Three Small Words
"You just freakin suck!" she yelled furiously, turning on her heel and striding out of the common room. Harry stood angrily and followed her.
"Why the hell do I suck?" he roared, following her small figure as she walked smoothly toward the great hall.
Ginny smirked and turned around, her eyes blazing.
"Why do you suck? Let me think - oh yeah, that whole breaking up thing!" she yelled, causing a pair of second years to stare nervously at the two. The couple paid no attention. Harry rolled his eyes.
"I suck because I didn't want to go out any more with you?" he asked loudly. Ginny sucked in a breath. Her large blue eyes turned soft, and Harry felt guilt surge through him.
"Ginny, I didn't mean -" he began stepping towards her, his voice soft and quiet.
"Oh bugger off." Ginny sighed, turning away from him and walking slowly to the two oak doors leading outside.
Harry watched her walk with a mixture of shame and sadness.
Ginny walked slowly, letting her feet drag a bit. Her cloak didn't shield her from the autumn chill, and her teeth chattered slightly. She stopped walking suddenly, realizing where her feet had lead her. It was their tree.
The large willow where he had first kissed her when she was fifteen. It was the year, the summer, right after Sirius had passed. Harry was lonely, and she was there. They had kissed, sweetly at first, then not so innocently. Harry had admited feelings for her, and Ginny had leaped for joy.
She supposed that it wasn't that unnatural that she had automatically gone to their place. They had been meeting there for a year after all. She gulped, and tried to hold back a wave of tears that was about to escape. They had broken up a month ago, and it still seemed to fresh. He had ended it at the beginning of his last year at Hogwarts, saying that he would have to leave her anyway; why not just end it before it became too hard?
Ginny sat softly on the grass, letting her cloak fall around her, letting her tears wash over her, and letting her well - practiced self controlled exterior vanish.
***
"Get off!" he yelled furiously, throwing the perfumed girl away from him.
"Oh now Drakey!" Pansy said as he stood to leave the library.
"Pansy, I swear to God, if you do not leave me alone to study, I will curse you into oblivion!" he roared at the girl. Pansy smiled wantonly, and Draco groaned. "Jesus."
He gathered his books and stalked away from the girl, not much caring what she did. Once outside of the library, her tried to think of a place where she wouldn't find him. The common room was too easy, and the great hall was obvious. He sighed deeply. He began to walk, thinking that something would come to him.
Draco reached the great hall and stood, trying to concentrate. Pansy hated to go near food, since she was always on a diet, so the kitchens were an option, but he couldn't very well do studying there. Pansy hated going outdoors as well, seeing as how it seemed to get her dirty, which she dispised, and ruined her hair. It would be difficult to work outside, but still, it would be Pansy - free.
He resolved to go outside, and walked towards the oak doors.
***
Ginny put her head in her hands, not caring very much who saw her crying over Harry yet again. She tried desperately to wipe her tears away and sit up straight as she heard footsteps coming towards her. She took a handkerchief from her pocket, and groaned to find it dirty. Damnit, she never could find a tissue when she needed one.
Draco stopped at the sight of red curls and a black cloak sitting by his tree. He moaned out loud. First pansy wanting a snog, and now he had to deal with a damn Weasley. He walked towards her further and saw her, rushing to wipe something off of her face. He stopped again. Was she crying? It seemed like girls were always crying, and he had no idea how to deal with that. He was about to back away, hoping to escape a possibly embarrassing situation.
Ginny turned to see who it was, hoping it was Ron or Hermione. Even Harry would have been better than who she saw. His blonde hair was short, and falling slightly in his face. Draco's six foot frame stood with books in one arm, and a very uncomfortable looking expression.
Ginny would have liked nothing more than to simply disappear, but you never can when you want to. Instead, she burst into tears, knowing that the insults he was bound to throw were going to weaken her distressed state even more.
Draco was startled. He had made people cry before, no doubt about that, but never by simply being there. He watched her short, curvy frame shake with sobs. He was about to speak, but before he could, she did.
"Go ahead Malfoy. Tell me I look awful, or that I'm an insult to the name witch. Think of something new, or not. It doesn't much matter, just get on with it and go away." she said softly, tears streaming down. Draco sighed deeply.
He walked over to stand in front of her, looking down at her, unsure what to do. On any other day he would have called her and idiot and told her to get away from his tree, but she looked so damn innocent, so damn sweet, that he couldn't. Instead, he pulled out a monogrammed handkerchief, kneeled in front of her and held it out.
