Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling 'cept for
plot.
Disclaimer: Thanks for all the reviews, and don't
worry, in this chapter EVERYTHING (well, almost) shall be explained. All
righty, here we go.
Chapter Ten
Explanations
"Come home with me," Ginny said softly.
Draco, who had been feeling quite
content, his head on her chest and feeling her fingers twirling his hair,
sat up suddenly. He swung his legs over the other side of the bed, his
back to her.
"I can't," he said simply.
"Sure you can," Ginny said brightly.
Draco knew she was happy because
they were together again. But he couldn't be happy. Of course, he was relieved
that Ginny was his again. Yet there was a dark cloud hovering over him,
making him very aware that at any moment she could be taken from him. As
he thought these depressing things, he heard her move behind him and place
her chin in his shoulder. Her warm breath on his neck almost made him shiver,
but he managed to keep himself still. She kissed his ear lightly before
going on.
"Sooner or later my family is
going to have to accept the fact that we're together," she said. "And seeing
us side by side, realizing how non-Malfoyish you are will help that come
sooner -"
She stopped when Draco held up
his hand for silence. He heard something and sat up straighter, straining
his ears. Yes, they were definitely footsteps coming towards his room.
When he was younger, and had been sent to his room for being insolent,
he always would lay in bed and listen for his father's footsteps from down
the hall, knowing he was in for a beating. And now it was no different.
"Under the bed," Draco hissed.
"Quick."
Ginny did not question and without
hesitation jumped to the floor and rolled under the bed. Draco made sure
the bed skirt was covering her from view before standing up and preparing
to confront Slytherin.
Slytherin did not even knock,
which didn't surprise Draco considering his father had never knocked either.
Instead, he burst into the room, throwing the door open with such force
it slammed into the wall and nearly bounced shut again. Slytherin held
out one hand to stop it and strode in, looking almost as pissed as Lucius
had when he had come home the night of the third task in the Triwizard
Tournament during fourth year, after Harry Potter had managed to yet again
escape Voldemort's clutches. It was the look of absolute fury and frustration
that Draco normally dreaded to see, because it normally meant that all
the anger and frustration would be taken out on him.
"I am willing to give you another
chance," Slytherin said, hissing so much his words were slurred. "If you
disobey me again, I will kill you."
"You took them," Draco said shortly.
"I took who?" Slytherin asked
distractedly, as if he didn't want to talk about such inferior matters.
"Ginny and Harry Potter. You
put them in that building with that carpet," Draco said, unable to keep
the anger from his own voice.
Slytherin stared at him for a
moment, then threw back his head and laughed. "Very good, Draco! You figured
it out. I was hoping you wouldn't, but I see that I had underestimated
you."
"How did you know about the rings?"
Draco demanded hotly. "How did you know that I would find them?"
Slytherin darkened. "Or perhaps
I have overestimated you. Don't be daft, Draco. Who do you think gave Narcissa
the rings to give to you?"
Draco's mother was in on this?
Before he could ask anything else, Slytherin went on.
"At first I didn't need your
help," he said. "I was going to kill her myself. Of course, I couldn't
go out where everyone could see me, because then the news of Lucius Malfoy
escaping would be out and everyone would be looking for me. So I hid in
the woods near her house for a couple of days, and one day her and her
brothers went swimming. I figured it was the perfect way to kill her and
making it look like an accident."
Ginny, who was listening to everything
from under the bed, grabbed a handful of the carpet and tried to keep quiet.
It
was him who made the rock appear from nowhere! There was no possible way
a rock could've been there, but now it makes sense. He tried to kill me.
But why?
Slytherin moved on. "Anyway,
it doesn't matter. She is still alive and now she will know that you aren't
her . . . friend anymore. I suppose I'll just do it the old fashioned
way - burst into her house and kill her."
Ginny's breath caught in her
throat. What if he turned around and went there now? She wouldn't be there,
and he might kill her family instead.
She gripped the carpet tighter.
"Where's Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
Her and Mr. Weasley had been
home for ten minutes before they noticed their youngest and only daughter
was the only welcoming face they hadn't seen.
Ron shrugged. "Probably in her
room. So they still aren't sure who attacked Percy?"
Mrs. Weasley sighed heavily.
It was quite obvious she hadn't gotten much sleep in the past twenty-four
hours. "No. And he still won't wake up to tell us who. There isn't even
a guarantee that he actually saw the person."
"I'll go bring Ginny down," Mr.
Weasley said, and left the kitchen.
Ron, Harry, Hermione, Fred, and
George (who had come home as soon as they heard that their parents had
returned) were listening to Mrs. Weasley's theory on what happened with
Percy when Mr. Weasley came back down, looking slightly panicked.
