AN: Whoo hoo! 156 reviews!!! Thanks a TON! I really hope that this process
continues, and will do my best to satisfy your cravings(if you have any
that is!). This chapter basically focuses on conversation. It is sort of
like Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy's in the end of P&P(yes I'm obsessed), where
they end up removing all their prejudices and misconceptions about each
other. Enjoy it!
Draco's jaw remained suspended as he stared at the redhead, now busily rubbing unknown substances off a cauldron surface. If Ginny noticed this, she was doing a glorious job of ignoring him and remaining calm, quite an effort when he looked as astonished as he did.
His surprise finally translated itself into his voice and a question.
" Why?"
" Why what?" Ginny asked, looked up and meeting his questioning gaze.
" Your apology, how did you know?" Draco asked
" I thought you wanted to know WHY I apologized," Ginny teased, her
eyes not leaving his.
" Ginny, just tell me!" Draco snapped, unaware of the thrill he sent
through her when he unwittingly used her name.
Ginny sighed and proceeded on to the next cauldron,
" I- er, told Colin about our little." Ginny cast around for a word as
she scrubbed, " Discussion in the shield, and he informed me that you
weren't a Death Eater."
" Oh? And what else did he say?"
" He said that you were on our side, and I was-"Ginny cut herself off
at this point. She had already misjudged him, she didn't want to anger
him further by telling him how she had received Colin's information.
" Pretty damn surprised?" Draco finished for her, raising an eyebrow.
" I suppose you could say that, yes." Did he know how sexy he looked
when he did that? Ginny thought, growing flustered.
" I'm quite sure that you are extremely confused at the moment." Draco
drawled, he was really enjoying his position. He knew everything and
Ginny didn't, and he was more than willing to tell her, but for some
reason he wanted the curiosity to come from her.
" What gives you that idea?" Ginny responded, scrubbing at the cauldron
harder than ever.
"Because you cleaned that cauldron ten minutes ago," Draco grinned.
Ginny looked up at him, sick of playing games.
" Alright Draco, I don't know what exactly you want me to tell you. I
have no time for games, I have so much work to do!" she finished
wearily, gesturing around her.
Draco's look got serious. Without a second thought he withdrew his wand from his pocket and muttered a cleaning spell, in a second, all the cauldrons were gleaming. Ginny was delighted that he had done this, but couldn't help feeling a little guilty.
" You weren't supposed to do that. How did you even know how?" she
finished suspiciously.
" Professor Snape happened to mention this to me when he put me in
charge of the detention." Draco's face grew a little thoughtful, but
he was soon distracted by Ginny straightening up and stretching. She
then walked over to him and sat at a desk opposite him.
" You do realize, that by doing that you've put yourself in a difficult
position as well."
" How?"
" Well I suppose you were teasing me earlier to find out if I was
curious. You wanted me to fess up that I was, so you could get an
additional sense of power. However, by doing this you have proved that
you actually are as eager to tell me your side of it, as I am to hear
it." Ginny replied, her lips twitching slightly.
Draco was dumbfounded. Was he honestly this easy to crack? And here he was thinking that he was a complex psychological puzzle! Next time he would really get her, he thought darkly to himself. Then he paused to consider whether he wanted a next time or not. An image of her stretching came to mind and Draco decided that he most certainly did. But in order to accomplish that, he had to clear the air between them.
" You are absolutely correct." He acknowledged, smiling at Ginny's
shocked expression. She couldn't believe that he admitted she was
right!
" Jokes aside however," he continued, the expression on his face growing serious,
" Would you really like to hear my "side of it" as you put it?" Draco
looked up into Ginny's face, sending the question through his mouth as
well as his eyes.
He got the answer he had been hoping for.
" I would like nothing more" Ginny replied, her gaze not leaving his,
although she looked a little abashed at her confession.
" Alright, settle yourself, because this is a long story." Draco
replied, leaning backward and resting against his desk.
" We have all the time in the world. If I'm not mistaken, Snape only
expects me back at midnight." Ginny leaned forward, her hand cupping
her chin and fixed her eyes on Draco.
