CONTEST WINNER THIS CHAPTER: User "lonely4ashara" recommended the song, "Let It Rain" by Amanda Marshall for Blaise & Ginny this go around. It perfectly reflects Ginny's thoughts here. So, this chapter is dedicated to lonely4ashara - congratulations! Lyrics for that song appear at the bottom of this chapter. Hope you'll find this song somehow and give it a listen.

Chapter revised (revision 2.0) on 20 March, 2018.

CHAPTER THREE (#4): Blaise & Ginny

By the time Ginny crossed to the room she and Blaise had taken for their own, she had regained her wits and felt emotionally refortified.

Yes, her courage had been severely tested during the first action round, but after long minutes of silent, serious contemplation during this last question phase, she'd had time and some breathing space to turn things over in her head, including her options for the rest of the game. The conclusion she'd reached had been a rather simple one, actually: nothing had really changed.

Zabini was playing her.

Oh, he obviously wanted to bed her with the kind of relentless lust that every eighteen-year-old man felt, but according to his reputation around school, that didn't make her unique. He'd fuck anything that moved. Everyone said so.

Alright, yeah, he clearly fancied her, too—something that couldn't be said about any of his other partners, as far as the rumours went about him. But still… No, that thought didn't seem to want to stop turning over in her head long enough for her to consider anything else, actually. Like a needle stuck in a record's groove, her brain seemed glued to the idea that Zabini actually liked her…and a bit obsessively so, it seemed.

He wants you, a little niggling voice in the back of her head reminded her.

The slick arousal currently riding her thighs made it clear the feeling was more than mutual.

And the strange, giddy feelings rousing to life under her ribs were, too, weren't they?

Sitting across from him on the couch this last question round, she'd been hyper-aware of Blaise's concentrated focus upon her…and the longer he'd looked, the more she'd felt something stirring to life deep within her for the wizard she'd always thought of as her greatest rival. It wasn't at all as she'd expected, either: not hate, not revulsion, and not even a simple lust she could just brush aside as irrelevant. No, it was a dangerous attraction to his darker nature, to the thing that seemed to prowl behind his eyes as he watched her carefully. Its focus lured her in, made her want to discover more of her own darker desires as well…

Had what that bastard shade of Tom Riddle done to her really fucked her up that badly all those years ago? She'd thought she'd gotten over that, put it behind her, but as she'd lain across Blaise's lap and he'd alternated between spanking and caressing her, offering to make pleasurable for her the one thing that had haunted her nightmares for months after the incident in the Chamber of Secrets, all of those old fears and pains had been dredged to the surface. She'd been shocked and disturbed to feel arousal from such things, but the truth was, she'd almost come as his tongue had lapped so sensually over her arse.

Was that wrong? Was it sick? Did it make her sick to want it?

Until she had her answers, Blaise Zabini had to be off-limits…because if she wasn't careful, he'd drown her with his intense, frightening desires.

The door shut behind her with a loud click in the silent room, and curiously, she could feel her partner's magical aura gathering behind her. Her heart started pounding a moment later as his body settled so close into the curves of her back that the hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end.

Without a word, his arm came around in front, holding up his card so she could read it.

DEED: You get to blindfold your partner and they must guess three things that you let them touch correctly before the blindfold comes off.

Oh, just fecking wonderful! Would he do something really nasty, like make her put her hands in a bowl of live flobberworms? Boys did stupid things sometimes, especially to the girls they claimed to like. Was Zabini like that, too? Her intuition said, 'no', but then again, he'd body-checked her enough times out on the Quidditch pitch to give her a smidge of doubt as to how far he'd go to get her attention.

Sticking to the silent treatment, she held her card up over her shoulder for his perusal.

FORFEIT: Submit to a snog session with your partner. You can't touch them back, except to kiss.

Giving him a full minute to digest the ramifications, she tossed her card down to the floor and sighed. "Get it over with, then," she growled. "What's on the menu first? Fresh garden gnome intestines or will it be cold, slimy squid parts? I have six older brothers and they've all played far worse pranks on me, I can assure you."

Without a word, Blaise dropped his card, and into the empty hand popped a black satin blindfold, which he brought up and tied around her eyes.

