A/n Yay! New story. Draco/Ginny has been pawning my life for the past few months. I don't own anything, not even this plot really. Cookies for the first person to guess where I got it from! Actually cookies to anyone who know's what's what. Izziey is my beta/prereader and I can't tell you how much I love her for putting up with me! Join us on on the facebook group Fanficaholics Anon - Where Obsession Never Sleeps! To get into the mood for this chapter I suggest you watch this! www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=G0dN38E5UF8
Without further ado...
Ch1 - I Like to Dance
Ginny stared pensively at the swirls in her glass. She knew it had been a bad idea to go down to The Hogshead that evening. The opening feast had been different this year with so many classmates missing. She was tired and just wanted to go to her room to unpack for what she knew was going to be a difficult year. However, Ginny was not one to back down from her word. She had told Dean she would be at his show, so here she was. Even after their awkward breakup, they still spoke often and Dean was finally playing real shows with his band. The Hogshead was the last stop on their tour. Ginny knew how hard musicians worked to get noticed, so she wanted to be there to support him.
Luna, her only friend still at Hogwarts, slid up beside her and downed the rest of the butterbeer.
"Hey! I was drinking that!" Ginny groaned.
"No you weren't, you we trying to read it like a bad set of tea leaves," Luna replied saucily. "Besides, the stage with the incredibly fit band is over in that direction," she indicated with her head.
Ginny smiled, "You, my friend are so right." She slid off her bar stool into the welcome anonymity of the crowd. As the beat began to move her body, she felt Luna grab her hand and pull her even further in. Everything seemed to blur into vivid colors and hazy shapes.
After what could have been minutes, but was closer to an hour later, Ginny called out a desperate plea for water in-between gasps for breath. Luckily for her, Luna had already glided through the masses and had the attention of the barkeep. "Two firewhiskeys please!" she called out, shooting a wink back in Ginny's direction.
"Luna!" Ginny exclaimed, shocked at her friend's casual request.
"Ginny!" Luna mocked back to her. "Come on! The war is over and we're only young once. This is Our Time. We -" Luna suddenly froze, her eyes locked to something behind Ginny's left ear.
Ginny turned to see what had startled her friend. "No, WAIT." Luna exclaimed as she reached out to prevent her friend from turning, but it was too late. Ginny had caught a glimpse of the bar's newest patron, Harry Potter. She whipped back to face Luna as her face drained of color.
"Luna, I'm not ready. What if he comes over here? What if he wants to talk? What if he doesn't want to talk?" Ginny's tone rose higher and higher as her panic grew. Harry had broken things off with her before the war for her own safety, and while he hadn't said so in exact words, Ginny assumed that they would resume their relationship once it was finally over. To her surprise, after the great battle the face Harry pulled in for a kiss wasn't hers. After that night, Harry seemed to have one goal and one goal only, to screw his way through the subscribers list to Witches Weekly. He had barely spoken to her and she had no idea where she stood in his eyes.
"Maybe he came to hear Dean play," Luna offered without any conviction.
"He's here for the same reason I am. The same reason I wager half the bar is here for," a voice drawled from beside them. Ginny turned sharply and found herself practically nose to nose with a gray eyed Adonis.
"Ah, yes. I have heard that certain chords that when played together, create a powerful summoning charm," Luna stated in her earnest, yet off-beat manner.
Draco, because of course it had to be him, laughed and angled his body against the bar. "I have actually heard of that, but I was referring to the letter I received from McGonagall last week. The old bat actually thinks that after the past year, some of us might actually want to come back to finish our schooling."
"Oh," Ginny said stupidly. "That actually makes sense." After a short, but awkward lull, Ginny smiled weakly at Draco. "So erm, how have you been, Malfoy?" she offered, her voice sounding out smaller than she intended.
Draco smirked and said "Oh, you know hearings, funerals, the usual family business." His voice had his usual cocky lilt to it, but it sounded forced to Ginny's ears.
Feeling ashamed of her question, she offered Draco another weak smile. The papers had been full of his father's death this past month, how could she have forgotten? A lot of wizards felt it unfair that Lucius Malfoy had managed to skip out on a second life sentence, but Draco wasn't his father and she could see traces of the hurt he was trying to hide. "I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do?" she said softy, squeaking slightly on the apology.
"Don't worry about me Weaslette," Draco drawled in the same forced casual tone.
"Don't call me that!" Ginny snapped, then paused and resumed speaking in a calmer tone, "No wait, I'm sorry. I know that just because you helped The Order out during the war, doesn't mean that we're friends now. We never got along during school, what's different now? You hated me then and I'm sure you hate me now. I mean I'm not even sure why we're talking. You must have much better things to be doing…." Her voice trailed off and she turned away blushing.
