((A/N: You people are picky! :/ I know perfectly well that OOC stands for "out of character" and A/N means "author's note". I am very fond of RPGs and OOC is just what I use. But if it's less confusing and/or preferred by FF.net readers for one to use A/N, then you got it. OK, in this chapter, Ginny and Draco go on with their daily lives and prepare for the next detention. *Starts singing "Detention, uh oh!"* ^_-))
Chapter 4
Kneazles and Detentions
Draco's mind wasn't on his lessons, but on the next detention that night. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it. God knows what they'll have him do this time. And his arms were still sore from cleaning all the windows in the Astronomy Tower. But he knew that washing windows was the mildest thing they could have made them do. There were usually chores that involved sticking your hands in the guts of some creature or other. He and Ginny had been lucky last night.
"Mr. Malfoy, what is the answer?" asked Professor McGonagall. Draco blinked.
"Er...what was the question again?" he replied.
McGonagall gave him a stern look. The icy cold glare that always made Draco feel like she was looking right into his mind. Down to his deepest, darkest, most private thoughts.
"If I were you, Mr. Malfoy, I would pay attention. I already have you for detentions and believe me they can get worse than tonight's chore," she snapped. "Be careful not to get yourself into any more trouble or you could regret it. Miss Parkinson, if you please." ((a/n: I think that's her name...))
Draco rolled his eyes. No one in the classroom dared to laugh at him about the Professor's remark. They knew better than to mess with Draco Malfoy. Especially when he was mad at a teacher.
Ginny, though tired and sore from the detention, was rather excited to go to her Care of Magical Creatures class. She could see Hagrid and the Kneazles again! She ran ahead of the rest of the class to Hagrid's hut. The weather outside was chilly with a slight breeze. The trees of the Forbidden Forest were changing color from green to brilliant red, yellow, and orange. The whole scene made her forget the dread of the night's detention with Malfoy.
"Hi, Hagrid!" she called upon arriving. She was delighted to see the Kneazle's crates on the ground near the hut.
"'Lo, Ginny!" Hagrid said. "Pick yer Kneazle!"
Ginny came to a stop near the crates. "Where's the one I was playing with last time?"
Hagrid walked over to one near the side of the hut. "I think this is the one." He opened it and low and behold out hopped the Kneazle with the fur like a brown and white appaloosa horse, the same one Ginny had been petting before.
"That's him!" she said. She walked over and scooped it up. It sniffed her chin, trying to figure out who this girl was that was holding it. Then it remembered Ginny and snuggled against her.
"Thanks for waiting, Ginny," said a voice. Ginny turned to see her friends Jessica Lows and Sara Goldner walking towards them.
"Sorry. But I wanted to get here in time to pick this one first," Ginny replied, showing them the Kneazle.
Jessica and Sara both loved it.
"Aww! It's so cute!" said Jessica.
"You all pick one for the lesson, now," Hagrid said as the rest of the class began to arrive. The children moved about, looking at the Kneazles. Hagrid waited until everyone had one. Then he began the lesson.
"Now these here are called Kneazles. They're friendly critters that you can buy as pets. Now, if yeh were ter buy one, yeh'd have to get a license for it. Does anyone know why? 'Sides you, Ginny. I told you already," he said with a smile. Some of the kids raised their hands. Hagrid called on a blonde haired girl whose name Ginny couldn't pronounce. The girl answered correctly.
"Right," said Hagrid. "They'd attract too much attention from Muggles. These fellas make good pets because of their magical abilities. They have a great sense of direction and if yeh get lost somewhere, they'll lead yeh home. They also have the ability to sense whether a wizard is trustworthy or not."
The class laughed because the Kneazle that a boy named Mark Pattren had chosen was hissing at him and trying to crawl out of the child's arms. ((a/n: don't worry bout the kid. He's not with Voldemort. ^_^))
"Now we're going to play a little game," Hagrid continued. "I want everyone to run off somewhere-stay on school grounds and away from the forest, mind you- and when I blow this whistle," he held up a massive, silver whistle, "let your Kneazle lead you back. Don't you lead it back, now, see if it can find the hut on its own. Can I trust you all to stay where you're 'sposed to?"
"Yes!" chimed the class.
"Ready? You have ten minutes. to get to a spot. Go!"
The class all took off with the Kneazles. Ginny and her friends split up. She decided to go somewhere by herself.
