Ginny got to the charms classroom early. She was nervous about
meeting her secret admirer, but she was also very curious. I wonder who he
is, she thought to herself, I can't wait to see him. She walked into the
classroom. There were footprints in the dust leading up to an unused desk.
On the desk, there was another note. I can't believe he didn't show, Ginny
thought. She grabbed the note and read it anyway.
Hello my love. I am glad you came. I apologize that I couldn't be with you tonight. I felt that you should sweat a little before you discovered my identity. I hope that you aren't angry. I want you to know how beautiful you are. I wish that I could look at your gorgeous features all day long. I will tell you where to meet me again with a note. Please keep coming, it shows that you are as wonderful as you appear.
Love, Your Secret Admirer
Ginny couldn't believe it. She was angry, but anxious for the next note. She desperately wanted to meet this secret admirer. Alanna should feel ashamed. It could be dangerous, she said. Well, there wasn't anyone here, Ginny thought. She walked out into the hall again after checking that no one was there. She was careful while walking along the hall, hiding from Mrs. Norris twice. She was finally getting close to the tower and she wasn't paying as much attention as she should have so she almost ran into Peeves. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on your point of view, Malfoy pulled her behind a suit of armor.
"What are you doing here?" Ginny snapped in a whisper.
"I could ask the same of you," he replied.
"Fine I don't care, but why did you bother to get me out of trouble?"
"I didn't want to get caught if a teacher came down here."
"Okay, could you maybe not hold me so tightly against the wall."
"Oh, sorry," he said, backing off a little so she wasn't sandwiched so tightly between him and the stone wall.
"Thanks. How long do you think we'll have to wait for Peeves?"
"Shouldn't be too long, he's been at it for a while already. So what were you doing out here, anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep," she lied. She wasn't going to tell him the real reason she was out of bed.
"Right, you were probably out meeting some boy in the Astronomy Tower."
"I was not! What were you doing out here?"
"I wanted to go for a walk, it helps me sleep."
"I'm sure."
"Hey, Weasel, look. Peeves is leaving."
"Good. I think I'll go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sure Weasel. If you say anything about tonight to anyone, I will kill you."
"I'll remember that, but I wouldn't want anyone to know that I was in a dark hallway in the middle of the night with Draco Malfoy," she said as she walked up to the portrait hole.
"Goodnight little Weasel."
She ignored him. She was tired and needed to sleep. She had a Potions exam the next morning and she wanted to be well rested for it. Ginny was a relatively good Potions student, but because she was a Gryffindor, Snape was always harassing her. She also had to make up with Alanna in the morning. She got up to her dorm and saw Alanna asleep with her book on her pillow and her head on top of it. Ginny laughed to herself and got her pajamas on and crawled into bed. She fell asleep with visions of Malfoy in her head; she remembered what he smelled like and what he felt like. The way his arms held her pinned to the wall. The way his hair had been falling into his eyes. His hair looks much better when it isn't slicked back, she thought. Then she realized what she was thinking about, rather, who she was thinking about. It's Malfoy! You can't like Malfoy! Remember what his dad did to you; remember how he has been making cracks about your family forever. Remember what a jerk he is. Remember how handsome he is. No! Wait, you can't like him. But I do, she thought to herself. Then she finally slipped into blackness full of dreams about platinum blonde hair and silver eyes.
"Ginny, wake up. We have to go to breakfast."
"Hmmmm. I don't want to get up."
"I know, but you have to. Get up sleepy head."
"Just five more minutes."
"Nope, you had your five minutes already wake up."
"Oh, fine," she said, crawling out of the maroon blankets.
"'Bout time you got up."
"Oh, shush up. You weren't out trying to find your secret admirer last night. Who, by the way, didn't show. He just left me another note."
"Well, I tried to tell you not to go."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about last night."
"Nah, don't worry about it. You were right too. It is your life."