" Fine. But...where do I begin?"
" What made you not want to be a Death Eater in the first place? I
mean, Harry did tell me that in your fifth year you announced that you
had every intention of doing so."
A muscle in Draco's jaw twitched at the mention of Potter. However, he let it slide.
" A very good question Miss.Weasley" he said, in an uncanny imitation
of Mcgonagall. Ginny smiled, and this caused our narrator a momentary
distraction. However, he pulled himself together and continued on.
" It is true that I wanted to become a Death Eater in my fifth year,
but would you believe that the person who wanted that and me weren't
the same?"
" What exactly do you mean?"
" My father." Malfoy grimaced and unconsciously clenched his fist, "
Before I begun my schooling at Hogwarts, my father had formed the
opinion that I was far too much like my mother for his liking. He
would often berate me about it, but seeing as there was nothing he
could do about it psychologically, he devised another way. Are you
familiar with the Metamorphia Potion?"
Ginny blinked, startled.
" I've only heard it mentioned in passing. Isn't it illegal?"
At this Draco smiled wryly.
" Ginny this is Lucius Malfoy, what do you expect?" He shook his head.
" Anyway, what the Metamorphia potion does is that it focuses on the
bad traits of the taker. Say you were an overall angel, but had a
secret fetish for shoes. Your good traits would usually outweigh this
and it wouldn't come to anyone's attention. However, if you took the
Meta potion, it would capitalize on this trait and give it so much
power that all you would be able to do is go around ogling at people's
feet."
His explanation was humorous, but Ginny felt a small twinge as she got a vague idea of what Draco was trying to say.
" So you're saying that when your father fed you the potion, it
capitalized on the bad traits in you and caused them to outweigh the
good ones?"
" Precisely. My jealousy of Potter for example." Draco winced for a
minute; he hated to admit this and he had no idea why he was, but there
was some expression in Ginny's eyes that told him to confide in her, and
for once he trusted his instincts.
" I met him in Madam Malkin's shortly before my father begun to
administer the potion. We didn't exactly click, and this is what gave
my father the idea. Of course, the other flaws would be my temper and
.insecurity."
For a moment Ginny was gaping.
" Insecurity? You? You certainly don't-"
" Have you ever paused to wonder why I always tried to make life hell
for Potter Ginny?
" He's a Gryffindor, you're a Slytherin?"
" Come on, it goes deeper than that. This year its for a different
reason, I got to know him during the war and honestly didn't like his
personality. But before that it was the potion acting through me,
magnifying my jealousy of him to such an extent that I felt it my duty
to make life miserable for him."
" What about the whole Death Eater thing though?"
" Well I never wanted to be a Death Eater in the first place. Yet, my
fathers' approval was something I never got and was constantly seeking,
thus my insecurity. The potion used this trait against me as well and
made me desire to do anything he wished, which mainly consisted of
getting promoted in Voldemort's ranks."
When Draco finished, Ginny just stared at him for a moment. A lot of things that hadn't seemed quite right, now made sense to her. But she had one last query and blurted out what was on her mind.
" Well how come you're still such a prat?"
Upon this, Draco raised both his eyebrows.
" Sometimes." Ginny added.
Draco smirked now, leaning towards her.
"What you see now is my real personality, I can understand why you would
be confused, because the boy you used the Bat Bogey Hex on deserved it,
and the person today, hopefully doesn't. I avoid Potter now because I
don't want to pick fights, and I only decide to annoy the people who."
Draco trailed off.
" Who.." Ginny continued for him, meeting his eyes with her own.
" Look good angry" He finished softly, watching Ginny's eyes widen as
she pondered his statement.
Ginny was puzzled. Wait, what was he trying to say here, that he annoyed her because he thought she looked good? Was he apologizing for what he had done in the past? Ginny decided that all these questions were too confusing and went for the humorous approach instead.
" So you think Neville looks good when he loses his temper?" she questioned slyly.
