"Nobody said it was easy, it's such a shame for us to part. Nobody said it was easy, no one said it would be this hard. Oh take me back to the start"

The Scientist, Coldplay –

Chapter 9.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Draco had said the second his father had apparated. "You've just marked yourself as his new number one target Virginia. There's nothing more he hates than being embarrassed in public" Draco continued angrily ignoring the Weasley's who were watching closely.

Virginia just smiled and hugged him carefully making sure she didn't press to hard on the bruises she knew was there. He hugged her back even though he was mad at her. Pulling back from the hug she saw Pansy standing there looking like she had lost some weight over Christmas, not that she wasn't skinny enough. The two girls embraced quickly and she heard Pansy whisper in her ear. "I'm so sorry for what happened to you".

Pulling back from the two of them she felt Blaise at her side and she turned to look at him already knowing the lecture she was going to get from him. He placed his hands on either side of her face and gently brushed some hair off her cheek.

"Don't you ever do that again! Lucius Malfoy is too dangerous. Promise me" he said a quiet intensity burning in his eyes as he looked at her.

She found herself being pulled in by his gaze and they quickly forgot that they were surrounded by people on the platform. It was just Blaise and her, everything else just sort of faded into nothingness.

"Okay" she whispered hoarsely almost afraid to speak.

"Say it Gin" he whispered back as he traced invisible lines down the side of her face.

"I promise" she managed to get out before Blaise swooped down and captured her in an incredible passionate kiss. She felt herself spinning though she knew she wasn't and she found herself clutching onto his robes desperately trying to pull himself closer. They had to stop their need for air was the only reason the kiss ended and she found Blaise being pulled away from her by his older brother Rohan with an amused look on his face.

"That's enough Romeo, you'll miss the train if you don't hurry" he said laughing at them.

Virginia found herself blushing under his gaze and managed to get Rohan to laugh harder.

"Don't be embarrassed Virginia, your involved with a Zabini. Passion's just a part of our lives" he said as he walked them over to the train.

"Be careful all of you. And Draco try to stay out of trouble" Sarah Zabini said quietly as she hugged Blaise and then Virginia.

Draco smirked at her and found himself nodding under her mother hen gaze.

They got onto the train after saying goodbye to Rohan and found a compartment that was empty about an hour into the trip Blaise pulled out a wooden box with a rose carved onto the top of it. He pulled out four rings. There were two female rings silver with a diamond in the center surrounded by emeralds. And there were also two male rings. Large silver rings with markings on it and small diamonds placed evenly around the entire ring.

"These rings are binding rings. You add a drop of blood from each people you wanted to be binded with and it creates a sort of connection. Each person will be a distinct color and any time they are in trouble or need help you will know because the diamond in the ring will glow that person's color. Draco, Pansy and I have already sealed the rings Gin and we want you to as well. You just add a drop of your blood over the rose on the top of the box" Blaise explained to her as he closed the box and handed it to her.

She wordlessly took it and found herself thinking of Draco and Pansy. She knew they trusted her, that much was obvious. And deep down she knew she trusted them. As hard as it was for her family to understand she had a bond with these people and it didn't matter to her that they were Slytherin. They were true friends to her and she respected them for all they have done for themselves and how they had let her into their lives.

Blaise noticed her hesitation and gently reached out a hand and placed it over her own. "This box belonged to my grandmother Rose Zabini, she had binding rings with my grandfather. You remind me so much of her" he said gently.

Smiling at him she squeezed his hand and then took out her wand and muttered a charm which added a drop of her own blood to the mix. The box shook gently in her hand and it was then levitated into the air it began to glow a soft gold color and opened up. Out came the rings one by one. The first flew at Draco and was glowing a deep green it landed gently in his lap and stopped glowing. A second ring came out a royal blue color and went to Blaise, a third came out and went straight to Pansy glowing yellow. And finally the last one came to Virginia glowing a soft shade of red. The box then came and settled itself back in her lap.

Blaise gently reached over and took her hand. He raised it to his lips and kissed it, staring deeply into her eyes. "Rose" he whispered to her.

**

It was a week to Christmas and Virginia had opened her store a few days ago and it was a roaring success. England was beginning to feel like home again despite Blaise being gone. She often found herself missing America terribly though. Hurrying out of the store she wrapped her cloak around her and apparated to Hogsmeade. Here she was meeting Molly, Angelina, Fleur and Gabrielle to organise some plans for Christmas. Opening the door to Madame Rosmerta's she froze when she saw Hermonie sitting next to her mother and sister in laws. Squaring her shoulders she walked over and was met with a warm hug from Gabrielle. Sitting down she gratefully accepted the warm butterbeer that was placed in front of her. She glanced at Hermonie to notice that she was watching her cautiously.

"What?" she snapped at her causing the brown haired witch to jump slightly in her chair and remove her gaze to the mug in front of her.

