A/N: This is a response to the challenge that was sent out by Mystic Winds from the story The Wrong Guy. The challenge was as follows:
A one-shot or a short story romance involving the following shippers: Draco/Ginny, Hermione/Ron, Harry/Luna or Hermione/Bill.
Must involve one of these if not all: Mistletoe, prefects' bathroom, Great Hall, The Burrow, or school grounds during any time of the year.
Ratings: PG or PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the things from the Harry Potter universe. Neither do I own No Doubt and Iced Earth but I think they're the best bands in the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ginny lay under the tree to cool off from the summer heat. She could hear her brother and his friends laughing and joking, like there wasn't a care in the world. Ginny inhaled the scent of wild flowers from the nearby meadow and closed her eyes, as she thought about the Leaving Feast before the summer holidays.
Dumbledore had announced to the school that Voldermort had died, sparing Harry the trouble of killing him. It seemed that his remaining Death Eaters, that had managed to stay out of Azkaban, were completely incompetent. They had failed to inform him of the Auror raid that was planned, causing him to choke on his dinner when they stormed into his lair. It was reported that after turning blue in the face and gasping for air, old Voldie fell face first into his lamb chop, dead.
Once the announcement was made, the Slytherin table erupted into cheers as the rest of the students were still processing what the Headmaster had said. The image of Draco Malfoy, the cool, composed Slytherin hottie, dancing a jig on the table with Blaise Zabini, the other cool, composed Slytherin hottie, was never going to be forgotten by anyone that was present that day. Seeing all the Slytherins cheering at the Death of their so-called Lord made the rest of the Houses reassess their assumptions about the Slytherins.
That was one weird Leaving Feast, she thought. Well, at least that evil man is no longer around to try to kill Harry. He deserves to have some peace in his life after all he's been through. Ginny's reminiscence was interrupted by her mother's calling for them to come in.
"Ginny! Ron! Harry! Hermione! Your Hogwarts letters have arrived!" called her mother from the kitchen.
The four of them got up from their various spots around the backyard and went back into the house. They filed into the living room and picked up the envelopes that were addresses to them. Ginny tore open hers, read her O.W.L.S results, and screamed.
"OH MY GOD! Mum! Mum! Look at this!" she screamed as she hopped up and down with excitement. She showed her mother the results and soon her mother was also screaming and jumping up and down, hugging Ginny.
"What's wrong Mum? Why are you so happy?" Ron asked extremely perplexed at the sight if his mother and sister hugging and jumping each other.
Once the two Weasley women had clamed down, Ginny showed Ron, Harry and Hermione her results and explained, "Dumbledore had enclosed a letter along with my OWLS results saying that since I did so well for the exams, they're allowing me to go straight to 7th year and graduate a year early."
"Ginny, that's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, giving Ginny a hug.
"I'm going to cook something special and we're going to celebrate tonight. Oh my goodness, I have to floo your father to make sure he comes home early," Mrs Weasley said, bustling towards the fireplace to floo her husband.
"I'm so proud of you! I always knew you were brilliant, "Ron said, hugging Ginny very tightly.
"That's good to know Ron but can you loosen your grip a little. I can't breathe," she said.
"Oops sorry Gin. Did I mention that I'm proud of you?"
"Yes Ron, you did. Thank you. I'm proud of you too. I'm going outside to sit under the apple tree and read. You want to join me?"
"Nah, I've had enough sun for the day. I'm just going to stay in the house."
"How about you Harry?"
"I'm with Ron. I was thinking if I could beat your brother at chess this time," Harry said, smirking at Ron.
"I'll definitely beat you anyway but you're on mate," Ron said before rushing upstairs to get his chess set.
Ginny shook her head at them and went back out with her book. She sat back down under the apple tree and rested her back against the trunk. After reading a few pages of J.R.R Tolkein's The Silmarillion, Ginny could feel her eyelids getting heavier. The slight breeze was also making her sleepy. She placed her book on her tummy and closed her eyes, taking a short nap.