"Okay, now that we've settled that problem, here read this," Ginny said, handing the note to Alanna.
"Wow, he didn't show, but he left you a very nice note."
"Yeah," said Ginny, who was digging in her trunk and her bag, looking for something, "have you seen my necklace?"
"Which one?"
"The one I always wear. It has a seven with a little blue flower on it. I got it from my brothers for my birthday one year."
"No, were you wearing it last night?"
"Yeah. I don't remember taking it off. Malfoy!"
"Malfoy what?"
"Oh, well I had a little run in with him and he probably has it."
"Why would he have it?" Alanna asked suspiciously.
"Because he saved me from Peeves, but we had to hide behind a suit of armor and it was kind of a tight fit. I was smashed up against the wall and he had a perfect opportunity to grab it if it broke or anything."
"Oh."
"Don't you 'oh' me. I didn't have any choice in the matter."
"Alright. Get dressed or we'll miss breakfast and be late for class. We have charms this morning and then potions this afternoon. Flitwick wouldn't be happy if we weren't on time."
"Fine," Ginny said, getting dressed and worrying about her necklace.
They went to breakfast and sat down by Callie Bone and her boyfriend of the week, Colin Creevey. Neither of the girls really liked Callie or Colin, but there weren't very many seats left. They ate in silence, listening to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil talking about how cute Malfoy was. Or silence until Lavender got nosy, that is.
"Ginny, what do you think about Malfoy?" Lavender asked.
"Oh, I don't know," she said, blushing because of her dreams the night before, "he's alright I guess."
"You guess? He's probably the hottest guy at Hogwart's."
"Sure Lavender, whatever you say."
After that they were in silence again. Callie and Colin seemed to take that as a signal that they could snog over their scrambled eggs and toast. Ginny and Alanna left very soon after that started.
"So, why were you so nervous when Lavender asked you what you thought about Malfoy?"
"I wasn't nervous."
"Then why were you blushing?"
"I wasn't blushing, I was getting really warm in the hall, you know, body heat and all that."
"Whatever. Let's get to Flitwick's before we're late." I didn't know it was that noticeable, thought Ginny, it's probably because Alanna knows me so well, that's why she noticed. I shouldn't think about him. I shouldn't get nervous when someone asks me about him. I don't like him. Do I? No, I don't so stop being such a worrywart.
"Are you coming Ginny?"
"Yeah, sorry."
*((*
Why are you thinking about her? She is just a little girl who you're playing with. She's a toy, nothing more. But she is hot. So what if she's hot? That doesn't mean you are going to get emotionally involved, at least not seriously. She might think you are, but you won't be. You're just in it for the irony of shagging your enemy's little virgin sister. Well, maybe for the shagging also, but that doesn't mean you like her. You're just a horny seventeen-year-old boy and you are attracted to the little weasel. That's all, nothing more, nothing less, Draco thought while eating his breakfast and staring at Ginny.
*((*
"Today, class, we'll be working on counter curses. To do a counter curse, you have to know the curse your removing. We will be working with a simple jelly legs curse. That way, we won't be causing any serious damage. I want you to partner up with someone."
The class followed Flitwick's instructions and partnered up. Ginny was going to be partners with Alanna like usual, but Casey Gregor, a Gryffindor sixth year as well, grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her over to be his partner. His friend, Justin Martins, took Alanna off to a corner to be her partner. It was well known that the boys had crushes on the girls, but neither of the girls liked them. They were rude and stupid. They thought the only point of having a girlfriend was so that you could go to the Astronomy Tower with them.
"Casey! What are you doing? I don't want to be your partner."
"Too bad, you better listen to the professor so that I don't fail this part of class."
"Casey Gregor, I will not do your part of the work for you. You will have to do your own share for your grade."
"Whatever doll."
"What did you just call me?"
"I called you 'doll', if you have a problem with it, then too bad. You're my partner and you're going to go Hogsmeade with me this weekend."
