Friends Close, Enemies Closer

.:Angelgrl185:.

((I do not own the Harry Potter series of any of its components))

twinsrthebest: Thank you for the review!

SpunkyVsSpankin': Don't worry! I'm not abandoning this fic, I just said I wasn't going to update as much as I did Viper. It's been two weeks since my last update and I used to update Viper like once a week or sometimes more often. Not abandoning, never fear! I hate when people abandon their stories or don't update for a ridiculous amount of time. All of my favorites haven't been updated in months and I have like forty. That's pathetic right there! Thank you for the reviews!

Chapter Five: Almost Friends

Ginny woke up in the middle of the night after tossing and turning fitfully in her new Slytherin bed. Images and feelings of drowning darkened her dreams that night and she couldn't sleep because of it. Disheveled, Ginny slipped out of her bed and headed downstairs to the common room to sit by the fireplace and think. The stone steps were cold against her bare feet as Ginny walked down them, trailing her hands along the outer walls for balance as she descended. The common room was dark, but glowed with the earthly light of fire as it flickered and danced with the shadows. She quietly entered the common room, thankful for the peace and quiet, not the snoring and wheezing of the girls upstairs. Ginny walked over to the couch in front of the fire when she noticed someone already sitting on it, staring intently into the red and orange flames. Ginny paused as she watched the silvery blond headed boy looking at the fire as it tinted his hair orange, his façade down, his face calm. Intending on not interrupting his contemplation, Ginny turned her stance and began to walk back to the stairs when a smooth voice halted her.

"You don't need to leave Angelina." His silky voice rippled through the air.

"I don't want to intrude, I can just go back upstairs." Ginny replied shaking her head and looking longingly at her bedroom now.

"You won't be, come sit with me." He demanded.

"Ok Draco." Ginny agreed hesitantly. She walked over to the deep green couch and took a seat on the opposite end as far away from Malfoy as possible. The warmth of the fire immediately pranced upon her, soothing her tense muscles and frazzled nerves. They sat in silence for a while, Draco watching the flames, Ginny staring at the wall, her fingers playing with the hem of her green bed robes.

"Draco, I uh wanted to thank you for what you did today." Ginny blurted out as her fists tightened around her hem. Startled at her outburst, Draco snapped his eyes away from the fire and rested his gaze upon Ginny who shifted nervously under his stare.

"It's no big deal Angelina, anyone else would have done the same." Draco commented easily before smirking. "You just happen to be lucky enough to be saved by the best looking man in the school." At his arrogant comment, Ginny snorted with laughter, her brown eyes dancing with amusement.

"Man? Don't give yourself too much credit Draco, I only see little boys here, you don't even sound like you've hit puberty yet." Ginny said brazenly.

"Besides, I've heard Harry Potter is considered to be the most handsome kid at Hogwarts, and I must say, I quite agree." Ginny add sweetly knowing how much that would irk Malfoy as she innocently tucked her messy brown hair behind her ears. To her surprise, instead of enraged protests, Malfoy burst out into laughter, his voice filling the common room. Puzzled, Ginny could only watch as he laughed, his light gray eyes glinting with mirth.

"Obviously you are in denial of your attraction of me and if I didn't know better, I'm guessing you fancy a crush on Scar Face, how traitorous Angelina." Draco said shaking his head, his hair falling across his face. Ginny opened her mouth to respond, but was speechless, was Malfoy, flirting with her?

"I see I've rendered you speechless, I do have a tendency to do that to the ladies so I've heard." He replied winking at her.

Ginny was mortified. Draco Malfoy of the Slytherin house, son of infamous death eater and Voldemort supporter was joking and flirting with her, Ginny Weasely, a Gryffandor. It was unheard of, preposterous.

'Well, he doesn't know you are Gryffandor, nor Ginny Weasely for that matter.' Her mind reasoned.

'Still! This is weird beyond measure!' Ginny argued.

'Stop it; you are a new person now. Remember what you told yourself earlier this evening?' her mind reminded her. Ginny fell silent.

'To change, be a new person.' She finally answered.

'That's right, and this new person is a Slytherin and can be friends with Draco Malfoy.' Her mind declared.

"Angelina?" Draco asked breaking Ginny out of her reverie.

"Sorry I was momentarily stunned by how big your head was, if you ever need any help deflating your ego, I volunteer my services." Ginny grinned biting her lip to keep from giggling at Draco's mock hurt expression.

"You wound me with your words." Draco said dramatically.