She was having a very nice dream about a tall, cute, blonde haired elf from Mirkwood forest when she was rudely shaken awake.
"Go away! Me and Legolas happy," she groaned, trying to swipe the hands away.
"Ginny wake up! Mum says it's time for dinner!" Ron said, shaking her even more. Seeing that Ginny refused to be woken up, Ron took the water hose and turned on the tap, spraying his sister with the cool water.
"Argh! What did you do that for?!" Ginny shouted at him, pushing her sopping hair away from her face.
"You didn't want to wake up and kept mumbling about someone called Legolas. Is he your new boyfriend? Where did you meet him?"
"Ron, Legolas is a character in a book. He's not real."
"Oh." Ron turned back to the house and was walking away, when he stopped and turned around. "Mum says that dinner will be ready in a bit. I suggest that you clean up before mum comes looking for you. You're a mess." With that, Ron laughed and ran back into the house before his sister could hex him.
"It's all your fault! Wait till I get my hands on you!" Ginny got up and shook the excess water from her hair. Fortunately, Ron had not gotten the book wet or that would have meant his death. Ginny stomped back to the house while mumbling about stupid, idiotic, irritating brothers under her breath.
~
The next day, Mrs Weasley brought Ginny, Ron, Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies. After making a stop at the bank, they proceeded to Flourish & Blotts to get their schoolbooks followed by Madame Malkin's for their school robes. After the downfall of Voldermort, Mr Weasley was promoted to the Minister of Muggle and Wizard Relations and the Weasley family were no longer poor, having more than enough money for Ginny and Ron's schooling.
Mrs Weasley then gave Ginny and Ron some money before telling the kids to meet up at the Leaky Cauldron in three hours. The four of them split up with Ron, Harry and Hermione going off together to the Quidditch supply shop while Ginny went off to the CD store that sold mostly Muggle music at the far end of Diagon Alley.
Ginny never failed to visit the shop during her summer breaks to get her supply of CDs for the whole school year. Harry, Hermione and Ron had given Ginny a CD player for her 15th birthday. They had charmed it to work within Hogwarts and she was always listening to it, especially when she was doing her homework or studying.
Ginny entered the store and grabbed a basket before moving straight to the new releases. She grabbed No Doubt's best of album and scanned through the rest of the titles. Not finding anything else that interested her, she moved to the Heavy Metal section. She left the Heavy Metal section with her basket almost half-full and moved to the sound track section where she filled up her basket with more CDs. After making sure that she had enough to last her to at least Christmas, she went to pay for her items.
She was too absorbed in looking through the purchases that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. She walked right into someone, sending both of them falling on the bottoms. Her paper bag fell, spilling her CDs all over the pavement.
"I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I'm so sorry," she said, feeling very embarrassed.
"It's alright. Neither was I. Here, let me help you," said the other person.
Both of them were on all fours picking up all her CDs. As he handed her the last CD, he asked, "So you like heavy metal huh?"
"Yeah. I like it but my mom doesn't. She keeps complaining that I put it on too loud."
"But if it's not loud, what's the point?"
"Exactly! Finally, someone who understands….." her voice trailed when she looked up and found Draco Malfoy smiling at her.
"Understands……what?" he asked.
"Me," she squeaked. "Th-thank you f-for helping me. Sorry for knocking you down."
"It's alright. The Iced Earth album, Alive in Athens, is a good choice. I like their stuff," he said.
"Me too," was all she could say, staring at him. Why is he being so nice to me? She asked herself.
"I think your brother is looking for you," Draco said, pointing over to Ron who was calling for her.
"I've got to go. So…. See you in school?"
"Yeah, see you in school."
Ginny turned and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, still can't believe that Draco Malfoy could was being nice to her. No insults, no disparaging comments. Just, nice.
Draco shook his head as he watched her walk away. She's cute, he thought to himself before he turned and walked into the music store.
A/N: I hope that was ok. I know this chapter is kind of lame but I promise that it WILL get better. Oh and the CD titles are real. Please read and review. Thanks!