A.N. I'm such a shipper. Everyone in my story must have a love interest!
Hey, you, Luna! You want a boyfriend?
Luna: I'm fine, thank you.
You sure? Seamus is single. Or Dean Thomas! Now that he thinks Ginny's dead
he could do with a rebound girl.
Luna: No, really, I'm fine.
This is my fic and you'll do what you're told!
Luna: I won't! You won't use me in your evil schemes!
*Magical duel ensues*
Ok...so...you win...but mark my words, you will fall in love with Dean Thomas,
and then you'll be begging me to extend my ships!
Luna: Don't make me curse you again.
Dedications: Dom, my Beta Reader.
*** Man On The Moon ***
Hey, Andy did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby Are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
R.E.M-Man on the Moon
***
"Look at that shop!" Draco almost shouted, dragging Ginny towards a shop that was filled with a purple light, "There are things in there that are floating! I didn't know Muggles could make things float!"
Ever since they had arrived in Covent Garden, Draco had been acting like a child in a toyshop. He had never been to Muggle London, and was finding the experience very enjoyable, although every now and again he would stop and sneer at Muggle stupidity. He spent about five minutes laughing at someone struggling with a broken down car.
But at the moment he was completely enthralled by the 'Gadget Shop'.
"Look at! And that!" He exclaimed, pointing at the objects that were for sale, "And look at those bears! What are they...? Oh. That's disgusting!"
He backed away from the case, looking thoroughly disgusted. Ginny peered at it, and then looked away hurriedly.
"Muggles are disgusting." Draco said, shaking his head.
"I didn't think that they could unzip their fur." Ginny agreed.
"Especially there." He said with a grimace.
"Let's go, I wanna get a sandwich or something." She said, dragging him out of the shop.
"But I wanted to buy that glass chess set!" He whined miserably.
"Why? It's not like it's wizard's chess." She reminded him, "I thought you hated everything Muggle related. You certainly thought my father a fool for loving them so much."
"Yeah well...I mean...He is! What's the point obsessing over something like them?" He shrugged, "They just happen to have some mildly interesting things. Like how on earth did they get those spinning disks to float?"
"I think they use magnets, or electricity." Ginny said, trying to remember what her father and Hermione had told her about Muggles, "Or...electromagnets."
"You just made up that word." He accused her.
"I did not!" She exclaimed, "Why would I make up a word? My father does work for the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, so I do know a little about Muggles."
"Electromagnets? That is the stupidest word I've ever heard." He muttered, and Ginny couldn't help but smile.
***
"You want me to ask my father?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow, "And what exactly would I say? 'Dear Father, please tell me everything you know about Lucius Malfoy so I can help Harry Potter and his friends rescue Draco'? I can't really see that working."
"Try subtlety, I hear it works wonders." Harry sighed, "The thing of it is, we don't have enough information, and until we do, we're just going to be going around in circles. I'm not asking you to put yourself on the line or anything, because I know you wouldn't do that," There was a touch of bitterness in his voice, "We just need some more information, and you're the only one who can get it."
"Harry, my father can't know that I'm helping you find Draco, do you understand that? If I show any interest in what he and Lucius where were getting up to he'll become suspicious." She hung her head slightly, a gesture she knew melted Harry's heart, "I want to help Draco, I really do, but there's only so much I can do."
"Blaise, I don't think you understand what could happen if we don't find Malfoy before Lucius does." He said kindly, "He'll be killed. I'm guessing you've always been kept away from the more gruesome aspects of your Father's work, well I havn't. I know what someone looks like when they've been hit the Avada Kedavra curse, and as much as I hate the git, I don't want to see Malfoy dead."
"Well what am I supposed to do? I can't help him, I'm just useless!" She was unable to keep the distress from her voice, and Harry wrapped his arms around her to calm her, "I'm so useless."
"No you're not." He whispered soothingly.
"I am, I can't help Draco, and he's going to be killed." Tears ran down her tan coloured skin, "And it'll be all my fault."
And even then, when he was holding her in his arms, and kissing her forehead, Harry couldn't help but be slightly jealous of her feelings for Draco.
***
"Two salmon and cream cheese baguettes." Ginny ordered at a small sandwich bar.
"That'll be five pounds forty." The man told her, and Ginny pulled out the money. At the Covent Garden Floo extension you could change your money into Muggle money, and Draco had spent a very long time inspecting the tiny coins.
They took their food to little monument, and sat down on the steps, Draco looking quite out of place. Thy had both changed into the Muggle clothes that had bought, but something about Draco just screamed 'Magical Aristocrat'. He was certainly enjoying how good looking his new body was, several nervous girls had shuffled over to him and asked him for his number, before practically running away with embarrassment when he just stared at them, looking confused and yet still superior.
