Waltz of the Snowflakes
"I look absurd." Ginny stared in the mirror and fought to resist the urge to push the hair that had been curled against her cheek.
"You look fine." Colin replied as he pulled the back of her dress a bit tighter and tied the bow with no small amount of fineness. Ginny snorted, indignantly, in reply. "Well you'll be fine as long as you don't do that."
"I'm going to rip my hair out!" Ginny growled abruptly as Colin slapped her hand to keep it away from the curled bits of hair so neatly arranged and slicked down to the sides of her face.
"Wait until after the ball then!" Colin protested and moved to the mirror next to Ginny to straighten out his robes. "It took me half an hour to get your hair to stay like that and I'll be buggered if you're letting it down!"
"Ugh, the things I do for you Creevey." Ginny adjusted her bun but stopped abruptly as Colin shot her a hard look.
"The things I do for you, for Malfoy." Dennis corrected and combed his hair back again. "How do I look?" Ginny eyed him strangely and smirked slightly.
"Less slicked back and you wouldn't look so…Slytherin."
"Ugh." Colin began to redo his hair and Ginny admired her dress in the mirror.
It was that same dress that she'd had the distinct pleasure of seeing Draco in, and hadn't looked half bad in herself. There really wasn't much about it—just green, long, no real padding or frilly anything to speak of. In fact, the only piece of detail was the black sash that wrapped around her waist and tied in a bow behind the dress. Sadly Ginny was only renting this particular gown (the proprietor of the store had found Draco in the gown so amusing that she hadn't a problem in the world renting it to Ginny), and it looked so good on her too…ah well.
"Why did we get ready so late?" Colin asked, arbitrarily, and Ginny glanced over at him.
"Because we had to sneak down to Hogsmeade to get these outfits and then Cho held a meeting that we had to attend." Ginny responded and wondered whether or not she should have worn a necklace.
"That would only account for two hours, what took up the other three?" Colin furrowed his brow and looked at her.
"Parvati insisted on telling us every little thing Ron and Harry were mad about." Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly.
"Oh right." Colin adjusted his collar stodgily and it was Ginny's turn to slap his hand away. "Well, do I look any less Malfoy now?"
"That you do," Ginny said with a smile and straightened out the front of Colin's dark maroon dress robe. "But who says that's a good thing?" Ginny taunted him slightly and Colin shook his head.
"And to think, a week ago you would have shoved me out of Trelawney's window for making a comment like that."
"Now Colin!" Ginny stood up straight and stepped back from him—nearly catching her high heel in the cracks between the stone. "That only happened once and it was two years ago!"
"You shoved me out of Trelawney's window, Ginny." Colin glanced back at the mirror and slid his comb back into his robes. "Don't think just because it was a one time occurrence and it was a few years back that I'll just let you forget it."
"Oh shut up and let's go." Ginny set her hands on her hips and smirked as Colin cocked an eyebrow at her and started towards the door. The two of them walked out of the bathroom, thankful that Moaning Myrtle hadn't been present and had given them time to get ready in peace, and Ginny shot Colin a strange look once they were out the door.
"What?" Colin asked as they started walking.
"You're supposed to hold the door for a lady, Creevey." Ginny waved her right hand absentmindedly and Colin snorted.
"I didn't see one."
Ginny frowned at Colin, hit him in the stomach lightly, and shook her head. Honestly she should have killed him for that little calendar bit but he'd spent two hours doing her hair so she supposed that made up for it—assuming he didn't make a second edition.
Ginny waited outside the Great Hall, next to one of the caroling suits of armor and the moving ice sculptures. She was beginning to get impatient as the music started inside and several couples breezed by her to start enjoying the dance.
Blaise Zabini shot Ginny a look as she entered with a tall, dark haired Ravenclaw. After her Tracey Davis was practically dragged from the shadows by a large, somewhat goonish looking Hufflepuff. Then Colin (with his lovely date—A Ravenclaw, her name was Judy, or so Ginny thought) entered just in time to obscure Ginny from the sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cho Chang. After them there was a fairly steady stream of people but still no blonde, smarmy, Slytherin gits to be seen.
"Bit distracted today, are we?" Ginny jumped as she heard the infamous drawl of Draco Malfoy right behind her. "I've been standing here for nigh on five minutes now, holding this—(he shook the stack of papers and quill he had in his right had, which had been right next to Ginny's head)—and you'd yet to notice me."
"Sorry, I was distracted—waiting for my incredibly handsome, smarmy, and self assured date to arrive." Ginny put her left hand on her hip and motioned with her right hand as she turned around and gave Draco a 'once over.'
