Of horoscopes, fate and the colour of love

by JadeMesmerizedByOnyx

How much can change in a week in the life of Draco Malfoy? His life is about to be turned upside down due to a little redhead and this week’s horoscope.

Warning: I rated this T, because I personally think it's not worthy of a M-rating. I don't want to get in trouble, so I put this warning here. Judge for yourself, but I've warned you.

Finally, finally finished! This took me like forever to write! I hope you'll enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Of horoscopes, fate and the colour of love:

---

Monday

"Drakie Poo!" the annoyingly sweet voice (too sweet really) of Pansy Parkinson called out. Draco sighed annoyed at the nickname she'd given him years ago. Sooner or later, he would curse out her tongue and burn it to ashes, he thought happily. Oh that would be some lovely peace he'd get.

"Listen to your horoscope!" Apparently she didn't care that he hated Divination.

He really didn't get why she'd picked Divination anyway. The old hag was only telling nonsense, stuffing the girls' heads full with silly information which would (alas) be passed on to him. This time in the form of Pansy reading out his horoscope, ignoring the lack of interest from his side.

"This week can either be great or horrible, depending on your responses. Here's a little tip: red is your colour." Pansy looked at him. "Do you know what this means?" she asked him with wide opened eyes.

"That you're actually believing in that useless crap, or that I should've walked away when I heard your voice?" he mused sarcastically. Pansy pouted and stepped closer.

"Don't say such mean things!" she said and ruffled his hair. Annoyed, Draco tried to fix it with his right hand, while he pushed Pansy away with his left.

"Red is the colour of love," she said, taking his left hand in hers. "Do you want to take your chances?"

Disgusted, Draco stood up and created some decent (and a little bit more extra) distance between them. "No, I will not and now would you please excuse me, I need to study for the upcoming Transformation test. I believe you do have to take the same exam?" he added, rushing out of the Common Room, making his way to the library to escape the witch in love. Unrequited love actually.

"Oi mate, watch where you're walking," Blaise Zabini grinned in front of him.

"That Pansy Parkinson is driving me insane," Draco said annoyed, walking away from his best friend. Blaise picked up his pace and grinned. "She's a real catch you know, she would suit you."

"Oh shut up before I hex you," Draco growled annoyed.

"Now now Malfoy, don't threaten your only friend, you might just end up with no friends at all. You know that paying people to act like your friends don't actually count as your friends, right ferret?" the infamous Ginny Weasley said rather cheekily. She'd suddenly emerged in front of him.

Draco could hear Blaise snicker silently behind him.

"Well Weasley," he said annoyed, because Blaise wouldn't stop laughing, making the Weasley girl's grin even cheekier. "I'm actually surprised that you know so much about money while you apparently have so little of it." Her red hair seemed to keep moving even though she was standing still.

"Well," she said slowly like she was talking to a five-year-old, "that's because I'm not stupid unlike you Malfoy, but suit yourself," she shrugged. "You don't have to be smart and wealthy, right?" she grinned even wider, staring at something (or rather: someone) behind him.

He was having the odd feeling that Blaise was encouraging her.

Now she even winked at Zabini? Bloody…

Angrily, he turned around to glare at his best friend saying: "Would you stop that you idiot!"

As he turned around, ready to retort, the girl was already gone.

Clenching his teeth, he walked ahead, heading to the library, leaving Blaise behind. The stupid Weasley had come off with only one remark, which she'd cheekily replied to and he didn't even have the chance to say something witty back. Who was she thinking she was anyway? Like he needed to buy friends. What actually helped making friends (he was perfectly well capable of making them) was influence and power. He only needed to drop his last name and people practically started sucking up to him. Moreover, he had friends. He had Zabini and…

Oh bloody hell!

The first thing he thought while entering the library was: red is your colour. Well, if something had proven itself wrong…

Ginny Weasley and her fiery hair… she was annoying. Always thinking that she was so much smarter than him. The only thing she seemed to have a real talent for, was escaping from his clutches whenever he wanted to hurt her. Too energetic in his opinion. Once you saw her, she could have disappeared from there in the blink of an eye. Actually it was so much more than annoying. It even was beyond annoying really. But then he shrugged and let his mind focus on something more important, like the test he would soon have to take.

Suddenly though, he realised, that in his hurry to get as far away from Pansy as soon as possible, he had forgotten his bag with his study material.

Cursing the girls he'd encountered so far today and hoping that Pansy wouldn't be in the Common Room, he intended to walk back to the dungeons when he heard Potter's whispering voice. Draco came to an immediate halt and listened. Because in his experience concerning Potter, he had come to the conclusion that whenever he lowered his voice, or started to whisper, that boy was up to something. Most of the time, that 'something' didn't turn out to be good for him though.

When he couldn't exactly hear what Potty was talking about, he carefully inched closer, hiding himself behind the bookshelf that Potter was sitting in front, trying not to make any sound.

He listened closely and heard that he was apparently talking to the redhead that had just escaped from him.

" - too dangerous!" Potter said agitated.

"You seem to think that everything is too dangerous," said girl sighed exasperated.

"That's not true," the annoying git said. "I do think that staying here at Hogwarts and going to class is the safest thing in the world," he replied, seemingly wanting to make a point. "That does not however include going out with the most dangerous and darkest person in school!" he said.

Most dangerous and darkest person? Draco thought with a frown. Only he could earn such kind of title from the poor little freak who wanted to be a hero so badly. Though last time he checked, he certainly wasn't going out with that weasel. The last time he tried to touch her, was to put his hands around that little neck of hers and trying to strangle her.

"Harry, I think you're misunderstanding something," the girl said sounding impatient. Draco could hear Potter sigh relieved. "We're not going out. Yet. By the way Harry, you're not my mother."

Then he could hear a chair being shoved backwards and he could hear Weasley walk away.

"Ginny!" Potter yelled while she walked away, but she didn't react.

Madam Pinch did though. "Mister Potter!" she said, clearly not amused by his behaviour and Draco could imagine the look on her face.

He knew that he wouldn't pick up any more interesting things now Potter was all by himself so he left him alone. He slowly walked out of the library, thinking what would possibly give the little redhead and Potty the idea that he would ever go out with her.

Tuesday

The next morning Draco waked up grumpily. He hadn't been sleeping too well, since he'd been thinking about that stupid girl all night. What the hell had she been talking about? It was really starting to piss him off now, since it had cost him his precious sleep.

He'd been trying to think of another explanation, but he couldn't think of any other person who Potter would ever call dark and dangerous. Finally, he'd fallen asleep, dreaming about the annoying redhead and Saint Potter.

Feeling really pissed off by the time he was dressed, he yawned and waited for everyone to leave the Common Room before he himself went out to get some breakfast downstairs. One look in the mirror told him that his lack of sleep had become rather visible in the bags that were below his eyes.

Once walking through the halls, he put his hands in his pockets and frowned.

Once more, he unfortunately ran into the little redheaded girl again. She bumped against his chest and looked up from her book in surprise.

"Hey there Malfoy," she said really happy, which was really annoying him at the moment.

"What?" he retorted, not into the mood of saying anything other than that.

"What is it ferret?" she said, sounding amused, which made him want to silence her. Therefore he searched his robes for his wand, but wasn't able to find it. He cursed and stalked away, not wanting to let her know anything about this all.

"Is it possible that you're… in a bad mood?" she said teasingly. "Didn't sleep too well Drakie?"

His eye twitched and he turned around. "Listen up Weasley," he said. "I don't know what you're up to, but if you're not leaving me alone now, I will not hesitate to hex you in to oblivion and make sure you'll never mess with me again," he threatened, but she only grinned. He intensified his glare but she didn't cower.

"And how are you going to do that?" she blinked innocently. The twinkle in her eyes was telling him differently though. He would eat his whole robe if she was innocent in any way.

"You know Weasley," he said utterly annoyed. "We're here at a school for witchcraft and wizardry, that has to ring a bell even for you," he ended and crossed his arms. If only he could have had another hour of sleep.

"Now really Malfoy?" she asked and smirked, rhythmically shifting her weight from her left foot to her right and back. "And what do you need for doing some magic?" she asked slowly, bringing her finger to her lips as if she needed an explanation.

Did she know that he didn't bring his wand? Could she…

"Now now Drakie, don't be like this. I know you're not completely stupid, right?" she said back to her old self. The Weasley girl stepped closer and looked up to him since he was about five inches taller than her. "You need a wand!"

Her dazzling smile almost blinded him in the early morning. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his head. "You're awfully annoying to someone you should be afraid of, you little bitch."

