~*Every Other Time*~

Chapter Six: Falling for the First Time

Thalia: Just because we're incredibly evil, we made two couples snog in this chapter. And yet, we don't quite resolve anything yet. We also add in lots of confusion and chaos, because that's what we do best. Oh yeah, and a blonde girl gets engaged to a dark Slytherin Quidditch player. But that might not be what it seems. Allow me to evilly laugh now. *bwhahahahahahaha*

Dove: Hurricane Su, incoming!  She's scary when she's unpredictable.  And besides that, what could be better than Draco/Ginny fanservice backed up with… other… entertainment?  Remember that broom closet I mentioned in my profile?  No, I was not joking…

Disclaimer: Thalia will continue the Warrington-takeover scheme after she stops working 14-hour shifts.

"Anyone perfect must be lying

Anything easy has its toughs

Anyone plain can be lovely

Anyone loved can be lost

What if I lost my direction

What if I lost a sense of time

What if I nursed this infection

Maybe the worst is behind

It feels just like I'm falling for the first time

It feels just like I'm falling for the first time…"

-Barenaked Ladies, "Falling for the First Time"

             "I'm first going to kill her. And then I'm going to kill him. And then I'm going to feed their dead bodies to Charlie's favourite dragon Strawberry Tart. And then I'm going to kill them again." Such were the mutterings from a certain frantic redhead's mouth as she paced back and forth, close to the wall of the room so as to not come close to Dr—MALFOY.

            Draco, although he was certainly thinking similarly dire things that he would like to do to a certain evil Ravenclaw Prefect and a certain equally evil Head Boy, kept these thoughts to himself and mustered up his best and most formidable sneer at the girl. "iolent one, aren't you, Weasel? And here's everyone thinking that you Gryffindorks are the nice and sweet and all-wonderful perfect people."

            Ginny whirled around, eyes blazing and fists clenched, and snipped out between gritted teeth, "I. Am stuck. For heaven knows how long. With a blond FERRET! Do not push it!"

             "Trust me, Weasel, I'm in no mood to be here, either," Draco snarled.

            "Well bloody fucking hell, when are you in a 'mood' that isn't 'abominable' or 'pratlike' or 'rotten'?" Ginny scowled, hands on hips, "One would think that, for someone who continuously proclaims that he has everything and is better than everybody, you'd be bloody happy for once. Merlin, don't you even know how to smile!?"

            And icy, remorseless Draco Malfoy, who only lived to tease and torment... stalked towards her, like a panther towards its prey, and she swallowed nervously at the look in his eyes.

            A look part bitter hatred and part a curious sort of longing, almost wistful if the intensity of his eyes hadn't made her cringe. He was a Death Eater's son. He would kill her. Prefect or not, he would...

            And she found herself gasping for air, then abruptly stopping that as parted lips only meant... as his own cold ones covered hers, searing and harsh and making her breathless... and with her wide-open eyes she could almost make out a hint of moisture on his pale eyelashes.

            And when he pulled away, his expression was savage and his voice low, chilling.

            "Don't talk about what you don't know, Virginia."

            She stumbled backwards, almost huddling against the wall of the room, wishing wishing WISHING that she could leave and... and... he had just called her by her name. Her real name. Not "Ginny" or "Weaslette" or...

            And he seemed to awaken, as if from a trance, and even as he clapped his fingertips over his lips, he backed away from her like from a burning flame.

            The silence in the room for the next two hours was deafening.

***

            Su took it philosophically when she was sent on rounds alone that night.  She was sure it was at least partly Warrington's doing, since she had volunteered to let the prisoners out once rounds were over.  Not only that, but, as Draco Malfoy was "sick", according to the very poker-faced Warrington, someone trustworthy had needed to be let out alone.  She wasn't entirely sure how she qualified for that, but apparently in the view of Angelina Johnson she was the best choice except Hermione Granger, who looked far too exhausted with all her homework to be let anywhere alone for a time, lest she fall asleep behind some convenient statue and miss her morning classes.

            Su wandered the halls conscientiously for an hour, then dropped into the kitchens, a location which she had once been shown by Cho, and weaseled a cherry turnover and a cup of coffee out of the house-elves.  The only thing of note she found all night was Echo Hayama of her own house, wearing toe shoes and jumping gracefully and relentlessly around one of the empty rooms on the fourth floor.  After sending the exhausted first year back to her dormitory with nothing than a soft warning to find a better time for ballet than the middle of the night, Su was left alone again.

            Looking at her watch a while later, she discovered it was nearing midnight and decided it was time to go unlock the door.  She giggled as she thought she was rather like a child at Christmas, waiting to open her most anticipated present.

