centerChapter 21center
centerIntroducing Dracocenter
bI TRIED TO POST THIS CHAPTER YESTERDAY BUT THERE WAS A SITE OVERLOAD AND I WAS UNABLE TO SO I AM VERY SORRY FOR THE DELAY!b
A/N: I would like to thank everyone for reviewing for me and the story! It's really great to get your feedback! I would like to thank Steph personally and I'm glad that I made your day! There will be a "chapter" at the very end of this story (later) that will be a whole bunch of thank yous!
Disclaimer: We all know brilliant, but not brilliant enough to make up any of the things that you recognize in J.K.'s books. Just kidding! But I really don't own any of the characters except the very few that you haven't ever heard of before.
Okay! Now on with the show!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
bRecap: "What is HE doing with MY daughter?"
Ginny knew that her father must be outraged or shocked or both from the sound of his voice. She blushed a deep shade of crimson and buried her head in her hands.
"Dad . . ." She groaned, getting a small chuckle from Draco, who quickly covered it up with a loud and distinct cough.
"Malfoy." Charlie snarled.
"Charlie." Draco replied calmly, reaming seated next to Ginny's hospital bed.
Charlie took a step back, startled by Draco's manners and obvious act of kindness by addressing Charlie by his first name.
Draco *did*, however, stand up to greet Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Hopefully they didn't think that he was being fake. Because he sure sounded it.
"Mr. Weasley! Pleasure." Draco said, with a small smile, not a smirk but a fragment of a smile rather.
"Er, um, yes." Arthur mumbled, confusedly shaking Draco's hand.
Draco then embraced Mrs. Weasley. He was such a suck up.
"Mrs. Weasley, it's nice to finally meet you." Draco said.
"The pleasure appears to be all uh mine." Molly said hugging him back.
"What exactly is going on in here?" Bill asked, keeping his distance from Draco. He certainly wanted to be no part of this hugging thing. "Why is bHEb here?"
"He has earned it." A voice said from the back of the room.
"And how exactly do you iEARN that?" Fred asked sarcastically.
Dumbledore stepped into the light, his white beard shining and his bright eyes twinkling with happiness.
"Without young Mister Malfoy's assistance, I fear that the chances of Virginia still being alive and with us are slim in deed."
"Oh really? And how is that?" George asked.
"I do believe that maybe Virginia would wish to be the one to tell you, especially since I myself do not know the whole story." Dumbledore said.
The whole Weasley clan, Draco, and Dumbledore's eyes all turned towards her.
"Actually, I think - uh - that Draco should be the one to explain things, as I was unconscious part of the time. Plus it is his heroic story to tell." Ginny said with a meaningful glance at Draco. He knew that he could prove his worth (not in money as he was sure he'd already accomplished that) to her family by earning their respect and telling the story himself.
"Personally, I really don't care you tells us, so long as we know." Percy barked, growing impatient and making his presence finally known to everyone.
Draco cleared his throat to begin.
"You see, Ginny and I because friends earlier this year and then she stopped hanging out with me." Draco began, lying just a smidgen, it was sort of true anyways. He was going to tell the condensed version. "I couldn't understand why, so I went on with me life. But then I noticed a decline in Ginny's physical appearance - and by that I do mean her healthiness." He added, getting glares from her brothers and parents. "She was getting much to thin and wore odd clothing, plus I never saw her anywhere, not even at meals.
"One day I was looking through some pictures that were taken by a Gryffindor of all the couples at the last dance. I came to the one of Ginny and saw that she was with a guy that I would have least expected." Draco said, he was opting not to say Colin's name in case Ginny didn't want them to know.
But obviously, that wasn't a problem for her as she set the record straight.
"Colin Creevy." She interjected.
"Yeah, Creevy." Draco agreed. "I knew that she would not ever willingly date him as I'd seen him sort of harassing her on the train."
Molly gasped and Arthur grimaced, suddenly a loud voice interrupted.
"Nothing short of what you do to her, I'm sure." Came Ron's voice as he, Harry, Hermione, Lavender and Chloe all stepped forward.