"Aw Malfoy, I'm hurt!" she said and brought her hand to her heart. "Anyway," she said casually, lowered her eyes and biting her lip. A little laugh escaped her mouth nonetheless.

"Anyway?" he repeated in a hiss.

"You might be looking for this," she said and stretched out her hand, holding his wand. She spun it in her hand and smiled.

Draco snapped his mouth close and clenched his jaws. She would definitely mock him if he would take the wand from her. If he wouldn't be able to take it in the first shot, he would have to hear it from her all week long.

He wouldn't beg her to give it back to him either. Moreover, if he would threaten to harm her here, with his luck a professor would certainly pass by. He didn't like humiliation in any kind of way, but he needed his wand back. He weighted his opportunities and made a decision.

"Weasley, give it back and nothing will happen to you," he said in his lowest and most dangerous voice, while he straightened his back and glared down at her to intimidate her.

"Malfoy," she said shocked, which made him grin inwardly. Then she grinned and said: "Why don't you come and get it?"

She turned around and walked away until she vanished behind a corner.

Cursing his tongue off, he followed her and saw her waiting behind the corner, exploding in giggles.

"You're actually following me?" she said disbelievingly, looking up to him, making him wonder why a fellow wasn't allowed to hurt a girl.

His patience was at its limit and he growled: "Give it back to me now, Weasley," he slammed his hand on the wall next to her head. Lowering his head, he stared in her eyes and narrowed his own. "Your little Potter was right, you'd better not mess with me," he said, seriously pissed off now. He hadn't gotten that much sleep and now she was bullshitting around. It was bloody annoying. Furthermore, his stomach was growling since he hadn't eaten that much the night before. He pushed his other hand right under her throat and grabbed his wand with the hand he removed from the wall now.

"Got you, little bitch," he said annoyed and stalked away.

"Er… Malfoy?" she said, but he ignored her.

"You got the wrong wand," she said.

He nearly stamped his foot on the floor, but suppressed the urge and turned around instead. He reached out his hand in which he was holding the wand and took his own, without looking. He pushed his current wand in her hand and walked away to the kitchen, not in the mood for talking to the other Slytherins.

Someone tucked on his robe and he cocked his head around so swiftly that he nearly twisted his muscles. The redhead was standing behind him with the wickedest smile on her face. He felt like spitting in her face and strangling her at the spot.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?! Are you bloody suicidal?" he snapped.

"Here's your wand," she said and quickly switched them. "I tricked you." Then she darted away, leaving Draco cursing like an ordinary man.

Feeling so pissed that he glared at every kid on his way to the kitchens and even making a few of them cry, he finally arrived there, only to see Pansy right in front of the painting with the pear.

A nauseating headache suddenly kicked in and he marched to the painting, ignored the girl that started blabbering to him and tickled the pear. There was a limit to how much one could endure on a whole day, let alone in an hour.

"Drakie! Why are you ignoring me?" Pansy pouted. "Today I'll have Divination again and I'll make your horoscope for the entire month!"

A vain popped up in his temple and he retorted: "Sod off with your bloody horoscope. I've had enough of this whole Divination crap!" He left her at the painting and stepped inside.

"Give me some breakfast," he ordered the house elves. They bowed and started preparing his breakfast immediately. Slowly, he sat down at a table and dropped his head into his hands, letting a sigh escape from his mouth. What a way to start the day.

"Miss Weasley!" One of the house elves, that sounded strangely familiar, screeched.

"I'm sorry to bother Dobby! It's just that I didn't get the chance to eat breakfast downstairs," she apologised. She actually apologised to the house elf.

He groaned at the idea of her sitting down at this very same table. If he would wish for it hard enough, would he and the table blend in, he wondered.

Dobby replied to the weasel girl and dashed away to fix her some breakfast as well.

Draco could hear footsteps nearing, but didn't bother to look up. Instead, he mentally prepared himself from more torment from her side.

"Malfoy?" she asked surprised. "I didn't know you would be someone to actually come here to the kitchens to get some food."

"Why do you care?" he sighed, feeling defeated.

"I don't know…" she trailed off. When she stopped talking, he finally looked up and saw her looking around. "Can I sit down here?" she asked when she saw him looking. The redhead pointed at the stool next to him.

"Go ahead, go ahead. Annoy me to bloody hell and back," he said exhausted. The only thing he could think about now was going back to bed and skip classes today. His blood was hammering in his head and he still didn't feel too well.

Weasley stayed silent until their breakfast arrived. She chatted happily to the house elves and thanked them before she started eating.

"I'm sorry for messing with you, Malfoy," she suddenly said seriously.

Draco arched an eyebrow and looked at her, while chewing on his bread. "You're apologising?" he said skeptically.

"Yeah… You look really tired, so I'm sorry." She smiled at him.

"I am tired," he muttered underneath his breath, not really understanding why he was telling her really.

"What is it then? A lack of sleep? Having trouble with your studies?" she sounded genuinely interested, which made him suspicious.

"The second," he answered carefully after a few seconds.

"I see," she said and silence filled the room, only interrupted by the house elves that were working.

As she finished her breakfast, she got to her feet and said: "Well, I'll be going now."

He didn't react until she was halfway through the portrait.

"Who do you think is the most dangerous and darkest person in this school?" he yelled after her, stopping her in her tracks.

She hesitated and smiled a mischief smile. "That would be… Snape," she grinned and left, making him feel confused and disgusted at the same time. Was she actually hitting on Snape?

By the time he had finished his breakfast and was going back to his room, he had a throbbing headache, hence he decided to stop at the hospital wing for medicine.

"Mister Malfoy, can I help you?" Madam Pomfrey asked when she saw him entering the large room.

"Ah yes, I would like some medicine against a headache, please," he said with a sour smile.

She looked at him with a strange smile. "Ah yes, Miss Weasley popped by earlier and made sure that I had some medicine indeed. She told me you would stop by."

"She did?" he asked confused. What was that girl up to anyway? She was practically everywhere he was. Was she following him just to make him go insane? Was he being too paranoid now? Was it her plan to make him paranoid?

The nausea was coming back all of a sudden and he became dizzy. "Is it alright if I'd lay down for a bit?" he asked weakly.

"Oh dear Merlin, of course! Here here, I'll bring you your medicine. Come here Mister Malfoy. Please lay down."

He staggered to the bed she was directing him to and took the medicine she gave him. With a sigh of relief he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Wednesday

On Wednesday he was finally feeling a little better, since he'd slept rather good that night, including the day before that he'd slept in the hospital wing without running in to the Weasley girl again, or even seeing her. She hadn't been in the Great Hall during lunch or dinner and it had pleased him tremendously. Silence at last.

Blaise had been bugging him all day though, by asking if he'd gotten rid off the girl. "You're actually thinking that I killed her?" Draco had hissed.

"Why not mate, I mean, it's you!" Blaise had replied and shrugged. "Would have been a shame though. Have you ever actually looked at her?" he had asked and had suggestively wiggled his eyebrows. "I know she's poor, but she's good looking."

"Whatever," Draco had frowned and had pricked his fork around on his plate.

Now he remembered it, he thought about it carefully. He was a man after all. Was it wrong to think about a woman? Well, of course, her family didn't exactly stroke with the likes of his. But then… if he thought about it, like he would think about any other girl…

Her fiery red hair never seemed stop moving and curled at some places. Whenever he caught her at the Gryffindor table, she would be playing with her hair and listen to the people that were talking to her. She seemed like she was always having fun. Whoever was accompanying her, seemed to be 

having a good time. Her chocolate brown eyes were just like her brother's. Hers had a naughty tingle to it though. She seemed to be thinking of so many ways of teasing him whenever she saw him. Her peachy mouth would curl up into a smirk and she would either leave him alone wondering what she'd planned or she would actually start teasing him. Her cheeks were freckled but only sporadic. Not like Ron Weasley's, who's cheeks were almost dark due to the many freckles. It was like her skin was teasing her and let a freckle pop up at some random spots.

By the time he started wondering how many there were, Draco got slightly worried. While he was in the library flipping with the back of his feather through his Transformation book, he mindlessly doodled something, every now and then, on the parchment in front of him. His head was tilted and resting on his hand. He was bored really. During the last half an hour, he hadn't read one sentence. He'd only come here to escape from everyone and finally have a peaceful moment to himself.

"Harry, how many times do you want to have this conversation you said?" Ginny Weasley asked annoyed, while she entered the library by his side. Though Potter sounded like he was following her instead of them walking together.

Draco's eyes followed the sound and looked at the redhead that apparently couldn't leave him alone for one day.

