Luna's Story

Author's note: I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far, and I didn't mean for it to get this long haha. Anyway, I thought it was a good place to finish it so you'll just have to endure it ;)

It only took Ginny a second to realize what was happening and then she hugged Luna back, feeling tears erupting in her eyes as they finally let go.

"Luna..." was all she managed to say, and then swallowed several times to be able to continue despite the great shock:

"Oh my god... You're here..."

Luna smiled widely and said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world:

"Of course I'm here Ginny, I'm so happy to see you"

"It's great to see you too! But where have you..."

But she drifted off and tried to melt into the background with the rest of the students that had arrived with the Hogwarts Express as Neville and Luna hugged each other. She wanted to give her two friends some private space. The look on Neville's face almost made Ginny want to cry; she'd never seen happiness and relief so clearly before. Luna's eyes twinkled as she looked up at him.

"Hello Neville, it's so nice to see you again" she said with that dreamy voice that Ginny had feared she'd never hear again. "You look slightly confused"

"No... Not confused" Neville said lamely, hugging her again. "I'm just... I'm so glad that you're all right"

It didn't take long before several other students, who'd read all about Luna's disappearance in the Daily Prophet, gathered around them and wanted to know where she'd been. Ginny rolled her eyes, thinking that if anyone had a right to be informed of what Luna had been up to during the past couple of months it was her and Neville. But no matter how curious she was, it'd have to wait until the three of them were alone... Therefore, she gently grabbed her friend's arm and mumbled in her ear:

"You'll tell us everything after dinner, right? We'll find some place quiet"

She was okay. She was actually okay. Ginny suddenly felt like she could fly. Like everything was possible again. And she wanted to tell Blaise...

Hang on. Why would you want to tell him of all people?

Luna interrupted her thoughts:

"That'll be great, Ginny, but now I'd really like some pudding. I'm starving"

How do you make a time line haha

Ginny and Neville sat in the common room, pretending to finish some homework when they were really waiting impatiently for all other students to go to bed. It was not until past eleven o' clock that Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown finally decided that they might as well giggle and discuss boys up in their dormitory, and left the common room.

As soon as they'd disappeared up the stairs Neville hurried to the portrait hole and opened it. A moment later, Luna climbed inside and looked around curiously. Ginny knew that Ravenclaw students were not allowed to be inside the Gryffindor tower but she figured that of all rules that were broken these days, this had to be the very least important one. Besides, they hadn't been able to come up with another place to go with the Carrows always keeping watch at night...

"This is a nice common room" Luna stated. "Very... red and warm"

The three of them sat down in armchairs in front of the crackling fire, Ginny and Neville completely silent as they obviously waited for their friend to start telling her story. However, Luna didn't seem to be in a hurry and kept looking around the common room with what appeared to be great interest. After Ginny and Neville had exchanged several confused glances Neville finally cleared his throat.

"So... what happened... that day in Hogsmeade?"

Even though Ginny was busy looking at Luna, she could see Neville's pained face expression from the corner of her eye. She knew that he still, in some ways, blamed himself for what had happened. After all, he and Luna had been in Hogsmeade together the day she disappeared...

"Some snatchers took me"

Ginny almost flinched as she realized how calm Luna sounded. As if being kidnapped was something completely normal that happened to all people on daily basis. She continued:

"I never heard their names, but they were really nasty..." Her eyes widened slightly as she spoke. "Anyway, I was held prisoner for almost two months with Mr Ollivander and the goblin Griphook..."

"Hang on..." Ginny said, holding up her hand to silence Luna. "Mr Ollivander, the wandmaker?"

"Of course" Luna said, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Really, Ginny, how many Mr Ollivanders are there?"

Ginny rolled her eyes at Neville, who seemed to try his best to suffocate a laughter, before she muttered:

"Of course... So he's alive?"

"Very much indeed" Luna said, nodding importantly. "And Griphook actually isn't that bad once you get to know him. I used to be quite afraid of him when he took me to my vault at Gringotts..."

"Why would Griphook be held prisoner?" Neville asked curiously, furrowing.

