Disclaimer: if I owned Harry Potter, why would I be posting stuff on here? I don't own anyone you recognize.
AN: Yes, long time in coming. Provincials just finished and I'm done Highschool!!!! Yes, this was a long time in coming. I work as fast as I can and I update as soon as possible. I'm flattered that there were so many reviews begging for quicker updates. However on that note, I cannot work any faster than I can work. I must confess, this has been finished for a while before I posted it. My computers are acting up like the naughty children they are so it took a while to get it onto disk and then posted from somewhere else. It was quickly proofread and edited this time! Enjoy!
Be warned: lack of substantial anything. That comes next chapter.
************************************************************************
The days developed into a routine, Draco and Ginny went to class and rarely talked. Draco and Ginny ate their meals and rarely talked. A sort of unspoken agreement developed between the Slytherin and the Gryffindor. Draco wouldn't tease Ginny mercilessly, though her brother was still very fair game, and Ginny would try her hardest not to embarrass Draco or talk to Draco in front of Slytherins.
She still suffered teasing from the Slytherins, but most were scared to offend Draco; the rumours of the ill-fated kiss in the snow had gotten around and quite a few of the students put stock in it, having witnessed it for themselves.
Nighttime was by far the best. And no, not because of that, get your mind out of the gutters, this is rated PG-13 for a perfectly good reason and I'm shocked that you would even consider that. Pardon my interruption. Nighttime was the best because except for the scattered visits of the Dream Team, Draco and Ginny played chess and wonders of all wonders, talked. Oh, it was always talk about trivial things to be sure, but trivial talk can only last so long before more meaningful conversation arises.
Ginny sat studiously concentrating on a Potions assignment that had been given to her by Snape. In the Seventh Year class she had been partnered with Malfoy, of course, and Snape had insisted on her participating at a Seventh Year level. Ginny struggled but still found that the Seventh Year curriculum was infinitely more enjoyable and interesting than the Sixth Year's. It just meant she had to get a bit of help from Draco.
"Draco?"
"Hmm?" He was busy doing his own homework.
"Did you already finish that scroll for Potions?"
"Yes."
"May I see it?" Ginny caught a scroll that came flying at her neatly and shook her head slightly before unrolling it and reading it through. Her face lightened as she realized several points she had missed and began hurriedly scribbling them down with her quill.
Draco slammed a text shut. "Weasley are you done copying yet?"
"I am not copying!" Ginny muttered at him.
"Right, sorry. Are you done transcribing your very specific notes yet?"
"I am not copying, and no." Ginny furrowed her brows and scribbled quicker. "Why are you so anxious for me to be done?" she queried half-focusing on his answer, half paying attention to her homework.
"Boredom."
"It's sad that you only talk to me out f boredom."
"It's flattering that I talk to you out of boredom."
"True. Otherwise you'd probably be hexing me."
"Or slipping enchanted Diaries into your school work." Draco trailed off as she stiffened and her knuckles grew white around her quill.
"You're out of line Malfoy. I never told you a thing about that." She said quietly, her hushed voice belying her state of anger.
Malfoy smirked. "Weasley, my father is the man who gave you that book. Of course I knew." He lied, easily forgetting that it had taken him three years to find out the truth. "But Weasley, I'm not going to tease or be mean about it."
"Right. And Hell has frozen over."
"I'm serious Weasley." He ground out, his face darkening upon her disbelief. "I just want to know more about it."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because is not an answer, it's a stall tactic."
"How quaint. Why don't you just come play chess now? I promise I won't bring it up again."
"For another twenty minutes you mean."
"True. But come play anyways."
Ginny sighed and set down her quill, staring out the window for a few minutes. "When did you find out about the diary?"
"I told you – "
"I know that's not true. You had no idea it was me opening the chamber when it was going on."
Draco spluttered. "Yes I – "
"Harry and Ron disguised themselves as Crabbe and Goyle that year to find out if you knew. I know you didn't." She shot a penetrating glance at him, her golden eyes serious.
