A/N: so. this sucks - i'm sorry for the long wait, I really am. normally I don't really care, because I am a slow updater, but it has started to annoy myself now. i'm not into this fanfic currently and was terribly unsatisfied with the beginning and this whole chapter, which i rewrote over and over again. this is the result and i hope somebody likes it. and thank you all for the fav's, alerts and reviews, you reminded my conscience from time to time to bugger me. enjoy (or not):

- beta: Sympathetic Me. thank you very much for helping me.

- warnings: furious Ron ahead.

Chapter 4

It could be the initial shock of meeting the other that was about to vanish.

It could also be the alcohol and/or potion starting to wear off.

And as a result of the first and second possibilities, the adrenalin could be decreasing too.

Whatever the reason was - the first, the second, the third or all of them together - Ginny and Blaise successfully avoided each other's eyes.

It was a bad idea. At least they could silently agree on that. Not that the other knew that the other knew, but they were both perfectly aware of the fact…it was a bad idea.

And they both knew that they would never admit it and back down now. Now, as they climbed the steps up to her apartment, both feeling it went too slow and too fast at the same time.

Blaise was too tired to try and find anything else for the night and decided that he would sneak out of her apartment as early as possible. He would only need a few hours sleep, a break to gather himself again and then he would be off. Figuring out a better idea. Trying to find Draco. Trying to survive another day. If it hadn't been for these impossible annoying Gryffindors fighting over something irrelevant nonstop he didn't bother listen to, he would have had an hour of sleep already. Instead he tried to remember the date when his dignity went to shreds.

Just one night.

Ginny, on the other hand, had simply been too proud to let Harry win the argument that he overdramatized with Hermione a few minutes ago:

"He's not going to stay here." Harry had glared at Hermione, not even trying to act casual, but instead showed his anger for everyone to see. One fist clenched and by his side after he had pointed over Hermione's back to the Slytherin, the other hand hovering near his wand automatically.

"Ginny can watch herself, Harry. She is not a child anymore. And he is…"

"He's a Slytherin!" Harry had looked incredulous at Hermione and kept standing in front of the door to the apartment block where Ginny lived, not letting any of them pass.

Ginny had taped her foot nervously on the ground from where she stood, arms crossed as she watched Hermione and Harry discuss her decision. And she felt angrier with her self than ever. With Harry too, of course, for obvious reasons.

She knew it was a bad idea, but it always was with the men in her life. This was the only time when she could be as imperfect as she wished. Play a role. Be whomever she couldn't and wouldn't be around her family, her friends, who had this perfect picture of her in their narrow-minded heads.

For some reason she couldn't just break free. Maybe she was simply too lazy too argue or defend herself, when it came to it. Maybe she had simply changed, grown up and was still treated by certain people like the youngest member of the Weasley family that needed protection. Maybe she felt comfortable too, in familiar surroundings, something to fall back on, if things went too out of it. Maybe she hadn't figured out what she wanted yet. Maybe she needed this double life. Indeed, she couldn't imagine choosing one side. She needed both.

And with that need came the involuntarily acceptance of her familiar surroundings constantly criticizing her about her love-life. When they managed to find out, that was. Not all of them. The twins had their fun of the situation, teasing her current toy until he ran away. She was fine with it. Leave it to them to break up with her 24-hour-boyfriend. Less dramatic.

Two lives, she knew perfectly well how to keep them separate. And now this. He was going to turn it all upside down, if she didn't get rid of him soon again.

She had been just about to lose her mask and tell them all to… Ginny had taken a deep breath. Which hadn't helped. To top it all, it had been embarrassing, having Blaise Zabini, the great Slytherin, leaning on the car behind her, cool as ever and enjoying her misery. She was only glad that a little amount of remaining alcohol still made her careless or she would probably have run off by now.

Just one night.

"Has he tried to kill you yet?" The discussion continued, as Hermione had raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms in front of her chest impatiently.

"No, but…"

"There you go, now let them in."

"No!"

"Harry!"