"Seriously though Draco, I really do appreciate what you did for me, if it weren't for you I'd be dead right now." Ginny said changing the tone of the conversation.

"You are one of us now Angelina and no matter how weird it feels for me to say this, we're like a family, Slytherins stick together. We watch out for each other. I don't know how it was at your old school, but here we protect one another." Draco informed her seriously.

His remark caused Ginny to think on his words. She felt a little bit humbled by what he said, she always thought the Slytherins to be a calculating horrid group who always tried to out do each other and be on top. She had no idea they were so close and actually, nice. She thought Gryffandor was the closest group, but now as she looked back on it, Gryffandor had its little clicks within the house. Like the Trio and such, there never was unity amongst the whole dorm.

"Thanks Draco, I'm going to go back to bed now, goodnight." Ginny said getting up from the couch.

"Night Angelina." Draco echoed with a nod.

Ginny left the warmth of the common room and headed up the cold stone steps towards her dorm, the scene with Malfoy running through her mind.

'Oh my gosh, I was flirting with Draco Malfoy!' Ginny realized to herself, inwardly wincing.

'Not flirting necessarily.' Her mind mused.

'Fine then what do you call it?' Ginny wondered exasperated.

'Bantering between friends.' Her mind answered.

"Between Friends." Ginny said out loud. "Draco and I friends." She repeated letting the words roll of her tongue as she climbed into her bed.

"I think I can handle that." She whispered to herself before slipping into peaceful slumber.

"Angelina, what do you think about quidditch?" Blaise asked Ginny as she suddenly appeared by her beside the next morning. Ginny rolled over and squinted at the raven hair girl who was peering down at her.

"What about quidditch?" Ginny asked grumpily, this was the second day in a row Blaise had woken her up before she wanted to be woken.

"Do you like to play quidditch, do you know how to play quidditch, and do you want to play quidditch?" Blaise fired off questions, ticking each one on her finger.

"Why? Ginny mumbled.

"Because, it is time for quidditch try outs for the Slytherin team and there aren't many good prospects that we know of and you are new so I thought you might be a decent player." Blaise answered. At that Ginny bolted upright in her bed.

"You need new players on the team?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah some of the team members graduated last year. I take it from your reaction that you would love to try out." Blaise replied wryly looking at the excited Ginny.

"Are you kidding? I love quidditch! At home I play all time with my brothers and believe me, they are quite good and hard to play with since there is so many of them." Ginny blurted out in her excitement. Realizing that she was saying too much of her old life, she clamped her mouth shut and dimmed the excitement.

"I would like to try out yeah." She agreed, trying to sound indifferent. Blaise gave her a weird look before replying.

"Try outs are on the quidditch field at three, don't worry about bringing a broom, everyone gets to use the team set so the playing field is equal, that's have Draco likes it to be so that's how it is." Blaise shrugged. "I'll catch you later Angelina, see you at three!" Blaise said over her shoulder as she walked out of the dorm off to her class.

"Draco likes the playing field to be equal?" Ginny repeated as she shook her head. Who knew, Draco Malfoy was full of surprises and maybe not the bad boy everyone thought him to be.

"Draco Malfoy give me back my wand this instant!" Blaise yelled from downstairs. A crash then followed along with Malfoy's booming laughter and a string of curses from Blaise. Then again, maybe he was.

Ginny breezed through her classes eager for the afternoon to come and quidditch tryouts. Defense Against the Dark Arts has been pretty interesting with Dr. Philips as the Professor, but today was a little bit boring, just the history about premonitions and mind tricks and stuff like that. When three o' clock finally rolled around, Ginny was excitedly waiting on the sideline of the quidditch field with a few other Slytherin prospects. A cheer went up amongst the kids trying out as the current Slytherin team flew on the field at a rapid pace, Malfoy leading the way followed by Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle. Two spaces were available, both of them chasers. Malfoy was the team captain and the seeker while Blaise was the keeper, Crabbe and Goyle were both beaters.

"Alright, everyone huddle up over here, we are going to explain the drills you will be competing in, at the end of the day you will know who the two new Slytherin chasers are." Blaise commanded loudly as the Slytherins gathered around the four Quidditch teammates.

"You will be tested in four categories, racing, dodging, catching and throwing and finally scoring. Crabbe and Goyle will be conducting the dodging competition, Malfoy will be doing the racing, I will be conducting the scoring and we all will judge the catching and throwing." Blaise continued looking at all the competitors.

