Author's Notes: Finally, finally, finally, here's the next chapter. But before anything, I have to give a gigantic thanks to Isadora who sat at her computer and reviewed every single chapter. It was hilarious, because as you (if you're reading this), reviewed, I was online and got them one by one. So thanks again.
And not to diminish anyone else's reviews, thanks to all of you. Another honorable mention to seekerpeeker who constantly gives wonderful comments and advice in both of my chaptered fics; I'm very grateful for all of them.
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of the characters. How sad.
Miss CellophaneEarly the next morning Ginny awoke feeling very disoriented.
Despite the danger of being hauled before McGonagall for still being out of bed after being dismissed from a detention, the redhead had walked back to her common room very slowly, mulling over what had happened to her. Following that she had to undergo the task of falling asleep when her senses were still very alert and awake from the night's events. Her dreams had been plagued with secret corners and dark classrooms, and other things…and she woke up wanting to go back to sleep until she was dead.
However, Ginny needed to get up before Colin came downstairs to meet her for breakfast so that she could see Madame Pomfrey without telling any lies. Pulling on a jumper and shoes Ginny prayed that the matron would not ask her any demanding questions. It seemed too much to hope for, but she did all the same.
Looking carefully down to the foot of the stairs, Ginny surveyed the common room to see if her brother and his friends or Colin and Neville were already there. As she couldn't see the whole area, it wasn't all that helpful; however, being around Draco for the amount of time she had taught her that it couldn't hurt.
The coast was clear.
The corridors, though empty, shone brightly with white light pouring in through the windows. It was a cloudy day and Ginny knew that it would be a little windy. Most people would probably opt to remain inside on their breaks instead of going out to enjoy the brisk day. Thinking of Luna, Ginny thought that it might not be a bad idea to go look for more (or to find any at all) Flintwomps. It would certainly get her mind off of other subjects.
Walking a bit faster Ginny reached to door to the Hospital Wing and turned the knob slowly. It was eerily quiet and as she viewed the starched, stark linens that were neatly made up in the overnight portion of the room, she was almost afraid to breathe. Shoving that fear aside Ginny walked toward the matron's office and called out.
"Madame Pomfrey?" There was no answer. "Er…I was just wondering if you could help me with something…if you're even here…"
"Just a minute!" a voice answered from further inside the room.
Ginny followed the voice, fully expecting to see the plump, stern faced nurse, but was instead greeted with the image of two sturdy lumps with dark, expensive robes that were wasted on them. Crabbe and Goyle. They were in the middle of answering the barrage of questions being thrown at them by Madam Pomfrey and hadn't noticed the small redhead watching from behind them.
Leaning forward a little more Ginny was able to see that they both had long, thin, slashes on their arms that were red and bleeding lightly and a small pile of bloodied cloths at their feet. It wasn't anything all that dangerous, really, she noted with a more disinterest than curiosity. It probably came from a disgruntled house elf that they had tried to con into getting more of last night's dessert from.
"And how exactly did you obtain these abrasions?"
"Uh, Mrs. Norris," said Crabbe shifting in his seat so that his bulk had a comfortable fit.
Ginny rolled her eyes. It was a dumber reason than she had thought.
"And what reason would Mr. Filch's cat have for attacking you? I've told Dumbledore to speak to that man time and again, but he refuses. Of course he's reliable, but is he stable – mentally wise? I'm not sure…" proclaimed Pomfrey. Crabbe and Goyle nodded thickly.
Ginny checked the clock and realized that she would have to force Madam Pomfrey to acknowledge her presence; she really didn't have time for this.
"Er…sorry to bother you again, Madam Pomfrey, but I have to go to breakfast soon and I was wondering if you could just look something over. Maybe give me a potion for it?"
The older witch looked away from the two seventh-years. "You could be a bit more patient, however a person is suffering is a person in need. Do step past these two young men here and let me have a look. Continue on with your story, boys."
