A/N: I'm really sorry about the sucky formatting of the last chapter. Read this one, I promise that it's better.
Chapter 8
Draco stood at the window staring off into the foggy morning sky, trying to figure out what exactly it was that had come over him the night before. What ever had possessed him to kiss Ginny like that? And why did it have to bother him so much?
He hit the curtains and spun away from the window. He was angry. He had no right to kiss her, but then again it was her fault. How was he supposed to stop when her lips fit so perfectly to his? He closed his eyes tightly and massaged the bridge of his nose tiredly. Why was this happening to him? Why did he feel like there was a heavy weight sitting on his chest?
There was no way that he was going down to breakfast that morning. No way. It would be impossible for him to face Ginny right now. What would he say to her? Why was he feeling this way? Did he have feelings for a…Weasley?
No. NO, definitely not.
Then why was he feeling so…different? No, it wasn't that kind of different. He just…he shouldn't have kissed her the night before, that's all. He didn't care anything about her and wasn't going to let his conscience get to him. He would just act like it didn't even happen. Maybe she would even dismiss it as a dream.
He rang the bell near his door and sat down in a pouffy armchair. Hopkins opened the door minutes later and bowed deeply at Draco. "Yes sir, what can Hopkins do for you?"
"Breakfast. I want breakfast up here in my room this morning." Draco said tiredly, slouching in the chair and watching Hopkins' eyebrows shoot up.
"No breakfast with Missus Wheezy, sir?" He asked bouncing anxiously on his feet.
"No. Please bring me my breakfast." He gave Hopkins a look telling him to just let the subject alone. Hopkins scurried out of the room and the door shut loudly behind him, causing Draco to wince.
***
Ginny sat next to Raven at the big dining room table wondering where Draco was. She stared at the elegant lacy tablecloth and thought that maybe he was regretting what he'd done the night before. Now the friendship that she had been trying to build would just be flushed down the toilet, never to be seen again – except for maybe in sewer, but who would want it then?
Ginny saw Hopkins dart in the room from the corner of her eye and her head snapped up. "Hopkins?" she called out.
He jumped, "Yes Missus Wheezy?" He was wringing his hands and glancing around the room nervously.
"Where's Dr-Mr. Malfoy?" She inquired.
Hopkins looked as if he wasn't sure what to say. Raven looked over at Ginny, frowning slightly. "Erm…Mr. Malfoy is busy Missus."
"With what?" Ginny demanded.
"Well…err…you see Missus…" he looked down at the small wrist watch he was wearing and jumped again. "Oh sorry Missus, gots to be going now." He half ran half hopped into the kitchen and reappeared seconds later balancing a large tray on his head and walking out of the room.
Ginny sat back in her seat, very confused. Draco always came down to breakfast every single morning. It must have been the kissing. It couldn't have been anything else. He was probably repulsed with himself for even touching her. She shivered.
"What's wrong Dinny?" Raven asked tilting her head to the side.
"Nothing," Ginny said shaking her head. "Nothing."
"Wanna know what I did yesterday?" Raven peered up at her eagerly.
"What?"
"Drakey took me flying! And I went up, and WHOOSH! I felled off the broom! And Drakey—Drakey is real fast he ZOOMED! And caught me in the air. It was like I was flying…and…and…he's my hero!" Raven said bouncing in her seat excitedly.
Ginny sat still for a moment. "He took you flying."
"Yup."
"And you fell off the broom."
"Yup."
"He caught you."
"Yup."
"You were on a broom all by yourself."
Raven sat up proudly. "Yup."
Ginny sighed loudly and pushed herself away from the table, and pulled Raven out of her chair and took her by the hand. She marched up the stairs to Draco's room and knocked loudly on the door.
"Open up Malfoy! I know you're in there!" Ginny shouted, tapping her foot impatiently.
The door swung open and a curious looking Draco peeked out. "What?" he demanded looking from Raven's playful face to Ginny's stern one. He pulled the door open more and stepped back. "What did I do now?"
"How could you take her flying? Do I have to remind you that she's ONLY four years OLD! She could have been seriously hurt or even worse. Did you even stop to think of what would have happened if you hadn't caught her? Huh? Mr. Hotshot, what if she had fallen to the ground? What would you have done then?"
Draco opened his mouth to say something in his defense but Ginny just kept on talking. "You're just as irresponsible as I thought you would be! What where you thinking? Did the DANGERS and possible CONSEQUENCES even enter that thick skull of yours? HUH? What would your cousins say if they knew that you went flying with their daughter and she FELL off the BROOM?"