"Ginny!" Potter said frustrated and gestured widely, therefore not noticing Draco sitting on the table they were passing. Ginny did however, and she grimaced at him before she winked and looked back at Potty. She looked utterly annoyed. "Come on Gin, you know I'm only saying this for your welfare," he tried again. He almost pleaded her. "You shouldn't even consider dating him!"

Was this about Snape? Draco wondered. He couldn't help but feel disgusted at the idea. What was she thinking anyway?

"Why not? It's my life you know," she almost hissed back.

Potter took her arm and they came to a halt. "Gin, Malfoy isn't someone you can mess around with," he said, which obviously perked Draco's interest.

So this wasn't about Snape? It was about him?

"For your information Harry, I'm not messing around. Now would you please get your nose out of my business?" she retorted before she crossed her arms.

"Alright Gin," Scarface said and lifted up his hands. "Alright. But don't come to me in tears when things don't work out," he replied coldly.

Draco mechanically got up and closed his book. He left his stuff on the table and walked over to the two of them, not exactly knowing what he was doing.

"I believe you're unwanted here, Potty," he said in an annoyed tone, "I know that's hard to believe for someone as stubborn and thickheaded as you," he smirked when he saw the disgusted and angry look on Potter's face.

"Look what you're getting yourself into," said boy coldly said to Ginny and walked away. "Bye Mal-ferret."

Without any further ado, he walked out of the library and Ginny sighed.

"Well Weasley, would you mind explaining yourself?" he said and crossed his arms.

"I do mind. I'm not exactly in the mood of arguing with you Malfoy," she said irritated, surprising him. She'd winked at him earlier after all.

"Your little hero is right though, I'm not someone to mess around with," he said warningly.

"You already told me that before," she replied and shrugged. Assessing, she looked at him. "Alright then, come with me," she took his hand and wanted to drag him along, but he protested. "Oi, where are we going?" he demanded.

"Somewhere we can talk," she said, nodding to the librarian.

What did she want to talk about? The conversation he'd just overheard? Did she want to make a confession?

All of a sudden, he realised that she was still holding his arm and she basically pulled him along. His pride kicked him in the arse and he pulled his hand free.

"I can walk myself," he said annoyed. The hallway was pretty much deserted so it would be perfect for a little talk.

Now he was the one grabbing her shoulder to put her to a halt. Surprised, she looked at him from over her shoulder. "Anything wrong, Malfoy?" she asked, clearly not intending to tell him anything here, but take him even further away.

"This will do, Weasley," he said impatiently.

Ginny looked around as if she was trying to locate something, Potter undoubtedly.

"If you say so," she replied and shrugged. Then wearing the wicked grin she seemed to save for him, she said: "Here's the thing Drakie Poo," she said mockingly and licked her lips.

Then she suddenly attacked him. Well, attacked… It would be considered an attack.

She placed her hand around his neck (which she could barely reach even though she was standing on the tips of her toes) and pulled his head down rather forcefully. Her chocolate brown eyes were smiling at him and slowly closed until she could probably barely see from through her eyelashes.

All of a sudden, he understood why she wanted to go some place more deserted.

"Weasley," he said, barely recognising his own voice, which sounded husky and low. It almost came out like a longing whisper, not as much as the deadly threat he'd imagined it to be.

"Yes?" she asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.

"I think Potter's right," he whispered again (he seemed to agree an awful lot with Potter lately), trying to swallow down the lump in the back of his throat. She was inching closer and he could feel how she pressed her petite body against his.

Automatically, he enveloped his arms around her small waist, to support her figure. His body was working instinctively while his mind was currently overheated.

"I don't think so," she said seductively. "I'll prove him wrong," she said with that sweet mouth, which was only a breath away from his.

Finally (his body was going to explode any second now), she pressed that soft, sugar sweet mouth against his and he couldn't help but let a sound escape that stopped somewhere between a moan and a sigh.

Not having the time to feel embarrassed, he pressed her closer and wondered how this could have happened in only three days, or had it? Had it already been there before?

He didn't know, but undoubtedly he had left an impression with her. Enough to make her crave for him.

A voice in the back of his head vaguely whispered the consequences of being caught while kissing Ginny Weasley but his mind was clouded in fuzzy clouds and the warning got lost in the fuzziness.

"Do you hate me?" she whispered against his lips.

Did he hate her? Oh yes, absolutely!

"No," he replied instead, not fully agreeing with his mind apparently.

"You, Draco Malfoy," she smiled. "Are not dangerous. I'm curious about your good sides." Her eyes twinkled, while the voice came back and said that she was most certainly dangerous to him. "In the next four days, I'll find out about the good side to Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin."

She pushed herself away from him and grinned. "Meet me here tonight at 10 p.m. See you around," she said and left.

Draco just stood there, wondering why it was always her that left him?

Pretty stunned and just a bit annoyed (he felt rather used, but his fuzzy mind didn't let him comprehend yet) he stared at the spot he'd last seen her.

What had happened?

"Oi mate!" a distant voice said, he vaguely recognised as Blaise's. "What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost," he said and he snickered.

What is it with you always showing up at the most inconvenient times? His mind snarled. Instead he snapped: "I've seen lots of ghosts."

Draco anxiously looked around to make sure that nobody was listening. He could as well ask him for some advice now he was here anyway.

He then stretched out his arm and grabbed Blaise's shoulder. "Can you keep a secret, or at least help me out here?" The blonde boy put on his most serious expression, trying to convince Blaise.

"Always mate," he replied serious, yet a little curious light had reached his eyes.

"Weasley just kissed me," Draco sighed unwillingly.

His best friend's eyes grew wider and wider until the point where his eyes almost dropped out of its sockets. "H- He kissed you?" he stammered, recoiling.

"What? No! Merlin, Zabini! That's disgusting!" Draco shouted disgusted, narrowing his eyes at his best friend. "The she-weasel! Ginny Weasley! " He used his now free arm to lean against the wall, waiting till the nasty images of him and Ronald Weasley disappeared.

"Now that makes sense," Blaise sighed in relief, shuddering by the former idea.

"How exactly does that make sense?" Draco retorted a little angrier than he'd intended.

"Because she's in to you," he smiled and ran his hand through his perfect fitting hair. "She really digs you," he grinned.

"Beg your pardon?" Draco said and blinked. He started walking to his class. He really shouldn't be skipping the afternoon classes, or else he would get into trouble. He didn't like trouble. Ginny Weasley was trouble.

"Haven't you noticed her looks?" Blaise asked genuinely surprised, not helping him at all. "I mean how she stares at you," he said as Draco looked at him strangely.

"All she ever does is tease you and look at you with that special look, she used for Potter before. Just pay a little attention at her during meals," he advised with a grin. He had stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking alongside his friend. "It's really interesting. Whenever she looks at you with that… well, dreamy expression, she gets seriously mad when someone interrupts her thoughts or actually disturbs her in any other way." He snickered while he looked out of the window, waving at the girls that were giggling at the sight of him. They blushed and ran away. "I think Potter himself has noticed it lately and he's not too happy about it," Blaise continued and shifted his attention back to Draco who was furrowing his brow and playing with his wand. "Whenever he sees her staring at you like that," he stopped talking and laughed, clearly recalling the look on Potty's face. "He gets this annoyed look and his gestures become larger, like he's telling her what to do. I think the only reason he hasn't told her brother is because he's afraid he might actually kill his little sister."

They had arrived at the Charms classroom and therefore, he lowered his voice. The other Slytherins had gathered themselves in front of the classroom, chatting before Professor Flitwick would arrive.

"So what are you planning to do?" he finished, smiling at his classmates, but still talking to Draco. Before Draco could answer him however, Pansy came to interrupt their conversation.

"Drakie!" she said, sounding rather relieved. "Where have you been?" she whined.

Clearly, I've tried to stay away from you, woman, he thought annoyed and exchanged a look with Blaise, who just shrugged and run another hand through his hair.

"It doesn't really matter now, does it?" Draco replied annoyed and leaned against the wall. The day she would leave him alone…

"But your horoscope!" she said excited.

Draco growled annoyed, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, but the girl ignored it and put her arm through his. "It says something about a fated meeting!" she mused. He could almost hear her think.

That was it. He would definitely not go to meet Ginevra Weasley. He had had it with horoscopes and faith and colours and really anything related to Divination. He jerked his arm away from a pouting Pansy, gestured to Blaise to follow him as Flitwick arrived and sat down at his desk next to Blaise. Throughout the whole lesson, he didn't say a word and didn't spare a look at Pansy, who tried to reach him several times by scribbling something on a piece of parchment and let it float to his desk. He burnt it with one flick of his wand without even doing so much as reading it. He was grateful for the silent spells he could produce nowadays and as the professor asked what smelled so burnt, he just looked around innocently like the rest.

