A Touch of Liquor, Preferably
"Uhh…."
Draco rose the next morning, half of him covered in bandages—provided by Madam Pomfrey—the other half screaming for more painkillers. The fact that Fred and George Weasley had both received enough detention to earn them the prestigious position of 'Worst Trouble Makers in the History of Hogwarts' was hardly any solace to the aching Slytherin. Wolverines in general were quite mean and apparently that last group particularly liked the taste of aristocrats. His current physical pain, however, wasn't the nastiest of it all. He had this strange twisting nausea near his stomach and this odd sensation that made him feel as if he was weighted down.
Quite strange all of that.
Draco rolled out of bed and put on his robes sluggishly, he turned to leave for breakfast—He would have killed for a nice cup of tea—and both his cronies Crabbe and Goyle lumbered after him. Draco had just, miraculously, managed to slink down the stairs into the common room when he was stopped by the sudden shouting of two of his housemates.
"Blimey! He's been possessed!" Abram Montague shouted and stared at Draco, wide-eyed.
"Worse!" Terence cried and the two rushed up the stairs to cut Draco off before he could get down through the common room. The two took Draco by his arms and dragged him back up into his room leaving Crabbe and Goyle staring dumbly and wondering what they should do.
"What is wrong with you two?" Draco asked in an irritated tone of voice and the two boys eyed him.
"Abram, watch the door—I'll deal with Malfoy," Terence said calmly and Abram went outside to make sure no one got in.
"You'll what with me?" Draco was getting more irritated by the moment but still he couldn't get rid of that semi-sick feeling that had permeated into every part of him.
"What's wrong with you? You look positively…" Terence paused and looked Draco over, "Guilty."
"What?" Draco asked, taken aback slightly. He hadn't checked in the mirror to see what he looked like, he usually didn't need to. He was always spot on gorgeous—be he in robes, bandages, or down to only his knickers.
"Look," Terence said with a note of urgency and moved Draco over in front of the wall-mounted mirror.
Draco stared at himself for a moment and thought that—surely—this had to be a joke. Malfoy's weren't ever supposed to wear that expression. He looked generally run down, shoulders slumped slightly, spine not fully straightened up for intimidation, hair without its normal luster, eyes soft with hints of sleeplessness, and an actual expression on his face. He didn't just look guilty; he was the poster boy of guilt.
"It's true!"
Both the boys spun around to see Blaise and Tracey standing in the doorway next to the fallen (and decidedly unconscious) Abram. The two awe-struck girls filed into the room and shut the door behind themselves. They then moved over to Draco and stared at his face with wonder—as if they'd never seen it before and had just noticed a diamond the size of a baseball resting on his brow.
"I never would have thought," Tracey commented and stared at Draco's haggard appearance with more than mild interest.
"You're guilty about what you did to her yesterday…." Blaise had always been the sharpest of the Slytherin, she figured it out even before Draco.
"No! Never!" Draco snapped back and tried to straighten himself out in the mirror.
"Oh Merlin…" Terence said and sat down in a chair with an exasperated sigh. "You've let her consume your thoughts to the point that…that…."
"That he's not only gotten used to the girl but he's starting to like her." Tracey said with an all-knowing look and Blaise nodded.
"You've all lost your minds," Draco said forcefully and finished correcting his appearance in the mirror. He'd done a pretty good job but the emotion that was apparent on the outside was now eating at him from the inside at twice the force.
"True, but we've not lost our hearts yet," Blaise said with a smirk. "I hope Virginia enjoys yours. Dusty and underused as it may be."
Draco just sneered at her and swooped out of the room in the most imposing fashion he could manage after being told that he looked like a man possessed over Ginny Weasley. He passed Crabbe and Goyle, ordered them forward, and stalked to the Great Hall. Even though he was now miffed, in pain, and apparently very guilty about nearly killing Ginny Weasley, a cup of tea sounded grand.
If a shot of vodka happened to make its way into that tea then so be it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Ginny are you alright?" Colin eyed the redhead and tapped her shoulder when he got no response. "Don't you want breakfast?"
