Spring Fever
When the light touches the pin, your beloved will walk in. Close the door, you need not see more. – The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman
Spring was everywhere in Hogwarts, spring fever at its height. Spring fever affected young and old alike, it spared no one and made no distinctions, striking when happiness was least expected, when joy was only a memory, when the skies were still cloudy. Maybe that explained the way Ginny had been feeling of late – a certain unexplainable stirring in her soul.
Ginny lay on the grass, exhausted from being holed up in the library studying for her O.W.L s. Who could blame her for wanting to take a well deserved break when she had woken up to a sight of brightened skies and a carpet of snowdrops on the grass beneath her window that morning?
Winter at Hogwarts this time had been merciless and cruel, a season that had instilled a particular melancholy in its residents and a hopelessness that was all but impossible to shake. Even Peeves had taken to hiding under one of the staircases, scarily quiet. But now, all that seemed to be cured by the appearance of the first green shoots of spring.
Hermione sat beside her, absorbed in a book. Luna was plucking grass, gazing into the lake where swarms of mosquitoes drifted over the water.
The air was mottled and cool. The sky was tumbling down, making the lawn appear endless and deep, like a lake of new grass dusky and brown at the edges.
Harry and Ron, on a rare display of frivolity obviously inspired by the change in season, had made off for a secret foray into Hogsmead for a replenishment of sweets and the like - something Hermione was supposed to be unaware of but had shrewdly figured out.
"Who would you want most with you if you were stranded on a desert island?" Luna asked, breaking the peaceful silence between them.
Hermione seemed to be pondering the question deeply, something she rarely did when it came to Luna. Hermione spent a considerable time around Luna, simply ignoring the Ravenclaw girl.
"Who would you want?" Ginny asked Luna.
"Harry."
Hermione seemed jolted out of her reverie by Luna's frank answer. Both she and Ginny exchanged amused glances as they observed the glazed look in Luna's eyes.
They had vague suspicions about Luna's less than noble intentions towards Harry but now it seemed confirmed. Unlikely that there would be any reciprocation, since Harry was busy saving the wizarding world, focused on doing so in the least.
"Can I choose female or male?" Hermione asked.
Luna nodded.
"My mum, I guess."
"BORING." Ginny stated, boorishly.
"You?" Hermione shot back.
"Ice cream man." Ginny said with a straight face before bursting into giggles.
Luna laughed, as did Hermione after a few minutes of trying to remain unaffected by Ginny's childish humour.
Seriously though, Ginny had privately realised she had only one person in mind, the most unfortunate, horrible boy in Hogwarts, the one she could not seem to stop thinking about, even when she tried.
Perhaps it had all begun on that fateful day, a year ago. Ginny was never really sure. All she knew was that just when she thought her first day of her fifth year back at Hogwarts could not get any worse, she realised it could.
Walking down the narrow corridor outside the potions classroom was none other than Draco Malfoy with his ash blonde hair, lake grey eyes and bad attitude.
She looked around for Colin, her faithful friend whom Hermione accused her of being joined to the hip with. But he was nowhere in sight.
For some reason, there also seemed to be a congestion and students were unable to move either up or down the corridor. Talk about tough luck. There was no way to avoid Malfoy. Even the usually placid Harry had been complaining about his increasingly cutting insults.
She stood beside a blonde girl from Hufflepuff, same year as her.
"Must be the Slytherins are causing a hold-up." Ginny muttered, testily.
The blonde girl laughed uneasily, seeing that Malfoy had stopped beside them.
"Actually it's Potter, your bloody brother and Mudblood who's the cause of it."
"Watch your tongue, Malfoy." Ginny said warningly as the students waiting for the human traffic jam to clear up watched them with avid interest.
"Are you threatening me?" He had asked, sneeringly, stepping forward towards her.
"Me?"
That was a laugh. Ginny let out a short laugh in his face. She had spent the entire morning of her first day back in school getting used to her new timetable, trying to keep up with her transfiguration class which she had always been weak at, covering up for her unfinished holiday homework except for History of Magic which she loved and did promptly. At least she was partnered with Colin in herbology, which was a good thing since he was extraordinarily good at it.
Instead of stalking off, or lobbing an insult, Draco stared down at her. He seemed surprised and somewhat pleased by her response.
