I know, I know...I'm suprised as you to find it so. But all the tasks have been completed, all the pranks played out, all the seeds planted...this is it. This is the grand finale. At least for the present.
Also, a lot of people were curious about how playing both sides and continuing the prank war benefited Blaise...well hopefully this chapter will give you your answer!
I want to say a big thank you / I love you to all of my reviewers. Especially the ones who stuck with me from the very beginning. You guys are what made the story worth writing!
Okay so now that I'm through with the mush...the basics of the facts. I'm going on a long vacation shortly after posting this final chapter, when I get back however I will be review-reply and demand-meeting like crazy.
So leave me lots of comments and reviews! If you love the way this ended than good, so did I, tell me! And if you love the fic and hate the ending than review and let me know and I might be persuaded into doing some sort of epilogue, though I'm generally against it.If you wish I would just keep on continuing with the pranks and nonsense than I truly apologize but all things must come to an end. I do however hope that you will add me to author alert because my newest story ideas are rather like this one (different plots, same pranking and attempts at wit!) And if you just hate me, this story, and the ending in general than...keep it to yourself please!
So here's my ending, all in third person point of view and all filling me with sadness to write...
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"Okay, your other pranks were bad but this—this is so above and beyond that…" Blaise stated, pausing for dramatic effect, "She's not going to just simply brutally maim you—oh no—she's going to make you pay, and we're talking big time."
"Who would have guessed," Draco replied, deep in thought, "A Weasley almost being a somewhat formidable opponent."
"Somewhat formidable!" Blaise shouted, "She's above and beyond formidable, my friend, she's is downright bloody hostile. Not to mention that she's going to kick your sorry arse in the end."
"It is all rather funny…" Draco responded, staring at something behind Blaise.
"Hello, earth to Draco," Blaise said waving his hand in front of Draco's face, "Snap out of it man!"
"What?" Draco blurted, confusedly looking back at Blaise.
"What are you thinking about mate?" Blaise said, a smirk slowly turning up the corners of his mouth.
"I was just deciding the best line of defense against Weasley's next onslaught is all," Draco said, brushing it off.
"You mean against Ginny's next revenge?" Blaise said, deviously putting just the right amount of emphasis on Ginny's first name.
"Yes, yes, Ginny's revenge," Draco repeated absent-mindedly, "That's what we're talking about isn't it?"
A full-blown smirk graced Blaise's lips when he heard the name Ginny from Draco's lips.
He continued to expertly dance around the subject, "So, what do you suppose she has up her sleeve?"
"Knowing her," Draco replied thoughtfully, "It will probably be something devious, we'll have to be on our toes. Expect the unexpected. I'm figuring it will be something involving one of Hagrid's creatures…"
Blaise caught himself just before letting out a cry of surprise. In truth, Ginny had confided in him early this morning about a rather nasty group of doxys that might just do the trick.
"How do you figure that?" Blaise asked with effortless nonchalance.
"I saw her heading for Hagrid's hut earlier today. She had that look in her eye.." Draco responded, drifting off.
"What look in her eye?" Blaise pried, a devilishly handsome grin now gracing his features.
"That look, THE look," Draco explained exasperatedly, "The look that plainly says, 'I'm so about to screw Draco Malfoy over'."
"Oh…that look," Blaise replied, dripping sarcasm, "You know, there's a quote by some old, possibly dead, guy that says 'We'd be less worried about what people thought of us if we found out how little they really do'."
"Unfortunately, that quote does not apply to me," Draco replied with a haughty grin.
"How do you figure that one?" Blaise asked, mimicking his smile.
"Because not only are people always thinking of me," Draco replied with a wink, "But I know what Weasley was thinking."
"You mean to tell me that you can just look into Ginny's eyes and know what she's thinking," Blaise restated.
"Sure," Draco replied with an air of disregard, "Ginny's easy to read."
"I can't read her…" Blaise replied, "Except when she's angry, that one even I can catch on to."
Blaise grinned at his own joke and continued, "So tell me how this whole 'reading the Weasley thing' works."
"Well, for example, when she's really annoyed she gets harshly sarcastic," Draco started, "When she's embarrassed her whole face blushes bright red, when she's thinking she bites the right side of her lip, when she comes up with an idea or a solution her whole face lights up which is usually followed by a barbaric victory dance of some sort."
