Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter world, including Hogwarts, Draco and Ginny. I do own the plot to this, and some of this characters I own as well, but nothing else.

Author's Note: The seventh chapter! Thanks for the awesome response! This chapter is perhaps the longer of the story. As the story is already nearing completion. –sniff- I know, it's horrible, right? But anyway, I loved writing this chapter and you might see my style of writing vary a little, but I've just read stories like 'Dancing in Time' by Ashbear and 'Somewhere in Between' by ashbearandwayward (both those stories are Final Fantasy 8, I'm obsessed with the game) and I took some inspiration from their style of writing. Really, really descriptive. But you know me, I'm a dialogue whore, so there is plenty of that and… just read on! I'm sure you'll like this chapter! Again thanks to NB for the wonderful ideas for this story!

It Wasn't Unexpected

Summary: SEQUEL TO MARRIAGE TO A MALFOY Krystal and Michael are in their 5th year at Hogwarts and they still are as "polite" as they ever were to one another. Being in different Houses does not help the situation, but maybe Christmas can. R&R please!

Chapter Seven:

Beneath the Darkness

The gold-edged mirror sighed in sympathy. "Oh, you do look worse for wear, dear," it spoke, its voice chillingly dull. Krystal glared at it, but silently agreed. Under her eyes were the tiniest dark bags and her hair was tousled. She had some tired expression on her face; the result of two sleepless nights on a row. Groaning lightly, she reached for a string that was attached to a bell and pulled on it.

No sound was heard, but almost immediately a house-elf came into the room, its clothing, or rather the rags that it wore, astoundingly clean. "Teeny, plait my hair," she ordered and sat down on a stool on her dresser. The tiny elf complied, getting on a wooden stool and beginning to plait her red hair.

After the elf was done, Krystal looked at her reflection on the mirror. The top half of her hair lay pulled back on a tight, but comfortable plait, while the bottom half lay loose upon her shoulders, the end curling slightly upward. Well, it wasn't so much of a difference, but she looked better than before, though. Krystal nodded to the elf to dismiss it and the elf left without another word.

Krystal forced herself to look at the wristwatch she had on and read the time: 10:46pm. She really couldn't afford to not sleep tonight. Her mother and father had begun to notice some strange changes in her behavior and in her appearance all the like. They had begun asking questions which she could not bring herself to answer, no matter how insistent they were.

For example, she now sulked around the house, in a half state of haze and her gaze lost within corridor upon corridor. Sometimes her parents had to yell at her to catch her attention and she would just turn her head slowly to them and ask what they wanted in a sullen voice.

However, she discarded the skepticism from her parents because she already has too much on her mind. The thing was that she could not stop thinking about a certain Potter and there was nothing she could do to force herself not to. It came to the point where it was frustrating not to be able to get him off of her mind, because she was certain there was nothing else there than merely simple physical tension. They were teenagers; of course the hormones would be acting up.

And as much as she tried to convince herself that there was nothing there, as much as she convinced herself otherwise.

This was simply infuriating. How was it possible that the person whom she despised more could not be off of her mind for more than ten or so minutes? Krystal took a deep breath to steer herself off of these thoughts.

The hairclips he had given her lay upon a satin pillow on top of her dresser, she stared at them for a while and then put them on, each on one side of her head. They looked really pretty. Sighing, she stood up from her dresser stool and on top of her nightgown put on a night robe; it was a dark green, silk robe which hung loosely on her. Putting on her slippers, she silently made her way out of her room.

The manor was quiet and dark, only the faint flicker of the torches was seen and heard. They cast an ominous, dim light upon the cold stone floor, the drapery moved lightly with the breeze. Krystal went past her parents' room, hearing only silence, which meant everyone in the house was already fast asleep.

Thankful for this, she kept making her way through the long corridor until she came to the stairs; she went down, step by step, until she emerged in the receiving area of the manor. Once there, she made for the front door and went out into the grounds, not before grabbing one of the torches from the wall.

As she held the torch a good distance away from her, she walked in the chilly winter night around the manor and into the gardens, carefully evading the wards set up by her father. In case she needed it, she had her wand, for if she had to turn off any ward, but she knew the way by heart and there was no way that she would need her wand. She silently hoped she didn't either, because that would mean doing magic outside of school and the last thing she wanted was a Ministry Notice.

The edge of the gardens… Krystal smiled as she made her way inside, careful not to disturb the wards around the foliage. As she entered, she smiled at the sounds of nightly animals and the smell of winter that always clung to the evergreens that surrounded the gardens. As for any vegetation whatsoever, she couldn't really see any, as the plants were dormant during winter.

