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 7: Flirt With Me!
Ginny bit into her apple, watching her friends devour their breakfasts with amazing speed. 'It's a wonder how they manage to stay so skinny….' She thought, idly. 'Must be those damn metabolisms…'
"How the hell do those girls manage to eat….four trays of food in…twelve minutes flat!?" Blaise muttered, exasperated. Pansy, astonished, could only shake her head in response.
"Ginny," said Draco, tapping her on the arm. Looking at him questioningly, Draco nodded above her head, and she turned around.
"Gin, I just thought you should know," Colin paused, looking over his shoulder at the Gryffindor table he had left behind, "your brother went into conniptions when he saw you over here, and is going to come over and start up a riot once he's finished cleaning up the mess he made," he made a mildly disgusted face, before jerking his head back towards The Dream Team's usual seats in the middle of the Gryffindor table. Ginny glanced over, and saw Ron frantically swatting at Hermione's robes, trying in vain to brush sticky pumpkin juice off of them, but having no such luck. Ginny snorted as Hermione, exasperated, finally pushed him out of the way, muttering a cleaning spell for both her and Ron. Ron, without saying even a word of thank you, straightened immediately and turned on his heel, striding for the Slytherin table. Harry and Hermione watched him go curiously for a second, then realization dawned on their faces as they realized just where he was heading, and jumped up from their seats to follow him.
"And we're off!" muttered Colin, which caused Blaise to let out an undignified snort, which caused him to look slightly embarrassed at such an unseemly verbal tendency. Pansy, one brow raised, turned towards Blaise haughtily.
"Slytherins, my dear boy, do NOT, under any circumstances, SNORT into their breakfasts."
"You could snicker…" Draco volunteered helpfully, sensing Pansy's impending tirade.
"Blaise Zabini, you are a 7th year! You'd think that you'd have finally gotten it into that thick head of yours that Slytherins have a formidable reputation to maintain! Your SNORT, therefore is NOT helping things." Pansy scolded, whacking Blaise on the arm soundly.
By then, Kay, Lorey and Lex had finished their enormous breakfasts, and were watching the exchange with avid interest.
"Violence is unhealthy, you know," commented Lex.
"Yes, very bad for the mind," added Lorey.
"We wouldn't want this nice, attractive boy to be all retarded once you've smacked him into oblivion now, would we?" finished Kay firmly.
"But ladies, he did deserve it," answered Draco, "Ginny'll tell you all about it, I'm sure, but us Slyths have an image to retain. We're supposed to be slimy, nasty, but refined people. Which means no snorting. Sniggering, snickering, mocking, sneering, sarcasm, and even the occasional maniacal laughter is alright, but never snorting. How barbaric," he finished, nodding to confirm his statements and giving Blaise a dark look.
"Yes, I am perfectly aware that we have a certain…quality to maintain," said Blaise sarcastically, sniffing at Draco, "but it really wasn't my fault. It was his," he nodded towards Colin calmly, smirking when the younger Gryff backed away a step, waving his arms in front of him to ward off any blame.
"Don't you blame this on me, Blaise! If I recall correctly, you were the one to snort…." Said Colin quickly.
"Oh, for fuck's sake! It was just a snort, you goons!" said Lex, confused.
"Uhm…" Kay looked around at Ginny, who just shrugged.
"Fucken weirdos. Ya'll seriously need to chill with the sniggering, and the….whatever," Lorey gestured, trying to think of a good word, but found none and settled for that.
"Okay Lorey, we'll give it a rest," Draco said lightly. "But just remember that you are in Slytherin now, for a whole year. And-"
Kay cut him off quickly, "And what? Just cuz' we're all in Slytherfin, or whatever, doesn't mean we have to act exactly like you guys. We act just the way we please. And if you don' like it, just get outta here there. Biatch," she added absently.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. It's not like we all act the same or anything-"
"Yes you do," Ginny said abruptly. Draco turned to her slowly, and raised an eyebrow for her to continue. "Well, okay, not exactly. But you guys all do the eyebrow bit, and you all sneer, and-"
"Yah, what Ginny said," said Lex. "We've only been here at this table for like, two seconds, and I've already noticed alla' that," she stated, looking proud of herself at her observation.
"Noticed all of what?" An angry voice cut in. Ron, after being delayed by several pairs of legs and a discarded goblet that had somehow mysteriously ended up on the floor, ("I told Fiona and Becca to stall them," Colin leaned down to whisper wickedly into Ginny's ear) had finally made it to the Slytherin table and looked like he was about to burst.