As standard procedure dictated he was in dress robes. Dark green—yet somehow his green didn't quite match the dark green on her dress. It figured. He had the standard high collar, silver lining, and, in his right hand just below his fine silver cufflink, was a stack of paper and her Home Stenographer Quill™.
"Really?" Draco cocked an eyebrow and smirked thoughtfully. "Anyone I know?"
"Perhaps." Ginny backed up a step and looked at the papers in his hand. "I see you've decided to return my property at long last."
"To say the least." Draco handed her the stack and the quill. She took it and, after a moment of flipping through the papers her expression changed from bemused disinterest to horrified revulsion.
"My journal!" Ginny hissed and looked up at him incredulously. "You slimy git, you copied it out of my quill!"
"I did," Draco admitted but with no change to his sophisticated exterior. "But rest assured, I couldn't bring myself to read it." Draco watched as Ginny turned to the last page and her expression changed again. Scrawled on the center of the page were the sentences 'Why are you so mad? It's not like she's yours.'
Ginny stared down at this page for a long time and both of them remained silent. She stepped back from him, slightly, set the pages and the quill on the ground, and stared up at his grey eyes. There was another uncomfortable silence before she reached around and drew her wand out of the sash around her waist.
"Incendo." Ginny flicked her wand at the papers and quill. A red sphere shot from the tip of it and, in moments, the stack was reduced to a pile of ash. Ginny calmly replaced her wand into her sash, looked back up at Draco, and the corners of her lips turned up slightly as he offered his arm.
The Great Hall was decked just as it was every year. The ceiling gave the illusion it was snowing despite the fact that it hadn't snowed yet, the house tables were pushed off to the sides of the room, and up in the center there was a band—or rather a wizard who was renown for his Levitation skills and a gaggle of instruments that seemed play themselves.
Some of the couples were dancing to the upbeat classical music the 'band' was playing, some of them gathered around the tables, some of them 'mingling.' They weren't the last to arrive through the doors so they didn't receive any special attention for that. But the fact that Draco Malfoy had just arrived with Ginny Weasley on his arm was enough to draw attention from the majority of the crowd. (They'd just thought it was a rumor, most of them.)
"Really Draco." Pansy Parkinson stepped in front of the two, her frightened date—Stewart Acklery—contemplating gnawing off his arm to free it from her vice-like grip. "Showing up with this Riff-Raff!"
"I know," Draco said curtly and frowned. "I'm quite disappointed in you Acklery." Stewart blanched as Pansy tightened her grip on his arm and narrowed her eyes at Draco.
"You couldn't do much better this late though, so I'll forgive you." Ginny smiled nicely at Stewart and Pansy promptly took him away towards the refreshments.
"This is amusing." Draco commented quietly as the two of them simply stood next to the table, where Pansy had stopped them.
"That it is." Ginny agreed and glanced around. "Strange."
"What, pray tell?" Draco asked and glanced around the room with a most aristocratic feel about him.
"I don't see my brothers…any of them." Ginny frowned slightly and shrugged.
"And the night, already, gets easier." Draco smiled down at Ginny and she shook her head slightly—a grin creeping over her features. "Well, Miss Virginia Weasley," Draco said, stepped back from her, and bowed in an overdrawn and lordly manner.
"Yes, Mr. Draco Malfoy." Ginny cocked an eyebrow and smirked slightly as he took her hand.
"Would you care to dance?" Ginny just shook her head (smile prevalent on her features) and walked out onto the dance floor with Draco.
Truly it wasn't much of a spectacle as they weren't flashily dressed in comparison to some of the other couples. They weren't dancing flamboyantly and trying to draw attention. In fact the only reasons anyone would care to pay them any mind were that a) they were Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy, and b) they danced quite fluidly. Draco dancing well came as little surprise to anyone—he'd been trained at it along with all his high classed politesse since before he could walk, but Ginny danced so well that it was slightly unnerving. (Draco was forced to look down at her feet and assure himself that, no, she hadn't cast a levitation charm or attached invisible wheels to them and she was, in fact, stepping to the music.)
The music changed slightly and became a rather upbeat waltz. Ginny sighed contently at the music (she whispered something like 'Waltz of the Snowflakes, how appropriate.'), and Draco noticed as the ceiling above started to display snow at double-time—it must have been snowing outside. The couples around started waltzing clumsily, a few of them—mostly partnered with students of richer and more influential parentage—managed to change styles fairly quickly but Draco and Ginny were another story altogether. They blended from the last dance into perfect form with such fluid motion that if one hadn't known better one might think it was all a planned dance.
"You're quite good at this," Ginny said as she stepped to the side, her motion mirrored by Draco.
