Tomato- red Ron Weasley and his half-dressed girlfriend Hermione Granger proved to be the best catch of the night. "Well, well. Look what we have here, a head girl and a prefect visiting the astronomy tower after curfew. That's 100 points Granger for indecent exposure." Draco smirked as Hermione tried to frantically button up her blouse.
"Sod of Malfoy!" Ron narrowed his eyes at the prefect who had ruined a perfectly good snogging session as he covered his girlfriend with his cloak. Hermione glared at Draco , much too embarrassed to insult him.
"Would you like me to take more points from your precious house, prefect Weasley?" Draco didn't mind at all having to do rounds of the astronomy tower. He had gladly traded with Zabini. There was nothing more fulfilling than catching students in various states of undress, especially the haughty Gryffindors. What a productive night it had been! They deserved it, every last one of them!
With another night ended Draco headed down the stairs ending his glorious point taking shift. Eighteen couples! He was quite sure no other Head Boy had caught so many rule breakers. Not like he hadn't been up in the Astronomy Tower quite a few times himself, but he had been smart enough not to get caught.
Draco kept his wand at the ready as he walked down the hallway. One could never be sure that retaliation wasn't far behind after punishing so many. Breaking out of his reverie Draco heard tiny footsteps echoing behind him. Spinning around to catch none other than Ginny Weasley creeping silently up the Astromomy Tower stairs.
"What in hades is she doing here?" Draco muttered to himself.
Goody-Goody Ginny Weasley meeting someone in the Astronomy Tower? Sure it was common knowledge that she dated half of her brother's friends but at the same time those same boys had described her as Virgin Virginia.
A part of him was delighted at the possibilty of catching another Weasley. Why then did he feel a bit uneasy at the prospect of finding out who her mystery boyfriend was?
"Weasley?!"
Instead of being scared as he had expected she smiled a sly grin that caught Draco off-guard.
"Lumos." She whispered instantly shining a guiding light along the once darkened stairwell, "Follow me."
Ginny Weasley was inviting him to the Astronomy Tower?
"Are you coming or not?" she asked Draco whose feet seemed to be frozen to the floor.
Pass up an opportunity to go to the Astronomy Tower? Never. But with Ginny Weasley? How many times had he brought Pansy Parkinson up here? Too numerous to count. Of course Pansy was in a much higher echelon compared to Weasley. Pansy with her long blond hair, nice waist and very ample chest kept Draco busy many a night. That was the problem. That's all they ever did.
Could he tell her about how miserable he felt about his mother crying every night? Or how he cried when his father was taken away to Azkaban. No. Pansy was like a drug. For the moment it would feel good but afterwards the problem was still there.
He had thought better of Weasley. Every study session was becoming something to look forward to. With Ginny he could talk about everything under the Hogwarts sun. This Astronomy Tower snog would ruin everything. Why did she want to ruin it? It -whatever it was - no longer enemies but dare he say the word…. a friend?
"Are you coming?" she grinned mischievously as she continued up the staircase.
Did he want to ruin it?
"I brought chocalate chip cookies…….."
That was the clincher. What a weak man he was. Draco bounded up the stairs behind her. "Weasley wait up!!!"
***
"What are you doing?" Draco asked munching on the cookies Ginny had promised as she spread a blanket next to a telescope. No snogging had taken place. In fact Ginny looked very uninterested in him at the moment. Perhaps he was mistaken? Draco hoped so, letting out a sigh of relief.
"What I always do on a Friday night." Ginny responded peering into the lens. "I watch the heavens."
Every Friday? How was that possible? With the exception being today, he nor Blaise had ever caught her. With bright red hair like Weasley's it would have not been hard to spot her.
As if she was reading his mind, Ginny answered, "I have my ways of avoiding you prefects and head boys."
Draco had to chuckle at her sneakiness. Who would have thought that Ginny had it in her?! Then again she did have those two git brothers George and Fred who probably taught her everything she knew.
A small hand tugged at his, "Look Draco." Ginny stepped aside and motioned for Draco to take a peek.
Draco looked through the lens quickly and shrugged, "Just Mars and some stars….so what Ginny? It's not like we don't do enough of this in Trelawney's class."
"Just Mars? How could you just brush something so beautiful off to the side like that?" Ginny sniffed gesturing towards the night sky.
Maybe he had been mistaken about Ginny's intelligence. Third in the class yet she believed that one could read fate via the stars. "Don't tell me you believe in all that astrology garbage!"
"I'd rather not believe it." Ginny would watch and she would hope, but the stars always told her what she didn't want to hear. The stars spoke of a life lived full yet ending shortly. A small tear escaped and Ginny hurridly wiped it away before Draco could see it. A full life? She hadn't even begun to live. True love was supposed to come her way. But when and with who? Time was running out as was the life of the dying star in the heavens.
Intrigued was the word. Draco was interested in what Ginny saw. "Tell me Ginny, what do you see in my future?" he asked as he took another cookie from the tin.
Ginny swiped the cookie back and was met with Draco's protests, "What are you doing! Are you nuts, give me my cookie back!"
Holding it away from him Ginny was once again thoroughly engrossed in the telescope. "If I tell you, you're more than likely to choke.
"No I won't" Draco pouted looking very much like the 17 year old baby he was, "What is it Weasley?!"
"I don't know……." Ginny said in a lilting teasing voice, "You might not like it……."
Draco was becoming frustrated, yet deeply interested, "For Merlins' sake Ginny, am I going to die tomorrow or what?"
Ginny bit her lip in laughter looking up from the telescope , "Happiness Draco. You will find happiness with your true love. "
"Bullshit Weasley." Draco practically snarled. He let himself fall into one of Ginny's jokes yet again. After practicing with her over a month he had thought he knew her fairly well to know when she was being serious. Tonight was not one of them.
"Better make up with Pansy Parkinson Draco, it looks like your happiness won't last long." Ginny mapped out Draco's stars in the sky, a harsh gasp leaving her.
"What is it Weasley?" he asked concern etched in his voice.
A dying star was shared between Ginny and Draco. A fact Ginny chose not to reveal. She prayed to the Gods that her future would change but it had remained a constant. Ancient stars never lied. In this instance, Ginny chose not to tell him. Maybe it was just a coincidence. The dying star could mean many things. The most obvious Ginny decided not to believe.
Conjuring up her most wicked smile she replied, "Your true love is Harry Potter."
To be continued