A week later and Draco had successfully managed to avoid Ginny, except for
passing her in the hall where he'd just look the other way. Ginny walked
round in a daze, not quite knowing where she was. Her head was telling her
that Draco was trouble and he'd probably only kissed her to get at her
brother, but something inside her at reacted to the kiss. She longed for
him to kiss her again and look at her the way he had that night.
"Ginny! Ginny wake up!" Hermione was shaking her awake but Ginny tried to ignore her as she rolled over in bed. "GINNY!" the voice shouted.
"What?" she growled at whoever it was, "I'm sleeping."
"I can see that, but classes started 5 minutes ago." Ginny bolted out of bed.
"Why didn't you say so then?" she called as she grabbed at her clothes, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "What are doing here anyway?" Ginny asked through a mouthful of toothpaste as she hastily brushed her teeth.
"I noticed you weren't in breakfast so I came looking for you," she replied simply, "Are you ok?"
"Never been better," Ginny replied quickly as she headed down to her Potions lesson, "Snape's going to kill me!" she groaned as she raced across the common room. Hermione stared after her shaking her head, wondering where she got all her energy. Ginny was running so fast down the stairs that she never saw the figure at the bottom until it was to late.
"Ow!" she groaned as she landed in a heap on the floor.
"Ginny?" the figure asked in surprise as he pulled her up.
"Hi Draco," she replied in a small voice, "Sorry, I didn't see you," she said meekly. She dusted off her robes and made to walk away. She could hardly look him in the eye, hurrying away before he could say anything.
"Hey, Ginny slow down," Harry said as he met her about to enter the dungeon for her potion's lesson.
"Harry? How come you're here?" she asked breathlessly, slightly confused.
"I need to talk to Snape about one of his students," he replied grinning, "I caught a third year Slytherin hexing another student. Aren't you a bit late?
"I know," she groaned, "and he'll kill me when I walk in."
"Well I'm sure I can fix this," he grinned at her, "As head boy I have a certain amount of power you know," he said winking at her.
"Excuse me Professor," Harry said opening the door, "I have to apologise for Miss. Weasley's lateness, she stopped to help a group of lost first years to their classroom," Snape merely nodded at Harry as Ginny took her seat. "Oh, and Professor, may I have a word later?" Harry asked before closing the door behind him. Ginny sat thankfully in her place, making a mental note to give Harry a grateful hug when she saw him next.
"Well Miss Weasley, since you've missed the beginning of this week's task, your partner Mr. Creevey who no one has volunteered to work with yet," he sneered as Colin turned a bright shade of red. Ginny groaned inwardly as she crossed the room to sit next to Colin who beamed at her as she sat down next to him.
"Hi G-Ginny," he stammered, "You look a-awfully nice t-today," he managed to say.
"Thanks Colin," she replied with a slight smile as she took out her books. For the majority of the lesson she let Colin do most of the work, mixing the potions and recording the results, as she sat daydreaming about a certain 7th year Slytherin. She could still feel his lips on hers, kissing her so gently, then more passionately as he'd nibbled at her neck. She put her hand to her neck where the marks he'd left were hardly visibly now; she giggled, remembering how much it had tickled her.
"And what is so amusing Miss Weasley?" Snape growled at her. 'If only you knew,' she thought to herself in delight.
"Nothing sir," she replied seriously, she couldn't afford a detention to her name.
MEANWHILE..
Since the 7th year Slytherins and Gryffindors all had a free lesson, Harry, Hermione and Susan (the deputy head girl) were busy making arrangements for the upcoming Halloween ball.
"Where's is he!" Hermione said in frustration as she sent a stack of papers flying.
"Hermione, calm down," Harry said surprised at her outburst, "I'm sure he'll be here in a minute." They'd scheduled a meeting for the four of them to sort out the plans for the ball, and unsurprisingly, Draco hadn't appeared yet.
"I still can't believe he got deputy," she moaned, "He's the most irresponsible person I know."
"I hope you're not slandering my name, Granger," Draco said from the doorway.
"So you decided to turn up then," she replied icily as he sat down on the chair furthest away from her.
"Let's just get this over with," he replied in a bored voice as he flicked through the notes they'd already made. Hermione continued to glare at Draco as Harry took over.
"The ball is scheduled for the 31st, Halloween night, which is in exactly 4 weeks," Harry said going over his notes. And so for the next hour they went over the details for the night, arranging another meeting for the following week.
