Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to JK Rowlings.
Chapter One: Chance Meetings
Virginia Weasley tapped her foot impatiently as she scanned the shelf full of texts, new and old, in front of her. The specific title she was searching for was conspicuously missing; though she had been assured several times by the shopkeeper he had several in stock. Heaving a sigh of exasperation, ready to just give up for the day, she whirled around and crashed directly into a young gentleman who was standing opposite her, arms laden with books, well, arms, once laden with books as now said books were crashing to the floor.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" She dropped down to her knees to gather the scattered parchments, "Here, let me help you."
The young man just dropped his head to his chest and groaned. "Great. Just stop. No, you've done enough."
She looked up at him with a hurt expression, "Look, it was an accident. I didn't—" she broke off as green eyes met grey and she dropped the book she had just picked up, scattering the papers it contained.
"No! Okay, now that you've finished, could you please just not touch anything?"
She looked down and saw hand written notes scattered all over the floor and the well used text she had been holding at her knees, Advanced Principles of Healing Potions and Their Cellular Effects. Realization came over her, he was obviously in medical studies and she had no doubt just scattered all of his notes down the isle. 'Well,' she thought to herself, 'he doesn't seem to remember who I am, and this is not a good time to get reacquainted, not that I'd want to anyway. Just help the man, and get out of here.'
She again started gathering everything together when he knelt down and grabbed her hands to stop her from doing any more. "Really, please stop."
She was surprised by the warmth in his hands and looked up into his eyes. "I really am sorry."
He released her and retrieved his wand from his pocket and muttered a quick spell and most everything gathered back together, seemingly in order, save a few pieces of parchment, and two new books he was just picking out. "Don't worry about it, Weasley. I learned back in first year, never forget to do an auto-organizer spell every few days. You think this is the first time my books have gotten away from me?" he asked with a slight grin.
Virginia just continued to stare at him blankly in complete shock. This could not be the same person from Hogwarts.
When she didn't say anything in return, his smile disappeared and he cleared his throat. "Well then…" He turned, gathered the rest of his things and rose. "See you around, I guess."
She watched him take a few steps away, and just as he was disappearing behind the next set of shelves, she felt this serge of curiosity build up inside. She shot up and ran after him. "Malfoy!" He turned cautiously. "I'm sorry, but I just wasn't expecting to see you…here."
He raised a brow at her, "Where were you expecting to see me?"
She blushed slightly at this. "Well, in all honesty, I never expected to see you again. After you wrote the NWETS, you just disappeared."
He looked away and shuffled his books. "Yeah, well that was a long time ago."
As she stood there next to him, looking at his evasive features, wondering why he had taken the time to speak to her, knowing who she is, wondering why he even remembered who she was, she wanted to know more about him; more about who this Draco Malfoy was, and why he had chosen medicine when all he did was torture them before. "Yes it was. I know this is a bit forward of me, but did you want to go grab a butterbeer?"
He blinked at her unexpected question. "Oh. Sure. I guess. Where did you have in mind?"
She blushed and shrugged. "I'm actually not sure where the best places to go are yet, I've only been here two weeks."
He gave a chuckle, giving her another shock. "Two weeks! And you haven't been to Moyer's Pub yet? It's right on campus! Even the recluses venture out at least once a month. You have to go there."
Virginia couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, "Moyer's it is."
He nodded his agreement then cleared his throat. "Right then. I'll just go pay for these," he motioned to the two texts in his arms, "and we'll be off." Virginia nodded her agreement and accompanied him to the front counter.
"Now then, Miss," the shopkeeper addressed her in his lilting Irish as he tallied Draco's purchase for him, "did ya find what yer lookin' for back there?"
"No, I'm telling you, it's not in."
"118 Galleons, Sir." Draco handed over the coins while Virginia blinked at the amount, suddenly glad she didn't want to be a doctor. "I know my store like I know the back of me hand, and I'm tell'n ya's, there's three copies back there."
Virginia gave a frustrated sigh. "Okay, I'll tell you what, how about you get me a copy of the book—"
"I don't know what kind of hoy-dee toy-dee up brin' you had, this is a self service shop." Draco snorted at this. "No one gets special treatment here."
She smiled flirtatiously at him, "I'll pay extra for it."
