Expectations

Chapter 2: Smiles of Joy

Ginny splashed some water on her face in the fifth year girls’ bathroom, wondering if she’d make it down to the Great Hall in time for lunch. Maybe she could catch Zabini there…

She smiled suddenly. Zabini was different, that was for sure. That time in the dungeons had proved that to her. And they’d run into each other after that of course…

But they hadn’t really talked. He’d just nodded at her noncommittally, as he was often in the company of other Slytherins. Once he’d said ‘hello,’ but she hadn’t been able to say it back as she was really too shocked to do anything, let alone speak. It wasn’t every day a Slytherin spoke to you, a Gryffindor, after all—even if she’d already spoken to him once before. It was still rather strange and difficult to comprehend.

Ginny smiled. Zabini was rather nice… At least compared to the other Slytherins. Yes, that would make it easy. Er, well, easier. But…getting him to agree…she wasn’t too sure. Besides, he wasn’t indebted to her in any way… In fact, she was indebted to him, for the getting-lost incident, at least, when he had shown her the way back to the Great Hall. That had been quite nice of him, in fact.

But she wasn’t sure how far his nice-ness extended, at least to her.

(She had noticed at one point that Crookshanks was getting a little overweight…at least more than he already was. And anyways, she’d also noticed the two getting cozy when she’d been the one chosen to raid the kitchens… Okay, so that had consisted of Blaise scratching Crookshanks’ ears, but whatever.)

So the question was, how desperate was she? How much was she willing to risk, just to get back at Harry Potter? How much could one boy make her do? She had changed herself for him, she had dressed up for him, she had been ready to give her virginity to him! And he was still making her do things, however much he didn’t notice.

Ginny sighed. There was a lot Harry didn’t notice. She could only hope that this time would be different, that he would notice the fact that she was already moving on. Not that she was moving on, but that he thought she was moving on.

…No, wait. She wouldn’t hope. She would be sure of it. She would make sure that there was no way that he could ignore her relationship with Zabini. Or at least that her brother wouldn’t (not that the prat really ever ignored anything), and if her brother knew, then, by the Gods, the whole school would know. Within ten minutes, in fact!

Hell, she wouldn’t be surprised if the entire world knew about it.

Ginny grinned. Well. She might as well get to it. Time was of the essence, and there was no sense in waiting anyways.

***

Ginny eyed the Slytherin table, trying to be inconspicuous.

She wasn’t exactly succeeding.

After all, accidentally putting your elbow in the butter because you were too busy paying attention to a certain Slytherin to pay attention to your elbow wasn’t exactly inconspicuous, now was it?

Not in her mind at least.

But at least no one else was noticing where her eyes kept straying… At least none of the Gryffindors did. Draco Malfoy seemed to be paying her way to much attention, an evil glint in his eye that did not sit all that well with Ginny.

She brushed it off, concentrating again on her target: Blaise Zabini, Master of Disguise.

Well, perhaps ‘disguise’ wasn’t the correct term… He wasn’t really disguised, he just knew how to blend in with the crowd. It had no doubt helped him immensely as a Slytherin, although quite a few of them made her doubt that, Draco Malfoy in particular. She didn’t think the prat could blend in if he wanted to…not that she really thought he’d ever wanted to. Malfoy just didn’t seem to be that kind of person.

Zabini, however… Well, to be completely frank, she hadn’t even known he’d existed until that day in the dungeons. He was definitely not an exhibitionist.

Ginny wondered if that would be detrimental to her plans.

She shook her head decidedly. It didn’t matter. She just needed to do this now, before she lost the nerve.

And just at that moment, Blaise Zabini stood up. No one really noticed, as he did so quietly, and he hadn’t been speaking with anyone anyway. His black hair fell slightly in front of his face as he watched where he was putting his feet, stepping out from behind the bench and walking towards the doors.

Ginny smiled. What perfect timing, she thought as she stood up and followed him out of the room, never noticing the pair of narrowed brown eyes that followed her.