            Approaching the door, she first removed the Silencing Charm.  Silence greeted her.  That was a bit of a surprise-she had almost expected them to be violently and loudly killing each other, or… well, whatever she had expected, it had not involved dead silence.

            She fiddled with the lock a moment, shot some more blue sparks at it, and opened the door.  Ginny looked to be sleeping in one corner, her arms wrapped around her knees, though her head jerked up at the slight creak of the hinges.  Draco was standing with his eyes carefully looking out the window.  He turned slowly, and for a few moments both of them watched Su, who was smiling slightly.  "Good evening, class," she said in her softest, most subservient-demure-little-Asian-genius voice.  "Won't you come out, or would you rather spend the night here?  Sleeping bags can be arranged."

            Wordlessly, Draco shoved past her and went stalking away, his Potions book and whatever else he had been using in his tutoring session inside his cauldron.  Ginny got up only after he was gone, picked up her books, and walked up to Su with a smile that was terrifying because her eyes were freezing and calculating.  "I'm terribly, terribly sorry," she said softly, "for so grossly underestimating you.  Rest assured, I shall not make the same mistake twice."  She brushed past and called over her shoulder without turning her head, "Have a good night, you black-hearted spawn of the devil."  With that, she was gone.

            "Well then," Su said to herself with a self-satisfied little smile.  "Not what I expected… but it will do."  Resolving to hassle the details out of Warrington later, she headed up to her dormitory, her mind already on the Ancient Runes homework she should have finished the night before.  She would very likely get no sleep at all.

            She detoured to the kitchen and picked up an entire pitcher of coffee.

***

            Su arrived at Prefect rounds a few days later quite determined to get the details, which by now she was dying to hear, from Warrington. After all, it had been three days since Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy, the two of the tangible sexual tension, had been shut into that room. Surely Warrington, swarthy git though he certainly was, would have been able to glean some sort of useful information out of the younger Slytherin.

            Which was why she was quite surprised, and slightly dismayed... when all she saw of him at the beginning of said rounds... was his retreating back. Walking away from the rest of the group, next to a tall girl with a cascade of blonde hair, whom Su recalled as being Susannah Caligo, the sixth year Slytherin Prefect. Several other pairs had started to head off as well, Hermione Granger engaged in a deep and vociferous conversation on Calcular Studies within the subject of Arithmancy with Ravenclaw Zach Turpin.

            In the end, as Angelina Johnson and Kenneth Bundy of Hufflepuff walked off towards the direction of the Charms corridor, Su gave a slight sigh, and made her way towards Draco Malfoy, a very demure, bland sort of expression on her face.

            "Well, I suppose it's us, then." Her voice was soft as cotton candy, "Shall we?"

            Draco's face was somewhat paler than usual, and at the sight of her approaching him, two slight red spots grew on his high cheekbones. But he remained stonily silent, jaw clenched so tightly that Su was sure it would be sore in minutes, hands balled into fists as he walked alongside her.

            "Fine weather we're having, hmm?" Su asked airily, with a slight smile.

            He muttered something unintelligible and lapsed into cold silence again. Su grinned somewhat to herself. So something had happened, that was for sure. Something serious.

            It was really too bad that she didn't know what it was. That Warrington probably knew... and that she had not yet been able to get this information out of him (especially due to circumstances apparently outside of her control)... was more than a little irritating.

            Rounds passed quite boringly, much to her disappointment. Draco Malfoy, for all his willingness to snipe at Harry Potter and his friends, was silent as a clam around her, the only indication of his towering rage the venomous expression in his eyes. There were no words, except a few rebukes at students wandering around after curfew. Nevertheless, hoping to get some sort of reaction, Su smiled at her uncommunicative partner at every opportunity.

            Finally, at midnight, they returned to where they started, and Su looked at the determinedly-scowling Draco with wide, innocent dark eyes. "Oh, dear... please don't tell me you chickened out on that opportunity we so carefully arranged for you! You're not scaring me, you know... so you might as well thank me for the help!"

            Draco did no such thing, and merely turned on his heel and made his coldly furious way back to the Slytherin common room.

            "Such a pigheaded boy," Su sighed to herself, rolling her eyes. "I wonder if the others are going to pass here from rounds... might be able to get something out of Warrington if he comes along..."

            She didn't have long to wait. The unmistakable, slightly mocking baritone voice resounded down the hall, even as the sound of footsteps approached. "Grinning ear to ear, I see, Susie," he was saying, and there was the sound of melodious feminine laughter.

            Susie?!

            Su quickly stepped behind a pillar, and watched, eyes widening, as Warrington and Susannah Caligo, the latter laughing heartily (something Su had never seen from the dignified girl), came down the hallway. "What did you expect, Cass?" She poked Warrington in the ribs. "Of course I'd be happy! I'm ecstatic and it's not really sunk in yet and..."