Ginny looked at him with shock, and slowly took the handkerchief. She wiped her eyes softly and sniffed. Draco sat down beside her a bit cautiously. After all, he had made her life hell for years. Who was to say she wouldn't start cursing him on a whim.
She looked at him as he watched sun setting beyond the forest, her eyes grazing over his tall form.
"Why the hell are you being nice?" she asked quietly, still in disbelief. Draco looked at her with a hard glance.
"Do you question when someone helps you pick up books after you drop them?" he asked her bitterly.
"No." she answered, unsure of his meaning.
"Then don't question this. It was common courtesy." he replied quickly, looking back to the sky. Ginny snorted.
"Since when do you believe in common courtesy?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Since forever. What do you care any way?" Draco asked.
"It's just that you should be putting me down about right now, not sitting here, being pretty decent." she said softly, the handkerchief still in her hands.
"Yeah well. Anyway, why were you blubbering here of all places?" he asked her, looking at her with gray eyes filled with intensity. Ginny shifted, and said nothing.
"So I'm taking it was about Potter again?" he asked softly. Ginny looked up at him.
"Yeah." she said simply.
"He's a loser. I don't see why you even went out with him." Draco said staring at her. The girl wasn't at all bad looking, and he couldn't see why she would want Potter.
"He's not a loser!" Ginny said sharply.
"Yes he is. Get over it already. Dream boy's not so great. Even the whole wizarding world knows it." Draco said, referring to Harry's failed attempt at destroying Voldemort the previous year.
"At least he tried to do something decent!" she said, her words full of meaning. Draco looked sharply at her.
Draco stood abruptly, dusting off his pants and picking up his books. He turned to leave, but stopped and looked at her.
"Don't even fucking pretend that you know me Weasley. You don't have any clue who I am." he said haughtily.
Ginny sat, watching him walk towards the castle. She tried to justify the conversation in her mind, but somehow, it seemed as if he had been right all along.
***
A whole week passed, and every time Ginny Weasley saw Draco Malfoy, her heart seemed to skip a beat. His traditional and dashing good looks were no match for her. Her mind went over their conversation thousands of times, trying to figure out what had happened, what had gone so terribly wrong which made her feel so odd.
It took whole week for Draco to realize what bothered him so much about the conversation as well. Here was this girl, sixteen and sweet, who thought that he was completely evil. And, ok, yeah, he was evil, but he had done good things too. He went back to the tree and the conversation often, trying to figure out what had been so bizarre about it.
It took two weeks for the two to meet again.
Ginny was in the potions dungeons, trying to fix a potion that she had completely ruined during class. Snape had left her, saying that he couldn't watch her blundering any longer. Ginny was perfectly fine with this, as it made her even more nervous when the potions master was hovering.
Draco had groaned inwardly when he saw her standing , trying to read the ingredients on a catalysis potions bottle. She looked absolutely delicious, her five foot stature and curving hips making her look like a perfect angel. Red hair was piled on top of her head sweetly, face framing pieces coming down to touch her shoulders. He noticed the red of her hair, dark and almost auburn. She looked up at him with dark blue eyes, the kind his mother had, only sweeter.
"Oh God." she said, groaning. Did she really need this right now? Draco continued to stare at her, but had seemed to come out of a trance.
"Where's Professor Snape?" he asked softly, his voice low and hoarse. Ginny cocked and eyebrow at his tone.
"He left." she said simply, turning back to her potion, unawear of Draco's prowling walk towards her.
He stood, looking over her shoulder innocently, trying not to take in the scent of her, the sweet, slightly sugary smell. Ginny looked at him over her shoulder.
"Do you need something Malfoy?" she asked in a hard voice, their last conversation floating around in her head.
Draco looked at her and smirked.
"You're using too much Wolf's bane." he said matter of factly, his gray eyes searching her's.
"But you don't - " she began softly, wondering how he knew she had even used Wolf's bane at all.
"Any potion, at all, never needs that much Wolf's bane." he said grinning slightly. Ginny thought how good he looked grinning, and quickly scolded herself for the thought. She turned back to her work and looked at the mess. He was right of course, her potion was a disaster. She picked up the heavy cauldron and struggled to carry it to the sink nearest her, to dump out the mess. Draco watched with a smirk. The cauldron was much too large for her, and much to heavy, but it was interesting to see her struggle so he did nothing to help. He watched as she dumped out the potion and staggered back with the heavy iron cauldron. He rushed over and caught her from behind as she fell, the cauldron too heavy for her frame.
"Shh." he said softly, as he noticed her breathing heavily with shock and fear. It took them both a minute to realize that his arms were still around her waist, still holding her to him. When they did realize, they didn't do anything. It felt so completely right, so completely normal to be in his arms, Ginny thought. Draco mused at how good she felt leaning against him.
