A/N: Written for Shadowed93's "Will you be my Valentine?" challenge. This was originally going to be a oneshot, but I ended up loving it so much that I've decided to fill out an entire plot for it, so stay tuned for more chapters!
The pairing is Draco/Ginny & the prompts used are "present", "left out" and "chivalry"
AU as of the sixth book, Malfoy's seventh year and Ginny's sixth. Dumbledore is still alive, Harry and Ginny don't have feelings for each other, Ron and Lavender do not date . . . actually, let's just assume the sixth book just did not happen.
Disclaimer: I make no claim to anything Harry Potter related. That is all. Enjoy folks!
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"Feeling left out again are we Weaslette?" her shoulder visibly tensed at the sound of his voice, and she instantly extracted her wand from her sleeve, gripping it tightly.
Okay so maybe Ron, Hermione and Harry had forgotten to include her in their plans again; and maybe just maybe, she was a little upset about it. The worst apart about it was the last person she would have wanted, had found her. He stood tall, towering over her in all his Slytherin glory making her feel smaller and more insignificant that she thought possible. Having him find her, red-eyed with tears silently trailing down her cheeks, was the last thing she could have asked for.
"Shove off Malfoy," she muttered, storming past him towards the Great Hall. She wasn't going to Hogsmeade today that was for sure, so she had to settle for lunch with the first and second years, despite being a sixth year herself. He followed her, forcing Ginny to resist all urges to hex him right there. Just because people hardly ever asked her to go to Hogsmeade with them, doesn't mean she wanted all her privileges revoked.
She felt him walk briskly past her, before stopping at the doors of the Great Hall. Pulling the handle he opened it wide for her and with a gesturing sweep of his hand, he flashed her a handsome smile and said, "After you miss."
Ginny stayed rooted to her spot, more confused than she had ever been in her life. "What are you playing at?" she asked warily, her gaze fixed on his wand-hand in case he tried something funny.
"I'm just being polite," he said shrugging nonchalantly, as if it was something he did everyday. Malfoy? Polite? Maybe if she was dead. Treading carefully, she placed one foot in front of the other, her eyes never leaving him in case he were to attack her with her back turned. She wouldn't put it past the slimy git to do just that. When she was sure he wouldn't hex her she finally let her guard down and tried to walk past him without so much as a word. Thinking she was free, she breathed a sigh of relief, only to be stopped by the sound of his voice.
"What, no thank you?" He scoffed, feigning a look of wounded pride. "Where are your manners red? I'm trying to be a gentleman here." She eyed Malfoy with disdain, brushing past him with a little more force than necessary.
"Chivalry's dead ferret," she hissed defensively, he definitely wanted something from her, "at least in your family." A wave of panic hit Ginny as she felt his cold, hard grip on her forearm. He whipped her around so quickly that it took her a moment to regain her focus.. His fingers dug so harshly into her skin prompting Ginny to begin thinking of ways to explain away the bruises that were sure to form.
"Don't presume to know anything about my family Weasley," he whispered dangerously, his eyes threatening and his grip tightened forcing Ginny to cry out. "When I try to do something nice for you, just accept it like a normal civilized person, and move the hell on." He finally released her, turned on his heel and stormed off; she was painfully aware of all the blood rushing back into her forearm, boy was he ever strong.
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Later that day Ginny found herself sitting peacefully in the common room by the fireplace when she was met by a loud shrieking voice.
"Awww Ginny who are they from?" She cringed at the sound of Lavender Brown's voice. It wasn't like she had anything personal against the seventh year Gryffindor; she just had a very, very, low tolerance for her. Ginny, like most of their house, rarely ever knew what she was talking about. Deciding to take the bait she raised her eyebrow at Lavender as she crossed her arms.
"Okay, what on earth are you talking about Brown?"
"You mean you haven't seen them?"
"No," she said politely, opting for a nicer choice of words than the ones festering in her head, begging to be released. Something along the lines of - Of course I have, I just like asking stupid question that I already know the answer to. If I knew then I wouldn't have fucking asked! - "Why don't you show me?"
As Lavender stepped to the side, into her view came a large bouquet of a dozen white roses, faded at the tips with a tinge of red. Beside them was a white piece of cardboard with her name inscribed in gold on the front. Speechless, she walked towards her gift and picked up piece of cardboard. Flipping it over she found more words written on the back.
"Sorry for hurting you Red. Enjoy the present" she read out loud. Damnit Malfoy. Not wanting to throw them out she resolved to check for hexes or curses before sleeping that night. Regardless of their sender, they were quite beautiful; and the lonely girl inside her chipped away at her heart, nobody had ever gotten her roses before.
"Sooooo," Lavender cooed from over her shoulder, causing Ginny to jump in surprise and reach for her wand. She had forgotten Lavender was there. "Who are they from?"
