Draco's Desires

Part Three

Comfort At The Yule Ball

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Ever since that sunny day, I had been keeping my eye on Ginny in secret. That winter, when the Yule Ball was announced, I figured I had the perfect opportunity to make a move. But I had no guts. I had been watching Ginny in the hallways ever since the first day, wanting to ask her to the ball, but I figured I had no chance. She always seemed so nervous around me, so why would she want to go with me to the ball? Besides, I had Pansy Parkinson hanging all over me, so my choice didn't seem too hard. Why pursue a girl when I have one who's crazy about me? Then again, there is the factor that Pansy's bloody annoying, but she looks pretty good.

So I tried to forget about Ginny, who ended up going with that incompetent prat Neville Longbottom, probably because that idiot Potter wouldn't go with her. I put on my black dress robes and admired myself in the mirror. I didn't look half bad. Pansy and I would make a very handsome couple at the dance…much better than Potter and that shabby Weasley would look.

I'm not sure how handsome we really looked when you come right down to it. I tried to make a good entrance, but Pansy was gripping my arm so hard I was afraid I was going to loose the circulation in it. I ended up feeling more uncomfortable than anything else all the way through dinner and the first dance. I had to watch Potter up there at the staff table, all smug and important, school champion. I did enjoy watching Potter make a fool of himself at dancing, at least in my opinion. That was the only good thing about the evening yet.

"Let's dance, Dracie!" Pansy pulled me by my arm out onto the floor. I was wincing with embarrassment. Dracie?…I wouldn't be able to live that down if anyone overheard her call me that.

I tried to breathe in Pansy's death grip, looking around at the same time. I could see Potter watching Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory dancing, a look of death on his face. I grinned at this. Aww, poor little Potter. I couldn't even see Weasley. Apparently he was having tons of fun too.

Then I saw Ginny, dancing with Longbottom. He kept trampling on her poor little feet and she was wincing painfully. I wanted to give him a good pop for each time he hurt her. I caught her eye and she blinked at me and then almost cried out as Longbottom clumsily stomped on her. I looked back and tried to breathe, while prying Pansy's hands off my behind at the same time. We were in the same boat, completely - both in pain.

When the dance ended I saw Weasley and Potter head outside. Ginny didn't go with them, having not been asked, the great gits, and Longbottom had disappeared to somewhere. I imagined him going to owl his granny to let her know how well he had danced and what a big boy he was now. Ginny headed to a dark corner and sunk down, resting her head on her knees. Since Pansy had gone to giggle with some girlfriends, I followed Ginny, drawn to her like a magnet.

I crept up next to her and slunk down beside her without her hearing me. She was crying hard, but trying to stifle the sound. I just sat there, not sure what to say, but I knew that Potter was behind this. Somehow he would pay, and I would be the one to comfort her. I wasn't used to dealing with crying girls, but I figured there was no better time to start. At fourteen, I would be a man of the world soon.

Ginny suddenly seemed to realize that someone was sitting in the darkness next to her. She lifted her head and gawked at me for a minute, but she didn't make any movement to get away from me. I think perhaps she was just too defeated to care if I was there to sneer at her or not.

I tried once again to drive any of the usual coldness out of my voice. I was so used to sneering at people. "Why are you crying?" I asked as soothingly as I could. I reached over and took a lock of her hair in my hand. It was the first part of her I was ever able to touch, and I figured it was the safest.

She flinched slightly, but relaxed again in a moment. "I'm not crying! I mean, I don't know why. I'm just not having a good night." A fresh flood of tears ran down her cheeks, the small amount of mascara she was wearing smearing slightly, making her look too old for a girl barely thirteen. Without thinking, I wiped the dark tears off her cheeks.

"Why are you wearing this stuff? Who are you trying to impress, anyway?" I took out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes off. She let me do this with a sort of childish obedience.

"I w..wanted H..Harry to look at me differently…like he looks at C..Cho. She's so beautiful and I'm small and shy and he'll never want me. He wants Cho and no one else. It's not bloody fair!" She screwed her face up, her pursed mouth betraying her feelings of anger. I hoped she wasn't going to go into hysterics, although it would have been refreshing.

"You're prettier than Cho." I said simply. I left out the part about how I thought she would look even better with some satin sheets, thinking that she would really bolt then. Dirty minds must run in my family.

She looked at me with amazement, a hot blush lighting up her cheeks, and couldn't seem to think of anything to say to this. Instead she gave me a small smile. "I don't understand why you're so mean to Harry and Ron and Hermione, but not to me. You seem normal and nice enough."

"Maybe it's because they deserve it and you don't." I frowned and crossed my arms in a pout. The band had started up another slow song. She was looking at me like she wanted some kind of explanation. I shrugged uncomfortably. "Look, let's not think about that right now. I don't have decent answers for you. Let's just dance instead." I wasn't sure why I always picked on Potter and the others. Maybe it's because they radiated perfection and good spirits, both of which I lacked at this point.

She looked very unsure of herself, but she allowed me to pull her up and hold her close to me. I had been trained in dancing as a child, and I had been looking forward to showing off. However, we didn't really dance as much as I just rather rocked her back and forth, trying to make her forget about Potter and Longbottom and everything else that made her sad. She sniffled and clung to me, lost in her misery. But at least she had stopped crying and I had her in my arms and I didn't even have to possess her to get her there. Not that I would have done that. I don't even know anymore. All I do know is that I was blissfully happy at that moment and no one else mattered in the slightest. Ginny was mine…all mine.

Suddenly, a figure in pink was running towards me. "Dracie! There you are! I missed you sooooo much!"

Ginny, panicked, tore away from me and bolted. I watched her small violet-clad form as she ran out into the darkened hall and nearly crash-landed with Neville. That ought to make the big baby happy, I decided. That's the closest he's ever going to be to a girl.

Meanwhile, Pansy gripped hold of my arm and tugged me out of the shadows and back onto the dance floor. At least she hadn't seen Ginny, so our secret was safe. The last thing I wanted for both my sake and Ginny's was to have a rumor started around Hogwarts about us.

"Come on, Dracie…let's dance now!" Pansy crooned. Me, I resigned myself to my fate.

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