A/N: Hehe, glad you guys are loving the tension between the two! That's exactly what I love about them and their crazy personalities colliding. I couldn't resist but put this next chapter up so soon. :) I had fun writing it. I'm also working on a fun one-shot between Draco and Ginny, so definitely look for that when I come back to publish Chapter 7!
DISCLAIMER: You know the drill; don't own these characters, or any of the concepts that seem familiar to you.
Chapter 6: Seeing Red
Later that night as Draco lay in his bed, his dark green silk sheets wrapped around him, thoughts of a certain red-headed witch continued to plague him. Even the curvy brunette that had just graced his bedroom noticed that something was off about Draco. She left in quite a huff, recognizing that he wasn't giving her his undivided attention. What was her name again? Janet? Jeanette? It didn't really matter.
He ran a hand through his tousled platinum locks. Draco couldn't understand why he was still thinking about the littlest Weasley. There was nothing extraordinary about her, he thought. Sure, she was pretty and had some great assets, but he had definitely seen and had experienced better in his life. Her big, warm, chocolate eyes came back to him. There was something intriguing about Ginny, much to Draco's annoyance. The way her eyes flashed when she became annoyed or excited, or how her eyes softened and became warm. Even that flaming mane wasn't quite as obnoxious as it used to be.
He turned over with a sigh. She was an odd one, that female Weasel. Draco decided that it was pure physical attraction. No Malfoy in their right mind could consider it anything else. Besides, he never had a red-head in his bed before. There was a certain spark and coyness to her he had not seen in any of his previous conquests, and that fascinated him. Yes, Draco decided, it was purely physical. As he closed his eyes, happy to have figured it all out, he mentally noted that Ginny was next on his "to-do" list.
The morning sun peeked its way through the bedroom ivory curtains, glaring on Ginny's sleeping face and its pale lavender covers. Her bedroom ranged from deep, rich purples to light, airy lavenders accented with a splash of white. Turning over in order to escape from its rays, she grumbled. All she wanted to do was get a few more minutes of sleep until her alarm started blaring into her ear. Brief images of one of the dreams she had last night came back to her. All she could remember was staring into swirling silver pools. Somehow, the thought of that comforted her as a content smile appeared on her face. Ginny distractedly scratched her cat's head as it lay in the middle of the bed with her. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. Wait a minute… The sun never shines on my face like this, unless… Ginny slowly cracked an eye open and glanced at the clock sitting on her nightstand. Oh, it's only 9:30… WAIT? 9:30? She groaned and smacked her hand to her forehead, now wide awake. Ginny must have fallen asleep through her alarm. With only half an hour to get ready to work, she jumped out of bed, ignoring the angry screeches coming from her rudely awoken pet, and sprinted to the washroom.
"Great! Now I don't even have time to shower! I was supposed to pick out a decent outfit to wear to the shoot. Oh, bugger!" Ginny cursed out loud, hurriedly reaching for her toothbrush. Her dark gray disgruntled Scottish Fold cat passed by the washroom, pausing to give her what looked to be the cat equivalent of a death glare.
"Oh come on, Apollo. You and I both know you got more than enough sleep since we slept through the alarm!" Ginny chastised as she made her way out of the bathroom in order to collect some work appropriate clothes. Apollo ignored her and made his way to the kitchen of her flat.
She opened her closet and began to push aside casual shirts and pants to search for her professional attire. Her brown eyes widened in horror as she realized there was nothing to be found in her wardrobe. Oh. My. God. I have nothing to wear. All of my clothes are at the Laundromat. With a sigh of frustration, she quickly grabbed the nearest jumper and old denims jeans, changing out of her nightclothes with the lightening speed of a snitch. Ginny ran out of her bedroom and grabbed the nearest robe along with her bag, and departed with a quick pop!
"Thank goodness for robes. They cover the monstrosity that is my outfit," Ginny thought out loud as she set down her bag on the chair facing her desk. Plopping down into her chair, she sifted through that morning's tabloids. As part of her job, she had to keep up with all of the gossip that was going on in the Wizarding celebrity world. She flipped through the pages, idly looking from page to page not seeing anything of interest. As she turned the next page to the society column, she was suddenly staring into smiling jade eyes peeking through jet-black hair. Of course, she thought with a roll of her eyes, what better way to start of my day than seeing Harry sodding Potter in the papers? It was then she realized he was not alone. He was laughing with a woman next to her, and her eyes froze at his arm around the woman's waist.
