Title: The New Ginny Weasley
Author: Jaylana88
Pairing: Ginny/Draco, mostly. Will be some Ron/Lavender, and Harry/Hermione sprinkled in.
Rating: R, for language and some explicit content that would probably traumatize young ones
A/N: The usual author's noteà I do not intend to copy, infringe upon, or abuse the characters I have borrowed from J.K. Rowling, but if someone thinks I am, try not to sue. I have no money.
The New Ginny Weasley
Chapter 4: Train Rides and Smirking
Stepping through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters after Ron, Harry and Hermione did, Ginny glanced over the students milling about, waiting to get onto the train. She heard another person come through the barrier, and moved to get out of the way, except when she tried to move, a firm hand on her shoulder prevented her from doing so. Turning, she raised startled eyes to meet with Percy Weasley's warm gaze. "Perce, you came! I thought you had to work today!" Ginny exclaimed, then embraced her brother tightly.
"I wouldn't miss seeing my favorite sister off for another year at Hogwarts. Besides, something told me that you would be having an exciting year, and that I had better wish you well when I had the chance," said Percy, returning the hug, before stepping back and smiling down into Ginny's face.
"Perce, I'm your only sister…"
All of a sudden, the train whistle blew, and the doors opened for boarding.
"Oh, I've got to go! I'll miss you, Perce! Write me!" said Ginny, and gave Percy a quick peck on the cheek.
While Ginny's ear was close, however, Percy decided to take advantage and whispered quickly, "Don't get into too much trouble with Draco, sweetie. Dad told me all about Diagon Alley, but Merlin knows what Mum would say…." Then as quickly as his words had come, he had stepped back from her and was walking away, a wicked, rare smile on his composed face. Shocked, Ginny quickly reviewed what had just happened. 'Getting into trouble with Draco? Diagon Alley!? My father!? And PERCE!? Why that wicked, no good, bloody…and to imply that…!' she seethed, but was interrupted when an amused voice said, "Wow Gin, it's the first day back and you're already brassed off! Come on, we need to get a compartment, else we'll be split up again like last year."
"Colin! I missed you!" screeched Ginny, when she had finally recognized the tall, brown-haired boy standing in front of her, waiting somewhat impatiently.
"Yes yes, I'm changed. New man, and all that rubbish. Now come on! Let's get going!" And with that, he pulled her towards the train, trunk and all, and shoved her into the nearest empty compartment. Storing away their trunks up top with ease, he turned towards Ginny to properly greet her this time, only to have her squeeze the life out of his waist in what would pass as a very affectionate hug.
"Oh my GOSH, I can't believe it! Look at you, Colin! You're, well, gorgeous! What have you been DOING!?" she squealed, then squeezed him tightly once more before stepping back a foot to examine the rest of him.
Colin and her had been friends since second year. After her 1st year, let's-kill-the-students-while-under-a-trance episode with Tom Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets, it was understandable that some people would shy away from her, so it was difficult for Ginny to make close friends. People were always nervous around her. But Colin, when he realized that Ginny looked lonely far too much, took it upon himself to befriend her, and they had quickly become inseparable. There had even been a bit of a romantic interest at the beginning of their 4th year, except for the three facts that, one, Ginny would not allow it, as it would ruin their friendship, two, Colin, by that time, had done nearly every eligible girl in Gryffindor and boasted several other scattered conquests among the various other three houses, and three, Colin, after snogging almost every girl mentionable in polite conversation, had realized that he was completely, irrevocably gay. Since his self-discovery, the only person he had seen fit to confide in had been Ginny. That trust had grown over the years, and had now come to the point where Colin knew almost everything about her, and that she knew almost everything about Colin.
This was exactly why his appearance shocked her, however, because though she had known that he had gone to California to visit his grandparents for the summer and had been working out all this time, she was entirely unprepared for the new, in an entirely platonic perspective, sexy, attractive, tanned Colin Creevey. He had shot up to 5"9' from his original 5"5', but had grown wider as well, broader in the shoulders and back now than before, with toned muscles all over, and had also grown out his hair so that stray wisps were beginning to fall into his eyes, giving him a rakish, fresh look.
"Stop looking at me like you want to eat me, Gin, and maybe you should take a look at yourself before you say anything more about how much I've changed. I suspect Kaylara, Lorelia and Alexandria are all partly to blame for your new wardrobe?" he said teasingly, before glancing down at her choice of clothes appraisingly. "You really do look smashing, Gin. Years older, I'd say." And it was true. The black clunky two inch heels she wore along with the dark blue, slightly loose low riding jeans and low-cut white V-neck shirt revealed her slim but curvaceous figure as well as the golden tan skin she had developed over the summer.