Against her will, instant fear took flight in her breast. Going from having sight to losing it in a blink was one of the most frightening experiences a human being could endure, for you were never quite sure what was coming at you, or whether your next step was going to make you plummet to your death. To do so with a man who she didn't really know and who had made it clear he had every intention of seducing her until she lost her mind was truly terrifying.

Ginny swallowed her trepidation, reminding herself over and over that the cards were spelled to prevent him from doing anything that would cause her serious harm and that she held the secret of his TWN, should things get really uncomfortable.

To her surprise, a gentle hand guided her across the room, and within a dozen steps, she was being lowered onto a mattress, flat on her back. Her arms were lifted and splayed out to either side so she lay in a 'T' shape. What the hell? Wasn't she supposed to sit in a chair or something? Before she could question her partner, her jacket was unbuttoned and opened, the hem of her dress slipped up to her neck, revealing her barely-there lingerie.

"What the hell are you doing, Zabini?" she demanded, shoring up her walls once more and putting on a brave front, just to be on the safe side. "It better not be anything truly awful! Even you wouldn't be so low as to force yourself on a girl, I'd hope."

She heard a zipper being taken down and the ruffling of discarded clothing.

No fucking way! Was he going to rape her?

He couldn't! The cards, they would stop him, right?

His big body was suddenly there, looming right over her, his aura palpable in her mouth. His knees rested on either side of her legs, and the palms of his hands beside her head. "We're going to perform your card at the same time as mine, kitten," he informed her in a lulling, deep voice that caressed her face with hot breath in its passing.

Courage, she reminded herself. He can't hurt you. He can't hurt…

Butterfly soft, very tentative lips touched down on hers in a sweet pull that had come and gone before she'd even realized their first kiss had happened. The second touchdown of pillowed gentleness followed, this time lingering a bit. Then, a third and fourth and fifth landed, and each time he lingered a moment longer before pulling away. Every kiss was filled with apprehension, the emotion passing between them in equal parts.

If anyone had told her that she would be kissing Blaise Zabini last week, she'd have laughed in their face. If they'd told her Zabini would give her the most beautiful series of kisses she'd ever received, so filled with tentative need, she'd have scoffed and thought them mad. If they'd said she would feel those kisses all the way down to her toes, that they would make her doubt her own resolve, and worse, that they would cause an eruption of nervous desire to flare in her belly, she'd have probably had them committed for life. Yet, his kisses had surpassed every possible expectation. They made her melt, as she'd feared would happen.

It was almost a relief when he changed the intensity and let his tongue slip into her mouth, fully claiming her lips with heat instead. Lust was familiar, and she could easily embrace it…keep her heart away from it.

Except her partner wouldn't let this be simply about his taking what he wanted. Oh no, Blaise Zabini was all about breaking down her will, making her a ready participant in this game of seduction he played with her. The man was genius at it, too. "You taste like honey and sunshine. So addictive and sweet," he softly murmured, dipping back in for another taste. His expert tongue swept through her mouth, running over every surface, learning the curves and angles and spaces. "Give it back to me, my lioness. Torture me with your kiss."

She should just lie there and not respond. It would discourage him and force him to quickly get his part over with.

That was what she should have done…but she didn't.

Doubting her own sanity, Ginny did the unthinkable and met his tongue and lips with her own.

Golden light flashed beneath her eyelids as she finally kissed him back, and her whole body quivered in response.

As if he'd sensed her growing arousal shooting through her veins, Blaise responded. The groan that was torn from him rumbled through his chest. His hands thrust into her hair, tangling up in the long strands, holding her captive for his plundering of her mouth.

The intensity of their kissing grew into something wild and hot, wicked. It infused her senses, destroyed her self-control. She was the one moaning now, loud and uninhibited, and her nails were digging into his shoulders…

Abruptly, Zabini pulled away first. He rested his forehead on hers, tried to catch his breath the same as she did. It seemed they'd undone each other.

"Guess now. What was that?" he asked her.

It took a few seconds for Ginny to clear a path through the fog of desire that had swamped her brain to figure out that her companion had just asked her for the first of the three things she had to guess.

"A…really fantastic snog?" she hesitantly answered.

He chuckled.

"Not the answer I was looking for, but nice. Try again, though."

With that, he dove back in and fiercely reclaimed her lips, stirring the flames higher this time. He was almost relentless now in his sparring with her tongue, roughly feasting at her mouth, expertly stroking her pleasure with his tongue and lips until she was whispering pleas for him to never stop.

