Black Dove

Chapter One

"How a lion becomes a mouse."- Tori Amos

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"How dare you say such things about my brother!" Ginny shrieked at Draco Malfoy. Earlier that day, Malfoy had taken things too far with the insults, and Ginny couldn't stop herself.

As soon as lunch was over she approached him and several other Slytherins in the entrance hall. Malfoy crossed his arms and sneered at her. Blaise Zabini, in all her dark glory, stood next to him, her wicked eyes dancing, as she watched the highly amusing scene before her.

"Aww, looky, Weasley can't even pick his own fights anymore. He gots to get his ickle baby sister to do it for him!" he cried, laughing viciously. His fellow housemates cracked up behind him. The laughing suddenly halted when Ginny's slap echoed off the walls. Malfoy's face stung like fire, and it was all he could do to keep from his lip trembling momentarily. Blaise shot daggers at Ginny.

"You insult him, you insult his family. Now watch what you say, you prat," Ginny warned, before stalking off in the direction of her common room.

Even though Ron was slightly embarrassed, he couldn't help but applaud his sister like everyone else. The last time some one had slapped Malfoy and gotten away with it was back a couple years, when Hermione had let him have it during a Hagrid's class. Ginny semi-ignored the praise, merely saying she did what she'd thought was right.

~

Ginny tossed and turned as usual that night in bed. She leaned over and looked at her clock. It was midnight. Just about every night she couldn't sleep, and it seemed her body knew exactly when midnight was, because that was what her clock read everytime she checked. She pushed the covers off herself and got out of bed quietly. Thankfully she only shared her room with two other girls. Her cloak lay where she'd left it after last night. She grabbed it and silently made her way down the stairs and out of the portrait hole.

Moonlight flooded the halls and it was a clear night, so she could see all the stars. It was extremely lovely, and she would have enjoyed it had she not been dragged suddenly into a nearby classroom.

Ginny was shoved up against the wall, the breath knocked out of her. It took a moment for her eyes to refocus and she met the stare of piercing blue eyes blazing with hatred.

"Never. Ever. Slap Draco Malfoy, again," Blaise warned, her voice cold and angry. Ginny wriggled and tried to free herself from the other girl's tight grip. Blaise was the same height as Ginny, though a bit slimmer, but she had the strength of quidditch Beater.

"He got what he deserved, now let me go," Ginny demanded, her efforts to get free were indeed quite fruitless.

"No, I'm going to repay you for damage you've caused."

"I damaged Malfoy? Fabulous," Ginny laughed. Blaise was caught off guard by Ginny's sudden laughter. Ginny seized the opportunity and shoved Blaise away from her, knocking her onto the floor. She pinned Blaise beneath her and smirked a very un-Ginny smirk of triumph. Blaise stared straight into Ginny's eyes with a cobalt fierceness that startled the redhead. Ginny noticed a sudden twinkle in those blue eyes just as a small hand pinched her bottom. She jumped up and shrieked.

Blaise laughed, grabbed her own cloak, and was out of the room before Ginny could retaliate.

"What the hell was that for?" Ginny asked no one.