A/N: It's totally NOT my fault that I haven't been able to post! It's all FF.Net's fault! I had this chapter all written out already. And then ff.net screw's up. *grumbles under breath* But it's all okay now, eh? OH! I wanted to tell somebody who might actually care! Yesterday when I was working at the library I saw this one family come in and they were almost just like the Weasleys. Only they had all girls and one little boy (who was the youngest), and there were seven of them, I counted, only there were no twins, but still, don't you think that's neat? I do, and they had red hair. Okay, enough of me babbling. (Don't steal silver's name now)
Disclaimer: I disclaim! Do I really have to keep saying this? Don't you guys already know it? I disclaim everything! Even the stuff I own!
Chapter 4: A Midnight Meeting
By: VirtualFaerie
Dedicated to: My bb's Kelsey and Carla
Ginny walked around the mansion for five minutes, holding a bouncing Raven's hand before she actually found the dining room. She never thought it was possible to get lost in a house, but this house certainly proved her wrong. It was very possible. Raven didn't seem to have noticed that Ginny had no idea where she was going. She was skipping and jumping, humming the "My Little Unicorn" song. Once she told Ginny that she was hungry and Ginny told her they were going to dinner.
As soon as they stepped into the dining room, Raven let go of Ginny's hand and raced over to Draco, who was already seated at the head of the table, writing on some parchment. "Drakey! Drakey! Look at my purdy robe!" Raven said walking like she was on a catwalk and swirling around so the robe would fly out.
"Hmmm," he said, not really paying attention. Ginny noticed that he had very neat handwriting, and he was writing rather quickly.
"DRAKEY!" Raven shouted then stomped her foot on the floor so that it made a loud thud.
"What?" Draco said irritably looking up from his parchment.
"Look at my purdy robe," she went through her little catwalk, swirl routine and Ginny gave her a little applause. Raven blushed, and did a cute little curtsy. "Thank you."
"Very nice, like the color," Draco grunted before going back to his parchment. Raven gave a small cry of indignation and flounced to a chair next to Draco. Ginny took the seat across from Raven. "Hopkins!" Draco shouted; Hopkins scurried out of the kitchens and bounced up to the table.
"Yes Master Malfoy, what can Hopkins do?" Hopkins asked looking eagerly at the letter that Draco was now holding.
"Give this to Artemis, she'll know who to take it to," Draco said quickly. "And before you do that, tell Miss Wells that we're ready for dinner." Hopkins dashed into the kitchen and darted out a few moments later heading down the hall. A very tall woman who looked to be in her late twenties stepped out of the kitchen holding many pots and dishes, she looked like she was going to topple over, any second now. Ginny got up out of her chair.
"Here let me help you with those," Miss Wells gave her a startled glance but handed over two of the five dishes that she was holding.
"Thank you Miss," She breathed heading over to the table where Draco was sending Ginny a death glare. Miss Wells sat down her dishes and took the ones that Ginny was holding and set them down on the table. She gave a little bow to Draco and practically skipped to the kitchen as Ginny took her seat.
"You aren't supposed to help my house servants," Draco snapped, lifting the lid off of a pot.
"Well she was going to drop all of them!" Ginny snapped back at him. "What did you want me to do? Just sit there and let her drop them so that there would be a big mess for her to clean up on the floor?" Draco nodded, Ginny snorted and served Raven some food. Throughout the whole dinner Draco and Ginny kept shooting glares at each other when they thought Raven wasn't looking, or at least Ginny was, Draco didn't care whether or not Raven saw him glaring at Ginny.
Raven sat quietly in her seat, swinging her feet under the table, sensing the tension in the dining room. She snuck glances at Draco and Ginny when they weren't looking, a little girl plan forming in her head, she grinned and let out a little giggle. Both Ginny and Draco's head snapped in her direction.
"What?" Draco snapped.
"Oh nothing," Raven answered taking a bite of her steak, keeping her eyes on Ginny who was scowling at Draco for snapping at her like that.
"Malfoy, you really shouldn't snap at Raven, she's just a little girl." Ginny said looking at Draco cautiously. "When you hired me for this job, the ad said that I would be babysitting for one child, not two." Ginny said, smiling at her clever insult. Raven looked confused.
"I am not acting like a child," Draco said grumpily. "Raven started everything." Ginny grinned, how predictable.
"I did not!" Raven argued.
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Too."
"Not."
"Too."
"Not times 1000." Ginny was now grinning with both eyebrows raised, this was so easy.
"Okay, okay," Draco said frowning, "Point taken." Ginny mouthed an ' I-told-you-so,' and Draco sneered at her. When they were finished with dinner Draco left to go to one of his libraries. Ginny took Raven up to her room, which meant Ginny was wondering around for five minutes until Hopkins found them and helped them find the rooms.