"When she's lying she never leaves any hint except that she stares right at the inner corner of your eyes, she'll never look directly at them," Draco continued rambling, "And when she comes up with a plan to ultimately screw over one extremely handsome Slytherin, her brown eyes darken and her lips curve into a perpetual smirk."
Blaise stood staring at Draco in surprised awe for what felt like an hour.
"You owe me 200 galleons," Blaise finally replied.
"What!" Draco shouted bewilderedly, "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"
"8 years ago," Blaise continued insistently, "You bet me that you would never fall in love. Remember?"
Flashback
"It's not going to happen," Draco replied, pouting resolutely.
"It happens to everyone," Blaise insisted fervently.
"Not to me," Draco responded steadfastly.
"Care to make a wager on that?" Blaise replied, ever the Slytherin.
"Fine," Draco stated, "I bet you 200 galleons I'll never fall in love."
"You're on," Blaise replied, smirking as he shook Draco's hand.
End Flashback
"I knew she'd be the one too…" Blaise remarked thoughtfully, "I knew it from that first night I saw you arguing in the hallways."
"I do not owe you anything," Draco replied stubbornly, "Because I am not in love. Especially not with the Weasley girl."
"It's fine," Blaise stated calmly, "You can pay me once you come to your senses, but just know that I am NEVER wrong about these sorts of things. Face it Draco, you're in love."
Draco turned and stormed off, certain that Blaise had finally lost it.
-
As our fair-headed hero paced the quidditch pitch, muttering to himself about 'sodding redheads' and 'bloody best friends', Blaise moved quickly to the Gryffindor rooms.
"Ginny!" he shouted, bumping into her outside of the portrait hole, "Ginny, I need to talk to you!"
"What's up, Blaise?" Ginny replied with a smile.
"I need to know, it's extremely important, are you or are you not in love with Draco Malfoy?"
Ginny let out a little gasp of surprise, her brain lurching into overdrive.
"Malfoy?" Ginny repeated hesitantly, "Why would I be in love with Malfoy?"
"Because he knows you better than anyone, because he listens to you, because he teases you, because he challenges you, because he makes you laugh, and because I know you truly care about him," Blaise replied gently.
Ginny's eyes grew wide at his last comment and her brain seemed to be contemplating every answer.
"Is it love, though?" Blaise asked urgently, "Do you love him, Ginny?"
"No," Ginny replied firmly, "I don't."
"Alright then," Blaise said spinning on his heel and leaving Ginny to chew hastily on her lip.
A few paces away and Blaise's face broke into a huge grin: when Ginny answered him she had been looking only at the inner corners of his eyes.
-
"No way—" Draco said, muttering to himself as he re-entered the castle.
"Not possible—" Ginny rambled, turning the corner and crashing into one infamous Draco Malfoy.
"This can not be happening!" they both shouted at once, jumping apart from each other.
"Hey," Ginny spoke first, her face turning a delicate crimson.
"Hey," Draco replied, calculating her blushing countenance.
"Draco, look," Ginny started hesitantly, "About the whole love letter thing, all the tasks are 'completed' in the least. You don't have to worry about me telling anyone anymore."
"Never really did," Draco replied with an honest smirk.
Ginny's eyes threatened to furrow in anger before relaxing into a smile.
There was a new and unreadable emotion clouding over her eyes, Draco lost himself staring into them, trying to decipher it.
"Well," Ginny replied, looking nervous at his intensity, "I've got to get going."
"Right," Draco replied, taking a step away.
"Oh and Draco," Ginny called over her shoulder, "You better watch your back for that polyjuice potion stunt."
Draco grinned as her nearly black eyes gave him a wink and her smirking self disappeared up the steps.
"Oh no…" Dracogroaned to himself, turning and vanishing into the dungeons.
-
A large chunk of change clanked as a leather bag landed at Blaise's feet.
"200 galleons," Draco stated and, without a word more, humbly left the room.
Blaise just smiled, a knowing smile, because heunderstood that in the end, true love is always the ultimate retribution.
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I'm going to miss yall...
Review me, one last time? Please:-)