Near the greenhouse, she thought to herself. She set off to the other side of the grounds.
Needless to say, the girl was having a much better time than Draco Malfoy. While he was at his next class, still struggling to stay awake, Ginny was roaming the grounds with a magical creature walking at her side. The chilly wind blew and she wrapped her cloak around herself tighter. Still, it was so nice to be out one the grassy fields, silent and peaceful. the trees rustled in the wind. Ginny looked at the beautiful leaves.
Next week I'll be on a tropical island, she thought. Weird.
The Kneazle hopped at her side, apparently enjoying the walk as well. It made a high-pitched whistling noise in happiness. Ginny laughed.
"You like it out here too, huh?" she asked. It whistled again. "I wish I could keep you. Then we could take walks out here everyday. Just the two of us." ((a/n: *Starts singing Just the two of us!*)) "No older brothers, no off-their-rocker teachers.... And no Draco Malfoy...." The Kneazle whistled a few more times.
It's almost like he understands me, thought the girl. It leaped onto her pant leg and crawled up to her shoulder, sitting there like Fawks on his perch. It snuggled up against her face again, causing Ginny to giggle. She didn't remember the last time she was this happy. All the school work had taken up most of her free time. She didn't even notice when she passed the greenhouse. She just kept going.
Hagrid's whistle sounded. Ginny sighed and turned around. But she didn't have the Kneazle lead the way. And she wasn't really trying to make it back before the bell rang. She was just enjoying her free time.
As Ginny began to near the greenhouse, the bell rang. She saw students flocking out of Herbology ((a/n: spelling??)) class and immediately spotted Malfoy. She kept walking. But he saw her.
"Hey Weasley, what's that?" he asked pointing to the creature on her shoulder.
"A Kneazle," Ginny replied casually as the breeze blew her flaming red hair.
"A Kneazle?" Malfoy repeated. "You get weirder and weirder, Weasley. See you at tonight's detention."
"Hmm."
Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins walked on to the castle.
Ginny was a little late getting back to the hut. Hagrid asked if anything was wrong and why she wasn't back on time. She told him she was just enjoying her walk, which was true.
Draco walked down the hallway to detention. For some reason they wanted the kids back in the Tower again. Probably because there was a lot of room up there at night when there weren't any classes. He spotted Ginny down the hall. He didn't say anything. He walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped.
"Hey-! Oh! It's you! Don't do that!" she yelled. Draco smirked and gave a small laugh.
"A little jumpy, are we?" he asked.
"One has to be when you're around. You're dangerous," Ginny told him. Draco laughed again, the light from the candles laminating his face blonde hair ion a haunting sort of way that made Ginny uneasy. ((a/n: Is it blonde or white? Or neither? Oh well. I don't care.))
"You're right. I am dangerous." Draco said.
Ginny glanced at him nervously as they walked. "And spontaneous, at times." The boy merely smirked once more.
They reached the spiraling stone steps to the Tower.
"So...Are those Kibble things for our next Care of Magical Creatures class?" asked Draco.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. They're Kneazles, not 'kibbles'," Ginny replied.
"Whatever."
Weasleys are so annoying, thought Draco.
He's so annoying, Ginny said to herself.
Not paying attention, she slipped on the steps. Draco grabbed her hand and caught her before her knees hit the cold stone. ((a/n: Has anybody ever been to a Cold Stone ice cream place? It's SOOO good! I'll shut up now. Back to the story....))
They both froze.
Did I just help a Weasley?? Draco asked himself.
Did I just trip and get help from Draco Malfoy? Ginny likewise wondered. She stood up.
"Er...thanks," she said, her face flushing pink.
"Uh...yeah.... Don't get used to it, Weasley. It was a one-time thing," he said hastily.
Ginny said nothing. They resumed their journey up the steps.
"Well, well, well, you two decided to come after all," said Professor McGonagall in a nasty way upon their arrival. ((a/n: I think I've used that term enough times in one story, eh? OK, now I'm really gunna shut up, I promise!))
"Good evening to you, too," Draco mumbled under his breath. The Professor didn't hear, luckily for him.
"Now, you two must repaint the walls and ceiling. Then scrub the paint off the floors when you're done. Without magic," she said sharply. She held out her hand and the two students handed their wands over once more. Then she left. Draco and Ginny looked around. The room was once again cleared of school things and filled with ladders and paint cans and brushes.