Draco really couldn't think of anything to say. He looked to Raven who was staring at Ginny with her mouth open. "Well," he said, "Raven begged, and I couldn't resist."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Draco, we're not talking about a cookie before supper, we're talking about flying! It's very easy to resist MISTER!" She poked his chest with her forefinger. "All you have to do," poke, "Is say," poke, "NO!" He brought his hand up to his chest and started to rub it, scowling at her.
"It's not that EASY!" He growled. "It's hard to say no to someone so cute," he looked over to Raven and his eyes softened.
Ginny snorted, "Since when do you have a soft spot?"
He turned back to glare at her, rage boiling up inside him. Why was she being so…so…mean? All he had done was take Raven flying. It wasn't like he killed her or anything. Was it because he kissed her last night? Oh how he regretted that now.
"What do you mean by that?" he spat.
Ginny's lips tightened into a very thin line. "Well you're supposed to play the part of the cold-hearted bastard aren't you?" Raven gasped and put her hands over her ears.
"And I guess you've adopted the role of the bitter bitch?" Draco said sneering. Raven wriggled out of Ginny's grasp and ran down the hall.
"What are you talking about? Why would I be bitter?"
Draco tapped his chin and acted like he was thinking. "Oh I don't know…maybe it's because you've been lusting over the same guy since you were NINE years old and he still hasn't noticed you. Maybe that's why you're so bitter."
Ginny let out a strangled cry, "Ah! How dare you talk about Harry! This doesn't even have anything to do with him! And I'm NOT still lusting over him!" Ginny shouted, her face becoming as red as her hair.
"Right, and I'm supposed to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe! The fact that you even brought that up just proves my point. You're a cold-hearted bastard! Only you would pull a cheap shot like that to avoid the real issue. Which is the fact that you made a mistake, you were irresponsible and reckless and you can't even find it within yourself to swallow that damn pride of yours and admit it."
"Oh, I'm proud? Take a look in the mirror Ginny. You're too proud to admit what you really feel. I see right through you. You're mad at me only because I had the guts to tell you the truth. You're still in love with Potter. You waste your time waiting for him and refuse to get close to any other guy in the hopes that one day he'll wake up and notice you. You're afraid that you might start loving them instead of your precious Potter, and that would mean that you're betraying him. -Stop me if I'm wrong."
Ginny didn't say anything.
Draco sighed. "You even told me yourself that you want to marry him. Well maybe you didn't exactly say it, but you implied it. There are some things that you just have to get over Weasley, and one of those things is Potter."
Ginny stood with her head bowed, staring at the carpet, her lower lip was quivering. Draco stared at the quivering lip and remembered the night before. A single tear rolled down her check and plummeted to the floor.
"At least I'm trying," she whispered and fled down the hall to her room and slammed the door. Draco sunk against the frame of his door, wondering what had happened to him. What had happened to the Draco Malfoy that he knew and understood? Why did he feel so chaotic? He shook his head violently and went back into his room.
***
Ginny was sitting in a big armchair in the library, resting her head in her hands staring out the window at the pouring rain. Raven was playing with a muggle Barbie.
"Oh Ken! I'm sorry I yelled at you, let's kiss and make up." Ginny continued to stare forlornly out the window.
Tap, tap, she shook herself out of her daze and saw an owl at the window. She opened it and the tawny owl flew in dropping a letter into her lap and gracefully perched itself at the top of her armchair.
Ginny picked it up and opened it:
Ginny,
It's Colin. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go see Phantom of the Opera with me next Friday night. I heard it is really good. I hope you'll come with me. Owl me back and let me know.
Colin
Ginny smiled and folded it back up. Of course she would go with him. It's exactly what she needed: a nice, non-confusing date with Colin.
"Who is that from?" Raven asked looking at the letter in Ginny's hand.
"A friend, he's asked me out on a date."
Raven frowned, "Boyfriend?"
Ginny sighed, "I guess so."
Raven's frown increased, "You can't go, you need to stay and watch me." She got up and put her hands on her hips, giving Ginny her sternest look. Ginny stifled a giggle. "Well that's not for you to say, now is it?"
"You can't have a boyfriend."
"Why not?" Ginny asked, sitting back down in her chair.
"Because…he isn't blond."
"Yes he is."
"He's not nice."
"Actually he's very nice, a perfect gentleman."