When she was once again gasping for air and ready to throw caution to the wind, he pulled away.

"Tell me, what was that, Ginevra?"

Thank Godric for the blindfold, for it allowed her a few moments to get her thoughts back into some semblance of order and for reason to return. If she'd had her sight right then… Needless to say, she and Zabini probably wouldn't be emerging from this room until long after the game was over.

"What was it?" he whispered, ghosting her lips with his own again. "Tell me, what did that kiss best represent?"

The answer came to her as naturally as breathing, but its implication made her heart stammer in her chest. "Us. That kiss was…us."

"That's right," he purred into her mouth as he licked her again. "Mutual desire meeting, and now finally unleashed."

Ginny swallowed, shivering. "It's just lust."

She had to believe that, because if not… Founders, if not she was in serious jeopardy of losing herself to Blaise Zabini's unspoken offer!

Once upon a time—up until five minutes ago, actually—she'd definitely desired such a thing. Passion, excitement, with the promise of being burned to a crisp at the end of a hot, flaming love affair…count her in! Despite the fact she was inordinately proud of her parents for their sticktoitiveness, she'd never wanted a marriage like they had, one that was comfortable, but unimaginative. It's why her brief relationship with Harry hadn't worked out. She'd wanted 'bad boy' and he'd been too nice, playing things safe and slow. Then she'd thought Seamus might be more her cuppa, especially given his rep—until it turned out he was only good for a one-off and never again. "'Tis me rule, pet," he'd explained after turning her down for a second go-around.

But now she was thinking of Zabini's reputation around school, specifically about the number of partners it was rumoured he'd had, and it occurred to her that for some people, using passion as a weapon was a sport.

And Blaise was a Slytherin. They weren't known for their sincerity, either.

So it was better if she just thought on anything they did tonight as merely a case of teenage lust and not become at all attached. Keep him at arm's length and don't get suckered, she told herself. The last thing she needed was a case of the regrets, right?

"Just hormones," she reiterated.

Zabini's mouth glided across her cheek towards her ear. "I told you once already: lies don't become you, kitten," he whispered against the sensitive lobe. Nuzzling it, he forced her to turn her head to the side, giving him full access to the hollow of her throat. "I know lust, and this…this is more than that. This is soul deep. It's fate. You simply refuse to acknowledge that truth."

She shook her head. "No, you've always hated me-"

He nipped the skin over her pulse, making her gasp, effectively stopping her tirade before it could begin. "I told you already: I don't hate you, I never have."

"Then you want to hurt me," she argued, clenching her fists. "You're doing this now to humiliate me. It's some slimy Slytherin trick!"

His hands cupped her cheeks to hold her still, to force her not to turn away from him. "It's not," he said with a touch of anger. "Where you're concerned, I'm all out of tricks. You did that to me, Red."

"How?"

"You know how. You even know why, if you think about it."

Because he wants you, wants to possess you, to own you, a hissing voice whispered in her ear. All men do with the women they desire.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" she growled, refusing to be some man's fuck puppet. "Let me go."

"I can't. I tried," he insisted. "For two years, I've attempted to fuck you out of my system. It's still only you I see when I close my eyes." His forehead dropped to hers again, and his tone became softer, almost anguished. "Don't you see? You've consumed me, Ginevra. I can't think for want of you most days. This…obsession…it has to end. It's going to finish me if it doesn't end!"

He kissed her again then, and it was wicked and hot, and so good Ginny's whole body reacted against her will. Her hands were suddenly pulling at him, her nails digging into his shoulders, her tongue thrusting upwards to meet his. He dragged those full lips of his over hers, sucking on her tongue, and everything inside her went tight and wet with instant need.

Hell, had she just told him to let her go and walk away? Why would she say something that idiotic when his kiss was this good?

When their tongues met again, electric shocks ran up the length of her, and something deep inside her came partially awake, lazily stretched, and instinctively responded. Once more golden light flashed behind her closed eyelids, and the pulsing light traveled the length of her body like a lightning strike, igniting her desire all over again.

Above her, Blaise jerked as if struck and groaned with pleasure. His answering rumble was deep and resonant in his chest, like a rolling thunder across a dark sky.

Her partner was right: she wanted him, and this was more than mere lust.