Shrugging her shoulders, she picked up her roses and walked towards her dormitory,
"Beats me."
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The next day at dinner, she walked into the great hall and stopped at the sight of her brother and their friends sitting at the table heads pulled in close to each other. "I'm just saying it's weird, that's all!" Ginny's ears perked up at the sound of Harry's aggravated voice, the genius was talking so loud she began to wonder if he actually wanted to broadcast their conversation to the entire school. "He was just hovering there, listening to our conversation about what Ginny li– " he paused mid-sentence as his eyes met hers. She marched over to their table and stopped behind Harry, crossing her arms. He craned his neck to look at her face and shot her an awkward smile.
"Hey Gin," he said awkwardly, patting the seat next to him. "Fancy some roast? Elves made it especially juicy today." Raising her eyebrow she took up his offer, only to find herself sitting with the three of them in silence for a good five minutes.
"What is wrong with you guys?" she asked., reaching over Harry's arm to grab a spoonful of vegetables, "I know you were talking about me before I came so just continue what you were saying as if I weren't here." With those words she began shoveling her food into her mouth; it would probably take them a while to think of some lie to tell her.
"Have you talked to Malfoy lately?" Ron asked her abruptly. She felt Harry's fist pounding her back as she began choking on her vegetables. Okay, so she was wrong.
"We may have exchanged some words yesterday," she gasped, reaching for a goblet of water. Taking a sip, she hacked out a few more coughs. Eyes watering she looked to Ron curiously, "why do you ask?"
"Just wondering" he shrugged, his eyes downcast on his uneaten roast, "what did you guys talk about?"
Her face turned bright red upon remembering that day. She couldn't let the trio know that her feelings had been hurt when they left her out, again. It was embarrassing enough that Malfoy had caught her crying; she couldn't deal with them hovering over her with pity and apologies on top of that. She especially didn't want to deal with their reaction if they ever found out the flowers were from him.
"Chivalry," was all she said, before filling her mouth with more food signifying the end of their discussion.
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After dinner called for a little study session in the library. Comfortably seated in her chair with her books spread out in front of her, Ginny found herself actually excited to to do her schoolwork and not think of Malfoy. "I heard you received quite the present yesterday Weasley. Did you like them?" She groaned at the sound of his voice and began repeatedly banging her head on the library table. She yelled out in pain however, when she felt a sharp yank of her ponytail. Turning her head to the side to glare at him, she found him with a fistful of her hair in his hand.
"Let me go Malfoy," she hissed, eyes watering from the pain at the roots of her hair.
"I was afraid you'd bruise your pretty face if you kept doing that," he smirked, releasing her hair.
Did Malfoy just call her pretty? Could this week get any weirder?Turning her head away from him, she proceeded to resume her action of smashing her head against the table but instead of a hard wooden surface, her forehead met the palm of his hand with a loud SMACK. "OW," she screamed, shooting up from her chair, clutching her forehead in pain. "What the hell Malfoy,"
Laughing with such genuine smile and look of amusement on his face, he raised his hands defensively and said, "Your forehead hit my hand, not the other way around."
Ginny stared at his face in shock. She was rendered speechless at the sight of a laughing Malfoy, albeit because of her pain, but the smile on his face was completely foreign to her. She could almost describe it as handsome in comparison to the stupid smirk he always had on his face. Suddenly realizing she had just thought of Malfoy as handsome, she quickly grabbed her belongings and practically flew towards the doors.
"HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CHOCOLATE?" He yelled after her, receiving many odd looks from their fellow students followed by a nasty glare from Madame Pince.
"HATE THEM," she yelled back before exiting in the library
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"What the hell are these," Ron asked, peering into the glass bowl with a mixture of interest and fear, "they look like tiny little red hearts." It was late in the evening and Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry were lounging about in the common room when a first-year - none of them could remember his name, save Hermione of course - interrupted their conversation to drop the bowl in question directly into Ginny's lap.
"Oh honestly Ronald," Hermione sighed, reaching over to yank the bowl from his grasp. "They look like tiny little red hearts because they are!" Glaring at Hermione, he reached into the bowl and pulled out a handful before shoving them all into his mouth. They all watched in amusement as Ron's glare morphed into a grimace of pain. His face had turned so red it was as if Krum had just asked Hermione to marry him. Their laughter lasted at least five minutes before Ron was returned to normal, focusing his glare on the bowl of candy rather than Hermione.
"Who are they from Gin?" Hermione asked curiously. Ginny could just picture her brain processing and filing through all the students in the school with at least one muggle parent that could have sent them this.
