Now, Then And Forever
A/N: Review! You know the
drill.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter
characters are J. K. Rowling's. I'm just a crazed Potter maniac who wants to
pass her time. The chapter title comes from Anastasia. The song Rasputin sings.
For some weird reason, I rather like it.
Draco couldn't sleep. It wasn't the rather lumpy bed, or even the fact that the 'New Ginny Weasley' was sleeping in the room next to him. It wasn't the shock of seeing the 'New Ginny' nor the fact that he'd started to have feelings that he really shouldn't be feeling. It was force of habit. He had always been a very light sleeper. The slightest creak could wake him. Maybe it came from his childhood, lying awake at night while his father had meetings with his 'friends'. He wouldn't know. Of course he had tried using potions and spells. But he found that though he did manage to sleep, he couldn't get up the next morning. Then he found out about Muggle coffee. Now he had a routine where he sat up at night, drinking coffee. It did not help him sleep, rather it kept him up, but was better than wondering around the house half-asleep and half-awake. He hoped Ginny had some coffee around.
He found a small container and a mug. He muttered a spell and the water started to boil. He had just settled comfortably down on the chair in the kitchen when he heard soft footsteps. He turned around to find Ginny standing there. In her oversized T-shirt with a bear on it and her red hair cascading down her back - not partly pulled up as it had been before - he could almost see the original Ginny showing through. The timid, shy, shadow of a person that mooned over Potter.
"Hey. What are you doing up?"
He motioned for her to sit down. "Couldn't sleep. Never can sleep, actually. Did I wake you up?"
"Nope," she sat down on the chair next to him. Her posture and the way she sat immediately removed the previous image of her he had gained. She had swung the chair the other way round, it's back facing the table and when she sat down, had placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on the hands. "I couldn't go to sleep. So I finished my book and listened to a couple of songs. Then I heard you come down and decided to join you. You don't mind, do you?"
"Why should I mind?"
"It's just that..." Ginny suddenly laughed - a very pretty laugh, Draco thought absentmindedly. "If someone had told me five years ago that I would be sitting here with you of all people, I would have laughed at them. And if someone had told me that Draco Malfoy could ever be relatively nice to me – a Weasley – I would have sent them straight to St. Mungo's. But then here we are."
"Yeah. Here we are."
Ginny suddenly jumped up from her seat and pulled on Draco's arm. "Come sit on the sofa. It's a lot more comfortable." She parked herself on the sofa and pulled him down next to her. "Hey, why did you need my wand, anyway?"
"If I told you that that was just a ruse to be able to see you again because I liked you terribly at Hogwarts, would you believe me?"
Ginny studied his face and saw his mischievous look. "Maybe. You like me, huh?"
"Maybe."
Ginny hit his arm playfully, "Then no, I wouldn't believe you."
He put on a sad face and placed his hand over his heart. "You've hurt me terribly."
"Horribly sorry. But you're avoiding the subject. Why?"
Draco sighed. But she was right; he had been avoiding the subject. Though there was some truth in what he had said about liking her, perhaps just not in Hogwarts. "Some crazy wizards. They reckon that they can resurrect Him with a wand that was present during his fall. Load of cr – er... rubbish, but there you have it. The other wands have been locked inside a special safe. Dumbledore's personally making sure they're all safe."
"And you were sent to retrieve mine," she stated, matter-of-factly.
"Right. You've asked your question, my turn. Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Ask whatever you like. Whether I answer depends on the question."
"What made you leave?" Ginny clamped her lips tightly together. "Look, I'm just asking because there were a flurry of reasons and rumors then, and I always just wondered."
"I thought you didn't care about Weasleys. I thought we were too poor, not worth your damn time."
"I didn't say that," he retorted, getting angry and annoyed.
"Damn you, you know. Here I am, thinking that you could be remotely nice when you ask a stupid and personal question."
"You said I could!"
"Don't be a bloody git!"
"You don't be a bloody git! And you talk about me, look at yourself. Are you even Ginny Weasley anymore? Hell, I bet your own parents would freak if they saw you. How do you know they even care about you?"
"Been there, done that," Ginny muttered sullenly, but that didn't stop him from noticing the tears at the corner of her eyelids. She leant back on the sofa and shut her eyes. He took in her appearance, from her mused hair to her painted toenails. She was who she was. Which Ginny that was, he had no right to question her. He took her hand.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm terribly, terribly sorry. I had no right to-"
"Heck, it's not all your fault. I shouldn't have gone off at you that way." She opened her eyes and smiled at him.
"So why did you-"
"No."
"But I just-"
"No."
"Hey, I just wanted to-"
"Don't push your luck, all right."
"Sorry," he muttered, rather disappointed that he hadn't managed to solve 'The Great Weasley Mystery'. But then she had to go and lean her head on his shoulder, and come really close to him.
"Hey, maybe I'll tell you one day. When I'm sure you won't disappear suddenly and go sell the story to The Daily Prophet. I'd like you to stick around for a little while, thanks."
"You want me to stick around for a while?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I do."
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Review, review!