A/N: Sequel to Like Sight For a Seeker, and the 3rd in my Five Senses of D/G series. Just to clarify, anything that happened in the books prior to HBP (during which these are set), that's how it happened in my stories. But things that occurred within HBP are subject to change. Take the stories as they are and it should all make sense. And the characters belong to JKR, yada yada, lol. Sorry, AmelieFoy, this one is long!
Touched From Across The Room
by AHS
You should have the decency to at least be thinking about a boy as you're breaking up with him.
Ginny wasn't sure she could honestly say she had managed that. But Dean seemed all right. Though she had initiated the breakup conversation, it had ended up pretty mutual, with a couple rounds of "This isn't working, is it?", followed by the cliched yet genuine "Let's stay friends." But, as they shared a parting hug, her thoughts were on a different hug she'd shared recently... with Mr. Draco Malfoy.
The weirdest part of this... connection, if that was the right word... with him was how not weird it felt. She was even beginning to think that ferrets were actually really, really cute.
Her brothers may have called her boy-crazy quite a bit over the last couple of years, but they could never have guessed the way her love life would turn out... A boy she had liked, but it wasn't enough. A boy she was supposed to hate, but was finding herself increasingly drawn to. And, a boy she'd thought she might have loved, but no longer wanted, who was unfortunately choosing now to notice her.
Ginny had made the decision to break up with Dean as she'd walked across the Quidditch pitch, away from Draco. Not because she thought anything would or could come of their flirtation, but it had made clear to her that she was wasting Dean's time. Less than a week later, she hadn't even gotten a chance to enjoy being single... or find out if Draco had heard the news... before she had a new complication to deal with. Hermione had let it slip that Harry had feelings for her. And, judging by her friend's barely restrained excitement upon hearing of her being technically available again, Ginny knew in no time she would be playing matchmaker and encouraging Harry to make a move. She tried to tell Hermione not to, but could tell she just thought Ginny was nervous at the idea of realizing her girlhood crush. Truth was, she was just... over it.
Twice so far that week, Harry had come up and started awkward conversations with her, the second time managing a mention of the upcoming Slug Club party. On both occasions, she had tried to behave normally, before making up some lame excuse to escape. She didn't want to give him a chance to ask her to be his date. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, and considering that he was well aware of how she had felt about him, she didn't know how to explain that she no longer did.
And it's not like she could tell Harry... or Ron or Hermione... or anyone, really, about Draco. No chance would they understand. The only one who understood was...
Ginny had a brilliant idea just then that would never work in a million years. But, what the hell.
She happened to know that Slytherin was having Quidditch practice later that afternoon, so after her last lesson she ran outside to the pitch. Not in the mood to deal with smartarse remarks from the rest of the team, and not wanting him to have to deal with his friends' questions, she hid behind the stands, watching them play for a bit. She watched the green dot she knew was him fly so fast, following the Snitch, and wondered if he was thinking of their last conversation. Ginny was trying to figure out how she could get his attention when all of a sudden she could see Draco clearly, flying towards her, closer and closer.
Actually, he was still following the Snitch, which had zipped over near her hiding place. But she was able to catch his eye, and ear, before he could fly off again.
"Oi, Ketchup-Breath! I need to talk to you!" she half whispered, half shouted into the wind.
Draco somehow saw her even before he heard her. At first, he thought he must not have gotten enough sleep the night before and that he was imagining her... but "Ketchup-Breath" really wasn't what he would choose to have her call him in a fantasy. He looked quickly all around, checking on the location of the Snitch and whether or not his teammates were paying attention to his seemingly pointless stop in midair, and turned back to her.
"Can it wait until I'm on the ground?" he called back, kind of annoyed.
Oh really? She cocked her head and gave an overexaggerated nod. Then she gestured at the rows of empty seats, mouthing, "After. I'll wait."
At that, he raised an eyebrow... more suggestive than annoyed... and got barely halfway into the accompanying pervy smile before he zoomed off on his broom again.
