A/N: To those of you who expect Theomione happening, I can't promise anything since I haven't exactly planned for it to happen. But I may have walked right into that one by tagging them as 'main/secondary characters' in the story, as well. Hm. Initially, I thought of them as being merely peripheral characters that appeared from time to time, while keeping the focus on Ginny and Blaise. Though, at one point, I was actually thinking about bringing Draco back and pair him up with Hermione, but then again, I find it rather incredulous (or miraculous?) that we already have one pairing that consists of a former Gryffindor and a former Slytherin. Two at the same time would be almost too incredible, right?
Right. Enough with the talking. On with the story!
Chapter 4: A deal is struck
She had no idea how she'd ended up in another pointless row with the dark-skinned Slytherin yet again!
OK, she knew partly why, but why it had to always be him she had no bloody clue! For all her careful side-stepping and avoiding him since their first encounter, she was apparently bound to literally run into him – in the company of Theodore Nott of all unwanted people! – in the halls on her way to class.
She prided herself on her good reflexes but this particular day her head had been filled with Head Girl duties, a shitload of homework and double-up on Quidditch training because one of her assistant training captains had become sick during that week. It didn't help that she'd begun to sleep less ever since … well, since the beginning of the year. Going to class had become a matter of just following where her legs carried her and they didn't always lead her to the right classroom nor managed to dodge whoever was coming in the opposite direction, unfortunately. Highly unpractical, of course, because in the moment she collided with a tall, lean and hard body, all her alarm clocks set off, but way too slow, and combined with her stressed-out nerves following a grumpy attitude (that she'd fought hard to hold back with the younger students), she practically barked at the person before she managed to recognize who she had collided with. Way to go, Ginny.
"Watch it, you oaf!" she grumbled and picked up the books she had been holding.
There was a scoffing sound. "And here I thought I could avoid the one Weasel left on the entire school, but apparently the universe conspires against me," a bored and disturbingly familiar voice drawled above her and she snapped her head up to face the last person she had hoped to run into.
"Zabini," she sneered and stood, giving him an icy glare that matched his own.
"Weasley," he sneered back.
"Nott," an amused voice came from beside them and Ginny whipped her head around to see the other former Slytherin and buddy to a certain ferret, Theo Nott, standing with a curious look on his face.
Terrific, Ginny grimaced. Just what I needed: Two loathsome Slytherins!
"And the universe seems to conspire against me, since I keep running into the last persons I want to run into on this earth! Haven't you Slytherins got something else to do? Like hexing yourselves on purpose? If not, I'd be glad to do it for you. I know some good ones that I'd like to try out."
"Ouch, Weaslette," Nott gave a dramatic pout, shooting her a somewhat mystifying smirk. "Was that really necessary? I mean, we haven't even been introduced properly yet. We're not Muggles - thank Merlin! - but we're still English. Don't you know you do not go around throwing insults without certain manners?"
Ginny frowned. She knew even less about the Nott boy than she knew about Zabini, but she would never have taken him for being the smug, sarcastic type. Then again, she'd never really gotten a good impression of him before. He'd seemed so quiet and withdrawn back then, during the war, seemingly only taunting Harry and her friends whenever he was around Malfoy's gang and the mood struck. She had heard about his father, Nott Sr., of course, and how psychotic a Death Eater he had been under Voldemort, but not much else. He was in Azkaban now, if she remembered correctly. Probably why the Nott boy could loosen a bit up now. Pureblood or not, having a Death Eater as a father could not have been a bed of roses. That was, however, no hindrance to not give back of the same kind.
"Like you Slytherins have ever known manners when it comes to anything!"
Theo held on to his smirk. "Touché. I should know better than to argue with the sharpest of the Weasleys," he said without a drop of sarcasm to his voice.
Ginny practically dropped her jaw. Had he just - complimented her? Didn't he despise her and her kind?
Blaise - who had been standing silently by in his usual arrogant demeanor - whipped his head around to Nott, shooting him a sharp glare. Theo merely shrugged, still smirking, and gave Blaise a secretive look which bugged Ginny.
Had Blaise confided in Nott about their encounter in the Bathroom?
Like there was anything unusual to tell, but still … She didn't know the two Slytherins or the range of their friendship. Neither seemed the types to confide in anyone. However, they both seemed somewhat different after the war – their basic Slytherin traits not included – and they might have been more close than what they gave off.
She eyed Blaise who kept sending scowling glares at the unfazed Nott.
What exactly had Blaise told him?
Seemingly something Nott found amusing and Blaise did not.
She sighed, feeling the effects of her sleep-deprivation among everything else weighing heavily on her head, realizing she still needed to get to class in due time.
"Well, I'd love to stay and watch you two boys eye-fucking, but some of us actually have important things to do, such as going to class," she bit out between her teeth, drawing the baffled attention from both boys in front of her.
Theo gave something close to a genuine smile (a disturbing sight), followed by a dramatic 'tsk'. "Such potty mouth, Weasley. Actually, it reminds me of someone. Tell me, have you been hanging out too much with any former Slytherins I happen to know, lately?" He shot a conspiratorial look at Blaise who was practically blistering by now and Theo's eerie smile widened. Ginny gaped at both boys, though Blaise refused to look at her, still sending silent daggers at the smiling Theo.
So he did know about the encounter! Ugh! That toad to Zabini had probably told all kinds of lewd, untrue things about how he had 'manhandled' her..!
But Ginny refused to rise to his bait and gave him her most sugary, sarcastic smile.
"No more than usual, being the Gryffindor whore that I am," she shot an icy glare at Blaise who was finally looking at her and if she wasn't much mistaken, there was a slight crack in his otherwise blank expression. She continued, triumphantly. "But why don't you ask the true whore among us? He should definitely know about such matters," she spoke acidly, subtly gawking Blaise's not so blank expression anymore.
