Disclaimer: I own nothing!!!!!
~***~ ^_^ ~***~
7. Denial
~***~
"What are you doing out here on a day like this?"
Ginny turned away from her contemplation of the soggy Quidditch Pitch and sighed when she saw Draco standing a few feet away, looking warm and dry in his hooded black cloak despite the heavily falling rain. Leave it to Draco to come and spoil her time alone - she didn't really mind, though. She hadn't spoken to him in two weeks.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm practicing." She put her broom over her shoulder and took a few tentative steps closer to him. The snow was melting from the rain, but it was making the ground icy.
"It looks like you're practicing getting soaking wet, if you ask me," he drawled.
"It's just a little rain - besides, it's the one thing I've found I can do around here without someone jumping on my ass about it." It was true too; Harry had been falling all over himself to apologize for his behavior the night of the ball, and he taken to 'helping' her with everything. Hermione had been pressing her to make up her mind about Draco and Harry, and Ron had been shooting her dirty looks for days, which, when she thought about it, wasn't really so out of the ordinary…
~***~
Draco watched, as she turned away and bent over to retrieve a practice Quaffle from the ground - she was wearing her Quidditch practice robes, and the worn, wet fabric outlined her backside in a rather distracting manner.
Speaking of jumping on things -
Whoa, down boy, Draco thought to himself wryly.
He tried to distract himself by insulting her - and promptly discovered the extent of her temper.
She turned around and planted a fist in his gut.
All of the air went out of him in a whoosh and he bent over at the waist, hands clutching his abdomen.
Ginny stalked off without a backwards glance.
When had she gotten so bloody violent?
~***~
Ginny only made it about halfway across the pitch before she sighed in disgust, turned around and headed right back to him.
He was still bent over, and she felt horrible for hitting him like she had.
"Draco, I'm sorry - are you all right?"
He looked up at her, and snapped, "Fine." Two bright pink spots burned high on his cheeks.
Ginny bit her lip and laid her broom down. "Geez, I said I was sorry…"
"And I said I was fine," Draco grumbled, rubbing his abdomen.
"You don't sound, 'fine'."
He glared at her. "I'm fine."
"All right, all right…did you come out here for a reason?" Ginny watched as his opal colored eyes narrowed even further.
"If you're asking if I was suddenly overcome by the insane urge to see you, no," he snarled impatiently.
"Then why are you here? Have you made it your lot in life to annoy me as much as possible?"
"You're such a liar - you love me, remember? You find me irresistible, not annoying." He straightened and smirked smugly.
"No, I'm afraid I can find you both irresistible, and annoying, Draco." Ginny smiled at him almost bitterly. His foot was planted firmly in the center of her heart, and she couldn't do anything about it.
"Prove it."
Her smile fell. "What?"
Draco looked at her expressionlessly. 'Prove it." He crossed his arms and took several steps toward her. "Do you realize…in all the time since you professed your 'love' for me, you've hardly kissed me - on the lips, that is…the neck doesn't count,'
Ginny's cheeks burned. "You –" she choked and had to start again. 'Y - you were awake during that?"
"Mm - hmm."
"Oh."
She took a cleansing breath of the cold, wet air and took a hesitant step forward.
"How do I know you aren't just teasing me?"
Draco laughed mockingly. "Right - I am many things, Ginny…but no one has yet accused me of being a 'tease'."
"Oh, so you're saying you've had a lot of experience, then?" For some reason the thought made her furious.
"More than you, obviously-are you going to kiss me, or not? I don't have all day."
Ginny moved up against him and stared up into his piercing eyes. "A - are you sure? I mean - I'm sopping wet.'
"Really?" His hands pulled her closer, and he opened his cloak to pull her inside, shielding her from the rain.
'Really, I - I'm soaking - I'll get you all soggy -" her voice trailed off as he put a fingertip to her cheek and then pushed his hand into her wet curls.
'Kiss me, Ginny…you know you want to…"
Ginny shivered violently, staring up at his lips. "Draco…"
"I'm standing right here," he said wryly, arching a brow.
"You scare me, you know…'
'Why?" He watched her with mild interest.
"You make me think of things - want things, that I know can never be." She dropped her forehead against his chest, and closed her eyes. His chest was warm and dry, and hard-she could feel his heart beating strongly against her. He took a sharp breath, and his chest rose. "You made me think the sun rose in your eyes, as pathetically lame as it sounds…have you ever wanted something so bad it hurt?"
