Disclaimer: I don't own these character, JKR does.
Bump on the Hogwarts Express.
The youngest of the Weasley's hugged her mother and father goodbye and proceeded towards the Hogwarts Express, the warm summer wind whipping her long, fiery hair into her face.
Ginny Weasley strode forward, head held high, clutching her sketchbook tightly in her arms. Just before she got to the train door, she quickly waved goodbye to her parents one last time before entering the train for her sixth year in Hogwarts. She walked down the length of the train, hoping to find her friend, Luna Lovegood, in one of the empty cabins. After reaching the end of the train and not seeing Luna anywhere, she turned back and smacked straight into someone. It must have been with some force as she knocked them straight off their feet and landed with a hefty thud on top of them. She hastily got up and picked up the sketches that had flown out of her sketchbook.
"I am so-." she froze in her sentence as the figure stood up. "Malfoy!"
Draco Malfoy got up to his feet and noticed a red-headed girl staring back at him.
"Weaslette? What, may I ask, are you doing in my reserved cabin?" he sneered.
"Your reserved cabin?" she asked disbelievingly. "Well, sor-ry but it's a free country and I don't exactly see your name on it." Ginny quickly retorted and sneered back that made her look very Slytherin if she had not been wearing Gryffindor robes. Malfoy stared maliciously at her. It looked like the Weaslette had definitely got the temperament of her brother.
He pushed past her, harshly knocking her shoulder and sat down, followed by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Oh, are you still here? You're excused." He waved a hand carelessly at her.
"Don't talk to me as if I'm one of your salves!" she said hotly.
"We'll, judging by your robes, you could quite easily be one."
Ginny turned pink.
"I am not! And I don't really give a damn about you or your sarky comments." She sat down on the seat opposite him.
"What in hell are you doing?" he hissed.
"I'm sitting down, idiot."
"Yes. But can't you find a more suitable place to sit rather than here? A hole maybe." He said with gritted teeth.
"No. Cuz all the other compartments are full, so tough." she said and stretched her long legs out onto the seat opposite her. Malfoy eyed her warily and she matched him, glaring at him and then turning her head to stare out of the window, purposely ignoring him.
Grasping the opportunity, Malfoy looked carefully at the youngest of the Weasels. She had the trademark red hair that seemed to make her stand out more than any other of the girls in Hogwarts. She was now 16 and definitely had the body to match that. The frumpy black robes hid most of her body but Malfoy could still see the curves of her body. And those legs. Those long, gorgeous legs that were stretched out towards him, less than a foot away from him.
After a while of watching the rain spatter onto the glass, Ginny turned to her sketchbook, with drawing her pencil from her pocket. She started to sketch Harry, but scribbled it out. Why did she keeping drawing him. He had ignored for the past 6 years of knowing him. She glanced up and saw Malfoy looking at her with suppressed mirth and interest.
"Gotta problem, Malfoy?"
"Not really, except for the fact you're here."
"Look, I don't exactly want to be here either, but everywhere was full up so shut it Ferret Boy." She snapped back. Malfoy stared at her incredulously.
"Ferret Boy? Where the hell did that come from?"
"Oh, didn't you know Ferret Boy? The majority of Hogwarts call you that after that brilliant day two years ago. From what Hermione told me, you make quite a good ferret."
Malfoy glared.
"It's no good glaring, Malfoy. It won't do anything. And it's actually quite fortunate that I'm skilled in Transfiguration." She smirked and toyed with her wand.
"Keep smirking and people'll start to think that you're a Slytherin." Malfoy smirked too and Ginny's face fell. She glowered at him and turned her attention to somewhere else. It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep. Malfoy could help but admire how pretty she looked when she was asleep. He wouldn't really mind her being asleep next to him…
Whoa. What am I thinking? This is a Weasel I'm thinking about. I am seriously deranged.
He shook that though out of himself quickly, earning himself an odd look from the plump trolley lady who had just arrived.
"Want anything dear?"
"Yeah. 6 Cauldron Cakes, half a dozen Chocolate Frogs and a couple of boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans." Malfoy handed the money over to the woman and looked at Ginny who was still fast asleep.
"What about her?" the lady asked as if reading Malfoy's mind. Malfoy glanced at her. This was her only chance to get some food and she would be starving by the time they got to Hogwarts. He nudged her gently but she didn't wake. After two more nudges and no responses, Draco pushed her harshly and her head banged onto the wall.
"Oww. What the fuck is your problem, Malfoy? I was only sleeping."
"Stop whinging. I'm doing you a favour. The food trolley's here."
"Oh." She looked shocked at the fact Malfoy had done something some what nice for her and searched her pockets for her money bag.
"Shit." Ginny swore; Malfoy raised his eyebrow. "I left my money bag with Ron. Damn." She sighed. "Oh well."
The trolley lady shrugged at Malfoy and moved on.
"Here." Malfoy said gruffly and chucked Ginny a Cauldron Cake which she caught with surprise.
"Err… Thanks. Wait, why did you just give me a cake?"
"Well, I've got plenty, originally for all three of us." He said glancing at Crabbe and Goyle who had conked out. "And they're as dumb as ever so I doubt they'll miss one cake. I don't even think they count. They seriously worry me sometimes. I'm not even sure they have brains."
Ginny looked up at Malfoy who looked seriously concerned and snorted with laughter.
"What?"
"Nothing." And she glanced away just catching Draco smile out of the corner of her eyes. Well, almost.