About a half hour later, practice was over and Slytherins were filtering out of the changing rooms in two's and three's. She spotted Draco with a couple of them, leaving, and started to get pissed off. But then she saw him stop, say something to them, wave them away, and jog back towards her.
"Did you forget?" she asked, when he sat down next to her.
"No, I just had to pretend I got a sudden urge to run five miles. Most of them aren't that into physical exertion when there's nobody watching to impress. So..." He looked at her expectantly. "Why have I been summoned, Your Majesty?"
That was a new one. Thankfully, his latest nickname for her woke her up a bit, because she was a little lost in thought... thoughts like he was sweaty and she liked it, and how she was glad he didn't slick his hair back anymore, and how she bet if she touched him right now his skin would be hot... But, Her Majesty pulled herself together.
"I wanted to ask you..." Ginny began, but temporarily lost her nerve on the rest. "Um... how's your wrist?" There, that was a reasonable thing to ask.
"Oh. It's great. How did I... I mean, how did it look?"
"Just now, when you were playing? Great. You had some impressive maneuvers up there."
Draco's flying had gotten a little... fancier after she showed up. So, she did notice. He tried to imitate a look of modesty he'd seen once on a Hufflepuff. "Ah, that was nothing. But my wrist thanks you. I'm still expecting your bill."
Well, if you want to pay me back... "You know Professor Slughorn's next party is tomorrow night, right?"
He blinked at the seemingly abrupt change of topic. "Okay."
"Are you going?"
"I'm not one of his precious favorites," Draco reminded her, with mild contempt for the walrus of a Potions professor.
"But if you wanted to go... you could always go with someone who is," Ginny suggested, hoping he would take the hint. He did not.
"I guess I'll find out tomorrow if these stupid parties are worth the fuss over them. Blaise invited Pansy and me as his guests."
Ginny felt stupid. I forgot about her. "You and Pansy?"
"Yeah. I'm not that inclined to go to a party I've been deemed either too unimportant, or too evil, to attend. But I promised them."
Just hearing something like that, that he was keeping a promise to friends, made the falling through of her crazy idea sting all the more.
"So, I'll see you there, little Slug Princess."
"Right," she nodded, standing up to leave.
"Was that all you had to say?" Draco asked, a little confused. It had seemed like she had something big on her mind.
"Yeah, that was it," she said. Ginny took a few steps, and before she could reconsider, added this... "Oh, except to tell you it looks like I'll be going with your favourite person."
Draco froze at the emphasis she put on her last two words, and the sarcasm that laced them. He knew exactly who she was making a not so veiled reference to. One of his hands curled into a fist at his side.
"Yeah, Dean and I split, and Harry didn't waste any time. I wasn't sure I was going to say yes, but you know, what am I waiting for?"
All of a sudden, he felt he wanted to yell at her. He wanted to accuse her of lying to him when she'd told him her crush on Potter had faded. Instead, he just stood and faced her, quietly. "Well done. You finally got what you wanted." Then he walked quickly past, brushing slightly against her as he did.
"You would think so," she called out, almost angrily, though he gave no indication of having heard her. Her voice dropped to a frustrated whisper. "But you'd be wrong."
x
Despite what she had said to Draco, Ginny had no intention of going to the party with Harry. Not that she'd said anything to put him off, either. He just never managed to catch her alone again... She made sure of that.
The night of the party arrived, and Ginny walked in knowing she looked good. She had given up on dressing halfway between making Draco eat his heart out and not encouraging Harry's advances, and just gone for the first part. Her dress was red, with a skirt that moved with her and fell just above the knee, and a neckline that hinted to cleavage without revealing. She noticed the appreciative stares of several boys... and possibly a couple of professors... as she made her way inside, discreetly looking around for a head of white blond hair.
"Ginny! Oi!"
