Chapter 4- Breaking Bones and Breaking Hearts
A/N: Chapter 4, people. Like I said in Ch. 3, there is Quidditch in this chapter, for all you Quidditch fans. And if you're sitting there waiting for the kissing to start, that's next chapter (Hey, they can't just meet and then go make out, can they?). So they are still getting to know each other and review, review, review! (I have decided to make it my closing statement, I long for the day when I can see 50 reviews for my story).
"Okay, team," said Harry as he paced the Gryffidor locker room. His black hair was in his face, which Ginny thought made him look like he meant business. She remembered when she used to like him(which wasn't that long ago), and she'd have trouble paying attention to his pep talks. She smiled. But Harry was always ready to help her. Harry continued to talk. "We're playing the Slytherins, right? So it's a piece of cake, right?" he smashed his right fist into his left hand. Ginny thought that Harry's pep talks were always interesting, even though she wasn't always paying attention. When Harry talked Quidditch was like a kid at Christmas. It was what he was meant to do. All the stuff about Voldemort was forgotten, as Harry talked on and on about his favorite subject. "We've played them dozens of times before, beaten them, and this time isn't any different."
Yes it is, Ginny thought grimly. This time I kind of like Malfoy. She was a bit nervous for the game, she wasn't sure what would happen with her Quidditch skills. You're going to play like you always do, she told herself. Beat the Slytherins. That'll shut them up. about me and Draco.
Ginny smiled to herself. This was going to be an interesting game.
***
"And now let's welcome the Gryffindors!" Colin Creevy shouted. He and his brother Dennis had taken over commentary for Lee Jordan since he left. They were doing a pretty good job according to Professor McGonagall, since she never saw any of the fights between them for the mike.
A roar went up in the crowds as red flashed in the air, people held up royal red banners with the Gryffindor lion on it. The team trouped onto the court, waving to the shouting students. Ginny felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she brushed it aside and continued waving, looking across the field and at the blurry students, all cheering. They were going to beat Slytherin and she wasn't going to be the blame if they loose. Nothing was going to stop that.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle. Harry and Draco stepped up to the center of the field, each of their teams surrounding them, ready to mount their brooms. They looked at each other the same way, with an expression of dislike plastered on their faces, staring the other down. Madam Hooch blew her whistle again.
"Captains, shake hands!"
Not taking their eyes off each other, Harry and Draco shook hands briefly, Harry clutching his Firebolt and Draco with his Silver Snake 3000, and stepped back. Ginny always thought that the shaking hands part was the hardest and tensest part of the Gryffindor/Slytherin matches.
"Mount your brooms!"
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the air was filled with red and green blurs as the players rose into the air. The game had begun.
"Oh beautiful pass!" shouted Dennis into the mike as the brothers started the commentary. "And the Quaffle is being passed to Miss Weasley…….whoa! Parkinson steals, and…being passed around…Slytherin scores!"
The Slytherin fans cheered and green hats and banners flew in the air.
Ginny cursed at herself. How could she have let Pansy steal the Quaffle? Normally she was loads better that snotty Pansy Parkinson. And she was so close to scoring! Ginny flew after the Quaffle and blocked a pass. Flying swiftly, she dodged a Bludger and scored. There! That'll show her.
"Slytherin in possesion!" yelled Colin. "Gryffidor will have to work hard to steal that Quaffle from Matthew Flint!"
"But…oh! Tanya Wood takes the Quaffle! It looks like she's going to score….watch that Bludger, Wood!"
It was too late. The Bludger rammed into her and she lost control over the Quaffle. Still shaken, Wood righted her broom as Lavender Brown came swooping by, knocking the Bludger towards Malfoy.
Draco and Harry were up in the air, their eyes peeling for signs of the Snitch. Draco moved casually as the Bludger flew up, missing him but whistling by Harry by just half an inch. Ginny glanced up at them. Neither of them had spotted the Snitch yet.
Suddenly, Ginny heard the sound of the Quaffle flying by. She turned, and flew towards it. She reached out to grab it before it was in the hands of Matthew Flint. Stretching as far as she could go…she wasn't fast enough…
WHAM!
A Bludger smashed into her arm. Ginny felt pain shoot up through her arm, it was on fire, she couldn't feel it. It felt like it was going to fall off. She gritted her teeth, feeling hot tears in her eyes…it hurt…
Then she pitched forward with a scream.
***
Draco whipped around as he spotted Ginny falling off her broom with a scream. Without thinking, he urged his broom to go faster and sped after her. The wind pushed him back, and Draco reached out a hand, still making his Sliver Snake go faster…
His hand touched hers. He felt her weak fingers grab onto his. He could barely see her; his hair was in his eyes. Angrily, Draco brushed it away. He felt his broom slip as Ginny's weight pulled them down. He couldn't let go….they were still twenty feet high! She would surely die. Draco saw her through his blurred vision mixed with a few tears, she was slipping from his grasp…he couldn't let her fall…
She slipped.
