A/N: Okay, here's just another distraction of my own invention. I'm really sorry to those of you that want another chapter soon for THE TRUTH, but the characters just won't let me into their world right now. I know what I want to do, but just not how, so if you're waiting, expect it to be long. This, however, is seeming to flow with no great effort, and it appeals to me… so here this thing is. Hopefully you're satisfied. I want to thank those of you who care enough to review, I really enjoy opening my mailbox in the morning and seeing just one review (I can never hope to be as great as Ace of Spades with over a thousand reviews), I'm happy with one. And I could definitely not have done it without my beta, ATrueSlytherin. She's awesome. So, here's my new thing. Hope you like it and tell all your friends how greatly horrible I am! Have fun, ~*myself*~
Disclaimer: now this is a tedious bit of work every FF.Net author is familiar with. Honestly, why don't they just make it easier and put an entire site disclaimer? After all, every piece of original fiction has been moved to FictionPress, so what's the difference? Oh well. I don't own anything except the plot, which is nothing fancy. I do own some of the characters in Ginny's dorm, but that's due to laziness. I didn't want to go through the trouble of looking the real girls' names. If any of you have a site that is more helpful than DarkMark.com, then please lend me hand and leave it in your review.
Chapter One: THE DREAM
"I do it for the drugs, I do it just to feel alive. I do it for the love, that I get from the bottom of a bottle." Smile Empty Soul—bottom of a bottle. (they're fucking amazing, you should really check them out.)
Ginny stood in the mist-shrouded entrance to Knockturn Alley. She didn't know what had drawn her here, except that it did. She had been enjoying a nice Butterbeer with Colin and Blaise, when an eerie silence, not in the least comfortable, befell the two men and lady. Blaise and Colin had gotten together at the end of her fifth year, and had been inseparable since. She really had no problem with the arrangement, except for being another third wheel in her flight from the same treatment. The two young men were staring into each other's eyes, one set almost black, and the other openly blue.
That was it.
That was all she remembered up until where she was.
Her cloak was not by any means aiding in any way. Despite its rather expensive material, it was not warming her in the least. It had been a welcomed birthday present from Colin and Blaise. It duly replaced her tattered hand-me-down old one, but even now it wouldn't chase away the cold shivers that ran up and down her spine. The bloody shivers were down right distracting.
Wanting to return to the warmth of the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny turned and began to walk away. She had gone less than ten paces before she heard it—a small muffled shriek, followed by low hollow laughter. Her head snapped back almost involuntarily. She could see the shapes now seeming to float towards her through the mist. One was cowering before the other. It was the shape of a girl that was bowing down to a much taller man.
Ginny began to tread toward the shady silhouettes, but they never seemed to get bigger… and why was she falling? Her surroundings began passing in a blur as she fell down into the center of the earth. Just when she realized what was happening, strong arms secured themselves around her middle. She looked up, expecting the eyes of her many time savior Harry, but instead finding the cold, stone-gray eyes of Malfoy.
A brief moment of utter horror passed before she recognized the dream for what it was. Just a dream. Sighing, she opened her eyes, and, yes, here was the familiar scene of her bed. The maroon curtains unbroken by anything except the head of Malfoy—nothing out of the ordinary at all. Ginny laid her head down once more, expecting for sleep to grasp her once more. But lo and behold, Malfoy had found his way in her bed! Her eyes flew open, seeing and processing the boy.
He reached one finely manicured hand and brushed the hair out of her face.
"Shhh, my dear. Sleep now." He placed his soft lips against hers.
She screamed.
***
"So what is it Malfoy, two choices. Go on and pick already!" Malcolm Baddock was gasping out through his laughter.
Draco was just staring with outright shock at what he had drawn. Of course, he still had a choice, but making wild passionate love with Potter was hardly his style. If it had been any other girl, he would have been delighted to accept his fate. But it wasn't. This girl was that mudblood lover Weasley. Ginivere or something along the lines of that name. They were all the same anyway with their blindingly horrid red hair.
The worst part was that he had no choice.
