A New Beginning
"Maybe that's what happens,
when a tornado meets a volcano"
Eminem- Love The Way You Lie
It seemed as if spring had finally managed to overrule winter, even at Hogwarts, and the green soon replaced the last traces of white on the grounds and students started taking walks and spend time outside again. Blaise had never been especially fond of the winter but unfortunately he and the other seventh years didn't have much time to enjoy the sudden change of weather.
As soon they'd returned to school after the Easter holidays the amount of homework had started to increase again, and it soon turned out to be worse than ever before. Every time Blaise heard Mc Gonagall remind them of the NEWT exams that would take place in only a couple of weeks he tried his best to shut her out, thinking that considering how little he'd paid attention in class this year he wasn't very likely to even get an A in all subjects. Not that he was in any way stupid, but he'd just had way too many other things to deal with lately. And he'd, somehow, always managed to tell himself that there was no rush and that there were months left before he had to start preparing for it.
Obviously, those months had come and gone without him even noticing.
So apart from worrying about the war in general, his mother at home with her sadistic husband and Ginny Weasley and that kiss, Blaise also had to come up with a way not to fail on his exams so he could at least graduate.
But even really tricky Potions essays, annoyed looks from Mc Gonagall whenever she realized that he hadn't completed his homework or quizzes in Care of Magical Creatures with questions that Hagrid hadn't even managed to spell right could fully take his mind off Ginny.
The talk he'd had with Tracey before Slytherin's game against Hufflepuff (which Slytherin, fortunately enough, had won) had made him realize that he couldn't put it on hold any longer. And he was reminded of it once again on Wednesday afternoon that week when he and Draco both struggled in Herbology to keep a really nasty looking plant from biting off their fingers.
"You know..." Blaise started, panting as he tried to hold the plant down while Draco cut off one of its tentacles. "You never told me what happened that night when Lovegood, Ollivander and the goblin escaped..."
This also happened to be one of the things that had been on his mind a lot lately. Perhaps Draco didn't want to tell him, or he simply hadn't thought of it with everything else going on. Either way, Blaise wanted the truth.
"And it appears that no one ever taught you when to shut up" Draco muttered under his breath and as Blaise turned around he realized why; professor Sprout was standing right behind them, glaring in a suspicious looking way that made Blaise think she'd heard every word he'd just said.
As soon as she'd looked away from them and continued walking down the greenhouse to help Justin Finch Fletchley with his plant he muttered:
"Sorry... But I'm still curious..."
He drifted off. Having known Draco for the past almost seven years he knew that pushing him too hard was never a good way to get what you wanted. Instead you had to be patient, and let him come to you whenever he was ready. Not that that always happened...
"There's not much to say" Draco replied dryly, pretending to be busy reading something about the plant in their book.
But then, without being able to explain why or without having expected it himself, Blaise lost his patience. Why could nobody these days, including himself, just be honest?
"So if there's not much to say..." he started, finding it hard to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "How come you have your mother's wand instead of your own?"
Draco froze for a second and then, after having slowly looked up from his book and given Blaise a cold glare, he started telling him what had happened, his voice very low and every now and then making sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation.
Almost ten minutes later, once he was done, Blaise didn't know what to say.
"Telling Weasley now, are you?"
Blaise rolled his eyes demonstratively. Now that Draco had made it clear that he didn't really mind it if his friend spent time with Ginny, Blaise didn't feel as uncomfortable every time Draco mentioned her. But it could still be quite frustrating.
"I haven't talked to her in over a week" he said shortly, feeling a strange and inexplicable pang of longing ripple through him as he thought about it. "But would it bother you if I did tell her?"
He was done with secrets. Besides, things were bad enough as they were already...
Draco shrugged slightly.
"Not really. Though I wouldn't mind it if you left out the part where Potter actually managed to snatch my wand from me..."
For a moment, Blaise snickered at his friend's sour looking face expression but after only a few seconds his smile slowly faded.
"Granger is Ginny's friend..." he mumbled quietly.
Draco nodded shortly, locking his cold gaze with Blaise's.
"I know"
"She'll go mad if I tell her that my friend..."
"I didn't do it!" Draco interrupted him heatedly, causing some of their classmates to look their way before continuing to struggle with their plants. "It was Bellatrix who carved the word 'mudblood' in Granger's skin, I didn't have anything to do with that! And when are you done lying to Weasley, anyway?"
