Summary: Ginny's got a secret admirer. Could he be that cute new teacher? Could he be her house team's seeker? Could he be someone whom she knew right from her very first year at Hogwarts? Or could he be one of the most unlikely person to even notice her?
Disclaimer: NOT MINE! Although I wish they were a product of my very own imagination, sad to say I only own the plot & the other characters that might pop up somewhere down the road here.
PhoenixRae's Note: I figured since I'm on holidays this week, I might as well upload as much chapters as I can, right? Good. So here's me attempting to upload yet another chapter before the week is over. So sit back & enjoy the chapter...
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XVI. You!
"Rotten luck, Ginny. Professor Wood gave you another detention simply for not answering his question right away," Abigail shook her head as they made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. "What's up with him anyway? If you ask me, I think he needs to get laid."
"Abby!" Ginny looked scandalized. "Watch your mouth," she scolded.
"The hell I will! Oliver's being unreasonable, Gin. And the only reason I could think of is him not getting some that's why he's taking it out on you." She marched into the busy Great Hall and headed straight towards their table with Ginny following close behind.
"Look, maybe Oliver's just having a rotten day. Everyone has them," she reasoned out as she sat down between a very irate Abigail and a frowning Hermione.
"I heard you got another detention from Oliver, Ginny. What's up with that?" Hermione asked as soon as her friend sat down.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," answered Abigail on Ginny's behalf. "I mean, Ginny didn't even break any damn rules, Herm. All she did was take more than two seconds to answer Oliver's question in class and boom!" Abigail clapped her hands together for emphasis, "Ginny got herself a detention."
"But that's preposterous!" cried Hermione. "Surely you can't be given detention for not being able to answer a question in under two seconds!" she complained.
"I know. Why do you think I'm pissed?" Abigail huffed.
"And you guys think I'm not?" Ginny asked sounding displeased that her two friends were talking over her head about something that she should be fuming mad about, not them, but her, Ginny Weasley.
Both Hermione and Abigail stopped yakking about how unfair Oliver was to Ginny and looked at their friend who was caught in the middle of their conversation.
"Oh, sorry Gin, didn't mean to step all over ya," Abigail apologized. "I was just overzealous of the fact that Oliver gave you another detention and this time you weren't even doing anything wrong," she added.
"And you think she was doing something wrong the first time Oliver gave her detention?" questioned Hermione.
"Well, she was kinda not paying attention that time," Abigial admitted albeit begrudgingly. "But this time Ginny was paying attention and--"
"Look, why don't you two stop this argument right now, alright?" Ginny held up her hand to stop both of her friends from further discussing her. She hated it when people talked about her as if she wasn't even in the room, let alone sitting right in between them. "Let's just chalk it up to Oliver having a bad day and leave it at that, alright?"
"Why do you have to always be so damn nice, Gin?" Abigail groaned.
Ginny made a face at her friend. "I am not always nice, Abs," she argued.
"I'm afraid you are always nice, Gin," Hermione had to agree with Abigail. "It's not that you being nice isn't good, it's just that...well, being too nice all the time will often result in people using you or getting away hurting you or something."
"Look, so yeah, I am nice all the time, but c'mon guys. It's just another detention, big deal. As long as I know I didn't do anything wrong, there's nothing to it. Oliver's just in a rotten mood and I was the unfortunate one to be picked on in class so I'm serving detention with him after dinner tonight. End of discussion." She looked from one friend to the other, willing them with her gaze to not argue with her anymore. She wasn't in the mood to further discuss why Oliver decided to give her detention again tonight, and she certainly didn't want to go to detention with an empty stomach.
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"You!" Ginny's brown eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets when she saw who she was serving detention with...again. "You have got to be kidding me!" she groaned out loud.
"And hello to you too, Weasley," retorted Draco who was lounging on one of the desks in front of their History of Magic classroom. "My, my, what a pleasant surprise. You got into another detention with Wood again?" he drawled.
Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. Oh great, I have to serve detention with Mr. Draco "I'm-too-good-to-do-some-filing" Malfoy again. Can I just jump into the lake now and become that large squid's meal for the night?
"Did you get too smart for your own good again, Malfoy, is that why you're in detention again, hm?" she retorted acidly. Oh Merlin give me strength. This guy is going to be the death of me! Why can't he just leave me alone?
"My, my, you sure are growing a backbone every day, Weaslette. You sure you're not getting it from your brothers and Potter?" he mocked.
