Chapter 3 - Maybe Malfoys Do Have Hearts... Sometimes
I woke up reluctantly the next morning to the faint misty glow of sunlight creeping in through one of the windows. I could tell it was really early because the sun wasn't shining full throttle yet. I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was five minutes to six. I silently vowed to kill the person who had left the window open like that last night and got out of bed, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I changed into a plaid, plaited black and red mini-skirt (the kind you see muggle schoolgirls wearing), and a black top with red letters spelling out devil with a devil tail trailing off the l to underline the whole word. I personally liked it, and with this I could show Harry what he had given up. I put my robes on loosely over my outfit so that I wouldn't forget to put them on later.
I descended the stairs, and upon reaching the common room, found no one there. Just in case, I quietly snuck out of the common room and walked down to the Entrance Hall. Checking to make sure that there was no one in sight, I opened the massive oak doors and slipped outside, where a nice cool breeze whipped my hair around.
I quickly checked that my skirt wasn't riding too high up my legs and when I had assured myself that it wasn't, I walked down to the lake, which rippled softly in the breeze. I sat down against a huge oak tree at the foot of the lake and closed my eyes, letting the fresh air wash over me. I let out a deep sigh and opened my eyes. The lake looked melancholy all of a sudden, and I felt alone, so very alone. I watched as the sun began to rise slowly over the horizon and thought how beautiful it looked.
Then suddenly, I heard the soft tread of feet on the grass. Most other times I wouldn't let it bother me, but this time I wanted some privacy, and I was prepared to do anything to get it. I stood up and brushed myself off, alert for anything that decided to show up. The wind gently pulled my hair back so that I could see everything around me.
"Ginny?" it was a whisper, as if the wind were trying to talk to me.
I turned around sharply and whom should I see but the great Harry Potter himself. I let my shoulders slump down a bit and let out a sigh, rolling my eyes at the same time.
"What are you doing here?' I asked annoyed.
"Well, I saw you go out and I was curious to know where you were going." He looked around as though expecting to find someone else.
"It's really not any of your business Harry, especially when I've told you to leave me alone. Really, how thick are you?"
"Well actually, I wanted to apologize - "
"Look Harry, I don't need your apologies and I don't need your pity anymore. That's what made you do it, isn't it? Ask me to be your girlfriend. Besides, it's not like you've ruined my whole life or anything. I don't live for you and only you so there's no need to get conceited now." Wait, where had I heard that before. It suddenly came back to me out of nowhere. I had heard it not too long ago. But where?
"What's what made me ask you to be my girlfriend?"
"Pity."
"No Gin, it wasn't - I don't pity - No."
"Then why did you do it Harry? Why? Why did you throw away all we had?"
"Well, I - I thought that if went out with you, and everyone heard about it, then maybe," he paused.
"Then maybe what, Harry?"
"Then maybe," he sighed. "You know how, how I was going with Cho at the beginning of last year?"
"Oh no. No, Harry, don't tell me you did this to get back at Cho. Don't you dare tell me it was to get her jealous," I fumed.
He looked down at his feet and then looked back up at me, guilt in his eyes. Before Harry could say anything else to me, I rolled my hand into a fist and felt it collide with Harry's jaw. The next instant, Harry was rolling on the floor grabbing at his jaw. Ah, the sweet sound of pain. The sweet advantage of living with six older brothers.
"You bastard! You used me, that's what you did. You - you - ooooooooh I'm going to kill you."
I lunged at him but found that I couldn't get to him. Someone was holding me back. Someone was actually restraining me from killing Harry after what he had done to me. I flayed my arms wildly trying to escape the vice-like grip, but it only tightened. I turned to see whom it was that was holding my arms so tightly and found myself staring at two metallic grey eyes flecked with silver.
"What are you doing here Malfoy?" I spat, still struggling to gain my freedom.
"It's not like it's any of your business," he began. "But I happened to be out of bed early today and I decided to take a walk. I don't find the need to explain the rest to you however."
"I don't need you to explain the rest, let go of me right now!"
"You know Weasley, I am truly honored that you remembered the kind words of wisdom I told you yesterday. I also must say that as much as I would love to see you pummel Potter to death, and as much as I would love to see Potter die slowly and painfully, I must make you refrain from this childish behavior," he told me calmly.
"It's not childish. Let me go. He used me - he used me for his own twisted purposes. Let go, I tell you. I'm going to kill him. Trust me Malfoy, if I don't kill him right now, I'll manage to get my hands on him later," I yelled back at him, still fighting his iron grip vainly.
"Well, I would rather you kill him later when I'm not around, because as I said, although I would love to see him die a slow and painful death from your fists, my Prefect duties call me to stop you at this moment. I wouldn't like to be deprived of my privileges."