Whatever it was, it both terrified and exhilarated Ginny. It was like flying and falling off her broom, both at the same time.

Well, hell, she'd wanted passion…

Eventually, Blaise freed a hand from the messy tangle of her hair and reached up to take her hand in his. Slowly, he slid her fingers down the length of his well-muscled torso until she was grabbing what she knew to be his thick, long prick. She gasped, shocked that he'd be so bold, but found it nearly impossible to let him go. Just holding him in her palm felt so…right.

"What's this?" he asked her, and it was clear he was using this bizarre first encounter with his most sensitive anatomy as one of his three things to touch.

"Um, your cock?" she replied as evenly as possible around a mouth suddenly too dry.

Gods, he was fecking huge! He easily rivaled Seamus.

Stroking their hands together gently up and down over his taut length, Zabini corrected her. "Try again."

Ginny had to admit: it was seriously erotic to be touching this man whom she considered explosively unsafe, much less learning his shape without sight. She let her fingers have their freedom and explored every inch of his silken, velvet length and the heavy weighted balls beneath them, all the while cataloguing her discoveries, memorizing them. During her exploration, Zabini moaned a few times, and every time she swiped up his length, his cock twitched against her hand.

"So, what is it, Ginevra?" he asked once more pressing his lips to hers, as he began thrusting his hips in time to her rhythmic stroking. "Tell me what it represents."

"Proof," Ginny breathlessly answered, her mouth watering, her mind already wondering naughty things about his taste. What would it be like having this monster thrusting away between her lips, reaching into her throat, shooting hot come across her tongue? "It's proof of your desire for me."

"Very good, my lioness," he praised her with a sinful chuckle as he gently removed her hand from its surveying and she let out an unhappy sigh. "You're quickly catching onto this game." He licked her from the vee of her breastbone up to the bottom of her chin. "Tell me you aren't the tiniest bit curious as to how my cock would feel inside you."

Merlin help her, she was curious! She wondered what it would be like to be taken slowly, stretched and filled by someone of his size.

"You've definitely got my attention," she admitted.

"Do I?" he asked, deceptively mild, although she could feel his hand tremble against hers. "Is it enough of an interest for you to consent to sex with me now?"

Ginny licked her lips at the visual, barely holding her ground against her more reckless nature. "If we do it, you'll only use this chance to take what you want from me and not care about my needs."

He lowered himself until his chest touched hers and his mouth hovered above her lips again. "And if I promised to make it so good for you that you came the hardest you ever have—and multiple times, too, would that change your mind?"

Godric save her from her own stupidity, but Ginny so wanted to fuck Blaise now that she'd tasted his kiss and held the weight of his dick in her hand… Yet the price he was asking her to pay was steep, possibly quite devastating, in fact. Besides, she'd been raised to be no man's fool. There was no way she was ending up as just some man's cum sponge, thanks.

"And after?" she dared to ask. "What, you give me the best night of my life and then dump me flat and laugh about it with your friends behind my back?"

"I would never do that to you."

She scoffed. "You do know people gossip about your exploits all the time around this place, right? Someone talked about those hook-ups."

"It wasn't me. I don't discuss my partners with others."

"Except in this game."

He sighed. "You know my True Wizarding Name, Ginevra. You can mistreat me at any time, in or out of this room, tomorrow or ten years from now. I trusted you with such power over me. Trust me now with this. I would make our time good for both of us."

But she didn't trust him, and that was the whole point. Knowing Zabini's TWN was irrelevant; she'd never use it unless he meant to cause her or someone else harm, and they both knew it.

"Forget it," she said and throttled back on her arousal, reminding herself again that messing around with a Slytherin—this one, in particular—was a bad idea. The grapevine wagged constantly about the sheer number of female partners attributed to him. In truth, it was enough to turn her stomach and make her see red. "You'd use sex against me somehow, and I won't be abused by another man, not ever again." She cringed at the memory of Tom Riddle touching her and pushed against Zabini's tight, washboard abs, trying to get him to move away so she could get up, get dressed, and get out before she made an epic mistake with him. "Now get off me. You've performed both cards and we're done here."

Zabini refused to budge, however. "Who hurt you?" he growled instead, the anger in his voice a whiplash of vehemence she'd never heard from him before. It startled her. "That's the second time you've hinted that someone did something awful to you. Who hurt you?"

