The explosions outside the pyramid continued to tear across the dense quiet of the vast desert, shattering what had, five minutes ago been peaceful silence.
However, the explosions outside were nothing compared to the eruption that was occurring inside Ginny.
She knelt just inside the entrance of the pyramid, forehead resting on the cold, stone barrier that stood between her and the twins, and the outer world. Her eyes were determinedly squeezed shut, her jaws clenched and her knuckles white as she dug her fingernails into her palms.
Her mind was swimming with thoughts, all of them about Draco. Why did he have to be so difficult? Didn't he have any common courtesy at all?
As Ginny pondered these questions, she tried to ignore the burning feeling that was swelling up in her chest. That feeling had been there for a while now, ever since she woke up to find her self in the Malfoy dungeons after being stunned.
She was so mixed up, her head felt like it was at the bursting point. She just couldn't comprehend her thoughts about Draco Malfoy. Whenever she thought she had finally figured him out completely, he surprised her.
Suddenly, she stood up, scattering small rocks and bits of sand. Fred and George looked up, they had both been pressing their ears against the stone barrier, listening intently.
"What do you think you're doing, Gin?" Fred hissed, looking appalled.
"Stay here," Ginny said, striding down the path the way Draco had gone.
"Don't tell me you're going after Malfoy!" George gasped, abandoning his post at the barrier and lunging out to grab his sister's arm.
Ginny pulled her arm impatiently out of Georges grasp. "Let go, George!" Then she straitened up, her face set.
"I have something I need to do," she said quietly, not looking George in the eye.
George's eyebrows raised and his eyes widened.
"What is the matter with you lately, Gin?" he asked disbelievingly, "You are not acting normally. Have you forgotten who you are about to go gallivanting after?"
"He's not exactly what you think, George," Ginny muttered without thinking. Then she realized what she had said.
"What?" both Fred and George cried together.
Ginny's cheeks turned red. She couldn't look her brothers in the eye.
"Nevermind," she mumbled, fidgeting distractedly, "Just stay here. I'll be right back."
She turned on her heel and walked away from them, leaving them staring open-mouthed at her retreating back.
Ginny wrinkled her nose as she nervously walked deeper and deeper into the heart of the pyramid.
It was extremely dark and spooky. The very air seemed ancient, it hung heavy with sand and age-old dust. Every time Ginny inhaled, the dust coated her throat, making her cough dryly.
She nearly fell down a flight of cracked, stone steps, but she caught herself just in time.
She proceeded to inch her way down the steps, wincing as something soft came in contact with her face. She stopped and pulled it away. It was a huge spider-web. Ginny moaned and peeled it away quickly, and as she continued to move down a narrow passage, kept pulling strands of it out of her hair.
As she turned a corner, a streak of dim light pierced the darkness. An opening at the opposite side of the passage was lit up, inviting Ginny inside.
Ginny frowned, not able to figure out why there would be light like this in the middle of an ancient pyramid.
"Well, those Egyptian wizards were a little strange," Ginny muttered, remembering her family trip to Egypt when she was twelve.
Then a new thought struck her. Maybe Draco was somewhere around here! Ginny set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. She stepped towards the doorway, trying to look more confident than she felt. The burning feeling was beginning again in full measure. She painfully tried to ignore it, and stepped through the doorway.
It was a huge chamber, with a steep set of stairs leading down all surrounding a small pool at the bottom of the enormous room. The water in the pool looked rather brown, making Ginny shudder. Then she spotted the person walking aimlessly up and down the stairs. It was Draco, looking so preoccupied that he didn't even notice her entrance.
Ginny looked at him. She felt anxious, exited and exasperated, the same way she always felt when she was around him. As she watched him in silence, her expression softened.
She couldn't help but give a small smile at how wonderful he looked. He was pacing, apparently muttering to himself. He was wringing his hands in front of him. Strands of his sleek hair were falling into his eyes, but he either didn't notice or didn't want to be bothered by it.
Ginny gave an involuntary sigh as she gazed at his smooth, pale, perfect profile. Then she caught her self, and trying to collect herself, cleared her throat loudly.
Draco looked up, startled. When he saw Ginny standing in the doorway, looking at him, he bit his lip furiously, then looked away.
Ginny was under the impression that he had been about to say something, then decided to go for a different approach.
"You know, ignoring me won't get you anywhere, Draco," she said cooly, striding down the steps towards him.
She saw his face go red and his mouth twitch, as though he was itching to reply, but he held fast to his oath and walked the opposite direction from her.
"You are acting like a little child, Draco Malfoy!" Ginny snapped suddenly, stamping her foot.
And her eyes widened as he whirled around to face her at last. Ginny took a step back at the look on his face.
