Chapter 7 Who Loves Who?
Ginny was finally released from the Hospital Wing after three whole nights of agonizing torture. She had failed to realize that, while she had mixed the potion right, she had chosen one that didn't have a cure; it was made to last like a Muggle flu. She had to find that out the hard way. Entering the Great Hall, she took her usual seat at the Gryffindor Table next to Mariesii and flashed her eyes over in the Slytherin Table's direction. No sign of Draco.
"So, feeling better are we?" Mariesii teased as she looked in the direction Ginny was facing.
"Huh? Oh, fine, thanks!" Ginny said. Mariesii smiled to herself as she took another bite of her food.
"Ginny! Have you heard?" Lavender practically shrieked as she approached the two. Ginny wasn't paying any attention to her for at that exact moment Draco had entered the Great Hall. Ginny smiled to herself . "Harry and Cho broke up!" Ginny's head jumped to attention. She practically spilled her pumpkin juice.
"What? You are kidding!" She exclaimed. Her heart felt like it had skipped a beat. She had waited to hear these words for a long time.
"Nope! Just thought you'd like to be one of the first to know! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have others to tell!" and she began to make her way down the table, telling other's about it excitedly.
"Oh my god, Mariesii! Did you hear that?" she shrieked as she smiled. She felt like getting up and dancing, or going and laughing in Cho's face.
"Yea, but I don't see the point where either of us should care," Mariesii pointed out with a glance over at the Slytherin Table. Ginny's heart dropped. Draco. She hadn't forgotten about him, she had just became so excited that she didn't remember.
"Oh. Er, right. I've suddenly lost my appetite," Ginny managed to choke out as she got up from the table and exited the room. She felt someone's hands slide over her eyes.
"Guess who?" she frowned. The voice wasn't at all the one that she had expected. She turned around and faced Harry.
"Hiya Harry!" She greeted, hoping that she didn't sound disappointed to see him. He didn't seem to be upset at all, so she shook it off.
"How have you been, Ginny? I heard you were in the Hospital Wing for the weekend," he informed her. You didn't visit me. Only Draco visited me, she thought as she put on a smile.
"Yeah. I had the flu!" she informed him. His hands raised to her shoulders, suddenly making her feel guilty about something.
"That must have been awful, Gin!" he said, and then, with a quick smile, "You're cured though, right?" he leaned in to kiss her. She felt like she should have been happier, or more excited, but she wasn't. She allowed him to kiss her, but the passion that she had once had for him was gone. He seemed to have noticed that something was different also, because he pulled away. "Er, is something wrong?" he asked her. Ginny gasped, guilt fleeing back into her emotions.
"Malfoy!" she spoke as she looked passed Harry and saw Draco standing behind him. Had he been there the whole time?
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, Potty and the Little Weasel, kissing in the Hall. Tsk, Tsk...I'm disappointed in you, Ginny. You seem a lot classier than that," his words tore into her heart. Even worse, she felt them scar her soul. Harry seemed to be equally as confused as he was angry. Ginny bit her lip and looked pleadingly at Draco.
"I- I..." I don't trust myself to speak, she thought. She couldn't think of anything to say that would make this moment less uncomfortable.
"Don't you have anything better to do than spy on us, Malfoy?" Harry confronted him. Draco seemed to be avoiding Ginny's gaze as best he could.
"Now, now, Potter. I wasn't spying on you, I simply needed a word with your newest 'treat' here," he said as he motioned towards Ginny. Harry looked from Ginny to Draco.
"Fine.." was all he said as he turned and left the two of them alone. Ginny wasn't sure whether or not she should feel hurt by his actions. She could feel Draco's eyes on her, but couldn't get up the nerve to look at him. Guilt seemed to be holding her conscience hostage.
"Well, Ms. Weasley, you seem to have received your wish. The company of do-good Potter. He's only going to be using you, you know," Draco said with harsh honesty as he used his finger to cast Ginny's eyes upon his face.
"Draco, I wasn't expecting this. I'm sorry," she pleaded, though she wasn't exactly sure what she was pleading for. Draco's cold smirk appeared on his face.
