Title: Angel Standing By (Walk Away)
Author: Amanda Mancini (thefreakygeek@hotmail.com)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Drama
Summary: "I know exactly what it's like to try to
make someone notice you, to wish they'd just give you a little
praise to show they cared. But no matter what you do, no matter
how hard you try, he'll never notice, and he'll never care."
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K.
Rowling, Publishers, and Warner Bros. The song Angel Standing
By belongs to Jewel. Idea of 'grunge style robes' for the
Weird Sisters is from Heidi's Surfeit of Curses and used
without permission. No profit is being made from this piece of
fanfiction.
Author's Note: Dedicated to Sabrina Rosa Rodin, still my favourite cousin, as well
as all the members of DracoGinnyFanfic
and Penumbra_fic
for their help and support.
Chapter III: No regrets
Ginny opened her eyes, yawned, and pushed away the heavy bed covers when the realization hit her.
Christmas.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she stumbled to the foot of her bed and the pile of gifts resting there. From the bits of torn wrapping paper littering the floor of the empty dorm, she was right in assuming her room mates had already left.
Optimistically, Ginny smiled to herself as she picked up a lumpy package from the top of the pile, already knowing what was inside. A second later she found herself looking a one of her mother's infamous Weasley jumpers, her mind suddenly jumping to her brother and how much he hated them. If Ron really hated maroon so much, he could have just asked mum to change the color. Last year, Ginny had been laughed at because of the pink jumper her mother had sent. For this year, she'd politely asked for another color and was now happy to see that she'd received a soft white sweater instead of a pink one. Ginny changed out of her pajamas and pulled on her sweater along with the skirt of her robes. Looking in the mirror, she couldn't help but be reminded of Christmas... of snow. Along with the jumper, she found a tin box which actually felt cold. Opening it, she realised that it was actually refrigerating several pieces of her mother's cheesecake. Her mouth watered, but Ginny figured she'd be better of saving them for a rainy day. She hid them in the wardrobe behind a stack of boxes where she was sure no one would find them.
She was surprised to pull a very heavy rectangular gift from the pile. 'Hey Gin,' the card read. 'I remember you looking at this in Hogsmeade a while ago and hope you haven't read it yet. I can change it if you want. It's from Bill, Charlie, and Percy too. Happy Christmas! Love from Ron." Ripping open the parcel, she found herself staring at Journey of the Auror, all 4792 and 12/47 s of it. Hardcover and fully and magically illustrated. No wonder all of her brothers had pitched in for it: it had been incredibly expensive when she last saw it.
Ginny grunted as she picked it up and placed it on her bed, which sagged under it's weight. Although she was sorely tempted to begin reading but she still wanted to open her other gifts.
With that one unwrapped , her pile had become much smaller with only three packages left. She picked up the medium sized one which turned out to be a journal from her father with beautiful azure butterflies flying about the picture on the cover. 'Merry Christmas Ginny,' he'd written on the first page. 'I saw this and thought of you. It won't write back but it can still keep your secrets. Love Daddy.' Enclosed were instructions on how to teach the butterflies to recognize passwords.
Pushing away memories of her first year, Ginny shifted her attention to the largest of the boxes remaining and shook it.
Hmm... Sounds awfully full... I wonder who it's from?
Anxiously she opened the box but before she could get a look at what was inside, a deafening BOOM exploded from within it, covering her surroundings and herself in soot.
"FRED! GEORGE!" hollered Ginny at the top of her lungs, wiping black ash from her eyes. An overdose of cheering charms couldn't have made her brothers laugh any harder. They stumbled into her dorm room at the sound of the explosion (even though boys weren't allowed there) and Ginny glared accusingly at them.
"Merry Christmas!" they exclaimed loudly as they smothered her in a bone crushing monster hug before she could scold them.
"Did you like our present?" asked George. "You're the first person to have ever received a Weasley Whopper Whizzing Rocket!"
