Title: Call Me Ginevra
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't own any characters except those you can't research on the lexicon and aren't mentioned in the books. The plot is my own. Any resemblances to other plots are pure coincidence. Think about it this way, great minds think alike.
Full Summary: The war has the Weasley's worried about poor little Ginny. After checking her resources McGonagall claims she has the best caretaker for Ginny. Too bad it turns out to be Narcissa Malfoy. While at Malfoy Manor Ginny faces growing up, a strict regiment and Draco on a day-to-day basis. Can Ginny and Draco brave the unknowns of friendship? Will the buds of relationship form? What will Harry do when he finds out that only Ginny holds the key to defeating Voldemort?
Pairings: Draco/Ginny (I guess this sort of answers the "buds of relationship" question in the summary, huh?)
Rating: Eventually M, but pace yourself. (I will give fare warning of the chapters which that rating applies.)
Chapter Note: Okay, some of you may say this chapter is a bit… odd, but I intended this to illustrate the growth in Draco and Ginny's friendship so it's meant to be a little here and there. Remember, not everything in life is fast paced and drama. Sometimes it's pillow-fights and chess!
Author's Note: Okay so I like this chapter and I hope you do to. Don't worry, I'm not going to forget Narcissa or Lucius or anyone.
Chapter Seven: Magnetism
"Are you hungry?" Ginny blinked as the sunlight flooded her eyelids with unwelcome vigor. Shifting under the weight of wakefulness she spread out her arms in a languid stretch and took in her surroundings. Silver and green. Everywhere.
Sitting up abruptly she realized that somewhere in time she had moved from her spot on the floor to Draco's bed. In the most unromantic of ways mind you. Her head throbbed lightly with lack of a full night's rest which she had become accustomed to and her body ached all along one side. Venturing into her memories of last night she began to find reason in all of these things.
Ginny and Draco had sat there for quite some time playing chess, talking about this or that. She had found out that Draco was actually a big fan of chess but wasn't blessed with the right company to play with. Crabbe and Goyle were far too stupid to indulge his more strategic side and Blaise was too concerned with hooking up with the various girls running around the house to spend much time with Draco outside of class. Frankly that didn't bother Draco so much, Ginny found out, since Blaise was an ass most of the time anyways, but Blaise was also someone Draco viewed closest to an equal over all others. Draco also informed Ginny that he had taken no pains in giving Blaise a few sound punches the night before.
Ginny on the other hand was raised in a house of chess. Ron was the closest in age to her so they spent quite some time together and one of their favorite past times together was playing chess. Percy used to play chess with her until he became head boy at Hogwarts and thought himself too important even though they weren't even at school when she asked him to play. Bill was originally her chess partner, teaching her to play when she was nine before going away on one of his trips. But of course he left and Ron swiftly took his place.
All this talk of her family made Ginny a bit depressed and she shed a few tears for her family, wondering if Ron was safe. She expressed her guilt of her not thinking of him as much as she should have. Draco insisted that it wasn't easy to forget Ron but then immediately apologized for being a dick.
At this point Ginny and Draco had been in a general story telling mood and pushed the chess board aside since they were no longer paying any mind to it, and divulged each other in painfully nostalgic stories to pass the time. It was mostly to cheer Ginny but in the end the two of them were laughing so hard that their sides were splitting.
Time had in fact gotten away from the two as they didn't realize that they had been talking for nearly three hours until the booming sound of the grandfather clock sounded during one of the rare silences in the conversation. Both had looked at each other in amazement that a Weasley and a Malfoy had actually carried on a conversation for so long.
In retrospect it was a signifier of how their friendship would continue, but for that night it was all chess and stories. Stories about how Ginny had followed her twin brothers down to the river by her house and they had wound up throwing her in and that's how she learned how to swim. At this Draco laughed but patted her forearm apologetically. They talked about how Draco had once fallen off of a horse during riding lessons because he had tried to get on it side-saddle and the horse had stepped on Draco's hand. That was his first medical bone-mending.
With those thoughts in mind, Ginny remembered now why she was laying in an entirely Slytherin bed wearing a slinky white tank top and navy Capri pajama pants looking at Draco as he waited for her reply.
