Man in the greensweater
Chapter One
Looking out of the dusty, bedroom window, Ginny sighed.
It was a cloudy morning at the burrow and she knew that the next day wouldn't be any different.
"Well at least I won't have to do any chores tomorrow, since I'm going back to Hogwarts."
As she plopped down onto her bed, an angry voice screamed up the stairs.
"GINNY! COME DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT AND CLEAN UP THESE DUNG BOMBS!"
"Oh, damn!"
Getting up and running to her door, she swung it open to find, (to her horror,) a gut wrenching smell right outside of her door.
"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, as Ginny walked into the kitchen.
"What were you thinking?!" Mrs. Weasley asked, placing her hands on her hips, and giving Ginny "The Look". Something that Ginny had inherited from her.
"I'm sorry mum… I was playing with Crookshanks." Ginny answered, wincing.
Rolling her eyes, Mrs. Weasley continued,
"I want you to clean this whole entire kitchen! And you can't ask Fred or George for any help!"
Ginny's mouth fell open. "WHAT? And how am I supposed to do that?! I can't clean this place without any magic!"
Mrs. Weasley's eyes narrowed. "Well then, you'll just have to figure that out!" She said walking out of the kitchen. And with those last words, Ginny thought that she had found a loop hole until,
"And by yourself!" Mrs. Weasley said, stopping at the kitchen doors.
Ginny grimaced as her mother walked out, closing the doors behind her.
Stomping over to the storage cupboard, Ginny opened the doors, grabbed a sponge, some magic air freshener, and got to work.
...
Chapter Two
The next morning, Ginny woke up early. Sitting up, she yawned, and stretched. She squinted over at her window through sleepy eyes. Yawning once again, Ginny got out of bed, and began to get dressed.
When she was through, she tiptoed into the kitchen and began to make breakfast.
A while later, the rest of the family got up.
"All right, Ron? Did you pack your new robe?" Mrs. Weasley shouted behind a pile of sandwiches.
"Yeah mum, I got it!" Ron shouted back.
"Okay bye mum, we've got to go to work and ready the shop for the little midgets." Fred said, kissing Mrs. Weasley on the cheek.
"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley said, very disheveled looking. "You're leaving now? But I haven't fixed your sandwiches yet! You'll go to work hungry?"
"No of course not mum!" George said, rolling his eyes.
"We'll have Verity at the shop buy us breakfast from a pub."
Mrs. Weasley muttered a goodbye as Fred and George waved to everybody and disaperated.
"Harry? Have you seen my green hat anywhere?" Ginny asked the bespectacled, dark haired boy.
"Sorry Ginny, I don't know. You could look in Fred and George's old room." Harry said quickly, then looking up at Ron, asked "Hey, Ron?"
Peering at Harry from behind a roast beef sandwich, Ron swallowed. "Yeah Harry?"
"Have you seen my Decoy Detonator? Fred gave me about five but I'm missing one… I think I lost it when we followed Malfoy-" Harry stopped talking and glanced over at Ginny to see if she was listening.
Quickly looking away and pretending to busy herself in packing a sandwich, Ginny strained her ears to try and hear what Harry and Ron were saying.
Slowly looking back at Ron, Harry continued in a low voice "…When we followed Malfoy."
Ron grimaced, obviously trying to remember. "I dunno Harry… Maybe. Did you check Hermione's room?"
"I think so…" Harry frowned. "Well maybe it's in-"
"ALL RIGHT! I HAVE THE SANDWICHES READY, AND IF EVRYONE IS NOT READY IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES, WE ARE LEAVING WITH OUT YOU!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, hurriedly placing the last sandwich into a paper bag.
The next ten minutes were absolute chaos. But after everybody had packed. They packed all of the trunks into the car, and everyone was squeezed into the six seated car, they were off.
...
Platform 9
"Okay! Who's first?" Mrs. Weasley asked hurriedly. But before anybody could even raise a hand, Mrs. Weasley went on. "Alright! Harry, you and Ron, Hermione, and then Ginny! Go!"
Harry and Ron both walked toward the magical entrance to platform nine and three quarters, leaned up against the wall, chatting about nothing, then slowly backed into the wall, and disappeared.
"Hermione you next!" Mrs. Weasley shouted staring up at the giant clock.
And like Harry and Ron, Hermione slowly walked towards the entrance, leaned up against the stone wall, and slowly melted into it, leaving only Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.
But before Ginny could get the thumbs up from Mrs. Weasley,
Mrs. Weasley shrieked, looking down at her watch and said "Oh my goodness! Ginny dear, I have to leave, it's about time for your father to be getting up for work, and I haven't made his breakfast yet!"
So with that, Mrs. Weasley gave Ginny a kiss on the cheek, said goodbye, and disaperated, leaving Ginny behind alone.
Shrugging, Ginny started to make a run for the wall when-
CRASH!
She ran into, (what she found out only a moment later, by taking a good look at who she had crashed into,) a fellow student.
