Author's Note: Wow! Thanks for ALL the reviews! I heart them. xD And, because you all have been so loyal, I shall grant you with anoter chapter.
Okay. Here's a thing. Someone requested a lemon in my fic, so I'm going to have a poll. Do you guys want a lemon or not? Review to tell me.
By the way, I haven't mentioned this before, but I would like some constructive criticism, so if you're planning to send me a flame, at least make it useful, m'kay? Thanks.
And sorry for all the grammatical mistakes in some of these chapters. They're perfectly fine on my word document, but somehow, when I upload them on, many of the punctuation marks disappear... -frowns- I'll try to fix them later, when I'm not feeling as lazy as I do now. xD
Reviews: Anotnia-(Well, maybe Cho could get over Cedric, eh? After all, she was quick to kiss Harry...) Annaleah-(Hah, don't worry. It's DM-GW for a reason.. ;D) Firefly-(I'm not sure if I should write a lemon or not, is against it.. But I'm going to ask and see how many people want me to, okay? And perhaps I shall post iton some other site..)Cursedangel69-(I agree. There are. But I happen to like the couple, and there are very few really good ones.. So I just got bored and decided to write my own fic.xP) Uniquely-Defined-(Er, no. xD Sorry.).JuzElizabeth-(Ah, what I've got in mind for a plot for this fic doesn't involve Blaise and Ron/Harry coupling.. I actually don't have any coupling for him nor any of the other characters. Perhaps I should add it in..?)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is NOT mine.. (If it were, I would be like really rich.)
And on with the story!
Love, With a Spoonful of Milk and Way Too Much Sugar
By: Brinkixsh
Chapter Four
Ginny rubbed her neck. It felt cold.
Lack of Malfoy's hot breath, she sneered to herself, mimicking the Slytherin's usual attitude towards her. She imagined what he would say, as if he had invaded her thoughts. What are you doing, Weasley? Thinking of a Malfoy? You do know that it was just a joke, don't you? Or are you as ignorant and gullible as you are poor?
She bit her lip defensively. She remembered how much the teasing stung in her first year when Malfoy had advanced on her every chance he got, but dismissed it. Yes, she did know that was a joke, and she was not thinking about a Malfoy. Her neck was just cold and.. Well, nevermind. She stared out the window at the scenery of open fields whizzing by as the Hogwarts Express snaked its way towards Hogwarts.
Right, her Malfoy-mocking tone drawled. You liked the attention, don't you? Of course you do, figuring as you never get any with those five hundred red-haired Weasels that you have as brothers...
She frowned. Something was definitely wrong with her.
Sinking back farther into her seat, Ginny sighed. It was only eleven-thirty. She had been on the train for only a half hour, with a whole hour before lunch, and already she was bored and annoyed to death by her compartment companions. Ron and Hermione had been involved in their usual bickering since the train started moving, which resulted in Hermione slamming the door and leaving the compartment a mere fifteen minutes after the steam engine departed from King's Cross. Harry had watched them with mild interest over the rim of Flying With the Cannons, not bothering to stop them. Ginny snorted. Didn't he ever get tired of that book? Or maybe all this time he was still stuck on the same chapter since that Christmas...
"You okay, Gin?" Harry asked, looking up from the game of Exploding Snap he was now playing with Ron, noticing that she was staring at him.
Ron looked up. "Huh?"
Ginny rolled her eyes at the expression of pure stupidity that was twisted into Ron's curious face. His eyebrows singed, red hair mussed up that looked a little bit too familiar to Harry's usual style, his face almost tanned with the splash of freckles, and lanky cheekbones, Ginny almost laughed. "Of course I am," she replied breezily. She wondered just how breezy she sounded. Too much? Too little? "Where's Hermione?"
Ron turned to Harry questioningly.
"Prefect and Head Girl duties, I expect," Harry answered, placing a card carefully on the already four-story high castle they were building. "I think she mentioned something about patrolling the corridors before lunch yesterday when we were packing."
