The Colors of a Girl
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related to it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Four – Brown
"You know each other?" Draco asked with a look of disbelief on his face.
"Not really." David replied quickly, glaring at Ginny.
"Right…" Draco muttered, looking between the two.
"Draco, I'll be back in a second, just go on ahead." David told him.
Ginny watched Draco leave and David came and sat down beside her.
"What are you doing here?" Ginny asked.
"I'm visiting Draco, he's my cousin; my mum is Lucius's sister." David explained quietly.
"You're a wizard?" She asked, whispering.
"Yeah, I'm done my seventh year at Durmstrang. My father didn't want me to go to Hogwart's, he really hates Hogwarts, and so he sent me there for seven years. I just finished, so I moved back to London." He explained.
"Wow." Ginny blurted. She thought it was quite amazing that he had turned out to be a wizard. "Are you staying with Malfoy?"
He laughed, "I'm staying at Hogwart's for the year. I hope to get into teaching Defense against the Dark Arts and Dumbledore let me study at the school, much to my father's dismay." He laughed again threw his head back slightly, Ginny couldn't help but stare.
"Also, my last name is Malfoy as well, so you might not want to call Draco that anymore. It could get confusing." He winked at her.
She frowned. She still couldn't get over the fact that David was here, sitting in front of her and would be staying at Hogwart's the whole year.
"I'm sorry I didn't call you." She apologized,
"To be honest Ginny, I wouldn't have gotten together with you even if you had called because I knew I was coming here and spending the year away. I didn't want to miss you too much, but I did miss you."
"You didn't talk this much at the party." Ginny commented.
"No, I don't like big crowds of people, or big parties like that. I prefer a small group of close people, or one on one, like now." He said.
"Me too," Ginny replied.
A lull of conversation came now, only to be interrupted by a certain person walking over.
"David, c'mon, we're going." Draco told him.
"Yeah okay, see you around Ginny."
He got up slowly, looked at Ginny and then began to walk away with Draco. As they were leaving, Ginny could hear Draco mutter to David, "…don't tell me you've gotten fond of that weasel.", although she didn't catch his response.
Ginny looked back at the table, and Hermione caught her eye.
"What was that all about?" She asked, confused.
"Nothing," Ginny murmured, taking a sip of her soda.
A few days later, Ginny found herself on platform 9¾ accompanied by her brothers, Harry and Hermione. They walked the steps up into the train and found themselves in the familiar long hallway, compartments holding passengers connected to this. They walked down the hallway slowly, trying to hold on to their luggage pet cages.
Ginny finally pointed out an empty compartment and Harry, Hermione, Ron and herself made their way to it, Hermione dropping Crookshanks along the way.
Once they had settled themselves inside the compartment Ginny sat down with a huff and brushed her long red hair from her face.
"Uh…I'm going to go for a walk, see if I finished all the homework." Ginny explained, picking herself up and opening the sliding glass door.
She walked out into the dimly lit hallway and looked both ways, watching for people she knew. After she saw nobody, she continued walking towards the front of the train looking into each compartment as she passed. She finally came upon one of the last compartments and could see two blonde heads through the frosted glass. Should she go in? She badly wanted to see David but Malfoy was always with him. She breathed in slowly and slid open the door.
As soon as she stuck her head the sweet, sickly scent of pot hit her harshly. David, sitting on the left, lifted his head up and grinned crookedly.
"Ginny!" David called while blowing out a puff of smoke.
"Hey David," She murmured, closing the glass door behind her and sitting down beside him, noticing the small, rolled joint in his hand.
"Weasel, what the hell are you doing here?" Malfoy spat at her.
David held up his hand to his cousin. "Hey, Draco, it's fine." He then held out the hand holding the joint and offered it to her. She took it quickly and held it to her lips, inhaling slowly. She felt her lungs heat up and her throat felt scratchy. She pulled it away from her face and exhaled slowly, savoring it.
She felt her eyes begin to itch, but she turned to Draco anyways, who had stunned look on his face.
"Good stuff." Ginny commented, "Where'd you get it?"
David laughed, "This is the best stuff, home-grown, by our friend Draco here."
Ginny looked at Draco, her head tilted slightly. She giggled.
"I need to buy some from you later."
"Yep." He muttered.
"This year's going to be awesome." David said, smiling and looking at Ginny and Draco.
