A/N I'm not sure if I should end it here - but I don't think I will. Then again, it all depends on the urges that come to me in the middle of the night.
Disclaimer : Characters and setting belong to JK Rowling.
Ron flung himself on Draco, punching him square on the nose. Draco started fighting back. Ginny watched in shock, only realizing a second later that Harry had come in with Ron. She stared at him for a second, unable to connect his features with the idea of Harry Potter, the boy she'd been crushing on since she'd first seen him. It was only with slow, tedious feeding of the facts to herself that she could intellectually connect them. Black hair, green eyes. Straight nose. Glasses. It seemed to take forever, but it was only about a minute. Then she noticed the shocked look on his face. He was gaping - yes, actually gaping - at her, lower jaw hanging open. He was shocked - he was actually shocked at finding her with Draco. Maybe he was jealous.
Ginny wished she could dwell on that for longer than three seconds, but she couldn't, so she filed the thought away and flung herself on Ron, pulling ineffectually at his arms. He definitely had the upper hand now - his anger was fueling him, whereas Draco had been caught by surprise.
Harry finally decided to stop gaping and start helping and together they pulled Ron off Draco. He flailed his arms strongly and angrily, and it was only with extreme force that they could hold him back. Draco pulled himself into sitting position, swiping his wand hand against his nose, which was bleeding. Ron's right eye was black and so was the expression on his face.
Ginny took another glance at Draco. Great. Just fantastically great. The smirky expression was back on his face, and he wasn't looking at her. He was sneering at Ron. "Come on, Weasley." He taunted. "Angry because I kissed your sister? Or maybe you're just jealous because you can't get the girl you want - because you can't get the Mudblood you want -"
Ron made another lunge for Draco, and Ginny had to strive to pull him back, because Harry had let go, and was looking furiously at Draco. Ginny knew the only reason Draco wasn't spewing blood right now was because Harry had gotten in a lot of trouble the previous year for bloodying him up for making the sort of comment Draco had just made. Only then it had been about -
Ginny's heart fell at the memory - Cho Chang. Angrily she let go of Ron, but before Ron could set into Draco again, she flew to his side. "Stop it." She said angrily. "Would you just stop it? What did you come back for anyway?" She didn't quite know why she was angry, but she was. She was angry because the world had so many arseholes in it. She was angry because one of those arseholes was her brother. She was angry because another of the arseholes was Harry bloody Potter. She was angry because she had just kissed another of the arseholes and he was smirking. And she was angry because -
Well, anyway, she was angry.
Ron was looking at her as if he'd never seen her before. "Why are you defending him?" he demanded.
Harry was looking at her as well.
Ron was speaking - again! Why couldn't he ever just shut up? - "Ginny, don't tell me you actually like this piece of - what are you thinking - "
Draco laughed mockingly. "You want to know the truth, Weasley? The truth is that Ginny stops thinking whenever I do this." He caught her head roughly and placed his lips on hers bruisingly.
Sparks flew.
Bells rang.
Lightning flashed.
The dead came back to life and Harry was in love with her.
Well, maybe not the last part. Ginny was stunned into silence, and she would have responded, but she was too busy thinking of the effect Draco Malfoy had on her. Draco removed his lips from hers - and the expression in his eyes was unguarded. He looked young and frightened, and strangely soft. It was almost scary to see him like that, especially because he always looked so hard and tough and arrogant - he looked like a beansprout, but he looked like a hard, tough, arrogant beansprout. He was as dazed as she was, she could feel it.
Then the next moment he blinked and that awful smirk was back on his face.
Ginny sincerely wished she could cut his mouth off him. Ron was looking at her, his mouth open, and Harry looked - blank. As if he had just had the surprise of his life and he wasn't quite sure how to deal.
Maybe he was jealous after all.
"Ar-hum." Dumbledore's voice harrumphed mildly. "Am I interrupting something?"
Everyone said no at the same time. Ginny could feel her face turn red. Across the curtain enclosed space Ron's face was red as well. Harry still looked blank and she didn't dare to turn and see what Draco looked like.
Dumbledore nodded at Ginny. "Are you recovered, Miss Weasley?"
Ginny nodded hastily.
"I came because I thought you might have some questions for me."
Ginny's eyes widened. "Yes."
"Well then." He sat on her bed and looked over his glasses at Ron and Harry. It occurred to Ginny that Dumbledore was getting old - or rather, that he was getting older. His movements were slow and measured, and he had a way of blinking that made him seem very tired.
"Mayn't we stay?" Ron blurted. Ginny just knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that he didn't want his baby sister alone with the big bad Draco Malfoy. Well, she hoped he knew what she was thinking. It involved swear words and rope and testicles. His testicles.
