Author's Note: Professor Martin makes another appearance in the fic again. I need to tell you how actually annoying it was to put her in, because I kept calling her Professor Packard – but that's from my other story. Anyway, here goes.
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine except for random ones and Professor Martin. I only have dibs on the plot.
Analyze This Ch.9: Don't Kill the Messenger
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The next day at breakfast, Harry and Ginny could barely look at each other without falling to pieces.
It was a Saturday, and customarily Colin was a very late sleeper. Lark had gone back down to the party after making sure that Ginny was safely in her bed. She insisted that Ginny "wasn't well" and needed help; so after tucking the redhead in and wishing her goodnight, she went back down into the lion's den. Lark was planning on having a late breakfast so that she could get some extra sleep: supposedly she was going on an unofficial date with Seamus to the Hogsmeade visit that day.
Half surprised that Seamus was such a fast operator, but completely supportive of her friend, Ginny agreed to stop in at the Three Broomsticks for a bit to see how she was faring.
Ginny instead, would spend the day with Colin, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry and Ginny planned on ditching the other two members of the trio as much as possible to ensure that they spent some time alone. This plan was devised in the common room early that morning when Ginny came downstairs and saw Harry waiting impatiently for Ron. When Colin came down not long after, Ginny inquired as to whether Colin wanted in or not. After assenting, Colin declared that he would try and pick up some incriminating photos of the two clueless people together in hopes that they made a connection. He had plans of doing a little Christmas shopping, but figured that he could fit a little voyeurism in between.
Roles thus established Ginny, Colin and Harry headed for breakfast in a very good mood. There weren't many other people eating breakfast yet: the largest was a clump of people at Slytherin, but Ginny couldn't see who it was as Crabbe and Goyle blocked her view; a few people she knew from Ravenclaw; and only two Hufflepuffs chattering nonstop.
Ron and Hermione came into the room, speaking to each other like normal people for once, and sat down on either side of Harry.
Spying the gleeful looks on the faces of the three people around them, Ron began to ask, "Why are you all so –"
At that point, Lark came bounding into the Great Hall with a joyful – if not slightly nervous – smile on her face; she sat on Ginny's other side.
"I guess it's something in the water," Ron mumbled.
"So," said Hermione picking up a piece of toast, "What are everyone's plans for today?"
"I'm going to The Three Broomsticks," Lark piped up. Ginny smiled ruthlessly at her friend and was rewarded with a blush.
"Christmas shopping and just hanging around," said Colin.
"Me too," said Ginny. "And I might tag-a-long with Harry for a little bit to hear a few more strategies." Ginny and Harry shared a devious look.
"Same for me, then," said Ron swallowing egg. "I need to make sure that you take it easy, Ginny." The recipient of her brother's caring words rolled her eyes.
"Mmm, heads up," said Colin as a few owls flew in.
Peering outside where the swooping silhouettes of the birds were, Ginny thought that she saw a familiar ball of fluff darting frantically toward their table.
"Did you send some post out?" Ginny asked Ron. "I think I see Pig coming back with something."
For a reason unknown to Ginny, Ron's ears turned a telltale pink. "Not that I know of…I mean, not to anyone interesting…maybe Mum's sent us a care package…?"
Ginny narrowed her eyes at her brother. "You know that Mum hardly ever sends us care packages; especially not when the holidays are coming up so soon."
"I dunno…" said Ron looking a little sick when he saw something red in what was certainly Pig's beak. "I've forgotten something upstairs…I'll be back."
"No," Ginny told him, still suspicious. "Why don't you wait here and see what Pigwidgeon's got, eh?"
Ron shifted in his seat a bit as if he were on the verge of bolting. "Ah…alright then."
But when the bird came closer Ron paled a little more, and Ginny saw why.
"A Howler?" she said unbelievingly. "What did you do, Ron?"
Harry also looked curious. "Have you been hiding something from us?"
Hermione looked anxious. "If your mother's found out about me hanging up the poster I'm really sorry, Ron. You can tell her it was all my fault."
But Ron said something else. "Look, Ginny, I didn't know that –"
"What d'you mean Ginny?" asked the redhead. "I didn't –" Pig came swooping down to their table and landed in Ginny's porridge. "What the –"
Pig had spent so much time doing spins and loop-de-loops in the air that Ginny had next to no time to run out of the Great Hall and open it in private. Ginny's face was mortified as the red envelope exploded open and began shouting her mother's voice:
"GINNY WEASLEY, YOU ARE IN TROUBLE, YOUNG WOMAN!!! AND I DON'T MEAN FROM ROGUE BLUDGERS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, I MEAN WITH ME!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW FRIGHTENED YOUR FATHER AND I WERE WHEN WE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE TELLING US THAT YOU WERE LAYING UNCONSCIOUS IN THE HOSPTAL WING. AND ALL THIS WEEK WE'VE WAITED ANXIOUSLY FOR A LETTER FROM YOU, A NOTE, A LOCK OF YOUR HAIR, SOMETHING TO SIGNAL THAT YOU'RE ALRIGHT. I ALMOST CAME UP TO HOGWARTS MYSELF!! MERLIN KNOWS THAT YOU COULD'VE BEEN STILL LYING ON THAT DREADFUL QUIDDITCH PITCH, BLEEDING EVERY WHICH WAY FROM HOW RON DESCRIBED IT!! YET STILL NO LETTER!!
NOT EVEN WHEN WE WERE TOLD THAT YOU WOULD BE SPENDING TIME WITH THAT DRACO MALFOY!!! WELL YOU HAD BETTER BE MINDING YOUR P'S AND Q'S AROUND HIM GINEVRA WEASLEY, BECAUSE IF I HEAR THAT YOU'VE BEEN MISBEHAVING ALONG WITH DIVING OFF BROOMS, I JUST WON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOU!"
Ginny dared not breathe. At least it was over.
"AND DON'T THINK THAT I'M FINISHED, BECAUSE I'M NOT!! THANK GOD THAT YOUR BROTHER HAD ENOUGH SENSE TO OWL ME LAST NIGHT AND TELL ME THAT YOU WERE ACTING STRANGELY!! NOW IF ANYTHING IS BOTHERING YOU, I DEMAND THAT YOU MARCH YOUR WAY RIGHT TO MADAM POMFREY AND INFORM HER OF THOSE ISSUES. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD DO WITHOUT YOUR BROTHER!! YOU SHOULD THANK HIM FOR CARING ABOUT YOU ENOUGH TO REPORT TO ME WHENEVER THERE'S BEEN A PROBLEM. I'D SWEAR SOMETIMES THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO KEEP THINGS FROM ME, GINNY, AND I WON'T HAVE IT!!!! I AM YOUR MOTHER AND I CARE ABOUT YOU.
MAKE SURE YOU TAKE ALL OF YOUR POTIONS ON TIME AND GET PLENTY OF REST!!! MAKE SURE THAT HARRY IS EATING HIS VEGETABLES AND THAT HERMIONE ISN'T WORKING TOO HARD. GIVE COLIN AND LARK A HUG FOR ME!
AND WRITE ME A LETTER WITHIN THE NEXT THREE DAYS OR NO PRESENTS THIS YEAR!!"
As Ginny sat frozen, afraid to move, she saw an all too familiar figure walking out of the Great Hall, jeering and howling derisively as he left. A new horror fit its way into the pit of Ginny's stomach. She would never hear the end of it from Draco in her sessions! If she had been angry before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now.
The Howler burst into spectacular flames and began to shrivel up. As if some other person had inhabited her body, Ginny looked at the burning envelope and with eyes as narrow as shards of ice Banished it onto Ron's robes with her wand.
Any Slytherins that hadn't been laughing uproariously now had tears streaming down their faces at the sight of Ron Weasley jumping and dancing around as if he had ants in his pants.
"Take it off! What the – it's going to burn me alive!"
"Oh, shut up, Ron," Hermione authorized. "It'll go away." And within the next minute the flames extinguished themselves, leaving only a faint trace of smoke.
Ron turned on his sister angrily. "Have you gone mental?! What on earth was that for?!"
Ginny looked daggers at Ron. "Because you are a flaming idiot! You are a moron of the grandest kind, you stupid prat!" Her voice which had been close to a whisper rose with every word.
Ron gasped. "I…I don't think I've ever been so insulted in my life!"
"That's because people have been holding back!" Ginny shouted leaning forward. With her forefinger and thumb she picked Pig out of the porridge and flung him at Ron who was forced to juggle in order to catch the poor bird.
"Take your stupid rat with wings, you sellout!" she hollered. Pig hooted sullenly.
"Sellout?" Ron repeated. "How am I one of those?"
Ginny laughed bitingly in his face, about to tear him down with her words, but Colin pulled her down.
Harry ran his hand through his hair as he did when he was feeling awkward. "Well, you could have warned her, Ron."
"Don't speak to him, Harry," Ginny spat, "You might catch his stupid."
"That's uncalled for!" said Ron angrily.
"You told me that it was no one special," whispered Ginny in a dangerously low voice.
"Well, it was…it was just Mum, I didn't think anything of it…"
"Liar! You were trying to run away!"
"No!" he cried defensively. "I forgot something upstairs."
Ginny put her finger on her chin in a speculative look. "What could that have been, hmm? Your brain? Maybe your balls, Ron. Because you had to have lost those to pull a stunt like that without telling me first, and then trying to escape later."
Ron put his hand to his chest. "Ginny! Why are you so upset? I only did it because…"
"For revenge, Ron!" Ginny declared. "You didn't like what Harry and I said to you last night, did you? So what are you going to do to him, hmm? Going to steal away his glasses tonight so that he'll walk into walls?"
Hermione couldn't help but cover her mouth with a hand as a smile broke out into her face.
"I'm not that blind…" Harry murmured dryly.
"Don't talk to him, Harry!" Ginny shrieked. Her eyes were gleaming so brightly and her face so red that Colin half wondered if Ginny hadn't swallowed the Howler. The redhead stood up. "No one talk to him! Not a soul! Let him stay by himself in the corner like the little boy he is! Shunned from the world forever." She looked at Ron. "Isn't that what you prefer, Percy?"
Ron sucked air in so fast that he made a croaking noise. He searched for words to say, but found that he was quite speechless.
Ginny nodded slowly. "Better, much better. That's how I've always liked you." With that she stood away from the bench and stormed off.
"We should follow her," Lark said to Colin, looking around. It was as if Ginny had left the remnants of a battlefield behind her.
Harry was the soldier who had seen too much but survived, Ron was the shell-shocked soldier, and Hermione – oddly enough – played the role of a reporter; it was obvious that she desperately wanted to know what Ginny and Harry had said to Ron the night before.
Colin looked sad. "But I wanted to finish this bit of egg here," he said. "For some reason it always tastes better on Saturdays…"
Lark growled and rolled her eyes. Grabbing Colin by his collar she yanked him up. "Do you really want to unleash Ginny on the world in the state she's in?"
The blond shook his head.
"Alright, alright."
They left the older trio sitting at the table, Ginny's porridge still leaking all over the table.
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"Ginny! Ginny, where are you going?" Colin called after her. He and Lark didn't have very far to run as Ginny had only left the room and stood in the middle of the hallway. Screwing her brown eyes shut and balling up her fists, Ginny gave a loud, frustrated scream that made a few people coming down the main staircase stop and stare.
Taking a few steadying breaths, Ginny then turned to face her friends.
"I feel better now," she said.
"Do you really?" asked Lark.
Ginny made a face. "Actually no, but I have to pretend I do, or else I'll go inside and kill my brother." She thought for a moment. "But I've got plenty more, so why not?"
Colin walked up to his friend grinning. "Because then your mother would really send a Howler."
Ginny closed her eyes again. "Why does Ron always have to go blabbering off at the mouth? Do you know how embarrassing that was?"
"I don't think that I want to imagine," Colin said not so sympathetically.
"Well, there weren't really all that many people there yet," Lark pointed out.
"But I'm sure that people heard it from miles away," said Colin, risking bodily harm. Ginny gave him a chilly look. "My point is, Ginny, that the damage is done. If you show people that you're hurt, they're going to eat you alive."
Ginny grumbled intelligibly. Lark smiled at her friend and then peeked at her watch.
"Oh! Sorry, Gin, but I've got to go; I'm going to be late if I don't get a carriage now."
Ginny nodded. "Of course. I'll see you there, yeah?" Lark nodded and then with a wave and a hopeful smile went through the large oak doors out of the main entrance.
"Should we head out as well?" asked Colin.
"Sure," Ginny said. She began to walk out with Colin and then stopped. "Oh, I forgot to pick up my watch from Pomfrey yesterday. Would you mind waiting here for a second while I get it? It drives me mad not knowing the time."
Colin smirked. "Why not, dear? I know how you so love to be in control."
Ginny's lips turned upward audaciously. "And don't you forget it, love." Ginny flipped her hair and heard Colin laugh behind her as she walked quickly to the hospital wing.
She wasn't even sure anymore if she wanted to help Ron's situation with Hermione. Any altruism that she felt toward her brother dissipated like a puddle hit by dragon fire. What she hadn't wanted to admit to Colin and Lark was that Draco Malfoy witnessing the whole episode made it worse for her. When he walked out of the Great Hall almost dying of laughter, not saying anything though, Ginny knew was an indication of the verbal lashing he was planning for sometime in the future. And it was all stupid Ron's fault.
Ginny knocked on Madam Pomfrey's door and heard the matron summon her from within.
"Hello," Ginny said cordially on entering. "I think I left my watch lying around somewhere. Do you mind if I look for it?"
"No, but don't be too long; there are other patients that are resting."
Ginny nodded and walked near where her bed had been. Madam Pomfrey was advising her on hospital wing etiquette as if she hadn't been there just the day before. Ginny peeked around the bed to see if she had dropped it on the floor or anything. After at least five minutes of searching, though, it was nowhere to be found.
'Where could I have put it?' Ginny thought. After about two minutes more searching, she could practically hear Colin sighing with impatience from the entrance corridor and decided to give up. Maybe it was hidden somewhere in the bundle of clothes that she had dragged up last night. With one last glance at the now upturned bed and crooked bedside table, Ginny left.
Turning around so that she faced the door, Ginny made sure that it closed with only the smallest of clicks. Who know what Madam Pomfrey would do if some poor patient's rest were disturbed?
"Good show, Weasel."
Spinning around quickly, Ginny pulled out her wand. She exhaled angrily.
"Real mature, Malfoy."
His eyes gleamed with mal-humor. "You can put your little stick down, now; it's just me."
Ginny gave him a look that plainly said, 'Are you kidding me?' and kept her wand right where it was.
"Why? I find that I like looking at you better when it's at wandpoint."
He shook his head. "Whatever. We've been summoned, let's go."
Ginny snorted. "By whom? I'm not going anywhere with you; I've already got plans."
"As if I didn't?" But Ginny remained silent. He sighed dramatically. "Would you go with me if I promised to give you this?"
He held up a simple brown watch with a leather strap. The face had a silver background and the numbers were a ruby red. It would have meant nothing to Ginny – if it hadn't been precisely the watch that she had been looking for.
"Give that back now," authorized Ginny.
Draco smirked. "Come with me first and you'll get the watch afterward."
"At the risk of sounding like Pansy, I'll venture to say, 'As if', you annoying little rat. Now fork it over."
The blond shrugged and pocketed the watch. "I've told you what you have to do to get it." He and Ginny engaged in a silent glaring war for a full minute. "You want it badly, don't you? I can just hear it ticking away in my little pocket. Useful little thing, despite it's tatty appearance, eh, Weasley?"
"It's –"
"The best Daddy could afford, right?" He frowned in mock sadness. "I know you'd hate to part with it, and so if you'll come with me calmly I promise to give it back before it disintegrates in the next five minutes." Ginny's fists bunched up with barely suppressed fury. "See, that's the problem with cheap leather, Red," he said derisively, "It's here one minute and rotting the next. All those sickles right down the drain."
"Aargh! Fine!" Ginny shouted, giving in. "Only to shut your foul little mouth up."
Draco pouted. "What – this old thing?" he said. Then he turned and walked down the hall. "Kiss, kiss, Weasel."
Ginny flushed with anger and stalked after him, longing to chuck something at the back of his head.
"Planning on telling me where we're going yet?" she said after some minutes had passed.
Draco took the watch out of his pocket and began throwing it up into the air and catching it. "If you can't tell by now, you don't deserve to know."
Ginny pulled her wand out again and prepared to Summon the watch to her.
Without turning around though, Draco said, "Uh, uh, uh."
"Do you even realize how much you infuriate me?" Ginny asked absently, but there was no answer. She could bet that he was smirking his stupid little face off. "At least tell me where you got my watch from."
"The Infirmary," he said simply. "I checked to see if you were there. You weren't. I saw your watch. I saw an optimal chance for bribery. I picked it up, and here we are."
"I'll have to ask Madam Pomfrey to up the security in there. Seems to me she's letting all kinds of rubbish waltz in."
Draco nodded thoughtfully. "I know. I told her to ban all Weasley's, but she was rather lax today." He glanced back at Ginny. "Seems like I didn't pay her enough."
Ginny snorted. "Let me give you a word of advice: when you pay people off, wash the blood from those you stole it from."
Just then she recognized the direction that they were going in.
She stopped. "Why are you taking me here?" she demanded.
"I'm not taking you anywhere. We were told to come here," Draco said exasperatedly. "I received an owl –"
"I bet you did," said Ginny sarcastically.
"He's telling the truth," said another voice. Ginny looked up and colored a little at the image of Professor Martin smiling at her. "Long time no see, Ms. Weasley." She looked at the two of them. "And I see nothing has changed."
Draco looked at Ginny as if she smelled of an open rubbish bin on a hot summer's day. "This world is based on magic not miracles."
"Professor, I've left a friend of mine waiting in the entrance hall – today's a Hogsmeade visit – and he's probably been standing there for at least twenty minutes now," she finished, going to look at her watch. She remembered at the same time as Draco did that he had it in his pocket. "So, sorry to be rude but I don't have time to waste suffocating in Malfoy's stupidity."
"That's right, Weasley; you've already wasted eight of your lives trying to survive in that cesspool you call a home."
"Better my 'cesspool' than your mausoleum cum cemetery. Tell me, Malfoy, was that why your dear mummy was so very grumpy at the last Quidditch World Cup? Not used to the sun?"
"Listen, you two –" Professor Martin tried to intervene.
"Sorry if I upset you by comparing to a cat, Weasley. Tell me how many lives a bitch has and then we'll go from there."
"That'll be easy!" said Ginny heatedly. "How old is your mum?"
Draco's eyes narrowed. "You –"
"Stop it; the both of you!" Professor Packard's pretty face was stern with anger. "Come into my room, this won't take that long." She went inside.
Ginny glared at Draco and went inside the room quickly, pushing by him slightly, and stood by the door.
Martin was inside sitting behind her desk. "You can make yourselves comfortable if you like."
Ginny shook her head. "It's alright; I've really got to be going soon."
The professor shrugged and then after a second gave a strained smile. "First things first: congratulations on getting out of the infirmary."
"I know; I didn't think she had the mental capacity either," Draco said spitefully.
Ginny ignored him. "Thank you. It feels good to be out."
Martin's eyes flicked to Draco and then back. "And I understand that Mr. Malfoy has been visiting you pretty much everyday, right?"
Ginny nodded again with a slightly twisted smile on her face. "That's right! He made it very clear that you told him to." When Professor Martin frowned, and Ginny realized that she might have been a little overly hostile toward the older woman. It was difficult not to, though, as the redhead felt that Martin hardly understood her – valiantly though she might try.
There was a small silence. Then Martin said, "Well, now that all of that is out of the way, we can come to the issues that I wanted to see you about. Obviously the schedule has been a bit of a joke; I had wanted you to meet about two times a week, but after your accident Ginny, I thought it would be nice for Draco to see you frequently. Now that you're out, though, we can return to a normal schedule. How do Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays sound to you two?"
Draco laughed in a low voice. "That's three days a week, not two."
Martin smiled back. "One more day to spend in each other's company."
"One day too many," Ginny blurted out. "I mean, if…if you really wanted us to bond or something, you shouldn't try and force it upon us." Draco looked at Ginny calculatingly.
"I have to agree," he said grudgingly. "Contemplating suicide three times a week really takes time off my exam revision."
The professor only looked at them with a sharp eye. "I tried seeing if any improvements would be made with your civility by having Draco visit you everyday. And you can try to pretend like some headway has been made, but I can tell that none has – I'm good at that; it is my job after all. So if you really think about it, I'm giving you a break by allowing the sessions to only occur every other day."
Ginny closed her eyes for a moment, unwilling to believe that it could be true and then nodded resignedly. There was no use arguing. No matter how much Ginny tried to avoid seeing Draco, Professor Martin always found an underhanded way to arrange that they met up.
"I understand. I have to go." She turned to leave and could hear Draco doing the same, but they were summoned back.
"One more thing, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley," said Professor Martin. "I heard about this Hogsmeade weekend and thought it might be nice to celebrate Ginny's release by you two spending the day together."
Draco took one look at Ginny and broke out in laughter. "Sorry…sorry…professor; but you see I've got friends to spend the day with. Not including Weasley."
Professor Martin only smiled. "I'm sure that you can include Ginny in that."
Draco's shook his head. "You don't seem to understand; I seem to develop this allergic reaction whenever I'm around…that. It has something to do with the cheap material of her robes, you see…"
Ginny's eyes widened. "Ohh…" she gasped. "So that's where that rash comes from? Silly me; I always wrote it off as a defect of inbreeding."
Draco's eyes glittered. "Your family would know more about inbreeding than mine. After the first few runts your mother popped out, she became deplorably dumpy; your father being naturally repulsed by her handed the mantle over to your first ten brothers."
A book slammed on the desk in the room and the glaring teens looked up sharply.
"Do not force me to put a Silencing Charm on the both of you! It's terrible that you can't remain in the same room for more than five minutes without sniping at each other. Now I refuse to hear any more arguments; punishments are non-negotiable."
"Punishments indeed," Draco muttered. "At least she's honest…"
Ginny's brown eyes were pleading. "Professor Martin, I really can't do this today…" she said thinking about her plans with Harry and Colin. It was a joke to think that Draco would enjoy trying to set Ron and Hermione up. She wanted to laugh just thinking about it. "Like Malfoy said and as I've told you already, I have plans with other people."
But Martin was unyielding. "If you two can't find a way to spend time together and include whatever engagements you had prior to this, than I suggest it might be easier to spend the day exclusively with each other."
The faces of the two students were blank.