"Thanks, Colin. You always did know how to make a girl feel special." Ginny said cheekily, reaching up to ruffle his hair a bit, before she was interrupted by the door to her compartment sliding open which caused both Colin and Ginny to turn towards the three people, two of which towered in the doorway and one of which could barely be seen behind the others, who had decided to ruin their friendly bonding moment.
"Well, well…" said the deep voice of Blaise Zabini, with a hint of cold amusement, "What have we here?" His blue-eyed gaze, with one brow raised, raked over the both of them, then settled on Colin, flicked down once and then all the way up back to the younger boy's angry eyes.
"Excuse us for interrupting," drawled Draco Malfoy, in a scathing tone, "but what are you two doing in our compartment?"
'That flirt!' fumed Draco. 'What's she doing in here with Creevey!? She's too good for him! She belongs to me!...wait. WHAT did I just say!?'
"Well Draco, Colin and I were just having quiet an enjoyable snog session," Ginny said, rolling her eyes sarcastically, noticing that Draco's eyes flashed at the mention of Colin, "when you decided to interrupt us. And since WHEN is this YOUR compartment?"
Draco said nothing, still too caught up in his…anger?..'Definitely NOT Jealousy', he thought, to say anything.
"Draco, you're such a goon! Snap out of it!" said Pansy, stepping out from behind the smirking Zabini, smacking Draco upside his head, which resulted in a sharp, "Ow!" from Draco, and a deep-throated, mocking laugh from Blaise.
"And you!" said Pansy, turning to Blaise, poking him in the ribcage, which succeeded in wiping the smirk off his face.
"Pansy, chill babe, we were just…playing with them," said Blaise calmly, still looking at Colin with intensity. 'And…something else? Desire? Oh Merlin! Blaise wants COLIN!' Ginny thought while watching the two curiously, before turning back to look at Draco, who had been boring the most stunning grey eyes into her for the past minute now. 'Oh those eyes are going to give me a heart attack…' she thought dazedly. 'Wait- this IS Malfoy we're talking about. Shut it, Ginny!'
Blaise looked down sharply at the raven-haired girl who had by then arched her brow at him as if to say, "Oh, is that so?", and said, "Really," before flicking his eyes back up once more to meet Colin's challenging brown eyes, which widened imperceptibly.
"Helloooo….oye! Fine! I'm sitting! It's no use trying to break you all up, when you're practically undressing each other with your bloody eyeballs!" said Pansy, exasperatingly, and dropped herself down onto a seat, stretching her legs out mutinously.
"WHAT was that, Pansy?" said Draco, tearing himself away from the attractive, wide-eyed redhead in front of him, turning to sneer at one of his best friends.
Pansy smirked, "You heard me, sweetie. Sit down, all of you. The train ride's just started. You can snog all you want once we get to Hogwarts."
"I wouldn't snog the Weasel here if she were the last person on Earth!" said Draco abruptly.
"Last person? You mean you're open to men as well, Draco?" Ginny shot back scathingly, enunciating his first name sarcastically, then striding across the compartment to sit down in front of Pansy. Draco opened his mouth to argue, but Pansy cut him off quickly:
"Did I even mention snogging? All I said was the undressing bit," she shot towards Draco. "And would you please ease off on the hostilities for just a second? Everyone sit down, and perhaps we can get a civilized conversation started. As there are no other compartments open, this is the only place to be, Gryffs," said Pansy, glaring at everyone.
After Draco, Blaise and Colin had been seated, she turned to Ginny, who had been glaring daggers in Draco's direction not-so-discreetly, and asked, politely, albeit somewhat strained, "So Virginia, how was your summer? You clean up quite well, you know."
Ginny paused, and glanced over at Pansy strangely. 'In a creepy, bitchy, sarcastic way….I think she just complimented me.'
"Well…I went to Sweden for a month," Ginny said, hesitantly, before continuing, "actually, some of the girls I met there are transferring to Hogwarts for a year. They'll be here tomorrow. I can introduce you to them, if you'd like," she offered.
"That would be…alright, I think. Are they going to be sorted?" asked Pansy, warming to the discussion while ignoring the stares she was getting from the boys in the compartment. 'What an odd way for a Slytherin to act…' thought Colin. 'What's going on here?'
"I believe so. First thing tomorrow, I believe," guessed Ginny.
"What house do you think they'll be in?"
"I've no clue, actually. Their personalities are so insane, it's hard to categorize them…"
"Well, if we're stuck in this compartment until we get to Hogwarts, we might as well make the best of it," said Draco in a somewhat reluctant voice.
"I suppose…" said Colin quietly.