"You? Sorry for what? It should be I who feels sorry; sorry for ever agreeing to help teach ignorant, Muggle-loving filth like the Weasley runt!" he yelled as he patted her on the shoulder with mock sympathy. Ginny could feel the tears trying to push through her tear ducts, but she tried her hardest to hold them back as she began to walk away. "No, Ms. Weasley, it isn't you who gets the easy walk away while I am forced to watch you go. This time it's going to be the other way around," he said as he pushed her back into the wall a bit forcefully and walked away. The tears flooded her cheeks. She turned and faced the wall. She had just made herself a complete mockery.
"You screwed this one up," she heard a voice from behind her say. She stopped crying and wiped her eyes. Turning around, she watched the back of Jasmine Wolfe walk away from her.
It was Thursday night, a night when Ginny would have to go and see Draco. She hadn't seen him since that rather humiliating day in the corridor, and wasn't looking forward to seeing him later that night. He had insulted her. Part of her wanted to tell her that she deserved it, but the other half knew that she had done nothing wrong. She hadn't run into Harry either, for that matter, though it was she who was avoiding him. He didn't seem to notice, though, considering the fact that ever since he and Cho had broken up girls were hanging all over his every word. She felt that she should be jealous, but something kept her from actually being so.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Mariesii asked her one last time as she got ready to leave the Common Room.
"No. I didn't do anything wrong, but if I parade around not allowing myself to be around him alone he's going to believe that I feel guilty about something," Ginny smiled. Turning swiftly, she began to make her way down one of Hogwarts' many corridors. Turning just around another corner she entered Professor Perry's room and didn't like what she saw. Draco's lips parted from Pansy Parkinson's just to smirk in Ginny's direction.
"Oh, Weasley. You're early..for once," he said coldly. She shrugged it off, "I invited Pansy to come along because she, like you, is rather ignorant when it comes to Defense Against the Dark Arts," he explained. Ginny scoffed. Was Pansy really going to let him talk about her that way? She couldn't believe the nerve Draco had.
"Okay, then let's get this over with, shall we?" Ginny offered as she sat down in front of the two Slytherins who couldn't seem to stop groping each other.
"Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley? What is Ms. Parkinson doing here?" Professor Perry asked as he made his way down into his classroom. Ginny smirked and looked directly into Draco's eyes.
"Why don't you ask Malfoy, here. I'm sure he'd be almost too happy to explain," she smiled her most innocent smile up into Draco's face. Draco glowered at her.
"Pansy was just needing some, er, special help with Defense Against the Dark Arts also, so I offered to have her come and learn with Ginny and I," he answered.
"Well I'm sorry, but she will need to leave. I only gave you permission to help Ginny unattended in my classroom," and without any further arguments Professor Perry left his classroom.
"Aw, gee, sorry Pans, but it seems that you'll be having to leave now," Ginny said, not sounding the least bit sympathetic. Pansy glared at her and, before she turned and left, made sure to plant a big wet one on Draco's lips. "You sure do like to move fast," Ginny said to Draco once they were alone.
"And so do you, Ms. Weasley," Draco said rather harshly. Ginny glowered at him. He had no idea what he was talking about!
"I have no idea what you are implying, Draco, because I haven't done anything wrong!" she yelled, suddenly glad that Pansy had left the room.
"Oh really? So you didn't kiss Potter in the corridors a few days ago?" Draco asked her as he, too, began to yell.
"No, I didn't! He kissed me! I wasn't expecting it at all! And then you came and everything began to get confusing!" she corrected.
"I don't know why it should be confusing! You're just a Weasley! You are only a few feet above filthy mudblood's in my book!" and he stormed out of the room. Ginny pushed one of her books onto the floor. Of all the nerve! She was sick of the petty insults that he kept throwing her. How could she ever have liked scum like him? She stopped. She just admitted that she had liked him, hadn't she? It hadn't even actually donned on her until that moment. No, it was false. She didn't necessarily mean him, she was just talking in general. She sighed. She was getting all riled up over nothing. She'd prove it to herself. Walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room, she waited around for Harry.