"Starving, actually." She answered with a grin and rolled out of the bed hitting the floor feet first with a thud. Grabbing the green sweater from the foot of the bed, she thrust her arms through it and made her attire more appropriate for her immediate company. She thought for a moment. "What time is it? Are we late for breakfast? I have to get changed."
Draco waved his hands in the air and she noticed the letter in one of them. "I got a letter from mum, she says we won't be having breakfast with her so we're more than welcome to just have breakfast when we like and spend our weekend how we want." He reached for the bedside table and dropped and envelope into her hands. "That came for you this morning, I suspect it's the same thing."
Ginny opened it and read an identical message to Draco's. Just as she was about to put it down she saw words begin to appear before her eyes at the bottom of the letter.
P.s.
Ginny, I want to apologize for last night. Do not think I was unaware of the turmoil you were in. I must say though, without delving into detail, that I was unavoidably detained. For that I apologize to you and hope that whatever happened you are not worse for my lack of interruption. I will see you tonight hopefully and Monday should resume as usual. As a reminder, Ginny, you cannot tell anyone about our connection, if that knowledge is made public your safety in this house will be critically compromised. Please try to enjoy the duration of your day and I hope to see you tonight.
Ginny set the letter down and the ink vanished where it once was before Draco could know about the secret message. Regaining her composure, still pondering on what could have unavoidably detained Narcissa, Ginny accepted Draco's slippers and the two made their way to the dining room for breakfast.
That morning when Ginny walked into the dining room she was shocked. The large table meant for the formal regiment Narcissa had set up was gone and replaced by a small round table with just enough room for the two of them. "Did they know it would just be us?" She turned to Draco, eyebrows knit in wonder.
He shrugged and took a seat after pulling out a chair for Ginny. This display of chivalry was a far cry from the Draco she was familiar with, but that combined with last night, Ginny was surprisingly more than willing to wipe clean the slate of the past and replace what was once there with the writings of this new, human Draco.
"The house elves have eyes and ears in this whole house… quite frankly I'd rather not think about it or I'd never bathe in this house again but it does make things easier in a way."
Ginny giggled at Draco's comment and the food was brought out. Large fluffy waffles topped with strawberries and blackberries sat on decorative plates in front of Ginny and Draco. Their glasses filled with orange juice and the vase in the middle of the table filled with a bouquet of fresh wildflowers.
They ate their breakfast in friendly silence, talking ever-so-often about the topics of last night and chuckling at a new inside joke. After breakfast Draco escorted her back to her room, making sure she was alright with being alone after having it filled with bad memories. She was and was actually eager to go through her room and erase any evidence of the night before but when she walked into the room she saw that the house elves had beat her to it. The window was already repaired and the room looked as it did before she had left for the party, but cleaner of course.
Ginny contemplated bathing but found that she did harbor residual fears from the night before and didn't want to be naked in her room just yet. It wasn't that she thought Blaise would burst in at any moment; she just didn't want to be in the location of such an emotional whirlwind and be physically vulnerable like that as well. Instead, she lay on her bed and thought about what all had transpired between her and Draco in the past twelve hours.
The two had gone into the dance as merely housemates, two people living in the same house sharing an area code and not much else. After the dance she was sure that Draco was just being a jerk about Blaise liking someone 'beneath' him. But after the fact that Draco seemed willing to cross the lines of his and Blaise's friendship to protect her, she had been confused about where she stood in the book Draco Malfoy. As the night showed, there were changes in Draco, and it could have been the situations he was in that made him act the way he did in the past, but something happened to turn him into someone totally different, someone Ginny could call a friend.
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Ginny's footsteps echoed down the hallway with a sense of urgency resounding with each tap of her heels. As she rounded the corner, she slowed her pace to accommodate the staircase and once at the bottom she was off once more, rounding the banister and rushing to the ballroom, she let out a gasp of air as she broke through the entry into the grand room. Inside the echoes were stronger as she made her way to the center of the room where Draco stood waiting. "I am so sorry…" She trailed off, hand on her chest as she tried to catch her breath. "I fell asleep and completely lost track of time."
