Summary: Ginny's got a secret admirer. Could he be that cute new teacher? Could he be her house team's seeker? Could he be someone whom she knew right from her very first year at Hogwarts? Or could he be one of the most unlikely person to even notice her?
Disclaimer: NOT MINE! Although I wish they were a product of my very own imagination, sad to say I only own the plot & the other characters that might pop up somewhere down the road here.
PhoenixRae's Notes: I was miffed at ff.net for a while 'coz it wouldn't let me upload my previous chapter until…well, until it was two days later. Sorry for the delayed update. Last week was just a very busy week for me and this week…well, this week's not so bad so I might be able to update this story more than once this week! Thank you to all of you who reviewed so far & those who are enjoying reading this story. I am still looking for some songs to use so feel free to let me know what songs you have in mind. THANKS!
PhoenixRae's Notes 2: once again, I will be using "Zambini" to spell Blaise's last name as oppose to Zabini since…well, since I started writing the fic using that last name and I don't want to confuse anybody by switching around…and I'm used to saying "Zambini" for some odd reason!
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VII. Run-In With Malfoy
It was last of the few days left before autumn sets in at Hogwarts, Ginny decided to spend her lunch period out by the lake to study for a possible pop quiz in History of Magic (Oliver had a penchant for giving his students pop quizzes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to check how much they have learned). A lot of the students don't like that, but Ginny didn't mind it one bit. As far as she was concerned it was a very wise thing for Oliver to do to check how much his students absorbed in his classes.
She was memorizing the dates of a convicted warlock's trials when a tall shadow loomed over her.
"Trying to be Granger the second, Weaselette?"
Ginny didn't bother looking up from her notes she was reading to address her intruder. His tone of voice alone told her who he was.
"Get lost, bleached boy, I'm studying here."
Instead of doing what he was told, Draco hiked up his trousers a bit and squatted in front of Ginny. Snatching her notes from her hands, Draco read it and raised an eyebrow when he read the topic her class was learning.
"You're already learning about this and it's only the end of the October?" he raised a pair of surprised grey eyes and met her brown ones.
Ginny felt an invisible electrical zing zapped through her the moment she locked gazes with one of the school's notorious playboys. It was a weird feeling to have that stingy electrical feeling run down from her head to her toes. It never happened before. And never with Malfoy of all people!
Draco broke their eye contact by frowning and fanning the piece of parchment before her suddenly glazed brown eyes.
"Yoo-hoo! Hello, Weasel, still there?"
Ginny blinked a couple of times until she returned back to the present time and returned Draco's frown.
"What?" she asked irately.
Draco couldn't help but be amazed. She was really an enigma as far as he was concerned. He thought he got her all figured out during the years he went to school with her, then this new school year started and he glimpsed a whole new Ginny Weasley all together.
"You still haven't answered my question, Weasel. This," he fanned the parchment before her once again, "is way too early in the year to be discussed. I remember Binns teaching us this after Easter last year," he pointed out.
"So? Oliver's teaching History of Magic now. He's obviously doing things differently from Binns," she pointed out.
"I see," Draco nodded and handed her back the piece of parchment she was studying from. Straightening up, he smirked and looked down at the redhead immersed in her study, "If Binns was still the History of Magic teacher this year, I would've been able to help you out with the answers to his test questions, but since it's Wood who took over, hell if I know what his test questions would be like!"
Ginny scrunched up her face, "Thanks for the offer, Malfoy, but I doubt I'll need a slimy git like you to help me when I got Hermione around to help me with my classes," she replied haughtily.
Draco seemed unaffected by the insult. He remained standing before her with his trademark smirk planted on his boyish face. He was about to say something back to her when he heard his name being called.
Draco and Ginny looked at the direction of the caller and saw Blaise headed towards them. He jogged up to where Ginny and Draco was, breathing a bit harder upon reaching the two. He gave Draco a curt nod before turning to Ginny, a huge smile plastered on his face and giving her a full blast of his most talked about charm that got half of school's female population's knickers in a knot (the other half got their knickers in a knot because of Draco—at least that was what she figured the odds were anyway).