"What do they mean by 'can I have your number'?" He asked Ginny.
"They went your telephone number," she explained. Like her father, she enjoyed Muggle objects, even taking Muggle Studies in her third year before dropping it in favour of Healing Magic, but unlike him she could actually remember the names of the Muggle objects.
"What's a telephone?" He asked.
"It's an object Muggle's use to contact each other." She explained, "Each one has it's own special number, and using a pad which has all the numbers on it, they dial in the numbers of their friends and talk to them through a handle thing."
"Well, should I tell them I don't have a fellytone?" He asked.
"Nah, they'll probably just think that a lie you're using to turn them down." Ginny said, "You'd be better off apologising and saying that you already have a girlfriend."
"But I don't." Draco told her.
"I thought you were going out with Pansy Parkinson." As she said this something green and red caught her eyes. Someone was putting up tinsel in the window of their shop. She hadn't realised it, but it was nearing Christmas.
"Not really, She likes to think we are, but there's something off-putting about a girl who wouldn't look at you twice if you weren't rich. Besides," He shrugged, "She's not exactly good-looking, is she?"
"Is looks all you're interested in?" Ginny asked.
"Well, yeah, it'd be nice if whoever it was were a bit interesting, but it's not a necessity. And smart girls aren't attractive." He told her.
"You're such a bastard." She muttered, but he ignored her.
"What about you?" He asked after a moments pause, "You're supposed to be going out with the Muggle Born idiot Thomas, aren't you? But that didn't stop you flirting with Lynch."
"I..." She looked horrified, and closed her eyes, "Dean thinks I'm dead, he's thought I was dead for a couple of months now, he probably has a new girlfriend by now. And it's not like I kissed Aidan, I really didn't expect him to kiss me."
"Didn't push him away though, did you?" Draco pointed out.
"I didn't have time, it was so quick!" Ginny exclaimed, "I would of, I really would. It's not cheating on someone if you don't kiss back. And anyway, like I said before, it'd be unfair on Dean if after all this time I barge back into his life and demand that I become part of it again."
"I don't know, he looked pretty upset when he found out you were dead." He told her, "Cried during the speech Dumbledore made and everything. Loads of people cried actually. Did you know that you and Libby Starling from Ravenclaw were best friends?"
"What? We barely talked!"
"Well, according to her, you two were inseparable, and she didn't know how she'd go on living without you. Had quite a group around her, all telling her how brave and strong she was." He was grinning slightly, and Ginny felt the urge to punch him.
"I can't believe people used my death to boost their own popularity, that's just low." She said.
"Lots of people were upset though." He told her seriously, "Specially your brother and Potter and Granger, Thomas and Finnigan too. They lost you and Longbottom."
Ginny felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought about Neville. He was sweet and kind, but also strong and brave and hardworking. She had always felt bad about not liking him the way he liked her, and had hoped that he'd find someone who realised how special he was. Now he never would.
"Er, Weasley, your sandwich." Draco's voice brought her back from her thoughts, and she looked down to find the cream cheese had splattered all over her trousers.
"Damn it!" She muttered, wiping it up with a napkin and wishing all these Muggles weren't around so she could use her wand instead.
"Uh, sorry about bringing up Longbottom." Draco said, looking sheepish, "Forgot he was your friend too."
"It's ok." She told him, "I just feel bad that I survived when all the other students who were in there died."
"Don't be stupid, it's not like it was your Father who went and killed them all." He snapped, looking irritated.
"And it's not like you're responsible for what your dad did." She reminded him, "So let's stop blaming ourselves. We're having a day off; we can start worrying again tomorrow. Today we eat cream cheese and salmon and watch you get stuck trying to find the handle on an automatic door."
"How was I supposed to know they opened by themselves?"
***
Harry hurried to the library, he was ten minutes late, his meeting with Blaise had taken him longer than expected. Unfortunately, he had gained nothing from the meeting other than knowing that Blaise was probably going to dump him as soon as soon as Malfoy returned.
"Harry." A voice hissed, "Over here!"
He walked over to the corner where his two friends sat, surrounded by a pile of books.
"How did it go?" Ron asked.
"Not well." He admitted, "She said she'd try, but that she couldn't do much. She also cried."
"What is it about you that makes people cry?" The red haired boy asked curiously.
"Shut up Ron." Hermione hissed, "I'm sure Harry wasn't the reason Blaise cried, was she Harry?"