"Nobody, I-"

"Don't you dare lie to me again, Weasley! When I touched your arse last round, you were positively terrified. I want to know who the bastard was who raped you there!"

Ginny's heart went cold and her body still as her world narrowed down to two words: "raped you." No, that didn't fully describe what had been done to her. Add the words 'and tortured you' after that, and Blaise would be in the right neighborhood then. She thanked the heavens for the blindfold at that moment, because hot tears suddenly burned the backs of her closed lids. "Let me go," she calmly—more calm than she'd thought herself capable of at that moment—requested of him.

Her only security from the harsh reality of the world was abruptly ripped from her head and tossed to the side a moment later. Without the darkness and cover the blindfold provided, her sight was returned and with it, Ginny's ability to perceive the truth and to feel the pain it inflicted. Looking up into the face of her tormentor, she saw something then that she'd never thought she'd ever witness: Blaise Zabini, nearly undone.

"You were raped, weren't you?" he asked in a voice as shattered as his expression.

Oh, gods, he knew!

Unfortunately, curling up into a ball and hiding wasn't an option just then. All she could do was stare at him and try not to cry.

"Who hurt you, love? Tell me. I'll make him pay. I swear it!"

Ginny laughed at that, the sound as ugly and bitter as the truth of the matter. "You can't. He's already dead."

Her partner blinked, narrowed his eyes. "You killed him?"

"No, but I wish with my whole soul that I had."

"Who?" he demanded the name again.

"Why do you care?" She pressed him back just as hard as he was squeezing her for information. "It's not as if you haven't hurt me, too!"

Far above, the ceiling changed, becoming a mass of churning, nebulous, wispy dark grey formations that swirled around and around in growing anger. They were storm clouds. Had she unconsciously summoned them, or was this Blaise's doing? She didn't know who deserved the blame this time. A warm spring rain gently began to fall. Its savagery grew, however, as the seconds ticked by, swelling in intensity to match the rioting battle of emotions between Ginny and her partner. The room, it seemed, could reflect the emotional turmoil of its current occupants. At the moment, it was a squall, complete with sheets of rain, rumbling thunder, and flashes of lightning.

Neither she nor Zabini seemed to care about the downpour that drenched them, though, too lost in their fierce staring contest to notice.

"Give me his name," he commanded, his tone brooking no argument.

Ginny was no pushover, though. "I have a better idea: go take a giant leap over a short cliff."

Blaise's nose touched hers, and his dark eyes were incensed by her defiance. "You will tell me, my lioness. I want the name of the man who hurt you. Dead or alive, I would know it."

Exasperated to the point of violence, Ginny actually snarled at him behind her clenched teeth. "It doesn't fecking matter! I told you, the bastard is dead, and his sodding book was destroyed with him!"

"Book? What the hell does a book have to do with any of this?"

Oh, bloody hell, she'd said too much!

She clamped her lips together, refusing to give away anything else. Blaise stared hard at her, trying to decipher the riddle, but she knew he had no knowledge of what had transpired in her first year, as the story had been neatly covered up by Dumbledore.

A strange glint entered his eye then. "We'll make a deal: I'll tell you another secret if you tell me this one," he offered. "I promise you mine is as equally…disturbing…as yours, Weasley."

"Not bloody likely," she scoffed.

Zabini tilted his head, stared her down and bared another piece of his soul to her. "My first time, it was the end of third year, and I was raped in the showers by two seventh-years."

Ginny pulled a sour face. "Oh, how terrible for you, getting jumped by a couple of older, more experienced girls-"

"Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick," he corrected her. "I was thirteen. Bole Imperio'd me and made me suck his cock on my hands and knees while Derrick fucked me hard up the arse. Then they switched. Derrick didn't even have the decency to wash himself off before shoving his dick in my mouth. Bole commanded me to like it all, though, so I moaned in pleasure the whole time and came right along with them. They raped me for over an hour in every position you can think of, casting charms on themselves and me to get us all hard again and again. When they finally tired of me, they left me bloody, lying in a puddle of my own come, and threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone. You and Draco are the only two people who know, and he knows only because he was the one who found me. I'd have never told him otherwise."

He wasn't lying. There wasn't a smidge of untruth in what he'd just said.

She knew because only another survivor of brutality could relate to the haunted expression that she currently saw on his face. The glint of shame in his eyes was the same as the one she often saw in the mirror at home. It was followed quickly by the inevitable fury and sense of helplessness she also knew all-too-well.