Dumbledore smiled. "I have no doubt that whatever I tell Ginny now will be fodder for talk later in the Gryffindor common room whether I let you stay or not."
"Does that mean we can stay?" Ron asked.
Dumbledore considered. "I'm not quite sure myself. You might as well go to class, Mr. Weasley."
Ron grudgingly trotted out of the room, Harry in tow. Ginny wondered if Draco would be allowed to stay, and since Dumbledore said nothing about his presence, she guessed it meant that he was allowed to stay.
"Why were there Dementors?" Ginny blurted out. She felt her face turn red - it seemed to be happening a lot lately; maybe the blood vessels in her face were clotted - and wished she could take that back. She tried to compose herself. "I mean - I thought Dementors weren't allowed in Hogwarts or whatever - and there they were - "
"It was a mistake." Dumbledore said, his face hardening slightly. "There was a slight slip-up when the students were going out of Hogwarts. Rest assured that it will not happen again, Miss Weasley."
"But why? Why would they come to Hogwarts?"
Dumbledore hesitated, as if making up his mind about something. His words were slow and precise. "I suppose, Miss Weasley, that you know that Hogwarts has always been a place that Voldemort has never been able to breach."
Ginny flinched automatically at the sound of You-know-Who's name, but she nodded.
"I can only hazard a guess that he thinks if he can destroy - so to speak - this place, it will be easier to take over the wizarding world." Dumbledore paused again. "We will, of course, be doing everything in our power to prevent this for the same reason."
Ginny absorbed this silently. Draco spoke up. "Will you be er- successful?"
Dumbledore smiled pleasantly. "We hope so, at any rate."
Ginny tried to smile, but her facial muscles didn't seem to be working. "Professor?"
"Yes, Miss Weasley?"
"I thought - that is, before you came - I thought that the Dementors had given me the Kiss - and I didn't know - I didn't know that it was reversible - and - " Ginny stopped, her breathing shallow and rapid.
Dumbledore tactfully looked away as Ginny tried to compose herself. Ginny took a few breaths and promptly had it taken away from her again when Draco slipped his hand into hers.
Ginny looked up at him, surprised. Draco's arrogant face looked down at her. For some reason - a very sick reason, probably - it comforted her. When Dumbledore looked back, Ginny looked straight at him.
"As a matter of fact, Miss Weasley, it isn't."
Ginny tried to process this. "What does that mean? I've got another person's soul in my body? I'm dreaming this?"
"Nothing so dramatic, I assure you. The Dementor hadn't quite finished extracting your soul from your body. It was a matter of which side had more pull, the Dementor or you. With a few of the teachers helping you - you did. The process couldn't be completed. The Dementor gave your soul back to your body."
____________
"So are you all right?" Coy Connie's concerned face looked at Ginny.
"No perverted side effects?" Fickle Fran asked.
Ginny laughed and hugged both of her friends. "Of course not."
"I don't know." Ron's scornful voice said from behind her. "Kissing Draco Malfoy seems pretty perverted to me."
Ginny refused to turn around. "What do you want, Ron?"
"You kissed Draco Malfoy?" Coy Connie squealed.
"I thought he was cute." Fickle Fran said in a satisfied voice.
Ginny whipped around and glared at Ron. Ron glared back. Hermione appeared and placed both hands on one of Ron's arms. "Sorry, Ginny. I can't imagine how his cage got opened. Come on Ron." She dragged Ron away.
"Yes, I kissed him." Ginny said, before her friends could ask again. "And I don't want to talk about it yet." She cast a pleading look at Connie and Fran. "Please?"
"Speaking of -" Connie said in a knowing voice.
"Speaking of what?"
"The Devil, of course. I always thought the Devil was dark haired, but I guess not." She giggled as Draco appeared in front of Ginny.
"Can we talk?" he said, but he didn't sound as if he was asking.
Ginny nodded, but he wasn't paying attention. He was already dragging her to a corner of the Hall.
"I like you." Draco said straight out.
Well, had she expected flowery poetry and flowers from Draco Malfoy? No, not really. In fact, she hadn't expected anything from him at all.
"Will you be my witch?" he asked.
She took one look at him. That one look at him told her everything she needed to know. He wasn't looking at her, he was standing straight as he always did, tall and arrogant. His white hair fell in a lock over his forehead. His chin was jutting out aggressively and he looked proudly at the wall behind her head. And he was asking her. A Weasley. She knew how much this must be costing him.
She thought of Harry and how she had liked him for the past few years.
She thought of Draco and how his kisses made her feel.
She thought of Ron and what he would say - or rather, scream.
Then she smiled. "Yes."