"He…doesn't have a big house," Raven said stoutly.
Ginny giggled, "No he doesn't. But that isn't what matters."
"Well it should!"
"Why not too long ago you were pestering me about not having a boyfriend. Now that I have one you think that I shouldn't. Why shouldn't I have a boyfriend Raven?" Ginny inquired curiously.
"Because he's not Drakey!" Raven stomped out of the library, and lead Ginny on a wild goose chase.
***
This is ridiculous, Draco thought as he paced his room. He hadn't left since the fight he'd had with Ginny. What the hells wrong with me? Since when do I hide from anyone? Especially a Weasley. He sighed heavily and raked his fingers through his fine blond hair. What is it about her that gets me so on edge? Why am I pacing about my room thinking about her of all people?
Raven burst into his room, panting, her hair flying around her wildly. She looked around. "Drakey!" she said excitedly. "Hide me!"
Draco hesitated then looked around his room for a place to hide her. He pulled open a door on his armoire and helped Raven in. Just as he closed the door and turned around Ginny was at the door.
"Where's Raven?" she asked.
Draco shrugged, "I don't know. I thought I was paying you to keep up with her."
Ginny scowled, "Well she ran off and I don't know where she is!"
Draco heard Raven giggling in the armoire and started coughing loudly to cover it up. Ginny frowned and tried to look behind Draco. "Are you sure she isn't in here?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "Why would I hide her from you?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "But it seems like something that you might do."
"I wouldn't."
Ginny looked intently at him for a moment. "Fine, I'm going to go look for her." She walked out the door. Draco sighed and turned to the armoire. "Draco," Ginny called walking back into the room. He jumped.
"God, Weasley don't sneak up on me like that."
"I wasn't sneaking up on you, why are you so jumpy?"
"I'm not jumpy, now what do you want?"
"I wanted to tell you that I am going to need next Friday night off." Draco heard a muffled "NO" from the armoire. "What was that noise Draco?"
"Nothing, just my stomach. I don't care if you take Friday night off." A distinct thud emitted from the armoire. Ginny looked toward it and the corners of her mouth twitched.
"Well, I'm glad that you don't mind because Colin's taking me to see Phantom of the Opera. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time."
"Creevy! That Potter-loving git with the camera? What are you desperate?"
Ginny stepped toward him trembling with rage. "How dare you. Colin is a wonderful guy. He's not the boy you knew at Hogwarts, he's grown up, which is more than I can say for you. You know, you have a lot of nerve passing judgment on me when you yourself don't have a girlfriend and put on that . . . that ridiculous production to convince your boss that you're engaged! I think you're the one who needs to take a look in the mirror."
"Touché, Weasley. Did it take you all morning to come up with that come back? Creevy is just a cheap substitute for Potter. Did you really think that going out with the President of his fan club would get you over him?"
Ginny's eyes darkened. "My love life is none of your business. If you say one more word, just one word, just. . . one. . . tiny . . . smalll. . . word about it ever again I will cut out your tongue with a dull, rusted blade, flambé it and feed it to you."
Draco closed the space between them and brought his face within inches of Ginny's. "Well that's a very Slytherin-like threat Virginia. We'll just have to see how good you are with a blade then, won't we? Your fencing lesson will be in an hour."
Ginny stood dumfounded. Draco stepped back and smirked. "Shouldn't you go find Raven?"
"Huh? Ginny snapped out of her daze. "Yes, I'm going to find Raven." She walked toward the door.
"Ginny."
"Yes?"
"Don't be late. I hate to be kept waiting." Ginny left to try and find Raven.
Draco let Raven out of the armoire after Ginny left and shooed her out of the room. "You better run before you get me into more trouble kid." Raven took off giggling like mad, turned a corner and ran into Ginny.
Ginny wasn't paying attention to Raven at all, she was thinking. She was thinking of Draco, the one person she didn't want to be thinking of. But she couldn't stop, not after he had kissed her like that. What was worse was the fact that he hadn't said anything about it. He'd acted like it hadn't happened.
Maybe it was just a dream…no it wasn't, there was no way that it could have be a dream.
Raven peered up at Ginny with little girl concern. "Dinny? Dinny?" When Ginny didn't respond, Raven put her small hot hand on Ginny's frigid one.
