And Roger? Yes, breaking up with him had hurt, but doing it in public was the most embarrassing. She hadn't wanted to admit it, she supposed, but looking back she could see that it had probably been for the best. She hadn't known he had that distaste in him. Even thinking about him talking about her family hurt. She felt defeated. She'd been with him for almost a year, and it felt like it'd really been for nothing. She knew part of that was her own fault, for holding him back, but she didn't know how not to.

She came to Blaise's door and stopped, hesitating before she knocked. She let her hand drop and looked down the hallway awkwardly. Well, maybe he's in the middle of a potion, I should just... She turned, heading back towards the front.

Blaise opened the door and smirked, leaning against the frame. "She lives! What does my mistress want from me?"

Ginny turned, her hands clutched behind her back. "I- I was wondering if you've heard any of the talk of the festival happening on All Hallow's Eve?"

He rolled his eyes. "I think the question is 'who hasn't'? The way they've been advertising around here you'd have to be blind or stupid not to." He paused and looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

She swallowed. "Well, a woman who's representing the town owled me wondering if we were doing anything. With all the planning and what not, I kind of put it off. Until the last minute, and now that it's getting closer, I keep thinking that we'd better do something. Get our name out there. Make some connections? Isn't that the smart business-type thing to do? Advertise? Maybe we should do something for it too. For the kids. Hook them when they're young?"

Blaise narrowed his eyes. "Yes, because the little brats will be concerned about their health care."

"No, but who would you rather go to? The sterile, white walls of St. Mungo's, or the welcoming, homey walls of Healing Hands. You know, the place you went where they gave you candy and told you how cute you are?" She rose an eyebrow. "Sneaky, right? Get the kids to want to come here, we'll get the parents to want to come here too."

She smiled, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. "I learned about business from the twins, after all."

He huffed. "Fine. If you want to do this, then fine. You'll need a list of what the other vendors are doing. It'll look unoriginal if you have the same thing as everyone else. Who was your contact?"

"Tracey Davis. She hinted she knew we'd gone into business with each other. I have no idea who she heard we got a premises from. I didn't tell anyone. Did you talk to anyone about us?"

Blaise snorted. Of course she would be doing the planning for this.

"Tracey knows because she's practically my little sister, and equally, if not more, annoying than one. That's how she knew. I check up on her and we have chats. She also likes to get me drunk and put me in her mother's cocktail dresses. Thank Merlin I was not a Gryffindor. Red is not my color."

He shook his head. "Right, so think of what you want to do for... whatever, and then let me know. I'll make sure no one else is doing the same thing and then I'll let Trace know."

She let her hands drop as she pushed away from the wall. "How am I supposed to know what we're doing? I was the one who decided we're doing it! That's at least half the work. I think you should decide what we're actually going to do. You're probably good with that type of thing. What would draw lots of people to us and give us a good reputation for being friendly?" She smiled at him winningly.

"You're asking a Slytherin and a Zabini on how to have a good repuation for being friendly." His eyebrow arched. "Feeling alright?"

She straightened. "I'm fine." She set her jaw. "I just thought you'd want to have a say since this place is half yours. It's nothing. I'll figure it out." She shook her head, glaring as she started down the hallway to her office. Stupid. Stupid.

He laughed. "What, did you honestly expect me to dress up for the kiddies or something?" When she turned around and gave him a look, he lost all the laughter in his face. "Oh hell no. I am <i>not</i> dressing up for those little brats. You may have convinced me to get in a giant cauldron and teach you how to dance, but I put my foot down at this."

She stalked towards him, suddenly not so much embarrassed as angry. "Listen, Zabini, this is half yours. If I dress up in costume, so do you. If I tell all the little kids how cute they are and give them candy, then so do you. I believe it's in our contract. If we want more than 2 patients per day, then we need to get our name out there. We need to make people like us. I know this is hard for you and yours to understand, but having people like us is a good thing. It's something we need." She thrust a finger into his chest. "I believe after the dinner we had, you owe me something. I'm taking payment in the form of a costume."

It was a low blow, bringing up the dinner and what had happened, trying to guilt him into doing something, but she wasn't above using a little guilt to get her way. Besides, it was partly true.

His eyebrows slowly rose. "I owe you for having you over for dinner, letting you swim in my pool, wear my clothes, and letting you play my piano? What demented planet are you from?"

She took a step towards him, poking him in the chest again. "You owe me because it was your clothes I was wearing and you conned me into playing that piano because I was drunk and you knew I would. You took advantage of my state of mind, or lack thereof." She poked him in the chest once more. "Besides that, I have your clothes at home and you'll never see them again if you don't do this."

"You think you holding some of my clothes is enough to make me dress up? Besides, Slytherin!" he shouted. "Don't try to make me feel guilty. I don't have a heart, so it won't work."

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, what would work? We're doing this. You need to be there. In costume. So where does this leave us?" She rose a defiant eyebrow at him. "I'm not going to let up on this. I will hound you until you give into me."

"You are so very irritating," Blaise said, mimicking her pose by crossing his arms. "And what costume are you going to have? Are you going to dress up as a sexy nurse? Then you won't be able to keep the parents away."

"Yes, because sexy nurse just screams 'Please bring your kids into our clinic. We're very friendly.'" She glared at him. "I'll find something suitable for children. As will you." She used her voice that said she wasn't going to allow any fight on the issue.

"Alright, it's bad enough you're making me dress up, but now I have to actually have a suitable costume? Oh come on, you are taking the fun right out of the night."

"This night isn't about fun! This night is about building a client base so this business doesn't crash to the ground." Well, that's a little over-dramatic, don't you think? "Listen, I just need you to do this for me. Please. Please?"

"You have a puppy dog face," Blaise deadpanned. "I can't believe you, of all people, have a soddin' puppy dog face. Stop it. Right now." He turned to go back into his lab while shaking his head.

Ginny had an evil grin on her face before she rushed to catch up with him, plastering a frown on her face as she grabbed his arm and pulled on it. "Please? Really, we need to do this. It's nothing big. It's just a costume. Just a few hours talking with prospective clients. Please?"

Blaise glared at her for a few moments, but it wasn't until her bottom lip went out just a bit that he sighed. "Merlin, I hate you. Just stop it. Now I need to go find some puppies to kick. Fine, I'll do it."

She tried her best to look relieved, and not victorious. "Thank you. Really. It'll be good for us." She smiled thankfully at him before turning, a smirk crossing her features when her back was turn. So, guilt didn't work on Blaise Zabini and neither did anger. But crying? Crying worked on him.


Summary: Ginny uses her powers of persuasion to convince/force/guilt Blaise into wearing a costume for the kids.