Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling plus or minus a few things here and there

Chapter 11. First Time for Everything

          Harry was there.

I was kissing Malfoy, and Harry was there, Ginny panicked.  Not quite sure where to start, she just stared at him and gawked, wondering precisely how long had he been watching.

          "Malfoy," Harry growled, emerald eyes flashing, "When the hell did you become human enough to actually have the privilege of touching a Weasley?"  Not waiting for Draco to respond, he added, "You better have a good explanation for this."

          "Maybe you haven't learned," Draco smirked, "but I don't need to explain myself to anybody, much less a Gryffindor like you, Potter."

          Harry may have been shorter, but he wasn't quite as slender, and his entire face blazed with fury.  Clenching his hands tightly, he stepped up to Draco and glowered.  "You will tell me what you were doing to Ginny and why," he spat, "Or I'm going to make you serpentbait."

          "You dare try," Draco returned, angered but not about to loose his calm, "And you'll become The-Boy-Who-Died."

          Harry whipped out his wand from his pocket and shook it at Draco angrily.  "There's no magic out of school, Harry," Ginny cried in alarm.

"I don't care," Harry seethed, drawing his hand back in preperation for a curse and ignoring her feeble protests.  Almost of their own volition, Ginny's hands reached forward and pulled Draco back, stepping lightly around him and blocking him.  "Move, Gin," Harry commanded.

She didn't budge.  "Harry, don't," she pleaded, her throat parched all of a sudden.

          "Gin, this disgusting creep had his arms around you, and he's going to explain why," Harry threatened, his words directed more at Malfoy than her.

          A wave a delirious relief washed over Ginny.  So he didn't see the kiss, she realized dizzily as she craned her neck and glanced at Draco, understanding passing between their eyes.  "Harry," Ginny cleared her throat, "I-I had a pebble in my shoe, and I tripped, and Malfoy caught me." 

          He eyed Draco skeptically, but lowered the wand reluctantly, tucking it away into his robes.  "Malfoy doing good, eh," he sneered.  "Didn't think that would actually happen."

          "As if you—ow!" Draco began, but was cut off sharply as Ginny's sharp fingers pinched the skin on his arm.  He shot her a sore look as he massaged the reddening area, but duly shut up.

          "Ginny," Harry said, ignoring Draco's scowls, "I'm glad I ran into you here. I really think that we should talk about your little outburst last week."

          Ginny flinched.  "Look," she said, "I was in a really bad mood that day and things came out a little wrong, that's all."

          "Wrong?" Harry repeated incredulously.  "You were ranting about people kissing you and then expecting it to not mean anything, I mean, where the hell did all that come from?  You've never even been kissed, Gin!"

          "Says you," she grumbled, her complexion matching her hair when Draco snickered.  "And you," she turned to the blond, "You can just sod off, eavesdropping on my conversation."

          "I wouldn't call it eavesdropping, I mean, you were discussing it right in front of me," he pointed out smugly.

"Malfoy," Ginny snapped as Harry barely contained a smile, "This conversation doesn't concern you in the least, so wouldn't that be your cue to leave?"

          "On the contrary," he smirked, "I believe it does concern me, since you're talking about me."

          Ginny went from beet red to paper white all in a second, and Harry asked confusedly, "Talking about you?"

          "Sorry Har, I need a moment with my boss," Ginny excused herself, disappearing around into an alleyway and pulling Draco with her.  The dark-haired boy stared after them in absolute bewilderment.

          "Can't wait to snog me again, can you?" Draco remarked as she whirled him against a wall.  "I guess I'm just that irresis—"

          Ginny slammed a hand over his mouth, muffling his words.  "Listen, Malfoy," she hissed, staring as menacingly as possible into his startled silver orbs.  "I've had it with your mood swings.  You can act like a prat all you want when we're back at Malfoy Manor, but don't around my friends."

          Her middle finger was lodged gently between his lips, and he nipped at it, causing her to flinch and pull the hand back sharply.  "Potter's too dense to figure out what we were talking about, anyways," he replied calmly.  "You think I'd risk death by the infamous trio?  I mean, not that I'm scared, but I'd prefer starting seventh year without your stupid brother on my back all the time."