To avoid Pansy at the end of the lesson, he walked to Flitwick and started talking about their homework. Pansy waited for five minutes, but when Flitwick asked her if she had a question as well, she excused herself with an angry glare directed in Draco's direction.

A few minutes later, he thanked the small professor and made his way to his DADA class.

"You surely took your time," Blaise said annoyed as Draco walked out of the classroom.

"Well, I didn't ask you to wait for me," he shrugged indifferently, playing with his wand again.

"You could at least thank me; I hid myself when Pansy passed," he replied peevish. "She could have invited herself to wait there with me.

"You mean it would have been your fault if she'd waited for me?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows, letting his gaze glide over the students in the halls.

"Tsk," Blaise replied but didn't argue back.

When they sat down in class, Potter was staring angrily at him while he whispered darkly to the Granger girl. She vividly nodded while narrowing her eyes. Ronald Weasley was slowly turning red and started coughing as Potter whispered something to him. He looked as though he wanted to jump up and storm directly at Draco.

With a sigh, the blonde boy leaned back in his chair. Great, like this week hadn't been too weird to begin with. He produced a mocking smile and rested his head in his hand, while the professor went on and on about protection oneself. Great, just great.

He would definitely not go tonight.

Thursday

Draco felt rather restless the next day. So far, he hadn't seen her yet and it already was 3 p.m.

When he'd woken up that morning, he had stretched himself, feeling glad about the good amount of sleep he'd gotten. Then slowly however, something had been starting to nag him.

Annoyed, but not exactly knowing why, he'd snapped at Pansy three times before he'd even had breakfast. Blaise had given him a skeptical look and had then shrugged at the glare it had earned him as a result.

Somehow, the little redhead had snuck into his brain, occupying about fifty percent of it, which (according to Blaise) was his smart part, leaving him almost on autopilot. It was at least occupying eighty percent of his thoughts and it all left him with some kind of sadistic pleasure to think about the she-weasel and how she would have been waiting for him, perhaps even crying a bit, for the bad Draco Malfoy was indeed bad and all her innocent, cute little fantasies would have shattered in an instant. Moreover and most importantly, it was giving him some serious brain damage, leaving him with a headache.

But then, why was it bothering him so much that he hadn't seen her all day? Not even during breakfast or lunch? It was not like he was suddenly concerned with her health, now was it?

Randomly shooting innocent but annoying spells at the first years to scare them, and threatening and calling the second years names, he tried to get rid of his frustration, silently hoping that she would pop up somewhere, like she usually did when he was doing his 'evil' deeds.

He was having a hard time finding out that he didn't actually enjoy the things he did, so he skipped to walking grumpily and gloomily through the halls while glaring at the students every now and then.

The more Draco thought about the Weasley girl, the more frustrated he got.

Finally, after walking aimlessly about thirty minutes, he descended the stairs from the third floor, where he'd been moping (in Blaise's opinion) and walked outside.

The fresh March air would do him good. He slowly walked to his favourite spot, underneath a tree near the water.

Arriving there, he spotted someone sitting in his spot. Draco got angry (could anyone just give him a break already?) and was about to storm toward the person, telling him to sod off when he froze. It was her.

Ginny Weasley was sitting in his spot, taking a nap, judging from the angle of her head and the slow pace in which her chest was moving.

While Draco was standing there, observing the serenely sleeping girl, his frustration faded away and instead of feeling incredibly annoyed or angered (this was his spot!) he noticed some very disturbing thoughts penetrating his mind, creating renewed but different frustration. Confused, he shook his head but the thoughts stayed and so did the images they were creating.

Shivering, he wondered what she would look when she was waking up. Would she yawn and stretch herself, licking her dry lips (which were soft, he remembered) and blink confused? Would she shake the hair out of her face and comb it with her fingers? Was she dreaming about him?

Again, the Malfoy heir shook his head and reminded him of his family name and status.

No matter how much he really was against his father's ideas and the fact that his old man was serving the dark lord (a path he certainly wouldn't choose), he still had his reputation. If anyone 

would see him observing Weasley and see him hesitate whether he should tell her to sod off or not, his reputation would be gone, as well as his credibility. He didn't even want think about the rumours this could start, how horrible these last months could become.

Thus Draco straightened his shoulders, put his arrogant slash annoyed face on and stalked towards the source of his frustration, which was not aware of anything he was feeling right now.

Towering above her, he took his wand, resisted the urge of touching her with his hand, and poked her with his wand instead.

A sleepy Ginny Weasley muttered some incoherent and unclear words, before opening an eyelid to reveal a chocolate brown eye.

"Malfoy?" she asked sleepy and yawned.

He just gave her a stern and annoyed look.

"Would you please not stick that thing in my face? You might accidently blow it off," she said clearly unimpressed.

As Draco wanted to reply, but she had already closed her eyes again. Offended, he poked her harder this time.

"You actually have something to say?" she mumbled, not taking the trouble of opening her eyes.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have," he said making it sound haughty and he narrowed his eyes, not that she was seeing that however.

"…" she muttered something inaudible.

"What?" he said confused and slightly lowered his head.

She then took the opportunity to unbalance him and make him fall down on his buttocks.

"What are you doing?" he said angrily but widened his eyes as he saw her move towards him.

"This is your spot, right?" she asked, finally opening both her eyes.

"Damn right it is and yo-," he started but the petite redhead interrupted him: "Come here for a bit."

Too curious (and confused really) to decline, he actually did what she told him to do and sat down next to her wondering suspiciously what she was up to.

She put her head on his shoulder and muttered: "You didn't come."

He silently agreed with her (there was no arguing here, now was there?) and watched her doze off to sleep again.

Had she been up all night just to wait for him? Draco wondered and saw her chest rise up and down rhythmically.

Was she already asleep?

"Yes I waited," she muttered sleepily, answering both his questions at once. Ginny tried to make herself more comfortable and shifted her position, making her head land on his chest and putting his arm around her.

She made a little noise and smiled. When he saw her expression, the thoughts that had been roaming in his head faded slowly. It didn't matter why he was allowing her to sleep like this. He'd finally found her and his frustration was gone.

Somehow he felt exhausted and it became harder to suppress his urges. Slowly, he brought up his hand and stroked her silky hair, pressing her closer in the same movement.

His heartbeat increased as he inhaled her sweet, subtle scent. He stared at the water to calm down and forget about his week. Even though this was absolutely wrong, he couldn't care less for the moment. He allowed himself to close his eyes briefly and to enjoy the peace he had for the first time this week.

Finally, he as well was drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

When he woke up again, he felt something tickling his face. He automatically made a gesture to get rid of the annoying bug.

As it didn't disappear, he grumpily opened an eye and saw a grin in front of his face.

Shocked, Draco tried to crawl backwards, but the tree behind him was pretty much blocking his way.

"What… what?!" he said shocked, before he remembered what had happened before.

"Finally awake?" Ginny Weasley said and he saw that she'd been tickling his face with a strand of her hair.

Draco looked around and saw that it had gotten darker.

"Like I thought," she nodded, "You do have a sweet side!" He then furrowed his brow at her and said: "No," which made her laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked annoyed.

"The fact that you're denying something so obviously true, so quickly," she grinned.

Obviously true? Nobody had ever called him sweet. Sexy, yes; funny, yes; charming, definitely; but sweet?

The word somehow made him shiver.

Weasley stared at him intensively before she cracked a smile.

"If I'd say…" she hesitated and Draco's heartbeat increased, "kitchen dinner, right now, you'd say…?"

"No."

"Alright. What if dinner was already over?" she stated.

He narrowed his eyes, even though his heart was pounding in his chest. "No."

"Hmm, tough bloke. Okay, then I just won't ask," she beamed, yanking him to his feet and running away, with him trailing rather awkwardly behind her.

"Let go off me, before I will seriously hurt you, Weasley," he hissed embarrassed.

"You know what's so cute about you, Drakie Poo?" she teased him and he clenched his jaws while his cheeks slightly coloured at his hideous nickname.

Nothing, he instantly thought, knowing that if he'd spoken it out loud, she would only have laughed at him, again.

Even now she was looking at him with shiny eyes as if she knew what he was thinking.

"You seem to be trying so hard not to differ from your image. Your reputation is so important to you. Your pride must be awfully stinging. You're trying so hard… Yet somehow it seems to me as though you're not quite what or who you seem to be." She had a serious expression on her face. "Despite what everyone's saying, I don't believe that you're a bad boy," she concluded.

To him, it was frustrating and scary that his heart seemed to skip a beat as she sent him the sweetest of smiles. Somehow he wasn't able to speak, for he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to do so clearly or even make sense right now. Hence, he stayed silent and watched the little vivid girl next to him, reminding him of a pixie.