            CASS?!?

            "It's certainly quite the sight to see you like this," Warrington chuckled, before slinging an arm around her and lifting her up, tossing her over his shoulder and laughing all the while. "Floating on air and all that, eh?"

            "CASS! Set me down this very instant!" Caligo was protesting, even though she was still laughing, hitting rather ineffectually with her fists at the young man's shoulders. "You're making a scene!"

            "But there's no one around," he replied easily, continuing towards Slytherin. "Besides, you could use a little loosening up once in a while."

            Su watched as they disappeared around the corner, and there was one image in her mind... something that her eyes had riveted to, as Warrington had lifted Susannah and the blonde had swatted at his shoulders.

            Something sparkling, winking almost tauntingly on the Slytherin girl's slender finger. What looked quite alarmingly like an engagement ring.

            And then it was that she realized... that neither of the Slytherins had even noticed her.

***

            In the Slytherin common room, there was a party going on.  Mostly this wasn't a common occurrence, but there was good reason today, and everyone was in a somewhat-goofy mood more usually attributed to Gryffindors.

            Susannah Caligo and Alexander Montague were in the middle of it all, both grinning rather foolishly, especially Susannah, who had been glowing since the moment she had received what was, in fact, an engagement ring.  There was food, of course-someone had gotten the house-elves to bring it up and serve, so that no one had to run around themselves.  Still, there was laughter, butterbeer, and someone (mostly no one asked who) had somehow managed to get champagne in, and wasn't limiting it to those students who were over the age of seventeen and therefore considered adults.  A few of the younger students seemed quite inclined to take advantage of this, but then, they were Slytherins, whatever their mood.

            "Montague, a moment," Warrington called from where he was lounging against a wall with a half-empty glass.

            Montague obediently got up from next to Susannah, giving her hand a small squeeze before heading over towards the Quidditch captain, his expression questioning.  "Yes, Cassius?" he asked.  "I assume you're going to threaten to kill me now?"

            "Not quite," Warrington said with a smirk.  "The fact is, Susannah's happy… at moment.  Do try to keep her that way, won't you?"  He gave something of a nod in the girl's direction.  "She's my favorite cousin.  I would hate to have to kill you for treating her badly."

            "And the ceremony is completed with a death threat," Montague said blandly.  "Not to worry, Warrington.  She'll stay happy, and the only person present who you might need to worry about killing is Malfoy, who's been, if possible, more sulky than before, and is now doing his damndest to deplete the stores of champagne."

            "I'll worry about Malfoy," Warrington said with a genial smile.  "You worry about Susannah."

            Montague actually flashed a grin and grasped Warrington's hand to shake it a moment.  "Will do, Captain."

***

            The Ravenclaw common room was nowhere near so cheerful.  The few students that were up were mostly quiet, and Su was methodically working her way through her Ancient Runes and her pot of coffee.  There was a small line between her brows pointing at deep concentration.  Calista was across the couch from her with what looked like a book on rare Potions, and both girls were content to be quiet, as long as Calista didn't reach for the coveted coffee.

            It was around three when Su set her book aside and stood up to stretch a moment.  Calista raised her eyes curiously.  "Tired?"

            "You've no idea," Su said exhaustedly.  "And it's only about halfway over.  Being a Prefect has its drawbacks."

            Calista nodded.  "How did your… tutoring session… go a few days ago?  I never did have a chance to ask.  Ginny clams up if you or Warrington or, heaven forbid, Malfoy, are brought up.  I haven't gotten anything out of her, however I've tried."

            This brought Su back to the reality of the scene in the hallway, and she scowled.  "Well, until our oh-so-considerate Head Boy tells me, I'm afraid I can't help you."

            Just then, their portrait hole opened, and a sullen Terry Boot entered.  "Sorry, girls, no pie tonight."

            "No pie?" One of the younger students called, obviously distraught.

            "Engagement party in the Slytherin dungeon, far as I can tell," Terry said tiredly.  "The kitchen's cleaned out, and half the elves are missing, to boot.  Maybe tomorrow."

            There was a charmed kind of silence as Su looked at Terry, her face blank, but her eyes snapping.  "Engagement party?" she asked in a voice far too soft to be natural.

            "That's what they said, Su," Terry said, wondering if he could escape back out of the portrait hole before she went berserk and attempted to kill the messenger.

            "I… see," she said softly.

            "Who's engaged?  Who's engaged!?"  There were shouts from every direction, mostly aimed at her rather than Terry, as it seemed she knew what was going on.