          Ginny winced as she imagined Ron's reaction, and realized that what Draco said was true.  She released him from the wall and stepped back, knowing she should apologize for overreacting but then not particularly wanting to because well, quite frankly, Draco had scared the shit out of her.  "Harry's special to me," she said quietly without realizing how wrong that came out, "but he wouldn't understand.  I just don't want him to find out about, you know, us."

          His eyes hardened.  "There is no us," he said coldly,  "Don't mistake me for Potter, Weasel."  A million voices within him contradicted his feelings, and all he really wanted was to kiss her senseless until she forgot about Potter, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.  Her words rang too fresh in his mind.  "So we snogged once or twice," he shrugged, "big deal.  I do it all the time."  Her eyes flashed with hurt, and it pained him to continue, but the Malfoy ego egged him on.  "Oh wait," he added sarcastically, taking on Harry's tone, "You've never been kissed."

          "My god, Draco," Ginny cried.  "Can you just let it go?  I'm not in fucking love with Harry fucking Potter, okay?"

          "What would Molly Weasley say about her daughter's language?" Draco asked condescendingly.

          "Sod off," she said, unfazed.  "I'm just saying, Harry doesn't mean anything to me."

          "No, he's just special to you," Draco sneered.

Ginny rolled her eyes.  "As a friend," she stressed.  He stared back at her, stubborn and unrelenting, and she let out a frustrated huff.  "Like I said, Malfoy, you have problems," she sighed, "The first one being jealousy."

          "You think I'm jealous of bloody Potter?"  Draco demanded.  "Why the hell would I be jealous of him?  I am everything that little bastard wishes he could be, I just don't have some bloody scar."

          "You think I care for him and it bothers you," Ginny suggested in a small voice, wanting to ridicule herself for having the bravado to say something like that.

          "In case you haven't noticed," he said icily, words chosen carefully to be deep barbs, "I don't give a damn who you care for because I don't give a damn about you."

Ginny stared at him for a few seconds, an equally sharp response just at the tip of her tongue.  She decided against it.  "I'm going to talk to Harry now," she said softly, "And I suppose I meet you back by Gringotts in an hour."

"Don't be late," he called after her snidely.  "I don't like waiting for my servants."

She stopped at the end of the alley, glancing back at him before turning into the open square, to Harry.  "Why the hell did you have to be a Malfoy?" she muttered under her breath.

~*~

          "What was that about?" Harry asked suspiciously when Ginny returned.

          "I needed an hour off to talk to you," Ginny lied, "So feel special.  But we only have an hour, so you might as well begin."

          "Okay," Harry agreed.  "Well, first things first, I want to explain what happened with Hermione."  He paused, remembering the livid expression on Ginny's face when she'd walked in on their kiss.   In all honesty, it was a rather chaste kiss, at least compared to some of the kisses he'd experienced before.  "Hermione had something in her eye."

          "Oh, like that line hasn't been used before," Ginny said dryly.

          "No, she really did," Harry insisted.  "I mean, we did kiss but it was such a small, brief, kiss and I don't think," he stopped, swallowing hard.

          "You don't think what?" Ginny frowned.

          "I don't think it meant anything to her." Harry finished.  "I know it looked bad, Gin, but you have to believe me.  Ron is one of my closest friends, and as much as I love Hermione I'm not willing to risk his friendship.  Nor yours."

          "Bros before hos," Ginny supplied with a giggle.  "Not to insult Hermione or anything."

          "That's the general idea," Harry smiled.  His face grew serious as he continued, "But Hermione and I have decided to tell Ron that we, you know, kissed.  Twice."

          "Oh yes," Ginny mused, "You never did tell me about the first kiss.  Do explain how your lips just sporadically ended up on hers?"

          He blushed.  "Gods, Gin, do you have to make it sound so bad?"

          "Harry, Ron's my brother," Ginny reminded.  "What you did was absolutely terrible, even if you've decided you don't want to hurt him now.  The first kiss, I could have accepted that, accident, hormones, whatever.  But the second one?  And especially after we had that long talk, I mean, that was just uncalled for, and you know it, too."

          "I know, I know," Harry said wearily.  "And I agree, wholeheartedly, but the fact of the matter is that the kiss happened, and whether or not I still love Hermione doesn't matter anymore."