"I'm not lying..." Blaise said but he didn't even have time to finish his sentence before his friend asked:
"So you're meaning to say that you've actually told her about Daphne?"
The moment Draco said Daphne's name, she looked up from the plant she was sharing with Millicent Bulstrode and waved at them, a small smile playing on her red lips.
"Okay, now you're the one who ought to learn when to shut up..." Blaise hissed but drifted off when realizing that Daphne was making her way towards them, apparently selfish enough to leave Millicent to deal with the plant alone.
He felt sick again.
"Hello boys"
He couldn't help feeling amazed by how she could possibly sound so happy, like there wasn't a single problem in the world, and that she still didn't seem to have understood that he didn't want anything to do with her. At all.
"What's up with the face, Blaise?"
Daphne put her hand on his arm but out of pure instinct Blaise pulled away, causing her eyes to darken as she mumbled under her breath, her voice nothing but a low purr:
"Had something bad for lunch, did we? Or have you, like the rest of us did years ago, finally come to the conclusion that gryffindors mean nothing but trouble? "
Draco gave Daphne an incredulous look, as if to ask: How in Merlin's name do you know about that? Blaise froze at her words, and she seemed to notice since she laughed silently and said, only loud enough for the three of them to make out her words:
"I know that you take me for stupid but no one is that thick, Blaise. Let me give you a piece of advice: your eyes will plop out if you continue to stare at her the way you always do. And wasn't it just romantic how you saved her from Pansy's curse a couple of months ago? I guess I've simply been trying to hide from the truth all along, but come to think of it it's almost cute"
Daphne giggled in a nauseating sort of way before continuing:
"I mean, seeing you change and become so... pathetic. And for what? A Weasley..."
"What do you want, Daphne?"
It was Draco who posed the question, even though she had been speaking to Blaise all along. Frankly, the latter was still too flabbergasted to even open his mouth. Had Daphne known all this time? And known what exactly? Had she been under the impression that he liked somebody else and decided to sleep with him anyway?
Who did something like that?
Daphne let her eyes rest on Draco for a moment and they burned with gloat and satisfaction as she said, her voice even steadier than before:
"Oh I want what everybody wants these days, Draco: the truth. It doesn't really bother me if Hogwarts' own Romeo and Juliet would like to continue their little charade but do you honestly think that she will still be into it when she finds out that her so lovely and caring Slytherin prince slept with me only a week ago?"
"That's not your thing to tell her" Blaise hissed, grateful that he'd finally regained his ability to speak.
Daphne laughed silently, looking at him almost as if she pitied him.
"See, that's where you're wrong Blaise. It is my thing to tell her"
"Why? What would you get out of it..."
"You know, you really are way more stupid than I always thought, first sleeping with Pansy and then with me" Daphne interrupted him, her voice cold as ice now, every trace of fake sweetness gone. "She's one of my best friends, don't you think we talk to each other about things like that? You've had your fun playing your little game with us and now we want our revenge..."
"MS GREENGRASS, GET BACK TO YOUR PLANT RIGHT NOW!" professor Sprout called throughout the classroom, sounding truthfully annoyed. "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE MS BULSTRODE ALONE WITH IT, SHE COULD EASILY LOSE HER FINGERS! TEN POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN!"
Daphne let out a silent groan of frustration before rolling her eyes. However, she didn't return to her seat but leaned even closer to Blaise and Draco.
"Look at it this way: at least now the bloodtraitor gets to know the truth. And I'm doing you a favor, Blaise. I always knew you were too much of a coward to tell her yourself..."
Draco snorted out loud, which earned him a death glare from Daphne as he said:
"Well, it's not like you've ever given Weasley a reason to trust you before, what makes you think she will this time? You're mental..."
"Oh you haven't seen mental, trust me Draco"
Blaise couldn't put his finger to it, but there was something with the way Daphne spoke, her voice, her eyes and her mere features that made him believe that she was serious this time. For the first time ever, she actually scared him. And something made him think that there was more to this than just telling Ginny that they'd slept together.
This was more evil. And perhaps even dangerous.
