Chapter 5- Madam Pomfrey the Cross

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Hello. This would have been up earlier but fan.net seemed to be having a few problems. Anyway I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: When the hallucination drugs stop working I realise that this is in actual fact not mine and JK owns characters etc…now where's my drug supplier?!

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Ginny was woken the next day by voices arguing above her. She opened her eyes slowly and stretched, freezing as her hand came in contact with soft, warm flesh. Somebody else's. The voices abruptly stopped and Draco looked down at Ginny who, realising what she was holding, had flushed to the colour of her hair.

"Would you mind letting go of my leg, Virginia?" (AN shame on you all those people who hoped she was holding something else…)

"Sorry." Ginny mumbled withdrawing her hand and standing up.

"As I was saying Mr Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey was red in the face with anger and looked a little mad standing there in her nightdress with her hair all over the place, "Professor Dumbledore would never allow it."

"Oh calm down." Draco said lazily, "Virginia and I aren't going to get up to anything, however much she wishes it."

"It's too early for your rubbish." Ginny yawned standing up beside him and facing Madam Pomfrey. "Honestly, Madam Pomfrey, it was the only way we could get any sleep and you as a medi-witch must understand the necessities of a good nights sleep."

She had struck a cord. The older woman pursed her lips but eventually nodded.

"I understand that Miss Weasley, it is just unfortunate that you had to resort to sleeping together."

Draco and Ginny both looked at her in horror and she hurriedly added, "I mean on the floor together."

Draco smirked and looked like he was about to reply with some smart comment when they both felt a loosening at their wrists and the next moment they were free from each other. Without wasting any time they both gathered up their things and raced into their respective bathrooms.

***

"Miss Weasley! You are as bad as your brothers. Just try and concentrate!" tears stung Ginny's eyes as Snape growled at her yet again. Her day so far had been horrible. Even Flitwick, usually so nice, had been grouchy at her for holding Draco up as he tried to attempt complex charms she wasn't ready for. As much as she hated to admit it Dumbledore had been wrong. Taking 7th year classes had been a mistake, she could see that now. All day she had felt ignorant and behind when usually she was one of the top students in her year. It hadn't helped that Draco had been there to see every humiliation and with one little smirk in her direction had made her feel like less then the dirt on his shoes. She had had a couple of classes with the Gryffindors but their presence had been more a hindrance then a help as she could feel their sympathetic gazes on her and they just reinforced her shame. They thought she had been forced into the situation. What would they think of her once they found out that it had been all her fault? She knew that it was only a matter of time before Draco grew bored of the joke and told everybody exactly who was to blame. She didn't trust his reputation excuse and thought that he was only waiting until the opportune moment to expose her. Shaking her head to rid herself of her self-pitying thoughts Ginny began wiping up the mess of potion ingredients she had spilled everywhere. She picked up a vial of crushed eucalyptus leaves but promptly dropped it again as the other mixed ingredients exploded with a little bang startling her. The tube shattered on impact with the floor and the Slytherins laughed nastily as she gave a groan of frustration.

"Miss Weasley, you are dangerously close to causing my star pupil some injury with your clumsiness!" Snape snapped. For one disorientated minute Ginny thought he meant Hermione then, seeing his gaze fix on Draco, she realised who he was really talking about. Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

"You really are very stupid aren't you Virginia!"

"Careful," she growled, "I'm dangerously close to causing you some injury, remember?"

To her immense surprise he chuckled and knelt down beside her. "What are you doing down here?" he asked her seriously and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm cleaning up Draco. I know your family distances itself from such mundane affairs but this, for your information, is what working looks like."

"And this," Draco said taking out his wand, "is what being a witch or wizard is like." With a sweep of his wand the mess disappeared. Ginny grimaced. She had been hoping to save some of the potion ingredients as she didn't have the money to buy more.

"Thanks." She said sarcastically.

"No problem it's good for those who actually deserve to be here to help those unworthy of magic."

The spark of anger and shame which had begun burning with her first catastrophic lesson was suddenly flamed and she threw herself at him. Grappling together they rolled around on the floor; Ginny fully intent on causing as much damage as she could to his pale, planed face. Draco seemed not at all concerned and, on the contrary, was chuckling softly as he effortlessly kept her at bay.

"Ginny! Stop it!" she vaguely heard Hermione's frantic voice but she ignored her.

"Go on, get him!" That was Ron.

"Ginny be careful." The tone of Harry's comment was a cross between Hermione's worry and Ron's delight.

"Desist." Snape's voice had a freezing quality to it which broke through Ginny's rage. She was sitting straddled across Draco's chest his hands holding her wrists as she tried to pummel him. Seeing the bloodlust leave her eyes he released her and raised himself on his elbows.