"I have no idea" Luna answered. "Mr Ollivander and I tried to ask him several times, but he didn't seem too keen on answering. Perhaps he didn't even know himself"

"Well, same goes for Ollivander..." Ginny mumbled and Luna and Neville both turned to look at her. "I mean, they took you because of what your dad had been writing in The Quibbler, right?"

"Right" Luna agreed.

"But why would they take Ollivander? I mean, what's he ever done..."

Ginny drifted off, without really knowing why. She was quite sure that her friends knew what she was trying to say, anyway. There was a short silence before Luna told them:

"Mr Ollivander had been there much longer than I had. He seemed really weak and tired in the end. And no wonder, he must be getting really old..."

"And he had no idea why he was there, either?" Neville asked and Luna looked down at her hands, her voice nothing but a mere whisper as she said:

"He told me things... Said that You-know-who had used him and tortured him..."

The room fell completely silent again and all Ginny could hear was her own sharp intake of breath. It was common knowledge that "tortured" in the wizarding world usually meant that someone had used the Cruciatus curse, and when it was performed by Voldemort himself...

"Why?" she whispered. "What did he want with Ollivander?"

"There was something about a wand..." Luna started, furrowing as if she was trying to remember something that had happened a really long time ago.

Ginny didn't blame her. Who wouldn't do anything to forget the things that Luna had probably just been through?

"He didn't give me any details, said it was better for me not to know. But You-know-who was angry with him, so angry he might have killed him. But then Ollivander told him some valuable piece of information, something that would help You-know-who in the battle against Har..."

"OLLIVANDER DID THAT?" Neville exclaimed loudly and Ginny hushed him, rolling her eyes.

"Be quiet Neville, do you want the whole Gryffindor tower to wake up?" she snapped and he looked down, blushing slightly.

"Sorry..." he muttered. "But Ollivander is on our side, isn't he? Why would he help You-know-who win against Harry?"

"Well, it was either that or being killed" Luna stated, once again as if the answer to Neville's question was obvious. "Mr Ollivander had no choice"

There was another silence. There were so many things Ginny wanted to ask, and yet she had no idea where to begin. She could see on Neville's face that he felt the same way. But they were probably both afraid of the same thing; asking Luna something that would make her remember things she desperately wanted to forget.

What if she'd had to witness torture or even killings? Would she manage to tell them about that?

Luckily, their friend soon continued even though neither Ginny nor Neville had said a word:

"They left us alone most of the time. Nothing remarkable didn't really happen until two days ago when we were being let out by Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dobby"

Ginny's heart seemed to stop beating. Neville opened his mouth, closed it again and then managed to utter:

"You... You saw Harry?"

"Of course" Luna said, and before Ginny had time to ask she added:

"They were all fine. A bit thin perhaps, but fine. Except for that horrible Stinging Jinx Hermione had put on Harry's face..."

"What?!" Ginny and Neville said at the same time, now completely forgetting about the fact that it was late at night and that they were in the common room. "What are you talking about?!"

Ginny felt more confused than she had in months. Why would Hermione put a jinx on Harry?

Luna sighed slightly and then spent the next twenty minutes explaining exactly what had happened. After she'd finished there was another silence, much longer than the previous ones, before Neville asked, his voice very low:

"So... Dobby the House-elf apparated to Shell Cottage with you and Mr Ollivander and then came back to get Harry, Ron, Hermione and the goblin?"

Luna nodded simply. Ginny was still too shocked to speak. But at least, this gave her answer to a lot of questions. This was the reason why Bill and Fleur hadn't made it to Fred and George's birthday party. As soon as Ginny and Blaise had left, new guests had arrived...

She froze.

What if they'd decided to leave Friday afternoon instead of Friday morning? What if Harry, Ron and Hermione had found her there with Blaise? How could she possibly have explained all that to them? To Harry?

"So now they're all at Shell Cottage?" Ginny asked, without taking her eyes off the crackling fire in the mantelpiece.

She didn't recognize her own voice. They were all right. After all this time, without any letters, she finally knew. Despite having come face to face with the most dangerous Death eaters like Bellatrix Lestrange, they were all alive and they hadn't been captured. Yet.

"Yes" Luna said, interrupting her thoughts. "Harry was really upset to bury Dobby, I think they were close friends..."