"Rocket?!" Ginny roared, muffled by her brother's elbow (yes, elbow.) "That thing almost killed me before I could get a look at it!
"No! Really?" George sounded disappointed. Fred's arms fell to his sides.
"Bollocks!" he swore. "We worked on that one for four months!"
"Too many salamander scales?" George suggested.
"Probably," his twin answered. "Ah well, thanks for telling is Ginny. When we perfect it, we'll get you another."
"Um.. uh... sure..." Why not? A rocket could be useful. Looking down and seeing the state of her new sweater, which was now charcoal gray, Ginny sighed inwardly and tried to brush herself off.
"So, did you open all of your presents yet?" Fred asked. George noticed his sister's useless attempts at tidying her clothing and tapped her forehead with his wand. Suddenly, with a noise that resembled a belch, Ginny actually saw the soot disappear from her sweater, hands, and tip of her nose. Smiling graciously, Ginny guessed that the spell was probably very handy for the twins when they'd been working on new gags.
"Yes," she answered Fred, grateful that he'd taken interest. "Wanna see?"
"Well I don't know... we're not supposed to be in the girls' dorms..." the red haired twin wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Ginny elbowed him to get that ridiculous expression off his face.
"The others won't be coming back anytime soon." She pointed out the different gifts she'd received that were now sitting on her bed.
"Whoa, George! Check out the size of this book!" George exclaimed upon noticing Journey of the Auror. "It's massive!"
Fred poked at it exaggeratedly. "Are you taking up body building, Gin?"
"No!" Ginny slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. Of course they'd think that's why she'd get such a large book. "I was going to read it."
"Thinking about being an auror, then?" George asked innocently. Flushing, Ginny mumbled something incomprehensible.
"What was that?" Fred teased.
"Don't tell mum."
Fred and George looked at each other and smiled understandingly. "Don't worry, we won't. So long as you don't tell mum about Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. We're both in the same boat." Her brothers had almost walked out the door when George pointed out a small package at the foot of her bed.
"You forgot one," he said. Ginny picked it up, the package fitting in the palm of her hand.
"Open it! Open it!" urged Fred annoyingly. The twins stared over her shoulders - literally. Their chins dug in her shoulders and made it hard to move her arms. They oohed and ahhed as she unwrapped the jewelry box to reveal a delicate gold chain on which there was a gold ring. On the front face of the ping was a beautiful flower composed of different sized rubies and diamonds, and engraved into the ring next to it, a symbol that resembled an 'M'.
"What's that M thing?" Fred asked curiously?
"It's the symbol of Virgo," Ginny answered breathlessly. "That's my zodiac sign..."
"Who sent you that?" George wondered out loud.
"I have no idea..." Ginny couldn't find a card.
"Ooh, it's shiny," Fred murmured.
"I want it."
"Can I have it?"
"No, can I?"
"Shut up George! I asked first!"
"I'm not George, you're George!"
"No, you are!"
How typical. Ginny rolled her eyes and pushed her bickering brothers off of her. They stopped, however, when they saw her put the necklace on and were considerate enough add in a few wolf whistles and cat calls.
Brothers, Ginny thought as she blushed, who needs them?
The holidays passed so slowly it was as if they were just trying to torture her. Things took a turn for the worst when Ginny had walked into her dorm room to find all the fourth year girls had 'found' a tin of cheesecake in the wardrobe, and since they all shared the wardrobe, they'd all share the cakes. Of course, there hadn't been a single crumb left for Ginny. Trying desperately to hold back the tears, Ginny had just walked away and acted like it didn't bother her.
Since then, she just found it easier to retreat to the common room with her book rather then deal with them. She knew no one would bother her there, what with her brothers around and all. She rarely left her chair by the fire unless she was eating in the Great Hall. Ron actually had the nerve to say she was becoming too much like Hermione.
Privately, Ginny wondered that if she'd be more like Hermione, would they pay more attention to her? It seemed like her fantasy that they'd all be 'friends' was short lived. They hadn't talked to her after the ball, not even about it. They probably hadn't even noticed that-
That's when Ginny stopped herself.
