RP: The Scoop Who: Ginny and Blaise What: Ginny has brought Blaise the scoop. When: 12 December 2026 [Backdated] Where: The Daily Prophet Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete
The rumors had been abundant, and even though Ginny had always casually hated the column, she did want the paper to be successful, and the Birdie definitely drew readers in. And, well, she knew that little appealed to nosy readers more than Harry Potter's love life. She'd tolerated things about her and Harry being in the column when it had been part of the paper years ago, and she would do so again now. In fact, she rather thought it might help to get the news of their separation out in a tremendously big way so that it would blow over sooner rather than later.
It was all on her mind, how she would broach the subject with him and what boundaries she might attempt to set, as she made her way through the building to see if he was still there. Although it was late, she knew he was often the last to leave, so she wasn't surprised when she spotted the light on through the crack where the door was slightly ajar. He must not be working on anything for his eyes only.
Ginny rapped her knuckles on the door three times before nudging it open. "Hey, bossman. Got a minute?" she asked, leaning one shoulder against the frame, her opposite hip cocked out with a hand on it.
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It was late, but not terribly late as far as one of his late nights went. His jacket was on the back of the chair, though, and his shirt sleeves rolled partway up his arms in a more relaxed manner as he reviewed the last few articles he needed to go over before he gave final approval. A lot of things he trusted to his section chiefs and such, but a few things he liked to double check or review.
He looked up at the quiet knock. He kept an open door policy with employees most of the time, and they knew, or should, that they could come to him with anything at any time. It was one way he tried to keep things running smoothly here at the Prophet. He smiled when he saw Ginny at his door and beckoned her in with a gesture, setting what he was working on off to the side so he could give her his attention.
"For you, certainly," he said, gesturing for her to take a seat and get comfortable.
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Well if that wasn't a response to make a woman feel welcome, though really, Blaise had always had that charm about him when he had a mind to. Ginny smiled back at him as she stepped into his office, closing the door discreetly behind her. One never knew who might still be lurking, after all.
"Rumor has it the Birdie is making a comeback," she said at first, seeing no point in beating around the bush. "Care to confirm?" Her smile took on the edge of a smirk.
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He laced his long fingers casually together on top of the desk, and one corner of his mouth lifted higher than the other when she asked her question in typical blunt Ginny manner. They'd worked together a while, and he was comfortable with her now though at first things had not been the smoothest they could have been. He gave a soft chuckle before leaning back and rapping knuckles softly on the desk, activating a subtle spell around his office to protect the privacy of this conversation.
"You may have heard the truth," he conceded. She was high enough up in the paper to be privy to the fact he was resurrecting the column now that he had someone he thought could live up to his previous birdie. However, just as before, the identity of the birdie would be strictly protected, with only a couple of people in the know about it so as to give enough protection to keep them safe. "Why, here to protest? I know the column wasn't your favorite."
Granted, she had never tried to skin him alive over it before, though she also hadn't played into it like some celebrities had. But it was a wildly popular column, and the sales could use a bit of a boost.
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Right, she wouldn't have come to him about it if she hadn't heard the rumors from people who were likely to know. She'd always been pretty damn good at finding things out that she wasn't supposed to know, though. "I thought as much," she confirmed, her eyes brightening a bit at having been right.
"Certainly not. I hated it, but I know as well as you what sells." And Blaise ran a profitable paper. She wouldn't begrudge it, though she did hope the Birdie would be better at fluffing the stories up more this time around. The previous run had hit a little closer to the truth than was comfortable at times. And she did hate to see people hurt by it.
"I'm actually here to find out if you've got your opening scoop for it yet. The Birdie should have to work for their gossip, but we both know how valuable that opening scoop is to the future of the column." And she'd put twenty years into the Daily Prophet. She wanted it to succeed probably almost as much as he did.
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"Paper sells, we all profit," he agreed easily, a little bit of a smirk playing on his lips as he played with words. He'd kept up with the times rather well, too, so unlike some other papers and such, his was still doing well and staying relevent.
One shoulder raised in an easy half shrug. "We're still batting around ideas and making queries to see what might make the best splash to announce its return," he admitted. "If we're lucky, a delicious scandal will come to our attention any day now."
His head tilted slightly as he regarded her though. He thought, perhaps, she was coming bearing gifts if he was reading her correctly.
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As he spoke, Ginny crossed the room to sit in the chair across from his desk, crossing one leg over the other. "I'm not surprised. There are so many avenues that could be taken with it." A part of her wanted to make him ask for it, especially with that look he gave her then. The man was astute--she would give him that.
"It just so happens I might have that something you're looking for." She paused and moistened her lips, considering how to proceed. "I would need absolute anonymity, though. It's just one of those things that will be easier the bigger it comes out and quicker it blows over." She was certain he would understand that.
