A/N: I'm not only sorry for bringing this out so late, I also apologize for the outrageous fact that there are NO Draco/Ginny confrontations in this chappie. Actually, there isn't much interesting stuff in it at all. But I'll DEFINITELY try to bring more D/G into the story . . . maybe in the next chapter? Don't get your hopes up though, I'm so bad at sticking to what I say!
A School Day
Draco Malfoy was dozing through History of Magic. It wasn't quite as boring as back at Hogwarts – but then, the teacher wasn't a ghost stuck in his own routine, either. Instead, it was an eager young wizard, who was into things like 'communicating with the students' and 'bringing life to history' – or a pathetic loser who obviously hadn't made it past puberty, depending on whether you shared Draco's opinion or not.
His whole monologue seemed to consist of: 'And then, of course, the whole wizarding world was, like – the entire world of wizards was moving out to all these weird different places, like even to other continents, right, and then, of course, the question is, like – well, some of us ask ourselves – well, anyway, why?'
It was simply not worth wasting his time on. Draco gazed out of the window at the Quidditch field with unfocused eyes. He remembered yesterday's meeting with the Flying teacher and, glancing at his schedule, confirmed that he did have Flying next.
He itched to be up in the air again, to be playing Quidditch – to be doing anything that made him forget the vicious circles he had somehow managed to twist himself into. At one end lured the fiasco with Ginny Weasley – he had no idea how to get out of that one – and his disastrous meeting with his new Headmistress was closely connected to it. At the other end, he could see endless classes with new teachers he would have to impress, and even more endless weeks living with the anonymity he had here.
Quite suddenly, a small electric sharpness on his back made him wince slightly and come back from dreams of Quidditch. Turning around, he glared at the students sitting behind him, for the magical spark was undoubtedly the work of one of them.
Sure enough, R.W.D, or Steve, was grinning at him. Now that he had Draco's attention, he carefully lifted a piece of parchment into the air with his wand. Draco watched as it floated undetected into his opened hand, and then, with a quick glance to make sure the professor was still rambling on, turned it over.
Hey Dragon-boy, I dare you to climb out of the window and fly down to the Quidditch field without Stultus noticing.
Draco had to smirk in spite of himself at this childish note. Although he had to admit it was a fitting nickname for the History professor – his name was Stilt, and the Latin word 'stultus', meaning dumb, wasn't too far away from that. It was also very accurate.
Besides, the dare suited him. He was bored with this class, he wasn't learning anything anyway, his broom was on the floor beside him – the whole class had taken theirs with them in preparation for their next lesson – and he would be able to get up in the air 15 minutes sooner than he had hoped. Besides, he would show all his Fortuna classmates that he was not only smart Latin-wise, but that he was used to getting his own way. And always did get it.
So, he raised his hand, causing Stultus so splutter to a halt and point at him excitedly.
'Yes, yes, the kid from Hogwarts! What was your name again? Serpent?' he asked hopefully.
Draco burned with suppressed anger and embarrassment (Serpent? Had this guy been studying too much Muggle zoology?), but he spoke loudly over the laughter. 'Draco. Malfoy. May I open a window, Professor? It's kind of stuffy in here, can't think why.' He pointedly arched his eyebrows at the now flustered teacher, who quickly mumbled something about the heat and gave his permission, before bouncing off into the next monologue.
Feeling the eyes of almost the entire room on him, especially those of the girl who had sat in front of him in Latin and was starting to get annoying, Draco nonchalantly got up from his desk, picked up his broom, took the one step to the window and opened it. Pretending to lean out and enjoy the 'fresh air', he slipped his broom out of the window and, waving at R.W.D., hoisted himself up onto the window ledge and jumped onto his broom, swerving downwards immediately.
Ginny was not paying any more attention in her first class that morning than Draco was. Not that she found the lesson boring – they were having Healing with a witch who had started off by giving them an impassioned speech about the importance of Healing. But Ginny had not even tried to pay attention. She had had a dream again, one that badly needed thinking over.
Like in the first one, everything was grey and hazy at first. Then, she was leaning against a wall, bathed in red light, still vaguely feeling panic and nausea. And Draco was leaving; his back was turned towards her. She could feel herself slipping, losing her balance, and called to him, her feelings laid bare in her exhaustion: 'Draco!'