Ron looked satisfied with his answer. "She's so overly-obsessed with all her responsibilities. I wonder how she does it? I mean, remember when she got thirteen O.W.L.S in our fifth year? How did she manage that? And now she's Head Girl and everything, and she has to..."
"Um, Ron," Ginny interrupted. "Aren't you a prefect, too?"
"Yeah, I am," Ron agreed.
"Then shouldn't you be somewhere?'
Ron stared at her blankly.
"You know, like where Hermione is. You know.. prefect duties..." she encouraged him, raising her eyebrows.
"Huh?"
She sighed. "HOW THICK ARE YOU? YOU ARE A PREFECT. PREFECTS HAPPEN TO HAVE A LITTLE THING CALLED PREFECT DUTIES. THAT INCLUDES YOU PATROLLING THE CORRIDORS LIKE HERMIONE. WHICH IS," she checked her invisible watch. "...RIGHT NOW."
Ron stared at her for a moment. Then his eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Oh, bloody hell!" he cried out, jumping to his feet and dashed towards the door, but not before he tripped over the card castle with exploded on him. Letting out a stream of curses, he pushed himself to feet and stumbled out into the hallway.
Ginny watched him with amusement. "Merlin, he is bloody brilliant."
Harry grinned at her.
"Hey, aren't you a prefect, too?" He asked suddenly.
"Yeah, but I'm not patrolling until three," she answered.
Harry looked confused. "I thought prefects were patrolling before lunch..?"
Ginny, annoyed more by the second, wondered how Harry had ever defeated You-Know-Who. He seemed nearly as stupid as Ron. "We have shifts," she explained slowly. "So someone's watching the corridors all the time. My shift is at three. Because we're in different years," she added, watching Harry's confused face slacken with understanding.
"Oh, right..." he nodded, turning back down to his cards. "So," he changed the subject casually, though Ginny could see him quite obviously staring at her in the corner of his eye. "Looks like Ron and Hermione are both gone, huh?"
Ginny strained a smile and it took all her will-being to refrain from rolling her eyes and saying, "No way." Instead, she stood up quickly, her mind scrambling for some excuse for her to go. Being stuck in a compartment with Harry for a whole hour.. alone... bothered her. Besides, she was aggravated enough already, and didn't want her patience to snap and cause her to do something rash.
"Well, I'm going to go visit some of my friends, okay?" Ginny stepped over the scattered mess of Exploding Snap cards, which Harry began to assemble together again. "See you later."
She whisked out the door before Harry could say good-bye.
-break-
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school seperately."
Draco nearly groaned in relief. Finally. The were almost at the Hogesmeade station. He didn't think he could survive the ride for barely a minute more.
He stood up and stretched; bones stiffened from sitting in the same position for about seven hours. It was nearly dark outside. Brushing his hand through his white-blonde hair, he smoothed out his rumpled Hogwarts uniform and cloak.
It had been a bad trip. The whole time he had sat, motionless, staring out the window, stuck with the girl before at King's Cross. Who was she? How did she know it was him? Why was she going out with Potter? He remembered her smell when he was so close to her, his breath on her neck..
And Blaise. Damn him for ever bringing it up. He did not have a crush on her. Yes, she was beautiful, and he was a man. It was natural for him to go up to her. He scowled. What was Blaise thinking? Him having a crush on that girl.. That was the craziest thing Blaise had ever told him, except for last year when he admitted when he was gay. But that was a different story.
But, as much as Draco hated it, he was right. Draco had never before went up to a girl and worked his charm on her, and definitely had never been rejected by one. For one, every girl he had ever had went up to him and flirted shamelessly, and then he would reply with his charming attitude. He hardly ever had to work to get a girl; they just all naturally came to him. Draco Malfoy going up to flirt with a girl.. It was unheard of.