"Thank you Professor Snape." He said in the most suck-up tone Ginny had ever heard. Unwilling to pass up such a perfect opportunity she smiled sweetly at him and drove her fist as hard as she could into his stomach. He let out an "Oof!" of surprise and pain then collapsed back down again onto the cold stone floor. Ginny calmly climbed off him and looked squarely at Snape.

"Let me guess," she said taking in his fiercely severe expression, "detention, right?"

"I do believe that's the first thing you've got right today Miss Weasley." Was his deceptively serene reply.

"Great what am I supposed to do when you have detention?" Draco winced getting to his feet.

"Consider how dangerous it is to provoke a trapped animal." Ginny said grinning past him at Harry and Ron who gave her a thumbs up.

***

Snape wouldn't have her back in his class. Neither would any of the other seventh year teachers. The news of Ginny's attack had spread quickly and expanded as rumours often do until the simple punch was seen as attempted murder upon Draco's person. With the senior students trying to prepare for their NEWT's which, as the name indicated, weren't exactly easy the chance that Ginny might erupt again was seen as too great a risk. And so it was that the next day found Draco and Ginny ensconced in deep soft leather chairs in a small unused classroom on the 10th floor. Although the room was small one entire wall was a huge window which made it light and airy. The two chairs and the large desk were the only pieces of furniture in the room but there were various paintings covering the walls which gave it a homey feeling. The whisperings of the inhabitants were comforting to Ginny's ears and her favourite painting of a cliff overlooking stormy waters providing a low ocean roar which she adored. Draco seemed to have no complaints of the room either and despite the company both of them found working on the assignments given to them by their teachers quite an easy thing to do. Ginny concentrated especially hard on her potions work as she was determined to not let Snape find something else to criticise. As it was she knew that he was going to be even harder on her after she attacked his favourite student. She had always thought he had been hard on her before but she sensed Snape had fathomless stores of hatred stored up just for her family and friends which he hadn't even taped into yet.

"Stir anti-clockwise five times and add one Robin's feather as the vapours begin to smell like cabbage. Done!" Ginny sat back and admired her parchment. It was even longer then it had to be. Snape couldn't possibly find anything at fault.

"Raven's you moron." Draco said absentmindedly.

Ginny's head snapped up. "What?" she asked waving the scroll to dry it.

Draco looked up from his own work and looked at her across the table. He had taken the side with his back to the window which meant that Ginny could gaze out across the grounds whenever she grew too bored of her essays.

"I said Raven's. It isn't a Robin feather it's a Raven feather."

Ginny looked at him shrewdly then delved into her bag and brought out her potions book. She flipped through it to the appropriate page and scanned her eyes down the ingredients list. There it was, just below the oak roots, one Raven feather. She lifted her eyes back to Draco's.

"You're right." She said softly.

Draco chuckled, "Well no need to sound so surprised. After all aren't I always?"

Ginny scoffed, picked up her wand and vanished 'Robin' and carefully wrote 'Raven' in the gap.

"Thanks." She said sincerely, "Snape would have taken heaps off for a wrong ingredient, no matter how similar they are."

"They have completely different properties." Draco pointed out, returning to his own work. Ginny rolled her eyes then leant over the table to see what he was working on. He was very meticulously printing symbols for arithmancy. Ginny watched him struggle over a particularly difficult one for some time and eventually she reached out and took the quill out of his hand.

"No, you're doing the tail wrong." She pulled a scrap piece of parchment towards herself and copied it out perfectly. "See you have to flick the end so it curls around the top." She handed the quill back to him and moved her attention back to her own study.

There was silence for a few moments then Draco said gruffly

"I didn't need your help, Virginia and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk to me."

"You talked to me first you…" then she smiled, "you're welcome." She said graciously.

"Whatever, so long as you know I could do it on my own."

Ginny sighed and shook her head, "I think you're being very immature about this."

"About what?"

"About this whole stuck together thing. I know its my fault and I know this is very painful for you," she smirked as his hand instinctively went to the bruise she had made on his stomach the day before, "but shouldn't we make the best of what we can't change?"

"I'll tell you something that has changed." Draco snapped, "Your attitude! Yesterday you were intent on causing me grievous bodily harm and today you think I'm being immature. Well I'm sorry but just because you got to exorcise some of your hatred doesn't mean I've had the same opportunity so I guess you'd just better get used to the way things are."

"Well I'm not going to accept that." Ginny said, she hadn't realised until she'd raised the point how much his animosity was bothering her but now she understood that it was giving her a mini breakdown. The fact that someone hated her so violently, even though she'd known it for years and even though she reciprocated those feelings was emotionally draining.