"No, it was Malfoy." He said bitterly, "Why do I always choose girls who'd rather be with other boys?"
"Well, if she'd rather be with Malfoy then she's obviously very foolish, as he'd probably just hurt her more than she's hurt already." Hermione told him, "But she said she'd try to find out more about Lucius? Well, that's a start."
"What if she can't find anything?" Ron asked.
"We're going to have to do a lot of research by ourselves." She said, "Harry, I suggest you continue to work with Blaise, try to get her to understand that she can trust us, and that we need her. I'm going to get my hand on some old Daily Prophets, see if I can find out anything about Lucius. Ron, can you ask your dad if he knows anything? He'll help us, and I'm sure he knows lots of things about Lucius Malfoy that Lucius would rather people didn't know."
"You spent all night thinking that up, didn't you." Ron accused her; "You couldn't have come up with that plan just now."
"It's called thinking on your feet." She said in an exasperated voice.
"I still don't think you came up with that right now." But Hermione ignored him, turning back to her books.
***
Darkness had fallen hours ago, but neither Ginny nor Draco really felt like ending their day. The night was cold, but the sky was clear and filled with stars and they were both in a good mood.
"And then the Troll said to the Goblin, 'that's not a rock, that's my wife!'" They both laughed, not because the joke was particularly funny, but because it was so bad.
"Where did you hear that one?" Ginny asked.
"Goyle. I think he made it up himself." Draco told her.
"Ok, here's one." She coughed to clear her throat, and began, "A Wizard walked into a pub, and he heard a piano playing. He walked up to bar, and saw a tiny piano player, playing on a tiny piano. He turned to the barman and said 'how did you get that tiny piano player?' and the barman replied 'I have a magical Genie, do you want to have a go?' the wizard agreed, and the barman took out the Genie, giving the man one warning: 'speak clearly, he has bad hearing'. So the wizard said 'I wish I had a pile of gold', but instead he got a pile of coal. When he complained the barman replied 'I told you he had bad hearing, do you really think I wished for a fourteen inch Pianist?'"
Draco almost fell to the floor laughing, muttering to himself "Fourteen inch pianist!"
"Fred told me that one, but mum overheard and clobbered him over the head with a broomstick." Ginny told him, grinning.
"I have to remember that one." He said, "Fourteen inch pianist, bloody hell, that's funny. Most the jokes in Slytherin are about Muggles, lots of 'how many Muggles does it take to change a gas lamp' and things like that. It can get very boring."
"Most of the jokes in Gryffindor are about Slytherins." She admitted, "And they're not very funny either. There's only so many times you can listen to 'and then the Slytherin tripped over his own broom'. In fact, once is once too many."
"Well, may I just say that I've never tripped over my own broom." Draco said.
"You may." She grinned, "So, where are we going to stay tonight? Do you think you could brave a Muggle Hotel?"
"A Muggle hotel? How do they work?" He asked.
"Pretty much the same as Wizarding Hotels, but without the magic." She explained.
"How does the room service work?"
"Well...I don't know actually. I guess we could just do without." Ginny suggested, but Draco looked horrified.
"Do without? I'm a Malfoy, we don't do without." He told her, "We do with, we do with a lot."
"Well, at the moment you're a Bowcott, and you're going to have to do without, because I really don't think we should return to the Wizarding World just yet." She snapped, "Look, this can be fun, it can be an 'experience', or it could be bloody torture. That's up to you. Personally, I think we should rent a Muggle Hotel, at least no Muggles are searching for us."
"What if we make some major mistake?" He asked, "I really don't like the idea of being burnt at the stake."
"Malfoy, do you know anything about Muggles?" That's was actually a pretty stupid question, of course he didn't, "Look, Muggles haven't burnt witches in a very long time. Nowadays they're loads of Muggles going around claiming to be witches and to have magical powers. They go round saying things like 'I worship the goddess and can bend the weather to my will'. No one burns them. We can just pretend to be eccentric new age worshippers."
"So Muggles accept witches?" Draco asked sceptically.
"Well, most of them think that they're fakers, and most of them are." Ginny admitted, "Although I suppose some of them may be Muggle Borns who don't have enough magic to get into a wizarding school. They can float a pencil and they think they're the most powerful force in the universe."
"I refuse to pretend I'm some sort of weak Mudblood." He snapped.
"Don't use that word." She hissed, "That's so...horrible. We're pretending to be Muggles, just follow my lead and don't curse anyone, or I will kill you."
They found a lot of pubs but, to their astonishment, none of them seemed to rent rooms. It seemed that tradition had died out long ago in this part of London. One Pub owner eventually took pity on them and directed them to a hotel, which they got lost on the way too.