"So how was your summer then, Gryff?" asked Blaise sarcastically.
"You know, I always thought that civilized conversation required the use of names, but perhaps I was mistaken. Or perhaps you are, Blaise. My name is Colin. I suggest you address me as such," replied Colin lightly, but with an angry flash in his eyes.
"Zabini," said Draco, smirking, "I hate to tell you this, but Creevey just told you off better than I've heard anyone in Slytherin." Turning to Colin, he added, "You'd have done well in our house, I think. I guess Gryffindors aren't all sugary sweet and straight-up polite." Draco leaned back in his seat and stretched lazily, and, to all appearances, fell asleep.
But he wasn't asleep. With half-closed eyes, Draco observed Creevey and his friend, who, after a few half-hearted stabs at conversation, questioned Colin about his photography and drawings, which he had heard rumors about. From there on, the conversation flowed smoothly, until Draco began to notice the subtle innuendos being placed into the dialogue:
"I never said I participated in such studies. I only stated that I have merely heard of them. Have you done many?"
"Only a few, but not many people are interested in posing nude in front of an amateur…"
"Well perhaps you will find some subjects this year at Hogwarts. People who are comfortable with their sexuality, and their bodies-" a scoff, "moi, for instance."
Draco shifted, 'Good with the subtlety, Zabini. Creevey'll react well to that…,' he thought.
"You?! I mean, you? Well, perhaps. It would make for an interesting study, certainly…" 'What?!' a startled Draco thought, 'Interesting study? Hmm…and I thought this was a one-sided attraction, what with Blaise being gay and all that. But if Colin's gay as well…' Draco trailed off as he felt someone, a particular someone right across from him, turn their eyes towards him. Opening his eyes completely, he blinked once before turning to meet Ginny Weasley's gaze, who, instead of turning away modestly and blushing like most of the other girls he'd encountered, merely raised one eyebrow questioningly and smiled slightly, before turning back gracefully to Pansy who was in the middle of a detailed account of her summer.
'Merlin she's hot…' thought Draco, before he could catch himself. 'Stop it, Draco! She's a Weasley!' a voice, sounding very much like his father, threatened. 'Well she isn't like any Weasley I've ever met. Ron Weasley is dumb as a doornail. How could they possibly be related?'
"Who's related?" A curious voice broke into his thoughts abruptly.
"What?" said Draco dimly, 'Did I say that out loud?'
"Well you said, How could they possibly be related?, and I wanted to know who "they" were…" Ginny said, invitingly.
"You and your brother," Draco injected, regaining his capacity for speech quickly and leaning towards her, "I mean, how could you two be related? I mean, I see the obvious similarities…." He trailed off, glancing at her
"The hair, for one…" Draco said, tugging lightly at a stray lock that had escaped from behind her ear. "Though that's certainly different than before, so it's really not a similarity at all…"
"Is that all? Just the hair?" questioned Ginny, eyes locked with Draco's.
"There's that annoying part where you're in the same house…" he drawled, "but other than that," he paused, leaning in a little closer, towards her ear, "everything else is entirely different." Drawing back slightly, he gazed at her, and examined her smooth face, "Even the eyes…" Ginny only nodded, her eyelids flickering delicately as she breathed in quickly, in order to regain her bearings. But this only further reduced her to a puddle of hormonal girl, as her senses were overcome by his proximity to her. His scent was intoxicating, wrapping around her and shooting through her veins, his eyes making currents flow across her skin.
'Oh she looks good enough to kiss, with her mouth open just like that…' Draco thought in a daze. Her nearness was wreaking havoc on his body; heat rushed to his head and various parts of his lower body responded to the unadulterated sex appeal that was Ginny Weasley.
"Ahem. Hey guys? Sex on the train is prohibited, you know," said an amused female voice. Immeditely, Ginny jerked and pulled away. Disappointed, Draco blinked to quell the scintillating thoughts in his head and leaned back once more. 'Get yourself under control, Draco,' he thought, 'You're acting like a hormonal 5th year!'
"We'd better get our robes on," Blaise said suddenly, looking out the window, "we're about five minutes away."
"Boys. Out," Ordered Pansy.
"Can't we stay?" said Draco, smirking mischeviously. "We'll be good, promise. We'll, I'll be good, at any rate. Can't say the same for these two…" The boys trudged, grumbling, and shut the door.
