Chapter 4-Slytherin and Gryffindor United in Jewelry Form
Yes, I know. I'm an evil un-updater. I feel suitably bad…moving on. Yay for flashbacks! So this takes place lets say about two months after we left off in The Ultimatum.
Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Five years ago…
Ginny scribbled furiously on a bit of parchment pausing only occasionally to tuck the strands of hair which kept falling around her face behind her ears. Draco, sitting across the table from her in the room on the tenth floor, watched her with deep fascination.
He'd been informed by some of his Slytherin friends that completing an essay the night before it was due was stressful but he wouldn't have believed quite how nerve-racking the whole thing was if he hadn't witnessed Ginny's frantic response to discovering a Snape assignment was due the next day.
Her face was bright red and her hand was clenched so tightly on the quill he was sure it was going to break at any moment. He had already suggested a break to her and it was a testimony of just how quelling her look of reply had been that he had silently returned to his work and offered no more comments to her since.
Rain poured down in the darkness outside and pattered a constant tattoo on the window which, combined with the roaring fire and ambient light of the candles, made for a very cosy, domestic scene. Draco amused himself briefly with the image of himself with a pipe in a tartan dressing gown with matching slippers and Ginny not grasping a quill but knitting needles as she knitted a pair of booties for their youngest. However, the whole scenario was just too scary for him to maintain for long and he thankfully released the idea with a small shiver of horror.
He didn't even realise that he knew the word 'booties' before that little daydream. He determined to wipe it from his vocabulary immediately.
Suddenly he became aware of a missing background noise. The rain was still there, and the wind and the low sea roar from a painting on the wall but something was absent. Looking up he realised it was the constant scratching of Ginny's quill that had halted.
She had, it appeared, fallen asleep. Her face was squished most unattractively against the parchment, the hand holding the quill limp against the desk. Tilting his head slightly he was able to discern that she had actually finished her essay, in fact it seemed as if the minute she had written the last word she had dropped off.
Draco snorted in amusement then reached over and tugged gently on a lock of Ginny's hair.
"You know I'm pretty sure Snape deducts marks for dribble on homework." He pointed out as her eyes snapped open and glared at him dolefully.
"Yeah that and everything else." She yawned sitting up and frowning in consternation as the area of the scroll she had laid her head on came up with her, stuck to her cheek. She pulled it off and tutted at the smeared sentences.
Draco gave a small choke of laughter as he saw that she had inky marks across her skin.
"Tattooing the ingredients of an anti-terror draught is one way to remember them." He said wiping his thumb across her cheek and then showing her the dark smudge that had transferred to him.
"Yes, the whole putting knowledge inside the head seemed like codswallop to me so I thought I'd try putting it on the head instead." She snapped sarcastically finishing with a yawn which somewhat ruined her sarky attitude.
"Well I think it's high time you were in bed then." He said standing up and heading towards the door.
"Wait, not yet." Ginny laid a hand upon his arm and pulled him back to her. She pulled out her wand with the other hand and extinguished all the candles except one so the room's corners were plunged into darkness. Releasing Draco she went to the window and folded her arms not looking out into the night as one would imagine but instead looking at the reflection of Draco behind her.
He went to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, his head resting against her red curls and she leant herself back against him.
They swayed silently together for a long time, Ginny intertwining her hands with his which were clasped over her stomach. Thus encircled she felt like there was no real mark of where her body ended and his began. She had experienced this feeling before but still wasn't sure if she liked it. She liked being her own person too much to think that merging with someone else was the wisest thing to do.
Still it was definitely the happiest she had ever been.
"Don't screw this up Malfoy." She murmured sleepily snuggling still deeper against him.
She felt him smile into her hair and his voice rumble through his chest into her back as he replied:
"I won't if you don't."
He kissed her temple gently and her eyes fluttered closed in satisfaction.
She started some time later and realised that she must have dozed off again supported as she was by Draco's body.
"Virginia?" he asked quietly.
"Mmm." She answered sleepily not altogether keen on conversation.
"There's an owl at the window, you're going to have to straighten up or when I move away you're going to fall over." He loosened his arms around her and pushed her slightly so she was fully upright. "Think you can manage to maintain balance without me for a moment?" he smirked as she drooped forward, her body unwilling to leave it's relaxed state.
"I've managed well enough without you before." She replied a small bite in her tone.