"I guess you really are nothing like your brothers." He commented.
She had no idea if this comment was meant to be an insult or a compliment.
"Yes, unlike them, I'm a good judge of character." She informed him, feeling more flustered than she would have liked.
"I don't think so," He told her, "You're talking to me."
Snape came out his classroom then, his presence alone clearing the crowd. Soon they could move down the corridor, going in their separate ways.
She remembered how when she had spoken to that nasty Malfoy in the cold dungeons, her heart had been pounding. That could not be love, could it? That could not be destiny. Not possibly. Not ever.
A reaction like that had to some sort of illness, heartburn at worst, plain nerves at best. But ever since then, something strange happened to her whenever Malfoy was around, and she hated herself for whatever wicked thing she felt.
"Nowadays, I'm just not sure anymore – of what I want." 'Who I want' Ginny added mentally.
"Who is, Gin? With the Second War going on, all these innocent people dying, deatheaters everywhere. Nothing is black and white anymore." Hermione mused, the last remnants of winter melancholy swirling around her.
It was especially difficult for Hermione to watch her best friend have to devote and possibly sacrifice his young life to a cause he was forced to take on due to unforeseen circumstances.
"Stick a pin in a candle and light it," Luna advised. "When the flame burns down to the pin, your true love will walk through the door."
Ginny laughed. "Very scientific." Preposterous of course. Still it might be worth a try. Perhaps just once.
"That's how you'll know it's true love." Luna told her. "That's how you'll know for sure."
"What sort of candle?" Ginny asked.
Hermione looked at her, tearing her eyes away from her book, a look of utmost incredulity etched on her face. Ginny ignored her, for the moment.
"A plain old candle and a plain old pin. It works every time."
"We should try it." Excitement was creeping into Ginny's voice.
"Why should we?" Hermione looked greatly perturbed.
"Because I always have good ideas." Ginny said, light heartedly. "I'm known for them."
She knew Hermione was already had won over. The studious girl was a die hard romantic at heart, though Ginny could never fathom why in all seven worlds did she set her sights on Ron as her one and only.
"Really?" Hermione smiled. "Then what about the onion?"
Ginny could not help but laugh. One afternoon last year December, in a fit of boredom, Ginny and Luna had left a peeled onion stuck with a single pin atop Malfoy's books in the Great Hall and snuck off before they were spotted. It was a joke, since an old wives' tale stated that a pin in an onion was supposed to be a curse on the receiver if placed under their pillow.
But Malfoy had gone around insisting that Ginny had put an actual curse on him, and that she had done so because she wanted him, badly. It was just a matter of time, Malfoy had said, before Ginny begged him to go out with her.
Ron had believed him and after a potions lesson with said cursed person, stormed into the common room livid with rage that his younger sister could be desirous of such a monster. Ginny had let him rant and rave for a good twenty minutes before telling him it was not true.
"Oh, please. Malfoy's such an idiot. Who's afraid of an onion?" Ginny brushed her long red hair off her face. That settled the discussion and they spend the rest of the time finalising the details for tonight.
So that night, after partaking in the boys' butterbeer and other goodies from Hogsmead, Hermione and Ginny crept out of the Gryffindor common room and made their way up to the Astronomy Tower.
Luna was already waiting for them, armed with blankets and a rug. Just as the night grew even darker and the rain began to fall, they settled down on the rug, a well placed warming charm around them courtesy of Hermione.
Ginny took out the candle with the pin stuck in it. There had been a unanimous decision that she light it, since unlike Hermione and Luna, she was thoroughly confused about whom really had her heart.
The rain fell like a river of rocks, a thousand hard drops that were as clear as the first ice that covered the lake in winter. Sheets of water cascaded from the roof, down onto the ground outside the astronomy tower as Ginny lit the candle, her hand slightly trembling with anticipation.
Stone rain fell hard outside but all eyes were focused on the lit candle, which flickered high into the dark air. There seemed to be a brilliant spark where Ginny had stuck the pin in the wax, a bit of silver, a radiant light.
After some time, the fire had reached the pin but nothing had happened. So far no one had appeared, and maybe that was just as well. Ginny could not control who would walk through the door anymore than she could choose whom she would fall in love with. At least she knew now it was a silly game. Hermione looked exceedingly smug and Ginny saw no reason to hex her.
