She had survived her first week of muggle school. How, she wasn't completely sure. But there she was, on Friday night, pulling a sweater on and waiting for her new friends to pick her up to see her first American football game. She was reapplying her mascara when a loud crack sounded in the hallway and she nearly poked her eye out.
"Anybody home?"
"Lupin?" Ginny opened her door and found the man in question, his hand raised in a fist, ready to knock. "Hi!"
"Hi, Ginny. How was your first week? Are you doing alright?"
"I'm…fine," Ginny answered hesitantly, mildly surprised when she found that she'd answered honestly as well.
"That's good," Lupin nodded, looking almost relieved. "Sorry we didn't send someone earlier. We had a bit of a…situation on our hands."
Ginny's heart sank. "What happened?"
"Well…we apprehended Lucius Malfoy…"
Ginny eyed the man suspiciously. "…And…?"
"And he got away."
"How?"
"Er…brute force, it seems. He uh…took Shacklebolt with him."
"Took him as in…" Ginny trailed off, hoping Lupin didn't mean what she thought he meant. He lowered his head, confirming Ginny's fears. She felt tears sting her eyes. "Because of me."
"No! No, no, Ginny. Not because of you. It would have happened eventually—you know we've been after him since the break out."
Ginny nodded, but still couldn't help feeling that Shacklebolt had been killed in her name. She finally understood how Harry had felt about the Department of Mysteries, and Kingsley Shacklebolt was hardly a godfather to her.
"So how was it then?"
"It's been…interesting…definitely different. I'm going to a football game tonight with some girls from my grade."
"Oh!" Lupin sounded pleased at her social agenda.
"An American football game."
"Oh," he sounded interested now. "Do you know anything—"
"Nothing at all," Ginny laughed, cutting off the question. "They should be here soon though."
A knock sounded at the door and Ginny nodded her head in the direction.
"Right. Well, let me know how it goes! I trust I don't have to remind you to keep a low profile and stay safe and—"
"I'll be fine, Lupin. I promise."
He nodded and disapparated with another loud crack.
Ginny flew down the stairs and opened the door. "Sorry I took so long, I couldn't find my sweater and—"
"It's cool. You ready?"
Ginny nodded, climbing into the backseat of a red car. A girl, Leah, one of Natalie's friends, was driving them just the few blocks to the game. What Ginny saw there left her stunned beyond belief.
---What did she see?---
Boys. Many boys. Many cute boys, in very tight pants. Ginny could barely keep her mouth closed.
They sat in the stands for awhile, barely paying attention to the actual game and making small talk. Before long, Natalie found herself getting antsy and bored. "Let's walk around, huh? Actually I'm pretty thirsty. Want to go to the concessions with me?" Leah declined the offer but Ginny, finding herself growing thirsty as well, took her up on the offer.
Natalie pointed out who she thought was the cutest on Kasson's team, and then told Ginny that she worked with a boy that played for the other school, Triton.
The line to the concession stand was at least fifteen people long, and Ginny scuffed her shoe against the blacktop absentmindedly. Lost in her thoughts instantly, she nearly jumped out of her skin when Natalie grabbed her arm.
"Look at that gorgeous thing!"
Ginny glanced around the edges of the field, looking for someone without a helmet on. "Where?"
Natalie giggled. "Not there. There," she took Ginny's faced and turned it to the left, stopping in the direction of a very tall, pale looking boy.
Her stomach plunged and her heart froze. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a distant part of her brain was finding it almost humorous that both father and son could do that to her.
His met eyes with hers. Less than ten feet away, Ginny actually saw him quirk an eyebrow. He began walking over to them, and Ginny felt her whole world spinning.
"Weasley!" he greeted her with a fake cheer—a show put on solely because of her company. "Fancy seeing you here."
Ginny nodded her acknowledgement. "Malfoy," she stated softly.
Natalie stared in wonder between the two of them. "You know him?" she asked Ginny breathlessly.
Malfoy gave Natalie a charming smile and Ginny felt as if she were going to be sick.
"A word alone, if you would? Just one moment," he assured Natalie, and she nodded her consent. He grabbed hold of Ginny's elbow, none too gently, and pulled her away from the long line of witnesses.
Ginny found it hard to make her legs work; her brain must have known that no good could come of wandering away with Malfoy. See, Ginny thought absently, I really am smart.
She sighed when he stopped, making her face him. She looked to the ground, unwilling to show Malfoy that she was actually close to tears. "How'd you find me then?"
He scoffed at her. "With that red hair? I spotted you from the other side of the pitch twenty minutes ago."
Ginny took a deep breath. "No, I mean, how did you find me here?" she looked at him, finding confusion swirling in his icy eyes.
"What are you talking about, Weasley?"
"You weren't looking for me?"
"I didn't miss you that much, little Weasel."
"I'm confused." Ginny scratched her head, studying his eyes for any deceptive game he might have been playing with her. "You really weren't looking for me?"
"Why would I be looking for you?"
"Because—" Ginny stopped, realization dawning on her. "What are you doing here?"
"Girl. Jessica. Bloody menace. Wouldn't leave me be until I agreed to come."
"No, no, no, I mean here. In the muggle world. In muggle America."
"I know what you meant."
"You are so infuriating!"
Malfoy smirked at her, backing away slowly. "Five years and you're just figuring this out? Just stay out of my way, Weasley, and we won't have any problems."
Ginny was about to point out that he was the one that had contacted her, but realized that he had disappeared through the line before she could even think to speak.
