Fallen & Risen 30. Three Slytherins and One Gryffindor

Ginny and Blaise were in one of the parlours of the Manor alone. It was time to conclude the charade which had been played between the two of them the past month. Neither of them were talking. They stood face to face in front of the window facing outside on the frozen lake of the Manor. Ginny refused to look at the Seventh year half Italian Slytherin. She, who never paid attention to any piece of furniture in her live, suddenly found the blue and indigo carpet of the room very interesting. As for Blaise, he had dropped his playful personality and was now the young, pure blood heir of the Zabini he was. Silently contemplating the young maiden in front of him, he marvelled at how she glowed under the moon light. The beautiful blue dress he bought for her couldn't match her own personal glow. Blaise made a step toward her.

"Ginny," Blaise softly called her name.

Ginny startled and jerked her head up to see him only a foot distance away from her. She didn't hear him approaching her. The proximity between them brought a rush of blood up to her cheeks. And the way Blaise was looking at her made her fluttered heart go frenzy.

"Ginny," he said again, "you know what I want to talk with you about, right?"

Ginny nodded.

"Then, do you. . . Err. . . Hmn, I. . . Err. . . (Gulp!)" Blaise stopped and swallowed his words.

Usually, Blaise always knew what to say to a girl. But in the case of Ginny Weasley, his flirtatious mind and his flowery tongue were not working well. Never before had they faced someone like Ginny Weasley; never before had they faced a woman who could turn their owner up and down without lifting her little finger. They were at loss for words, and so was their owner.

It was an understatement to say that Blaise was feeling unsure of himself. He was positively panicking! Blaise opened his mouth to try to say something, but when he realized he didn't know what words to say, his jaw froze, leaving him gaping like a fish out of water. His pure blood, upright education kicked him in the arse, reminding him that it was unsuitable for a pure blood to gap in front of a lady. Blaise hastily closed his mouth and bit his lips in shame. He gulped and tried again. He opened his mouth to speak, but again no words came to his rescue.

He shut up his mouth and started the same vicious circle started over again. Alas for him, despite how many times he tried, he couldn't talk. Blaise felt the lump in his throat gradually enlarging itself, making it very hard for him to swallow and breathe again as nervousness struck him. His hands started to shake madly, and his palms began to sweat. He closed his fists in an attempt to stop the sweating, but it was in vain.

While Blaise was fighting fruitlessly to gain some self-control, Ginny was watching him with eyes wide. What a shock! She had never seen Blaise Zabini so unsure of himself. This was a first. Blaise was praying to any divinities and magical creatures he knew to save him. He was losing his self-control, and rescue was sent to him: inside his head, a little voice perked up.

'Calm down... Calm down... Think about breathing... Think about breathing... Start breathing now...' the little voice said.

Blaise decided to follow the advice of the little voice. He closed his eyes and lowed his head to break the link with the source of his nervousness momentarily. He took one large breath through his nose (his throat was congested) and blew it out. He repeated the same procedure again, twice. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. The fresh oxygen partially cleared his mind, giving him a chance to recover a certain amount of dignity. His hands stopped shaking. He straightened his shoulders, then his head. Next, he opened his eyes to stare directly into Ginny's.

The two of them stood face to face, eye to eye. No one made a move. Ginny waited to see what Blaise was going to do next. Blaise waited to see when she was ready to listen to what he was going to tell her. He succeeded in finding a few pieces of his courage, but they wouldn't help keep him together for long. He was resigned to make the best use of the small amount he had gathered and not wasting anything. He spoke.

"I think that, in my actual state of mind, I won't be able to argue for myself for a very long time because I am lost in my own feelings for you. So I will ask you as it is. You know the agreement we had at the beginning of the month. You know what I want from you. So now, will you accept me?" He finished the last sentence in a hopeful voice. Ginny cocked her head, not separating her eyes from his. She was pondering over her answer. "Ginevra Weasley, will you accept me as your boyfriend?" he asked.

Ginny's eyes grew wide. First, he had called her by her full name, something she demanded him to not do long before, but he never complied (unless he had the tip of her wand against his Adam apple). Second, he asked her to accept him as her boyfriend, not asking her to become his girlfriend. He had put her in front of himself. It was a small detail, but...

'But I like it.' Ginny thought.

She stared at the half Italian in front of her, not answering. Ginny remembered a conversation she had just an hour ago.

Flashback

"Ginevra Weasley, can we have a word with you please?" someone asked. Ginny turned around to see Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode, and Victoria Birmingham standing in front of her. It was Daphne who had spoke. Ginny blinked. What did the three Slytherins want from her?

"It's not a trap. We really just want to speak with you," Millicent said. Ginny eyed them suspiciously.

"If it'd help, we can hand you our wands," Daphne said.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. Now, she was curious. Why would Slytherins accept to give her their wands just for a conversation? Were they that serious or were they playing a game? To have a clear idea, Ginny raised her hand, palm up, and clearly demanding. The Slytherins startled and looked hesitantly at Ginny's hand. They chewed theirs lips, glanced at each other before pulling out their wands to put in Ginny's hand. Ginny gawked. Okay, now she had the proof that the Slytherins only wanted to speak with her. She wanted it so much that they even gave her their wands.