"Shit," Draco moaned.
"Oh, no. We better get started," Ginny said.
The door opened again and McGonagall peeked in.
"One more thing," she told them. "Be careful while painting the ceiling. Peeves was in here earlier and there might still be some sharp objects embedded in the stones."
"Sure."
The Professor left for the last time.
"Come on," Ginny said. She pulled her hair back in a clip that was bewitched to look like it was shimmering and sparkling with all different colors. Then she walked over, grabbed a large paint brush, and dipped it in the paint. She looked at Draco.
"Well? Come on!" she said. Draco sighed and grabbed a paint brush for himself.
They began to paint the walls, whose original paint was chipping off. It was slow-going. Agonizingly slow. They worked for about an hour without speaking to each other except when one asked the other to pass a paint brush or bucket. It's strange how when one is working without talking to a friend the hours seem to be twice as long as they really are. Silence isn't always good, as the two students of Hogwarts School were finding out. They both now wished there was someone they were willing to converse with, for their hatred for one another was preventing conversation.
Draco's mind trailed back to when he had helped Ginny when she slipped. It was nothing, he told himself. But he couldn't help but wonder if he would have helped any other Gryffindor girl in the situation.
He thought, She's a Weasley. You don't like the Weasleys, remember? They're annoying and poor and pathetic compared to your family. Plus they're friends with Potter.
Ginny, on the other hand, had been trying to forget the encounter on the steps. She just wished there was someone to talk to...
After about two and a half hours, they began to use the ladders to reach the ceiling. The paint kept dripping onto their faces and they had to squint to keep it from getting in their eyes.
Then Ginny felt a sudden, sharp pain in her left hand. She yelped and dropped the paint brush. It fell to the floor with a clang. She looked at her palm. There was a bleeding gash in it. She looked to see what had cut her and saw a piece of glass magically stuck into the stones of the ceiling.
Draco asked, "You okay?"
Ginny looked at her hand, grimacing.
"Yeah," she lied. "I'm fine." A drop of blood fell to the floor. Draco's quick eyes caught it.
"Let me see," he said, starting to climb down the ladder.
"No, it's okay," Ginny insisted.
"Just let me see it," Draco replied.
Ginny climbed down and Draco took her bleeding hand.
"Peeves," he muttered. He squinted in the dim light. "How bad is it bleeding?" He gingerly touched the cut and Ginny grimaced again.
"Ow...."
Draco looked at his fingertips. He could make out blood.
"It's not okay. It's pretty bad," he said. He wasn't sure why he cared whether she was hurt or not...
Ginny's muscles tensed. She was coming in contact with Draco Malfoy...and it wasn't because of her hitting him...weird. Draco noticed her nervousness.
"Calm down, kid. I'm not going to hurt you," he said. Ginny's uneasiness immediately disappeared and turned into defensiveness.
She replied, "I'm not a kid. I'm 14, only a year younger than you!"
"You're still a kid as far as I'm concerned," Draco told her with a smirk. He looked around to see if there was anything they could use to help her hand. Ginny noticed what he was doing.
"Umm...here, just tear a piece of my sleeve." She held out her right arm. Draco tore a strip of fabric from her sleeve and tied it around her hand.
"Thanks," Ginny said.
"Sure. Let's take a break," Draco said, looking at the clock. "It's almost 11 o'clock. I'm tired."
"Me too."
They sat down against the wall that had the large windows, sleepy and covered in paint. They hadn't taken a break so far for fear of not getting finished until it was time for their first lessons the next morning. So they sat, quietly. Ginny nursing her hand, Draco just sitting to her left, not saying anything. Finally, all the silence was too much for Ginny to handle. They hadn't spoken up until she had cut her hand.
"Malfoy?" she asked.
"Yeah?" she replied, not looking at her.
"Why did you help me? You wouldn't have done that for my brother or Hermione," she said.
Draco didn't say anything for a moment. She was right. But the truth was, he didn't know why he had helped her or shown any signs of sympathy towards her. And he certainly wouldn't have done something of the sort for Granger or the other Weasleys, and especially not Potter. He couldn't care less about them.
"I just...," he started. "We have to get this done, right? And it'll be even harder if you can't use that hand without it hurting. Just rest it for a few."
