Veela Love

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ginny and Blaise stood in the corner of the ballroom, watching their friends twirl about the room. They weren't the only ones staring, either – the whole room seemed drawn to the unlikely couple.

"Do you think they love each other?" Ginny asked wistfully.

Blaise cut a glance towards the redhead. His heart twisted at the longing expression she couldn't hide. "If they aren't already, then they're sure on their way to being in love."

After a pause, Ginny whispered, "Good. She deserves it."

"They both do." Blaise was surprised when Ginny didn't argue; perhaps Draco was growing on her after all.

"They look beautiful, spinning like that."

Blaise smiled down at Ginny and offered her his hand. "Want to join them?"

Instead of jumping at the chance, which is what Blaise had hoped would happen, Ginny paled slightly. "I won't bite, Red. Let me get a dance in – we deserve to celebrate after all our hard work."

Ginny bit her lip. "It's not that I don't want to; I just... don't know how to dance like that." She pointed at the dance floor where everyone was waltzing.

Grabbing her arm, Blaise dragged her onto the dance floor. Wrapping her in his arms, a shiver went through both of them, which they ignored. "The great thing about this type of dancing is as long as you have a partner that knows what they're doing and you let them lead, you'll be fine." With that, he swept her across the floor; every step measured and precise. Before long, Ginny was giggling.

"What's so funny, Red?" Blaise asked, smiling down at her. She looked so beautiful.

"I'm just thinking."

"About?"

"If you had told me a year ago I was going to be right here, swept off my feet by Blaise Zabini, I would have cursed you into oblivion. Yet here we are." Blaise's heart fluttered. It tended to do that a lot around Ginny. Before he could reply, the midnight count down started. He froze mid-turn, causing Ginny to stumble slightly.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

Blaise's mind was racing.

"Seven!"

"Six!"

Did he dare?

"Five!"

"Four!"

But when would he ever get another chance?

"Three!"

He gently grabbed Ginny's face and tilted it up towards his own. She let him.

"Two!"

"One!"

Blaise gently laid his lips on Ginny's softly, barely a whisper of a kiss. As he pulled away, Ginny groaned and reached up, grabbing the back of his head and pulling it back towards her. This time there was nothing soft about their kiss – it knocked the breath out of Blaise. He felt like he was on fire. Wrapping his arms around her, Blaise pulled Ginny as close as possible.

A tap on his shoulder pulled him back to reality. Turning, he found George standing next to them, an expression of mixed shock and entertainment on his face. "Could you stop snogging my sister for a moment?'

Suddenly embarrassed, Blaise quickly looked around the room and found they were the center of attention.

"Sod off, George," Ginny replied, scowling.

George held up his hands in an act of surrender. "I need to speak to Blaise for a moment, my darling sister."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You are not allowed to hex him or harm him in any way. The boy finally worked up the courage to kiss me. I've been waiting months!"

Blaise's mouth fell open. Months?

"He'll be fine. Come on." George grabbed Blaise's arm and dragged him out of the ballroom and into the hallway.

"I won't apologize for kissing Red," Blaise said before George could say anything. "She's 17, and even if she wasn't of age, I wouldn't get in her way."

George's eyebrows rose with each word. "Seems like you really do know our Ginny. No, I'm not here to warn you off."

As if he hadn't heard him, Blaise continued rambling. "I know you all must be disappointed, given that I'm sure you all thought Harry would be the one. Who would want to trade the Savior of the Wizarding World for someone whose family fought for the wrong side? I get it, I really do-"

George clasped his shoulder and squeezed a little too hard to make Blaise stop talking. "I'm not going to lie, we were all a bit disappointed when Harry didn't come round to how wonderful Ginny is, and even though I love him, a part of me will always be sad he isn't officially part of our family. But he never cared for Ginny the way you obviously do."

Blaise gulped. "She is rather fantastic. Terrifying, but fantastic."

"Isn't she now?" George grinned broadly.

Casting his gaze back through the open ballroom doors, Blaise found the other Weasleys gathered around an irritated Ginny who was glaring daggers into George's back. "But doesn't it matter? My past, I mean?"

Suddenly serious, George said, "No, not to us. It doesn't matter where you come from. What matters is who you choose to be. And you've chosen to be someone my incredibly difficult sister seems to care about. You're all she's talked about all break."

Digesting this information, Blaise stared down at his shoes. He raised his gaze until it met George's. "I hope you know I would never hurt her."

Slinging an arm around him, George steered him back towards his family. "Course you won't. If Ginny didn't kill you, we would."

Blaise chuckled, knowing every word was true.