Warning: This is a Ginny/Draco romance fiction. Don't like it? Don't read it. Harsh criticisms not accepted. YOUR OWN FLAMES WILL BURN YOU IN HELL. See you there mate.
A/N: I AM so sorry for the long wait—there's really so much happening that I ain't got time to update. And then there came my horrible and bad case of writer's block—I wrote this because I had a dream about Tom Felton, so that kind of inspired me a bit.
Thanks to the dream, you won't be facing a dead end on the story. I will finish this, no matter how long it takes. Now, enough of my ramblings and here's the story! Lovelots, shaddowlessphantom
Chapter Five: Alone For A Night
"For the hundredth time, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley will be perfectly fine. In fact, your injury is worse than hers, so I advice you to lie down and get some rest. Please." Draco suppressed a roll of his eyes as he turned around to head back to his bed, his shoulder bandaged and his chest bare.
Slipping through the curtains where he and Ginny were place, he closed it to allow himself some privacy and glanced at the red head beside him.
He had been asking about Ginny for like, fifteen times if he hadn't lost count, so Madam Pomfrey was exaggerating. HUNDREDTH time? Fifteen you freaking nurse, he thought coldly, closing his eyes for a while.
Besides, how could Madam Pomfrey blame him for asking how she was? The girl had blacked out in hysterics trying all her best to save him, so you know; he was naturally concerned even if it didn't look it. He sure was a cold-blooded Slytherin, but he knew how to show just a wee bit of sympathy during the right moments.
As he thought of everything that happened a while ago, he remembered he had heard crying. Was she actually CRYING? For him? He wasn't sure—everything had been a haze because of his pierced shoulder—but Ginny sounded like it.
Thinking, he would have NEVER cried for her if their situations had been switched. On the other hand, he wouldn't really know because the opposite happened. But… would he have cried? Shown the same worry she did? Maybe. Maybe not.
A movement on Ginny's part made Draco sit up in a flash. She groaned, sitting up quickly, her eyes drooping. And then, as if someone had suddenly jolted her awake, she looked about in panic. "Where am I? Where's—Malfoy?"
Okay. Back to the FIRST NAME basis. He didn't think it, but Ginny using his surname again did sting a bit. He sighed and stood up, "Hey, Weasley, it's okay. We're both okay," he told him reassuringly, quite amused of her and patting him on the shoulder awkwardly.
He felt that TINGLY feeling again, the one he felt when she had pulled out the shard of glass from his palm during one of their detentions. Quickly, he pulled his hand away and watched Ginny sigh in relief.
"Merlin, I thought you were going to die…" she said in a small voice, looking at his shoulder. And then, as if to make sure he was there, she touched his bandaged shoulder. "Was there no poison? Are you healed now? Does your shoulder feel numb?"
Draco backed away and smirked. "Whoa, easy Weasley. You're not exactly the nurse here, are you? I'm fine. You should mind your foot now, don't lean too far back on the bed or you'll—hey—"
Too late.
Ginny was fussing over him way too much that she slid off the bed and onto Draco, who caught her just in time. "Trying to get another injury?" he hissed, rolling his eyes as his free and undamaged arm wrapped itself around her waist at the spur of the moment, preventing her from falling and probably breaking her nose on the floor.
"Sorry," Ginny quickly said, trying to break from his grasp. She had been unceremoniously pushed on Draco's rather muscular chest, and that wasn't good for her health. Nope. Thoughts—well, you get the picture—some THOUGHTS started to cross her mind and she untangled herself from him, blushing deeply and trying her best to whisk the semi-pleasant thoughts forming in her mind.
He shook his head and moved towards her bed with a frown. "We've just been rescued from an accident and you want to hurt us again." He said, lying down with one hand behind his head.
"I already said I'm sorry. I was just checking if you were all right, that's all." She excused, by now her blush reaching her ears. Draco glanced at her and chuckled. The Weasley was as red as a tomato—a funny sight.