He furrowed his brow. And she had rejected him as well! She had chose Potter over him! What the fuck was wrong with this girl! Any one could plainly see that he, Draco Malfoy, was much better-looking and decent than that Harry Potter. Except for maybe his Weasel boyfriend and that Mudblood, along with Dumbledore, the Muggle-lover who was completely smitten by Harry Potter: they would probably be announcing their engagement any day now.
Draco snorted.
He had to find out who that girl was. She was probably in his year; nobody under his age would look as good as that. And since she was new, she would be sorted into a new house like Carolyn Giles, who was the same age as himself, did in his sixth year (she had been sorted into Hufflepuff, obviously, with her round face, black hair and thick glasses but not bright at all). He wondered if she would be sorted into Slytherin. She wouldn't do bad here...
She was Potter's girlfriend, though, and perhaps she would be stuck in Gryffindor. He shook his head. No, she couldn't be. She probably wasn't anything like Potter. Potter was just using her to get back at Cho with a much prettier girl, and would immediately dump her the minute Cho came running back. But why would the new girl go with Potter? Before the term started, too? Perhaps they had known each other before. He shrugged. She's probably just going out with him because he's famous, he decided.
"Hey, Drakie, I haven't talked to you all the train ride. Something wrong, honey?"
Draco nearly convulsed when he felt Pansy Parkinson slip her arms around his waist and cursed himself for not hearing her slink up. How did she get here, anyways? She must have come when Blaise arrived back with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, along with Theodore Jr. Nott, Millicent Bulstrode, and a few other Slytherins in his year, which counted up to about eleven people. The compartment was jam-packed and left him hardly any room to breathe. He frowned. He was going to have to talk to Blaise about this problem.
"Nothing," he scowled, pushing Pansy off. She, however, resisted. Hugging him tightly and pressing her body against his, she gave him a what she thought must be a smile, but to Draco, it looked more like a cross between a grimace and the kind of shape your mouth makes when you've eaten an exceptionally sour lemon.
"You know," she whispered. "We have five minutes before the train gets there, and I bet we can find an empty compartment, to, you know..."
"Look, Pansy, you slut," Draco growled, pushing her violently off him. She fell back, surprise written all over her face. "Stop hitting on me. Yes, I shagged you a few over the summer. So what? That doesn't mean I like you. You weren't even that good," he added, sneering, impatience and aggravation growing inside of him. He was in a bad mood already, and Pansy just happened to be there for him to let it all out on.
"But, Drakie..." Pansy recomposed herself and began to whimper. Other Slytherins in their comparment who were standing near by fell silent as they watched the scene.
"Oh, do shut up," Draco snapped. "You're nothing but a worthless whore. You don't mean anything to me. Besides, there are other girls besides you I would very much rather think about."
Suddenly, Pansy's simpering pout turned into a broad smile. She stepped closer to him, a shrill giggle in her skinny throat. "Oh, you mean that new redhead you hit on earlier?"
Draco suddenly stopped. He heard chortles from the other Slytherins, but for once, he ignored them. He fixed his eyes on Pansy. "What.. what do you mean, Parkinson?"
She laughed. "Oh, Drakie, you know what I'm talking about. That new girl, the redhead, at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Everybody was watching," she licked her lips for the added effect. "Everybody knows she's Potter's girl - not yours."
Draco's mind whirled. How many people had been watching?
The whole comparment was watching now. Draco, always quick with words, had gone completely blank. He searched his head for excuses, but found none.
Suddenly.. "Oh, that?" Blaise let out a laugh, breaking the silence. "He only hit on that girl because I dared him too. Said I would pay a sickle if he would. It was worth it, too," he winked at Draco, smirking. A few of the other Slytherins in the comparment laughed too.
Draco caught on. He folded his arms across his chest, smirking. "Which reminds me. You still owe me that sickle."
The Slytherin stared at him. "Oh, right," Blaise dug into his pocket, strolled over to Draco, and slapped the tiny silver coin into his palm. While everybody else, who believed Blaise's quick story, were snickering, Blaise leaned forwards and muttered, "Hey, Princess, you better not push it too far. I'm doing you here a favor. You were gaping like a blind goldfish earlier, and I kinda felt sorry for you."