To her immense consternation, Draco burst out laughing. She was concerned because if she thought the smirk was attractive, it was nothing compared to his laugh. When Draco dimpled and laughed the way he did it honestly made Ginny want to grab his face and kiss him. These thoughts really shook her and she quickly looked away, hoping that he'd stop soon.
" Thank Merlin he can't read my mind or he'd run away screaming!" she
thought to herself as she turned back around to face him.
" I'll keep this in mind the next time I pay you a compliment." Draco
choked, as his mental pictures caused him further mirth.
Before Ginny could let this comment register however, Draco continued on.
" So basically what I'm saying is; No, I haven't had a complete
personality transformation, no I'm not suddenly overwhelmed with love
for your brother, potter or Granger, I just feel differently about
certain things that I didn't before."
" And the good traits in you are now being exposed because you're not
taking the potion anymore." Ginny said.
" Yes. When my father went to Azkaban at the end of my fifth year, I
went down for a trip to the kitchens and saw one of the house elves
pouring something into my dish. I confronted my mother about it and she
was unable to keep it from me. It was lucky that I had the whole summer
ahead of me. I felt quite lost without the potion and it frightened me
to feel differently about so many things."
" Such as.." Ginny prompted.
Draco desperately wanted to say
" The only female Weasley." But he quelled this and responded with
" Well I used to think that Potions was my favorite subject because I
was so good at it, and because my father encouraged it. I realized
later that although Potions was easy, Defense against dark arts was
the really the subject I appreciated."
" You're good at that too." Ginny said softly, a shiver running down
her back as Draco looked up at her and smiled slowly.
" That's what made me decide to take this side during the war. Potter
and the rest were rather surprised when I did so, but when they found
that they could use my help, they soon accepted me. It was as if I was
getting to know a lot of people for the first time, and all my initial
ideas were removed. Your brothers were a source of constant amusement
once they got used to me, and I really liked Bill, he seemed to
understand my change of heart and lack of potion better than anyone
else."
" You knew my family?"
Draco smiled. Hadn't she wondered just why he had stopped teasing her about the state of the Weasley finances? True he didn't feel the best of feelings toward Ron, but Arthur and Molly were extremely hospitable towards him during the war and he had gotten along really well with Ginny's brothers. In fact, the only feelings he had now were gratitude and respect. He was distracted from these thoughts by seeing a dawning light grow in Ginny's eyes.
" So you were the help! Harry told me that they had received
unexpected help, and that's what was helping them. No wonder my father
doesn't curse the Malfoy name anymore."
" I wouldn't blame him if he did. Your father is an excellent man
Ginny, mine was a complete villain. Thank Merlin he's dead."
Draco finished this last sentence with no expression whatsoever. Ginny closed her eyes and then opened them, conveying mute sympathy in her gaze. Draco knew that he had to conclude this by answering the last questions in her mind.
" No Ginny, I'm not upset he's dead. It just hasn't fully sunken in
yet, and the fact that I'm not upset is bothering me. I mean he was a
bastard, but he was still my father, is it wrong for me not to regret
his going?"
Draco's tone was almost pleading, he needed some sort of reassurance, he didn't even know why.
" Judging by what he's done to you Draco, I don't think it is." Ginny said slowly.
Draco heaved a sigh of relief and then looked down at his shoes, he then looked back up at her.
" So we understand each other then?" He asked tentatively
Ginny gave a small half smile and extended her hand. He caught it up in his own and shook it
" Yes we do. Truce." Ginny gave a full blown smile now.
" Truce" Draco murmured back lazily, as he didn't relinquish his grip
on her hand. Instead he brought it up to his face and gently grazed it
with his lips, noting the light gasp Ginny gave in return. She closed
her eyes, and when she opened them, he was gone.
