The Allure of Darkness

Friendship

Slytherin Dormitory [January 2nd]

"These really are lovely," Astoria Greengrass commented, delicately touching the roses that had been carelessly tossed on her friend's bed. Her blue-green eyes fixated on the white cardstock tag that was casually strung around the flowers and she gasped.

"Ginevra!" She began in a scolding tone, "Did you even read the tag?"

The redheaded girl rolled her eyes, flipping through a page in her Witch Weekly magazine with disinterest. "No, I did not read the tag," She snorted, as if the mere notion was ridiculous.

Astoria shook her head in disapproval and plucked the tag from its ribbon, starting to read what it said.

"Hey, that's private!" Ginevra Weasley quickly said, lunging for the note that was in her friend's hand.

"You said you didn't read it," Astoria taunted, holding the note as far away from Ginevra's reach as she could. She cleared her throat and began to read aloud, "Dear Ginevra, I hope this isn't too forward of me, but I would like if you would accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend. I greatly enjoyed having you as my date to the Yule Ball, and I would love to be given the chance to do it again. Sincerely yours, Blaise Zabi–"

Ginevra yanked the note out of her friend's hand and glared as harshly as she could, all the while trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. She turned around and tucked the note into her desk, closing the drawer with a final resounding thud.

"He likes you," Astoria remarked, rolling over on the bed to stare at the ceiling. "I've known him since I was a little girl and I've never seen him like this."

Ginevra smoothed down her hair and shook her head, "I'm not interested. I only agreed to be his date because I wanted to attend that wretched ball. It happened, and now it's over. It was a business agreement. He wanted arm candy, and I wanted leverage over the other third years."

Her friend scrutinized her for a second and then pointed an accusing finger at her, "You're lying." She ignored the offended look on Ginevra's face and jumped up from the bed with a wide smile, "You like him just as much as he likes you. Business agreement, my foot."

"Astoria, please," Ginevra sighed rubbing her temples in exasperation, "It's not like that."

There was a sudden knock on her door and she rushed towards it, desperate to end the conversation. She made a shushing motion at her best friend as she opened the door. Unfortunately, the fates were not on her side.

"Hello Weasley," Blaise Zabini looked down at her, leaning against her doorway with a charming smile. "I haven't heard from you in a while."

"I've been busy. There's a lot of homework in third year, I'm sure you remember," She stepped back a bit and tried to inch the door shut as subtly as possible.

"Well, I'm sure you're certainly not too busy to go to Hogsmeade this weekend," He looked past her head and smirked, "I see you got the flowers–Oh, hello Astoria."

The brunette waved sheepishly and quickly walked over to the desk to grab her bag, "I'll just head out now, sorry about the interruption."

Ginevra blinked, and held up a hand to stop her friend's movements. She looked at Blaise with impassive eyes, "Actually, Zabini was just leaving."

The older boy glanced at her in confusion, "What?"

"I have that potions exam that Snape gives all his third years coming up on Monday, so I really must study. It's been nice talking to you, Zabini, but I have to go," She began to shut the door on him, but suddenly his arm shot out and held it back.