Needless to say, it had been a quite long discussion, with different interruptions and threats from her neighbours, who felt disturbed by the late quarrel down on the street. Hermione had dragged Harry from the door by his collar then, trying to talk sense to him without any listeners. The Slytherin had watched the scene with slight amusement, asking Ginny what they were fighting about without end. She had told him, they probably argued about, if he would kill her in her sleep and he had only smirked. He had looked from Ginny to the other two. Even if he long ago had decided, he'd rather stay up all night and strolling the streets before setting a foot into Ginny's apartment – if there had to be such a fuss about it, he had to admit, he rather enjoyed seeing the boy-who-lived in such misery. Now he had to stay over night. Just for the sake of it. Draco would have loved this too.

The moment Harry was dragged away from the door was the moment Ginny decided to grab the opportunity to storm into her apartment building. Of course with some more objections from- and fights with Harry.

After – involuntarily and for the sake of a good night's sleep – Ginny had invited them all to breakfast (so Harry could make sure that she had survived a dreadful night with a drugged Slytherin); they finally managed to get up stairs.

The door to her apartment finally opened as she slammed her shoulder against it for the third time. At least that was a success.

She felt anxious with him around her. She needed to get rid of this trapped feeling; she could not really loose herself around him. Not in the forget-your-troubles kind of way, anyway. Maybe she should just get some sleep. Preferable dreamless.

Meanwhile Blaise didn't notice any of Ginny's nervous habits. He was thinking of Draco. He needed to let him know, somehow, where he was, without raising suspicion from Ginny. He couldn't have her find out that he used her. He couldn't have her kick him out. Although he much rather… yeah, what do you want, Zabini? A bed tonight or fleeing from your father by foot?

"You can sleep in Colin's old room, it is right here." He turned around to see Ginny walk into a room, turning on the light inside, so he followed her.

When he got inside, he saw she was closing a window and pulling the curtains in front of it shut. He let his eyes wander around it. It looked empty, in spite of the furniture.

"Oh!" Suddenly Ginny walked out of the room, leaving Blaise wondering what he had done, but when she appeared back with a huge pillow in her arms, he knew she was just trying to make him feel comfortable. How curious. He would never do that without any purpose in mind. Well then he had to admit he didn't know her that well. Speaking of, he blinked a few times at the wall, when he realized he was looking her up and down again. Again? Blaise? Again?!

He suddenly noticed they had been standing in the room for quite a while now, neither of them saying anything, Ginny clutching to the pillow dreamingly. He decided to disturb her … Whatever she was doing. "Are you going to sleep with me?"

"What?" Ginny went quite red, which made Blaise smirk, but he decided to help her out of her misery and pointed at the pillow, she was holding. She looked down at it and let out a small sigh of relief, not for Blaise to hear.

"Oh! No, no that's for you. There was none in here, so I thought you might like…" she stopped herself from babbling further and hold out the pillow for Blaise to take.

He reached for it and let it fall down on the bed, not once taking his eyes of hers, while doing so. He couldn't help himself, but taunting her was badly needed. He could see her nervousness for just a second, before she took a breath and stroke some strands of hair behind her ear, looking confident again.

"Well, goodnight then," she finally said, she was about to turn around when he spoke again.

"Where's your room?"

Ginny looked at Blaise through narrowed eyes.

"I need to know, if I'm overcome by the feeling of killing you in your sleep," he said smirking, referring to Harry's argument and more or less ridiculous concern from before.

"Ah. Okay then, it's just opposite to yours," she answered dryly, which made him smirk again.

"And don't get it confused with the bathroom. It's next to your room."

"I wouldn't."

"Right." She rolled her eyes, but grinned and turned around once more to leave the room. He looked after her and let his tongue moisten his dry lips. Then he walked to the door and looked out, seeing her about to vanish inside her room.

"Hey, Red!" She turned around and waited for him to say something.

"Eh… Thanks. For…" He was not used to this and now it was her time to save him from his misery.

"You're welcome," she said and smiled at him before turning around and closing the door behind her. After banging her head against the door, ruffling up her hair for none specific reason and wishing for the next morning to never come, she finally let herself fall into bed.

-

He had lain awake for half of the night, trying to fight away the urge to take a sip of his beloved potion, trying to prove he didn't need it. Just a few drops.

Damn Draco, he would not give him the pleasure of being right. Which he wasn't, because Blaise was just fine without it, so besides his throbbing head, the stinging pain around his eye from the blast before and the slight insomnia he was suffering from, he just tried to ignore his body screaming for just a little drop. Just one drop.

