For The Sake of the Baby
Chapter 11: Letters from Debbie and Sarah
Summary: Ginny and Draco have to say goodbye to each other for the summer and they both go home to BIG surprises! Draco's got a little one at home and Ginny's got several! At school there's new kid causing some trouble between the lovers, nasty rumors are beginning to spread and it's starting to look like things will never be the same again. Plus Draco and Ginny get paired up for another practical project! And what does a sack of flour have to with it??
Disclaimer: I own only the characters you don't recognize as JK Rowling's. I also own most of the plot line. Anything you recognize is obviously not mine and all will be credited at the end of the fiction. Unfortunately, I am not making any money from this story.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for all the reviews I got last chapter! I'm glad that you are all seeing the characters the way that I intended – it makes me very happy to hear you say that! As of now, it is two in the morning and I am writing this chapter for you as this is basically the first time I've had enough time to sit down and write a whole chapter for you all! My uncle got married and since then it's been complete chaos! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy!
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Chapter 11: Letters from Debbie and Sarah
"Gin, wake up! Ginny, really, don't you think you should get up now? You're sure to be late to class," Chloe said in a soothing voice as she bent over her best friend.
"Not going," the heap of blankets said bluntly. It was way too much for her to handle – seeing Draco and Byron both again today and knowing that she should tell Draco what she had done. That she had cheated and betrayed him in the worst way imaginable. Knowing this, Ginny had resolved that she would push back any confrontations for as long as physically possible.
"You have to go," the blonde told her in a soft voice. "This shouldn't be eating you up inside, Gin. You've got too much on your plate to be worry about such a minor glitch in your relationship."
"Minor glitch?" Ginny asked, sitting straight up in bed and letting her mane of curls flow about her freely, narrowly missing a collision with Chloe's forehead. "I've just kissed my boyfriend's cousin."
"Identical cousin," Chloe put in, trying to relieve some of the blame that Ginny was putting on herself. Anyone could have made the same mistake, right?
"That doesn't change the fact that it happened and I should feel incredibly sorry that I can't even tell which one I'm in love with and which one wants to rape me!" Ginny exclaimed, attracting attention to herself immediately.
"Ginny, calm down – he didn't rape you," Chloe said quietly.
"Oh and like he wouldn't have if I had had a slower reaction time," the redhead snapped angrily, remembering the way that Byron had advanced upon her.
"But the point is that you do not have a slow reaction time and you should really just get over it," Chloe sighed loudly, pulling all of the covers off of Ginny's once warm body.
"Fine – but I'm going like this," the redhead told her, standing up to reveal plaid pajama pants matched with a hot pink shirt that matched her furry slippers. Luckily for Ginny, her hair still looked fairly good and she didn't need much makeup.
"Oh yeah, Gin, showing up in your mismatched pajamas will definitely not send up any warning signals that anything's wrong," Chloe said, rolling her eyes dramatically at her friend's childishness.
"I don't care," Ginny said huffily as she grabbed her cloak and headed out ahead of her best friend, who was attempting to put on one more coat of lip gloss as she walked through the portrait hole.
"You look ridiculous – you know that don't you?" The blonde girl asked as many students' eyes gravitated toward Ginny's silly clothing that was still fairly visible beneath her black cloak.
"I personally think that we should have a day where everyone dresses in the clothes that they slept in," Ginny said airily, still in no mood to face the day, "It's really a very free feeling."
"If you insist," Chloe laughed as she led the way through the jostling crowd toward the Divination room quickly.
After a mile long hike to Professor Trelawney's stifling room, Ginny and Chloe collapsed into large, overstuffed poufs. Just as they began to relax, the bug-eyed lady walked into the room with her usual mysterious look across her face.
"Good day, class. It's wonderful that you all managed to join me today as I'm sensing some tension in the room that could have stopped some of you from being here if you weren't all such devoted students," Trelawney smiled crookedly before speaking again.
"Today, we're going to try something a little more advanced than you've previously studied. It will take much more skill than many of you possess at this point in time but we will nonetheless try," she paused and pushed her glasses up on her nose as she surveyed the room, "we're going to attempt to predict one major event that will occur today using basic questioning methods and tea."
"What? How is that supposed to work?" Ginny asked Chloe, who rolled her eyes and shrugged at their professor's batty ideas.
"I want you all to pair up and I will pass out these books so you may begin."
"Oh great – I told you that I should have stayed in bed," Ginny told her best friend, anxiety evident in her voice.
"Suck it up, Gin. It's not a big deal – you can just sleep through the lesson or something – she'll never know," the blonde told her.
"Chloe, I'm not going to sleep."
"Whatever," Chloe said as Trelawney came around to them and handed Ginny a bright pink text book.
