Chapter Seven: Confessions (Part One)
"So, did you pass your Apparition test, Blaise?" Draco asked, as he lay down onhis bed in the sixth year boys' dormitory.
"Aced it, mate. It was a piece of cake," Blaise replied confidently, a smug smirk on his face. "I knew I would pass. Never left a piece of my body behind, unlike Weasley. He lost half an eyebrow!"
Draco laughed out loud, wondering how on earth the red head could have done that. "Was he the only one who failed?"
"Nah, there were other people, but I wasn't really paying much attention." Blaise collapsed on his own bed, sighing deeply. "So, what has made you so depressed lately?" he asked, turning to Draco.
Draco sighed heavily. He had been dreading this all day and had been preparing himself on what to say to Blaise. It had been rather difficult to form the words in his head, let alone how he was going to say them out loud.
'I mean, how can I explain to Blaise that I like – or rather - love Ginny Weasley, someone who my family hates and is a blood traitor. He is so going to kill me, but I hope he understands.'
Even though Blaise was a bed away, he muttered a silencing spell so Goyle, Crabbe and Nott couldn't hear them. He couldn't risk those three overhearing his confession. If they did, he would be worse off because they would immediately report to their fathers and it would get back to his father. At least with Blaise, he wouldn't go and tell his mother what his best friend told him.
"Ok, Blaise, whatever I have to say does not leave this silence circle," Draco whispered. "If you tell a soul about what I say, even Pansy, I swear you'll get it. Big time. Don't think I didn't warn you."
"Of course," Blaise answered, nodding his head. "I don't know why you have to ask me not to. As if I would go and blab your secret life to the school. I have better things to talk about then you. You already get enough attention as it is."
Draco half-smiled, he knew he could trust Blaise. After all, they had been friends since second year and he was the only Slytherin worth having a meaningful conversation about anything. Blaise could easily keep secrets, but would he keep this one?
"Thanks Blaise."
"That's alright. Ok, so what's up?"
Draco paused and took a deep breath. It was best to get it out into the open air rather than have it all bottled up inside. "I'm in love with Ginny Weasley," he said, his eyes staring blankly at Blaise's eyes, searching for some understanding.
Blaise looked at him for awhile as if his best friend had gone crazy, looking for a sign that he was joking. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. His best friend had to be going crazy. "You're joking, right?"
Draco shook his head, his eyes now staring at the floor.
Blaise sighed and rested his head in his hand. "How?" he asked quietly, wanting to figure out how his best friend suddenly fell in love with a so-called blood traitor.
"I don't know," Draco answered in a voice barely than a whisper. "I guess it all just started when I looked at her across the hall at breakfast nearly a month ago. I mean, I sometimes take a glance at the Gryffindor table, but I don't know … there was something inside of me that lit up when I glanced at her that day, something that I had never felt before."
He sighed and dug his fingers through his hair. "Of course, I didn't realise what it was that day. But then that night, I was walking back from the library and I heard her and Thomas arguing and then he hit her –"
"Sorry, did you just say Thomas hit Weasley?" Blaise interrupted, his eyes wide in shock. "Are you sure you're talking about the Dean Thomas of Gryffindor? Since when does he hit people and why did he hit her?"
"I would appreciate if you called her by her first name, please.Yes, he did hit her and pretty hard, it echoed down the hallway –"
"Holy shit," swore Blaise, shaking his head. "She must have done something bad to make him so mad."
"She didn't do anything though!" Draco cried out, trying to control the anger he had developed towards Thomas for awhile. "So, after he hit her, he left the room and I decided to go and comfort her."
"Whoa, this does not sound like you at all, Draco … what made you go and comfort her?"
"Do you know how many times I have been hit by my father, Blaise? I know what it feels like to be hit for no reason. Thomas hit Ginny because he reckoned Potter was in love with her and he thought she was too. She isn't in love with Potter, of course,so I knew she didn't deserve to be hit like that. She got a pretty bad mark from that too …"
"Ok, so what happened next?"
"Well I saw her the next day and she seemed alright so I didn't talk to her much about it, but I couldn't stop thinking about her, it was like some kind of disease. Then, would you believe it, a few days later, Thomas cornered her yet again and he hit her so hard he knocked her to the ground. By coincidence and chance, I was near where they were as I was heading to class and I saw Thomas knock her to the ground."