When they finally arrived they were tired and hungry, the baguettes they had eaten for lunch long forgotten. They checked in, and Draco found a bar that they could order dinner from. When they finished they retired up to their room, which turned out to be little more than a box with two beds in it. Draco sneered with disgust, but Ginny didn't mind at all, as it was only a little smaller than her room back home, although nowhere near as cosy.
The one think in the room that Draco approved of was the window. One wall was made entirely of glass, and when you stood by it you could see the entire of London, with a huge amount of sky above it. Of course the lights meant that most the stars were invisible, but it was still a beautiful sight.
"When I leave Hogwarts." Ginny told him, standing by the window and looking out, "I'm going to live in Muggle London for a year, and get a job. I'll still use magic when I need to, but I want to be able to live independently from it. I'll make friends with Muggles, and learn about the way they live their lives, it'll be really exciting."
"Sounds boring to me." Draco yawned, standing beside her, "Muggle's aren't as stupid as I thought, but we're still above them."
But they're so much more modern then us." She pointed out, "Much more technologically advanced." She sounded out the word 'technologically' very slowly, like someone who was using a word they only vaguely understood.
"How?" Draco asked. Ginny scanned the city, thinking that that itself was proof enough, but then the big silver orb in the sky caught her eye, and she smiled.
"They've been to the moon." She told him. There was a big pause where he looked at her in amazement.
"You're lying." He said after the pause passed.
"I'm not." She said, offended.
"They haven't been to the moon." He insisted.
"Yes they have!"
"What? The moon?"
"Yes Malfoy, the moon."
"But...how did they get up there?" He asked, astounded.
"They used a sort of flying boat, a really big rocket." She explained.
"To get to the moon?"
"Yes Malfoy, the moon." She said again.
"But...they haven't!"
"Yes Malfoy, they have." She insisted.
"But why? There's nothing up there!"
"They wanted to study it or something." Ginny said, her knowledge on the matter not being much more than Draco's.
"But...they haven't!"
"Goodnight Malfoy." She said, climbing into bed, leaving him staring up at the moon in amazement.
***
When Ginny awoke the next day she found Draco up and ready to leave. She quickly changed into some clean clothes in the bathroom and tried her best to wash a bit. What she really wanted was a nice long bath, but that was impossible here, as the bath had already been claimed by things that weren't supposed to be alive and yet where. When she returned Draco was sitting on the bed, looking out the big window and the city, which looked much less beautiful during the day.
"You ready?" She asked.
"Weasley, you don't hate me, do you?" He asked, taking Ginny by surprise.
"No, of course I don't hate you." She replied.
"You're brother does, and so does Potter and Granger." He said, sounding miserable.
"Malfoy, you don't want them to like you, if you did you wouldn't have been so horrible to them all this time." She reminded him.
"So are you saying it's my fault that they hate me?" He asked.
"Yes." She answered, "Why are you asking me this?"
"I don't know." He shook his head and stood up, "All this running around is making me depressed. I wish we could go back to Hogwarts but..."
"But I'd be sentenced to the Dementors kiss, and you'd be given back to your father, who'd do god knows what to you." Ginny finished his sentence, "Malfoy, I don't hate you. I think I may even be starting to get along with you, so please, cheer up."
He smiled weakly, but Ginny was encouraged. This meant that he cared about her opinion, which meant that he was becoming less of an arrogant git. Of course she knew that she was unlikely to ever hear him say that he was starting to like her, but she could tell.
"Besides," She reminded him, "You don't care what Ron, Harry and Hermione think of you, Ron's a blood traitor, Harry's an idiotic attention seeker and Hermione is a filthy mudblood, isn't that right?"
"Are you making fun of me in some strange way that I can't detect?" He asked sarcastically.
"Yes." She replied, and they both laughed.
HOW AMUSING. A voice said. Ginny looked at Draco, but he was picking up his bag, and didn't seem to have heard.
"Malfoy, did you just say something?" She asked, a chill running up her spine.
"Hm? No." He replied.
IT WASN'T HIM. The voice said.
"Malfoy." She whispered, fear filling her stomach. He looked up at her, questioning.
HE CAN'T HEAR ME. The voice said.
"Malfoy, there's something in here with us." She whispered.
NOT IN HERE VIRGINIA. The voice was ringing with laughter.
"What is it?" Draco asked.
NO, NOT IN HERE, IN YOU!
"Tom." And the laughter filled her head.
***
Review!
A.N. Still looking for people who wanna do some fanart.