"What are you talking about?" Draco slipped the coin into his robe pocket. "I didn't need any help at all. And besides, you made up the story. It was only natural for me to play along. Look, they all believe it." He smirked at the rest of the Slytherins.
Pansy, however, didn't. "One sickle only?" she said incredously, and the laughing stopped. "Draco won't sleep with me for ten galleons, let alone go and embarressing himself in front of everybody for a mere sickle."
Draco scowled. "That's because sleeping with you is more embarressing and shameful than being turned down by at least a decent-looking girl. I'm sorry I ever did." And with that, he turned and whipped out of the compartment, black robes billowing.
-break-
"Draco, you should have seen the look on her face when you left! It was priceless," Blaise laughed, after running after him and boarding onto the same horseless carriages that brought them from the platform to Hogwarts at the start and end of every year. "She was so shocked, and she looked as if she was going to cry. Everybody was staring at her. Great way to make an exit, by the way," he added.
Draco smirked. "I was only telling to truth, Blaise. She must have realized that she's nothing but a sex toy after I've left her twenty.. twenty-four.. No, twenty.. Ah, hell," he shook his head. "I've been with her so many times I can't even remember."
The carriages lurched to a start, sweeping through the winged boar gates, and progressed towards the Hogwarts Castle. Draco and Blaise, who occupied a carriage all by themselves, didn't talk much, but simply sat in the sound of the wheels trundled up the pathway. Soon, the Castle could be seen through the carriage windows as a reminiscent glow. Stepping off the carriage first, Draco paused while Blaise jumped off, resettled his raven-black hair, and strided up the stairs and pushed through the giant oak door.
"I'm starving," Blaise moaned as the stepped into the torch-lit entrance hall, placing his hand on his stomach, which growled. "They should sell proper food on the Hogwarts Express, all they've got are chocolate, Bertie Bott's, and those horrible pumpkin pastries."
"That's disgusting," Draco snapped, as Blaise's stomach growled again. "Come on, let's get good seats in the Great Hall. Away from Pansy." He pushed his way through the crowd to the double doors on the right.
"What? How can you not be hungry? You didn't even eat anything on the train!" But Blaise hurried after Draco. After all, the quicker they were all seated, the quicker the new first years were Sorted, and the quicker they would get to the food.
They seated at the Slytherin table at their usual spots at the end of the hall, so both of them were facing the rest of the students, which were empty as they were one of the first to get there. Later, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle sat down, flanking either side of them. Theodore Nott sat across from Blaise, and thankfully, Pansy sat on the other end of the table, pouty, with her usual giggling girlfriends.
It seemed at least a century before Professor McGonagall opened the double-doors and led a line of tiny first years down the center between the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs and towards the staff table up front. They looked mussed, wet, and scrawny, due to Hagrid's usual swim through the lake. I didn't look that titchy when I was a first year, Draco told himself. He would have a good year, picking on the little Gryffs...
He watched boredly as McGonagall assembled them all up and began calling their names, applauding when a blonde-haired boy named Wallace Baddock joined his table. He sat next to Malcolm Baddock, a fourth-year Slytherin whom Draco couldn't stand.
Returning his focus to the line of first-years, Draco spotted one with red hair, which reminded of his mystery girl (although this girl's bright red hair was nothing to the golden, burnt-red shade before). Was she being sorted? Perhaps afterward; Carolyn Giles had stood next to the staff table while the first years were being Sorted, and was Sorted last, after McGonagall had made an accompanying speech about 'accepting the student.' He sniggered. Yeah, right. Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were just not in the same class.
He searched the staff table. The new girl wasn't standing there.
She wasn't there either when McGonagall completed the Sorting, or when Dumbledore stood up, older than ever, and greeted them with his usual nonsense before the food appeared. Confused, he searched the other tables for the redhead. Nobody was sitting in front of him, which gave him a fairly good view of everybody else.
