Through the Cracks: Part 5
Chapter 5: Standing on Frozen Ground
A/N: anyway, my writing's rather ...unique. I actually wrote this the day after I posted the last chapter, but due to storms and various other reasons, it never posted. So enjoy one of the shameless excuses to get Draco in a shower.
Disclaimer: nope, sadly they're still not mine.
***
Then, disregarding her schoolgirl fantasies, she paused for a moment. 'If this is what I've always wanted, then why doesn't it seem to matter anymore?'
Ginny closed her eyes and rested her head against the chill of the glass, letting the rock of the carriage lull her to sleep.
***
Hermione gently woke Ginny up once they arrived back at the castle. Ginny stretched her arms over her head with a yawn; She was stiff from sleeping against the window. The four of them all sleepily brushed against the walls and statues as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek and she and Ginny both said their goodnights. The two girls parted halfway up the set of steps, going their separate routes to their dorms. Ginny was tired, but her mind didn't want to stop racing. She felt more awake than she had earlier, and her brief nap on the ride back replenished her energy. She silently crept across the hardwood flooring, and sat on the edge of her bed. She didn't undress or even bother to remove her shoes. Instead, she stood back up and left the room. She made her way to the 6th year girls' dormitory.
She found Hermione already asleep, tucked in her bed, snoring lightly. She hated to interrupt her friend's dream, but she needed a favor.
"Please, Mione, wake up," Ginny jostled her arm.
"Mmm, What is it Gin?" she grumbled, turning to face her friend.
"I need a favor."
At this, Hermione sat up with a curious disposition. "What kind of favor?"
"Oh, nothing big. I just remembered that you still had Harry's Invisibility Cloak from start of term and I was wondering . . ." Hermione raised an eyebrow, but Ginny continued. "I was wondering if I could maybe borrow it for maybe half an hour?"
"Ginny, are you suggesting that as a prefect I would allow you to go wandering the corridors alone, at night, invisible? Able to do Merlin-knows- what? Probably with some young reprobate who wears a black dragon hide jacket and has a tattoo?" Hermione sounded stern, but something about the way she said it egged Ginny on.
"Well, yes. Oh, it's not like I'm going to do anything illegal. Although I wouldn't completely say no to the young reprobate wearing a black dragon hide jacket. I just want to take a walk to clear my head and what not, without fear of being sent to detention. And I'm not as stupid as Harry was a few months ago; I'm not going to be caught asleep on the Quidditch pitch in my underwear." Ginny looked hopeful. Hermione threw back her covers, getting out of bed. As she rummaged through her trunk she managed to whisper, however relatively loud, to Ginny that if she were caught, she was to disavow any knowledge of whom the cloak belonged to. Ginny nodded and pulled the hood down over her head.
"Thanks Mione, I'll bring it back soon," she murmured as she padded down the stone stairs through the portrait of the Fat Lady.
---
Draco hadn't been able to escape to his bedroom without being cornered by Pansy. She had backed him up against a chair in the common room and tried to sit on his lap, trying to showcase her attributes to him, or lack thereof. In fact, she only succeeded in repulsing him as she smothered him, fussing over him and mussing his hair. She wouldn't let him go until he had promised to escort her to the Ball the following evening. Then he had staggered into his room, trying to repair his mangled hair with a disgruntled expression on his face.
He walked in circles around his bed and after several attempts to fix his hair; he gave up and changed out of his rumpled clothes. He threw on a pair of emerald sweatpants, a gray hooded sweatshirt and slipped on some running shoes. He had decided that since he couldn't sleep anyway, he might as well put his time to use. Draco had gotten permission from Professor Snape to run late at night during the school year, thus exempting him from punishment for breaking student curfew. He ascended the staircase at the far end of the dungeons, which led him out onto the castle grounds. Draco observed the stillness of the night for a moment, taking in his surroundings. Then, he began to jog at a moderate pace. The steady rhythm of his feet meeting with the frozen ground was uneven to the pulse of his heartbeat, creating an intricate cadence of two different drums. The noise put Draco at ease. He followed the path around the lake, observing the frost that had collected on the trees and the soft crunch of ice as the frigid water lapped against the bank.
---
Ginny had been climbing for a while. After a brief run-in with Mrs. Norris, she had quickened her pace as she padded along the dark hallways. Now she was almost to her destination. The stairs seemed almost endless, curving around until finally Ginny had reached the Astronomy Tower.