After the girls had changed quickly into their robes, it was boys' turn. As Colin and Blaise, along with Draco, turned to change, Ginny turned towards the door, but when Pansy made no move to leave, Ginny sat down next to her, deliberately avoiding Draco's eyes. Smirking at the redhead's obvious discomfiture, Draco pulled his black sweater over his head and dropped it on the seat, leaving him in a plain white shirt that showed off the toned muscles of his arms and directly contrasted with the slightly tanned skin that showed. The movement caused Ginny to look up, and what she saw made her mouth drop open slightly. Reaching up to the top rack of the compartment to grab his robes and a white button-down shirt, along with his tie, Draco's thin shirt rode up, revealing a taut lower stomach that made Ginny's eyes widen. Seemingly oblivious to her gaze, though inwardly he was acutely aware of her keen observation, he carelessly tossed his robes onto the sweater he had taken off moments ago and pulled his shirt over his head in one fluid motion. Turning towards his robes, he allowed Ginny a full look at the smooth expanse of muscle and skin across his back. Her gaze traveled hungrily down his spine to where a line of his grey silk boxers peeked up out of his black slacks. As Draco reached down to grab his white dress shirt lying on top of his robes, Ginny watched unblinkingly as the firm muscles stretching across between his shoulders moved underneath his skin. She continued to watch him as Draco shrugged on his shirt and buttoned it up, slung the tie around his neck and tied it quickly, pulled his sweater over his head, and then donned his robes. A sharp sense of loss flooded her as Draco clothed himself once more. Finally able to look away, she looked out the window to see the looming turrets and gleaming stone of Hogwarts, and felt the train slow down. As Colin and Blaise finished changing, Draco came and sat next to her, stretching lazily like a cat. Avoiding his gaze studiously, she didn't notice that he had leaned down towards her ear until she felt his breath on her cheek.
"Like that, did you?" he said in a low purr only heard by her as the train slowed to a stop and let out a hiss of steam. A flush spread across her cheeks, and she gasped quietly, before willing herself to relax.
"Yes, I liked that quite a bit…" she muttered sideways to him, watching as Pansy, Colin and Blaise talked idly, pulling down the trunks from the rack at the top of the compartment. "Though next time," she whispered, "we should do something about the pants, and then leave the rest off instead of putting it back on." Draco's eyes widened, and he pulled back from her slowly. Standing up, Ginny stretched, affording Draco with a nice outline of her generously curved body, and he had to stifle a groan. Smiling audaciously, she grabbed the trunk that Colin had gotten down for her, and proceeded out the door with a flourish.
"Drake! Let's go!" With a start, Draco got up and grabbed his trunk as well, following Blaise out.
AN: Thanks to everyone for all the reviews so far. The feedback has been wonderfully insightful and has given me a better grasp of my writing. However, I do want to respond to some reviewers, though this will be a kind of general response, and not directed to any particular person.
1. This will NOT, I repeat NOT, be a lovey-dovey, let's-raffle-off-each-girl-to-their-prospectively-compatible-partners-so-that-we-have-a-nice, neat-happy-ending, story. There will be various pairings that are obvious (since I have included the title of "Pairing" in each chapter since I first started this story), but other than that, it's a toss up as to who ends up with who, and who gets it on with who. Mind you, those two are mutually exclusive; characters in this story that hook up will not necessarily end up together.
2. Someone said something about Draco/Hermione. What does that MEAN!?! This is a hardcore D/G fic- it will not lean towards anything even remotely resembling a D/H shipper at all. With the exception of some brief reconciliations and instances of compromise and grudging truce, there will be no interaction between those two unless absolutely necessary to the plot. So…yeah. I apologize to the person who wrote that into their review, but I am horrified even by thoughts of that potential relationship; if you simply meant interaction between Draco and Hermione however, and nothing implied besides possible friendship, then I take back everything I have just said and never you mind.
3. I don't like The Dream Team. Ron, Harry and Hermione can be useless, nosy little freaks and I am not feelin' that at all. Though there are options for future redemption for these three, especially for Harry, Hermione comes across to me as an obnoxious brat. (Sorry to all those Hermione fans out there!) I'll keep the Hermione-bashing to a minimum, however, and will keep her in character as much as possible. Which means that she'll be normal, and not some psychotic, irate, raving little know-it-all.
4. Harry, despite what some people may think, will NOT be in love with Ginny in this story. Since I wrote, "Pairing: Ginny/Draco, mostly. Will be some Ron/Lavender, and Harry/Hermione sprinkled in," I should think that would be obvious. Harry and Hermione will get all wrapped up in each other in a bit, promise.
And I'm done with that. Sorry if any of it seemed a little bit angry. I was just getting frustrated with people misinterpreting some things. (Like the goddamn pairings, for instance…). Please no one take this personally. Every review I've read so far has been helpful to me. I was just clearing some things up. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, again, and let me know what you think! I'll get the next chapter posted soon!
-Jaylana