Chapter 11 Exhausted

Ginny trudged through the door after work the next evening, weary and irritated. Weary because she'd stayed up much of the previous night waiting to catch the intruder; irritated because all the events of the previous day were still fresh on her mind.

She hadn't seen or heard anything from Mrs. Wallington all day, something Ginny couldn't decide was a good thing or a bad thing.

After eating a small dinner of the left over chow mien, she fed Basil and settled in bed to read herself to sleep.

"Chapter twelve…Star Gazing…" she read through a yawn.


They assembled in the Great Hall early the next morning. Breakfast was a hurried and wordless affair. Ginny noted that her brother and Harry resembled the reflection that had greeted her that morning...exhausted. She was positive they had been up all night like she had been, far too agitated to sleep.

Draco looked drained as well, but still managed to portray the picture of immaculate appearance and hauteur. He had, for the first time since she'd come across him in the bare classroom, traded out his designer suit for wizard's robes.

Ginny couldn't figure out why he had determined that it was tolerable to don muggle fashion, but didn't criticize a great deal as he looked breathtaking in whatever he chose to wear.

He looked up at her unexpectedly, and she realized quite too late that she had been ogling him for some time. Blushing, she smiled faintly at him and was pleased to see that he dropped his stone cold facade for a moment. His eyes softened and the corners of his lips tugged slightly upwards.

The interlude was interrupted by the entrance of Professors Dumbledore and Snape.

"Good morning, good morning," the headmaster said cheerfully as if it were any other morning, not potentially the last they may be spending in this castle.

"Good morning," they all replied.

"In a few moments you will be setting out. I know you are ready for whatever you come up against, however, I must impress upon you the importance of your success…and likewise, the consequences of your failure," he said gravely, his countenance shifting instantaneously.

They all nodded solemnly. "I will be managing my part of the affair from here, as planned. Good luck," Dumbledore finished, and the group filed into the entrance hall.

Ginny had all her provisions shrunken in her pocket. Everything was safely stored in a small trunk, save three little objects, which she drew out. Tapping each item with her wand, she at once had in her hands the invisibility cloak, the geoculars, and the latest racing broom on the market, the Excalibur.

"How did you afford an Excalibur, Weasley?" Draco drawled.

Ginny looked up at him, surprised at, but in no way mistaking that familiar and very unwelcome tone. She found that he had not been addressing her, however, but Ron, who was sporting an identical broom. Harry had an Excalibur as well, and both men were giving Draco a very loathsome glare.

"Harry gave them to us for Christmas, Draco," she said pleasantly, cutting Ron off, who had his mouth already open to say something scathing. She was hopeful that Draco would get the hint and start acting respectable.

He turned to look at her, and the swift transformation of his facial expression illustrated that he had temporarily forgotten that Ron was in fact her brother. She noted that he was grasping a Firebolt 810, an excellent broom itself, but at least two years older than her own.

"You're very fortunate to have friends that are far more generous than any I've ever had," he replied indifferently, yet eyeing the broom she clutched in her hand.

Ginny was a bit shocked, but very pleased that Draco had not taken the opportunity to insult her family's financial situation. Similarly, Harry and Ron stood floored until Professor Snape began speaking.

"You all need to drink this potion," he instructed as he handed out vials of a light blue liquid to all of them. "You know what it is for."

Indeed, they had discussed it thoroughly when deciding on the mode of transportation. They were using the invisibility cloaks so that they didn't draw muggle attention, however, this presented a drawback, as they needed to be able to see each other in order to fly safely.

Snape had offered up this potion as the solution. It was his own invention, and it enabled the drinkers to see one another even when hidden beneath their invisibility cloaks. Ginny thought it rather ingenious, for it only worked between the people who drank it together...in other words, one could not just drink it and suddenly be able to see the five of them.

They consumed their potions, and walked into the bright dawn sunlight. Ginny observed that all traces of the previous night's gale had vanished, save the moist scent saturating the air. She took the lead, strapped on her geoculars, mounted her broom, and enclosed herself with the soft silvery fabric.

She glanced behind her just before kicking off the soggy earth and saw four slightly blurry figures on broomsticks following her. Deducing that that was what 'uninvisible invisible people' must look like, she soared into the sky. The geoculars were projecting a great red stripe, like a celebrity carpet, onto the landscape below her, which she followed.