"Yeah" Ginny said thickly, feeling really sorry for the elf. "Yeah, they were. He was great"

Luna nodded slightly, before continuing:

"It was a shame that he died before anyone had time to ask him how he'd been able to find us. Perhaps he was spying on the snatchers who caught Harry, Ron and Hermione..."

"But where did all this happen?" Neville asked carefully, obviously still afraid to say something that might hurt or upset Luna. "Where did the snatchers take you?"

Luna raised her eyebrows in surprise, as if she'd just woken up from a very long dream.

"Didn't I tell you?" she asked, turning to look at Ginny as well. "Malfoy Manor, of course. Did you know that it's located in Wiltshire? Beautiful place... It seems to be some sort of headquarter of the Death Eaters..."

She said something else, something that involved the words "That's why all the Malfoys were there". But Ginny had stopped listening completely, unable to move and unable to think. It was as if someone had poured a bucket of ice cold water over her head and she could feel the chilliness entering her skin, her blood...

It was their headquarter all right. Blaise had told her that...

And then, realization hit her in a more unpleasant way than it ever had before. Like a knife it cut through her body, heart and soul and forced its message onto her no matter how much she tried to shut it out.

Blaise was Malfoy's best friend. He knew. He must have known all along.

He and Ginny had talked about it. He'd ever comforted her, held her in his arms and told her that they simply had to learn to live with the pain.

Could he really live with lying to her?

He'd stayed with her for almost a week. And he'd never said a word about knowing where Luna was.

Why?

Ginny didn't know. All she knew was that something had broken inside of her. Something that never, never could be fixed. She swallowed, silently hoping that Luna and Neville couldn't see the way her hands were shaking.

Betrayal.

"Ginny, are you okay?"

No I'm not. Not this time.

Luna put her hand on her friend's arm, but Ginny pulled away out of pure instinct. Then, as she saw Luna's confused and somewhat hurt face expression, she forced herself to smile and whispered:

"Yes, of course. I'm... I'm just so happy that you're okay, Luna"

How do you make a time line haha

"Ginny... Is something wrong?"

Ginny stopped walking down the corridor, turning her head to look at Madison and raising her eyebrows in what she hoped looked like surprise.

"What?" she asked. "No, of course not! Why do you ask?"

Madison shrugged slightly and while they continued their walking she mumbled:

"It's just that you... I mean, one would expect you to be really happy now that Luna is back but you almost seem even more depressed than before..."

"No I don't!" Ginny said defiantly, determined to prove her friend wrong. "And I couldn't be happier about Luna's return, I swear!"

Well, at least that part was true... The only problem was what Luna had told her as soon as she got back to Hogwarts and what her words had made Ginny realize... Madison interrupted her thoughts:

"Really? Then why have you barely said a word to me all day? Why did Mc Gonagall have to tell you at least ten times to actually pay attention in Transfiguration today, since your mind was obviously somewhere else?"

Ginny sighed heavily, stopping again. She had to convince Madison that she was wrong; others reminding her of why it hurt would only make it hurt even more... She locked her gaze with her friend's.

"I was just tired. I'm telling you Madison, nothing is going on!"

Madison glared back at her and Ginny suddenly noticed that she'd crossed her arms in a defiant sort of way. Perhaps to show that she wouldn't give up that easily.

"I don't believe you"

Ginny dropped her gaze, pressing her lips together while trying to hide her frustration. This was all bad enough already, why did Madison have to make it worse by asking so many bloody questions?

"Well, I'm afraid that isn't my problem" she finally said, voice slightly cold.

Then, she started walking again and it didn't take long before Madison followed and caught up with her, not speaking another word.

As a matter of fact, Ginny actually did need someone to talk to. She wanted someone else's advice and opinion. But she also knew that in this particular case, that was impossible. Madison couldn't possibly help her without having been told the whole story and that would take a while, to say the least.

Besides, she couldn't tell her friend that she'd spent almost the entire Easter holidays with Blaise Zabini and that he'd actually stayed with her, Bill and Fleur. She couldn't tell her that they'd had breakfast together, that she'd borrowed him Alice in Wonderland and that she'd wanted to kiss him down by the beach. Dancing in the Room of Requirement was one thing, but all this was way worse.

