A/N: Yes, I know, all I can say is I'm sorry. I neglected this site for a
very long period of time, and if I get no reviews of this chapter I know I
deserved it. But what with the release of Order of the Phoenix, I seem to
have had a burst of inspiration, even though I am very tired of this story.
By the way, I am going to continue with this story as if Order of the
Phoenix doesn't exist, and begin writing in the new canon facts with my
next fic. Love ya guys!
~*~
It had been a very long train ride. Blaise had been crying for only a short while, pulling herself together after a few minutes. She seemed in no mood to discuss what had caused her sudden breakdown, so her friends, although eager to know what was going on, didn't press her.
For this, she was grateful. Draco was merely reading a book, with Ginny's head propped up on his chest, sound asleep. None of the students knew where they were going yet, so they had no idea how much longer the train ride would be, though Dumbledore said it would be about four hours.
Nevertheless, Blaise figured she had much time to think. She changed her mind though, pulled out her laptop, and opened her word processing program, otherwise known as her diary.
Besides the gentle snoring of Ginny and the soft page turn from Draco every once in awhile, the only other sound in their compartment was the clicking of computer keys now. Blaise found it oddly blissful.
(1st day of our fieldtrip)~ "Dear Diary... I feel really strange. I let something happen to me, something that has never happened before. Though many would assure me that this is definitely a good thing, I think I would have to disagree. What happened was, I broke down. I let my defenses down, and it hit me when I didn't see it coming. Yes, everything you are thinking it right, I cried. I CRIED. I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed. So here is what happened. I was walking along feeling sorry for myself as usual...when I ran into Harry Potter. Literally, ran into him. And even though he doesn't know me, and even though I was rude, he was concerned about me and even asked if there was something he could do. And even though it pissed me off so badly that I wanted to rip his stupid famous head off, I was touched. And that happy feeling twisted as soon as it hit me into jealousy and hatred and every other stupid emotion I ever have welled up inside me, that I did the only thing I could think of. I yelled at him, told him what has been on my mind, said the things I've always wanted to say to him since I met the ruddy boy. I should feel wonderful now, right? Wrong. Truth be told, I honestly think he actually IS the hero everyone says he is. Maybe a bit naïve or whatnot, but he is a kind-hearted boy who is concerned for the welfare of others. Having realized this, I am brought to another point. This point is one that makes me very ashamed of myself indeed. I am now finding that I cant look at, talk to, or think about Harry Potter without getting a weird feeling in my stomach. Someone please just curse me now and get it over with, painless and easy."
Another tear slid down her cheek, a tear of frustration. She snapped the laptop shut a little harder than necessary, reminding herself to not take her anger out of her electronics anymore. Out of the corner f her eye, she saw Ginny, looking at her with concern and worry, having now woken up from her nap.
"I'm fine." Blaise assured her, before she could even say a word. Ginny's next words were cut off, however, as the train came to an unusually abrupt halt and a whistle blew. Blaise thanked whatever god was on her side for this luck, grabbed her trunk, and hurried off the train before Ginny could even say a word.
After their friend scampered out in her strange manner, Draco turned to Ginny. "What was that all about?" he asked, confusion dancing on his features.
Ginny's face was scrunched up in thought. "I have no idea."
It was at that moment that Draco remembered the necklace, waiting patiently in his pocket. Closing his fingers around it, he looked to Ginny who was reaching up to grab her trunk from the luggage rack.
"Ginny," he said, and she turned to look at him.
"Yes?"
"I have something for you." He gave her a quick hug, fastening the necklace behind her neck as he did it. She gave him a confused glance, and then looked down to her chest. Sitting on top of her sweater was the charm, the fire and the snowflake, attached to a silver chain.
She gasped slightly, reaching up to feel the cool metal. "It's...perfect." She breathed.
Draco smiled, and she placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "I've been waiting this whole train ride for the perfect moment to give it to you, Gin, but then I just realized that every moment with you is perfect. I'm glad you like it. Online ordering..." he grinned sheepishly.
