"We have to stay here?" A Slytherin girl exclaimed with disgust on her face. "We can't stay in this, this..."
"Decrepit mound of dust?" Draco offered, striding past her to sit at the desk, "Unfortunately, we have to. You need to practice for your exams, after all."
"How come the other years didn't come?" She demanded.
Little whiner, He thought, though aloud he said simply, "They do not have major wizarding exams this year."
"And do we have to stay with these? They're Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs!" She whined, "I don't want them touching my things!"
"Feel free to isolate yourself in one of the rooms, though this chimney is the only one safe to light a fire in." He growled through clenched teeth.
"How can you stand for this, Sir? You're a Slytherin too!" She snapped.
"I have learned to keep my mouth shut, Miss Zabini, it would do well for you to do so as well." He snapped back, standing up and glaring at her, "Now you will hold your tongue about such prejudice while in the presence of myself, Professor Corner and any other students. Am I clear?"
"Crystal." She spat.
"Wow, Zabini, in trouble already?" Scott Weasley taunted, having just entered the room.
"What's it to you, Weasley?" She demanded.
"She probably insulted us Gryffindors and our friendly Hufflepuffs again." Ralph Weasley told his brother.
Draco could not help but be grateful that the twins were wearing their Weasley jumpers. It was the only way he could identify them. The rest of the Weasleys piled in after the two boys. Spring and Summer were also wearing their jumpers, which each had a tree on the left side, Spring's was budding and Summer's had a full canopy of leaves. Fern and Willow were discernible due to personality and the fact that Fern always followed her twin's lead.
When all eighty of the juvenile monsters had gathered in the room, Draco realised that it would be far too small. Not to mention it would be best to divide them, what with them being teenagers and having hormones and such. Sweet Merlin, he was trapped in a wooden shack full of dust with eighty bloody teenagers! If there was hell on Earth, this was it.
Ginny caught his eye and nodded before leaving the room. She obviously found another living room, as she returned rather quickly.
"Girls, grab a sleeping bag and follow me." She called.
A few glanced reluctantly at the boys before picking up a roll and following Ginny. Draco glared at his charges when a few made as if to follow. They stopped dead in their tracks. Ralph and Scott Weasley looked positively delighted. Aw, hell, He thought when he realized he had the two most prominent pranksters since Fred and George Weasley to watch over.
"You will all be sleeping in this room. Anyone who leaves it will be hexed and forced to sleep outside. Am I clear?" He snarled menacingly.
A few swallowed hard.
Ralph, however, looked smug, "See, Scott, I told you we wouldn't be left in the same room as the girls." He said loudly.
"Obviously not. They don't trust our teenage hormones," Scott answered just as loudly.
Draco sighed exasperatedly, "We will begin teaching you everything you'll need to know for your OWLs and NEWTs tomorrow."
Much to hers and Draco's amazement, the students responded wonderfully to their teachings. She had taken in the fifth years at Draco's insistence. She had humoured him mostly so he would not gripe about it constantly when they returned to their 'office' when the students were sleeping.
After one night, after which her co-worker had woken to find toothpaste on his face, Draco had claimed one of the other slightly smaller rooms as his office and bedroom. Ginny had soon joined him when the girls refused to go to bed for hours due to gossiping. Only Slytherin had remained apart, gossiping just to their house-mates.
This had many repercussions, though most were positive. Obviously the teenagers thought that Draco and Ginny were romantically involved, which they both denied only to receive 'knowing' grins. She had taken it in stride, rolling her eyes and avoiding the topic ever since. He had been rather irritated with it, though soon reverted to such tactics.
Even the Weasleys were amused by it, though they knew nothing of the sort was going on. Ginny's daughter Brandy was adamant that her mother was loyal to her father. If she only knew... Ginny sighed.
Ginny suddenly sat up in her sleeping bag, making Draco grunt from across the room. Why not tell her? Brandy would not hate her, as Ginny had told her everything else. She hoped so, anyways. She tip-toed down the hall in her night robes and entered the girls' room with no sound other than the creak of the door.
Numerous girls were still awake. They all feigned sleep as soon as she entered and Ginny smiled slightly. She had been just like them in her fifth and seventh years, staying up past curfew and pretending to sleep whenever she was checked on. She walked over to where the Weasley girls were and crouched beside Brandy, who had been awake when she walked in.
"Brandy, can I speak with you?" She whispered, touching her daughter's shoulder.
Her eyes flew open, a worried look appearing on her face. "What's wrong?"
Ginny shook her head, "Nothing is wrong, I just need to tell you something."