Ginny smiled at him awkwardly. "What? You're looking at me."
"Right?" David continued.
"You didn't say anything, dipshit." Draco snorted. Ginny laughed, clutching her chest, she couldn't stop laughing. She rolled on the floor, her face turning red. She finally had calmed down enough to say,
"Shit, what's in that stuff?"
"Oh," Draco grinned, "Just some extra stuff, you know, it's magically-enhanced."
"Cool." Ginny stated.
"So where did you guys meet?" Draco asked easily, now loosening up.
"At a party," Ginny said quickly.
"Yeah," David continued, running a hand through his blonde hair, "We both know this girl, Ariel, and she brought Ginny to this house-party one night and we ended up hanging out." Ginny blushed. Hanging out had turned to much more.
"Interesting." Draco replied.
They sat in silence for awhile, Ginny focused on the swirls of smoke dancing around her, illuminated by the lantern on the wall. The swirls seemed to be moving quickly, spinning around, and drawing intricate patterns across the transparent air. She looked at David, his black t-shirt folded over his body, his blue jeans hanging loosely. His hair was tousled up in a shaggy way.
The peaceful silence was then interrupted by two faces peering through the glass, trying to see who was in there. Ginny quickly noticed who it was.
"Dammit, it's Harry." She groaned.
"Who's Harry?" David asked quickly.
"You'll find out soon enough." Draco growled.
Harry heard them knock on the door before giving up and sliding open the door. Ron and Harry stood in the doorway, gaping at the three of them.
"Ginny what are you doing?" Ron said.
"What does it look like?" Ginny retorted.
"It looks like you're being an idiot and fraternizing with the enemy." Ron said, walking over to her and trying to pull her up by her elbow.
"Just shut up and don't touch me." Ginny snapped, glaring at her.
Ron stepped back, looking like he had been slapped in the face.
"Let's go." He mumbled to Harry as they turned and left, slamming the door back into place.
Draco laughed and then smiled at her.
"Nice, Ginny." He said.
"Was that you're brother?" David asked, talking about Ron.
"Yeah, unfortunately." She sighed, "He's so weird. All he talks about is Quidditch, and he's so naïve."
"And was that Harry Potter?" He asked again.
"Yeah." Ginny said quietly.
"Wow, I've met a celebrity." David said, smiling sarcastically.
Draco snorted and began coughing. Ginny giggled, but settled down quickly.
"David, seriously now," She began cautiously, "Are your parent's death-eaters?"
She noticed Malfoy hiss lightly, his mouth closed. She watched David intently as a line furrowed on his forehead. He sighed.
"Yeah, they are. My father became a death-eater as soon as he turned eighteen. My mother joined when they got married." He frowned slightly.
"It doesn't matter." Draco said quietly, most unlike him. "Anyways, it won't make no difference, David will have to get the mark when he turns eighteen. It's in his family now. Since both of his parents are death-eaters, if he doesn't become one, Voldemort will kill him."
Ginny's face held a horrified look at this news, she spluttered but no words came out.
"Just forget about it." David said, placing his hand on her pale arm. As he was doing this he shot a death look at Draco, who just smirked and rummaged through his bag, pretending to be busy.
The train arrived at the platform shortly afterwards. After collecting her bags from the other compartment and trying hard not to let the glares on Ron and Harry's face bother her, she walked off the train with David and Draco.
They walked along the wet path, rain softly falling on their heads. They talked lightly about nothing much as they walked towards the carriages pulled by invisible horses. The three of them climbed into one, and shut the half-door.
The carriage slowly lurched to a slow speed and Ginny stuck her head out the window, letting the rain wash over her face and dampen her hair. As they pulled along, Hogwart's castle began to appear in the darkness and Ginny smiled, taking in the cozily lit windows, the large fields and stone brick walls.
Home, she thought happily.
The sorting and dinner went by quickly, Ginny sitting at the end of the table, across from Draco and David. She picked at her food, mostly moving it around with her fork as she listened to Draco talk with all the fellow Slytherins and introduce David.
There were no classes that day, the feast lasting for quite awhile, and she was now sitting in her dormitory, unpacking some of her clothes.
A slight tap was heard from the window closest to her and she was surprised to see a medium-sized brown owl trying awkwardly to perch on the small stone ledge. She ran over and opened the window, the owl entering the room in a flourish of rain and feathers.