"If you refuse this minor task, I'll be forced to add an extra day to your weekly sessions." Draco whitened with anger. "Is that all?" asked Martin lightly. But the redhead and the blond remained silent. "Then enjoy your day! I shall see you soon." She rose from her desk. And with that she left.
Draco looked at Ginny with disgust. "I won't do this."
"Well I don't want to be bound to you forever, so you'd better reconsider."
Taking a long look at Ginny, Draco rushed out of the room and into the hall. "Where are you going?" Ginny called after him.
"To hell in a handbasket," Draco snapped.
Ginny laughed derisively behind his turned back. "Oh, I understand, fancied paying Daddy a visit?"
He ignored her; the only evidence that showed Ginny she had gotten to him was an extra rigidity in his walk.
When they reached the Entrance Hall, Draco continued to walk by. At the same moment, Ron, Hermione and Ron only just left the Great Hall.
"That was a long breakfast," Colin said to them, not noticing Ginny or Draco's rapid approach.
"Excuse Weasley, it takes a while for him to properly get that spoon-to-mouth coordination," Draco said nastily without breaking stride.
Ron's fists clenched.
"Where have you been?" Colin asked Ginny. "I've been standing here for ages. Filch said he would give me a detention for loitering if I didn't move in the next five minutes."
"Sorry," said Ginny irritably. "When I went to the hospital wing to pick up my watch, I couldn't find it. I was heading back here but got stopped by Malfoy. He got an owl from Martin and we took a detour to her room, which is a bit of a ways-off. Anyway, I've got not-so-good news. Professor Martin is forcing Malfoy and me to spend the day together to celebrate my release."
"What?" said Harry. "It's not as if you've just been released from prison. Doesn't she want you to have any fun?"
"I know," Ginny said stiffly. "But there's nothing for it. We have to do this today or she threatened us with an extra session a week bringing it to four times weekly. And she's so nosy that I think she'd find out if we skived off it." She sighed. "I guess those 'strategies' will have to wait, Harry."
The raven-haired boy nodded. Draco couldn't be privy to their conversation, regardless of whether they were going to talk about Quidditch plans or make plans for Ron and Hermione.
Ginny spied Colin repeatedly looking at her. When she looked at him fully he appeared nervous. Understanding why she threw up her hands.
"Fine, Colin, you don't have to come with me."
"It's just that I don't want to spend the whole afternoon hearing about how I'm a gawping freak who should not be trusted with a camera."
"And so you'll leave me to the lions?" Colin looked at her mournfully. "Nevermind…just have a good time; I might still be able to meet with you and Lark at The Three Broomsticks." Colin smiled and walk past her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Keep your head and it'll go past in no time."
"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled, about to leave.
Just before going out into the sunshine, though, she stopped in front of Ron and pointed at the carriage Draco had disappeared into.
"Do you have any idea what he will put me through today?" she asked her brother. Ron wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical or not, so he opted for remaining silent. "When I am finished being put through the wringer today, Ron," she continued, "and all the ammo that Malfoy will use against me has been depleted, I will go to dinner. When that is over, I will return back to Gryffindor Tower. I will sit in the common room and wait for the appropriate time. Then I will go upstairs and knock on your door." Ron gulped. She was just as scary as his mother sometimes. "Sleep with one eye open," she finished stonily.
Then she walked off into the courtyard, red hair streaming wildly in the breeze and a dangerous glint in her eye. Now she was ready to face Draco.
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"I've got to pick up a few supplies."
"Mmm, how nice."
"So let's go."
An arch of the eyebrow.
"You are the most insufferable prick I've ever had the misfortune to be stuck with."
"Admit it, Weasley; you're just hanging around to pick up the coins I might drop."
"Shove it."
"Only if you'll let me."
"No thank you, I'm not partial to venereal disease."
"Then I'm your man."
A cutting smile. "Alright then; I'm not into threesomes."
"How many times must I say it, Weasley, I'm not messing around with Pansy Parkinson."
"Who's talking about Pansy? If I was ever doped up enough to engage in anything sexual with you, the third party would be your Wanking Hand."
"You'd be blessed if I even made that offer to you."
A snort. "Then I must not have had much going for me in the first place."
That's how the afternoon had progressed for the most part.
Not wanting to subject any of her friends to Draco's disparaging remarks, Ginny opted for the other short stick – remaining with him for the entire afternoon. On the other end of the stick, Ginny was also forced to suffer through the snorts, snickers and sounds of awe from students that saw the two of them walking together.
"I'm going to have to Obliviate everyone who we came past today," Draco muttered sullenly.
"Put me in the mix," Ginny said in the same tone.
Draco sneered. "I wouldn't waste my magic on you if it were to save your sad little life."
Ginny fumed silently and trudged for the supply shops. After getting what she needed, hearing Draco comment on the lightness of her purse, and the shabbiness of the quills she bought Ginny was ready to stab him with the sharpest one she had. However it would have been a waste of money.
So Ginny opted for walking in silence and ignoring anything the pale-haired boy said.
It was uncommonly warm for that time of year and Ginny found herself unbuttoning her robe. She still needed it on to stave off the odd draft of cool air, but that was alright. Draco insisted on keeping his robe buttoned up almost to the top, and as he kept a quick pace of walking (so as not to linger in any place too long where someone might see him trotting around with a Weasley), small red patches had formed on his cheeks.
"Can you feel the heat?" Ginny said, trying to hide her smirk. Although it was almost imperceptible, she could see Draco's jaw clench. She looked up at him with large, guileless orbs. "It's rather warm for this time of the year, isn't it?"
Draco remained silent.
"Merlin…it's positively boiling." She loosened up her tie slowly and saw Draco staring at her from the corner of her eye, just dying to do the same. "I mean, if it were any hotter, I might just strip right here."
"And get sent to Azkaban for committing the fourth Unforgivable? That's rather brave of you, Weasley."
Ginny shrugged noncommittally. "I wouldn't be able to help myself. It's just so balmy out here…"
Draco cut his eyes at Ginny. "I've caught onto your little game, Weasley; and you can come up with as much imagery as you want, but I'm sorry, I won't get naked for you."
As the two of them had just passed a rather quiet area, Ginny flushed from the stares she and Draco received from his declaration.
"See what you did?" he snapped quietly.
Despite her own embarrassment Ginny nodded. "I know; I forced people to look at you. I should give a public apology."
She and Draco grumbled along for another ten minutes.
"May I have my watch back now?" she asked him. He said nothing. Ginny stopped defiantly in the middle of the street. "I won't ask again." All Draco did was continue to walk. Pulling out her wand, Ginny whispered an immobilizing spell which froze Draco in his tracks. Walking up to him she slipped her hand in his pocket and took the brown watch out.
"Don't you just love magic?" she asked him. She walked along and then checked the time. "Damn it! I forgot to go see Lark…there's still plenty of time, though…"
Just then her spell wore off and Draco came up from behind her with an expression like a thundercloud.
"Don't try that again," he warned her.
"I won't," Ginny assured him. "I think I got a burn from touching you…anyway, I need to visit a friend at The Three Broomsticks." She started to walk off; then she saw that Draco was not following. "Did you hear me? I said that I've got to go to The Three –"
Draco only smiled insolently. "I don't think I fancy a trip there," he said.
Ginny glared; her temper began to rise as she saw that he was trying to be difficult. "Well I do. I've got to see a friend. Surely you know what one of those are – and no I don't mean a fuck-buddy, Malfoy."
"You know what, Weasley? I don't think I do know what a friend is…And if it's that friend of yours with the dark-hair, I don't think you'd want me to be around her…After all, seeing as I don't know what a friend is, I might say something rather rude – without intending to of course."
Ginny face was red with displeasure. "Don't try and pull that with me, Malfoy…"
He shrugged. "I'm not trying to pull anything; I just don't think that you would want to risk it."
Fighting the urge to stomp her foot or give him another punch in the face, Ginny walked in the direction back to the carriages.
"Fine. If you don't want to go where I say, then I'm going back to the castle. You arrogant pillock…I don't want to be seen with you anymore anyway…"
"One minute, Weasley," Draco said, planting his feet.
"What now?!" shouted Ginny.
He smirked and loosened up his tie. "I'm feeling a mite peckish…It's rather warm, you see. I think I could go for some ice-cream right about now." He turned in the direction of Fortescue's parlor.
Ginny remained silent. It was probably the best idea he had had all afternoon. Terribly disappointed at the prospect of not seeing Lark in action though, Ginny arrived at the parlor a few minutes after Draco in time to hear his order.
"One Chocolate-Mousse Supreme Delight with rainbow sprinkles, please."
Ginny's eyebrow arched. "I didn't know you had such refined taste." It was admittedly her favorite flavor as well. "I'll have the same," she said to Florean's assistant. But the woman shook her head.
"That was the last of that flavor," she said apologetically. "It's been selling like mad all day! If only you'd arrived two minutes before." She handed Draco's ice-cream over to him on a sugar cone and Ginny almost combusted at the look of sheer delight on his face.
When he turned to her though, his face was blank, though his eyes appeared larger – almost innocent. "Shame, that. If you'd only come in two minutes before –" he took a lick at the large dollop of ice-cream "- you might have been the one enjoying this illegally delightful cone." Then he started cracking up with malicious laughter and left for the carriages.
"You bastard," said Ginny through grit teeth.
Draco obviously heard her, for she heard him call, "Sorry to disappoint you but my parents are legit. Can you say the same for yours?"
Furiously ordering a rather plain vanilla cone with chocolate sprinkles, Ginny left Fortescue's in a temper.
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When they were dropped back off at Hogwarts, Ginny and Draco wandered by the Great Hall for a minute. They could hear the loud laughter and voices of other students who had come back early from the Hogsmeade visit or not gone at all.
"I don't really want to go in there," Draco admitted.
"Why? Afraid of the ickle plebeians?" asked Ginny, although she didn't want to be seen in the Great Hall with Draco either and endure any more jeering.
"Ha bloody ha," said Draco. "I'm going back to the room."
It was odd how the room where they had their sessions had already been dubbed, "The Room". It made Ginny feel like she shared something with Draco; and even it was something as miniscule as a room where they made each other's lives hell, it was still something.
When Ginny and Draco came closer to the room, they saw a tall, spindly, bespectacled figure hovering nosily around the entrance to their door.
Draco cleared his throat loudly. "Was there something you needed?" he asked.
Madam Trelawney turned her large eyes onto him and gazed at him with wonder.
"No! No! There is nothing that you could possibly do for me." But the woman did not move from the door. "Actually, perhaps one of you could tell me where Professor Martin is?" She clasped her hands together in anticipation.
"We wouldn't know," said Draco abruptly. "So sorry."
"Yes…I'm sure you are…" said the fortune-teller wispily. She eyed the two pupils almost greedily. "It is truly, truly wonderful that burned bridges are finally being constructed between your two families…"
"It's wonderful that we're constructing burning bridges?" asked Ginny.
Trelawney paused. "No, I meant that…you two are finally coming together as it has been ordained…"
Ginny actually shared a look with Draco; she decided to indulge the crazed woman. "So you've seen this in our future, have you?"
Trelawney looked caught off guard. "No…not exactly…" Draco sneered. "I mean I have! The ball is never wrong, you know!"
"Unlike its mistress," said Draco none too quietly.
"I mean after all of those terrible brawls that you, Mr. Malfoy, and Ms. Weasley's brother had in the halls, it was bound to happen," she said dramatically. "The two shall come together!"
"Oh, really?" asked Ginny. "So why isn't it my brother 'coming together' with Malfoy here?"