Ginny convinced Raven to take a bath and get in the bed, and left her room shutting the door quietly behind her. Now she just had to remember was her room to the right or the left. She tried a few doors and finally found her room. She walked in and looked at it more closely this time. It was decorated in dark purple, with green and black. The room was very elegantly furnished. She walked over to one of the other doors in the room and it opened up into a large bathroom with a shower and separate Jacuzzi Wiz bathtub. She walked back into her room and grabbed her pajamas and took a hot bath; and then went to bed. It was a very soft bouncy bed, just perfect; the kind princesses sleep on, she thought before falling asleep.
~
Ginny's eyes flew open; she was sweating heavily in the bed. She crawled slowly out of from under her covers and swung her feet to the floor, she bit her tongue to keep from crying out; the floor was icy cold. How does it get so cold in the summer? She asked herself. She tried again slowly and ran to her slippers and put them on. Her throat felt dry, she decided to try finding the kitchens to get a drink.
She slipped out of her room quietly and went down what she thought was the right hall. Wizards in portraits that lined the walls watched her closely as she was wandering the halls trying to find the kitchen. She was walking for ten minutes before she thought she heard footsteps behind her. She whipped her head around; there wasn't anybody behind her. Ginny shivered goose bumps appearing on her skin. She started walking again, this time more quickly.
"Boo!" The voice whispered in her ear. She started to scream when a cold hand covered her mouth. The voice chuckled, "Relax Weasley, it's just me." Draco said removing his hand from her mouth. "Are you lost? Figures, this is probably the biggest house you've ever been in, eh?"
"Yes I'm lost, I can't even find the freaking kitchen," Ginny snapped at him. "And don't sneak up on me like that." She shivered; it felt like there was a cold breeze blowing through the hall. She looked down at what she was wearing, some of her brother's old boxers and a thin grey spaghetti strap shirt. No wonder she was cold. She glanced over at Draco; he was wearing silk pajama bottoms and…nothing else. Her eyes widened a bit at the sight of his muscled chest, sure she had brothers…but he wasn't her brother was he? No, of course not.
Draco started walking off; Ginny was still planted to the floor, shivering. "Well? Aren't you coming, I'll show you where the kitchen is." Draco said a bit impatiently. Ginny widened her eyes and followed, crossing her arms and shivering some more. "Cold?" Ginny nodded. He stopped in front of a door and opened it; Ginny recognized it as his room and stood outside the door. He must have led her back to the hallway where their bedrooms were. Draco came out and tossed a black robe her way. She caught it and pulled it on over her head. It smelled like him, like his cologne, spicy and manly, a very good smell; she breathed it in as deeply as she dared trying not to let him hear her.
A minute later they arrived at the kitchens. "What do you want?" Draco asked getting a glass and filling it up with water, then taking a sip of it.
"Water would be nice," He magicked a cup over to her and she filled it up at the sink.
"So why did you really take this job?" Draco asked eyeing her in his robe; he had to admit that she looked good in it, even though it was too big for her.
"My mum, she wanted me to get a job, so I took the first one that I could, and I like kids." She said taking a sip of the water; it felt good on her dry throat. "Why are you watching Raven? Is she yours?" Draco snorted.
"Raven is NOT mine, she's my cousins'. They left to go on a trip for the ministry this summer and my mom volunteered me to watch her. I don't have time to watch her, so I placed an ad for an au paire." Draco said draining his glass and setting it in the sink.
"Oh," was all Ginny said. She finished her water and set the glass in the sink. "So then I'm guessing you aren't married." Draco gave her an amused look.
"No, I'm not." He said walking out of the kitchen. Ginny followed him not wanting to get lost again. "Shouldn't you be married to scar face or something?"
Ginny blanched, "Um, no, I think he's too busy to be married."
"So in other words, you think he hasn't paid you enough attention for him to like you and want to get married to you?" Draco said as Ginny quickened her step so that she could walk beside him. She blushed.
"That isn't what I said."
"But it's what you wanted to say."
"So," Ginny said bowing her head. How did he guess? "Why do you care…and how did you…know?"
"I could tell by the way that you said it; it was really obvious." Draco said quickly so that Ginny could tell that he didn't really want to elaborate. They started up a flight of steps, one that Ginny hadn't been on earlier. She didn't know how she was ever going to learn her way around here.
"Um, Malfoy, I don't think that I'm ever going to be able to learn my way around here."
Draco snorted, "Too big?" Ginny nodded. "Well, actually if you just pay attention to what colors the walls are in different parts of the house it isn't that easy to get lost. Near the libraries the walls are grey…" and Draco went to explain to her about wall colors helping her find out where she was and how to get to where she was going, Ginny personally felt that having different colored walls that like was pretty peculiar. They stopped in front of doors, and Ginny recognized the doors, after a few moments delay, as the doors to their bedrooms.
Draco and Ginny just stood there not really saying anything, but looking at each, other studying each other. Draco didn't know if it was just the fact that Ginny was in his robes or that he was increasingly tired but he found her very alluring at that moment. Ginny was…well Ginny was currently immersed in staring at his chest, and sometimes alternating for his eyes, either seemed very attractive to her. Without saying anything Draco took a step closer to her, and she took an involuntary step closer, while her mind was screaming, what do you think that you're doing?