Thanks to:
MelissaAdams: Updating as requested
Ohepelss Oramtnci: No, Rufina really isn't. She should get some tips from Harry!
SilverDragonsFlame: Updated as requested
Cherryblossoms: That was a really helpful review, thanks! It's good to know what people like and dislike.
Dedications: Dom, my Beta Reader.
*** Man On The Moon ***
Hey, Andy did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby Are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
R.E.M-Man on the Moon
***
"Look at that shop!" Draco almost shouted, dragging Ginny towards a shop that was filled with a purple light, "There are things in there that are floating! I didn't know Muggles could make things float!"
Ever since they had arrived in Covent Garden, Draco had been acting like a child in a toyshop. He had never been to Muggle London, and was finding the experience very enjoyable, although every now and again he would stop and sneer at Muggle stupidity. He spent about five minutes laughing at someone struggling with a broken down car.
But at the moment he was completely enthralled by the 'Gadget Shop'.
"Look at! And that!" He exclaimed, pointing at the objects that were for sale, "And look at those bears! What are they...? Oh. That's disgusting!"
He backed away from the case, looking thoroughly disgusted. Ginny peered at it, and then looked away hurriedly.
"Muggles are disgusting." Draco said, shaking his head.
"I didn't think that they could unzip their fur." Ginny agreed.
"Especially there." He said with a grimace.
"Let's go, I wanna get a sandwich or something." She said, dragging him out of the shop.
"But I wanted to buy that glass chess set!" He whined miserably.
"Why? It's not like it's wizard's chess." She reminded him, "I thought you hated everything Muggle related. You certainly thought my father a fool for loving them so much."
"Yeah well...I mean...He is! What's the point obsessing over something like them?" He shrugged, "They just happen to have some mildly interesting things. Like how on earth did they get those spinning disks to float?"
"I think they use magnets, or electricity." Ginny said, trying to remember what her father and Hermione had told her about Muggles, "Or...electromagnets."
"You just made up that word." He accused her.
"I did not!" She exclaimed, "Why would I make up a word? My father does work for the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, so I do know a little about Muggles."
"Electromagnets? That is the stupidest word I've ever heard." He muttered, and Ginny couldn't help but smile.
***
"You want me to ask my father?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow, "And what exactly would I say? 'Dear Father, please tell me everything you know about Lucius Malfoy so I can help Harry Potter and his friends rescue Draco'? I can't really see that working."
"Try subtlety, I hear it works wonders." Harry sighed, "The thing of it is, we don't have enough information, and until we do, we're just going to be going around in circles. I'm not asking you to put yourself on the line or anything, because I know you wouldn't do that," There was a touch of bitterness in his voice, "We just need some more information, and you're the only one who can get it."
"Harry, my father can't know that I'm helping you find Draco, do you understand that? If I show any interest in what he and Lucius where were getting up to he'll become suspicious." She hung her head slightly, a gesture she knew melted Harry's heart, "I want to help Draco, I really do, but there's only so much I can do."
"Blaise, I don't think you understand what could happen if we don't find Malfoy before Lucius does." He said kindly, "He'll be killed. I'm guessing you've always been kept away from the more gruesome aspects of your Father's work, well I havn't. I know what someone looks like when they've been hit the Avada Kedavra curse, and as much as I hate the git, I don't want to see Malfoy dead."
"Well what am I supposed to do? I can't help him, I'm just useless!" She was unable to keep the distress from her voice, and Harry wrapped his arms around her to calm her, "I'm so useless."
"No you're not." He whispered soothingly.
"I am, I can't help Draco, and he's going to be killed." Tears ran down her tan coloured skin, "And it'll be all my fault."
And even then, when he was holding her in his arms, and kissing her forehead, Harry couldn't help but be slightly jealous of her feelings for Draco.
***
"Two salmon and cream cheese baguettes." Ginny ordered at a small sandwich bar.
"That'll be five pounds forty." The man told her, and Ginny pulled out the money. At the Covent Garden Floo extension you could change your money into Muggle money, and Draco had spent a very long time inspecting the tiny coins.
They took their food to little monument, and sat down on the steps, Draco looking quite out of place. Thy had both changed into the Muggle clothes that had bought, but something about Draco just screamed 'Magical Aristocrat'. He was certainly enjoying how good looking his new body was, several nervous girls had shuffled over to him and asked him for his number, before practically running away with embarrassment when he just stared at them, looking confused and yet still superior.
"What do they mean by 'can I have your number'?" He asked Ginny.