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He hmmmed, a deep sound in his throat as he regarded her thoughtfully. "Do you now," he murmured, giving a tiny nod as if affirming something in his own mind. He had. He'd known something was up with Ginny Weasley Potter, but though of course he always died of curiosity, he'd long learned the advantages of not prying until he thought it was prudent.
"Well, I do know how to keep a secret," he said, flashing a quick, white grin. "Dare I finally get to know what's been going on with you and your illustrious husband, then?"
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Ginny had, she rather thought, become quite adept at hiding those things from her personal life that were prudent to hide from her professional life. That didn't mean she hadn't expected her boss to pick up on some of it at least. She hummed softly in confirmation that she did, indeed, have a scoop for him.
"I suppose you do." She paused only a breath, thinking for a moment how strange it was to be saying it out loud to someone not in the family. "Harry and I have separated." They'd not yet discussed divorce, but it really was only a matter of time, wasn't it? He'd left, after all--moved to Hogwarts full time--and they rarely even spoke anymore. It was strange and heartbreaking and freeing all at once, and she was still sorting out how she felt about it all.
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Blaise was very, very observant. As well as having his little birdies everywhere, which he'd always utilized to get ahead at work and personally. Unlike many, though, he wasn't generally cruel about it all.
"My sympathies, " he murmured. Many would still be surprised at his attitudes, but she probably wouldn't. "Have you been holding up?" He asked. His employee before the story.
Then, of course, his curiosity asked the next question. "What happened?"
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Giving him a tight-lipped smile at that, nodding her head slightly to one side briefly. "Thank you. I've been... fine, really. It's been a long time coming." Even as hard as it was to admit as much. They really had been drifting apart for a long time. "We've just been drifting apart for a few years, and after Lily finished at Hogwarts, things just sort of... came to a head this summer. Harry decided to move to Hogwarts. I'm really not sure what will come next, but it does seem rather... permanent." Which hurt, yes, but perhaps not as much as it should.
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"Too bad for you," Blaise said, "but I've always known you could do better than precious Potter." He didn't say it with any particular venom or even sarcasm. Just as if it were some sort of fact of life that Potter just wasn't all that. Oh, he had saved the world, but that didn't mean he was a great person. He'd never been particularly impressed.
"I must admit this would make a great blow up piece, and you're probably correct that it will blow over quickly if it is exploded loudly. Are there any details I should sprinkle liberally through the piece or should my wee little birdie just use their imagination?"
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Meticulously manicured eyebrows rose at that. Had he really thought that all these years? It was a wonder he'd never said anything. Not that she'd have listened, but it was a bit of a boost in quite a shallow way that he would think so. "Well, we had a damn good run of things, anyway." Regardless of her own resentment toward her husband, she did indeed love the life they'd shared together. Or, most of it, anyway.
"There were no affairs," she answered simply. At least, as far as she knew, and honestly, she would have had a lot of trouble believing it if someone told her Harry had cheated on her. It simply wasn't in him, she believed. "Other than that, I think you should let your birdie use their imagination. You know I don't mind liberties taken to fluff up the gossip. I prefer it, even; it makes it easier to laugh at." She was sure he knew it well, too.
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He rolled his wrist in a wave that conceded her good run. "Well you did get some lovely children out of it," he said. Of course he didn't know them very well outside of reputation, but he knew that was likely how she felt and, having had his nephew for years to watch over, he knew hw that likely felt in any case, despite not having any children of his own.
He smirked faintly. "Then I shall tell them that." His smirk grew more. "Does this mean I can do more than just tease you now?" He teased, unable to resist his urge to poke, just a little.
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Ginny bit her tongue to hold back a sigh at that. Yes, she loved her children dearly, but she couldn't deny some disappointment in some of their decisions. It wasn't something she would air out in a meeting about gossip for the Birdie, though. "We did, indeed," she agreed instead, hoping there was no tightness in her lips and eyes at it to betray that little bit of disappointment.
The smile was rather automatic, though she did try to hold it back some. "Please, Blaise, you'll flirt with anyone with a pretty face. We all know that," she teased him back, thinking that this really was more of the same there. She wouldn't even know what to think about anyone being interested in more than a little flirting with her, as she'd navigated that plenty of times throughout her years as Harry Potter's wife.
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He caught only a little of it, and if he thought on it later as he probably would, he'd be able to extrapolate at least some of the meaning behind what little he glimpsed. But he wasn't a stupid man - there was no way he'd directly drag that sort of thing into the gossip column. He could only assume that Ginny still used a mean bat-bogey hex, and he did not feel like having his nose hurt for the next week.
"Yes, but I haven't had the pleasure of flirting with your pretty face since we were in school," he pointed out with a grin. "And I'm not sure you knew I was flirting with you back then." It really had been a pity that she'd been in a year below them.