"So, where shall we start?" Ginny asked, attempting to be a little more upbeat as she skimmed over the material. "It sounds easy enough, I suppose. You're just supposed to make each other a cup of tea and then sit down and have a general discussion as you're drinking it. Then you're supposed to trade cups and interpret the mossy stuff at the bottom – sort of like what we did in third year only your answers to the questions are supposed to react with it somehow and change the outcome."
"Erm – all right then. Let's make our tea then, shall we?" Chloe said as she reached across the table and found the tea and cups.
Both girls starred at their tea in silence while they mixed it up, neither wanting to discuss much of what had been going on in the last few days as it was a touchy subject. Of course, it would have to be brought up during their 'tea conversation' that they were to have.
Eventually the tea was ready and they gave each other their cups and starred at each other, not really knowing how to start out. Sure, they had plenty to talk about but they hadn't ever really had a 'question and answer session' per say.
"So, uh, Chloe – how's Andrew?" Ginny finally asked.
"Oh well you know, he's doing well. I haven't really seen him much with Quidditch try-outs coming up and whatnot," Chloe supplied easily. "How's Draco?"
A pained look spread across Ginny's face at the mention of her beloved boyfriend.
"I really don't know, I suppose. I guess he's doing okay or he would have said something," Ginny admitted.
"Maybe you should ask him next time you see him," Chloe suggested, taking a sip of tea and looking at the redhead meaningfully.
"I probably should. So Chloe, what would you do if you where in my position?" Ginny asked in an effort to have a descent conversation with her friend and keeping up the assignment.
"I guess I would have just put it out of my head by now. It was an honest mistake, wasn't it?" Chloe asked.
"Well, yes, I guess it was an accident – but don't you think I should have been able to tell the difference between the man I love and his cousin?" Ginny urged.
"It's really not a big deal – it's not like things went any farther than a kiss that was instigated by him. Plus – they're identical, really how do they expect you to keep up?" Chloe asked.
Ginny knew that Chloe was trying her best to make her feel less guilty about something that really wasn't entirely her own fault to begin with – but somehow, she didn't feel that reassured until Chloe continued.
"You said that you enjoyed the kiss when you thought that it was Draco kissing you like he used to, right?" Ginny nodded. "Do you feel pleasure when you think about the kiss now that you know it was Byron who really kissed you?" Chloe inquired.
Ginny thought about that for a good minute before she answered completely honestly.
"No, I really don't feel anything at all," Ginny told her.
"See, so there you go! You had no intention of cheating on Draco nor do you even feel any pleasure from accidentally kissing his cousin. If you did like it even now, then that would be something that you should worry about," Chloe brought up.
"Okay, I suppose I'll try to lighten up a little about it," Ginny agreed before making an effort to change the subject. "Where'd you get your heels, Clo? I don't recognize them – they're cute!"
"Thanks – actually I picked them up on holiday but I've never worn them because I wasn't sure how they'd look with our cloaks," Chloe said, gesturing to her black stiletto heels that tied around her ankles elegantly. "I didn't want them to look too out of place with the dreary uniforms."
"I don't think they do at all," Ginny reassured her. Suddenly, she was extremely glad she had Chloe. Honestly, without her she would forever dwell upon little things in life that could be fixed a lot easier when she had Chloe there to guide her through it and tell her that everything would be all right. Not only that, but Chloe could easily deal with a subject change when Ginny indicated she didn't want to talk about something anymore.
Looking at her best friend, Ginny realized just how much Chloe had grown from the previous year with her. Up until this point, she had been to busy with Draco to notice how much she had changed and matured physically and spiritually.
Her curly blonde hair, though long and beautiful last year, had because much more spectacular somehow – instead of uniform ringlets, there were now uneven, wide curls that bounced in layers as she laughed. Not only had her hair become more sophisticated but her face had darkened and her green eyes had extra sparkle to them that hadn't been there earlier and Ginny couldn't help but wonder if this was Andrew's doing. Chloe was still the goofy girl she used to hang out with all that time but she also had developed a more serious, caring side to her that made people want to come to her and talk with her.
"Can I help you?" Chloe asked, laughing at Ginny's dazed gaze in her direction.
"I was just wondering if we could decode our tea yet," Ginny said, taking a moment after saying it to laugh at how funny that statement sounded.
"Why not?" Chloe said, exchanging cups with Ginny and leaning over the book with her.
"Well Chloe, apparently something very exciting is about to happen to you! That doesn't sound so bad," Ginny said, setting the cup down and smiling at the blonde next to her. It was then that she noticed that Chloe wasn't laughing along with her – instead she looked like she didn't know quite what to say. "What's wrong, Chloe?"