So caught up in her embarrassment, Ginny wasn't sure if she had heard Draco whisper "everything" in the middle of her speech or if she imagined it. For her, everything had changed. She didn't know when the change had happened, but over the years, her opinion of Draco had been slowly adjusting. Her looks may have been glares, but she wasn't blind. She, along with the rest of the female population, couldn't help but notice how Draco's features sharpened into a well defined profile. His body lengthened and toned, accent by the sharp lines of the suits he took to wearing. She tried not to follow him with her eyes or seek him out, but if he was in any vicinity of her, she somehow always knew.
As the years went by, she also began to admire the more subtle aspects of his personality. His stubborn adherence to his beliefs may have been infuriating, but his loyalty to those he claimed as his own was admirable. The biggest change she noticed came when she learned what had happened that night on the Astronomy tower. Yes, his actions were wrong, but his intentions were pure. They were both pure-bloods, but her family had raised her in love. It takes great strength to go against everything you've been taught your whole life to be true. If their lives had been reversed, Ginny didn't know if she would have had his willpower to defy her father. None of her friends or family knew the depths of her scars, but she thought Draco might somehow understand.
Luna placed a soft arm on Ginny shoulder, breaking her out of her musings. "Hmmm, it seems like you have a Wrakspurt in your ear."
Ginny giggled. Luna never failed to brighten her mood, but she sobered fairly quickly. She couldn't stop thinking about her own shortcomings, and how brave Draco had been. The lingering feeling of Harry's presence was only making things worse. "I think I might just head back to the castle," she said with a smile that felt, and probably looked, more like a grimace.
"Giving up so quickly She-Weasel? I thought you had more character than that. I seem to recall you didn't hesitate to send bats flying across my face a few years ago." Draco intoned from behind the two girls.
Ginny had the grace to blush. She thought Draco had moved on from their awkward run-in and had no idea he was still listening, let alone that he would bring up this particualr memory. Despite her embarrassment, she couldn't hold back a small grin.
"I'll admit it's not my finest moment, but looking back it was an impressive show of magic. However it's beside the point. Don't leave on Potter's account. If he's making you unhappy, make him feel worse." Draco continued. "In fact I can help you with that. I happen to need some assistance myself. Be my girlfriend for five minutes."
Ginny's arm was halfway raised to slap him when she noticed that Harry had almost reached them. Before she even thought about what she was doing, she changed her momentum and wound her arm around Draco's neck, pulling his face toward hers.
Draco froze for a fraction of a second before taking over. His mouth pressed firmly back on hers and his fingers snaked through her hair. Her soft gasp of shock did not go unnoticed, but instead of pushing the kiss to be more intimate, he kept himself back moving his lip in perfect synchronization to hers, almost as if he was afraid to push her too far. Ginny, however, was not satisfied by this and tugged at Draco's hair until his mouth was open and her tongue was in his mouth.
He removed his mouth from hers after a long moment, placing butterfly kisses along her jawline until he reached her ear. His breath tickled the sensitive skin there as he whispered, "What the hell was that, my dear weasel?"
Again before Ginny could respond, a voice interrupted her. This time it was Harry's familiar growl, "..." Ginny found herself being spun around by hand on her shoulder leaving her face to face with a furious Harry. He had a hold of her arm, but seeing as Draco's fingers were still entangled in her hair, he seemed at lost at how to extract her without causing any harm.
Instinctively, Ginny snuggled into Draco and if possible Harry's face turned even darker.
"It seems she likes my hands on her Potter. If you have a problem with that I suggest you bugger off," Draco drawled. From the way his hand now pressed firmly against Ginny's stomach, even she almost believed his act of possession. Without even realizing it, the two of them had arranged themselves into quite a picture.
Harry's gaze darted furiously between glaring at Draco and glaring at where he had his hands placed. Bored with the standstill, Draco placed a kiss on the crown of Ginny's head. Apparently unable to find words, Harry stalked away.
Ginny let out the breath she had been holding and looked back at Draco. She smacked him and all amusement instantly faded from his face. "Bloody hell my weasel, what was that for?" he questioned, slightly stunned.
"You didn't have to enjoy that so much!" Ginny snarled as she entangled herself and walked away. Still dazed, Draco turned to Luna who had been watching the entire show passively.
Seeing the confusion on his face, Luna patted his arm comfortingly. "She likes you. She just hasn't figured it out yet," she said evenly. "You like her too. You should probably go after her and apologize."
"Apologize for what!" retorted Draco waspishly.
"For turning her world upside down. Ginny wasn't ready to face her feelings for you yet."
Draco stared at Luna for a moment before turning toward the bar and slamming a fist down. Eyes clenched shut, he shakily drew in a short breath. He straightened suddenly and threw some money from his pocket onto the bar. "For your drinks," Draco said to Luna as he headed after Ginny's retreating figure.
A/n So let me know what you think! Reviews are like candy. And I like candy.
As mentioned above, I'm a member of the most awesome group, Fanficaholics Anon- Where Obsession Never Sleep. Look us up! I'd say we don't bite, but I happen to know that some of them would if you asked ;)
Lastly, I have no idea what I'm doing with WutL. I wrote myself into a corner and I'm too lazy/busy with school to try and figure out how to fix it right now.