The voice belonged to her brother, Ron. He was sitting on a couch next to Hermione. Both were looking quite smarted up, but also nervous, perhaps because this was sort of their first date (finally!). Ron was waving Ginny over as if he'd just spotted a life raft.
"You look beautiful, Ginny," effused Hermione.
"Thank you, Hermione. So do you. Doesn't she, Ron?"
Ron blushed. "I told her she does. Didn't I?" he asked his date for corroboration.
"Actually, you only said, 'Cor,' but I knew what you meant." She kissed him on the cheek, and both smiled shyly and looked away.
Ginny found them adorable and was glad at least those two were getting it together. Somebody should. Besides, if they were busy with their own relationship, maybe they would forget about her and...
"Harry's over there!"
Or maybe not, thought Ginny, looking to where Hermione was pointing and seeing Harry in a small crowd of professors and supposedly important guests.
"He'll be right back. Slughorn grabbed him almost the second we got here," said Ron. "Kind of makes me glad I'm not in the Slug Club."
"You're enjoying the party, though, aren't you?" Hermione asked wryly, watching him stuff hors d'oeuvres into his mouth.
"Sure, yeah. Just that I wouldn't normally go to a party where I didn't rate an invite. But I promised you I would."
As Hermione stared at Ron and tried to decide whether or not to be upset at his "all for you" attitude when she well knew he'd been itching to go to one of these for weeks, Ginny kept hearing the echo of Draco's words in Ron's and thinking her brother would never believe he could think or feel anything similar to Malfoy.
As she thought this, something pulled her gaze to the doorway just as Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Draco Malfoy walked in. Wow, he looks good. Very sophisticated, and a little dangerous, all in black. She was reminded of how he had looked at the Quidditch World Cup of couple of years earlier. Even despising him as she had then, she had noticed.
"Great," she heard her brother mutter. "All our favourite people are here. Why is bloody Malfoy invited??"
"He and Pansy are Blaise's guests," she said without thinking, and then realized her friends were looking at her strangely. "I mean, I assume that's why. Um, I'm going to go rescue Harry."
After a small "excuse me" and listening to Slughorn playfully beg her not to unleash the Bat-Bogey on him, Ginny took Harry's arm, whispering something in his ear about Ron and Hermione needing him to stay close to take the pressure off them. As they walked arm in arm, she chanced a look towards the Slytherin corner and locked eyes with Draco. His were heated and angry, trying to be cold. She saw Pansy put a hand on his shoulder and turned her head away.
When they reached the couch, Ron was feeding Hermione some sort of biscuit, even sweetly brushing the crumbs from her mouth with his thumb.
"They seem to be doing all right," grinned Harry. "Why don't we leave them alone? You, um... want to dance, Ginny?"
"Sure," she answered Harry. And as he took her hand, it was Draco's touch she could feel from across the room. As Harry led her to where a few couples were dancing, she was sure Draco's gaze would burn right through her skin.
"You look really nice tonight," Harry told her, as he brought her into a slow dance. She was glad to see he had obviously loosened up a bit since his dance with Parvati at the Yule Ball. Still, the feel of the dance was pleasant at best. No electricity anywhere on her body... except where she felt those eyes on her back.
"Thanks." As they slowly turned, she found herself again looking at Draco. "You too," she said quietly, not sure who to.
Harry noticed finally that his dance partner was staring at something over his shoulder. Another half revolution and both were casting sideways glances at Draco, who was now ignoring them, talking and loudly laughing with his friends.
"Malfoy," Harry nearly growled. "What's he doing here?"
I understand why you don't like him, but he's not even doing anything now, except breathing. "He's got as much right to be here as Ron does, or anybody else's guest," Ginny said simply.
"I'm sorry he was bothering you. Just ignore him."
Ginny almost laughed, knowing that was one thing she was unable to do. They kept dancing. She started closing her eyes every time he was about to come into view. After another minute or so, she felt Harry bringing them to a stop.
"Ginny, I can't stop thinking about you lately. I want you to know I'm finally where you are, about us."