"No. And please, do me a favour and stay out of my way all night, alright?"
"I can't promise you that, Weaslette," he shrugged. "What if Wood decided to put us to work together, then I wouldn't be able to stay out of your way all night."
Oooh, he just makes her blood boil! Why can't she serve detention with Oliver without Draco Malfoy for a change? It was bad enough she had to endure him during the day in between classes when she was unfortunate enough to bump into him, now she had to spend Merlin knows how many hours in detention with the slimy git.
It was a good thing Oliver walked in right then before Ginny decided to acquaint Malfoy with her fist. She couldn't stand the git. And yet she was hesitant to punch the living daylights out of him either. Bloody hell, stop being soft on Malfoy, Ginny! He's nothing but a pain in the you-know-where, an inner voice reminded her.
"I see that you two are eager to start your detention this evening," said Oliver as he walked to the front of the room. "Malfoy, if you would be so kind enough as to take your feet off the table I'd really appreciate it," he called over to Draco over his shoulder as he walked past the Slytherin seventh year.
"Why should I? I'm not messing the table up. And the house elves will--"
"Just do as he says, Malfoy," snapped Ginny.
Draco raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze at Ginny, "And who are you to tell me that, huh, weasel?"
"Ten points from Slytherin for disobeying orders," said Oliver before Ginny could answer Draco back. "Now Mr. Malfoy, do as I say or I'll have to add another ten to make it a nice twenty points off your house," he threatened.
Ginny could tell that Draco wasn't at all pleased with losing ten points for not following orders. He was muttering something under his breath as he angrily put his feet back on the floor and slouched in his seat. She looked over at Oliver and noted a satisfied grin cover his face. Something fishy was going on. Oliver and Draco were at each other's throats right now, but she just doesn't know why they would be ready to kill each other.
"Now, Ginny, what do you think would be the perfect punishment for Mr. Malfoy this evening, hm?" Oliver asked, surprising both students who turned and looked at him wide-eyed.
"What?" Ginny thought her ears were deceiving her. Did Oliver just ask her what kind of punishment to give Malfoy? Oh Merlin, she must've died and gone to heaven! "Are you serious?" she asked the same time Draco exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding me!"
With a satisfied grin, Oliver turned to Ginny and said, "Yes, I am." And to Draco his grin broaden, "And no, I am not kidding, Malfoy."
"Damn you, Wood," hissed Draco under her breath while Ginny couldn't help herself from smiling from ear to ear.
"So I can think of any punishment I want, and you'd be alright with it?" Ginny wanted to confirm with Oliver that anything goes when she decided what kind of punishment to give Draco.
"The sky is the limit, Ginny," Oliver winked.
Draco growled under his breath while Ginny couldn't suppress a giggle.
"This should be fun," she murmured and looked at the displeased blond sitting on one of the front row chairs. "Malfoy, tonight you will wish you never had to serve detention with me or with Oliver," she told him haughtily.
"Oh, I'm already there, Weasley, I'm already there," Draco answered and shot Oliver an I'm-going-to-get-you-for-this glare.
"Well Ginny? What's the verdict?" Oliver asked expectantly, that annoying satisfied grin still plastered on his handsome face.
"Professor, I think your classroom needs a bit of cleaning. The floors are horrible and the desks and chairs aren't shiny." Ginny spun around and faced Oliver, a mischievous gleam shining from her brown eyes. "I say we let Malfoy here give your classroom a good cleaning without the aid of magic, but instead he will need a bucket filled with soapy water and a toothbrush," she announced proudly.
"A what?!" Draco nearly fell off his chair when he heard what he had to use to clean the floors, desks, and chairs of Oliver's classroom. "Are you out of your blasted mind, weasel?" he barked.
"As a matter of fact, no," she shook her head and with the help of her wand she conjured up a bucket of soapy water and a nice, small toothbrush by Draco's foot. "I haven't lost my mind yet. Now if I were you, I'd start cleaning now if you wanna be finished by midnight," she winked and started giggling.
"No way!" Draco argued and got up to his feet. He turned to Oliver to plead his case, but Oliver merely shrugged his shoulders and nodded towards the bucket and toothbrush at Draco's feet.
"She gave you your punishment, Malfoy, and I did give her permission that anything goes."
