The Dragon Rebels
Disclaimer: Yeah, right, I own this? Wake up, you're dreaming!
(A/N: Ah. Did I tell you guys I love you yet? Honestly, the comments in your reviews are so very inspiring – I'm just sorry I don't get to update as much as I'd like to anymore. It's so frustrating – I have notebooks and scraps of envelopes and even receipts full of stuff I have to scrawl down in the car or in between bites at dinner that don't even make it to the story, because I either haven't got the time to write, or my beloved laptop starts acting up! Grrr. Okay, done ranting.
I really hope you guys like this chapter, and thanks so much for your reviews. You don't know how much I appreciate you!
BTW – The bet between Seamus and Ron last chapter will come in later, don't worry, as will what happened to Ginny's beloved crystal pendant! )
Chapter Ten - Just Another Day
It was hard to believe it was Christmas already.
Ginny awoke the day before they were all to go home for the holidays feeling thoroughly unrested and ready to jump out of her skin.
It was during breakfast, while listening to the excited chatter of the other students surrounding her, that she the thought first occurred to her.
Where would Draco be spending Christmas? Not with his 'family', that much was for certain.
Ginny looked over at where at sat, bordered by unsympathetic 'friends', looking apathetic, indifferent, to his hostile surroundings. His fellow house mates sat well away from him now, their dislike for him obvious, but their fear of him keeping certain unwise lips clamped shut. Ginny could see why – his cold, hooded silvery eyes half hidden by the fall of his steadily lengthening hair, and his deceptively lazy posture practically screamed bad ass – and a silent challenge no one in their right mind would even think about taking up…
She felt her heart quicken as she watched his lips curl into a mocking smirk – which was coincidentally, currently aimed her way.
Ginny cursed beneath her breath as his gaze settled on her, and she automatically dropped her eyes. Why was she acting like a frightened first year around him again? Nothing had changed between them not really – except for the fact they weren't speaking or snogging at extremely inconvenient intervals…
"Ginny?"
"Huh?" Ginny looked over at the sound of her name and saw her brother watching her with a slight frown. "Sorry – come again?"
"I thought you and Malfoy were history," he commented accusingly.
Glaring at Ron, who glared right back, Ginny shook her head. "Ron, we never were together in the first place, not that it's ever been any of your business."
"Hey," Harry said seriously from his seat next to her, "Let's not start that issue all over again. It's Christmas."
Ginny and Ron exchanged only slightly less annoyed glances before the subject was safely dropped.
"So – what are we doing today?" Ron asked later as they were leaving the hall. "Imagine – we've got an entire day to ourselves! We can go to Hogsmeade, or stay here and play chess – hey, I know! We can go out and have a snowball fight!"
Ginny exchanged a suffering look with Hermione before she said with exaggerated enthusiasm – "Er, sounds exciting, really – but I'm afraid yours truly has some last minute gift shopping to do in Hogsmeade."
"Me too!" Hermione blurted, and the three of them turned to stare at her. It was an outright lie – everyone who knew her, knew Hermione had her gifts picked out well before the holidays.
Hermione frowned and then rolled her eyes. "All right! I do not want to spend the day watching you two play chess, okay? I'm going with Ginny." She crossed her arms defensively and turned her nose up in a rather impressive manner that Ginny wished she could achieve.
The two boys looked at each other, shrugged, and walked off.
"Just so you know, Gin – I wear an extra large," Ron called back over his shoulder as he and Harry left.
Hermione scowled as she stepped up beside Ginny to watch their backs. "You do know what he's hinting at, don't you? That Chudley Cannons jersey he saw in Quality Quidditch Supplies the last time we were in Hogsmeade."
"Actually, I thought he was reminding me what size hat to get to fit over his gargantuan sized head! Like I'd ever waste my money on that," Ginny announced disgustedly.
Hermione fidgeted beside her and Ginny shook her head. "You bought it for him, didn't you?"
Her friend examined her fingernails closely, but the blush rising on her cheeks gave her away. "I suppose," she mumbled in a very un-Hermione like fashion.
Ginny sighed and wrapped an arm around the older girls shoulders. "You poor thing – he's got you whipped already, and he doesn't even know it!"
"I am not whipped, as you so eloquently put it," Hermione responded primly. "You know, sometimes it's not hard to see that you and Ron are actually related in other ways besides looks!"
"I know," Ginny answered with another sigh. "It's a curse, I'm tellin ya'…"
Perhaps it hadn't been such a great idea to come into Hogsmeade after all, Ginny thought to herself as she sat in the Three Broomsticks across from Hermione. It was growing late, the sky rapidly beginning to darken as the day – and her time – drew to an end. Fat, fluffy flakes of snow were floating heavily on the bitterly cold breeze outside of the windows. It was cozy and warm inside though.
"Don't look so down, Ginny," Hermione said from the opposite side of the booth. "You got everyone a gift – you should be pleased."