He opened his eyes, hissing slightly due to the pain he felt around one of them, but otherwise not feeling the usual worn out feeling and heavy body. He yawned and rolled on his side, noticing that for one part it wasn't dark anymore. So he had actually gotten some sleep! Take that, potion.

And secondly, he was lying in a surprisingly comfortable bed, but there was no arm draped around his waist. Now that was weird. Normally he would get up before the girl did, so he successfully had managed to persuade them to let him stay overnight. Well, not without a return favour. …Alright, alright, he never told them he needed a place to stay, he just seduced them and used them and got what he wanted. Bloody man-whore. But now this was different. Normally he got up before them and slipped out of the house without being noticed, but he had apparently slept over. Shit.

That was when he smelt the pleasant smell of pancakes and coffee in the air. Maybe he would stay just for… No! He needed to get out of here without much drama, he was sure his head would thank him for that later.

Despite his protesting stomach, he got up and slipped into his clothes. Huh. You have slept in your boxers. Meaning they haven't been removed. Okay.

He tiptoed to the door and opened it an inch, looking carefully outside and listened. He could hear voices, but not too clear. He stepped outside and walked slowly to where the voices and the lovely smell came from. He held a hand over his growling stomach and closed his eyes. Then he heard a voice he knew. He knitted his eyebrows while thinking who it belonged to, when it hit him. Red! Weasley! Ginny Weasley! The night came back to him slowly and he sighed out of relief. He maybe didn't have to leave right away. He frowned at the thought and shook his head. The potion was clearly messing with his head. And that thought disturbed him even more.

He got closer to where he assumed the kitchen was and heard the voices of her brother, Harry and Hermione coming from it too and immediately a plan formed in his head, making him smirk for a second. Nothing's better than irritate the Weasel, he thought and walked into the kitchen, yawning and rubbing his eyes, apparently oblivious to the guests sitting by the table behind him. He made his way over to Ginny, who was working very concentrated on – apparently – not burning the pancakes; pancake-mix-kind-of-thing in one hand and wand in the other, she bit her lip, while muttering some curses and Please-Merlins. Blaise smirked again and walked over to her. As he passed her, he let his hand slide over her lower back before leaning down on the counter, turning his head to watch her. He ignored the frown and short glances in his direction from the touch and stretched.

"Mmm, you know after that night, you really don't have to make breakfast for me. I'm all yours already," he said loud enough for the others to hear and straightened up. He slipped his hand on her back again and planted a lazy kiss on her cheek, accidentally slipping his thumb under the hem of her shirt, just enough to stroke her skin underneath, when he heard the scratching sound of a chair being quickly moved, obviously someone getting up.

"Bloody hell! What is he doing here?!" Turned out to be Ron. Ginny's brother looked both shocked, confused and furious at he scene unfolding in front of him and his hand fumbled for his wand.

Ginny jerked her shoulder, trying to get Blaise to stop molesting her. She knew what he was up too and rolled her eyes at her brothers dramatising. Apparently neither Harry nor Hermione had told him, why they just had to come to get breakfast at hers this morning. "Relax, he just stayed over night."

Ron gaped at her, before finding himself able to form words again. "And you think that will make me relax? Honestly, Ginny, I-…" Ron stopped midsentence, when he saw Blaise's hand wander up her waist slowly. "Get your bloody hands off my sister!"

Blaise saw Ginny grin, and followed suit, knowing she couldn't do anything else at the moment, if she wanted those pancakes to become edible. And they better would.

"Just sit down, Blaise," she said, mocking annoyance and leaning out of his embrace slightly, trying to get him to let go of her.

"Ah, I know you liked it," he whispered into her ear, before he really did let go and turned around, trying to look surprised and not think of her blushing, when he had touched her soft skin. He smacked himself mentally on his forehead.

"Oh hello. Didn't see you there."

Hermione was shaking her head and raising her eyebrows, while Harry glared at her, sending her an I-told-you-so-look and Ron was just… being Ron. He was standing next to the table, quite red in his face and fists clenched.

