Strangest of Creatures

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I claim nothing but the situations I put these characters in.

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It was not unusual to see the students of Hogwarts milling about in the courtyard on a lazy saturday. Nor was it unusual to see them paired off in groups and gaggles and pairs. What was strikingly strange was that a fair blonde head and a bright red one were missing from the scene. No one seemed to notice though, as if no one particularly cared about the two that were absent. The once prominent Malfoy heir was in the most unlikeliest of places, he was in the library watching a certain red head. Now this fascination wasn´t particularly new nor was it that unusual. It had all happened a few weeks ago when Ginny Weasley had gotten lost in the dungeons.

...

She was sure that she had dropped her essay somewhere near the potions room, and quickly searched for it. Unfortunately she didnt pay any attention to where see was and where she was going, searching rather desperatly for that bit of parchment. So that when she found herself in a dark corridor with rather unfamiliar portraits gazing at her, she stopped in her tracks and started muttering to herself, about the foolishness of losing things and getting lost, and how dreadfully confusing the dungeons happened to be. She didn´t panic and she didn´t cry. The dark had long ago stopped scaring her, she knew that there were worse things out there than the dark, and the dungeons weren´t that scary when you´d had things like Dark Lords in your head.

Instead Ginny listened for any sounds of someone else down here, there was only the sound of water dripping, the sighs and groans of the stone walls. It was rather peacful down here, wasn´t it. Ginny sighed and took out her wand, she was a witch after all and it would have been stupid of her to get lost and cry when she could just say˝point me˝and viola, her wand spun and stopped pointing to her right, back up to where she needed to go. Now, if only she hadn´t heard the sounds of shuffling feet to her left, perhaps she would have gone back to the Gryffindor common room, but for all her common sense, she was a curious one, and since this part of the dungeons were so unused, she wondered who could possibly be down here.

Curiously and silently, she walked around the corner, to her surprise she found non other than Draco Malfoy entering an unused classroom. His hair was rather messy, not at all its usual slicked back self. The glimpse she´d gotten of him before her entered the room had been quick, yet she had still been able to notice that his tie was crooked, and that the smirk that he usually wore was gone, replaced by the strangest of expressions. It looked as if something was bothering him, and all the meaness had left him, he had looked rather sad, and flustered. It was such a strange sight that Ginny´s legs were moving in his direction without her having to tell them to follow him.

He hadn´t seen her, or noticed her, so that when she slipped in to the dark and dank classroom, he was startled when the door groaned and closed, leaving a certain Weasley big eyed and just the slightest bit nervous at being caught, in the room with him.

˝Weasley, what are you doing here?˝ His expression had changed from startled to sneering in a matter of seconds. He had murder in his eyes.

˝I, got lost...˝ said Ginny, not the least bit of fear in her voice, the curiosity was still present and try as he might he just didn´t scare her.

˝Little Weasels gotten herself lost, has she.˝ He tried for snarky, and mean, wanting to frighten her, to get her to leave. Except that nothing mean came out of his mouth, nothing insulting, nothing cruel.

She took a step forward, he watched her warily. ˝You look a mess.˝ She said. ˝Whats it to you Weasley, go on, run off to your red and gold tower, MOVE!˝ He growled, eyes flashing.

˝I have as much right to be here as you do, Malfoy.˝ She said it more cruelly than she meant to, out of habit really. She took another step closer to him, his eyes following her, his eyes that had gone back to that strange tired look. The grey swirling with more emotion than she had ever seen in them.

He took a step back, before he caught himself, before he had a chance to remember who she was, who he was. As if giving up the struggle, the pretense of being a Malfoy, he turned around, his shoulders hunched, his hands shaking. ˝Look Weasley, just leave, okay, leave.˝ His voice sounded nothing like his usual self. If he had been crueller, if he had insulted her, perhaps she would have left, but he wasn´t and he didn´t.

˝Why?...˝ She couldn´t help but say, this curiosity was so unlike her, so forward, she appeared to have the upper hand in this, strangest of situations and for once she would pester and badger until her curiosity was sated.

˝...˝He didn´t say anything, he barely even heard her. He blatently ignored her, his mind elsewhere.

She sighed, loudly in the silent classroom. ˝You know Malfoy, the least you could do is answer me.˝

˝The least I could do is nothing.˝His head turned slightly towards her, so that a stray hair lay across his eyes, and she noticed that though it was dark, his white blonde hair shimmered as if lit by moon light. She moved closer to him, so that she was standing right behind him, closer than ever before. He was the strangest creature, she couldn´t help but think, yes, the strangest creature she had ever seen.

˝What are you doing, didn´t I tell you to leave.˝He turned around so fast she wobbled on her feet. Then he was advancing, the rage back in his voice, forcing her to move backwards until she hit the door with her back. Her eyes widened, a twinge of fear in them, suddenly she noticed that she was alone, with Malfoy, in an unused classroom far far away from anyone.

˝And I was, and I am.˝She opened the door and ran.