Spotted: The Malfoy Heir and the Weaslette!
A picture of Draco and Ginny was splashed across the cover and the two looked awfully cosy, both with looks of happiness on their faces.
"What is this?" Ron's face was flushed in an ugly red; he brandished a copy of Witch's Weekly across the dining table at Ginny.
The Ginny in the picture decided to hold Draco's hand at that moment causing Ron's face to turn even redder.
Ginny scoffed, unperturbed. "Please, why would you believe such irubbish/i? It's written by Rita Skeeter, if you didn't notice."
"But-"
"Ron," Hermione admonished. "Can you remember what awful things she wrote about Harry? You can't believe this now?"
"Fine," Ron sulked, and went back to eating his mountain of a breakfast on his plate.
---
"Weasley." Draco Malfoy walked up to her in the hallway.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Ginny said loftily.
"We need to talk."
"About that article Rita Skeeter wrote? You can't possibly be worried about it."
"Malfoy and Weasley. Malfoy and Weasley. Malfoy and Weasleeeeeeeeeeey." Peeves floated above them, his loud voice alerting other Hogwarts students to their conversation. Immediately, the noise level in the corridor escalated.
"So the Witch's Weekly article is true?" A second-year Hufflepuff girl gasped as she and a girl walked past the two.
"It must be, look at how close they are." Her friend said, not at all subtly.
"You two better shut it, or else." Draco's eyes narrowed. The second-years quickly walked away, shooting them not so subtle looks.
"I'm not worried about it." Draco tried to look unconcerned but Ginny saw right through it.
"So something has finally unsettled the cold, unfeeling Draco Malfoy!" Ginny crowed.
"Shush!" He grabbed her wrist, dragging her to a quieter corridor.
"Hey!" Ginny pulled her wrist away forcefully and rubbed the spot where he grabbed.
"I've got an idea. We can go to that room, the one Dumbledore's Army," he sneered at the name, "was using last year. And dump all the copies of that dratted magazine in it!"
"The Room of Requirement?" Ginny thought for a moment. "It's not a bad idea. In addition, all we have to do is summon just about a million copies of magazine. Easy."
"A summoning spell would be apt."
"Like the one Harry used in the Triwizard Tournament!" Ginny said excitedly.
"Potter, Potter, Potter. Is that all you think about?"
"Jealous?"
"Of course not!"
"But that wouldn't solve the problem. Everyone would still see the picture," Ginny said doubtfully.
"Not if we can come up with a brilliant memory charm which can wipe away everyone's impression of that edition," Draco argued back.
"Fine."
"Now, let's get to work. I never thought I'd say this, but to the Library!"
---
Bang!
Ginny jumped in surprise.
"Look through those. I think the charm we're looking for might be in there." Draco commanded.
"That's what you said about the last mountain of books. And it would help if you actually sat down and read through some of them instead of disappearing to who knows where."
"Okay, I'll be going to find more─"
"Oh no, you will not." Ginny gave her best 'Molly Weasley' glare, causing Draco to quail under it. "Take this one." She threw over a tomb that Draco nearly dropped in shock due to its immense weight.
"Now you know," Ginny said smugly.
---
"Here!" Draco jabbed excitedly at a paragraph from a book looking like it had suffered through the Stone Ages. Its edges were tattered and torn; the page he was pointing to had been bandaged with a fair amount of spell-o-tape.
"Hush! Do you want to get thrown out of the library?" Ginny shot him a nasty look and peered around, looking for any glance of Madam Pince snooping around.
"Here it is!" Draco repeated, in a sarcastic whisper.
"Better." Ginny shot him a saccharine sweet smile. It was silent for a moment while they read the charm needed.
"Seems simple enough," Draco said confidently.
"Let's do it." A gleam was in Ginny's eyes, not unlike the one usually seen in Fred and George's eyes when they had just formulated a prank (usually carried out on Ron).
They quickly returned all the other books, checked out i1000 and One Memory Charms/i for the clueless and quickly headed to the Room of Requirement.
"How do you think that Skeeter woman got hold of that picture?" Ginny wondered.
