A/n: I think we all have masked angels in this world, though some people don't know who they are. Ari knows she's my angel in disguise, but I think there's a couple others out there who don't know it. Thanks to all who are my backbone of support; this one goes out to you.

Chapter Nine: Message on the Pavement

"Watch yourself Gin," Lynda warned. The most dull hour of the week, otherwise known as Dark Arts, had finally come to an end and the three Gryffindor sixth years chatted idly as they left Professor Stanley's classroom. Lynda and Quinlan walked side by side as Ginny walked ahead, backward so she could partake in the conversation.

"Has either of you started that Potions report Snape assigned?"

"Yes, and no Quin you aren't rewording mine. Do your own work."

"Lynda, you're such a party pooper." Quin looked over to Ginny, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Sorry Quin," Ginny chuckled, taking her steps slowly. She shrieked in surprise as a pair of unseen hands wrapped around her middle.

"Have a good class?" Blaise asked with a small laugh, pulling her hair over her shoulder and delicately kissing her cheek.

"You're such a prat." She managed to squirm free from his grip and turned about to face him. Quin and Lynda kept on their way to Professor Binns' class.

"I get that a lot," he said proudly with a deviant grin. Playfully, like a seven year old child, Ginny stuck her tongue out at him and glared.

"Have fun in class, love," she taunted as she swaggered away, following in the direction of the other students of her year.

"You know I will," he called down the hall after her, heading into Stanley's room.

Shaking her head at him, Ginny turned almost crashing into Malfoy.

"Watch it weasel," Malfoy drawled, skirting around her.

Ginny cussed under her breath as she ran to catch Quin and Lynda. Malfoy may be Blaise's best mate, but Ginny would have to be paid serious amounts of gold to ever get along with him.

* * *

Blaise sat in the Slytherin Common Room, across a table from Draco, working on Arithmancy problems Professor Vector had assigned that week's class.

"Blaise, pass me that bottle of ink." Draco stretched his arm across the table but the container of jet-coloured ink was still out of his grasp.

Finishing the problem he was working on, Blaise picked up the bottle and looked up to put it in Draco's hand. Something caught his eye as he did so and he grabbed Draco's forearm, pulling back the boy's sleeve. Blaise watched as the black contours of Voldemort's Dark Mark stared up at him. "Were you not going to say anything?" Blaise asked, dropping Draco's arm and looked over at the blonde.

"No."

A little peeved with the answer Draco had given him, Blaise pressed further, demanding to know more. "Why not? You've only been waiting for this to happen since you were eleven, you think you could've told me."

"I don't know where your loyalties lie."

"What?!" Blaise's jaw dropped. "You know exactly who I'm loyal to, don't be stupid." Although he was in a way yelling, his voice was hushed to a volume only Draco would be able to hear.

"Am I supposed to? I mean Blaise, you are fucking that filthy little Weasley, how can you pack her, a Gryffindor no less, and remain loyal to our Dark Lord?"

"This has nothing to do with Ginny and you bloody know that. You know I'm more loyal to Voldemort than I ever would be with Dumbledore and his stupid promises and ways of thinking. It's not as if I'm going to turn you in or anything Draco, I am your friend, you can trust me."

"Than become a Death Eater." Draco looked down to the paper below his quill and seeing that it was stained with several blots of ink, crumpled it and capped the tip of his quill.

Blaise shook his head. "I'm not like you; I may be loyal to Voldemort, but not loyal enough to become a Death Eater."

"Than how can I trust you?"

"Christ Draco, what are you going to do, only trust Death Eaters? People like you? I told you, I'm your friend. I'm not going to run and turn you in. You know that and you know where I stand on this."

"And Weasley?" Draco looked back across the table at Blaise and put a hand through his hair, flattening it even more so to his head. Blaise hesitated on answering. "Zabini?" Draco persisted.

Blaise sighed. "Ginny knows where I stand, just as I know where she stands. Malfoy stop being a stupid arse about this."

Chuckling to himself, Draco looked back to the new sheet of paper and traced his finger over its yellowish surface, shaking his head slowly left and right. "You just never know who you can trust these days." He'd said it almost as a mindless joke, shrugging of their argument and making it seem like a pointless conversation with no purpose.