"I will do no such thing!"
"Tough luck, it looks like your friend just heard the news to," he said and sure enough, Alanna was over there fuming at Justin.
*((*
"I am not going to Hogsmeade with you this weekend! I don't even like you! You are a jerk!"
"Alanna, babe, why are you doing this? You don't really have a choice in the matter. Anyway, after Hogsmeade, we can go for a walk around the castle, maybe go look at the stars. I'm sure Ginny and Casey will be doing the same thing, privately of course."
"You pig! I won't be 'looking at the stars' with you and I'm sure that Ginny won't be either. And, just to warn you, if you ever call me 'babe' again, I will hit you so hard, it'll be Christmas before you wake up. Got it?"
"Sure babe, whatever you say."
"What part of me, hit, you, and, Christmas, didn't you understand?"
"I understood it fine babe, but I know you won't hit me."
"Don't be so sure," she said, landing her fist squarely on his right eye.
"Miss Jones, what do you think you're doing?" said little Professor Flitwick.
"I'm sorry Professor, but he was making derogatory comments about me and my friend."
"Be that as it may, Miss Jones, you should never resort to violence."
"I do apologize professor, I would like to ask a change in partners."
"I agree that you should have a different partner. Who did you have in mind?"
"I would like to be paired with Ginny Weasley. Her current partner can have mine, once he has gone to the hospital wing."
"That seems appropriate. I will let this slide for now, but if it happens again, I will alert your head of house."
"Thank you professor."
Alanna walked over to Ginny, receiving a threatening glare from Casey.
"Now, I will continue with the lesson. To perform the counter curse." The lesson went on uneventfully after that. Ginny didn't get a chance to talk to Alanna until they were out in the hall going to lunch.
"I can't believe you did that! You should have been reported to McGonagall for sure."
"I know, it was a good thing it happened in Flitwick's class, otherwise I would have and lost a hefty amount of points as well."
"Yeah, Casey was staring daggers at us for the rest of the class."
"Well if looks could kill, we'd both be dead, but they can't so we might as well forget about it. Did Casey ask you to look at the stars with him?"
"He didn't get that far, he was trying to get me to do his work for him, then he called me 'doll' and I went over the edge."
"Obviously, your over the edge is completely different than mine."
"Obviously. I wonder what's for lunch today."
"I don't know, but I'm starved."
"Beating up boys sure does work up an appetite, huh?" Ginny said and both girls laughed. They were joking around with Harry and Ron during lunch. Alanna blew up at a couple of guys who kept asking about what had happened in charms. And Ginny tried to ignore Seamus and Hermione. After she had had about as much as she could stand, she told everyone that she had to go up to her room and get her things for potions and do some last minute studying. She got to her dorm and saw another note on her bed. How does he get these up here all the time, he would have to know which bed I sleep in and if he isn't a Gryffindor, the password, Ginny thought to herself while unfolding the note.
Hello my love. I hope you didn't let that boy get to you in charms. I hope that you are still interested in me. Go to the gargoyle statue by the potions dungeon after your class today. You will learn more there. I love you and everything about you. Please come.
Love, Your Secret Admirer
So, he was either in my charms class or wrote this at lunch, thought Ginny, If he was in my charms class, he would be a sixth year Gryffindor, but he obviously wasn't Casey and probably not Justin, she reasoned. But he could have heard about it at lunch, everyone was talking about it, even Harry had asked, somewhat nervously, if it was true. If he was a sixth year Gryffindor, it would have to be Colin Creevey, Steven Wood, or Bobby Brown, Ginny thought. Then she looked at her watch and realized that she better hurry up or she would be late for potions. She checked the note again and decided that she would go to the statue after class and maybe she would find out whom this person was. She thought that she wouldn't mind if it was Steven. He was Oliver's little brother and was just as good looking and good at Quidditch. She didn't want it to be either of the other two. Colin was annoying and Bobby was a lot like his older sister, even though she never talked about him or even hinted that she was related to him. Ginny grabbed her things for class and ran down the stairs, heading for the dungeon.