Ginny laughed, glad to be smiling and happy again.
The couple collected their things, and exited the train, one at a time in case anyone was looking. The sun was unusually bright, and the ground was covered in sand. Upon looking around, Ginny realized there was sand everywhere, as far as she could see. There was one little shop, beside the ancient looking train station, amidst the vast nothingness, which looked as though it didn't receive many customers. It had a wooden sign hanging in front of it, which said in fading black letters, "Woody's Wizard Pit Stop".
Dumbledore was ushering the rest of the students off the train. When the very last person stepped off, the train pulled away, trailing its gray smoke behind it.
Dumbledore gathered everyone into a big group, and began speaking. "Welcome, students, to the desert." He made a motion with his hands, as if showing everyone the miles and miles of sand surrounding them. The sun was sweltering down on all of them, instantly making Ginny wish she had worn cooler clothes. Her sweater felt very constricting all of a sudden.
"We are currently in Dusty Dwelling, a very small wizarding community in the heart of the desert. Where we are staying is a bit far from here, it's a three-hour bus ride. However, we figured we'd let you stop, stretch, and maybe buy yourself something useful at the store. Like candy." He winked.
The students laughed, and ran into the shop, leaving their trunks forgotten outside. The inside was surprisingly clean and new looking, a complete opposite of its outside appearance. Ginny looked around, deciding what she wanted to buy.
Draco was off by himself, looking at enchanted pocketknives that could cut through any material. The shop had a bit of everything in it, from candies and other snacks, to weapons, and other funnier objects, such as dungbombs and exploding quills. He saw Ginny looking at some fancy metallic looking stationary and notebooks longingly, but then self-consciously fingering her money bag, which was distinctly lighter than most. His heart broke to see her like that, and wanted nothing more than to shower her with presents.
But then he knew that if he bought her so many things, she might get embarrassed that she couldn't buy him anything, and he didn't want to put her in that position. Not that he wanted gifts from her, that wasn't the case at all. Things were so complicated now. He thought back to the days when all he worried about was teasing a new victim. Not surprisingly, he didn't much miss those days.
Ginny reached up and fingered the necklace again, unaware that she was doing it. The sight made Draco smile.
"Hurry up and make your purchased, students, the bus has arrived out front." Professor McGonagall warned.
Draco picked an emerald green pocketknife and, when he had seen that Ginny had exited out the front door, also picked up a pale violet pack of stationary. He just couldn't help himself. He saw on the front that it sang whatever you wrote on it to the person receiving the letter, and chuckled. He hoped she would like it.
The line wasn't very long by the time he had chosen everything he wanted to buy, having picked up a few different types of candy as well. He paid for everything and walked outside to joint he rest of the group.
Parked outside the little shop wasn't an ordinary bus, like most of the students had been expecting. Instead, students were already boarding the knight bus, and Draco groaned. He'd ridden this thing before, and it wasn't a very pleasant way to travel.
"Please, don't sit down yet students, as we told you before, this is the first time we will assign you seating. The bus has been set up with a couch and a table for each group of two, therefore we will be assigning you partners for the bus ride." Dumbledore saw a few people frown. "Don't worry, it's only three hours out of your life. Besides, this is one of the easier partner activities." He winked, and pulled out another roll of parchment.
"Hermione Granger and Parvati Patil, up front here." He pointed to a couch in the very front of the bus. They gathered up their stuff and settled down on their couch, Hermione promptly pulling out a book and Parvati looking disappointed, clearly wanting to gossip.
"Next we'll have Ginny Weasley and Anthony Goldstein in the left corner over there." Ginny's smile immediately turned to a frown, and Blaise even looked at her finally, long enough to give her a sympathetic smile. Ginny thought, however, it was probably better that she ended up with Anthony rather than Blaise, for obvious reasons.
"Seamus Finnigan, we'll put you in the opposite corner with Draco Malfoy." Neither boy looked too happy about this arrangement, but moved without complaint.