His fist clenched under the table, and Blaise was almost ready to hit Draco. The boy was a stupid prat. Period. Blaise really had to question himself as to why he'd ever choose to be around Draco. Than, he never had much choice, did he? It was either stay to his studious and live a boring, dull life teenagers aren't supposed to live, or chum around with those of his house. Besides, Draco wasn't all that bad, on a good.



It was nearing seven o'clock on Saturday night and Ginny sat alone in the dingy library, pouring over books for her Ancient Runes essay. She came to a page in on of the books that looked as if it may be helpful. Uncapping the lid of her ink bottle she dipped her quill in and ready to write any note she may need, she read:

Ogham is an ancient alphabet used by Celtic pagans in divination and in hand-signing. The alphabet consists of
twenty characters, or runes, that are all named after sacred trees. The writings, often inscripted on stone or wood,
are more commonly read in a vertical manner, though cases have been found where the writing is horizontal.

"Hey Gin."

Ginny's quill scratched a messy line about her page as she was startled by the unexpected voice. Looking up, she found Ben's pale blue eyes standing above her. She watched as the Hufflepuff took a seat at the head of the table next to her.

"Ancient Runes?" he asked innocently, sparking up casual conversation.

She nodded as she wrote the final point she was able to take from the paragraph. "Thought I might as well get a good start on it while I have the time." She looked over at him and smiled, but Ben looked a bit off. He pushed wavy brown hair over the back of his and gulped nervously.

"Anything wrong?"

"Um, well now that you've mentioned it ... we were wondering, or well, Hannah, Susan and the others that is, I'm just playing the messenger ... well, rumour's been heard that you're seeing that seventh year Slytherin ... uh, Zabini," he stammered with uneasiness as he spoke and his blue eyes darkened, contrasting with the yellow about his pupil. He didn't make eye contact with her, and his hands fidgeted in his lap.

Although unsure how to go about answering the question Ben hadn't really asked, but had wanted to, she was about to answer when hands clapped down on her shoulders. Tilting her head back, Ginny came to find the boy in question. Coincidence.

"Blaise, this is Ben ... Ben, uh Blaise," she awkwardly introduced and exchanged a glance between the two. Ben nodded in acknowledgement and without any further words he stalked from the library, a lightly vexed look on his lowered brow.

Blaise had kept his on the Hufflepuff as he left, and he took up the now empty chair Ben had been sitting in. "Damn Mudblood," he mumbled and looked back to Ginny, "what the hell was his bloody problem?"

Her mouth dropped open and Ginny swept her belongings into her bag, on her exit of the library she dropped the Runes book on a cart.

"Ginny?" Blaise caught up to her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him.

"I can't believe you," she blurted, furiously looking into his stare. "I thought you didn't hold parentage against someone. Is that not what you told me?"

Everything clicked and her anger at him made sense. "I said I never had with Granger."

"But you will with Ben? That's a bunch of shit Blaise."

"Sorry Gin, it slipt. I didn't mean any-"

"I don't know about this," she threw at him in an angry huff. Blaise gaped, his eyes wide.

"I don't think before I speak," he tried to reason, "that was a classic example. Look, it's just something I said. I didn't really mean-"

She threw her hand up to silence him, cutting him off, and yanking the other hand from his clutches. "I'm not sure I want to listen to your excuses Zabini."

Blaise exhaled sharply. He wasn't sure of what he could to do make matters any better, so he did the only thing that came to mind. He put a hand to her waist, pulled her into him and kissed her. She was stiff at first, perhaps a cause of astoundment, but slowly eased into his embrace, deepening his kiss.

"I really am sorry Ginny," he pulled away after a moment and looked to her amber-coloured eyes. He smiled down upon her, lightly kissed her nose than withdrew to his respective House Common Room.

"Damn him," she cursed to herself as she edged her way to the staircase that would bring her to her own Common Room. He was one of those guys she just couldn't stay mad at for very long and seemed as though he was always right, even when he was wrong. "Pickled frogs' legs," she muttered the password to the Fat Lady and, scowling, she entered Gryffindor Tower. She found Quin and Lynda in their dorm and the two could clearly view the distraught look on Ginny's face.