Ginny walked past Crabbe and Goyle who viewed her with mild interest and then looked away. They nudged each other none-too-gently, arguing over who had to explain what happened the night before. As Ginny put her hand in Madam Pomfrey's tough one, she supposed that Crabbe lost, for his face drooped.
"Well, uh, we were just messing around; last night, yeah?"
"Yeah," agreed Goyle. "And it was late and so Mrs. Norris caught us."
Crabbe agreed with vigorous nods of the head. "Because she came near us, and Filch was in back of her."
Goyle shoved Crabbe. "No, that's not how it went. Filch was, you know, a bit further back," he said slowly.
"Oh yeah. In back of her would be really dirty," snickered Crabbe.
Pomfrey cleared her throat as she poured a potion on Ginny's hand.
"Then she started, you know, meowing and stuff," continued Goyle.
"Dumb cat wouldn't leave us alone," Crabbe said angrily, picking up the story. Ginny thought that his bland features made anger seem a notch above general oblivion. "So, yeah, we tried to kick her."
"But she dodged."
"Dumb cat."
"Then we, you know, tried to sort of pick her up and throw her somewhere where we could wait undisturbed."
"But when we had her in our arms she scratched us all up."
"That's it. It was a wicked fight. D'you think Draco would've helped?" Goyle asked Crabbe.
Ginny's ears perked up; the potion continued fizzing on her hand, healing it by the second.
"No, stupid. He wouldn't have played at what we did."
Ginny rolled her eyes. They turned nicking stuff from the kitchen into brawls with cats. Typical. Madam Pomfrey wiped off any remaining potion and told Ginny to wait while she wrote her in the log.
"I'll have to take points off for being out after hours," said the matron sternly.
"You can't!" argued Goyle. "Filch already gave us three weeks detention – a week for each of our uh…mah-liss…"
"Malice?" Ginny said out loud, not being able to be silent any more.
They looked at her suspiciously but only succeeded in looking dazed. "Yeah, what the Weasley said."
Ginny was surprised. She didn't even think they could tell she had red hair, let alone her name.
"Malice to his cat. Oh, and one extra for luck, he said," reported Crabbe.
Pomfrey shook her head but didn't comment. Ginny was finished and sidestepped the two seventh-years widely and walked out into the hall. It had taken less than half an hour to be finished and she would end up getting down to the Great Hall earlier than she had expected.
By Wednesday Ginny was thoroughly sick of being in the Potions dungeons.
At first she thought it might have been the general atmosphere of the murky room; then she speculated that the fumes were getting to her. Her last, desperate reason was that she had to continuously lie to her brother when she disappeared to do more chore work. Really, though, it had everything to do with being in the same room with Gavin Wotright for more than an hour.
Ginny never had to suffer being around him for very long even though they were both in Gryffindor and shared a lot of the same classes. However she was usually with Colin who effectively shut Gavin out of her mind. In these detentions, though, it was the exact opposite. Ginny had hoped that Draco would have the same effect on Gavin as Colin did: shutting the boy up when he became all together too unbearable. Instead, Draco seemed to enjoy tearing Gavin down at every chance – and Gavin wasn't opting to back down. If she had to hear them yip at each other like temperamental dogs any more, she would hex them both and be done with it.
There was no reprieve during the day because she felt unusually tense and wary. Ginny hadn't had a chance to go over the books from the library with Draco at all by Tuesday night's detention and it had started to grate on her nerves. She wanted very much to take a look at them in her dorm - after all she was in possession of them and it wasn't a crime to read them - but her free time was spent trying to distract Colin from the fact that she was unusually distracted of late, and at night she threw herself into bed, not wanting anything but sleep.
It didn't make it any better that Snape wasn't saying one disparaging word to her during Potions. She expected a whole array of interesting insults from him about her detentions, but not one came her way. He wasn't watchful of her, save hovering over her to make sure that she wasn't screwing up her class work; it was almost as if he didn't realize that she was doing detentions in his room every night. Added to that, not once had he stopped by during those detentions to mock her and praise Draco. On the other hand, neither did Packard. Ginny supposed that the Defense teacher had had more than her fill of seeing Draco and Ginny together.