AN: Hmmm so this was the chapter. Please feel free to criticize, I know that some of my ideas are "out there" but in my head I just couldn't reconcile Rowling's Draco with the Draco in my fic. Do tell me what you think of my "Potion" idea in your reviews and expect some major fireworks in the next chapter. This is when Dumbledore announces the ball, the three teachers make their last plan and more. I promise to update really soon because I have only a few weeks left of vacation and need to finish this fic up before I start school. Till then, review, review review!!!!0
Draco's jaw remained suspended as he stared at the redhead, now busily rubbing unknown substances off a cauldron surface. If Ginny noticed this, she was doing a glorious job of ignoring him and remaining calm, quite an effort when he looked as astonished as he did.
His surprise finally translated itself into his voice and a question.
" Why?"
" Why what?" Ginny asked, looked up and meeting his questioning gaze.
" Your apology, how did you know?" Draco asked
" I thought you wanted to know WHY I apologized," Ginny teased, her
eyes not leaving his.
" Ginny, just tell me!" Draco snapped, unaware of the thrill he sent
through her when he unwittingly used her name.
Ginny sighed and proceeded on to the next cauldron,
" I- er, told Colin about our little." Ginny cast around for a word as
she scrubbed, " Discussion in the shield, and he informed me that you
weren't a Death Eater."
" Oh? And what else did he say?"
" He said that you were on our side, and I was-"Ginny cut herself off
at this point. She had already misjudged him, she didn't want to anger
him further by telling him how she had received Colin's information.
" Pretty damn surprised?" Draco finished for her, raising an eyebrow.
" I suppose you could say that, yes." Did he know how sexy he looked
when he did that? Ginny thought, growing flustered.
" I'm quite sure that you are extremely confused at the moment." Draco
drawled, he was really enjoying his position. He knew everything and
Ginny didn't, and he was more than willing to tell her, but for some
reason he wanted the curiosity to come from her.
" What gives you that idea?" Ginny responded, scrubbing at the cauldron
harder than ever.
"Because you cleaned that cauldron ten minutes ago," Draco grinned.
Ginny looked up at him, sick of playing games.
" Alright Draco, I don't know what exactly you want me to tell you. I
have no time for games, I have so much work to do!" she finished
wearily, gesturing around her.
Draco's look got serious. Without a second thought he withdrew his wand from his pocket and muttered a cleaning spell, in a second, all the cauldrons were gleaming. Ginny was delighted that he had done this, but couldn't help feeling a little guilty.
" You weren't supposed to do that. How did you even know how?" she
finished suspiciously.
" Professor Snape happened to mention this to me when he put me in
charge of the detention." Draco's face grew a little thoughtful, but
he was soon distracted by Ginny straightening up and stretching. She
then walked over to him and sat at a desk opposite him.
" You do realize, that by doing that you've put yourself in a difficult
position as well."
" How?"
" Well I suppose you were teasing me earlier to find out if I was
curious. You wanted me to fess up that I was, so you could get an
additional sense of power. However, by doing this you have proved that
you actually are as eager to tell me your side of it, as I am to hear
it." Ginny replied, her lips twitching slightly.
Draco was dumbfounded. Was he honestly this easy to crack? And here he was thinking that he was a complex psychological puzzle! Next time he would really get her, he thought darkly to himself. Then he paused to consider whether he wanted a next time or not. An image of her stretching came to mind and Draco decided that he most certainly did. But in order to accomplish that, he had to clear the air between them.
" You are absolutely correct." He acknowledged, smiling at Ginny's
shocked expression. She couldn't believe that he admitted she was
right!
" Jokes aside however," he continued, the expression on his face growing serious,
" Would you really like to hear my "side of it" as you put it?" Draco
looked up into Ginny's face, sending the question through his mouth as
well as his eyes.
He got the answer he had been hoping for.
" I would like nothing more" Ginny replied, her gaze not leaving his,
although she looked a little abashed at her confession.
" Alright, settle yourself, because this is a long story." Draco
replied, leaning backward and resting against his desk.
" We have all the time in the world. If I'm not mistaken, Snape only
expects me back at midnight." Ginny leaned forward, her hand cupping
her chin and fixed her eyes on Draco.
" Fine. But...where do I begin?"
" What made you not want to be a Death Eater in the first place? I
mean, Harry did tell me that in your fifth year you announced that you
had every intention of doing so."