He looked positively furious. His face looked pale and cold. His eyes were shooting daggers at her as she looked at him. But Ginny noticed something strange about his eyes. They looked mad, yes, but they also looked pained, as if he was harnessing the torment in his eyes that he refused to show in his face.
"Ever since I met you," he said slowly and softly, advancing on Ginny, "A day hasn't gone by when I haven't wished that you would leave me alone."
Ginny blinked, her throat burning.
"And," he continued, turning and walking down towards the pool, "Most of the time I've gotten my wish." He turned around to face her once more. "But it apparently has worn off after a while." His upper lip curled as he looked at her standing on the steps above him.
Ginny remained quiet, not allowing herself to let loose with the rage she was concealing inside.
"Every time I'm around you," Draco whispered, "I wish I could do something differently, something to change what might have happened…" He trailed off, and Ginny took the opportunity to snap at him.
"Well, you wouldn't have to wish to change something if you would just act decently in the first place," she said, teeth clamped together.
"That's where you come in, Weasly," Draco snapped, bristling, "With all your ideas about decency and respectfulness." He spat out the adjectives as though they were sour.
"They're not ideas!" Ginny cried, "They're common sense! And I don't think you have an ounce of it!"
"I wasn't brought up the same as you, Weasly," Draco snapped, "I come from a respectable family, not some overgrown red-headed mob."
Ginny trembled with rage, clenching her fists as tightly as they would go.
"If you had half the wonderful characteristics of any member of my family, then maybe, just maybe you would be worth my time," she said slowly, skaing with fury.
Draco gave a dry laugh, which only irritated Ginny even more.
"Do you even have any real friends, Draco?" she shrieked, throwing up her arms in exasperation, "Have you ever actually had a real best friend? And don't you dare say Crabbe and Goyle," she added sternly as Draco began to open his mouth.
Draco didn't say anything, merely glared some more.
Ginny shook her head a little sadly.
"That is just what I thought," she said quietly, "You act like nothing bothers you, but inside you really just want someone to talk to."
Draco stiffened and stood strait up, but Ginny noticed that the pained look in his eyes had become more pronounced.
"Where do you come off telling me what I want, Weasly?" he said, sneering, "I don't need anyone to talk to, I can manage by myself."
"And a wonderful thing that's gotten you so far," Ginny said, rolling her eyes, "In Egypt, on the run from You-Know-Who."
"I don't think we need to have this discussion again," Draco shot back, "So why don't you just shut it now Weasly, and then we can be done with it."
Ginny gave a cry of exasperation. "How do you do it?" she yelled.
"Do what?" Draco asked, looking puzzled, but still glaring.
"Drive me mad!" Ginny answered, "No one else does this to me, I think you just like making me so angry that I can't see strait!"
Draco gave a mischievous chuckle. "Well, it is rather entertaining," he said without meeting her eyes.
"Oh, I'm glad you think so," Ginny said acidly. Then as she looked at his sly smirk, "You are the most infuriating person I have ever met."
"You don't just mean the most infuriating boy?" Draco asked, grinning.
"No, I mean out of everyone," Ginny told him darkly, looking down.
"Then why haven't you ever done anything about it?" Draco asked quietly.
Ginny, caught by surprise, snapped her head up and looked quizzically at him.
"What did you just say?" she asked incredulously.
"I said, why haven't you ever done anything about it?" Draco repeated, giving her a lazy smile.
"I'm not a very violent person, Draco," she said, giving him a sardonic smile.
"But you've thought about it, haven't you?" Draco presses, trying to push her into a more interesting reply.
Ginny looked at him doubtfully. "What? Do you want me to say I think every day about, about, pushing you into a pool of enchanted water?" she asked, waving at the pool that stood directly behind Draco.
Draco's eyebrows raised. "So you do have these thoughts," he said, smirking with satisfaction, "So why don't you act on them?"
He raised his arms out to the sides of his body and backed up until the backs of his shoes were overlapping the edge of the pool about an inch.
"What are you doing?" Ginny asked, looking at him as though he was insane.
"Push me in," he said, grinning, "Just do it, you know you want to."
"I am not going to sink to your level Draco," Ginny said airily, turning her back on him.
She didn't hear Draco lower his arms or move away from the water. But she did hear his words as she walked away.
"Fine then…baby," came the softly mocking voice.
Ginny stopped in her tracks. Her memory shot back to the time in the dungeons when he had called her a baby. She remembered the anger she had felt, the way he had laughed at her…
And without warning, she struck. She spun around, arms out, prepared to push him into the water once and for all. She was moving so fast she didn't even have time to skid to a halt as Draco smoothly moved out of her way. She ran strait on, and with a splash, landed in the pool.