Hello my love. I am glad you came. I apologize that I couldn't be with you tonight. I felt that you should sweat a little before you discovered my identity. I hope that you aren't angry. I want you to know how beautiful you are. I wish that I could look at your gorgeous features all day long. I will tell you where to meet me again with a note. Please keep coming, it shows that you are as wonderful as you appear.
Love, Your Secret Admirer
Ginny couldn't believe it. She was angry, but anxious for the next note. She desperately wanted to meet this secret admirer. Alanna should feel ashamed. It could be dangerous, she said. Well, there wasn't anyone here, Ginny thought. She walked out into the hall again after checking that no one was there. She was careful while walking along the hall, hiding from Mrs. Norris twice. She was finally getting close to the tower and she wasn't paying as much attention as she should have so she almost ran into Peeves. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on your point of view, Malfoy pulled her behind a suit of armor.
"What are you doing here?" Ginny snapped in a whisper.
"I could ask the same of you," he replied.
"Fine I don't care, but why did you bother to get me out of trouble?"
"I didn't want to get caught if a teacher came down here."
"Okay, could you maybe not hold me so tightly against the wall."
"Oh, sorry," he said, backing off a little so she wasn't sandwiched so tightly between him and the stone wall.
"Thanks. How long do you think we'll have to wait for Peeves?"
"Shouldn't be too long, he's been at it for a while already. So what were you doing out here, anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep," she lied. She wasn't going to tell him the real reason she was out of bed.
"Right, you were probably out meeting some boy in the Astronomy Tower."
"I was not! What were you doing out here?"
"I wanted to go for a walk, it helps me sleep."
"I'm sure."
"Hey, Weasel, look. Peeves is leaving."
"Good. I think I'll go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sure Weasel. If you say anything about tonight to anyone, I will kill you."
"I'll remember that, but I wouldn't want anyone to know that I was in a dark hallway in the middle of the night with Draco Malfoy," she said as she walked up to the portrait hole.
"Goodnight little Weasel."
She ignored him. She was tired and needed to sleep. She had a Potions exam the next morning and she wanted to be well rested for it. Ginny was a relatively good Potions student, but because she was a Gryffindor, Snape was always harassing her. She also had to make up with Alanna in the morning. She got up to her dorm and saw Alanna asleep with her book on her pillow and her head on top of it. Ginny laughed to herself and got her pajamas on and crawled into bed. She fell asleep with visions of Malfoy in her head; she remembered what he smelled like and what he felt like. The way his arms held her pinned to the wall. The way his hair had been falling into his eyes. His hair looks much better when it isn't slicked back, she thought. Then she realized what she was thinking about, rather, who she was thinking about. It's Malfoy! You can't like Malfoy! Remember what his dad did to you; remember how he has been making cracks about your family forever. Remember what a jerk he is. Remember how handsome he is. No! Wait, you can't like him. But I do, she thought to herself. Then she finally slipped into blackness full of dreams about platinum blonde hair and silver eyes.
"Ginny, wake up. We have to go to breakfast."
"Hmmmm. I don't want to get up."
"I know, but you have to. Get up sleepy head."
"Just five more minutes."
"Nope, you had your five minutes already wake up."
"Oh, fine," she said, crawling out of the maroon blankets.
"'Bout time you got up."
"Oh, shush up. You weren't out trying to find your secret admirer last night. Who, by the way, didn't show. He just left me another note."
"Well, I tried to tell you not to go."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about last night."
"Nah, don't worry about it. You were right too. It is your life."
"Okay, now that we've settled that problem, here read this," Ginny said, handing the note to Alanna.
"Wow, he didn't show, but he left you a very nice note."