          "Love is stronger than anything, Harry," Ginny said dramatically, echoing his words.

          He grinned at her.  "Glad you're finally learning something," he teased, "But I'm trying to be serious here.  I want Hermione to be happy, and if she's going to be happy with Ron, then so be it.  But she feels the need to tell him the truth, so I guess that's whats going to happen."

          "Wait," Ginny said, "can't you just let it go?"

          He rolled his eyes.  "You're completely missing the point, here," Harry replied.  "It doesn't matter whether I do or not.  You know how Herm is, she has this thing about telling the truth and having things out in the open.  As much as I enjoy her company, I'll admit that she's somewhat of a goody-goody."

          "Somewhat," Ginny laughed good-naturedly.

          "Okay, very much one," Harry amended.  "She doesn't think her relationship will work if she's not one-hundred percent honest with Ron, and therefore feels that she needs to tell him we kissed."

          "Looking at this from an objective view and not as Ron's sister," Ginny pointed out, "If Ron got angry enough with her, you'd still be able to pursue the relationship, right?"

          "Right," Harry agreed, "But I don't want to.  Because, like I've said, I care about staying close with Ron.  You yourself said that I ruined things with Hermione already."

          "You were listening?"

          He shot her a look, and they both laughed.  "So tell me, Gin," he said suggestively, "How are things going with Colin?"

          Ginny balked.  "Colin Creevy?" She squealed.

          "Oh come on," he persisted, "Don't tell me you haven't talked to him after the Yule Ball last year."

          "He's a nice guy," Ginny said, "But not boyfriend material.  Definitely not."  Then again, she thought to herself, Draco isn't exactly either.

          "So you mean to tell me that Virginia Weasley hasn't been thinking about guys lately?"  He wiggled his eyebrows at her, something that always aroused a giggle.

          "Not exactly," she admitted, "Just not Colin."

          "Tell, tell," He pushed, eyes sparkling.

          Ginny recoiled.  Telling him she had feelings for Draco Malfoy was like a death sentence, though he'd still be tons better than Ron.  But she knew precisely what would happen.  Harry would scream at her, and then run off and tell her airheaded brother, and together they would kill her, and then Draco.  It was of better judgement not to tell Harry.  "Nobody," she said.

          "There has to be somebody," Harry declared.  "When I was going into sixth year."  He stopped, looking bemused and crestfallen all the same.  "Well, when I was going into sixth year I was dating Hermione," he realized softly.

          She slung an arm around him.  "Come, Harry, and we'll go shop away the pain," she suggested jovially.

~*~

          "It was a beautiful dress, really," Ginny said with a sigh.  "I still want to show it to you, but I don't want to give Kathryn the satisfaction."

          Harry grinned.  "I'm sure you'll receive something equally beautiful for your birthday," he reassured.  "Speaking of which, you are coming home?"

          "Oh definitely," Ginny agreed.  "Mum's invited you, and Herm, and Neville, and Colin, and Seamus, all of Ron's friends.  I wanted to invite more of my friends, but most of them are on vacation or rather far away, so the only ones who could really make it were Dru and Jen."

          "It'll be a blast," He said.

          "I'm sure.  But I better get going, or Malfoy's going to blow his top again," Ginny sighed.

"It's not an hour yet," he protested.

"Nearly, and if I get there earlier he won't wait, and we all know how tempermental Malfoy can get," Ginny said brightly.

"Can't disagree with you there," He chuckled.

Ginny threw her arms around him and squeezed.  "Everything will be fine, Harry."

          "Take care, Gin."

          She dashed down the street to Gringotts, hoping to glimpse his blond head somewhere along the way.  It had been a pleasant afternoon, though Harry's troubles worried her less than it really should, and the fact that she wasn't even bothered by what was sure to be the demise of Ron and Harry's friendship did faze her.  Ah, Gringotts, she thought with satisfaction, the building coming into view.  Skidding to a stop, she glanced around blankly as it sunk in. 

Draco wasn't there.  

Oh well, Ginny thought, I can wait.

~*~

          Thirty minutes.