"Looking for our favorite, are we?" Blaise said softly, after swallowing a spoonful of mashed potatoes.
Draco's eyes lingered at a group of girls at the left end of the Ravenclaw table, before turning to face the Slytherin. "There's no new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," he replied, and congratulated himself for his own wit. The staff table was reasonably close to the end of the Ravenclaw table he was looking at earlier.
Theodore Nott grunted and looked up from his steak. "Who is it? We've never had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who lasted more than one term. And we're out after this year, so whoever it is, we won't see him or her anymore."
Professor Tippit, their previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, was currently residing in St. Mungo's for permanent injuries due to the attack on Hogwarts last year from the Dark Lord.
"Snape didn't get it," Blaise said cheerfully, seeing the Head of the Slytherin House look sullen as he stabbed his fork at a piece of meat while Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, busily discussed something with him. Although Draco and Professor Snape were.. friends, he was glad that Snape didn't lose his position as the Potions master. Snape would be moody the first few weeks of the year, which meant more lashing out at the Harry and Hermione (who had, incredibly, gotten into the Advanced Potions class), which was quite amusing to watch.
The rest of dinner, Blaise and Theodore discussed possibilites of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor while Crabbe and Goyle simply ate and Draco half-listened. He couldn't risk looking up again to try and search for the new girl - Blaise would see and he didn't have any brilliant excuses off the top of his head, so he sipped his goblet of pumpkin juice until the golden plates were wiped clean and Dumbledore stood up for his speech.
Draco focused his attention on Dumbledore. Perhaps he would say something about the new girl now.
The Hogwarts Headmaster opened his mouth. "Is everybody fed? Good!" (Draco rolled his eyes at the Headmaster's usual cheery, sickening self.) "I have a few announcements to make."
"I'd like for you to all bring your attention to..." Dumbledore began. "Mr. Filch. He has asked for me to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden..."
Draco scowled. Every year, the same.
"...Screaming Yo-yos, Custard Creams, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs are banned from the hallways..."
He droned on and on. Draco, becoming more bored by the second, wondered if she wasn't new and perhaps he had never noticed her before. If she was, she had to be a younger student: he would have seen her if she was in his year, after all, he had had classes with all the Houses. He began scanning the tables again.
"...for your lessons tomorrow. Goodnight, all of you! Off you go!"
So she wasn't new - Dumbledore hadn't mentioned anything about the new girl. Draco stood, eyes still sweeping across the Hall, eyes traveling over Ravenclaw one more time before reluctantly skimming through Hufflepuff and Gryffindor (if he was in either, he might have to kill himself) when he saw her. He sucked in his breath.
Merlin, she was pretty.
On the other side of the Hall, standing next to Harry Potter and his friends at the Gryffindor table, facing him. Well, not exactly. She was talking to the Mudblood, and her face was turned, so he couldn't see who she was. The girl, dressed in the Hogwarts uniform, looked just as good in the front.. almost better... as her backside.
He was tall, about six feet five, so he didn't have to stand on his tippy-toes to get a good view of her, but the Hall was beginning to thicken and people were crossing in his way. He willed her to turn around so he could see her face.
And she did. Granger gave the girl a smile and began to converse animatedly with the Weasel and Potter, and the girl turned around and stared directly across the Hall, directly at... him.
Because the the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables were both at the farthest opposite ends in the Great Hall, the distance between the two tables was covered as students began to stand and slowly budge towards the double-doors, but he had a split second to catch a mere glimpse of her. He saw her, and realized who she was.
"No bloody fucking way."
Author's Note: And there you go! Kinda long, isn't it? xD That's why it took so long to put up. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully I'll get the next chappie up sooner.. It's kind of a cliffie, isn't it? Heehee. Anyways. Don't forget to press that blue little button and REVIEW!
-Brinkixsh