Down she went. Her mouth and eyes, unprepared for the impact with the water, had been left open and were filling with water.
She shot to the surface, and found that she could stand up, the pool was only about four and a half feet deep. She came up, sputtering and coughing as she tried to clear her waterlogged brain.
She saw through the wet strands of hair that were falling in her eyes, Draco standing at the edge of the pool, laughing his head off. He had tears in his eyes as he stood there, doubled over.
Ginny gave a demonic smile and reached out to grab his ankle. She gave a gigantic tug, and moved out of the way as Draco, who had suddenly stopped laughing and gave a gasp, hit the water with a smack.
He bobbed up to the surface, coughing just as Ginny had done. But to her surprise, he wasn't angry. On the contrary, he was still dissolved in fits of laughter.
Ginny gaped at his unexpected reaction, then she began to giggle at his uncontrollable laughter. Pretty soon she was chuckling just as hard as Draco was.
"See?" Draco managed to gasp in between great peals of laughter, "Giving into your violent thoughts can lead to, to-" he broke off, unable to continue as another wave of laughter silenced his words.
They stood there in the water together for about five minutes, their laughter echoing through the large chamber. The sound bounced off the walls and reverberated back. Ginny wouldn't have been surprised if the sound carried all through the vast pyramid and beyond, out into the open desert.
"I can't believe you," Ginny said, playfully splashing Draco, "What if this water had been enchanted?"
"I knew it wasn't," he said, slapping some water good-naturedly back at her, "I tested it before you came and so rudely disturbed my silent musings."
"Oh hush," Ginny said, grinning. Then her expression became serious. "We really ought to get back. Let's go."
She waded over to the side of the pool and propped herself up, pulling her soaking body out of the pool.
Draco watched her, eyebrows raised. He tried to ignore the fact that her clothes were clinging to her small form. He shook himself and climbed out after her.
"It's nice to see your hair not resembling plastic," Ginny said, smiling sarcastically.
"I like it that way," Draco retorted, grinning.
Ginny wrung out her own bright red strands of hair, letting the water drip onto the dusty steps.
She and Draco walked silently up the steps, towards the doorway that led out of the chamber with the pool. Neither of them could think of anything to say.
Ginny was feeling even more bewildered than usual, but oddly happy. Draco Malfoy had just proved that he could be human, and well, fun.
Draco was confused as well. He had never been able to just let loose like that. His father would be aghast at his behavior, Draco thought with a smirk. He found that he liked not having to be so stiff and formal all the time. As much as he hated to admit it, Ginny had been right, he had never had a best friend, someone he could just have fun with. All of the Slytherins would reject him in an instant if they had just witnessed what had happened. Draco found that he didn't much care about what they thought of him any more.
After a few minutes, the stone barrier and Fred and George's bright red hair shone through the darkness.
The twins eyes widened as they saw Draco and Ginny approach them, clothes sopping wet.
"What happened to you two?" Fred gasped, quickly rising to his feet, taking in their clothes and hair.
"Got caught in a sudden shower did you?" George asked, an expression identical to Fred's on his face.
"What's been going on?" Ginny asked quickly, trying to move the conversation in a different direction.
"The explosions stopped about fifteen minutes ago," Fred said slowly, his eyes still on their clothes, "But we haven't gone out there."
"No one came and got you?" Ginny asked, a little worried.
"Nope," George told her.
"Well, let's not delay it any longer," Draco said briskly, "It sounds quiet enough out there."
Fred nodded distractedly and pulled out his wand. "It's a good thing this can only be removed from the inside," Fred said. And then he cleared his throat, pointed his wand at the barrier and shouted "Reducto!"
The barrier was blasted out of the opening. And immediately a thick cloud of brown dust came whooshing into the pyramid, coating their clothes and engulfing them in sand.
They walked out, coughing, eyes watering. They stood just in front of the opening of the pyramid, unable to see anything through the thick dust.
Dimly, they could all see debris covering the ground in all directions. They could barely see it, but it looked as though the buildings that had once stood tall around the area were lying in pieces on the sand.
"Oh my goodness…" Ginny breathed softly, stepping out a little further, "What happened?"
"Give you one guess," Draco said grimly, "You're dripping Weasly," he added as a section of Ginny's sopping hair that she didn't get all of the water out of began to leak water all over the ground.
Ginny looked impatiently down at the ground. Then she screamed. The water had been dripping onto the body of someone that was lying on the ground, unmoving.
All of the boys gasped in horror. They looked around fearfully, and began to notice something as the dust thinned out.
There were bodies lying among the debris that was covering the ground.