"Likewise." Draco smirked, wrapped his arm around her waist a bit more, tightened his grip on her hand, and dipped her back. True, it wasn't a move sanctioned by the particular type of music, but the way it was executed made it nothing extraordinary to have done. He pulled Ginny back up, her left thigh was parallel with his hip—a most common position to be in when one recovers from a dip—and intended to keep dancing but he was violently pulled away from her from behind. Before Draco had much of a chance to even identify his attacker he was savagely punched across the jaw and thrown to the ground next to where Ginny had stumbled back upon their separation.
"I'll kill you!" Ron snarled, his face red, a vein in his forehead throbbing, and his fists clenched so tightly it turned his knuckles white. He would have leapt on Draco, all intent to carry out his promise, had Ginny—more than slightly annoyed and a bit flustered—not drawn her wand and aimed it directly between his eyes.
"There will be NO killing of my date by anyone other than ME, Ronald Weasley," Ginny growled and narrowed her eyes at Ron. Had Harry not been possessed of the common sense to grab Ron by the shoulders and practically fling him away from the two then Ronald Weasley would have been, most likely, hospitalized upon jumping towards Draco Malfoy.
"Charming." Draco stood up, straightened his robes, and rubbed his jaw slightly as Ginny put her wand back into the sash of her dress. Surprisingly the attack on Draco Malfoy had been so expected that even the couples dancing hadn't bothered to pay them the slightest attention.
"Shall we go for refreshments," Ginny asked as she turned back to Draco. She glanced over her shoulder at where the blustering and irate Ron was behind held down by nearly three Gryffindor boys and then turned back to him, an exasperated expression across her features. "Perhaps we'll lose him."
"Perhaps." Draco offered his arm and Ginny took it. The two of them moved through the crowd past the 'band' and stopped at the table set out for refreshments. (Which, on normal days, would be referred to as the Slytherin House Table but alas, this was a dance.) Draco, who was not particularly parched, poured Ginny a glass of punch and the two of them sat down at one of the more vacant sections of the table.
"Thank you." Ginny smiled at Draco as she took the glass and sat down. She looked back and groaned slightly as she noticed Harry and Hermione running about frantically—probably trying to find Ron—and took a drink of her punch. She winced slightly as she drank it and Draco eyed her.
"Too strong?" he asked mirthfully—it wasn't even alcoholic.
"A bit, but it is to be expected." Ginny waved off the comment and took another drink. "The elves make it strong in case the ice melts."
"Understandable," Draco commented offhand to continue the inane conversation. He felt no need to speak really—they were of the same mind even if they didn't admit to it, and there had been no uncomfortable silence after they'd entered the room. "Why did you believe me?" Draco asked as Ginny finished her glass of punch.
"Why shouldn't I have?" Ginny asked, her expression perfectly calm and reasonable. Draco could have listed several of the reasons that most people, let alone Gryffindors, and heaven forbid Weasleys, shouldn't believe him but he waited instead for her to supply her reasoning. "You've never actually lied to me," Ginny said sincerely and then smirked before amending it, "except for that one time."
"What one time?" Draco asked and looked slightly affronted—he was only mildly shocked to come to the realization that, no, he'd never actually lied to her.
"I pull this dress off, you don't." Ginny grinned and Draco smirked like a madman. He was about to make a lewd comment when Ginny held up her hand to silence him and stood to get herself some more punch.
"Ginny!"
Ginny spun around, her newly refilled glass in hand, and gasped slightly as she was grabbed by the arm and swiftly pulled out of the hall into the snowy and somewhat 'done up' gardens that had been provided for those students ready to leave the dance for a while. Ginny's eyes adjusted quickly in the darkness and, before she'd been pulled more than two hundred feet, she yanked her arm back.
"Hermione! What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" Ginny asked with quiet indignation and leaned forward towards the girl who'd dragged her from the hall.
"I should be asking you that!" Hermione stared at Ginny incredulously and Ginny just shook her head.
"Hermione, I'm not in the mood." Ginny quickly drank her punch and stared at the brunette.
"You were dancing with him like that, Ron might have overreacted but he was somewhat justified." Hermione stepped forward and Ginny swayed back and snatched the glass from her hands. "Then you start having a conversation with Malfoy—."
"Surely that's not a crime." Ginny cocked en eyebrow and shook her head—she was beginning to feel a tad lightheaded.
"Maybe not but you trusted him enough to drink punch that was obviously spiked!" Hermione shook the glass at her and threw it to the ground. It landed in one of the piles of snow that had begun to gather on the ground about them.
"What?" Ginny asked and eyed her.
