A/N: Weeeee, we're nearing the end of the road! Mischief Mistletoe is headed towards an epilogue, and I thank you all for coming along for the ride :) ~Carlee, aka SilverDragonsFlame
Disclaimer: If I was JK Rowling, and I owned Draco, well, I wouldn't spend so much time on FF.net, getting my D/G fix from all the other wonderful authors on here, who also, coincidentally, don't own Harry Potter...Wow, I fit in!
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Mischief Mistletoe – Chapter Nine
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This time it was Draco who was hanging sideways in midair. If Ginny hadn't been so desperate to actually get him to her common room, she would have fallen down on the ground at this point, so hard was she trying to keep her laughter in and her goal in sight.
But right now, she had to focus…right…focus. She was on the verge of snorting, her laughter having been stifled as long as possible. Honestly, Draco looked so funny hanging sideways. It was a wonder he hadn't died of laughter when she had pulled the grab-onto-the-door-for-dear-life trick over the weekend they'd been stuck together. But his stomach had been grumbling so loudly by that point, he might have laughed and she just hadn't heard it.
"Draco, if you force me, I WILL take that door with us to the Gryffindor Common Room. Don't think I won't. Now, be a good boy and let go of the blasted door!"
"You're off your bloody rocker! I'd commit you to St. Mungo's, but I'm afraid they won't believe you're actually insane enough to try to drag me to the GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM, of all places, and they might keep me there instead!"
Ginny couldn't hold back the giggle. Deciding not to have this conversation with his feet, she moved towards his head. The tension from the magical Mistletoe slowly eased the closer she got to him. She tilted her head to the side so as to be on an even plane with him; even though his legs had come to rest on the cold, stone floor, he was still sideways, still gripping the door for all he was worth. Just not hanging in midair anymore.
"Oh, come on, Draco, it won't be THAT bad."
He just gave her a Look. One that she fully understood, recognizing the lie for what it was. She HAD spent the last six Christmases with the blasted trio; she could fully understand Draco's reluctance.
"Okay, so it will be that bad. But honestly, I have to do this every year! You could at least have enough pity for me to come WITH me and keep me company," Ginny coaxed.
Draco looked like he might be wavering, but the knuckles on his fingers were still deathly white from the grip he maintained on the door.
Hmmm…this might call for her to pull out the big guns. Extreme circumstances called for extreme measures, right? Right.
That having been decided, Ginny trailed her finger lightly down the side of his face and then along his jawline, allowing her thumb to just barely graze his lips. As her hand made its journey across his face, and Ginny watched his breathing get faster, she contained her smile as she continued her coaxing, "Do you really want me to have a miserable holiday, Draco? Honestly, if it's going to suck for both of us, wouldn't you rather be…together?"
For a second Ginny worried that he might have stopped breathing all together, but instead, he was so distracted, he released his death grip on the door and tried to sit up straighter. Ginny had no doubt that he was trying to figure our a way to regain control of the situation, but alas, teenage boys…what could she say? Bloody predictable when it came to certain things.
Ginny rolled her eyes, her mission—well, her mini-mission—having been accomplished. That quickly, she was on the move again, a surprised Draco stumbling to his feet behind her. Ginny could only hope that the moving staircases were in her favor today…she did NOT relish the idea of even the littlest pause wherein Draco might figure out a way to escape this dreaded fate.
She especially didn't want to give him time to think of the easiest way of all—simply kissing her.
Unfortunately…she quickly found that she had rather underestimated Draco. Just when she thought her plan might actually succeed and she might actually get to spend Christmas with Draco and wouldn't have to imagine him spending a holiday like this all by himself, he grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her to a quick halt.
Such a quick halt that she ended up swinging back towards him. So quickly and smoothly that Ginny didn't realize what was going on until after the fact, she was pinned with her back against the wall, Draco standing in front of her, leaning down until his nose was almost touching hers. "Anyone ever told you how much of a stubborn little witch you are?"
"I grew up with six brothers. They told me that on a daily basis." Ginny couldn't even reciprocate the teasing tone she heard in his voice, she was so disappointed. She had been so CLOSE! But now, she looked up into Draco's eyes, waiting for him to kiss her, waiting for the Mischief Mistletoe to flit away, waiting for him to stalk back to his cold dungeon, Slytherin Common Room, waiting for him to leave her all alone.