Letting her instinct and her memory guide her, she made her way inside the woods, they extended so that she almost saw herself out of the Manor's Grounds, but not really quite. As she got to a clearing, she placed the torch on a stand that was there for that exact thing. Out of her pocket she took out some keys and opened a wooden box which lay on the ground. She held her breath as she saw the dead ferrets, though she still grabbed a few by the tails and put them out.

After closing the box safely, she whistled a very soothing melody and at once the scaly dragon came into view. At first sight, it was merely breathtaking. It was at least some thirty feet tall, which wasn't tall for a dragon, but as this one was just some eight or so years old, it wasn't as amazing. Its scales were a bright purple color and its eyes were yellow, shining brightly in the light of the torch. It emitted some low growl of acknowledgement and Krystal smiled, tossing one of the dead ferrets at its feet.

Drakie the dragon bent its large head down and took the whole dead animal into his mouth with one bite. Rather repulsed by this, Krystal winced slightly while throwing the rest of the ferrets at Drakie's feet, who munched on them at once. While this took place, Krystal took a few confident steps towards Drakie. She knew that if she hesitated, he would notice and even though he only let her approach, he was moody sometimes.

She reached out a pale, wavering hand until she touched the dragon's head. He stirred under her touch and his eyes rolled upward, fixing on her with an intense glare. She kept eye contact and slowly began petting him. He closed his eyes momentarily and tapped his head upward, toward her hand and gave some sort of purr. Did dragons purr? She wondered this as he beckoned his head to her hand, clearly wanting her to pet the rest of his face.

She sat down on the ground and Drakie took a few thundering steps towards her, laying on its front claws and putting its enormous head on her lap, almost crushing her. She took the hint and began petting him. "I guess I can talk to you, eh?" she asked him soothingly as she tapped her fingertips against his forehead. The dragon neither moved nor made any sound whatsoever.

"You do seem like the only one who will not judge me… or start asking potentially embarrassing questions." She shrugged, continuing her ministrations on the now close-eyed dragon. "I think I like him, Drakie. Oh, how did this come to pass? You know who I'm talking about, of course, you used to let him come near you before, do you remember? I remember…" she gave a long sigh of remembrance.

Krystal always used to sneak here when her parents forced her to play with Michael. This happened after the whole stop-talking-to-him incident so she almost always threatened him that if he knew what was good for her, he wouldn't tell on her. He simply shrugged silently, he was always very silent around her, and just watched her play with her dragon. Michael always watched her, sometimes clearly not paying attention and sometimes just urging her with his eyes to be done already so they could go back.

A few times, however, Drakie had made an approach towards Michael and opted to play around with him for a while, pulling with his teeth on his clothes, never ragging them thankfully, and sometimes tapping his head against Michael's hand so he petted him.

A few sniffs on her face made her snap out of her thoughts and she was taken aback by Drakie's face near hers, exhaling deeply so she could pay attention to him. Apparently, she had neglected her petting. "Sorry Drakie," she said apologetically, frowning. Drakie exhaled deeply on her face and she made a face. "Oof, Drakie, you have horrid breath," she giggled, petting his forehead again.

"Ought to brush his teeth when you bathe him, then, eh?"

Krystal jumped at the voice and instinctively pulled out her wand. Drakie began snarling lightly, but then lowered its guard when Michael Potter came into view. It ran towards him and Michael petted him. "That's a good boy," he said, giving him a few pats on the head. "Now, off you go, let me talk to her." Michael shooed Drakie gently, and to Krystal's surprise, the dragon concurred and left towards its lair between the tall and ghastly looking evergreens which hid him from view. "Dragons are illegal as pets, Malfoy. But then again, Daddy knows how to pull strings, doesn't he?"

"What are you doing here, Potter? This is trespassing!" she exclaimed at him, hissing lightly. How much had he heard, actually? She narrowed her eyes lightly, though this went unnoticed by the brunet.

"I had a feeling you would be here tonight," he answered, taking a few needles of a pine tree's low branches between his fingers. "I had a feeling last night too… and the night before that… I suppose I was correct on tonight's feeling, then? Third time's a charm."

"How did you get past the wards?"

"We came here enough times when we were younger, Krystal. Honest, did you think my memory fails me that much? And don't answer that," he said, holding up a hand, as she had opened her mouth to counter his words. She closed it again with a sigh, half-glaring at him. "You can lower your wand, you know, I'm not about to hex you or anything." He held up his hands as if he were surrendering.

