A/N Firstly I would like to apologize for how long it took for this part to come out - what with Hari Raya, New Year's, Christmas, Boxing Day, and the barrage of holidays and celebrations lately, it took a long while before I could shake off guests and scramble to the computer. That and the fact that I was stuck; I couldn't think of a way to introduce Lucius Malfoy. I have a feeling that this part is somewhat under par; it took an amazingly long time to write. However, hopefully the next part - which is definitely in progress - will be back up to standard.
Thanks to all my reviewers whom unfortunately I cannot mention here, and thanks especially to the flamer who showed me what a flame was! Review again? (Everyone)
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Ginny fussed with her school robes, tugging at the collar. "How do I look?" she asked Draco, who seemed just as nervous as she was. She didn't know why - Lucius was his father after all. Draco cast a glance at her and that seemed to cheer him up a little.
"Like my witch." He replied possessively, pulling her into a hug.
Ginny laughed, cuddling her head into his neck. She smiled, her nervousness temporarily forgotten. But only temporarily.
"He's going to be here soon." Draco mumbled, letting go of her. He started to fidget, then caught himself and stopped, lifting his chin in a proud, unconscious gesture.
Ginny said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Five minutes later Lucius Malfoy appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. Ginny fervently wished people wouldn't do that. It always gave her a shock and when she got shocks, her face turned bright red. Ginny fervently wished her face wouldn't do that.
Draco let go of her hand and looked up - only slightly - at his father. "Hello."
Lucius didn't bother returning the greeting, but swept a cold eye over Draco. "You've grown, I see."
Draco started to smile, and so did Ginny. That was a nice sort of thing to say. Maybe Mr. Malfoy wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he was actually a nice guy. Maybe -
He added. "At last."
And maybe Mr. Malfoy was a jerk.
Draco's smile was swept off his face and replaced with a cold look. His eyes were cold and guarded, like they had been towards her before they had started kissing. For some reason, this made Mr. Malfoy nod with approval.
"Where's Mother?" Draco asked.
"Your mother is waiting at the restaurant." Mr. Malfoy seemed to be ignoring Ginny. "She hates Hogwarts." He added contemplatively.
"Father, I want you to meet Ginny Weasley."
"As you know very well, Draco, I have already met Miss Weasley." Mr. Malfoy didn't even bother glancing at her. "Along with her troop of brothers."
Draco's expression didn't change. He wasn't looking at her either. "She's my girlfriend."
Mr. Malfoy looked at Ginny. He smiled pleasantly - or at least, his thin lips curled upwards in a semblance of a smile. "In bed, or out of it?"
Ginny flinched.
Draco said nothing.
Mr. Malfoy's voice was soft and insidious, befitting the snake he was. "And what happened to Patty Parkins?"
"Pansy. Parkinson." Draco seemed to be speaking through gritted teeth.
Ginny was startled. She didn't know why; after all, she'd seen Pansy and Draco at several school balls together. It was just that she hadn't connected that idea - or that Draco - with the Draco she went out with. She realized with a sickening plop in her stomach that it must have been pretty serious if Mr. Malfoy knew about it.
Mr. Malfoy waved a slim hand dismissively. "Pansy Parkinson. What happened to her?" His tone seemed to be one of humoring his son's impulsive whims.
"We broke up a long time ago." Draco said stonily. He swept a hand towards Ginny, still not looking at her. "Ginny is my girlfriend now."
"One of them." Mr. Malfoy replied smoothly. He smiled coldly. "Shall we go?"
Draco nodded stiffly. As Mr. Malfoy strode ahead, Draco turned to Ginny, still not looking at her. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Ginny shrugged, but it was an awkward move. She suddenly felt very awkward, as if her arms and legs were new and she was trying to practice gestures that should have come naturally. "Yeh." Her voice was squeaky. Ginny just knew she was going to torture herself over that for ages. She could already feel her face turning red.
Draco nodded, and hurried off after his father. Despite his coldness during the brief - thank goodness - hellish interview, Ginny suddenly saw him as a desperately eager-to-please son, trying to mold himself in the image of his father. She felt sorry for him, and knew that if he ever knew that, he would hate her.
Draco entered the restaurant and sneered inwardly at the décor. In fact, he sneered inwardly at the restaurant itself. It was pathetic. He was surprised his father had chosen it. It obviously didn't cater to superior clientele. More like to 'El poor wizards' clientele.
"I see you don't approve of my choice of restaurants. I thought you would." His father said meditatively, but Draco had long learnt to distrust the everchanging ripples and ebbs of his father's mellifluous voice. He didn't mistake the calm, thoughtful inflection of his father's voice as a sign that his father was feeling calm or thoughtful. He prepared himself as best he could for what he knew would come.
He was right. The honeyed, mellow tone turned sharp and icy. "It goes very well with your new whore."
Draco gritted his teeth. The urge to defend Ginny washed over him, but he fought it. It was better not to say anything. It wouldn't change anything. His father wouldn't accept Ginny. He would always think of her as a Weasley whore. Draco controlled his features tightly and prepared himself for a night of Ginny-bashing.
His father seemed almost pleased that Draco didn't say anything. He walked over to where his mother was sitting, her chin raised, regarding the rest of the population as pawns through vague blue eyes that wandered cloudily. "Hello Mother." Draco said coolly.
She looked at him and smiled vaguely. Draco wondered if she remembered him. "Hello."
Obviously not.