Right at that very moment Draco was thinking of a million and one things he would do to Oliver once he was done serving detention. How dare he turn the tables on him like this? Damn that slimy git for outmaneuvering him. He should've seen this coming, but damn that Wood. He pulled a fast one on him.
"What about me, Professor? What's my punishment for this evening?" Ginny asked.
"Well we want to be sure that Mr. Malfoy does a fine good job of cleaning my classroom, don't we, Ms. Weasley? I say you watch and make sure that he doesn't miss a spot."
"What?" Draco's jaw nearly dropped on the floor. "You're giving her an easy punishment?" He jabbed his index finger at Ginny's direction, his gray eyes shooting daggers at his History of Magic teacher.
"Hey, who says watching over you is an easy job, huh?" challenged Ginny. "Now I say move it, mate, 'coz time's a-ticking," she made a tick-tocking sound and gave Draco a pointed look. God, this was one detention she knew she'd be savoring for the rest of her life. For once in her life she was able to boss Draco Malfoy around. Oooohh, this oughta be good.
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Draco was busy brushing a spot underneath the desk Ginny was sitting on three and a half hours later when Ginny's high-pitched "Malfoy!" distracted him and in his haste to see what the heck she wanted now, he bumped his head under the table.
"What?" he snarled, rubbing the spot he hit under the table. He emerged from under the table he was cleaning and glared at the red-haired vixen seated on top of the desk that just injured him.
"You missed a spot," she said simply.
"Oh really? And where is that spot?"
"Oh, just three inches to your left," she shrugged.
At that very moment Draco saw red. This woman was testing him. Not to mention that Wood was having the time of his life laughing at him because he was able to outwit him this time. That SOB's going to pay. I swear to God he will pay, Draco thought savagely.
"You made me hit my head under the table just to tell me that I missed a spot?" he sounded incredulous.
"Yeah-huh," she nodded, her brown eyes wide and filled with innocence.
Draco didn't know whether to smack her or kiss her at that moment. She looked so damn tempting enough to kiss and yet he was itching to wrap his hands around her pretty little neck and strangle her for giving him a helluva punishment!
"Now go on, clean it. You're almost done the floors and you still have the desks and chairs to do. Now hurry. Hurry!" She did a chop-chop clap and turned around so her legs were dangling on the side of the desk.
"Hurry- hurry my little arse," Draco mumbled to himself and resumed scrubbing the floor with the toothbrush. Ginny's dangling legs on the other side of the desk was distracting him from doing his job properly. "Will you quit doing that?" he snapped.
Ginny parted her legs and bent down, peering at Draco from between her legs.
"Quit doing what?" she asked innocently.
Draco glared at her. "You know what you're doing, Weaslette, so quit it!"
Ginny raised an eyebrow. She gave him an innocent smile and continued dangling her legs, distracting and annoying Draco who was doing his best to ignore her. She knew what she was doing to him and she was doing it to him deliberately. She didn't know why she was itching to annoy Malfoy, but since she had been in a funk the last few days trying to figure out who her damn APC was, she might as well annoy somebody else for a change.
"Weasley..." he growled.
"Whaaaa-at?" she sing-songed.
Draco grabbed Ginny's right leg to stop her from moving it.
"I said stop moving your damn legs, weasel," he hissed.
"Aw! Malfoy, get your filthy ferret-paw off my leg. You're hurting me and your hand's dirty from scrubbing the floor and dipping it into that icky bucket," she started wriggling his hand off her leg, but Draco wouldn't let go of her. "Malfoy..." she growled.
"I'll let go of your damn leg if you promise to stop moving it. I don't want you swinging this leg of yours over to me and knock me unconscious," he grumbled. "But on second thought, just knock me unconscious so I won't have to do this stupid punishment."
Ginny jumped off the desk and squatted in front of him, one hand resting on the tabletop while her other arm was resting on her knee. She poked her head underneath the desk Draco was cleaning and frowned, "Now why would I make this detention any easier for you, hm?"
Draco moved his head closer to her until their noses were just an inch away from each other. "You should, Weaslette, 'coz you know I could make your life a living hell for pulling this shitty stunt on me this evening," he threatened.
"I pulled this shitty stunt this evening?" echoed Ginny, her brown eyes wide from disbelief. "In case you've suddenly acquired a case of amnesia, it was Oliver who decided that I give you your punishment this evening. So the blame doesn't fall entirely to me."