"What're you blushing for?" he asked, smirking at her and leaning on his elbows so he could face her. "Whatever. I just… thanks for saving me. I could have been hit by that arrow."
Draco was taken aback by the embarrassed and shy thanks she had uttered, complete with the blush that was comparable to her flaming hair. To top it all, her eyes were downcast, her long lashes touching her cheeks in the most becoming way. Draco gulped visibly at this sight—damn, he had some THINGS to control too…
"Hey, say something."
He snapped back to reality when she looked up and said those words. She looked so unsure, and shy and innocent that Draco had this urge to just capture those lips with his to make her—
Okay, OKAY, reality check. This is WEASLEY, the vice president of the Harry Potter fans club together with Creevey (the other Creevey a member, mind you). No thoughts of kissing or any—ehem—OTHER thoughts for that matter. He turned away and looked up at the ceiling.
"Yeah, sure," was all he could say, and they remained silent, caught up in their thoughts and avoiding each other's eyes. By now, Ginny's blush hadn't died down and she was still in a noticeable shade of pink.
"Uh, Weasley?" Ginny glanced at Draco and said quietly, "Hmm?" There was a moment's hesitation before he actually said something.
"We're you crying?"
"What?"
"A while ago—at the forest."
Ginny turned to one side of her bed to avoid his glance. Damn, she had thought he wouldn't have NOTICED it. He seemed hurt and hazy, but it seems he knew anyway. She bit her lip and got ready for the lie. And she wasn't usually good in lying. Somehow, he wasn't able to tell anyway.
"Nope."
"Oh…" Draco's face fell and he blushed for some reason. "Well, er, I'm going to get some sleep." He turned around and wrapped his covers around himself, making sure she couldn't see his face.
"Er—uh, good night Weasley," he muttered lamely, just as a sign of some respect he didn't know he had. This made Ginny smile. "You too. Sweet dreams."
"Hey Gin, are you all right?"
Ginny sat up to see Ron rushing towards her, grinning broadly. Behind him were Harry and Hermione, both of whom waved and grinned at her as well. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said cheerfully, glancing momentarily at Draco's bed—he wasn't there anymore. So THAT explains why the trio was grinning.
"What happened? Why'd you get injured?" asked Hermione, taking a seat by the edge of her bed. "Malfoy was shot by a centaur—we've crossed its territory, obviously. I got crazy looking for Hagrid and tripped on a tree root, breaking my ankle."
Hermione nodded. "Looks nasty. It doesn't seem to be in the right angle just yet." Commented Harry meanwhile. "Madam Pomfrey said it would take till tonight to heal." She replied, just as Ron muttered darkly, "Good for Malfoy,"
"Hey, don't say that Ron," scolded Ginny, giving him a rather sharp look. "He saved my life. I was up front when he told me I shouldn't be because, you know, he said I'm a GIRL. The arrow was supposed to be for me,"
"Well, the ferret did something right for once." Ron said with a shrug. Harry nodded in agreement, and so did Hermione. Ginny gave a sigh and rolled her eyes. "Aren't you glad he saved me?"
As for Draco, he had been listening for quite a while now. Having just come from the bathroom, he had heard Ronald Weasley's voice and had stopped mid way from the lavatory. He peeked outside the divider that separated the passage towards the bathroom and saw Ginny glance at his bed.
He looked down and smiled. So now she was LOOKING for him? He grinned to himself and went back to the lavatory, combing his hair in this style, which the girls found totally adorable. Like he cared how he looked like in front of the youngest Weasley anyway…
Well, he DID care, but not as much with other MORE worthy girls. Hearing the last of the trio's reminders, he got out at last and planted a smirk on his face, just as Ginny glanced at his bed again.
"Looking for me, love?"
Ginny's eyes snapped in his direction and she blushed—ah, she'd been blushing too much since last night and it was getting rather pretty each time. Oh, merlin. NO THOUGHTS.
