A/N: Alright, I really had trouble with this chapter, because now there's no Harry. I don't know how many more chapters I'm going to be writing, this may be one of the last, but I'm not too sad about it. I'll be writing another shortly, anyways. So, enjoy this chapter, and my last couple after it, and read my next fiction. Don't forget to REVIEW! Oh, and I know those of you who read this story are going to be frustrated with me, because the beginning of this chapter will continue to keep you hanging, I'm so sorry, but it must be done.
P.S. In my last chapter, I accidentally said Harry was a 7th year, but that's a lie. He's a sixth year. Ginny's a fifth. Yep.
Chapter 5
Winter. After Fall, and Summer, and just before Spring, there's always one season that always caught Ginny's eye. It was cold, snowy, and beautiful out almost everyday. You could see young students everywhere, having snowball fights, making snow-wizards, and Ginny's personal favorite, forts and igloos. Of course, some of these little snow housing structures were used for a different sort of 'fun' than you'd expect, as in kissing, making out, and…well, just let your imagination run wild. In all this magic and merrymaking, where was this red head to be found? In the library.
She was studying with Amanda for a really big test they had coming up next week, one of the final exams, and they had no time to play around in the snow. This was not the way Ginny had her almost-holiday planned out. Two weeks from now she'd have to go out and buy gifts for a boat load of people, since she'd be taking a few tests next week, and studying for them now, and she'd have to rush. She hated rushing. It just made things so much more difficult. For example, instead of thinking about what to get Amanda in one day, she'd have ten minutes to think of that special something for her best friend, same would go for Brittany, and for anyone else she needed to get a present for; it really was hard.
Besides the things she was reading in her Potions book, which was the line "mix the yellow lizard eye with the green one and add" over and over again, she was thinking about the last few months. She'd been pressed by so many people now to be, and do, whatever was best, what would make her the best person. A few times, she'd taken this too literally, and lost the one person she really loved. It wasn't like she meant to do it, it just happened that way. When she thought about it now, it seemed so weird, so fuzzy, so wrong…
Flashback (for those who wouldn't be able to tell-
Draco's laugh rang through the hall, following the back of the one girl he'd ever truly cared about. He couldn't hold it back, figuring all this had to be some sick, cruel joke she was playing one him, but it wasn't. Ginny didn't turn around and laugh as well; she just continued her way back to her common room. Realizing she wasn't kidding, Draco ran toward Ginny at his fastest speed, and gently grabbed her by the arm, "No, Ginny…you can't really be doing this, it's not right! I didn't risk everything to be with you to have you walk away now."
Ginny's tears flooded her eyes, and made many lines down her cheeks. She tried to say something, but she choked on her words. She couldn't bear to be here anymore, it hurt too much. Then she ran. Ran away from Draco. Away from her feelings. Mostly, she ran from herself, and how she was destroying everything she was working for. Her own words to Draco went through her head over and over, like a broken record. Just thinking about how hurtful it must have been to him made her hurt inside, more than it had hurt trying to just say them to him at all. Everything now a blur, being blinded by her tears, Ginny fell to the ground after turning a corner, and sat there crying for a long while, until all the lights from the windows were gone, and the light of the hall candles were dimming gently, signaling the end of curfew.
Standing, she looked around the corner to see if Draco was still there, but he was no where to be found, so Ginny walked slowly and deep in thought to the Gryffindor common room.
Unflashback-
A soft smile came to Ginny's face as she saw Brittany walk into the library, "Hey girl. What's up?"
Brittany sighed, "Nothing."
Amanda looked up with a angry look upon her face, telling Ginny and Brittany to shut up or leave, so Ginny and Brittany took the second choice and headed toward the Astronomy Tower.
"So, Britt," Ginny said as the girls started their way up the stairs, "what's wrong?"
Brittany shrugged, "It's nothing. Devin and me just broke up again. But, it's ok, and the last time…I swear!"
"That's what you said last time." Ginny knew that by next week Devin, a 7th year Brittany met in the library after they exchanged Transfiguration books by 'accident'.
"I know, but this time I mean it. He's a jerk, and now I really know it."
Ginny rolled her eyes in a secret fashion and nodded to her friend, "I was thinking about when me and Draco broke up just a little while ago." She said this quietly and disappointedly.
"Yeah?" Brittany looked concerned.