"Nothing's wrong – it's just... odd."
"What is?"
"Your cup seems to indicate that something will come out tonight about someone you care deeply for – I don't even know what that could mean!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Well, we all know how incredibly accurate these things are," Ginny giggled, brushing off the prediction without a second glance.
"If you insist," Chloe said, putting away all of their materials.
"Well, I do," Ginny said as the bell sounded, "Now let's go to lunch."
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When lunchtime came that day, Draco was particularly eager to see Ginny. Not only did he want to see her so badly because of the obvious, but also because he'd had that screaming baby thing with him for far too long and he felt that it was Ginny's turn to pitch in a little.
On his way to the Great Hall, Draco noticed that he was getting some pretty odd stares from females and knowing smirks from males. Not that this hadn't happened before – he just couldn't remember doing anything worth noticing. Pansy decided that she should be the first to get him up to date on the latest rumors, as per usual.
"Drakie!"
"What, Pansy?" Draco asked nastily, trying to balance his bag and his 'kid' at the same time.
"Don't be snippy, Draco. I just thought that we should have a little chat before lunch," the pug-faced girl told him nonchalantly, grasping his arm tightly.
"I really don't think that's necessary, Parkinson," Draco said with disgust evident in his voice. Why she thought he liked her was beyond him; after all, did he not do a marvelous job showing her just how much he hated her?
"Suit yourself, Draco, but you'd better hope that the Weaselette thinks the same way," she smirked as she walked away.
What was that woman good for anyway? She dangled useless information in front of his face at all hours of the day and then she expects him to respond when she starts a meaningful conversation the same way she starts the rest of them. Now what had happened?
Luckily, Draco spotted Blaise a short distance away from him with Dean and decided that it would be safe to ask her, assuming that he could drag her away from Thomas long enough to have a decent conversation.
"Blaise!"
The raven-haired girl turned her large eyes his way before she hesitantly waved at him. When Draco motioned for her to come over, she seemed tentative at first before whispering something in Thomas' ear and walking his way.
"Blaise, are you okay?" Draco asked his friend once he noticed the effort she was putting into avoiding all eye contact with anything but the floor. After receiving no answer, Draco couldn't take it much longer; he grasped her small chin in his fingers and tilted her head so she was looking him square in the eye. "What is going on?"
"Don't act so innocent, Draco. I can't believe that you would do something like this to Ginny and after all that you've been through together! She needs you, Draco!" Blaise spat, taking the Malfoy by surprise.
"I'm not acting, Blaise! I really don't know what's going on – why am I getting all these strange looks and why are you acting like that? What has Ginny got to be mad about?" Draco asked, extremely baffled by all of the activity that had been taking place within the last ten minutes.
"Honestly, Draco – you don't expect me to believe that you didn't do anything, did you? I just thought for sure that Ginny meant more to you than that! I hope you got what you wanted at least," Blaise threw back at him, her eyes glowering dangerously. He couldn't remember ever seeing Blaise so incredibly mad at anyone, let alone him.
"Could you at least just tell me what I've done that's so horrible?" Draco asked cautiously, knowing that Blaise was already angry at him for doing something that would hurt Ginny.
All the slim girl could do was roll her eyes with disgust and hand him a folded up piece of paper. After pressing it into is hand, Blaise stared at him for a moment, tears filling her eyes as she spoke.
"I though I knew you, Draco Malfoy. I guess I was wrong," she said as she walked away slowly and made her way back to her Gryffindor boyfriend.
The blonde boy decided that if this news was really that bad, he should probably find a quieter place to read it. Opting to sit on the stone steps a few feet outside of the Great Hall's doors, he began to unfold the stiff piece of parchment. He could only hope it wasn't something from his previous years when he'd been stupid and reckless, drinking and smoking. But what he saw there was not an embarrassing or shameful photo – it was written in elegant handwriting and it said words that stung worse than anything he could have imagined.
Dear Draco,
I enjoyed our rendezvous last night more than you'll ever know. What I don't understand is why you left me so soon. Did I not please you? That was not the way it seemed last night at all...
Debbie
Draco,
Hey, baby! I hope that you enjoyed yourself just as much as I did the other night! I told you that I'd be well worth your time. It was refreshing to see that you've come to your senses and ditched that red- haired trash you called a girlfriend. What could she have possibly have give you anyway – at least, that I didn't give you last night? I hope I'll be in your company again soon – maybe this time we'll try something new!
XOXO, Sarah.
And the list of letters written to him went on and on, eventually adding up to six different girls claiming to have been with him at different times during the night. Draco, though, found this absolutely shocking as he could not remember anything like that ever taking place – and he was sure he'd remember something like that. What exactly was going on? Why did all of these girls think he'd dumped Ginny for them? Surely he hadn't passed out in the common room again, had he? But then – he could almost vividly remember going to sleep in his own bed – alone.