"But he used me! He - he - " I threw myself at Harry unavailingly one last time and then slumped down to ground, bringing Malfoy down with me.
"He - he did it on purpose. He - lied to me. That bastard." I was almost whispering now, and as you can tell, I wasn't thinking at all.
I felt Malfoy bring me close to his chest and I heard him whisper something into my ear.
"It's okay Virginia, it's over. Let it go."
I leaned into his chest and started to cry. I don't know how long we sat there, me crying, him holding me, but it felt like hours. I vaguely recall hearing Harry charge at Malfoy and then I believe I heard Malfoy yell out a spell, and then I heard what I thought was Harry's body hit the floor. I felt myself lift off the ground and I remember thinking stupidly that I had died and was being taken up to my final judgment. When I fully opened my eyes, I was laying in Colin's arms and I was being walked to the Gryffindor dormitories.
"Colin?" I asked squirming a little.
"Oh goodness, she lives!" I heard someone yell. I thought it was Celine.
"Ginny, baby, are you all right?"
I started to laugh at Colin's fifties impressions. He was awesome at voices.
"I'm fine," I told him, trying to get him to let me go.
When he finally did I asked, "What happened?"
Celine looked at Colin and then at me. She was debating whether to tell me or to let Colin tell me. She finally made her decision.
"I'll let Colin tell you, since he found you."
"Okay then. Well, Celine here woke up and didn't find you in your bed so she rushed down to the common room thinking you'd be there - "
"I was going to pretend to be mad at you for not waking me up," she added. She tended to do that a lot.
"But then she didn't see you," he continued. "So she ran down to the Great Hall thinking you had gone down for breakfast - "
"I was going to tease you on how much of a pig you are when it comes to food," Celine added again.
"But she didn't find you there either," Colin continued again. "So she went back up to the common room and went up to my room to wake me up - "
"His boxers are so cute! Really you must see them they're - "
"Well, anyways," Colin said loudly, blushing slightly. We couldn't find you anywhere - "
"Inside," Celine again added, smartly.
"Inside. So we opened the doors to look for you outside and in walks that cheeky Slytherin Ferret himself balancing Harry with some spell or other."
"But he was purposely bouncing him off the walls and whatnot."
"So we were going to walk past him when he said something like 'if you're looking for that little Weaselette of yours, she fell asleep under that tapestry.' He said he would've taken you to us but he had a reputation to keep so he didn't."
"He said that little Weaselette girlfriend of yours Colin."
"Oh right."
I smiled but was shocked that I couldn't remember any of this happening to me. It was odd, but for some reason I didn't really think that that was what had really happened. As I do most other things, I shrugged it off and suggested we go to breakfast. I felt my stomach grumbling and reminded myself that I had been up since six in the morning.
Everyone agreed to my plan and we all headed down to the Great Hall.
"What I'm wondering," Colin began as we walked down one particularly long hall, "is what Malfoy was doing with Harry. I mean, he was completely unconscious."
"Yeah, and how he knew that you were under that tapestry," Celine added.
"Well, as for the Harry thing, they probably encountered each other outside and had a semi-duel type thing," I answered, knowing how much rivalry lay between the two. "As for knowing where I was, maybe he was just making his rounds as a Prefect and he found me there. What I'm wondering is why he didn't just wake me up. I mean it wasn't like it was that hard."
Colin and Celine looked at each other and then back at me.
"What?" I asked them.
"Well, you see Ginny, the reason I was carrying you was because you kind of seemed to have momentarily passed out."
"But then why did Malfoy tell you that I was asleep instead of telling you that I had passed out?"
"I dunno," answered Celine. "But you know how Malfoy is; he doesn't care about anybody. Besides, he was probably just being a prick."
I nodded and we walked on in silence. When we finally reached the Great Hall, more than half the school was already there and we sat down quickly to eat. Just as I was about to begin my third plate of bacon and eggs, Dumbledore stood up and declared that he had an announcement to make.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make." Oh wait, I already told you that part. Whoops! "I would like to present your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I would have presented her to you last night, but she got somewhat lost and didn't get her until very early this morning."
I doubt anybody was paying attention to why he hadn't presented the new teacher the night before because as soon as he had told us that he would be presenting the new teacher, everyone turned around and started whispering to their neighbors.
"Who do you think it is?" Celine asked me.
"Well it looks like we're about to find out," I answered seeing Dumbledore prepare to talk again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present Professor Tonks."
I looked up when he said the name so quickly I swear I must have twisted my neck. But it couldn't be, I thought. Tonks as a teacher? Well she was an auror... and she did know a lot of magic... yeah that could work. And I liked her. Wow, maybe this year wasn't going to be so bad after all.