"What's got you?" Quin asked, sitting on the end of Ginny's bed. Lynda came up and sat on her bed, next to Ginny's.

She glared at the two, even though they'd done no wrong, and they instantly backed off. They recognized these moods of Ginny's and realized it was best to stay away than get involved. They'd just pester her later until she fessed up what had happened. Always worked, the perfect charm.



Smirking, Blaise walked away from her, heading toward the Slytherin Dungeon and his Common Room. She may have been mad at him, and she may still be, but not for long. If there was one thing that would always shut a girl up, take them off guard and somehow always make things seem better, it was that.

A small chuckled escaped his mouth as he pulled up a seat with the other seventh years. He could see that Vince and Greg were aimlessly watching the conversation being held between the others, while Pansy and Millicent babbled on about whatever girl talk they normally held. Draco was holding an extremely heated conversation with MiKayla Nott; it was a normal occurrence between the two, and Blaise found it more amusing than shocking to see them both at it again.

He sat there for a few minutes, listening to the argument, before he was ever able to pick up what it was over. Even than he wasn't sure if they were arguing over something to do with Snape's class, something that had to do with Potter or if it was something to do with their fathers and being Death Eaters. Whatever it was, it was stupid. Their quarrels always were.

With a roll of his black eyes, Blaise casually picked up the converse that was being held between Vince and Greg. It was simple and brainless, circling around the topic of what was going on in a few months time when they'd graduated school. Blaise had no objections with this conversation. He had little thinking to do, and he could easily block out Draco and MiKayla's squabble over what he concluded was something related to Potions. It didn't concern him, and he didn't want to know. He'd had his argument with Draco already today and didn't want another, thank you very much. One a day was enough for him.



"I want her Malfoy, I don't think you understand how much I want her."

Malfoy's eyes slit, confused and wondering what exactly was going on. "What do you mean? Why her?" he questioned.

"Because she's a part of me and she could be great because of it ... we could be great because of it. That is what I require you for."

"Me?" Malfoy skipped a breath at the knowledge that something wasn't wanted of him. He brushed strands of blonde hair from the sides of his face and looked about. "Why? What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to get her for me." He paused, watching a stupefied look come across the other's face. "Yes you Malfoy, and you have the means to get her for me."

"And what would those means be?"

"I am not your brain Malfoy. Use your intelligence for once and come up with that on you own, it's not all that difficult a task. Do you think you can manage that? Or will I have to convince you otherwise?"

Malfoy nodded fervently, "No, I can handle it, I can get you the girl."

"You will not fail this? You know I don't like a failure, and those who fail me are punished severely."

"I will not falter in this, you have my word. I will get her for you."

"Good." A cackle emitted from the darkness, raising like a ghost from its grave. Malfoy shuddered and went off, speculating about what he could possibly do to get what his master wanted from him.



A/n: I've gone temporarily brain dead with this - thank the infamous writer's block for that one. That's why this chapter's kind of short, sorry if it's not my best. But I'm back in action after this chapter (there's some of those chapters that give you more of a headache than others, this was one of them). We shall see what twists and turns come up next ... :chuckles: ... Well, I know them, but you don't. Arella Hallo you should've smacked me for not mentioning you last time. You were one of my first and one of my loyal reviewers, can't believe I forgot to thank you! THANK YOU so much! Polar-zephyr I can't believe you don't like pb jellybeans! They're the greatest - or perhaps just for a fan of pb such as myself. To each their own, eh?

Anyone else ecstatic about the release of Chamber of Secrets? I know I am. As a fan of Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) I must say I'm the happiest person alive now that it's out on DVD. :grins: Driving you insane already, aren't I Ari? Anyway, let's just say I'm a very happy person.

I got some tremendous advice a little while ago. Someone said to me, "Paige, life may throw some pretty harsh spells at us, but if we all handle those spells in our own way, life doesn't seem so bad." You know what - it's not so bad. Life that is. I recommend to anyone how doesn't know their way of dealing with life's shit, you should really find one. You'll feel amazing when you do, trust me with this. Lizi