As she leaned closer to him again, her lips only millimeters from his ear, Blaise felt his whole body go cold. Her voice was low, and yet threatening and terrifying in a way he'd never heard it before:
"Game on, Blaise"
Daphne gave him and Draco a fake smile before returning to her plant, looking really pleased with herself as she helped Millicent getting it into a pot filled with soil. Still looking at her, a displeased look on his face, Draco snapped at Blaise:
"See what I mean? You'd rather have it Weasley heard it from her? I always knew she was a bitch but this..."
"She's right though" Blaise interrupted him and as he saw the surprised look on his friend's face he explained:
"I did use them both and it was really stupid of me not to think that they'd talk to each other about it..."
"Perhaps you just didn't care" Draco said calmly.
There was a short silence. Perhaps you just didn't care. Blaise knew what kind of a person he'd been. What he'd done and how little respect he'd treated Daphne and Pansy with. He hadn't cared because he hadn't wanted to. Caring about something was the same as being vulnerable, and he'd always hated the thought of that. So he'd just turned it all off. Pretended like it was okay.
"No" he finally admitted, voice low. "No, perhaps I didn't"
Knowing that Daphne had a point was, in fact, worse than if she'd walked straight up to him and told him that she'd reveal everything to Ginny for no reason at all. Just like that morning when he'd woken up with Daphne next to him in bed Blaise felt like an idiot and he really had no one but himself to blame for all this.
To say that he wasn't proud of the things he'd done in the past was an understatement.
But was it too late? It didn't have to be. He'd let Daphne ruin enough already, but she was not going to ruin this. At least not without a proper fight from his side.
Because there was a reason why he'd kissed Ginny Weasley in the first place. And there had to be a reason why she'd kissed him back.
"I'm telling her" Blaise said, right as professor Sprout announced the lesson to be over and asked them to put a Freezing Charm on their plants. "Today"
Ginny's point of view
In a desperate try to finally catch up with all homework, Ginny had spent a couple of hours in the library on Wednesday night and so she arrived a bit late for dinner. Once she sat down next to Madison's friends Emily and Caroline and opposite Madison and Neville, she could tell from the look on Neville's face that something was wrong.
In fact, one could almost feel it in the Great Hall. Students sat somewhat closer together than usual, whispering and looking both horrified and excited, and some of the staff seemed to have already left their table. Ginny furrowed.
"What's happening?" she asked Madison, who pressed her lips together before clearing her throat slightly.
"Oh come on Madison, it's not like she won't find out anyway" Caroline said, taking a small sip from her goblet before exchanging a look with Emily that Ginny couldn't make anything out of.
She sighed and rolled her eyes demonstratively before turning to look at Neville.
"Neville?" she asked, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice. "Would you mind telling me what's going on?"
He looked down for a moment, suddenly very interested in his food while mumbling:
"Have you read the Evening Prophet today?"
Ginny raised her eyebrows.
"No, it's only rubbish in there now that people working for You-know-who are controlling it, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but... sometimes that's the only way to hear the news"
Without another word Neville started digging in his bag and a second later he handed Ginny today's copy of The Evening Prophet and she only had to take one look at the front page to see what all the fuss in the Great Hall was about. Above a picture of moving goblins, running around in what appeared to be Gringotts' marble entrance hall with horrified looks on their faces, were the words:
BREAK-IN AT GRINGOTTS
Undesirable No. 1 and friends are believed to be the culprits.
Ginny froze, unable to move for a split second. Then, ignoring the worried stares she received from her friends, she hurried to read the rest of the article. After a couple of minutes' complete silence amongst the people sitting closest to her she looked up, meeting Neville's gaze.
"A... a dragon?" Ginny finally managed to choke out, taking another quick look at the newspaper before continuing. "I didn't even know there were dragons at Gringotts... And how did they even manage to get up at it? How did they convince it to take them on its back?"
She had so many questions and yet she knew that Neville and Madison didn't have any more answers than she did. Only now did she realize that she was feeling extremely left out. Ron, Harry and Hermione had been three of the people she'd been closest to during the past six years and now they were off breaking into Gringotts and riding dragons whereas she, Ginny, was writing really uninteresting essays on shrinking potions in the Hogwarts library.
Despite how stupid it sounded, she felt almost... jealous.
"I have no idea..." Neville said, interrupting her thoughts. "Maybe they had help from someone?"
