Chapter 5

She should've known it would happen. She should have known that she would never get off that easily, that Hermione and Harry weren't just going to let it drop. Not that she'd really wanted them to, but it hadn't clicked that they weren't the only ones this act was going to attract.

She should have known Ron would be furious.

Simply, she was amazed he hadn't confronted her sooner. Maybe Harry and Hermione hadn't said anything because they were afraid of what would happen. They certainly didn't like Blaise, and they detested their relationship, but they were afraid of releasing the fury that was Ronald Weasley, Self-Designated Protector of his Sister's Innocence.

So when she had returned to the common room ten minutes before curfew, she had not expected Ron to be standing in the middle of it, pacing, just waiting to lay in on her when she stepped foot through the portrait.

But now that it was happening, she couldn't say she was surprised. Already, he'd been at it for at least two minutes. Poor Blaise...she would have to warn him about Ron. She hoped he hadn't already gotten to him. That would be an unfortunate incident, considering everything that Ron had said in the past couple of minutes. Blaise would be legless, armless, scalpless, and unable to create children. Oh, and dead.

"He's a Slytherin, Ginny! A Slytherin! A Death Eater! Supporter of You-Know-Who. He's related to Malfoy, for goodness' sake!"

Ginny just sighed, trying not to pay attention to what he was saying—but looking as though she were. It was always the best way to deal with Ron. Act as though she were listening and taking everything seriously, and then brushing him off. But then…

"I know you're hurt about what happened with Harry, Ginny, but don't go on a rebound with a Slytherin. If you're going to rebound, do it with a nice Hufflepuff, not—"

It shouldn't have made her tick. Her brother had, in fact, hit the nail on the head...at least for what she wanted him to believe. She was dating Blaise… But not to forget Harry. To get him back. So it didn't make sense why she yelled, "Shut up, Ron!"

Ron actually did shut up, surprised as he was by his sister's outburst. True to form, she had never interrupted one of his tirades. Until now.

"Not everything in this world is about Harry, Ron! Maybe I like Blaise. How do you know he's a rebound?" she demanded, stepping forward. She wasn't as tall as Ron, but she was closer than any of the other girls in his year—or hers, for that matter. And currently she looked so much like Molly Weasley that Ron swallowed, barely resisting the urge to step back.

"Ginny, Hermione saw you following Zabini the day Harry broke up with you. I saw you that morning and you were crying your eyes out. There's no way you could have gotten over Harry that quickly. You lov—"

"How dare you?" Ginny demanded. "How dare you assume that, or anything? You are not my keeper, Ronald. You are my brother, and up until now, you've always been my friend." When she saw him opening his mouth again, she said quietly, "And if you want me to ever forgive you, I would suggest you not say anything more." She walked past him, heading up the stairs to her dormitory, wishing she had somewhere else to go. The girls probably knew everything about Ron's tirade.

She walked through the door, prepared to set her bag by the bed and pull the drapes to wait for them to fall asleep—after all, she couldn't fall asleep with them closed without fear of nightmares—but a voice stopped her.

"Is it true you're dating Blaise Zabini?" one girl asked. What was her name? Evelyn?

She stopped, standing in the middle of the room, her bag in one hand. The one who had asked the question was standing in front of her own bed, and it looked as though the three other girls were sitting on their beds, listening avidly. "Er, yes. Why?" she ventured.

One of the girls sitting on her own bed—Willamette?—groaned. "You are so lucky. He is so cute."

"And mysterious," said another, a blonde, as she poked her head out. Ginny had no idea what her name was. "That's the best part."

Girl Number One (Evelyn) snorted and said, "Duh, the best part is that he's a Slytherin. And you know what they say about Slytherins…" She grinned.

The last girl, who hadn't said anything yet, giggled. She was a small, petite little thing with brown hair that was in a ponytail and eyes that seemed large on her small face. Ginny smashed a feeling of jealousy. "They're better."

"At everything," said Girl Number Three, the blonde.

Ginny smiled. It was ridiculous, but it made her feel glad to finally be…accepted?…by her roommates. "Really?"

"Oh, come on," Evelyn said, "Don't tell me he hasn't even kissed you yet!"

Ginny felt a blush creep up her neck. "Well…"

Girls Three and Four whooped. Evelyn just grinned.

Later, when her roommates had finally drifted off to sleep, Ginny lay back in her bed, staring at the canopy. It turned out that she was right about Evelyn's and Willamette's names, which was a relief, and she'd figured out from the conversation that the blonde was Helen, and the innocent-looking, petite girl was Mary.

Their conversation had brought a few interesting things to light, which Ginny felt able to sum up in a few, concise sentences:

1. All of the girls a crush on Harry.

2. All of them had a crush on Blaise. Or, perhaps on other parts of his persona. Did it really matter?

3. Slytherins are sexy, because they are darker, and supposedly better at...well, certain things which are important when one is dating.

And all the girls were in unanimous agreement that Blaise was an excellent choice after dumping (they refused to say that he had dumped her) Harry. They were all for "opposites attract" and had decided that Blaise was Ginny's opposite. Or, at the very least, Harry's—and that was apparently all that mattered.