Whatever the reason behind the letters, one thing was certain – Ginny mustn't know about them. With this decision being made, Draco folded the notes back up and placed them safely in his cloak pocket before he made quick, confident strides toward the Great Hall. There was one thing he had to do.
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As Ginny took her seat in the Great Hall, she noticed that many eyes had turned their attention to her, rather than their dinner. Baffled by this sudden gesture, Ginny decided to ignore it. She was doing a fairly good job of it, too, until Blaise found her way to Ginny.
"Gin–" she began in a hurry, brushing the hair from her face.
"Blaise! It's been forever!" Chloe exclaimed, grinning broadly at the dark- haired girl standing in front of them.
"No kidding Blaise, why haven't you made your way to the tower lately? Surely you've been there for Dean," Ginny added slyly, smiling knowingly at one of her best friends.
"Um, sure, I guess," Blaise said, sounding a bit more rushed than usual, "but listen–"
Just as Blaise began to open her mouth and reveal Draco's scandalous acts, the blonde man stepped up next to her with a bag of flour heaved over his shoulder.
"Morning, Gin!" He said sweetly, leaning down and placing a kiss square on the lips, shocking the redhead considerably since her brother had been watching.
"Hey!" An indignant voice from Draco's right yelled, "I thought you two were 'just friends' and 'just friends' don't do THAT!" Ron yelled, his face turning dangerously purple.
"Oh relax, Weasley. Besides, we're only together for the sake of the baby," Draco said, brushing the angry older brother with ease.
"BABY?" Ron roared. "You got my little sister pregnant? And you're only friends? And you go my little sister pregnant?"
"You seemed to have already said that one," Draco mentioned, not helping Ron calm down in the slightest.
Without warning, Ron lunged at Draco, arms outstretched, ready to strangle every last breath out of that boy's lungs. Luckily, Draco dodged him easily and Ron fell to the floor.
"Calm down, Weasley. I didn't get your sister pregnant but we ARE more than friends. One out of two isn't bad though," Draco smirked as Ron picked himself up off the floor and stood with his fists clenched at his sides, ready to attack at any given moment.
"I'll deal with you later," Ron announced as he stalked off.
"I cannot believe you just did that," Ginny said, half amused and half bewildered.
"Well, eventually he's got to know. In fact, everyone should know how much I love you – because I do, you know," Draco said, leaning into her once more for one last kiss to seal everything. At least now if she found out about the rumors before he could straighten them out, she would know that he loved her and hopefully that would calm her down enough to come and talk to him about it first.
"Ahem."
Ginny turned to see that Blaise was still standing there with a horrified look on her face.
"Oh, sorry Blaise – what was it you wanted to say?" she asked politely.
"I'm sure it was nothing, Gin," Draco said, trying to be quick enough to cover up Blaise's hastiness. "Now, I need to talk with Blaise about something and I need you to take this thing," he said, handing her the flour sack with ease.
"Wow, she's still in one piece!" Ginny laughed.
"But of course!" he said, pretending to be hurt. "Well, I will see you later, Gin! Meet me in the room at 8 tonight."
"I'll be there," Ginny agreed as she watched Draco walk off with Blaise, who was reluctantly being dragged behind him back to the Slytherin table.
"That was weird," Chloe commented as she helped her self to the chicken in front of her.
"Very much so," Ginny agreed, "but I suppose I'll find out what it was all about tonight."
"Maybe we should hang out more with Blaise – she seems to be a upset today – not to mention the fact that she's been more distant lately," the blonde girl suggested.
"How about a shopping trip?" Ginny suggested, smile lighting up her face.
"Great!"
Ginny could hardly wait for what was to come. Finally she was with Draco - and Ron knew it – plus, she, Chloe and Blaise might go shopping! What could possibly go wrong?
More than she knew.
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Okay, so it's a little lame - but the point is that something is definitely up and nobody is really making sense to each other since they all know bits and pieces of different stories. Yeah so please review and tell me what you think and what you believe will happen, etc, etc. Flame me, compliment me, do whatever you wish!
I do have one very happy announcement though! I may be well on my way to writing my first book that will be suitable for publishing. I have been accepted into a writing program that promises that I will have at least one manuscript reading by the end of my session. Of course, this is not definite because I need to decide if I will enroll or not but let's all cross our fingers!!
Oh yes and the bad news for the day – I have mono. And no I didn't kiss anyone – though sometimes I wish I did – it sure would make things more worthwhile!
And one more thing – starting next chapter, my friend Leanne will be editing for me so hopefully my thoughts will be more fluent!