"Uh huh."
"Well, quit looking in the past and move on already!"
Ginny laughed and shook her head, "You're such a blonde."
Brittany playfully shoved Ginny over to the wall, "Shut up!" Just then, a voice was heard behind them. It was calling Brittany's name, and of course, it was Devin's, "What do you want, Devin?"
"I need to talk to you," Devin said in a sad, apologetic voice.
Brittany sighed and looked to Ginny, "Just a sec, I promise."
Ginny smirked and nodded, going up the last few stairs to the top of the Astronomy Tower. She made her way to a window and looked out to the quidditch pitch. There were around four guys out there, and a cheering section, by what Ginny could hear. She saw that all the boys were Gryffindors, and (surprise surprise) two of them she knew. One was Harry, the other was Ron, and the other two she didn't know. One, however, had blonde hair, and could do flips. Ginny sighed when she thought about another blonde boy, and she sat under the window and started trying not to remember certain things.
Flashback again-
Draco's POV-
Draco lay in his bed back in the Slytherin dorm room. He felt as if someone had just ran over him with a truck, backed up and ran over him again; he was crushed. He couldn't believed Ginny just broke up with him. Her voice haunted his thoughts, and made it hard to sleep. It was as clear as crystal.
I just can't keep this up anymore.
I'm sorry, but there's just nothing more I can do.
You have to understand that it hurts me just as much as it hurts you, but I can't let my family down, or Gryffindor down, and I really can't let myself down. Draco, I just can't keep going…
I…I don't…Draco, I don't love you anymore.
The last words stung with a great pain whenever Draco thought about how strongly Ginny had said them. Though she was crying, she had enough courage and strength to say to with so much force it sent Draco stumbling back at the time. Now, laying, tears flooding out of the corners of his gray eyes, he knew his life would never be good again.
When she began walking away, he remembered think he might have been dreaming, so he pinched his forearm at least five times. After knowing it wasn't a dream, it had to be a joke, so he laughed. It was a fake, though convincing, laugh. But, no, it hadn't been a joke. And now, Draco was filled with sorrow, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Still Draco's POV-
Not a Flashback-
Draco was walking along a corridor, thinking about Ginny. She was just so beautiful, nothing could tear her face from his memory. It seemed to be haunting him day and night, no end, a constant cycle of loveliness spinning in his head at all times. Ever since that first kiss, it had been this way. It's the way it would be for the rest of his days. This was how Draco's life would be lived, and life, as most say, is long.
He made his way to the stairs toward a Tower, one he hadn't been to in a long time, and he did have so Astronomy homework due soon, so he decided to head up that way. Upon reaching the stairs, he heard a soft moaning sound coming down, and thought about heading back, but he realized he could already see what was happening, and his curiosity overcame him. He peeked around the corner of the wall of the winding stairs to find a blonde girl and some guy, Gavin or something, making out on the stairs. Shrugging, he walked past them, and saw the girl looked familiar, but shook the thought of her away and continued up the stairs.
Finally reaching the top of the tower, he found a gorgeous red head girl, who was sleeping, sitting up, under a window and he smirked. He knew this girl; it was Ginny. He was glad she was asleep, so he took take in her features without her knowing. Quietly, Draco snuck over to sit next to her and gently caressed her soft milk-white cheek and began humming a quiet melody. Draco was tempted to kiss her gently on the cheek, but he decided against it, just in case she woke up and found him here, but then her head leaned over to rest on his chest, followed by the rest of her body, Ginny having leaned into Draco's touch. Draco half grinned at this, and held her close. Kissing the top of her head made her stir a little, and Draco could see her eyes open with surprise. She looked up at him and blushed slightly, but he kept a steady smile and sat the both of them straight up, pushing strands of hair out of Ginny's face, "Hello, love. Were you tired?"
Ginny nodded, "Just a little."
"Oh." He grinned, "I have something I want to ask you."
"Oh…um…ok." She cleared her throat, "Go for it."
Draco pulled a little box out of his pocket and handed it to Ginny, "Open this first."
Ginny blinked a few times, looking from Draco to the box and back again over and over, wondering if he was going to ask her what she thought he might ask her.
"No, no, Ginny." Draco laughed and shook his head, "No, I'm not going to ask 'the big question' I'm not even old enough for that. Not yet, anyway." He smirked, "Well, open it already."