Everytime she thought of the ball, she thought about him, and she tried to think as little about him as possible. Even though it felt like she thought of him all the time.
When school started in mid-January, it almost seemed like the Slytherins had gotten nastier They must have really hated being forced to stay at the school over the holiday, because by the end of it, they were almost going out of their way to cause trouble.That evening, there Ginny had been, standing in a crowd of Gryffindors when all of a sudden two people began pushing themselves through the crowd when they could have easily just walked around.
"Make way, coming through, move it!" The crowd divided and shuffled aside, grumbling. "Clear the way! MOVE!"
"Excuse me," a voice whispered into her ear. With a flash of silver blond, Ginny's hazel eyes locked onto a pair of silver ones. Draco gave a subtle smile as he put took her upper shoulders into his hands and pushed her out of the way, far more gently then he had the others. She felts his hands linger for a moment, but in a second he was gone, leading the other Slytherin he was with down towards the dungeons. Ginny looked around nervously and was thankful no one had noticed their exchange. Timidly, Ginny made her way back to Gryffindor Tower where she was inspired to take a look at that journal...
"Hey Ginny, what are you doing?"
"Writing in my journal?"
"I swear, you're becoming more of a bookworm every day," Ron shook his head in the disbelief of seeing his sister sitting in the common room with a book again."Why don't you go do something?"
"I am doing something," Ginny answered as calmly as she could, her grip tightening on her quill.
"Well, somthing fun?"
"To me this is fun, Ron. Leave me alone."
"Hey... What's that around your neck? Where'd you get that necklace?"
"None of your buisness."
"Ginny-"
"Just shut up!" she snorted sourly.
"Fine, be that way! You never want to talk-"
Furiously, Ginny snapped her diary shut and picked up her quill and inkwell. "I never want to talk? Me?" She let out an exhasperated wheeze and just stormed out of the common room without wasting another word on her brother.
Me? Never wanting to talk! Bloody git! I try, I really do! ... Way to go, Gin. Now everyone things you're a psychopath loner... Why can't he just leave me alone? If he doesn't want to be with me when his friends are around, he shouldn't use me when he's got no one else to talk to...
Ginny, most of all, couldn't reason why at one moment he didn't care, and the next he was sticking his nose in her buisness. Quite frankly, she'd rather he ignore her than be so nozy.
Of course, now Ginny had to find a new place to write and the Great Hall and the Library were out of the question since Ron would find her there, not to mention it was getting awfully late. Remembering her prankster brothers, she made her way to the kitchens and was thankful the Fred and George had let her in on it's secret. She was surprised to be greeted by several house elves once the portrait of fruit closed behind her. They all looked up at her eagerly.
"Erm.. can I have some... cheese please?" She blushed imagning how foolish she must have sounded. The strange looking creatures didn't seem to notice. "What kinds, miss? Squares or slices? Would you likes a drink, miss?"
"Oh..." she hadn't expected for the to be so much choice. "Swiss, please. Slices. With some pumpkin juice?" They nodded and were off in a flash. Ginny looked around awkwardly, unused to having people do things for her like that. She walked to the other side of the room and sat down on the floor against the wall, near a warm wood stove. The house elves returned in a matter of seconds unveiling a silver platter with her 'order'. Thanking them heartilly, she popped a slice in her mouth, opened her journal, dipped her quill in her inkwell and began to write.
'... Life's a lot like swiss cheese, I think. It tastes good but it's filled with holes and no one knows how they got there. And those holes waste valuable cheese space...'
Ginny smiled at the funny little drabble and had another bite of her snack. I like cheese.. it's certainly better than-"
"Fetch me some olives." Ginny was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of someone speaking. All I wanted was some privacy. If they followed me...
Yuck. Olives. Wait... I know that voice...
Looking up from her corner, Ginny found herself staring at the Slytherin who she'd collided with that afternoon. She was thankful he couldn't see her.