"I can't stay long I have a meeting this afternoon" Virginia said to the group as they all glanced nervously at each other.

"It's about Christmas Day, we always have it at the Burrow and your father and I would love it if you, Josh and Grace will be able to make it. Everyone will be home this year for Christmas and Harry will be there" Molly explained to her.

"Will Ron be there?" Virginia asked bluntly glancing at Hermonie out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes of course he will be" Molly said to her.

"The kids and I always spend Christmas Day with the Malfoys and Zabinis and I'm not about to stop doing that now. This is the first time the kids will get a chance to be where Blaise spent his Christmas. I wont deprive them of that" she said to Molly whilst sipping her drink.

"Virginia please..." Fleur asked her as she reached over the table and squeezed her hand.

Taking a deep breath she smiled slowly at Fleur who in return grinned back at her, a smile that she had seen many times on Gabrielle's face. "Okay but we will only come for dinner. We'll spend the day with Cassandra and then come to the Burrow for dinner. Fair enough?" she said to Molly.

In response Molly Weasley jumped up from the table and rushed around to hug her daughter. The one who had been gone far to long through no fault of her own. It felt good to hug her again, to have her near. Yet it was heart breaking at the same time knowing that she and Arthur had put some of the hurt and anger in her. She reluctantly pulled back wanting to hold her again but knowing that Ginny would feel uncomfortable around her. She hurried back around to the other side of the table and glanced at Hermonie who had an upset look on her face though she was trying to hide it.

Molly Weasley loved her daughter in laws, all 5 of them. But Hermonie had a special place in her heart. She was the substitute for Ginny when she had left, she had been Ron's tower of strength and she knew that Harry depended upon her greatly as well.

Shaking her head at the thoughts she gently reached over and squeezed Hermonie's hand knowing that having Ginny here was extremely uncomfortable for her. But Molly was going to fix that, fix the rift between Ron, Hermonie and Ginny if it was the last thing she did. About an hour later Virginia and Gabrielle made to leave. Grabbing their coats they said goodbye to everyone and left to pub. They walked away from the pub and Virginia stopped when she felt Gabrielle's gaze on her.

"What?" she asked her, knowing exactly what she was going to say.

"Are you ok? With Hermonie and Ron being around you again?" she asked her best friend gently.

Virginia tossed her hair over her shoulder and smirked, a habit she had picked up from spending so much time with Draco Malfoy over the years. "I'm fine. Do you think I care about them? As long as they stay away from Grace and Josh I will tolerate them. Nothing more, nothing less" she said cooly.

Both girls froze as they saw who was approaching them. Knowing that she was more than capable of handling herself Gabrielle hugged Virginia and ignored Hermonie. "See you soon Rose" she said before apparating away.

"Virginia I think we should talk" Hermonie said as she drew closer.

An unladylike snort escaped from Virginia's mouth and she rolled her eyes. "Do you? I don't think we really have much to talk about"

"We do. We need to talk about everything. Ron is hurting so much" she began and stepped backwards when she saw Virginia's eyes burn with fury.

"Ron's hurting? I don't care! He can spend everyday of the rest of his life hurting, and so can you. I want nothing to do with the two of you. I tolerate you for my children only; so don't let yourself believe that it means that I care about you or your husband in any way. Do you understand me?" she hissed loudly at Hermonie who had begun to gather tears in her eyes.

"Please Gin" she said quickly clearly upset. Virginia stopped when she realised that they were gathering the attention of people around them.

"Look you have no idea who I am. I'm not Ginny Weasley anymore ok? I left her behind a long time ago. You and Ron aren't a part of my life anymore. I don't want to argue with you and Ron every time I see you" she said quietly.

Hermonie let out the breath that she had been holding and a few stray tears slid down her cheek.

"You were the closest thing I had to a sister Gin. I know the things that we did were unforgivable but it was really to protect you" Hermonie managed to get out.

Anger flashed through Virginia's eyes. "What makes you think you ever had the right to invade peoples lives like you did?" she said to Hermonie as both girls remembered some of the many incidents that led to the rift between them.

***

It was New Year's Eve in Virginia's sixth year. She had been seeing Blaise for a little over a year and had become good friends with Draco and Pansy. To her chagrin Ron and her had clashed over her new friends numerous times and as a result they had distanced in their relationship. Harry and Hermonie had been drawn into it of course as Hermonie had been seeing Ron for a while now as well. Dumbledore had decided on a New Year's Eve ball this year as apposed to a Christmas ball. Aurors and member of the Order of the Phoenix were permantly stationed at Hogwarts as Voldemort had continued to gain power.

Coming out of the library with Pansy the two girls heard yelling further down the corridor. Rounding the corner the girls came across Blaise and Draco faced off against Harry, Ron and Hermonie. Hermonie was trying to hold Ron back whilst he and Harry were yelling at Blaise.

"Stay away from Ginny alright? Break up with her or you'll regret it Zabini" Harry said loudly glaring at Blaise.