Draco growled, remembering the rush of anger he had felt when he saw Thomas hit Ginny to the ground. "So I slammed him against the wall, beat him up a bit and then carried Ginny to the hospital wing as she was too dizzy to walk. When we got to the hospital wing, however, shegrabbed my hand and asked me to stay with her …"
"That's why you didn't turn up to classes all afternoon! I was wondering where you were."
"So," Draco continued, getting a bit sick of Blaise interrupting his story. "I stayed with her and eventually got her friend, Higgins to stay with her. But would you believe it, a week later, she takes him back!"
"WHAT?!" Blaise sat up straight in his bed. "You're kidding me? She took him back even though he slapped her twice?" He suddenly realised something. "No wonder why you've been depressed all this time and why you were suddenly embarrassed when you bumped into Ginny at lunch yesterday. You were practically stuttering your words!"
"That's my explanation," said Draco, pulling the covers over himself and putting his head against his pillow. "I realised after she took him back that I was in love with her and was missing her so much. After that encounter with her yesterday, she followed me out to the grounds and wondered what was wrong with me. I told her that I cared about her and then I tried to kiss her, but she ran off."
"Damn," whispered Blaise, sighing.
"Wait, there's more." Draco turned to look at his friend directly in the eye. "When I walked out of the Great Hall yesterday, she grabbed me and dragged me behind that gargoyle and said she was sorry for running off and tried to kiss me. I was leaning in towards her too, but then we were interrupted byMr. Pathetic. He didn't see me, thank Merlin … and that's all that's happened until now."
Blaiselaidin his bed thinking hard. Finally he said "I think you should try and win her heart."
"Really?" Draco hadn't expected Blaise to say that. "Um, well …"
"Didn't expect me to say that, did you?" Blaise laughed, grinning. "What did you think I would beat you up or something?"
Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I thought you would disapprove and probably scream at me."
"Nah, it's really not that bad. If you were talking about Pansy, I would scream at you and probably murder you. Anyway, you need to somehow let Ginny know how you really feel about her. Show her how you are so much better than Thomas and won't treat her the same way Thomas treated her."
"Thanks, Blaise," Draco sighed. "I feel so much better about this now."
"Hey, what are friends for, Draco?"
Draco grinned and flicked his wand to lift the silencing charm. He put his wand on his bedside table and fell asleep, dreaming of the day when Ginny Weasley would finally break up with Dean Thomas.
Ginny woke up early the nextmorning, after a night of restless sleep. She still felt empty and heart broken even though she was the one who ended it. She sighed heavily, resting her head against her hands. Dean wasn't the first boyfriend she dumped so it was really no big deal.
At least it was easier to end it this time unlike, the time she broke up with Michael Corner. He kept pleading with her for at least two hours before accepting the fact she didn't want to see him anymore and ran off to comfort Harry's ex-girlfriend, Cho. If you ever called her Harry's girlfriend. From what Hermione told Ginny, all Cho ever wanted was to talk to Harry about Cedric all the time and would burst into tears when Harry said he didn't want to talk about Cedric.
'Well their relationship fell apart anyway … kinda like mine and Dean.' She started to cry again for at least the hundredth time in the past eight hours.
'How could I be so stupid not to realise the way he was acting towards me? He was always putting his arm round my waist … now that I come to think of it his arm was always too low for my liking.'
She slowly got out of bed and headed out to the bathroom to have a shower. Maybe that would drown out all the sorrows she had felt overnight. She closed the door behind her as she wiped her eyes dry and started to undress. Ginny then looked up at the mirror and saw how terrible she looked.
Her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying, her face was bright red and the flaming red hair fell flat from her head and was a rat's nest. She looked at her naked form in the mirror and started to cry again. That was what she looked like in Dean's eyes; something that was 'pleasurable' to look at and use to fill hisneeds and then toss her away like she meant nothing.
She walked into the shower and turned the water on, letting the water flow onto her body as the tears continued to fall down her face. 'Is this what boys all think of me?' she thought sadly. 'Just some pretty object to look at and if they were lucky, they would hold me in their arms and tell me they loved me to fool me. Then, if they were even luckier, they would eventually sleep with me. Isn't there anyone who doesn't think of me in this way?'
