How Did it Come to This?
"Its good to have you back Ginny. I was starting to wonder if they were go to let you out or not." Neville smiled gingerly at her before reaching over the table and grabbing a bowl of fresh scrambled eggs.
"Thanks Nev its good to be back." Ginny kindly returned the smile before taking a bite out of her oatmeal.
Her first day back to her usual schedule and already she had people come up to her and offer their sympathy or whatever it is they talked to her about. She was already starting to tire from all of the sorrow, its not like she lost a loved one or something she just fell over sixty feet and nearly died herself.
Every so often when she felt no one was looking Ginny would glance across the tables over to the Slytherin table to see Draco starring at his half eaten food with his house companions saying things to him that he ignored.
Curious to why he didn't seem his usual self Ginny found herself starring longer and more often during breakfast until someone called her name.
"Ginny? Hey Ginny! Earth to Ginger." Coming out of her trance she now preoccupied herself with the hand waving in her face.
"Ron I see the hand ok?" She pushed her brother's hand away and continued to eat her now cold oatmeal, feeling a few stares lay on her.
After the seemingly long breakfast Ginny gathered her things, careful to make sure she had her inhaler this time and settled off to her first class of the day.
First class of the day… why Potions with Severus Snape! Her shoulders started to slouch and she walked in baby steps, taking her time to get to the first and worst destination of the day.
Once she reached the dungeons she felt a bone cold chill spread through the air, giving her the clue that she was close to the class.
A little hesitation came to mind as she walked through the large cherry doors and found a seat in the back, the very back.
She placed all of the requirements on her table and stared continuously at the head chalkboard as she waited for other classmates to file in.
Slowly each student came in with the same slouchy, slowly, and glum filled attitude, the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Once the last student took their electric envisioned chair Professor Snape did the usually strutting around and approached the front of the room.
"Settle down, settle down! Today we will be working on the sleeping draught. I want you all to pair up into groups and-" Professor Snape suddenly stopped as his eyes flashed with annoyance and everyone turned to see Luna Lovegood talking to her neighbor.
"LOVEGOOD!"
Luna half jumped out of her chair and half screamed, no make that screeched.
"Ye…yes Professor?" She violently shook in her chair and did not dare look at him in the eyes. He can smell fear.
"When you come in here you do not disrupt my class! Further more you do not talk about such silly thing in this class! Now why don't do tell us what was so important that you had to bring my class to a halt, hmm. Come, come now we don't have all day." His voice went from anger to seething and loathing to amusement, one of his best and fastest mood changes.
"I…I was just telling Susan about how I…"
"Yes?" He asked with sudden amusement. One of his greatest joys, if not the greatest was to embarrass students in front of other students with their own stupidity.
"How I had an accident yesterday from laughing to hard at a joke…" Luna's face was like a mood changing ring going from deep maroon to pitch white and then maroon, white, maroon, white…
Snickers could be heard from across the room and Professor Snape have one of his famous evil smirks firmly planted on his face.
"Now that you have told us what is so interesting that you had to disrupt all of our learning can I get back to class?"
Luna silently nodded as she slid down her chair.
"Good. Now as I was saying you will pair up and read the three chapters on preparation and then start preparing the ingredients, which are shown in your books. Get to work."
Chairs being pushed across the stone floor could be heard as everyone moved around in hopes to get a friend as a partner. Ginny gathered her stuff and walked over to her friend Luna.
Ginny silently watched as small tears cascaded down her friends face and fall on the harsh floor.
"Hey." Ginny settled barley above a whisper as she rubbed her friend's back.
"You ok?" Ginny asked knowing the embarrassment was not all that had caused her friend to feel hurt.
Luna sniffed a few times and wiped the tears away as quickly as they came, then starting to open her book.
"You know the embarrassment isn't what got to me because I'm used to being embarrassed. It was the fact that people only got half of the story and it happened to be the worst part. If people knew I have a bladder problem then it wouldn't be so funny." Luna continued to stare at the book and flip through the pages.
There was silence between the two girls before Ginny said something.
"Ya know Luna we all have our secrets. The hardest part is learning to deal with them. I mean look at me I have asthma and only a handful of people know that. A lot of people who heard I fell off my broom just thought I fell, they didn't know I had an asthma attack."
Luna silently nodded as she gave a weak attempt at a smile.
They silently read the chapters and then began the preparations, the class covered in an odd silence.
After Potions Ginny had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and then it was lunchtime. Herbology was fast since all they did was replant Mandrakes the entire class. After class Ginny walked silently back inside the castle with fall weather following her as a chill overcame the castle.
She rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm up as the draft continued to follow her through the halls and into the Great Hall.
Ginny slipped onto the end of the Gryffindor table and looked over at the Slytherin table to see Draco glancing in her way repeatedly and then caught her gaze. Her body seemed to shield off the cold as her temperature rose to a burning level and she felt like she was running a fever.