With an inner sigh of defeat, he followed her to the kitchen, not protesting once and not speaking either.

Once they'd arrived, she took his hand in her small one, making his heart beat faster. His stomach clutched as he started worrying about the things he felt. Note to self: do something about it.

Her hand was small compared to his and it felt so soft.

Suddenly, red looked at him.

"What?" he asked on his guard, alarmed by her look.

"You just stroked my hand," she said amazed.

"Did not," he said childishly and a bit confused. He stared at his hand and concluded to his horror, that she was indeed right.

Quickly, he pulled his hand away.

The little redhead stared at him in fascination and he wished that he could wipe that look off her face.

"Let's go and have something to eat," she suggested, jerking her eyes away from him. Draco followed her inside the kitchen, mentally slapping himself for actually keeping her company here, feeling more than a bit concerned about his attitude.

Friday

During breakfast on Friday, the last day of school, Draco recalled the time he'd spent with the littlest Weasley.

"Oi mate, are you daydreaming or what? You're spacing out here," Blaise said and Pansy sent him a semi worried, semi angry look.

"Yes Draco," she said in a little more high pitched voice than usual, "What's wrong with you?" she asked looking suspicious, while he was pricking around his food with his fork.

He couldn't really be bothered to eat.

"Nothing's wrong," he said absentmindedly, letting his gaze wander towards the Gryffindor table.

"Ouch! That's my hand!" Blaise shouted not so gracefully and pulled his hand away from Draco's wandering fork.

Pansy's eyes followed Draco's look and slowly she narrowed hers, seeing the girl he was looking at. Her expression became darker and she stood up.

"I see that I'm unwanted here," she said in a strange high pitched voice, sounding angry and when Draco didn't spare her one look, she stalked away.

"Nice, you should do that more often," Blaise grinned approvingly while rubbing his hand, but his best friend didn't notice.

The girl sitting next to him looked at him with big eyes and asked if he was alright. He reassured her that everything was fine and flashed her a grin at which she had to gasp for air before he shifted his attention back to Draco.

Ginny Weasley was currently eating and studying at the same time. Whenever she took a bite, her hair would move up and down her shoulders. It glanced where ever the light shone upon it.

She stared intensively at the book in front of her and as her food fell down on a page, she grabbed her wand and flicked it, cleaning it in only one gesture.

Granger gave her a look but she just ignored it.

"Are you listening?" Blaise said next to him waking Draco up from his daydreaming.

"Your elbow is on your plate," he said giving him a look. "It's not too charming." He had his eyebrows arched.

"Bloody hell," Draco muttered and cleaned his shirt with his wand.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Blaise asked once more, looking as if he knew something Draco didn't.

"Sure…" he looked around, "Hey, where's Pansy?" he suddenly asked and smirked. "Not that I care though."

Blaise started laughing. "You're priceless! She left, while you were busy drooling over the little redhead." He grinned suggestively. "She obviously was not pleased."

"I was not drooling. What are you talking about," Draco snapped suddenly.

"I can't blame you though, she's quite fine. Well, if you don't want her, I might just make a move myself," he grinned, showing sparkling white teeth.

"Why would I mind?" Draco growled, suddenly not feeling all too well.

"Alright then mate, it's your call."

Blaise ran a hand through his hair, making his slightly longer hair a bit messy. "A little birdy told me that she had a thing for bad fellows," he winked and Draco clenched his fist, imagining it slamming the teeth out of his mouth. He felt very uncomfortable by the idea of seeing the redhead together with the player that called himself his best friend.

"If you harm her," he hissed, "I won't care about Azkaban, I'll kill you." His eyes were shooting daggers.

"Now now, no need to be so touchy," Blaise soothed with a smile, "It's not like you like her, or care about her. Now please let go of my shirt, it's rather hard to breathe like this."

Draco let go of the piece of clothing he'd unconsciously got a hold off. "Of course not," he replied moodily, while Blaise straightened his shirt.

"It's not like you would feel bad or responsible if anything would happen to her, right?" he continued casually.

"No," Draco said curtly.

"Fine, then I'll go and have a word with the cute little redhead."

"Fine," Draco snarled and waited for his friend to get up. As he looked after him walking away, Draco got to his feet and followed him from a distance.

Of course he didn't care. He was just checking things out and have a good laugh if either of them got hurt, that was all.

The blonde bloke froze as he saw Blaise putting a hand on Red's shoulder. He would call her Red in case someone would ever mistake him for saying Weasley again.

She turned her head around and narrowed her eyes as she saw Blaise smiling awfully sweet. Draco too narrowed his eyes and cursed to himself.

His hand unconsciously flew to his wand and he clutched it as he saw his best friend slightly bent over and whisper something in Red's ear. She then suddenly froze before she slowly started smiling.

Draco cursed underneath his breath and nearly snapped his wand in two. He gnashed his teeth and ignored the weird looks he got from the students passing by.

What the hell was wrong with him? It couldn't possibly affect him that much now could it?

The idea of slowly strangling Blaise with his bare hands seemed frightfully satisfying. His bare hands would definitely give him so much more satisfaction than using his wand. He wondered if the little redhead would mind if he did. He knew she didn't like it if he picked on someone… Come to think of it, it didn't seem to be as joyful as it used to be lately…

Bloody hell, his mind kept distracting him. He should pay attention to Blaise and… They were gone!

Draco cursed out loud and stamped his foot on the ground like a child, which put him in an even worse situation since McGonagall just happened to pass by, hearing him curse and she gasped.

"Mister Malfoy! I do not tolerate this kind of language! Ten points will be taken from Slytherin!" she said angrily, her lips in one small line and looking slightly pale. "I did not expect this kind of behaviour and such vulgar words from you."

"I'm sorry professor," he quickly apologised, dying to search for Blaise, that bloody traitor… er, blood traitor of course.

"I sure hope you are and I better not hear this from your mouth again. You may now go," she said, eyebrows arched at his obvious haste.

Draco stalked away (Malfoys didn't run), not paying attention to the odd look he was receiving from the Gryffindor head. He had other, more important, matters concerning another Gryffindor and a certain Slytherin, who wasn't exactly improving his mood either.

Much to his despair and humiliation, he eventually had to ask Potter if he'd seen Red (imagine his humiliation).

"What do you want from Ginny?" Potter said defensively, narrowing his eyes and glaring intensely at him.

"I'm looking for Zabini and he's last seen with her. I guessed you would know where she is if she's with someone saint Potter doesn't approve of," he said with an arrogant smirk.

"You mean you don't know where your lackeys are all the time?" he retorted, reaching for his wand.

"Put that back Harry, he's not worth it," Granger whispered in his ear, feeling clearly uncomfortable, yet glaring at the Slytherin nonetheless.

"Why is my sister with that bastard?!" Ronald Weasley screeched. "If you hurt my sister…" he threatened, but Granger got a hold of him.

"Relax Ron, he's only trying to get to you. They're not that stupid to pull anything here," she soothed him and he gradually calmed down.

"Merlin, calm down all of you. I'm here and I'm fine," Ginny Weasley herself suddenly said, appearing with Blaise next to her.

Draco felt like he was about to explode. Luckily, his years of training in hiding his feelings finally paid off.

So while the Golden Trio was all over Red, he was glaring at Blaise, signing his unhappiness at him. Zabini just completely ignored him.

Red stealthily looked at him and when he caught her staring, she winked at him, mouthing something he couldn't read.

As the trio including Red walked away, completely ignoring the two Slytherins (which must have been so tough for the Weasley brother, since he was trembling all over), a piece of parchment slowly whirled down on to the ground soundlessly.

Draco waited a few seconds before he stepped closer and reached down to pick it up. He slowly unfolded it and read: Nothing happened. Meet me before dinner at your spot.

Oh, he would definitely go this time.

He didn't talk to Blaise during their walk to the Common Room and Blaise himself obviously couldn't be bothered either. He was just wearing that strange knowing and smiling look on his face. It was simply pissing him off.

Moreover, he had more important things to do than talking to Blaise. He was thinking about Red and their meeting tonight. He felt strangely nervous about it. It felt very inconvenient and was different from his usual confidence. He shuddered as he thought about the word popping up into his mind: date.

No, this really had to come to an end, he thought by himself once he had entered the dorms, leaving Blaise behind in the Common Room, chatting with some girls.

There would certainly not come any good from associating with a Weasley. Moreover, the bloody girl seemed to slowly take over his life. He would go tonight and tell her that this all had to stop.

Even though he came up with this plan now, he still felt incredibly nervous. Not a very good sign.