Draco, not really knowing what was happening, heard a 'thud' as Ginny landed on the ground. Obviously she was unconscious. On instinct, and with mixed feelings inside him, he shot towards the ground and was the first to land out of all the other Quidditch players. The sky was pouring red and green blurs as Draco scrambled to Ginny.
Surprisingly, her eyes fluttered open. "Draco?" she whispered.
"Yeah," He could barely hear his voice. "It's me. Ginny-" he started to reach for her.
A hand grabbed the back of Draco's Quidditch robes and pulled him to his feet. Dean Thomas glared into his face. "What d'you think you're doing, Slytherin?" he hissed.
Draco didn't say anything as anger clouded Dean's face.
"Get lost, and mind your own business," Dean ordered.
"Who're you to tell me what to do, Thomas?" Draco sneered back.
"You will, because I'm gonna sock you bad," said Dean.
Draco smirked. "You wanna fight?"
Dean got into a fighting position. "I'm no sissy."
Draco smirked again and pulled out his wand. "I prefer this way."
They were about to lunge at each other as Madam Hooch hurried by. "What're you doing here, Malfoy?" she looked at him with immense dislike. "Weasley isn't part of your team." When he didn't move she bustled at him angrily. "Well, move along, will you?"
Throwing Hooch and Dean furious looks over his shoulders, Draco stalked up to the castle.
***
Hermione saw a figure hurry towards the castle out of the corner of her eyes as she bit her lip nervously. She glanced at it.
Malfoy.
She really wanted to ignore the fact that it was possible that Malfoy liked Ginny, but after what she saw today, it was hard to know what was possible and what was impossible. She saw the fury on Malfoy's face as Hooch waved him off, an expression she'd never seen on Draco Malfoy's face. She'd seen him mad, of course, but this was something else. There was something else. Love? The question popped into her head, as she pushed it down. Hermione bit her lip so hard it started bleeding as she went over the events that just happened. Malfoy landed so fast that he was just a green blur, beside Ginny. She saw him scramble over to her, and Ginny open her eyes. They said something to each other, and then Dean arrived. Still shaking her head, Hermione headed for the castle in search of Draco Malfoy.
***
Hermione was about to enter the Great Hall when she spotted him in there, facing the wall, his right arm on the wall, his forehead leaning against his right forearm. His other hand was on his hips, and his hair covered all of his face. As she watched, he banged his fist against the wall and groaned. Hermione started to go in, but then she saw Pansy Parkinson walking briskly towards him.
Pansy probably changed for every single one of her classes, and she already changed from her green Quidditch robes. She wore a hot pink spaghetti strapped tank top, a pink handkerchief tied around her long brown hair, with a few wisps of hair in her face. Gold bracelets jangled from her wrists, her heels clicked as she walked. She stopped to pull down her super-short black mini-skirt, showing more of her bellybutton. Feeling her gold hoop earrings Draco had sold her because of his desperate needs for more money, Pansy approached Malfoy.
"Draco…"
Malfoy whipped around, and looked at her without saying anything.
"Draco?" Pansy played with her earrings, and the other rings on her ears nervously. "Look, I know you really wanted to win today."
"Yeah…"
Pansy gave him a confident smile. "We'll win next time though, right, Captain?"
Malfoy was silent, as his steel gray eyes looked her over, searching for something. "What is it?"
Pansy was silent for a moment, and then spoke. "Is something the matter?"
"What's it to you?"
"Draco, we've known each other for a long time. I can tell when something's wrong."
Malfoy smirked. "Can you tell with Potter?"
Pansy narrowed her eyes. "I don't care about Potter." Her voice softened. "I care about you."
If that took Malfoy by surprise, he didn't show it. "So you've had a crush on me." He gave her another smirk. "How cute." His eyes bore into hers, but she didn't look away, only tilt her chin up.
"Yes," she said. "And I know you've changed somehow. I don't know what, though." She frowned at him. "Did you, like, get a haircut or something?"
Malfoy laughed mirthlessly as his hair fell in his face, making him look more dramatic. "A haircut? A haircut won't change me." He stepped away from the wall, and Pansy stepped closer to it. Malfoy touched her arm. "I'm not telling you anything, even if nothing is wrong."
"I don't know if I like it," Pansy mused.
Malfoy gave her a smile, his eyes looking at her from under his hair. "I don't care if you don't like it." He took a step towards her, and placed his arms on her shoulders.
"Is there someone else?" Pansy asked boldly, her eyes icy. "That Weasley girl you were having a fit over because she couldn't hold onto her broom? The one Thomas and his friends were passing around a note about?"
