Dungeon Five Ch.12

Draco woke up the next morning with his face buried in Ginny's hair. His head was pounding with a headache and he felt slightly nauseous. Last night had been a crazy one.

He huffed a pained laugh when he remembered that he had walked all the way from the common room to his quarters in just his boxers and one sock.

"What're you laughin' at, arsehole?" Ginny murmured against his chest. "I will murder you if you don't close the blinds and go back to sleep. Quietly."

Despite her harsh words, her voice was too low and pained for any heat to enter it. She slowly turned her face up to squint at him, her chin resting on his shoulder.

"Morning," he greeted.

"Did we have sex?" She frowned a bit, as if trying to remember what happened.

Draco smirked. "The only action you got last night was some snogging with Pansy and Daph, love."

Ginny's eyes widened instantly before she quickly covered her face with her hands and went back to smudging it against his chest. "Did I really do that?"

"Yep."

After a bit of whinging and slurred promises of never getting drunk again, she popped her head back up to look at him inquisitively. "If we didn't shag, why are you naked?" She cocked her head a bit to the side.

Draco frowned. "They were cheating on strip Exploding Snap," he said grudgingly before a sheepish look crossed his face. "I believe my clothes are still back at the common room."

Ginny snorted but it seemed to jostle her head too much, so she groaned and pressed her nose to his neck, no doubt trying to escape any light. "Only you could be this … wordy hungover and so early in the morning," she whispered against his skin.

"And you," he pressed his lips to her hairline, "are extremely adorable under those same conditions."

Ginny raised her head once again to look at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. "We slept together." Something akin to anxiety crossed her eyes before being replaced by a look of pure uncertainty. "Actually slept. No funny business."

The corner of Draco's mouth raised imperceptibly before going back. "It appears so, yes." He lowered his head to meet her eyes. "Does that bother you?"

Ginny hesitated and frowned at him. "Does it bother you?"

"Not at all," he replied easily, and watched as she nodded a bit.

"Okay."

Her face smoothed and he was satisfied to have settled her worries. No longer in the mood for words, he brought his free hand to her jaw and closed the distance between them. The kiss was languorous and deep and it woke him up better than anything.

Ginny was the one to lean back. "My head really hurts," she whispered against his lips.

Draco hummed back at her and lingered a moment longer before extricating himself and getting out of bed. He headed to his closet for his potion kit and took two vials back.

"This will help with the headache."

They both downed the contents quickly and he put them on top of his side table.

"The only thing we can do about the nausea is eat, I'm afraid," he said.

Ginny turned on her back and stretched as Draco settled back against the headboard.

"What time is it?" She looked up at him.

"We already missed breakfast." Draco checked his watch. "It's a quarter past eleven."

"Oh, bugger." Ginny covered her face with her hands again. "I have to go back to Gryffindor. Ron will already have a conniption as it is."

She got up slowly and went about putting her clothes back on. It was something he had always enjoyed watching girls do. There was something undeniably sensual to the way they put themselves together that rivalled the way they undressed. It was like watching them put on armour, preparing to take on the world.

Ginny getting dressed was very different from Pansy. She had a sort of artfulness to her movements that seemed effortless and that was the complete opposite of Pansy's perfunctory movements, which looked like she only did what was extremely necessary. Ginny had a particular way of putting on her bra and shimmying into her jeans that was captivating to him.

Draco rolled his eyes at himself. He was starting to sound like a sentimental fool.

With that, he quickly got up himself and headed towards Ginny. She was putting her hair up in its usual ponytail when he grabbed her around the waist and turned her into his arms. Draco swallowed her little squeak with his lips.

Her hands went around his neck, tangling in his messy hair as he deepened the kiss. He brought one hand under her shirt to stroke her back and let the other rest on her hips, squeezing lightly before he leaned back to look at her.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Sure." Ginny grinned at him before raising on her tiptoes to peck his lips again.

Draco gave her bottom one last squeeze before stepping away. "Go away now," he said over his shoulder. "I need to bathe."

"I would much rather join you."

"What about your brother?"

Ginny groaned and Draco laughed.

"You're right," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

And then she was gone.

Draco spent the next half an hour soaking up in his tub. By the time he got out, it was already time for lunch and he was positively starving.

He sat next to Blaise, across from Pansy and Daphne, in the Great Hall and dug into his food. It admittedly took some time before he realised the looks he was receiving.

"What?" He frowned at his friends.

"You're shagging Ginny Weasley," Blaise said bluntly, and Draco almost dropped his fork.

With a quick look around him, he realised more than one person was looking in his direction. He looked back at his friend's expectant faces and his frown deepened.

"How would you know?"

"It's true then." Pansy raised her eyebrows at him and shrugged her shoulders with grudging approval on her face. "I got to say, she is rather hot. If you take the whole … 'Weasleyness' out of her, that is."

"You two left the party together yesterday." Daphne was the one to reply to him. "And apparently the Weasel and Potter caused a big scene in their common room about her not coming back last night."

"Everyone is talking about it," Blaise said before taking a mouthful of french toast.

"It's barely noon!" Draco looked scandalised.

"Gossip flies fast around Hogwarts, mate," Blaise replied with a grin. "So, how was it?"