"Come on little sister, you've had a bit too much to drink." Ginny jumped as Ron walked up behind her and took her by the right arm. Harry took her by the left arm and the two obviously intended to take her back to the tower. This was getting ridiculous.
"What are you two doing? Let me go this instant!" Ginny growled at the two of them but all she got in response were sympathetic looks and tighter grips around her arms.
"Sorry Ginny," Ron muttered as both he and Harry lifted her up off her feet and started carrying her back towards the front entrance of the school.
"It's for your own good." Harry smiled nervously and tried, very hard, not to make eye contact with Ginny.
"If you don't release me this instant you'll both regret it!" Ginny snarled and kicked her feet in an attempt to throw them off balance.
The three of them, Hermione in tow, had almost reached the main entrance to the school when Harry stumbled forward. Out of the corner of her eye Ginny saw the telltale red flash that denoted a stunning spell and saw a tall dark haired couple dash into the Great Hall. As Harry stumbled Ginny wrenched her arm free of him and, a moment later, had her wand drawn and aimed at Ron. Ron released her slowly and she stepped back from them in order to get all three of them in her view.
"Ginny, you're not thinking straight, you wouldn't really hurt us would you?" Harry asked shakily as he stood up.
Ginny looked more than eerie in the sort of half-light that had replaced the glow of the hall. Her expression was grim and the alcohol she'd imbibed was beginning to take effect over her. Her form, despite how far under the influence, was rigid and her wand pointed at the three of them. When she spoke it was with an ominous tone that mirrored that of a howler.
"RONALD WEASLEY! HARRY POTTER! HERMIONE GRANGER!" she shouted and the three of them just stared at her. "Ron! You are my brother, and I love you. You protected me from what I couldn't handle when I was younger. Harry, you're like a brother, and I love you too. You saved me from something else I couldn't handle my first year. Hermione, you're like the sister I never had and you saved my relationship with these two simply by existing…"
Ginny paused and her cold, hard, and livid gaze swept over them.
"But today you crossed a line!"
"Ginny—." Harry tired to cut in but Ginny cut him off.
"Was I finished talking!?" Ginny hissed through her teeth and glared at Harry.
"Ginny this is Malfoy, you can't handle him," Ron pleaded with her but her face flushed red—not wholly from anger but more from alcohol.
"Do not presume, DEAR BROTHER, that I am as inept and naive as I once was!" Ginny narrowed her eyes at him and took a deep breath. She desperately wanted to calm down before she did something regrettable, but considering who she was talking with and what it was about she doubted she'd have the opportunity. "Now, we're all going to go back in—."
"I won't let you go back to that slimy git!" Ron shouted and Ginny's attempts to calm down proved to be in vain.
"Draco Capere!" Ginny drew back her wand and swirled it in a circle above her head.
The tip of Ginny's wand lit up white and as she dragged it through the air thin lines like threads formed. Harry, who'd planned on taking Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts knew exactly what the spell she'd cast did. He quickly grabbed both Hermione and Ron and took off running as the threads started to form a giant flickering shape in the air. From the massive swirls above Ginny's head sprung two large wings, then a head, and very quickly a full-grown dragon comprised of threads of light burst from the swirl.
"Ligare!" Ginny shouted and pointed her wand at the fleeing three. The magical dragon reeled its head back, let loose a sort of warbling boom that resembled a roar and shot through the air after them. The dragon quickly overtook the three and crashed to the ground atop them. The dragon broke apart into the threads that formed it; the threads wrapped around the three, and then tied them down to the ground. The threads of light cooled and turned to stone as the snow struck them, and the irate Ginny stalked off towards the Great Hall again.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Malfoy!" Draco looked away from Ginny and found himself quickly confronted by both of the Weasley twins. They looked somewhat flushed; no doubt they'd become that way after fleeing from one of their own creations.
"What do you two want?" Draco asked irritably and cocked an eyebrow. He wasn't really in a foul mood, but he tended to give that impression to everyone.
"Heard Ron jumped you," Fred (or was it George?) said and sat down on Draco's right side whilst the other half of the brain took his left.
"Got in a good one for somethin' Harry wouldn' speak of." George grinned and Draco eyed them.
"Not that I don't enjoy this little tirade, but just what do you two want?" Draco interrupted and both of the twins looked around.
"Where's Ginny?" Fred asked and George nodded.
"What do you mean, she just went for punch—." Draco turned but quickly fell silent as he noticed the distinct lack of redhead near the punch bowl.
"You didn't let her into the punch did you?" George asked and stared at Draco incredulously. Draco cocked an eyebrow at him and watched as both he and Fred shared an uneasy look and stood up abruptly. He caught them whispering something along the lines of 'Shouldn't have put so much in it!' and 'All your fault!' as they hurried off and suddenly he became very concerned about the situation at hand.