Before she could do much more than stammer in reply to this badly mistimed confession, Harry seemed to be leaning in. He was going to kiss her. Once her dream come true, now just a very bad idea. She found her eyes seeking Draco wildly, communicating something like, Help me.
Draco had been watching Ginny all night, though every third or so minute he did a good impression of not. He saw how amazing she looked in that dress, his favourite color. He saw it being wasted on her miserable excuse for a date. He saw her whisper in his ear, and the two of them dancing close, and didn't like it one bit. But he was handling it until he saw Potter was about to kiss her.
By the time Draco saw Ginny's eyes seemingly imploring him to take action, he already was. He was up out of his seat and taking long strides, very fast, so that he reached them before Harry's lips could quite claim contact with hers. Ginny was happy and relieved, until Draco spoke, and then she was just floored.
"Potter, keep your grubby lips off my date."
The party pretty much came to a halt at those words. The music kept going, but nearly all conversation stopped. Everyone was watching, intrigued, even the professors. Snape wore a look of, Oh this should be fun.
"What?" cried a disbelieving Harry. "Ginny's not your date, Malfoy!"
"And we all know that you are infallible, Chosen One," sighed Draco. "But I'm afraid that I am here as Miss Weasley's guest."
"No, you're not! You're Zabini's!"
Draco looked over his shoulder. "Blaise, did you invite me?"
Blaise didn't know what Draco was thinking, getting involved with the Weasley girl... or maybe he did - she was dead sexy in that dress... but he would certainly back up his friend against Potter.
"No, I invited my friend Pansy here. We thought you were just crashing, Draco."
Draco turned to Ginny. "What do you say, Miss Weasley? Am I crashing?"
She could see in his eyes that he had belatedly understood the invitation she had been hinting towards when they'd talked the day before. She smiled slowly, even as she looked around the room and saw all the faces with mouths hanging open. A few Slytherins and Gryffindors looked disgusted. She couldn't believe he was doing this... that they were.
"No," she said. "You're here with me." As she reached for his hand and threaded their fingers for all to see, she heard Hermione's gasp and her brother's sputtering outrage from across the room.
"Get your hands off my sister!" Ron yelled.
"I'm the one touching him!" Ginny yelled back. Ron started to run over, looking murderous, and she did her best to channel their mother. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, you calm down and stay there! STAY!"
He skidded to a stop. She was really scary when she did that. But he wouldn't give up. "He's got her under the Imperius Curse!" he shouted to the room.
"Now you're just being ridiculous! I am NOT under the Imperius Curse! Now, look... I know this must seem strange to you guys, but I am operating under my own free will. All I can say is that you really don't know everything you think you do. And, it's not really your business."
"That was brilliantly said," Draco told Ginny proudly, giving her hand an impressed squeeze.
"Why, thank you," she smiled, squeezing back.
"I must still be asleep, this is a nightmare... What about you?" Ron redirected frantically to Pansy Parkinson. "Aren't you going to do something?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." Pansy's mouth, vaguely twisted with displeasure, suddenly stretched out into a knowing grin. She turned to Blaise and held out her hand, palm to the sky. "Pay up, I win."
Draco laughed, surprised, but thinking that was Pansy for you. Everyone else, including Ginny, seemed beyond lost as Blaise slapped what looked like several Galleons into her hand.
"WHA-AAT??" cried Ron, convinced the world had gone mad. Hermione rubbed his neck sympathetically, hoping to soothe him.
Pansy giggled. "Please. Draco's been sneaking looks at her for years. Didn't anyone else notice?"
Ginny looked carefully at Draco, wondering if that was true. His eyes darted down like he was trying to replay the last few years in his mind to figure out the same thing.
"But he's your boyfriend!" Harry finally spoke up again. "Why are you being so calm about this? Why aren't you upset?"