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Ginny Weasley-Potter was not a woman who flustered easily, and yet, there was something about the way he said that, so nonchalantly, as though of course he'd flirted with her in school, that flustered her more than she wanted to admit. Probably in large part because he was Blaise Zabini, enigmatic bachelor. "Well, we were in the middle of a war, after all," she retorted dryly, far easier to focus on that than the possibility that he might have seriously flirted with her at some point in the past without her having realized it. But then, after her fifth year, she really had only had eyes for Harry.
It was probably going to take a lot more time (and perhaps a bit of alcohol) to get used to anyone flirting with her with any seriousness.
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"Yes, well, life continued regardless, and you were one of the prettiest and most vivacious girls at Hogwarts," he said easily. "Plus I was a teenaged boy." The smile was charming and self depreciating.
"But anyway, do you want to review the proof before it's published? I can only offer you limited suggestions once it is written, of course. Or you can go in blind, the better to be surprised with and give you plausible deniability."
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It wasn't that she was lacking confidence, but really, would it ever be disappointing to hear such compliments? "Indeed," she agreed, amused.
Ginny was about to answer, but he continued, so she paused, then nodded. "Yes, that. I trust that you won't let the Birdie go too inflammatory and that they'll keep things speculative. You know what you're doing, Blaise," she pointed out, her smile bringing out the dimples in her cheeks.
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"I'll do my best," he said, the next best thing to a promise. Besides, he really didn't feel like looking for a new sports editor right now. He liked Ginny and wanted to keep her on. And yes, probably flirt with her some more. It would be fun.
"Now, I would love to know Potter's reaction, but do try to keep him from stomping in here. I'd hate to embarrass the savior of the Wizarding world."
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That really was all she could ask. There would always be a risk in doing something like this, but hopefully it would have the desired outcome, and everyone would be over it quickly.
His words earned him a soft snort of amusement. "Hardly. I can't warn him, else he realize that I've tipped you off about it all. Let me know the firm publish date, and I'll be sure to sort it out before he can do anything rash." It would take some extra thinking to figure out how to smooth over whatever Harry might feel at this hitting the gossip, but she would do it. She'd been doing some form of it for over twenty-five years, after all.
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"Beauty soothes the savage temper," he murmured teasingly as he rose and came around the desk, leaning on the corner casually. "Seriously though, Weasley, he's crazy to just let things go. I'm totally up for embarrassing him if you'd rather." The offer wasn't really a joke, an actual mild offer of revenge, should she like to take it.
"If not like this, I'd be happy to have you come be brilliant with me some time and show him what he's lost. I can even uninvite him to the new years party." His yearly shindig was even more famous now than it had been years ago.
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That brought out that little smirk again, and she tilted her head as if to say: well, we should use what we've got. The thing of it was, though, that she just didn't feel enough about the situation to want even that mild sort of revenge. The fact that relief and freedom were her prevailing emotions about Harry leaving really said a lot. "I'm not sure he needs embarrassing. I'm happy, honestly, though still unsure what I'll be doing with this newfound freedom."
It wasn't as though he was asking her on a real date--it was just about giving her the opportunity to embarrass Harry a bit. "Oh, you needn't do that. I honestly doubt he'll show this year, anyway." Her eyes brightened mischievously then, though. "I will definitely be attending, though. I've not yet found the right dress, but I do think it should have a certain wow factor, especially if the Birdie will be returning before then." She was still unsure of the timeline, after all.
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"Go a bit wild," Blaise recommended. "It makes for better headlines." He winked to show that he was teasing - mostly, anyway.
"I think I can safely guarantee a certain wow factor will be noticed and appreciated," he told her. "Unless something happens in the meantime, you can also provide a follow up article by then."
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That teased a laugh from the redhead, and she shook her head, immensely amused. "It does, indeed." She felt a bit old sometimes to even think about making headlines in that way, though that was silly. She wasn't even middle-aged by wizarding standards, but having grown children would have that effect, she supposed.
"Would it, now?" she asked, the flirtatious note in her voice surprising herself just a bit. "I'll consider a follow up article. I'm not sure it'll be necessary. Besides, it could be more fun to just let people speculate."
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"Well, that is birdies primary job description, speculation. Never hurts to feed the birds from time to time though." It was a badly kept secret that Blaise enjoyed stirring the pot at times, finding a perverse sense of glee from seeing what happened. He often did it Bout himself just for the chuckle. It wasn't as if he hadn't cultivated the reputation he had.
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"But of course," she agreed, grinning again. And then, uncrossing her legs, Ginny stood up and moved around the chair she'd sat in, getting a bit in his personal space to do so. "Good night, Blaise. Don't let her--" his Mistress, "--keep you up too late," she teased lightly.
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Blaise gave a warm chuckle and a small bow towards Ginny. "Oh, she probably won't tonight," he replied easily. It was a long standing thing that the Prophet was his true one and only, especially given how he was still a bachelor after all this time. "Good night, Ginny. Rest easy tonight."