After sighing with liberation, Ginny opened the box to find a fiery red gem on a golden ring. She took in a deep breath, "Oh…oh, it's lovely."
"It reminded me of you. The red and all." He nodded and grinned, seeing she really liked it.
Ginny set the box down gently and gave Draco a soft kiss on the lips, then looked back at her ring, "Oh…oh…you didn't have to."
"I did, because I still have to ask you something." He took a deep breath, then let it back out, "Ok, well…I was wondering, if it's ok with your parents, it's ok with mine; if you want to come home with me for Christmas, I can have you back at your parents house by New Years." He nodded, still grinning, but Ginny wasn't grinning anymore, "Or, you could be there Christmas morning, and we can go back to your house Christmas night, is that better?" He still held a smile, but not as big of one, and tears came to Ginny's eyes, "No, don't cry. Why not just spend Christmas Eve at my house and—don't cry!" He hugged Ginny, now not smiling at all, "What's wrong, love?"
Ginny pulled back a little, "I just…um…I don't know how to tell you this." She laughed a little, quite a phony laugh actually, "You're going to laugh about this, I know…Alright you really won't." She sighed, "I haven't told my parents about me and you yet. I uh…haven't figured out how yet."
Draco's jaw dropped and he stood up in a flood of anger, "No! Ginny! You said you told them 2 months ago! Right after we got back together! No…Ginny!" He sighed deeply and shook his head, "Look, you have to tell them, or I'm going to show up tomorrow out of no where and tell them all myself." He knew deep down he'd never set foot inside the Weasley's home without Ginny being there as well, but if it was completely necessary, he might consider it, "You have to tell them."
Ginny nodded and thought about how to tell her parents. She figured her mom might be understanding, but it was more than likely her dad would rather have his daughter be in magicless, grounded, Amish existence, rather than have her dating a Malfoy. It didn't matter if she was in love, or if they'd just met last week, or if Draco was really a nice person, or was turning his daughter into the most wicked witch this side of the wizarding world. It wasn't that Mr. Weasley didn't trust his daughter, it was just the fact that he hated Draco's father, Mr. Malfoy. He would hate to be related, or close-to-related, to that man, a man who he could even speak his name at home: When Mr. Malfoy would do something awful at work, Mr. Weasley would come home yelling at the top of his lungs, "That dirty, smelly, old rat for a person has got another thing coming, I'll tell you now!" His face would be a nice, dark shade of red, and only in this state did the family know he was talking either about his boss giving him a horrible, nightmare assignment, or Mr. Malfoy.
Biting her lip, Ginny blinked at Draco, "I don't know if I can do that. Not in time for Christmas. I'm sor—where are you going!"
"Common room."
"Why are you going there?"
"Fire place."
"What?"
"I'm going to your house, whether you go or not. Period, no more questions."
Ginny's eyes looked like a deer in the headlights as she stood and ran over to Draco, "No way! You can't go there…you'll be killed! They'll make it nice and slow, just so you can feel the pain! If you tell them without me, or even with me, it could be worse! They'll hunt down your parents too!" Seeing that Draco wasn't going to stop, as he was halfway down the stairs now, she grabbed him by the arm and slammed him as hard as she could into a wall, "Look. I am not going to let you go there just to see you dead, or close to it. There's just no way. Now, you listen and you listen good, mister man, I'm going with you and that's the end of that, you hear me?"
Draco smirked and nodded, "Alright, then. Whatever you say, ma'am." He grinned and took Ginny's hand, slowly creeping around the blonde girl and her boyfriend.
"Hey!" Ginny whispered harshly, "That's Brittany!" She shook her head as they reached the end of the staircase, "That girl…"
Draco shrugged, "What? You act like you've never seen two people making out before." He winked and continued walking.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "It's not that. She's broken up with that boy at least 12 times, and they only met a month ago."
"Oh. That's impressive." Nodding at Ginny's confused expression, he started his way down the stairs to the dungeons, only to have Ginny let go of his hand, "Why'd you stop?"
"I'm not going down there!"
Sighing loudly, Draco said, "Come on, now! I have to go to your actual house, so you at least have to come into my house's common room. It's not that bad, I promise. I know your Gryffindor buddies probably tell you it's slimy, it's dirty, dusty, moldy, icky even, but it's not. Personally, I wouldn't stay there if it was like that." Nodding proudly, he saw that Ginny was coming, so he walked up to the door that led into the Slytherin common room and cleared his throat, "Ahem." After this, the door seemed to have unlocked, and Draco walked in, followed by a shaking Ginny, "Don't worry, this is the back way, no one will even see you."