On Tuesday Ginny and Draco had been told by Gavin that they no longer had to do disgusting tasks around the dungeon; instead they would be doing lines. Ginny knew that Draco had different lines than she did because he refused to tell her what he had to write when they parted ways on Tuesday night, and Ginny doubted that his were: I will not be caught out of bed after curfew in dubious situations with unusual people. The redhead supposed that Packard had been rather thoughtful with her choice of words. Unusual…Draco Malfoy was unusual…Ginny got the feeling that Packard actually wanted her to write …with the sons of Death Eaters who were facing a life sentence in Azkaban.
So Wednesday evening, Ginny looked forward to her detention with the usual despair, but euphoria that she would be finished; the long nights were killing her.
Draco and Gavin were already there, as usual, and the Head Boy barely looked up when Ginny entered.
Ginny scowled at him. Draco had been much more subtle with his "affection", and Ginny was unsure if that was because he had tired of her, wanted to string her along, or simply because Gavin Wotright was watching them. He stuck to discreet touches: accidental brushes of the hand, just happening to find himself behind Ginny when she was least expecting it,
It was possible that Gavin had noticed, or maybe he was being his usual obnoxious self because he had separated the two detention-goers by sitting Ginny at the front of the room on the right, and Draco at the back left. Gavin put a stack of parchment in front of each of them with a dignified flourish, two quills with black ink and told them to start their work.
Half an hour into the work Gavin started whistling a cheery tune. It was a Weird Sisters song that Ginny enjoyed – had enjoyed. With every low and high of Gavin's voice, Ginny could feel her nerves splitting in every which way. She longed to tell him to shut up but didn't want to hear his snotty reply.
"Are you aware that I'm half on my way to stabbing myself with this very quill?" Draco queried, pausing in his work.
Gavin stopped whistling. "If you don't like the punishment, you shouldn't have committed the crime."
Draco nearly broke the quill in half. "I'm talking about your whistling."
"Oh, you like?"
"It'd be better if it sounded like this." Draco whipped his wand out. "Silencio."
Gavin pawed like a small child at his throat a few times and put his own wand to his throat and tried to say the counter-charm; but obviously he had no voice. With a disparaging look at Draco he walked over to Ginny, put a hand on one of her shoulders and the other went toward her chest.
Draco, alarmed, sat upright in his chair. "Realize that when she pummels you for trying to feel her up, no one will hear you scream."
Gavin, understanding that his advance seemed improper, gestured toward where she kept her wand and then at his throat. Understanding, Ginny glanced quickly at Draco, took her own wand out and pointed it at Gavin's throat. "Vocalis." She faced the front once more and resumed her work, feeling Draco's glare on her back.
"Ahem!" Gavin cleared his throat. "You'll pay dearly for that stunt, Draco Malfoy. Two points from Slytherin!"
Draco smiled menacingly. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
The smile vanished from Gavin's face. "I was trying to be civil, but I see that's impossible with you. Fifteen from Slytherin."
"Twenty from Gryffindor."
"Shut up! The both of you just shut up! You're losing points from my house as well, Gavin! You're losing points from your own house, Mr. Head Boy." Ginny let her head hit the tabletop. "How do I get involved with people like you?"
"If you didn't like it either, you should have told him to shut his trap," Draco said without sympathy; sore that Ginny had taken the spell off Gavin.
"You could have asked nicer," informed Gavin.
"I could have. I chose not to."
"Not again!" Ginny moaned. "Never again! I'll be a bloody saint for the rest of the year as long as I don't have to be in a room with the two of you again."
"I hope not," said Draco. "Where's the fun in that?"