"You better be on time," Hermione muttered under her breath. He looked back at her, congratulating himself that he hadn't been in the least attracted to her over the past hour, 'Too much like hard work,' he murmured as he left the room.
"Don't worry about him," Harry told her as he closed the door behind them, going to massage her shoulders, "You need to relax," he added gently, bending down to kiss her neck.
Draco sat down on the wall outside the prefect tower, looking out onto the quad, watching the students filing out of their lessons. His mind returned to the night when he'd kissed Ginny. He couldn't believe she'd had this effect in him, he was normally so in control. He kicked at the stones beneath his feet, using his wand to levitate them before hurling them at the wall.
"Hey!" a voice called as a stone narrowly missed his cheek. On seeing Draco, Colin cowered back, stammering an apology for yelling at him. Draco thought how pathetic some of the kids were; everyone was scared of him, everyone that is except Ginny. He could tell he'd excited her that night, and if he guessed correctly, it had probably been the first time a guy at behaved like that with her. In that sense, he mused; he could take advantage of her easily, make that pitiable brother of hers miserable; and Potter he thought bitterly. He knew Harry had nearly got together with Ginny back in the 5th year, but nothing at really come of it. Draco had been sitting for a while before he realised he was being watched.
"Hey!" he yelled standing to confront the, "Show yourself!" he said grabbing the arm of the intruder.
"Ow!" the 'intruder' yelped. Draco immediately dropped the arm as he realised who it belonged to.
"Ginny!" he gasped, seeing the scared expression on her face, "What do you want?" he barked at her.
"I-I just." he tried to say but the look on his face made her frightened of him. This was a completely different Draco to the one who'd kissed her. He realised she was scared of him, and softened his expression as best he could; he couldn't afford for her to go off him.
"Sorry," he mumbled, " I didn't know it was you." A Malfoy apologising to someone! Who'd believe it, he thought to himself as she continued to stare at him. "Look, about the other night." he began but she cut him off.
"I'm glad it happened," she said quietly, looking up at him with wide eyes, waiting for his response. She didn't care that he was a Slytherin or her brother's worst enemy; she liked him and he appeared to like her too. Draco was taken back by her honesty and was speechless as he stared down at her, mesmerised by her eyes, her hair, everything about her. Without thinking he reached out and took her hand, pulling her back behind the wall out of sight from nosey students. Ginny leaned back, feeling the cold of the wall through her robes. Draco placed one hand on the wall behind her as he leaned in so that their foreheads were touching.
"You know this isn't a good idea," he said quietly in a very un-Draco-like voice, "Are you sure you want to get involved with someone like me?" Ginny didn't know what to say; she stared back at him, not knowing how to respond. Her mind was racing and her heart was beating so hard in a chest she was sure he could feel it against him.
"I." she went to say but he was leaning in to kiss her and as she closed her eyes she waited for the feel of his lips on hers, but they didn't come. Instead she felt them kissing down the length of her neck as his hand came up to pull at the collar of her robes, exposing part of her chest. His lips connected with flesh as she let out an almost inaudible moan that only he heard. He smiled to himself at the effect he was having on her, wishing there wasn't this nagging feeling of guilt at the back of his mind. With a surge if courage she pulled his head up and kissed him hard, searching his mouth with her tongue. He reacted eagerly, taking her head in his hands, running his hands through her hair. Just as she moved her mouth to his ear, he pulled back unexpectedly.
"Ginny, I cant." he said panting as he let go of her, hurriedly walking away, leaving her breathless and confused, her legs trembling beneath her.
He kept walking until he'd reached the deserted Quidditch pitch. Finding a discarded broom he picked it up and mounted, soaring up above the trees. He raced as fast as the broom would take him; trying to rid himself of the intensity of the emotions he was experiencing. She was just where he wanted her, yet he couldn't free himself of the guilt he felt. As he'd felt her hot, sweet breath close to his ear, he'd felt something deep down in his stomach; a feeling that scared him.
"Pull yourself together Malfoy!" he mumbled to himself, "She's only another girl," but she wasn't. She wasn't like any of the girls he'd been with; she made him want to please her whereas with the other girls he'd been with, he'd only been interested in satisfying himself. As he headed back to the ground, he saw her still standing by the wall; dropping down between the towers, he stopped to observe her from above. She still looked out of breath as she leant against the wall, staring out at nothing in particular. The wind whipped round her hair, blowing in all directions.