Draco lowered his brows over hard eyes and folded his arms. "I found out third year. I got my invisibility cloak that year and followed the trio around once. I overheard them talking about it."
Ginny moved to the chess set they now had permanently set up in the room and sat down in her seat. Draco moved to the other one and watched her from curious silver eyes as she played with a white pawn in her hands, obviously thinking.
"I grew up, well am growing up, as the youngest child and only daughter."
"Spare me the tragic life story of woe and poverty."
"Do you want to hear about the Chamber or not smart ass?" Ginny's eyes flashed dangerously.
Draco smoothed his sneering features. "Of course, do continue."
"Jerk. Anyways, because I was the last child, I was often, well most of the time, overshadowed by my brothers even though I am the only girl.
"When I first came to Hogwarts, I was shamelessly obsessed with your hero and mine, Harry bloody Potter."
Draco snorted derisively and Ginny nodded at him.
"Anyways, when my brother, Harry and Hermione began to pointedly exclude me I turned to the blank diary I had earlier found in my school supplies that housed the personality of one half-muggle born, Tom Marvolo Riddle." Ginny shuddered and stared at the white pawn, lost in deep reflection and memories. She missed Draco's look of shock when she mentioned Tom's heritage.
"Anyways, eager for a 'friend'" she said the word scoffing and shook her head at her own naiveté, "I turned to Riddle, who promptly 'took advantage of me' as Dumbledore terms it, and gave me access to the Chamber of Secrets.
"So long story short, I felt lonely, turned to the Diary and Tom who then proceeded to use me to terrorize the school and attempted to kill me to bring Voldemort back to life. My first year in a nutshell." She remarked bitterly.
Draco nodded and with a hint of mocking said, "Poor little Gryffindor used and abused by the powers of Evil."
Ginny leaned forward. "I wasn't that abused. Besides, he taught me a lot. I'm smarter because of him. Of course most people who heard about, namely Gryffindors, treat me with a lot of fear. They mostly avoid me."
"Your brother included?"
"Most of the time. That's why I hate him. Well, I don't hate him, I think he could use with a smack upside the head. He ignores me until I'm in danger, or if I am, he doesn't notice until I'm nearly dead. He's too busy hanging off of Harry's every word and Hermione's lips to care that much for family." She twisted the pawn in her hands savagely.
Draco, unsure of how to respond to her talk, found himself wanting to resort to his favourite way of regaining control of situations, but unable to. "You said that Tom Riddle was half muggle."
Ginny looked up piercingly. "That's right. Doesn't everyone know that?"
Draco felt as if the world had been yanked from underneath his feet. "Everything the Dark Lord says, the anti-muggle stance, the mudblood hating, it's all a joke?"
Ginny cocked her head and answered seriously. "No. Not a joke. If it was a joke, people wouldn't die, Cedric wouldn't have died, Harry's parents wouldn't have died. Children wouldn't have lost parents or parents lost children. If it was a joke, why do all wizarding towns have curfews and why is Dumbledore preparing for war? It's anything but a joke."
"It's sick. He's against…himself."
Ginny watched him steadily from hooded eyes. "You've the dark mark branded in your arm." She stated and his eyes flew to hers.
"Yes." he narrowed his eyes to slits, watching her warily.
"You said that having something in your arm doesn't make you a death eater."
"I was wrong." He ground out. "I am a death eater, it's fate that's burned into my soul now Weasley. I can't escape it."
"Even before you knew Voldemort was half-muggle, you had your doubts about being a Death Eater."
"Weasley," his face closed off growing cold and impassive, "let's play chess." He growled out.
Ginny nodded and set down her white pawn. First move.
Draco brooded as he played, and Ginny reflected. It was silent.
That game was progressing slowly, their skill matched evenly. "Weasley, let's make a bet."
"A bet of what?"
Draco smiled, his eyes glinting coldly. At that moment Ginny remembered all the years spent in fear of him and felt her stomach drop as she saw his hard features.