With a sigh, he sat down and let his head fall on his hands. What was wrong with him these days? Last Monday, his thoughts were all over the Weasley girl and how he could get rid of her without going to Azkaban.

While everyone else was chatting in the Common Room or making homework after class, just before dinner, Draco snuck out of the dungeons and quietly walked to their meeting spot. His spot to be exact.

He felt rather exhausted and wished that he could have slept a bit before he was supposed to go there.

While walking through the school, he suddenly thought about this week's start.

The horoscope. He wasn't really superstitious, but he wondered if it would have made a difference if Pansy wouldn't have read it out for him.

Stupid Divination, no good has ever come from it, he sighed inwardly.

The colour of love, he mused. Red could also be the colour of anger or hell for that matter. In his case, it probably just meant danger. Be aware of the redhead.

Arriving at the entrance, he opened the door and walked outside. The fresh air blew away his thoughts, making him feel more at ease.

Determined, he walked to the tree Red would probably already be waiting for him. Therefore it surprised him as he saw no one there yet.

Thirty more minutes until dinner. She would show up soon enough. He sat down, leaning with his back against the tree and waited.

He waited for forty five minutes to be precise, before he angrily jumped to his feet. Who the bloody hell did she think she was, standing him up like this?

Angry at the weasel for standing him up and at himself for actually waiting this long, he stalked to the Great Hall. Red: danger and anger indeed.

He sat down next to Blaise with a murderous look on his face, making sure that nobody asked him a bloody thing.

He poured the pumpkin juice into his goblet and almost threw the food on his plate. He felt humiliated and didn't spare one look at the Gryffindor table. Instead, he focused his anger on his food. He'd had it.

Saturday:

Saturday. Saturday meant Quidditch practice. Draco didn't feel like going at all.

First things first though, which meant in this case breakfast in the Great Hall.

Walking through the Hogwarts halls, he bumped in to someone. Angrily he glared at the poor person. The blonde girl paled and excused herself.

"Being awfully rude again Malfoy. You act like you've been stood up," no one other than the red plague herself said from behind him.

Finally something snapped inside of him and a vein popped up near his temple. He turned around on his heels and grabbed her by her arm without saying a word.

"Oi Malfoy, what are you doing?" she asked, not as confident as she usually sounded though.

Draco opened the next best door, being a quiet classroom, and pushed her through the door opening, still holding on to her arm.

"You can't do anything," Red said, trying to pry him off her arm.

"You've been bugging me for the whole bloody week," he practically hissed.

"No harm intended," she said, trying to loosen the death grip on her arm. "Really now, my lower arm needs blood as well," she uttered, but he pushed her against the wall.

"There's no way that you will escape from me once more," he said not once averting his eyes from hers.

He reached for his wand and Red's eyes grew bigger. Draco smirked but instead of pointing it at her, he directed it at the door, mumbling a spell. "Now there's no one who can disturb us," he said smoothly.

"Look Malfoy, I'm sorry, okay? Maybe I've gone a bit overboard in teasing you," she quickly said, apparently realising that he was a whole lot stronger than her and he'd indeed caught her this time.

"Hmm, where did your feistiness go?"

"Malfoy…"

Draco didn't let her finish her sentence but intercepted with lowering his head and crash his lips on to hers. He didn't intend to harm her. Oh, not at all. He just finally wanted the frustration, stress and exhaustion to leave his body. This whole bloody week had just been too much.

He still had her arm captivated, high above her head. He felt her gasp against his lips and he forced her lips apart with his tongue.

Her scent and her mere presence intoxicated him. He wanted more. This was what his frustration was all about.

He felt how she responded to him, not rejecting him at all. His mind felt deliciously empty as she ran her free hand up his chest to his neck to pull him even closer. He didn't want to let go off her other arm. He wanted her to stay right here, next to him.

He let his hand (his own free hand) travel up her body, reaching her neck, stroking her soft skin. He laced his fingers through her hair, feeling how soft it felt, bringing it closer to his face, to inhale its scent while he was still snogging the living hell out of her.

Her hand left his neck only to move to his hair and mess it up. Draco moved the hand he was using to restrain her arm with, down and stroked her arm.

Finally, feeling a bit (only the slightest bit) calmed down, he broke away and waited till she opened her eyes.

Her look was way too sexy. Her eyes were still half lidded and her lips just a bit rosy and swollen. Her cheeks were burning up and she looked at him as though she was drunk.

Draco leaned against the wall with his right arm and his left was just hanging there. His head was lowered and he looked into those chocolate brown eyes that just were mesmerising him.

"Malfoy," she finally said, sounding husky. It came out as a long sigh which made him want to snog her even more, but he reluctantly restrained himself, wanting to know her reaction.

"What was this?" she mumbled amazed.

"My frustration," he growled in a low voice. "Only a little bit of it though. Wait until the rest will come out," he nearly growled. His hair was tussled and his bangs were falling before his eyes.

Her eyes now fully opened and she looked confused, yet strangely innocent.

"Don't you know that it's dangerous to fool around with a bloke?" he asked. "Didn't your brothers warn you? I know Potter did."

He smirked. To his surprise though, she smiled mischievously.

"Yes, they all did." She put her hand on his chest. Looking at him as his heartbeat increased beneath her palm. "I think it's rather worth it though."

"Why's that?" he asked, his head inching closer now.

"That is because you've perked my interest, Mr. Malfoy," she grinned.

"That so?"

Draco felt strangely relieved to hear that coming out of her mouth.

"Indeed it is. You should feel special."

"Oh, that won't be a problem. I know I'm special," he smirked arrogantly. He felt strangely confident. Now that he knew about her sincere interest in him, he felt rather cocky.

"Well Malfoy, I guess I'll see you around," Red smirked and drew her wand. She pointed it at the door and said: "Alohomora." A feint click was heard and she walked away.

"Weasley," Draco suddenly called out and she stopped, turning her head around. Now that he had her attention, he didn't exactly know what he wanted to say. He wanted to see her again soon, but he didn't dare to ask for the impossible.

As the silence stretched forward, she asked: "Yes?"

"Nothing," he finally replied. Somehow, the look on her face appeared disappointed to him. Was it only wishful thinking?

"You could come to see me after Quidditch practice," he quickly said, while she was holding the doorknob, feeling the urge to gnaw on his lower lip and shut his eyes tightly.

"Sure, I could do that," she replied a little happier. "Now if you please excuse me, I'm hungry after morning exercises."

Her hair, her flaming red hair was the last thing he saw before she closed the door behind her.

Sinking down the wall, Draco's mind finally comprehended the happenings. He had kissed the Weasley girl willingly.

He moaned softly as his father's image appeared in his head and already saw how his name would be scratched out of his will. If they'd ever find out, he would be disowned immediately. His stomach growled, ignoring his personal problems and reminded him of his hunger.

Hunger, he thought, such irony.

Blaise, he definitely needed to talk to Blaise. Thinking of him made Draco wonder why the hell he hadn't shown up here yet anyway.

After all, the bloke seemed to have a radar for his misfortune.

With a sigh, Draco got to his feet and dusted off his robe. Breakfast time.

Arriving at the Great Hall, he saw Ginny Weasley sitting next to bloody Potter who had a moody look on his face. He refused to look at the red haired girl right next to him, but stared at his plate instead. With one last look at Ginny (and her ever so conspicuous hair) he walked over to Blaise and seated himself next to his friend.

"Draco, you look like you've snogged the bloody hell out of someone," Blaise whispered bluntly, right after Draco's first bite. The comment made him cough and gasp for air as the bread wasn't swallowed down, making him choke in the progress.

With a friendly smack on the back, Blaise managed to free Draoc's windpipe and said boy inhaled deeply.

"Now that was pretty suspicious, wouldn't you agree?" Blaise grinned running his hand through his hair. That particular move started to irritate Draco tremendously. How often did he need to fix his hair?

"I have no idea what the bloody hell you're talking about," Draco said stiffly.

"Of course you don't." Blaise nodded sarcastically. "My mind would go blank as well after snogging Ginny Weasley," he said. He arched his eyebrow.

Draco drew his wand faster than lightning. "Don't." He said it angrily and added: "even think about it."

"Maybe I will," Blaise replied narrowing his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Not that you would mind, now would you?"

Draco's wand sparked suddenly. He wasn't in control of his own emotions. His mother would definitely frown upon him. His hand slightly trembled as he tried to control his anger. His friend lifted an eyebrow.

Slowly, Draco put his wand away quickly.

"Pansy," he said casually, directing his words at the girl across the table, who was holding a bitter grudge against him currently. With a look that stopped between a glare and a hopeful interest, she looked up at him. "You didn't put a horoscope for Blaise together or did you?" he asked and Pansy's expression changed to an excited one.

