Draco was knocked backwards by the force of Ron's punch. The other man was standing a few feet in front of him, breathing heavily. He had his arms akimbo, no wand in view. Once Draco had him within his sights from beneath his now mussed up blonde hair, he charged, ramming his shoulder into Ron's chest, who staggered and fell to the floor.
Vaguely Draco heard Ginny scream at them, before his skull was pounded, distracting him a little bit with stars twinkling before his eyes. He had barely registered the fact that Ron had punched his head above his ear, when he was blown backwards at the force of a spell the likes of which he had never seen before. He crashed into a wall, and fell to the floor.
He pulled himself to his feet, using the hard marble wall for support; and he saw Ginny, her arms outstretched, a palm facing each of them, with great blue spheres of light swirling in each one. A force field of some kind, he guessed.
"When I say, stop, I mean STOP!" She screamed at them. Draco heard her, it was hard not to, but was too focussed on her appearance to notice.
She looked like she was a breathing ball of energy. Her hair was crackling with electricity, and her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were black, shooting them with such intensity, it was hard to look at her for very long. He suddenly felt like a small boy who'd been caught stealing sweets, and lowered his gaze to look at the floor.
"Now," she said quietly, having their attention once more. Her voice had a distinct hint of steel, and Draco flinched involuntarily. "You will apologise, and shake hands like civilized men. Then we will go to the Burrow. Is that clear?" Both men nodded somberly.
Draco met Ron halfway, and shook the other man's hand firmly, not wincing in the slightest when Ron attempted to crush his hand with his own.
"I apologise," Draco said pompously, sliding back into his old persona with ease.
"Accepted." Ron said. Ginny gave an impatient cough. Ron rolled his eyes, and said "And I'm sorry for denting your ego."
"No harm done," Draco said, grinning.
"Alright lets go." Ron flung Draco's hand away and turned to Ginny, who was watching them with an expression akin to exasperation.
Draco summoned the roses and followed Ginny.
Ginny had a knack for attracting attention. Just like the week previously, her outburst was watched closely; again with amusement.
Narcissa Malfoy's thoughts were rampaging through her mind in endless circles. She had heard Lucius muttering angrily to himself about the 'Red-headed-blood-traitor', refusing to acknowledge that she could in fact be a good thing. Narcissa strongly suspected that if Lucius met her in person, he would like her. He had respect for people with enough courage to stand up to a Malfoy, within reason. This girl had that and more. Few people that she had heard of had stood up to Lucius, and to see this young woman manipulate her son so skillfully that he hadn't noticed yet (he usually noticed), made her laugh.
Oh her proud son was in trouble with this fiery girl, of that she was certain. And Narcissa would do absoloutly nothing to save him.
Ginny was trying valiantly not to laugh. The expressions of matching mutiny of both of the men's faces were so childish, she was having an extremely difficult time hiding her amusement. Both proud men, both looking about five.
She had a strong suspicion that Draco had been lying to her about the date. He had seemed too hurt by her forgetfulness, and that wasnt like him at all. So in return for his attempted manipulation, she had some fun herself. The only difference was, hers had gone unnoticed.
She had a few reasons for inviting him. What she had told Ron was true, it would do Draco a world of good to see the world outside his protective shell. He had some strange idea that they were all barbarians, and lived in some sort of hole. His father probably told him that it was indeed a burrow. In fact, their home was quite comfortable. It may not have looked conventional with its many teired roof and the seemingly random ensemble of rooms jutting out at odd angles, but it had quite enough room for all of their collective families plus guests. He would be surprised.
The second reason, was that she wanted to see if he really was the gentleman that he had led her to believe. If he did well with her family's inevitable hostility, she would know that he was a keeper. She realized that she was getting a bit ahead of herself, he had never actually made his intentions known, but she didn't care. It did a girl a world of good to dream a little bit.
When they reached the burrow, Draco was impressed. He knew that he wouldn't find the hovel his father had described, he knew his father too well for that. But what he did find proved that the Weasley's were resourceful with their meagre income. Brilliant actually.
He found what looked like it would have originally been a comfortably sized cottage, but over the years, rooms and floors had been added. He found he rather liked the visual cocophony it produced. It looked far more welcoming than the cold Malfoy Manor.
He walked in bravely, talking to himself. Whatever they do, I'll live. I will get through this, he told himself over and over. He squashed all traces of the pompous Malfoy mannerisms into a tiny corner in his brain, knowing that they wouldn't do him any good. In all truthfulness they would probably get him killed. The entire clan fell silent when he came through the door.
"Ginny dear, introduce us to your friend!" Mrs. Weasley broke the silence warmly.
"Everyone, this is Draco Malfoy." She said loudly, so that everyone could hear her. "Be nice," she added warningly.
"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley turned red. "What do you think we're going to do? Serve him for dinner?" She looked at Draco appraisingly, as if she was testing to see if he would actually feed anyone. Draco blushed under her stare. "So pale! And skinny! Come dear, dinner is in the kitchen. Come on you lot, no need to wait any longer." She ushered them all into the kitchen, where a mouth watering array of food was laid out.
The rest of the Weasleys rushed in a mad dash to what Draco assumed were their regular seats. He was made a place in between Ginny, and an older man who he assumed to be her father. Draco wasn't sure wether or not he should be worried.
The food was delicious. It rivalled the world renowned feasts that Hogwarts was home to in both taste and amount.
"So, Mr. Malfoy," the man beside him asked. "What are your intentions with my daughter?"
The entire table fell silent. Both Draco and Ginny (who had apparently been listening closely) choked on their food. But where Draco choked out of mortification, Ginny choked out of amusement. Draco shot her a glare.
"Dig yourself out of that one, Draco," Ginny whispered.
Draco grinned widely, looking quite goofy, and turned back to Mr. Weasley.
"Marrriage," he announced loudly, for everyone to hear.