Then she felt what had to be her body falling to the floor. The hard contact numbed her – she couldn't move, couldn't speak.
But somewhere she was aware of Draco's presence, coming closer. Then she felt his hands, turning her over, and his fingers, touching her cheek. She opened her eyes to Draco's steady grey ones.
Draco. Her safety, the one she could trust more than anything. The worried look in his face made her smile. Not only was he here, right beside her, but he was worried about her. And he had come to save her again, his mere presence shining so brightly it eliminated her dark, vague fears.
'Thank you, Draco,' she whispered. Even though she wished she could show her gratitude better, the way his face's hardness melted and his eyes burned softly made her feel sure he knew what she meant.
Ginny felt her head slowly sliding from Draco's lap, and tried to reach for him in her weak state. But she needn't have bothered, because now he suddenly bent over her – and he was kissing her.
Her heart bounded with warmth in her cold body as his lips took the numbness out of hers. She had not known how dead she had been before flowering now in the heat of his passion. Finally she was experiencing the shivering delight of their faces, their mouths, touching.
Draco drew back, looking down on her, catching his breath. Longing for him, Ginny found she had the strength to put her hand on the warm nape of his neck and pull him back down to her. When he didn't move, she did what she would not have dared do before, and kissed him, soft and passionate by turns.
But her exertion had been too much. The new-found feelings of deep delight were being clouded by her dizziness. She could no longer concentrate on Draco, and darkness was hovering menacingly.
Though she inwardly protested against the injustice – how could she be taken away now, in this state of happiness and honesty? – there was nothing she could do to prevent it, and her mind turned into a black fog of nothing.
Ginny shook herself. There was something spooky going on, but she couldn't share her concerns with anyone – she would simply have to uphold the appearance of normalcy.
Staring at the heading 'Magical Healing' on the board, she automatically began to process the dream's information.
This was the second time her dream had fit perfectly into the time when she was unconscious. Either her subconscious mind was warped and invented dreams like this, or everything had really happened.
And that would mean she had done truly incredible things since leaving Platform 9 ¾ - called the dreaded enemy by his first name, had a normal conversation with him, and kissed him under the red lights of a private reading room.
The most unbelievable thing of all though, was that she couldn't figure out what that made her feel. Of course it was scary that she was doing things she had no control over, things that were way out of character for her. But on the other hand, she was strangely elated and bursting to tell somebody all about it. It was as if she had been trying to persuade herself all along that Draco Malfoy wasn't all bad. And now she had proof.
Ginny sighed and rubbed her eyes. It was all very pleasant fantasizing about a sweet, kind-hearted Draco, but the fact remained that there was also an evil, murderous-looking Malfoy. Until she could combine those two to one person she wasn't going to get very far with either of them. So it was best to just ignore Draco Malfoy as best she could, try not to faint again, and find a nice Arx Aurea boy who would take her mind off him.
Suddenly, her regular view out of the window was interrupted by an elegant figure swooping by on a broomstick, grinning evilly at the occupants of the room. As a gasp and a chuckle went up around the class, Ginny found herself smiling straight into the flyer's grey eyes, which widened for a second in recognition. A moment later, he was gone.
Turning back to face her teacher, Ginny felt her cheeks grow warm as if someone had caught her in an embarrassing situation. She hadn't meant to smile like that; she still didn't know why she had done it. Her stupid dreams must finally be getting to her.
One minute into her new resolution to ignore Draco Malfoy and she had already broken it.
Draco was just wondering why Ginny had actually smiled at him – seeing as the last thing she remembered from their last meeting was him threatening her – when a sharp explosion of sparks made him look down at the ground he was soaring over.
An Arx Aurea teacher was gazing up at him in grave consideration. Recognizing his Spells teacher, and calculating that he wouldn't get too much trouble from him, Draco descended deliberately slowly and lazily got off his broomstick.
'Professor?' he drawled, as if Cockle had called on him in class. At the back of his mind, he really was worried about what kind of punishment you got for skipping class at this school, but it was way too good an opportunity to miss. Teachers at small-scale schools like Arx Aurea had probably never even heard of students defying them outright.
