Midnight
By Parseltounge
Chapter 1
Blackmail
~*~
Is it thy will thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids on a weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows, like to thee, do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home, into my deeds to pry;
To find out shames and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenor of thy jealousy?
O no! thy love, though much, is not so great:
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake;
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake:
For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
From me far off, with others all-too-near.
-William Shakespeare
Sonnet LXI
~*~
Ginny Weasley. Sixteen years of age, medium build, average height, auburn hair that framed her porcelain-like face, and sweet personality anyone with half of a heart would love.
She preferred to have friends like Colin Creevy, Neville Longbottom, and Hermione Granger over people like Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown any day. Not that she was being judgmental or anything - she just knew that she couldn't establish a true friendship with people like that unless her favorite things in life were gossip, make-up, and boys. And those were most certainly not her favorite things in life - she didn't spend her time talking and worrying about things like that.
Ginny tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and turned the page of the book she was reading. It wasn't all that interesting of a read, and she hoped that Colin might find her compartment soon.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione didn't really play a big role in her life. Sure, Ron was her brother - an overprotective, easy-tempered, and bossy one at that. Okay, so Harry used to be her crush - and a sickly sweet, gawky, experienced actor as well. Oh, and Hermione was a close friend - who would rather spend her time with Harry and Ron, browsing the library, or doing schoolwork.
Overall, the only people she spent time with were Neville and Colin - Neville was most likely catering to another of his recent injuries now, and Colin was probably going to find a nurse for him.
Ginny sighed, setting her book down, turning to look at the scenery unfolding in front of her as the train passed over foothills and pastures. She wondered if there was anyone else on the train just as bored as her. Probably not, she thought dismally.
~*~
Draco Malfoy had his forehead rested upon the windowpane of the glass, every now and then banging his head against it purposefully. It was more entertaining than listening to Pansy chatter away incessantly. She should have realized about two hours ago that he wasn't at all paying attention to her.
Crabbe and Goyle were off doing Lord knows what - probably nicking food of the trolley. They probably had enough brains to grunt, eat, sleep, and relieve themselves, so Draco automatically reasoned that there was no way they could be doing that.
When Draco had met Mrs. Goyle and Mrs. Crabbe, they had both told him that he was a spitting image of his father. So whenever he overheard a female referring to him as the 'Slytherin Sex God' he shuddered profusely.
Another thing that really ticked him off was that whole Death Eater thing. Draco had no intention of becoming one. A few years ago, kneeling on the ground and kissing the hem of a guy's robes who looked like a scarlet-eyed wrinkly monk might have seemed appealing, but not now. He had formed his opinion of the Dark Lord. He might be powerful and wise to a point, at least when it came to Dark Magic and how Mudbloods to be treated - but in all due respect - he was a loon.
Draco saw the reasoning in getting rid of muggle-borns, but saw no reason of taking over the world with his Reign of Terror. Plus, if you looked at the facts, Draco had pointed out to himself, there is really no reason why anyone who possessed more than a quarter of a brain would serve him. Which completely explained why his father served him.
Draco's father had taken to owling him about very lame things in which he seemed to find important:
Son,
The Dark Lord graced his presence at the mansion today. He brought up the topic that you seemed very strong, and wise - good traits for Death Eaters to have. He made it clear that he wanted you to join me in the Inner Circle, after you have proven yourself worthy, of course. He would like you to receive the Mark after you finish your seventh year of schooling. As a subject of less importance, your mother and myself have been aggravated by your lack of triumphing over Gryffindor in your Quidditch games. It seems that you have won against the other Houses, but never Gryffindor. If you tell me that they are to well-trained, then that's just showing that you are not a person worthy enough to continue coaching the Slytherin team. I shall of course be informing Professor Snape of my expectations of you.
Your mother sends her regards,
Lucius
He always signed his name as 'Lucius' unless he was exceptionally proud of Draco, he signed 'Your Father.' The irony of it all was that, to Draco, his name would always be 'That Sadistic Bastard.'
Over the years, Draco's spiteful personality lessened - the older he became the more he differed from his father. He never really threw a rude remark at The Trio or anyone else unless it was thought out and well-aimed. Though his attitude towards people like Hermione hadn't changed, he was less obvious about it then he used to be.
He turned his head to glance briefly at Pansy before turning back to the window, forehead resting against the glass again. He thought she had been saying something about the wonders of magical surgery, but he couldn't be sure.
Oh, how he longed for someone to talk to that had a brain worth at least a half of a Knut.
~*~
Ginny was getting restless. A half an hour had passed since the start of the train ride, and there was still seven and a half hours to go.
Where was Colin, Neville, or even Hermione when you wanted someone to talk to?
Standing up, Ginny brushed out her tan skirt and looked at her surroundings. "Might as well go search for Colin, because I have nothing better to do," Ginny muttered, pushing her compartment door open.
~*~
Draco was on the verge of insanity, only half-listening to Pansy's speech about breast implants.
"Because, it's just so expensive, getting it done the muggle way. I say we look in the library, there's got to be a spell that would do the trick - "
Draco exhaled deeply and turned around. "As - as fascinating as your opinion of the matter is, I really would like to go for a walk - it's getting stuffy in here and - and I need time to think really hard about what you've been talking about."