"Alright, Colin, a cup of tea would be nice," Ginny said uneasily. She knew that his puppy-dog eyes were just an act but still she couldn't resist. She got up sluggishly and the exuberantly happy Colin dragged her down to the Great Hall. He practically threw the doors open and waltzed over to the Gryffindor house table. He sat Ginny down and quickly made her up a cup of tea so she didn't try to accost him for his previous audacity.
"Cream?" Colin asked as he added in a lump of sugar.
"Bailey's," Ginny muttered under her breath and Colin blinked.
"I'm just going to assume you said 'yes,' rather than what I think you said." Colin poured a bit of cream into Ginny's tea and handed the cup to her.
"Thanks Colin," Ginny said quietly and took a sip of her tea.
"What's up with you Ginny?" Colin asked and examined her as he took a drink of his juice.
"Do you honestly want to know Colin, or are you just asking out of polite concern?" Ginny looked up at her friend with an expression that combined a series of emotions into a look that screamed and ranted 'I've got some serious issues today.'
"Polite concern," Colin answered swiftly and turned away. One should never ask someone with that look to explain their day—it was oft bad for the listener's health. Ginny just stared at him for a moment; groaned, and let her head fall down onto the table with a dull thud.
"Ginny what's wrong?" Hermione sat down across from the redhead and asked her sympathetically. Ginny muttered something and Hermione's brow furrowed.
"Do you honestly want to know, or are you asking out of polite concern?" Colin supplied the translation and Hermione looked a bit put off.
"I really want to know." She lied and sealed her fate. Ginny muttered something and Colin was forced to act as the permanent translator.
"No you don't." Colin retorted politely and took a healthy drink of his juice.
"Yes I do!" Hermione insisted and Ginny lifted up her head to look over at the brunette. "God Ginny, what happened? You look like something the cat dragged in."
"Dragged in, chewed up, and spit out is more like it." Ron added and sat down next to Hermione.
"Yikes." Harry added his two cents to the conversation and Ginny just let her head fall back onto the table.
Ginny muttered something under her breath and the trio shared confused glances before turning to Colin.
"I think she said I'm mad." Colin looked down at Ginny and was nearly knocked back out of his chair as she sat up abruptly.
"I said," Ginny growled at Colin—apparently she wasn't amused by this whole series of events—and put her hand to her forehead, "I'm going mad!" She shouted and everyone in the hall seemed to glance at her. Someone snickered and then the moment was officially over. With that, Ginny simply left her tea at the breakfast table and walked out of the Great Hall.
Ginny needed to find a house elf and harass them into giving her some alcohol. Honestly, how was a girl supposed to deal with these sorts of things without the aid of hard liquor? Maybe the thrill of torturing something could supplement…but she didn't have anyone that she was currently disinterested in enough to merit that. She was going to go mad soon, all these events and emotions.
She probably would have lost it right there in the Great Hall had she known the person who snickered in the silence was one Draco Malfoy.
Ginny walked into the Transfiguration class—her first period—an hour before even McGonagall would show up. She sat down in her seat and started to run things through in her mind. When her mind was a bit too boggled by this whole situation she rooted through her bag and removed the essentials.
"One Hundred and One Fun Things to do With Your Pet Flobberworm" By Frank D'Abignale,
One notebook filled with blank paper,
One little muggle trinket (A stress ball, or at least it claimed to be),
And one Home Stenographer…Scratch that.
"Where's my quill?" Ginny asked the air (the air didn't know either) as she rooted through her bag. She stared at her bag in horror, gritted her teeth, and sat back in her seat with a scowl on that would have probably spooked a pack of Death Eaters (or at least convinced them to offer her a job among their ranks). "Malfoy has my expensive quill." Ginny muttered darkly and then froze.
She used that quill to write in her journal. (After one is practically absorbed by an evil book they tend not to enjoy writing in them personally any longer.) If Draco just asked that quill a simple question it would probably transcribe an exact copy of half of her Journal.
"I knew I should have put a locking spell on that thing!" Ginny jumped up out of her seat and did the one thing she never thought she'd do again. She went actively searching for Draco Malfoy. Little did she know that Draco had every intention of avoiding her for as long as he could manage.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Draco's day had started out questionably enough, but once he'd gotten slightly inebriated (due to his morning tea) everything started to look up. He'd surprised himself when he laughed at Ginny Weasley's outburst in the Great Hall. The laughing part hadn't been what surprised him; it was the fact that the twisting feeling in his gut got considerably worse after he'd done it. To make matters increasingly worse, it now seemed that Ginny Weasley was trying her damndest to hunt him down. For what, he wasn't positive.