"You little bitch!" he snarled between his teeth, his tall body tense as he stepped one threatening step closer to her.
She held her stance, shooting daggers at him, while gripping her wand at her side a little tighter, silently daring him to move on her the same way as last time and feel the consequences. He didn't move any closer, however, but he was close enough for her to feel his hot breath against her face, watching his nostrils flaring and his deep-brown eyes almost turning black as he stood, towering over her, an impressive dark mass of coiled muscles and unchecked anger. But she wasn't scared. If he tried anything, she'd show him just how dangerous she could be as well.
Theo seemed to have realized the danger of the situation, stepping towards them, but he couldn't exactly press himself in between the minimal amount of space between them. Though Nott was almost as tall as Blaise, he was rather lanky in stature, lacking the muscle mass Zabini was clearly exhibiting and Ginny doubted he'd be physically able to fight Zabini off once he first started.
"Now, now, my friends," he spoke hesitantly, an appeasing hand hovering above Blaise's tense shoulder, not quite touching, while his eyes darted between the dark wizard and the red-headed witch, trying to suss out the best way to handle the situation so that they ended up with the least amount of hexed limbs. They were still standing in the open halls of the school; students shuffling to and fro along the corridors on their way to class, some beginning to take notice of the tensed, little scenario where the three of them stood.
Ginny ignored Nott's feeble attempts to divert their attentions. She was still having a silent war of glares with Blaise which she had no intention of losing. He did, however, impress her with his steadfastness and resilience. Few could stand up to her when she went like this, but she figured his entire power play was built on that whole silent villain type-thing where one threatens with glares and poses rather than words and fists. But she knew how to end this one as the winner. She leaned back her head slightly, arching an eyebrow and gave a superior smile which, unfortunately, only sparked a somewhat surprised, but amused look in his otherwise thunderous, dark eyes and he answered it with a mirroring stance. Damn! He had tried this one before – or he was simply a quicker learner than she thought. Not that she couldn't handle this little game – she practically excelled in it!
"Hey, you guys might want to lay off the silent eye-slaying for a minute – McGonagall is heading right this way!" Theo hissed from the sideline.
Blaise and Ginny stiffened, pulling themselves out of their intense eye-off and diverted their glances down the hall where the Headmistress - true enough - was coming towards them in her usual austere fashion that made students in the hall spread and huddle nervously alongside the walls to let her pass.
"Miss Weasley, I wanted to ask if you– oh, hello, Mr. Zabini … Mr. Nott," she greeted the two boys formally, albeit slightly baffled at seeing the two former Slytherins in company of Ginny. They gave her stilted nods in return, not fully sure how to be on friendly terms with the imposing, older woman and former Head of Gryffindor.
Ginny quickly diverted the awkward situation from escalating even further by smiling politely at the woman. "Yes, Headmistress, was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"
McGonagall's apprehensive, wise eyes zoomed back on the familiar face in front of her and gave a slight smile, getting back on track.
"Ah, yes. I wanted to ask you if you possibly could help introducing the First Years properly to the way of Quidditch since you are a team captain, Head Girl and one of the most reliable students we have." Of course, McGonagall said this her usual blunt, factual manner, yet Ginny couldn't help but feeling inwardly pleased by the Headmistress' instinctive appraisal of her. "Since Madam Hooch is on a leave for the time being and I fear a lot of rumors are already flying – no pun intended," she spoke without humor, while Blaise and Theo tried hard not to snicker, "about earlier years' violent competition between the Houses. Especially –," McGonagall halted for about a millisecond and Ginny was quick to take the natural cue:
"I see, Headmistress," she said with a pointed nod. "I'll be pleased to introduce the first years to Quidditch. I'm not sure when exactly since I have lot on my schedule, but I'm sure I'll find the time."
"Excellent, Miss Weasley," McGonagall proclaimed with finality, looking rather relieved. Her gaze diverted to Blaise who had been standing silently in the background, but he straightened somewhat nervously when the older witch regarded him with that stern, scrutinizing gaze of hers.
"You are in the Quidditch game as well, aren't you, Mr. Zabini?" she asked him. He nodded. "And a Prefect?" He nodded again, getting where she was going and becoming inwardly alarmed. "Well, then, maybe you wouldn't mind helping Miss Weasley in teaching the first years? It is a large number of young students who needs to get introduced, and after all, two are better than one, isn't that so?"
She regarded both students with sharp eyes, and they couldn't do anything but nod wordlessly at her – in theory – perfectly reasonable suggestion before she quickly parted with them and left them both in tense silence once again. Some time in between Theo had bailed on them. Some friend! Blaise scowled.
Ginny cleared her throat, shooting a sidelong glance at Blaise, almost fearing to see his face twisted in malicious glee by the chance of taunting her even more, but he seemed as taken aback as she was.
"Well, then," Ginny mirrored McGonagall's words, much more tensely, however. "It seems we've gotten ourselves in a pickle here because you can't seem to stay away from me. Anyway, she didn't specify whether or not we had to do it together, so let's just divide up the task so that we don't have to look at each other's faces any more than necessary, alright?" She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding back and regarded him resolutely to make out his response.
Blaise merely looked at her, his expression back in its usual place; unresponsive and inscrutable, which she hated but she could work with that. Anything but his tensed, confusing signals she could work with.
She put her hands on her hips, making the decision for them. "Fine. We have a deal then."
She turned and started to walk away from the insufferable former Slytherin when she heard a flaunting, smug voice behind her:
"So. You wanna meet at your place or at my place to go over the details?"
He didn't get an answer.