When Pansy's eyes lit up and she opened her mouth to say something, Draco cut her off, "Alone."
Pansy glared and closed her mouth, crossing her arms.
Draco walked out of the compartment.
~*~
Ginny peeked through all of the windows on the compartment doors. She hadn't yet come across Colin, but she had witnessed a few very full-fledged snogs. She peered through the next window and shrieked, turning away. "Oh - Godric - Gryffindor. That was - the most - horrific thing I could have ever seen."
"What is, Weasley?"
Draco had turned the corned to come face-to-face with Ginny.
Ginny blanched, and mildly pointed to the compartment window, not turning towards it. Draco pushed past her and gazed inside. "Oh. That explains it," he said casually.
Ginny shot him a mild glare. "I - I was going to talk to Hermione when I find her, but under the circumstances -"
"The circumstances of course being your brother shagging Granger."
Ginny rolled her eyes before shuddering. "What are they doing now?"
Draco glanced back in the compartment window.
"They are in a position that would make any mother faint."
He smirked. "For a mudblood Granger has got some very pronounced curves -"
Ginny currently had her hands over her face, breathing deeply.
"Shut it, Malfoy!"
Draco looked quizzically at her. "I would have thought that you would have been happy about your brother having wild sex with Granger."
"Why, Malfoy?"
Draco looked at her, confused, looked through the compartment window, then back to Ginny again.
"Isn't it obvious? You have got total blackmail on him."
Ginny dropped her hands and her face lit up.
"Observe," Draco said, turning away from her and acting as if he was speaking to an invisible person. "Hey Mom, nothing much is going on, except right before we arrived at Hogwarts I saw Ron and Hermione - " Draco shuddered slightly at calling them by their first names, "naked rolling around on the floor of a train compartment. They were going at it for eight hours, the whole duration of the train ride!" Draco lowered his voice slightly, turning back to her. "And if he gets her pregnant you have all the more 'news' for your mother."
Ginny gaped at him. "I would think that he'd have the sense to do some spell or something preventing that."
Draco looked at her, shaking his head. "Knowing your brother, I highly doubt it."
Ginny raise her eyebrows. "And you spend so much time with my brother," she said sarcastically.
Draco moved over to sit in a chair and shrugged. "I've witnessed enough."
Ginny's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be with your….friends?"
Draco's eyes narrowed as well as he sat up straighter in his chair. "For your information, Weasley, Pansy was annoying the crap out of me. So I went for a walk to get away from her - then ran into you and saw something I'd rather not have."
"I thought Pansy was your girlfriend," Ginny said, confused.
Draco snorted. "No. And if I can help it, she never will be. Why would you care?"
"I don't. It's just that everyone in this school thinks you're already engaged, or something like that."
"Sod off, I told you we weren't. I wouldn't think that having little money would affect your hearing at all."
"I think you need new material," Ginny replied, unfazed.
"I think you need to either make yourself useful, or leave me alone."
Ginny glared at him. "Since I don't even want to know what your definition of 'making myself useful' is, I guess I'll just go."
~*~
Fifteen minutes later she found the compartment Colin and Neville were in. It seemed as though a spell of Neville's had gone astray, for he now had wine pouring out of his ears like a fountain.
"Neville if you just held still, I could try to fix it - " came Colin's voice.
"NO! I am going to find Ginny! I trust her with a wand! I know she can reverse it!"
Ginny listened to this from the other side of the compartment door, suppressing a grin. Taking a deep breath, she walked inside, only to reveal a half inch of wine on the carpet floor of the compartment.
"GINNY! Get - your - wand - out - and - reverse - the - spell!"
Ginny surveyed the sight before her. Colin had his wand out, holding it to Neville's ear, and had Neville in a small headlock. "Colin, get off," Ginny warned. Colin sulkily sat back on the compartment seat. Ginny proceeded to turn to Neville. "What caused this?" she asked.
Colin answered before Neville could. "When Hermione walked passed our compartment about half an hour ago, he tried to put a love spell on her."
This guy really needs to get a grip, he's liked Hermione for three years
, Ginny thought."Er - well, you did a good job of making your ears go berserk," Ginny told Neville with a small laugh. She pulled out her wand, pointing it at Neville, and muttered 'Finite incantatem,' under her breath. The wine immediately stopped pouring from Neville's ears.
Neville exhaled deeply. "Thanks," he told Ginny, rubbing his ears, standing up, then taking a seat next to Colin.
"So, what have you been doing over the summer?" Ginny asked Colin.
Colin looked thoughtful. "Honestly, not much. It was a very quiet time, being away from Hogwarts."
"Yeah," added Neville, a far-off look on his face. "I miss Professor Sprout, and the cozy common room…. At one point I became so depressed from being at home that I even missed Malfoy and Pansy's little lover's spats." Colin snorted, and Ginny bit her lip to keep from grinning.
Oddly enough, she felt special knowing something that others did not. And oddly enough, this made her wonder how many false presumptions had been made about Draco Malfoy…
~*~
Next chapter:
They arrive at Hogwarts, and a devious bet is placed….
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A/N: How was it? Email me at dracos_girl_slytherin_babe@hotmail.com
Also, you can request a fic you want me to write as long as it's D/G. It can be a short fic or long fic. Just include a summary of it, and what you'd like it to be like. I will write it for you.
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