So review please!!
Summary: Ginny and Draco have to say goodbye to each other for the summer and they both go home to BIG surprises! Draco's got a little one at home and Ginny's got several! At school there's new kid causing some trouble between the lovers, nasty rumors are beginning to spread and it's starting to look like things will never be the same again. Plus Draco and Ginny get paired up for another practical project! And what does a sack of flour have to with it??
Disclaimer: I own only the characters you don't recognize as JK Rowling's. I also own most of the plot line. Anything you recognize is obviously not mine and all will be credited at the end of the fiction. Unfortunately, I am not making any money from this story.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for all the reviews I got last chapter! I'm glad that you are all seeing the characters the way that I intended – it makes me very happy to hear you say that! As of now, it is two in the morning and I am writing this chapter for you as this is basically the first time I've had enough time to sit down and write a whole chapter for you all! My uncle got married and since then it's been complete chaos! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy!
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Chapter 11: Letters from Debbie and Sarah
"Gin, wake up! Ginny, really, don't you think you should get up now? You're sure to be late to class," Chloe said in a soothing voice as she bent over her best friend.
"Not going," the heap of blankets said bluntly. It was way too much for her to handle – seeing Draco and Byron both again today and knowing that she should tell Draco what she had done. That she had cheated and betrayed him in the worst way imaginable. Knowing this, Ginny had resolved that she would push back any confrontations for as long as physically possible.
"You have to go," the blonde told her in a soft voice. "This shouldn't be eating you up inside, Gin. You've got too much on your plate to be worry about such a minor glitch in your relationship."
"Minor glitch?" Ginny asked, sitting straight up in bed and letting her mane of curls flow about her freely, narrowly missing a collision with Chloe's forehead. "I've just kissed my boyfriend's cousin."
"Identical cousin," Chloe put in, trying to relieve some of the blame that Ginny was putting on herself. Anyone could have made the same mistake, right?
"That doesn't change the fact that it happened and I should feel incredibly sorry that I can't even tell which one I'm in love with and which one wants to rape me!" Ginny exclaimed, attracting attention to herself immediately.
"Ginny, calm down – he didn't rape you," Chloe said quietly.
"Oh and like he wouldn't have if I had had a slower reaction time," the redhead snapped angrily, remembering the way that Byron had advanced upon her.
"But the point is that you do not have a slow reaction time and you should really just get over it," Chloe sighed loudly, pulling all of the covers off of Ginny's once warm body.
"Fine – but I'm going like this," the redhead told her, standing up to reveal plaid pajama pants matched with a hot pink shirt that matched her furry slippers. Luckily for Ginny, her hair still looked fairly good and she didn't need much makeup.
"Oh yeah, Gin, showing up in your mismatched pajamas will definitely not send up any warning signals that anything's wrong," Chloe said, rolling her eyes dramatically at her friend's childishness.
"I don't care," Ginny said huffily as she grabbed her cloak and headed out ahead of her best friend, who was attempting to put on one more coat of lip gloss as she walked through the portrait hole.
"You look ridiculous – you know that don't you?" The blonde girl asked as many students' eyes gravitated toward Ginny's silly clothing that was still fairly visible beneath her black cloak.
"I personally think that we should have a day where everyone dresses in the clothes that they slept in," Ginny said airily, still in no mood to face the day, "It's really a very free feeling."
"If you insist," Chloe laughed as she led the way through the jostling crowd toward the Divination room quickly.
After a mile long hike to Professor Trelawney's stifling room, Ginny and Chloe collapsed into large, overstuffed poufs. Just as they began to relax, the bug-eyed lady walked into the room with her usual mysterious look across her face.
"Good day, class. It's wonderful that you all managed to join me today as I'm sensing some tension in the room that could have stopped some of you from being here if you weren't all such devoted students," Trelawney smiled crookedly before speaking again.
"Today, we're going to try something a little more advanced than you've previously studied. It will take much more skill than many of you possess at this point in time but we will nonetheless try," she paused and pushed her glasses up on her nose as she surveyed the room, "we're going to attempt to predict one major event that will occur today using basic questioning methods and tea."
"What? How is that supposed to work?" Ginny asked Chloe, who rolled her eyes and shrugged at their professor's batty ideas.
"I want you all to pair up and I will pass out these books so you may begin."
"Oh great – I told you that I should have stayed in bed," Ginny told her best friend, anxiety evident in her voice.
"Suck it up, Gin. It's not a big deal – you can just sleep through the lesson or something – she'll never know," the blonde told her.
"Chloe, I'm not going to sleep."
"Whatever," Chloe said as Trelawney came around to them and handed Ginny a bright pink text book.
