Hello hello! Enjoy and please review.
Also, happy new year (in advance, I hope it will not bring misfortune)!
Chapter 9
Thursday afternoon, as usual after class, Ginny joined her friends in the Gryffindor common room. But unlike other days, there was a global excitement that everyone seemed to share. In fact, they all were talking about the dueling club that Rousset and Snape were cofounding.
"A dueling club?" Asked Ginny excited "That's amazing! But Rousset didn't tell us anything about it in class."
"That's because only fourth and fifth years are illegible members" answered a sorry Ron
"That's unfair!" said Ginny angrily "How stupid is this rule? We should all get the chance to postulate!"
"I don't know, maybe that the previous years don't have enough knowledge or practice to be dueling" answered Harry.
Ginny frowned and answered irritated "I am sure that I would be just as good as you! And the whole point of the club is to practice. That's just completely unfair!"
"Yes, I agree, it is unfair!" said Parvati "Plus, I would have loved to duel against you love"
"Maybe that if the club plays out nicely, they will open it later to students of other years. It's just a matter of time Ginny" said Ron trying to comfort his little sister.
"I hope so…" said Ginny pouting.
They all continued talking about the club; how excited they were, what spells they would like to learn, who would win if Rousset and Snape were to duel against each other. Ginny couldn't stand it anymore; she was so mad at getting excluded from all of this. It was hard enough to have all your friends be older and in different classes than you. But adding to that a club where she wasn't allowed, was revolting. When she couldn't repress her frustration any longer, she stood up and left the common room.
She walked angrily through the castle trying to calm herself. Her steps led her to the astronomy tower where she was sure to be alone. She drew near one of the guard-rails to have a full sight of the view that offered the tower. The sky was beautiful. In fact, the sun was setting and leaving behind him hundreds of shades of pink and yellow. The view was just breath-taking, and it made her forget for a minute why she was so mad. This view reminded her of a poem she loved written by Victor Hugo.
"How did it go again?" she said aloud to herself focusing and going through an intense thinking "Oh that's it! Le soleil s'est couché ce soir dans les nuées ; Demain viendra l'orage, et le soir, et la nuit Puis l'aube, et ses clartés de vapeurs obstruées »
« Puis les nuits, puis les jours, pas du temps qui s'enfuit ». answered someone behind her. Ginny jumped out of surprise when she heard the sudden voice. In her fright she drew extremely near the low guard-rail and threatened to fall over it. But as she was dangerously leaning to her death, strong arms wrapped and caught her in time. She was brought back at a reasonable distance from the edge of the tower and she finally was able to catch her breath.
"Oh god I thought that my life was ending!" she said in chock. Because of the wind and the action most of her hair got in front of her eyes, preventing her from seeing anything. She managed to get them out of her sight and could finally see who the hell almost killed her and a few seconds later saved her life. The boy standing in front of her was Blaise Zabini. First, they eyed each other in chock and then they just suddenly burst into laughter. They couldn't help it or stop it; the situation had been so ridiculously dramatic and sudden that laughing was the only thing that made sense anymore.
After a moment they finally managed to hold their giggles back but kept a wide smile on their face, looking at each other, their heart still racing.
"I don't know if I should thank you for saving my life or jinx you for almost ending it" said Ginny smiling.
"I would say you should thank me, and I must apologize for surprising you without notice when you were this close to the lowest parapet I ever seen." answered Blaise with a wry smile.
"Deal" she answered with a wink.
"I didn't know you were a poetry amateur" he asked curious.
"Well I didn't know you were into poetry either. And French poetry on top of that"
"My refuge in a family of six"
She laughed "With six brothers, I know exactly what you mean. They brought me closer to poetry every single day of my existence" she added rolling her eyes.
"But the real question is what were you doing, alone on top of the astronomy tower reciting poems?" asked Blaise smirking.
Ginny slightly blushed at his question. "I wanted to be alone and I needed to clear my head. Well until you came and almost killed me" she accused him.
"You are not forgetting this are you?" he said with a smile "Should I expect wizarding duels from all six of your brothers?"
"I mean I am their little sister and they are Weasleys. My advice; you should probably move to America and hope they will not find you there Zabini" she said smirking. "But don't worry I will not tell them anything and save you from a very premature death. This way, and this is the important part, you own me a life debt"
"Clever little fox" he answered smirking looking intensely at her. "And may I ask when and how will I be called to pay my debt?"
"Oh, I will let you know" she answered mischievously. "And don't you worry, as you said, I am not forgetting this"
"Why do I have the feeling I just sold my soul to the devil?" asked Blaise pretending to be worried.
She laughed and shrugged "Well, people say I have a fiery-hair. So, you probably did sell your soul"
"Hermione warned me about you, I should've listened more carefully" he almost whispered. They stayed a few seconds just looking and smirking at each other.
At one-point Ginny cleared her throat and asked "By the way are you not supposed to be at the library with Hermione? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I had to abandon her today, I wasn't in the mood for doing anything. I needed to be alone and clear my head; this place always worked before, but unexpectedly I found it already occupied."
"So, we both came here to avoid people and we found everything except solitude" she said grinning.
"But we did find distraction" he added "A very nice distraction I dare say"
She blushed at his comment. Was he complementing her? "I should go; my friends are probably waiting for me to have dinner" she said still blushing. As she was walking away from him, she added smirking "And I will not forget; your soul is mine Zabini"
"I'm afraid so" he whispered too low for her to hear.
….
At dinner that evening, nor Hermione nor Ginny said anything, both of them were furiously blushing and thinking about two very different snakes.
When they were back to the dormitories, Hermione found on her bed a black cardboard. On the piece of paper was written in golden letters "Your presence is requested in exactly 24 hours where the moonlight will lead you". It wasn't signed. What the hell was that? It wasn't hers and it wasn't on her bed when she left her room earlier thought Hermione.
"Did one of you put that on my bed?" she asked curiously to Ginny and Parvati. They looked at the piece of paper that Hermione were showing them and they both shrugged.
"Why are you worrying about a blank piece of paper Hermione?" asked Parvati puzzled "Girls I have more important things to talk about and now that we are alone, I can finally tell you. I made my mind about Anthony and Michael! You will probably think less of me because of it, but I decided that I would keep our current relationships as they are until I made up my mind on who I love more"
As Parvati continued justifying her crucial decision, Hermione looked down at the cardboard she found. So, she was the only one who could read it. It was obviously charmed. Who could have sent it to her she wondered? She flipped the card and watched curiously the golden symbol engraved on the back. It reminded her of Greek mythology; a wheel of fortune with two crossed swords in the middle and surrounding it, four feminine masks.
It reminded her of something, but she couldn't replace it. She will have to make some research at the library tomorrow. She had exactly 24 hours to find out more about it, she thought. And she had to find out above all if this was an invitation or a summoning. In other words, if she should be worried or not.