"No. Just wondering where you were." He mumbled, turning away and settling her gaze on the breakfast laid before the table at the foot of her bed. She reached for a cup of pumpkin juice and started drinking. A while later, she started to eat, still avoiding his gaze.
However, on the other side of things Draco was having some problems. He was normally right handed when eating, but since his right shoulder, including mot of his arm, was still wrapped in a somewhat heavy bandage, he was having a hard time.
"Er—Weasley?"
Ginny looked up at him, a spoonful of oatmeal halfway her mouth. She raised a brow. "Huh?" she asked, obviously not paying attention. "Can you—" Geez, he'd never ASKED for help before. Better get this over with. He was starving.
"Er, cause you know, I'm right handed and all, but with this bandage and my shoulder still hurting…"
He hadn't even finished the sentence when Ginny nodded. "You need assistance. Sure. Charlie broke his arm once during Quidditch, and I was the one who fed him." Struggling on her injured ankle, she slowly made her way to his bed, which wasn't really a long distance, but was for an injured woman.
The least thing he did was to reach for her arm gently, guiding and supporting her all the way to his bed. And then, they settled beside each other and Ginny picked up the spoon and started feeding him. All in all, Draco thought, it wasn't THAT bad—the feeding thing.
Halfway through the meal, Ginny started giggling. He ignored it the first time, but once it turned into full pledged laughter, he got annoyed. "WHAT?" he asked irritably.
"Nothing. I just… I remembered something," she said, her laughing slowly ceasing, although she exploded into giggles once in a while. He rolled her eyes. "Come on. I'm used to eating in silence." He said. "Just shut it."
"Really? You don't talk? But mealtime is a sort of family time. You tell stories, talk about what happened with each other the rest of the day…" she peered at him and noticed that his mood had somehow darkened.
"Well, we're different. The only one talking is my Dad." He replied casually, although this fact bummed him out big time. She narrowed her eyes. "I never pegged your Dad as a chatterbox," she mused and went on to feed him.
He left it at that. Draco's Dad wasn't a chatterbox AT ALL, it was just that no one was allowed to talk, especially when he was in a bad mood. His temper was worse than Draco's, and although Draco didn't want to admit it, he was scared of Lucius.
"Hey, hello?"
Draco blinked. A bacon was waiting for him. He opened his mouth and blushed. Wasn't everything already embarrassing as it is? This whole feeding thing—thank God there were no spectators.
Once they finished, she arranged his meal for him and finished her own, standing up and doing nothing. Draco, deeply annoyed by this because, for starters, her foot was injured, asked, "What are you doing, standing there like a statue?"
"What? Oh, I just ate. I don't want to accumulate any fats, so I'm letting everything go down." She replied pleasantly. He rolled his eyes and was about to say something mean, before he stopped himself.
Why bother talking to her? Why bother about her? He turned around to get some sleep, but couldn't. It was, after all, just morning. Oh, now what? He sighed and turned back around to find Ginny walking slowly towards the window where an owl was in. She was grinning like an idiot.
She got something from the owl's leg and quickly hurried back to bed, opening a letter. She smiled as she read. Finally, getting his social skills into gear, he asked, "Who's that from?"
"Colin. The sweetie. He said he'd drop by later,"
Okay. Weasley was too pleasant today. He hadn't had a serious outburst for hours now, so that's probably the thing. Treat her nicely, and she might just put up with her pleasantries. He rolled his eyes. "The number one Potter fan," he muttered.
She turned to him and rolled her eyes. "Can't you say something new? And stop calling him the Potter fan and stuff like that, okay?"
"Defensive? Cause you're one too?" he asked, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes. "I was one, and I don't deny it. Not proud of it either. The point is, come up with newer insults. You're getting boring."
He rolled his eyes again. "Whatever,"
"Whatever right back,"
"Whatever," he repeated.
"Whatever!"
"Are we going to say whatever all morning?"