"I don't have to answer that…do you want me to apologize? Because, you know, I didn't ask you to fall in love with me - I warned you…is it my fault that the Malfoy men have ingrained charm?"
Ginny shook her head, and raised her head to look at him. "Ingrained conceit is more like it."
"Well," he sighed, shaking his head regretfully, "If you're not going to kiss me, I'll just give you your message and be on my way -"
Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged his head down to hers.
"Why don't 'you' kiss 'me'?"
He pulled his head back. "My God, you're stubborn."
"You're just now figuring that out? You really need to talk to Ron."
"You speak as if you think I'm going to actually be spending time around you," he murmured, staring at her lips.
"I don't think anything - but I guess I'll run the risk of you rubbing it in my face later." Ginny's heart thudded against her chest as she laid her lips along one cheekbone, hearing his slight intake of breath- and then pressed small, lingering kisses across it until she met the corner of his lips.
Her knees went weak and she got shy suddenly. Ginny tucked her head into his throat and she heard him make a growl of frustration.
"Jesus, you 'must' be a bloody virgin," he snarled, and then grabbed her by the chin and forced her head up to meet his lips.
She was unprepared for the pressure of his mouth on hers, and she had to tangle her hands into the collar of his robes to keep her balance.
Just as quickly as he'd grabbed her, he put her away from him.
"You know…Quidditch really isn't a woman's sport."
Ginny blinked, the cool rain falling against her face gain.
"What?"
"You heard me – a man doesn't want to see a woman doing a man's job unless she's wearing a bikini – or nothing at all. I know you think of yourself as being good enough to play for England after school, but you'll never make it."
Ginny closed her eyes and shook her head, wondering why she was reeling from the insult – she shouldn't have been surprised. Every time she got close to him she ended up getting pushed away.
"You're beginning to sound repetitive, you know," she tried to say carelessly as she walked to her broom. "Up!"
The broom flew into her waiting hand, and she started to walk away.
A few moments later, she heard him walking beside her.
"I never told you what I came all the way out here to."
"Well, what is it?" She jumped across a particularly large mud puddle, teetered, and grabbed Draco's cloak to keep her balance.
Unprepared for the weight on his shoulder, he jerked toward her, loosing his footing.
Ginny shrieked as she fell back into the puddle, and she heard Draco bellow in outrage as he landed on his back next to her.
An icy, slushy wave of mud cascaded over them, and she looked down at her robes after a moment, as she sat up.
Draco sat up next to her – he seemed to have gotten the worst of it. He pushed his sopping, filthy hair from his pale eyes, which looked startlingly bright against the grime.
Ginny winced. "Er, I'm…sorry?"
He narrowed his eyes.
She smiled at him prettily.
His white teeth flashed menacingly as he bared them at her.
She swallowed and lifted one arm to stare at the mud dripping from her robe sleeve.
"Why does this feel so familiar?"
Draco pushed himself to his feet. "You may be used to wallowing around in the dirt, Weasley, but I certainly am not!"
She smiled dryly as his feet slipped out from underneath him and he landed on his back again.
"Oh, but you're so good at it," she murmured, standing up carefully.
He growled.
"Oh, come on, stand up you great prat," she held out her hand and helped him up.
Ginny used a clean corner of her robe to wipe some of the mud from his face when they were safely away from the puddle.
He stepped away from her with a frown.
"I don't think I'll ever understand you. I can say the most horrible things to you, and you still act like…as if…"
"I love you?"
He scowled at her and she turned to retrieve her broom again.
"McGonagall caught me in the hall and told me to come remind you that you've got detention with her in an hour."
She sighed. "Oh, hell…I do." Ginny started walking back to the castle.
"What did you do to offend the old harridan?" He called, sounding curious, from behind her.
She paused, and looked back at him over her shoulder. "I suppose it was because I told her to sod off when she called me up to her desk yesterday to tell me my grades were failing. She hinted that she'd have to take me off the team…and then made some remark about letting you distract me…"
He shook some more mud from his cloak and began walking toward her.
"Are you?"
"Of course not…"
"Because it would be a pity if Gryffindor's star Chaser got thrown off the team before the championship match…"
"You'd laugh your ass, off, Draco," Ginny snapped, and began moving away again.
"I'd hate for you to not be there for me to catch again," he said sarcastically. "You were oh so entertaining."
"Well, if you're trying to piss me off, Draco, it's working!" She called over her shoulder.
"What makes you think Slytherin is going to make it to the championship match anyway?"
"What makes you think we aren't?"