Ginny's eyes shot up to see the identity of this mystery woman and gasped softly. The headline read: "NEW COUPLE ALERT: IS HARRY POTTER DATING CHO CHANG? – OLD FLAMES REKINDLED?" She eyed the raven-haired woman with anger. Cho Chang looked just as pretty as she had been back at Hogwarts, if not infuriatingly more so. The tight little black dress left little to the imagination while she giggled alongside Harry. Ginny slammed the paper down onto her desk, fighting the urge to burn it to ashes. She smiled at the thought of their panicked printed faces as the flames would begin to lick the pages. Deep down inside, she knew that Harry would eventually pursue a relationship, but she hadn't known that he would get serious that quickly! And with an old girlfriend of all people. The morning had barely started and she already longed to crawl back into her warm, safe bed. Could this day get any worse?
Ginny needed to clear her mind and try to get through the rest of her day, so she stood up to energize herself. Her robes whirled around her as she walked across the floor to the break room. Amber eyes anxiously searched for the coffee pot in order to awaken the rest of her half-asleep senses. As Ginny was relaxing for the few minutes she had to spare with her caffeinated elixir before getting on with her work, she didn't see Alice walk into the break room as well.
"Good morning, Ginny!" Alice greeted her co-worker with her over exuberance. However, as Alice turned to look at Ginny, she was a bit surprised at how disheveled her co-worker looked.
"Bloody hell, Ginny. You look knackered." Her voice that was previously syrupy with false positivity had disappeared.
Ginny's cheeks burned as she unconsciously wrapped her work robe closer around her body. She didn't look THAT bad. She may not have been wearing a very revealing mini skirt and low cut top like the secretary, but she had to make do with what she had at that point.
"Laundry day," Ginny muttered, setting down her mug. She suddenly wasn't enjoying her coffee anymore. The piping hot beverage now felt cold and stale in her mouth.
That damn Alice, always poking her nose into matters where it wasn't the enamored secretary decided to rattle on about Draco Malfoy's brilliant physique, Ginny quickly glanced at the shiny metallic toaster next to the coffee machine. She did look a bit like hell, and she now had five minutes to fix herself and head down to the photoshoot.
"I wouldn't be able to show my face to Draco unless I looked perfect! He's so handsome…" Alice went on, her bubbly tone returning, twirling her jet black hair around her finger.
Ginny's fingers were itching to grab her wand within her robe pocket and hex the living daylights out of the secretary.
"Uh, it was nice talking to you Alice, but um, I really need to get going! Got to go head down to Malfoy's photoshoot and all," Ginny muttered as she made her way out of the room. She wanted to vomit as she heard the squeals emitting from the brown dolt behind her. Disgusting. Any witch that thinks that sodding git is attractive must be out of her mind. Yes, but you thought so too, another voice countered. She quickly popped that thought bubble out of her mind.
The frazzled red-head quickly grabbed a notebook and quill and shoved it into the inside pocket of her robe. Since Draco was going to be photographed for Witch Weekly today, she figured this was the best chance of finishing her interview with him.
Taking a look at the mirror hanging on the wall by her office door, she frowned. Alice was right, Ginny had to admit. She hadn't had time to properly brush her hair nor apply makeup charms in order to liven up her face. Instead, a very tired and weary looking Ginny was staring back at her. She quickly mumbled a simple makeup charm to liven up her complexion a bit and put her hair in a plait. The makeup charm did little for her thanks to her tiredness, making her unequipped for the steadiness that was needed for such wand work. Ginny let a sigh. What did it matter if she looked good? It was only that ferret bastard. These hormonal witches are even starting to get to me with their chitchat! Taking one last glance at her slightly less disheveled appearance, she sighed and sprinted towards the lift, with only two more minutes until the photoshoot was to start.
"Ginny! It's so good to see you!" cried Dennis Creevey, as he made his way over to the red-haired reporter, pulling her into a hug. As a testament to his late brother, Dennis had taken up photography, and eventually wound up venturing into it seriously as a career. Luckily for Ginny, being the friend of the photographer of the shoot made it that much more accessible. She inwardly shuddered as she had seen temperamental photographers overreact on the set during her intern phase. She remembered one time when a sandy-haired photographer hexed a reporter into next week for just being within fifty feet of him. It took a week for that witch to recover from the trauma of having jellyfish legs; poor thing was wobbling across the office for days.
"Dennis! Thank you so much for allowing me to come onto the set. I wanted to get a glimpse of the ferret before we met up for the interview. Now where is the pasty-faced prat, anyway?," she replied, after pulling away from the embrace.
"Trying not to vomit at the sight of this Gryffindor love fest," Draco spoke from behind Ginny.
Whirling around with annoyed eyes crackling like embers, she retorted, "My sincerest apologies, Mr. Malfoy. Wouldn't want to get your oh so expensive shoes dirty now, would we?"
"Exactly, Weaselette. These shoes cost three times as that rabbit hole home that your clan lives in, but you know that," He smirked, undoing his work robes. "Oh wait, you don't."