Truth was she had forgotten she was even pointing her wand at him. Her stomach had lurched when she had seen him. Fortunately, though, the lurch was because of his unwanted presence, rather than of anything else. "One never knows with you Potter. Though I assure you it is not your hexes I am looking out for, as we both know I have been on the receiving end of one too many thanks to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and clearly, I am better than you at that kind of thing."

"We both also know that I've only but to do one thing to make you stop your hostilities towards me and lower your defenses like that." He snapped his fingers and smirked at her and she knew what he meant by it. She was vaguely remembered why he was placed into Slytherin. He could be so despicable.

"You'd have to get too close for that, Potter. I assure you, you wouldn't be able to."

"You win… for now. I did not come to discuss dueling techniques with you, even though we must do that sometime." He gave a little laugh and she rolled her eyes. She lowered her wand gradually. "Attagirl."

"Potter, you are this close –" She put her thumb and her forefinger a mere centimeter apart, "from getting hexed into oblivion. Now what the hell are you doing here and what did you come for?"

His expression changed considerably as he lowered himself to sit on the floor. She looked down at him, unaware of when she had stood up, actually and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive manner, leaning against the trunk of one of the tall trees behind her. "I wanted to talk, Malfoy… we've left things unresolved."

"I think we made things pretty clear that night, Potter," she said, shrugging indifferently. It was amazing how she could act all natural around him when it was actually eating her inside the whole while. She couldn't fathom how it was possible that she could be so cold to him, when her heart had already begun to warm up to him. She cursed herself for that, for the extreme hypocrisy she was excelling at… at the moment.

"Clear? That was nothing but clear, Krystal, do react! Don't you see that it's eating at both of us inside? I see it on your face, you have not been getting sleep and neither have I! Krystal…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "Can't – can't you just accept the fact that there is something?"

"Fine. I'll accept that fact, Potter. But do tell me, what is there? As I see it, it's nothing more than raging hormones. But if there is something more, do share with me that fact, Potter, because I've gone around and around the subject in my mind for the past three days and there is nothing… not one conclusion whatsoever I could come to that made the slightest sense!" She was breathing harshly now. "Accepting the fact is one thing… but what then? What lies beneath that darkness, Potter? There's just an immense web of confusion which, frankly, I feel no need to get tangled in."

"I know what you mean, but doesn't that just make it the more exhilarating?" He asked, but he was only replied to with silence. Oh damn him, he was right. There was certain exhilaration in that fact, a certain excitement for the unknown. She couldn't lie to herself, she had thought about the possibility more than once. She glanced at him, he was looking at the ground and he had an expression which showed confusion and… innocence? Oh how she wanted to make that pout disappear and lull him. Was this the charm all those girls at Hogwarts had been inevitably drawn to?

"I thought we agreed to forget it ever happened, Potter…" she said in the shadow of a whisper, but he heard her quite clearly and the words echoed around in his mind.

"You agreed to that, not I." He raised his gaze from the floor and looked up at her. "Besides, you have not forgotten it, admit it. And I still stand my ground. You did like it."

"It was a kiss. Kisses are nice. People like kisses! But that's all there is to it, Potter, it was just one kiss -"

"Two."

"-two kisses that didn't mean anything, we were just caught up in the moment, both times! Why do you insist on going around the subject so?" she said almost exasperatedly. She shook her head, looking down at him, and saw his eyes full of emotion, it moved her. He was standing up, so quickly that if she blinked, she would have missed it, and now he was standing right in front of her, his nose mere inches from her own.

"If they were just kisses then one more wouldn't have any effect on you, would it?" he breathed into her face and her eyes closed momentarily, while her body gave an involuntary shudder. Her voice almost caught in her throat and she felt her pulse quicken considerably.

"E-exactly…" she whispered back, willing her self to open her eyes, but failing to do so. Her mind was not reasoning anymore, and she felt her senses taking over. "Nothing a-at all…" she let out a soft breath. She could feel his breath on her lips and his nose now caressing her cheek as he had probably tilted his head.

"I see, then." He kept the same tone and she almost gasped as his lips touched hers for a mere fragment as he moved them to talk. Her body temperature was way over boiling point by now and she just wished he would get it on and just kiss her already, damn it! She could feel his hands resting just above her shoulders, flat against the trunk of the tree that now pressed against her back, tiny splinters of wood getting caught in her night robe and in her hair. She exhaled again, and felt him do the same thing. His breath was hot against her lips and she found herself aching for the touch of his lips against her own. It alienated her, how he could make her feel like that without even touching her. Her senses only responded to him, even though he wasn't really doing anything else than keeping up that sweet torture on her lips. "Don't think, Krystal…" her name rolled off his lips like liquid silk and her knees almost gave away. Were it any other time, she would be repulsed by this behavior. "…just feel."