Blaise had been raped, too. His innocence stolen as hers had been.

He'd been humiliated by his attackers just as she'd been by hers…

"Tom Riddle," she blurted, moved by his confession enough to offer her own.

The name obviously didn't register with him. "Who?"

Ginny felt her throat threatening to close, to seal away the truth once more, as it had done for years every time the subject of the Chamber came up. "That was his real name before he changed it…to Voldemort."

Zabini pulled away, ran a hand over his eyes, wiping away the tears that gathered at his lashes. "As in the Voldemort, the Dark Lord who died before either of us was ever born?"

"Yes."

Her partner threw her a dark, disbelieving look. "What the fuck, Weasley? I just bared my soul to you!"

"I'm not lying! I swear to you on my witch's powers that it's the truth," she insisted, putting her freed hand over his lips to shut down whatever scathing rebuke he would give her. "Listen, please. My first year, Malfoy's father sneaked Riddle's school diary into my bag when we bumped into him at Flourish & Blotts while getting school supplies. I don't know how the man obtained such a dark artifact, and I didn't know that he'd intentionally slipped it into my possession at the time, but when I got to school, I found it. The diary was magical. It…talked back to me when I wrote in it. I didn't know who Tom Riddle was at the time. I thought he was just a nice ghost haunting the pages, offering up a sympathetic ear. I told him all of my feelings, and he was kind and understanding." Here, her voice faltered, became embittered. "He was using me. He gained control of my mind through my vulnerability. Do you recall all of the messages painted around the castle in blood about the Chamber of Secrets that one year?"

Blaise's gaze turned inward as he thought back, and slowly, he nodded as the memories returned.

"That was me, under Tom's influence. I had no memory of doing it, though," she explained. "He also used me to open the Chamber of Secrets and to let loose the Basilisk that was under the castle. That's why there were students who were found petrified. Remember that?"

Again, Blaise nodded.

"It was all Tom's doing. He used me to open the Chamber," she continued. "He wanted the Basilisk to roam free and kill. I was helpless to stop him, too much under his power by then. But it was the last time I opened the Chamber that Tom…got to me."

Here she faltered, never having told anyone, not even Madam Pomfrey, what Tom had done to her that night. This ugly secret had lain across her heart for years, tormenting her to tell it, to free it and be free of it, and yet she'd always stumbled right here, never able to get past this part of the tale.

"Tell me," Zabini coaxed.

He'd done as much for her, relaying intimate and horrible details of his own rape, laying himself bare for her to judge. The least she could do was show him the same respect, the same courage.

Taking a deep breath, she let it all out. "Near the end of the term, I was lured down to the Chamber to summon the Basilisk again. Riddle had been slowly using my life energy all year, and as a result, was able to manifest a form for himself, a new body that looked just as he had at the age of sixteen when he'd created the diary. He wasn't completely solid, but it was enough, especially after he'd rifled through my mind using Legilimency and discovered my TWN. Using my magic against me, he'd forced me to my knees and made me suck him off. He slammed his…thing…into my mouth. I gagged so many times, and when he came-"

She shuddered, clenching her back teeth at the memory. She could still smell his awful scent and taste his salty, bitter seed he'd shot into her mouth. Just the memory made her want to vomit. It took her several deep gulps of breath to hold down the gorge that rose in her throat, to come back into her own control, and to finish the story.

"He forced me to swallow it all. But that wasn't all. Afterward, he made me take my knickers off and crawl around for a bit, kissing his feet and groveling. He made me…he made me beg for him to fuck me, and then he-" A sob escaped her throat, and her sight went hot and wavy. "He said he wasn't into girls, but he liked a nice piece of arse, so he took me that way. And…it hurt. Oh, Godric, it hurt so much! I screamed inside, begging him to stop, but I couldn't move. He controlled me with my TWN. He made me say his name over and over as he…as he thrust into me, and it burned like fire when he finally came inside me. I was only eleven-years-old, and he raped me!"

She pressed her hands over her eyes, ashamed, wishing right then to hide away in darkness forever and ever.