"What do you care, Weasley?" said Draco nastily, sneering at Ron in the purest Slytherin fashion as Harry and Hermione caught up to him at last. He made to get up, but Ginny stopped him by grabbing his hand with her own. A tingle ran up his spine and he looked down at the tiny redhead at his side, surprised, but sat down again.
Once Draco had sat down again, Ginny smiled brightly at him and patted his hand twice. Raising an eyebrow, he gestured at her brother, indicating that she could give it a go.
"Alright Ron. Do you really want to know what we noticed?" Ginny said mischievously, narrowing her eyes at her brother darkly. "We've noticed Draco here looks irresistibly attractive and sexy whenever he goes and raises his eyebrow, just so," gesturing to Draco's current expression, which consisted of a slight smirk and a delicately raised eyebrow.
Horrified, Ron tried to interrupt his sister, sputtering, but Kay, warming to the discussion, waved him off and said, "Babe's right. He's hot shit when he does that." Grinning at Ginny, she winked, so her friend would know that yes, it was true, but she didn't really mean anything by it.
Ginny shrugged nonchalantly, trying to seem as if her friend's actions didn't affect her, but inwardly she sighed a great breath of relief. Kay was an incredibly gorgeous girl, and boys lusted after her all the time. Kay, being herself, normally didn't notice all that much, except for when she really liked the guy. Knowing this, Ginny had felt a little bit threatened, because if Kay had really taken to Draco, she wouldn't have had a chance. Kay was fiercely possessive when it came to the guys she was interested in, and most times if people got in her way, they wouldn't be there for long. Trusting her friend, however, Ginny relaxed, and then furrowed her brow when she realized that Kay had already figured out that there was something between her and Draco. 'Dammit,' Ginny thought, cursing herself for being so obvious. Kay was unnaturally shrewd when it came to guessing such things, but Lorey and Lex were never too far behind when it came to gossipy realizations, and so Ginny knew that if Kay had figured it out already, Lorey and Lex wouldn't be lacking too long. 'That is, if they haven't noticed already,' she thought darkly.
Draco, meanwhile, had been watching Ginny's expressive face, and had vaguely figured out what she had just been thinking about. 'So she got a bit uncomfortable?' he wondered, pleased. 'It's not like she has anything to worry about, anyway. Americans have always been bloody insufferable. These girls are funny, but nothing compared to my Gin. Wait. My Gin?' Draco thought abruptly.
Ron, recovering from the fact that a girl had just interrupted him, said angrily, "Gin, get back to our table. You're a bloody Gryffindor, not some slimy Slytherin."
"Ooooh!" exclaimed Lex. All eyes turned towards her, and she blushed slightly. "I get what the house rivalry, and the reputation thing, is all about now," she said brightly.
"Yes, Lex," Ginny said patronizingly, "This," she gestured, "is the 7th year house rivalry. May I introduce my brother, Ron?"
"Nice to meetcha. You, kid," Kay started, "need psychological help. All that anger can't be good for you. You gotta chill."
"Yaah. I mean really babe, anger management much?" Lorey asked sarcastically, before snickering with Kay.
"Yes," Lex finished, "too much anger is supposed to lower your sperm count, so you better watch out, cat. And don't patronize me Gin!" Lex turned towards her friend sharply, who stuck her tongue out mutinously. "At least what I said wasn't as terrifically dumb as your comment about those plungers and-"
"Ok ok, sorry!" Ginny said quickly, rushing to cut Lex off. "Yeesh…"
"What plungers?" asked Draco.
"You don't want to know," muttered Ginny under her breath.
"Wait a sec," Kay said. "I thought smoking weed lowered your sperm count!"
"It does," said Blaise. All eyes turned to him, and he put up his hands, saying, "What? I read it in a mag somewhere."
"Shut UP! All of you!" roared Ron as he was fed up with the meandering conversation and the fact that no one seemed to be paying attention to him anymore, which caused eight sets of eyes to narrow dangerously at him. "Ginny Weasley, stop acting like such a goddamn slut and get back to where you belong. NOW! I don't understand why…." Ron continued his tirade, ranting loudly, which caused the Great Hall to quiet down ominously. He was so angry, however, that he didn't notice this. Nor did he notice the fact that Draco, Blaise and Colin, had all begun to advance on him, that Kay, Lorey and Lex had all stood up and were now looking at him with pure hatred, or that Pansy had begun to crack her knuckles with a savage grin on her face. What he did notice, along with everyone else, however, was that Ginny had finally stood up to face him, and her eyes had begun to flash silver, and the tips of her fingers were faintly glowing a deep red.