Blaze Zibbini to be exact.
Ginny stomach lurched. Apart from Draco Malfoy, Blaze was one of the meanest Slytherins that she had ever met.
Shaking, Ginny started to try and help Blaze up, "I'm so sorry Blaze! I-I-I didn't mean to!"
The black boy glared up at her through dark brown eyes.
"You're sorry… are you?" He muttered. "Oh… you're going to be sorry… Weasley."
Ginny's eyes widened. "Wow!" She thought. "This guy is nuts!"
Slapping her hand away, Blaze got up, and started to pick up his things.
Biting her lip, Ginny asked, "Do you need my help?"
Placing the last of his possessions onto his trolley, he turned around very slowly.
"No… I don't think so. Besides…" He continued. "Why would I need help from a Blood Traitor?! You're just as bad as the Muddbloods!"
Ginny felt her cheeks go pink. Muddblood was about the foulest thing a fellow wizard could say to another wizard.
"Now if you could be so kind as to moving?" Blaze asked.
Ginny quickly jumped out of the way.
Blaze coolly walked into the wall, and disappeared.
And after a moment of glaring at the place where Blaze had just disappeared, Ginny started to pick up her things.
...
When she finally got through the wall, Ginny headed straight for the train. Along the way, she caught site of Blaze glaring after her.
Speeding up her trolley, Ginny started to look for a sign of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. When she couldn't find them on the platform, she guessed that they were already on the train.
And when Ginny couldn't find the conductor so he could help her get her things onto the train, Ginny simply gave up and walked over to the door that lead to the storage compartments.
Slamming the last of her luggage into one of the half empty shelves, Ginny felt a tap on her shoulder. Thinking that it was Hermione come looking for her, she grinned. Turning around, expecting to see Hermione's large toothed smile in her face. What she wasn't expecting to find, was a lit wand pointed at her face.
"Told you you'd be sorry." Blaze said sneering.
And before Ginny could pull out her wand, Blaze shouted, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
And Ginny felt her body seize up, and crumple from under her.
Blaze pulled a long piece of silk out of his back pocket.
A moment later, Ginny realized that it was an Invisibility Cloak, as he draped it over her body.
Snickering, Blaze bent down to pick Ginny up.
"Bloody hell!" Blaze grunted. "What do you eat?'
If Ginny had been able to curse she would have called him a number of colorful words that she had picked up from Fred and George when she was little.
Ginny tried and tried to shout, to scream, move. But she couldn't. Unfortunately Blaze was one of the top students in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so the hex was strong.
As blaze carried her through the hall, down the train, Ginny's heart sank. Blaze looked pretty ridiculous walking through the train. But nobody paid him any mind. They were all to busy looking for good seats.
When Blaze finally came to a stop in front of an empty Prefect's compartment and with his foot, unlocked the latch, opening the door.
Walking into the compartment, Blaze walked over to a seat, and dumped Ginny onto it.
Ginny winced as Blaze closed the door, and the blinds so that nobody could see what was happening to her.
Walking back over to where Ginny lay invisible, Blaze scooted his hands underneath her, and hosted her up into the luggage shelf.
Scooting her back as far as she could go, Blaze jumped back down.
"See you later Weasley… Or… Not." Blaze said smirking.
Ginny's eyes widened in fear.
Laughing, Blaze strutted out into the hallway, and closed the door.
Ginny heard the lock click.
After five minutes of trying to scream for help, Ginny tried to reach for her wand, but failed to do so. The hex was still to strong.
Ginny Weasley wasn't one of those girls who cried a lot when things got tuff… But at that moment, she felt hot tears well up in her eyes, then they spilled over.
Ginny was just about to try and scream again, when she heard somebody from outside trying to open the door.
Her heart skipped. Perhaps it was Harry?
Then she heard what sounded like two voices arguing. One was a cold voice, the other one was high and irritating.
She heard the cold voice mutter a couple of swear words, as the handle of the compartment door jiggled.
Ginny felt her insides turn to ice. That cold voice could only belong to one person, and one person only.
"Alohomora!" Malfoy said from behind the door. Ginny heard the lock click, and the door slid open.
Chapter Three
Malfoy walked into the compartment, and turned to Pansy Parkinson's high pitched wails.
"But Draco! You can't brake up with me! We're meant for each other!" Pansy wined.
Ginny rolled her eyes, and saw that Draco had done the same.
"Please Pansy…" Draco drawled. "'We're meant for each other'? Yeah, I'm really meant to be with a rumor spreading, gossipy, stuck up, cow."
Ginny stifled a giggle. Then remembered that she didn't have to.
Pansy's eyes were now filled with tears.
"Fine! But I'm going to tell Daddy about this!" She huffed.
Draco smirked. "Yeah… You go and run to Daddy, like I really care!"
And with that, Draco slammed the door right in Pansy's stunned face.
...