Trelawney sighed gustily. "You, my dear, do not understand the currents of the universe…" she said sadly.
Ginny tilted her head a bit angrily. "No, I don't suppose I do, because if the bleeding universe made any sense, you wouldn't have watched my brother and Malfoy beat each other to a pulp in the halls. Oh, but that's right, it was ordained that brawls at Hogwarts would happen because Uranus stuck its head in other people's business, no?"
Trelawney stared at Ginny. Draco stared at Ginny and then began to snicker.
Mouth slightly agape, Trelawney straightened up. "I will leave you to your business, then. Good day." She walked off.
Ginny threw the door open to the room and sat on her favorite couch angrily. "She's more of a cow than Martin."
Draco was still laughing as he shut the door.
"What's so funny?" snapped Ginny.
"That you were just so rude to a professor. I thought you Gryffindor were all about bowing and scraping your forelocks on the ground." He reclined languidly at the other end of Ginny's couch.
Ginny eyed him deviously. "Well, my mother raised me right." Then, she could have kicked herself, because at Draco's widening smile, she knew she had set herself up.
"Don't you just love getting cheerful tidings from home?" Draco asked.
"I had nothing to do with getting that Howler," said Ginny. "Ron set me up. He made it seem as if I was all frail and whatnot after getting out of the Infirmary and made my mother worry."
"See," said Draco taking a lick of his ice-cream; Ginny tried not to stare – at his ice cream. "That's the wonderful thing about having a mother who thinks before she acts. She is not only endowed with beauty, but poise."
Ginny struggled to maintain her own poise. "Your mother is a very beautiful woman," she admitted.
Draco only shrugged.
"I suppose so."
"You suppose?" Ginny asked incredulously. "It's as plain as the nose on her face."
"You mean the nose on my face," Draco corrected, tapping it with a long finger. "I got it from her."
Ginny rolled her eyes, trying not to grin. "Vain, vain boy."
Draco smirked.
"Don't be jealous, Weasel. Someday the Healers at Mungo's might give you free reconstructive surgery."
Ginny glared at him.
"I'm sure I'll see you, then; you'll be in one of the wards the rest of those people who suffer from Wand-Up-Arse Disease. It sounds a tad uncomfortable."
By then their 'malicious' comments were losing some of their bite. The ice-cream was way too good and it was too nice a day for them to be especially angry with each other. For some reason, knowing that they were both suffering and that no one else really understood how terrible it was to be forced to spend time with another person made them less hostile against each other.
"Do you think before you speak or just blather out whatever nonsense reaches your mouth first?"
"Sometimes," admitted Ginny, not offended. "But I've heard that it's endearing."
"Maybe to Potter," drawled Draco.
"Well, you tolerate Parkinson," Ginny spat.
Draco let out a shot of laughter before he could stop it; Ginny was startled and stared. As she was in mid lick, a plop of ice-cream fell off her cone and into her lap. Draco looked thoroughly surprised himself.
He recovered quickly. "Pansy can afford to be stupid."
Blushing a bit, and looking down so that she could wipe off the ice-cream, Ginny was a bit doubtful of Draco's answer. "Is that the consolation you give yourself after a romp with a witch whose brain is as transparent as Professor Binns?"
She was having a bit of trouble aiming her wand and holding the cone at the same time; so sighing heavily; Draco held her cone for her. Fully surprised, Ginny performed the Cleaning Spell and looked back up at Draco.
"In a good mood, are we?" Ginny asked him.
Draco grinned rakishly and then took a large bite out of her cone.
"You brat!" she exclaimed, snatching it back.
"I thought your excuse for a mother taught you manners, Weasley," he said grinning.
"My mother is just as good as yours any day, Malfoy," Ginny said heatedly. "I could care less whether Madame Malfoy has better robes or anything like that. At least my mother cares enough to yell at me for my indiscretions…or, or if I injure myself or something. Madame Malfoy would rather not mess up her expertly manicured fingers to write even the smallest of epistles to her dear son. She can't even be bothered to ask Jeeves to do it. So if my choice is between having a frigid ice-queen for a mother or a fiery, passionate woman, then guess which one I'm going to pick!"
Draco stared at Ginny with surprise; somewhere in his mind it was registering that he ought to take a lot of offense to the things she was saying, but most of him was in awe by how suddenly her anger had spiked up.
Ginny sneered at him. "Merlin…just, just look at you; I could sit here all day insulting everything about you, and you would just sit there as cool as you please without feeling anything."
At that remark Draco decided to defend himself. "Only idiots let themselves fall into passionate fits – all of the Weasleys have that attribute in spades. The lot of you is so involved in your miniscule worlds, getting upset at the smallest possible things that you don't see the bigger picture."
"That's not it at all," Ginny argued. "At least we feel something. Fine, we…tend to get a little overly upset at things sometimes, but how else will we know that we're even human? We get angry because we feel something; it's that passion that let's us know we're alive."
Looking at Ginny just then, it was difficult for Draco to dispute what the redhead had just told him. She looked very much alive to him. Her passionate speech had added color to her features, and though her hair was standing a bit on end from shoving her hand through it repeatedly during the day, it was more charming than anything else. Even her fists drew his attention, clenching and unclenching in her lap, one hand holding up the dripping cone while the other sat tersely on the spot where the treat had fallen minutes before. Her frazzled nerves had led her to perform a less than perfect Cleaning Charm, but Draco would be damned if he would mention it in the state she was in just then.
And the last thing that he noticed, that he always noticed were her slightly parted lips. He tried to tell himself that of course he would notice them – she refused to shut up – but it was desire that tugged his eyes to them, although he would die before admitting it.
Ginny had all but called him a cold fish, but if she looked hard enough into his eyes that were gazing at her in utter fascination, even she would be hard put to repeat that statement.