"She's not in her room," he said,
his smile wavering as he tried to look nonchalant. "And she's nowhere upstairs."
"Oh dear," Mrs. Weasley said,
sounding more weary than upset. "Well, she's probably talking a walk. When
she comes back I'll have to tell her I'm not comfortable with her walking
alone, especially with what happened with Percy."
Twenty minutes later Ginny had
not come back, and even her mother was starting to get a little worried.
Fred and George stood out on the front porch and screamed her name until
their throats were raw and the sun went down. Still, she didn't return.
"There's nothing to be worried
about," Ron said, noticing how nervous his parents were looking. "This
morning she went for, like, a five hour walk with Harry."
"But she was with Harry," Mr.
Weasley said. "And why would she take another five hour walk when she just
took one earlier?"
As worried as everyone was, Harry
looked the worst. No one really noticed, but finally Hermione glanced at
him and saw how he looked nearly sick. "Harry, what's wrong?" she cried.
"You're sweating."
Harry absently wiped his forward,
wondering if he should say what had just occurred earlier that morning.
He was terrified that maybe Draco had come back and forced Ginny to his
house again, and then his father had killed her. Why hadn't he checked
on her often, or forced her to stay near him?
But the sound of the front door
opening saved Harry from having to answer. Everyone in the kitchen jumped
up and hurried into the front hall to find Ginny putting the broom away
in the closet.
With Draco behind her.
"What's HE doing here?!" Fred
immediately hollered, while at the same time Mr. Weasley yelled, "Where
have you been, Ginny?" and Mrs. Weasley rushed forward to hug her, crying,
"We were so worried, we didn't know where you were . . ."
Of all the dark stares Draco
was getting, Harry was glaring the hardest. Draco wasn't sure if he had
ever seen the great and kind Potter look so hard before.
Ginny hugged her mother back
briefly then wiggled from her arms, backing up to Draco. "I'm okay," she
said quickly. "How's Perc?"
But now everyone seemed to be
watching Draco and did not answer her.
Draco sneered. He dearly wanted
to say something about the state of their home (which was clean but cluttered
and all the furniture looked like it had been saved from a dump a hundred
years ago) but restrained himself. He was trying to get on the good side
of Ginny's family.
"Look, he needs a place to stay,"
Ginny said hurriedly. "He can stay in Charlie's room."
"He is NOT staying here," George
snapped.
Ginny gave him a hard look. "If
you all will stop staring at him like he's got three heads and sit down,
then I will explain everything to you. Okay?"
Reluctantly, everyone turned
and went into the living room. All the males were glaring at Draco while
Hermione and Mrs. Weasley were watching him warily, as if he would jump
up and pull out a wand and kill them all.
And then Ginny launched into
her story about how Slytherin was out to kill her. She left out the tiny
detail that he was in Lucius Malfoy's body, because her family would never
believe that.
When she was through, Mrs. Weasley
said very slowly, "Well . . . I guess, uh, Draco, if you need a place to
stay from Slytherin that you may stay here -"
"MUM!" Fred and George both whined
at the same time.
" - I'll just go and put clean
sheets on the bed in Charlie's room," Mrs. Weasely finished uncertainly,
and left the room.
"Well, I for one am going to
call the Ministry," Ginny's father announced. "Maybe it was Slytherin who
attacked Percy."
The room was quiet for a moment
except for the hush whispers from Fred talking to George. Then they both
grinned and excused themselves, leaving Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and
Draco alone.
"You're not telling us something,"
Harry said as soon as the twins were out of hearing distance.
"Who? Me?" Ginny asked, unsure
of who he was talking to.
"Yes. If Slytherin is trying
to kill you then why did I save you from Lucius?"
"That was you?" Draco
said loudly. "You stunned Slytherin?"
"I stunned Lucius," Harry told
him, an icy edge to his voice.
"Wait, back up a minute," Ron
said, holding up his hand. "When did Harry stun Lucius?"
"This morning," Ginny explained
briefly.
"He didn't stun my father, he
stunned Slytherin," Draco snarled.
"Since when is your father Slytherin?"
Harry asked.
"Since a few days ago," Draco
replied.
"This isn't making any sense!"
Hermione cried. "Harry, please explain this to Ron and me. When did you
stun either Lucius or Slytherin?"
"I already told you, this morning,"
Ginny repeated.
"How?" Ron asked.
"Remember that five hour walk
we went on?" Harry said.
"Oh. So . . . I'm still confused,"
Ron admitted.
"That'll never change, Weasley,"
Draco told him.
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"How about EVERYONE shuts up,"
Ginny said. "Slytherin, who took over Lucius's body, tried to kill me this
morning and Harry stunned him, saving me. See? It's not that complicated.
Draco, come on."