"They went your telephone number," she explained. Like her father, she enjoyed Muggle objects, even taking Muggle Studies in her third year before dropping it in favour of Healing Magic, but unlike him she could actually remember the names of the Muggle objects.
"What's a telephone?" He asked.
"It's an object Muggle's use to contact each other." She explained, "Each one has it's own special number, and using a pad which has all the numbers on it, they dial in the numbers of their friends and talk to them through a handle thing."
"Well, should I tell them I don't have a fellytone?" He asked.
"Nah, they'll probably just think that a lie you're using to turn them down." Ginny said, "You'd be better off apologising and saying that you already have a girlfriend."
"But I don't." Draco told her.
"I thought you were going out with Pansy Parkinson." As she said this something green and red caught her eyes. Someone was putting up tinsel in the window of their shop. She hadn't realised it, but it was nearing Christmas.
"Not really, She likes to think we are, but there's something off-putting about a girl who wouldn't look at you twice if you weren't rich. Besides," He shrugged, "She's not exactly good-looking, is she?"
"Is looks all you're interested in?" Ginny asked.
"Well, yeah, it'd be nice if whoever it was were a bit interesting, but it's not a necessity. And smart girls aren't attractive." He told her.
"You're such a bastard." She muttered, but he ignored her.
"What about you?" He asked after a moments pause, "You're supposed to be going out with the Muggle Born idiot Thomas, aren't you? But that didn't stop you flirting with Lynch."
"I..." She looked horrified, and closed her eyes, "Dean thinks I'm dead, he's thought I was dead for a couple of months now, he probably has a new girlfriend by now. And it's not like I kissed Aidan, I really didn't expect him to kiss me."
"Didn't push him away though, did you?" Draco pointed out.
"I didn't have time, it was so quick!" Ginny exclaimed, "I would of, I really would. It's not cheating on someone if you don't kiss back. And anyway, like I said before, it'd be unfair on Dean if after all this time I barge back into his life and demand that I become part of it again."
"I don't know, he looked pretty upset when he found out you were dead." He told her, "Cried during the speech Dumbledore made and everything. Loads of people cried actually. Did you know that you and Libby Starling from Ravenclaw were best friends?"
"What? We barely talked!"
"Well, according to her, you two were inseparable, and she didn't know how she'd go on living without you. Had quite a group around her, all telling her how brave and strong she was." He was grinning slightly, and Ginny felt the urge to punch him.
"I can't believe people used my death to boost their own popularity, that's just low." She said.
"Lots of people were upset though." He told her seriously, "Specially your brother and Potter and Granger, Thomas and Finnigan too. They lost you and Longbottom."
Ginny felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought about Neville. He was sweet and kind, but also strong and brave and hardworking. She had always felt bad about not liking him the way he liked her, and had hoped that he'd find someone who realised how special he was. Now he never would.
"Er, Weasley, your sandwich." Draco's voice brought her back from her thoughts, and she looked down to find the cream cheese had splattered all over her trousers.
"Damn it!" She muttered, wiping it up with a napkin and wishing all these Muggles weren't around so she could use her wand instead.
"Uh, sorry about bringing up Longbottom." Draco said, looking sheepish, "Forgot he was your friend too."
"It's ok." She told him, "I just feel bad that I survived when all the other students who were in there died."
"Don't be stupid, it's not like it was your Father who went and killed them all." He snapped, looking irritated.
"And it's not like you're responsible for what your dad did." She reminded him, "So let's stop blaming ourselves. We're having a day off; we can start worrying again tomorrow. Today we eat cream cheese and salmon and watch you get stuck trying to find the handle on an automatic door."
"How was I supposed to know they opened by themselves?"
***
Harry hurried to the library, he was ten minutes late, his meeting with Blaise had taken him longer than expected. Unfortunately, he had gained nothing from the meeting other than knowing that Blaise was probably going to dump him as soon as soon as Malfoy returned.
"Harry." A voice hissed, "Over here!"
He walked over to the corner where his two friends sat, surrounded by a pile of books.
"How did it go?" Ron asked.
"Not well." He admitted, "She said she'd try, but that she couldn't do much. She also cried."
"What is it about you that makes people cry?" The red haired boy asked curiously.
"Shut up Ron." Hermione hissed, "I'm sure Harry wasn't the reason Blaise cried, was she Harry?"
"No, it was Malfoy." He said bitterly, "Why do I always choose girls who'd rather be with other boys?"
"Well, if she'd rather be with Malfoy then she's obviously very foolish, as he'd probably just hurt her more than she's hurt already." Hermione told him, "But she said she'd try to find out more about Lucius? Well, that's a start."