"I never hurt her like that." Draco said remembering the disgusting scene on the Hogwarts Express.
"You've hurt her emotionally more times that I can count on everyone's hands in this room put together." Hermione shot back.
"Yes and for that I'm truly sorry. She didn't deserve that." Draco said, uttering one of the first apologies he'd ever said.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Ron snarled.
"Ron - do shut up! Mr. Malfoy saved your sister and he is trying to tell us just how that occurred if you'd stop your incessant whining." Molly said impatiently.
Ron shut his mouth instantly and Draco resumed his story.
"As I was saying, the incident on the train wasn't an emotional kind of hurt it was more of a physical and sexual type of hurting. After that, I knew she wouldn't date him willingly, so I told her friend, that perky little blonde. Cleo? No! Chloe!" Draco said after a moment of thought, ignoring Chloe's foot tapping in the background. "Anyway, I asked her to keep them apart so Ginny wouldn't get hurt. Well, when Ginny arrived in the hospital wing and Lynch fame to get me, I knew she hadn't done her job right and now Ginny was dying. So I went to go and see her."
"Chloe! Why not!" Ron shouted angrily.
"What do you think I was going to sit her down and talk to her about the night she fainted Ronald?" Chloe erupted.
She blushed a bit and then urged Draco to go on.
"I got here to find that Creevy was already here. He was battering her again. But this time he was much, much worse, he was out to kill her. So we all fought it out. Eventually the good guys won. Ginny was still dying and there was something that told me to hold her and everything would be fixed so I did and it is." Draco finished.
The Weasleys all stood three gawking at him in awe for quite some time.
"Well, there you have it." Dumbledore said conclusively, breaking the awkward silence.
Ginny's family all thanked Draco - even Ron had some few nice things to say to Draco but they were few and blunt.
After a while the redheaded clan all decided that since their daughter/sister wasn't in any immediate danger any longer they should go and let her rest. On the way out the door, Ron grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like,
"Stupid git. I coulda done that."
"But he didn't." Ginny said, scooping up the rest of her eggs in her mouth.
Draco sat there quietly just watching her eat her toast.
"So Draco, who's the new girlfriend?" Ginny asked him abruptly.
Draco sat up suddenly.
"There is no new girlfriend." He said shortly.
"Blonde, kissed her at the dance. Ringing any bells here?"
"Oh - her." Draco said, his face falling. He'd forgotten all about the airhead of a girlfriend that he'd acquired in the past few days.
"How many 'hers' are there?" Ginny asked, masking her anger well.
"None."
"So Audrie is - "
"Nothing to me," Draco said, "Meaningless."
"I see." Ginny said poking at her pile of hash browns, knowing that he was lying to her about Audrie but deciding to bring it up later.
"Be my friend, Gin." Draco said suddenly and nervously.
Ginny hesitated.
"Okay, but that's it right? I mean we tried this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing once already and it didn't work. I landed myself in the hospital wing and earned you a black eye." Ginny said, keeping her eyes down and fixed on her plate.
"Yeah, just friends." Draco assured her. 'For now anyway.' He added silently to himself.
"Great." Ginny said, feeling like something was missing. She'd gone through all this pain because of him and now they were only going to be friends? She was upset but still, she should be subtler. 'Oh yeah, Gin, real subtle, got you put right in the hospital wing but still, very subtle feelings." She scolded herself.
"Listen, I'm sorry Ginny but I gotta go. I'll be back tomorrow!" He said, giving her a quick hug.
"See ya, Draco." She said, feeling her whole body tingle with his touch and making his body tingle with both her touch and her words.
* * *
That night, Draco got an owl from the Malfoy Manor.
bDear Draco,
This may be hard for you to grasp but tonight, I got world that your father has died. You will need to come home when I call on you for the funeral.
All my love,
Momb
'Great.' Draco groaned inwardly before collapsing on his bed.
It had been such a long day.
* * * * * * * *
There you go! That chapter was even shorter than the last one and I'm very sorry! I will hopefully get another chapter this weekend!!