"He threw me to the ground, told me I'd been a good whore, and it was too bad he still needed my energy to make him whole or else he'd have kept me around to fuck. Harry killed him though. He destroyed the diary, and it killed Tom forever. After it was all over, Dumbledore took the diary, looked at it. He said it was ruined, its magic shattered and that Tom couldn't hurt me ever again, but he was wrong. He still haunts me in my head, and I'll…I'll never stop being afraid of being touched…there."

Her sobs were unstoppable now, as waves of agony and humiliation flooded every inch of her soul.

Blaise's big hands cupped her cheeks again, and his thumbs gently wiped the tears from them. "Look at me, Ginevra. Please, look at me, love."

She did look at him then and finally saw through the arrogance and past his Slytherin sorting to the man underneath. And what she saw astounded her: he was a survivor, too. He'd known the same pain she had and now he'd shared it with another as well, someone who was a rival by accident of House affiliation.

They had more in common than she'd ever guessed.

Gently, he took her hand in his warm grasp and led it to his bared left pectoral. He placed the palm against his heart and she noted its strong beat, and how powerful his body was under her fingertips.

"Tell me, what's this?"

"Your heart?" she whispered the guess.

Blaise shook his head very slowly. "Try again."

They locked gazes and at that moment, Ginny's greatest fear was realized: she couldn't hide anymore. Zabini had seen her, heard her, smelled her, felt her, tasted her. He'd reached inside and touched her heart. Something had awoken in her, come free of its cage, and now there was no turning it aside.

But this two-edged sword cut both ways, didn't it? He couldn't hide from her, either. They were equally exposed, equally frightened of the ramifications of these last few minutes.

Equal.

"My heart," she whispered the correct answer, and her partner solemnly nodded.

The idea was beautiful. It broke through the last of her icy resolve, filling her up with a flood of warmth and joy. This was what she'd been searching for—the passion she'd hoped to someday find! Hell of a thing that it happened to come from her greatest school rival.

Well, if Zabini was the one to take her down, then Ginny was going to burn in his arms…and she was going to make sure he got nice and singed from the flames, too. Grabbing her partner by the shoulders, she pulled him down on top of her, pressing their naked, willing bodies together. Her hungry mouth found his a beat later, and then she sunk her claws and her tongue deep into him.

Blaise answered her need with one as equally ferocious, plunging his hands back into her hair and falling upon her like a man starved for love.

"Touch me," she begged him between wet, heated kisses. "Fill me. Make me forget anyone else's touch, Blaise."

"Ginny, I‒"

She stopped him from denying her with another lush kiss. "I want you to be my memory of this place, too," she told him, rubbing her pussy up and down his hard, taut length.

A surrendering groan left his throat, and then his hands were everywhere—in her hair, pulling her clothes off, cupping her naked breasts, gripping her nude hips. When Blaise further parted her thighs and thrust hard into her tight, slick passage, Ginny cried out from the feeling of his heavy, straining shaft stretching her open, delving into her silken depths.

God, he was so big!

She whimpered as her internal muscles gripped him, milked and massaged his cock with uncontrollable pulsing as her body adjusted to his size, surrounding him in her wet, welcoming heat.

"Move, please," she begged, rolling her hips in a plea for more, for everything.

Her new lover held absolutely still though, seemingly content to stay seated within her like this forever. "Just this much," he promised her, holding her clasped to him, his burly arms enclosing her in safety and warmth, sheltering her from the heavy rain that still poured down upon them from the magical ceiling far above. "I won't ask for more than this."

Ginny dug her fingernails into his arms in a silent demand that he give in and fuck her until she was screaming like a wildcat in heat, but Blaise was as stubborn as she, it seemed, and refused to finish inside her. Instead, he remained still below the waist and kissed her with sweet, adoring nips and licks, brushing the hair from her eyes and calming her until she could feel their heart beats slow and sync.

"Just knowing you want me, too," he whispered between soft kisses, "Just to feel you around me once. It's enough for me."

The chimes rang out, signaling the end of this action round and breaking the poignancy of the moment. The tinkling sound cut through the thunder and pelting water with the same abrupt notice as glass breaking in a noisy room.

Pulling back onto his elbows, Blaise again smoothed the drenched hair from Ginny's face with a gentle touch. "I forfeit, my lioness. You've conquered me."

Bereft of his warmth, afraid that if he walked away now, it would be over for them, Ginny shook her head, desperate to keep him in the game. "You can't! I want this now. You made me want this, Zabini!" She clamped her thighs around his hips, and wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him in place. "Give me a chance to know you, the real you."