"This isn't fun," she negated firmly. "This is misery on a stick; a blunt stick that is currently stabbing me in multiple places. I don't want to be here anymore than either of you, but the more you two squabble, the longer we'll stay. I don't know about you two, but I've got work to do, assignments to complete."
"Might one of them be Arithmancy?" Gavin inquired, missing the point completely.
Ginny grit her teeth. "Possibly."
He smiled fondly and sat on the top of her table. "Well, you see I've been having a spot of trouble on this one calculation that Professor Vector asked us to work on in class. As you know, we're going to be quizzed on it on Monday. I was wondering if you might want to join me for a study session. Say…Saturday in the library? For about an hour before lunch?"
Draco stiffened. Surely she wouldn't consider being around that any time after the detention was complete – she had said so herself.
"Gavin –"
"Fine, fine. Forty-five minutes. It would help tremendously, Ginny. And then afterward we could go to the Great Hall, get some lunch…"
"How desperate can you be, Wotright? She said no," Draco interrupted.
"She said nothing of the kind. Ginny?"
"Oh, alright, fine," she conceded. "But only forty-five minutes."
"Nice," said Gavin, punching her playfully in the shoulder.
Ginny shifted to the side a bit so that he couldn't touch her. "You do realize that this is purely for academic purposes, right Gavin? I'm not…well, I'm not attracted to you – I'm sure that you feel the same way," she said quickly.
"Of course! This is for Arithmancy's sake only; you're top of the class beside me of course, and I just figure that if we put our heads together, we might just blow that quiz out of the water."
Ginny picked up her quill and tried to go back to her detention lines to defer Gavin from speaking to her any longer. "Sure…"
"Great. Now that that's out of the way…" He went back to 'his' seat at Snape's desk.
"How adorable," said Draco nastily. "A romantic first date in the library."
Ginny ignored him, unsure of what to say; she wasn't doing it to hack him off if that's what he assumed. But the fact that she was silent only fueled his anger.
"I'm sure that you'll have a great time. Just don't let Madam Pince catch you fooling around behind any of the bookcases; you'll both end up in detention. Won't you like that, though – detention, I mean? The whole night to yourselves to –"
Gavin smiled agreeably. "Four points from Slytherin…"
Ginny went down to the Great Hall for breakfast on Friday still feeling tense and jittery.
It was wonderful that the detentions were over – Packard didn't give her surreptitious, searching looks during class and in the halls anymore – and she didn't have to witness Draco and Gavin arguing. Life was better. However, Draco hadn't said one word to her since. He had left detention on Wednesday with a closed look and didn't even bother to antagonize Colin. She had expected an owl from him sometimes Thursday to arrange a meeting so that they could go over the library books, but nothing came.
It was rather childish of him to play the Silent Game over something so innocent, really. After all she had made it very clear that to Gavin that they weren't going on a date – she had told him that in front of Draco no less. However, if he chose to waste valuable time sulking and avoiding her, that was his problem. Ginny assured herself as she sat down that he wasn't punishing her, he was punishing himself. He was the one that gave the whole great speech about not ignoring things, but now he was the one that –
"Ginny…Ginny?"
"Sorry?" She snapped out of her reverie and looked across at Colin who pointed exasperatedly down at the table. "Oh!" There was an eccentric owl edging closer to her bowl, with a small roll of parchment tied to its knobby leg.
Shooing it away from the bowl Ginny hastily untied the letter and with a quick glance and Neville and Colin who were staring back at her with mute curiosity, she turned a bit away from the table to read it in private.
Staff room tomorrow night at eight. Bring the books and take care not to be caught. Might interrupt your rendezvous with W. but don't be late.
- M
Ginny frowned at the mention of Gavin in the letter.
She assumed that Draco was being his normal paranoid self and signed it with simply 'M' so that there would be less of a chance to connect it back to him if it were intercepted. All the same, Ginny wondered if it would matter, as his obnoxious self shone through the words. She had to admit that he had picked a good time, though. It was a Saturday night, and so no one would be suspicious if she weren't around.