"What if she can't find anything?" Ron asked.
"We're going to have to do a lot of research by ourselves." She said, "Harry, I suggest you continue to work with Blaise, try to get her to understand that she can trust us, and that we need her. I'm going to get my hand on some old Daily Prophets, see if I can find out anything about Lucius. Ron, can you ask your dad if he knows anything? He'll help us, and I'm sure he knows lots of things about Lucius Malfoy that Lucius would rather people didn't know."
"You spent all night thinking that up, didn't you." Ron accused her; "You couldn't have come up with that plan just now."
"It's called thinking on your feet." She said in an exasperated voice.
"I still don't think you came up with that right now." But Hermione ignored him, turning back to her books.
***
Darkness had fallen hours ago, but neither Ginny nor Draco really felt like ending their day. The night was cold, but the sky was clear and filled with stars and they were both in a good mood.
"And then the Troll said to the Goblin, 'that's not a rock, that's my wife!'" They both laughed, not because the joke was particularly funny, but because it was so bad.
"Where did you hear that one?" Ginny asked.
"Goyle. I think he made it up himself." Draco told her.
"Ok, here's one." She coughed to clear her throat, and began, "A Wizard walked into a pub, and he heard a piano playing. He walked up to bar, and saw a tiny piano player, playing on a tiny piano. He turned to the barman and said 'how did you get that tiny piano player?' and the barman replied 'I have a magical Genie, do you want to have a go?' the wizard agreed, and the barman took out the Genie, giving the man one warning: 'speak clearly, he has bad hearing'. So the wizard said 'I wish I had a pile of gold', but instead he got a pile of coal. When he complained the barman replied 'I told you he had bad hearing, do you really think I wished for a fourteen inch Pianist?'"
Draco almost fell to the floor laughing, muttering to himself "Fourteen inch pianist!"
"Fred told me that one, but mum overheard and clobbered him over the head with a broomstick." Ginny told him, grinning.
"I have to remember that one." He said, "Fourteen inch pianist, bloody hell, that's funny. Most the jokes in Slytherin are about Muggles, lots of 'how many Muggles does it take to change a gas lamp' and things like that. It can get very boring."
"Most of the jokes in Gryffindor are about Slytherins." She admitted, "And they're not very funny either. There's only so many times you can listen to 'and then the Slytherin tripped over his own broom'. In fact, once is once too many."
"Well, may I just say that I've never tripped over my own broom." Draco said.
"You may." She grinned, "So, where are we going to stay tonight? Do you think you could brave a Muggle Hotel?"
"A Muggle hotel? How do they work?" He asked.
"Pretty much the same as Wizarding Hotels, but without the magic." She explained.
"How does the room service work?"
"Well...I don't know actually. I guess we could just do without." Ginny suggested, but Draco looked horrified.
"Do without? I'm a Malfoy, we don't do without." He told her, "We do with, we do with a lot."
"Well, at the moment you're a Bowcott, and you're going to have to do without, because I really don't think we should return to the Wizarding World just yet." She snapped, "Look, this can be fun, it can be an 'experience', or it could be bloody torture. That's up to you. Personally, I think we should rent a Muggle Hotel, at least no Muggles are searching for us."
"What if we make some major mistake?" He asked, "I really don't like the idea of being burnt at the stake."
"Malfoy, do you know anything about Muggles?" That's was actually a pretty stupid question, of course he didn't, "Look, Muggles haven't burnt witches in a very long time. Nowadays they're loads of Muggles going around claiming to be witches and to have magical powers. They go round saying things like 'I worship the goddess and can bend the weather to my will'. No one burns them. We can just pretend to be eccentric new age worshippers."
"So Muggles accept witches?" Draco asked sceptically.
"Well, most of them think that they're fakers, and most of them are." Ginny admitted, "Although I suppose some of them may be Muggle Borns who don't have enough magic to get into a wizarding school. They can float a pencil and they think they're the most powerful force in the universe."
"I refuse to pretend I'm some sort of weak Mudblood." He snapped.
"Don't use that word." She hissed, "That's so...horrible. We're pretending to be Muggles, just follow my lead and don't curse anyone, or I will kill you."
They found a lot of pubs but, to their astonishment, none of them seemed to rent rooms. It seemed that tradition had died out long ago in this part of London. One Pub owner eventually took pity on them and directed them to a hotel, which they got lost on the way too.
When they finally arrived they were tired and hungry, the baguettes they had eaten for lunch long forgotten. They checked in, and Draco found a bar that they could order dinner from. When they finished they retired up to their room, which turned out to be little more than a box with two beds in it. Draco sneered with disgust, but Ginny didn't mind at all, as it was only a little smaller than her room back home, although nowhere near as cosy.