"It doesn't say anything about that in here, does it?" Ginny pointed out. "So either they did it alone or that person who helped them simply wasn't interesting enough to write about"
"But what were they doing there?" Madison exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief. "I mean, breaking into Gringotts, that's madness and especially these days! If they hadn't managed to escape..."
But she drifted off, obviously spotting the look on Ginny's face.
If they hadn't managed to escape... Would they be dead now? Perhaps.
They were all silent for a moment before Ginny put words to what had been her greatest worry all along, and what was probably also the reason why many of the students surrounding her actually looked excited:
"It says here that they're believed to be heading north..." she said, realizing her words came out almost as a whisper.
Neville nodded slightly.
"I know"
North. What could possibly be of interest for them up north, other than Hogwarts? But why would they come here and why now? Did they have a plan? If not, Snape would make sure that Harry was captured and handed over to Voldemort the moment he sat his foot inside the castle. And Ron and Hermione weren't likely to get away, either, considering how much they'd helped him.
Ginny had been so busy with her own thoughts concerning what she'd just found out that she'd barely noticed that she and her friends had left the Great Hall and had already reached the seventh floor on their way to the common room. Now, she and Neville were a few meters behind the others and as she looked at him she could tell that she was not the only one who felt distracted. For some reason, the pair of them soon stopped walking down the corridor and were left staring at each other.
It was obvious that there were so much they both wanted to say, and yet no words would ever be enough.
"Do you think they'll come here?" Ginny whispered.
Neville shook his head slowly.
"I don't know, I guess I hope so... But if they get here... I mean, unless they have a plan..." He took a deep breath and looked right into her eyes, as if he knew that trying to deny the truth wasn't going to get them anywhere. "... Snape will get to them"
There was a short silence, since Ginny couldn't bring herself to answer to that. Neville looked around the deserted corridor, probably to make sure that no one else was around, before telling her:
"Things are changing. It's like... I can feel it, you know?"
Ginny nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. And it hurt.
"Yeah, me too..."
Another silence. Then, Neville started walking again and asked her:
"Are you coming?"
She tried to say something at first, but whenever she opened her mouth the words seemed to have gotten stuck in her throat. Also, she felt as if her feet were nailed to the floor and it would, without doubt, be impossible to head back to the common room now. She knew that many of her classmates would like to ask her questions. As if she knew anything about what was going on...
"No, I think I'll stay out here for a while" she finally managed to choke out and when noticing the confused look on Neville's face she quickly added:
"I need to clear my thoughts"
Ginny was impressed by herself when she managed to give her friend a small smile. He looked uncertain.
Please, Neville...
After a short while he nodded slowly.
"Okay... I'll see you later then?"
"Yeah"
As soon as Neville had turned around the corner and was completely out of sight everything came back. All fears and all scared thoughts she'd ever had returned with full force and somewhere inside Ginny knew that there was nothing she could do to stop them.
And she was so afraid again. Afraid for Ron, Harry and Hermione. Her family, the Order and all of her other friends. For Blaise.
If Harry got here, Voldemort would be summoned. And then, the war would reach its peak. There was no way to escape a battle. Here. At Hogwarts.
She'd been trying so hard for so long. To act strong. But now the thoughts consumed her and took over every part of her body. Without really noticing it she fell and, leaning against the wall behind her, closed her eyes and felt a single tear run down her cheek.
"Ginny?"
As she looked up she spotted Blaise, standing there with a surprised and yet relieved look on his face. Almost as if he'd been looking for her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the Gryffinor tower. "Shouldn't you be back in the common room? Are you okay?"
He actually sounded worried and had obviously spotted the tear on her cheek. She had a feeling that it'd soon be replaced with new ones. As Ginny looked up at him she found herself giving him a small smile, but it was a sad one rather than one out of joy.
"I don't know, I just... I have too much on my mind, I guess"
She could see Blaise swallowing, feeling rather small and insignificant sitting there, looking up at him. She felt weak. Almost childish. But did it really matter?
"I read about Potter in the Prophet"
He didn't sound angry, hostile or even annoyed at the mention of Harry's name. In fact, there was a trace of tiredness in his voice. As if he, just like her, wanted nothing but for all of this to end. She could only bring herself to nod slightly.
"What do you think they were doing at Gringotts?" Blaise asked, furrowing slightly.
"I have no idea"
Ginny remained silent for a short while, silently wondering whether he actually cared. But what else could she possibly tell him? During the past year "I have no idea" had been Ginny's answer to all questions she received concerning the Golden Trio and only know did she realize just how much she hated not knowing.
Blaise took another few steps towards her and then mumbled:
"I'm sure they're okay..."
"Don't"
Ginny's whisper made him fall silent at once and the surprised look on his face made her feel as if she owed him an explanation.
"Don't say that if you don't know it's true, I..." She drew a shaky breath. "I've had enough of disappointment"
She came to think of what had happened up in the astronomy tower a week earlier.
Why did you leave me up there?
"All I have these days are questions and no answers, Blaise"
Despite feeling more tired, sad and exhausted than she had in a long while Ginny managed to stand up and slowly made her way towards him, only stopping when she was close enough to see every single shade of brown in his eyes.
"I don't know if my own brother and his friends are even alive. I don't know what they have planned and if they're on their way here at this very moment. I don't know what V... What You-know-who would do if he'd find them here, what Hogwarts then would turn into and what role the rest of my family plays in all this..."
For a moment she thought that maybe she'd spoken too fast for him to keep up but once she drifted off she could tell that he'd held on to her every word. But he remained silent. Ginny locked her gaze with his.
"I don't know what role you play in all this. Where we stand"
It felt a bit strange, saying "we" when talking about herself and Blaise. And yet so... natural. Right. Despite everything.
"You said that you didn't want any more secrets" he said quietly, sounding almost bitter as he dropped her gaze for a moment, before he seemed to force himself to look at her again.
Ginny nodded slightly, laughing hollowly.
"That's the last thing I want"
Another silence. Was that it? She couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something he was trying to say... She took a deep breath and then asked the question that refused to ever give her a break.
"Why did you kiss me?"
There it was, out loud. She couldn't help feeling slightly proud of herself for being brave enough to be the one to first mention it and yet she was so afraid. Afraid of what his answer might be. After what seemed like an eternity he sighed slightly, possibly out of defeat.
"I kissed you because I wanted to. And I left because I... I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you hurt again. You deserve so much more than that and I thought you were better off not knowing..."
She furrowed.
"I don't understand..."
Without really thinking about what she did, she gently grabbed his hand to give him the strength to continue. Eventually, he did, his voice trembling as he told her:
"But I was wrong. There's no way to escape the truth, it always catches up with you eventually"
"And what's the truth?"
Ginny's heart pounded so fast she was afraid it might actually stop at any second. Blaise looked pained at her words and even clenched his left fist that was not holding onto her hand.
"The truth is that the same day that you slapped me after you'd found out about Lovegood, I slept with Daphne" He was quiet for a split second, perhaps to let his words sink in. "And I won't try to make it okay by blaming anyone but myself. I gave in to everything because it all seemed pointless once I understood what you'd come to think of me"
Ginny couldn't bring herself to say anything. She waited for anger and hurt to set in but strangely enough, it didn't come. At least not as strong as she'd expected it to be.
"And the truth is that I... I've never felt this way about anyone before and I know that I'll never deserve you..."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
Perhaps that question was a bit too forward, but she felt like she might as well get it all out now. No more secrets.
"Daphne threatened to do it for me"
She was scared now, still not letting go of his hand.
"And if she hadn't?"
The way Blaise remained silent for a short while made Ginny truly believe that he was thinking over his answer, willing to give her nothing but the absolute truth this time.
"I would have told you anyway" he finally said, squeezing her hand gently. "I just had to realize that we'd both lose either way. Being ignored hurts just as much as facing an awful truth..."
Ginny interrupted him by taking another small step forward, not breaking eye contact once while doing so.
"But you're being honest with me now, I can tell"
He nodded slowly.
"No more secrets"
His voice was hoarse, low.
She spent a short while trying to imagine his situation, even though that was something she'd never been very good at since they were so different. And yet so alike. And even though she wanted to be angry and disappointed in him for what he'd done she just couldn't.
Because all she could think when looking into his eyes was how much she'd missed him. How much she wanted to be with him, needed him, no matter what. She wanted to make this work and when thinking about that she felt the happiest she'd ever felt in her entire life.
And that ought to count for something.