Draco opened one of the windows and received a spray of rain, wind and feathers in his face for his troubles. He caught the owl and slammed the window shut again. Depositing the huge golden bird on the table he flicked his wand and candles all around the room ignited again.
Ginny came up beside him suddenly awake at the sight of the magnificent bird.
"Yikes!" she exclaimed, "That owl is even more pretentious than yours is!"
"We've been through this," Draco growled, "Barthelemi is grand, not pretentious." He
reached out his hand towards the bird which was ruffling it's feathers to remove the rain drops.
"Hello Sophonisba." He said quietly and the owl stretched out its neck and laid its head trustingly in his palm.
"You know this owl by name?" Ginny asked coming closer for a better look.
"Of course!" Draco snorted, "I've known Sophonisba longer than most of my human acquaintances, I like her better than most of my human acquaintances come to that."
"And are you going to try and tell me that anything with a name like that is unpretentious?" Ginny laughed sarcastically smothering the feeling that the bird represented just how little she knew about Draco's life outside of Hogwarts.
"She's not named to be pretentious." Draco said quietly, stroking the bird soothingly whilst he reached down to remove the letter from its leg. "She's named after the princess of Carthaginia who drank a bowl of poison rather then be held captive."
"Pretentious and educational, a lethal combination." Ginny said under her breath sliding into a seat and looking up at Draco for his response to the letter.
He was standing very still his eyes scanning the lines quickly. She could see the dark words highlighted through the thin parchment but stopped herself from trying to decipher what the writing actually said.
If Draco wants me to know what was going on he will tell me. She told herself primly adding fiercely that he'd better tell her because she was known for her curiosity and wasn't partial to being left out of things.
Ginny sat still, her feet up on the seat, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees as Draco read the letter over and over again his expression giving nothing away.
Ginny amused herself by guessing the odds of whether the note contained good, bad or unimportant news. She had just decided on bad news when Draco jerked his head up from the letter and caught her gaze.
"Right." He said shortly reaching for a piece of parchment. Ginny silently handed him a quill and he snatched if from her without saying thanks and scribbled something down. Ginny caught a glimpse of the two words he's written before he rolled it up and attached it to Sophonisba's leg.
I'm coming.
Draco opened the window and the owl soared out of it not seeming at all perturbed by the howling gale outside.
Ginny rose to her feet as Draco collected his belongings from around the room and waited for him to explain what was going on. His arms full he looked up at her and gestured towards his cloak and his dragon hide quill case.
"Grab those and follow me." He instructed calmly. "And-" he added as he saw her open her mouth to protest at being ordered around and left in the dark, "for once in your life just do as your told and help me out." He sounded so serious that Ginny grabbed the things he had asked her to and trailed behind him as he marched out of the room and down the corridor.
They hurried down and down through the levels until they emerged in the dungeons whereupon Draco disappeared into his common room leaving Ginny standing, gobsmacked, in the slimy corridor outside. A few minutes later Draco came out again clutching a bag in one hand and his broom in the other. He saw her standing stiff as a rod watching him and nodded at her.
"Good, you're still there."
"I didn't realise I had permission to leave, sir." She snapped.
"When has that ever stopped you before?" he countered beginning to climb the stairs leading to the entrance hall. Reaching the ground floor he shifted the broom to the other hand and pulled open the huge doors paying no heed to the loud creaking noise it emitted.
When they both stood out on the stone steps being lashed with the wind and rain he turned back to her and plucked the cloak out of her hands, swirling it over his shoulders.
"Where are you going?" Ginny shouted over the noise of the elements, her hair whipping around her voice in wet tendrils. "You can't fly in this! And you've got NEWTs coming up, you can't leave Hogwarts."
Draco put his bag and broom down and moved forward, wrapping his cloak around her, protecting her from the cold and wet, leaning his cheek against her temple.
"I don't really have much choice." He said, a note of apology evident in his voice, "But I'll be back soon. Its alright Virginia, don't worry."
Ginny pushed him away refusing to be comforted.
"Well gosh, I feel so reassured." She said sarcastically, "Malfoy you can't just take off like this, what's going on?"
"You should be proud of me, I'm being noble." He said sharply pulling the hood of his cloak up over his face and obscuring his expression from view. He reached out and took the quill case she had still been holding in her hands. He opened it and slipped the letter he had received up in the room on the tenth floor and a small black box into it before zipping it back up pushing it back towards her.