To his surprise, Professor Cockle chuckled gently. Then, astonishing Draco even further, he sat down on one of the golden benches belonging to the stadium and motioned him to sit down, too.
When Draco, in his amazement, had obeyed, he faced him. 'Look, Draco, let's be frank. I already know more about you than you think, but some of the pieces of information don't make sense. I'm not presuming to know you,' he added, as Draco was furiously opening his mouth to speak, 'and I know that's what you students hate most of all. I was one once, after all.'
Draco yearned to say 'Yeah, a good, top-of-class one; that tells you so much about me', but he thought it wiser to hold it back and just look unimpressed.
'Don't get frustrated by Professor Sole's Legilimancy,' Cockle continued. 'Obviously it can be annoying – even some of the teachers have to watch out when they're talking to her. She uses it as a joke sometimes,' he said, pulling a wry grin. 'But it's like Professor Kupdin said yesterday when you left the Intersection – to know a man, you must have walked a thousand miles in his moccasins.' He looked at Draco expectantly.
'That's wonderful advice, I'll keep it in mind,' said Draco snidely. He couldn't figure out what it was with all these teachers anyway – why did every single one of them want a private discussion with him? Was the same thing happening to Ginny?
Draco sighed. Of course, his thoughts had to come back to her and his whole horrible mistake. But, seeing that the professor was staring off into the distance, he decided to ask after all.
'What did she mean by that?'
'It's an old Indian proverb. Professor Kupdin was saying that no matter how many flashes of your memories Professor Sole saw, you would still be your own man. She wouldn't actually know you at all.' He turned to Draco with a slight smile. 'Make sense?'
Draco shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it that way before and wasn't prepared to start doing it now. Sole was undoubtedly evil, and he was going to have to resist as much as possible.
'Anyway,' Cockle went on, 'Albus Dumbledore informed us that you weren't overall bad at school, that you didn't study much but relied on your intelligence to get you through exams, that you could be described as rather a bully, and that it was because you had trouble at home.'
Obviously Dumbledore thought he knew it all. 'Why should I have trouble at home?' Draco snapped, skimming over the other accusations and coming to the important one. If Dumbledore had revealed just what his 'trouble at home' was, his father's entire plan in sending him here would turn out to be useless. He would be marked a Death Eater's son again.
For a brief second, he wondered how Steve or Jason would react to that. Something told him they wouldn't be impressed. They could obviously tolerate his arrogance, but they would never accept the fact that Lucius Malfoy was one of Voldemort's notorious supporters, and that he was very much following in his father's footsteps.
'He believes you have certain – conflicts with your father,' Cockle answered.
'Wow. That's an amazingly personal observation. Ask ten guys if they have conflicts with their fathers, nine will say yes.'
'But only one Draco Malfoy has conflicts that interfere with his schoolwork,' the teacher said calmly.
Draco's mind was whirling. If Dumbledore had noticed things like fits of bad mood after a letter from his father had arrived and sleepiness the next day, he was obviously keeping a closer watch on him that he had realized. Maybe that was why Lucius had moved him to Arx Aurea, away from Dumbledore's watching eyes.
It was also obvious that Dumbledore would have never told him all this – he knew too well what information like that might lead to. In spite of all his senility, Dumbledore was sharp, Draco grudgingly admitted. Only at a school with soft-headed teachers like this could he have found out these things.
'How does he know it interferes with my schoolwork?' Draco asked, playing the sulky kid, but actually baiting for more information.
'Well, teachers see a lot more than students like to think,' Cockle began, grinning wisely again. Then he suddenly stood up. 'Speaking of which, you better make a good impression on this teacher here. At least, if you want to get into the Quidditch team. So long, Draco; if you want to talk to me about this kind of stuff again, just drop by my office.'
Draco watched Cockle walking away and Professor Laws, accompanied by a group of students clutching broomsticks, advancing. Even from a distance he could see the severe, calculating look on the Flying teacher's face.
He got up from the bench and gripped his Eagle V9 – the latest model of a Firebolt variation – more tightly. This was going to be tough.
