Chapter Five: The First Detention

Feeling slightly bad for putting Malfoy in the hospital wing, Ginny slowly started ignoring him, rather than glaring at him every chance she could. She thought that perhaps she was being a little melodramatic about their detentions and decided to take it easy on him. Even so, something odd was plaguing Ginny's mind ever since she had last seen him.

After a couple of days, Draco was released from the hospital wing, not a scratch on him. On Saturday, the day that Draco was let out, Ginny passed him on the way to Potions, and the look he gave her was indescribable. It was a look of shock. Surprise. Fear. What was that fear in his eyes? Was she scaring him? What could possibly scare Draco Malfoy?

Well, whatever it was, it sure scared Ginny herself. The panic in his eyes was so… intense. He had to be hiding something.

&&&&&&&&&&

Draco couldn't forget the dream.

Being in the hospital wings for two nights with nothing to do, and no one to talk to, he thought about it for hours. The dream was weighing on his mind like a ball and chain, making him feel helpless and confused. What was its meaning? All he could figure out was that Ginny was in some kind of danger, and he had to protect her for some reason. But why? And how? And when exactly was this going to happen? And why did he have to be the one doing it? And what if-

"Malfoy?"

The voice was behind him. Draco whipped around, and was surprised to see Ginny. The way she always knew where he was was really beginning to creep him out.

"It's time to go to our first detention," she told him, looking at her wristwatch. "It's nearly eight."

Draco swallowed. It was already Monday and he didn't even remember. "Right," he said, nodding. He felt a trickle of sweat run down his forehead. Ginny noticed this and looked at him, puzzled.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, taking a few steps toward him and suddenly stopping, realizing what she was doing.

Draco looked up. He had no idea what to do, or say. Act like you normally would, said the voice in his head. Eurgh. Why did he always have to pop in?

'How?' Draco questioned.

Be malevolent.

'Okay, malevolent. And that's…?'

Mean! Cruel! Nasty! I'm stuck with a moron...

'At least I'm cute.'

Draco whipped out his traditional smirk and narrowed his eyes at her. "Let's just go, okay? I want to get this stupid thing over with," he told her with malice. Ginny scrunched her eyebrows together, clearly confused.

"All right…"

She started walking in the other direction towards the Charms classroom. Draco let out a sigh and began to follow.

Five minutes later, Ginny and Draco were standing in front of the Charms classroom with none other than Professor Snape.

"I'm not here to baby-sit you, only to make sure you both make it on time to your detention," he sneered at the two of them. "You may leave in an hour, and I mean an hour. Leave before that time and believe me, I will know, and you will be punished."

Snape then turned and walked away, leaving the two of them to enter the classroom. Neither of them moved. Draco suddenly held his arm out.

"Ladies first," he said, eyeing her carefully. Ginny slowly stepped inside, and Draco closed the door behind them. They both sat down in desks near each other and looked at one another awkwardly, trying to find something to talk about. It wasn't so easy, seeing as they had hated each other for five years.

"So…" said Ginny, not knowing how to start off with a good topic. Draco, however, surprisingly came up with something in a fleeting instant.

"Have you gotten over that bloody Potter yet?" he asked snobbishly.

"Why do you keep bringing him up?" she said in a frustrated voice, getting up from her chair. She started walking around, biting her nails. It was as if he was obsessed with asking her about Harry. She couldn't even avoid it anymore.

Draco looked up at her, clearly taken aback by her sudden flare-up. "I was just trying to cover a topic, Weasley," he said with a small laugh. "Do you always take things so damn literally?"

Ginny scowled. She would have loved to just slap that face of his again and again… over and over until it was a dark violet. "So you think Harry's a topic now, do you?" she said loudly, stopping in her tracks and looking him in the eye. "What ever made you think I liked him in the first place?"

Draco laughed coldly, shifting in his chair.

"Let's see," he said, stroking his chin as if he were thinking deeply about something. "Hm… well… THE WHOLE SCHOOL KNOWS ABOUT IT!" he shouted. He waved his arms around dramatically.

Ginny was silent. She was thinking about what Draco had just said. Truthfully, the whole school did know that she liked Harry before, but evidently had not learned that she was well over him.

"Then the whole school is wrong!" she yelled. "For God's sake, Malfoy, don't you ever use your head? Do you think everything is true?"

"No, but it's obvious that you do!" Draco exclaimed. He was now out of his chair as well. Ginny stared at him, confused.

"What do you mean?" she said.

"I mean exactly what I said!" said Draco. He stepped closer to her. "You think everything is true. All those stories, all the tales about his tragic heroism and brains. You think Potter is a god. You view him as some saint, some pure being that you're not worthy of. All those goddamn stories, they may be true, but there was no heroism involved."