A muscle in Draco's jaw twitched at the mention of Potter. However, he let it slide.
" A very good question Miss.Weasley" he said, in an uncanny imitation
of Mcgonagall. Ginny smiled, and this caused our narrator a momentary
distraction. However, he pulled himself together and continued on.
" It is true that I wanted to become a Death Eater in my fifth year,
but would you believe that the person who wanted that and me weren't
the same?"
" What exactly do you mean?"
" My father." Malfoy grimaced and unconsciously clenched his fist, "
Before I begun my schooling at Hogwarts, my father had formed the
opinion that I was far too much like my mother for his liking. He
would often berate me about it, but seeing as there was nothing he
could do about it psychologically, he devised another way. Are you
familiar with the Metamorphia Potion?"
Ginny blinked, startled.
" I've only heard it mentioned in passing. Isn't it illegal?"
At this Draco smiled wryly.
" Ginny this is Lucius Malfoy, what do you expect?" He shook his head.
" Anyway, what the Metamorphia potion does is that it focuses on the
bad traits of the taker. Say you were an overall angel, but had a
secret fetish for shoes. Your good traits would usually outweigh this
and it wouldn't come to anyone's attention. However, if you took the
Meta potion, it would capitalize on this trait and give it so much
power that all you would be able to do is go around ogling at people's
feet."
His explanation was humorous, but Ginny felt a small twinge as she got a vague idea of what Draco was trying to say.
" So you're saying that when your father fed you the potion, it
capitalized on the bad traits in you and caused them to outweigh the
good ones?"
" Precisely. My jealousy of Potter for example." Draco winced for a
minute; he hated to admit this and he had no idea why he was, but there
was some expression in Ginny's eyes that told him to confide in her, and
for once he trusted his instincts.
" I met him in Madam Malkin's shortly before my father begun to
administer the potion. We didn't exactly click, and this is what gave
my father the idea. Of course, the other flaws would be my temper and
.insecurity."
For a moment Ginny was gaping.
" Insecurity? You? You certainly don't-"
" Have you ever paused to wonder why I always tried to make life hell
for Potter Ginny?
" He's a Gryffindor, you're a Slytherin?"
" Come on, it goes deeper than that. This year its for a different
reason, I got to know him during the war and honestly didn't like his
personality. But before that it was the potion acting through me,
magnifying my jealousy of him to such an extent that I felt it my duty
to make life miserable for him."
" What about the whole Death Eater thing though?"
" Well I never wanted to be a Death Eater in the first place. Yet, my
fathers' approval was something I never got and was constantly seeking,
thus my insecurity. The potion used this trait against me as well and
made me desire to do anything he wished, which mainly consisted of
getting promoted in Voldemort's ranks."
When Draco finished, Ginny just stared at him for a moment. A lot of things that hadn't seemed quite right, now made sense to her. But she had one last query and blurted out what was on her mind.
" Well how come you're still such a prat?"
Upon this, Draco raised both his eyebrows.
" Sometimes." Ginny added.
Draco smirked now, leaning towards her.
"What you see now is my real personality, I can understand why you would
be confused, because the boy you used the Bat Bogey Hex on deserved it,
and the person today, hopefully doesn't. I avoid Potter now because I
don't want to pick fights, and I only decide to annoy the people who."
Draco trailed off.
" Who.." Ginny continued for him, meeting his eyes with her own.
" Look good angry" He finished softly, watching Ginny's eyes widen as
she pondered his statement.
Ginny was puzzled. Wait, what was he trying to say here, that he annoyed her because he thought she looked good? Was he apologizing for what he had done in the past? Ginny decided that all these questions were too confusing and went for the humorous approach instead.
" So you think Neville looks good when he loses his temper?" she questioned slyly.
To her immense consternation, Draco burst out laughing. She was concerned because if she thought the smirk was attractive, it was nothing compared to his laugh. When Draco dimpled and laughed the way he did it honestly made Ginny want to grab his face and kiss him. These thoughts really shook her and she quickly looked away, hoping that he'd stop soon.