"Poor Potter...you had her liking you for all those years and now she's over you and dating me. That just eats you up inside doesn't it. Knowing that I have her now and you'll never have a chance" Blaise hissed back at Harry.

Ron managed to pull away from Hermonie and rushed forward to punch Blaise squarely in the nose.

"Stop it!" Virginia yelled as she rushed forward to help Blaise who had stumbled backwards from the force of the punch. She quickly pulled out her wand and raised it at Ron and Harry.

"What do you think you doing?" she said loudly at them.

"Gin...I..." Harry began but was cut off from the cold glare that Harry gave her.

"No Harry just leave me alone. Leave Blaise alone. All of you" she said before turning her back on them and helping Blaise to the hospital wing with Draco and Pansy.

She didn't see then when she got back to the Gryffindor common room. Making her way to her dormitory to get ready for the ball. Two hours later she heard a knock at her door and opened it to see Hermonie standing there in her dress robes.

"What do you want?" she asked her annoyed.

"I'm sorry about earlier Gin. It's just hard sometimes" she said helplessly.

"It's not hard Hermonie. You say that you're my friend and I trusted you. But you just stand there doing nothing whilst Harry and Ron attack Blaise like that" Virginia said as she checker her self in the mirror one last time.

"I..." Hermonie began but was cut off by Virginia taking one step towards her.

"I've got someone waiting for me downstairs" she said cooly as she gently pushed past her and headed down into the common room.

Seeing as she was the first female to come down Virginia could feel all eyes on her as she approached the bottom. She was dressed in a pair of form fitting red dress robes with contrasted nicely with her hair. She had a gold and diamond tiara placed in her hair with a matching necklace and diamond drop earrings. Seeing her brother and Harry watching her closely she smirked at them and walker towards Blaise who was standing with Colin Creevy.

"You look stunning" he said loud enough for everyone to hear as he kissed her gently on the cheek. Wanting to take advantage of the moment she wrapped her arms around his neck and gently pulled him in for a much more lingering kiss. After a minute or so he pulled away and caressed her cheek, forgetting that they had an audience.

"I love you" he said quietly with a small grin on his face.

"I love you too" she replied as they ignored Ron and Harry and headed down to the Great Hall.

***

Sixteen year old Ginny Weasley silently came down the stairs to find the common room empty, it was almost midnight. She had been searching for her diary for the last hour and she had an inkling of where it may be. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw her brother and his bushy haired girlfriend sitting together near the fire reading from a very familiar book. She approached them silently with her wand raised and muttered "Accio Diary". It flew out of their surprised hands into hers. Two extremely red people looked at her in a mixture of shock, horror and embarrassment. Before anyone had a chance to say anything the portrait opened and in came Harry, hair mussed up and an extremely angry look on his face. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut a knife through it and despite his obvious state of anger Harry picked up on it immediately.

"What's going on?" he asked cautiously as he saw the murderous look on Ginny's face. "Gin?" he asked her as he walked towards her.

"I was actually looking for my diary Harry, it seemed to have gone missing. Imagine my surprise when I come down here to find Ron and Hermonie reading it" she said angrily.

"Ginny...I didn't mean...we didn't...well we just wanted to know what was going on" Hermonie managed to stutter out.

Ginny let out a chilling laugh. "And you think that gives you the right to go through my diary? How much of it did you read?" she demanded.

"Uh not much of it" Ron said as his ears got even redder. She focused her attention on Ron. The hurt on her face obvious. "How could you?" she said in a soft voice as tears quickly filled her eyes.

She felt a warm arm wrap around her shoulders and she looked at Harry who was watching her with a concerned look on her face. Quickly pushing her away from him she spun around and ran out of the common room ignoring their cries of her to wait.

The last thing she heard before the portrait closed was Harry angrily talking to them.

"I told you that you shouldn't have done it"

**

Looking back at Hermonie, Virginia noticed that it had begun to snow in Hogsmeade. Without saying another word to her sister in law she apparated back to Zabini Manor wishing once again that Blaise was still around.

Getting back to the house she found that she was alone as Catherine had taken the kids to see Narcissa Malfoy and do some Christmas shopping. Glad to have no one around she picked up the first thing that she saw which happened to be a crystal vase with flowers in it and she threw it at the wall, trying to vent her frustrations. She watched in fascination as it shattered against the wall. The curtains next to it fluttering slightly in the breeze.

Walking over to close the open window she was surprise to see it was already closed. She waved her wand to fix the vase and put it back on the table when a figure began to shimmer in front of her and slowly take on a solid form. Her hand began to shake as she recognised the person in front of her. Warm brown eyes looked at her as she took a step back in fright. Standing in front of her was Blaise Zabini completely real and breathing, looking exactly like he did when he was 19 years old.

Not to sure what exactly what was going on. She opened and closed her eyes a few times. Seeing that he was still there she took a hesitant step forwards before fainting dead away.