That only further ignited the fire behind Ginny's eyes. "You foul, repugnant, despicable-," Fortunately for Draco, Ginny was interrupted.
"Now, now! We're running a bit behind schedule and Mr. Malfoy needs to get into makeup and wardrobe. Ginny, I trust that you will stay on the sidelines and attend to your duties?" Dennis gave his friend a pointed look.
Ginny put a stop to the adjectives but gave Draco a glare as she brushed past him, hands folded across her chest. She knew that Dennis was just trying to maintain professionalism for the sake of both of their jobs, but she couldn't help herself. Seeing Malfoy kept bringing back all of her adolescent encounters with the former Slytherin at Hogwarts. Whatever, I'm just here to do my job and then get back to work, Ginny thought as she gritted her teeth, sinking into a couch near the set.
When Draco returned, he was no longer in work clothes, but now in an expensive Italian black suit that contrasted sharply with his light pallor and white-blond hair. His dress shirt was a deep forest green and his neck was free of a tie. They had carefully parted his hair to the side, further refining the aristocratic aura that surrounded the enigmatic Draco Malfoy.
Later on, they moved onto a completely different set. It was created to act as a makeshift Quiddich field, in order to simulate that Draco would be playing the game for the shots. He reappeared in green Quidditch robes, the garments only intensifying his athleticism. As he rose in the air on a broomstick, a wind charm was put into effect in order to create a sense of wind for the action shots. Numerous pictures depicted Draco catching the snitch, fighting off bludgers, and even capturing a makeshift game with other model players.
She noticed how artfully Draco flew across the large pseudo-field. While Harry's talents were innate and inherited, Draco seemed to have mastered the art over time. And the hours of practice and dedication showed as he gracefully breezed by. She had never seen such innocent and pure delight in Draco's eyes, as his fair, slender hands wrapped their fingers around that shiny sphere of golden goodness.
Two hours had passed by and Draco was put into a couple of more outfits for the shoot as the sets changed with the attire. Ginny was getting bored, stifling her yawn. The few sips of coffee she had had earlier were beginning to wear off. Just as she was about to sneak away to her office to steal a nap during her lunch break, the art director signaled that the photoshoot was coming to a close. Thank Merlin. I was this close to nodding off on this couch.
Ginny gathered her material and made her way to the wardrobe section. Right when she got close to the curtain, she ran into a chest. A very male chest.
"Oof!" came out of Ginny as she was muffled by Draco's chest, her hands also pressed across his upper body. Her fingers couldn't help but trigger her tactile senses into overload as she observed just how fit Draco was. She quickly removed her hands away from his body, pretending to ignore what she had just learned.
"Watch where you're going, you blighter!" Ginny snapped, rubbing her nose.
"Well now that wasn't very lady-like, Weasley," Draco stated as Ginny moved back. His nose wrinkled in mock disgust as he said, "But then again neither is your outfit."
"Oh stuff it Malfoy! There is nothing wrong with my-" Ginny started but stopped when she glanced down at what she was wearing. She had forgotten to close her robes after procuring her notepad and quill. She felt her face grow warm as she turned back to look at him. I must look like a mess. Her prominent scarlet mane was haphazardly tied up in a makeshift braid, with pieces of hair going about in different directions. She was wearing an old mustard Weasley jumper handed down from Charlie that was obviously too large for her and a pair of very faded and baggy jeans. She hugged her robes closer to her in an attempt to shield the world's eyes from her current lack of style.
"So what do I owe this displeasure? Come to compliment me on my Quidditch skills?" He smirked amusedly, crossing his arms across his chest.
At that, Ginny had to let out a snort, "No, you nutter. I came to finish the rest of the interview," She paused to blow a piece of hair out of her face. "Besides, you'll never be as good at Quidditch as Harry." She cringed inside, unsure of what compelled her to bring Harry up.
The amused glint in his eyes had disappeared, darkening his silver orbs. Clearly Ginny had pushed the wrong button. "If Harry Potter is so great at everything, then why aren't you still with him?" Glancing her over once up and down, he snidely added, "Oh I see why, because he probably left you for the next decent witch that walked by!"
Ginny's eyes widened in shock and she saw red at the thought of her past relationship. Before she knew what she was doing, Ginny raised her right hand and swiftly slapped Draco across the face. The crack resonated off the walls of the large room, as on-lookers avidly watched the two in numb silence.
"Maybe next time you'll think about what you're going to say," she said in a dangerously low voice, trying to maintain her composure. Tears were threatening to fall from her face, but she pushed past him before she would ever allow that to happen.
Once again, a shocked Draco Malfoy was left standing there, this time alone, dumbstruck at the pink handprint that was stamped across his left cheek.
Please remember not to cross Ginny Weasley again. I doubt Draco will ever learn that lesson, heh. And you know the drill, hit that review button!