Ginny had no idea what he was talking about. "Of course there was heroism involved, if there wasn't then he would have never done those things! He never would have gotten the Sorcerer's Stone, or saved me in my 1st year –"

"Ah, but see, that's where you're mistaken," Draco said angrily. "You think he saved you because of 'moral fiber' or something like that? It's rubbish. Anyone can tell that all he cares about is the glory, the fame. He didn't care about saving your life, all he cared about was getting the goddamn limelight and you know it!"

Ginny's lip trembled.

"That's not true," she said. "He's not like that."

"Oh, so now you're sticking up for him?"

"Shutup!" Ginny yelled. "You don't know anything!"

Draco laughed. "I know one thing's for sure. You're fanatical about that fucking scarhead. Admit it. We wouldn't be arguing if you weren't."

Ginny stared at him, not believing what he had just said. "Fanatical?" she said, only a few notches above a whisper. "You think I'm fanatical about him?"

There was silence.

"Well, what about you, Mister Death Eater?" Ginny continued, getting louder. "What about how -"

"How what, Weasley?" Draco interrupted her. "How I'm supposedly fanatical about my father planning out my entire life? Fanatical about the Dark Lord? Fanatical about becoming a Death Eater?"

Ginny stayed quiet, staring at Draco with perplexity in her eyes. Where had this outburst come from? Malfoy had never talked about his life in such a manner.

"God, do you think that I actually like the idea that I'm going to be this evildoer who chases around pathetic little wizards, hoping that the Dark Lord will rise to power?" he spat.

Finally deciding to speak up, Ginny opened her mouth, but found that she didn't know what to say.

"I – I didn't think –"

"No, Weasley, you never think," Draco hissed at her, shutting her up. "You have no idea what it's like to be me. How would you feel, knowing that all of your mates would be out getting married and making babies and being happy while I'm out in the mountains somewhere being tortured to kill people I don't even know?"

Ginny swallowed and looked angrily at Draco, finally reaching the end of her thread. She had had enough of his complaining.

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK!" she practically screamed, making Draco flinch. Her entire body was trembling. "Stop bitching and moaning about your perfect life! You have it made, you have all the money in the world –"

"Don't talk about what you don't know!" Draco shouted, but Ginny kept going.

"You can have any girl you want, you can have anything, you're set for life," she said. "So what the fuck are you complaining about, hm?"

Draco turned away, sitting down on top of a desk and staring at the wall. She would never understand. She would never know.

There was an odd silence after that. Both of them stood there without a sound, Ginny still slightly shaking. She had never shouted at anyone in such a way, not anyone. Suddenly, Malfoy stood back up straight and faced her. His face was full of emotion. He looked angry, and upset, and confused. Looking into Malfoy's hurt eyes she suddenly felt horrible about what she had said.

"I'm sorry," Ginny said, looking down. "I shouldn't have said any of that. I don't know anything about you."

Draco sighed. He didn't say anything.

"I shouldn't have assumed," she continued. "And I mean, your father may be some kind of dragon, but that doesn't mean he can make your choices for you. You shouldn't have to -"

Draco whipped his head in her direction, his eyes wide and full of the same fear he had looked at her with after his dream.

"What did you just say?" he asked in a soft and shaky voice.

"That you father shouldn't have to…"

Ginny was at a complete loss for words now. The fear in Draco's eyes was haunting, what was making him look at her like that? Was it something she said? Was she looking positively horrible?

"What's wrong?" she asked, her eyebrows knitted in concern.

"N-nothing," Draco stuttered. Suddenly he quickly turned to leave the room, but Ginny stopped him by the shoulder. Draco didn't take another step. He turned toward her.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked again, her voice anxious.

"I have to go," Draco told her. "You wouldn't understand."

"Well maybe I could if you just-"

"No," he interrupted. There was an eerie ringing throughout the room. "I have to go. Goodbye."

Draco walked out of the room without another word.

&&&&&&&&&&

Draco didn't care if the hour was up or not. He was leaving, and that was that. He couldn't put up with talking to Ginny anymore. It wasn't because he didn't want to; she was beginning to scare him. She was saying everything that was in his dream, everything exactly how the Ginny in his dream said it (if it was Ginny, anyway). And not only that, but she was saying everything that nobody dared ever say to him, everything that Draco had never wanted to hear… everything that was true about him.

He rushed to his common room and swept into his dormitory, not even bothering to change into his pajamas before drowning himself in a pool of bed sheets.

Everything was becoming so… real.