Things that should not have been seen
Ginny watched, as Draco locked the door, walked over to the shelf opposite her, and jammed his luggage onto it. Then sitting down, Draco placed his head into his hands and sighed.
Ginny had much hatred toward Malfoy, but at that moment, she wanted to give him a high five, and congratulate him on his successful brake up with that (as he called her. And Ginny agrees) cow.
Ginny was about to try and get Malfoy's attention, when she heard a sound coming from Malfoy that she never in her wildest dreams ever imagine that she would hear.
Sobs.
Malfoy was actually crying! She stared down in disbelief at the shaking Malfoy.
Yep. He was crying alright.
She watched as his shoulders shook up and down. And the sobbing continued.
At first all Ginny felt was disgust… Because… I mean, really after all this was Malfoy we were talking about!
However… After really looking at Malfoy, she felt bad. Because she understood why he was crying.
He wasn't sad that he had dumped Pansy. He was happy!
Those were tears of joy!
And sure enough a moment later, Malfoy threw his head back, laughing.
Ginny watched Malfoy laugh as if she had never heard him laugh before.
Although Ginny had heard Malfoy laugh before, the reason Ginny was so fascinated with this new laugh was because… this was a laugh! A real laugh! Not a cold, cruel, or mirthless laugh.
A laugh like any other happy person would have.
"Any normal person would have." Ginny thought.
And after a few minutes of Malfoy laughing, he finally got a hold of himself and leaned back in his seat, resting his head on the Headrest.
Still chuckling to himself.
Ginny tried to make herself more comfortable for the long trip to school, but the hex still hadn't warn off, so she still couldn't move an inch.
After about ten minutes, Ginny became so bored that she tried to entertain herself with the only thing present…
Malfoy.
For almost the whole trip there, Ginny just watched Malfoy.
He didn't do any thing that interesting.
He had gotten up to buy some liquorish snaps from the old woman with the sweets trolley.
(Which made Ginny realize how hungry she was.
But things only started to get interesting after she heard the invisible voice of the train's conductor saying, "Hello students…"
The conductor's wheezy voice said through the speakers into the compartment. "We're about three miles from Hogwarts school and I would advice you to- (hack!) to be ready and get dressed properly for school. (cough!) And if anybody has any questions… (sniff) they can uh… They can come up to the front and just ask me… Oh and have a nice trip!"
Ginny's stomach did a few flip flops.
They were more than half way there and she was still hexed!
Ginny tried to think up a couple of the good swear words that Fred and George had taught her, but stopped when she saw movement below her.
Malfoy had gotten up, and was pulling down the luggage that he'd brought with him.
Ginny's mind began to spin.
What was Malfoy going to pull out of that suit case?
Did it have something to do with the reason why Ron, Harry, and Hermione had been following Malfoy?
But before Ginny could think up a number of dark items that Malfoy could have stuffed in that case, she realized the real reason for Malfoy having taken down that suit case.
Her eyes bulged out of her head. And she began to try and move the little amount of distance that she could, off the shelf.
Because the next thing she knew was that, Malfoy was unbuttoning his coat, and then his black dress shirt.
"Bloody hell!" Ginny thought, as she watched Malfoy toss his coat and dress shirt onto the seat besides his suitcase.
Ginny laid there praying that Blaze's hex would ware off completely, so that she could make a run for it.
Suddenly, Ginny's stomach felt as though it had turned to ice, as she realized that, the entire time that she had been having her mental brake down, she had been gawking at Malfoy's bare chest.
And for one crazy moment, Ginny even wondered if Malfoy worked out, as she watched the muscles on his arms and back ripple at every movement.
"Merlin's pants!" Ginny thought. "I've gone bonkers! What am thinking?"
"And speaking of pants…"
Glancing down, Ginny prayed that Malfoy had already changed into his formal black ones before he'd gotten onto the train.
And thanking the heavens that he had, she quickly started to try and gasp out a plea for help to him.
Opening and closing her mouth like a gold fish, Ginny's eyes fixed on Malfoy.
All the while, her thoughts were getting more and more affectionate towards the teenage boy with the pale, pointed face, and the white-blonde hair.
Finally able to move a bit, Ginny shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts that had been making there way into her mind.
Pulling on the school uniform dress shirt, and the handsome set of dark green robes, Malfoy folded up his clothes, and placed them into his suitcase, shutting the lid tight, and locking it.
Standing up straight, Malfoy looked around, obviously searching for something.
"Now where did that bloody thing go?!" He said, looking very annoyed.
"This is my last chance!" Ginny thought desperately, as Malfoy walked over to the shelf that she was laying on.
His face was inches from hers, as he lifted up his hand feeling around to the back of the shelf. Only inches from where Ginny's still arm lay.
"Closer, closer!" Ginny thought.
If only he reached a little further, he would touch her arm!
Ginny's face screwed up in concentration, as she tried to move closer to Malfoy's reaching fingers.
"Come on! Just a bit closer! One more inch!"
His fingers were barely an inch from her arm… and then…
...
Chapter Four