They flew for hours and hours, over an enormous forest, and several mountains, great lakes, and rolling pastures. At midday Ginny lowered them into a dense wood so they could eat, drink, and alleviate the soar spots on their bums.

Not long afterwards, they were off again. Ages later, they were soaring into a breathtaking sunset. Ginny was just thinking about the dusk the evening previous that she'd shared with Draco, when someone flew up, rather closely, alongside her. Looking over, she recognized the blond even though his image was very fuzzy.

The redhead gave him a knowing smile, recognizing that he was thinking of the same thing she was. He returned the smile, and she distinguished a wink just before he fell back.

Shortly after the last crescent of the dazzling ginger sun had sunk beneath the horizon, Ginny brought them down into the forest where they would be passing the night.

While the potion had not yet worn off, once the cloaks were removed all the concealed individuals came back into focus. Ginny shrunk her traveling gear and returned it to her pocket, then fished for her trunk.

Finding it, she shrugged off her heavy cloak and draped it on the crook of a nearby tree to dry from the condensation it had soaked up in the flight, then unshrunk the trunk and began rummaging through it.

Peeking over the opened lid, she spotted her brother and let out an exasperated cry, "Oh Ron, you didn't!"

"Didn't what?" he responded, holding the tent Ginny remembered sleeping in at the Quidditch World Cup when she was thirteen.

"You brought that thing!" she announced indignantly.

"So what if I did?" he replied hotly.

"That's a very magical object," Snape interceded, giving Ron a disapproving look. "However, is there room for everybody to sleep in it, Mr. Weasley?"

"There are two beds, and enough room on the floor for the rest of us," Ron answered proudly.

"Seeing that we are still reasonably secluded from the death eaters, and this isn't the safest forest to be sleeping openly in, I believe that we can take the risk and use the tent," Severus surmised, then snapped, "But no other magic is to be used! "

"Alright," the redheaded boy replied with a triumphant gleam in his eyes, while his sister rolled her own.

It took half an hour to set up the tent and the rest of the camp. They were situated in a little thicket enclosed by vast fur trees so densely crowded together that the sky was not visible from the ground. The tree line broke about twenty meters from the doorway of the tent, and a good sized pond, like so many they had flown over that day, was huddled in the clearing.

After eating dinner, which was prepared in the tent's kitchen, they all began to settle in for bed. Ginny was given one of the beds, while Ron and Harry flipped a galleon for the remaining one. Harry won the toss and climbed into the bed above hers while her brother, Draco, and Snape placed sleeping bags on the floor.

Ginny was done in, having slept no more than a couple of hours the night before, and thankful to at last be in bed. The lights were doused, and she was shortly sleeping serenely.

Several hours later, she awoke without perceiving the cause. She had not been dreaming, and the only sound was the placid harmony of the crickets in the woodland underbrush. Her eyes settled on the sleeping form of Professor Snape, then on her brother's gently breathing body, then onto Draco's quite vacant sleeping bag.

Dodging Harry's arm, which had fallen over the edge of the bunk in his sleep, she cautiously stepped out of her bed. The bathroom door was ajar, and he wasn't in the kitchen. That left one place he could be...outside. Checking that her wand was still in her robe pocket, she stealthily reached the tent door and stepped out into the chilly night.

He was sitting directly in front of her at the perimeter of the trees, gazing up into the sky. She tried to creep silently to where he was seated, but found that enterprise to be nearly impossible.

This was a precise instance intended for a silencing charm, but seeing as magic was "dire circumstances" only, and she wasn't approaching a foe, she had to settle for generating ample commotion as she crashed through the trees and undergrowth.

Finally reaching him, she was mildly surprised to see that he hadn't turned to acknowledge her yet.

"Knew it was me?" the redhead inquired.

"You're the only one who would be concerned enough to actually check on me," Draco replied in a toneless voice.

"That's not true," Ginny joked, sitting down in the squashy grass beside him. "They'd want to check to make sure you weren't betraying us."

The blond didn't respond, just remained staring at the heavens.

"So why are you out here anyways? Couldn't sleep?" Ginny asked, not much caring if she were being nosy and annoying, as she halfway blamed him for not being asleep in her warm bed at that moment.