Draco leaned forward and peered around a corner. He'd just barely escaped or skirted around Ginny a few times—he'd even been forced to skip out on Crabbe and Goyle (The twits knew nothing of stealth.)—and he wasn't going to give up avoiding her now. Draco noted the distinct lack of psychotic female redhead and quickly swept down the hall. He was doing quite well until he was practically clotheslined by a mop handle and knocked back on his bum.
"What do you know Gred? I found 'im again!"
Draco stared up at the Weasley twins with a look of mild fright. This expression didn't last long because it was soon ruined as Draco started to laugh.
Before him stood, chained together quite un-magically and wearing bright orange jumpsuits that made them look quite like muggle prisoners, were Fred and George Weasley. They were both brandishing long (and by the looks of it, old) mops, buckets full of mucky water, and various sizes of scrub brushes. They had been scrubbing the hall that joined into the hall Draco had just basically ran down as part of their first detention. (Only eighty-seven left to serve!)
"I'll be buggered, you've found the cackling cretin." Fred Weasley leaned forward on his mop and stared at the fallen (and snickering) Malfoy.
"Wonderful," Draco said, stood up, and smirked at the Weasley twins. "Sorry boys, can't be seen consorting with convicts."
"Yet I hear you go to the Malfoy family reunions." Fred glanced at George and smirked.
"Those aren't convicts, Gred, they prefer the term villain," George spoke in a snotty tone that was obviously meant to mock Draco.
"Indeed." Draco said in monotone and would have started walking again had George's mot not lifted up to bar his way.
"Just where are you going?" The twins asked in unison and Draco sneered at them.
"Fred! George!"
The three boys froze and shared worried looks. Ginny was coming.
"I really need your help finding that blasted quill-stealing Malfoy!"
Fred and George dropped their mops, grabbed Draco and threw him into a shadowed alcove behind a suit of armor they'd just finished scrubbing. They hid him just in time—they had just thrown him behind the statuesque suit of arms when Ginny came stalking around the corner.
"Have you two seen that blonde twit?" Ginny asked and Draco noted (nervously) just how close she sounded.
"Blonde twit?" George asked.
"We've not seen Lockhart since way back when. Why do you ask?" Fred covered and Draco could almost hear Ginny glaring at them.
"You two are useless!" Ginny growled and Draco heard her stalk off. He didn't dare come out from his hiding space though.
"She's gone." One of the twins whispered to Draco.
"You'd better run for it while you have the chance!" The other one added as Draco climbed out from behind the armor.
"Why in the wizarding world are you two helping me?" Draco stared at them and was shocked that the rumor he'd heard while eavesdropping was correct.
"We were on the bad end of that once before…" Fred said mournfully and George cut in.
"Wouldn't wish it on anyone. Even you."
"Do you two have any advice?" Draco couldn't believe he was asking them, and apparently neither could they. The two Weasleys shared a confused look and then nodded to Draco.
"Get in her good books." George advised in a very sagely tone.
"If it costs you every single knut in your bank account, every scrap of dignity you've got, or the admission of…" Fred paused and shuddered. "Being wrong. Then admit it! For the love of all that's good!" Fred took Malfoy by the shoulders and shook him to emphasize his point.
"You two sure you haven't seen that quill-napper?" Ginny shouted and her voice sounded nearer than it should have, she was coming back.
"Run!" They both said quietly and Malfoy took off at a swift jog. This was almost worse than being pursued by angry animals—after all, animals couldn't reason which way you'd be going, nor could they bribe other students into tracking you down for them, nor could they concoct an elaborate plan involving wards and echo charms.
Author's Notes: Unfortunately…ow… I'm still sequestered off in the Hospital wing. How was I to know that Molly Weasley didn't appreciate D/G…odd though that she inflicted more pain that Lucius. Oh well. The romance should pick up quite soon—don't worry, the insults and witty repartee won't disappear.
A great many thanks to all of my Reviewers and My Resplendent Beta.