And above all, she couldn't bring herself to admit to Madison that she'd been foolish and naive enough to actually trust him. To let him in. That she'd really believed that the two of them were making progress...

Her thoughts were interrupted, and her heart seemed to stop beating, the second she spotted two people walking down the corridor from the opposite direction. It was him, she could tell even though he was still several meters away from her. He was accompanied by Malfoy and as soon as they both spotted her and Madison they stopped, staring at them in silence. Apparently, even Malfoy couldn't bring himself to make a mean remark this time. Instead, his gaze landed on Blaise.

Ginny's heart seemed to start beating again the moment she met his gaze. She'd looked into those eyes so many times now. They'd made her feel every single feeling a human being could possibly feel. They reminded her of everything the two of them had been through.

She thought of the Hog's Head. His words "You look beautiful tonight, Weasley" after Slughorn's Christmas party. Godric's Hollow. The Room of Requirement...

And it hurt. When looking into his eyes, seeing every single memory reflect in them, it hurt more than ever.

Perhaps it was nothing but a pure defense mechanism that caused Ginny to pull out her wand. It was almost as if it was her hurt feelings alone who took several quick steps towards the two slytherins and pressed it against Blaise's throat.

The reaction was immediate. Even though Madison seemed too flabbergasted to speak Ginny could hear her gasping and Malfoy exclaimed:

"Hey! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing Weasley? Lower your wand..."

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Ginny roared at him, surprised by the strength in her own voice.

But she also knew that she was right. This time, Draco Malfoy would be the watcher rather than Blaise himself. This time, he wouldn't say a word.

And that she did this in front of him and Madison, that she was losing all sense of control, suddenly didn't seem to matter the slightest. All that mattered was that she got to speak her mind and get it all out. Confront Blaise.

Ginny didn't drop his gaze and whilst his face expression didn't show any sign of fear or worry, one couldn't say the say the same about his eyes. There was something there, something strong, and it was not good. But what really caught Ginny off guard was the fact that he didn't seem even the slightest confused or surprised.

And then it her.

He knew what this was about. He knew exactly why she was mad at him.

Which meant that she was right.

"You obviously know why I'm doing this so I'll jump straight to it" Ginny hissed, scared to death of his answer to her next question. "You knew all along, didn't you?"

There was a short silence and all Ginny could hear was her own rapid breaths, and all he could see was the pain in his eyes. Then, his lips parted...

"Yes"

Ginny could see from the corner of her eye how Malfoy looked from her to Blaise as if watching a very exciting ping-pong game. Luckily, he still had enough sense to shut up.

Never before in her life had Ginny wished so much for herself to be better at hiding her feelings. Hearing him say it, actually admitting it out loud, was worse than everything. Way worse. And crying simply wasn't an option. She swallowed.

Don't drop his gaze. Don't show any weakness.

"She is one of my best friends" she whispered, noticing how her wand still pressed against his throat was trembling. "And you knew that. If you'd just told me where she was I could have saved her earlier..."

Now, some sort of realization fell upon Malfoy's face. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, other than that he now knew what this was all about.

"No, you couldn't" There was a hint of annoyance in Blaise's voice. "You would only have gotten yourself killed..."

"WELL THAT WAS NOT YOUR DECISION TO MAKE, WAS IT?"

Her words echoed through the almost empty corridor and it somehow made them even stronger. More real. But Blaise didn't flinch. He just stared right back at her. Ginny still refused to lower her wand.

"Ginny..."

It was the first time Madison spoke since the slytherins arrived and her voice sounded weak and shocked.

"Ginny, we should just get out of here before a teacher shows up..."

But Ginny snapped at her, without taking her eyes off Blaise:

"You too, Madison: Stay. Out. Of. This"

Perhaps nobody else understood, but she was used to that by now. She simply had to do this, before the pain and frustration threatened to make her lose her mind completely. If she hadn't already...

"I trusted you"

Her voice was low. Empty. Trembling.

"I let you stay with my family. I told you things I've hardly ever told anyone..."