"Yeah," said Ginny, who was digging in her trunk and her bag, looking for something, "have you seen my necklace?"
"Which one?"
"The one I always wear. It has a seven with a little blue flower on it. I got it from my brothers for my birthday one year."
"No, were you wearing it last night?"
"Yeah. I don't remember taking it off. Malfoy!"
"Malfoy what?"
"Oh, well I had a little run in with him and he probably has it."
"Why would he have it?" Alanna asked suspiciously.
"Because he saved me from Peeves, but we had to hide behind a suit of armor and it was kind of a tight fit. I was smashed up against the wall and he had a perfect opportunity to grab it if it broke or anything."
"Oh."
"Don't you 'oh' me. I didn't have any choice in the matter."
"Alright. Get dressed or we'll miss breakfast and be late for class. We have charms this morning and then potions this afternoon. Flitwick wouldn't be happy if we weren't on time."
"Fine," Ginny said, getting dressed and worrying about her necklace.
They went to breakfast and sat down by Callie Bone and her boyfriend of the week, Colin Creevey. Neither of the girls really liked Callie or Colin, but there weren't very many seats left. They ate in silence, listening to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil talking about how cute Malfoy was. Or silence until Lavender got nosy, that is.
"Ginny, what do you think about Malfoy?" Lavender asked.
"Oh, I don't know," she said, blushing because of her dreams the night before, "he's alright I guess."
"You guess? He's probably the hottest guy at Hogwart's."
"Sure Lavender, whatever you say."
After that they were in silence again. Callie and Colin seemed to take that as a signal that they could snog over their scrambled eggs and toast. Ginny and Alanna left very soon after that started.
"So, why were you so nervous when Lavender asked you what you thought about Malfoy?"
"I wasn't nervous."
"Then why were you blushing?"
"I wasn't blushing, I was getting really warm in the hall, you know, body heat and all that."
"Whatever. Let's get to Flitwick's before we're late." I didn't know it was that noticeable, thought Ginny, it's probably because Alanna knows me so well, that's why she noticed. I shouldn't think about him. I shouldn't get nervous when someone asks me about him. I don't like him. Do I? No, I don't so stop being such a worrywart.
"Are you coming Ginny?"
"Yeah, sorry."
*((*
Why are you thinking about her? She is just a little girl who you're playing with. She's a toy, nothing more. But she is hot. So what if she's hot? That doesn't mean you are going to get emotionally involved, at least not seriously. She might think you are, but you won't be. You're just in it for the irony of shagging your enemy's little virgin sister. Well, maybe for the shagging also, but that doesn't mean you like her. You're just a horny seventeen-year-old boy and you are attracted to the little weasel. That's all, nothing more, nothing less, Draco thought while eating his breakfast and staring at Ginny.
*((*
"Today, class, we'll be working on counter curses. To do a counter curse, you have to know the curse your removing. We will be working with a simple jelly legs curse. That way, we won't be causing any serious damage. I want you to partner up with someone."
The class followed Flitwick's instructions and partnered up. Ginny was going to be partners with Alanna like usual, but Casey Gregor, a Gryffindor sixth year as well, grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her over to be his partner. His friend, Justin Martins, took Alanna off to a corner to be her partner. It was well known that the boys had crushes on the girls, but neither of the girls liked them. They were rude and stupid. They thought the only point of having a girlfriend was so that you could go to the Astronomy Tower with them.
"Casey! What are you doing? I don't want to be your partner."
"Too bad, you better listen to the professor so that I don't fail this part of class."
"Casey Gregor, I will not do your part of the work for you. You will have to do your own share for your grade."
"Whatever doll."
"What did you just call me?"
"I called you 'doll', if you have a problem with it, then too bad. You're my partner and you're going to go Hogsmeade with me this weekend."
"I will do no such thing!"
"Tough luck, it looks like your friend just heard the news to," he said and sure enough, Alanna was over there fuming at Justin.