          That's it, Ginny raged furiously.  Draco was acting like a child, and just because he couldn't decide what he wanted did not give him any right to waste her time.  She had been standing guard in front of the bloody bank ten minutes earlier than she had agreed to meet him, and still he didn't show.

This was ridiculous.  If she left now and he showed up later, he could very well be waiting for a long time.  And if he had already left—well, that was just impossible because she'd been early, so he wouldn't have an excuse to leave.  Still seeing red, she stormed into Gringotts bank and demanded of a very grumpy goblin whether Mister Draco Malfoy had been spotted.

          The goblin peered down at Ginny.  "The blond one, isn't it?" He cackled.

          She refused to be intimidated.  "Yes, that's Malfoy."

          Surprisingly enough, the goblin nodded.  "Yep, that fellow was in here an hour ago," he revealed, ducking down behind his desk and pulling out a small parcel.  "I'm presuming you're Miss Weasley."

          Ginny frowned, geniunely perplexed.  "Well, yes, but how did you—"

          The goblin waved a hand.  "Mister Malfoy said a redhead would be in here asking about him," he interrupted, "and he left you this."

          She took the parcel from him, still incapable of hiding her shock.  It couldn't have been cheap leaving something with the goblins, she reasoned, and even though Malfoy had the money to spare he wasn't known for being frivolous.  Untying the bag, she found a small note wrapped around the strings, and unfolded it carefully.  "Weasley," she read aloud, "Was owled by Mother and had to return home.  D.Malfoy."

          The parcel, which was about twice the size of her fist, was filled with something that crinkled when she shook it.  Emptying out the contents, Ginny gasped.  Her favorite candy, the kind Draco had bought to taunt her during their first visit, winked up at her.

          He didn't forget everything, then.

~*~

By the time Ginny arrived back at Malfoy Manor, night had fallen.  She hadn't meant to linger at Diagon Alley, but given the circumstances and the fact that technically, she had no curfew, the temptation to be Ginny Weasley, and not Ginny Weasley the Maid of the Malfoys clawed at her until she gave in.  So truthfully speaking, it hadn't exactly been an epic battle, but it had taken up a chunk of her time as she decided whether to zip home or shop around.

          Most of the household was asleep by the time she arrived, Adrienne included, which left Ginny unfortunately alone and rather awake.  She tiptoed through the grand hall precariously, the soft-patter of her feet echoing in the spacious overhang.  Gods, she thought nervously, if I run into something and I wake up the Malfoys, life will be hell because I'm not exactly on Narcissa's A-list after what happened, or didn't happen, with the wine.

          Since it was night, most of the hallways were already dark, and it gave Ginny a slight chill as she passed the set of regal Malfoy portraits, each one of them staring hard at her.  Thankfully, she made it to the servant quarters without raising much of a fuss, or at least what she thought was the servant quarters.

          "Cripes," Ginny muttered as she wandered into another dark corridor.  Pursing her lips, she decided that she must've taken a wrong turn, and headed back the way she came.  Backing up a few doors, she came to a long, narrow hallway that stretched in both directions, and wrinkled her brow in confusion.  "Did I got left or right?" She wondered aloud, not daring to take the wrong turn.

          It's okay though, Ginny thought, I'm not lost.  Yet.

          Fifteen minutes later, she slumped down on the floor, facing a set of rooms that looked exactly the same—in the fifth hallway she'd search that looked exactly the same.  "I'm not lost," she mumbled to herself.  "I can't be lost, I've heard countless horror stories about how people get lost in these mansions and their bodies are found centures later and—"  She stopped, biting her lip, and nearly whimpered.

          But sitting here and wallowing in her misery would certainly get her nowhere, Ginny resolved, and she climbed to her feet.  Deciding to take a left, she came to a semi-open sitting room, one of the many in the Manor.  "Hello?" She ventured, the only response being her echo.

          She took a tender step forward.  "Anybody?" She asked, raising her voice a couple of notches.  There was a slight sound behind her, and she shivered a little.  I'm just imagining things, she told herself firmly.  Whirling around just to appease her own paranoia, she spotted something white glinting in the dark.  And it was moving.  It's a person!  Ginny realized with alarm, opening her mouth and letting out an ear-splitting shriek.         

          Suddenly, a hand shot out and clamped around her mouth.

~ End of Chapter 11