The one think in the room that Draco approved of was the window. One wall was made entirely of glass, and when you stood by it you could see the entire of London, with a huge amount of sky above it. Of course the lights meant that most the stars were invisible, but it was still a beautiful sight.
"When I leave Hogwarts." Ginny told him, standing by the window and looking out, "I'm going to live in Muggle London for a year, and get a job. I'll still use magic when I need to, but I want to be able to live independently from it. I'll make friends with Muggles, and learn about the way they live their lives, it'll be really exciting."
"Sounds boring to me." Draco yawned, standing beside her, "Muggle's aren't as stupid as I thought, but we're still above them."
But they're so much more modern then us." She pointed out, "Much more technologically advanced." She sounded out the word 'technologically' very slowly, like someone who was using a word they only vaguely understood.
"How?" Draco asked. Ginny scanned the city, thinking that that itself was proof enough, but then the big silver orb in the sky caught her eye, and she smiled.
"They've been to the moon." She told him. There was a big pause where he looked at her in amazement.
"You're lying." He said after the pause passed.
"I'm not." She said, offended.
"They haven't been to the moon." He insisted.
"Yes they have!"
"What? The moon?"
"Yes Malfoy, the moon."
"But...how did they get up there?" He asked, astounded.
"They used a sort of flying boat, a really big rocket." She explained.
"To get to the moon?"
"Yes Malfoy, the moon." She said again.
"But...they haven't!"
"Yes Malfoy, they have." She insisted.
"But why? There's nothing up there!"
"They wanted to study it or something." Ginny said, her knowledge on the matter not being much more than Draco's.
"But...they haven't!"
"Goodnight Malfoy." She said, climbing into bed, leaving him staring up at the moon in amazement.
***
When Ginny awoke the next day she found Draco up and ready to leave. She quickly changed into some clean clothes in the bathroom and tried her best to wash a bit. What she really wanted was a nice long bath, but that was impossible here, as the bath had already been claimed by things that weren't supposed to be alive and yet where. When she returned Draco was sitting on the bed, looking out the big window and the city, which looked much less beautiful during the day.
"You ready?" She asked.
"Weasley, you don't hate me, do you?" He asked, taking Ginny by surprise.
"No, of course I don't hate you." She replied.
"You're brother does, and so does Potter and Granger." He said, sounding miserable.
"Malfoy, you don't want them to like you, if you did you wouldn't have been so horrible to them all this time." She reminded him.
"So are you saying it's my fault that they hate me?" He asked.
"Yes." She answered, "Why are you asking me this?"
"I don't know." He shook his head and stood up, "All this running around is making me depressed. I wish we could go back to Hogwarts but..."
"But I'd be sentenced to the Dementors kiss, and you'd be given back to your father, who'd do god knows what to you." Ginny finished his sentence, "Malfoy, I don't hate you. I think I may even be starting to get along with you, so please, cheer up."
He smiled weakly, but Ginny was encouraged. This meant that he cared about her opinion, which meant that he was becoming less of an arrogant git. Of course she knew that she was unlikely to ever hear him say that he was starting to like her, but she could tell.
"Besides," She reminded him, "You don't care what Ron, Harry and Hermione think of you, Ron's a blood traitor, Harry's an idiotic attention seeker and Hermione is a filthy mudblood, isn't that right?"
"Are you making fun of me in some strange way that I can't detect?" He asked sarcastically.
"Yes." She replied, and they both laughed.
HOW AMUSING. A voice said. Ginny looked at Draco, but he was picking up his bag, and didn't seem to have heard.
"Malfoy, did you just say something?" She asked, a chill running up her spine.
"Hm? No." He replied.
IT WASN'T HIM. The voice said.
"Malfoy." She whispered, fear filling her stomach. He looked up at her, questioning.
HE CAN'T HEAR ME. The voice said.
"Malfoy, there's something in here with us." She whispered.
NOT IN HERE VIRGINIA. The voice was ringing with laughter.
"What is it?" Draco asked.
NO, NOT IN HERE, IN YOU!
"Tom." And the laughter filled her head.
***
Review!
A.N. Still looking for people who wanna do some fanart.
Thanks to:
MelissaAdams: Updating as requested
Ohepelss Oramtnci: No, Rufina really isn't. She should get some tips from Harry!
SilverDragonsFlame: Updated as requested
Cherryblossoms: That was a really helpful review, thanks! It's good to know what people like and dislike.