'Everyone but him,' Ginny told herself silently. She hadn't told Hermione she'd really been looking for a present for Draco – she wanted to be spared that pitying look her friends face took on whenever she mentioned him.
She wrapped her hands around her mug of sudsy Butterbeer, and stared out the wavy glass window at the festive greenery and scarlet ribbons decorating the shops of Hogsmeade. On every corner a lantern burned a bright, cheery light, and in the shop windows burned numerous candles against the coming evening.
The sight was one of Ginny's favorites, the hustle and bustle of warmly wrapped witches and wizards hurrying about in excitement of the coming holiday.
She couldn't concentrate on the joy of the moment though – she was still distracted by thoughts of Draco. Really, what did one buy a boy who had everything?
Well, everything but a family –
"THAT'S IT!" Ginny exclaimed in a loud, victorious shout, standing up so fast she upset her Butterbeer all over the table and made Hermione yelp.
The crowded tavern went abruptly silent and turned to stare at her, but Ginny was too excited to care. "Come on – we have to get back to the castle!"
Hermione scooted out of the booth with a pale face and tugged on her gloves as Ginny wrapped her scarlet and gold scarf haphazardly around her throat.
"What is it?" She demanded as Ginny collected their packages and threw open the tavern door. "You're acting very strange – " she shivered as the frigid winter air hit them head on.
"I am!" Ginny all but crowed. "I am absolutely, undeniably, certifiably nutters – but that's it, Hermione! God, I wish I'd thought of it before!" She hurried down the crowded street, her loose red curls and scarf – not to mention a very confused Hermione – trailing along behind her in the snow.
"Ginny, wait! What are you talking about?"
Ginny paused, breathing hard in the cold air, and grinned back over her shoulder at Hermione, who was struggling through the rapidly deepening snow, sounding out of breath.
A wicked light sparkled in her brown eyes, and an excited flush had risen in her cheeks. Hermione couldn't help but grin back at the ther girl – it had to be the first time in months she'd seen Ginny so – animated.
"You're going to think me completely mad – but I've been thinking, you know, about getting Draco something for Christmas. I mean, he hasn't got anyone to go home to, or send gifts to him, right? I couldn't not get him anything – "
"Of course not," Hermione said agreeably, wondering what had gotten into her friend.
"But, I couldn't find anything! Nothing! All day long, we've been at it, and I couldn't find one single, solitary thing worthy of him – "
Hermione had to suppress a heartfelt sigh. Draco Malfoy was such an idiot! Here Ginny was, positively agonizing over the fact that he just had to have a present for Christmas, acting so patently in love and so unselfish it made her own chest ache in reaction to the injustice of it all, and he thought she was immature?
" – so simple – "
Hermione shook her head and stamped her feet to keep her toes warm. He did not deserve Ginny at all…
" – just owl Mum, she won't mind, after I explain – "
Really, that Ginny could even think about the wretched boy in a kindly manner after all he'd done was unbelievable!
" – home, with us!"
Hermione only just barely managed to catch herself before she tripped over a loose cobblestone in the street and landed in a suspiciously odd colored snow drift.
"You what?"
"You what?"
Two pairs of eyes stared at her dumbly across the hall outside of the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Really dears, do close your mouths, it's most unseemly," the Fat Lady sniffed importantly from her painting.
Ginny grinned unrepentantly at the two boys gawping at her. It was certainly a moment to savor – it wasn't often a girl could shock Harry and Ron into absolute silence.
"I said, I'm inviting Draco to come stay with us at the Burrow for Christmas and New Years. And you can shut up before you say it, Ron – I've already owled Mum and Dad, and explained the situation, and they're more than happy to receive him!"
Ron snapped his mouth closed and then shook his fist at her in an almost comical fashion, he was so infuriated.
"The situation? The situation, Gin? How could you? We go home at the holidays to get away from gits of that sort, you know! We already have to deal with him all bloody year long!" He gave his head a violent shake and elbowed the still gaping Harry hard in the ribs. "She's gone mental, I'm tellin' ya, mental!"
Harry finally blinked, and brought up his hand to rub his sore side. "Ron's right – it's really not fair, Ginny – "
"You know what's really not fair, Harry? And even worse, if it's possible, than growing up with no parents at all? Growing up with parents who treat you like some kind of brainless, emotionless possession! That's what he had to grow up with! He's not really that different from you, you know! He's grown up with absolutely no love in his life, either! At least you had my parents to be there for you!"
"That's wrong, Ginny – Harry is nothing like Malfoy – you can't even begin to compare them! First off, he's in Slytherin – "
"So? It doesn't make him evil!"
"Second, he's an annoying, smug little prick – "
"Ron!"
"- and third, he's treated you like dragon dung for months! I know you feel bad for the guy, but Malfoy is a bloody snake, Gin! He'll probably kill us all in our beds – hell, that's probably the plan in the first place!"
Ginny stared at her brother with a scowl. "You would think that! Who's being the annoying little prick now?" She couldn't keep from saying angrily.
"Ginny!" Harry was looking at her in disbelief.