I woke up reluctantly the next morning to the faint misty glow of sunlight creeping in through one of the windows. I could tell it was really early because the sun wasn't shining full throttle yet. I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was five minutes to six. I silently vowed to kill the person who had left the window open like that last night and got out of bed, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I changed into a plaid, plaited black and red mini-skirt (the kind you see muggle schoolgirls wearing), and a black top with red letters spelling out devil with a devil tail trailing off the l to underline the whole word. I personally liked it, and with this I could show Harry what he had given up. I put my robes on loosely over my outfit so that I wouldn't forget to put them on later.
I descended the stairs, and upon reaching the common room, found no one there. Just in case, I quietly snuck out of the common room and walked down to the Entrance Hall. Checking to make sure that there was no one in sight, I opened the massive oak doors and slipped outside, where a nice cool breeze whipped my hair around.
I quickly checked that my skirt wasn't riding too high up my legs and when I had assured myself that it wasn't, I walked down to the lake, which rippled softly in the breeze. I sat down against a huge oak tree at the foot of the lake and closed my eyes, letting the fresh air wash over me. I let out a deep sigh and opened my eyes. The lake looked melancholy all of a sudden, and I felt alone, so very alone. I watched as the sun began to rise slowly over the horizon and thought how beautiful it looked.
Then suddenly, I heard the soft tread of feet on the grass. Most other times I wouldn't let it bother me, but this time I wanted some privacy, and I was prepared to do anything to get it. I stood up and brushed myself off, alert for anything that decided to show up. The wind gently pulled my hair back so that I could see everything around me.
"Ginny?" it was a whisper, as if the wind were trying to talk to me.
I turned around sharply and whom should I see but the great Harry Potter himself. I let my shoulders slump down a bit and let out a sigh, rolling my eyes at the same time.
"What are you doing here?' I asked annoyed.
"Well, I saw you go out and I was curious to know where you were going." He looked around as though expecting to find someone else.
"It's really not any of your business Harry, especially when I've told you to leave me alone. Really, how thick are you?"
"Well actually, I wanted to apologize - "
"Look Harry, I don't need your apologies and I don't need your pity anymore. That's what made you do it, isn't it? Ask me to be your girlfriend. Besides, it's not like you've ruined my whole life or anything. I don't live for you and only you so there's no need to get conceited now." Wait, where had I heard that before. It suddenly came back to me out of nowhere. I had heard it not too long ago. But where?
"What's what made me ask you to be my girlfriend?"
"Pity."
"No Gin, it wasn't - I don't pity - No."
"Then why did you do it Harry? Why? Why did you throw away all we had?"
"Well, I - I thought that if went out with you, and everyone heard about it, then maybe," he paused.
"Then maybe what, Harry?"
"Then maybe," he sighed. "You know how, how I was going with Cho at the beginning of last year?"
"Oh no. No, Harry, don't tell me you did this to get back at Cho. Don't you dare tell me it was to get her jealous," I fumed.
He looked down at his feet and then looked back up at me, guilt in his eyes. Before Harry could say anything else to me, I rolled my hand into a fist and felt it collide with Harry's jaw. The next instant, Harry was rolling on the floor grabbing at his jaw. Ah, the sweet sound of pain. The sweet advantage of living with six older brothers.
"You bastard! You used me, that's what you did. You - you - ooooooooh I'm going to kill you."
I lunged at him but found that I couldn't get to him. Someone was holding me back. Someone was actually restraining me from killing Harry after what he had done to me. I flayed my arms wildly trying to escape the vice-like grip, but it only tightened. I turned to see whom it was that was holding my arms so tightly and found myself staring at two metallic grey eyes flecked with silver.
"What are you doing here Malfoy?" I spat, still struggling to gain my freedom.
"It's not like it's any of your business," he began. "But I happened to be out of bed early today and I decided to take a walk. I don't find the need to explain the rest to you however."
"I don't need you to explain the rest, let go of me right now!"
"You know Weasley, I am truly honored that you remembered the kind words of wisdom I told you yesterday. I also must say that as much as I would love to see you pummel Potter to death, and as much as I would love to see Potter die slowly and painfully, I must make you refrain from this childish behavior," he told me calmly.
"It's not childish. Let me go. He used me - he used me for his own twisted purposes. Let go, I tell you. I'm going to kill him. Trust me Malfoy, if I don't kill him right now, I'll manage to get my hands on him later," I yelled back at him, still fighting his iron grip vainly.
"Well, I would rather you kill him later when I'm not around, because as I said, although I would love to see him die a slow and painful death from your fists, my Prefect duties call me to stop you at this moment. I wouldn't like to be deprived of my privileges."