"That damn red hair," he muttered, wishing right now that she were anything but a Weasley.
LATER THAT WEEK.
"Harry, you seen my sister anywhere?" asked Ron as he searched the common room for Ginny.
"Not since this morning," Harry replied, returning to his Potions essay. Ron frowned as he wondered where she'd got to. He'd hardly seen her the past couple of weeks; she always seemed to be where he wasn't- on purpose, he asked himself, most likely. He headed down to the library to see if she was there. Just as he rounded the corner he caught sight of a flash of red he was all too familiar with.
"Hey, Gin!" he called, running to catch up with her, "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, slowing down to walk with her.
"Oh," was all she replied, staring at the ground.
"Hey, are you ok, what's happened?" Ron asked, concerned for his younger sister. He felt slightly awkward since he hadn't spoken to her about the fight with Draco. "Has that idiot Draco been bothering you?"
"No Ron," she replied absently, continuing to walk in a daze.
"Gin," Ron said, stopping her and taking hold of her shoulders, "Gin, you look awful!" he exclaimed, seeing the huge bags under her eyes, and how bloodshot they looked. "Aren't you sleeping?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'm ok," she replied quietly sighing, not looking at him. "I need to get to my lesson," she said, staring to walk away.
"Gin, it's Sunday!" Ron called after her but she continued to walk away, dragging her feet slightly.
"Hermione, can I talk to you a moment?" Ron asked after entering the office she shared with Harry.
"Sure Ron, what's up?" she asked, glad of the break from her study.
"It's Ginny, something's wrong with her, she hasn't been sleeping," he told her with a worried expression.
"I know Ron," Hermione replied gently, "Professor McGonagall, came to see me, apparently Ginny hasn't been going to all her lessons."
"I just don't know what's wrong," Ron sighed as he sat down, "she walks around in a daze and I can't get a coherent answer from her."
"I've asked her to see me tomorrow, so maybe she'll open up then," Hermione soothed, hoping to relieve Ron of some of his stress.
"Yeah, maybe," Ron said, though not really believing her. Outside the door a certain deputy head boy was listening intently to their conversation. 'So Ginny's pinning for me,' he thought to himself, yet instead of feeling glad, he felt genuinely distressed for her. 'This is my fault' he realised, 'and I need to do something about it.'
"Ginny! Ginny wake up!" Hermione was shaking her awake but Ginny tried to ignore her as she rolled over in bed. "GINNY!" the voice shouted.
"What?" she growled at whoever it was, "I'm sleeping."
"I can see that, but classes started 5 minutes ago." Ginny bolted out of bed.
"Why didn't you say so then?" she called as she grabbed at her clothes, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "What are doing here anyway?" Ginny asked through a mouthful of toothpaste as she hastily brushed her teeth.
"I noticed you weren't in breakfast so I came looking for you," she replied simply, "Are you ok?"
"Never been better," Ginny replied quickly as she headed down to her Potions lesson, "Snape's going to kill me!" she groaned as she raced across the common room. Hermione stared after her shaking her head, wondering where she got all her energy. Ginny was running so fast down the stairs that she never saw the figure at the bottom until it was to late.
"Ow!" she groaned as she landed in a heap on the floor.
"Ginny?" the figure asked in surprise as he pulled her up.
"Hi Draco," she replied in a small voice, "Sorry, I didn't see you," she said meekly. She dusted off her robes and made to walk away. She could hardly look him in the eye, hurrying away before he could say anything.
"Hey, Ginny slow down," Harry said as he met her about to enter the dungeon for her potion's lesson.
"Harry? How come you're here?" she asked breathlessly, slightly confused.
"I need to talk to Snape about one of his students," he replied grinning, "I caught a third year Slytherin hexing another student. Aren't you a bit late?
"I know," she groaned, "and he'll kill me when I walk in."
"Well I'm sure I can fix this," he grinned at her, "As head boy I have a certain amount of power you know," he said winking at her.
"Excuse me Professor," Harry said opening the door, "I have to apologise for Miss. Weasley's lateness, she stopped to help a group of lost first years to their classroom," Snape merely nodded at Harry as Ginny took her seat. "Oh, and Professor, may I have a word later?" Harry asked before closing the door behind him. Ginny sat thankfully in her place, making a mental note to give Harry a grateful hug when she saw him next.