"If you win," he paused and a cruel smile slipped onto his face in the growing dusk of the room. "You can tell your brother what happened or something to that extent."
Ginny looked at him suspiciously. "And if you win?
"And if I win." He grinned sneeringly. "If I win, you'll give me something of yours." His eyes flicked deliberately and lazily down her body and Ginny fidgeted.
"I don't think so Malfoy." She crossed her arms and pulled her robes closer around her, feeling invaded by his eyes. This was the Malfoy she remembered. Cruel and evil. "The bet's not even." She shuddered as his eyes looked at her once more.
"And life's not fair but there's no use crying over it."
"No thanks Malfoy." She glared at him.
"So sure that you'd lose then? Not much faith in your own abilities." He scoffed and raised an eyebrow.
"What did they do, teach all Slytherins facial ticks in first year?" She said angrily. His words had stung though; she knew she could win, she could. They were evenly matched though, and what if she didn't? But she could, she knew she could. Her nostrils flared and her eyes sparked as she thought. The consequences were horrible. But would he really hold her to it?
Her mind chose that moment to recall her to her senses. Well I don'' know Ginny, let's think about this. He turned you into a Cat managed to get you to play Strip Poker once, has kissed you, is by far more powerful than you, cruel, sadistic, spoiled, used to getting his own way in everything. HAVE YOU TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR SENSES?! OF COURSE HE'D HOLD YOU TO YOUR BET!! Ginny screamed at herself in shock, slightly appalled she was even entertaining the idea of playing with such stakes.
"Sorry Malfoy, I'll play you a game of chess, but not with those stakes." She shook her head.
"I never figured you for a chicken."
"Really? What was it that gave you that idea? I really am a chicken. Quite chicken. Never do anything on my own. Honestly. Why do you think I have six brothers? I – "
"Weasley, shut-up and play. You move first."
"No bets?"
He smirked at her. "Upon reflection, no. I don't need a bet to get what I want."
"Egotistical bastard."
"It's not egotistical if it's proven fact." He smirked even more.
"Malfoy, shut up and move a piece before I turn you into a ferret." She said angrily, a high blush staining her cheeks.
The game lasted long and finally ended as Ginny emerged the victor.
"Good game Malfoy." She whispered tiredly.
"I'll win you next time." He responded in like, sleepiness softening his voice.
Ginny looked at him curiously. Was the slip intended? Did he mean he'd win her?
But the words were oddly reminiscent of something Tom Riddle once said to her as she lay in the chamber. She'd forgotten them until now. It wasn't really possible that an old memory of the Dark Lord would be able to 'communicate' or tell the present Dark Lord anything. Was it?
Ginny shuddered as she curled in her bed, dark shadows haunted her now, she couldn't get Him out of her head. He was there, taunting her, comforting her, his words slippery and poisonous, but warm and caring. The tortured thinking gave way and she fell into a sleep fraught with nightmares of his voice and image.
The compulsion was on her once again and she moved out of her bed. Tom had said it wouldn't be hard, he'd do all the work for her, she just had to let him into her head. And he was right, it wasn't hard, she was watching her actions from a spectator point of view, a stranger in her body.
Down to the chickens, get blood and write, write, write. In broad strokes the blood went on the wall, but she was away before the basilisk came out.
And the compulsion was on her once again. Out of the bed she padded to the door –
Only to be halted by a pair of arms encircling her waist. With a start Ginny snapped out of it and gasped. She was in the hospital wing, why? Had she hurt someone? She was transported back to first year when she had woken after Tom's first time taking over he body. The chickens – wait a minute, this was the hospital wing.
The hospital wing – the arm shifted around her waist and she could feel the breath of someone against her cheek as he whispered soothing words of quiet into her ear. She sobbed dryly, and her struggling grew less. It was only a dream, just a dream…
"…just a dream Gin, just a dream." The words were whispered in her ear as the arm loosened. She fell slack into the boy. Malfoy. Her mind registered shock, but then remembered. The cat. He had turned her into a cat, the binding curse, and the hospital wing…
She closed her eyes. She was so tired and so scared. Now suddenly aware of her fear, she started shaking violently, her body wracked by shuddering sobs as well.