She thought of Tom Riddle's diary. That had always been one of her biggest secrets, and she'd told him about it. She continued:

"And against my better judgement I kept telling myself again and again that you were different. Better. But I obviously couldn't have been more wrong"

She suddenly heard Ron, Harry and Hermione's voices inside her head:

One can never trust slytherins.

Maybe they were right. Snakes could never be trusted. Ever. Because as soon as you turned your back on them...

Ginny added, her voice nothing but a mere hiss:

"At least you were telling the truth when you said you're good at keeping secrets. Too good, perhaps. You're a coward"

It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that "coward" was one of the worst things you could call a gryffindor but judging from Malfoy's face expression it wasn't very popular amongst slyhterins, either. However, he and Blaise both remained silent and a second later steps could be heard from somewhere around the corner, getting closer and closer...

The sound seemed to make Madison able to speak up once again:

"Ginny come on, let's go. You don't want to be caught here... doing that"

Face pale, she nodded towards Blaise's throat, which now had a small red mark from the pressure of Ginny's wand. Ginny, who knew somewhere inside that her friend was right and was only trying to help her, finally lowered her wand.

Being caught threatening another student (even if the student in question really deserved it) would most likely give her detention and that was the last thing she needed today...

She looked into Blaise's eyes again. Why did he still look so calm and... unbothered? Without really knowing why, she wanted for him to feel something. She wanted to watch him hurt the way she did.

"Ginny, come on..." Madison started.

And so Ginny slapped him in the face, leaving a red mark on his cheek where her hand had hit his bare skin. Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd actually done, but she did not regret it.

And then, she allowed Madison to drag her away from the scene.

"Nothing wrong, huh?" she muttered under breath as soon as Blaise and Draco were out of earshot. "Worst lie ever, Ginny Weasley"

She did not let go of Ginny's arm, almost if she were afraid that her friend would run straight back to the slytherins if she could.

But Ginny was done with Blaise Zabini. Completely done.

Blaise's point of view

Blaise was lucky. A couple of hours later Draco still hadn't said a word about what had happened between him and Ginny in the corridor. Perhaps he realized that there was no point trying to get something out of his friend in broad daylight when they were constantly surrounded by other students.

This gave Blaise some extra time to think about what to tell his friend and what he should leave out. But no matter how hard he tried, everything he thought of telling Draco sounded plain... stupid whenever he imagined it.

"I don't know why I apparated to Ginny Weasley's brother's house, it sort of just happened!"

Or

"She's actually really nice, funny, smart and great company once you get to know her"

Yeah, the red mark on his cheek proved that all right...

She'd slapped him in the face.

He'd always known that she had a hot temper and that she was strong, but this? Blaise had never been slapped in the face by a girl before, other than by his mother when he'd once pointed out to her that the whole wizarding world knew who she was simply because of how many husbands she'd had.

Did he know Ginny Weasley at all?

However, he knew it was merely naive to hope for Draco not to bring the matter up as soon as the two of them were alone, and he turned out to be right. Later that night, as soon as Theo had finally decided to go upstairs and he and Blaise were the only students left in the common room, Draco burst out:

"What's the thing about being slapped in the face by Gryffindor girls?"

"You weren't slapped, you were hit" Blaise corrected him quietly.

He hadn't been there that day back in third year when Draco had crossed a line and Hermione Granger had lost her temper. But he didn't need to, since Crabbe and Goyle hadn't managed to keep their mouths shut and so basically all slytherins in seventh year knew about it. He ignored the strange look that Draco now gave him.

"Whatever" he said. "Why did the Weasley girl say that she'd let you stay with her family?"

The room fell completely silent, the only sound now coming from the crackling fire. Blaise sat on the couch, staring into the flames, as he didn't want to meet his friend's gaze. If telling Tracey was hard, telling Draco was a hundred times harder.

Because Draco was prejudiced. Naive. And in some ways scared of things he didn't know anything about. Just like Blaise himself had been. Before he met her.

And this was where he had to make a decision: tell Draco the truth or lie about it all?

If he'd lie the truth, or at least some parts of it, would come out eventually. And if he didn't dare to tell Draco, his best friend, how could he possibly grab the courage to tell somebody else?

Draco always trusted you.