He regarded the question for a moment and finally replied, "Ferrets are nocturnal, didn't you know that?"

It took all of Ginny's resolve not to laugh out loud at his self-derisive jibe. Looking up into the night sky herself, she sighed contentedly at the hundreds of stars twinkling down on them.

"Look!" Draco said with enthusiasm, a very un-Dracoish characteristic. He was pointing energetically at an intense shooting star. "Did you see it? It passed right through Draco."

Ginny had seen it, much to her delight, but his following sentence had mystified her. "Passed through you?" she asked in a very puzzled voice.

"Did you learn nothing in your astronomy lessons?" he asked in a bit of an irritated manner.

"Well it wasn't exactly my preferred subject, and I have forgotten most of it," she replied defensively.

"I get a bit passionate, for lack of a better word, when it comes to astronomy," he replied as a sort of apology.

"I noticed," she said back, smiling slightly.

"Draco is the name of that constellation," he explained using his finger to trace from star to star the curvy contour of the dragon, which was barely peeking over the tree line on the opposite shore of the small lake.

"Not many people can say they have their own constellation in the sky," Ginny said coyly.

"You are among the few who can," he replied slyly and directed his outstretched arm straight up into the air.

"Which one are you pointing at?" she asked, now as eager as he was.

He lowered his extended arm, turned to face her, and fixed his eyes to her own before saying plainly, "Virgo."

Ginny immediately found her lap very interesting, and devoted all her attention to it as a brilliant flush appeared across her cheeks. "It's Ginevra, not Virginia," she said a tad bitingly, "and I never liked that constellation."

Edging nearer, Draco wrapped his arm around her waist and whispered in her ear, an act that caused shivers to run down Ginny's body, "I don't see why. Virgo is believed to symbolize one of the Roman goddesses, while mine was named after a dirty great dragon with one hundred heads that was killed by Hercules."

As he finished saying this he leaned in the remaining few centimeters and delicately kissed the supple skin of her neck. Ginny was busy thinking that his line was somewhat cheesy, and started a bit when he touched her, but rapidly relaxed as he continued his attentions.

Feelings like she'd never before experienced clouded Ginny's mind, and she failed to suppress a soft ghasp as Draco began tracing her collarbone with his skillful lips.

Running her hand through his tresses, she inclined her head back, giving him more skin to torture. She seized a fistful of the silky strands, and gently urged him closer to her as he continued to nip and kiss at the sensitive area, eliciting further sighs from the redhead.

She felt him expertly release the clasp of her robe as he lowered her onto the soft grass. Feeling quite abruptly that there was far too much fabric between the two of them as well, she neatly slipped her small hands beneath his cloak and tugged his dress shirt out of his trousers.

Ginny grinned mischievously when a low groan escaped the blonde's lips as she caressed the beguilingly warm and lean skin she had exposed.

It seemed her forwardness had spurred him to redouble his efforts, and he swiftly moved to her lips for a searing kiss. He paused his hand at the hem of her blouse for an instant before sliding it over the smooth bare skin of her tummy, while his other hand tangled itself in her fiery locks.

She nearly cried out at the pleasure induced by his measures and was about to break the passionate kisses to try her hand at mimicking his neck worshiping technique, when she saw something flash through her eye lids and hastily opened them.

It took Ginny several attempts to get Draco to stop kissing her, but she succeeded, much to his chagrin, and asked, "Draco, is there a town nearby?"

The blond looked very bewildered, but replied, "I think so. Why?" He seemed aggravated, and Ginny didn't blame him. She hadn't wanted it to end either, but there was something odd blinking deep in the trees across the lake.

"It looks like they're shooting off fireworks or something. But it's so late I can't imagine why…" she broke off mid-sentence as horror filled her eyes.

Draco promptly followed her stricken gaze, and soon spotted what she was staring at. "That is not a firework," he declared, half in anger and awe.

"Oh my God," Ginny muttered under her breath.

An enormous glittering skull with a snake coiling out of its mouth was rising steadily above the treetops.


Ginny was sure that her readers would be riveted to a chapter like that one, but she was quite frankly too exhausted to care. Scarcely able to keep her eyes open through the last line, she fell asleep with the book still in her hands and the lamp on.

She was sleeping so soundly, in fact, that she didn't even stir when someone gently removed the book from her grasp, pulled the covers up to her chin, kissed her forehead, and turned out the lights, bathing the room in utter darkness.