"But he used me! He - he - " I threw myself at Harry unavailingly one last time and then slumped down to ground, bringing Malfoy down with me.
"He - he did it on purpose. He - lied to me. That bastard." I was almost whispering now, and as you can tell, I wasn't thinking at all.
I felt Malfoy bring me close to his chest and I heard him whisper something into my ear.
"It's okay Virginia, it's over. Let it go."
I leaned into his chest and started to cry. I don't know how long we sat there, me crying, him holding me, but it felt like hours. I vaguely recall hearing Harry charge at Malfoy and then I believe I heard Malfoy yell out a spell, and then I heard what I thought was Harry's body hit the floor. I felt myself lift off the ground and I remember thinking stupidly that I had died and was being taken up to my final judgment. When I fully opened my eyes, I was laying in Colin's arms and I was being walked to the Gryffindor dormitories.
"Colin?" I asked squirming a little.
"Oh goodness, she lives!" I heard someone yell. I thought it was Celine.
"Ginny, baby, are you all right?"
I started to laugh at Colin's fifties impressions. He was awesome at voices.
"I'm fine," I told him, trying to get him to let me go.
When he finally did I asked, "What happened?"
Celine looked at Colin and then at me. She was debating whether to tell me or to let Colin tell me. She finally made her decision.
"I'll let Colin tell you, since he found you."
"Okay then. Well, Celine here woke up and didn't find you in your bed so she rushed down to the common room thinking you'd be there - "
"I was going to pretend to be mad at you for not waking me up," she added. She tended to do that a lot.
"But then she didn't see you," he continued. "So she ran down to the Great Hall thinking you had gone down for breakfast - "
"I was going to tease you on how much of a pig you are when it comes to food," Celine added again.
"But she didn't find you there either," Colin continued again. "So she went back up to the common room and went up to my room to wake me up - "
"His boxers are so cute! Really you must see them they're - "
"Well, anyways," Colin said loudly, blushing slightly. We couldn't find you anywhere - "
"Inside," Celine again added, smartly.
"Inside. So we opened the doors to look for you outside and in walks that cheeky Slytherin Ferret himself balancing Harry with some spell or other."
"But he was purposely bouncing him off the walls and whatnot."
"So we were going to walk past him when he said something like 'if you're looking for that little Weaselette of yours, she fell asleep under that tapestry.' He said he would've taken you to us but he had a reputation to keep so he didn't."
"He said that little Weaselette girlfriend of yours Colin."
"Oh right."
I smiled but was shocked that I couldn't remember any of this happening to me. It was odd, but for some reason I didn't really think that that was what had really happened. As I do most other things, I shrugged it off and suggested we go to breakfast. I felt my stomach grumbling and reminded myself that I had been up since six in the morning.
Everyone agreed to my plan and we all headed down to the Great Hall.
"What I'm wondering," Colin began as we walked down one particularly long hall, "is what Malfoy was doing with Harry. I mean, he was completely unconscious."
"Yeah, and how he knew that you were under that tapestry," Celine added.
"Well, as for the Harry thing, they probably encountered each other outside and had a semi-duel type thing," I answered, knowing how much rivalry lay between the two. "As for knowing where I was, maybe he was just making his rounds as a Prefect and he found me there. What I'm wondering is why he didn't just wake me up. I mean it wasn't like it was that hard."
Colin and Celine looked at each other and then back at me.
"What?" I asked them.
"Well, you see Ginny, the reason I was carrying you was because you kind of seemed to have momentarily passed out."
"But then why did Malfoy tell you that I was asleep instead of telling you that I had passed out?"
"I dunno," answered Celine. "But you know how Malfoy is; he doesn't care about anybody. Besides, he was probably just being a prick."
I nodded and we walked on in silence. When we finally reached the Great Hall, more than half the school was already there and we sat down quickly to eat. Just as I was about to begin my third plate of bacon and eggs, Dumbledore stood up and declared that he had an announcement to make.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make." Oh wait, I already told you that part. Whoops! "I would like to present your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I would have presented her to you last night, but she got somewhat lost and didn't get her until very early this morning."
I doubt anybody was paying attention to why he hadn't presented the new teacher the night before because as soon as he had told us that he would be presenting the new teacher, everyone turned around and started whispering to their neighbors.
"Who do you think it is?" Celine asked me.
"Well it looks like we're about to find out," I answered seeing Dumbledore prepare to talk again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present Professor Tonks."
I looked up when he said the name so quickly I swear I must have twisted my neck. But it couldn't be, I thought. Tonks as a teacher? Well she was an auror... and she did know a lot of magic... yeah that could work. And I liked her. Wow, maybe this year wasn't going to be so bad after all.