That was also true. As far as Blaise knew, he was the only person alive, perhaps apart from his mother, who Draco had fully confided in. Blaise knew that his friend had spent last year almost wanting to die due to all pressure, that he'd been branded with the Dark Mark against his will and that he'd been trying so hard to live up to his father's expectations ever since he was a child.

Didn't Draco deserve to know this, which was all nothing at all in comparison?

He did. And still...

"Because it's true" He was still staring into the crackling fire; watching the flames grow bigger and smaller again and again. "I did stay with her and her brother. And his wife"

"Wh... When, during the holidays?"

Blaise nodded.

"Why would you do that? Why not just..."

"Because there was nowhere else to go, okay?"

Blaise found himself surprised by the strength in his voice and that he'd actually raised it slightly. But he was so tired by now. Tired and sick of being questioned. Why did people always have to interfere with everything he did with his life?

Draco was quiet. Blaise could see from the corner of his eye how his friend opened and closed his mouth several times, but he was apparently unable to come up with anything to say concerning the whole Ginny Weasley-matter.

And Blaise was glad. Because he had no idea what else he could explain. He hadn't said much, but there were still no words left. He couldn't explain how he enjoyed her company, how he felt safe whenever she was around. He couldn't put words to how she managed to make him smile when nobody else did, that what he really wanted was to just stay close to her...

Why? Of all girls at Hogwarts... Idiot.

"Why did you have to leave in the first place? Couldn't you just have stayed at home?"

"No, I couldn't"

Blaise's reply came quick this time. At least this was something he was completely sure of. Staying there would have meant death, and despite everything he actually wanted to stay alive...

"Why not?"

There it was again. The questioning. Perhaps Blaise was just too tired. Too exhausted to make his brain function properly. Because every little question Draco posed, made him want to get up, scream and throw something, hard. The frustration just wouldn't go away.

"Because my mother's fiancée is completely mental, I thought I'd told you that?"

Draco nodded slowly.

"You did, what's he done..."

But Blaise interrupted him, feeling like he just wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible. He pointed at his side, telling his friend:

"He hit me with a curse and it was bleeding a lot, so I had to get out of there. I got a potion by the Weasleys that meant a great deal in the healing process"

This time, to Blaise's surprise, Draco didn't seem to bother the slightest about the Weasley-part. Instead, he somehow forced Blaise to meet his gaze for the first time and then exclaimed:

"Your mother's fiancée did that to you?"

There it was again. Disbelief. It was almost as bad as the questions. Perhaps because Blaise himself wasn't the slightest surprised by any of it. Or at least so he kept telling himself...

"Is he completely mental, he could have killed you!"

"Oh really?" Blaise snarled sarcastically, thinking about the almost unbearable pain that curse had brought with it. "I had no idea"

He thought of how scared he'd actually been. And he thought of how Ginny, holding his hand, had been the only person who actually made him truly believe that everything was going to be all right.

Now he'd ruined everything.

"But..." Draco started, holding out his hands in exasperation. "Your mother can't marry that bloke!"

"Of course she can"

"But she wouldn't"

Draco shook his head slowly, as if to make his point even clearer. In the dim light coming from the fire and the torches on the walls Blaise could make out the dark circles under his friend's eyes. They never seemed to fade.

"She wouldn't marry someone who's obviously dangerous..."

"She knows what he did" Blaise said, his voice hard. "And she hasn't called off the wedding. So yes, she would"

Another silence fell between the two of them. Blaise wanted to go to bed, but Draco obviously wasn't done with his interrogation yet and he wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyway...

"Then you have to stop her! Try talking her into that it's..."

"IT'S NOT THAT EASY!"

Had Draco been anybody else, he probably would have flinched at the strength in Blaise's voice. But by now, he obviously recognized the frustration in his friend's eyes and it didn't scare him off.

"So you're not even going to try?" Draco asked, obviously finding it hard to hide an annoyed snort. "You're going to just let her marry a psychopath who abuses you and who might also start hurting her..."

"Oh that's clever coming from you, how many times did you stand up to your father?" Blaise was so angry his hands were shaking and the worst part was that he still didn't know exactly why. "Did you try to stop him from allowing You-know-who to brand you with the Dark Mark?"