Teeth clenched, Ginny advanced on Ron, causing him to back up, nervously clearing his throat. Behind Ron, Harry whispered urgently to Hermione.
"What's wrong with her eyes?" he asked, a sense of foreboding making his muscles tighten.
The remainder of Ron's anger dissipated as he finally took in the entire situation. Draco had stepped up next to Ginny, and Colin, Blaise and Pansy were now standing behind Kay, Lorey and Lex, who were standing protectively around Ginny, all of them looking murderously at the Hogwarts Dream Team.
"How. Dare. You." Ginny said in a low voice. Moving by some strange, unknown force, she brought up her hand and cupped her fingers together. Still looking at Ron with a sickened look on her face, her hand began to glow bright red, then suddenly a floating ball of fire appeared in her outstretched hand, bouncing mockingly. Giving it a light toss, she let it rest on two of her fingers, and then, as everyone looked on shocked, she hurled it straight at Ron's chest. Horrified, he tried to bring up his arms to block the flame from hitting him, but the ball of fire went right through his arms, and amazingly, sunk right into his chest. 'It was cold,' he thought wonderingly. 'Fire isn't supposed to be cold…'
A collective gasp went through the Great Hall, and many of the teachers looked on with bewilderment, and even a bit of fear. Snape and Dumbledore were the only ones with differing expressions, the snarky Professor with a darkly amused expression and Dumbledore with a solemn, grave look on his face.
"Oh Merlin! Ron, are you okay!?!" Hermione was the first to snap out of her shock, rushing in front of Ron to inspect his chest.
"Whoa…." Harry muttered, bringing his hand up to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. This movement caused Ginny to jerk out of the trance she seemed to have been in, and she staggered sideways a step, which caused Draco to reach out to support her. Leaning against him, Ginny placed her hand on his chest to steady herself, and blinked rapidly, trying to collect her thoughts.
'I just…threw a ball of fire…at my brother,' she thought. 'I think this is the part where I'm supposed to be surprised…but I'm just not.'
Ron, just then, opened his mouth to answer Hermione, who was poking his chest and muttering to herself. But as soon as he did, a stream of flaming red fire emerged from his mouth, and no sound came out. Hermione, shrieking, brought her hands above her head in a last effort to save herself from harm, but it wasn't necessary. As the "flames" hit her, all she felt was a cool breeze on her, tickling the top of her head and arms. Horrified, Ron tried again, with the same results. Giggling helplessly because Ron's "fire breath" was beginning to tickle, Hermione shrieked "Stop! Stop it Ron!"
Angrily, Ron shut his mouth, and turned to Harry to try to speak to him, but the cool flames only engulfed Harry, who gave a shout when he was bombarded with cool wind as well.
"Well at least now he won't hurt anyone," said Draco observantly, still holding Ginny tightly to his side.
"Wow he looks like a complete, friggin idiot!" Lex yelped loudly, then blushed as she realized that her voice had echoed throughout the Great Hall. Her exclamation, though, succeeded in rousing the entire student body, along with the teachers, from the horrified stupor they had sunken into when Ginny had thrown her ball of fire at her irate brother. Giggles, startled gasps and wild exclamations ("Oh SHIT! Where'd Ginny learn to do that!?" and "That was WICKED!!", along with "Serves that stupid boy right for messing around with Ginny- everyone KNOWS how angry she can get…") raised the room's noise level abruptly.
"Man, that kid is freakin' out!" Kay exclaimed, looking at Ron and laughing.
"Fucken idiot…" said Lorey.
"Yeah, thinkin' that he could actually mess with Gin and get away with it…" said Lex with a smile.
"Though we've no idea how you managed to throw a ball of fire at him, it was still wicked!" exclaimed Lorey, turning to look at Ginny, who was still clinging to Draco dazedly.
Snapping quickly out of it, she jerked in surprise and released her hold on Draco, who stepped back and smirked at her, amused.
"That was bloody amazing, Weasley!" Pansy said, laughing, as Ron, who was still breathing cold fire, stomped angrily back to the Gryffindor table with Harry and Hermione, who, though feeling bad for their friend, couldn't help but chuckle together at the curious predicament Ron was in.
Sighing, Ginny made her way back to the Slytherin table and sat down heavily, massaging her temples. Calls of "Way to go, Weasley!" and "Nice job, girl!" echoed down the table from the far end where most of the other older Slytherins were sitting. Draco came and sat down next to her, and she shifted uncomfortably as he grinned evilly. As Kay, Lorey, Lex, Pansy, Colin and Blaise all sat back down again, and the Great Hall buzzed with gossip about the latest turn of events, Draco leaned towards Ginny and put his mouth close to her ear. Settling his hand on her inner thigh, he squeezed it once and whispered, "Nice, Gin. I'm impressed, really."