"If your last name begins with an A through H go with Crabbe and Goyle, if you have a last name that begins with I through Q come with me, R through Z is going with Blaise." Malfoy jumped in as he flew in circles above their heads, his Firebolt glinting in the sunlight.

Ginny followed the other three kids in her group as they flew slowly over to the scoring posts. The three metallic hoops stood stolidly at the end of the quidditch field as Blaise came to rest in front of them, her hand gripping the quaffle.

"Everyone line up thirty feet away. I will throw the quaffle to the first person in line and you will then proceed to use whatever tactic to score on me. Remember, creativity is always a good thing." Blaise added. The four players lined up the distance away. Blaise blew her whistle and chucked the quaffle to the first person in line, a second year named Amy.

Amy nervously grasped the quaffle and then headed towards the goal posts, raising her arm high and when she reached the post, threw the quaffle weakly towards the middle post. Blaise didn't even have to move to block the quaffle as it sailed straight towards her. She caught it easily as Amy headed back towards the end of the line embarrassed. Next was Tristan, a handsome fourth year with spiky blond hair. He caught the quaffle with no resistance and immediately burst towards Blaise and the goal posts. Tristan sped towards the right goal post and aimed at it, causing Blaise to move towards it, but he quickly threw the quaffle towards the left goal post. Tristan had pulled a fade away, tricking Blaise with the direction of his body and eyes. Blaise nodded her head approvingly and went to fetch the quaffle as Tristan headed back towards the end of the line with a grin.

Blaise returned to her post and threw the quaffle to Ginny with a wink who caught it naturally. Ginny took a deep breath before speeding off towards the goals. She kept on a fast steady course straight towards Blaise, staring straight into Blaise's green eyes with her own brown ones. Relying on the laws of Physics, Ginny steadily stood up on her broom as she headed straight and threw the quaffle high in the air. She watched it sail along, Blaise did too in confusion as to why Ginny had just thrown away the ball. Thinking Ginny had fumbled the ball; Blaise began to race towards the ball to get in from Ginny when Ginny suddenly flipped off her broom into the air, kicking the quaffle with her feet as she came out of her summersault. Caught unaware, Blaise didn't have time to react and the quaffle rocketed past her into the middle goal post. Shocked, Blaise whipped her head in Ginny's direction as she landed gracefully back onto her broom and shrugged her shoulders at Blaise with a grin playing on her face.

For the next half an hour they four continued to try and score on Blaise, sometimes succeeding and sometimes nowhere close. Amy managed to score a few points, another boy named Josh scored a couple, but Tristan and Ginny were by far the most successful. At the end of the half an hour, Malfoy blew his whistle, charmed to sound over the whole field, signaling that it was time to rotate. Ginny and her group then went over to Malfoy while the other two groups also switched around. Malfoy waited patiently as the four came over to him and stopped before him.

"As you know, the fastest position in the game of Quidditch belongs to the seeker, but the other positions need to be just as fast. The keepers in order to block the quaffle from the goal posts and the chasers in order to out fly the other team who is trying to steal the quaffle from you. Beaters, not so much. I am going to have you all race each other a couple of times, then you will all race me to get a comparison of how fast you are. You will race individually with me." Malfoy explained.

"Now line up on that side of the field, I just want you guys to warm up a little bit, get a feel for your brooms. Go at a three quarters speed from this end to the other then back on your brooms. Go on my whistle." Malfoy put the silver whistle to his lips as the four lined up and blew it hard. The four immediately took off, Tristan a little bit slower of a reaction then the others but he easily caught up with them as they maintained a steady speed, each reaching the other side of the field together. They all turned around and flew back the other way, the wind flipping their hair around as they flew.

"Alright, that should be enough, you already flew a little bit with Blaise. I'm just going to go straight to the racing with me. Tristan, line up with me, we are going to race to the other side and back. This is going to judge your speed and how you can handle it while also how smoothly you can turn at high speeds. Amy, there is a timer on the grass over to your right, if you would please record the times in which Tristan and myself finish on the clipboard next to it." Malfoy asked pointing to the two items. Amy blushed and nodded before picking them both up.

"You can say go Amy." Malfoy said nodding to her.

"Alright, ready, get set, GO!" she shouted, pressing her thumb against the timer, starting the count. Tristan and Malfoy sped towards the other side of the field, Tristan in the front for a while, but it was apparent to Ginny that Malfoy was letting him drift ahead of him to give him some confidence. As they neared the edge, both boys smoothly flipped over and headed back, this time Malfoy edging away from Tristan and crossing the finish line at least ten feet ahead.

