An hour later, Ginny's heart had stopped pounding so hard and her breathing had returned to normal. She then felt comfortable enough to try to sort out her thoughts. Had she seriously felt attraction when she and Malfoy had kissed? She couldn't have. He was a Malfoy, a dirty, slimy, sleazy Malfoy. She couldn't actually like him. But her knees had felt weak, and she had felt so lightheaded. He had swept her away. And she had felt something else too, something that she had never felt when she had snogged Michael Corner. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had definitely felt something.
Ginny sighed and grabbed her books, deciding to head down to the Common Room to do some homework. So much for having a relaxing Saturday. Her stomach growled and she uncomfortably realized that she had missed lunch. Damn you, Malfoy!
Upon arriving in the Common Room, Ginny was ambushed by her older brother.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" Ron yelled. Ginny cringed at the mention of her full name.
"Yes, Ronald dearest?" she said sardonically.
"What were you and Malfoy doing earlier today?"
"Ron, I"
"And why weren't you at lunch?"
"Ron, you don't"
"You were with Malfoy, weren't you?"
"No, Ron, I"
"Ginny, what's going on with you and Malfoy? He's pure evil, Gin, you can't honestly like him!"
"RON!" Ginny exclaimed, exasperated.
"What?" Ron replied, lowering his voice ever so slightly.
"There is nothing going on between Malfoy and me. Nothing. So, if you don't mind, I have homework I need to do."
"But…but…Ginny!"
"Ron, I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself. Fizz off!" And with that, she swept past him and out of the Common Room, heading for the library. Honestly, the nerve of him! Just because he's my big brother does not mean that he needs to know every little detail of my personal life. And anyway, it's not like I lied to him. I don't like Malfoy…do I?
Ginny shook herself mentally. Of course she didn't like him. She had hated him since before she'd met him. His father was a Death Eater, for God's sake, and Draco was soon to become one too. But you felt that attraction…the little voice in the back of her head chimed in. No, it wasn't attraction. It was…something else. Wonderful, she was trying to reason with her mind. Denial…
As she entered the library, Ginny decided that voices in the back of one's mind were evil!
She sat down at a table towards the back of the library, seeking refuge behind the endless shelves. She pulled out a sheaf of parchment and started to think about what to write for her Transfiguration essay. She sat there staring at the parchment for ten minutes, thinking so hard that she forgot what she was writing about in the first place. She held her head in her hands and sighed.
"Oh man," she started mumbling to herself. "It's all his fault. I can't think straight anymore. I don't like him! I don't like him! I do not like Malfoy! I don't like him, I don't like him, I don't"
"Perhaps you should go somewhere more secluded if you're going to mumble things like that to yourself."
Ginny looked up and saw Draco smirking down at her. Damn it!
"Draco, what're you doing here? You have to…What are you doing here? I need to…What are you doing here?"
"You're repeating yourself," Draco remarked, cocking an eyebrow.
"What? No! I'm not repeating myself! I'm not repeating myself! I'm not re—oh God, I'm repeating myself!" Ginny returned her head to her hands, rubbing her temples. "You know what, this is all your fault! I blame you entirely! I'm not supposed to like you!"
The second Ginny realized what she had just said, she clapped her hand to her mouth and looked up to see Draco's bemused face.
"You weren't supposed to hear that," she said in a slightly muffled voice.
Draco was looking at her thoughtfully while Ginny's mind raced. How could she have said that out loud? Draco would tell everyone! Or worse, he would taunt her endlessly. Why had she allowed herself to fantasize about him in History of Magic? Why? None of this would have ever happened if she hadn't been fantasizing about him.
Draco contemplated Ginny, who seemed to be deep in thought. She had said that she wasn't supposed to like him. That makes two of us, he thought, resigned. There weren't supposed to be any feelings involved. It was supposed to be pure lust. Real feelings weren't supposed to have anything to do with this. And yet, somewhere between all that physical attraction, love had crept in through Draco's shields. He didn't know how that could have possibly happen. Draco Malfoy would not suddenly go all soft for this girl. He wouldn't!
But it was too late. He had already fallen for her.
Draco slowly pulled up a chair beside Ginny. She looked at him in shock, lowering her hand from her mouth. He gripped her chin firmly and turned her head until her chocolate-brown eyes met his gray ones. Clearly, she was confused, but so was Draco. Something about her had destroyed all his protections against feeling. Something…
Draco leaned forward and lightly touched his lips against hers. After a moment, he pulled back a little.
"I wasn't supposed to like you either," he breathed. She looked at him in complete disbelief. Draco brushed a piece of her hair back behind her ear.
"Ginny!"
A booming yell cut through the silence. Ginny jumped up in shock and looked around frantically.
"No! Ron has the worst timing in the world!" she mumbled, hurriedly shoving her books in her bag and knocking the table as she got up. She rushed towards the source of the voice, then turned back a moment to look at Draco.
"Ginny!"
She whipped around and flat out ran to her brother. Draco watched her go, in a slight daze. Had he really just said what he thought he had? What was wrong with him? And had Ginny just seriously walked away from him? It was usually he who walked away from the girl, not vice-versa. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. Why did he have to get involved with her? Why? She had just made his life that much more complicated. He could have had any girl in the entire school, and he just had to go after Ginny Weasley. He had to go after the one girl he would actually fall for. Boy, the Fates must really hate him!