"We be just a second. Is you sitting with miss?"
"With whom?"
Ginny groaned and cursed the elf who just pointed her out. Malfoy wheeled around and looked genuinely shocked when he saw her there.
"Ginny..." Suddenly, he recomposed himself, smirking. The sudden change of face startled the Gryffindor. "If it isn't little Weasley. What are you doing up this late?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
"You're right, you could," he said. "I didn't expect to find you here. Potter and your brother, maybe, but not you. Or are they here hiding under that bleeding invisiblity cloak?"
"Invisibility cloak?!" Ginny dropped her journal in surprise.
"Never mind," Draco chuckled as he nodded his head towards the book on the floor. "What's that?"
"It's a... a journal," Ginny mumbled as she picked it up with a tight grip so there'd be no way he could snatch it from her. "I came here for some privacy."
"It's hard to find privacy in this school," Draco said solemnly. "There's always someone trying to get in your buisness."
It was at that moment a house elf arrived with a bowl. Draco took it from the creature without even looking in it's direction. The elf bowed and dissapeared from sight in the blink of an eye.
"Well, I suppose I should get going," he said. His face, as always, was expressionless, but his voice seemed to give away a hint of reluctance. Ginny could hardly believe it, or what she found herself saying next.
"You don't have to leave yet."
I can't believe I just said that.
Draco looked at her for a moment as if weighing his options, but then walked towards her and down next to her on the floor.
And then there was silence. The awkward annoying kind.
"Can I have an olive?" Ginny asked, just to break it.
"I thought you said you didn't like them," he answered. Ginny whipped her head and looked at him and Draco's eyes widened in fear. He'd just given himself, and the ball, away, and Ginny knew it.
"It's an aquired taste," she answered with a straight face as she threw the olive in her mouth and swallowed it. It still tasted horrible, but this time she was able to hide it.
"Uh..."
It was the first time Ginny had ever seen Draco speechless. She didn't quite know what to make of it, so she just looked at him patiently, and waited for the words to come.
"I knew it was you for the most part," she said after a few minutes, surprised at her own courage. "Those boys who are aways with you, Crabbe and Goyle, they though I was Pansy Parkinson and came to talk to me while you were getting drinks."
"Idiots," me mumbled under his breath.
"Why?" she asked sharply. "You didn't want me to find out?"
"Not like that," he answered, lifting his gaze to meet her eyes.
"Do you regret it?" Ginny's voice returned to it's calm state.
"I never regret anything I do," he replied, hs eyes never leaving hers. Without warning, he raised his hand, lifted her chin and kissed her affectionately on the mouth. The world blurred, and Ginny closed her eyes to keep herself thinking straight. It wasn't bad at all, she thought. Not at all like her mother had explained the hormone crazed attempts of teenage boys. Gently, Draco pulled way ever so slightly.
"Except," he began, his voice low, "that I lost my nerve and didn't do that at the end of the ball. That I do regret."
Ginny shakily opened her eyes, partially surprised at what she'd heard. But only partially. Afterall, she remembered, hadn't she also at times hoped he'd kiss her during the ball?
"Do you visit the kitchens a lot?" he asked, as he changed positions and was now sitting at her side again, only a little closer, so that his shoulder was touching hers. It was a simple question.
"No, this was my first time."
"Mine too," he admitted. "But maybe I should come here more often."
I thank you, the readers, and invite you to leave a review with what you think or if you have any suggestions. I could always use some ideas....
Special thanks to the reviewers of Chapter III: dreamer_girl, sakura, summer_thyme, Lily Shouk, HD luvs TY-kun, Ninsetta Tristel Sundar, Gemini Mari Finnalle, Evlasha, Euterpe, princess of mordor, *~*Eiez*~*, Aurora de la Noche, Jaxx, ~AngelFairy~, Rebecca, HPReader4L, Ann H Lin, jelly bean, Nayanya potter.