Ginny jerked back to reality and looked to Raven. "There you are, don't run away from me like that, this place is huge, I thought I'd never find you." She clasped Raven's hand and they walked to the library. Ginny sat by the window. Raven hopped up on the white couch and started jumping up and down. After a few minutes of jumping she got off the couch and went to Ginny.
"What's wrong?" Raven asked.
Ginny shook her head and looked out the window where she saw Draco flying around the wet quidditch pitch outside. He was racing around the hoops, his cloak billowing out behind him as he flew.
She sighed and looked back to Raven, "Nothing."
Raven sat on Ginny's lap and curled up against her. Raven wasn't sure what exactly was going on. All she knew was that she wanted Draco and Ginny together and there had been a whole lot of yelling earlier that morning. As young as she was, she knew that wasn't good.
Ginny brought Raven to Mrs. Wells and then asked Hopkins where Draco was, as he hadn't told her where the lesson would be. "Why he would be in the ballroom Miss Wheezy." Ginny stared at him completely confused, "Malfoy has aballroom?"
Hopkins nodded earnestly, "Would Miss Wheezy like Hopkins to show her where it is?" He looked excited at the prospect of showing Ginny a part of the house she hadn't been in before.
"Sure." Hopkins showed her to the ballroom and she walked in. The ceiling was extraordinary; it reminded her of the one in Beauty and the Beast – a muggle movie she had watched while babysitting for Ron and Hermione's son. While staring in awe, she heard a loud crash. She whipped her head around the room and saw nothing.
Then Draco came in through a side door holding a white bag. Ginny looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "What was that?"
He blinked, "What?"
"That…you know, the crashing noise?" Ginny asked wondering how he could be rather dense about the most painfully obvious things.
He smirked, "Oh that…. The cabinet wouldn't open." Ginny's mouth fell open.
"The cabinet wouldn't open, so you broke it?"
"Why not, it's easily fixed."
Ginny shook her head and mumbled "Men" under her breath. He moved to the center of the ballroom and dropped the bag on the floor; it made clanging noises that caused Ginny cringe.
She looked at him, waiting for what he would do next. He bent down and pulled out two very pointy looking types of swords. Each had an elaborate 'M' carved onto the handle. "This," he said handing one to her, "Is a foil. The foil is the most basic weapon in fencing. There's also a saber and an épée . " He bent down and pulled out white suits. "We have to put these on for safety."
Ginny held one in her hand looking at it dubiously. "Isn't there supposed to be a mask that goes with this?"
"You're just beginning, it's not like we're going to spar and you're going to be able to take my eye out."
"What about my eye?" Ginny asked glaring at him.
He shrugged, "I'll try not to aim too high."
Ginny let out a cry of indignation. "That isn't funny Malfoy."
"Just shut up and let me teach. Now, as I was saying…." Draco went on and explained to her, after they had donned their suits, what defensive and offensive stances looked like. He also showed her on-guard, a position that you could use to start either a defensive of offense move. He taught her the proper way to lunge and thrust. She was a fast learner but was still clumsy with her foil being that her hand wasn't quite used to it yet. After an hour they stopped and Hopkins brought them some water.
They sat on the floor silently, sipping the cool water slowly. Draco set his cup on the floor. "Do you want to try to spar?"
Ginny sighed and looked at the foil that was lying next to her. "I guess I could try."
"Then get up and come on." He said standing up and grabbing his foil. They stood on-guard. "Ready?" She nodded and they started. She thrust her foil and he parried her block, striking her torso, earning himself a point. After that, Draco went a little easier on her; blocking her blows and letting her block his. They worked their way across the room until he had her practically in a corner. He lunged forward causing her to step back and her back hit the wall. Draco hit her foil from her hand; it clattered to the floor and rolled away. She watched it nervously, and then looked back to Draco. She was going to just knee him and run for her foil, but her brought up his arm and used it to press her against the wall. She gulped and looked daringly into his eyes; afraid that she might see the same thing she had seen earlier that morning. Yes, the look was there, and it was scaring her.
Draco saw her eyes flick to his lips, and her tongue dart out of her mouth to lick her lips. He almost laughed. Draco brought his lips down slowly toward hers.
"Why?" She blurted out.
He moved his head back and looked at her, "What do you mean 'why'?"
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Why did you kiss me last night?"
His stomach flipped, he knew that she was going to ask about it. She wasn't one of those women who he could just snog and they wouldn't care why. She needed to know. And this was the moment that he had been dreading. What was he going to say? That he felt a weird twinge in his chest every time that she was around? One that he couldn't explain, and didn't want explained for fear of what it might mean. What to say…
Chapter 8
Draco stood at the window staring off into the foggy morning sky, trying to figure out what exactly it was that had come over him the night before. What ever had possessed him to kiss Ginny like that? And why did it have to bother him so much?