"Because Draco is not my boyfriend, you silly people. Never really was. We've been dates for each other when we wanted one over the years, and we enjoy each other's company, but basically it was more like, I'm rich, pureblood, and fabulous... So are you... Let's form an alliance. But we are friends. I know no one thinks Slytherins have real friendships, but of course we do. We're all we have."
Pansy slinked up to Draco, Ginny, and Harry. She patted Draco on the cheek, somehow both condescending and affectionate. "You finally got what you wanted, hmm? And while I may find your taste extremely lacking," she said, gesturing to Ginny. "No offense, lamb."
Ginny nodded, strangely understanding that Pansy probably didn't mean to offend... she was just a natural at it.
"Be happy," Pansy finished to Draco. "But, whatever you do, don't be good."
He kissed Pansy on the cheek, not letting go of Ginny's hand. "Good? What's that?" he said with a wink. "Thanks, Pans."
Harry, Ron and Hermione were now in some kind of very animated huddle. Ginny eyed them warily, afraid they were formulating a plan of some sort to get her away from Draco and remove the number of spells he must have used on her.
"You two want to get out of here?" Pansy asked, seeing the same impending problem.
Draco and Ginny looked at each other and nodded.
"Okay, get ready. I'm going to confuse them all, all over again. Then you run."
Suddenly, Pansy shouted, "Well, I guess that makes this party an unofficial experiment in inter-House romance! I say let's make it official! Everybody, grab somebody from a different House! Slytherin and Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff! Mix it up! Professor Snape, I want to see you and McGonagall burn it up on the dance floor!"
Amazingly, most of the people listened to her. Well, not Snape and McGonagall. But everybody else started moving around and talking, even dancing. Neville Longbottom appeared extremely relieved that he had brought his Ravenclaw date, Luna Lovegood.
"Two Gryffindors together?" said Pansy, looking critically at Ron and Hermione, who stopped debating when exactly Ginny might have suffered a head injury long enough to put a possessive arm around each other. "Ah, it's a bit boring, but I suppose I'll make an exception!"
Pansy rubbed her hands together in excitement. "Slytherin and Gryffindor seems to be the so-wrong-it's-HOT combo for the evening, though! And, as this was all was my idea, I get my choice! I choose... Potter!"
Harry whipped around to face her, eyes wide. Once he realized she wasn't joking or plotting his further humiliation, he was more confused than ever. Then he saw Draco and Ginny running out of the party together and tried one last time to stop her.
"He's a Death Eater, Ginny! I know he is! He's a Dea-" A delicate but strong hand came over his mouth, muffling his words. He looked and saw Pansy smiling at him.
"How about this... you shut up, and I remove my hand? For a bonus, I'll even start calling you by your first name. Is that a deal... Harry?"
x
"What just happened?"
"I rescued you from a fate worse than death... getting snogged by Potter. Don't you remember?"
Draco and Ginny had run from the party, laughing, not really sure which of them was leading the way, until they ended up in the Astronomy Tower. The stars were amazing and gave them a plausible excuse to not look at each other just yet.
She rolled her eyes at the 'fate worse than death.' "Yeah, I remember that. And, thank you, but... I don't think that's all that happened."
"What else?"
"I think we just announced ourselves to the school as a couple."
He turned slowly, finally abandoning the sky, to face the questions in her eyes with those in his. "And that's crazy, right?"
"Pretty much."
"I mean, we're not even friends."
Ginny tilted her head, almost scolding. "Draco."
"You don't hate me anymore. That's nice. I don't hate you anymore, but apparently I never really did. I just want to know how in hell we got from where we were, to whatever this is, in three conversations?"
"I don't know."
Draco watched her looking disappointed that she had no answers to give him. He reached out, lightly grasping her waist and pulling her into him. She had taken her shoes off when they ran, so she was wonderfully petite in his arms. Ginny's look of surprise at his touch relaxed quickly as they began to sway to the faint sounds of the party's music floating out on the night air.
"Let's figure it out, then," said Draco.