"Still. If it hadn't been for you bewitching the socks off Wood, you'd also be doing what I'm doing right now."
"You think so?" Ginny raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Somehow I don't think Oliver would be able to sentence me to doing something as tough as what I sentenced you to do." Her grin was as wide as the Cheshire cat, and all Draco could think of doing right at that very moment was to pull her face forward and give her a good snogging. "And besides," she added, "making sure that you do your job isn't an easy task to do." She paused for a couple of heartbeats then wrinkled her nose, "You're not very good at making things look spic-and-span."
"Are you saying that I am not good at what I'm doing right now?" Draco took the bait and challenged his ability to do some manual labour without any magical aide.
"Well, you missed a spot--you don't have the proper eye for spotting every nook and cranny." Ginny wrinkled her nose and shrugged.
"Oh really?" Draco moved his head a fraction of an inch closer to her face. He could almost see her iris clearly.
Ginny held her breath. She knew she was playing with fire by flirting with Malfoy, but under the circumstances, flirting seems to be the only thing she could do to get him to get to work. But given this uncomfortable distance between them, she couldn't help but notice certain things she wouldn't normally notice when she looked Draco Malfoy in the face.
First of all he had the nicest shade of gray eyes she had ever seen. Right now they looked like a mellow pool of melted silver. And his hair...it wasn't as platinum blond as she initially thought it was. And instead of its usual slicked-back style, tonight Draco's hair had that wet-look style to it. And that scent...damn, he smelled so good and so damn familiar! Ginny took a quick sniff and sucked in her breath when she realized whom she smelt it on.
Her damn APC was wearing the same cologne that night when he 'kidnapped' her and snogged her senseless on her way back to Gryffindor tower from her last detention with Oliver.
Suddenly the small wheels inside Ginny's head started turning. She was trying to piece together every little detail she knew about her APC. First on her list to tick off was that Blaise wasn't her APC--he said it so himself. Secondly she knew that whomever her APC was, he resides in Slytherin house. Thirdly...well, thirdly he writes the sappiest, most romantic letters she had ever read. Fourth...well, fourth was this cologne that Draco was wearing right now. But whomever her APC was, he can't be Draco Malfoy. For starters Draco doesn't strike Ginny as the romantic-sappy type of guy. He was more of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kinda fella.
Draco could feel his hands sweating. He was so close to Ginny that he could inhale her scent. Damn, he was so close that he could actually feel her lips pressed against his. It had been ages since he last tasted to sweet, succulent petals of sin that he couldn't seem to get out of his mind.
Ginny didn't know what it was, but something was pulling her closer and closer to the person in front of her. It was crazy, and at the same time it was pretty exciting. Who would've thought she'd be too damned excited to snog Draco Malfoy? Not that snogging one of Hogwarts' resident player wasn't exciting. Hell, she must've dreamt of doing something as outrageous as this one since she got rid of her silly girlish crush on Harry Potter a couple of years back.
"So Weasley," Draco whispered.
"So Malfoy," Ginny whispered back.
Their heads were moving closer and closer by the millisecond. Neither of them breathed and anticipated the coming together of their lips that seemed to be attracted to one another. Slower than the sloth their heads moved closer and closer and...
"Ginny! Malfoy!" called Oliver as soon as he returned back to his classroom from visiting the johns. "Where are you two?"
At the sound of Oliver's calling Draco and Ginny sprung apart, bumping their head under the table.
"Ow!" they yelped in unison and emerged from under the table both rubbing their heads.
Oliver spotted them right away and frowned at them.
"What are you two doing? Necking under the table?" he spat then turned his glare at Draco whose head nearly bore a hole from the intensity of Oliver's glare.
"No!" came Ginny's frantic reply as her face quickly turned a deep, crimson colour.
Draco raised an eyebrow and glanced at the embarrassed Gryffindor sixth year beside him then looked back at his fuming Professor. Draco knew Wood wasn't dense. Ginny's guilty blushing alerted Oliver that something was going on under the table.
"I guess subtlety wasn't a Weasley trait," mocked Draco.
"Why you..." Ginny turned and hit him hard on the arm. "Nothing happened under the damn table, Malfoy, and you know it!"
"Oh really?" Draco taunted.
"Malfoy..." Ginny hissed, her arm raised and ready to strike him again. But Oliver stepped in then and decided that enough was enough between these two. Malfoy already had his detention with Ginny and really, there wasn't any point in letting her stay. Malfoy, on the other hand, will have to stay and finish off his punishment.
