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 Notes: And I thought I'll be able to upload this ASAP! lol Well, now that I have some time again, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
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XXII. Can't You See I'm Hurting Too?
Trying to make sense of what just happened between them in the library the other night, Draco Malfoy found himself walking the banks of the great lake one quiet afternoon away from the usual ruckus generated by the excited students of Hogwarts. He told himself countless times that he was over Ginny Weasley. Heck, he has a long string of female companions since her to prove his point. He didn't know why he was even infatuated with the petite redhead. She wasn't the supermodel type. She was just a plain, poor pureblooded witch that caught his fancy. Lucius would laugh at him when he finds out his son tried to win a Weasley.
Draco was surprised when he heard the rumours of Zabini hooking up with Wilson, Ginny's best friend. He didn't think Zabini would manage to pull it off considering they have been rivals from day one (blame that to this on-going feud between their two houses). Blaise didn't resort to any form of trickery; it was a bumpy ride for Blaise before he reached that happy ending he was looking for, but it sure paid off in the end. Now he, Draco Malfoy, was the one going around school like some man-whore that he once was.
"Lost in your thoughts, Malfoy?"
Draco stopped near a large border and looked up to find Oliver wood standing just a foot away from him lounging against the bark of a sturdy tree. Glaring at his professor, Draco decided to ignore him, but Oliver had something to say that cannot be ignored.
"Girl problem?" Oliver prodded still lounging lazily against the tree. "I know a certain redhead who can do that to a person, you know? Drive them insane. Make them think of things they normally wouldn't think about," he shrugged and pushed away from the tree. Slipping his hands in his trouser pockets, Oliver crossed the small distance between them and stopped by the giant boulder rock, his gaze fixed on the lake. "You shouldn't have played her like that."
"Played her like what?" Draco angrily snapped.
Oliver cocked an eyebrow and looked at the blond seventh year. "She's no fool, Malfoy. Ginny's a pretty smart girl. I guess you wouldn't know that since you were never around her much."
"What do you care, Wood? Weasley hates me. You can make your move on her any damn time you want!"
"And you wouldn't blackmail me again?" Oliver scoffed and shook his head, "No, Malfoy. Not this time. I know I have feelings for Ginny, but no matter what I do she'll never see me as more than another brother to her."
"I don't think that's any of my problem. If you were madly in love with her why didn't you pursue her? You had all the time and chance in the world, and yet you let it slip by."
Oliver shrugged. "I knew she'd never fancy me back."
"You're right. She won't fancy someone like you. I don't think someone like Ginny would be stupid enough to fall for a sorry loser such as yourself, Professor."
"Watch your tongue, Malfoy," Oliver warned.
"What? I'm just telling the truth."
"And you thought Ginny would fancy someone like you?" Oliver questioned, an eyebrow raised and regarded the seventh year Slytherin carefully. "If I am not mistaken you haven't been Mr. Right to her since the first day you two saw each other in Diagon Alley. What made you think she'd fall for you too?"
Draco clenched his fists. Everything Oliver said aimed close to home. He was right, the silly git. What was he thinking? Ginny Weasley wouldn't fancy him back. Maybe she fancied that damnable, romantic APC of hers which was his alter ego, but that wasn't the real him. Draco Malfoy was no romantic. It was an illusion. That APC persona was an illusion; he'd never surface again...
"Whacha doing, Malfoy?" asked Blaise when he saw his roommate hunched forward in his seat, his quill flying across the piece of parchment in front of him.
"Nothing," Draco replied curtly and hid the parchment from his roommate. "Don't you have a date with Wilson at the library this evening?"
"Yeah, I do. But Abby just owled me with a note saying she'd be a few minutes late. Weasley is giving his sister the sermon of the century."
"What? What for?"
Blaise shrugged and fell on his bed. "I think Ron found some of Ginny's APC's mushy love letters and now he's demanding who this new guy in his sister's life."
"Weasley blew a lid, didn't he, huh?" Draco smirked.
"Yep," Blaise nodded. "Abby said Ginny and Ron are having a yelling contest in their dormitory as we speak. But it will be over in a few minutes. It better be 'coz Abby and I agreed to meet in the library in ten minutes." He got up and walked to where his friend was sitting, "Hey, why don't you come to the library with me. Ginny's going to be there. You don't necessarily have to talk to her, but if you find the courage to actually pour your heart out and talk, hey, that'll be great," he invited.