"In the last corner, I have Padma Patil and Pansy Parkinson." Padma's nose turned up in disgust and Pansy sighed loudly. Parvati shot her sister a look, clearly one that said "haha".
Dumbledore flipped to the next piece of parchment after this, shuffling around until he found the rest of the list. "Ok, now the remaining students are seated upstairs, where it's a little larger, but I will go ahead and read the names while everyone is still down here."
Blaise looked to Ginny again. She seemed to have gotten over what had been bothering her earlier, but gave Ginny a grimace that she had to be on a separate floor. She snapped her attention back to Dumbledore, however, when she heard her name.
"Blaise Zabini, you will be on the first couch upstairs with Harry Potter."
Ginny swore she saw Blaise pale at this news. Her eyes widened a tiny bit, until she realized Ginny was watching and she pulled herself together again.
Blaise could not believe she got paired off with Potter right off the bat, it was just her luck. She didn't know how she was going to survive this ride, whether or not he tried to talk to her. She had no idea why she felt so mixed up about him all of a sudden; all she knew was that she needed to avoid him. And now she couldn't.
Dumbledore read off the rest of the names on the list, and soon the bus was jolting and jumping away from Woody's, and off to wherever they were going. Ginny settled in for a long tedious ride with Anthony, while across the row, Draco was concentrating on ignoring Seamus.
Though neither of these situations was nearly as bad as the one Blaise was facing on the floor above, as she set her trunk beside the couch and took her seat next to Harry. He gave her a smile and she muttered under her breath. Why couldn't he just be arrogant, or mean or annoying or something? That would make this a whole lot easier.
~*~
A/N: I hope I haven't lost all of my fans, I know I left this story idle for a while. But I am back now, and have every intention of completing it, since it is summertime now and all.
Thanks to everyone who kept faithfully reviewing me while I was ignoring ff.n, the reviews were like little pangs of guilt begging me to update. Hehe. Anyway, I hope you are all happy with this chapter.
By the way, I started a Draco and Ginny Yahoo Group, and I desperately need members! Please join to get it off the ground, there is a link to it on my ff.n profile. ^__^
~*~
It had been a very long train ride. Blaise had been crying for only a short while, pulling herself together after a few minutes. She seemed in no mood to discuss what had caused her sudden breakdown, so her friends, although eager to know what was going on, didn't press her.
For this, she was grateful. Draco was merely reading a book, with Ginny's head propped up on his chest, sound asleep. None of the students knew where they were going yet, so they had no idea how much longer the train ride would be, though Dumbledore said it would be about four hours.
Nevertheless, Blaise figured she had much time to think. She changed her mind though, pulled out her laptop, and opened her word processing program, otherwise known as her diary.
Besides the gentle snoring of Ginny and the soft page turn from Draco every once in awhile, the only other sound in their compartment was the clicking of computer keys now. Blaise found it oddly blissful.
(1st day of our fieldtrip)~ "Dear Diary... I feel really strange. I let something happen to me, something that has never happened before. Though many would assure me that this is definitely a good thing, I think I would have to disagree. What happened was, I broke down. I let my defenses down, and it hit me when I didn't see it coming. Yes, everything you are thinking it right, I cried. I CRIED. I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed. So here is what happened. I was walking along feeling sorry for myself as usual...when I ran into Harry Potter. Literally, ran into him. And even though he doesn't know me, and even though I was rude, he was concerned about me and even asked if there was something he could do. And even though it pissed me off so badly that I wanted to rip his stupid famous head off, I was touched. And that happy feeling twisted as soon as it hit me into jealousy and hatred and every other stupid emotion I ever have welled up inside me, that I did the only thing I could think of. I yelled at him, told him what has been on my mind, said the things I've always wanted to say to him since I met the ruddy boy. I should feel wonderful now, right? Wrong. Truth be told, I honestly think he actually IS the hero everyone says he is. Maybe a bit naïve or whatnot, but he is a kind-hearted boy who is concerned for the welfare of others. Having realized this, I am brought to another point. This point is one that makes me very ashamed of myself indeed. I am now finding that I cant look at, talk to, or think about Harry Potter without getting a weird feeling in my stomach. Someone please just curse me now and get it over with, painless and easy."