Draco watched her with eyes as mere slits and Ginny panicked, jumping to the conclusion that their friendship had quickly dissolved and now they were back on bad terms. "That's alright," He began and Ginny nearly fell flat on her face in relief. "I nearly thought you were going to kill yourself in those heels, though." He added, nodding to her stilettos.
Flashing a sideways grin, Ginny tried not to mention her throbbing toes and slipped off her jacket, setting it on a nearby chair. Turning she saw Draco staring at her. Blushing she crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked around, avoiding eye contact. "So… What are we doing today?"
Draco blinked and motioned for her to come closer to him. "You know, you can wear something less…" He trailed off, moving his hand up and down in front of her outfit. She rolled her eyes.
"For your information this is the most casual outfit I've worn since I've been here if I remember right!" She snapped in return, hands on her hips. She was in fact, dressed casually for the standards of Malfoy manor. She was wearing a simple bright green baby doll top with a thick black belt tied around her waist and tight black jeans that hugged every curve.
"Whatever." Draco waved his hands in the air in surrender and then let them fall in place one on her hip and her hand in his other. "Today we will be doing the traditional Muggle version of the Waltz."
"A Muggle dance? You continue to surprise! And wasn't this the dance where you had two left feet?" Ginny teased and Draco slapped her side playfully.
"Don't be a smart-alec it makes for bad company." He smirked as Ginny scoffed. She thought how funny it was he seemed to have not heard her comment about his having two left feet.
"You're one to talk." She shook her hair off of her shoulders and straightened her posture.
"Yes," Draco began, reaching for his wand and flicking it to turn on the music. "But I am a cynical Slytherin and therefore loathe every fiber of everyone's being except my own and must use sarcasm to make light of my own situation."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Correction, Mr. Malfoy, you were a Slytherin." As the music began neither moved as the weight of her words sank in. Hogwarts was no more. They were no longer Slytherin and Gryffindor but merely Draco and Ginny. More so, they were no longer children. They had a terrible fate thrust upon them and they had to deal with it. Already their lives had been compromised in this war and for what?
Ginny's mind pondered the answers to these questions, she wondered whether Draco thought of it too. Instead of seeing much of an answer in his eyes or his expression he quickly jostled her until her posture had been regained and began instructing her in the movements. "What are we practicing this for anyways? Can't we take it slow, isn't our next dance in December?" Ginny asked, her toes squishing into the pointed torture device that was her shoe.
Draco halted and blinked at her. "No! Our next dance is at the end of the month. All Hallows Eve, remember?" Ginny looked aghast. Draco chuckled. "You thought we wouldn't do two balls in the same month? Preposterous! We are Malfoy's and we must dance!"
Ginny almost collapsed with the weight of her future exhaustion on her shoulders. "Oh gods…"
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Draco kicked a small pebble that rested in his path. It skipped across the uneven stone walkway until it rolled to a halt about twenty feet away. He looked to his left where the red-headed enigma that had invaded his house was trying her best to keep balance on the edge of the fountain in the Malfoy gardens. Nearly slipping and breaking her ankle, she caught herself and snapped her attention to him, smiling in embarrassment and resuming her high-heeled tight-rope around the circle.
He was amazed by her, vexed and utterly confused, but amazed. She had become a new person to him entirely after what had happened the night before. Bursting through her window to see Blaise about to… he didn't want to think about it. But seeing her react to him like it was her fault to be put in that situation was depressing. Ginny, someone who had done nothing wrong but incur the wrath of an asshole was trying to remain solitary. He frowned, he was sure it was because she thought he would make fun of her. He wouldn't though, he knew she was strong.
He had always known that Ginny was a strong girl. No matter what he and his posse were able to dish out she always took it and threw something of equal magnitude right back. He never thought of her as unintelligent, especially since he had been chided by Snape one too many a time about how a certain redheaded Gryffindor was performing at higher levels than he even though she was a year younger. It hadn't taken him long to figure out who it was.
And he had never thought that she was unattractive either. When she had shown up earlier in the ballroom he almost felt his stomach knot at the sight of her. This was odd because he wasn't really attracted to Gryffindors, but as Ginny had pointed out at the beginning of their lesson, there was no such thing as Gryffindor anymore.