Ginny turned around, but not backing away from him embrace. She searched his face, so far up from her's, and found a look of complete confusion, and yet satisfaction in his eyes. He was looking down at her pretty face with happiness. It felt perfect, just holding her lightly to him. He watched her lips as she opened her mouth to say something.
Perfect pink lips.
The next thing he knew, he was pressing his own lips to hers. Ginny groaned slightly in pleasure. His mouth opened and his tongue traced hers. It was perfection, kissing Draco Malfoy. The thought jolted her, but she didn't back away. She wanted to kiss him forever, and yet felt shame in the very act of it.
Neither of them heard the Dungon door opening, nor the footsteps nearing them.
"Miss Weasley!" Snape said loudly, shocked at the scene. The two sprang apart quickly, looking guilty as they watched their professor.
"I dare say it is time for you to retire to Gryffindor Tower Miss Weasley." he said in a deathly tone. Ginny nodded and walked quickly out of the room, completely mortified. Draco gulped as his favorite Professor neared him, a look of rage that Draco had never seen on his face.
Snape looked at the boy with anger so deep he could hardly control it. Draco gulped again. Snape spoke.
"I know she's tempting Mr. Malfoy. Young and sweet, completely innocent, even after all she's seen. But she can never be yours, ever. I will overlook this infraction, for now, but if I hear of it happening again, I will make sure you are expelled. Do you understand?" he said slowly. Draco frowned. Snape was acting like he had raped the girl.
"Professor, she wanted it too." he said quietly, meeting his Professor's eyes seriously. Snape flared.
"I don't give a damn! She's not something you can have and throw away!" he roared.
Draco nodded slowly, and walked towards the door, giving his professor one more look of confusion, and leaving.
Snape breathed deeply, trying not to let the memory of twenty year earlier leak into his mind. Ginny was so much like Lilly it was frightening, and Draco was practically his father. He thought back to the time when he had found Luicus kissing Lilly passionately. Lilly had been a year younger, and so sweet just like Ginny. Snape had tried not to let his personal feelings for Lilly interfere, but they had, and he had hated Luicus for kissing her.
Now, here was Draco, kissing another sweet girl and making Snape remember it all.
"You just freakin suck!" she yelled furiously, turning on her heel and striding out of the common room. Harry stood angrily and followed her.
"Why the hell do I suck?" he roared, following her small figure as she walked smoothly toward the great hall.
Ginny smirked and turned around, her eyes blazing.
"Why do you suck? Let me think - oh yeah, that whole breaking up thing!" she yelled, causing a pair of second years to stare nervously at the two. The couple paid no attention. Harry rolled his eyes.
"I suck because I didn't want to go out any more with you?" he asked loudly. Ginny sucked in a breath. Her large blue eyes turned soft, and Harry felt guilt surge through him.
"Ginny, I didn't mean -" he began stepping towards her, his voice soft and quiet.
"Oh bugger off." Ginny sighed, turning away from him and walking slowly to the two oak doors leading outside.
Harry watched her walk with a mixture of shame and sadness.
Ginny walked slowly, letting her feet drag a bit. Her cloak didn't shield her from the autumn chill, and her teeth chattered slightly. She stopped walking suddenly, realizing where her feet had lead her. It was their tree.
The large willow where he had first kissed her when she was fifteen. It was the year, the summer, right after Sirius had passed. Harry was lonely, and she was there. They had kissed, sweetly at first, then not so innocently. Harry had admited feelings for her, and Ginny had leaped for joy.
She supposed that it wasn't that unnatural that she had automatically gone to their place. They had been meeting there for a year after all. She gulped, and tried to hold back a wave of tears that was about to escape. They had broken up a month ago, and it still seemed to fresh. He had ended it at the beginning of his last year at Hogwarts, saying that he would have to leave her anyway; why not just end it before it became too hard?
Ginny sat softly on the grass, letting her cloak fall around her, letting her tears wash over her, and letting her well - practiced self controlled exterior vanish.
***
"Get off!" he yelled furiously, throwing the perfumed girl away from him.
"Oh now Drakey!" Pansy said as he stood to leave the library.
"Pansy, I swear to God, if you do not leave me alone to study, I will curse you into oblivion!" he roared at the girl. Pansy smiled wantonly, and Draco groaned. "Jesus."
He gathered his books and stalked away from the girl, not much caring what she did. Once outside of the library, her tried to think of a place where she wouldn't find him. The common room was too easy, and the great hall was obvious. He sighed deeply. He began to walk, thinking that something would come to him.