Another tear slid down her cheek, a tear of frustration. She snapped the laptop shut a little harder than necessary, reminding herself to not take her anger out of her electronics anymore. Out of the corner f her eye, she saw Ginny, looking at her with concern and worry, having now woken up from her nap.
"I'm fine." Blaise assured her, before she could even say a word. Ginny's next words were cut off, however, as the train came to an unusually abrupt halt and a whistle blew. Blaise thanked whatever god was on her side for this luck, grabbed her trunk, and hurried off the train before Ginny could even say a word.
After their friend scampered out in her strange manner, Draco turned to Ginny. "What was that all about?" he asked, confusion dancing on his features.
Ginny's face was scrunched up in thought. "I have no idea."
It was at that moment that Draco remembered the necklace, waiting patiently in his pocket. Closing his fingers around it, he looked to Ginny who was reaching up to grab her trunk from the luggage rack.
"Ginny," he said, and she turned to look at him.
"Yes?"
"I have something for you." He gave her a quick hug, fastening the necklace behind her neck as he did it. She gave him a confused glance, and then looked down to her chest. Sitting on top of her sweater was the charm, the fire and the snowflake, attached to a silver chain.
She gasped slightly, reaching up to feel the cool metal. "It's...perfect." She breathed.
Draco smiled, and she placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "I've been waiting this whole train ride for the perfect moment to give it to you, Gin, but then I just realized that every moment with you is perfect. I'm glad you like it. Online ordering..." he grinned sheepishly.
Ginny laughed, glad to be smiling and happy again.
The couple collected their things, and exited the train, one at a time in case anyone was looking. The sun was unusually bright, and the ground was covered in sand. Upon looking around, Ginny realized there was sand everywhere, as far as she could see. There was one little shop, beside the ancient looking train station, amidst the vast nothingness, which looked as though it didn't receive many customers. It had a wooden sign hanging in front of it, which said in fading black letters, "Woody's Wizard Pit Stop".
Dumbledore was ushering the rest of the students off the train. When the very last person stepped off, the train pulled away, trailing its gray smoke behind it.
Dumbledore gathered everyone into a big group, and began speaking. "Welcome, students, to the desert." He made a motion with his hands, as if showing everyone the miles and miles of sand surrounding them. The sun was sweltering down on all of them, instantly making Ginny wish she had worn cooler clothes. Her sweater felt very constricting all of a sudden.
"We are currently in Dusty Dwelling, a very small wizarding community in the heart of the desert. Where we are staying is a bit far from here, it's a three-hour bus ride. However, we figured we'd let you stop, stretch, and maybe buy yourself something useful at the store. Like candy." He winked.
The students laughed, and ran into the shop, leaving their trunks forgotten outside. The inside was surprisingly clean and new looking, a complete opposite of its outside appearance. Ginny looked around, deciding what she wanted to buy.
Draco was off by himself, looking at enchanted pocketknives that could cut through any material. The shop had a bit of everything in it, from candies and other snacks, to weapons, and other funnier objects, such as dungbombs and exploding quills. He saw Ginny looking at some fancy metallic looking stationary and notebooks longingly, but then self-consciously fingering her money bag, which was distinctly lighter than most. His heart broke to see her like that, and wanted nothing more than to shower her with presents.
But then he knew that if he bought her so many things, she might get embarrassed that she couldn't buy him anything, and he didn't want to put her in that position. Not that he wanted gifts from her, that wasn't the case at all. Things were so complicated now. He thought back to the days when all he worried about was teasing a new victim. Not surprisingly, he didn't much miss those days.