"Gin? Ginny...wake up!" she heard someone saying to her. She opened her eyes and looked up into those of Harry's. She smiled, suddenly feeling a strong sense of determination.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!" she laughed as she sat up on the love seat, allowing Harry to sit. How long had she been asleep for? She threw a hand up to her face in an attempt to reassure herself that there was no drool on her face.
"So, what are you doing down here so late?" he asked her as he rested his own face in his palm. She smiled up at him.
"I was waiting for you," she informed him as she moved a bit closer to him. A self-assured smile snook onto his face.
"Oh? And what might that reason be?" He asked her, a mischievous grin breaking out onto his face. Her mind flickered back to a vision of Pansy and Draco kissing so passionately in front of her. She wasn't sure if she did it because of jealous, or out of pure lust, but she leaned and kissed Harry. The more thoughts about Draco and Pansy that flickered into her mind, the harder she pressed her lips into Harry's. At last he pulled away. " I see you've reconsidered my proposition," he laughed.
"So...does this mean..?" she asked, sounding extremely hopeful. Harry looked as if he was deep in thought.
"Erm, it's going to be rather hard to explain this one to Ron, but yes. Ginny, will you be my girlfriend?" Ginny's heart leapt. She had longed to hear those words for six years. She kissed him softly on the lips before heading up to her dorm room. She wasn't at all surprised to find Mariesii wide awake and waiting for her return as she entered the room.
"So?" Mariesii asked her as she noticed the huge smile that was spread across Ginny's face. Ginny took a seat on the end or Mariesii's bed.
"We're going out! He asked me to be his girlfriend!" she squealed with excitement as she all but jumped on top of Mariesii.
"What? You two? Together? I never thought I'd live to see the day . . . Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy," Mariesii almost laughed at the awkwardness the sound of it created. Ginny's smile disappeared.
"Not Draco! Harry! He just asked me out downstairs! Isn't it wonderful?" Ginny sighed dreamily as she laid down on the end of Mariesii's bed. Mariesii frowned.
"But you aren't in love with Harry," she blurted out, causing Ginny to get up off of the bed and go sit on her own.
"Are you mad? I've only been in love with Harry for the past six years!" She confirmed as she got underneath the covers. "I'm tired. Good night," she said and she blew out the candles.
Ginny was finally released from the Hospital Wing after three whole nights of agonizing torture. She had failed to realize that, while she had mixed the potion right, she had chosen one that didn't have a cure; it was made to last like a Muggle flu. She had to find that out the hard way. Entering the Great Hall, she took her usual seat at the Gryffindor Table next to Mariesii and flashed her eyes over in the Slytherin Table's direction. No sign of Draco.
"So, feeling better are we?" Mariesii teased as she looked in the direction Ginny was facing.
"Huh? Oh, fine, thanks!" Ginny said. Mariesii smiled to herself as she took another bite of her food.
"Ginny! Have you heard?" Lavender practically shrieked as she approached the two. Ginny wasn't paying any attention to her for at that exact moment Draco had entered the Great Hall. Ginny smiled to herself . "Harry and Cho broke up!" Ginny's head jumped to attention. She practically spilled her pumpkin juice.
"What? You are kidding!" She exclaimed. Her heart felt like it had skipped a beat. She had waited to hear these words for a long time.
"Nope! Just thought you'd like to be one of the first to know! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have others to tell!" and she began to make her way down the table, telling other's about it excitedly.
"Oh my god, Mariesii! Did you hear that?" she shrieked as she smiled. She felt like getting up and dancing, or going and laughing in Cho's face.
"Yea, but I don't see the point where either of us should care," Mariesii pointed out with a glance over at the Slytherin Table. Ginny's heart dropped. Draco. She hadn't forgotten about him, she had just became so excited that she didn't remember.
"Oh. Er, right. I've suddenly lost my appetite," Ginny managed to choke out as she got up from the table and exited the room. She felt someone's hands slide over her eyes.
"Guess who?" she frowned. The voice wasn't at all the one that she had expected. She turned around and faced Harry.
"Hiya Harry!" She greeted, hoping that she didn't sound disappointed to see him. He didn't seem to be upset at all, so she shook it off.
"How have you been, Ginny? I heard you were in the Hospital Wing for the weekend," he informed her. You didn't visit me. Only Draco visited me, she thought as she put on a smile.