Please review and let me know that you're alive!
bI TRIED TO POST THIS CHAPTER YESTERDAY BUT THERE WAS A SITE OVERLOAD AND I WAS UNABLE TO SO I AM VERY SORRY FOR THE DELAY!b
A/N: I would like to thank everyone for reviewing for me and the story! It's really great to get your feedback! I would like to thank Steph personally and I'm glad that I made your day! There will be a "chapter" at the very end of this story (later) that will be a whole bunch of thank yous!
Disclaimer: We all know brilliant, but not brilliant enough to make up any of the things that you recognize in J.K.'s books. Just kidding! But I really don't own any of the characters except the very few that you haven't ever heard of before.
Okay! Now on with the show!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
bRecap: "What is HE doing with MY daughter?"
Ginny knew that her father must be outraged or shocked or both from the sound of his voice. She blushed a deep shade of crimson and buried her head in her hands.
"Dad . . ." She groaned, getting a small chuckle from Draco, who quickly covered it up with a loud and distinct cough.
"Malfoy." Charlie snarled.
"Charlie." Draco replied calmly, reaming seated next to Ginny's hospital bed.
Charlie took a step back, startled by Draco's manners and obvious act of kindness by addressing Charlie by his first name.
Draco *did*, however, stand up to greet Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Hopefully they didn't think that he was being fake. Because he sure sounded it.
"Mr. Weasley! Pleasure." Draco said, with a small smile, not a smirk but a fragment of a smile rather.
"Er, um, yes." Arthur mumbled, confusedly shaking Draco's hand.
Draco then embraced Mrs. Weasley. He was such a suck up.
"Mrs. Weasley, it's nice to finally meet you." Draco said.
"The pleasure appears to be all uh mine." Molly said hugging him back.
"What exactly is going on in here?" Bill asked, keeping his distance from Draco. He certainly wanted to be no part of this hugging thing. "Why is bHEb here?"
"He has earned it." A voice said from the back of the room.
"And how exactly do you iEARN that?" Fred asked sarcastically.
Dumbledore stepped into the light, his white beard shining and his bright eyes twinkling with happiness.
"Without young Mister Malfoy's assistance, I fear that the chances of Virginia still being alive and with us are slim in deed."
"Oh really? And how is that?" George asked.
"I do believe that maybe Virginia would wish to be the one to tell you, especially since I myself do not know the whole story." Dumbledore said.
The whole Weasley clan, Draco, and Dumbledore's eyes all turned towards her.
"Actually, I think - uh - that Draco should be the one to explain things, as I was unconscious part of the time. Plus it is his heroic story to tell." Ginny said with a meaningful glance at Draco. He knew that he could prove his worth (not in money as he was sure he'd already accomplished that) to her family by earning their respect and telling the story himself.
"Personally, I really don't care you tells us, so long as we know." Percy barked, growing impatient and making his presence finally known to everyone.
Draco cleared his throat to begin.
"You see, Ginny and I because friends earlier this year and then she stopped hanging out with me." Draco began, lying just a smidgen, it was sort of true anyways. He was going to tell the condensed version. "I couldn't understand why, so I went on with me life. But then I noticed a decline in Ginny's physical appearance - and by that I do mean her healthiness." He added, getting glares from her brothers and parents. "She was getting much to thin and wore odd clothing, plus I never saw her anywhere, not even at meals.
"One day I was looking through some pictures that were taken by a Gryffindor of all the couples at the last dance. I came to the one of Ginny and saw that she was with a guy that I would have least expected." Draco said, he was opting not to say Colin's name in case Ginny didn't want them to know.
But obviously, that wasn't a problem for her as she set the record straight.
"Colin Creevy." She interjected.
"Yeah, Creevy." Draco agreed. "I knew that she would not ever willingly date him as I'd seen him sort of harassing her on the train."
Molly gasped and Arthur grimaced, suddenly a loud voice interrupted.
"Nothing short of what you do to her, I'm sure." Came Ron's voice as he, Harry, Hermione, Lavender and Chloe all stepped forward.