She rolled her eyes. "Fine! Look, I'm sorry, but I'm still asking him!"
"What the hell for? I mean, Ginny you're obviously forgetting just who's Dad slipped you a certain diary your first year, you know!"
Ginny shook her head. "He had nothing to do with that!"
Ron's blue eyes narrowed above his freckled cheeks. "How do you know? You remember how he acted that year! Walking about the place as if he owned it – "
"He still walks about the place as if he owns it!" Ginny yelled in frustration. "Maybe if some people would give him half a chance – "
"He called Hermione a Mudblood, or do you need reminding of that, too?" Shouted Ron angrily.
The Fat Lady snorted delicately at Ron's choice of language.
"Shut it, the both of you!" Harry surprised them both by roaring.
Ginny looked at Harry wide eyed for a moment, feeling lost without her temper to guide her. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, and sighed roughly, and then put her cool palms to her heated cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Harry – I do care about you, you're very dear to me, and your opinion does mean a lot, usually - but I am asking him, so you can just like it or lump it – and as for you Ron – say one nasty word to Draco about this and I'll tell Mum where you really hide all those old Playwizards!"
Ginny bit back a grin of satisfaction at the sudden blood red look of mortification on her brothers face, and nodded shortly, before walking away down the corridor.
She had the feeling getting Draco to come wasn't going to be as half as easy as that had been…
"Sure. Why not?"
Ginny, who'd been wincing slightly and holding her breath, let it out with a big gush.
"Really?" She eyeballed the boy who was most likely the instrument of her own destruction, suspiciously. That had been far too easy…
She had found him walking out of the Great Hall, and asked him point blank to come home with her over the holidays. His only reaction had been a tiny widening of the eyes.
Her nerves jangled insanely beneath her skin as he looked down on her with those cold eyes that suddenly didn't seem so very cold at all.
"Yes, really…I always wondered how the 'other half' lived…" he drawled in amusement.
"Draco – " Ginny began in angry exasperation.
"I was only kidding, Gin, really. But I do have to wonder at the sudden change of heart…I thought you were hell bent on hating me."
She looked up at him with a small smile. "And I have to wonder at the speed of your acceptance – I thought you had decided I was 'immature'.
She watched his lips twist, and then he smiled at her ruefully. "I was rather pissed off at the time,"
"Me too," she said. "But, it's Christmas, and I think that we should be able to set aside our differences for a few weeks, don't you?"
Draco gave a small nod.
Ginny gave him another smile, and before she could stop herself, leaned upward to press a kiss to his lean jaw. "Be ready in the morning – I'll meet you in the main hall."
She was already walking away before he could say anything, and it was a good thing too because she barely made it out of sight before her knees gave way and she had to collapse on a bench between classrooms.
She'd actually gone and done it – Draco Malfoy was going to be within touching distance for days, in her own house.
Forget that he'd used her, forget that he 'could' be an arrogant little prick –
Draco was coming home for Christmas!
Draco stared after Ginny as an all too pleasant tingle raced its way through his body.
He was still in shock that she'd actually invited him to share Christmas with her. He'd hidden it well, sure, but the surprise was still there – and what the bloody hell had possessed him to accept? She obviously felt sorry for him, and he wanted to call her back and tell her that showing him pity was dangerous thing to do, but he didn't.
Christmas was just another day, after all.
Oh, he'd always gotten masses of presents, but he'd always recognized them for being what they were. Pacifiers, a helpful way of keeping him busy, quiet, and out of the way for a time, while keeping up the appearance of caring by giving him whatever he wanted.
Draco swallowed a snort and realized his eyes were still attached to Ginny's gently swaying bottom as she walked quickly away. He cursed and mentally shook himself.
The isolation was finally getting to him. He'd barely spoken a word to anyone in weeks outside of teachers, and he blamed his actions of the evening on that.
It took him a few minutes, but he finally managed to get his straying feelings under control, and wander off in the direction of the dungeons. He nearly ran head on into Professor Snape on the walk down, and then almost walked past the entrance to the Slytherin common room.
Later, in his bed that night, Draco lay pondering the creature that was Ginny Weasley. She was rare, he had to admit – rare in her feelings, in her stubborn but eventual forgiveness, her wit and way of speaking. Her fiery looks were hard to knock as well…
Draco closed his tired eyes and smothered an ignoble yawn – he hadn't wanted
to think of the other thing, either, but his mind was just so naturally devious, so well trained to seek out the possible usefulness of others towards his own ends, that the thought had just popped right into his head.
He felt a lazy, unfriendly smile curl one end of his lips as he began to drift off to sleep.
The holiday at the Burrow would give him the perfect chance to aggravate the hell out of Potter and Weasley – he made a mental note to make sure he ingratiated himself into the parents' good graces – and not only that, as if it wasn't good enough in and of itself, the fact that he was actually 'living' beneath the Weasley's humble little roof would make his father have a raging fit…
Life was good again.
All thanks to Ginny, of course…
TBC