"Actually, I did," she said eagerly, happy that he was at last showing a bit of interest. "Love is in the air," she started, but Draco had already slammed his fist on the table before she could continue. She shot him an offended look.

Had he really thought it to be negative? If anything, this would only fire Blaise up and make him decide to make a move. That, he couldn't let happen.

Draco stalked out of the Great Hall and went to the pitch.

While he was flying on his broom later on, he wondered what he was thinking.

Could he have actually been so stupid to fall for the Weasley girl? Could he really pretend any longer, that he was only venting the frustration she'd created on her?

With a groan, he dived to the ground, wanting to crash into the ground, no longer having to think, but right before he would crash into the ground, right before the impact, he pulled up and his teammates looked at him in admiration.

"If you use that against Potter, we'll send the bludgers after him and he's toast," one of the Beaters grinned.

Draco didn't bother to answer. He'd spotted Red. It would be better if she'd go unnoticed by the Slytherins. Only ten more minutes until the end of practice. If he would leave the lockers first, there would be no problem at all.

"Hey, would you look at that," one of his teammates grinned. "If that isn't a Weasley."

"Let's leave her alone," Draco quickly said. Too quickly really, because the boy narrowed his eyes and said: "Why, what's wrong Draco? There's no teacher nearby," he looked at him, searching his face for any expression.

Draco tried his hardest not to look guilty and to conceal his emotions, but insisted: "I know, but she's a Weasley, they all go and cry to a teacher. We'll definitely get punished afterwards." He hoped it sounded convincing enough. Would it have been something he would've said before? He didn't know.

"Now now Draco, you're not scared of her, are you?" he asked with a mocking smile. Suddenly Draco felt hatred towards the bloke. Couldn't he cut it out already?

Said boy looked down to the place Ginny had just been standing and noticed gratefully (and slightly disappointed, but he wouldn't admit that. Ever.) that she'd apparently walked away.

Casually, he said: "Look, she already ran for it."

Obviously, the Beater didn't trust him, but neither did he continue talking.

At the end of training, Draco waited until everyone had left the lockers (the opposite of what he'd intended to do). He knew she couldn't have left in the first place. She'd probably sensed the danger and hidden herself. Ginny Weasley was probably around.

After changing, he stood up, but before he walked out of the room, he hesitated and said: "Come on out, Weasley. I know you're here."

With a sudden 'tonk' one of the lockers flew open and the girl stepped out with a disgusted look on her face.

"Merlin, you people smell awfully!" she cried out. "There was no spell strong enough to fully keep the stench out of here." She wrinkled her nose in disgust and looked as if she was about to throw up any second now.

"Well thank you," Draco said with arched eyebrows. He looked at her in annoyance and just a bit relieved to see her unharmed

Of course he would have never let anyone know this, especially not Blaise with his annoying 'I-know-something-you're-denying-look'. Ugh, how he hated him right now. He could just picture his smug look.

"So…" Ginny Weasley (he still couldn't refer to her simply as Ginny, it was just too odd), said expectantly. Her cheeks had gained some colour and she didn't look on the verge of vomiting anymore. "What exactly did I come here for?"

That was the point, a very good question indeed. What to do now? During practice he'd only been worrying about the big mess of emotions he'd been living in lately, that he didn't think of what to tell her afterwards.

Why had he practically made her come here?

He fancied her; that had become painfully obvious to him. He didn't particularly like the idea, but he was man enough to admit that in the very least. Then on the other hand, there were certain problems.

First of all, he couldn't exactly tell her, now could he?

He felt awfully possessive on top of that. They weren't even really involved, yet every time Blaise talked about her in some kind of suggestive way, his blood would boil. So far, he'd been doing a rather great job (in his opinion, Blaise would disagree here) at denying it, but he could no longer do that.

As he stood there staring at the girl he so (Merlin forgive him for saying the word) desperately wanted to snog, she waited for him to come up with an answer he didn't have.

As he didn't speak, at all, for several tormenting minutes, she said: "I think I came here for more than having you stare holes through my body. I think you want an answer instead of giving me some information. I think you want to know what's going on between us and what to do about it."

Bingo, he thought, restraining himself from viciously nodding his head. Indeed he wanted some bloody answers as to why of all the girls, he'd come to fancy the Weasley girl. The only girl, for Merlin's sake, of that horribly poor family. The family he despised. He wasn't fooling himself for a minute (that is, not anymore and certainly not concerning this aspect of their complicated little thing). He wasn't talking Romeo and Juliet. God no. He wouldn't magically be able to get along with her brothers or any member of her family for that matter. Neither did he expect his father (out of the blue really) to approve of any of this. There was no way that he would secretly run off with her, he only fancied her, and it was not like he actually loved her. He would get over her soon enough. She was not worth risking his life or reputation. Yet even though Blaise would mock him to no end, he would keep a secret for an old friend.

He would tell Blaise to cover for him and he would dump her soon enough. That ought to do it.

"You, being a Slytherin," Red started after several minutes of awkward silence and quick thinking from his side, "you only want the good parts out of this. That would mean: snogging," she counted on her fingers, "fun talk, no emotional stuff, dumping me after you've got me 'out of your system'," she did some air quotes, which he hated, "and," she lifted an eyebrow at him and shot him a sarcastic, knowing smirk, "occasional sex. Would that be all?"

He blushed lightly at the idea, wondering if he'd been thinking out loud.

"As a Gryffindor, you probably cannot agree with that, can you?" Draco asked, playing with his wand again.

"We'll see," she said and smiled with a strange glint in her eyes.

"Draco!" The Beater from before was back. He opened the door and Draco could see his eyes grow wider.

"Well well, if that isn't the Weasley girl from before," the big Slytherin smirked evilly.

This could only mean one bloody thing: trouble. Hadn't he mentioned something like 'I don't like trouble' before? Oh yes, he did think so.

While the boy was staring at the small redhead, Draco was finding himself with a few (neither of them to be liked) options.

First of all, he could stop his teammate from doing anything to her in the first place. That of course, meant that he also had to perform an amnesia spell. Since he didn't know any, he would be in trouble. If any member of his house would find out… Draco cringed at the thought.

The second option (could it be less appealing?) would throw away all his chances he had with the Weasley girl. He could of course join his mean looking teammate and hex her first to clear all suspicions against him, involving him caring for the redhead. He couldn't do this though, because it was not part of his principles.

The last option he had left was him doing nothing at all, with probably the same outcome as option number two, since Gryffindors were oh so fond of their courage.

But then all of a sudden, Ginny Weasley surprised him by creating a fourth option. She hexed the boy before he could do anything at all. He stiffened and fell backwards.

"Way too easy. He was full of openings," she stated, looking at the boy assessing.

Draco was about to open his mouth when she silenced him with one gesture. He shut his mouth and looked at her. "Don't bother Malfoy, I knew this would get you in trouble. I didn't expect you to do anything really," she shrugged indifferently. "Just make sure to talk you out of it. I'll let you say you hexed me as well." She nodded to herself. "Yes that'll do." Then she turned around. "So long." She saluted and walked out of the door, leaving Draco in a mess. He'd slightly coloured at her remark and had clenched his teeth.

Didn't expect him to do anything, did she? Well bloody right she was. He wouldn't give up his bloody reputation, his bloody principles. For Merlin's sake, he was a Slytherin after all.

But why was he bothered by it so much? He felt like he should have been her knight in shining armour. It gnawed on him and he didn't like it. This was not how Draco Malfoy was supposed to react.

Sunday, 1 month later:

On the last day of the fourth week since they'd spoken, Draco had an enormous headache and huge bags underneath his eyes. He felt incredibly tired and didn't know what to do anymore.

After breakfast, he lay down on his bed and closed his eyes to ban out the throbbing headache.

Had she been right? Did he really only wanted the convenience of them being together? He knew he really wanted to be together for at least a while. Yet, he didn't want anyone to know about it either. Such dilemma.

Draco frowned with his eyes closed. He wasn't used to dilemmas. Usually he got what he wanted. He snapped his eyes open. There was only one thing to do. He groaned inwardly. Oh, he would laugh in his face and never let it wear down.

Blaise.

"You what?" said boy said minutes later. He stared at his best friend and his eyes were as big as saucers. Then he bent over and laughed his lungs out. "Hahahahahahaha!" The tears were running down his face. He clutched his stomach and inhaled deeply. Slowly the laughter wore off.

"So you finally came to terms with yourself?" Blaise said with a huge grin on his face.

Irritated, Draco looked at him. "Are you done laughing?" he asked annoyed.