The Intersection was full of people searching for chairs, forming groups of discussion and laughter, and appearing and vanishing before her eyes. Ginny was looking around rather forlornly: due to the complicated thoughts all contradicting each other inside her head, it had taken her a minute to realize that class was over, and she couldn't find her friends now.
'Ginny?' An anxious voice spoke behind her. When she turned around in relief, she was surprised to see that it wasn't Rachel, Tiffany or Vanessa. Instead, three slightly embarrassed-looking guys in Fortuna colours stood in front of her.
'Hey,' one of them said, smiling broadly. 'You are Ginny from Hogwarts, right?'
'Uh, yeah. How come?' she asked rather nervously.
'It's just that we seem to have misplaced your schoolmate, Draco Malfoy – ring a bell? In fact – er, he left class early and we're not sure he knows where he's going,' the guy explained.
Draco Malfoy. There was certainly no escaping him. And this sounded a lot like something he would pull.
'Well, I certainly don't know where he is, I saw him flying past the classroom window in Magical Healing, but god knows where he went from there.' She rolled her eyes. When they didn't say anything and continued to stand around her, she added, 'I wouldn't worry about him if I were you. Draco Malfoy always does stuff like this, and he always gets out of it, too.'
Another boy grinned. 'He certainly won't get in trouble from our History teacher – have you met Stilt aka Stultus yet?'
Ginny had, in fact, and they spent a few minutes laughing over his absurdities. When a pause followed, Ginny began to wonder exactly what these classmates of Draco wanted. They could have left ages ago, but they seemed insistent on staying as long as possible. And something in the way they were glancing at her and playing with the hems of their sleeves suggested to her femininity that they weren't just madly interested in learning everything about students from Hogwarts.
This belief was strengthened when a guy with a born charmer's smile and red curls held out his hand. 'My name's Steve Primac, by the way. That's Tim Subcal, and that's Sam … what's your last name again?' He turned to the third person, who was more in the background.
'Curtley,' the guy answered, pushing copious amounts of hair out of his face.
'Nice to meet all of you,' Ginny smiled, trying to suppress the strong desire to burst out laughing. This was certainly a twist: Draco's classmates were apparently anxious to meet her. That was something that had never happened at Hogwarts, for obvious reasons.
'Anyway, guess we'd better head off to class,' Tim sighed, picking up his broom which he had laid down on the floor. 'We have Flying next, remember? So that means Quidditch team try-outs.'
'Oh, I've already gone through that,' Ginny put in. 'Were any of you on the team last year?'
All three of them shook their heads gloomily. 'We're not a great Fortuna year for Quidditch,' Steve remarked, 'though Jason Asper – he's in our year, too – nearly made it last time. And now we've got our dragon boy,' he concluded, grinning wickedly.
Tim started laughing, and after Ginny realized that he meant Draco, she joined in, imagining his face when he heard this ridiculous nickname. But Sam Curtley rolled his eyes in disgust and glowered. When he saw Ginny looking at him, he quickly shrugged and started inspecting his wand.
After the boys left (with not very subtle hints about 'See you around' and 'See you in the common room, we'll tell you how the try-outs went') Ginny had to giggle. It was a new and very pleasing feeling to be the one who was sought-after for a change.
After the trial Quidditch game, when Professor Laws was speaking individually with the students, Draco was sitting on the grass, experiencing a mixture of superiority and anxiety. The game had not exactly gone the way he had planned it, but, given the circumstances, he thought he had done well. Now it depended on whether the Flying teacher also thought of it like that.
'Hey Draco, what did you actually do while we were stuck in History?'
He had been joined by R.W.D. and another guy from his dormitory, Tim.
'I looked in the windows at all the snotty, obedient little kids doing their lessons,' Draco replied lazily. He didn't want to talk about the weird conversation he'd had with Professor Cockle.
'We ran into your friend Ginny, by the way,' Tim said casually. 'She told us you wouldn't get into any trouble.'
'That's me,' agreed Draco with a smirk. Then his brain finally registered the whole meaning. 'She talked about me?' he asked, staring at his companions.
'Well, duh!' Steve rolled his eyes. 'What the hell else were we supposed to talk to her about? The only thing we knew we had in common with her was you.'
Draco's brain made another connection. 'You mean you were using me as an excuse to meet her?'