"So, where shall we start?" Ginny asked, attempting to be a little more upbeat as she skimmed over the material. "It sounds easy enough, I suppose. You're just supposed to make each other a cup of tea and then sit down and have a general discussion as you're drinking it. Then you're supposed to trade cups and interpret the mossy stuff at the bottom – sort of like what we did in third year only your answers to the questions are supposed to react with it somehow and change the outcome."
"Erm – all right then. Let's make our tea then, shall we?" Chloe said as she reached across the table and found the tea and cups.
Both girls starred at their tea in silence while they mixed it up, neither wanting to discuss much of what had been going on in the last few days as it was a touchy subject. Of course, it would have to be brought up during their 'tea conversation' that they were to have.
Eventually the tea was ready and they gave each other their cups and starred at each other, not really knowing how to start out. Sure, they had plenty to talk about but they hadn't ever really had a 'question and answer session' per say.
"So, uh, Chloe – how's Andrew?" Ginny finally asked.
"Oh well you know, he's doing well. I haven't really seen him much with Quidditch try-outs coming up and whatnot," Chloe supplied easily. "How's Draco?"
A pained look spread across Ginny's face at the mention of her beloved boyfriend.
"I really don't know, I suppose. I guess he's doing okay or he would have said something," Ginny admitted.
"Maybe you should ask him next time you see him," Chloe suggested, taking a sip of tea and looking at the redhead meaningfully.
"I probably should. So Chloe, what would you do if you where in my position?" Ginny asked in an effort to have a descent conversation with her friend and keeping up the assignment.
"I guess I would have just put it out of my head by now. It was an honest mistake, wasn't it?" Chloe asked.
"Well, yes, I guess it was an accident – but don't you think I should have been able to tell the difference between the man I love and his cousin?" Ginny urged.
"It's really not a big deal – it's not like things went any farther than a kiss that was instigated by him. Plus – they're identical, really how do they expect you to keep up?" Chloe asked.
Ginny knew that Chloe was trying her best to make her feel less guilty about something that really wasn't entirely her own fault to begin with – but somehow, she didn't feel that reassured until Chloe continued.
"You said that you enjoyed the kiss when you thought that it was Draco kissing you like he used to, right?" Ginny nodded. "Do you feel pleasure when you think about the kiss now that you know it was Byron who really kissed you?" Chloe inquired.
Ginny thought about that for a good minute before she answered completely honestly.
"No, I really don't feel anything at all," Ginny told her.
"See, so there you go! You had no intention of cheating on Draco nor do you even feel any pleasure from accidentally kissing his cousin. If you did like it even now, then that would be something that you should worry about," Chloe brought up.
"Okay, I suppose I'll try to lighten up a little about it," Ginny agreed before making an effort to change the subject. "Where'd you get your heels, Clo? I don't recognize them – they're cute!"
"Thanks – actually I picked them up on holiday but I've never worn them because I wasn't sure how they'd look with our cloaks," Chloe said, gesturing to her black stiletto heels that tied around her ankles elegantly. "I didn't want them to look too out of place with the dreary uniforms."
"I don't think they do at all," Ginny reassured her. Suddenly, she was extremely glad she had Chloe. Honestly, without her she would forever dwell upon little things in life that could be fixed a lot easier when she had Chloe there to guide her through it and tell her that everything would be all right. Not only that, but Chloe could easily deal with a subject change when Ginny indicated she didn't want to talk about something anymore.
Looking at her best friend, Ginny realized just how much Chloe had grown from the previous year with her. Up until this point, she had been to busy with Draco to notice how much she had changed and matured physically and spiritually.
Her curly blonde hair, though long and beautiful last year, had because much more spectacular somehow – instead of uniform ringlets, there were now uneven, wide curls that bounced in layers as she laughed. Not only had her hair become more sophisticated but her face had darkened and her green eyes had extra sparkle to them that hadn't been there earlier and Ginny couldn't help but wonder if this was Andrew's doing. Chloe was still the goofy girl she used to hang out with all that time but she also had developed a more serious, caring side to her that made people want to come to her and talk with her.
"Can I help you?" Chloe asked, laughing at Ginny's dazed gaze in her direction.
"I was just wondering if we could decode our tea yet," Ginny said, taking a moment after saying it to laugh at how funny that statement sounded.
"Why not?" Chloe said, exchanging cups with Ginny and leaning over the book with her.
"Well Chloe, apparently something very exciting is about to happen to you! That doesn't sound so bad," Ginny said, setting the cup down and smiling at the blonde next to her. It was then that she noticed that Chloe wasn't laughing along with her – instead she looked like she didn't know quite what to say. "What's wrong, Chloe?"
"Nothing's wrong – it's just... odd."