Draco was frightened. She was having an epileptic fit or something. He muttered quiet words of nonsense into her ear as he held her, her body nestling into his.
He had been frightened out of his mind when he had awoken to the strange keening cry in the night, but then realized it Weasley in the throes of a nightmare. When she had started to move around and mutter things in Parseltongue he had grown truly frightened and moved to stop her as she headed for the door; her intentions were unclear.
You weren't supposed to wake sleepwalkers, but he had no other course of action to take. She had fought him, resisting the binding arms that had held her back from leaving the room.
Now she was shaking and heaving in his arms. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't stand here all bloody night!
"Stupid Weasley." He muttered as he glanced around the room. Espying his bed, really it wasn't hard because it lay in a rather prominent position on his side of the room, he half carried - half dragged the form of Ginny Weasley to his bed. He managed to pull her onto her mattress and started to disentangle his arms.
Ginny began to clutch at him, and held on tightly as she shook in fear. Draco frowned. He just wanted to go to sleep.
"God forbid her brother comes in tomorrow morning." Draco muttered as with a frown, he slid into the bed beside Ginny. Her shaking gradually subsided, and finally Draco fell into a light sleep, arms snaking their way around her waist once more in slumber.
Ginny woke up warm and with the comfortable weight of an arm slung over her stomach. Comfortable weight of an ARM?! What's going on?!
Her eyes opened quickly and she tensed up as she saw her side of the room opposite hers.
The chess game! Oh no I didn't… Ginny's mind flashed through events and she relaxed, marginally, as she recalled the events. She'd had a dream, one where Tom had made her do things again and took over he body. She shuddered and the boy at her back stirred in protest.
Malfoy! She inched forward, attempting to loosen the arm around her stomach without waking him. Her back left his warmth and she felt bereft. Apparently so did he as the arm pulled her tightly back to him.
"Leaving so soon Gin?" The muffled words of Draco Malfoy echoed up from the region of the pillow.
He called me Gin. 'Truth is a person who is so tired that they've lost all inhibitions.' reverberated in her mind as she blinked in shock. "Well, as lovely as this is, I really think I could be in my own bed."
"Don't go." The words were clear as he leaned his head into her view.
Ginny stifled a yawn. "I should." But she was too drowsy to protest hard, her sharpness still muddled by dreams. Easily she fell back into sleep.
Draco couldn't. He watched her as she breathed deeply and saw clearly all the identifying Weasley traits. Red hair, check. Freckles, check. Old Clothes, well nightclothes really, but still a check. Even knowing this, still his mind whispered something traitorous at him, I could get used to this.
No one had discovered the two in the same bed, Draco had gotten them up in plenty of time, but Ginny was still bone tired. Her head rested on her forearm as she closed her eyes easily in class. Binns wouldn't notice, he rarely moved from the front of the room and she and Draco sat in the very back.
Sleep beckons with
Fuzzy fingers,
And leaves with fuzzy feet,
Whose footprints last 'til
Lunchtime.
Ginny quoted the poem quietly in her head as Binns droned on. I hope I don't start drooling…
Draco could see Ginny fading, her consciousness slipping somewhere unknown. He was leaned back, tilting his chair, dangerously far it must be said, and his arm rested on the back of Ginny's chair.
He watched in fascination as his hand seemed to move of its own accord to her back. It rested there briefly, long enough for Ginny to tense up, then relax at its continued presence. Draco watched as it moved back to the chair, apparently satisfied. Thank god he sat at the back with no one behind him.
Ginny caught herself smiling wearily with the fascination of one who is extremely fatigued, as the lean hand rested on her back comfortingly before it was gone. Lost in the haze of one who is half-awake and half-asleep, Ginny was barely aware of the class passing until Draco stood beside her and nudged her with his books.