Most students used the tower for lewd acts that were definitely not approved of by faculty, but owing to the great length at which one must travel to get to the tower, most of the staff rarely bothered to disturb the students. Ginny was not like most of the kids her age, beside the fact that she didn't exactly have a boyfriend, she didn't just carelessly make out in Astronomy Towers every night. Also, it was rather cold to be meeting at the top of a tower.
Shrugging off the cloak, she surveyed the empty room at the top of the stairs, and then walked towards the side of the tower that was the most interior. There was an imprint of Orion's belt along the doorway. Ginny pressed the indentation, and a small door opened leading upward.
The top of the turret was dusted in snow. Ginny climbed over to a relatively flat part of the roof, clearing a seat in the midst of the snowfall. She looked out upon the grounds, covered in a blanket of white. The air smelled like there would be more snow on the way; it was cold and nipped at the edges of her eyes. Looking at the sky, she could barely see the stars for the heavy clouds obscuring the view. Concentrating her focus on more earthly bodies, she noticed someone down by the lake. If not for his dark clothing, he would have blended in quite magnificently with the scenery. She realized who the person was almost immediately; he was hard not to distinguish with his strikingly pale features.
Ginny stood, brushing herself off. She shivered quite visibly and had lost the feeling in her toes. But it wasn't the cold that bothered her the most; it was the numb feeling that had spread through her heart. She pulled the Invisibility Cloak around her once more and started descending the stairs. She was wholly undetected on her return trip back to Gryffindor Tower. Slipping the Cloak back in the bottom of Hermione's trunk, Ginny climbed the stairs back to her bedroom.
---
Draco had made his way around the frozen lake five times before he'd even broke a sweat. After his seventh lap, he took a break and leaned up against a large tree. Catching his breath, he looked around him. It was deadly silent, yet the quiet was deafening to him, the emptiness ringing in his ears, piercing his thoughts. He heard a soft noise somewhere above him. He looked toward the East side of the castle, in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. He thought he saw a figure resting on the tower, but upon evaluation, he saw only the snow that covered the rooftop. He rubbed at the corners of his eyes and shook some excess snow from his hair. He must have been more worn out than he'd guessed because he was starting to hallucinate.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, Draco plodded back towards the dungeons. Ice was starting to form on the ends of his damp hair as he reached the dormitories once more. He pulled out a pair of jade silk boxers and black fleece pants. Whisking his towel from the top of his trunk, he walked down the corridor towards the prefects' bathroom. It was striking for most to believe that Draco was smart enough to have been made a prefect in the first place, but in comparison to most of the Slytherins he was well above average. He turned on the water in the marble shower and disrobed. As he stepped into the shower, the water felt almost blisteringly hot against him. He watched his skin flush scarlet as the feeling slowly crept back into his body. He shut the water off, considerably warmer than he had when he had returned. The moonlight slinked in through the small window, casting an eerie glow throughout the ivory surfaces of the room.
After pulling on his clothes, Draco draped the damp towel across his shoulder and ambled back to his room. Dropping his previously discarded clothing in a pile by his trunk, he sprawled out on top of his bed. He stared out the window by his lavish bed, watching the clouds roll by, nearly concealing the last bit of dim moonlight. ---
Ginny lay across the bed, her glossy ruby locks cascading across her pillow. The nominal light from the crescent moon made her skin seem almost transparent. Her eyes were closed, veiled with her long eyelashes. For the first night in a few weeks, she was sound asleep.
She didn't even make a move to acknowledge the faint click of the shutting door. She heard the calm footsteps that softly made their way across the floor. She sensed the curtains drawn aside letting the cool draft glide across her face. She felt his presence hovering over her. Then the whisper of an icy hand traced the smooth contour of her shoulder, slowly stealing down her arm, resting on her wrist, intertwining with her fingers. His soft lips glided across the surface of hers with his long sleek hair brushing her forehead. His touch sent fire through her veins as his light kisses were trailed down her jaw line. He lingered with his lips right near her ear and then in a voice almost inaudible he spoke.
"I always thought you were the most beautiful girl in the world."
She closed her eyes tighter, feeling his warmth for her. He smelled of cigarettes and summer rain. She could've stayed there forever, frozen in time, but then her roommate's Awakening Spell sent electric blue sparks off with a loud bang, depriving her of that extra moment of rest.
A/N: I must give credit to the movie "Requiem for a Dream" for the line in Ginny's dream. I promise I'll get to the ball- it's coming up in the next chapter. And Kendall- you'll get to see Draco's reaction soon.