"Yeah. I had the flu!" she informed him. His hands raised to her shoulders, suddenly making her feel guilty about something.
"That must have been awful, Gin!" he said, and then, with a quick smile, "You're cured though, right?" he leaned in to kiss her. She felt like she should have been happier, or more excited, but she wasn't. She allowed him to kiss her, but the passion that she had once had for him was gone. He seemed to have noticed that something was different also, because he pulled away. "Er, is something wrong?" he asked her. Ginny gasped, guilt fleeing back into her emotions.
"Malfoy!" she spoke as she looked passed Harry and saw Draco standing behind him. Had he been there the whole time?
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, Potty and the Little Weasel, kissing in the Hall. Tsk, Tsk...I'm disappointed in you, Ginny. You seem a lot classier than that," his words tore into her heart. Even worse, she felt them scar her soul. Harry seemed to be equally as confused as he was angry. Ginny bit her lip and looked pleadingly at Draco.
"I- I..." I don't trust myself to speak, she thought. She couldn't think of anything to say that would make this moment less uncomfortable.
"Don't you have anything better to do than spy on us, Malfoy?" Harry confronted him. Draco seemed to be avoiding Ginny's gaze as best he could.
"Now, now, Potter. I wasn't spying on you, I simply needed a word with your newest 'treat' here," he said as he motioned towards Ginny. Harry looked from Ginny to Draco.
"Fine.." was all he said as he turned and left the two of them alone. Ginny wasn't sure whether or not she should feel hurt by his actions. She could feel Draco's eyes on her, but couldn't get up the nerve to look at him. Guilt seemed to be holding her conscience hostage.
"Well, Ms. Weasley, you seem to have received your wish. The company of do-good Potter. He's only going to be using you, you know," Draco said with harsh honesty as he used his finger to cast Ginny's eyes upon his face.
"Draco, I wasn't expecting this. I'm sorry," she pleaded, though she wasn't exactly sure what she was pleading for. Draco's cold smirk appeared on his face.
"You? Sorry for what? It should be I who feels sorry; sorry for ever agreeing to help teach ignorant, Muggle-loving filth like the Weasley runt!" he yelled as he patted her on the shoulder with mock sympathy. Ginny could feel the tears trying to push through her tear ducts, but she tried her hardest to hold them back as she began to walk away. "No, Ms. Weasley, it isn't you who gets the easy walk away while I am forced to watch you go. This time it's going to be the other way around," he said as he pushed her back into the wall a bit forcefully and walked away. The tears flooded her cheeks. She turned and faced the wall. She had just made herself a complete mockery.
"You screwed this one up," she heard a voice from behind her say. She stopped crying and wiped her eyes. Turning around, she watched the back of Jasmine Wolfe walk away from her.
It was Thursday night, a night when Ginny would have to go and see Draco. She hadn't seen him since that rather humiliating day in the corridor, and wasn't looking forward to seeing him later that night. He had insulted her. Part of her wanted to tell her that she deserved it, but the other half knew that she had done nothing wrong. She hadn't run into Harry either, for that matter, though it was she who was avoiding him. He didn't seem to notice, though, considering the fact that ever since he and Cho had broken up girls were hanging all over his every word. She felt that she should be jealous, but something kept her from actually being so.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Mariesii asked her one last time as she got ready to leave the Common Room.
"No. I didn't do anything wrong, but if I parade around not allowing myself to be around him alone he's going to believe that I feel guilty about something," Ginny smiled. Turning swiftly, she began to make her way down one of Hogwarts' many corridors. Turning just around another corner she entered Professor Perry's room and didn't like what she saw. Draco's lips parted from Pansy Parkinson's just to smirk in Ginny's direction.
"Oh, Weasley. You're early..for once," he said coldly. She shrugged it off, "I invited Pansy to come along because she, like you, is rather ignorant when it comes to Defense Against the Dark Arts," he explained. Ginny scoffed. Was Pansy really going to let him talk about her that way? She couldn't believe the nerve Draco had.
"Okay, then let's get this over with, shall we?" Ginny offered as she sat down in front of the two Slytherins who couldn't seem to stop groping each other.
"Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley? What is Ms. Parkinson doing here?" Professor Perry asked as he made his way down into his classroom. Ginny smirked and looked directly into Draco's eyes.
"Why don't you ask Malfoy, here. I'm sure he'd be almost too happy to explain," she smiled her most innocent smile up into Draco's face. Draco glowered at her.
"Pansy was just needing some, er, special help with Defense Against the Dark Arts also, so I offered to have her come and learn with Ginny and I," he answered.
"Well I'm sorry, but she will need to leave. I only gave you permission to help Ginny unattended in my classroom," and without any further arguments Professor Perry left his classroom.
"Aw, gee, sorry Pans, but it seems that you'll be having to leave now," Ginny said, not sounding the least bit sympathetic. Pansy glared at her and, before she turned and left, made sure to plant a big wet one on Draco's lips. "You sure do like to move fast," Ginny said to Draco once they were alone.
"And so do you, Ms. Weasley," Draco said rather harshly. Ginny glowered at him. He had no idea what he was talking about!
"I have no idea what you are implying, Draco, because I haven't done anything wrong!" she yelled, suddenly glad that Pansy had left the room.
"Oh really? So you didn't kiss Potter in the corridors a few days ago?" Draco asked her as he, too, began to yell.
"No, I didn't! He kissed me! I wasn't expecting it at all! And then you came and everything began to get confusing!" she corrected.
"I don't know why it should be confusing! You're just a Weasley! You are only a few feet above filthy mudblood's in my book!" and he stormed out of the room. Ginny pushed one of her books onto the floor. Of all the nerve! She was sick of the petty insults that he kept throwing her. How could she ever have liked scum like him? She stopped. She just admitted that she had liked him, hadn't she? It hadn't even actually donned on her until that moment. No, it was false. She didn't necessarily mean him, she was just talking in general. She sighed. She was getting all riled up over nothing. She'd prove it to herself. Walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room, she waited around for Harry.
"Gin? Ginny...wake up!" she heard someone saying to her. She opened her eyes and looked up into those of Harry's. She smiled, suddenly feeling a strong sense of determination.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!" she laughed as she sat up on the love seat, allowing Harry to sit. How long had she been asleep for? She threw a hand up to her face in an attempt to reassure herself that there was no drool on her face.
"So, what are you doing down here so late?" he asked her as he rested his own face in his palm. She smiled up at him.
"I was waiting for you," she informed him as she moved a bit closer to him. A self-assured smile snook onto his face.
"Oh? And what might that reason be?" He asked her, a mischievous grin breaking out onto his face. Her mind flickered back to a vision of Pansy and Draco kissing so passionately in front of her. She wasn't sure if she did it because of jealous, or out of pure lust, but she leaned and kissed Harry. The more thoughts about Draco and Pansy that flickered into her mind, the harder she pressed her lips into Harry's. At last he pulled away. " I see you've reconsidered my proposition," he laughed.
"So...does this mean..?" she asked, sounding extremely hopeful. Harry looked as if he was deep in thought.
"Erm, it's going to be rather hard to explain this one to Ron, but yes. Ginny, will you be my girlfriend?" Ginny's heart leapt. She had longed to hear those words for six years. She kissed him softly on the lips before heading up to her dorm room. She wasn't at all surprised to find Mariesii wide awake and waiting for her return as she entered the room.
"So?" Mariesii asked her as she noticed the huge smile that was spread across Ginny's face. Ginny took a seat on the end or Mariesii's bed.
"We're going out! He asked me to be his girlfriend!" she squealed with excitement as she all but jumped on top of Mariesii.
"What? You two? Together? I never thought I'd live to see the day . . . Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy," Mariesii almost laughed at the awkwardness the sound of it created. Ginny's smile disappeared.
"Not Draco! Harry! He just asked me out downstairs! Isn't it wonderful?" Ginny sighed dreamily as she laid down on the end of Mariesii's bed. Mariesii frowned.
"But you aren't in love with Harry," she blurted out, causing Ginny to get up off of the bed and go sit on her own.
"Are you mad? I've only been in love with Harry for the past six years!" She confirmed as she got underneath the covers. "I'm tired. Good night," she said and she blew out the candles.