Kinda a short chapter but I felt bad for not updating in so long. Sorry. Anyway, my school is on a four by four schedule which means that I finish half my classes before Christmas break and finish the second half before summer break, so I've been working on projects/studying for finals the past few weeks. Luckily, that also means that the next few weeks will be really easy and I'll hopefully be able to write a lot more.
Disclaimer: Every charecter/setting/plot you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warmer Bros. and not me.
Ginny face was an almost comical mixture of surprise and relief as he entered, but she recovered quickly.
"I didn't expect to be seeing you." She said coolly.
"A Malfoy never breaks a promise, love." He said in a tone of mock offense.
She stared at him.
"Or, wait…" He amended, "maybe it's a Malfoy never breaks a nail."
"Yes," Ginny said, a bit distractedly. "That does sound a bit closer."
"I'm quite sure that's what it is. So what's it we say about promises, then?"
"Probably something along the lines of, 'A good way to get the Ministry in your pocket and girls in you pants'."
He opened his mouth to retort, and then shrugged. "No actually, that sounds about right."
He turned and closed the door, locking it behind him, and then pulled a chair up next to her bed so he could face her.
Ginny looked, horrified, at the door. "Unlock it."
"And have your brothers find me in here?" He asked, shaking his head.
"Right, and it will be so much better when they find you in here with the door locked." She muttered, but he heard her and grinned.
Ginny was suddenly feeling very anxious.
"You know, you really are quite good at being mad." Draco said, and he had not only managed to make it sound as though it were a compliment, but also to make her feel as though any response besides modesty would be rude.
"Well not really, you just make it very easy." She said very humbly, and cursed the words as she said them.
He grinned, and then, suddenly, the previous night's dream came rushing back to her.
"Are you still mad?" He asked, grinning playfully at her.
She didn't reply. It wasn't that she didn't have the words; it was that everything felt so very immaterial, so very unreal, that she wasn't quite sure she was even there. She tried to talk, but the words fell uselessly on her lips before they ever made a noise. She shook her head and was surprised that the gesture had even worked. She seemed to be floating aimlessly. Once or twice she moved to grab something and anchor herself, but it would slip through her fingers like smoke.
"As always, I'm just glad I could assist you." Draco said grinning.
Ginny made a noise. It wasn't quite a gurgle, and it was less articulate than a gasp. She wasn't entirely what the sound had set out to be but certainly it had lost its way somewhere in her throat.
"So," Draco said slowly, studying her. "Shall I start, or will you?"
Ginny made another noise, this one however, seemed a bit more certain of itself and came out as something rather resembling a noncommittal 'hmmm'.
He touched her arm and for a moment, she couldn't do anything but stare at it, because it was so solid. He sat down, pulled her down with him. She landed awkwardly in his lap, and knew she was blushing, but he smiled at her inelegance. Very, very gently, as if her were afraid his lightest touch would break her, he turned, and let her fall against the ground and put one, thin arm around her so that he was cradling her against his chest. In the back of her mind, something was telling her this was not normal, but he was still so very real, and nothing else was. She couldn't leave his solidity; everything else was so confusing.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked, leaning forward. He raised one eyebrow, and her heart raced.
Stop it right now, Ginny ordered herself. Her heart was fluttering wildly in her chest. She hadn't let herself get this worked up about a boy she liked since third year and she didn't even like Draco Malfoy.
Very successfully, she felt, she managed a nod.
He was looking down at her, and she let herself examine him carefully, unabashed. His chin was pointed, but that suited him. The long, thin planes of his checks were perfect- pale and smooth, and almost translucent. She wondered vaguely if he'd ever even needed to shave. And then, almost timidly, she met his eyes. Wonderful eyes! Slanted eyes, she realized, and not nearly so narrow as she had imaged. And they were gray, but the word gray alone could never give justice to the eyes in front of her. And he was looking at her. There was a beautiful, unnamable emotion churning in his eyes, and she knew that it was there solely and explicitly for her.
"Ginny." He said, and that same emotion enveloped every syllable. One slender hand brushed against her face, stroked her cheek, paused over her lips. He turned abruptly, and now instead of beside her, he was poised over her, and very slowly, never taking his eyes from hers, he leaned down and kissed her. Pleasant tingles ran down her spine; he was warm and solid, and smelled wonderful. When he pulled away, he was breathing heavily and still staring down at her. Before she had caught her breath his lips met hers again, and when he wasn't kissing her, he was saying her name.