"Not quite," Blaise replied, "But I can stall it for a bit." He ran another hand through his hair.

"Oh, would you stop that! There are no girls around!" Draco snapped. "Just help me out already."

"Okay, okay, calm down." Blaise sighed. "You know, you have to face it. You're in love mate."

Draco looked uncomfortable.

"You can deny it all you want, but that will get you nowhere. Now, you know how she is. She'll definitely wait till you figured things out yourself. She'll understand I'm sure." He grinned. "As a matter of fact, she came to talk to me as well."

"You didn't tell me that," Draco growled.

"Of course not. You had to figure it out yourself. Of course it was great fun to see you go bananas whenever I said her name. I told her a little something about you. You ought to thank me instead of criticize me all the time you know. You should be happy that I stick with you."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Draco made an annoyed sound. "Just tell me what to do."

Blaise grinned conspiratorial and started talking.

Muttering to himself, Draco walked about forty minutes later through the Hogwarts halls. Ginny Weasley hadn't been talking to him ever since they had their little incident in the Quidditch locker rooms. Sourly, he had to admit that she'd been right. Everyone in their right mind would avoid someone as shallow as he'd been behaving. He'd cowardly chosen his own reputation above anything else. And there he'd been, thinking that he would never choose the path his father had. He'd practically done the very same thing.

He should have known from the beginning that he wouldn't be able to ban the fiery redhead out of his mind after their encounters. What bugged him the most though, was the fact that Pansy had been right with her ever so annoying Divination. Red hadn't had the meaning of love in particular though. Of course it had been a factor, but in this case red had simply meant Weasley.

Draco couldn't help himself but shudder at the thought. That name has to change, he thought involuntary. Otherwise it would haunt him the rest of his life. Being raised by the parents couldn't help but have; he couldn't do anything about the fact that he still hated that name.

Great start for romantic matters, he thought.

"What's a great start for romantic matters?" someone asked him.

Draco froze and coloured. Had he been talking out loud? Oh Merlin, could the ground please open up and swallow him? The last thing he wanted to lose (he would lose his reputation anyway after starting to date Ginny), was his dignity.

If he would turn around slowly and glare at the person in question, deny everything and walk away, everything could still be alright, right?

Still frozen, Draco thought about the week in which he had barely slept. Then this horrible month following it, leaving him alone and thinking, he didn't really think that he deserved anything of this anymore. Merlin, he couldn't be happier since it would only be a few weeks until graduation.

Finally, he turned around, ready (did he really have another choice?) to face the person behind him.

He didn't know what to say as soon as he saw the person standing there. The petite little redhead that had been haunting him for this past month. Her hair seemed to have grown a bit longer. Her chocolate brown eyes were curiously staring at him. Did he see the slightest sign of bags underneath her eyes?

His eyes never managed to get out the glare that he'd wanted to give. Instead of that, he just stood there dumbfounded, feeling happy for many reasons. He felt happy because he finally got to see her, he felt happy because the hallway was empty and he felt happy because Blaise wasn't there to mock him. There was no need to tell him either.

"You know, you're very good at saying nothing, but just stand there with that funny look on your face, you know that?" she grinned.

Not knowing what to say, Draco just frowned at her. Now he'd found her and with Blaise's words in the back of his head ("Come on mate, you just have to tell her how you feel. You're so smooth usually."), he still didn't know what to tell her. He just stood there, looking at her with a frown on his face.

Eventually she sighed. "Seeing that you are no longer insulting me, I assume Blaise talked to you. But since you apparently don't know what to say, I suppose you have no clue of what to say." She tapped her foot and took her lip between her teeth. "Okay," she said, letting go of her lip. "I don't think I should be the first one to say this but –."

"Don't!" Draco interfered suddenly. What the bloody hell was wrong with him. The redhead looked up to him, wondering whether to continue with what she was about to tell him, or wait for him to finally say something.

He was the one that should tell her how he felt. It'd been too long now. He'd postponed it for a whole bloody month!

He was thinking really fast now. Though his mouth didn't want to say the words his mind came up with. It felt utterly frustrating really. He really wasn't used to express his feelings. He knew though that if he and Ginny had to work out, he needed to work on that.

The girl in front of him furrowed her brow and sighed again. "I guess you just cannot say it yet. It's a shame." She looked rather unhappy, but shrugged nonetheless and turned around.

It's now or never you bloody fool! His inner voice shouted at him.

"Ginny!" he called, it being the first time that he'd ever called her name out like that. It felt a bit strange, since he was used to 'Weasley', 'Weasel' or something along the lines of 'you bloody bitch!'

Surprised, Ginny glanced over her shoulder.

Draco ran a hand through his hair, mimicking Blaise's move, he hated. "This isn't going to be pretty," he muttered a bit embarrassed.

"I know," she smiled and turned back around.

"I'm not that romantic and I might not be the way you thought I was going to be," he said and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"It'll be interesting though," she grinned and stepped closer.

"I don't know…"

"We'll never have a dull day. Just imagine my brother and Harry's face," she smirked and stretched out her hand to stroke his hair back. He could feel himself holding his breath. He made a face that held somewhere between a smirk and a grimace.

"That's true." Something inside of him wanted to tell her his feelings, but his mouth couldn't put the feelings into the right words.

"It's really hard for you, isn't it?" she asked, closing the distance between them. Her hand travelled from his hair to his face. Her lean fingers traced his cheeks to his chin, down his neck. Finally, she pulled his head closer, capturing his lips. The last thing he thought was: this is not the way it's supposed to be done. Then his mind became deliciously empty.

"So, what does this mean?" Ginny finally asked after their kiss.

"I suppose it means that we should try it," he smirked, entangling his fingers in her red hair.

"What makes you think that?" she grinned, encircling her hand around his waist.

"Well… What can I say? Red is my colour," he replied, leaning in for another kiss.

"Get your bloody hands of my sister!" a very red Ronald Weasley screamed almost hysterically as he saw his sister willingly snogging the Malfoy.

"Ginny!" Potter yelled in addition. "What did I tell you! I warned you!"

"You knew about this?!" the male Weasley screeched in a funny high tone. "You only told me that Malfoy planning to do something with my sister! Not that she would willingly participate!"

Potter shifted uncomfortably, which pleased Draco enormously. He didn't intend to say anything to help Potter out, so he just stood there with a smug look on his face, his arm casually draped around Ginny's shoulders.

"Oh Merlin, Draco mate, is this really the place for such display of affection?" Blaise interrupted them. "You've got quite a crowd here," he said and winked at Granger, making Weasley search his robes for his wand.

"Don't you dare to look at my girlfriend like that!" he shouted, redder than ever.

"Harry, help me get him out of here before he kills one of them," Granger said with a blush.

"Just for the record," Draco finally said, "I guess you'll have to get used to this, since she's my girlfriend now." He enjoyed the glares he got from the Golden Trio.

"Hello love," Blaise said, directing his words to Ginny. "I see that everything turned out fine with just a little bit of my guidance," he nodded approvingly. "Ready to face the world yet?"

Ginny grinned at him.

Draco shot Blaise an annoyed look. "How is it that you always show up at the most inconvenient times?"

"Ah... Well, I suppose it's a gift." Blaise ran a hand through his hair en winked. "I'm there where the sensation is. Just enjoying everyone's misery, you know, the usual."

Ginny snorted. "You know, you've really been great Blaise, though I think we can handle it now."

"Aw," the boy pouted.

Ginny hooked her arm through Draco and Blaise's arms and walked through the hall.

"You know mate, you should really thank Pansy," Blaise grinned over Ginny's head.

"Why? What does she have to do with this?" Draco frowned in response.

"After all, she put your horoscope together," Ginny smirked knowingly.

"How do you know?" Draco asked surprised.

"Ah well, there is this little Divinations club every now and then," Ginny said innocently. "I might have changed a little something about the one she made for you... with a little help from Blaise," she added, after said boy had cleared his throat.

"But she was hitting on me..." Draco replied, furrowing his brow. Ginny looked at Blaise and raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah, just a little obstacle. I knew you would never fall for her though. It was just a bit of messing with your mind really," Blaise said, waving his hand.

Draco let everything sink in. "So this was set up?"

"I like to refer to it as 'a little push in the right direction'," Blaise corrected him.

"You don't really mind, do you?" Ginny asked.

His frown turned into a smirk. "I'm just surprised, that's such a Slytherin thing to do," he replied.

They laughed as they walked through the hallway.

Whether it had been set up or not, the horoscope had been right. Red really was his colour and it just happened to be his girlfriend's hair colour. Set up or not, he could live with it.

---

Let me know what you think.

JadeMesmerizedByOnyx