"Well Miss Weasley, since you've missed the beginning of this week's task, your partner Mr. Creevey who no one has volunteered to work with yet," he sneered as Colin turned a bright shade of red. Ginny groaned inwardly as she crossed the room to sit next to Colin who beamed at her as she sat down next to him.
"Hi G-Ginny," he stammered, "You look a-awfully nice t-today," he managed to say.
"Thanks Colin," she replied with a slight smile as she took out her books. For the majority of the lesson she let Colin do most of the work, mixing the potions and recording the results, as she sat daydreaming about a certain 7th year Slytherin. She could still feel his lips on hers, kissing her so gently, then more passionately as he'd nibbled at her neck. She put her hand to her neck where the marks he'd left were hardly visibly now; she giggled, remembering how much it had tickled her.
"And what is so amusing Miss Weasley?" Snape growled at her. 'If only you knew,' she thought to herself in delight.
"Nothing sir," she replied seriously, she couldn't afford a detention to her name.
MEANWHILE..
Since the 7th year Slytherins and Gryffindors all had a free lesson, Harry, Hermione and Susan (the deputy head girl) were busy making arrangements for the upcoming Halloween ball.
"Where's is he!" Hermione said in frustration as she sent a stack of papers flying.
"Hermione, calm down," Harry said surprised at her outburst, "I'm sure he'll be here in a minute." They'd scheduled a meeting for the four of them to sort out the plans for the ball, and unsurprisingly, Draco hadn't appeared yet.
"I still can't believe he got deputy," she moaned, "He's the most irresponsible person I know."
"I hope you're not slandering my name, Granger," Draco said from the doorway.
"So you decided to turn up then," she replied icily as he sat down on the chair furthest away from her.
"Let's just get this over with," he replied in a bored voice as he flicked through the notes they'd already made. Hermione continued to glare at Draco as Harry took over.
"The ball is scheduled for the 31st, Halloween night, which is in exactly 4 weeks," Harry said going over his notes. And so for the next hour they went over the details for the night, arranging another meeting for the following week.
"You better be on time," Hermione muttered under her breath. He looked back at her, congratulating himself that he hadn't been in the least attracted to her over the past hour, 'Too much like hard work,' he murmured as he left the room.
"Don't worry about him," Harry told her as he closed the door behind them, going to massage her shoulders, "You need to relax," he added gently, bending down to kiss her neck.
Draco sat down on the wall outside the prefect tower, looking out onto the quad, watching the students filing out of their lessons. His mind returned to the night when he'd kissed Ginny. He couldn't believe she'd had this effect in him, he was normally so in control. He kicked at the stones beneath his feet, using his wand to levitate them before hurling them at the wall.
"Hey!" a voice called as a stone narrowly missed his cheek. On seeing Draco, Colin cowered back, stammering an apology for yelling at him. Draco thought how pathetic some of the kids were; everyone was scared of him, everyone that is except Ginny. He could tell he'd excited her that night, and if he guessed correctly, it had probably been the first time a guy at behaved like that with her. In that sense, he mused; he could take advantage of her easily, make that pitiable brother of hers miserable; and Potter he thought bitterly. He knew Harry had nearly got together with Ginny back in the 5th year, but nothing at really come of it. Draco had been sitting for a while before he realised he was being watched.
"Hey!" he yelled standing to confront the, "Show yourself!" he said grabbing the arm of the intruder.
"Ow!" the 'intruder' yelped. Draco immediately dropped the arm as he realised who it belonged to.
"Ginny!" he gasped, seeing the scared expression on her face, "What do you want?" he barked at her.
"I-I just." he tried to say but the look on his face made her frightened of him. This was a completely different Draco to the one who'd kissed her. He realised she was scared of him, and softened his expression as best he could; he couldn't afford for her to go off him.
"Sorry," he mumbled, " I didn't know it was you." A Malfoy apologising to someone! Who'd believe it, he thought to himself as she continued to stare at him. "Look, about the other night." he began but she cut him off.
"I'm glad it happened," she said quietly, looking up at him with wide eyes, waiting for his response. She didn't care that he was a Slytherin or her brother's worst enemy; she liked him and he appeared to like her too. Draco was taken back by her honesty and was speechless as he stared down at her, mesmerised by her eyes, her hair, everything about her. Without thinking he reached out and took her hand, pulling her back behind the wall out of sight from nosey students. Ginny leaned back, feeling the cold of the wall through her robes. Draco placed one hand on the wall behind her as he leaned in so that their foreheads were touching.