"I never hurt her like that." Draco said remembering the disgusting scene on the Hogwarts Express.
"You've hurt her emotionally more times that I can count on everyone's hands in this room put together." Hermione shot back.
"Yes and for that I'm truly sorry. She didn't deserve that." Draco said, uttering one of the first apologies he'd ever said.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Ron snarled.
"Ron - do shut up! Mr. Malfoy saved your sister and he is trying to tell us just how that occurred if you'd stop your incessant whining." Molly said impatiently.
Ron shut his mouth instantly and Draco resumed his story.
"As I was saying, the incident on the train wasn't an emotional kind of hurt it was more of a physical and sexual type of hurting. After that, I knew she wouldn't date him willingly, so I told her friend, that perky little blonde. Cleo? No! Chloe!" Draco said after a moment of thought, ignoring Chloe's foot tapping in the background. "Anyway, I asked her to keep them apart so Ginny wouldn't get hurt. Well, when Ginny arrived in the hospital wing and Lynch fame to get me, I knew she hadn't done her job right and now Ginny was dying. So I went to go and see her."
"Chloe! Why not!" Ron shouted angrily.
"What do you think I was going to sit her down and talk to her about the night she fainted Ronald?" Chloe erupted.
She blushed a bit and then urged Draco to go on.
"I got here to find that Creevy was already here. He was battering her again. But this time he was much, much worse, he was out to kill her. So we all fought it out. Eventually the good guys won. Ginny was still dying and there was something that told me to hold her and everything would be fixed so I did and it is." Draco finished.
The Weasleys all stood three gawking at him in awe for quite some time.
"Well, there you have it." Dumbledore said conclusively, breaking the awkward silence.
Ginny's family all thanked Draco - even Ron had some few nice things to say to Draco but they were few and blunt.
After a while the redheaded clan all decided that since their daughter/sister wasn't in any immediate danger any longer they should go and let her rest. On the way out the door, Ron grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like,
"Stupid git. I coulda done that."
"But he didn't." Ginny said, scooping up the rest of her eggs in her mouth.
Draco sat there quietly just watching her eat her toast.
"So Draco, who's the new girlfriend?" Ginny asked him abruptly.
Draco sat up suddenly.
"There is no new girlfriend." He said shortly.
"Blonde, kissed her at the dance. Ringing any bells here?"
"Oh - her." Draco said, his face falling. He'd forgotten all about the airhead of a girlfriend that he'd acquired in the past few days.
"How many 'hers' are there?" Ginny asked, masking her anger well.
"None."
"So Audrie is - "
"Nothing to me," Draco said, "Meaningless."
"I see." Ginny said poking at her pile of hash browns, knowing that he was lying to her about Audrie but deciding to bring it up later.
"Be my friend, Gin." Draco said suddenly and nervously.
Ginny hesitated.
"Okay, but that's it right? I mean we tried this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing once already and it didn't work. I landed myself in the hospital wing and earned you a black eye." Ginny said, keeping her eyes down and fixed on her plate.
"Yeah, just friends." Draco assured her. 'For now anyway.' He added silently to himself.
"Great." Ginny said, feeling like something was missing. She'd gone through all this pain because of him and now they were only going to be friends? She was upset but still, she should be subtler. 'Oh yeah, Gin, real subtle, got you put right in the hospital wing but still, very subtle feelings." She scolded herself.
"Listen, I'm sorry Ginny but I gotta go. I'll be back tomorrow!" He said, giving her a quick hug.
"See ya, Draco." She said, feeling her whole body tingle with his touch and making his body tingle with both her touch and her words.
* * *
That night, Draco got an owl from the Malfoy Manor.
bDear Draco,
This may be hard for you to grasp but tonight, I got world that your father has died. You will need to come home when I call on you for the funeral.
All my love,
Momb
'Great.' Draco groaned inwardly before collapsing on his bed.
It had been such a long day.
* * * * * * * *
There you go! That chapter was even shorter than the last one and I'm very sorry! I will hopefully get another chapter this weekend!!
Please review and let me know that you're alive!