Curious, Brandy stood and followed her mother out of the room after pulling on her own dressing robes. Ginny led her down the hallway to an unused room far from the others. She closed the door and locked it before turning to face her daughter.
"Sit down, Brandy," She said kindly, creating two cushions, "This might take a while."
"If it's nothing bad, why are you being all Professor Corner?" Brandy asked as they sat down.
Ginny sighed, her brow furrowed, "Because I need to tell you something."
"What is it?" The girl asked, playing with her red hair.
Ginny faltered, unable to admit it. She and Brandy had a very close relationship, more friends than familial. However, at the moment she could not admit what she had wanted to say. She fidgeted, looking at her hands in her lap for an excuse.
Brandy was still watching her, she knew it, "You aren't really sleeping with Professor Malfoy, are you?"
Ginny shook her head, "No," She admitted.
"Ah, but you want to." Brandy said evilly with a smirk that Ginny saw when she looked up.
"You're cruel." Ginny told her calmly.
"So true," Brandy admitted. "So, why the sudden interest?"
"Draco and I were dating long before I married Michael. We broke up when he told me that he had to marry Pansy Parkinson due to his job. Michael then asked me out and offered to marry me when he found out I was pregnant. I was scared, so I accepted." Ginny said in one breath.
"But you never really loved him, did you?" Brandy asked sympathetically.
Ginny sighed, "No, not really... You may have noticed that we've been arguing a lot lately and, well, I think it's about time we call it off instead of being miserable..." She trailed off.
Silence fell as Ginny watched her daughter who was looking intently at her..
"I was wondering what was up with you two. Dad looked ready to hex you when you so much as looked at Malfoy... I never really understood why you two got married anyways."
"You didn't?" Ginny demanded.
"Well, you two are an odd couple." Her daughter said dismissively.
"So you understand why I'm going to owl him tomorrow, asking for a divorce?" Ginny asked kindly.
Brandy nodded slightly, "Can't say I'm happy, but the lack of sleep has been getting to me."
"Don't joke around like that." She warned.
"That's how I deal, I joke." The younger version of Ginny answered seriously, "So, once you've divorced Dad, what do you plan to do?"
Ginny stared at her.
"Will you admit that you and Malfoy are intimate then?" Brandy asked impishly, smirking again, "It's so obvious... Unless you'll deny it again."
"Brandy!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Well, are you?" Her daughter demanded, smirking.
"No!" Ginny exclaimed, "And I haven't told him yet, but I'll tell him before this whole problem is solved."
Brandy arched an eyebrow doubtfully.
"What? You don't trust me?" The professor inquired haughtily.
"Nope, not at all," Her evil offspring answered truthfully.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Well, I will tell him." She affirmed, "Now, back to bed with you."
Brandy smirked and walked down the hall of her own accord. Ginny watched her go with a proud smile. Of all her children, she knew that Brandy was the only one who could take such a blow so well. Joseph would have never spoken to her again, Daniel would have withdrawn into sultry solitude, Alexis would have yelled and tried to hex her, Aleanor would probably had slapped her and never spoken to her again while Amanda would have been shocked into never speaking aloud again.
Ginny opened the door to her room and went straight to her sleeping bag with a slight bounce in her step.
"What was that all about?" Draco's drawling voice asked as she lay down.
"I was just telling Brandy that I'm divorcing her father." Ginny answered, not watching her mouth, "Oh great Godric, did I just say that out loud?"
"Merlin, Gin," Draco exclaimed, rolling over to stare at her, "Why the hell are you doing that?"
"Keep your voice down, Draco." She warned.
"Keep my voice down?" He repeated, "Bloody hell woman, why?"
"It's for the best." She responded.
She reluctantly met his smoky grey eyes from across the room. He seemed to be closer. In fact, she was certain he was closer. She could see the moonlight shine gently on his face through the slats on the window as he stopped two feet from her. Their eyes met and they simply stared for what felt like an eternity.
"We've been fighting a lot, Drake." She told him, mostly just to break the silence, "He won't want the children and, if I'm right, he'll be grateful. One, he'll no longer have to deal with my crazy family-"
"Who wants to deal with the entire Weasley clan at once?" He demanded, smirking as well.
"And two, he'll finally be able to date Cho like he obviously wants to." She finished as if she had not heard him, though she grinned.
"And what will you get out of it?" He whispered, in a tone that she had never heard before.
At least, not for sixteen years and, thus, not since they had been together back then. She realized, rather guiltily, that she had missed being with him since then. And now that she had decided to divorce Michael, she had the possibility of reigniting an old flame. If he wanted to, that is.