"I may love you dearly, if not blindly, but even I can see you aren't the best Seeker in the world, Draco…"
"So you doubt my abilities, do you?"
Ginny rolled her eyes in frustration and stopped to turn and look at him again.
"What are you getting at?"
Draco walked up to her, anger glinting in his eyes – he would have looked more threatening if he hadn't been covered in mud.
Ginny blinked against the rain. "Well?"
"How about we make a little wager, Weasel?"
"You know betting isn't allowed."
"Telling the teachers to 'sod off' isn't allowed, either, you know…"
She narrowed her eyes. "All right – what did you have in mind?"
"I'll bet you, Slytherin will play Gryffindor for the cup – and that Slytherin will win."
Ginny laughed. "Right…okay…what do you want if you 'win'?"
"You'll never look my way again…or speak to me. I don't even want to be able to hear your voice when you're around."
"As if I really ever 'bug' you now!" She complained angrily. "You conceited rat–"
"You're driving me insane! I can never make up my bloody mind about you – first I want to kiss you, then I want curse you – and I end up kissing you, again! I really don't want anything to do with you!"
He took a deep breath, and glowered down at her.
"Then why don't you just ignore me? You've done a pretty good job of it the past few weeks!"
"Because you bloody people won't let me! Look at McGonagall, acting as if I were your frigging boy friend, telling me to pass along messages to you! I get within five feet of you and we end up snogging!"
"You may want to stop being so stubborn and take the hint!"
"I – do – not – love – you!"
"So you keep saying!"
"Do you agree or not?" He snapped impatiently. "I have better things I could be doing!"
Deeply hurt, Ginny bit her lip. It took her a moment to be able to speak. "All right, then…and if I win…you have to be my 'faithful' boyfriend for…let's say, a month…that includes you having to sit with me, and carrying my books…attending to my every wish." She smiled at him smugly. If he truly felt that way about her, it'd be absolute torture for him. She might even be able to convince him he did love her…
He made a properly disgusted noise and thought for a moment. "Oh, all right – it won't happen anyway." He looked at his watch and then smirked up at her, his eyes narrowing so that they almost disappeared.
"You're late, by the way."
Ginny gritted her teeth and spun away.
"Good luck staying on the team, Ginny," Draco snickered from behind her.
~***~
TBC
~***~ ^_^ ~***~
7. Denial
~***~
"What are you doing out here on a day like this?"
Ginny turned away from her contemplation of the soggy Quidditch Pitch and sighed when she saw Draco standing a few feet away, looking warm and dry in his hooded black cloak despite the heavily falling rain. Leave it to Draco to come and spoil her time alone - she didn't really mind, though. She hadn't spoken to him in two weeks.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm practicing." She put her broom over her shoulder and took a few tentative steps closer to him. The snow was melting from the rain, but it was making the ground icy.
"It looks like you're practicing getting soaking wet, if you ask me," he drawled.
"It's just a little rain - besides, it's the one thing I've found I can do around here without someone jumping on my ass about it." It was true too; Harry had been falling all over himself to apologize for his behavior the night of the ball, and he taken to 'helping' her with everything. Hermione had been pressing her to make up her mind about Draco and Harry, and Ron had been shooting her dirty looks for days, which, when she thought about it, wasn't really so out of the ordinary…
~***~
Draco watched, as she turned away and bent over to retrieve a practice Quaffle from the ground - she was wearing her Quidditch practice robes, and the worn, wet fabric outlined her backside in a rather distracting manner.
Speaking of jumping on things -
Whoa, down boy, Draco thought to himself wryly.
He tried to distract himself by insulting her - and promptly discovered the extent of her temper.
She turned around and planted a fist in his gut.
All of the air went out of him in a whoosh and he bent over at the waist, hands clutching his abdomen.
Ginny stalked off without a backwards glance.
When had she gotten so bloody violent?
~***~
Ginny only made it about halfway across the pitch before she sighed in disgust, turned around and headed right back to him.
He was still bent over, and she felt horrible for hitting him like she had.
"Draco, I'm sorry - are you all right?"
He looked up at her, and snapped, "Fine." Two bright pink spots burned high on his cheeks.
Ginny bit her lip and laid her broom down. "Geez, I said I was sorry…"
"And I said I was fine," Draco grumbled, rubbing his abdomen.
"You don't sound, 'fine'."
He glared at her. "I'm fine."
"All right, all right…did you come out here for a reason?" Ginny watched as his opal colored eyes narrowed even further.
