Ginny woke up with a start. Oh no. The dream again. But... it had been worse this time. Ginny ewas breathing hard, sweating, she felt hot. Sitting up, Ginny threw off her covers. It was in early December. She was still going out with Harry.
She kept having the same dream and it was scaring her. It couldn't be true. It would certainly mean doom for her and Harry's relationship if it was. She shook herself. Of course it wasn't true. Dreams were symbolic. it meant something, certainly, but it was just her subconscious telling her something. It had nothing to do with what actually went on in the dream.
Still sweating, Ginny took a deep breath and lay back down. She needed sleep, desperately. Tomorrow was another Hogsmeade weekend. Harry hadn't asked her. He'd told her that he had to study. Hermione and Ron had both told her the same thing and when she'd asked if she could study with them they'd quickly said it was something she wasn't learning that year. She wouldn't learn it until seventh year, they had said. They didn't want to break the rules by teaching it to her too early. Right. So convincing!
Didn't want to break the rules? They broke the rules all the time! How stupid did they think she was? It was obvious something was going that they didn't want her for. But what? And why!? Hadn't she amply proven at the Ministry two years ago that she could fend for herself? Hadn't she cursed Malfoy? Hadn't she helped get them all both into and out of the Ministry? Wasn't that enough to prove that she was competent? That she knew what she was doing and was perfectly capable of fighting for the Order and the side of light?
Obviously not.
Ginny woke the next morning, tired and clammy and red-eyed. Moaning under her breath the reached through her curtain voer to her bedside table. "Pepper-up potion..." muttered Ginny. She grabbed on to a vial and pulled it to her. Uncorking it, she took a sip. Her dream had been giving her so much trouble that she'd gone to Madame Pomfrey to get a pepper-up potion.
Ron, Harry and Hermione had noticed (after a few weeks) that she hadn't been looking well, and Jackie Hariss told Hermione that Ginny hadn't been sleeping. Ginny told them she'd been kept up with cramps. The boys bought it. Ginny had known they would. Their wish was to never, ever talk about 'that time of the month' so they didn't question that she was having cramps far more than one week out of a month.
Hermione had confronted her, but Ginny had said it was just OWL stress from much studying. Hermione had made sympathetic noises and patted Ginny's arm. She then complimented Ginny on her dedication before going off to find Ron for a little snogging.
"I'm so glad it's Saturday.." whispered Ginny, while smoke came billowing out of her ears. "I can stay here in the nice, quiet dorm and sleep." she snorted. "Sleep. Right. I'm told it's great. Lovely. I'm talking to myself. That's all I need. A trip to St. Mungo's." the red head shivered involuntarily.
Ginny decided not to go to Hogsmeade. This would be a great oppurtunity to take very long, very hot, very bubbly bath in the prefect's bathroom, uninterrupted by people trying to bang down the locked door. She'd just have to be careful she didn't fall asleep and drown herself. That could be a problem. Ginny grabbed a robe and a towel.
The Gryffindor walked down the stairs into the common room, then out the portrait hall to the entrance of the prefect's bathroom. "Lilywater." she muttered, and the statue that stood infront of the entrance slid open.
Ginny took off her pajamas and started running the water, and bubbles, huge thick white ones. Soon the tub, which was the size of a small swimming pool, was full of hot water and white bubbles.
Draco, who had decided to stay back from Hogsmeade as well and had made the descion to have a bath, finally made it down to the bathroom, and muttered the password at the door.
Ginny was floating in the water, eyes closed, covered in bubbles, when Draco entered the bathroom. He had not noticed her there, only that the bath was full. He dropped his stuff by one of the sinks, and looked at himself in the mirror.
Ginny had started softly humming a weird sister's song. Draco heard it and looked round, and spied a large mass of red hair and a white face protruding from the water. Draco moved so quietly that Ginny (whose ears were, after all, under water), hadn't heard him moving around.
"Ginevra." whispered Draco to himself, setting himself up on the marble sink top.
Ginny sat up, feeling a bit better, more then ready to play around in the bath (bubbles, whee!). Then she noticed Draco. "AHH! Malfoy! What the fuck?" her eyes were all wide and she'd grabbed a whole bunch of bubble and pulled them around her. He sat there, leaned against he mirrored wall, watching. "Aren't you leaving!?!"
"No." said Draco, and he shook his head.