She didn't take it and instead took a step back away from him. "Do I want to know?" she asked. "Because if this whole thing is to do with something…dodgy, I don't want to have anything to do with it."
"Dodgy? You mean dark? I'm not running away to join the dark side Virginia!" he exploded angrily, "I'm going home to take care of some family business." Seeing her expression he added, "family business that doesn't have anything to do with that kind of family business."
"Malfoy please don't go." She said quietly after a small pause in which they stared at each other fiercely.
He groaned and gripped her shoulders, the quill case dropping to the ground. "Don't ask me that, Virginia, I have to go, I have to, I told you this isn't really a choice thing." He let her go and collected his bag and broom up again, "But even if I did have a choice, I would go to her." He said quietly before leaning down and kissing Ginny fiercely.
"The box in the case is for tomorrow." He said picking up the quill case and handing to her, this time she took it without protest. "I'm sorry I won't be there for your birthday but I'll send you a letter courtesy of my pretentious bird, I promise."
Ginny couldn't really think of anything to say so she nodded and looked down at her feet. She waited for him to say something else comforting, something more real that she could believe but when she looked up he was gone.
Shielding her eyes against the torrential rain she searched the sky for him and thought she saw a dark figure shoot around the top of one of the Hogwarts towers and then disappear.
Realising she was shivering from the cold and that it was well past curfew she hurried back into the warmth of the castle and stood, dripping, in the entrance hall.
Ignoring the fact that it wasn't yet her birthday she opened the quill case and pulled out the black box. Opening it up she let out a small squeak of surprise and wonder.
A ring, he'd given her a ring.
It had a silver band divided into four sections. The top of the ring had a band of emeralds running around it, the deep green gems glinting the exact same colour as the Slytherin colour. Underneath this line was a solid line of silver which was resting on top of a band of solid gold. The last band of the ring was made up of a line of rubies glowing warmly.
"Woah!" she whimpered pulling the ring from it's box and slipping it on her ring finger. It was exquisite and fit perfectly, Gryffindor and Slytherin united in jewelry form.
Ginny stared at it, completely entranced for a long time. Finally managing to shake herself out of her precious gem and metal induced haze she reached into the quill case once more and pulled out the letter Draco had stuck in there.
The writing was elegant and flowing and about as feminine as it was possible to get which sent alarm bells ringing in Ginny's head immediately.
Draconis,
Excuse the melodramatics of sending this in the middle of the night but I was afraid to leave it to the morning in case it was too late. My father is about to leave this world and although I know that you would side with me in hoping it is a one way ticket I can't help but ask you to come home to me.
I need you.
Yours,
Vissa
Ginny lowered the letter, her eyebrows creased together in confusion.
"Vissa?" she asked, "Who the hell is she?"
"I couldn't tell you Miss Weasley. What I can tell you is that you are in serious trouble, what do you think you are doing out of your bed so late?" Professor Mcgonagall's crisp tones interrupted Ginny's thoughts.
Ginny groaned inwardly and glared down at the letter as she followed her head of house towards her office and punishment. This is all your fault! She thought sending waves of hatred and annoyance towards the unknown 'Vissa' and Draco.
Something told her that it wouldn't be the last time that those two names in conjunction got her into serious trouble.
The myth of the Sophonisba thingy is going to beimportant later on I think…I just had to stick it in because it is such a romantic story (and not romantic in the lovey dovey sense at all!)
Also, if Draco's owl has been named in the books then I obviously wasn't paying enough attention so I named it as I wanted. Oh and the Draconis bit is a pet name so no need to worry about me getting his name wrong or anything :)
Reviews are fun, thank you so much to the following people:
Alenchic: destroy it? Come now, Draco isn't that evil. However, your question will be answered in future chapters never fear! Thanks for reviewing.
Kittybro: Gosh I like the reasoning you went through to disprove a lot of Jemmy's potential parentage! Here's an update for you, sorry though, no mention of Jemmy today!
x0Malfoy0x: see I didn't even think that was a proper cliffie but if you thought it was and liked it then I'm glad! Thank you for reviewing.
LovingFanFics: Well it was a nice surprise when I updated quickly before but I guess this update tells you not to get used to it! Sorry! Thank you so much for saying you can see chemistry between the Draco and Ginny I write. I love that you come back and read all of my chapters, that's so cool of you!