"If you're asking if I was suddenly overcome by the insane urge to see you, no," he snarled impatiently.
"Then why are you here? Have you made it your lot in life to annoy me as much as possible?"
"You're such a liar - you love me, remember? You find me irresistible, not annoying." He straightened and smirked smugly.
"No, I'm afraid I can find you both irresistible, and annoying, Draco." Ginny smiled at him almost bitterly. His foot was planted firmly in the center of her heart, and she couldn't do anything about it.
"Prove it."
Her smile fell. "What?"
Draco looked at her expressionlessly. 'Prove it." He crossed his arms and took several steps toward her. "Do you realize…in all the time since you professed your 'love' for me, you've hardly kissed me - on the lips, that is…the neck doesn't count,'
Ginny's cheeks burned. "You –" she choked and had to start again. 'Y - you were awake during that?"
"Mm - hmm."
"Oh."
She took a cleansing breath of the cold, wet air and took a hesitant step forward.
"How do I know you aren't just teasing me?"
Draco laughed mockingly. "Right - I am many things, Ginny…but no one has yet accused me of being a 'tease'."
"Oh, so you're saying you've had a lot of experience, then?" For some reason the thought made her furious.
"More than you, obviously-are you going to kiss me, or not? I don't have all day."
Ginny moved up against him and stared up into his piercing eyes. "A - are you sure? I mean - I'm sopping wet.'
"Really?" His hands pulled her closer, and he opened his cloak to pull her inside, shielding her from the rain.
'Really, I - I'm soaking - I'll get you all soggy -" her voice trailed off as he put a fingertip to her cheek and then pushed his hand into her wet curls.
'Kiss me, Ginny…you know you want to…"
Ginny shivered violently, staring up at his lips. "Draco…"
"I'm standing right here," he said wryly, arching a brow.
"You scare me, you know…'
'Why?" He watched her with mild interest.
"You make me think of things - want things, that I know can never be." She dropped her forehead against his chest, and closed her eyes. His chest was warm and dry, and hard-she could feel his heart beating strongly against her. He took a sharp breath, and his chest rose. "You made me think the sun rose in your eyes, as pathetically lame as it sounds…have you ever wanted something so bad it hurt?"
"I don't have to answer that…do you want me to apologize? Because, you know, I didn't ask you to fall in love with me - I warned you…is it my fault that the Malfoy men have ingrained charm?"
Ginny shook her head, and raised her head to look at him. "Ingrained conceit is more like it."
"Well," he sighed, shaking his head regretfully, "If you're not going to kiss me, I'll just give you your message and be on my way -"
Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged his head down to hers.
"Why don't 'you' kiss 'me'?"
He pulled his head back. "My God, you're stubborn."
"You're just now figuring that out? You really need to talk to Ron."
"You speak as if you think I'm going to actually be spending time around you," he murmured, staring at her lips.
"I don't think anything - but I guess I'll run the risk of you rubbing it in my face later." Ginny's heart thudded against her chest as she laid her lips along one cheekbone, hearing his slight intake of breath- and then pressed small, lingering kisses across it until she met the corner of his lips.
Her knees went weak and she got shy suddenly. Ginny tucked her head into his throat and she heard him make a growl of frustration.
"Jesus, you 'must' be a bloody virgin," he snarled, and then grabbed her by the chin and forced her head up to meet his lips.
She was unprepared for the pressure of his mouth on hers, and she had to tangle her hands into the collar of his robes to keep her balance.
Just as quickly as he'd grabbed her, he put her away from him.
"You know…Quidditch really isn't a woman's sport."
Ginny blinked, the cool rain falling against her face gain.
"What?"
"You heard me – a man doesn't want to see a woman doing a man's job unless she's wearing a bikini – or nothing at all. I know you think of yourself as being good enough to play for England after school, but you'll never make it."
Ginny closed her eyes and shook her head, wondering why she was reeling from the insult – she shouldn't have been surprised. Every time she got close to him she ended up getting pushed away.
"You're beginning to sound repetitive, you know," she tried to say carelessly as she walked to her broom. "Up!"
The broom flew into her waiting hand, and she started to walk away.
A few moments later, she heard him walking beside her.
"I never told you what I came all the way out here to."
"Well, what is it?" She jumped across a particularly large mud puddle, teetered, and grabbed Draco's cloak to keep her balance.
Unprepared for the weight on his shoulder, he jerked toward her, loosing his footing.
Ginny shrieked as she fell back into the puddle, and she heard Draco bellow in outrage as he landed on his back next to her.