Ginny rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, trying to think of someone who didn't think of her as just a pretty object and actually cared about her well being. Harry did, buthe was just a friend and he never had a crush on her as far as she knew. Ron was her brother and hated any guy who came near Ginny.
'Boy, he is gonna have a field day now that I've broken up with Dean,' she grinned. 'I hope he never finds out that Dean wanted sex all this time. I bet Draco will be thrilled too –'
She froze on the spot, realising what she had just thought. Was she thinking that Malfoy will be thrilled that she had broken up with Dean?
'Well he will be very happy; he does like you after all. And you like him too, didn't you? Why, you wanted to kiss him even when you were with Dean! And you almost did.'
Ginny turned off the water and climbed out, drying herself while a million thoughts ran through her head. Malfoy was apparently the only guy at the moment that cared for her. Well, he comforted her after she was hit by Dean the first time, he beat up Dean when he hit her the second time, carried her to the hospital wing, andstayed with her for two hours and was warning her that Dean was using her.
'Merlin, why didn't I see that before? He is in love with me! Although I did ask him in some way whether he loved me, but he didn't really tell me. And he doesn't like me because of my looks, he cares about my well-being. I guess there is someone in the school who doesn't think of me as a pretty object, even if it is Draco Malfoy.'
'But the question is, do you like him - or rather - love him in return?'
Ginny looked up in the mirror and didn't see herself, but rather Draco staring back at her. She blinked, but the image didn't disappear. Nervous butterflies crept up inside her as she gazed at the image of Draco Malfoy and she suddenly felt weak in the knees just looking at the handsome Slytherin.
He was smiling at her, the morning sun making his white blonde hair shine and to Ginny, his grey eyes didn't look stony, but rather a nice grey blue. They looked likea deep blue ocean and it was drawing her in.
With the towel wrapped around herself, she walked to the mirror and placed her hand upon it as if she was stroking his cheek. The Draco in the mirror smiled even more and closed his eyes at the touch. Ginny felt her heart leap and she leaned closer to the glass.
"Draco?" she whispered, her nose almost touching the glass.
A loud knock on the door interrupted her and Felicity's concerned voice floated from the other side. "Ginny? Are you in there?"
Ginny blinked and the image of Draco was gone and she was now looking at her own reflection. She felt a pang of loss and sadness that he wasn't in the mirror and staring at her wet reflection instead. She cursed Felicity in her mind for interrupting her little moment.
"Ginny? I know you're in there. I hope you're alright and not trying to drown yourself in the shower because that would be the stupidest thing to do right now. I just wanted to let you know breakfast is on now, but you don't have to come down if you're not up to it. I'll bring up toast from the Great Hall if you want."
Ginny cleared her throat. "No, I'll be fine, Flick," she replied in a weak voice.
"Ok. I'll be back in about half an hour. Feel better, Gin."
Ginny heard Felicity walk away and close the dormitory door behind her. She really didn't feel like going to breakfast for three reasons. One, Dean would be there and she wasn't up to facing him yet. Two, she still looked terrible. And three, sheneeded more time to think alone.
She got dressed in her uniform, quickly dried her hair and left the bathroom. She sat on her bed and thought back to what she saw in the mirror. No, she wasn't thinking of what she saw, but of what she thought as she looked at him. She thought of him as handsome and that his eyes looked like a deep blue ocean. There was something about his smile that made her insides flutter and made her feel lighter than air.
Could she be in love with him too?
'No, I can't be. He is an arrogant, selfish brat to everyone else and he's supposed to be my enemy! Besides my family hates his family and Ron hates him unlike anyone else on earth. Besides, Dr – Malfoy would never like me in that way.'
'But he's been nice to you over the past few weeks. He's been kind of a friend, helping you out and giving you encouragement. And you thought of him as handsome and nice after he comforted you.
'Also, do you remember the day when you saw him staring at you? He looked like he was in love with you then … you felt a little flushed afterwards, remember? You're falling for him so bad. Admit it.'
Ginny gasped as she realised the voice in her head was right. She was in love. She was in love with Draco Malfoy, of all people. And what seemed weird to her was that it felt right no matter how wrong it really was. She wanted to be with him and have his comforting arms wrapped around her.
What was she going to do now?