"C'mon Weasley, I've got an idea."
Ginny stood up and followed him out of the classroom with the other Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Draco walked with brisk strides towards a courtyard. "Malfoy, where are we going?"
Draco shot a sly half-grin at her. " I thought we'd skip class, and go somewhere else."
Ginny cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. "Right. Because there are so many places to go that no teachers could find." She said drolly.
"Ye of little faith."
"Me of working brain." She retorted with a snort. "I'm tired, can't we just go to class?"
"Stop whining and come on." With a frown he turned and began to stride away.
"How do I know you're not taking me somewhere to kill me just to get rid of me?"
"You don't."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Thanks for the reassurance."
"We're just going to the rooftop; no where bad." He pulled her along behind him, his grip tight on her arm.
"Why?" Ginny was honestly puzzled.
"Because I don't want to go class." he rolled his eyes in a very un-Malfoyish gesture.
Ginny sighed and gave up trying to understand. Whoever said the female psyche was hard to understand had never met a Malfoy.
The snow was clear from the roof, the sun had melted it away and left large patches of dry stone and tile. Ginny and Draco sat sprawled in one such patch; Ginny's head was resting on her arms behind her head, eyes closed and her face turned up into the winter sunlight, wrapped once again in a thick cloak of Draco's.
Her thoughts were running in lazy circles of pondering and contemplation of her rather unique circumstances. Hazily she wondered why she hadn't been more freaked out than she was when she had been turned into a cat then magically bound to Malfoy. Maybe all the time eavesdropping on the whispered conversations of her Harry Potter and Co. was creating in her an acceptance of the abnormal and downright freakishly odd.
Or maybe she secretly craved adventure and excitement. She snorted at that thought. Right, she wanted adventure and excitement, that's why she wound up bound to Malfoy. So much for adventure and excitement, all she got was verbal torture.
Of course, Malfoy hadn't been all that bad. He was…agreeable most of the time. At least to her. Sort of.
Maybe he understood that in close quarters, good relations were imperative. Or maybe she just liked her a little bit.
She snorted again.
"Keep it down Weasley, I'm trying to relax."
"Malfoy, do you like me at all?"
"Like you? No. You're a Weasley, I'm a Malfoy. I find you excessively useful for certain things but I don't think I like you. Though you are very smart and all, you're more useful to me than likeable." He finished haughtily, unconscious of how snobbish he sounded, how arrogant and rude.
Ginny had been expecting that on the logical side of her mind, but her heart couldn't help wishing that the "no" hadn't sprang as quickly from his lips as it did.
"Oh." She whispered and kept her eyes closed tight
Draco felt a twinge of guilt as he heard her soft "oh" and he winced slightly. He did like her. But he couldn't like her. If her last name hadn't been Weasley, he probably would have…well who knows what he would have done, something drastic.
"I think you're lying." The words were hesitant and brave.
"Do you?" He asked rhetorically, his tone indifferent and lazy.
"I do. If you didn't like me at all, you wouldn't lend me your cloak."
"That's a rather flimsy argument don't you think. I could be doing it out of a desire to prevent your whining." His voice was steady and clear, he didn't trip up on the lies.
"Maybe. But you wouldn't play chess with me every night if you didn't like me to some small extent." She stated with finality and he could visualize her chin jutting out in stubbornness.
Draco pushed himself up suddenly, resolved in his mind. "What if I did like you Weasley? Huh? What then?"
Ginny met his hard grey eyes with slight confusion.
"I'm a Slytherin, you're a Gryffindor. I'm a Malfoy, you're a Weasley. I'm going to be a Death Eater by my next birthday no doubt, and you're going to fight Voldemort for all your worth.
"If I did like you, who could I tell? Your brothers? What would they think? I rather like my life the way it is, being alive that is. I've no intention of killing myself.
Besides, I don't need or want a friend."