Ginny finally noticed Draco's steely gaze on her. "What are you looking at?" she said snappishly.
Had Draco not had as much composure as he did he might have jumped.
"Nothing…" he muttered looking away. Why was it always at the most inopportune times that he found himself noticing these stupid little facts about her? Like that what he thought was a freckle on her lower lip was really a chocolate sprinkle. Would she mind if he did something about it…?
Draco found himself getting a bit warmer as he pondered on that. Why had he chosen to sit on the same couch as her?
"It had better be nothing," Ginny told him. "Especially after you ate my ice-cream…"
Ginny wanted to smack herself. What did eating ice-cream have to do with anything? It might have had something to do with the fact that she desperately needed to calm down. Although she was by no means upset that she had just yelled at Draco when they had been semi-joking only a few minutes before, she was admittedly a little shocked that she had taken so much offense to what he had said about her mother.
Thinking on it a little more in silence, Ginny realized that while she wished that her mother hadn't yelled at her for Ron's stupidity, she missed it in a way. Molly Weasley was one of the fiercest dictators Ginny had ever met and if there was a time that Ginny needed to be told what to do, it was then.
With annoyance, Ginny wondered if Draco even wondered how disgustingly attractive he was eating ice-cream. The more conversation they had, the more she found herself watching his every move. It was terrible. And it was sinful for her to notice. And he didn't seem to be affected in the same way at all!
She tried to console herself with the idea that she wanted to keep herself on guard, and the best way to do it was by watching him; then watching him put her right back where she started. So, she returned to the practice that she adopted while in the Hospital Wing – spitting fire at him. If the only way to stamp down whatever attraction had sprung up was to yell at him, then so be it.
'He started it,' she thought sulkily, unconsciously finishing her vanilla cone. When he had taken that great chunk out of it and Ginny had snatched it back, she was forced to think about the fact that his lips had touched it. She pushed that thought back.
'He probably has germs.'
"Damn it," Ginny said aloud. "I'm out of ice-cream."
"Oh no," said the blond tonelessly, "Someone call the constable."
Ginny was glaring at him full force when an idea came into her head.
"Hey, Malfoy," she said calmly.
"What?" He looked at her knowing that she was up to something.
"I'm all out and you owe me."
He sniffed. "I don't owe you anything."
"I think you do," Ginny continued. "Not only did you bring up a subject that is very grievous to me ("A Howler," he scoffed), but you insulted my mother, and then ate some of my ice-cream."
"And why would I care to make it any better, Weasley?"
"Because I'm ordering you to!" she snapped.
"Well, seeing as you're asking so nicely and all…" Draco said sarcastically.
Ginny sighed. "Look, you shouldn't be so selfish. That waitress was all over you and she gave you the biggest scoop I've ever seen anyone get – except for Harry that is…" she lied expertly. "And even then Harry gave me some…"
"Fine," Draco said tersely. "What do I care if you add another few spots to your face?"
Ginny smiled faultlessly. "You and I both know there's nothing there," she said. And with a great deal of satisfaction at having manipulated Draco enough into getting what she wanted, she came a bit closer to him and held her hand out.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?"
"Are you planning on giving me the cone, or did you want to feed me?"
Draco shoved it at her.
"Cheers," said Ginny with a gigantic smile.
For the next minute, Draco watched in agonized suffering as Ginny devoured a good deal of his ice-cream. He no longer wondered what her tongue would do if it wasn't lashing him with her words.
It ran around the peak of the chocolate treat to either side with relish and he was appalled to find that he enjoyed watching it as much as he did. Ginny, feeling a pair of silver eyes on her looked up.
"Finished?"
Ginny swallowed. "Yup."
Gingerly, so as not to make any contact with her skin Draco took the cone back. He wasn't sure if the girl beside him felt it, but a tense silence rested over them.
He glanced at her only to see her doing the same.
"Yes?" she asked him.
He searched for something to say. "You've got stuff on your face." 'Damn.'
Ginny refused to be abashed by that. "So I might. Does it bother you much, Mr. Immaculate?"
His eyes glittered as he thought of payback. "Yes it does."
And with a mischievous smile on his face he leaned forward to a thunderstruck Ginny; his cone hovered in the air with a well placed charm. Draco's face only mere millimeters away from her own, he took her chin in his long fingers and looked her straight in the eye.
Then, he bent down until his mouth was at the corner of her lips and licked the sprinkle away, letting his tongue linger for longer than he should have. He made eye contact with her once again.
However, upon seeing Ginny's wide brown eyes staring at him as if Father Christmas had just licked her, Draco pulled away with something akin to horror.
The two of them sat there until Ginny decided to speak.
"That didn't happen," she said with cool composure, refusing to look at him.
Pulling himself together Draco looked askance at the redhead and managed to pull together a semblance of a smirk.
"What didn't happen?" he asked.
"My point exactly," said Ginny in the same tone; and with more dignity than Draco thought she possessed, she left the room.
The lock clicked in the door as it closed.
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Mini A.N.: I dunno, I really like vanilla ice-cream. It's one of my 3 favorite flavors. Anyway, I hope you guys all liked this chapter. I had so much fun writing it, even though it was a bit sappy I felt. Please tell me if you enjoyed it. Too much drama? Too little? What do you think?
I have an idea!
Tell me in a review!
Okay, that was really cheezy, but, yeah, please review. I'd love you forever.
And here are the responses to last chapter's reviews:
Beauty Eclipsed I'm glad I made you laugh. You know, actually, I've considered changing this fic to a Romance/Humor with Dramatic Tendencies…Anyway, I'll see. Thanks for reviewing! Laurlaur I will definitely get into them more. It might seem like it's taking forever to get to some action with them, but I promise it'll come. I'm glad you like the story so far. neha Thank you so much! Morgain Lestrage Thanks!
That's all for now.
Femme