"O…ok, then." Ginny grabbed Draco's hand and held it tight, just in case someone might find them anyway.
"Alright…no one seems to be in the common room anyway. Would you mind waiting in there while I go get the Floo powder from my dorm?" He winked and raised an eyebrow, "Unless you want to go up to my room with me." With that, Ginny sat herself on a couch.
"No, I'll wait right here." She smirked, "But hurry up, will you?"
Draco nodded and ran up the stairs to his dorm, searching for the powder. It seemed to not be in its proper place, not in a place where you'd least expect it, and not under anything on the floor.
While waiting for Draco to finish his search, Ginny heard a portrait swing open, and three laughs coming from the entrance to the Common Room. Gasping, Ginny looked around for somewhere to hide, finding a broom closet. She ran over to it and opened it, getting into it, and closing it quietly. She peered through a hole in the door, and saw who the laughing culprits were; Nathaniel, Blaise, and some other boy Ginny didn't know. Sighing softly, she wondered how much longer Draco was going to be. Seeing as the boys were now sitting on the couch Ginny once had been, it didn't look like they were planning on leaving anytime soon, so she also wondered how she was going to get out of here without getting caught.
Suddenly, a sensation hit Ginny's left leg, so she scratched at it, but it didn't go away. It seemed to be making it's way up, even tickling her a little. She looked down in the dark, and saw nothing, but the feeling continued to crawl it's way up Ginny's leg, then back down. She swatted at it, realizing it was some kind of bug, and caught it in her hand. Looking at it in the little bit of light she had, it turned out to be one of the biggest spiders Ginny had ever seen. Screaming inwardly, Ginny jumped around and threw the monstrous insect on the ground. She tripped over one of the brooms and made a horribly loud noise, making the boys in the room jump out of their seats.
"Alright, who's in there?" Nathaniel said with a laugh, "Come on, now. What were you trying to do, scare us or something?" Ginny could see the grin on his face now. It was a big grin, with all of his white teeth showing.
"Yeah, did you really think you could scare us? You've got to be kidding!" Blaise said triumphantly.
"Erm.." Obviously the other boy wasn't quite so bright, for he couldn't think of anything to say, and simply stated, "Yeah! What they said." Then he chuckled.
Ginny heard someone walking up to the door and she gasped quietly as her eyes grew wide. She heard laughing, then the closet got darker as a dark brown eye peered inside the little hole in the door Ginny had just been peeking in herself. She heard a gasp of amusement as the door swung open, "Well, well, look at what I found! Someone seems to be in the wrong house, huh?" Nathaniel grinned during, and even bigger after, he'd said this, knowing that Ginny was dating Draco now, but he didn't care; she was in his territory now, nothing she could do about it.
Standing up and over the brooms and everything else, Ginny cleared her throat, "Yes, well then, I'll just be getting to the right one I suppose." She tried to sidestep past Nathan, but it didn't seem to be happening any time soon, if any. He kept moving in front of her when she tried to pass, "Erm...move?"
"Not the right password, sorry, Gryffie." Now not only Nathaniel was in her way, but Blaise and the other boy too, "So," Nate said in a cold voice, "What should we do with this one?"
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Why don't you not worry about me, and worry about that boogey you have hanging out of your nose?" She smirked.
Blaise chuckled, followed by the other boy. Nate glared at them, and after the two boys stopped chuckling, "Not going to work Weasley." He looked to the one boy with a sort of glitter in his eye, "You know where Draco is right now, Lance?"
Lance shook his head, "Nope. I thought he was going to the library to do some studying or something."
Nathan nodded, "You know, Blaise?"
Blaise shook his head, "I thought he'd be in the library, too."
Again, Nathan nodded, "That's where I think he is, too." Turning to Ginny he smirked, "Did you know Draco was in the library? I bet you didn't, since you were trying to sneak in here to see him."
Ginny opened her mouth to say a few things to make that boy shut up, but he interrupted her.