"Fine. I'll befriend the little weasel. She'll be putty in my hands before the end of the first day." He said this third part much, much, softer than the first two. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever, all his words were drowned by the wild howling of his 'friends.'
Two years ago, the sound of laughter directed at him would have sent Draco into a wild rage. That was fifth year though. So long ago. Since then many things had happened. The Dark Lord had rose once more, only to be stifled by that bloody Potter. His father officially disowned him for refusing to help the attempt to raise him again after the defeat. Despite his upbringing, he did not want to go around being a lapdog for a sadistic murderer. He was much too self-centered to give such untainted loyalty to anyone person. Yes, two years was quite a while, and he had changed. No longer was he a scrawny, underfed looking boy who spent all his free time making life a living hell for others.
But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy it every once in a while. Everyone had their guilty pleasures, didn't they? And the fact that he just happened to have a natural talent made it that much harder to just quit. So, instead of letting it go, Draco's mind slowly began fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. He knew within a matter of minutes where exactly every piece fit, where he would corner her, what he would do. Everything.
Despite his exceptional skills of deception, everything was held together by one perilously taught thread. The entire thing could be ruined if her hate for him was too great. He racked his brain, trying to see if he had done anything outrageously terrible to the young woman. There was that whole diary incident in second year, but that wasn't him. It was the man he once called his father. This may be achievable.
He felt a malicious grin spread across his face, delighting in the mischief he was about to wreak. The girl went to the library everyday just before lunch. He knew this.
Knowing is all to often confused with caring. His eye was sharp. He caught things, as if seeing from hundreds of angles at once, all focusing into one pair of eyes. It was amazing to be able to know exactly what was going on in his surroundings, but terrible not to be able to share it. Knowing is all to often confused with caring. He looked down at his watch and found it to be nearly nine in the morning. It was the perfect time for planning.
Pushing himself away from the table and the howling of his friends, Draco left the common room to attend to some of the more intricate details in the library.
***
Ginny's scream had woken half the girls in her dormitory. Linda and Bethany had both thrown their pillows at her, while Jamie was asking her what was wrong.
She looked around confused, but happy to find that there was no pale blonde boy haunting her bed. Finally she noticed Jamie looking at her concernedly.
"What?" she asked, her voice coming out rusty from lack of use.
"I just asked you if everything was alright." Jamie's green eyes were watery and still harbored signs of sleep near the tear glands.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for asking. I just had the worst dream in my life." Thankful for it being just a dream, she passed her hands over her face in relief.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ginny was having a hard time concentrating on any one thing. She kept looking around the room, assuring herself that this was in fact reality and she was not having another dream.
"No. No, no, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. It was…. It just really caught me off guard." She offered Jamie a shaky smile before lying down in bed again.
"Well, lucky it's Saturday. No classes to go to." Both girls shared a small laugh.
Jamie was the only person she had really talked to since the opening of the Chamber. The girl had always been kind and uncritical of her smallest problems. She had never turned and uncaring shoulder, especially when Ginny had taken up the knife… and when she had left it be. But she couldn't tell her this.
It was true she had screamed, but she had also liked the kiss. It was a dream though. Just a dream.
When they finally ended their laugh-fest Jamie spoke up. "So what do you want to do today?"
"Umm… I still have that huge Potions essay for Snape. I think I'll be in the library all day today trying to finish it." Jamie looked sympathetic.
"Don't you just loath him, not to mention Potions in general?" Ginny, who in fact had no problem with mixing potions, nodded hesitantly, winding her friend up. "Oh, come off it! Just because I bloody suck at it, doesn't mean that you have to agree with me!" for the third time that day, a pillow came flying at Ginny's head, drawing laughter.
"Well, I should go. I'll meet you for lunch though. If you don't see me five minutes after you get to the Great Hall, send out a search team." With that, Ginny got dressed and headed to the Library. Looking at the clock mounted on the wall, she saw that it was nine fifteen. She had almost three hours before lunch.
When she arrived at the library she sat at her usual table. The one by the window, right after the astronomy section. She had a perfect view of the lake there.