The shopkeeper seemed to think about it for a moment while Virginia fluttered her eyelashes. "Five."
"Three."
"Four."
"Done." Virginia smiled happily at the man. "I'll be by tomorrow after classes, say about three, but if it's not in, can I get four off the price?"
"I told ya it's here!"
"But if it's not?"
"Alright, if it's not, I'll take…two off the price."
Virginia extended her hand and sealed the deal with a shake while Draco just gaped. "Until tomorrow then."
He just grunted and turned away while Draco followed Virginia out of Enlightenment, the on campus bookstore at the Wizarding University of Hanngerlaghn, Ireland.
As soon as they were out onto the cobblestone walkway, Draco began to chuckle loudly. "Oh sweet Merlin, Weasley, do you have nerves. I'm been here six years and I'm never seen any one stare down Mr. O'Brian over money. I would keep this to yourself if you ever want to buy another book again if I were you."
She just scoffed. "You've obviously never been shopping with my mother. Besides, after me hounding him for the week, I'm sure he'd do just about anything to get me out of his hair."
"Are you sure he wasn't hiding the book to keep you coming back?"
Virginia balked at the idea, but said nothing in reply. They walked along in silence until the reached the court yard just behind the Memorial Union Building, as it was formally called she had learned in her orientation as the upper level held the plaques of all the names of the witches and wizards that once attended this university and had died in war, dating back to the Giant rebellion of 1387, and as they rounded to the other side of the building, flanked on either side by dormitories, she saw the old wooden sign of Moyer's Pub enclosed with celtic knots hanging over the side entrance, and she frowned. "Why is the pub in this building? The memorial building?"
Draco grinned slightly. "To celebrate the forgotten hero's; whenever some one raises a glass, they are saluted as they look down on us from above and see what they fought for."
"Drunken lasciviousness?
Again he laughed. "No, well, sometimes. But, no. Peace, happiness, not having to be afraid of every little thing… They gave their lives so you can walk in there and have a drink, so we have a drink to them."
She grinned at him as he pulled open the door and motioned her inside. "What a load of crap."
"Ah, but it was kind of poetic, wasn't it?"
"Did you come up with it all by yourself?"
He just shrugged as he led her down the stairs. She wasn't sure what she expected to find in a place Draco Malfoy suggested, even a laughing, joking Draco Malfoy, but when she came to the end of the corridor and turned the corner, she was struck by the warm and inviting atmosphere, and couldn't help but smile. Everything looked the country pub, right down to the open fireplace in the center of the room. There were university banners hanging from the ceiling, old pictures waving and laughing from the walls, and the tables were placed seemingly anywhere there was room, though there wasn't many people there yet, just the lunch crowd, most of whom had their noses in their books.
"What do you think?"
She turned to his expectant look. "This is great."
"Why don't you grab us a table, and I'll get the drinks." She nodded her agreement and reached for his books, he hesitated for a moment, and then relinquished them. "Did, did you want something to eat too?"
"Uh, no. No, I'm not that hungry. Thanks though."
He nodded and made his way to the bar on the far end of the room while Virginia weaved through to a rear table and unloaded their belongings.
Draco came back with their drinks and set them on the table, letting Virginia select which she wanted first, "So…"
"So…"
They both took a sip and glanced around before meeting each others gaze again. "So, you just transferred here?"
"Yes, from London."
"I hear that's a good school. I was actually thinking of going there."
She nodded and took another sip. "Why didn't you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, wanted to get out of England, I guess."
"I figured you would have gone to France or something."
He wrinkled his nose. "Do you know how dirty it is there? And if your French has the slightest accent, they turn up their nose at you."
"No they don't," she scoffed. "I went traveling there and they were quite friendly."
"Bet you were traveling in Paris."
"I—Well, yes, for the most part, but I did go to other places around France, but I was in Paris while I was there…"
"Well, there you go."
"What does that mean?"
He sighed. "In southern France, they're very particular about that sort of thing, well, at least around our family residence that is, and I really didn't want that for my university years, so I came here."
"To experience drunkenness in its finest?"
He raised a brow. "Hey, you're here," he pointed out.
She blushed at his rebuttal. "Point taken. So, I suppose you have another family home near by for your convenience?"
"No, actually, I've been roughing it in student residence."
"Oh."
"So, if you transferred, what year are you in?"