With that they sat. Lucius Malfoy ignored his wife and looked at the menu. A witch waitress dressed scantily - very scantily - in artistically ripped robes appeared at their table. She smiled brightly, bright red lips stretching into a smile. What, Draco assumed, was supposed to be a smile, anyway. "Hello and good evening! What will you be having?"
Lucius looked at her in contempt. "Do you like this one, Draco?" he drawled insolently. "She seems to be in the same class as your new whore."
Draco said nothing.
The waitress' supposed smile faltered slightly. "Excuse me?"
Ginny waited outside Draco's Potions class. She shivered slightly. It was drafty down in the dungeons. Finally Neville Longbottom scurried out of the class, clutching Trevor protectively to his chest. He looked like he was about to cry. Ginny felt a wrenching pang of pity, but it was forgotten in her eagerness as she watched for a white head amongst the darker ones. Harry came out of the classroom, talking to Ron. Ron was muttering, "…stupid git…." And Harry seemed to be, as usual, only half-listening. They caught sight of her and Ron's face darkened. "Waiting for Mal - "
Hermione appeared just in time and scowled. Ron subsided, but only barely. Draco finally came out, looking cool and bored, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Ginny brightened. Ever since the night before, she'd been anxious to see Draco. She didn't know why, exactly - it was a mixture of things - to find out if he was mad at her for not saying anything to his father, to find out if they were all right, to find out if she really had totally embarrassed herself by squeaking and blushing and moving like a rusty tin man. And to find out about Pansy Parkinson. They were all vague concerns, but they were unresolved, and Ginny knew that the tortuous cramping of her stomach and awareness of her beating heart wouldn't stop until Draco smiled at her.
Draco stopped and looked at her, just looked at her, no softening of the features. He said nothing. But at least he had stopped.
"Hi." Ginny said uncertainly.
Draco opened his mouth. His voice was low. "Hi."
Ginny was so relieved he was talking to her - although she really didn't have a rational reason for why he shouldn't have - that she smiled brilliantly. Ginny had a great smile. She knew it. She used it.
Draco smiled slightly. It wasn't enough to erase all her anxieties, but it muted them some.
"Are you free?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Wanna go somewhere?"
Draco looked briefly at Crabbe and Goyle and they lumbered off noisily. Ginny had a fleeting thought that he had certainly trained them well.
Draco didn't take her hand, as he normally would have - Ginny was morbidly aware of the difference - but he moved slightly closer to her. "I'm right behind you."
Ginny took his hand.
He didn't take it away.
Ginny took that as a good sign. She didn't speak until they had reached someplace they could be alone. She didn't speak for a long time. Hogwarts seemed to be crawling with students that day - probably due to the lashings of rain that seemed to be inherent everytime Ginny wanted it to be sunny. They finally found an empty stairwell and Ginny sat down, tugging on Draco's hand. Draco sat down beside her.
It was dark in the stairwell, which was lit only by tentatively flickering flames on stands. "How was your dinner?" Ginny asked, aware - horribly aware - of how uncertain and pathetic her voice sounded. She wished savagely - well, she wished for many things.
Draco eyed her. "It was dinner."
Ginny wished she could slap him. She scowled at him. "What?"
Draco stood abruptly. "I don't want to talk about it."
Ginny respected that. She respected his right to not want to talk about certain things - in this case - God forbid she ask, dinner. She respected the fact that he was obviously feeling like a reticent toad.
She sat, looking at him. "All right."
"Good." Draco glanced around him cagily. "What are we doing here?"
"I wanted to be alone with you."
Draco finally smiled.
Ginny felt her anxieties melt away. Finally. That was all she had wanted, one measly little smile. It wasn't really the smile that did her in, though. It was the insecurity in his eyes, the pleading for understanding, not to take his coolness seriously. It wasn't anything concrete, anything she could file away and dwell on later, but it was enough for now.
"Wanted to be alone?" Draco asked, pulling her close. He lowered his face and murmured, "I see."
They kissed.
And kept on kissing.
Ron scowled ferociously. Hermione rolled her eyes as she watched him scan the Gryffindor common room. She knew what he was looking for. He was looking for his sister. And he was scowling because he couldn't find her. Scowling because he could find Coy Connie and Fickle Fran. Scowling because that meant - presumably - that Ginny was off with Draco Malfoy. Scowling because he hated Draco Malfoy. Hermione felt like scowling herself.
She glanced at Harry. Harry was staring into space. He wasn't great company at the moment either. Over the last few days he'd been doing that a lot. Staring into space. He had to be told that Cho Chang was in the room. Something was bugging him. Hermione didn't feel like trying to work out what it was. It took all her energy trying to suppress Ron's barbaric urges whenever he saw Ginny with Draco Malfoy - whom he had mentally imbued with all the characteristics of a Satan-pig crossbreed species.
Hermione looked across the room. Everyone else was having fun. Fred and George didn't seem to be wallowing in hot mud because their little sister was dating - God forbid - Draco Malfoy. They were laughing and apparently creating a new kind of quill. Or maybe it was a firecracker. Maybe both. Coy Connie and Fickle Fran were sitting together giggling. Even Neville Longbottom was talking to Parvati and he looked like he was enjoying himself. Hermione felt bad for even thinking it but if she was having less fun than Neville Longbottom, then something was seriously wrong. She heaved a sigh and picked up her Defence Against the Dark Arts book. Well, if she couldn't have fun, then she would study.