"Ginny? You think-" Malfoy cut short. Looking at her for a few seconds, he moved closer. Pansy questioned him with her eyes. Malfoy fingered her hair. Then, without warning, he placed his lips on hers.
Hermione saw Pansy weaken in his arms, but after a while her arms were around his neck, and she was kissing back furiously. Malfoy's hands traced her spine, and as if it had a life of its own, move around her upper body, feeling her hair, her straps. Hermione admired Pansy's outfit. She could never come up with something like that, she though as she glanced down at her navy blue sweater and gray skirt. She picked off a bit of dust from her black heels, which were very much unlike Pansy's, which had very high and thin heels, with thin straps. Hermione looked back again. They had already broken apart, and she watched Pansy walk away, in a fashion she could never walk in. Glancing back at Malfoy, Hermione saw that he had his eyes fixed on her.
"Malfoy," she said softly, walking into the room cautiously.
He gave her an amused smile. "Hello, Granger."
"Do you love her?" Hermione's eyes widened. This wasn't what she had intended to say at all.
"Her?" Malfoy jerked a finger in the direction Pansy went.
"No," said Hermione impatiently. "Ginny."
Malfoy gave her another amused smile, that showed no emotion. "What do you think?"
Hermione recalled the event of him kissing Ginny. Then him kissing Pansy Parkinson. And realized with a start that perhaps, perhaps all the love and passion he had just put into the kiss he gave to Pansy wasn't really for her. Hermione looked at Malfoy steely. "Yes."
"Then you give me too much credit for it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione demanded.
Malfoy shrugged. "Sometimes I talk 'cause I like hearing my voice."
Hermione restrained herself from slapping him. "Look, you stay away from Ginny. I don't care if you like her or not. Just stay away."
"Maybe she likes me." Draco said after a moment.
Hermione considered that for a while. "That is not possible." She tried to convince herself. "And you know what? I don't want to talk to you anymore, Draco." She spun around on her heels and walked away. As she entered the hall she realized that she and Draco had actually had a normal conversation. Or as normal as you could get with Draco Malfoy. And she also realized, for the first time, that she had called him Draco.
***
Ginny woke up to a hand touching her hair and face. She opened her eyes. It was night time, and the hospital wing was deserted. She was about to consider the hand part of her imagination, when a voice called out.
"Ginny,"
She wanted to sit upright, but her side was burning with pain. The voice seemed familiar, somehow. "Who is it?"
The lights flickered on, revealing the person by her bed.
Draco.
"Hey," he gave her a small smile, and sat down in the chair beside her bed. His hair was all messed up, everything about him was messed up, down to his Quidditch robes.
"You didn't change out of your robes yet," she stated.
Draco glanced down at his worn robes from the game that day. "Yeah, well," he scratched the back of his neck, "I didn't have time to change." He put his hand on top of hers. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"Not bad," she informed him. "I'm not sure though, I was asleep when they talked about it. I think they said something about my side and my head."
"That explains the bandage."
Ginny smiled. "You look tired. You should get some rest."
Draco sighed. "It doesn't matter."
Studying his face, Ginny tried to find out what was wrong. "It's me, isn't it?"
Draco looked startled. "No!"
But Ginny had it all figured out. "You're feeling guilty because you didn't save me."
Sighing, Draco squeezed her hand. "You might've not had to be here with a busted rib."
"You tried." Ginny reassured him. "It's okay." She grinned. "I liked all the attention." When Draco didn't have any reaction, she said, "C'mon, you couldn't help it. But you tried your best. Thanks."
Draco looked at her, his gray eyes startling. Ginny looked back at him with her green eyes before she spoke. "Why do you like me?"
Shaking his head, Draco replied, "I honestly don't know. It's the red hair, I guess." He fingered her hair. She caught his hand and looked at the dry mud caked on it.
"Get some rest, Draco,"
He smiled again, the kind of smile that only Draco Malfoy could give. Ginny felt herself weaken as he took her hand. He kissed it, and a shiver of pleasure ran up her arm, the kind that can last the whole night. Draco stood up and closed the lights. Darkness filled the room as Ginny sensed Draco leaving, and then she was sure when she heard the door click.
A/N: Whew! That was the longest chapter yet. Hermione actually talked to Draco, keep an eye on her, she knows more about Draco and Ginny than what everyone else thinks, especially Harry and Ron. Ginny gets hurt, but don't worry, she's not going to stay in bed for all of the next chapter. She's going to be up and running after Draco to get his grades up. While Ginny was in bed, Draco's grades were subsiding. So, next chapter: Ginny tutors Draco, except tutoring leads to other stuff, like what the title of chapter 5 says: Tutoring and Other Stuff. Also, Tanya Wood is Oliver's sister, Matthew Flint is Marcus Flint's Brother. And, ending with my motto: review, review, review!