Starrynight12312: Harry's child?! Eek, I can't believe who Jemmy is being associated with now! You're not behind the rest of the class at all but I feel I have to warn you you might be disappointed with the conclusion of who he really belongs to. Thanks for reviewing.
Potatomaker: yeah I think I might leave the full details as to what happened between them for a little longer, I hope you're interested enough to keep reading and find out! Thank you so much for saying you like my Draco. Well he couldn't be lovesick could he? I wouldn't date someone who was love sick, it would get more than a little annoying and I wanted to write Draco as someone attractive. You are an awesome reviewer thank you very much.
Zuvalupa: I hope you went to Phantom of the Opera and enjoyed it as much as I did. Yay, I'm so glad someone picked out the bit that was my favourite as well. It's my favourite bit of this story so far. Thank you.
Charmed-Goddess-07: Um…sorry matey! I didn't realise it was a particularly speccy cliffie but a couple of people think so. Actually I'm glad it was a cliffie, I love them so! Yeah actually Draco did go a little nuts in that chapter, I'm going to have to steer him away from full out insanity.
Lime Betelgeuse: Well I really, really (x1929834877454) love your review! How lovely are you liking my other story and thinking that I develop my plots etc well! I like you a lot :)
Padfootedmoony: I hope you like the flashback, sorry you had to wait a while and thanks for saying you enjoyed the last chapter.
MemoriesOfYou: Yay for the good shivers! I love that you get them for one of my characters, thank you so much for saying so!
Rutupatel: Your review made me chortle (which is great because I love that word), I love the idea that vanishing a woman's engagement ring is not the socially polite thing to do! Okay you can get a little bit of info out of this chapter but I don't know how much. You'll have to review and let me know your conclusions :)
FNP: Yes, sorry about the loony Draco. I'm going to get him back onto the path of sanity in no time, I promise! Sorry about going from 1 week to about 4, at least I keep you all on your toes, who knows when I'll update next…
Sunlitmist: The concert on Cockatoo Island is different but I desperately want to go to that one too. And Wave aid at the SCG, how cool would that be? Unfortunately I can't get to Sydney then so I'm going to miss out :( The Falls didn't just have Aussie bands The Thrills from Ireland were there and there a few others from far afield too. Yeah I'll make Jemmy a Cabbage Patch kid, good idea! I'm going to see the motorcycle diaries tomorrow, I can't wait, I've read the book (which had a really strange ending I thought!). Thank you for reviewing.
Nickel: Thank you so much for your approval of Draco's characterisation. I didn't want to put him back to where he was exactly in the prequel because he's grown up a bit and so he should reflect that. However, it's a well known fact that 90 of men never really grow up so I wanted to make him a little bit snarky as well! Thank you again!
Kermit: Wow you have some idea about Jemmy's parentage? I'm keen to know who you've pegged as his parents. Thank you for your review.
shiroryu of the moon: I'm glad I've lured you away from Anime (at least temporarily) my best friend is quite into it and I have another one who rarely emerges from its clutches. I have nothing particularly against it but I must admit that the plots are usually too odd and convoluted for me to follow! I'm glad I got your sister and yourself screaming over a pair of boxers…because that sounds really cool! I hope you continue reading!
Dracolovesginny: you never have to apologise for reviewing either late or not at all, that you've reviewed so beautifully in the past grants you immunity from my rage! Yeah Draco did spring a little bit of an emotional leak, I think he'll probably fix that for a few chapters before it explodes again! Thank you so much for your kindness about my characters and writing. You're awesome.
Socalgirl: I'm glad you liked the other story and that I have you hooked so early into this one. Thank you so much for reviewing.
Dare2Dream27: Goodness, what a lovely long review, thank you very much for that. So you're another one interested in the Jemmy mystery, I'm so fascinated by how this has evolved. I never meant to cause such controversy! I think you picked up on quite a crucial part of the last chapter. I did want to introduce how wary Ginny is of Dean's love towards her as it will be fairly important later on. The Dean/ring thing will be explained in later chapters, I actually had that all figured out long before I started to write this sequel. There is actually a link in this chapter which will become apparent probably in the next chapter so be prepared! I like your idea about Dean's memory being wiped, that's quite clever, wish I'd thought of it. No, it won't be anything like that. Thank you so much for your review, it was so indepth and helpful to know that people are looking at the complexities (can I say that? It's not like I'm writing a particularly deep piece!).
Thank you to all and goodnight.
Love Jess/star123