"Whatever."
"No mercy huh?"
It had been a week prior to the accident, and Ginny and Draco were back on the GAME. Now that they had recovered, Filch trusted that they were well enough to complete the last detention, which of course, had been DELAYED because of their little accident.
Couldn't Filch be evil enough?
"Well, as if that's new," muttered Draco through clenched teeth, wondering in hell why they had to continue the damn detention. They had gotten hurt, didn't Filch learn about that? Or he hadn't heard the news, considering he was present when Draco woke up? He closed his eyes and counted one to ten backwards. Okay, sarcasm won't help. Calm down.
As they both made their way towards their destination, he couldn't help noticing that Ginny had been paler than she usually was. Stress, probably. It was this time of year when the fifth years all get worked up with the O.W.L.s, and Draco knew how it was.
She didn't even look fit to do detention work today. Hopefully, as Draco thought, she wouldn't faint while doing detention to leave him off doing whatever they were to do for tonight. He didn't want to bother carrying her all the way to the Hospital Wing.
"You are to clean the Trophy Room. Trophies must be sparkling clean once I check, or you'll repeat all of it ALL OVER again." Filch said, grinning at them from ear to ear as they settled on the task.
He was glad they were back to continue the unfinished detention, and had even invited Mrs. Norris over for the show. Settling some rules, he held out his right hand, and unsure what it meant, Draco and Ginny turned to each other with confused expressions.
Ginny did the most stupid thing. She slapped his hand with hers—oh yeah! High five!
"What're you doing Weasley, eh?" growled Filch, obviously annoyed. "Weren't you asking for five?" Ginny asked in a small voice, already seeing the smirk on the Slytherin's face after she did that. Ugh, STUPID.
"No, I'm asking for your wands. Just to assure me that you won't be using magic. I can't stay here, I'll be doing my rounds." He said, glaring at Draco who had started snickering because of Ginny's little, not to mention EMBARRASSING mistake.
"Pardon?" asked Draco, not listening at all. "Wands. I'm going off to my rounds, don't want you using magic behind my back, don't I?" he repeated, it seemed growing more annoyed than ever. Half-heartedly, the two got their wands out and handed it to Filch.
He then threw them two, dirty looking tattered rags. "There, start cleaning," he jerked his thumb at one side of the room. "Cans of wax there—make them sparkly," he walked off and they heard the lock click.
"Oh great. He locked us in?" moaned Ginny, walking towards the door and trying to open it. Yes, it was locked on the other side. However, Draco wasn't listening to her ramblings.
"Hey Weasley, why don't you give me five eh?" he teased, holding out his right hand like what Filch did a while ago. Consciously blushing, she rolled her eyes and grabbed one of the cans of wax and walked off to the nearest shelves of trophies.
"Shut up," she grumbled, clearly humiliated. He chuckled to himself and started to work too, dividing the many trophies between them. They were off wiping away, once in a while Draco launching into a funny teasing tactic to get Ginny to blush. But not to annoy her.
She just looked damn pretty when she was blushing.
Oh, wait.
It wasn't Ginny he was talking about, wasn't he?
Aw man.
About quarter to one, both Ginny and Draco had finished. Their cleaning (especially Draco's) wasn't that good, but it didn't deserve to be repeated either, like what Filch threatened them he would do if it wasn't clean and sparkly enough. So settling across and away from each other, they waited for Filch to open the door to let them out.
Several minutes passed, with Malfoy teasing and Ginny complaining her head was hurting…
Ten…
Forty-five…
An hour…
An hour and a half…
"All right, that's it," announced Malfoy suddenly, heading for the door and knocking on it hard as if he wanted to tear it down. "Filch! You squib open this door!" he screamed, kicking and punching on the door. Ginny rolled her eyes and watched in obvious amusement. After the boredom, there could be some entertainment.
"Filch! Open the door! Anyone, hell, open this fucking door!"