"What is?"
"Your cup seems to indicate that something will come out tonight about someone you care deeply for – I don't even know what that could mean!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Well, we all know how incredibly accurate these things are," Ginny giggled, brushing off the prediction without a second glance.
"If you insist," Chloe said, putting away all of their materials.
"Well, I do," Ginny said as the bell sounded, "Now let's go to lunch."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When lunchtime came that day, Draco was particularly eager to see Ginny. Not only did he want to see her so badly because of the obvious, but also because he'd had that screaming baby thing with him for far too long and he felt that it was Ginny's turn to pitch in a little.
On his way to the Great Hall, Draco noticed that he was getting some pretty odd stares from females and knowing smirks from males. Not that this hadn't happened before – he just couldn't remember doing anything worth noticing. Pansy decided that she should be the first to get him up to date on the latest rumors, as per usual.
"Drakie!"
"What, Pansy?" Draco asked nastily, trying to balance his bag and his 'kid' at the same time.
"Don't be snippy, Draco. I just thought that we should have a little chat before lunch," the pug-faced girl told him nonchalantly, grasping his arm tightly.
"I really don't think that's necessary, Parkinson," Draco said with disgust evident in his voice. Why she thought he liked her was beyond him; after all, did he not do a marvelous job showing her just how much he hated her?
"Suit yourself, Draco, but you'd better hope that the Weaselette thinks the same way," she smirked as she walked away.
What was that woman good for anyway? She dangled useless information in front of his face at all hours of the day and then she expects him to respond when she starts a meaningful conversation the same way she starts the rest of them. Now what had happened?
Luckily, Draco spotted Blaise a short distance away from him with Dean and decided that it would be safe to ask her, assuming that he could drag her away from Thomas long enough to have a decent conversation.
"Blaise!"
The raven-haired girl turned her large eyes his way before she hesitantly waved at him. When Draco motioned for her to come over, she seemed tentative at first before whispering something in Thomas' ear and walking his way.
"Blaise, are you okay?" Draco asked his friend once he noticed the effort she was putting into avoiding all eye contact with anything but the floor. After receiving no answer, Draco couldn't take it much longer; he grasped her small chin in his fingers and tilted her head so she was looking him square in the eye. "What is going on?"
"Don't act so innocent, Draco. I can't believe that you would do something like this to Ginny and after all that you've been through together! She needs you, Draco!" Blaise spat, taking the Malfoy by surprise.
"I'm not acting, Blaise! I really don't know what's going on – why am I getting all these strange looks and why are you acting like that? What has Ginny got to be mad about?" Draco asked, extremely baffled by all of the activity that had been taking place within the last ten minutes.
"Honestly, Draco – you don't expect me to believe that you didn't do anything, did you? I just thought for sure that Ginny meant more to you than that! I hope you got what you wanted at least," Blaise threw back at him, her eyes glowering dangerously. He couldn't remember ever seeing Blaise so incredibly mad at anyone, let alone him.
"Could you at least just tell me what I've done that's so horrible?" Draco asked cautiously, knowing that Blaise was already angry at him for doing something that would hurt Ginny.
All the slim girl could do was roll her eyes with disgust and hand him a folded up piece of paper. After pressing it into is hand, Blaise stared at him for a moment, tears filling her eyes as she spoke.
"I though I knew you, Draco Malfoy. I guess I was wrong," she said as she walked away slowly and made her way back to her Gryffindor boyfriend.
The blonde boy decided that if this news was really that bad, he should probably find a quieter place to read it. Opting to sit on the stone steps a few feet outside of the Great Hall's doors, he began to unfold the stiff piece of parchment. He could only hope it wasn't something from his previous years when he'd been stupid and reckless, drinking and smoking. But what he saw there was not an embarrassing or shameful photo – it was written in elegant handwriting and it said words that stung worse than anything he could have imagined.
Dear Draco,
I enjoyed our rendezvous last night more than you'll ever know. What I don't understand is why you left me so soon. Did I not please you? That was not the way it seemed last night at all...
Debbie
Draco,
Hey, baby! I hope that you enjoyed yourself just as much as I did the other night! I told you that I'd be well worth your time. It was refreshing to see that you've come to your senses and ditched that red- haired trash you called a girlfriend. What could she have possibly have give you anyway – at least, that I didn't give you last night? I hope I'll be in your company again soon – maybe this time we'll try something new!
XOXO, Sarah.
And the list of letters written to him went on and on, eventually adding up to six different girls claiming to have been with him at different times during the night. Draco, though, found this absolutely shocking as he could not remember anything like that ever taking place – and he was sure he'd remember something like that. What exactly was going on? Why did all of these girls think he'd dumped Ginny for them? Surely he hadn't passed out in the common room again, had he? But then – he could almost vividly remember going to sleep in his own bed – alone.