"Accept it or don't accept it, I couldn't give a damn." Was his quick reply.

"You want to exorcise some of your hatred?" Ginny asked, she swallowed nervously then continued, "Fine hit me, hit me as hard as you want and we'll call it even."

Draco looked at her in astonishment.

"You're not serious."

"Perfectly, come on, give me your best shot." Ginny clenched her fists and hoped he would do it quickly.

There was silence for a very long time and Ginny eventually glanced up anxiously to see what he was doing. She was shocked to see that he had calmly returned to his homework.

"Malfoy!" she said, her voice more shrill then usual, "Don't drag it out, just do it. Hit me."

Draco lay down his quill with a sigh and looked across the table at her.

"Look Virginia," he said slowly as if talking to someone dim-witted, "tempting as the offer may be I am not going to hit you."

"Why not?" she demanded, not at all sure why she was pushing the point but, as ever, unwilling to back down.

"For two reasons. Firstly your brother, your boyfriend and just about every Gryffindor both present and past would descend upon me like a gang of angry banshees if I so much as laid a finger on you." He pointed out, "And secondly because I am a Slytherin and when I hurt you Virginia, and make no mistake I do intend to, I want it to be sneaky and underhanded. I will most certainly not attack you when you're expecting it. Alright? Can I get back to work now?"

Ginny considered his reply.

"Okay," she said slowly, "so until the time when you hurt me can we at least pretend to be civil to one another? Wouldn't everything be much easier if we, well not be nice to each other, that would be going too far, but at least buried the hatchet until we're free?"

Draco sighed, "If I say yes will you stop bugging me and let me get back to my homework?" he asked in a long suffering tone. Ginny nodded and he relented, "Fine but let's just get one thing straight. I am a Slytherin, I am a Malfoy and I am exceedingly proud of both these things. No matter what happens during this truce let it be known that I hate you, now and forever."

"Well I think that's a perfectly harmonious way to start this ceasefire." Ginny said sarcastically, "Long may the hatred separating us reign."

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When I originally wrote this chapter Draco agreed quite amicably to stop being so nasty so I had to rewrite the whole thing when I read it and it sounded like he'd gone to anger management courses or something. Now Draco is still mean, hurrah, but brining out the nicer qualities is going to be harder, damn. Thank you very, very much to:

Jessiebear: Whooohoo here's more. Sorry the bed thing wasn't too exciting after all but it is only chapter 5! Thank you for reviewing again.

MelissaAdams: I have updated fairly soon so I hope I'm still in your good books! Thank you for reviewing.

Sazzy7: I love an evil Draco too…which is why he is not suddenly going to become nice, promise. Thank you for loving my story AND for telling me so.

Sarklover: Don't do anything but update? Blimey it feels like you've chained me to the computer! I think its great that you're impatient. It hasn't been too long I don't think. Yes he has a sweet side but it isn't very big and will only appear in very rare moments! Thank you for reviewing.

Ash Night: I think its about time fluffy stories had some awe injected into them. I did read your story and review but fan.net said something about being down so I don't know if you got it. If you didn't I'll go back and review again, never fear. I liked it a lot but it needs more chapters! Thank you for reviewing and telling me about your story.

Cherrieberrydracoluver: Only you can tell me if this chapter had the MSUT SMUUT SMTUS TAISHD OLDFHlkadsvf that you wanted! I have updated though and I liked it enough to lose control of your typing fingers again!

Charmed-Goddess-07: Excited and curious? I'm glad I've raised these emotions in you! Oh a Draco point of view. I hadn't thought of that. Sorry but the only way I'm keeping him even a little in character is by making him kind of a mystery. If we knew what he was thinking it might give away some of the sappiness I am specially saving for later! Sorry again, good idea though. If you want I can write you a Draco POV just for you! Thanks for reviewing…and yes I agree he should fall for her first it's the rules isn't it?!

Morgain Lestrage: Blushes modestly Well I try. I have updated fairly soon, I hope you like.

NiteStar: Well in that case I love you! Yeah the silk pyjama bottoms just seemed to fit. I couldn't exactly see him in boxershorts and an oversized T-shirt, could you? Thank you for reviewing.

LiTTLe-bLaCk-sTaR: yeah in a sea of so many how is poor little me supposed to be unique?! Don't worry I'm not seriously stressing about it. Yay I'm on your favourites list. Thank you for reviewing again and yes it is a pity you can't review more than once per chapter but you more than make up for it.

Yay I've finally got this one done. Roll on chapter 6. Big thanks to all who read now please review :)

Jess/star123

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