Ginny nodded, cautiously looping her arms around his neck. There it was. The electric feeling, the sparks on her waist from where his fingers lay. Even with the barrier of her dress, they went completely through her, warming her inside and out. That didn't happen every day, did it?
Dancing while staring directly into his eyes was soon making her dizzy. She rested her head against his chest, right over his heart. She had doubted that heart's very existence, not believing in it any more than in the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Luna always went on about. But she knew it was real now, even without the beat beneath her cheek. So which of them was crazy? Maybe there was hope for the Snorkack yet.
"So, let's say we tried this couple thing," said Ginny, half into his shoulder, feeling him stop dancing and start again. "What happens tomorrow? You going to walk me to my lessons? Do we sit together at meals in the Great Hall? Do you really see sitting with Ron, Hermione, and Harry? Or me being accepted by the Slytherins? What about when one of your friends makes a nasty comment about me?"
"I get it, Ginny. It's a lot of questions. I can answer one... Anyone who insults you, you have my permission to hex them."
She could feel him smiling, though she couldn't see. "Your permission?"
"Well, I could beat them up, but I don't want to get in your way."
"Mm hmm. What about the rest?"
"The different House tables may not be a problem by tomorrow. Pansy's going to have everything turned upside down and inside out. And, horrifyingly, I think she'll probably be sitting with Potter from now on."
Ginny raised her head. "Are you serious? I thought she was just keeping Harry distracted."
"She's never really admitted anything, of course, but she did always say she wanted to marry a man whose last name started with 'P'... for the alliteration. Pansy Parkinson Potter. Ugh, she'd love that. And she gets what she wants."
Ginny giggled, thinking it actually sounded good. "I was glad, you know... that you two weren't really... " She sighed. "I was glad nobody had a claim on you."
"I believe I'm donating my brain to the National Wizarding Museum, but other than that... Ow!" She'd pinched the skin on his arm to get him to be serious. "All right, all right. I was glad... well, that I managed to prevent a particular nobody from making a claim on you with his lips. I'd almost feel bad, though, if it were anybody else. Poor bastard takes you to a party and gets chucked in the middle of it."
"Not really," said Ginny. "I'm sorry if you were all happy from thinking I dumped Harry for you in front of a bunch of people, but I didn't. I never agreed to go out with him. Did everything to avoid it, actually. I just let you think that... I guess to make you jealous, though that seems pretty silly. The dance was just..."
Draco stopped her explanations in the best way... He grabbed her face and kissed her.
Ginny's body froze at first, unable to believe this was really happening. But as his lips pressed to hers, she could feel sparks again... in every nerve ending throughout her body, all the way to her toes, which she found herself raising up on. Her arms tightened around his neck and her body melted against him, as her lips parted naturally and her mouth welcomed him in. He held her closer, a hand brushing over her hair, and they found their rhythm easily in a kiss both passionate and soft.
Draco knew he was a pretty fantastic kisser and was more than able to leave a girl a bit wonky as a result. But he himself had never felt anything like this. She tasted almost like... strawberries, but more intoxicating. Strawberries and champagne. And she felt like... everything he wanted.
When the kiss finally ended, both a little out of breath, Draco smiled and spoke first.
"Sorry. I was happy you weren't on a date with Potter."
Ginny smiled softly back. "Not sorry."
"Not sorry," he agreed. "Damn, we are good at that."
"Yes, I believe we are."
"Well, about all your questions... What's the point of me being rich, powerful, and better than everybody else, if I can't do what I damn well please?"
She laughed. "You know, you make a good point."
He picked her up this time, trying out a second kiss, and Ginny was happy. She still wasn't sure exactly what they were, how it happened, or if it could ever work. But she liked it. She liked him. She liked discovering him slowly. She liked the way he would touch her and she felt it beyond the skin.
"You know, you don't taste like ketchup, Ketchup-Breath."
"Disappointed?"
"Hmm... maybe a little."
"Come on, then, Sugar Shock. Race you to the kitchen."