Draco was on his prefect rounds in the dungeon and had fifteen minutes more for his shift to end. The cold of the dungeons was getting unbearable. He could feel his bones rattling about in his body. In bad need of something warm, perhaps even a warm mug of hot chocolate, he made off for the kitchens.
He took a shortcut, and just as he was passing the astronomy tower, he saw something that made him double back. A distinct flash of red hair. The notion of catching Ron Weasley snogging with his mudblood girlfriend when they should have been on their rounds made him almost rub his hands in glee.
He stopped in the threshold of the open space known as the astronomy tower and wished reverently he had walked straight on. He was as speechless as the three people seated on a rug, staring up at him, for totally different reasons though.
Hermione sat there, on the rug, mouth open like a fish's. The flame was burning the pin and she saw the way Draco turned to look at Ginny.
Ginny had a panicky feeling, as though she worked a charm all wrong. It could not be, could it? She was even more clueless now than before. Did she follow her brain, her heart or her overheated pulse rate?
When Draco coughed to clear his throat, he could feel his heart hit against his ribs. He chose to ignore the red headed girl seated on the rug, looking at him with a strangely intense look on her face.
"Aren't you supposed to be on your rounds, Granger?" Draco sneered, doing what he did best. He felt almost back to his normal self. That sensation of feeling incredibly lost was dissipating.
Hermione had gotten to her feet, taking her wand out. Swishing her wand to remove the warming charm, "I finished early." She told him, her tone civil.
"Well, I can take your names down for staying out after hours." He looked smug.
"Go ahead and do that then, and 'Mione can take your name down for missing History of Magic this afternoon." Ginny suddenly spoke up, standing beside Hermione.
A sudden blush crept into her cheeks as the words she had uttered impulsively, registered in her mind. She wished she had kept her mouth shut. Hermione glanced at her friend, wondering if she really knew her at all. Luna who was folding the rug was far from surprised. She had expected this.
Draco was forced to look at Ginny, studying her, his eyes resting attentively on her face. It was at that moment that all four starkly different individuals had the same thought running through their heads – how did Ginny, a fifth year know that Draco, a sixth year had cut class unless she knew his timetable well enough and paid careful attention to his movements and whereabouts?
Ginny met Draco's gaze, both of them staring at each other. The candle had burned down, past the pin, past the point of returning to the way things had been.
It was Hermione who broke the palpable tension by speaking up, "Let's go then."
Ginny tore her eyes away from Draco's, wondering why his eyes so often reminded her of drowning in the lake.
"Wait." Draco said, suddenly, not really knowing what he wanted them to wait for. All he knew was that he did not want Ginny Weasley out of his sight. He could not seem to take his eyes off her.
"Whatever for, Malfoy?" Ginny shot him a scathing look though her heart was tap dancing in her chest.
He fell silent then, watching her intently till she could bear it no more and motioned to Hermione and Luna with a tilt of her chin to evacuate from the area as quickly as they could.
As they filed past him, he was still looking at Ginny in a way that made her feel as if she was riding a firebolt upside down.
That feeling would stay with her till the time she got into bed and snuggled beneath her warm sheets causing her dreams that night to be about stormy grey eyes and flying on a Firebolt with someone's arms around her waist, both of them upside down in the air, gravity rendered ineffective.
After all, was that not what love did? It made every thing possible; it gave wings to roses, it made thorns melt into water and it made two incompatible people fall for each other.
"Do you know why opposites attract?" Luna asked. Hermione shrugged, too astounded by life in general ever since last night to argue with Luna and snub her theories.
"They're drawn to each other because each makes up what the other lacks."
"That explains a lot." Hermione commented wryly.
Ginny seemed to come alive at that comment. "Like you and Ron."
"One more time, and I'll hex you to Azkaban and back." Hermione was dead serious.
Ginny rolled her eyes, grabbing a bread roll. It had to be its heat that burned her up and not the sight of Draco walking towards her. The scent of rosemary from the sprigs laid in the breadbasket had to be making her feel this intoxicated.
Everyone at the Gryffindor table seemed to notice the impending approach of the Slytherin tyrant. Why was he approaching their table, all the way at the other end of the hall?