He hit the curtains and spun away from the window. He was angry. He had no right to kiss her, but then again it was her fault. How was he supposed to stop when her lips fit so perfectly to his? He closed his eyes tightly and massaged the bridge of his nose tiredly. Why was this happening to him? Why did he feel like there was a heavy weight sitting on his chest?
There was no way that he was going down to breakfast that morning. No way. It would be impossible for him to face Ginny right now. What would he say to her? Why was he feeling this way? Did he have feelings for a…Weasley?
No. NO, definitely not.
Then why was he feeling so…different? No, it wasn't that kind of different. He just…he shouldn't have kissed her the night before, that's all. He didn't care anything about her and wasn't going to let his conscience get to him. He would just act like it didn't even happen. Maybe she would even dismiss it as a dream.
He rang the bell near his door and sat down in a pouffy armchair. Hopkins opened the door minutes later and bowed deeply at Draco. "Yes sir, what can Hopkins do for you?"
"Breakfast. I want breakfast up here in my room this morning." Draco said tiredly, slouching in the chair and watching Hopkins' eyebrows shoot up.
"No breakfast with Missus Wheezy, sir?" He asked bouncing anxiously on his feet.
"No. Please bring me my breakfast." He gave Hopkins a look telling him to just let the subject alone. Hopkins scurried out of the room and the door shut loudly behind him, causing Draco to wince.
***
Ginny sat next to Raven at the big dining room table wondering where Draco was. She stared at the elegant lacy tablecloth and thought that maybe he was regretting what he'd done the night before. Now the friendship that she had been trying to build would just be flushed down the toilet, never to be seen again – except for maybe in sewer, but who would want it then?
Ginny saw Hopkins dart in the room from the corner of her eye and her head snapped up. "Hopkins?" she called out.
He jumped, "Yes Missus Wheezy?" He was wringing his hands and glancing around the room nervously.
"Where's Dr-Mr. Malfoy?" She inquired.
Hopkins looked as if he wasn't sure what to say. Raven looked over at Ginny, frowning slightly. "Erm…Mr. Malfoy is busy Missus."
"With what?" Ginny demanded.
"Well…err…you see Missus…" he looked down at the small wrist watch he was wearing and jumped again. "Oh sorry Missus, gots to be going now." He half ran half hopped into the kitchen and reappeared seconds later balancing a large tray on his head and walking out of the room.
Ginny sat back in her seat, very confused. Draco always came down to breakfast every single morning. It must have been the kissing. It couldn't have been anything else. He was probably repulsed with himself for even touching her. She shivered.
"What's wrong Dinny?" Raven asked tilting her head to the side.
"Nothing," Ginny said shaking her head. "Nothing."
"Wanna know what I did yesterday?" Raven peered up at her eagerly.
"What?"
"Drakey took me flying! And I went up, and WHOOSH! I felled off the broom! And Drakey—Drakey is real fast he ZOOMED! And caught me in the air. It was like I was flying…and…and…he's my hero!" Raven said bouncing in her seat excitedly.
Ginny sat still for a moment. "He took you flying."
"Yup."
"And you fell off the broom."
"Yup."
"He caught you."
"Yup."
"You were on a broom all by yourself."
Raven sat up proudly. "Yup."
Ginny sighed loudly and pushed herself away from the table, and pulled Raven out of her chair and took her by the hand. She marched up the stairs to Draco's room and knocked loudly on the door.
"Open up Malfoy! I know you're in there!" Ginny shouted, tapping her foot impatiently.
The door swung open and a curious looking Draco peeked out. "What?" he demanded looking from Raven's playful face to Ginny's stern one. He pulled the door open more and stepped back. "What did I do now?"
"How could you take her flying? Do I have to remind you that she's ONLY four years OLD! She could have been seriously hurt or even worse. Did you even stop to think of what would have happened if you hadn't caught her? Huh? Mr. Hotshot, what if she had fallen to the ground? What would you have done then?"
Draco opened his mouth to say something in his defense but Ginny just kept on talking. "You're just as irresponsible as I thought you would be! What where you thinking? Did the DANGERS and possible CONSEQUENCES even enter that thick skull of yours? HUH? What would your cousins say if they knew that you went flying with their daughter and she FELL off the BROOM?"