For a moment neither of them moved. Then, without being able to control himself, Draco bent down to kiss her, only he didn't quite make it, because that's when Raven started screaming.
Ginny and Draco jumped apart quickly, and Ginny rushed into Raven's room. Draco sauntered over to the doorway slowly and watched Ginny kneeling beside the bed murmuring comforting things into Raven's ear. Apparently, she had a nightmare, and it was about 'boogies' in the closet. Draco smiled when he saw Raven motioning wildly to describe the 'boogie' for Ginny. And Ginny nodded quickly, and got up to walk over to the closet. Once there, she pretended to say some magic words that would get rid of the 'boogie'. There was a faint, "Thank you," made by Raven after Ginny had given her a night-night hug and kiss.
Ginny came out of the room and shut the door behind her. She leaned back against the door and sighed, "The 'boogie' has been banished."
"That was one hell of a spell you mustered up there, and without a wand too." Draco said sarcastically, leaning against the wall.
"I would have waved my wand about too, if I'd had it with me." Ginny said grinning up at him; Draco returned a lazy grin.
"That little girl really has you whipped doesn't she?" Draco said teasingly.
"I could say the same to you; your demands aren't even at half-mast."
"Shut up, and good night," Draco said maneuvering around her and walking into his room. Ginny slumped against the door and slide to the ground, pulling Draco's robes around her tighter, trying to lose herself in the smell.
~
The next morning Ginny woke up with her neck aching. She opened her eyes and realized that she was still slumped against Raven's door. She let out a little groan, why hadn't she gotten in bed?
"Ah!" Ginny screeched, as the door had just been pulled open behind her. She fell down and hit her head on the floor, hard.
"Oopsies," Raven said putting her little hand over her mouth. Draco skidded out of his room with a tie hanging limply around his neck. He gave Raven a reprimanding look, "What?" Raven asked holding her hands up. "All I did," she said slowly, "was open the door, and BOOM! Dinny hit her head on the floor." Raven glanced at the unconscious Ginny, and then said knowledgably, "Maybe you should do that muggle thing where one person puts their mouth over the other person's and breathes in there for them."
Draco rolled his eyes, "That's only if she isn't breathing, and I hardly think that hitting your head would make you stop breathing."
"Drakey," Raven said pointedly. "I didn't hit my head, Dinny did." Draco glared at her and she smiled innocently at him. Draco knelt down beside her and felt a neck for her pulse and established that fact that there was indeed one; and of course she was breathing.
Draco picked her up and carried her to her room. He dropped her with a plop on her bed and went to get his wand out of his room. Raven was standing by Ginny's bed; she climbed up and knelt beside Ginny. She put a little finger to her eyelid and tried to pull it open, and Ginny's eye stared back at her dully. Raven giggled and lay down next to her.
Draco came back in the room, "Get down Raven." He said bleakly. Raven stuck her tongue out at him and he cocked an eyebrow at her. He mumbled a reviving spell and Ginny's eyes fluttered open slowly. She groaned and reached up to touch the back of her head.
"Yay! Dinny's alive!" Raven shouted into Draco's ear; Draco winced and glared over at her.
"Mind turning down the volume, pipsqueak?" Draco said frostily. Raven 'hmph'-ed at him and crossed her arms turning her nose up at him. "Are you okay, Weasley?" He asked looking as if he could care less. Ginny nodded, Draco started doing up his tie, and Ginny got out of her bed. She paced around and started at Draco's tie.
"Your tie is crooked." She said walking over to him and unknotting it. He looked down at her practically on her tip-toes (A/N: I'm exaggerating!) trying to do up his tie; his eyes widened at her boldness.
"I don't need your help," he scowled trying to push her away.
"Don't be such a meany, let me do it," Ginny said frowning up at him still working on his tie. "There! All better," Ginny patted the tie and smiled at him good-naturedly.
"Thanks," Draco hissed and stalked out of the room.
A/N: Okay, that's the end of this chapter. I tried to make it longer for you! Oh, I have most of the next chapter written but it's in my spiral, so I guess you guys will have to wait for me to make the finishing touches on it and type it up, which should take…a day. Please Review!
Thank You to:
Starwriter (my beta), Silvermoon (my other beta), Erised, DRACOfanatic, ten miles til midnight, Ice Princess, Liz, the-archress, pursin, Eva, the PINK princess, Adela H., LadyJenn2314, Rose Black (the First), Ashley, Lunamooncat, jenni, Juliet, Sum41girl2k, Katie S., com, Princess Cora, Kat, FireLily55, ittybittytreefrog, seekerpeeker, zumamoonlight, Cait, Caitie78, Wyltk, Princess of Mordor, Vie, stormyfire, Gin, SilverLining, hogwartsgirll228, Phoenix Wing Star, lilyayl, RM, Nicole, cosmos, coconut, hells, fourtunate-angel, M. White, Blythe, Becky, silence, Caitlin, Milkyweed, Mystical Kiwi, Sheena, elen, manda, zoobigigi, Alina, Kat, Katie S., jenni,