An icy, slushy wave of mud cascaded over them, and she looked down at her robes after a moment, as she sat up.
Draco sat up next to her – he seemed to have gotten the worst of it. He pushed his sopping, filthy hair from his pale eyes, which looked startlingly bright against the grime.
Ginny winced. "Er, I'm…sorry?"
He narrowed his eyes.
She smiled at him prettily.
His white teeth flashed menacingly as he bared them at her.
She swallowed and lifted one arm to stare at the mud dripping from her robe sleeve.
"Why does this feel so familiar?"
Draco pushed himself to his feet. "You may be used to wallowing around in the dirt, Weasley, but I certainly am not!"
She smiled dryly as his feet slipped out from underneath him and he landed on his back again.
"Oh, but you're so good at it," she murmured, standing up carefully.
He growled.
"Oh, come on, stand up you great prat," she held out her hand and helped him up.
Ginny used a clean corner of her robe to wipe some of the mud from his face when they were safely away from the puddle.
He stepped away from her with a frown.
"I don't think I'll ever understand you. I can say the most horrible things to you, and you still act like…as if…"
"I love you?"
He scowled at her and she turned to retrieve her broom again.
"McGonagall caught me in the hall and told me to come remind you that you've got detention with her in an hour."
She sighed. "Oh, hell…I do." Ginny started walking back to the castle.
"What did you do to offend the old harridan?" He called, sounding curious, from behind her.
She paused, and looked back at him over her shoulder. "I suppose it was because I told her to sod off when she called me up to her desk yesterday to tell me my grades were failing. She hinted that she'd have to take me off the team…and then made some remark about letting you distract me…"
He shook some more mud from his cloak and began walking toward her.
"Are you?"
"Of course not…"
"Because it would be a pity if Gryffindor's star Chaser got thrown off the team before the championship match…"
"You'd laugh your ass, off, Draco," Ginny snapped, and began moving away again.
"I'd hate for you to not be there for me to catch again," he said sarcastically. "You were oh so entertaining."
"Well, if you're trying to piss me off, Draco, it's working!" She called over her shoulder.
"What makes you think Slytherin is going to make it to the championship match anyway?"
"What makes you think we aren't?"
"I may love you dearly, if not blindly, but even I can see you aren't the best Seeker in the world, Draco…"
"So you doubt my abilities, do you?"
Ginny rolled her eyes in frustration and stopped to turn and look at him again.
"What are you getting at?"
Draco walked up to her, anger glinting in his eyes – he would have looked more threatening if he hadn't been covered in mud.
Ginny blinked against the rain. "Well?"
"How about we make a little wager, Weasel?"
"You know betting isn't allowed."
"Telling the teachers to 'sod off' isn't allowed, either, you know…"
She narrowed her eyes. "All right – what did you have in mind?"
"I'll bet you, Slytherin will play Gryffindor for the cup – and that Slytherin will win."
Ginny laughed. "Right…okay…what do you want if you 'win'?"
"You'll never look my way again…or speak to me. I don't even want to be able to hear your voice when you're around."
"As if I really ever 'bug' you now!" She complained angrily. "You conceited rat–"
"You're driving me insane! I can never make up my bloody mind about you – first I want to kiss you, then I want curse you – and I end up kissing you, again! I really don't want anything to do with you!"
He took a deep breath, and glowered down at her.
"Then why don't you just ignore me? You've done a pretty good job of it the past few weeks!"
"Because you bloody people won't let me! Look at McGonagall, acting as if I were your frigging boy friend, telling me to pass along messages to you! I get within five feet of you and we end up snogging!"
"You may want to stop being so stubborn and take the hint!"
"I – do – not – love – you!"
"So you keep saying!"
"Do you agree or not?" He snapped impatiently. "I have better things I could be doing!"
Deeply hurt, Ginny bit her lip. It took her a moment to be able to speak. "All right, then…and if I win…you have to be my 'faithful' boyfriend for…let's say, a month…that includes you having to sit with me, and carrying my books…attending to my every wish." She smiled at him smugly. If he truly felt that way about her, it'd be absolute torture for him. She might even be able to convince him he did love her…
He made a properly disgusted noise and thought for a moment. "Oh, all right – it won't happen anyway." He looked at his watch and then smirked up at her, his eyes narrowing so that they almost disappeared.
"You're late, by the way."
Ginny gritted her teeth and spun away.
"Good luck staying on the team, Ginny," Draco snickered from behind her.
~***~
TBC