Draco really couldn't think of anything to say. He looked to Raven who was staring at Ginny with her mouth open. "Well," he said, "Raven begged, and I couldn't resist."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Draco, we're not talking about a cookie before supper, we're talking about flying! It's very easy to resist MISTER!" She poked his chest with her forefinger. "All you have to do," poke, "Is say," poke, "NO!" He brought his hand up to his chest and started to rub it, scowling at her.
"It's not that EASY!" He growled. "It's hard to say no to someone so cute," he looked over to Raven and his eyes softened.
Ginny snorted, "Since when do you have a soft spot?"
He turned back to glare at her, rage boiling up inside him. Why was she being so…so…mean? All he had done was take Raven flying. It wasn't like he killed her or anything. Was it because he kissed her last night? Oh how he regretted that now.
"What do you mean by that?" he spat.
Ginny's lips tightened into a very thin line. "Well you're supposed to play the part of the cold-hearted bastard aren't you?" Raven gasped and put her hands over her ears.
"And I guess you've adopted the role of the bitter bitch?" Draco said sneering. Raven wriggled out of Ginny's grasp and ran down the hall.
"What are you talking about? Why would I be bitter?"
Draco tapped his chin and acted like he was thinking. "Oh I don't know…maybe it's because you've been lusting over the same guy since you were NINE years old and he still hasn't noticed you. Maybe that's why you're so bitter."
Ginny let out a strangled cry, "Ah! How dare you talk about Harry! This doesn't even have anything to do with him! And I'm NOT still lusting over him!" Ginny shouted, her face becoming as red as her hair.
"Right, and I'm supposed to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe! The fact that you even brought that up just proves my point. You're a cold-hearted bastard! Only you would pull a cheap shot like that to avoid the real issue. Which is the fact that you made a mistake, you were irresponsible and reckless and you can't even find it within yourself to swallow that damn pride of yours and admit it."
"Oh, I'm proud? Take a look in the mirror Ginny. You're too proud to admit what you really feel. I see right through you. You're mad at me only because I had the guts to tell you the truth. You're still in love with Potter. You waste your time waiting for him and refuse to get close to any other guy in the hopes that one day he'll wake up and notice you. You're afraid that you might start loving them instead of your precious Potter, and that would mean that you're betraying him. -Stop me if I'm wrong."
Ginny didn't say anything.
Draco sighed. "You even told me yourself that you want to marry him. Well maybe you didn't exactly say it, but you implied it. There are some things that you just have to get over Weasley, and one of those things is Potter."
Ginny stood with her head bowed, staring at the carpet, her lower lip was quivering. Draco stared at the quivering lip and remembered the night before. A single tear rolled down her check and plummeted to the floor.
"At least I'm trying," she whispered and fled down the hall to her room and slammed the door. Draco sunk against the frame of his door, wondering what had happened to him. What had happened to the Draco Malfoy that he knew and understood? Why did he feel so chaotic? He shook his head violently and went back into his room.
***
Ginny was sitting in a big armchair in the library, resting her head in her hands staring out the window at the pouring rain. Raven was playing with a muggle Barbie.
"Oh Ken! I'm sorry I yelled at you, let's kiss and make up." Ginny continued to stare forlornly out the window.
Tap, tap, she shook herself out of her daze and saw an owl at the window. She opened it and the tawny owl flew in dropping a letter into her lap and gracefully perched itself at the top of her armchair.
Ginny picked it up and opened it:
Ginny,
It's Colin. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go see Phantom of the Opera with me next Friday night. I heard it is really good. I hope you'll come with me. Owl me back and let me know.
Colin
Ginny smiled and folded it back up. Of course she would go with him. It's exactly what she needed: a nice, non-confusing date with Colin.
"Who is that from?" Raven asked looking at the letter in Ginny's hand.
"A friend, he's asked me out on a date."
Raven frowned, "Boyfriend?"
Ginny sighed, "I guess so."
Raven's frown increased, "You can't go, you need to stay and watch me." She got up and put her hands on her hips, giving Ginny her sternest look. Ginny stifled a giggle. "Well that's not for you to say, now is it?"
"You can't have a boyfriend."
"Why not?" Ginny asked, sitting back down in her chair.
"Because…he isn't blond."
"Yes he is."
"He's not nice."
"Actually he's very nice, a perfect gentleman."