"You too, Ron. Sit down." Came the voice of Blaise's favourite Weasley, who… wait! Favourite? What he meant was the Weasel that was less annoying than the others. Right. She now came over and placed a plate filled with delicious looking pancakes on the table, sitting down herself, followed by Blaise, who sat down next to her. He didn't notice her looking wide-eyed at him, before she spoke.

"Merlin! You need something for that eye?" Ginny examined it, but did not wait for an answer. "If you can wait a bit until I'm completely awake, I will talk Hermione into helping you, okay? She's good with this sort of things." She started eating, not seeing him raise an eyebrow at her. Damn. He had dealt with worse and was now cursing himself for not taking care of finding a spell to let the bruise vanish. Honestly, where was his mind?

"Ah, thank you, but I can take care of it myself." He really didn't need any help from any Gryffindors, who weren't able to control themselves. Yes, he saw the similarity - speaking of lack of control - and the fact that he actually needed this girl, or rather the room to sleep in, but chose to ignore it. Why worry about him anyway? This girl confused him. Gryffindor, he reminded himself for the nth-time. He ignored his thoughts and made up his mind to annoy the rest of the pack again.

"So, what are you doing here?" Blaise asked casually, not even pretending that he was interested in doing small-talk – which he was not - and nodding a short thank you to Ginny, who poured him some coffee. His eyes were almost glued to the pancakes on the table.

"We were just visiting Ginny," Harry said, sounding angry and defensive.

"Do you do that all the time?" Blaise did not look up, but raised an eyebrow nonetheless, while trying not to start drooling over the food he so longed for.

"No." Harry was now staring at the Slytherin, waiting for an opportunity to hex him into oblivion.

"Good," Blaise answered, ignoring Harry and glancing at Ginny with a small smirk, who just bit back a grin and continued eating her breakfast.

"Merlin, this is good," Hermione suddenly exclaimed, after having tasted the pancakes carefully, but only after having watched Ginny not fall down from her chair, suffering from food poisoning.

"Why does nobody believe I can make something edible?" Ginny said, waving one hand in the air in frustration, unfortunately it being the one with the fork in her hand on which she just had had a piece of pancake. Said piece was by now flying somewhere in the direction of the sink behind her. Blaise followed it with his eyes, impressed it actually landed in the sink and not on the floor or glued on the wall. But instead of them laughing at Ginny, they – or at least some of them (others still thinking of One Hundred Ways To Kill Blaise Zabini) – grinned at him, when his stomach reminded him of its presence and state.

Ginny was one of those amused, when she placed some pancakes on Blaise's plate, who immediately started to dig in - in a very Slytherin-controlled way of course.

But despite his self-control, something inside him let him forget to keep his I-have-no-feelings-mask on and he let out a moan of pleasure. "Mmmm… The best pancakes I have ev-…" Then his mask knocked politely (or furiously), reminding himself of it's presence, fighting it's way back and he opened his eyes - which he didn't remember having closed (which was probably normal when having something like an orgasm over food), and he looked around the four faces staring at him, as if he just had explained he would join the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Uhm… Good pancakes, Red." He cleared his throat, nodded firmly and sat up straight and ignored Ginny, who tried to hold back a laugh, which was sure to come sooner or later anyway. When Hermione suddenly let out some sort of giggle and Ron and Harry rolled their eyes, both grinning, (Why now all of a sudden? Did they like to see a Slytherin fail… ah, right. Scratch that question.) Ginny finally gave up and burst out laughing, holding on to the table for support.

Blaise just tried to ignore her further, while eating his pancakes (no one could stop him now), and did not look up at any one of them, as they all were trying to regain control by now. While he was concentrating on his most favourite pancakes, his eyes flickered to his hand, which had started shaking suspiciously. He quickly changed the fork to his other not-so-shaky hand, probably from having rested on his lap calmly, and placed the bad one under the table and clenched it a few times, trying to make it stop.

He let his eyes flicker over their faces, to see if anyone had noticed, but Ginny was only wiping the tears away from laughing, while talking to Harry and Ron. Then he turned his head and met Hermione's eyes. She had seen, he could tell. They locked eyes for a moment. More than a moment. Normally he didn't have to wait that long for someone to look away from under his gaze, but this one was stubborn. They only broke apart, when Ginny asked them, if they wanted more pancakes and they had to answer her. Positive from Blaise's side, of course.