"Ginny, you may go back to your dormitory now. You're detention's over," he told the sixth year redhead, then to Malfoy he announced, "Malfoy, finish cleaning off the floor with the toothbrush then you may go." Oliver took a quick survey of his classroom and smirked. Malfoy only managed to clean half of the classroom, he was pretty sure they'd both be in the History of Magic classroom until after midnight.
"Finally!" Ginny sounded relieved. Turning to Draco she gave him an unsympathetic smirk and shook her head, "Too bad for you, Malfoy. You gotta finish cleaning the room. Just make sure it's spic-and-span," she taunted then headed out of the room.
Draco waited until Ginny was clearly out of earshot before throwing the toothbrush on the floor and walked up to Oliver.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Wood?"
Oliver raised an eyebrow, "I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy. And that's Professor Wood to you," he corrected just to annoy his student a bit more.
"Whatever. Look, I asked you to give Ginny detention so that I could talk to her, not for you to suddenly grow a brain and get even with me!"
"I'd watch my mouth if I were you, Malfoy. I am itching to take off more points from Slytherin. And you didn't ask, Malfoy, you demanded. Now why you're willing to go through such extremes I have no idea. You like Ginny, right? Then why don't you tell her instead?"
"Are you crazy? How can I tell the girl whose brothers I've tormented and teased throughout my entire time here at Hogwarts, not to mention that the said girl was also the butt of most of my tormenting, that I like her and not have her slap me in the face, huh?"
"That's something you have to figure out," Oliver said. "Now get back to work. Finish off cleaning the floor then you may go." Oliver turned his back to Draco and walked towards his desk.
Unbeknownst to the two male in the room, Ginny didn't wander off too far. She was hidden in the shadow by the door and heard every word exchanged between Oliver and Malfoy. She couldn't believe that Malfoy manipulated Oliver into getting her into detention.
And another shocker. Draco Malfoy was her APC.
Her fingers curled into a tight fist at her sides. He didn't know whether to punch the git or kiss him. But right now she was favouring the former rather than the latter. That jerk knew all along about her APC and yet...and yet he continued toying around with her. And that time at Hogsmeade when they shared a booth at the Three Broomstick. He could've told her right there and then, but he chose to play it cool and instead...oh! She was so pissed off at him her whole body was shaking from anger.
Ginny angrily stalked away from her History of Magic classroom contemplating on how to make Malfoy pay for what he did. So what if he liked her? She could've liked him with warts and all, but he had to resent to something as...as...okay, she had to admit, it was sweet and romantic, but then it borders closer to obsession and stalking that really scared the bejeepers outta her.
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A/N: Hmm...yay! Ginny finally finds out the identity of her
mystery man. Now she's pissed and...well, we'll see what happens next. *lol*
And...uhm...this turned out to be a bit longer than the previous chapters.
*grins*
PhoenixRae's Shout-Outs:
Hayley Potter, Princess Punky, Crystal Lily, d[n-n]b, Loard Becca, JemG, vanns, DiagonAlley, cute-crazy-chick1, The Totally Sarcastic Sprite, Dreaming One, MelissaAdams, Snowy-Owl-213, moween, pickle, Faxton, Eminem-Chick2, Aidenfire, Crystal Snowflakes, Dark Gypsy, birtyb03, Wizzabee, Miss Marauder1, Lady Laughs-A-Lot, blackbow, jennifer, TalleyAnne, fEEdLestEEx, tay, luckyducky6289, Lia (now don't be pissed-off with Oliver in the previous chapter. Uhm...I think he got even with Malfoy in this chapter), Lady Greenleaf2, Magic Girl2, Andrea, digidestined, tootie frootie, Cactuskitty, killtheposeurs, Ginny13, Sabra, Elven Dagger, hasapi(wow...that has to be the longest review/critique you've left yet! *lol* thanks! and yeah, as soon as you pointed it out to me, I realized that that's what he's turning to be like. so I'll try and veer him away from that sort of persona. *grins*), fishy (ya know what? you are probably right. I feel like it's coming to an end soon as well), Short Cake1, Copperstring, Olivers-quidditch-queen, Remus'sHunni (hey, I like your nick, ^_~), Mrs. Wood-Felton, Jessiebear, CakeTwins, blackdragonofdeath13