"He…doesn't have a big house," Raven said stoutly.
Ginny giggled, "No he doesn't. But that isn't what matters."
"Well it should!"
"Why not too long ago you were pestering me about not having a boyfriend. Now that I have one you think that I shouldn't. Why shouldn't I have a boyfriend Raven?" Ginny inquired curiously.
"Because he's not Drakey!" Raven stomped out of the library, and lead Ginny on a wild goose chase.
***
This is ridiculous, Draco thought as he paced his room. He hadn't left since the fight he'd had with Ginny. What the hells wrong with me? Since when do I hide from anyone? Especially a Weasley. He sighed heavily and raked his fingers through his fine blond hair. What is it about her that gets me so on edge? Why am I pacing about my room thinking about her of all people?
Raven burst into his room, panting, her hair flying around her wildly. She looked around. "Drakey!" she said excitedly. "Hide me!"
Draco hesitated then looked around his room for a place to hide her. He pulled open a door on his armoire and helped Raven in. Just as he closed the door and turned around Ginny was at the door.
"Where's Raven?" she asked.
Draco shrugged, "I don't know. I thought I was paying you to keep up with her."
Ginny scowled, "Well she ran off and I don't know where she is!"
Draco heard Raven giggling in the armoire and started coughing loudly to cover it up. Ginny frowned and tried to look behind Draco. "Are you sure she isn't in here?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "Why would I hide her from you?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "But it seems like something that you might do."
"I wouldn't."
Ginny looked intently at him for a moment. "Fine, I'm going to go look for her." She walked out the door. Draco sighed and turned to the armoire. "Draco," Ginny called walking back into the room. He jumped.
"God, Weasley don't sneak up on me like that."
"I wasn't sneaking up on you, why are you so jumpy?"
"I'm not jumpy, now what do you want?"
"I wanted to tell you that I am going to need next Friday night off." Draco heard a muffled "NO" from the armoire. "What was that noise Draco?"
"Nothing, just my stomach. I don't care if you take Friday night off." A distinct thud emitted from the armoire. Ginny looked toward it and the corners of her mouth twitched.
"Well, I'm glad that you don't mind because Colin's taking me to see Phantom of the Opera. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time."
"Creevy! That Potter-loving git with the camera? What are you desperate?"
Ginny stepped toward him trembling with rage. "How dare you. Colin is a wonderful guy. He's not the boy you knew at Hogwarts, he's grown up, which is more than I can say for you. You know, you have a lot of nerve passing judgment on me when you yourself don't have a girlfriend and put on that . . . that ridiculous production to convince your boss that you're engaged! I think you're the one who needs to take a look in the mirror."
"Touché, Weasley. Did it take you all morning to come up with that come back? Creevy is just a cheap substitute for Potter. Did you really think that going out with the President of his fan club would get you over him?"
Ginny's eyes darkened. "My love life is none of your business. If you say one more word, just one word, just. . . one. . . tiny . . . smalll. . . word about it ever again I will cut out your tongue with a dull, rusted blade, flambé it and feed it to you."
Draco closed the space between them and brought his face within inches of Ginny's. "Well that's a very Slytherin-like threat Virginia. We'll just have to see how good you are with a blade then, won't we? Your fencing lesson will be in an hour."
Ginny stood dumfounded. Draco stepped back and smirked. "Shouldn't you go find Raven?"
"Huh? Ginny snapped out of her daze. "Yes, I'm going to find Raven." She walked toward the door.
"Ginny."
"Yes?"
"Don't be late. I hate to be kept waiting." Ginny left to try and find Raven.
Draco let Raven out of the armoire after Ginny left and shooed her out of the room. "You better run before you get me into more trouble kid." Raven took off giggling like mad, turned a corner and ran into Ginny.
Ginny wasn't paying attention to Raven at all, she was thinking. She was thinking of Draco, the one person she didn't want to be thinking of. But she couldn't stop, not after he had kissed her like that. What was worse was the fact that he hadn't said anything about it. He'd acted like it hadn't happened.
Maybe it was just a dream…no it wasn't, there was no way that it could have be a dream.
Raven peered up at Ginny with little girl concern. "Dinny? Dinny?" When Ginny didn't respond, Raven put her small hot hand on Ginny's frigid one.
Ginny jerked back to reality and looked to Raven. "There you are, don't run away from me like that, this place is huge, I thought I'd never find you." She clasped Raven's hand and they walked to the library. Ginny sat by the window. Raven hopped up on the white couch and started jumping up and down. After a few minutes of jumping she got off the couch and went to Ginny.