"Why not?! I'm naked udner all these bubbles, if you hadn't noticed. And I have a boyfriend. Helloooo? This is not okay!"
Draco shrugged, "Too many bubbles to see." he replied.
"It cannot possibly be this much fun to torture me."
"Why should it be torture?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Ginny, her hands going to her hips, although he couldn't see through the bubbles.
"Last time I saw you semi naked, you didn't seem to mind. What makes it different now?"
"I'm not drunk and I have a FUCKING BOYFRIEND!" said Ginny, the last few words being more screamed then said.
"I wouldn't call him much of a boyfriend." said Draco.
"Ok, we are not here to discuss my relationship with Harry. I am here to take a nice, peaceful bath to relax because I haven't slept more than two hours in a row for the past WEEK!" exploded Ginny. Her face was twitching.
"Haven't been sleeping?"
"Forget it. I'm taking my bath." said Ginny shortly.
"Alright, Ginevra." Malfoy said, sliding off the surface, and running some water into the gold basin infront of him.
"After you leave!" she said with a look like 'duh' on her face. "You cannot possibly mean to stay here while I take my bath." said Ginny flatly.
"I'll have my back to you." replied Draco.
"What are you doing that you even need to be in here?"
"Getting ready to take a bath." He said simply, beginning to remove his robes.
"What?!"
"Do I need to repeat myself?" Draco shed all his clothes. Ginny blinked and then couldn't look away. Yeah, she'd seen guys naked, but brothers didn't count and Draco Maloy was most definitely not Ginny's brother. Which was a good thing because Ginny had long ago decided it would be really gross to like to look at your brother naked.
"Merlin's bloody testicles." said Ginny, gaping at Draco as he got in.
"Lovely image that brings to mind." said Draco, dipping his shoulders ubder the water.
"When I can breathe again, I'll demonstrate on you." said Ginny.
"No, thanks." He said, his head disappearing under the water. When he surfaced his white hair was plastered to head. He pushed it back, rubbed his face slightly and shook his head, getting all the water off of it.
"It wasn't an offer."
"Fair enough." Draco closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the baths edge. Ginny was glad he was covered by bubbles because if he wasn't she would've stared (again) and that would have been embarassing. She really wasn't sure how to function normally, naked, in a bathtub with a boy who was decidedly not her boyfriend.
Draco sighed, his shoulders were hurting he had a headache, and he was in a bath with Ginny Weasly.
"What? I'm sorry it's such a burden forcing a girl to take a bath with you."
Draco opened his eyes. "I feel like my heads going to explode, hence the sigh."
"You'll forgive me if I don't give you a back rub." said Ginny sarcastically. Draco rolled his eyes, and his head again disappeared under the water.
"Don't you dare open your eyes under water!"
"Ok." replied Draco, just before his mouth sunk under.
"This makes me so incredibly nervous." muttered Ginny to herself, looking around as though trying to see through all the bubbles. She wondered if she had enough time to get out of the tub and grab a towel before Draco surfaced. He was under there a good minute or so. Ginny made a dash for it, swimming to the steps out of the tub. Draco surfaced directly infront of her.
"Will you please let me through?" asked Ginny. She backed up a little, they were incredibly close.
"Maybe."
"Damn it Malfoy!"
"Why do you never call me Draco?"
"Why won't you let me through?"
"I'll answer when you do."
"Because you're a Slytherin." said Ginny uncomfortably.
"Because I wanted an answer."
"You specifically blocked me to ask that question?" said Ginny, giving him a look.
"No." said Draco, looking at her.
"Damn it, I worded the question wrong!" Ginny would've stamped her foot but it seemed pretty pointless. "But I don't suppose you'd answer if I worded it right." said Ginny.
Draco shrugged. "Might have done."
"I meant now."
"Try me."
"Why did you block me?" asked Ginny. "Hey, your eyes HAD to have been open under water for you to block me!"
"Wondered where you were going."
"I was trying to get out before you surfaced so you wouldn't see me naked."
"I'm getting out anyway." said Draco. He turned and proceeded to get out the bath. Ginny looked down at the bubbles so she wouldn't stare. He walked right over to his stuff, and picked up his towel from the side. Ginny looked back up when he had put on a towel. Then she went under the water. She came back up, her hair plastered to her neck and shoulders.