"You know this isn't a good idea," he said quietly in a very un-Draco-like voice, "Are you sure you want to get involved with someone like me?" Ginny didn't know what to say; she stared back at him, not knowing how to respond. Her mind was racing and her heart was beating so hard in a chest she was sure he could feel it against him.
"I." she went to say but he was leaning in to kiss her and as she closed her eyes she waited for the feel of his lips on hers, but they didn't come. Instead she felt them kissing down the length of her neck as his hand came up to pull at the collar of her robes, exposing part of her chest. His lips connected with flesh as she let out an almost inaudible moan that only he heard. He smiled to himself at the effect he was having on her, wishing there wasn't this nagging feeling of guilt at the back of his mind. With a surge if courage she pulled his head up and kissed him hard, searching his mouth with her tongue. He reacted eagerly, taking her head in his hands, running his hands through her hair. Just as she moved her mouth to his ear, he pulled back unexpectedly.
"Ginny, I cant." he said panting as he let go of her, hurriedly walking away, leaving her breathless and confused, her legs trembling beneath her.
He kept walking until he'd reached the deserted Quidditch pitch. Finding a discarded broom he picked it up and mounted, soaring up above the trees. He raced as fast as the broom would take him; trying to rid himself of the intensity of the emotions he was experiencing. She was just where he wanted her, yet he couldn't free himself of the guilt he felt. As he'd felt her hot, sweet breath close to his ear, he'd felt something deep down in his stomach; a feeling that scared him.
"Pull yourself together Malfoy!" he mumbled to himself, "She's only another girl," but she wasn't. She wasn't like any of the girls he'd been with; she made him want to please her whereas with the other girls he'd been with, he'd only been interested in satisfying himself. As he headed back to the ground, he saw her still standing by the wall; dropping down between the towers, he stopped to observe her from above. She still looked out of breath as she leant against the wall, staring out at nothing in particular. The wind whipped round her hair, blowing in all directions.
"That damn red hair," he muttered, wishing right now that she were anything but a Weasley.
LATER THAT WEEK.
"Harry, you seen my sister anywhere?" asked Ron as he searched the common room for Ginny.
"Not since this morning," Harry replied, returning to his Potions essay. Ron frowned as he wondered where she'd got to. He'd hardly seen her the past couple of weeks; she always seemed to be where he wasn't- on purpose, he asked himself, most likely. He headed down to the library to see if she was there. Just as he rounded the corner he caught sight of a flash of red he was all too familiar with.
"Hey, Gin!" he called, running to catch up with her, "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, slowing down to walk with her.
"Oh," was all she replied, staring at the ground.
"Hey, are you ok, what's happened?" Ron asked, concerned for his younger sister. He felt slightly awkward since he hadn't spoken to her about the fight with Draco. "Has that idiot Draco been bothering you?"
"No Ron," she replied absently, continuing to walk in a daze.
"Gin," Ron said, stopping her and taking hold of her shoulders, "Gin, you look awful!" he exclaimed, seeing the huge bags under her eyes, and how bloodshot they looked. "Aren't you sleeping?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'm ok," she replied quietly sighing, not looking at him. "I need to get to my lesson," she said, staring to walk away.
"Gin, it's Sunday!" Ron called after her but she continued to walk away, dragging her feet slightly.
"Hermione, can I talk to you a moment?" Ron asked after entering the office she shared with Harry.
"Sure Ron, what's up?" she asked, glad of the break from her study.
"It's Ginny, something's wrong with her, she hasn't been sleeping," he told her with a worried expression.
"I know Ron," Hermione replied gently, "Professor McGonagall, came to see me, apparently Ginny hasn't been going to all her lessons."
"I just don't know what's wrong," Ron sighed as he sat down, "she walks around in a daze and I can't get a coherent answer from her."
"I've asked her to see me tomorrow, so maybe she'll open up then," Hermione soothed, hoping to relieve Ron of some of his stress.
"Yeah, maybe," Ron said, though not really believing her. Outside the door a certain deputy head boy was listening intently to their conversation. 'So Ginny's pinning for me,' he thought to himself, yet instead of feeling glad, he felt genuinely distressed for her. 'This is my fault' he realised, 'and I need to do something about it.'