"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny." Each time he said it, the word tumbled from his lips like music; he savored it, as if the very taste of it was sweet. She liked the sound of it.
She made a happy little noise, which made him laugh, and she liked the sound of that too. Ginny turned slightly, so that her back was curled up flush against him.
"Are you happy?" He asked, propped up on one elbow, running the other hand through her hair. She nodded, looking over her shoulder at him.
"Good." He said, and she could see her was very clearly smug. "I knew you couldn't stay mad at me forever."
Very lightly, he kissed her shoulder, and then, a smirk playing on his lips-
She woke up. That was all. A dream had her this worked up; it was ridiculous. She was just lucky she'd woken up when she had; if she was this absurd now, she couldn't imagine how she'd be reacting if they'd gone any farther than kissing. She'd kissed boys before and remained perfectly capable of forming whole sentences and here she hadn't even actually kissed him and she could barely form a single word (well she had, but once he had been drunk, and once he had been trying to bail himself out, so neither of those, she felt, really counted).
And now, he was still smirking at her. She was probably blushing, she realized, feeling incredibly foolish. And rightfully so, she reminded herself. There was absolutely no reason she should be this flustered.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, but realized afterwards she'd probably already exceeded the acceptable response time.
"Right. I'm getting that." He said, and she wanted to smack the grin off his face. "Should we maybe do this another time?"
"No!" She said forcefully. It was some strange fluke that he was there at all; if she delayed any longer the universe would rebalance itself. "No, you promised. You aren't ferreting you're way out of this."
"First of all, please choose a different verb. Ferreting is degrading…and I'm not even entirely sure you used it correctly. Secondly, if I were planning on weaseling out of it, I wouldn't have come looking for you, now would I?"
Ginny had to admit that was true, but still, it was entirely possible this was some sort of cunning plot. Plot to do what, she wasn't entirely sure, but this scenario made no sense unless he had something diabolical planned.
"I still don't trust you, Draco Malfoy." She informed him tartly.
He leaned forward conspiratorially. "Good, I'm not a very trustworthy bloke."
Ginny frowned at him. "You sound so proud."
"Well if there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my honesty."
She snorted. "One thing? You are the single most proud person I've ever met."
He laughed. "You're not exactly a doormat yourself, Weasley."
"Why do you still call me Weasley?" She asked, suddenly reddening. That accursed dream had resurfaced.
He raised an eyebrow and didn't respond.
"Oh come on. You can consider it my first question." She prompted.
"Why don't you call me Draco?" He fired back.
"Well I don't go about calling you by you're last name all the time." She retorted.
"No, you simply avoid calling me anything."
"What would you prefer I do?" She snapped, feeling foolish.
"I was perfectly happy with the previous arrangement."
"Well I wasn't." Ginny said stubbornly.
"Well I don't have any more of an answer for you. You don't use my first name, and I don't use yours."
"So if I started calling you Draco…?"
"You won't." He said confidently.
"I've called you Draco before." She protested.
"Only when you were feeling particularly guilty. Can we please move on?" He said dryly.
"What about-"
"Augh, augh, augh." He said, waggling a finger at her. "My turn."
"I didn't say I was through."
"You are incredibly stubborn."
"I am." Ginny agreed.
"Good thing I am too." Draco said, challenging her.
Ginny backed down. "Fine, then." She said, "You're turn."
"Why'd you ask about Sylvia last night?"
"What?"
"Last night, you asked if I'd dated her. Why?"
"Curiosity." She offered, shifting uncomfortably.
"Really." He said, smirking. "Anything else?"
"Yes actually." Ginny said. "I-there's something strange about her. I don't know her, do I?"
For a moment, his eyes darkened, and he looked vaguely disturbed, but then the look vanished and he haughtily replied, "I doubt it."
"What exactly did you mean by that?" She demanded.
"You don't travel in the same circles." He said confidently, and then added, "She's not as nice as Blaise."
"I can believe that." She said thinking back to the girl at the restaurant.
There was a pause while she thought, but it was the kind of thinking that a moment later you couldn't remember. Draco cocked his head to the side and studied her while she thought. She didn't notice him for a moment, and then blushed when she did, remembering her dream again.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked.