"What's this?" Ginny asked herself quietly as the owl sat itself on the edge of a wooden desk beside Ginny's four-poster bed. The owl held out its leg, revealing a rolled up note, written on clean white parchment, and held together with a piece of tape. She took it, unrolling it to expose a short note written in sloppy handwriting.
She squinted, just managing to make sense of the written note.
Ginny, it read, I'm very glad that you're at Hogwarts this year. I thought a letter would seem better, considering I'm a Malfoy, and well, you're not. I am staying in a small dormitory in the dungeon, close to the Slytherin common-room. Please come to my room Friday, Draco will be there as well, we just won't tell him you're coming; he doesn't seem to like you much.
David
Ginny rolled her eyes, looking at the second line. She would love to see David again, even if Malfoy was there. She tucked the note into the pocket of her jeans and let the owl out the window again.
Not tired enough to sleep yet, she closed the door to her dormitory and walked down the spiral stairs down to the common-room.
Warmth hit her with such joy that she felt as if she had been outside all day, although she usually was cold these days. A roaring fire was lit in the fireplace and most of the Gryffindor students were in there, talking with friends. She spotted Harry, Hermione and her brother and went over to them, not surprised to see Hermione already halfway through a book she had taken out from the library.
At her arrival, Ron and Harry's conversation ceased, which made Ginny raise her eyebrow and stare at Ron.
"Were you talking about me?" Ginny asked teasingly, twirling her finger in her hair and glancing at Harry.
"No." Ron blurted out quickly; to quickly to Ginny's liking.
"Fine," She continued, turning to Hermione, "Hermione, were they talking about me?"
At the sound of her name she looked up, a startled look on her face.
"What?" She asked, tilting her head at Ginny.
"Never mind," Ginny muttered. She sat down, smoothing out the shiny new black robes she was wearing. She could see Harry looking at her out of the corner of her eye and she pulled her head up, locking eyes with him. He quickly turned away, blushing.
Ron pulled him into a conversation about this year's Gryffindor Quidditch team and Ginny, now bored, rounded on Hermione.
"Hermiiioneee…" She sang, grinning at the same time. Hermione closed the book she was holding, marking the page with a bookmark and leaning back in the chair.
"Yeah?"
"Oh, I don't know." Ginny laughed, "There's a Hogsmeade visit coming up in a few weeks. Are you going to go with anybody?"
Hermione sighed, "Oh, I don't know, I'll probably just end up going with Harry and Ron like usual." She paused, "What about you? Are you asking anybody?"
"I'm not sure yet, I might ask somebody." Ginny smiled at the thought of asking David to Hogsmeade. He would probably like to go, and she wanted to see him more. As long as he didn't want to go with his stupid cousin.
"Yeah," Interrupted Hermione, "You know that guy that was with Draco in Diagon Alley?"
"What about him?" Ginny asked questioningly, wondering alarmingly if Hermione wanted to ask David into Hogsmeade too.
"Who is he? You seemed to know him."
Ginny was relived at this, "Just some guy I met in London, we talked for a bit. He's pretty nice."
"Oh." Was Hermione's only answer.
Ginny began picking at her fingernails, awkward with the silence between them now.
"Well, I'm going to get back to reading now, if you don't mind." Hermione reached out to grab the book and opened it, revealing long pages in small type.
"Nope." Ginny said, standing up and walking towards the entrance of the common-room. She opened the portrait carefully, leaving the brightly lit room and entering the corridor. David had said his room was in the dungeon; she shivered at the thought of going down there, but there could be the chance she would run into him.
She decided to walk around the school a bit, just to get the sense of things again. She turned left, and went down a staircase, passing portraits of all different sizes, most of the people inside them sleeping soundlessly. She wondered how late it was and thought of turning back, but quickly ruled that out and continued walking.
She didn't know how long she had been walking about; she let her feet guide her, her mind busy thinking about a certain person. She eventually found her way back to the common-room, much to her disappointment.
She entered quietly, trying to keep hidden, and walked up the stairs to her room. The only other person in her dormitory wasn't there yet, her bed left untouched. Ginny heaved herself on her bed, closing the curtains around her gently. She lay back, resting her head on the pillow, and thinking about David might be on this chilly autumn night. She soon fell asleep, the stars casting a yellow glow over her face as she slept.
Songs listened to while writing this chapter:
Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix
Black Dog – Led Zeppelin
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd