Only it wasn’t her bedroom. In her haste, she’d opened the door of the room beside hers. It was Blaise’s room: Ginny could tell this from the bright pink trunk overflowing with clothes, the dark red dress flung carelessly across the bedspread, and the fact that Blaise herself was lying on the floor of the bedroom, entangled in a passionate embrace with Ginny’s brother, Ron.
Ginny’s hand flew to her mouth. “Ron!” she gasped.
“Weasley?” came an equally stunned voice from behind her.
Blaise gave a little shriek and sat up. Her pretty dress was in disarray; so was her hair. Ron had turned a dark purple color, though not quite dark enough to hide the lipstick marks on his face.
Blaise was the first of them to find her voice. “Haven’t you ever heard that it’s polite to knock?” she demanded, leaping to her feet and smoothing down the front of her dress.
“Haven’t you ever heard that it’s polite not to lock lips with a half-witted troglodyte mere hours before you’re supposed to be going on a date with me?” Draco replied.
Blaise didn’t look at Ron, who was rising sheepishly to his feet behind her, while doing up the buttons on his shirt. “It was an accident,” she said.
“I see,” said Draco. “So you tripped and fell on his lips?”
Blaise threw up her hands. “What do you want me to say? It just happened.” She whirled around and glared at Ron. “Tell them. Tell them it just happened.”
Ron looked at her, then looked at Ginny, and lastly, he looked at Draco. It was a calm, measuring look, and held none of the hatred Ginny would have expected. It was as if he was looking at Draco and seeing him not as a rival or an enemy, but just as he was. “It didn’t just happen,” he said.
“It’s been going on for months.”
Blaise looked as if she might cry. “RON. YOU PROMISED.”
“I know,” said Ron, “but I also made a promise to myself not to carry on relationships in secret any more. And whatever I might have thought of Malfoy, he doesn’t deserve to be lied to like that.”
Blaise put her hand to her mouth, but said nothing. Her eyes were wide.
Draco looked at her coolly. “My, what an original sort of sin you’ve found for yourself, Blaise,” he said.
“Oh, stop it,” Ginny snapped at him, suddenly annoyed. “You’ve done worse. I just don’t understand why you kept it a secret,” she added, turning to Blaise. “Just because of Draco?”
“No!” Blaise took her hand away from her mouth. “Because of you.”
“Me!” Ginny was astounded.
“You’re my friend,” Blaise said. “But I didn’t want you to think I was just using you to try to get close to Ron.”
Draco snorted. “Try to get close to Ron? If you’d gotten any closer to him, you’d have—“
“Oh, shut up, Draco,” said Ginny and Blaise together, at the same time.
“Blech,” Ginny added, for emphasis. “That’s my brother you’re talking about, Draco.”
Draco snorted again. He was leaning against the doorframe, looking bored and amused at the same time. “All that red hair,” he said to Blaise. “Aren’t you worried about clashing horribly?”
Blaise shot him a glare, then seemed to think better of it. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, Draco,” she said.
“You certainly did hurt me. That image of Weasley slobbering in your ear will be burned on my retinas for all time.”
“I meant emotionally,” said Blaise, with exaggerated patience.
“Ah,” Draco said. “I wouldn’t worry about that.” And he grinned.
Looking relieved, Blaise turned to Ginny. “And I’m especially sorry I didn’t tell you,” she said. “I really do…like you.”
Ginny knew that for the reserved Slytherin girl, this was an enormous admission. “I like you, too,” she said, and went across the room to throw her arms around Blaise; the other girl hugged her back, clearly relieved.
“And now we get to the interesting part,” said Draco, sounding pleased.
Ron glared at him. “That’s my sister you’re leering at,” he said. “AND my girlfriend.”
“If only your mum would get in on the action too, I could really hit the trifecta of your disapproval,” said Draco consideringly.
Ginny broke away from hugging Blaise. “My mother?” she began, then broke off as Harry and Hermione came into the room. Harry had his arm around Hermione, who wasaround in bewilderment.
“What’s going on?” she said. “What’s all the yelling? And were you saying something about having a girlfriend, Ron?”
“Ron has a girlfriend?” said Harry, looking surprised. “Nobody ever tells me anything. So who is it?” he inquired, turning to Ron, who looked wrung out, as if he’d just run a marathon.
“It’s me,” said Blaise, frostily.
Harry’s eyebrows flew up. “But I thought you were dating Malfoy. You are dating Malfoy, aren’t you? Or did you just dump him?”
“Harry!” Hermione hissed. “Have some tact!”
“Tact is just lying for grown-ups,” said Ginny, without thinking, and saw Draco glance at her sideways in surprise.