"Draco, you finished in 10.03 seconds, Tristan in 13 flat." Amy informed them as they sat aloft on their brooms.

"Good job Tristan, that's the fastest time anyone has gotten against me so far today." Draco complimented him.

Josh raced him next, but unfortunately was not very good at turning around at high speeds and crashed into the stands instead of successfully turning. Draco halted the practice for a few minutes to take Josh to the Infirmary. Amy went after Draco returned, coming surprisingly in first, beating Tristan by thirty-four milliseconds. Finally it was Ginny's turn and she confidently lined up with Malfoy who shot her a sly look before focusing his attention at the other side of the field. Ginny chuckled to herself, Malfoy looked so sure of himself, but he's never raced a female Weasely before. Amy yelled for them to go and Ginny rocketed away from the starting point, Malfoy with her, doing his hanging back ploy in the beginning until he realized that Ginny was actually good. He quit hanging back and caught up with her as they neared the other side. They both turned, the material covering the stands whipping in the wind they created as they flipped over and headed back. Ginny looked over at Malfoy and saw that his silvery hair was plastered against his forehead, the longest locks tailing out from behind him slightly.

They continued to speed back towards the finish line, the time seeming to have slowed although Ginny knew it was only a matter of seconds. They weaved in and out trying to get the best of each other. Finally Malfoy pulled ahead as they crossed the finish line with a satisfied grin.

"Draco you got 9.45 seconds and Angelina had 10.10 seconds." Amy revealed as she jotted down the times.

"Nice run Angelina, didn't know you were so fast. Too bad you weren't fast enough." Draco taunted her.

"Shove off Malfoy, you have a Firebolt and I have a Nimbus 2000. If my broom was nearly as good as yours I would have knocked your pants off." Ginny threw back haughtily.

"You would like that wouldn't you." Malfoy commented slyly.

"Don't make me sick Malfoy, I have a Chaser position to obtain." Ginny rolled her eyes and walked away. Malfoy chuckled and blew his whistle loudly, signally once again a station change.

Crabbe and Goyle were waiting impatiently at their area, hovering in the air like great big blimps. Ginny couldn't help but snicker as she neared them and took in their appearance. Crabbe sent her a suspicious look when he caught the end of her laughter, but Ginny flashed him an innocent smile.

"Alright then, you have to stay in the parameter of our side. Goyle and I are going to be hitting the bludgers towards you and you all will be trying to dodge them at once. This is going to test your agility and keenness." Crabbe explained in a gruff voice.

Crabbe and Goyle backed away from the three remaining Slytherins in their group, each holding a struggling bludger in a firm grip while grasping a bat in the other. Tristan pulled up to Ginny's right, Amy on the left as all three of them stared at Crabbe and Goyle, waiting anxiously for them to release the flying demons. A smirk spread across Goyle's face as he nodded at Crabbe then threw his bludger in the air, smacking it hard with his bat, sending it towards the three competitors. Amy and Tristan both spiraled out of the way of the racing bludger, but Ginny froze on her broom in the middle of the air. Memories of another bludger flying towards her, slamming into her back and knocking her out filled her mind.

"Angelina move out of the way! Stop trying to be brave!" Amy shouted to Ginny. Tristan watched and noted the frozen look of fear on Ginny's face. He quickly shot back towards Ginny, spinning his broom, connecting it with the bludger, stopping it right before Ginny's face and sending it back towards Goyle.

"Angelina, you need to snap out of it. I know you had a bad occurrence with these before, but you can do this." Tristan said encouragingly, forcing Ginny to look up into his bright blue eyes.

"Thank you Tristan." Ginny said gratefully to her fellow Slytherin. "Look out!" she yelled shoving off against Tristan as another bludger came towards them, propelling them both away from the maniac ball. The final half an hour passed by quickly, all three of them efficiently dodging the bludgers, Ginny having snapped out of her memory and her confidence returning. Malfoy blew the final whistle and all the competitors from the three groups huddled together.

"Now we are going to place you in triplets. You are going to do a weave down the field, throwing the quaffle to each other in a weave pattern. When you throw the quaffle to a teammate, you then trade places with the person you threw the quaffle too. This will give us an idea of how you handle throwing the quaffle and catching it during game like circumstances." Malfoy explained.

"Group number three, the group that started with me, since there are only three of you left, you can be a weave together." Blaise started nodding towards Ginny, Tristan and Amy. "The rest of you divide yourselves."