She took out all her notes and revised them. The task wasn't hard but she needed to get her ideas in order before writing anything. Just as she was going to start writing, some one pulled her notes away from her. She looked up and saw…
"Malfoy… what the fuck do you think you are doing?"
***
Draco stood looking down at where the staircase that should have taken him straight to the library should have been. But it had disappeared and taken residence on the opposite wall.
Damn it! He hissed under his breath. He now had to take an alternative route. Thankfully, he knew of one. Unfortunately, it took almost twenty minutes to get there. He pivoted on the heel of his left foot and headed in the opposite direction.
When he finally reached the library, he saw a certain young redhead sitting at his favorite table. Now, this was very interesting. He could either yell at her to go away, or could maybe use this time to get to know her a little better.
He took a seat at the table next to the one she was at and watched her work. She was so intent on what ever she was doing to even notice him staring at her. Didn't she notice the weight of his gaze? Apparently not.
Getting a little bored, he went over to the table and looked over her shoulder.
Still he got no reaction.
She was working on Snape's essay. Interesting.
Carefully, he walked around the table and reached and took the notes. She looked up and he was greeted by the warm, velvety brown of her eyes. Then her mouth began to open… and he was lost to her.
"Malfoy… what the fuck are you doing?"
***
"Diverting your attention, I believe. Is it working?" his mouth was curved up in a smile. Not a smirk. A smile. Interesting. She thought. I wonder what it would feel like…NO. No. I am not thinking this. But she was.
"Yes, Malfoy, it's working. Now will you please give me my notes back?" had her brother been here, a heart attack would probably be in store. How could his baby sister be speaking to Malfoy? That filth, he would have said. He would have neglected the fact that she was her own person, not to mention that he had not caused her that much grief.
"Good, and no. I will not give your notes back." There was something in his voice, something in his eyes that made her trust him—made her trust that he would, in fact, give her notes back… just not now. She had expected him to speak, but instead Draco just looked at her appraisingly.
"Am I amusing you, Malfoy, or do you have a reason for being here?"
"Both, actually. I was just noting that you don't harbor some deep seated animosity towards me." True. But how did he know?
It was Ginny's turn for an amused look to cross her face. "And what exactly would give you that idea?"
"Well, I think the fact that I am still speaking to you is a good indicator. So, now that we have established that deep inside you, you are inexplicably in love with me, lets go." He reached out and grasped her hand, pulling her up next to him.
"As appealing as that sounds, two things wrong with you little scenario. One, I am definitely not in love with you, and two, I have to finish my essay for Snape." Draco dismissed this with a casual swipe of his hand.
"That thing's not due for ages."
"Shows what you know. If ages can be translated into Monday, then yes, I have ages. But unfortunately, it does not. And another thing, I don't even like you. Why would I want to go anywhere with you?"
"Just to prove that you don't hate me. Come on, worst things worst, I'll just ask Snape to give you an extension on your essay. It's not like he'll say no to me. So come on." Her options were somewhat limited. If she did go, then she had a lot of work to do later. On the other hand, if she didn't go, Malfoy was likely to keep the notes, and she would have to start all over. Then again, if she did go back, it would be a silent stab in the back to the Dream Team, fraternizing with the enemy. Her mind was made up.
"Fine, Malfoy, where are we going?" Draco didn't answer. Instead, he pointed his wand at her paper, whispering a spell. In a heart-stopping moment, her work was gone. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO!!!!!!??????"
"Quiet little weasel, I told you I wouldn't keep your notes, and along with that, to not articulated, I promised to keep them safe. Right now they are still here, waiting for you to come back. What you do is come to this very table, speak the words reditus res operatio, tapping the table with your wand, and it will be here waiting for you. "Now come, and don't ask any more questions… and," he added almost as an after thought, "call me Draco. No more of this Malfoy nonsense."
"Yes, Draco."
Draco led her out of the library by the hand.
End A/N: okay, so what did you think? I expect many reviews before the next chappie comes out, so if you want it, tell a friend to review! And again, thanks to my beta. I need ego-candy, and frankly, you give it to me.