Although it made her feel very happy, in the place that had always wanted peer approval, it also made her feel very, very bad. Because she wasn't dating Blaise for "real." She wasn't dating him because she liked her, per se, she was dating him because she wanted Harry back. She was dating him because – or rather, she wasn't dating him at all. She was pretending to date him because she wanted Harry to realize that she was desirable, that she had plenty of other guys waiting to date her. She wanted him to realize that out of everyone else she could have dated, she had chosen him.

She just had to remember that.

It was when Blaise did certain things that she started to forget. When he had kissed her in the hall, she had started to forget that they were doing everything as a pretense. That they weren't really kissing because they liked each other, but because he was upholding his end of the bargain. It was right before they stopped that she had to remind herself that they were only doing this because Harry was watching, because they had to make him realize that he wasn't that special, that she could have any guy she wanted.

She knew she had to remember, as well, because Blaise didn't like her that way. And if she fell in love with Blaise, it would be worse than falling in love with Harry. With Harry, she'd had a chance. With Blaise…she didn't have anything.

The most unfortunate thing, however, was the physical attraction she felt towards Harry. With Harry, at the beginning, she had had a large amount of physical attraction. He had that boyish hair, the innocent look, and he was her brother's best friend. She knew from the books she'd read that falling in love with him wasn't that surprising, as most girls got crushes on their brother's best friend. (Not to mention he had saved the world!) When he had seemed to reciprocate her interest, it was a dream come true.

Towards Blaise, she had suddenly realized that day, she felt a physical attraction about the size of a tsunami.

With Harry, she had felt like a little girl with her first love.

Blaise made her feel like a woman with needs. He made her think about her virginity in a way she hadn't before. He made her think about…well, he made her stop thinking! When he kissed her she felt like she had suddenly lost the power of coherent thought. Just thinking about him made her feel like silly putty.

So now she was starting to wonder if she had really been in love with Harry in the first place. If she'd been able to get over him so quickly, what had she truly been feeling when she'd been with him?

Frustrated by her thoughts, Ginny tossed her legs over the side of her bed and stood up. She pulled her robe out from where she'd tossed it under her bed and started the walk down to the common room. Maybe a change of scenery would help her get her thoughts under control; she knew she wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon.

As she was walking down the stairs, she realized the common room wasn't empty. There was someone sitting at one of the tables…in fact, it was someone she had very much hoped she wouldn't have to see for a very long time. She held her breath as she walked over to her brother, where he was slumped over what looked a lot like a Potions textbook. Releasing her breath slowly as he didn't awake at her approach, she nudged him slightly with one finger. When he didn't wake up, she half-smiled, pulled out a chair and sat down across from him.

She loved her brother. She really, truly did. But sometimes he did some very stupid things and jumped to some very stupid conclusions. She knew it wasn't the first time he'd responded the way he had. Hermione and Viktor Krum was an apt example. Another excellent example was in the trio's third year, when Ron had thought that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, had eaten Scabbers the rat.

And she couldn't blame him too much for his response. She had known, when she decided to "date" Blaise, that his reaction would be bad. It was the whole reason she had felt comfortable using Blaise, because she knew that because Blaise was a Slytherin, Harry and Ron would hate him on principle.

It was all Blaise's fault. The attraction she felt toward him had already started to morph into something more, and she knew it. She was already starting to care about him, and when Ron had reacted the way he had… It was when she had realized, at least on a subconscious level, that she cared about Blaise. That this wasn't about getting Harry back anymore. That right now, she didn't care if she never saw Harry again.

All she cared about now was whether Blaise would kiss her again…and mean it.

The thought almost brought tears to her eyes. However, she felt stronger than she had when Harry had broken up with her. When he had broken up with her, she hadn't felt strong. She hadn't felt able to deal with her own thoughts and feelings. Now she was gaining confidence from Blaise, and from her roommates. And that newfound confidence made her realize that maybe things weren't exactly the way she wanted them to be, but she could sure as hell make them the way she wanted them to be.

She was a determined young woman, and she knew it. She had wanted to get Harry back, so she had taken the steps necessary to do that. Now she wanted Blaise, and she was bloody well going to make that happen.

With brimming confidence and a bounce in her step, Ginny stood up and walked back up the stairs, not once looking back at her brother. He could think what he thought, and it didn't matter to her one bit. When she next walked down these stairs, she was going to do so with a purpose, and with confidence in herself. A confidence that she knew she would get what she wanted, because that was what Weasleys did, and that was what she was going to do.

Author's Note: I love my little Ginny! She's growing up so fast, though. Ah well. I am glad she's coming to her senses about Blaise. Expect a little change of pace with the next chapter. It will be focusing more on Blaise. And if you're wondering why I actually know what it'll be about, it's because I sat down and made an outline! Hallelujah! So I know what's going to happen for the next four chapters! Yay! I think it might be wrapping up in the tenth or eleventh chapter though. Haven't planned quite that far ahead, but unless some other plot detail comes up, it will be ending by the tenth chapter, methinks. Hope you had fun reading this. I certainly had fun writing it!