*((*
"I am not going to Hogsmeade with you this weekend! I don't even like you! You are a jerk!"
"Alanna, babe, why are you doing this? You don't really have a choice in the matter. Anyway, after Hogsmeade, we can go for a walk around the castle, maybe go look at the stars. I'm sure Ginny and Casey will be doing the same thing, privately of course."
"You pig! I won't be 'looking at the stars' with you and I'm sure that Ginny won't be either. And, just to warn you, if you ever call me 'babe' again, I will hit you so hard, it'll be Christmas before you wake up. Got it?"
"Sure babe, whatever you say."
"What part of me, hit, you, and, Christmas, didn't you understand?"
"I understood it fine babe, but I know you won't hit me."
"Don't be so sure," she said, landing her fist squarely on his right eye.
"Miss Jones, what do you think you're doing?" said little Professor Flitwick.
"I'm sorry Professor, but he was making derogatory comments about me and my friend."
"Be that as it may, Miss Jones, you should never resort to violence."
"I do apologize professor, I would like to ask a change in partners."
"I agree that you should have a different partner. Who did you have in mind?"
"I would like to be paired with Ginny Weasley. Her current partner can have mine, once he has gone to the hospital wing."
"That seems appropriate. I will let this slide for now, but if it happens again, I will alert your head of house."
"Thank you professor."
Alanna walked over to Ginny, receiving a threatening glare from Casey.
"Now, I will continue with the lesson. To perform the counter curse." The lesson went on uneventfully after that. Ginny didn't get a chance to talk to Alanna until they were out in the hall going to lunch.
"I can't believe you did that! You should have been reported to McGonagall for sure."
"I know, it was a good thing it happened in Flitwick's class, otherwise I would have and lost a hefty amount of points as well."
"Yeah, Casey was staring daggers at us for the rest of the class."
"Well if looks could kill, we'd both be dead, but they can't so we might as well forget about it. Did Casey ask you to look at the stars with him?"
"He didn't get that far, he was trying to get me to do his work for him, then he called me 'doll' and I went over the edge."
"Obviously, your over the edge is completely different than mine."
"Obviously. I wonder what's for lunch today."
"I don't know, but I'm starved."
"Beating up boys sure does work up an appetite, huh?" Ginny said and both girls laughed. They were joking around with Harry and Ron during lunch. Alanna blew up at a couple of guys who kept asking about what had happened in charms. And Ginny tried to ignore Seamus and Hermione. After she had had about as much as she could stand, she told everyone that she had to go up to her room and get her things for potions and do some last minute studying. She got to her dorm and saw another note on her bed. How does he get these up here all the time, he would have to know which bed I sleep in and if he isn't a Gryffindor, the password, Ginny thought to herself while unfolding the note.
Hello my love. I hope you didn't let that boy get to you in charms. I hope that you are still interested in me. Go to the gargoyle statue by the potions dungeon after your class today. You will learn more there. I love you and everything about you. Please come.
Love, Your Secret Admirer
So, he was either in my charms class or wrote this at lunch, thought Ginny, If he was in my charms class, he would be a sixth year Gryffindor, but he obviously wasn't Casey and probably not Justin, she reasoned. But he could have heard about it at lunch, everyone was talking about it, even Harry had asked, somewhat nervously, if it was true. If he was a sixth year Gryffindor, it would have to be Colin Creevey, Steven Wood, or Bobby Brown, Ginny thought. Then she looked at her watch and realized that she better hurry up or she would be late for potions. She checked the note again and decided that she would go to the statue after class and maybe she would find out whom this person was. She thought that she wouldn't mind if it was Steven. He was Oliver's little brother and was just as good looking and good at Quidditch. She didn't want it to be either of the other two. Colin was annoying and Bobby was a lot like his older sister, even though she never talked about him or even hinted that she was related to him. Ginny grabbed her things for class and ran down the stairs, heading for the dungeon.