            "It appears," she said, in that very soft voice, "to be Susannah Caligo.  And Cassius Warrington."  She dropped back down on the couch, yanked her book towards her, and pretended not to notice anything else around her.

            "Susannah and Warrington?" Calista said, surprised.  "But aren't they-"  Suddenly she reconsidered her latest sentence and swallowed a laugh.  "Don't mind her, Terry," she said when the boy settled down next to her.  "She's just jealous and pretending she isn't."

            "Jealous?" he asked, surprised.

            "Oh, indeed," Calista said with a sickeningly sweet little smile.  "Indeed, yes."

            Watching Su Li be completely wrong was, after all, a wonderfully novel experience.

***

            Warrington, reflecting not for the first time that alcohol had its uses, strode down the hallway Sunday evening before dinner, idly twirling a Quidditch book on the tip of one finger and mulling over what he'd recently found out.

            He wasn't sure whether to be proud of his sulky teammate for actually doing something with the golden opportunity that Li, conniving little wench, had given him... or to be exasperated that Malfoy, after all that, went back to almost studiously avoiding the Gryffindor. What a shame... to think that he'd live to see the day when a Malfoy practically feared the presence of a Weasley.

            A rather familiar head of fluffy, short blonde hair appeared in his vision, close by a corridor that led to the faculty quarters, strictly sealed off, and he slowed down. "And what might you be doing here, young Ravenclaw?" he asked softly, staring down at her. "This isn't your sort of neighborhood."

            She seemed... odd, somehow. The expression, still somewhat demure and veiledly mischievous, but there was an odd tension in the way she stood, and when she spoke, her voice was just a touch too bright. "I'm all right, you swarthy git. See, no missing limbs, no monsters popping up to harass me... unless you count."

             "I could, I suppose," he replied blandly, smirking, "and I appreciate the compliment."

             "What compliment?" she bared her teeth sweetly.

            "My, aren't we feisty tonight," he said carelessly, reaching out in a now-habitual gesture to ruffle her hair, noting she stiffened for a moment before slapping his hand away, and wondering.  "Our job with the terrible twosome isn't yet done… aren't we still in a truce period?"

            "You haven't told me yet what happened," she said in that same sweet voice.  "Therefore, I could only infer that you were gloating, and planning on taking all the credit for yourself."

            "Now, that wouldn't be fair."  He thought about it for a moment.  "I was just… busy.  And hadn't gotten the information you desire until very recently, when a half-pissed Draco Malfoy hastened to tell me all his secrets."

            "I am well aware you have a life outside of evil, Warrington, thank you," she said snappishly.

            He shook his head.  "So uptight tonight, Li.  You're acting nearly as ridiculous as some of the pathetically lovesick members of my house."  Her head jerked up, her eyes burning and… he could have sworn a faint flush on that perfect poker face.  "You, of all people, I expected more from."

            She shrugged.  "I'm human too.  I have my bad days."  There was silence for a few moments.  "So, are you planning on telling me, then, or was all of that an elaborate introduction to you walking away and laughing maniacally while I'm left wondering just what the hell?"

            "Tempting as that is…" Warrington said with a chuckle.  "Really, what's gotten into you?"

            "I assume that means you're not telling me after all," she said resignedly.  "Well, I suppose I can guess."

            His curiosity piqued, he grinned down at her.  "Oh, can you really?"  He leaned casually against the convenient doorway on his side of the hall, and watched her inquisitively.  "How, pray tell, did it play out in that depraved little mind of yours?"

            For a moment her eyes glinted.  "You want my theory, do you, Warrington?"

            "I suppose it might be enlightening to the way you think if you tell me how it went," he said with a laugh.

            And then… well, he wasn't sure whether he was surprised she had the strength to push him backwards into the door, which happened to be cracked open, or to crack his head rather painfully against what, in the darkness, seemed to be a broom handle.  Before he managed to say anything, she was suddenly much closer than she had ever previously been, and he was only to wonder at the slightly exotic scent he had not noticed before, coming from her hair, before she was very suddenly kissing him… very unlike a little girl.

            The shock of her lips on his, her hands fisted in the back of his robes, blanked his mind for a full three heartbeats.  Just as he was recovering from the reeling, she was suddenly gone, and then a pain in his cheek as well as a resounding crack clued him in to the fact that he had just been rather forcefully slapped.  In the dark of the broom closet, he could only really make out eyes, sparkling with something he couldn't quite name.  "Something like that," she said, slightly breathless.  "With slight variations available upon request."

            With that, she whirled away and out the door and by the sound of running footsteps down the hall it was obvious she was getting out of there as quickly as was possible.

            Leaving Cassius Warrington half-sprawled in the janitorial broom closet, his mind quite unable to wrap itself around anything but "What the hell!?"