Ginny looked at him. He was facing away from her, a hard look on his face. Just sort of dazing off into his thoughts. She had never looked at him in this perspective before. Now, she didn't see the rich, snobby, jack ass she usually saw in him, but a boy who had lost someone he loved to injustice. A noble, lost child who almost always kept to himself.
She looked away. For some reason. There was this little voice that seemed almost disappointed at his simple answer.
Stop it, she ordered herself. He's Malfoy, remember? He's the wizard that isn't charming.
"What are your parents like?"
Ginny looked back up at Draco, surprised.
"What?"
"You heard me," she said simply. Ginny was confused.
"My parents? Well...my mum's really nice. A great cook...she's very protective of us all. And my dad, you know, he works for the Ministry. He's pretty good at his job. He works to protect Muggles. He's kind of odd, though. He..." she laughed a small laugh. "He collects these Muggle things called spark plugs.... Why?"
Draco gave a small, bitter laugh.
"Tell me, Weasley, what's it like at your house at dinner time?" he pressed on.
"Well...my mum cooks nice, big dinners-it's a wonder we're all not fat as trolls- while we wait for my dad to come home. When he gets there, we all sit down and eat. Except for my two older brothers, Charlie and Bill. They already moved out. Why are you asking?" Ginny asked again.
Draco chuckled softly and shook his head.
"You are so lucky," he said. Ginny was still confused.
"Me?" she replied. "Yeah, right. You're mad. You've got that huge, fancy house with servants and house-elves waiting on you hand and foot. You're rich, Malfoy!"
The boy shook his head again.
"You don't understand. You spend lots of time with your family. You sit around and have nice dinners together. Your parents actually care about what you have to say about school and they send you owls every week just for the hell of it. Just to see how you're doing," he said. "Now, my life's just sort of gone down the drain. My mum just sits in her bedroom all day ever since my father died. She just sits there, doesn't talk to me, doesn't come down to eat, sulking over my dad. There's not even a point for me to go home for Christmas anymore...." ((a/n: Whee! He's throwing himself a pity party!))
Ginny sat for a moment, not sure of what to say. Now, more than ever in her life, she felt sympathy towards Draco. Suddenly, her life didn't seem so bad, being poor and everything. This poor boy was practically raising himself now....
Draco was almost to the point of smacking himself right on the spot, but he was too stunned to do so.
He had just poured out his feelings to Ginny Weasley. For no reason, really.
You're such a geek, he said too himself. You oaf. Now she'll really think I'm mad.
"I...I never thought it could be that hard...with your family's status and all...I'm always mad about the fact that my parents can't even buy be my own school books or clothes. Almost everything I own is a hand-me-down...," she said. "But now my life doesn't seem that bad, to be honest with you."
Draco slowly turned to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"I guess so."
"Nobody's ever admitted showing sympathy for me before. Kind of strange...."
They sat for a while, just staring at the floor. Ginny supposed the previous conversation they had was better then the total silence they had worked in.
Draco chanced a glance at the girl and for a second, they looked each other in the face. Draco gave his lopsided smile. He lifted a hand and took a lock of Ginny's fiery red hair that had cream-colored paint on it.
"Nice," he said. Ginny smiled back. She ran a finger down his cheek and showed him the paint on her fingertip.
"Not too shabby yourself," she told him. Draco smiled again. He suddenly had a strong desire to lace his hand on her cheek and just sit with her for the rest of the night.
He quickly shook the feeling off.
"We'd better get back to work," he said. He stood up. "It's almost 12."
"It is??" Ginny asked, jumping to her feet. She looked at the clock. He was right.
"We're going to be here for a while. We still have to finish that part of the ceiling and scrub the floors."
"Then let's get going," Ginny sighed.
((A/N: It has now taken me about four days (around three hours in all) to complete this. I was probably so harsh with the detention because my teacher gave me and my friend a detention for "talking in class" when we weren't doing anything. We were just sitting there looking at our math! But he later changed his mind and just gave us each a 250-word composition on not talking and paying attention in class, which I have yet to complete. Evil minds, those teachers.... But anyway, it's late. I'm tired. So I'll simply say: What do you think? Long enough for you? ^_- R/R! Oh, and about that shutting up thing before? I lied. Sue me. ^_^ Good night. God bless America and all that stuff. *yawns and retreats to bed*))