"Hullo, Ginny," Blaise greeted without a hint of sarcasm or distaste in his tone. And he called her Ginny instead of her last name!
Ginny had to pinch herself to assure herself she wasn't dreaming. Since when did a Slytherin become nice to a Gryffindor? Ginny thought she would faint!
"Uh…h-hullo, Blaise," she couldn't help herself from being bowled over by his friendliness. "I-I forgot to say thanks to you for saving my life," she said the first thing that came to her mind.
Blaise smiled and a dimple appeared on his left cheek. He seemed to look a bit embarrassed and Ginny couldn't help herself from giggling. God, she totally had a different picture of Blaise Zambini in her head all these years!
She had him pegged for an arrogant, self-absorbed egomaniac, but since their first game she started to see him in a different light.
"That's no problem, Ginny. I'm pretty sure Malfoy here would've done the same if he was nearby," he chuckled and gave Draco's shoulder a friendly punch.
"Yeah, right," Draco smirked, "The day I save a Weasley will be the day I have gone completely insane."
Ginny looked up at Draco with her eyes open wide. She looked like she was shocked.
"Malfoy, you finally admitted that you're insane! How wonderful to know," her voice was dripping with as much sarcasm as she could muster.
"Why Weaslette, I didn't know you pay attention. It's good to know that not all weasels are dumb," he replied mimicking her tone of voice.
"You're dumber than the dumbest person that I know, Malfoy," she accused.
"You mean I'm dumber than Longbottom? I don't think anybody could beat him in the dumb department."
Ginny angrily jumped to her feet and faced-off against Draco, "Neville is not dumb! For all you know he could be smarter than you or Hermione!" she defended her housemate.
"Oooh, Weasel's defending her boyfriend. Come to think of it, you would make a fine Mrs. Longbottom, Weaselette."
"And you—"
"You two look ridiculous!" scolded Abigail as soon as she neared the bickering couple. "I could hear your raised voices from fifty yards away!"
"He started it!"
"She started it!"
Draco and Ginny exclaimed at the same time, pointing an accusing finger at each other.
Abigail rolled her eyes skyward and shook her head, "Whathever Beatrice and Benedick. Anyway Gin, lunch is almost over and we have a class to attend to. You know how McGonagall hates it when students walk-in late."
"Lunch is almost over?" Ginny looked panicked, "I haven't grabbed a bite to eat yet!"
"Don't worry, Ginny, I grabbed you a sandwich when I noticed you weren't in the Great Hall," Blaise produced what looked like a yummy chicken salad sandwich on brown bread and handed it to her.
Ginny turned a pair of grateful brown eyes at him and accepted the sandwich.
"Thanks Blaise!" she slid the sandwich in her backpack as she hurriedly stuffed her notes in it as well.
"No problem," he watched the petite red head hastily stuff her notes in her bag then zip it up.
"I'm ready!" Ginny announced to her friend, she looked over her shoulder at Blaise and smiled, "Thanks for the sandwich, Blaise. You're a life saver—again."
"Anytime, Ginny," Blaise nodded.
"What? No goodbye kiss to your boyfriend?" Draco asked teasingly as he watched with a very sickening feeling the mushy (if anyone could dare call what Weasley and Zambini were doing mushy!) interaction between the two.
Ginny shot him a piercing glare, "Shut your yap, Malfoy, if you know what's good for you," and with that she stomped away with Abigail by her side.
"Oooh, I'm scared, Weasley!" Draco called after her.
Ginny cast a piercing glare over her shoulder at Draco and gave him the middle finger salute. Draco looked shocked she was even capable of being so crass before he ended up laughing at her action.
"Argh! I hate him soooo much!" Ginny complained to her friend.