A/N: anyway, my writing's rather ...unique. I actually wrote this the day after I posted the last chapter, but due to storms and various other reasons, it never posted. So enjoy one of the shameless excuses to get Draco in a shower.
Disclaimer: nope, sadly they're still not mine.
***
Then, disregarding her schoolgirl fantasies, she paused for a moment. 'If this is what I've always wanted, then why doesn't it seem to matter anymore?'
Ginny closed her eyes and rested her head against the chill of the glass, letting the rock of the carriage lull her to sleep.
***
Hermione gently woke Ginny up once they arrived back at the castle. Ginny stretched her arms over her head with a yawn; She was stiff from sleeping against the window. The four of them all sleepily brushed against the walls and statues as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek and she and Ginny both said their goodnights. The two girls parted halfway up the set of steps, going their separate routes to their dorms. Ginny was tired, but her mind didn't want to stop racing. She felt more awake than she had earlier, and her brief nap on the ride back replenished her energy. She silently crept across the hardwood flooring, and sat on the edge of her bed. She didn't undress or even bother to remove her shoes. Instead, she stood back up and left the room. She made her way to the 6th year girls' dormitory.
She found Hermione already asleep, tucked in her bed, snoring lightly. She hated to interrupt her friend's dream, but she needed a favor.
"Please, Mione, wake up," Ginny jostled her arm.
"Mmm, What is it Gin?" she grumbled, turning to face her friend.
"I need a favor."
At this, Hermione sat up with a curious disposition. "What kind of favor?"
"Oh, nothing big. I just remembered that you still had Harry's Invisibility Cloak from start of term and I was wondering . . ." Hermione raised an eyebrow, but Ginny continued. "I was wondering if I could maybe borrow it for maybe half an hour?"
"Ginny, are you suggesting that as a prefect I would allow you to go wandering the corridors alone, at night, invisible? Able to do Merlin-knows- what? Probably with some young reprobate who wears a black dragon hide jacket and has a tattoo?" Hermione sounded stern, but something about the way she said it egged Ginny on.
"Well, yes. Oh, it's not like I'm going to do anything illegal. Although I wouldn't completely say no to the young reprobate wearing a black dragon hide jacket. I just want to take a walk to clear my head and what not, without fear of being sent to detention. And I'm not as stupid as Harry was a few months ago; I'm not going to be caught asleep on the Quidditch pitch in my underwear." Ginny looked hopeful. Hermione threw back her covers, getting out of bed. As she rummaged through her trunk she managed to whisper, however relatively loud, to Ginny that if she were caught, she was to disavow any knowledge of whom the cloak belonged to. Ginny nodded and pulled the hood down over her head.
"Thanks Mione, I'll bring it back soon," she murmured as she padded down the stone stairs through the portrait of the Fat Lady.
---
Draco hadn't been able to escape to his bedroom without being cornered by Pansy. She had backed him up against a chair in the common room and tried to sit on his lap, trying to showcase her attributes to him, or lack thereof. In fact, she only succeeded in repulsing him as she smothered him, fussing over him and mussing his hair. She wouldn't let him go until he had promised to escort her to the Ball the following evening. Then he had staggered into his room, trying to repair his mangled hair with a disgruntled expression on his face.
He walked in circles around his bed and after several attempts to fix his hair; he gave up and changed out of his rumpled clothes. He threw on a pair of emerald sweatpants, a gray hooded sweatshirt and slipped on some running shoes. He had decided that since he couldn't sleep anyway, he might as well put his time to use. Draco had gotten permission from Professor Snape to run late at night during the school year, thus exempting him from punishment for breaking student curfew. He ascended the staircase at the far end of the dungeons, which led him out onto the castle grounds. Draco observed the stillness of the night for a moment, taking in his surroundings. Then, he began to jog at a moderate pace. The steady rhythm of his feet meeting with the frozen ground was uneven to the pulse of his heartbeat, creating an intricate cadence of two different drums. The noise put Draco at ease. He followed the path around the lake, observing the frost that had collected on the trees and the soft crunch of ice as the frigid water lapped against the bank.
---
Ginny had been climbing for a while. After a brief run-in with Mrs. Norris, she had quickened her pace as she padded along the dark hallways. Now she was almost to her destination. The stairs seemed almost endless, curving around until finally Ginny had reached the Astronomy Tower.
