Chapter 5

Draco woke up grumpy the next morning. It had been one of those dreams again. The ones with Ginny in them. And it was starting to annoy him.

Wasn't it enough that he had to see her face everyday in school? And now she was popping up in his bloody dreams. Brilliant.

Sure, she was young, intelligent, beautiful-no, wait, he did not just call her beautiful. No, definitely not.

He shook his head in denial.

No, she was a distraction, that was all, a fun game. And games were only appropriate at certain times. Draco did not consider the invasion of his dreams an "appropriate" time.

But like most people, grumpiness makes you angry and ill-tempered. So just think it would do to someone who was already angry most days.

By the time he got down to the Great Hall for breakfast you could practically see a storm cloud hovering over his head.

All the students parted like the red sea as he walked through them quickly, cloak streaming out behind him (maybe it was being blown by that thunderstorm?).

The day, however, did not match his mood, and the rays of bright light filtering down from the magically lit sun above and causing his eyes to water did nothing to improve it.

Breakfast was a quick, hurried affair, as most of the eight students who had been chosen were eager to be on the way, and the rest of the school was just as eager to see them off.

Pansy Parkinson, who'd somehow managed to be picked as the second representative from Slytherin, was in ecstatic, constantly trying his patience with her simpering smiles and endless repetitions of "this will be so much fun, Draco, you'll see!"

So it's kind of surprising that he managed not to blow up until the meal was over, right after Professor McGonagall was revealed as the teacher who was going to the mountains with them.

He kept finding himself glancing across at the Gryffindor table, where Ginny Weasley was quietly eating her breakfast, occasionally laughing and joking with her brother and his friends. She didn't seem nervous in the least. And she certainly wasn't trying to win the most boring award.

Pansy had been going nonstop at his side for the past five minutes, commenting on and on about what they were going to do, and wouldn't this be great, and should she wear this dress or that with these shoes or those, when he finally couldn't take it anymore.

All in one motion, Draco shoved back his chair and stood up, glaring at her. "Let's get one thing straight Parkinson, okay? I already know where we're going, yes it might be fun, but I'm really not concerned with that right now, and I don't care what shoes you wear with that dam dress! It won't matter anyway, not even clothes can improve your figure."

Pansy stared, along with every other student in the room. "Wh-what did you say?"

"You heard me."

Without another word, he turned and strode out of the hall, already feeling better. Now that was one good way to relieve stress.

"That was pretty mean," came a voice from behind him.

"Who cares?" Draco asked absently, not even pausing.

"I do."

Draco stopped, finally recognizing that voice. Spinning around, he saw Ginny standing there, a small frown on her face.

"Oh, it's you."

He turned and started walking off again. This was so not what he needed at the moment. Just when he was starting to feel better, she appeared.

But the girl just wouldn't go away. After days of avoiding him, she seemed intent on having a conversation with him now.

"Get lost, Weasle," he demanded nastily as he pulled his arm out of her reach. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"No, but I want to talk to you. Do you realize you could have just screwed up this trip for all of us by doing something like that in front of the teachers?"

Frustrated, Draco wheeled on her. She didn't even have time to stop.

With a small cry, she fell into him, instinctively gripping his arms for the support they offered.

Draco froze, as surprised as she was. The feeling of her in his arms was a sensation he had never felt before, a new wonderful feeling that he wasn't sure he wanted to give up. His own breathing was loud and harsh in his ears, and the slight brush of her arms on his chest had his heart pounding and his blood racing. He had to get her off of him, now.

"Falling into my arms now, are we Weasle? Decided you've had enough playing hard to get?" He new it was just the right thing to say to spur her in to action.

It worked.

Ginny bristled at the insulting tone in his voice and instantly pushed herself away from him.

"If you hadn't stopped so suddenly I wouldn't have run into you!"

"And if you hadn't been following me, spouting off about the 'horrible' thing I'd just done, I wouldn't have stopped so suddenly."

They paused, their eyes meeting.

And in that moment, Draco couldn't think of one single, horrible, mean, insulting thing to say.

Obviously, she couldn't either.

After a few tense moments, Draco forced himself to regain control. It wouldn't do to let her know what he was feeling for her. Or was he really feeling anything? He tried to reason. It was a game, after all…

But somehow he knew it had just become much more than that. And it scared him.

"Shove off, Weasle," he said suddenly. "I've got things to do. Maybe you can go bother Potter for awhile, I'm sure he's got nothing better to do at the moment."

Though she didn't show it, Draco knew that last part stung her. Though everyone knew she'd been "over" Potter for months, they also knew that deep down, she still liked him.