He was shocked by this statement especially that it had come from her. He would have expected her to shout about Potter being able to win the war and Hogwarts being reopened and everything returning back to normal like it was supposed to be, but she didn't. In fact after the lesson, before they decided to come outside, they had talked briefly about how it may very well happen that the aurors and such will lose the war and anyone who ever stood for Dumbledore would die.
Ginny cried again and he did his best to console her. All of her friends were fighting if they could and he suspected that more than anything she wanted to be a part of that. Instead she was a prisoner in Malfoy manor. She might as well ask to meet Voldemort over dinner and discuss politics.
She rounded the fountain and arms straight out, eyes focused on the stone rim; she seemed the glow when she came so the sun was behind her. What was it about her that made him so weird inside? He had to admit it to himself that maybe he had developed a bit of a crush on the beautiful redhead, but it wasn't as if he was the first. He had overheard conversations in class at Hogwarts (before all of this happened of course) about how she was noticed for her appearance.
Now as a matter of fact she looked rather striking. Her red hair was in curls and pulled away from her face yet still free to fall around her shoulders and compliment the deep green of her shirt. The green also played well with her fair skin which Draco noticed was smooth and dotted lightly with freckles. The belt that she absurdly wore over her shirt as opposed to through the belt loops of her trousers (which were too small to support a belt of that width anyways) did support the function of displaying her thin waist and curvy figure. Her pants only bade him to rest his eyes over the shaking of her…
He coughed and looked away. He wasn't going to leer like a pervert no matter how much he really wanted to. Despite what everyone may have thought Draco Malfoy was first and foremost a gentleman. Ginny stumbled and nearly fell into the water. Draco stole a glance at her rump.
Alright, he tried really hard to be first and foremost a gentleman.
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That night Narcissa wasn't able to join them for dinner so they sat at their small round table. Instead of a bouquet of flowers like there was for breakfast the centerpiece was a candelabra that had been decorated with strings of dangling crystals. Ginny pulled her chair up to the table and straightened out her dress.
"You look nice tonight." Draco commented, shocking Ginny. She had expected civil conversation, friendly references to their previous discussions, but not compliments. Smiling proudly, knowing full well that yes, she did look wonderful, she folded her hands in her lap.
"Well thank you Mister Malfoy, you don't look too shabby yourself."
Draco scoffed. "Malfoy and shabby are two words that should never be used in the same sentence together, regardless of using them as antonyms."
Ginny rolled her eyes at his primness. "What a ham…" She muttered and took the napkin from her plate and set it in her lap.
Draco, although he seemed rather uninterested in what was going on, he was quite attuned to what Ginny was doing. For some reason, ever since the incident with Blaise, Draco had been more aware of the young Weasley. He had always persuaded himself that she was not as beautiful as she seemed, it was just a trick of the mind, she was a Weasley anyways and whether or not she was pleasant to look at it was forbidden.
But now, was she really a Weasley? Or was she a Malfoy? Watching her play with her food, forming shapes on her plate with her potatoes, he knew she wasn't a Malfoy. There was something about her that didn't agree with the Malfoy lifestyle. She may have been able to pull off playing the rules and making lessons on time, dancing for the audiences and playing puppet like all the young socialites did, but she lacked the Malfoy qualities that made a Malfoy a Malfoy. She wasn't particularly cunning, or rather, if she was she wasn't manipulative about it.
Ginny looked up from her faux Eiffel Tower ala potato to see Draco looking intently into his water goblet. Raising an eyebrow she shook her head and took a bite of the pork. It was warm and tender and she liked it, but it wasn't what she really wanted. What she had wanted for the past few months that she had taken residence at Malfoy Manor had been her mother's famous stew. She hadn't had stew in ages.
Sighing she sipped at her water. "Everything alright?" Draco asked. Forcing a smile, she nodded.
"Yes, I'm just thinking about home. I love it here, and I'm grateful for everything, but I've never been out of contact with my family for so long. I mean, the letter I get once a month is nice. Mum always says the usual things, that everyone's alive and with all of their body parts and that Harry and Hermione are fine, that they're fighting the good fight and I've nothing to worry about. But I always feel like she's leaving something out, and I just miss her so much." Ginny smiled. "You know, she's the one I complain about so much to all of my friends and here I am missing her and my pigheaded nosy brother more than anyone."