Ginny reached up and fingered the necklace again, unaware that she was doing it. The sight made Draco smile.
"Hurry up and make your purchased, students, the bus has arrived out front." Professor McGonagall warned.
Draco picked an emerald green pocketknife and, when he had seen that Ginny had exited out the front door, also picked up a pale violet pack of stationary. He just couldn't help himself. He saw on the front that it sang whatever you wrote on it to the person receiving the letter, and chuckled. He hoped she would like it.
The line wasn't very long by the time he had chosen everything he wanted to buy, having picked up a few different types of candy as well. He paid for everything and walked outside to joint he rest of the group.
Parked outside the little shop wasn't an ordinary bus, like most of the students had been expecting. Instead, students were already boarding the knight bus, and Draco groaned. He'd ridden this thing before, and it wasn't a very pleasant way to travel.
"Please, don't sit down yet students, as we told you before, this is the first time we will assign you seating. The bus has been set up with a couch and a table for each group of two, therefore we will be assigning you partners for the bus ride." Dumbledore saw a few people frown. "Don't worry, it's only three hours out of your life. Besides, this is one of the easier partner activities." He winked, and pulled out another roll of parchment.
"Hermione Granger and Parvati Patil, up front here." He pointed to a couch in the very front of the bus. They gathered up their stuff and settled down on their couch, Hermione promptly pulling out a book and Parvati looking disappointed, clearly wanting to gossip.
"Next we'll have Ginny Weasley and Anthony Goldstein in the left corner over there." Ginny's smile immediately turned to a frown, and Blaise even looked at her finally, long enough to give her a sympathetic smile. Ginny thought, however, it was probably better that she ended up with Anthony rather than Blaise, for obvious reasons.
"Seamus Finnigan, we'll put you in the opposite corner with Draco Malfoy." Neither boy looked too happy about this arrangement, but moved without complaint.
"In the last corner, I have Padma Patil and Pansy Parkinson." Padma's nose turned up in disgust and Pansy sighed loudly. Parvati shot her sister a look, clearly one that said "haha".
Dumbledore flipped to the next piece of parchment after this, shuffling around until he found the rest of the list. "Ok, now the remaining students are seated upstairs, where it's a little larger, but I will go ahead and read the names while everyone is still down here."
Blaise looked to Ginny again. She seemed to have gotten over what had been bothering her earlier, but gave Ginny a grimace that she had to be on a separate floor. She snapped her attention back to Dumbledore, however, when she heard her name.
"Blaise Zabini, you will be on the first couch upstairs with Harry Potter."
Ginny swore she saw Blaise pale at this news. Her eyes widened a tiny bit, until she realized Ginny was watching and she pulled herself together again.
Blaise could not believe she got paired off with Potter right off the bat, it was just her luck. She didn't know how she was going to survive this ride, whether or not he tried to talk to her. She had no idea why she felt so mixed up about him all of a sudden; all she knew was that she needed to avoid him. And now she couldn't.
Dumbledore read off the rest of the names on the list, and soon the bus was jolting and jumping away from Woody's, and off to wherever they were going. Ginny settled in for a long tedious ride with Anthony, while across the row, Draco was concentrating on ignoring Seamus.
Though neither of these situations was nearly as bad as the one Blaise was facing on the floor above, as she set her trunk beside the couch and took her seat next to Harry. He gave her a smile and she muttered under her breath. Why couldn't he just be arrogant, or mean or annoying or something? That would make this a whole lot easier.
~*~
A/N: I hope I haven't lost all of my fans, I know I left this story idle for a while. But I am back now, and have every intention of completing it, since it is summertime now and all.
Thanks to everyone who kept faithfully reviewing me while I was ignoring ff.n, the reviews were like little pangs of guilt begging me to update. Hehe. Anyway, I hope you are all happy with this chapter.
By the way, I started a Draco and Ginny Yahoo Group, and I desperately need members! Please join to get it off the ground, there is a link to it on my ff.n profile. ^__^