Draco reached the great hall and stood, trying to concentrate. Pansy hated to go near food, since she was always on a diet, so the kitchens were an option, but he couldn't very well do studying there. Pansy hated going outdoors as well, seeing as how it seemed to get her dirty, which she dispised, and ruined her hair. It would be difficult to work outside, but still, it would be Pansy - free.
He resolved to go outside, and walked towards the oak doors.
***
Ginny put her head in her hands, not caring very much who saw her crying over Harry yet again. She tried desperately to wipe her tears away and sit up straight as she heard footsteps coming towards her. She took a handkerchief from her pocket, and groaned to find it dirty. Damnit, she never could find a tissue when she needed one.
Draco stopped at the sight of red curls and a black cloak sitting by his tree. He moaned out loud. First pansy wanting a snog, and now he had to deal with a damn Weasley. He walked towards her further and saw her, rushing to wipe something off of her face. He stopped again. Was she crying? It seemed like girls were always crying, and he had no idea how to deal with that. He was about to back away, hoping to escape a possibly embarrassing situation.
Ginny turned to see who it was, hoping it was Ron or Hermione. Even Harry would have been better than who she saw. His blonde hair was short, and falling slightly in his face. Draco's six foot frame stood with books in one arm, and a very uncomfortable looking expression.
Ginny would have liked nothing more than to simply disappear, but you never can when you want to. Instead, she burst into tears, knowing that the insults he was bound to throw were going to weaken her distressed state even more.
Draco was startled. He had made people cry before, no doubt about that, but never by simply being there. He watched her short, curvy frame shake with sobs. He was about to speak, but before he could, she did.
"Go ahead Malfoy. Tell me I look awful, or that I'm an insult to the name witch. Think of something new, or not. It doesn't much matter, just get on with it and go away." she said softly, tears streaming down. Draco sighed deeply.
He walked over to stand in front of her, looking down at her, unsure what to do. On any other day he would have called her and idiot and told her to get away from his tree, but she looked so damn innocent, so damn sweet, that he couldn't. Instead, he pulled out a monogrammed handkerchief, kneeled in front of her and held it out.
Ginny looked at him with shock, and slowly took the handkerchief. She wiped her eyes softly and sniffed. Draco sat down beside her a bit cautiously. After all, he had made her life hell for years. Who was to say she wouldn't start cursing him on a whim.
She looked at him as he watched sun setting beyond the forest, her eyes grazing over his tall form.
"Why the hell are you being nice?" she asked quietly, still in disbelief. Draco looked at her with a hard glance.
"Do you question when someone helps you pick up books after you drop them?" he asked her bitterly.
"No." she answered, unsure of his meaning.
"Then don't question this. It was common courtesy." he replied quickly, looking back to the sky. Ginny snorted.
"Since when do you believe in common courtesy?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Since forever. What do you care any way?" Draco asked.
"It's just that you should be putting me down about right now, not sitting here, being pretty decent." she said softly, the handkerchief still in her hands.
"Yeah well. Anyway, why were you blubbering here of all places?" he asked her, looking at her with gray eyes filled with intensity. Ginny shifted, and said nothing.
"So I'm taking it was about Potter again?" he asked softly. Ginny looked up at him.
"Yeah." she said simply.
"He's a loser. I don't see why you even went out with him." Draco said staring at her. The girl wasn't at all bad looking, and he couldn't see why she would want Potter.
"He's not a loser!" Ginny said sharply.
"Yes he is. Get over it already. Dream boy's not so great. Even the whole wizarding world knows it." Draco said, referring to Harry's failed attempt at destroying Voldemort the previous year.
"At least he tried to do something decent!" she said, her words full of meaning. Draco looked sharply at her.
Draco stood abruptly, dusting off his pants and picking up his books. He turned to leave, but stopped and looked at her.
"Don't even fucking pretend that you know me Weasley. You don't have any clue who I am." he said haughtily.
Ginny sat, watching him walk towards the castle. She tried to justify the conversation in her mind, but somehow, it seemed as if he had been right all along.
***
A whole week passed, and every time Ginny Weasley saw Draco Malfoy, her heart seemed to skip a beat. His traditional and dashing good looks were no match for her. Her mind went over their conversation thousands of times, trying to figure out what had happened, what had gone so terribly wrong which made her feel so odd.
It took whole week for Draco to realize what bothered him so much about the conversation as well. Here was this girl, sixteen and sweet, who thought that he was completely evil. And, ok, yeah, he was evil, but he had done good things too. He went back to the tree and the conversation often, trying to figure out what had been so bizarre about it.