"Hey Gin you feeling ok? You look a little pink." Hermoine had sat next to her unknowingly and made Ginny lose sight of the boy who clouded her mind.
"Ya…I'm fine, just a little warm is all." She looked away and to the big doors where kids started to crowd in and then leave to their house table.
Ginny ate in silence for the rest of the lunch and would occasionally feel a pair of eyes follow her moves.
After the next classes Ginny went back to all of her Professors and got the homework that she needed to catch up on, almost needing a wheel barrel to carry the monstrous amount.
Deciding it was safe to skip dinner since she was drowning in wasted trees she grabbed all of her equipment and headed off to the library. Skipping to her own tune she smiled friendly to the passing students whether it was a Slytherin or not she didn't care, because her mood was good and nothing could spoil it.
Once in the Library wing she found a large table in the back and settled all of her stuff down. Ginny carefully spread everything out in an organized fashion and took in a deep breathe to exam her work, well organizing skills.
"My, my aren't we organized."
Ginny didn't even have to look up to know who was talking, she new the voice and could feel the same stare that she had all day.
"Not hungry?" Asking in a simple tone that carried no harshness but no kindness.
"Not really. Haven't been for a while actually." Draco pulled out a chair close to her own and sat down with fingers laced together.
This time Ginny did look up. She studied him for a few seconds. He looked tired, and his skin was lighter than usual. His usual mean demeanor was more of a sorrowful look and his gray eyes had a glint of hurt.
"Malfoy can I ask you a question?" Her voice easing more now that she saw the way he looked.
"You just did." A small smirk formed on his lips as he looked at her.
She blushed under his stare but continued.
"Ok can I ask you two questions?"
He let out a small sigh and looked at the table. "Sure."
"Why did you save my life?" The question seemed simple enough but for Draco it was a lot more complicated than a bunch of words put together.
"I…I don't know." His voice was so low Ginny had to lean in to hear it.
"Ok well what did you mean when you talked to me in the Hospital?" Ginny could tell he was having a hard time answering the questions but really was curious to the answers.
"Look Ginny, It was something that if you don't know the full thing of then you should just shrug it off. It slipped out of my mouth and I regret bringing it up." His voice rose higher but still contained no enthusiasm.
"Well what if I wanted to know the whole story?" She started to scoot closer to him so that she wouldn't miss his words.
This time he lifted his head and looked at he with a look of hope in them that she could see with a flicker.
"Are you saying you want to be my friend?"
"Well…ya, sure." Her voice shook a little at the thought of her family finding out she was friends with a Malfoy.
The thoughts melted when she found a smile on Draco's face, a smile she never would have thought she would see on a Malfoy's face.
"So does this mean I can call you an informal name?" Ginny asked playfully with a warm smile that matched his.
"Of course." He lifted up her hand and bent down to place a small kiss on her hand. "Good evening Madam my Name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Giggles surfaced her lips as she replied. "Nice to meet you good sir. My name is Weasley, Ginerva Weasley. You can call me Ginny." She mocked him and they both laughed together.
Ginny's face became serious and Draco could see she was worried about something.
"What's wrong?" His voice shone with a little more emotion than lately.
"What if Ron finds out! He'd kill me, kill you!" Ginny started to panic, because her family was known for there red head temper.
"Well I guess we'll just have to be secret friends." Was all Draco could think of.
The panic started to wear down and she took Draco's answer for now but eventually her brother was going to find out.
A few moments of silence came, it wasn't awkward though but it was an enjoyment of each other's company.
"Wow can you believe a Malfoy and a Weasley friends?" Draco finally broke the silence and watched Ginny put all of her work away.
"Ya I know. What is the world coming to?" She asked jokingly.
It was getting late and dinner would soon be over so she packed up all of her stuff and stood up, Draco standing too.
"Well I better get to the tower before Ron starts to send a search party." Ginny sighed contently. Now all she had to do was get through the mask he was hiding.
"Ok…um Ginny? Tomorrows a Hogsmeade Saturday and I was wondering if you would like to… I don't know talk or something by the lake or whatever." He tried to sound non desperate and confident but his normal charms seem to fail him this time.
She nodded her head thinking that she couldn't really speak at the moment.
"Ya sure. You want to meet around three at the lake?" She still had tons of homework to get done but she didn't want to miss an opportunity to get to know Draco and why he was so hurt looking all the time.
"Ok, see you then." He gave a last wave and left in the direction of the exit out of the Library with Ginny not to far behind him.
She looked ahead and noticed that he was carrying a small, weathered black book that seemed to look familiar. Shrugging it off and not wanting to relive past nightmares she continued down the hall and back to the Gryffindor tower.
A/N: Whew! Thatwas a farley long chapter even though Draco and Ginny are just starting to mingle the next chapter will be filled with great stuff! Drama, crying, yelling (possibly) What could be better? Well I could continue with more support if I get more reviews (hint, hint) lol. Well I like this story a lot so I'll continue even if I don't get a lot of reviews!