Ginny, Tristan and Amy did pretty well. Amy dropped the quaffle a few times; Tristan misjudged his strength and over threw it to Ginny who couldn't catch his wild throws. Other than that, Ginny felt they were pretty strong compared to the other groups as she watched them flying their weaves. At the end, they were all dismissed to the locker rooms and told that a letter would be sent to those who made the team by post during the evening meal. Exhausted, but happy, Ginny headed off towards the locker room and took a quick shower, washing off all the sweat and grim that coated her body from the nice work out. A couple hours later she joined the rest of her house in the Grand Hall as they awaited their meal. Ginny fiddled nervously with her napkin and picked at her food when it appeared on the table. Blaise and Malfoy refused to look at her or any of the competitors for that matter and it made Ginny all the more anxious.

The thunderous sound of hooting filled the Grand Hall as a storm of owls flittered into the dining room carrying various packages and letters. Ginny watched impatiently as a couple owls swooped around her table but none of them dropped anything on her plate. She heard a roar of triumph to her right and quickly turned her head to see Tristan pumping his fist in the air, his blue eyes shining brightly as he waved around a letter in the other hand. Ginny slumped in her seat, but grew a little hopeful when she noticed that only one letter had been delivered so far. A soft hoot sounded above her head. Ginny looked up and noticed a soft gray owl hovering above her head, its giant wing span flapping gracefully as its large talons release a cream colored envelope and it fluttered down slowly towards Ginny. She watched in amazement as the cream paper floated into her outstretched hands. Fingers fumbling, Ginny broke the wax Slytherin seal and pulled out a cream letter.

Congratulations Angelina Gracin,

It is the honor of the Slytherin Quidditch team to invite you to join their ranks. You have proved your skill and ambition towards the sport and will be a huge asset to the team. Report to the locker room after dinner to receive your robes and new broom. You will be instructed on practice times there. Congratulations once again.

Draco Malfoy

Squealing Ginny grinned widely looking up at Blaise who finally acknowledged her. Blaise smiled back happy for her friend and gave Ginny a high five. Satisfied, Ginny proceeded to scarf down her uneaten meal impatient to receive her quidditch robes and new broom. After dinner, Tristan and Ginny met the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team in the Slytherin locker rooms. Blaise smiled warmly at them both, Crabbe and Goyle both looked rather bored and Malfoy stood leaning against one of the lockers with an unreadable look on his face.

"Here are our practice schedules and our game schedules." Blaise said handing them both two slips of parchment paper. "Our first game is next week against Hufflepuff, should be easy enough. A nice game to get you two started on." She looked over at Malfoy who pushed off the locker and opened it, pulling out two Quidditch uniforms. He handed one to Ginny and one to Tristan who accepted them eagerly.

"Obviously these are your robes, you are required to wear these to every game. If you don't have them, you don't play and then we have to forfeit. To practice however, I don't care if you come in your Grandma's underwear, just be serious and ready to practice." Malfoy said seriously, his gray eyes betraying his mirth. "One more thing, the uniforms are charmed so you don't have to wash them. They just wash themselves so you don't have to worry about it." He added.

Moving over to another locker, he pulled out two broomsticks, the word golden word Firebolt etched into each one's wooden hide. Ginny gasped at the beauty of the broom and Tristan too stood in awe of it. Malfoy grinned knowingly as he handed the brooms to his newest players. Ginny ran her fingers along the smoothing wooden skin of the broom, noticing the way it glinted in the light of the locker room.

"Our first practice is tomorrow after classes, you both will be expected to be there." Malfoy said firmly looking them both in the eye. "I don't tolerate flightiness. This is a serious game and I'm a serious person. Make sure you come prepared tomorrow. Dismissed." He finished before turning and walking out of the locker room followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Tristan left as well leaving Blaise and Ginny alone.

"He seems a little intense." Ginny observed.

"Yeah he gets that way when it comes to Quidditch. Even though he doesn't really show it, Quidditch is one of his favorite things in the world. With you on the team though, you are definitely going to give him a challenge. It's going to be mighty interesting to see how you two get along." Blaise said with a laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny asked defensively.

"Whatever you want it to mean." Blaise said with a wink before flouncing out of the locker room, her ebony hair flipped over her shoulder as she exited. Puzzled Ginny stared after her for a few minutes before shrugging and turning her attention back to her Firebolt admiringly. It was defiantly going to be an interesting year.

That would be the end of chapter five, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review, I don't have very many!

.:Angelgrl185:.