" Thank Merlin he can't read my mind or he'd run away screaming!" she
thought to herself as she turned back around to face him.
" I'll keep this in mind the next time I pay you a compliment." Draco
choked, as his mental pictures caused him further mirth.
Before Ginny could let this comment register however, Draco continued on.
" So basically what I'm saying is; No, I haven't had a complete
personality transformation, no I'm not suddenly overwhelmed with love
for your brother, potter or Granger, I just feel differently about
certain things that I didn't before."
" And the good traits in you are now being exposed because you're not
taking the potion anymore." Ginny said.
" Yes. When my father went to Azkaban at the end of my fifth year, I
went down for a trip to the kitchens and saw one of the house elves
pouring something into my dish. I confronted my mother about it and she
was unable to keep it from me. It was lucky that I had the whole summer
ahead of me. I felt quite lost without the potion and it frightened me
to feel differently about so many things."
" Such as.." Ginny prompted.
Draco desperately wanted to say
" The only female Weasley." But he quelled this and responded with
" Well I used to think that Potions was my favorite subject because I
was so good at it, and because my father encouraged it. I realized
later that although Potions was easy, Defense against dark arts was
the really the subject I appreciated."
" You're good at that too." Ginny said softly, a shiver running down
her back as Draco looked up at her and smiled slowly.
" That's what made me decide to take this side during the war. Potter
and the rest were rather surprised when I did so, but when they found
that they could use my help, they soon accepted me. It was as if I was
getting to know a lot of people for the first time, and all my initial
ideas were removed. Your brothers were a source of constant amusement
once they got used to me, and I really liked Bill, he seemed to
understand my change of heart and lack of potion better than anyone
else."
" You knew my family?"
Draco smiled. Hadn't she wondered just why he had stopped teasing her about the state of the Weasley finances? True he didn't feel the best of feelings toward Ron, but Arthur and Molly were extremely hospitable towards him during the war and he had gotten along really well with Ginny's brothers. In fact, the only feelings he had now were gratitude and respect. He was distracted from these thoughts by seeing a dawning light grow in Ginny's eyes.
" So you were the help! Harry told me that they had received
unexpected help, and that's what was helping them. No wonder my father
doesn't curse the Malfoy name anymore."
" I wouldn't blame him if he did. Your father is an excellent man
Ginny, mine was a complete villain. Thank Merlin he's dead."
Draco finished this last sentence with no expression whatsoever. Ginny closed her eyes and then opened them, conveying mute sympathy in her gaze. Draco knew that he had to conclude this by answering the last questions in her mind.
" No Ginny, I'm not upset he's dead. It just hasn't fully sunken in
yet, and the fact that I'm not upset is bothering me. I mean he was a
bastard, but he was still my father, is it wrong for me not to regret
his going?"
Draco's tone was almost pleading, he needed some sort of reassurance, he didn't even know why.
" Judging by what he's done to you Draco, I don't think it is." Ginny said slowly.
Draco heaved a sigh of relief and then looked down at his shoes, he then looked back up at her.
" So we understand each other then?" He asked tentatively
Ginny gave a small half smile and extended her hand. He caught it up in his own and shook it
" Yes we do. Truce." Ginny gave a full blown smile now.
" Truce" Draco murmured back lazily, as he didn't relinquish his grip
on her hand. Instead he brought it up to his face and gently grazed it
with his lips, noting the light gasp Ginny gave in return. She closed
her eyes, and when she opened them, he was gone.
AN: Hmmm so this was the chapter. Please feel free to criticize, I know that some of my ideas are "out there" but in my head I just couldn't reconcile Rowling's Draco with the Draco in my fic. Do tell me what you think of my "Potion" idea in your reviews and expect some major fireworks in the next chapter. This is when Dumbledore announces the ball, the three teachers make their last plan and more. I promise to update really soon because I have only a few weeks left of vacation and need to finish this fic up before I start school. Till then, review, review review!!!!0