Ginny took this in. "What if I don't care about that stuff?"
"Are you crazy?"
"No." she looked at him solemnly. "I've seen you Malfoy, you don't want to be a Death Eater anymore than I do. But you've got the chance."
"Right, the chance to ruin my life. Joy." His tone was bitter as he replied to her vehement statements.
"Think about it. People would love for the chance to bring information to Dumbledore about what's happening with the Voldemort. You've got the chance to do it!"
"That's not a chance, that's a death sentence."
"People are going to die no matter what."
"I'd rather be on the winning side then thanks."
"What makes them the winners?"
Draco paused. What indeed? Their cruelty? No. Their ability to destroy? No. The fact that Death Eaters hated all things 'impure'? No.
He looked at the fervent features of Ginny Weasley, golden eyes wide in earnestness and hope.
And he sneered. "No converting Slytherin points for you today Weasley."
Her face darkened in anger, a deep flush spreading across her cheeks and her eyes glinting as she clenched her jaw. "You're an idiot." Her nostrils flared as she jumped up. "No, you're more than that, you're a bastard. A great big wanker."
Draco grew…irked to put it mildly, and in anger grabbed an ankle and pulled her down. She landed on his lap with a small 'oof' and began to struggle. She was no match for him though and remained where she was, held by Draco and pouting. She had never been a good loser.
"Believe it or not, Kitten," the name was hissed out "I didn't bring you up here to fight."
Ginny 'humphed'. "Right, and I'm next in line to the Malfoy fortune."
"I didn't." He said vehemently.
"Then why did you?"
"You're the one that started talking."
She twisted and looked at him. "You're evading the question." She said with a hint of annoyance before backtracking to her earlier train of questioning. "So why then?"
Draco looked at her steadily, his grey eyes flinty. "Because I wanted to kiss you."
"You said you didn't like me earlier." Ginny laughed at him.
"I don't. Not that much."
His tone was serious and Ginny was suddenly confused and thrown off. She didn't know whether he was jesting or not.
"I brought you up here because I wanted to kiss you again."
"Uh…" She tried to squirm away from him but his arms still held her firm.
He smirked in triumph but she lifted sparking eyes to his. "You know Malfoy, I wouldn't even mind kissing that much if you at least confessed to liking me in the smallest way. There's really no use lying about it."
Grey eyes met her brandy brown ones and she bit her lip. The cards were laid and the dice were in his court. Wait, the ball…oh something. It was entirely up to him now.
Draco calmly disentangled one arm from behind her and brushed red hair away from her face. "Fine. I confess. I like you the tiniest bit. Now may I kiss you?"
His tone was flippant and slightly challenging. Ginny was suddenly, once more (she certainly is an uncertain girl) doubtful. Was he saying that just to shut her up so he could kiss her? But then she glanced up at his eyes.
His mouth could spout irreverent words, but his eyes were in earnest. And they were oh-so-earnestly telling her how much he did like her and screw any consequences.
And who was she to argue such logic? Especially when he was kissing her so nicely.
It was upon to this scene of Draco Malfoy gladly kissing Virginia Weasley on the cold roof of Hogwarts Castle, that no one burst, and they continued until they were warm, then cold again and they'd missed lunch and soon it would be dinner. Then the real world intruded and they reluctantly broke apart for air, sure that they'd made some world record for longest kiss and slowly made their way into the castle once more.
************************************************************************
AN2: the nicest word in the world: REVIEW!! Actually, it's alright. I really love the word 'turtle' though. I'm ambivalent towards the word review, but I love the action of it!
So I know there was little plot, but it's a shameless DG fic, did you expect a plot? And there really wasn't much
point to this chapter except nice pg-13 DG action. Fluffy
like cotton candy. Next chapter is the conclusion. We get a
response of Ron and Harry and Hermione and other people and some other stuff. Other fun stuff. Get your minds out of the gutter. And go
review!
I don't think anyone reads
Authors notes. Billions of thanks to all the reviewers.
