Author's Note: Chapter 9 is finally up.
Sorry for the change in title. I might change it again, though. Please keep the
reviews coming. Please do! Thank you very much.
Chapter 9 Slytherins'
Taunting
Draco
watched her as Ginny pushed past him, with tears brimming in her eyes.
Strangely, Draco felt just a slight moment of regret at having taking out his
annoyance with himself at her. But then, he sneered. She's a crybaby Weasley,
and she can howl for all she likes.
"Who
cares?" he said out loud. She is nothing! She is a pathetic, poor, lowly,
gorgeous Weasel? He mentally slapped himself. The truth is, Draco could hardly
get Ginny Weasley out of his mind since their encounter at the stairways the
other night. She was so alluring, and her scarlet hair looked so inviting, he
was dying to run his fingers through it. Her hair reminded Draco of the warm
fireplace in Narcissa's drawing room he used to sit in front of when he was
little, with Narcissa beside him, playing with his hair.
Draco
sulked. No girl had ever been able to distract him like that. Why hadn't he
notice her before? "But she is a
Weasley!" his dark side reminded him. "But she is so soft and warm, and those
eyes…" his light side piped up.
"Enough!"
he held he hands to his ears, scowling. You are a Slytherin remember? You don't
like red-headed Gryffindors.
He
turned his mind back to his parchment, and went through his final draft (he was
re-doing Moody's assignment) one last time, before pronoucing satisfaction, and
close his book.
He
suddenly looked in front of him in amazement. In his fevour to to check all his
proposed counter-charms and counter-curses in his assignment (to make sure they
are not classified in any way as dark magic), he had pulled out at least
fifteen books from the library shelves. They now lay all over the table.
"Returno"
he muttered, as the books flew back to their original position in their
respective shelves.
Draco
scooped up his books and parchments and strutted out of the library. He's on
his way for his next class, double Potions with the Gryffindors.
Draco
was early, but he already had spotted Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and a few
of the Slytherins in the classroom. He took a seat among them and threw his
books on the table carelessly.
"Hey
Draco, see this!" Crabbe grinned excitedly. Draco caught the roll of parchment
that Crabbe has toss at him, and read:
Hogwarts
Gala Charity Ball
In
an effort to raise funds for St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and
Injuries, our school has decided to organize a Gala Charity Ball for all
students. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to St Mungo's...
Draco
rolled his eyes. Trust Crabbe to be so excited about something as childish as a
gala ball! Hell, he's been to loads of them to last him a lifetime. Mostly
under the invitation of the Fudge, or Zabini or Parkinson families.
He
sneered at Crabbe "So, what about this?"
Crabbe
said, "Read on, you haven't got to the interesting part." And then Draco
thought he saw a slight tinge of red on Crabbe's usually fat face.
Draco
turned his attention back to the parchment.
…in
a move to encourage better interaction among Hogwarts students, the school will
be pairing up students from different houses as dance partners to the Gala
Charity Ball. Students will only know their dance partners on the night of the
ball.
So,
Crabbe thought it's a good opportunity for him to snarl a girl, eh? Well, it
saved Draco the trouble of getting a date. Not that it took any effort. Any
girl would drop at the snap of his fingers to walk with him to the Great Hall
for breakfast, let alone a ball.
By
this time, the rest of the students had started to stream into the classroom.
Draco saw Harry and Ron reading the very same piece of news on the Gala Charity
ball.
"Well,
Crabbe, no matter who they pair you up with, please say your prayers the night
before that they do not pair you up with any mudblood Gryffindors" Draco said
rather loudly.
Harry
and Ron looked up at Draco, furious looks on their faces. Hermione looked down
on her book, ignoring Draco.
"Yes
Potter? I see you and side-kick Weasley have something to say?"
"Shove
it, Malfoy" Harry replied.
Draco
smirked. It was so easy to taunt Harry. He really, truly does enjoy it. Really.
"Hey
Weasley, I beg to differ from Malfoy. I would love to be paired up with that
cute little sister of yours…" Morag MacDougal grinned wickedly.
Draco
turned and looked at MacDougal. So I'm not the only person who has started
to notice Virginia Weasley.
Ron
gritted his teeth. "Leave my sister alone, or I swear I would have that stupid
head of yours stuffed down the lavatory before you can say the name Weasley."
"Ginny
is too good for you, MacDougal. Get someone at your own kind." Harry shot back.
"Oh,
Potter being protective. I remember now, doesn't she have some kind of a crush
on you? She sent you a singing valentine in our second year" MacDougal said
slyly.
Harry
turned red. "Leave Ginny out of this."
Suddenly,
the classroom door banged and Snape swept into the room, his face in a sneer.
The
class quietened down. MacDougal flashed a wicked grin at Harry and Ron and did
a victory sign in Draco's direction.
Slytherin won this round.