"I thought it was my turn."
"I wasn't making an official inquiry. I was just curious."
"Why is Blaise so nice?"
"That's not about me." He said, miffed.
"Well, not everything is. I've tried telling you before. I'm just sorry you had to find out like this."
"You're tetchy today. Did I keep poor ickle Weasley out too late last night?"
"I didn't sleep very well." She said, mostly honestly.
He seemed strangely amused by that. "Oh, too bad." He said in mock pity.
"You didn't answer my question." She said, not to be distracted.
"Blaise's mum wasn't a Death Eater, I don't actually know if any of them were, but they certainly weren't against the Dark Lord. But she put up with all sorts of muggles and blood-traitors did. Found them fascinating, and her parents hated it. Blasted her off the family tree. Then, only a few years later she got bloody, filthy rich modeling and her parents quite suddenly forgave her."
"What a loving and dedicated family." She said sarcastically. "But still, that explains a lot."
"I didn't tell my father I was friends with him until the end of fourth year. If I had, I'm sure he'd have told me I couldn't be friends with blood-traitors."
"Why do you hate him?" Ginny asked, curiously.
Draco didn't say anything. If agreed, he'd be betraying his father, and if he didn't he'd be lying.
Ginny was looking hard at him. "For the first fifteen years of your life you worshipped the man and now you cringe every time you talk about him. What changed? And don't try to sell me any crap, this time."
"I just realized…he didn't know quite as much as I thought he did." Which was an understatement. Really, he longed to curse Lucius with every word he knew.
Ginny stared at him, demanding a better answer with her silence.
"I don't think I ever actually listened to what he said, I just trusted it because he was my father. And then, suddenly, I started paying attention, and I realized how mad it all was. The Dark Lord will fail, and when he does, he'll take all his followers down with him."
He'd never been more honest with her, and if it weren't for the fact that he'd been dying to say those very words out loud for the past year, he never would have said it. He was afraid she'd ruin it by saying something stupid, but she said nothing. She just sat, waiting, as if she knew there were more. And he told her, because now that he'd started he couldn't stop.
"All of them are blind for not seeing it. Fools. The Dark Lord isn't even a man anymore; he's an ancient, crumbling, mad fragment. It's the madness that's kept him alive all this time. But the old fool doesn't see it. Oh, he's slippery, old Lucius, but when the Dark Lord falls- really falls- there's no way he'll slither out of that. He'd have been in Azkaban ages ago if the ministry wasn't in his pocket."
"You shouldn't call him that." Ginny said.
"Lucius-"
"Not Lucius. You-know-who, you shouldn't call him the Dark Lord. Only Death Eaters do that. And you're not a Death Eater, are you?"
"No."
"And you don't want to be a Death Eater, so then don't call him that. Call him You-know-who, or He-who-must-not-be-named, or call him Voldemort. Just don't call him that." She ordered vehemently.
She was surprised be her own reaction, and it was obvious so was he. He was looking at her with an emotion she couldn't place, and she wanted to know what he was thinking.
"Ron, I don't think Ginny's in there. I swear I saw her go outside earlier." Hermione's voice carried loudly over the silence. Ginny motioned at Draco to be quiet, and turned, taking a step towards the door. Straining her ears, she heard one pair of heavy footsteps clomping up the stairs. Then, she heard what was probably was her brother's response, but it was too muffled to make out.
"Hide." She ordered Draco frantically, but he was already on the ground, pulling himself underneath her bed.
"I'm telling you, Ron, I don't think she's in there." Came Hermione's voice again, but now that they were closer Ginny could tell that the older girl must have been very nearly yelling. There were two other pairs of footsteps, almost drowned out by Hermione's stomping.
"I thought I heard her talking." Ron said, right outside her room now. He rapped loudly on the door. "Gin? Can I come in?"
"Hold on. I'm changing." Ginny called, watching as with one final squirm, Draco pulled his legs under the bed. She quickly checked to make sure he couldn't be seen. Satisfied, she quickly unlocked the door.
"Hey, Ron. You need something?" She asked pleasantly.
"We're going out for a bit, could you cover for us?" He asked.
"Where are you going?" Ginny asked. The three looked at each other, but no one answered. "Fine, fine. I don't care. Is anyone from the Order on guard?"
"Lupin and Sirius are both here, but neither one of them will miss us too much." Harry said.