Hermione was just thankful that Harry and Ron were late for breakfast as usual. Otherwise, something akin to a civil war would have broken out. Luna was simply curious – would a Slytherin receive as much welcome at the Gryffindor table as a Ravenclaw?
Food was not what Draco was hungry for when he walked into the Great Hall that morning. He had dreamt of an angel with wine red hair and sinfully luscious lips last night and had woken up completely disorientated.
Now as he came to a slow halt right beside Ginny he had the feeling he was dreaming all over again, still asleep in his bed, far from the customary emptiness of his waking life.
He was standing near enough to her to be made light headed by the scent of lake water. Was it on her skin? He wondered. Was it in her blood? Was that what made him sleepless over her, bound up with some sort of dumb yearning he could not put a stop to?
"Could I speak to you?" He said, staring down at her in way that most of the girls in Hogwarts desired him to look at them.
Ginny swallowed hard. The movement in her throat caught his attention.
Later on, when he was back in the Slytherin common room he would ask Blaise, the cynical, quiet Slytherin, "This... this, the hollow at the base of a girl's throat, does it have an official name?"
Blaise would smirk at him knowingly, "Good Salazaar, man, pull yourself together."
Now though, "What would you have to say to me, Malfoy?" Ginny asked, condescendingly.
"Something....important." Draco managed.
The truth was Draco did not really know what he was doing there, standing near the Gryffindor table, talking to the youngest Weasley. By now, everyone in the Great Hall was staring at them. He was willing to wager his entire allowance that all the jaws of the Slytherins were scraping the floor. Except for Crabbe and Goyle who were most likely stuffing their faces.
Ginny looked up at Draco and noticed his puzzled expression. "Go away, Malfoy." She turned away from him, continuing to butter her bread rolls.
But Draco stayed where he was.
"You scared, Weasley?" He drawled, leaning down towards her so that when she spun around in her seat, her hackles rising, she found herself staring directly into those damning eyes.
"Please." Ginny laughed, contemptuously. "Of you? What would you do? Throw an onion at me?"
"Hah, Very funny." Draco had actually saved that onion; it was in the back of his closet in a leather pouch.
"You're a menace y'know."
"Aren't I always." He laughed and when he did, he did not sound remotely like himself.
Hermione never thought she would see the day when Malfoy laughed. That laugh made her want to root for him. Well, she mused, stranger things have happened.
"I told you before. I'm a good judge of character." Ginny told him, rising from her seat, seeing Colin waving at her from the Grand Entrance. They had to decide what they wanted to do for their Herbology extra credit project.
" I don't think so." Draco called after her as she walked away. "You're still talking to me."
Luna leaned towards Hermione after Draco had walked off as well, "If I ever had any doubts about the two of them together, they're all gone now, like snow in March." She commented with a conspiratory grin before rising from the bench to join her fellow Ravenclaws for class.
Hermione held her head in hands, completely baffled by the unpredictability of life. She saw Ron and Harry walking towards her, saw the red headed, dense boy she was besotted with and wished momentarily that she could disappear like snow in March.
Ginny sat up in her bed with a jolt. It was just past midnight, the murky hour when the night grew even darker. Outside an owl flew across the sky and disappeared into the shadows.
Something had woken her up. She swung her feet onto the floor and opened the window beside her bed. The clear air hit her face, waking her up fully. She peered down, past the lilacs, past the trees, past the bats taking flight.
There was Draco Malfoy.
She could not see his face exactly, but she knew it was him from the way he stood, Nimbus 2000 in one hand, as if he had just happened by for no reason. As if one minute he had been minding his own business, flying in the night as he loved to do and the next he had found himself hovering below the windows of the Gryffindor tower, throwing pebbles at a window he was not even sure was hers.
He had been more and more underfoot lately. Arriving when he was least expected, happening to stop in when Ginny, Luna and Colin went to The Three Broomsticks last Hogsmead weekend or standing beside the stairs that led to the Gryffindor common room with that same confused look on his face, as though he has been lost, as though he needed a map in order to find his way through the school he had spent six years studying at.
Now, on this night, he was making his presence known once again and something more, he was daring her to respond.