"What's wrong?" Raven asked.
Ginny shook her head and looked out the window where she saw Draco flying around the wet quidditch pitch outside. He was racing around the hoops, his cloak billowing out behind him as he flew.
She sighed and looked back to Raven, "Nothing."
Raven sat on Ginny's lap and curled up against her. Raven wasn't sure what exactly was going on. All she knew was that she wanted Draco and Ginny together and there had been a whole lot of yelling earlier that morning. As young as she was, she knew that wasn't good.
Ginny brought Raven to Mrs. Wells and then asked Hopkins where Draco was, as he hadn't told her where the lesson would be. "Why he would be in the ballroom Miss Wheezy." Ginny stared at him completely confused, "Malfoy has aballroom?"
Hopkins nodded earnestly, "Would Miss Wheezy like Hopkins to show her where it is?" He looked excited at the prospect of showing Ginny a part of the house she hadn't been in before.
"Sure." Hopkins showed her to the ballroom and she walked in. The ceiling was extraordinary; it reminded her of the one in Beauty and the Beast – a muggle movie she had watched while babysitting for Ron and Hermione's son. While staring in awe, she heard a loud crash. She whipped her head around the room and saw nothing.
Then Draco came in through a side door holding a white bag. Ginny looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "What was that?"
He blinked, "What?"
"That…you know, the crashing noise?" Ginny asked wondering how he could be rather dense about the most painfully obvious things.
He smirked, "Oh that…. The cabinet wouldn't open." Ginny's mouth fell open.
"The cabinet wouldn't open, so you broke it?"
"Why not, it's easily fixed."
Ginny shook her head and mumbled "Men" under her breath. He moved to the center of the ballroom and dropped the bag on the floor; it made clanging noises that caused Ginny cringe.
She looked at him, waiting for what he would do next. He bent down and pulled out two very pointy looking types of swords. Each had an elaborate 'M' carved onto the handle. "This," he said handing one to her, "Is a foil. The foil is the most basic weapon in fencing. There's also a saber and an épée . " He bent down and pulled out white suits. "We have to put these on for safety."
Ginny held one in her hand looking at it dubiously. "Isn't there supposed to be a mask that goes with this?"
"You're just beginning, it's not like we're going to spar and you're going to be able to take my eye out."
"What about my eye?" Ginny asked glaring at him.
He shrugged, "I'll try not to aim too high."
Ginny let out a cry of indignation. "That isn't funny Malfoy."
"Just shut up and let me teach. Now, as I was saying…." Draco went on and explained to her, after they had donned their suits, what defensive and offensive stances looked like. He also showed her on-guard, a position that you could use to start either a defensive of offense move. He taught her the proper way to lunge and thrust. She was a fast learner but was still clumsy with her foil being that her hand wasn't quite used to it yet. After an hour they stopped and Hopkins brought them some water.
They sat on the floor silently, sipping the cool water slowly. Draco set his cup on the floor. "Do you want to try to spar?"
Ginny sighed and looked at the foil that was lying next to her. "I guess I could try."
"Then get up and come on." He said standing up and grabbing his foil. They stood on-guard. "Ready?" She nodded and they started. She thrust her foil and he parried her block, striking her torso, earning himself a point. After that, Draco went a little easier on her; blocking her blows and letting her block his. They worked their way across the room until he had her practically in a corner. He lunged forward causing her to step back and her back hit the wall. Draco hit her foil from her hand; it clattered to the floor and rolled away. She watched it nervously, and then looked back to Draco. She was going to just knee him and run for her foil, but her brought up his arm and used it to press her against the wall. She gulped and looked daringly into his eyes; afraid that she might see the same thing she had seen earlier that morning. Yes, the look was there, and it was scaring her.
Draco saw her eyes flick to his lips, and her tongue dart out of her mouth to lick her lips. He almost laughed. Draco brought his lips down slowly toward hers.
"Why?" She blurted out.
He moved his head back and looked at her, "What do you mean 'why'?"
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Why did you kiss me last night?"
His stomach flipped, he knew that she was going to ask about it. She wasn't one of those women who he could just snog and they wouldn't care why. She needed to know. And this was the moment that he had been dreading. What was he going to say? That he felt a weird twinge in his chest every time that she was around? One that he couldn't explain, and didn't want explained for fear of what it might mean. What to say…