"It's really Mum we're worried about." Ron said. "She's been absolutely barmy the past few days."
"Yeah, I'll take care of it." Ginny said, eager to get the three to leave. Any moment now she could just see Draco crawling out from under the bed, smirking, and making some sort of snarky comment.
"Thanks, Ginny." Ron said.
"Just be careful." Ginny warned. Whatever they were planning probably wasn't a good idea if it required her covering for them. But Hermione was going along, and didn't look too concerned, except for the fact that she kept looking over Ginny's shoulder (she was too, no doubt, expecting Malfoy to pop out any second), and as long as Hermione was okay with whatever was happening, Ginny was okay too.
"Yeah, yeah, we will." Ron called, already heading down the stairs.
"I'll be right down." Hermione called at the retreating figures of Harry and Ron. "Where is he?" Hermione whispered when they were gone.
"Under the bed." Ginny answered, turning her head to look. Draco stuck a hand out and waved. "Thanks for the warning."
Hermione nodded. "I talked to Ron. Everything's okay."
"That's great, Hermione. Tell me everything later, okay?"
Hermione shot one last concerned looked towards the bed, and then vanished down the stairs.
By the time she turned back to face him, Draco had already crawled out, and was brushing himself off.
"Looks as if someone's had a bit of practice at that." She commented, looking vaguely surprised. Draco grinned.
"So…I'd better be going. I've got to make sure Mum's keeping busy for a while." Ginny said, and he shrugged. "But hey, don't think we're through. We had a deal and I fully intend to enforce it as soon as I get back."
"Hmm…enforce it. I like the sound of that." He said, smirking. "And you should really clean under your bed. You've got, like, nine bras down there."
Ginny blushed. "Just get out."
Severus Snape sat, confused, which was not a usual state for him. He'd been pouring over the latest batch of letters, and was now both thoroughly bemused and slightly disgusted.
The little Weasley girl indeed seemed a bit less foolish than the rest of her brood, and certainly not so hotheaded as Potter's friend. Nor did she share the galling arrogance of the Boy Who Lived. She was competent, without being overbearing and officious like Granger, and even he would admit that she had a head for potions. And while he did have a grudging respect for her, she was not by any means likable, and, in fact, barely even tolerable.
Draco, however, seemed to be taking some sort of interest in her, which explained why Snape was sitting in his living room, yet again poring over the letters looking for something he was missing.
What he really wanted to know was how Draco had gotten the girl to agree to let him come to her house in the first place. That the Malfoys and the Weasleys hated each other was something Snape knew just as well as anyone, and though Draco had never seemed any more offensive to her than he'd been to all her brothers, the littlest Weasley had always seemed particularly impassioned in her animosity. Her dislike of the Malfoys was outweighed only by that of her idiotic brother's. But she had, for some reason, agreed. Snape was inclined to believe that reason wasn't entirely legal.
He'd found out a week or so after his meeting with Narcissa at Hogsmeade- well over a month ago- where Draco intended to stay, and when he'd first read the letter, he'd thought it was a joke. But the boy had sent at least two other owls to his mother, trying to come up with conceivable excuses they could give to Lucius as to why he wouldn't be coming home for Christmas. When he realized that the boy was serious, Severus had racked his brain trying to come up with another option, but slowly, the idea had warmed on him. After all, with the ridiculous scheme to have the Order stationed at the Weasley house for the holiday, Draco would be fuller protected. Besides, it meant that he himself would be able to keep a close watch on the boy. Really, it was almost ideal.
But still…Snape couldn't help but wonder what Draco had done to get the girl to agree. Sighing, because he was no closer now to an answer than he had been months ago when he'd first pondered the question, Snape took out his quill and parchment.
"Imator." He told the quill causally, and at his command the thing jumped to life, hovering patiently over the paper. As he began to dictate, the quill scrawled his words across the paper in Draco's elegant script. Within moments he had a short, entirely Weasley-free letter in Draco's hand addressed to Narcissa, assuring her he was safe and comfortable.
So, yeah, like I said, short chappie.
Thank you guys so much for all of your wonderful reviews, especially your criticisms. I'm obsessive about checking my email. It's kinda sad actually.
P.S. (JK announce the new title of the new book. It's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I hugged the "Reserve your copy now!" sign in the middle of Books a Million. People stared.