"Just kiss me," she said, almost urgently at him. He wasted no time before savagely capturing her lips with his own. She returned the kiss with equal fervor, her hands locking around his neck rather tightly, one of them cupping the back of his head, and making sure he couldn't pull away anytime soon. His hands circled her back, under her night robe, so he could feel the soft cotton of her nightgown against his fingers, he caressed it before raising one hand to wind in the soft tresses of hair that fell down her shoulders, pressing her shoulders against him and the other hand on the small of her back, pressing her against him even more firmly. They literally couldn't move if they wanted to, but they weren't really too keen on moving. Instead, their kisses became more frequent, more passionate, and more breathtaking. In between fevered kisses they stole gasps of air, until she pressed his head firmly against her own, wanting the kisses to be deeper.

All the tension from the past ten years reverberated and irradiated both of them, becoming known in the kiss, as they literally ate each other through it. In a wild attempt to deepen the kiss more, she bit down on his lip softly and the most curious sound came from the back of his throat. She marveled upon that sound and repeated the biting again, only to be met by that exact same response. Before she could do it again, however, he had sealed her access by introducing his tongue into her mouth, exploring feverishly, caressing her own and tasting her, giving her at the same time the unique taste he had left on her the first two times. And she found out she loved that taste.

Her mind, so ignored up to that point, was on override. It screamed at her to stop, to reason, to think and analyze on why she was doing this. Why she was kissing her enemy! But that little voice went unheard by her brain, or by the neurons that delivered the message to her motor functions, which were now too entangled in him to do little or nothing else than what they were doing. So many thoughts traveled, however, through the deep channels of her conscious that it was almost unbearable and the voices in her head became too loud for her appreciation. Some told her to keep going, others to stop and others just marveled upon discovering new things about herself and about him.

Some things are just meant to be hidden. Some feelings are better if they never come out. But in a situation such as this one, there was little or nothing either of them could do to hide what their hearts and their minds had concealed for so long. Sometimes it manifested into a long glance in the Great Hall – hell, sometimes it was just a glare – and sometimes it would manifest into a lightning thought. But never, never would either of them have thought, grasped, or even imagined, that the feelings they held for one another ran so deeply.

They had been ebbed and carved into their hearts at a young age, but left unattended, ignored… now they could do nothing to ignore them any longer. If things such as that are meant to come out, by Merlin they will come out, sooner or later. In this case it was later… much later, but at the same time it felt like sooner, all at the same time. And this was very frustrating, indeed it was. For both of them had classified such feelings and mistook them as hate, as loathing, as 'I-can't-stand-you-get-out-of-my-face' type feelings. But they had never been so far of the truth as they were then. Now… it was another story.

Now… the little feelings closed deep within themselves were untangling, as a vine, as poison ivy, running through their veins as liquid fire, making them all the most sensitive. All the more… versatile… if they could use that word…

Michael admitted it, he was lost. He was lost in her intoxicating scent, in her taste, in how she felt to his touch, even if it was through a layer of cotton. But that was enough for now, that was enough still. The dizzying haze in his mind did nothing to improve the situation, the questions surfacing and being discarded as quickly as a pair of old socks. He didn't want answers; he wanted actions, as the actions themselves would give him his answers eventually.

The confusion was becoming clearer. Of course, there was still the big resonating 'why' on his mind, but it was something that would always be there, no matter how many answers he had. No matter how many years passed, that buggering 'why' would always be there. And here he was kissing his 'enemy'.

A Potter and a Malfoy… were kissing feverishly… in the range of PG-13ness...

Both parted from each other at the same time. Perhaps the realization struck them finally. Both were blushed up to no avail. Panting endlessly, Krystal looked into his eyes, which were clouded over, much as – she supposed – hers were. Clearing her throat, she smoothed down the wrinkles on her nightgown, smoothing down her hair as well, as she saw him vaguely attempt to regain his composure and his physical appearance as well.

"Nothing, right?" he asked, though his face was calm and serious. He gulped lightly, trying to get his pulse and his breathing back to normal and not racing at about a hundred miles per second.

Okay, so it was a little exaggerated, but hyperboles are fun.