Draco hummed sympathetically. "You're lucky." He said almost as a whisper.
Frowning, Ginny titled her head in question.
Draco flashed a lopsided grin. "Every time I left for Hogwarts I was always seen off the same way. Mum and father would go to the train station with me. Father would give me some lecture about the Malfoy code and making him proud that year and such. Then he would pat my shoulder and leave so mum could say her goodbyes. She'd always tell me how proud she was of me, give me some sort of present and then hug me and talk about manners and being good."
Ginny couldn't picture this Narcissa matching up with the one that she had gotten to know, but in a way it didn't surprise her much either. Narcissa didn't come off quite as she had supposed she would. She was strong and set in her thoughts and ideas, she was stubborn but she was witty. She was kind and had a sense of humor that showed every once in a while. And although she never mentioned it much, she had talked about Draco and every time she did Ginny could see a twinkle in Narcissa's eyes. No matter how aware she was of her son's shortcomings, Narcissa loved Draco more than anything.
Draco continued. "Anyways, it sounds all well and good but for some reason the second I got on that train I was so relieved to be away from them. The entire time I was at school I was counting the days until I returned home like a countdown to time in Azkaban." Ginny silently gasped. How could Draco possibly compare living with his parents with the horrors of Azkaban? Granted Ginny had never been there, she had heard the scary things that happened there. Prisoners would go insane with living there. From what she had experienced, Lucius was barely home and Narcissa was either tending to her social duties or teaching Ginny. How could it be hard for Draco to live here?
Well, Ginny thought, it wasn't as if she knew everything about living in Malfoy Manor. She didn't know what life was like when Lucius was home. There had been rumors up at school about Narcissa being a battered wife and Draco a beaten son. Neither Narcissa nor Draco appeared to be suffering the side affects of an abusive life and the rumors remained just as such, rumors.
"Like I said," Draco's voice shook Ginny awake from her thoughts. "You're lucky." He seemed so solemn, sitting there contemplating his family. Ginny felt guilty, as if she were spying on a moment that wasn't hers to see. "You're lucky that you have a family you can miss."
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Ginny laughed as Draco steadied himself against the wall. Apparently she wasn't the only one prone to tripping on rugs. "Now you know how it feels!" She cackled as karma made a full circle right before her eyes. Draco swatted at her and they made their way down the hallway to her room. She had in a roundabout sort of way hinted that she was uncomfortable bathing in her room alone and Draco bluntly addressed it and promised to flip through a magazine in her room while she bathed. Bathroom door closed of course.
As they stepped down the long hallway to Ginny's door there was a comfortable silence between the two, as if they had been friends forever. They had been acquaintances of sorts (enemies) since her first year. That was now almost six and half years. During that time they had gotten used to each other, even though it was originally just to be able to be in the same castle. Now it seemed whatever they had picked up was aiding in the building of their friendship now.
Draco knew not to make snide remarks about Ginny liking Potter back in the day or Hermione having hair like a bush and Ginny was well aware of the fact that comparing Draco to Crabbe or Goyle was a no-no, as was doubting his manners.
Draco watched as Ginny subconsciously shimmied from side to side. That was something he was grateful of, women wearing heels. It made their bum look so much better than it would normally even though if memory served, normally didn't look terrible either. The dress she was wearing that night didn't help matters either. For some reason the house elves had deemed it fit to fashion the lovely Miss Weasley in a formfitting grey knee length dress that had this neckline as if someone had cut a huge V out of it. This went well since her cleavage showed ever so slightly when she would reach across the table to get the salt.
The fabric was shiny like her hair and the skirt flared out at her knees, tempting the wind to gust through the house and stir up all of those layers. Draco grinned at his thoughts and sighed contentedly to himself as Ginny continued to be unaware of his searching eyes.
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They finally reached her door and with a swift turn she turned the knob. Draco was soon poised on her bed, feet crossed as he ran his fingers across his neck, massaging out a cramp that had been building there and staring at his toes. Ginny on the other hand was splashing around in the shower, grabbing the assorted bottles for her hair, body, face, etc. Once she was done covering her body with assorted fragranced goos, she washed off and used a quick drying spell on herself.