"Do you know what we do to red headed Gryffindors who are in places they don't belong, Ginny?" After Ginny rolled her eyes, he added, "Oh, you don't care, do you? Well, then…" He grabbed her by the wrist and threw her on the floor. Grinning down at her, he pulled out his wand from his inside cloak pocket, "I'm sure you won't mind a few minor spells on you, then?" Pointing his wand at her, Ginny stood up quickly with a smirk on her face.
"Go right ahead, I dare you."
Putting his wand away, Nathan was still grinning. He looked Ginny up and down, "I figured spells wouldn't scare you." Now, Ginny's smirk faded, and faded fast.
"What are you getting at?"
"I'm just saying…" He looked to Blaise and Lance, still that twinkle in his eyes. After looking to them, they left, snorting and grinning. "I'm only saying that you've got spunk, Weasley. You shouldn't be a Gryffie…" He took a step closer to her, giving Ginny a confused and disgusted look, "and you shouldn't be with Draco, if any Slytherin, you know."
"Oh, yeah?" Ginny once again rolled her eyes and made a sarcastic face to go with her sarcastic voice, "Who should I be with, then? You? Yeah, don't hold your breath." She really did think it was all a joke, or maybe a trick or something.
"Oh, I won't hold my breath. I won't hold anything else back either." He smirked and leaned into her ear, whispering, "You looked real nice on that floor. Why don't you just set yourself back down there for me, huh?" He put his hands roughly around her waist and started kissing her neck.
"Get...off...now!" Ginny tried to push him away, but it wasn't helping. She pulled herself away, but Nathan held her too tightly. She did the next thing that came to mind, "Draco!" She yelled as loud as she could. "Draco! Draco! Help!"
"Ha. I already told you, Weasley, he's in the library!"
"Is he really?" Draco appeared from the stairs of the boy's dorm, glaring at Nathan with a fixed, questioning look, "What are you doing with Ginny, Nathan?"
Still holding Ginny, Nathan looked back at Draco, "Nothing…"
"You all look a little too cozy for nothing." Draco pretended to ponder as he came toward Nathan and Ginny, "Oh, and there's the whole fact that Ginny was yelling for me. Not to mention the shocked faces on Lance's and Blaises' faces." He chuckled falsely, "It was priceless." Tilting his head, he looked closely at Nathan's face, "Hmm, not as priceless as your face is going to look in a minute or two, all black, blue, purple, maybe some green…" With that, Nathan pushed Ginny away from him, making her fall on the ground again.
"Draco…I didn't mean anything by it…I was just kidding around…testing her, you know? For you…yeah, yeah! All for you, buddy."
"Sure, sure." Draco nodded with sarcastic understanding, "Alright, but I see you with her again, 'testing her', I'm going to test just how many spells I can put on you before my wand blows up, ok?"
Nodding, Nathan ran out of the common room and up to the boy's dorm.
"That Nate…I'll get him back, I promise you. I know where he lives, and I sleep in the same room with him, I promise you, this won't go unsettled." He looked down to Ginny, holding out his hand to help her up, "Are you ok? Did he do anything really bad to you?"
Shaking her head, Ginny hugging Draco, "No, I'm fine. Thanks, Draco."
Kissing the top of Ginny's head, Draco whispered with a tear coming from his eye, "I'm really glad I hadn't gone to the library today."
Ginny laughed, "If you had, I still wouldn't have been in her." She looked up at him smiling, "I'm fine, alright? I'm just fine."
Sighing, Draco wiped the tear off his cheek and took a deep breath, "Ready to go to The Burrow, then?"
Wincing, Ginny nodded slowly, "Ready when you are."
Draco took a pouch of Floo powder out of his pocket and held Ginny's hand, "You want to go first, then?"
Ginny nodded, "I guess that would be best." She took a pinch and threw it in the fire in the common room by the broom closet she'd just hid in. Before jumping in, she looked to Draco, "I love you."
Draco smiled, "I love you, too."
Grinning and winking, Ginny stepped into the fire, and said the destination she'd never thought she'd dread saying, "The Burrow!"
A/N: Wow…long. But, my favorite chapter so far. Don't worry, I'll talk more about this whole break-up situation in later chapters. I'm thinking I'll make 10 or 12 chapters and end it. Sounds good to me. It's only my first fic, however. I will be writing more. Alright, you all know the drill, (review), review, REVIEW! Next chapter should be up by next week, I'm hoping.