But he wouldn't allow himself to regret the words. Spinning around, he walked off down the hall again, and this time, Ginny didn't follow.

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They left not long after, aboard a flying carriage, the likes of which Ginny hadn't seen since the Triwizard Tournament in her third year. Except this one wasn't pulled by horses.

It was divided into two compartments; a small one up front where Prof. McGonagall set, and a larger one where the eight students where placed. Their luggage was stored on the roof.

Not surprisingly, Draco had brought more stuff than any of the others combined.

"You know," Ginny had told him icily when they first boarded, "We're only going to be gone for a few weeks. You didn't have to bring your whole room."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Yes, and you didn't have to bring your whole house," he replied disdainfully, nodding in the direction of the few small bags she had finally decided to bring with her.

Ginny glared.

After that incident, they made sure to sit on opposite sides of the comparment, well away from one another.

Ginny tried to keep busy by talking to the other students, most often Neville, who was seated beside her, but it was no use. Every time she'd actually get interested in a conversation, she'd feel Draco's eyes on her, a cloudy expression on his face and she'd lose her train of thought.

Draco meanwhile, set huffed up in his own little corner, turning towards the rest of the students only every once in a while, and then only to glare at Ginny.

The girl was still grating on his nerves. So why couldn't he stop thinking about her? Why couldn't he stop peeking glances at her from around the Ravenclaw boy he had chosen to sit by?

Pansy, thank God, was at the other end of the compartment from him but on the same row. Draco remembered to send her evil glances of warning every now and again too, and fortunately, she kept her distance. He knew she'd seek him out later, but for now, at least, he was left in peace.

They had only been flying for a few hours when McGonagall poked her head in the door.

"How are you all getting along in here?"

No one answered her, though they had all fallen silent at her entrance.

McGonagall pretended she hadn't noticed.

"Good. Now, I've just come to let you all know that we will be making a little refueling stop in Romania in just a few moments. Any of you who need to use the bathroom or stretch your legs must do so here, because after this it will be awhile before we stop again.

The students nodded, and McGonagall left the room.

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"Refuel?" Draco asked skeptically after she had gone, arching one perfectly formed eyebrow. "We're in a flying carriage. Not one of those auto…auto…whatever those stupid things are that muggles use for transportation."

"Automobiles," Ginny supplied with a smirk, pleased to actually have the advantage in a conversation for once.

Draco glowered, a livid expression on his face. His mood had steadily worsened during the trip, with the hot, stuffy compartment making him feel cramped and even more irritable. "Yes, well, you'd know wouldn't you, what with that stupid muggle-loving father of yours and all."

It wasn't so much his words as the way he said them-hatefully, disdainfully, contemptuously- that had Ginny jumping up from her seat, wand in hand.

"Take that back!" she shouted at him, rage evident on her features. "Now!"

"Or what?" Draco challenged calmly, his hand resting lightly on his own wand. "Going to hex me, Gin?"

That was it. Ginny had had enough, the insults, the smirks; the smiles, the winks. It was all jumbled together in her mind, infuriating her and electrifying her nerves past the point of control.

Before she could stop herself, she said the first spell that popped into her mind.

"Expelliarmus!"

Before Draco could react, his wand was already out of his grip and flying across the compartment, right into Ginny's waiting hand.

"Take it back now, or I'll break it!"

Draco's eyes widened, as if for the first time he realized how serious she was. Ginny felt a surge of triumph. But it was quickly gone.

"Fine, go ahead. I have another at home, I'm sure father would send it to me."

Ginny paused, thinking. Was he bluffing? Or did he really have another wand. It wasn't too unlikely, he was rich after all, but…normally wizards only had one wand.

There was only one way to find out.

"Okay." And before she could give herself any more time to think Ginny snapped his wand cleanly in two.

A/N: Now that's a cliffy, lol. Hope everyone liked the chapter, and it was longer! *grins proudly*

Thanks to all my reviewers: kneh13 (yes, they will be hiking. But it's not going to be exactly how you-or they-think.), Dragons princess (hmm, shrinking charm. I might need to remember that. But Neville's not the only one who could get in the way. Does anyone remember who the other Slytherin representative is? But that won't happen for awhile. Might not happen at all if I change what I'm thinking of changing…), Harmonia (thanks), Tara-Yo (yeah, well, how about I just mix the chapters up a bit. Some will be longer, some shorter.), and Hallee87 (well, there was some D/G interaction in this chapter, was there not? And plenty more to come…).

Next chapter should be out tomorrow at the latest, so remember to check back. And REVIEW PLEASE!