She hit herself gently on the side of her head.
"Going mad Weasley? Not a good sign, you know."
Ginny glared at him
"Bite me, Malfoy."
Malfoy rolled his eyes and watched the countryside flash pass his eyes. Ginny watched him with interest. Cautiously, she reached for her drawing equipment, slowly so that Draco didn't notice her doing so. He continued to stare out of the window and Ginny began to sketch…
It was after nearly fifteen minutes that Ginny noticed that he had fallen asleep. She silently thanked herself for drawing his eyes open before hand. His eyes… They were one of the hardest things Ginny had ever drawn. There was a muggle phrase that Ginny remembered he Dad had told her. The eyes are the window to the soul. And it was that, that made him so hard to draw. His eyes looked distant, almost pained and longing. It made her wonder what had made him like that…
Ginny had been sketching the whole time and was amazed at how quickly the time had vanished. She stretched as the Hogwarts Express began to slow down. Draco was still asleep and the gentle autumn sunlight that had begun to shine through the rain clouds illuminated his face. I really ought to wake him.
Draco's eyes fluttered open. Some one had been shaking him gently to wake him.
"Draco? Wake up. We're nearly at Hogwarts." A soft smooth voice informed him. His eyes opened unwillingly although his vision was slightly blurred. There was a woman with fiery hair looking down at him. His vision returned to normal and he realized the woman was none other than Ginny Weasley. At first he questioned what she was doing there but remembered what happened earlier.
Ginny noticed he was awake and stopped doing her drawing.
"Good. Your awake." She stood up, holding the sketchbook close to her chest, as did Malfoy. He glanced at her and then at Crabbe and Goyle, who where still asleep. He kicked them roughly in an attempt to wake them, but to no avail. He sighed angrily.
"Sonorous."(sp?) He said with his wand pointing at his throat and crept closely to them. He was nearly touching them.
"WAKE UP DUMBASSES!"
Crabbe jumped and snorted before his eyes flew open. Goyle did an almost identical performance. Ginny laughed softly, quickly stopping when Malfoy looked at her, but didn't stop showing the smile on the face. Malfoy's stomach did a little jerk. That smile just seemed to light up her entire face. He walked over to the door, casually leaning against the wood of the door frame and waited for the train to come to a stop. Ginny was flicking through her book that she had previously been holding so dearly. The train jolted to sudden stopped and Ginny lost her footing, quickly falling forward. With his Seeker reflexes, Draco swiftly caught her round the waist before she hit the floor but the little black book slipped out of her clutch.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly.
She nodded, pink in the face.
He let her go and she dived onto the floor to gather up various pieces of paper that had been scattered over the floor. He bent down to help her pick them up. There were lots of picture of the Trio (Scar head, Weasel and Mud blood) with some individual sketches of mainly Potter. His interest turned to the page the book had fallen open on. Ginny saw him look at it and tried to grab it but he snatched it up. It was a picture of him, looking out of the train window. This must have been what Ginny had been drawing all through out the train journey. And it was very, very good. It was as if he was looking in a mirror and it wasn't even finished. Some of him was shaded in, whereas the rest was just rough line drawing. Inset into the picture, was a small drawing of him looking straight ahead. His eyes seemed vacant and his mouth was small, although it looked as if he was going to smile. Slightly. He looked at up Ginny who was avoiding his gaze, some what shocked at her talent. It felt like time had temporarily stopped for all except them. But it was speedily jolted back into action as her oaf of a brother slammed back the compartment door.
"Ginny. There you are. Where were you? You should come and sat with us. We were worried about you." Ron blurted, not noticing Ginny's face turn red with anger.
"Really Ron. Well, as you were 'worried' about me, you don't obviously care enough to get off of your backside and look for me. Huh? Didn't think of that, did you? Ron, you are not my bodyguard. I am 16 and I would appreciate it if I was allowed some freedom." She shouted, flipping her hair haughtily behind her. Ron turned red and saw Malfoy standing to the side of Ginny, still holding her sketchbook with a smug smirk plastered onto his face.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Ron said.
"For your information, this is my compartment and your sister happened to be in it at the same time as me. Is that legal?" he taunted and forcefully shoved Ginny's sketch book into her arms without even looking at her.
"No. Because Ginny shouldn't sit with Death Eater scum like you-."
"Excuse me" Ginny suddenly screeched. "Since when did you tell me who I can sit with?"
"Well… I… I don't but…" Ron started, looking very flustered.
"Exactly! You don't!"
"But why would you want to sit with him?" Ron asked.
"Because all of the other compartments were full" she shouted. By now, a small group of students had gathered to see what all the commotion was about.
"Well, you should have sat with us!" he shouted back.
"Maybe I didn't want to!"
"Oh, right. So you'd rather sit with... with this… this Ferret than your friends. Oh, and Draco, how's your father? Is Azkaban doing him well?"
Malfoy's face turned red and before any one else could say anything, Ron crashed into the opposite wall, as a result of Draco hexing him. Malfoy strode forward, shooting dirty glares at Ron, Hermione and especially Harry followed by Crabbe and Goyle.
"That, Ginny, is what Malfoy is like. And that is why you shouldn't go near him." Ron said, standing up again. Draco looked round just in time to see Ginny punch Ron squarely in the face and push past him. He could have sworn that she had muttered 'Nice Bat Bogey Hex…' before marching through the crowd of Hogwarts student into the glorious autumn sunset. Draco couldn't help but think that this year was going to be very, very interesting…