Dammit! All she had wanted was to spend Christmas with him. Was that so bloody awful?? After their few conversations over the past couple of weeks, she hadn't imagined he'd be all that opposed to it—opposed to the Gryffindor Trio, yes, but not to the whole blasted idea! But dammit all to hell, the picture of him alone in a cold dungeon for Christmas had stuck with her until she'd devised a plan to drag him to the Gryffindor Common Room, if she had to. And she did have to. Just too damn bad that it wasn't going to work!
It took Ginny awhile, being so distracted by her disappointment, to notice that Draco continued to look at her, and had yet to take the opportunity to escape. "Well, what are you waiting for? If you're thinking that we're going to spend another weekend in an empty classroom, you've got another bloody think coming!" Ginny proclaimed crossly.
Draco looked startled at her outburst. Then he started laughing.
Ginny closed her eyes. Damn, she loved hearing his laugh. It had that unused quality and Ginny felt a sense of pride the few times she'd heard it before, a pride that stemmed from the fact that she'd had something to do with actually being able to make him laugh. So sexy. And she'd thought she'd had a chance to actually make him laugh on a regular basis. To actually be with him and say to hell with everyone else and all their bloody problems with her and Draco being together. She'd thought she'd had a chance to actually live out her daydreams about Draco. Damn him to—
Draco's lips on hers interrupted her mental ranting before she could get into damning him to hell. The shock of actually kissing him wore off after a split second and Ginny simply melted into the kiss. Merlin, his kiss…it had the power to make her forget everything, probably even her own name. Hot. Sexy. Invasive. Giving. Uncontrolled. Wild.
Ginny's hands, which had been at her side, rose to his waist, gripping his robes in an attempt to pull him even closer to her, not that it was physically possible to BE any closer to him…well, while still being in a public hallway. Draco had been leaning against the wall, his hands on either side of her head. When she pulled him closer, his hands dropped, one curving around her back, reciprocating her efforts to pull him closer. The other hand fell to her shoulder before moving to tangle in her hair, cupping the back of her head.
Ginny parted her lips under the insistent pressure of his mouth and his tongue swept in, seeking and exploring. Ginny tentatively returned the move, tasting the inside of his lips, running her tongue over his teeth, doing some exploring of her own. Merlin he tasted good. Ginny knew she could die happy, right here and now, having experienced Draco's kiss again. He tasted like peppermint and something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on…who knew, maybe it was just the taste of Draco. Sinful. Exhilarating. Heady. Intoxicating.
Draco regretfully pulled back from the kiss eventually. They did, unfortunately, have to come up for air at some point…though Draco immediately missed the taste of Ginny and moved in for another quick taste, just a little nip.
Ginny sank back against the wall, seemingly boneless. Draco couldn't help the little prick of pride, knowing that he had caused that feeling in her. Yeah…definitely good for his ego. Or at least, it would have been, if he didn't feel exactly the same way. Scorched and melted.
"Wow."
Ginny had taken the words right out of his mouth—a thought that immediately made Draco think of kissing her again. Then again, he wondered what WOULDN'T make him think of kissing Ginny after this. Just thinking about kissing her…he leaned down to place a quick kiss on her forehead. A fleeting kiss, so quick he felt that he simply HAD to place another quick kiss on her nose…and then moved to her cheek. Down her jawline. Working his way back towards her lips.
Draco barely allowed himself the quickest of tastes, hardly satisfying, but it would have to do. The reason he had pulled back in the first place—the desire to actually talk to her.
That was how he knew things were different with Ginny—he actually stopped kissing to TALK to her. The fact that he WANTED to talk to her…that he wasn't just using her for a good snog—and Merlin knew, they were GOOD! But what had made him initiate this kiss to begin with…the admiration he'd felt towards her. The backbone and stubborn determination that she'd exhibited in her plan to drag him to the Gryffindor Common Room. If he hadn't already fallen for her, he would have right then and there, seeing her so determined to go through with her plan, come hell or high water.
Yeah…Draco had fallen hard for the littlest Weasley. Hell had indeed frozen over.
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A/N: You're almost there! The next chapter is the epilogue….WHOOOOOO!!!!!!