"My fourth. I'll be done at the end of next term." He looked at her expectantly, but she just took another sip of butterbeer. "Are you taking medical studies?"
"Oh no, you seem very good at steering the conversation away from you to me, so I'll tell you what, I'll ask you five questions, then you ask me five questions."
"Fine, but I get to go first."
"Sure, but you already asked about London, France, and where I live, so you only have two questions left."
She rolled her eyes. "Always the Slytherin—"
"Yes, one more question."
"That was not a question that was a statement. I have two."
"Fine."
"Why are you taking medical studies?"
He smirked. "How do you know I'm taking medical studies?"
"I am not going to make that count as both my questions unless you make that one count as one of yours."
He frowned slightly. "Bloody Gryffindor's. Fine. Yes, I'm in medical studies and, I don't know," he shrugged slightly. "I guess the challenge of it just appealed to me. Believe it or not, I was actually quite good at Potions and Charms back at Hogwarts and you need both, so…here I am."
Virginia was impressed with his candor, so took pity on him with her next. "So, when are you finished?"
"The end of the year. I'm only here part time now," he raised a hand at her questioning gaze. "No, I won't make you violate our rule by asking another question, I know how you Gryffindor's like to follow the rules when you can." Virginia snorted at this highly inaccurate statement, but made no effort to correct him. "I'm doing my Medi-Wizard Practicum in the local hospital. For now, I have class every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of the month when we're done this unit, then I'm only on campus on Saturdays and every second Wednesday for seminars until April. Then it's just a month of regurgitation, tests, evaluations, and more lectures and voila, I'm finished."
Virginia sat back. "Well. Good luck with that. I'm very impressed, and I'm sure you're going to do great."
"Thanks," he responded equally surprised by the sincerity in her tone. "Now, what about you? What are you taking?"
"Nothing so spectacular. I guess you can say I had a decided lack of direction after Hogwarts, and was getting very annoyed with helping my brothers in their joke shop, so I decided to go traveling. That's how I ended up in France, among other places."
"How does this…"
"Don't waist your question, it has a point, I promise. You were thorough with me, so I should be with you."
He nodded and sat back. "Fair enough."
She took another sip of her drink and cleared her throat. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, France. My brother Bill, he—he was a code braker before he left Gringotts to help Dumbledore." She paused for a moment here. "He used to always say, 'Sure, Charlie had dragons to battle, but I never know what's after me; makes life more exciting.' And I guess I just wanted that excitement in my life too, so I left England and went to find my own adventures, see what Bill had fallen so in love with. It was interesting, I saw the sights, the "mystery's of the past", so I decided to come back and study Ancient Runes and History. So, that's what I'm taking, though, truth be told, I still think I'm directionless."
Draco gave her a smile at the end of her narrative. "Nah, if you were really directionless, you would've chucked it all, cursed some land to drive the muggles away, started a greenhouse and studied herbology so you would never really have to really do anything."
She laughed at this analysis, "I don't think I've been driven to that extreme yet, but I'll keep it in mind for future reference. Besides, herbology does have its place."
"That is very true, but it also does lack that excitement you seem to crave."
She blushed slightly. "Okay, next question."
He gave her an appraising look as he took a large swig of his drink, just to watch her squirm. She shot him a glare and he gave a chuckle as he pondered the girl before finally asking, "So, what countries did you visit during your trip of discovery?"
She just rolled her eyes, but a smile diffused across her features and he was suddenly glad he asked that question, if only to see her reaction. "Of, well France of course, than a bit of Switzerland, but, to tell you the truth, I just wanted to get to Italy and Greece, which is where I spent most of my time. You wouldn't believe some of the digs they have going on, and the syntax of the writing… I'm still trying to decipher a few of the ones from Corsica. I actually got sealed in a tomb for four days while I was in Egypt when I tripped something off I shouldn't have, but I did find two new compartments they never even knew about while I was in there, so it wasn't a total loss. I was in Egypt and Morocco too. So, I guess you're right, I'm not totally directionless; I'm just living my brothers' dream." She smiled sadly at him. "One more question."
"What happened to Bill?"
She tensed for a moment. "He died." She didn't offer any more information, and he completely understood.
Read and Review!!!! Should I continue? BTW, I am looking for a Bata if anyone is interested.