Draco narrowed his eyes at Blaise's invitation. He knew every time Blaise meet up with his girlfriend in the library Ginny was there. He doesn't know why Ginny was always with them, but Draco figured those two needed to distract Madam Pince if they were to snog behind books in the library.
"So? What do you say?"
Draco glanced at the piece of parchment on the table then back at his roommate. "I'll see if I can make a trip down to the library," he shrugged.
"You sure?" Blaise stopped at the door. "Ginny's going to be there."
Draco made a face at him and shooed him out. Blaise left laughing, closing the door after him, leaving Draco to continue on writing on the piece of parchment.
"Are you sure he's coming?" whispered Abby from behind the large textbook she propped up in front of her to hide herself from Ginny and everyone else passing by their table.
"I'm positive. He was writing something on a piece of parchment like a maniac. I have a feeling it's another letter for Ginny," Blaise nodded, slouched low in his seat with an equally large textbook propped up on the table in front of him.
"What made you think he will make an appearance?"
Blaise made a face at his girlfriend. "C'mon Abs, I know Malfoy. And I've seen him when he's writing one of his letters to Ginny. He didn't want me peering over his shoulder to see what he was writing, but I know it's a letter for Ginny."
"What if it's not? And what if he didn't show up? Ginny's gonna have my hide for dragging her here for no apparent reason!" she hissed.
"And what was the reason you gave her anyway?" Blaise demanded.
"I told her Malfoy wanted to see her and talk to her."
"What?!" Blaise dropped the textbook with a loud thud on the table, causing Abby and Ginny to jump from their seats. Some of the other students present also looked their way.
"What the hell's wrong?" demanded Ginny, looking from Blaise to Abby then back at Blaise. "What did Abby do this time, Blaise? Bit your lip or what?"
Blaise gave an annoyed look at Ginny but ignored her. His eyes were fixed firmly on his girlfriend. "You told her that?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Abby looked indifferently at her boyfriend.
"Because we're not even sure if he's..." the rest of what Blaise had to say died on his lips when he saw a movement from the corner of his eye. Turning he nearly fell off his chair when he saw Draco standing there, a rolled-up parchment in his hand and sought Ginny's attention.
"Weasley, mind if I have a word with you?"
Abby nearly fell off her chair too when she heard Draco spoke those words. She honestly didn't expect her little fib earlier just to get Ginny to accompany her to the library would actually come true. Blaise and Abby watched with baited breath as the scene before them unfold. Ginny looked like she didn't want anything to do with Malfoy and wasn't pleased that he actually made an appearance. Draco, on the other hand, looked like he was holding on to a very thin thread; his last chance at setting things straight with Ginny.
"Uuhh...do--do you guys want us to leave you alone?" Blaise stammered and pushed himself off his chair with Abby following his lead. They waited for either one of their housemates to say anything, but when Draco and Ginny remained locked in a staring battle, it was up to Blaise and Abby to take the hint and left the two alone, but with worried backward glances until Blaise pushed Abby behind one of the tall bookshelves placed horizontally across the table they just vacated. Pushing some books out of the way, they both peered at the couple left on the table. Draco hasn't sat down yet and Ginny hasn't said anything nor moved a muscle.
"Dammit, why aren't they doing anything?" hissed Abby.
"Shh, relax, will ya? I think those two are still shocked at being left alone in each other's company once again," Blaise replied.
"But they better do something soon before I die of suspense here," she hissed.
Blaise cocked an eyebrow and looked at his girlfriend, grinning from ear to ear he couldn't help the urge to kiss her soundly on the cheek, surprising Abby. "What was that for?" she demanded.
"That was for you being so darn cute," Blaise chuckled. "Now hush-up and watch. It might take a while before those two move a muscle."
Ginny didn't know what to do. So Abby wasn't lying when she said Draco wanted to speak to her. She didn't really believe Abby earlier when her friend was trying to persuade her to come with her to the library; she sounded desperate and up to something, but since Ginny had nothing else left to do she gave in. But now Draco Malfoy was actually here, in the library, standing right beside her looking down at her with those undecipherable steel gray eyes of his that made her feel uneasy inside. Regardless of her anger towards him; her annoyance at the audacity of the man before her to make a complete, utter fool out of her, and the way she turned down the chance he asked of her without thinking twice about it, Ginny knew the man behind her APC's letters was the real Draco Malfoy; the Draco Malfoy no one has seen before, except her.
"W-what do you want, Malfoy?" She tried to sound indifferent, her voice neutral and less quivery, but she knew it was a losing battle. Her insides here turning to mush albeit slowly, and her brain was ceasing to function coherently.