'Well, it certainly worked,' R.W.D. grinned. 'We've already arranged to meet in the Common Room later on.'
Draco heard his name called just as he was going to remark that if anything, he found that embarrassing.
'Good luck,' Tim told him as he got to his feet. 'We really hope you made it,' Steve added. 'Bit stupid not having any of us represented in the team.'
Trying to get over his uneasiness, Draco dropped a last comment: 'I saw you guys playing Quidditch. No way can I represent you – I have my pride, you know.'
Their outrage and laughter didn't make him feel much better, but at least he could face the grim-looking Flying teacher with a smirk.
After Ginny had hurriedly arrived – just in time – at her Levitational Dance lesson, which the Fortuna girls had together with the ones from Fortitudo, Rachel immediately prodded her and whispered: 'What did Steve Primac and the other guys from the 4th year want from you?'
Ginny waited until Professor Kelsey had turned away to read out critiques her Levitational Dance Company had received before whispering back: 'They asked me if I knew where Draco Malfoy was.' Then, out of sudden curiosity: 'Why? What about it?'
'They're so cool,' breathed Rachel, but before she could go on Tiffany nudged her and whispered loudly: 'They are so not, I used to be in the same year with them, remember? OK, they're funny, but otherwise, they're just a bunch of idiots.'
Startled by what Tiffany had said, Ginny turned around to her to ask: 'If you used to be in their year, how come you're with us now?'
'Yes, Miss Weasley? Do you have a question?' Professor Kelsey asked sweetly.
'Um-' Ginny hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to pretend she did want to ask something or just to keep quiet. Finally she blurted the first question that came to her mind: 'I was wondering – do you choose students from our year for the Company, too?'
Obviously the teacher was satisfied with this, she beamed at Ginny, displaying basically all her teeth, and answered: 'Naturally, if I see that any of you has talent. Now, please all form rows of four in the centre of the room.'
Just as Ginny had found a spot further back, Tiffany brushed past her and whispered one word to her: 'Flunked.'
This caused Ginny to be surprised and worried: not even the students who didn't seem to have any grasp of magical abilities (i.e., Crabbe and Goyle) flunked at Hogwarts – everyone she knew scraped by somehow. And here was Tiffany, who certainly seemed intelligent enough, having failed. Maybe the standards were a lot higher at Arx Aurea than Hogwarts.
She sighed, and tried to pay special attention to the professor's instructions. Not only was she determined that she wouldn't fail, she also was excited to be let in on the secret of Levitational Dance's beauty.
'So,' Professor Kelsey went on, 'imagining this state of grace, raise yourselves on your tip-toes – keep your balance, ladies and gentlemen – and hold your hands out above your head as if you were pulling yourself up on something. Then find a level where you can pull up, and raise yourself up in the air.' She demonstrated, and was soon hovering a good ten inches above the ground.
'Now you try.'
'What are we supposed to pull ourselves up on? Oh, yeah, air. Right.' The loud whisper came from behind Ginny, and giggling followed it.
Ginny attempted pulling herself up, but lost her balance very quickly. Not that people around her seemed to be having more luck. There was much rolling of eyes and mutterings of 'this is stupid' going on.
Frustrated, she thought back to Professor Kelsey's words: '. . . imagining this state of grace. . . ' Ginny suddenly remembered the concentration, the lightness, and the ethereal beauty the dancers had portrayed yesterday. Maybe that was the key.
This time, she made sure she was standing securely. Then she reached her arms up and felt, concentrating all the time on the beauty of the movement. Suddenly, as she moved her hands higher, she felt a certain solidity in the air, as if she could support herself on it. Trying not to let her triumph and amazement at this discovery ruin her concentration, she rested the palms of her hands firmly on the air and imagined lifting herself up into the air.
A rush of warmth swept through her, and she was aware of her feet leaving the floor. As she pressed gently on the air, her head rose above her hands. Soon she was hovering high up in the air, looking down at the amazed faces turned up towards her.
'Well done, Miss Weasley! That's excellent for the first lesson!'
As the teacher's voice rang out, Ginny looked around quickly, startled, and her concentration was broken. She fell down heavily, but managed to land on her hands and knees.