Draco huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes before going back to his lunch. He then proceeded to glare at anyone who looked his way, and quickly ate before leaving. His friends trailed behind him as he made his way out of the Great Hall.

He was about to go down to the Dungeons when he heard Weasley. The male one, that was.

"Oi, Malfoy!" Weasley yelled. "Get back here, you tosser."

Draco sighed and turned around. Weasley and Four Eyes were standing shoulder to shoulder, both looking extremely miffed.

"What is it, Weasley?" He raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm really not in the mood."

"You leave my sister alone, you fucking arsehole." The other boy was so red Draco thought he would burst into flames at any moment.

"If she tells me to, sure." Draco shrugged and turned around, ready to continue on his way to the common room.

The next string of events happened so fast Draco could barely follow. He saw Weasley taking his wand out of his pocket and had just a second to realise he hadn't brought his before the ginger was on the floor with bats coming out of his nose.

"Fuck!" Weasley covered his face with his hands.

"Gin, we are just trying to hel—"

"Shut up, Harry!" Ginny narrowed her eyes at them, looking magnificently angry. "I've had enough of you two for today. You should have Madam Pomfrey take care of that Bat-Bogey Hex, because I sure as fuck won't."

Potter frowned at her for a few seconds before pulling Weasley's arm over his shoulder and helping him get up. He sent a last disapproving look in her direction before heading towards the Infirmary.

Ginny stood there, chest heaving with heavy breaths as several students who had been looking at the spectacle lingered to watch her breakdown.

Draco sighed in annoyance, gritted his teeth, and headed towards her. He wasn't one for public displays of affection, but he could see the tears starting to form in her eyes even from this distance, and he just didn't like the way his chest constricted at the sight.

"Come on," he murmured to her, and took her hand to guide her towards the stairs leading to the dungeons. "Let's get out of here."

Ginny raised her head to look at him, her glassy eyes stopping at his chin, before nodding slowly and following his lead. Draco glared at anyone who started whispering and they made their way downstairs with Blaise, Pansy and Daphne following a few steps behind.

When they got to the door to Draco's room, he told his friends he would meet them later and gently pushed Ginny inside. He ordered Dobby to get her some food and sat her down at his desk when the elf came back with a tray a few seconds later.

She didn't say anything but did start eating, so Draco let her be for the moment. He changed into comfortable clothes and got into his bed, preparing himself to get some reading done. He was halfway through his book when Ginny got up and looked at him.

Without saying anything, he opened his left arm in invitation and watched as she divested herself of her outer layers before taking his offer. She curled herself against his side, her hand resting on his chest as her nose pressed against his neck, mimicking the way they had woken up that morning. He let his arm settle around her easily.

"I need to study," she said quietly.

"Later," he replied just as quietly. "Go back to sleep now."

They lay in silence for a while before she tightened her fingers around the material of his shirt and scooted impossibly closer to him.

"Thank you," she murmured, her voice appreciative even if sleepy.

It didn't take much for her breaths to turn deep and even. After a while, she turned away from him and grumbled in her sleep before settling. Draco shook his head in fond amusement and went back to his book.

Around dinner time, he heard a knock on his door. It was Colin, carrying a bag and a worried look on his face.

"Hi," the younger boy said with a grimace. "I brought some things for Gin to spend the night."

Draco nodded at the boy and took Ginny's things from him. "How did you know where to find us?"

"Actually, Pansy found me and told me to come." Colin looked as surprised as Draco felt. "She said Ginny would probably want to avoid Gryffindor today. Well, she was a bit ruder than that, but I'm pretty it's the thought that counts."

"Ginny is asleep," Draco said, feeling a bit unsure of himself standing with Ginny's best friend while she wasn't present.

"Sure," the boy replied easily, and grinned at him. "See you two tomorrow then."

He left with a wave.

Draco went back to his room and set Ginny's things next to his before sitting down at his desk. He figured he would ask Dobby to serve dinner at his quarters and that he would turn in earlier that evening.

The thought of going to sleep with her was an oddly pleasant one that was frighteningly easy to get used to.

.

That weekend had set a trend for them both.

Ginny would usually come to his room after dinner and only leave the day after when it was time for breakfast. At first, Draco rationalised in his head that it made sense, that they were kind of seeing each other so having her in his bed was completely normal. But the more he started to crave having her body curled up next to his when he went to sleep, the harder it got to ignore the fact that it wasn't his usual behaviour.

It had never been like that with Pansy, for example.

Still, he found Ginny Weasley worming herself into his life as quickly and inconspicuously as her things had started to appear around his room. First it was an extra toothbrush next to his, then a few spare shirts and, before he noticed, half his wardrobe was hers.

Whenever something happened, she was the first person he wanted to talk to. Having her near him was a need that thankfully got satisfied almost every night and he was left reeling at how important the bloody bint had become to him in such a short amount of time.

Draco found himself falling into a strange sort of alternate reality in which Ginny Weasley was probably as much of a constance in his life as his best friends.

She was the first thing he saw when he woke up and the last thing he smelled before going to sleep. She was there to bring him back from his brooding and to help him keep his cool as the N.E.W.T.s approached.

He couldn't deny it any longer.

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