~*~Green and Gold~*~
By Kellyanne
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good…oh, I mean…I own nothing *sheepish grin*
Chapter 16
Pain. That's the only word that could describe how she felt as she breathed, coughed, moved. The pain was in her arm, but crawled slowly through the rest of her body.
It had been almost two weeks ago that she had been engulfed in flames. She shuttered thinking about it. She was surprised that only her arm had been burned.
Draco had been at her bedside everyday that she was trapped in the hospital wing. Pomfrey had her under so many spells that she felt no pain then. She had begged the nurse numerous times to release her and, now that she had, she wished she were still under lock and key in the hospital. It hurt getting out of bed and getting dressed. She almost fainted from pain by doing something as simple as walking down to the Great Hall.
But Draco had held her up each step down to the Great Hall, keeping her from falling or carrying her if she did. He had gotten the fireplace in her dorm connected with his, via Floo Network, and came by each morning, helping her with the simple things. She loved him more then ever for it.
And now it was almost Christmas. They'd be leaving for holiday tomorrow and she still hadn't gotten Draco a gift. When could she have? After nearly being blown up at the Three Broomsticks, any shopping in Hogsmeade was out of the question. It took a while, but she finally realized what the perfect gift would be.
When she was ten, her brother Charlie sent a letter telling her that he couldn't make it home for her birthday. One of the dragons he was breeding was about to give birth and he couldn't leave. With the letter, he sent a small stuffed-animal dragon and a necklace. She could only assume that Charlie hadn't realized the necklace was for guys. It was a dragon pendant with icy gray eyes hanging from a thick, black chain.
She sighed as she pulled the necklace from her jewelry box, her finger brushing over the face of the dragon. It snorted a bit of smoke at her and she sighed again.
It was perfect for Draco.
"Ginny, are you coming!" She heard Ron call from downstairs.
"I'll be right there," She said back, taking her wand and using it to make her bags float downstairs. There was no way she could've carried them.
She walked slowly down into the Common Room, giggling at the scared expressions on some first years. Apparently they weren't accustomed to floating luggage.
Ron and Hermione were at the bottom of the staircase, Harry standing a bit to the side, an expression of anger on his face. She would've contemplated the reason for this, but she saw a fourth person in the room that she hadn't noticed. He looked uncomfortable being surrounded by gold and scarlet.
"Draco!!" Ginny squealed before running over to him. He smiled and wrapped his arms carefully around her, avoiding her bandaged arm.
"Surprised to see me?" He said a bit sarcastically. He was still smiling, though.
"How'd you get in?? You couldn't have used my fireplace with all your bags."
"Your brother let me in," By the sound of his voice, he still didn't believe it. She simply couldn't believe that her brother would let a Slytherin into the Gryffindor Common Room, especially if the Slytherin was Draco Malfoy.
"Ron…you…you let him in??" She stuttered. She was still in shock, very well near having a heart attack. Her brother, anti-Malfoy, anti-Slytherin, anti-anything-that-isn't-Gryffindor…that brother had let in what he fondly referred to as The Spawn of Satan???
Shaking her head, she turned to Ron, who was scarlet red from his neck to the base of his hair. He nodded slowly and she smiled, running over and hugging him.
"Thank you!!" She said happily as Ron nervously pat her back. He didn't understand how much it meant to her. Not the letting-Draco-in thing, but the feelings behind that. Ron was starting to accept Draco and that meant the world to her.
"Let's go before the bloody train leaves!" Harry said icily before turning quickly towards the portrait hole and leaving.
"What's wrong with him??" Ginny asked, pulling away from her brother.
"Maybe he shoved his wand too far up his…" Draco started but Ron shot him a withering glare and he stopped mid-sentence. A smirk had managed to form on his lips though.
"Cho called it quits with him last night after dinner, right in front of everybody. She said something about not wanting to be tied down once she leaves Hogwarts this year."
"Oh, wow! Harry must be heartbroken," Ginny muttered.
"I always knew that girl would be trouble," Ron said before bending down and grabbing the handle of his trunk.
The silence in the train compartment was strange, almost eerie. It was only Draco, Harry and Ginny. Ron and Hermione were in a compartment of their own, snogging like crazy, no doubt.
She didn't dare say anything, sensing the tension between the two guys. They didn't have to be glaring at each other to give off the feeling of hatred. It was weird, though. Harry had seemed to be warming up to Draco but now they were back to glare-I-Hate-You-argh mode.
She sighed, pressing her face against the glass. Christmas holiday with two feuding sixteen year olds was going to be fun!
The door of the compartment slammed open and a dark haired Slytherin boy stood there.
"Malfoy, Parkinson needs to talk to you." The boy said, his features hauntingly dark.
"Tell her to bugger off, Zabini," Draco said curtly, making her look up. It scared her to see his features so…dark.
"I can't do that, Malfoy. She wants to talk to you and said something about a Weasley and your father."
Ginny's brow furrowed. Why was Pansy Parkinson talking about her?? Before she could think of an answer, Draco rose from his seat and stalked out of the compartment.
She was still utterly confused when Harry spoke for the first time since the train left Hogsmeade Station. It had been a good ten minutes since Draco had left.
"Why's Malfoy being such a prick??"
"H…Harry, he's not being a prick…he's not doing anything wrong."
"Then why's he going to visit Parkinson, whore of the Slytherin House?" The ice in his voice was scary. This wasn't the Harry she knew.
"Harry, stop it. You're not acting like yourself."
"How would you know?? You're too busy sucking faces with Malfoy to know how I normally act!"
She winced, trying to get away as Harry sat next to her, grabbing her arm harshly. Pain shot through it as he tightened his hand and squeezed the burned skin.
"Harry, stop it! You're hurting me!!"