"No clue," she lied, happily popping them into her mouth, she fell in love with the candies three years ago when Harry had introduced them to her. The whole thing reeked of Malfoy, but there was no way he could have known; it was a muggle candy after all. Two days had passed since he sent her the flowers, and he hadn't gone looking for her since their conversation in the library the previous day; she thought that maybe she was safe. "Actually – " she stopped her train of thought, gaze trailing towards Harry; their eyes locked and Ginny cocked her head to the side, as if asking a silent question. "- The only person in the world that knows I like these is - "
"Me . . ." Harry piped in. Oh please let them be from Harry, she prayed. " . . . And Malfoy." Her heart sank, of course; but Harry hadn't denied anything, there was still a small, minuscule chance that they were from him. "He heard me asking McGonagall if she knew where to get them for you." His fixed a steely gaze on her as if accusing her of something entirely ridiculous.
"Did you send her these Harry?" Ron asked, staring the bowl of candy cautiously as if they were all going to spread tiny little arms and legs and attack him. He was unable to hide the tinge of hope in his voice from his friends; it was no secret that he wanted the two of them together.
"No," Harry murmured, "It certainly wasn't me." And Ron exploded, threatening to curse Malfoy for sending them candy that made his tongue burn.
Bugger.
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During breakfast the day following the candy heart debacle, Ginny found herself massaging her head at the table, her food long forgotten. All this business with Malfoy was beginning to take a toll on her brain,
"Be my valentine," the headache in question whispered in her ear before he dropped into the vacant seat next to her; nearly giving her a heart attack. She heard a poor little first year gasp, and scramble away from the table not even bothering to finish his breakfast. She should've known better than to think she was safe from him at the Gryffindor table. Reminded herself to start a tally of the number of times Draco Malfoy had successfully left her speechless in the past 3 day, she stared at him in disbelief; trying to figure out what he really wanted from her. She certainly knew what she wanted.
All she wanted was some peace and quiet from all the craziness. The more attention he paid to her, the more curious the other Gryffindors became - especially Ron, Hermione and Harry. Funny how it took something like Malfoy's attention to get them to finally notice her.
"You're joking right?" she asked, hoping his answer would be yes. Angry, rude, vile and degrading Malfoy, she could handle; but this version of him was nothing short of fucking weird. For brief second she swore she imagined a hurt expression flash across his face, but she quickly brushed the absurd idea out of her mind. Malfoy could not be capable of such an emotion.
"For the love of all that magical in this world Weasley, why can't you just answer yes or no like a normal person. It's not like I want to marry you or anything!" She could feel his determination wavering, and his frustration towards her growing with each day. Maybe once and for all he would put an end to this game. "All I want is just one stupid date on this one bloody day. I'll even pay and everything, all I want is a yes or no."
"Why?" She couldn't help but retreat in fear as he threw up his arms in frustration.
"Is it not clear by now? I bloody well fancy you!" The volume of his voice rose with each word. Ignoring the little tug at her heart, her eyes widened; another one for the tally, she thought to herself.
"And again, I ask why."
"Trust me, I wish I knew." The tone of defeat in his voice so clear, she almost fell sorry for him, almost. She sat there in silence and watched him walk away from her.
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Feeling more dejected than he'd care to admit, Draco walked slowly along the corridor, hands in his pocket with his head down. He probably shouldn't have expected her to warm up to him with a few measly presents; after everything he and his family had put hers through, he couldn't blame her. He just wished he could get this stupid feeling out of his bloody system and move on. Unfortunately for him, being lost in thought made it impossible to see what was coming next. Before he knew it, he was thrown into a wall and without a hope of reaching his, found himself face to face with Harry-fucking-Potter's wand-tip."
"For the last time Potter, no, I will not be your valentine. I suggest asking Snape though, he's been looking a bit lonely these days." The smirk on his face quickly disappeared when he felt Potter's wand make contact with the skin between his eyes. Not to self Draco, he thought wincing in pain, do not antagonize the Gryffindor with the wand pointed at your face.
"What do you want with her," Potter growled, a crowd of spectators beginning to form around them. "The flowers, the candy, everything. I saw you bothering her in the Great Hall; you must want something pretty bad to have the nerve to sit at our table."
"Didn't know you were her boyfriend scar-head," he smirked, knowing just how much attention Potter actually paid to her. He was so far from being her boyfriend he might as well be another one of her idiot brothers.
"I'm not," he spat, "but I care about her, a lot; so tell me why you're messing around with her"
Before Potter could react he lifted his hand and quickly knocked Potter's hand out of the way; his wand clattering the ground before rolling away "What makes you think I'm not serious?" he replied angrily, whipping out his wand before Potter got a chance to retrieve his own.
"If you think for one second, that I'm gonna let her –"
"Let her?" Draco scoffed, "Are you hearing yourself Potter? It's not up to you, she's a grown woman."
