A Broken Rose

Just as her lips were about to touch his, so close that he could feel a shadow of them hovering over his mouth...the door creaked and the first signs of life other than them in the hallway emanated. Slowly a rather dishevled Gryffindor girl stumbled out of the Double Potions classroom, and to Draco's dismay and relief, he could no longer feel Ginny's hovering presence. In fact, she was as good as gone, making her way swiftly and steathily away from him, eager not to be seen. He stared after her, shocked to his core, and more than expecting to wake up in his bed in the middle of the night. His expectations were brought to no avail. "Still here Malfoy?" he heard a snarl. It was Ron Weasley.

"No Weasley," Draco drawled, smoothly catching himself, "I'm in your sister's pants." And before Ron could charge at him, Draco was gone, too. Speeding down the hall in the opposite direction that Ginny had just taken.

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Ginny's resolve was in tatters. All she had meant was a bit of flirting in the beginning, and an answer to her question. Maybe even not that much. Possibly just a vulgar conversation, or to just sit and stare at him and his pretty eyes for a while. She hadn't meant to...to...kiss him! If that could be considered a kiss. She didn't know what a kiss was, and what wasn't. She had never kissed any one before. She didn't want to kiss any one. Right...?

'But you want to kiss him, don't you?' a voice said in her head, like a candle she couldn't blow out, 'You want to go back there and press your lips against his, rake your hands through his silky blonde hair and-' Ginny stopped herself. Where was this going? This was confusing. What was she doing? This was painful. Malfoy didn't like her. He probably just wanted a little snog, then he'd rid of her. He was probably just like his father. His father who had put Tom's diary in her cauldron all those years ago. In fact, he was probably just like Tom. Ginny shuddered, almost instinctively searching for that reassuring presence that she always had with her. Searching for her guardian angel.

Sure enough he was there. He was there more than ever. It was as if who ever and what ever he was, was focusing on her completely and totally. His mind unwavering. His love unconditional. Ginny leaned against a wall, reveling in it, basking in it. Oh, now he loved her, who ever he was. He cared. He'd never betray her. Never.

But Ginny's mind couldn't help but prance back happily to Malfoy. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes, the fair, unblemished skin and silver blonde hair. He was more beautiful than she was...'But then I don't consider myself very beautiful...' Oh, she just had to counter with that. Oh well. Weasley auto-reaction.

Was that really all Malfoy wanted, though? A good snog? He had seemed so...genuinely...nervous. He had seemed, for once, out of control, and some how loving it. He had seemed so un-Malfoy-like, compared to what she had seen him doing to Ron merely minutes before. But had it been minutes, even? It could have been much longer, they could have stood there staring at each other for hours for all she knew. And then it could have been much shorter, maybe seconds?

Ginny sighed. She never jumped into things like that. She never jumped onto boys like that. In fact, she had never jumped onto any boy ever. The only one she had ever jumped at had been...Tom...and...well...Ginny took a deep breath, closing her eyes. On the back of her eyelids, the back of her mind, she pictured Tom. His dark eyes, dark hair and pale, pale skin. He'd reminded her of Harry. That's why she'd trusted him so quickly, so thoroughly. And eventually she'd come to love him. To love him with everything she had. Ginny clutched at her beating heart through her shirt, sliding down the wall so that she was in a sitting position with her back against the cold grey stone. 'Tom...Tom...' the tears slid down her cheeks, but she brushed them away abruptly as another figure entered her mind. Malfoy.

Tom was in her mind. But so was Malfoy. And somehow he made her not want to cry any more. Not want to go back to what Tom had done to her. All the monstrosities. Everything down to the last thing he'd been able to do after the chamber incident. Haunt her. In her dreams. But Malfoy was there now, and everything was alright. In her heart she knew it was. And suddenly a thought occured to her. 'Could Malfoy be...' It was out of her mind before she could complete it. Never. Bitter, Ferrety Malfoy, with his pompous dastardly ways, and his pretty eyes, not to mention the fact that he was devishly handsome...No he could not be her guardian angel.

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Draco was sitting in the library. It was, coincidently, the same seat he had been sitting in that morning when the little Weasley had approached him. The library was empty, except for Madame Pince, whom Draco could hear shuffling around in the background. His head was on the table, his hands supporting his forehead and squeezing his temples at the same time. His eyes were shut tight, everything he had in him concentrating on the Weasley, telling her, screaming at her, that he loved her, that he wanted her, that he needed her. That he cared.

Everything he was, everything he wanted revolved around her. The last few hours he had spent in the library pondering over her and her thoughts and her actions was enough to say that. Enough to scream that and send an owl telling every person in Hogwarts that. But still it was not enough for her to know. No, it wasn't. Nothing he did was enough for her to know what he felt. Nothing he was in line to do could show her this huge boiling coil of feelings in his stomach. Nothing. Draco took a deep breath, breathing in gratefully the crisp, white scent of cooks shut tight, and the dusty, moldy smell of the old tomes in the Restricted section.

The library always comforted him. It always gave him a place where he could think. But what he was thinking about now...well...was Ginny's Weasley's pink, plush lips against his, his hot tongue roaming the velvety warm recesses of her mouth in a passionate fervor...well...yeah, along the lines of that. What had she been thinking any way? Coming up to him, flirting with him, then almost kissing him. He bet she didn't even know how to kiss. According to his memory she'd never had a boyfriend. Never made a move to get one. Therefore that had almost been her first kiss. Draco's skin flushed slightly with the thought of being the first person to experience the warmth of her mouth against his. God, he was blushing alot.

And, lord did he want to kiss her. He wanted to, needed to...Draco took a deep, long breath, thinking of all the things he could do to her with his mouth and hers alone, all the things that would make her gasp, and moan and dig her nails into his shoulders. Draco had only kissed some one once before. On his thirtheenth birthday Pansy and her family had made a suprise appearance at the Manor. Unfortunately, the two were left alone, while the adult went to another of the many rooms in the house to discuss 'adult' things. But wait, did that even count as a kiss? Considering he didn't intiate, nor wanted any part in it, he was unsure. The fact that Pansy had grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and slammed her pudgy lips on his wasn't a very pleasant one, but it had been reality.

Now that Draco thought about it, he didn't know how he hadn't gagged in her mouth for that. The taste of her spit mingled with his and her slimy tongue all over his...well, it wasn't a very appetizing thought. But he had lived through it. And when she was done, she had walked away triumphantly, leaving Draco with only one thought: Yuuuuckkk. He remembered how had he had had to brush his teeth afterwards, and of the nightmares he had endured until weeks later.

Shuddering, he turned his thoughts back towards something much more...edible...

Author's Note: Thanx for the enormous response, guys, I lurv it. Keep reviewing, you're making me happy and faster at posting chappies...SEE! I said it would be Saturday, but, lookie lookie, two days early...smirkz...thank you guys again...Next chappy'll be up hopfully soon...

PS: Trying to make the chapters longer, to no avail...its just so much fun making them short so I leave you guys in suspense...something big happens next chapter...I think.