"Now, can you spare us some moment please?" Millicent asked. Ginny cocked her head, really, really curious now. She wanted to know why the Slytherins want to speak with her. Ginny closed her fingers around the three wands, then slowly nodded.

"Okay," Ginny said. The three girls sighed, relieved.

In a parlour

"So, what did you want to speak with me about?" Ginny asked, looking at the Slytherins in front of her. The three girls looked at each other, before Millicent spoke.

"It's about Blaise," Millicent responded. Ginny blinked.

"Huh? Zabini? What about him?" Ginny asked. Daphne stared straight to Ginny.

"Tell me if I'm wrong, but could it be that you still don't like him very much?" Daphne asked. Ginny turned her head away, refusing to look at the girls. That was a loud enough answer to them. Victoria sighed, a little bit depressed.

"Why are you asking me that?" Ginny asked, pretexting to study with interest the wallpaper of the room. Millicent spoke.

"We will not beat around the bush. We know about the deal between you and Blaise. In fact, all of Slytherin house knows about it. And with Blaise's ways of doing things, the entire school must know about it too. It would be impossible to miss it with the ruckus Blaise raised in the school just to court you."

"Awnnn..." Ginny closed her eyes and groaned, annoyed to be reminded about her debt. Millicent continued.

"But among the Slytherins, only a few people, including us, know that today was Blaise's last to chance to succeed in courting you," Millicent said. Ginny turned to give them back her attention.

"And judging by your refusal to refer to him by his first name, we assume that you intend to cut everything with him tonight. Am I right?" Victoria asked.

"I…" Ginny stopped, biting her lips. The spoke again. "Yes, you are right. I intend to deny him." Ginny explained herself. "I've had enough of it. I can't bear it anymore. For the past thirty-one days, I felt like a fool in front of the whole school. I hate being bound to a contract like this. I feel like I'm a prisoner. Even if Zabini is a nice executioner - at least I admit it -, it doesn't change that I still feel like a fool and a prisoner. I want to be free from him. And finally, by the end of tonight, I will have my freedom back. I refuse to be stuck with this debt any longer. At midnight, I'll have paid off the debt, and I don't want to have anything that would remind me of the debt anymore. So yes, I will deny him," Ginny fiercely finished, almost yelling.

The three girls looked sadly at her.

"Weasley, it's because we fear you will do it that we wanted to talk with you before you speak him again," Millicent said.

"We know Blaise more than anyone does. We grew up together with him. I understand when you said that he makes feel like a fool. Sometimes, he does that to us too. But he's really a good guy," Daphne said. "You know that the Zabini family have always kept a reputation of being neutral during the war. However, for an old and noble family like the Zabinis, staying neutral was also a dangerous choice. If one family chooses the right seat, then they can have support of the people from the same camp. If they chose the left seat, they will have support of the the left camp. But staying on neither the right nor the left, they were left alone, having no support or protection from either side. They must stand by themselves to survive. They must also fight to protect their lonely seat and not let either camp coerce them into joining. Blaise understands that, that's why he set up a way to protect himself from getting influenced by either sides. He became strong, wise-…"

"Sly," Ginny corrected the 'wise' qualitative.

"Hmn, okay, sly - that's why he's a Slytherin - and confident of himself," Daphne continued. "That's where there is a problem for most people. His self-confidence tends to make people around him feel like fools because he made them lose their own self-esteem. That's why no one dares attack him, and that's how he protects himself from any influences."

"There are few people who can stand against Blaise's self-confidence. Even Draco is a victim, sometimes, so we understand your feelings. But Blaise never had bad intentions toward anyone," Millicent said.

She looked into Ginny's eyes. "Weasley, Blaise is very serious about you. I know that he made himself a womanizer in school, but believe me when I say that he was never been serious about any girl before you. In the past, even when he dated someone, it didn't stop him from flirting with another girl," Millicent said. "But since he start courting you, he hasn't paid attention to anyone else. We often saw girls running around him like bees around a honey pot, but he never looked at them."

"And that dress," Victoria pointed at Ginny's blue dress, "he had it designed specifically for you. He handpicked the fabric and the accessories one by one and personally supervised its creation. He never did anything like for anyone before, not even his mother. And what shocked us the most was that he lowered himself to ask us for advice. Blaise Zabini never asks advice from anyone. That proves how much Blaise likes you."

"Tell us one thing, honestly: during the past month, didn't you feel anything for him, even a tiny emotion? Try imagining that the debt between you two and the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry never existed; how would you really feel about him?" Daphne said.

Ginny was taken aback for a moment. She had never questioned herself like that. But now that she thought about it. . .

'It is true that if. . .' Ginny pondered. She bit her lips. "I admit. If I had known him under others circumstances, I probably would. . ." she stopped, unable to continue. The girls smiled, happy to hear that.

"See!" Victoria victoriously exclaimed.

"Then, can you. . . " Millicent hesitated for a moment. She wasn't sure that asking the red hair Gryffindor to take Blaise as boyfriend was a good idea. She searched for another way to ask her question, but didn't know how to reformulate it. Daphne came to her rescue.

"Can you give Blaise another chance please? This time, without having the debt weighting on you, but just a simple and honest chance for him to court you?" Daphne said.

"Couuuuuuugh!" Ginny fight to refrain herself from chocking in her own bile.

Update on Saturday November, 27th 2010. Beta'd by ElusiveTruth.