl laughed and Ginny reached over to get her a bread roll. "Of course," continued Ginny with a smile, "the Slytherins can be a bunch of block headed prats sometimes. But they're just jealous that they got a nasty cold dungeon as a common room." The new girl smiled again and then gasped and leaned closer to Ginny.
"Can they hear you?" Elizabeth asked in secretive tones.
"No," said Ginny smiling, "of course not, why do you ask?"
"Because one of them turned round and glared at you when you said they were-" she lowered her voice, convinced someone could hear her " -blockheads!" the girl turned back to her plate quickly so she couldn't see the Slytherin table. Ginny laughed,
"Don't be silly, they can't hear us." But she turned to the mass of silver and green anyway out of curiosity. No one was looking at her and she was about to turn away when a flash of red hair caught her attention, Blaise had turned in her direction. She caught sight of big, dark eyes staring at her in slightly stunned consideration, Ginny's brow furrowed, why was Blaise looking at her like that? Was she trying to scare her in some way? Then she noticed that Blaise had shorter hair, that it made her eyes look bigger and defined the fine line of her cheekbones, Blaise smiled. Is Zabini smirking at me? She thought, feeling a little anxious, whatever it was it couldn't be good, but before she had time to react Blaise had turned away and Ginny went back to her food feeling thoroughly confused.
End bits – This version (looks wise only) of Blaise Zabini is based loosely on the Draco Veritas Blaise, I liked the idea of another female red head running around the school.
The 'I'm more man…more woman' bit was said by the fabulous Brian Molko of Placebo, to Fred 'prat in a hat' Durst, who had been abusive to him at a music festival.