Abigail raised an eyebrow and cast a quick glance over her shoulder at the two Slytherin boys they left behind then turned back to look at her friend, "Which one? Zambini or Malfoy?"
"Malfoy, who else would I be so pissed off at? Zambini's…well, Zambini's been acting strange lately and…he's been eerily nice to me all of a sudden which was so totally out of character, but then again him saving my behind during our first Quidditch match was way out of character for any Slytherin."
"Why do you even let Malfoy get to you, Gin?" Abigail asked, "Just ignore the bastard. I'm sure if you ignored him one too many times he'll get the hint and stop pestering you."
"I try not to let him get to me, but Malfoy seem to find a way of getting to me which is getting to be a tad bit too annoying!" Ginny complained.
"Kinda like your Annoying Prince Charming, eh?" Abigail grinned teasingly.
"Argh! Please, Abby, don't even get me started with that one!"
Abigail laughed and shook her head, "Kinda makes you wonder too, though. I mean, you find Malfoy annoying and you find your APC annoying as well…" she paused and gave her friend a long, sideways glance, seeing if Ginny caught her drift. Apparently her friend did.
"No fucking way!" Ginny exclaimed and stopped in the middle of her tracks and turned to glare at her friend, "Don't even insinuate that Malfoy and my APC are one and the same because…because…elch! It's a tad bit too disgusting for my taste!"
Abigail couldn't help herself from laughing at her friend's reaction. She raised her hands up and stepped back, "Hey, it was just a suggestion, Ginny! After all, you're not really serious about your APC being Blaise, are you?"
"No, I'm not certain it's Zambini yet, but for the love of Merlin, it better not be Malfoy who's behind all those letters!"
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"Thank God we're almost done! One more class and we're done for the day," Ginny paused outside her Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to stretch the kink off her shoulders and rearrange the strap of her bag.
"I know. It's a good thing I like our History of Magic teacher this year. I won't be bored stiff in our last class," Abigail arranged the strap of her bag over her shoulder as well and waited for Ginny to finish stretching.
"Exactly," Ginny resumed walking and headed towards her History of Magic class, "In as much as Binns was informative and knowledgeable of every fact available, still, it was always good to have someone new and fresh to take over his class."
"A-men to that," Abigail nodded.
The two friends rounded the corner towards the stairs going to their next class when they were stopped by a mob of students gathered around. Frowning at each other, they shouldered their way through the crowd until they were at the front of the gathered students watching (who else?) her brother face it off with Malfoy and his goons. As usual they were spewing insults at one another, waving their fists before them (actually, it was just Ron who was doing a lot of that) and threatening to rearrange the other's face. Ginny glanced behind her brother and saw Hermione pushed behind Ron.
She knew then what started off this verbal insult between Ron and Malfoy.
Hermione.
Ginny rolled her eyes skyward and decided not to linger around much longer to listen to what else Ron and Malfoy would dredge up to annoy each other. Students will be running late if nobody breaks this fight and Ginny felt compelled to do the damn honour of breaking the fight off between her brother and his number one school enemy.
Taking a deep breath, she walked straight towards her brother and the blond Slytherin seventh year, clearly stepping between them which automatically stopped them both from biting each other's heads off with verbal insults.
"When will you two ever grow up?" she scolded, slicing a piercing glare at her brother then to Malfoy. "Stop shouting insults at each other. If you want to hose the school down with male testosterone, do so! Don't threaten each other with fists waving in the air! If you want to show each other who's a man then be a damn man for all I care! Punch the light out of the other and maybe—maybe that'll do it for the both of you!"
Everyone was surprised at the outburst they heard from the youngest Weasley. Ginny was known to be meek and timid, but today she showed—not just her brother and his friends—the rest of the student body just exactly what she was capable of when provoked.
After a few seconds of deafening silence following Ginny's outburst, Draco decided to break it by snorting and glaring at Ron.
"You're lucky you have someone save your ass this time, Weasel. I admit, your sister's more spunkier than you."