Most students used the tower for lewd acts that were definitely not approved of by faculty, but owing to the great length at which one must travel to get to the tower, most of the staff rarely bothered to disturb the students. Ginny was not like most of the kids her age, beside the fact that she didn't exactly have a boyfriend, she didn't just carelessly make out in Astronomy Towers every night. Also, it was rather cold to be meeting at the top of a tower.
Shrugging off the cloak, she surveyed the empty room at the top of the stairs, and then walked towards the side of the tower that was the most interior. There was an imprint of Orion's belt along the doorway. Ginny pressed the indentation, and a small door opened leading upward.
The top of the turret was dusted in snow. Ginny climbed over to a relatively flat part of the roof, clearing a seat in the midst of the snowfall. She looked out upon the grounds, covered in a blanket of white. The air smelled like there would be more snow on the way; it was cold and nipped at the edges of her eyes. Looking at the sky, she could barely see the stars for the heavy clouds obscuring the view. Concentrating her focus on more earthly bodies, she noticed someone down by the lake. If not for his dark clothing, he would have blended in quite magnificently with the scenery. She realized who the person was almost immediately; he was hard not to distinguish with his strikingly pale features.
Ginny stood, brushing herself off. She shivered quite visibly and had lost the feeling in her toes. But it wasn't the cold that bothered her the most; it was the numb feeling that had spread through her heart. She pulled the Invisibility Cloak around her once more and started descending the stairs. She was wholly undetected on her return trip back to Gryffindor Tower. Slipping the Cloak back in the bottom of Hermione's trunk, Ginny climbed the stairs back to her bedroom.
---
Draco had made his way around the frozen lake five times before he'd even broke a sweat. After his seventh lap, he took a break and leaned up against a large tree. Catching his breath, he looked around him. It was deadly silent, yet the quiet was deafening to him, the emptiness ringing in his ears, piercing his thoughts. He heard a soft noise somewhere above him. He looked toward the East side of the castle, in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. He thought he saw a figure resting on the tower, but upon evaluation, he saw only the snow that covered the rooftop. He rubbed at the corners of his eyes and shook some excess snow from his hair. He must have been more worn out than he'd guessed because he was starting to hallucinate.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, Draco plodded back towards the dungeons. Ice was starting to form on the ends of his damp hair as he reached the dormitories once more. He pulled out a pair of jade silk boxers and black fleece pants. Whisking his towel from the top of his trunk, he walked down the corridor towards the prefects' bathroom. It was striking for most to believe that Draco was smart enough to have been made a prefect in the first place, but in comparison to most of the Slytherins he was well above average. He turned on the water in the marble shower and disrobed. As he stepped into the shower, the water felt almost blisteringly hot against him. He watched his skin flush scarlet as the feeling slowly crept back into his body. He shut the water off, considerably warmer than he had when he had returned. The moonlight slinked in through the small window, casting an eerie glow throughout the ivory surfaces of the room.
After pulling on his clothes, Draco draped the damp towel across his shoulder and ambled back to his room. Dropping his previously discarded clothing in a pile by his trunk, he sprawled out on top of his bed. He stared out the window by his lavish bed, watching the clouds roll by, nearly concealing the last bit of dim moonlight. ---
Ginny lay across the bed, her glossy ruby locks cascading across her pillow. The nominal light from the crescent moon made her skin seem almost transparent. Her eyes were closed, veiled with her long eyelashes. For the first night in a few weeks, she was sound asleep.
She didn't even make a move to acknowledge the faint click of the shutting door. She heard the calm footsteps that softly made their way across the floor. She sensed the curtains drawn aside letting the cool draft glide across her face. She felt his presence hovering over her. Then the whisper of an icy hand traced the smooth contour of her shoulder, slowly stealing down her arm, resting on her wrist, intertwining with her fingers. His soft lips glided across the surface of hers with his long sleek hair brushing her forehead. His touch sent fire through her veins as his light kisses were trailed down her jaw line. He lingered with his lips right near her ear and then in a voice almost inaudible he spoke.
"I always thought you were the most beautiful girl in the world."
She closed her eyes tighter, feeling his warmth for her. He smelled of cigarettes and summer rain. She could've stayed there forever, frozen in time, but then her roommate's Awakening Spell sent electric blue sparks off with a loud bang, depriving her of that extra moment of rest.
A/N: I must give credit to the movie "Requiem for a Dream" for the line in Ginny's dream. I promise I'll get to the ball- it's coming up in the next chapter. And Kendall- you'll get to see Draco's reaction soon.