"Like what I said, Weasley, I want a word with you," he replied nonchalantly.
Curse the blond hair on his head for acting cool as ice while she was no where near as cool as he looked.
"About what?"
"Us," he replied without skipping a beat.
"Us?" she echoed, "In case you have forgotten, Malfoy, there is no us."
"Actually Weasley, you're wrong. There was an us, an us that loved and adored and seduced one another under the cloak of anonymity, at least it was a cloak of anonymity for my part."
Ginny's eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch. Taking a deep breath she squared her shoulders and jutted her chin to the air, trying to look down her nose at Draco even as she was seated and he stood before her.
"Whatever it was, it was long gone now, Malfoy. The person who loved and seduced me under that cloak was just a figment of my imagination; he wasn't even real. I let myself be lead-on by a fantasy, a fantasy lover; a fantasy boyfriend; a fantasy relationship that I knew was too good to be true because he was just too damn sweet and loving in all his letters that he sent me." Pushing her chair away, she got up and gathered the book she brought with her to read. "Now if you will excuse me, I think it's time for me to return back to my dormitory. If Blaise and Abby comes back, just tell them I already left." She didn't wait for him to say anything, she side-stepped around him and only managed to take one single step before Draco's hand wrapped around her upper arm, preventing her from leaving.
"Wait," he said softly. He didn't give Ginny the chance to voice out her opinion and held out the rolled-up parchment he had. "Here, read this. Give me an answer if you want, but I doubt I'll hear any from you anyway." Ginny made a gesture to argue, but he shook his head and thrust the parchment he was handing to her, "Take it, Weaslette, and read it. Then you can throw it afterwards. I don't care what you do with it just as long as you read it. You won't be seeing me anymore after tomorrow anyway so it doesn't matter."
"Mal--"
Draco cut her off once again. "Goodbye, Ginny Weasley." He slowly let go of her arm, letting his hand drop to his side. "And have a good life." He walked away without a backwards glance. He passed by the bookshelf Blaise and Abby hid themselves from the view of the couple and noticed the couple's jaws hanging. He ignored them.
Draco Malfoy just kept right on walking, ignoring the prickling feeling at the back of his neck as he strode out of the library. He told himself countless times he doesn't care whether Ginny read his letter or not. He doesn't care. He wouldn't care. That chapter of his life was over. As of tomorrow after the Farewell Feast his life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and his infatuation with a certain Ginny Weasley was over.
Dearest Ginny,
I know you are sick and tired of receiving these nonsensical letters from me. To be honest I am getting sick and tired of
sending them to you too, but somehow I find myself reaching for a piece of parchment lying about on my study table, opening my
ink bottle and grabbing my finest quill and start writing to you.
I already accepted the truth. You will never be mine. You and I will never be together. You are destined to be with someone
you deserve, someone who will appreciate and adore you more than life itself. Regardless of all the bad memories we had (along
with some good ones we shared when you didn't know it was me behind those letters you received), I won't forget you. You'll always
be a part of me, a part of my life that was Hogwarts. I'll move on, don't worry about it. Heck, I doubt you'll worry about whether
or not I'm going to be alright. But in my mind I will keep that comforting thought that even though you detest me, you still find
it in yourself to care for me--even just a little bit.
As an ending to this final letter of mine (trust me, after this you won't hear from me ever again), I will leave you with this
to ponder on:
Oceans apart day after day
And I slowly go insane
I hear your voice on the line
But it doesn't stop the pain
If I see you next to never
How can we say forever
Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you
I took for granted, all the times
That I thought would last somehow
I hear the laughter, I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now
Oh, can't you see it baby
You've got me goin' crazy
Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you
I wonder how we can survive
This romance
But in the end if I'm with you
I'll take the chance
oh, can't you see it baby
you've got me goin crazy
Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you
Waiting for you...
Loving you always,
Draco Malfoy
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A/N: Ooooh, finally! Man, and I thought I wouldn't finish this chapter! grins Well, looks like after this one I am gonna be serving you the FINAL chapter. Which I am in the mood to type after this, but ...well, we'll see for now.
A/N2: Draco decided to borrow Richard Marx's Right Here Waiting song, which happened to be one of me old time fave ballads
PhoenixRae's Thank Yous: OMG, there's too many of you to thank, but you all know who you are. Thank you all for being ever so patient with me! And I am hoping that before this weekend's over I am gonna upload the final chapter of this fic. Until then, happy reading for now!