"On our last trip to Hogsmeade, we were arguing because iyou/i had jinxed me with that Bat-Boogey Hex. I think someone must have taken a picture and decided to edit it." Draco deduced.
"I only hexed you because you pushed me into the mud!" Ginny said defensively.
"It was too good an opportunity to pass up. And that hex totally outweighed you getting dirtied." Draco shuddered at the memory.
---
The corridor on the seventh floor opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy attempting to train trolls for the ballet was empty.
Ginny paced outside the blank stone wall, concentrating hard. Harry had said to be as specific as possible.
iI need a place to hide a large number of magazines. I need a pla─/i
"What are you doing Weasley?" Draco said irritated. "We don't have much time before dinner you know."
"Shut up Malfoy," was the curt reply.
iI need a place to hide large number of magazines. I need a place to hide large number of magazines. I need a place to hide large number of magazines./i
A great wooden door appeared on the once blank wall. Ginny smiled triumphantly at a slightly stunned Draco. She opened the door and beckoned him in.
"There are really a lot of things in this room…" he said, amazed.
"This is known as the Room of Hidden Things," Ginny said offhandedly. "And where we'll hide those vile copies of Witch's Weekly."
"iAccio Witch's Weekly!/i" Ginny said in a loud voice once they both were in. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, there was a huge whizzing sound and a thousand copies of the magazine flew straight for her.
Without thinking, Draco pushed her away.
"Well, that was close." Ginny said warily. "Thanks Malfoy." She shot him a small, grateful smile.
"Er… No problem." He shot her a smirk to hide his discomfort at Ginny giving him anything resembling a smile.
"So… here are all the copies of Witch's Weekly I guess." Ginny looked at the heap of magazines on the floor.
"Should we destroy them?"
"I don't really think there is a need for that. Let's just cover them up with the stuff in here." Ginny gestured to the mounds of lost items the room had collected over the years. She glanced at Draco surreptitiously, then shrunk a copy of Witch's Magazine, slipping it into her pocket. iFor a keepsake of such an unusual day. /i
A minute later, the miscellaneous knickknacks from a nearby table found themselves unceremoniously dumped on the floor with a lazy flick of Draco's wand.
"That would be hard work," Ginny eyed the mountain of abandoned objects. "If we were Muggle."
A cuckoo clock caught Draco's eye.
"What's that?"
"It's a Muggle clock that makes a cuckoo call at every hour." Just then, the door on the clock opened and the wooden cuckoo popped out, calling seven times.
"It called seven times, that means it's seven o' clock," Ginny explained. "It's seven o' clock! Dinner time!" Her eyes widened.
"Let's go now!"
---
Outside the Great Hall they stopped. They turned to face one another.
"Here goes nothing." Ginny breathed.
"Hope we succeed," Draco looked slightly nervous… or was it just Ginny's imagination? Suddenly, Draco's eyes narrowed.
"What is that?" He pointed to Ginny's pocket where a familiar looking magazine was peeking out from.
"Nothing," she answered quickly.
He dropped it, knowing exactly what it was; he had an identical copy in the inner pocket of his robe.
Hand in hand, they walked into the Great Hall. At first, no one noticed, then a Ravenclaw third-year spotted them and whispered to his friend, and there was chaos.
They walked to the middle of the hall, in between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Draco turned to face the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables while Ginny faced the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.
"One…" Draco said.
"Two…" Ginny muttered.
"Three," They said in unison.
They waved their wands, reciting the incantation.
iYou saw it this morning,
You remembered it this afternoon,
But now, you'll forget it, the Witch's Weekly magazine.
Now and forevermore./i
Everything frozen for a moment, then the talking in the Great Hall resumed, as if nothing had ever happened.
"Well, I'll be seeing you around," Draco said.
"Yep… See you." Ginny replied.
---
The next morning, Draco went to the Great Hall for his breakfast as usual. On his way there, he met Ginny. Catching her eye, he winked at her and she shot him a small but brilliant smile.
Their plan had worked, and though they could not publicly communicate with each other, a special bond had been forged between the two from rival houses, one which would not be easily broken.
-End-