To my reviewers:

Kim This is my revenge on Fudge, b/c I'm mad at him. If he hadn't been such a prick than Sirius probably wouldn't have died. So I'm writing him like the pompous idiot he is. I'm dying to tell y'all who the blanket man is and what's up, if anything, with Basil, but I can't yet b/c it would just mess everything up. Plus…it's something to look forward to…that's my justification for torture.

Pii Rainwalker Thanks for the review!

Painted Dragon Here's more Draco/Ginny action as promised! I hope it was to your liking. I like keeping things hidden, it keeps my readers hooked. Thanks for reviewing!

OpalKaboi Don't worry, I definitely plan on finishing this fic…it would just be cruel not to! Thanks for reviewing so often…and…may all YOUR towels come fresh from the dryer too.

Iden's Garden The Patriot thing is uncanny…I'm glad I'm not the only one who agrees. The blanket man could be a certain Blond haired drool god…or it could be someone else…I will reveal all. I am really flattered by your compliment on my grammar…I proofread these babies almost obsessively b/c it's so hard to find a story that isn't screwed up that way unfortunately, and I don't want to do that to people. I can sympathize with your keyboard troubles, my Basil knocked a soda onto mine and now none of my numbers work. Blasted cat! Anyways…Thank you for the great review and I hope you liked this chapter.

Emerald Earth I can't say whether Hermione will live or not…I'm actually not sure myself. Oh the mystery of the blanket man…I'd love to say, but that's like being told the end of a good movie…or in the case of my sister, being told about Sirius dying before she was even through chapter 5 of OotP, talk about your disappointments! So, in order not to disappoint you, I'm not telling. It's for everyone's own good. I appreciate your reviews!

Katie Moffat Draco is a cute babe! Ginny does cry a lot, but that's the first time in the book. Present Ginny is supposed to cry a lot…so…she does. I was curious as to why you thought Harry was nosey? I mean, she turned to him for help…or is it in the book when he's talking to her about Draco that he's nosey? I don't want a nosey Harry.

Snow Flower I was hoping I explained the age thing so that no one was confused, but I guess I didn't do so well…here's the breakdown.

Ginny is twenty-one in the book. She began writing the book three years later when she was twenty-four. It took her a year to write and another year to publish and become a best seller...when she is twenty-six…five years from beginning to end. I hope that helped sorry for the confusion. Thanks for reviewing!

Meredith I got this chapter out a little sooner than I thought so that I wouldn't leave you hanging.

The Fudge thing is b/c he's a prick, and I wanted to make him look bad some more. And Umbridge…let's just say I wish the Centaurs had done her in.

I'm not sure how much detail I'm going to go into about Draco's past yet…I was just gonna add it in as I go along, wherever it fits, and I didn't have any solid plans about it…but the idea of explaining his persuasion and turn to good is intriguing.

I definitely think that my plans for Draco and Ginny are interesting…I've read nothing else similar to my ideas as of yet. I wish I could comment on your ideas about their future, but I don't want to give anything away as to whether your suspicions are right or wrong.

Don't worry about my Draco though, I could never make him too fluffy! I never find it very realistic when he goes from evil git to lovesick puppy in one fell swoop.

I promise to tell you about Hermione in the next chapter! FINALLY! It'll be good to get one of the important things revealed as I'm about to burst and just blab everything b/c I want people to know so badly. Beyond the next chapter, I haven't thought much about Hermione and Harry, to be honest.

I really hope you liked this chapter, because I think I'm getting the hang of writing…as much as I hate to characterize it this way…smut. And since this is rated R, I figured I had better start leading up to some more R-rated scenes.

Again, thank you so much for all your helpful comments and suggestions. I always look forward to what you have to say about a chapter! Until next time…adieu

Dukerbrown Thank you for the review…I hope this satisfied your Draco/Ginny craving until next time!

CelticGoddess81 I'm evil, so I won't tell you if Draco is the cat, or the blanket man, or ghasp neither! All are possibilities. I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you liked this one too. Until such time as I feel it necessary to reveal the facts on the cat and intruder, you'll just have to be satisfied with finding out about Hermione…did I mention that I'm evil? Hermione…next chapter…I promise! Thank you!