She pulled on her clothes, a pair of low rise jeans and a sweater, and opened the door to her bedroom. Behind her billows of steam raced for her bedroom where the air was cooler. Draco looked up from the interesting dialogue he was having in his head about his shoes and smiled. "Feeling up to a game of chess?" He held up the set he had grabbed on the way to her room.
Clapping her hands together happily, Ginny nodded. "Most definitely."
They set up the board on the ground at the foot of her bed and she grabbed a few pillows so they could sit or lay comfortably on the hardwood floor. Draco threw his wand into the air and the room lit up by means of the lamps scattered on the various tabletops. Tossing one of the pillows to him, she managed to hit directly in the back of his head. Snorting and falling into a giggling fit, Ginny was startled when a goose feather filled pouch hit her square in the stomach.
Letting out a gasp for air she blinked to regain composure, then let out an attack upon Draco's poor head. Draco in turn did a job of returning the hits he was receiving, finally throwing Ginny down and straddling her. With her movements restricted he grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them easily above her head and with a gentle tap of his pillow against her cheek he smiled proudly. "I win."
"Not quite!" Ginny threw her hips up, throwing Draco both off balance and onto the floor. Now Ginny grabbed up her pillow imitated Draco's prior position, mimicking his actions. Smirking she threw her pillow aside, stood and skipping around the room began to chant "I am the champ-ion! I am the champ-ion! Draco is the looo-ser cause I am the champ-ion! NYEAH!" She stuck her tongue out at the boy who had yet to move from the floor.
"Oh that's mature." He muttered, pushing himself up onto his elbows.
"You're just sore cause I won." Ginny pointedly remarked, hands on her hips in defiant victory.
"Psshht…" Draco shook his head. "I let you win. Besides, you're just trying to win cause I beat you in chess last night."
"Did not!"
"Did to."
"Did not!" Ginny crossed the space between him and shoved him, a smile of disbelief on her features. Clearly the reason why Draco had no one to play with was because he didn't know how to score the game. Checkmate usually meant someone had lost, not won. Draco, stubborn in his ways, pulled her so she fell against the bed beside him.
"Oho, Weasley, you are sorely mistaken. As I remember you lost quite a bit and that is why you rushed to bed in a huff." Draco teased as he turned and placed his hands on either side of Ginny so he was looking her straight in the eyes, very little room between them. It was then that the two began to realize what positions they had been throwing themselves in. With Draco's lips less than a foot away from Ginny's, if someone were to burst through the door at that exact second, well, it wouldn't look the way it actually was.
Draco stepped back slowly, recognizing the need for distance between them, and Ginny exhaled silently. For a moment they were thankful for the silence that fell between them, the need for words absent until words could be found to soothe their furiously beating hearts.
Draco cleared his throat and made his way to the pillows on the floor. "Not that any of that is important with the hope of a new game in front of us…" He trailed off, motioning to the chess board in front of him. Ginny nodded quickly and as an afterthought flashed a smile, sitting down across from him.
Together they played a round in complete silence until the awkwardness between them had begun to vanish. Finally they began exchanging jokes and snide comments about one another and silently they agreed to forget any of the moments that had previously passed between them ever happened. "Come on Draco it's not like I had meant it, you were being a complete ass! What was I supposed to do?"
"Not bat-bogey hex me!"
Ginny couldn't help but laugh at Draco's look of pain; she figured he must be remembering the stinging sensation that had quelled through his body as tiny stingers attacked him. Ginny pitied him after it had happened, she hadn't really meant for him to swell up the way he did, it just sort of happened that way. Her laughter faded as Draco continued to brood. "Draco, what's wrong?" Ginny frowned and laid a hand on Draco's.
Draco shrugged it off and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "No one teases a Malfoy." He insisted with a huff.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're offended."
"And if I am?" Draco smirked.
Ginny tilted her head to the side and lifted an eyebrow. "Then it would be another side of human Draco that I had yet to see." Ginny smiled and Draco for some reason felt his stomach flip.