"Am I??" Harry hissed, before crushing his lips over hers, kissing her roughly, painfully. She tried to push him away, but he was stronger and kept her right where she was.
Harry pulled away, his green eyes glinting maniacally, and she felt tears streaming down her face.
"Get away from me!" She screamed. Harry smiled and moved aside, revealing that Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway, eyes narrow and jaw set.
He couldn't believe the nerve of Pansy! That sad excuse for a girl had the audacity to actually threaten him, saying that if he didn't leave Ginny for her, she'd go to his father. Was she completely daft?? If she did that, his father would hurt Ginny, then hurt him and most likely kill Pansy to destroy the only evidence there was.
He sighed as he walked down the train, noting how the atmosphere changed drastically as you traveled from the Slytherin section to the Gryffindor section. It was actually funny, though not very surprising. The darkness that shadowed anything that was remotely Slytherin gave way to pristine sunlight that followed all Gryffindors.
His brow furrowed when he noticed that his compartment door was open. It confused him even more when he heard the muffled conversation going on inside.
"Harry, stop it! You're hurting me!!"
"Am I??"
Curiosity took over and he walked slowly to the doorway, his eyes narrowing when he saw the activities going on inside. There was Ginny underneath Potter, who was leaning down to her, the two of them snogging like crazy. He actually felt like barfing!!
"Get away from me!" Ginny screamed. Potter conformed, moving aside to reveal him in the doorway. Ginny actually gasped, shocked that she had gotten caught.
"Draco!" She breathed, her brown eyes wide. He bit back a curse before turning and walking quickly down the train.
How could he have been so stupid?? She was a Gryffindor, after all. They were all brown-nosing assholes that were sugarcoated for appearance sake. He knew that, had learned it first hand during school, and yet…he had walked right into this. He had fallen for her and it shouldn't have surprised him when he was stabbed in the back.
"Draco, it's not how it looked!" He heard Ginny call from behind. He spun around angrily, making her stop short.
"You're right! Silly me! You were choking and Potter was giving you mouth-to-mouth, is that right???" He spit out the words, hoping that he'd get rid of his feelings for Ginny at the same time.
"Draco, I didn't kiss him! It was just Harry."
"I'm sure that's how it went, Weasley! You, being perfect and innocent, the picture of all that is pure…you could never do something as malevolent as kiss!" He glared and continued walking.
"Draco, why the hell could I willfully kiss Harry?? He's like me bloody brother!!"
"I guess that incest is big in the Weasley family then."
He was almost smirking when he felt Ginny's fist come in contact with his shoulder blade. For a girl, she had a bloody good punch!
"What the hell did you do that for??" He hissed, spinning around again to face her.
"I can't believe I fell in love with somebody as thick as you!! I need to resort to violence to get your bloody attention!!!"
"Fine, Weasley, you have my attention. What do you want??" He crossed his arms and glared.
"I want you," She said in a voice barely rising over a whisper.
"Apparently not as much as you want Potter," He said angrily, ignoring the tears that were in Ginny's eyes.
"God, Draco, what do I have to do to prove that I don't want Harry?? You're the only person I want. Harry kissed me out of anger. He's pissed off about Cho and took advantage of me…momentarily. That's it. I didn't do anything to provoke him. I didn't tell him that I wanted him to kiss me!!"
He turned away from Ginny, not wanting to believe her. For all he knew, it could all be a lie.
You know Ginny wouldn't do that, came the annoying voice at the back of his head. He frowned and turned back to Ginny, who was crying hysterically.
"You didn't kiss him back?" He asked quietly. Ginny shook her head and fell into his arms, crying into his shoulder.
The two found an empty compartment and Ginny sat across from him, crying softly as she gazed out the window. It reminded him of the first time he had sat near her on the train. It wasn't too long ago, but so much had happened since then.
"I'm sorry, Ginny," He whispered. The only response was the muffled tears from the girl across from him. Tears that he had caused.
Moments later, the older Weasley burst into the compartment, making both Draco and Ginny turn.
"What the hell did you do to her, Malfoy???" The redhead hissed. He looked like he would be attacking him at the moment if Granger hadn't been holding him back.
"Ask Po…" It surprised him when Ginny cut him off.
"Ask po…ssibly anyone who's heard. I just…can't deal with all this stuff that's happening to me. Draco didn't do anything."
He turned to her, a look of shock on his face. She was covering for Potter!! And after what he had done to her…was she mad?
Hell, she was covering for Potter…
"Gin, you know everything will be ok. Nothing bad'll happen to you."
…And Weasley was buying it! Was there something off with this family or what??
Why had she done it? Why had she covered for Harry after what he had done? It didn't seem like her…and it didn't help anything. She might have saved Harry's ass from the wrath of all the Weasley boys, but she knew she'd feel the wrath of the blonde Slytherin across from her.
"Well…Gin…Hermione and I are gonna' go sit with Harry. We'll see you in a bit."
And now her only salvation had left.
"What the hell was that, Ginny??" Draco said after the compartment door had shut.
"Draco…please don't fight with me. I can't stand fighting with you," She felt tears forming in her eyes again.
"Just explain why the hell you covered for Potter and I'll leave you alone," He said, crossing his arms.
"I did it…I…"
"You know what? It doesn't matter! Apparently, you've never gotten over your crush on The Boy Who Lived!"
With that, Draco slammed the compartment door open, leaving in a swish of black robes. She had never felt more alone in her life.
~*~
Well…that took a while. I'm not too pleased with the chapter, but I'm posting it anyway. Tell me what you think and yell at me for the cliff, if you like, lol. Be nice, though, cuz the next chapter is already in the works :)
The almighty, powerful, ruler of all that is Green and Gold…
Kellyanne