Ginny gave an impatient huff. "Give it up, Malfoy, look's like he's forgotten about us." She told him. He whirled around and glared at her. "Oh, don't be so negative Weasley, I wouldn't want to be stuck here with you!"
"Oh, and I'D want that?" she asked sarcastically. She started removing her robes and settled on her uniform, stretching her arms and getting comfortable on the floor. "I'm just basically telling the truth. He should have gone back if he still remembers us." She pointed out, placing both hands behind her head as she leaned against the castle stone.
He frowned and sat down on the floor, defeated. Just what he wanted. Another night stuck with Weasley in one damn room. First, they had stayed together in the Hospital Wing for a couple of days, and now this? Did fate want them to get married or something? It sure wanted them to be alone in one room these past few days.
"God, my head is so damn hurting," moaned Ginny, lying on her robes and placing both palms on her forehead as if she was crazy. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Do I have to get a news flash every time you feel something?" he asked, annoyed. She looked at him and smiled sarcastically. "Haha. I'm really not in the mood to be bickering with you, so save it for some other day,"
With nothing else to do, he watched her lie comfortably on her robes for a long while, noticing she was flushed pink. It wasn't a blush—this was light and didn't go away. She was also pale, and her face kept scrunching as if she wasn't feeling good.
"Hey," he called, peering over at her. She didn't reply, when usually she would. "Weasley?" he called again, standing up and walking towards her. As he got nearer, he concluded that she really and absolutely didn't look good at all.
Feeling the wave of heat radiating from her body, he crouched down beside her and touched her forehead, before his hand jumped back. "Merlin, you have a fever!" he said, starting to panic. He didn't know what to do without a wand, locked up in the Trophy Room. Oh no.
"Ginny?"
"Draco…"
Okay. It seemed when one of them was hurt they get into this FIRST NAME BASIS thing. Draco thought maybe he should get hurt more often. Shaking the thought off his mind, he removed his robes and his sweater, slowly lifting her up into a seated position upon his lap. By now she was having chills.
"Here, wear this. It'll help you feel a little warmer." He said, getting her half awake. She obliged as he raised her hands up to get his sweater on her. "My head hurts…" she whispered weakly, flushing a deeper pink and squirming on his lap.
"Be still," he commanded gently, finally getting the sweater on her. It looked too big on her but well, it looked perfectly fine. Seeing that her most of her legs were still bare, he used his robes as her covers from the waist down.
"Mum…"
"I don't look like your Mom," he said, narrowing his eyes. Was she getting delirious or something? His hair wasn't red or turning into red, was it? Just to check, he glanced at one of the glass shelves with trophies. Nope. It was still blonde.
He was broken out of his line of thought when Ginny started tugging on his arm. "Mum… it's still cold. Hug me please?"
Whoa. OKAY. Now first of all, he did not look like Mrs. Weasley, and second, he would NEVER EVER hug her! She was asking the impossible, this girl. Not just because she had fever would Draco—
"Mum…"
Draco stared at her for a long while. She looked uncomfortable, still clinging onto his arm, weakly pulling him downwards beside her, but of course, he didn't let her. And then he made a decision.
"Merlin, bless me for my kindness," he muttered, before settling beside Ginny who immediately reached for his arms and placed them around her. Snuggling close to his chest, her breathing instantly became more relaxed as she slowly fell asleep.
"I love you…"
Draco stared at her again. He gulped and stroked her hair. "Yeah, yeah, Ginny dear," he said, in what he hoped to be a rather, Mrs. Weasley-ish type of croon as he always heard her every start of term. Although he wasn't sure if Mrs. Weasley actually used words like, YEAH, YEAH, or something. He leaned into her ear.
"Love you,"
A/N: Hope you like the chapter! I hoped there would be more time alone… not really on the next chapter. Maybe later on. If you have any suggestions that would fit the plot, please tell me! Thanks to those who reviewed, by the way. You guys rock! Lovelots, shadowlessphantom