It took two weeks for the two to meet again.
Ginny was in the potions dungeons, trying to fix a potion that she had completely ruined during class. Snape had left her, saying that he couldn't watch her blundering any longer. Ginny was perfectly fine with this, as it made her even more nervous when the potions master was hovering.
Draco had groaned inwardly when he saw her standing , trying to read the ingredients on a catalysis potions bottle. She looked absolutely delicious, her five foot stature and curving hips making her look like a perfect angel. Red hair was piled on top of her head sweetly, face framing pieces coming down to touch her shoulders. He noticed the red of her hair, dark and almost auburn. She looked up at him with dark blue eyes, the kind his mother had, only sweeter.
"Oh God." she said, groaning. Did she really need this right now? Draco continued to stare at her, but had seemed to come out of a trance.
"Where's Professor Snape?" he asked softly, his voice low and hoarse. Ginny cocked and eyebrow at his tone.
"He left." she said simply, turning back to her potion, unawear of Draco's prowling walk towards her.
He stood, looking over her shoulder innocently, trying not to take in the scent of her, the sweet, slightly sugary smell. Ginny looked at him over her shoulder.
"Do you need something Malfoy?" she asked in a hard voice, their last conversation floating around in her head.
Draco looked at her and smirked.
"You're using too much Wolf's bane." he said matter of factly, his gray eyes searching her's.
"But you don't - " she began softly, wondering how he knew she had even used Wolf's bane at all.
"Any potion, at all, never needs that much Wolf's bane." he said grinning slightly. Ginny thought how good he looked grinning, and quickly scolded herself for the thought. She turned back to her work and looked at the mess. He was right of course, her potion was a disaster. She picked up the heavy cauldron and struggled to carry it to the sink nearest her, to dump out the mess. Draco watched with a smirk. The cauldron was much too large for her, and much to heavy, but it was interesting to see her struggle so he did nothing to help. He watched as she dumped out the potion and staggered back with the heavy iron cauldron. He rushed over and caught her from behind as she fell, the cauldron too heavy for her frame.
"Shh." he said softly, as he noticed her breathing heavily with shock and fear. It took them both a minute to realize that his arms were still around her waist, still holding her to him. When they did realize, they didn't do anything. It felt so completely right, so completely normal to be in his arms, Ginny thought. Draco mused at how good she felt leaning against him.
Ginny turned around, but not backing away from him embrace. She searched his face, so far up from her's, and found a look of complete confusion, and yet satisfaction in his eyes. He was looking down at her pretty face with happiness. It felt perfect, just holding her lightly to him. He watched her lips as she opened her mouth to say something.
Perfect pink lips.
The next thing he knew, he was pressing his own lips to hers. Ginny groaned slightly in pleasure. His mouth opened and his tongue traced hers. It was perfection, kissing Draco Malfoy. The thought jolted her, but she didn't back away. She wanted to kiss him forever, and yet felt shame in the very act of it.
Neither of them heard the Dungon door opening, nor the footsteps nearing them.
"Miss Weasley!" Snape said loudly, shocked at the scene. The two sprang apart quickly, looking guilty as they watched their professor.
"I dare say it is time for you to retire to Gryffindor Tower Miss Weasley." he said in a deathly tone. Ginny nodded and walked quickly out of the room, completely mortified. Draco gulped as his favorite Professor neared him, a look of rage that Draco had never seen on his face.
Snape looked at the boy with anger so deep he could hardly control it. Draco gulped again. Snape spoke.
"I know she's tempting Mr. Malfoy. Young and sweet, completely innocent, even after all she's seen. But she can never be yours, ever. I will overlook this infraction, for now, but if I hear of it happening again, I will make sure you are expelled. Do you understand?" he said slowly. Draco frowned. Snape was acting like he had raped the girl.
"Professor, she wanted it too." he said quietly, meeting his Professor's eyes seriously. Snape flared.
"I don't give a damn! She's not something you can have and throw away!" he roared.
Draco nodded slowly, and walked towards the door, giving his professor one more look of confusion, and leaving.
Snape breathed deeply, trying not to let the memory of twenty year earlier leak into his mind. Ginny was so much like Lilly it was frightening, and Draco was practically his father. He thought back to the time when he had found Luicus kissing Lilly passionately. Lilly had been a year younger, and so sweet just like Ginny. Snape had tried not to let his personal feelings for Lilly interfere, but they had, and he had hated Luicus for kissing her.
Now, here was Draco, kissing another sweet girl and making Snape remember it all.