She stood up and grabbed his
hand, pulling him out of the room. They went to her room, where Ginny locked
the door and turned around and instantly put her lips on Draco's.
It was a short kiss, and when
she pulled away she found Draco giving her an odd look. "What was that
for?" he asked.
"For coming with me," she said,
hooking her arms around his waist and pressing her nose to his. "For some
reason I feel braver talking to my family when you're around."
"That's because no matter what
you say they'll always think I'm worse, and they'll turn around and kill
me instead," Draco told her with a smirk.
She laughed and pressed her cheek
against his. "That's probably the reason," she said quietly.
Later that night, Ginny couldn't sleep. She tossed
and turned in her bed, painfully aware that Draco was only two rooms down
the hall.
She should've been exhausted,
considering all that had happened to her that day. But for some reason,
all she could think about was how she had told Draco she loved him and
he hadn't answered.
He wouldn't say it, she
tried to tell herself. He wouldn't ever admit his feelings to anyone.
Why would he say it to me? He probably is afraid to even say "I love you"
to his mother.
But what if he really
doesn't love me?
She kicked the covers off
with a huff. It was nearly October but it was still way too hot for comforters.
Peeling a strand of hair off her forehead, she sat up and turned to the
window. Moonlight fluttered in through the white curtains that had been
brand new for Ginny's great-great grandmother.
Two rooms away, Draco couldn't
sleep either. He lay on his back, hands folded over his stomach. He was
still in his clothes - he hadn't bothered to grab any other things to bring,
including pajamas. Not to mention he wouldn't be caught dead wearing pajamas
around or near the Weasley twins.
He, too, was thinking about what
she'd said to him that afternoon. Her words still echoed in his head.
"I love you."
Did he love her
back? He wasn't sure. He'd never loved anyone before, so how would he know
what it felt like? He sure as hell cared about her a great deal. But he
also cared about his money and that didn't mean he loved it. He'd had it
so long he took it for granted and didn't need to love it.
Draco stood up and gave up on
sleeping. Instead, he crossed the room to leave and go to the bathroom
when something caught his eye as he walked by the mirror.
His hair was pink.
He did a double take, and even
though it was dark in the room except for the light coming through the
window, he could clearly see that it was darker than usual. And pinker.
He pulled his wand from his pocket
and hissed, "Lumos." The bright light revealed that he did have
bright pink hair.
Draco had to clamp his hand over
his mouth to keep from screaming. His hair was pink. Hair doesn't
turn colors in less than an hour for no reason.
He glanced back at the bed. Crossing
to it, he yanked the pillow off and pulled the pillowcase off, reading
the tag on the pillow itself. Hair Dye Pillow from Weasley's Joke Shop.
So that's why the twins were
laughing earlier, Draco thought furiously, throwing the pillow on the
ground and resisting the urge to put on his boots, find a mud puddle, and
then stomp the cursed thing into a pile of feathers.
It took nearly two hours for
Draco to get his hair back to it's normal silvery blonde state. By then,
he was very, very close to wringing the Weasley twins' necks. Instead,
he tried to calm himself by pulling the dresser drawers out as quietly
as possible and then decorating the entire room in Charlie's clothes.
But when he opened the first
drawer, he found it full of leather. Leather pants. Draco moved his wandlight
closer and inspected them. Wow, this is some expensive stuff, he
thought, starting to grin. I wonder what the twins will think when they
see me all over their sister wearing this . . . .
A/N: You asked for it!!! Draco in leather!!! It'll
come more detailed in the next chapter!! Review, please, and I'll try to
get the "leather" chapter out ASAP. Okay, here are thanks to the reviewers.....
Burke (I rush home from school each day to write
and post!!!), Lady Ev (I like your reviews, I don't care if they are the
same!), Pepperjackcandy(D/G shippers are awesome! hee hee), Carrie (omg,
I TOTALLY agree with that sex thing. Reading about HP characters doing
"it" really disturbs me, dunno why, just does), Zoemma (twelve whole hours?!!!
AHHHH!), Archer (Why does Draco have to sound so damn sexy? Oh, and I'm
still waiting for more of Catenatus! that story is awesome), kitty devil
(wow, I take it you liked my story? lol), Aquaria (Ginny is with Draco,
don't worry, it's where she is supposed to be and will stay!), Anya Malfoy,
Alienchick (as always, you're still awesome), *~*GinnyPotter*~* (yes, Draco
in leather, it's coming!), Hermione M. Granger (hon, you don't know how
badly I'd love me some Draco), Amanda Mancini (Draco does not like to say
his feelings...and I hope I cleared the confusing parts up a little bit
for ya), AND Draco's Lil Angel (Draco has an angel? jk, of course).
Oookie dokie, that's all, I'm done, going to bed,
bye.