Draco stood up so quickly the small table standing in front of the common room couch was about to turn over. Then, he turned around to face his friend again and locked his grey eyes with Blaise's dark ones. Anyone could tell that he was furious, and at that moment Blaise knew that something had broken between the two of them.

Something had changed.

"Go to hell, Zabini" Draco hissed, and then he left the common room without another word.

For a moment Blaise felt too numb to even move but then, as his feelings caught up with him, he stood up and growled in frustration before he grabbed a Potions book that someone had left behind and threw it right into the wall. Unfortunately, it didn't break like the vase he'd thrown a couple of weeks ago had, but it helped to take out his frustration on something. Anything.

Because Draco had hit a weak spot, when putting words to what Blaise himself had forced himself not to think about ever since he left home that night almost a week ago.

"You're going to just let her marry a psychopath who abuses you and who might also start hurting her..."

That was what he was really afraid of. That Blaise himself was being hurt by that man was bad, but not that bad. However, if he laid his hands on her...

He did care. Despite what he made it sound like and despite what he wanted to believe, he did care. His mother might seem cold and unbothered on the ouside, but Blaise knew how fragile she really was. How broken she'd looked on those few days when she'd still mourned his father...

What if he hadn't left for school then? What if he'd stayed at home and tried to help her through it all? Maybe it was, in fact, his fault that things had turned for the worst?

He glanced around the common room again, looking for something else to throw or hex or even curse. Perhaps this, throwing things whenever he was really mad, was becoming some sort of awful habit...

He sat down again, cursing in both English and Italian under his breath. There was no way he'd go back to the common room before he could be sure of that Draco had fallen asleep.

Blaise closed his eyes, thinking that he needed just a second's rest to calm down... And then, the portrait hole swung open and he heard footsteps. Blaise opened his eyes again, squinting to see who the newcomer was. Soon, the lights coming from the fire and the torches lit up all her features.

Daphne.

It didn't take her long to spot him and Blaise watched in silence as she drew closer and sat down beside him.

"Hello" she said, sounding way too happy and pleased for his liking. "What are you doing up?"

"Can't sleep" Blaise said shortly, which was partly true.

He didn't bother asking her what she did up at this hour, since he really couldn't care less at the moment. But that didn't stop Daphne from telling him:

"I was patrolling tonight. Pansy asked me to cover for her since she had to finish that stupid essay Mc Gonagall has assigned us for tomorrow"

Blaise felt like pointing out that Pansy herself was probably way more stupid than that essay, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't need any more fights today. No more frustration.

He was just about to stand up and leave, when Daphne silently took his hand. Blaise froze, staring at their intertwined hands before starting:

"Daphne..."

"Blaise, just be quiet for a moment, will you?"

She was even closer than before, her face only millimeters from his. He could feel her warm breath on his face, like a warning for trouble. And somewhere inside he knew, that it wouldn't matter whether he told her to leave him alone. She wouldn't listen.

Her voice was low and almost desperate as she whispered in his ear:

"I want you. I've always wanted you. So just... drop everything that's bothering you for a minute and relax"

Now, her body was practically pressed against his and before he had time to properly react she kissed him. Out of pure instinct, he pulled away. Daphne sighed loudly, but she was not moving away from him. Apparently she would not give up that easily.

"What? Honestly Blaise, what is the problem?"

That I don't want this. That I'm not interested in you, never have been and never will be.

"Well?" urged Daphne after only a split second's silence.

Anyone could tell how impatient she was.

Blaise met her gaze for the first time, and opened his mouth to tell her that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. And suddenly, he came to think of Ginny again.

Ginny smiling, laughing, describing small details of her life that he'd never known. Ginny making him feel like he was a part of something else. Something important. Something more.

But then, Ginny hissing that she trusted him. Ginny slapping his face, walking away from him, her eyes full of hatred...

It was all over.

So what was the point?

Daphne interrupted his thoughts by pressing her lips against his again and with the image of Ginny's hurt face expression in mind, Blaise opened his mouth to give her full access to it.

There's no point. There's no point. There's no point.

He kissed her back. It didn't take long before she started unbuttoning his shirt and this time, he let her.

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