"No…" she said uncertainly. She wasn't about to admit anything to him. It was using up all of her self control to just pull his damn face to her again and furthermore wasting more oxygen. Though, wasting her oxygen that way did not seem to bother her at the very least. Hell, it didn't bother her at all! And… she just couldn't think she just thought that. If she would have said it, it would have been one of those 'le-gasp-let-me-cover-my-mouth-and-hide-behind-a-rock' moments. Thank Merlin she didn't say it out loud. As it remained… her self-control was bordering on nonexistence right now, so she couldn't lose her snide remarks at the moment too. Or at least, attempted snide…

Michael nodded. "I know." They both nodded at that. Both knew the other was lying and they were alright with it. They knew that it took more than courage to admit anything to each other, as too many years of unresolved conflicts lay between them. But the contentment they shared in the unbeknownst intimacy was more than enough. "So you want to kiss again?"

"Yes." This time the kiss was slower, more intricate. He cupped her face with his hands and she lightly placed hers around his midriff. She wondered if she could sometime get enough of his lips, of his taste. They both knew they only had these precious moments to hold on to. In the opaque and dull glow of the slowly consuming torch they kissed, savoring each moment with unique capacity. After this night, who knew what would happen, if the magic working between them would just fade, and it was this, more than anything else, that complied both of them to be slow now, and not as desperate as before. Both wanted to deepen the kiss, but neither dared. And for good enough reason, too.

They wanted the moment to last. Who knew if after this night was over, they would have nothing else to hold on to? Nothing to bind them, if only the mere memories of those kisses they were now so willingly falling under. And perhaps after this was over, they would go back to being as they always were with each other and the magic would end. And it would just be something that happened over Christmas Holidays and nothing more, falling into the random category of a symbolic scrapbook.

Perhaps it was this more than nothing else that retained them in that moment, as if frozen in time, in a place where they could only know each other, feel each other, be with each other. In the only place that brought them enough solitude for them to be themselves and be true to one another. So help them, it was the only place in which their vulnerabilities could come out and be accepted. Nowhere else…

Their eyes remained closed after that last kiss. His hands were still cupping her face, in summary- they were both in the same position, only not kissing, but their lips centimeters apart. They breathed softly onto one another's face, and they found each breath come even more difficultly than when they were kissing so desperately before. "Still nothing?" he breathed. She inhaled softly.

"Still nothing," she said breathlessly, nuzzling her nose gently against his cheek.

"Good." He let her nuzzle him, marveling upon the sensations this sent throughout his body and his whole being. This was the night in which everything would just stop making sense. For example, how they both knew that the whole 'nothing' ordeal as the words left their mouths meant they were saying the complete opposite of what they said. That in fact nothing meant that they had felt the world crumble down at their feet with each contact. They understood what each other wanted to say.

Perhaps it was this why neither of them ever said goodbye now. He just let his hands slide from her face and released her. Both opened their eyes and had a brief moment of understanding. She took the torch from its stand and with a parting glance, they each started their way back, he went to the path on the right, she went to the path on the left. And both parted different ways, but with a similar thought in mind.

And only the darkness, the trees, the torch and Drakie were the sole witnesses of what had happened. Of the accepted breakthrough that had so unexpectedly happened there. And of those sole witnesses, neither could divulge what they had seen.

And in the Raven and the Snake's mind, the event that just took place would be just a night in a place with no time and no space. It would just be a moment they each would savor in their lonely nights staring at the dark ceilings.

Because, even if they did not want to accept it, they had already fallen for each other. And they had indeed such a long time ago, and the rivalry was just but an excuse.

Only now… they both accepted it, and decided to move on with that knowledge.

---Don't forget to check and keep track of my blog because there'll be quite a bit of important info in there and you guys can comment in a more direct way there. It also states every time I update and it has the story mapped out as well as some other tidbits important to the MtaM series storyline---

---Oh yes! I have an LJ if anyone cares to add me! On a more personal level, anyway. In Livejournal, my username is: lieyourtruth so if any of you guys have LJs, feel free to add me!---

Author's Note: Review, please! This chapter was marvelous to write! So leave me tons and tons of reviews! Yes, only two more chapters to go I'm afraid. I haven't started chapter eight yet, but it is on my to-do list, and you guys might have to wait a little for it. Or perhaps not at all! It depends on how college pulls me these weeks. This chapter seems like a nice ending chapter, but I won't do that to you guys. I still need to do some things. Not everything will be solved, I warn you about that since now, since I'm going for the 'open-ending' theme.

Some of you may have noticed (and if you haven't I suggest you check it out) that both on my Author's Page and on my blog, I've declared a small Hiatus for my stories, which means I won't be updating as regularly. For more information on this, do check out my Author Info on my profile, thanks.

Don't forget to leave me a nice juicy review, whether it is to insult me for making you guys wait or to simply say: "HI!".

-Blue