His breath tickling her ear combined with the heady feeling of him grasping her thigh made her shiver. She gasped quietly and her head spun as the bench she was sitting on rocked as Colin and Blaise started pushing at each other to determine who was stronger ("I should be the one to beat up Weasley, not you, weak thing!" "Weak thing!? I'll show you!!!"), which caused Draco's slightly parted lips to barely graze the tip of her ear. Her reaction caused Draco to smile, and he leaned back, putting one hand behind his head and plastering an innocent "Who, me?" expression onto his face quickly.
Ginny, blinking, recovered from her momentary hormonal black out, and turned to Draco with an odd look on her face. 'I'm going to get him so good for that little stunt he just pulled…' she thought evilly.
'Uh oh,' Draco thought, wary of the plotting expression on her face. Lowering her eyes, she let her heated gaze travel down towards his groin, and he shifted a little uncomfortably.
Grabbing and playing with his belt buckle discreetly, she lowered her voice and said, quietly, "You think you're hot stuff, Draco? This is what you get for trying to flirt with me…" and with that, she ran her thumb sideways down the zipper of his pants teasingly. Draco, for all appearances, looked completely normal, save for the white-knuckled grip he had on his goblet of pumpkin juice and an unfocused look in his eyes. Ginny did it once more, running her thumb all the way up again and then stopped to fiddle with his belt a bit, and then stopped abruptly. Twitching once, Draco's eyes jolted back into focus and flicked up to meet Ginny's laughing gaze. Withdrawing her hand from his lap under the table completely, she turned and, ignoring his bewildered gaze, laughed at Pansy and Lex's discussion of Ron.
"Ron is ridiculous, though! I mean really, freakin' out like that in front of everyone?"
"Yes I know, absolutely pathetic," said Pansy, laughing. "Ron fancied himself a domineering brother," she mocked, posturing, "but Gin kicked his ass!"
"I don't know how I did that, though," Ginny protested, jumping into the conversation. "I just got so mad I could hardly see straight….it was kind of like when my magic first came out when I was younger. I just got a new wand, too…so that might have something to do with it," she added thoughtfully.
"That could be it…I've heard of something like that before, when I asked McGonagall about magical abilities in Transfiguration once," Pansy responded promptly.
"Well I don't know, I suppose it could be anything," Kay said dramatically, listening in on the conversation. Everyone nodded, and she continued, "but I don't really care! Cuz it was COOL!"
Draco shook his head scornfully. 'Americans are so bloody weird!' he thought. 'What did I do to get stuck with them for an entire year!?'
Ginny looked up suddenly as she felt someone's eyes on her, and met Dumbledore's grave gaze with a solemn expression of her own. Looking at her, he lowered his eyes and gazed at her over the rims of his half-moon glasses, and she nodded. He wanted to see her. 'So I'll go and see him,' Ginny thought, covering her nervousness with a half-smile of understanding in the Headmaster's direction, pondering on what he could possibly want to talk to her for. 'Other than scolding me for potential bodily harm to a student,' she thought miserably.
A cool hand squeezed hers under the table suddenly, and she looked at Draco, startled. Smirking, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He had noticed the silent exchange between Ginny and Dumbledore, and had grabbed her hand on impulse. Giving her hand another brief squeeze, he let go, and Ginny smiled at him gratefully. Turning back to the conversations of her friends, she thought idly, in the back of her mind, that flirting with Draco Malfoy definitely had its advantages.
A-N: Still sick. But that's okay!! Here's some comments to my reviewers:
Lia: You're COOL! I am so glad you like my story, and I want to congratulate you on being the first person to give me the thumbs up on making Blaise male, AND in a potential relationship with Colin. As for Ron being a complete ass, he got the shit kicked out of him this chapter, at least metaphorically, with Ginny hurling a great big ball of flame into his sternum, so it's all good now. Thanks for the review, and keep reading, love!
Also:
I know everyone was expecting Draco to beat Ron to a bloody pulp, but I wanted Ginny to show the beginnings of her true strength, magical and otherwise. You'll find out more of that in a later chapter, when things get a little darker and Ginny's "destiny", to put it dramatically, is revealed. Hope everyone liked this chapter- any complaints? Post a review! Look for Chapter 8 tomorrow.
-Jaylana