Don't own, don't sue. The end is finally here! And if you don't like it, well phooey! I just wanted to end this, because it has been out so long and I hadn't done anything with it. I like the end, actually, but I'm not sure about the rest. I was in a different mood. Thank you for reading, I love you all, and I'll remember you in therapy! Goodnight, Kingman!
Chapter 4
Over the next two weeks, while Draco planned out his oh-so-cunning plan to forget about Ginny, the object of his afflictions was trying to forget how much she wanted to murder the little git. She was having difficulties suppressing the seductive voice of Tom Riddle, being preoccupied with hatred for Draco. Preoccupation didn't normally hinder her defenses against her haunting alter ego, but Tom was always attracted to strong emotions. Even love, because that made people weak. People did stupid things for the people they loved. Tom would whisper these words of wisdom and others while Ginny lied awake at night, while she ate breakfast, and while she took her Herbology test. Herbology was never her best subject and having Tom, who had done it all before, and well, was great. Ginny often found herself thinking, Hey, this isn't such a bad deal after all.
Draco was quite happy with his inner voices as well. He had devised the perfect plan to "forget" about Ginny. He figured that after his constant bothering her, that if he ignored her completely for a while, that she would come to him, asking for an explanation. The second part of the plan was to sweep her off her feet. It had been two weeks already, and she didn't even seem to notice, but it was only a matter of time. He could wait her out.
Ginny had noticed that Draco was leaving her alone. And she was glad. She felt that if he ever came near her again, she would either push him out a window or beat him to death with a quill. She hadn't quite made up her mind on that one. She found that she spent a good chunk of her spare time thinking about what ways there were to seriously injure a person, and how many she could successively use on Draco before he actually died. She had gotten up to seven, but was having a hard time coming up with the eighth. She put the thought aside as she saw Harry approaching. He looked like he wanted something.
"Hello Ginny," he said, tentatively.
"Hi Harry," she replied, quite aloof, "what is it?" She was being as polite as she could. Tom was clawing at the inside of walls in her mind, trying to get out, so that he could do some real damage to the cause of his demise. Ginny had to make a conscious effort to keep him at bay, with her mental Quidditch bat. It was actually quite fun, and caused a smile to creep across her face.
Harry looked nervous, but, noting the smile on Ginny's face, he calmed a bit. "Ginny, I was, er, wondering if you would, er, like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" He said this all very fast, and it took a second to register in Ginny's brain what he was implying.
She was extremely angry at the nerve of him. How dare he think that I still like him, that I would ever consider going anywhere with him? The little...
"I would love to."
"Oh, that's great!" Harry said, but then he seemed very unsure of what to say next. "Well, I'll see you at dinner."
"Yeah, dinner," she affirmed, quite shocked that she had agreed to go with him. To Hogsmeade! How the hell did that happen? She went over the events in her mind: He asked me to Hogsmeade next weekend, I was angry, I said yes, and he said 'that's great'. Yeah, that's what happened, but... She didn't understand at all. She felt a twinge of guilt, but it was washed away by the flood of vindictive happiness. Now she could break Harry's heart, kind of like the way he broke hers. She raced up to her room to have a hearty laugh.
Draco sat in his room, disheartened. She really wasn't noticing. How was his plan supposed to work if she didn't notice his absence? He noticed alright. He felt empty, and alone. He missed her face, even if it was always contorted by hatred in his presence. His stomach tingled where she had punched him.
"That is definitely not normal," he said to himself.
Who cares? Your plan is failing!
"It is not failing!" he cried, hopelessly. He knew it wasn't working, and he also knew that with each passing day he was falling deeper and deeper in love with Ginny.
You are weak. I knew that you wouldn't be able to wait it out, I knew from the start –
"I AM NOT WEAK! AND WHO SAID I WAS GIVING UP?! I am perfectly intent on waiting out that little thief." Draco yelled as loudly as he could, and unbeknownst to him, many people in the Slytherin common room looked up towards the source of the noise, not knowing what to think. Slytherins didn't get angry and yell. They got revenge.
So did Gryffindors. Ginny got up Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade weekend, and got dressed with a vengeance. She picked out her nicest pants, the black ones with pinstripes, and her most flattering shirt, the red one with long sleeves (it was cold outside!), and flounced downstairs to meet Harry. His jaw pretty much dropped when he saw her approaching. It was all she could do to keep from laughing. They made their way downstairs and were signed out by Filch. When they got to Hogsmeade they had coffee and went shopping and all that fun stuff. They were having a grand old time, when Ginny remembered why she had accepted Harry's invitation in the first place. She was there to break his heart, and she knew just how to do it. All she had to do was wait for Harry to say...
"Ginny, will you – erm – will you go out with me?" he said quickly, and then squinched up his face, closing his eyes, apparently waiting for Ginny to punch him. When she didn't hit him he opened his eyes cautiously to Ginny staring at him in... disgust?
"How dare you ask me to go out with you? What a sadistic thing to do? When you know that I am so sensitive about this! You are a one arrogant bastard if you think that I would go out with a vile creature like you-" Ginny screamed at the top of her lungs. She hoped to attract the attention of the students within the surrounding three blocks, but she would have to keep it up a while.
"Ginny, I don't understand-"
"You obviously wouldn't! You don't understand anything! Do you think that just because you're famous you can have any girl you want?" Ginny looked at the crowd. It was a nice size, but he wasn't here yet. "Is that it?"
"Really, I thought-"
"You thought! I don't believe that you are even capable of that action! How could you possibly," she glanced at the crowd again. He was there: she could wrap this up. "Think that I would like being embarrassed by your inconsiderate proposition, when I so obviously am in love with someone else?!" She turned her head and blearily looked to Draco.
IT WORKED! IT WORKED! IT WORKED! his mind screamed at him. His plan had worked! He had waited her out, she had come to him! Oh, the power was his, and so was the girl! Wait till I tell Dad I finally beat Potter at something! No one was happier than Draco at that moment, and he took Ginny into his arms and held her as she sobbed, whimpering something about "foul" and "Potty-head". Oh joy!
Ginny continued her phony sobs until many girls had patted her on the back in consolation and considerable number of guys had whispered their plans of revenge on Potter to her, much to Draco's disdain. Finally the crowd dispersed, and she was left alone with Draco. She had intended to leave Draco standing, confused, as she walked away with dry eyes and a smile on her face. But she found that she liked how his arms felt wrapped around her, she liked the smell of his cologne and how he had played along with her charade. Tom pushed his way to the front of her mind, and, being pleased with Draco's "triumph" over Harry, said "What a swell guy!"
Laughing, Ginny hissed "Shut up," to no one, or so it seemed, and Draco looked at her in concern.
"Are you okay?" which was ironic because he only five miles outside of Crazy himself.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Erm, would you like to go somewhere and get coffee?" Ginny asked.
"Sounds like a date with Destiny," Draco replied, and smiled.
It's amazing what you can do with careful planning and a little psychosis!
THE END
A/N: This wasn't beta-d, sorry for any mistakes, hope you can overlook them and enjoy it all anyway. Life is a conundrum that way!