Whatever the reason behind the letters, one thing was certain – Ginny mustn't know about them. With this decision being made, Draco folded the notes back up and placed them safely in his cloak pocket before he made quick, confident strides toward the Great Hall. There was one thing he had to do.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As Ginny took her seat in the Great Hall, she noticed that many eyes had turned their attention to her, rather than their dinner. Baffled by this sudden gesture, Ginny decided to ignore it. She was doing a fairly good job of it, too, until Blaise found her way to Ginny.
"Gin–" she began in a hurry, brushing the hair from her face.
"Blaise! It's been forever!" Chloe exclaimed, grinning broadly at the dark- haired girl standing in front of them.
"No kidding Blaise, why haven't you made your way to the tower lately? Surely you've been there for Dean," Ginny added slyly, smiling knowingly at one of her best friends.
"Um, sure, I guess," Blaise said, sounding a bit more rushed than usual, "but listen–"
Just as Blaise began to open her mouth and reveal Draco's scandalous acts, the blonde man stepped up next to her with a bag of flour heaved over his shoulder.
"Morning, Gin!" He said sweetly, leaning down and placing a kiss square on the lips, shocking the redhead considerably since her brother had been watching.
"Hey!" An indignant voice from Draco's right yelled, "I thought you two were 'just friends' and 'just friends' don't do THAT!" Ron yelled, his face turning dangerously purple.
"Oh relax, Weasley. Besides, we're only together for the sake of the baby," Draco said, brushing the angry older brother with ease.
"BABY?" Ron roared. "You got my little sister pregnant? And you're only friends? And you go my little sister pregnant?"
"You seemed to have already said that one," Draco mentioned, not helping Ron calm down in the slightest.
Without warning, Ron lunged at Draco, arms outstretched, ready to strangle every last breath out of that boy's lungs. Luckily, Draco dodged him easily and Ron fell to the floor.
"Calm down, Weasley. I didn't get your sister pregnant but we ARE more than friends. One out of two isn't bad though," Draco smirked as Ron picked himself up off the floor and stood with his fists clenched at his sides, ready to attack at any given moment.
"I'll deal with you later," Ron announced as he stalked off.
"I cannot believe you just did that," Ginny said, half amused and half bewildered.
"Well, eventually he's got to know. In fact, everyone should know how much I love you – because I do, you know," Draco said, leaning into her once more for one last kiss to seal everything. At least now if she found out about the rumors before he could straighten them out, she would know that he loved her and hopefully that would calm her down enough to come and talk to him about it first.
"Ahem."
Ginny turned to see that Blaise was still standing there with a horrified look on her face.
"Oh, sorry Blaise – what was it you wanted to say?" she asked politely.
"I'm sure it was nothing, Gin," Draco said, trying to be quick enough to cover up Blaise's hastiness. "Now, I need to talk with Blaise about something and I need you to take this thing," he said, handing her the flour sack with ease.
"Wow, she's still in one piece!" Ginny laughed.
"But of course!" he said, pretending to be hurt. "Well, I will see you later, Gin! Meet me in the room at 8 tonight."
"I'll be there," Ginny agreed as she watched Draco walk off with Blaise, who was reluctantly being dragged behind him back to the Slytherin table.
"That was weird," Chloe commented as she helped her self to the chicken in front of her.
"Very much so," Ginny agreed, "but I suppose I'll find out what it was all about tonight."
"Maybe we should hang out more with Blaise – she seems to be a upset today – not to mention the fact that she's been more distant lately," the blonde girl suggested.
"How about a shopping trip?" Ginny suggested, smile lighting up her face.
"Great!"
Ginny could hardly wait for what was to come. Finally she was with Draco - and Ron knew it – plus, she, Chloe and Blaise might go shopping! What could possibly go wrong?
More than she knew.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Okay, so it's a little lame - but the point is that something is definitely up and nobody is really making sense to each other since they all know bits and pieces of different stories. Yeah so please review and tell me what you think and what you believe will happen, etc, etc. Flame me, compliment me, do whatever you wish!
I do have one very happy announcement though! I may be well on my way to writing my first book that will be suitable for publishing. I have been accepted into a writing program that promises that I will have at least one manuscript reading by the end of my session. Of course, this is not definite because I need to decide if I will enroll or not but let's all cross our fingers!!
Oh yes and the bad news for the day – I have mono. And no I didn't kiss anyone – though sometimes I wish I did – it sure would make things more worthwhile!
And one more thing – starting next chapter, my friend Leanne will be editing for me so hopefully my thoughts will be more fluent!
So review please!!