To enslave him to the idea, she began rocking her hips up and down.

Blaise groaned and his eyes rolled back into his head. "Stop, you'll make me… I'm too close as it is."

She didn't heed him, guiding him in and out of her body with insistent, slow pumping.

"All right, I'll stay!" he conceded, and abruptly pulled out of her to avoid further temptation.

Getting her first full look at his cock made Ginny's body ache to have him back inside. He was magnificent, hung long and heavy and thick…and dripping with desire, shiny from her juices.

Her stomach and throat both tightened with renewed desire.

"Stop looking at me like that or we're not leaving this room until we're both satisfied," he warned her with a gentle slap to her foot. Hopping off the soaked bed, he climbed to his feet and held his hand out for her. "Come, my lioness. I'll play the game, just for you."

She sighed in concession, but promised her buzzing, painfully aroused libido that it was going to be well-sated coming morning, no matter what.

Taking his hand, she let Blaise pull her up and once more into his embrace. As they stood naked and pressed in close, she stared up at him with hunger and need, not just for physical fulfillment, but emotional as well. "Don't burn me, Blaise. If this is just a game to you… If you hurt me, I swear on the Founders that I'll never forgive you."

He cupped her cheek and with slow deliberation, swiped his thumb across her kiss-swollen lips. "I'll give you whatever you want, Ginny. I'm yours."

Shaken to her core by the naked vulnerability in his eyes, Ginny pressed her face to his broad, bare chest and hugged him. He really did want her. And all these years she'd thought he'd hated her, when the exact opposite seemed to be true.

Well, shit, hadn't she just been the fool? Just think, she could have been doing this with him all along and saved herself the headache and heartache from Harry!

With a reluctant sigh, Zabini kissed her cheek. "We should go or we'll be late, and be counted out."

They broke apart at the same time, and she bent and retrieved her clothes from where her lover had discarded them. They both redressed with haste to beat the second chime. "We'll need a drying charm when we get back out to the couches," she stated the obvious as she wrinkled her nose while tugging the heavy weight of her wet velvet dress over her shoulders.

Blaise was already at the door, his outfit requiring little work to set to rights and looking positively too enticing in his purple shirt and form-fitting, black slacks for her sanity. Unwittingly, her eyes dropped to his crotch.

Merlin, he really was hung!

Her partner gave a sinful chuckle, reading her thoughts in her gaze, no doubt. He held his hand out to her. "Come, kitten, before we're both much too tempted to want to leave."

Blushing to the roots of her hair and the tips of her toes, Ginny coughed with embarrassment, and crossed the room to him. She slid her fingers through his as he opened the door for them and followed his lead as he led them back to the couches. Unrepentant about it, she openly watched his arse as they walked and was entranced by its strong curve.

Hell, Blaise Zabini was entirely too clever and too sexy for any witch to properly maintain her composure, she thought. He ought to come with a disclaimer around his neck, "WARNING: this wizard will make you forget the word 'no'."

This time, this fall…it was really going to hurt, wasn't it?

All she could do was pray that wouldn't be the case and put her faith in the game to start them off in the right direction.

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

PLEASE REVIEW!

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Musical Selection for this Chapter: "Let It Rain" by Amanda Marshall. Lyrics are as follows…

I have given, I have given and got none.
Still I'm driven by something I can't explain.
It's not a cross, it is a choice.
I cannot help but hear his voice…
I only wish that I could listen without shame.

Let it rain, let it rain on me.
Let it rain, oh let it rain.
Let it rain on me.

I have been a witness to the perfect crime.
I wipe the grin off of my face to hide the blame.
It isn't worth the tears you cry,
To have a perfect alibi.
Now I'm beaten at the hands of my own game.

Let it rain, let it rain on me.
Let it rain, oh let it rain.
Let it rain on me.

It isn't easy to be kind,
With all these demons in my mind.
I only hope one day I'll be free.

I do my best not to complain.
My face is dirty from the strain.
I only hope one day I'll come clean.

Rain, let it rain on me.
Let it rain, oh let it rain.
Let it rain on me.

Come take my hand,
We can walk to the light.
And without fear,
We can see through the darkest night.

Rain, rain on me.
Let it rain, oh let it rain.
Let it rain on me.