Potter's eyes narrowed, and Draco smirked at him, they both knew he was right.
"She would never." Potter hissed at him. With one last glare he bent to the ground to retrieve his wand and Draco fought all urges to kick him in the face.
"Probably not," he said, his voice free for once, of any hostility. "But I have to try."
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Ginny was on her way to meet Harry, Hermione and Ron for the Valentne's Day trip to Hogsmeade; after she had received the cinnamon hearts from Malfoy, Harry made it a point to invite her to everything and everywhere they went. It wasn't as if she minded, it felt nice to be noticed; but offering to escort her to the loo was just a bit too much.
"I want to call a truce," she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Malfoy and Harry staring each other down, Hermione and Ron glaring over the latter's shoulder. She had heard about their little war that had been ongoing for the past week. Malfoy had quit harassing her, but every so often she would catch him staring. Everytime their eyes met he would smile at her quickly before turning away. More often than not, she would find Harry in the common room sporting a new bruise from Malfoy.
"Why"" Harry asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.
Malfoy stuck his hand out and looked Harry right in the eye, "You know why Potter." Ginny could feel her head spinning; Malfoy was actually putting aside his pride for once. It must have killed him to approach Harry first.
She watched them from afar as Harry grasped Malfoy's hand and yanked him close so he could whisper something - no doubt threatening - into his ear. She saw Malfoy turn as pale as a Sir Nicholas, before nodding his head.
"What the hell is going on Harry?" she heard Ron ask once the two males had released each other from their grips.
"You'll see," Harry nodded towards her, shooting her a small smile. She smiled back gratefully; glad to have his approval, although not entirely sure what exactly she wanted his approval for.
Her focus shifted back to Malfoy, staring at him with questioning eyes as he started towards her, eyes never leaving hers. "What was that about?" she asked curiously as he stopped in front of her.
"Isn't it obvious by now?" he roared "Do you want me to ride up on a bloody horse dressed in a suit of armor for you to get it? I want you to come to Hogsmeade with me, right now -" He vented a little harsher than she had anticipated. Opening her mouth to retort, he continued his rant before she got a word in " – Three Broomsticks preferably. Madam Puffle-whatever is much too tacky for my liking, but I'll go wherever you want. I want to pay for your meal. I want to get to know you better, perhaps learn more of your tastes beyond roses and weird little muggle candies. I want to try really hard not to insult you, no promises on your loser friends though. I do have a reputation to uphold. I've wanted this for bloody weeks in case you haven't noticed; and I want just want you to say yes, fine, alright, okay - anything actually - I'll even settle for no. but for the love of merlin say something!" He finally took a breath, red in the face from his long-winded speech, "So for the last time Ginny; will you please put me out of my fucking misery and be my valentine?"
She stood in shocked silence. How Draco Malfoy was capable of this much emotion was beyond her. She saw the tiny glimmer of hope in his eyes slowly die as she let more silence press on. Finally, he threw up his arms in defeat.
"That's it," he sighed, "I give up. It was a long shot anyways. Sorry for bother –"
"Okay," she cut him off, so softly he didn't even hear her.
"-ing you. I hope you and your idiot friends are happy with each other."
"Malfoy," she smacked his arm, "I said okay."
"Oh," he said, blinking in surprise. "Well, in that case, this is excellent news." His shocked expression turned into gleeful one, with a hint a smug satisfaction hidden underneath. "I was wrong about you having poor taste in guys, what with the mudblo-uggleborn Thomas, and that Corner character. Don't even get me started on Potter."
"Don't make me change my mind Malfoy," she warned him, ready to take back her words without hesitation.
"Okay, okay. Although I do have to request that you start calling me Draco." He smiled at her, and once again she found her heart warming slowly to the handsome Slytherin who had worked so hard to tear down her resistance.
"We're from different sides," she told him seriously, ignoring his request to call him by his first name. She was fighting a silent battle inside her head, trying her hardest not to regret agreeing to this madness.
"I realize that." Malfoy replied softly, reaching over to brush a strand of hair from her face; Voldemort, his family and pretty much the entire wizarding world so far from his mind; he was just happy she said okay. He noticed that she tried not to flinch when he touched her; apparently old habits did die hard. "But it's one date. It's not like we're planning out the rest of our lives."
"And when the war comes?" she asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. "When it comes down to the last stand, will you be able to fight me?"
"Probably not," he chuckled, months ago the answer would have been yes, now he wasn't too sure. "But we'll deal with it comes, okay?" He held his hand out to her, and shot her an encouraging smile.
"When it comes then," she echoed, smiling at him for the first time. She grasped his hand and laced her fingers with his, "Now about that horse . . . " she laughed, ignoring the angry cries of her brother behind them.