---Oh dear---
He'd somehow managed to survive the girl's constant gabbing for the rest of the night, as well as her chiding when she discovered he'd wandered off. He hadn't, however, managed to figure out exactly what Ginny Weasley was doing in Minnesota.
I wonder if she's got anyone with her…though they would probably be at the match too…
He settled into his bed, making himself quite comfortable before drifting off to sleep slowly.
He didn't sleep long.
At glance to his clock showed it to be one o'clock in the morning. He'd slept for a whole hour and a half. How refreshing.
He moved about his apartment aimlessly, first looking for something to eat, and then sitting down to write a letter to his mother. He finally settled in front of the television. He'd been reluctant to turn it on since his first night there, when he'd sat glued to it until nearly four in the morning, consequently sleeping in and arriving to his first day of school late, tired, and in no mood for the people there.
He flipped through the channels, hardly processing the things he was watching. After an hour of not even a yawn, Draco switched of the box and wandered outside, walking the streets of the small town, looking for everything and nothing all at once.
---Insomnia, don't ya know---
"I'm bored," Leah announced.
"As am I," Ginny sighed.
"Let's go somewhere!" Natalie suggested.
Ginny sat, staring at the girl. "It's three in the morning."
"So? That doesn't mean anything. Come on, please? You know you're dying of boredom," she stood, picking up Leah's car keys, jingling them in persuasion.
Leah stood as well. "It could be fun. We could just drive around…"
"Alright," Ginny relinquished. "Let's go."
Driving around turned into cruising Dodge Center, the town closest to Kasson, which quickly turned to roaming the streets on foot.
They stopped at a Kwik Trip, buying refreshments, and Ginny, having finished first, left the store to walk the streets alone. She was only going a little bit ahead, she reasoned, the others would catch up with her in a moment.
All reassurances left her, however, upon spotting Malfoy. She ducked away into the shadows, trying to appear small and unseen, and continued walking through a small alley. She thought it had worked well, until she heard him directly behind her. He seized her wrists, destroying any thoughts of running.
"I thought I told you to stay out of my way," he hissed softly.
Ginny tried to remain calm and appear cool. "I didn't know your 'way' and your 'town' were the same thing. Is it a crime that I'm here?"
"It's nearly four in the morning."
Ginny shrugged. "What are you going to do, take points away? Sorry to disappoint you, Malfoy, but you hold no power over me anymore."
His vice-like grip tightened more so, and Ginny gave a small gasp of surprise. He pulled her back into him even more, chuckling in her ear. "Is that so?"
Ginny gave him an amused snort. "Do you think you actually scare me?"
He turned her around, his eyes burning through her own. After a moment he smirked and answered her: "The trembling body and fearful eyes kind of give it away. You'd be better off masking your emotions."
Ginny gave him a sweet smile. "Perhaps you could give me lessons?"
He had opened his mouth, probably to spit out some really clever cut that had jumped into his head, but it was a girl that spoke.
"Ooh, what are you two doing?" Leah.
"Look at that, hogging him all to herself," Natalie sighed.
Ginny thanked whoever was watching over her for her friends' impeccable timing. "We're doing nothing, and if you want him I can I assure you that I don't," Ginny scoffed at them, pulling her arms from Malfoy's grip and walking over to them. "I'm actually getting a little tired, let's just go back to my house."
Both Natalie and Leah didn't look happy about leaving Malfoy to himself. In fact, they both wore expressions that made it seem as if they were considering ripping off his clothes and shagging him on the spot.
Disgusting, Ginny thought, nauseated. He's not even that good-looking.
The girls thought otherwise.
"Oh. My. God. Draco Malfoy is soo hot!!!" Natalie gushed the instant the last car door had closed.
"I wouldn't mind having a slice of that," Leah agreed.
"Gross. He's a git. You wouldn't like him, trust me," Ginny shook her head in disgust, attempting clear her mind of the images Natalie and Leah were causing to form.
"How do you know him, anyhow?!" Natalie asked, reaching into the backseat and swatting at Ginny. "And why don't you hook me up with him so I can decide if I like him or not?"
Natalie and Leah giggled, and Ginny's mind was filled with even more disgusting thoughts about Malfoy.
"He went to my old boarding school. No idea what he's doing here though. Everyone hated him, so that's probably why he moved," Ginny began to really wonder what exactly Malfoy was doing here.
"Everyone hated that gorgeous thing?" Leah asked skeptically.
"Everyone but the Slytherins," Ginny informed them.
"The what?" Leah asked.
"Slytherins did you say? What's that? His former gang?" Natalie sounded intrigued.
"Our school was divided into Houses, to organize the living quarters and the classes and schedules. Each class had two houses from one year."
Silence met her from the front seat.
"We have seven years, unlike your four-year high schools. We start formal education at eleven. So...History (Ginny made sure to leave off the 'of Magic') for me would be all the girls and boys from my year and house, Gryffindor, with the boys and girls from my year in Ravenclaw."
"What's up with the crazy names?" Leah asked after a moment.
Ginny wondered if she should be divulging so much information about Hogwarts. It's not as if I'm telling them that it's a school of magic, Ginny reasoned. Or like they're going to try to look up information about it. "Each house was named after one of the four founders of the school," she explained. "Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin."
"What's up with English people and their weird names?"
"Leah!" Natalie scolded, hitting the other girl. "I think the names are pretty cool, Ginny," Natalie said apologetically, giving Leah a foul glare. "Anyways I'm getting tired to--definitely ready to crash."
"Yeah, let's just go home," Leah agreed.
Home, Ginny thought glumly, staring out the window as the country passed her by. I wish.
---Homesickness sucks too---
I know it's pretty short, but review anyways, k?