"By Merlin the things I do for her!" Draco whispered, stood up, and followed after the twins as they exited the Great Hall and marched down the 'decked' halls towards the kitchens. The twins ducked behind the painting and Draco quickly followed after him. Needless to say they were mildly shocked when he spoke up behind them. "So," Draco drawled and the Weasley twins nearly leapt out of their skin, "you two spiked the punch did you?"
"Um…" Fred responded philosophically but George cut in.
"What gives you that idea?" George asked with a nervous laugh.
"The bottle of…Vodka in your hand was a bit of a hint." Draco eyed the two empty bottles that the twins were holding and rolled his eyes.
"We only put in four—." Fred cracked and started trying to defend himself but George quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Four bottles?" Draco asked and quickly turned back and left the kitchen. Ginny had to have drunk her second glass by now and by no means were the punch glasses small. Draco had just made it back to the entrance of the Great Hall when Blaise Zabini and her date burst through the doors.
"Draco." Blaise took him aside and her date moved towards the main entrance of the school. "That delightfully angry and mildly drunk date of yours is outside—probably gutting Potter as we speak. You might want to reign her in before something…distasteful happens." Blaise stood up in her most proper fashion and tucked her wand back into her dress.
Draco inclined his head to Blaise slightly and jogged towards the front entrance just as her tall, dark haired date returned with news of the trios' fates. Draco stepped out the doors and blinked once in confusion as his mind reeled and tried to comprehend what he was seeing. The infamous trio was wrapped up in what looked like a stone bramble and tied down to the ground in the snow.
"Surely that she learned just for me," Draco stated grimly and moved towards the gardens—he certainly hoped he could find Ginny before she did something distasteful in her drunken state. (Distasteful being either trying to set the school aflame or attacking Pansy Parkinson…not that the latter would have been particularly bad…just distasteful.
Author's Notes: Well one more chapter after this! (Maybe two…depending on how well the next chapter writes.) Oh my heart weeps with both sadness and joy that this story is almost over. Quite vexing…. Well the next chapter stars SlightlySentimental!Draco and MeanDrunk!Ginny so stay tuned.
"Aside from the great and many thanks I owe my reviewers I'll take this time to answer questions!" Isis cleared her throat and muttered a quiet 'thank you' to Oliver Wood (one of the few left out of the story, regrettably) as he handed her a sheet of questions. "First off, Who sang Sympathy for the Devil?"
"I'll field this one." Ron leaned forward and pulled out a journal marked 'Arthur Weasley's Musical Manifesto.' He dropped the large book on the table and scanned through it. "I believe that was the…Tumbling Rocks?"
"That would be The Rolling Stones, Ron." Hermione corrected politely and Ron nodded before closing the book.
"Next, oh a compilation!" Isis squinted as she glanced over the long block of text.
"Well?" Ginny urged her forward and leaned back in her chair.
"Right, um, I love your sense of humor. The sarcasm is great. Everyone is in character." Isis summarized the statements of several of the reviewers. "Those aren't questions, but thanks anyway!"
"In character, are you lot daft?" Draco sneered and eyed Ginny Weasley distastefully. "Bloody muggles…."
"At least you weren't paired with me this time…" Hermione said sounding mildly scandalized. "Those stories disturb me to no end…."
"Well, come now! To the next question!" Isis interrupted for the sake of the D/Hr fans. "Will you be returning to the world of HP fanfiction after this story?"
"One can only hope," Terence Higgs commented rather nastily.
"Thank you." Isis grinned, oblivious.
"I think he meant one can only hope not." Oliver leaned forward and Isis blinked.
"Well!" Isis snorted indignantly and then read the next question. "And lastly, for now, is Tracey Davis and original character?"
"Of course she is, J.K.R. is too busy following Saint Potter around to delve into detail about my inner circle." Draco sneered and jumped slightly as Tracey slinked up beside him and sat down in her assigned seat around the table.
"Yes, in short I own Tracey Davis, and was planning on using her in another fic…but I'm undecided." Isis admitted and scooted her chair over a few feet to try and escape Tracey's gaze.
"You may own me but it owns you," she stated coolly with a smirk and Ginny cocked an eyebrow at her.
"We know, the forces of darkness will own your soul…something…something…end of the world." Hermione repeated the mantra they'd all heard outside before the meeting and Ginny shook her head.
"Thank Merlin you're not Cannonical." Ginny backed away from Tracey as well and everyone silently agreed as the Omake ended.
Note: The spell Ginny used translates thusly.
"Dragon Capture [them]!"
"Bind!"