Chapter Three

May-June

Ginny Weasley was surprisingly easy to live with. She brought home groceries. She made dinner three times a week, mouthwateringly good food that made him wish they were dating so he could keep it around all the time. She got a job within three days of moving in and by the end of the week she was in all of his classes.

Unfortunately he was finding it harder and harder to ignore the fact that she was female and an attractive female at that. More than once he had thought about her when he was with Saoirse.

He was pissed at himself. There was no one else to blame. He could have just taken the damned replacement wand and let Weasley do her thing. But no. And now she was stuck babysitting him instead of fighting the Dark Riders.

At least that was what he thought until the first Friday in June.

Classes were finally over for the semester and he was considering what to do for the summer. He stopped in at the local market for fresh strawberries which were in season. His culinary skills might leave something to be desired, but he could make strawberry smoothies with the best of them and he was jonesing for one. Ginny had vanished after their class final. He assumed she had picked up extra hours at her job or something because she had been doing this often.

He got back to the apartment, strawberries in hand.

Ginny was sitting on the kitchen counter, her face bloody, her jacket and hair coated in something orange that seemed to be smoking.

"I-" she began.

He dropped the strawberries and his bag. He shrugged out of his jacket and was across the room in an instant. He snatched a bottle from the cabinet behind her and another from the fridge. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her and the two bottles into the bathroom.

He had shelled out a little extra to get an apartment with a full bath. The shower curtain was in the way and he tore it down as he dropped Ginny into the bath. He turned on the faucet then the shower head. Water, bracingly cold, rained down and Ginny gasped. He grabbed the second bottle, the one from the fridge and poured the slick oil like liquid over his hands. He rubbed it in as the water grew warmer.

"What is that?" she asked.

"InstantGloves," he said. "It's only good for about fifteen minutes so we have to work fast. Get that jacket off."

She obliged. He handed her the bottle as he grabbed the other one. This was Dawn dish soap and he squirted almost half the bottle into her hair. He handed it to her. "For your hands," he said. He lathered up her hair for her, inspecting her for any signs of a rash. He knew the substance that had been in her hair and on her jacket. It was corrosive and could stay on for a while if not treated.

She had a spot on her teeshirt and he snagged the hem of it. Her shirt was white and soaked so he had no room for interpretation when it came to what color bra she was wearing. Then her shirt was off and he was presented with her back, almost bare. He hesitated. Washing her hair was one thing but her back...

"Do I have any on me?" she asked.

"I don't think so but..."

"Go ahead," she said. He paused a moment longer then started washing. His sense of feeling was muted by the InstantGloves but he could still feel enough. Sleek muscles. Soft, flawless skin. The bones of her spine. The curve of her-

"Didn't realize I got any on my ass," she said, amusement thick in her voice. He snatched his hands back as if burned. He made to step back, hit the lip of the tub and went sprawling.

"Shit."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Are you clean?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"We should take care of that cut," he said, getting to his feet. "Then you should tell me what happened."

She rinsed off her hair and shut the water off. He hastily got her a towel then one for himself. The bathroom was soaking wet and he went into his room for his wand. When he got back, Ginny was sitting on the edge of the tub, a wad of wet clothes in the tub. He wondered if she was naked under that towel. A quick glance at the dark blue panties in the tub answered that question and brought some color to his cheeks.

"What happened?" he asked as he magicked up the water in the room. He sat on the edge of the tub by her, looking at the nasty cut on her brow.

"Some Dark Riders got a little too excited. I'm fine though."

"Wait, is that where you've been disappearing to for the last few days?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Well, yeah."

"Dammit, Weasley! That's really fucking dangerous."

"No shit. I have back up and...well it's strange."

"What is?" he asked, remembering the spell he'd put on her.

"It's like they don't see me until I start throwing spells and even then they look like they're guessing."

"That is strange," he said and moved to heal her cut.

(A/N: So, remember when I said I was going to update more often? Yeah, me neither.