Draco glanced dwon at her, grabbing his other towel, and beginning to dry his hair. Ginny grabbed her shampoo from the edge of the tub, very nearly flashing Draco in the process and poured some shampoo into her hand. She started massaging it in, the excess running down her neck and shoulders. Draco couldn't help himself, his eyes fixed onto her.
"Would you stop staring, it's just lather." said Ginny without opening her eyes. He tilted his head, curious to how she knew. She went under, rinsing out her hair, and then surfaced. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "What? You've never sensed soembody staring at you before?"
"No." said Draco, throwing the towel back onto his stuff, his blonde hair fairly dry.
"With all the groupies you have? You must not be as good at sensing things as I thought." said Ginny.
"I don't need to sense i'm being stared at, ususally I know."
"Not if your eyes are closed you don't." said Ginny. Draco shrugged, and pulled on his boxers, before removing the towel that was around his waist.
"Nice boxers." said Ginny with a raised eyebrow. They were green with Slytherin snakes on them.
"Only clean pair I had."
"What do the other ones have on them, little Dark Marks?" said Ginny a bit cuttingly. Draco didn't answer.
"Are you leaving?"
"Why? Want me to stay here?" asked Draco, pulling a couple of vial out his wash kit.
"No smart arse, I'm getting pruny and I want to get out of the tub." said Ginny sharply. Draco rubbed the two oils into his face before pulling the rest of his clothes on. "Oh, for-bloody-get it." said Ginny. She swam over to the steps and go out of the tub, quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herslf. Draco hadn't looked, however much he had wanted to. Ginny had noticed. "Thank you." said Ginny. "In some weird way, that was very sweet."
"It was?" asked Draco, shrugging slightly, pulling on his shirt.
"Yes, oh Prince of Darkness." said Ginny, rolling her eyes. She pulled a robe on and let the towel drop from underneath it. She grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her wet hair. "Bye, Draco." said Ginny, piling her things up and leaving before he could say anything. She was really good at that.
He glanced over as the door clicked shut behind her. A slightly smile spread across his face. "She called me Draco."
"She does that an awful lot, doesn't she?" said Blaise, coming out from a shower stall. "The running away I mean, not the calling you Draco."
"Yeah she does." said Draco. It suddenly hit him that Blaise was in the room talking to him. "When the hell did you turn up?!" he said, his face going whiter than it was, if at all possible.
"Been here the whole time. Followed Ginevra, because I knew you'd be coming down here too."
Draco was still in a state of semi-shock. His bottom jow kind of flapped a bit as he tried to work out what he wanted to say in return, getting nowhere.
"Before you get all worked up and punch me in the face, I closed my eyes when she got out. I'm no saint but you're my friend Drakie dearest."
"Urgh, honestly, stop calling me that!"
Blaise smirked. "But when you got out... Mmmm-mmm Drakie, I had no idea what you were hiding under those robes." then Blaise cracked up.
Draco scowled, "Perve."
"If you're just figuring that out after knowing me since we were in diapers, Draco, you're a sad, sad person." said Blaise. "But I tell you, it is a testament to how much I love you that I didn't look at Ginevra. You owe me. Because she is hot. When she's not scowling, that is."
"She's hot whatever." Draco replied, doing up his shirt. "And yeah, I owe you." he replied.
"Goody. Want to repay me in sexual favors?"
"If I really have to." replied Draco, that 'can't be bothered to insult you' tone in his voice.
"I meant to Ginevra, you sicko." said Blaise, cackling as he left the room. Draco gathered all his stuff up, muttering about how Blaise needed better things to do.
Jackie Hariss woke from her pleasant dreams with a start. Somebody was whimpering. It turned out to be Ginny. Considering it to be the only thing to do, Jackie got Hermione, who got Ron and Harry.
After being woken up, while Ginny should have been mad at having her sleep interrupted, she seemed relieved. When asked, no, interrogated, by her brother and company, she said it had just been a particularly bad dream. Hermione smiled gently, shooting a scary look at Ron when he tried to press the issue further. She gave Ginny a vial of dreamless sleep potion and that was that.
Later that same night all of Gryffindor was woken by a bloodcurdling scream. Ginny, trashing around in her sleep, knocked over the vial of dreamless sleep potion. When it was swept away by Hermione the next morning, no one noticed the warning label on the vial.
Warning: Dreamless sleep potion does not cure prophetic dreams. Instead, it aggravates them. Overly stressful prophetic dreams can cause bad health and bald patches. In those cases we reccomend large doses of warm milk.