A group of people crowded around her, concerned for her, but the blackness which had hovered in front of Ginny's eyes for a few moments after the fall vanished quickly, and Professor Kelsey called the students back to their rows.
Ginny rubbed her slightly smarting knee, but inside she felt things had seldom looked better: she had almost been picked for the Quidditch team, some apparently very nice, good-looking older guys had wanted to meet her, and now she had grasped the foundation to Levitational Dance and experienced the exhilaration of it. Now her only worries were Latin and Malfoy. And since she was sure that she could overcome the first one, there was only Draco left to tackle. Unfortunately this was not a problem she wanted to investigate. There were too many confused emotions attached to the contradicting dilemma of her dream versus his threat of murder.
No, Ginny mused, Draco would only become a problem if she continued thinking about him.
Professor Laws' face radiated disapproval. 'No responsible player uses a foul in the crucial moment, that's entirely self-centred –'
'Look,' Draco interrupted impatiently, 'so I took a risk. They were blocking me while the other Seeker was heading for the Snitch. Okay, so I elbowed one of them. But that was the only way we could have won!' He was fully furious by now. His plan had been brilliant – and the Flying teacher didn't appreciate it. The thug on the opposing team hadn't even known what hit him, and his yell had been loud enough so that not only the other guy blocking him turned around, but also the other Seeker. Which left Draco free to catch the Snitch. He remembered the feeling as he had zoomed past them, that triumph that the perfect execution of the perfect plan brought.
'I'm not saying you're not a good Quidditch player, Malfoy,' Laws said, staring into the distance. 'Or a cunning strategist,' he added quietly, more to himself than to anybody else. 'But I can't afford the risk of putting you on the team if there's the chance of you using a foul resulting in our disqualification.' He stared at Draco very seriously. 'The question is, can I trust you not to do that?'
'No problem, sir.' Draco tried to look innocent. As long as he got on the Quidditch team, he could play however he wanted.
'I wasn't asking you, I was asking myself,' the teacher replied smoothly. 'I certainly don't trust you to tell the truth.'
Then he seemed to come to a decision. 'Okay, wise guy, you're on the team.' As Draco smirked, he added: 'On probation, though. Any sort of misbehaviour – even outside of class – and I'll have absolutely no scruples about kicking you out.'
'You won't regret it,' Draco drawled in an over-confident way. Inside, he felt as if he had got the worse end of the deal. Was it worth keeping out of trouble just to stay on the Quidditch team?
'Practice starts Thursday after school,' Professor Laws informed him. 'Oh, and by the way, Professor Callidam wants you in her office.'
A/N: Any criticism, suggestions, whatever, press the 'Review' button at the bottom of this page, k?
Especially these people who already have reviewed, it shows that people do follow my story and don't get bored with waiting around for a new chapter:
maliciousdragon - OF COURSE something will happen between our beloved Draco and Ginny, otherwise what would be the point of my story? j/k Need any help with the title? What is your story about?
alianne – yeah, I guess they don't like each other . . . they just snog. j/k But they will learn to, I can tell you that much!
JB-LIRIMAER -If that was the only problem with my story I'd be really happy. . . sadly there's a lot wrong with it. Glad you like it, though. Don't worry, I'm also a huge fan of fluff, I couldn't live without it, so of course this story will contain some too.
CassieOwls – Bad girl Shooting Jewel didn't write soon . . . but she did write, that's the important thing to remember!
picklesniper – you're right, I think it would be more fun to walk around, too. I just wanted to make it different from Hogwarts is all. Have fun reading this, if you get around to it!
Meg-goddess – thanks, that's actually a huge compliment as the new school is (almost) all my own invention. Sorry, no action, next chapter!
Sannikex – well, HP is a popular area and D/G is a popular ship. So don't worry about it. I know, I'm really happy about the reviews, they give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Anyway, no, it doesn't help as you can see. I always try, but it never works out. sighs
akuweaselgirl – evil Draco is fun, I know!
mell8 – sorry for the delay, I hope you like this chapter as much!
Faithful Arabian Knight has already given her criticism, suggestions, etc. (quite a lot of them, actually), so this chapter is FINALLY ready to go!
Everybody have a happy year 2005 and long live FanFiction!
Shooting Jewel