***

Blaise Zabini walked slowly towards the Slytherin dungeons, his hands in his pockets. The littlest Weasley had been watching him at dinner, and to be completely honest, it was rather unnerving. Her stare was direct, and it had barely wavered.

“Zabini!” a feminine voice shouted from behind. He spun around sharply, obviously catching her by surprise, as she stumbled to a stop right in front of him. “Zabini,” she said more softly, breathing heavily.

He raised a brow at the girl. It was Ginny Weasley. She was looking very… flushed. Her dark red hair, tied with a black ribbon at the nape of her neck, was slowly coming loose, and a few tendrils had already escaped to frame her face. Despite her lack of new clothes, she looked…well, stunning. How Potter had failed to notice her until this year was beyond him.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, glancing around.

Blaise crossed his arms, looking her in the eye. Honestly, when had he last been able to do that with a girl? Most of them were barely five feet tall. It was nice to give his neck a rest for once. “Alright,” he said, glancing around. It probably wasn’t a good place to talk. The walls were known to have ears, not to mention the fact that anyone would love to be privy to this particular conversation. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

She nodded, seeming to understand, and she walked ahead of him, eventually leading them outside. At his raised eyebrow, she explained, “This way we’ll really be able to tell if anyone’s around. We’ll go over to the lake. Classes don’t start for another forty-five minutes, so we should be fine.” By this time, they had reached the lake. She sat down beside it, motioning for him to do the same.

And then she began to explain her plan.

***

Blaise stared at Ginny, shocked. “Are you sane?” he asked when she had finished.

She glared at him. “Yes.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” he said, a small smirk curving his lip.

She sniffed delicately. “Well, that’s your prerogative, of course. But will you do it?” she persisted, poking her finger into his chest.

Blaise allowed the shadow of a smile to cross his face before leaning toward her, noticing happily that her eyes widened and she lost a bit of her forwardness. “Ginny,” he said quietly, “I still don’t quite see why you chose me. I’m a Slytherin. Aren’t we all evil Death Eaters?” he asked coldly, raising a brow.

She seemed to look panicked before calming. “You said yourself that not all of you were Death Eaters.” She squared her shoulders, seeming to be preparing for something. “Let me see your arm.”

Blaise held out his left arm and pulled up the sleeve, revealing a bare forearm. He watched calmly as her face relaxed.

She breathed a sigh of relief, a smile flitting across her face. “See? I knew I was right.”

“And what if you hadn’t been?” he asked. “What would you have done then?”

“I-I don’t know,” she said quietly, looking slightly ashamed.

“You never answered my question,” he said, letting the subject drop and his sleeve fall to his wrist again, folding his arms.

“Which one?” She looked confused.

“Why me?”

“We-ell…” she trailed off. “You were… nice to me for one. For another, you’re related to Draco Malfoy, and that will catch Harry’s attention more than anything.”

“Then why aren’t you proposing this to Draco?” he asked, his brows raised.

“Because he’s a bastard,” Ginny said maliciously, her mocha-brown eyes glittering with anger.

“Hey, that’s my cousin you’re talking about there,” Blaise said warningly, his own eyes darkening.

Ginny raised a brow. “Like you wouldn’t call him the same thing?”

Blaise grinned suddenly. “Maybe.”

“So?” Ginny asked anxiously. “Will you do it?”

He looked at her for a minute, seeming to size her up. “Alright,” he said quietly.

Ginny grinned at him and held out her hand, standing up. “Thanks, Zabini. Shake on it?” she asked.

Blaise looked at her hand for a few seconds before standing and taking it in his own. But instead of shaking it, he brought it up to his lips, brushing a light kiss over it, his dark eyes twinkling in the early afternoon light. “Call me Blaise,” he said.

And with that he left, leaving her staring after him, his black robes sweeping after him almost as dramatically as Snape’s. Ginny’s eyes were wide.

How was it that that one, small kiss had sent shivers down her spine and the blood rushing to her face?