Daphne must have threatened Blaise to tell Ginny because she wanted this to come between them. Was it worth it? Would Ginny let her? If she did, Daphne would win. And so she knew that she had to take a risk and a choose new path. Jump, and see where it might take her.
"Then I forgive you" she whispered, smiling softly at the relief in his eyes. "But can you forgive me?"
Blaise looked confused.
"For what?"
Ginny bit her lip for a moment.
"For ignoring what's been right in front of me all along"
He might have made mistakes, but so had she. Tons of them, actually. That was part of being human. Of life. And being able to admit and accept it only showed that the two of them had both come a long way.
And the point was that Blaise Zabini made her happy. That he was the reason why she'd changed this year and had become a stronger and better person, something more than just a gryffindor with prejudices about slytherins.
This was real.
She could feel his cool breath on her face. He seemed to hesitate for a moment but then he slowly raised his hand to touch her cheek and only a few seconds later it was hard to tell who had kissed who. This kiss was softer than their last one, but just as passionate.
Ginny could feel how much she wanted him when grabbing his neck, pulling him even closer, and somehow starting the healing process in her heart.
"Ginny!"
They broke apart quickly. Perhaps this, making out in a school corridor, did not turn out to be as secret as they'd hoped but did that even matter anymore? For her life Ginny couldn't see that it did, and Blaise didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off her when she turned her face away from him to look at Madison.
The latter was alone and cleared her throat slightly. For some reason, she didn't look as uncomfortable as Ginny had expected her to, considering how she'd reacted when she'd accidentally walked right into Blaise that same day when he got the letter from his mother about her newest engagement.
And yet, she could tell from the look in Madison's eyes that something was wrong.
"There's a rumor..." she started. "... that Harry, Ron and Hermione were seen in Hogsmeade just hours ago"
For a moment, Ginny's heart that had pounded so hard only seconds earlier seemed to have stopped beating. So they were on their way here? They had to be. What else would they be doing in Hogsmeade?
"Neville has gathered people in the Room of Requirement" Madison continued. "Apparently, there are quite many. From different houses"
For the first time, she actually looked straight at Blaise and Ginny could feel some sort of warmth spreading through her body when she realized what her friend was trying to say. That Blaise could come if he wanted to. Madison looked at Ginny again.
"Anyway, I just... I thought I'd let you know"
Ginny nodded slightly, knowing what she had to do. The people who now were in the Room of Requirement, obviously trying to come up with some sort of plan, were her friends. During these past couple of weeks she had, together with Neville and Luna, been in charge of DA.
She couldn't let any of them down. Not now.
"I'll be there soon"
Madison looked from her to Blaise one last time before nodding.
"I'll see you there then"
As soon as she'd taken off Ginny turned to look at Blaise again. His face expression was unreadable.
"I thought that DA-thing died with Umbridge" he finally said and Ginny shrugged apologetically, finding it hard not to think about the fact that Ron, Harry and Hermione might be here any second.
That she'd see them again.
"Yeah, we kind of restarted it..."
She locked her gaze with Blaise's, grabbing his hand and smiling slightly. How she managed to smile in a situation like this she couldn't tell. It was obvious that things were about to happen, and they might not be good.
But she could smile because this, what was standing in front of her at this very moment, actually made sense to her. It didn't matter what it looked like to the rest of the world and it was worth keeping. Fighting for. Protect.
"Come with me"
She blurted it out without really thinking, and yet she meant every word. Blaise raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"I don't think so..." he started but Ginny interrupted him:
"Because you don't want to?"
He shook his head.
"No, because nobody else would want me to"
"I would"
They both fell silent and it was obvious that Blaise doubted whether her reason was good enough. Ginny took a deep breath.
"Listen, I'm tired of pretending, of giving in to what everybody else thinks and expects of you" She made a short pause. "And I know that you are, too"
Blaise snorted loudly.
"You have no idea..."
"Then come. If not for yourself then for me"
She couldn't leave him out of sight now. Suddenly, it was impossible to tell what the next couple of hours would look like. If a battle was drawing dangerously close. And if it'd change everything they'd ever known to be true.
"Where else would you go?" Ginny urged and while waiting for his reply, a life time seemed to pass by. "Please, Blaise..."
Her last words came out as a mere whisper and perhaps it was the weakness in her voice that made him make up his mind. Eventually, he nodded slowly and Ginny let out a sigh of relief.
"Let's go"