Ginny never backed down from a dare. Fishing her own Nimbus 2000 from her trunk, a birthday present from all her brothers, she climbed onto the windowsill. Holding onto the windowpane with one hand and the Nimbus 2000 with her other hand, she swung one leg over her broom. Making sure she was completely balanced, she did a warm up swoop before diving headfirst towards Draco.
It was the stuff dreams were made of. Whether or not this was the reaction Draco expected, he certainly enjoyed the sight of Ginny flying down towards him, red hair whipping off her face in the night wind, her oversized nightshirt flapping around her, her bare legs straddling the broom.
She landed a few feet away from him, realising instantly that was only wearing a T- shirt that barely reached her knees. She could feel Draco, without even looking up at him, as if particles of his essence were filtering into the air.
He smelled like rain and that alluring scent of magic and musk. The whole thing seemed quite unreal to Ginny - the both of them, alone, standing in the darkness of the night. Hagrid's Hut was down the corner and the lake could be seen with a cloud of mist surrounding it.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I could ask you the same thing. No shoes too." He smirked and pointed at her bare feet, pale skin contrasting against damp green grass.
"Don't make fun of me." Frankly, Ginny felt a little sick to her stomach right now. She felt that churning in her stomach that she felt each time she saw Draco. She wished he were not so good looking. She wished he did not look so confused.
"Anything else you're not wearing?" He asked, snidely.
"I mean it. Shut up." She snapped at him, testily.
"Fine." He agreed. He threw himself on the grass, his dark quidditch robes billowing about him.
Ginny sat down beside him, tugging her shirt to cover as much of her legs as possible.
After a moment of silence that felt eternal, Ginny spoke up exasperated. "Why do you never say what's really in your head?"
"Why do you always say what's in yours?" He shot back, rising to his feet in one fluid, graceful motion.
He walked towards the lake, Ginny trailing behind him.
"I never do." She spat out.
He stopped abruptly by the beech tree, on the shore of the lake.
"I won't say that." He was looking down at her, his eyes so much like the lake they stood by.
"What would you say?" Ginny was standing a little too close to him She had grown reckless, that green sort of abandon spring brought on, even though it was no longer March.
"I guess I would say I wished things had turned out differently."
"Well, most people would say that wouldn't they?" Ginny felt incredibly unsteady on her feet. "Given the wrong turns a person can make, won't they feel the same?"
"No, I doubt so." He said for argument's sake.
Before she could open her mouth and come up with a clever retort, he kissed her.
Right away, Ginny's lips began to burn. She thought of the candle and the pin and the way love walked into a person's life, uninvited. She could feel Draco's hip against her own, and she burned there too. Wherever he touched her, wherever he was. So this is what it was, this burning up, this wanting something you should not have.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this," Ginny said after a while. By then her lips hurt, not that she wanted to stop. All the same, she had a panicky feeling inside her chest.
"What should we do? Argue? Fight?"
Ginny laughed in spite of herself, then muffled her laughter for they could hear Hagrid's tread on the grass as he made his way from the castle back to his hut. He was singing to himself drunkenly, swaying as he walked. He could not see them for they were well hidden by the foliage of the tree.
He was singing terribly off key. Ginny put her hand over Draco's mouth so that Hagrid would not hear him laughing. Even his breath against the palm of her hand burned. She thought of the muggle man Colin told her about, who was able to breathe fire.
When she leaned her head against Draco's chest, she could hear what a strong heart he had. Was that what attracted her? That despite what everyone else thought or said about him, at the end of the day he was the sort of person who would follow his heart and it would lead him the right way?
"Wait a bit." Draco told her once Hagrid was out of their earshot and had reached his hut.
Ginny lay down with Draco for a few minutes in the grass. Her own heart beat ridiculously fast when she was beside him.
Love was like that, like a dream you did not quite understand, one in which you did not necessarily know what you were looking at until it was right in front of you. Love ambushed you, it lay in wait, dormant for days or years.
It was the white candle, the brittle arguments, the kiss, and the forgiveness. It came after you, escaped you, it was invisible, it was everything even to someone like Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley.
END.
A/n note -
if you liked this story please check out my other DG one shot fics - 'In The Shadows' and 'Harder to Breathe'
Also check out my six part DG fic 'Love on Earth as well as the still in progress 'That Thing You Do'
Reviews are more than welcome..THANK YOU.