Ginny glared up at Draco then, waiting for him to insult her this time, but when their eyes collided for the second time today she still felt that zing of electricity zapped her from head to toe. Instead of hearing some verbal insult hurtled her way from Draco, Ginny was rendered speechless when he merely grinned at her and winked before ordering his goons to follow him.
The students crowded around them soon parted as Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle made their way towards their next class. Ginny remained rooted where she was, staring at Draco's departing back and trying to make sense of what she felt inside every time their eyes locked.
"And just what exactly were you thinking about fighting my battles for me, huh, Virginia?" Ron demanded irately.
Ginny quickly spun around and glared up at her brother, "You better be lucky I stepped in when I can, Ronald. I bet Malfoy's capable of beating you to a pulp if ever he was given the chance to do so! And I mean what I said, brother dearest, grow up!" she shoved her brother aside and walked away.
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He couldn't help himself from grinning as he watched Ginny make a stand and scold two almost grown young men. She had some nerve to do what she just did. Everyday he couldn't help himself from being surprised at what the youngest Weasley was capable of doing. He knew she was a bagful of surprises from the moment he first laid eyes on her that day so long ago now.
"Let's go, man. We'll be late for class," one of his friends called, dragging him away from where he stood hidden behind some pillars as he kept a close eye on the sultry redhead sixth year.
"You two go on ahead, I'll follow you," he told them without moving from where he stood.
"Someone's bound to notice if you keep on watching her. I say let's move and ogle at her later," his other friend pointed out.
With a disgruntled sigh he relented to what his friends asked and moved away from his hiding place. He gave Ginny's departing back one last glance then he was off to his last class of the day.
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A/N: sorry, no "love letter" in this chapter, hehehe, but did you all enjoy the encounters Ginny had with Draco? A few of you are asking when Ginny & Draco will have some interaction and…well, yeah, I think it's high time they interact, hehehe…oh yeah, I'm trying to narrow down who her APC is, but he seems to be enjoying hiding his true identity so…well, we'll see when he decides to show himself.
PhoenixRae's THANK YOU's:
Amadrieclya (thanks for the song suggestion! I'll see where & when I can fit it here, I happen to like that song for the Corrs too), margarinequeen, Quis, SAngel (whoa! how was Italy, girl?! hehehe, and I thought it'll be easier for you readers to find it if I just let you know I got a new story up), Faxton, Imp (hehehe, hey, I thought nobody would notice it! :::grins::: I'm an LOTR fan as well and...well, since I got the extended DVD version I kept on watching it over and over and figured it won't hurt if I borrow some lines from there--it kinda worked well with the previous chapter), Krissy, vanns, Blue thorn a.k.a. B.C.R., avapouhi, wowsergirl, Talisa/Dragon Girl, Curly-Q, Butterflysky (nope, I didn't get it wrong. It's playdium, it's not a bar or club, it's an arcade place with loadsa good stuff! *lol*), SAKUNAnTOKYO, Kitty, Crystal, purus.flere, Miss Marauder (woo-hoo, yay for us Canucks! *lol*), Lia (well from now on I'll be posting it under html not doc so in case ff.net screws up, you can still read it, hehehe), Sabriel of the Ravnos, Slytherin Child (yeah, that was one of the N Sync songs that didn't want to make me throw up! *lol* and...well, I read the lyrics and it's nice, sweet, romantic material *lol*), demon_owl, just a d/g fan, OpalKoboi (APC stands for Annoying Prince Charming--it's the name Ginny & Abby came up with coz Gin's tired of calling her admirer "secret admirer"), MiSs-BeHaVe, oOB-i-r-d-yOo, selene-chan (I was confused with his last name and since Zambini sounded alright, I used it and I'll be sticking to that spelling probably til the end of this chap--I'll do the re-editing once this whole story's done), liltrick89, lilikins, fishy, Virginia Malfoy, Tweek's Panda (our APC's identity will be revealed soon enough), Ruby, Eva, Fire Spirit