"Maybe admit something that I've been denying..." She answered, looking away and at the floor.
"Until Corner went mental when he saw you looking at me?" He offered.
"Basically." She admitted, looking back at him.
She felt him move closer. She did not scoot away. They had been friends since he had turned his coat in her sixth year. She had been rather enamoured with him since then and they had dated off and on throughout their adult years, until he had gone off to marry Pansy as an Auror mission. They had not even called it off when he had gotten drunk and slept with another witch to get information on another such Auror mission beforehand.
"Gin?" He asked and she looked up at him. "Can I kiss you?"
In that moment, she forgot where she was and that they had eighty teenagers to watch over. She nodded and he did what he had asked permission to do without further ado. He captured her lips with his own, but she did not resist. Before she knew what was happening, they had gone far past where she had intended to stop. The worst part, she found, was that she did not regret any of it.
"Professors?" Someone called, wrapping on the locked door.
Draco's eyes flew open, meeting with bright sunlight. "Oh shit." He mumbled, rolling over as he suddenly felt the cold around him.
He curled up, "It's Sunday, let me sleep!" He yelled.
A giggle sounded on the other side followed by the pitter-patter of many cursed little teenage hormone-filled feet moving away. He rolled over, intending to go back to sleep, only to nearly choke on a mane of hair; very red hair belonging to a very pretty hellcat with not a stitch of clothing on.
"Oh hell." He muttered, reaching out and shaking her bare shoulder, "Gin, wake up. Ginny?"
She moaned and rolled onto him, putting an arm across his chest. "Just one more minute." She murmured.
"Ginny, wake up!" He whispered louder, growing slightly frantic.
"What?" Ginny asked, her eyes flying open to meet his, "Oh shit."
"Yeah." He agreed.
She rolled off of him and grabbed her clothes, pulling them back on. "Did we?" She asked.
"You know as well as I." He answered evasively, doing the same.
"Apparate to the Three Broomsticks, we don't want those rowdy hormone-filled creatures to get any ideas." He reminded her, "Be quick, I need to shower too."
She nodded and vanished.
Draco tried to accept the gravity of the situation, but could not. All he could think about was how much of a hellcat she still was, sixteen years later. He tried to make his thoughts return to more co-worker oriented matters, but could not. How lucky for him that it was Sunday and he had decided to cancel lessons for the day.
She returned quickly enough, "I had best go watch the students." She said.
"Dry your hair first; you know how their perverted minds work." He advised, "And I told them that they don't have lessons today."
"No, you told them to let you sleep." Ginny corrected.
"It's the same thing; they know that, especially the Slytherins." He replied, waving a hand dismissively.
With a crack, he vanished to the Three Broomsticks. Madam Rosmerta smiled widely at him. She was a buxom woman and made the best Butterbeer he had ever had. He smiled at her and her smile widened evilly. It was then Draco realized that she suspected. He did not look his usual sleek self and he had spent quite some time in Hogsmeade on Auror and Order missions.
"Had a little fun last night, Professor?" She asked sweetly.
Draco arched an eyebrow, subconsciously pulling his robe closer around him, "You could say that, Rosmerta. Now, could I please use your shower?"
She led the way, smiling all the way. When he reached the loo and shower, he closed the door and locked it manually and magically. Then he took off his robes and stepped into the shower, turning on the water. He sighed as the warm liquid fell onto his back but he could not wash away his incriminating thoughts.
At least he had asked her permission to kiss her. As soon as she had accepted, he knew he was in trouble. However, he had let her make the first moves from then on. If she had wanted to stop, he would have forced himself to. But the fiery woman had not stopped or indicated that she wanted to.
Now she was filling his thoughts like no one had ever done for sixteen years. He had forgotten how she managed to torture him with her absence. He also knew that Corner would be very very pissed when he found out. Not that he was afraid of the idiot, but he was worried that Corner would go after Ginny when he learned why she wanted a divorce.
He looked up with a start. Bloody hell, he was going to die of heart-attack before Sirius graduated from Hogwarts if such things continued. He had gained a daughter and gotten back his teenage heart-throb in one year alone. What the next six years would have in store for him, he did not know. He hoped they would involve less heart-attacks and women-oriented problems.
With that thought, he finished his shower, dressed, thanked Rosmerta and Apparated back the shack.
"You took your own dear time." Ginny commented.
He smoothed his hair back, "I had things to think about." He admitted.
"So did I." She agreed, frowning slightly.