"What's all that?" asked Ron from a few places away from her, reaching for the bacon.
"A letter," Ginny responded.
"He means, 'Who is it from?' Ginny," Colin stated.
"A friend," Ginny answered, spooning more eggs onto her plate.
"What kind of friend?" Ron elaborated, giving Ginny a long-suffering look.
"A Luna Lovegood kind of friend, nosy."
"I'm not being nosy; I'm being inquisitive."
"That's just a fancy way of being nosy, Ron."
He picked up his juice and drained the glass, then reached for the pitcher. "Last time I'm curious around you…I just thought it might have something to do with me is all."
Ginny laughed and fed the owl bacon bits as payment. It cooed and then flew away from the table, leaving behind a few feathers that fell into Neville's food. The boy picked them out with a disgusted face and reached for a new plate.
"Why on earth would it have anything to do with you?" she asked.
"I don't know!" Ron exclaimed, "I just assumed that it was from someone we both knew – you don't get many owls from anyone, Ginny."
The girl continued to laugh. "We don't have any of the same friends!"
Ron paused in pouring his juice and fixed his eyes on Ginny. "Of course we do! Harry and Hermione…and Neville and Colin…"
Ginny only shook her head. "If you say so…"
This time he put down the pitcher heavily on the table and full out stared in wonder at Ginny. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Ginny's hand clenched around the fork. "Put your brain to use by thinking instead of nosing around, and I'm sure you'll find the answer."
Ron was stupefied. "What? Look, Ginny, I was only asking because it seemed strange that someone would owl you."
The sixth-year was driven round the bend by then.
"Oh, I like that, Ron! Why would anyone want to send me an owl? Even Luna Lovegood."
"Luna didn't send that owl."
Ginny halted; that had come from Neville.
With patience on a thin thread, Ginny resumed eating as calmly as she could. "As mind-boggling as it is that someone, anyone would want to write me a letter, I assure you that this – though it may be a once-in-a-lifetime event – was written for me."
"I don't mean it that way at all, Ginny. Sure, someone sent you an owl, but it's not from Luna," he repeated, staring at Ginny very intently.
Ginny raised an eyebrow in a gesture of neutrality; inside her heart was beating rapidly. 'How the hell did he know?!'
"And what makes you think that, Nev?"
He looked away from Ginny very suddenly. "Well, Luna's owl is a barn owl – not like the one that just came. And it's got these huge orange eyes –"
Ginny shrugged. "For some reason she used a school owl, I suppose."
But Neville shook his head firmly. "Oh, no, Ginny; Luna would never use a school owl. She thinks there's something in their feed that manipulates their behavioral impulses, which is why they're rather disagreeable and even violent sometimes."
Hermione snorted and Ginny overcame the urge to admit that Neville was telling the truth so that he could prove the Head Girl wrong. But she knew that Hermione's reaction was more toward Luna than Neville. Hermione had always been rather touchy when it came to mentioning Luna Lovegood around Ron.
She put a hand gently on Neville's. "I really don't know, Neville, but for some reason she decided to use one today. Maybe her own is feeling under the weather and she needed to send this to me right away."
"Is the message all that urgent?" asked Harry.
"What does that matter?" Ginny asked despairingly.
"Well, seeing as you and Luna Lovegood are so chummy and all, you should know that she's got the patience of a freaking saint. If she doesn't like using school owls as much as Neville says she doesn't, she would wait until it was better."
"How kind of you to delve into Luna's mystique for me, Harry."
The black-haired boy frowned defensively. "I was only trying to help."
Ginny threw her hands up. "I don't need help! This is…this is incredible!" She waved the parchment in the air quickly so that they could see the front of it, but not be able to read it. "This. Is. From. Luna. And I don't care if you believe me or not." She started to push herself away from the table but Colin reached across and stopped her.
"Ginny, wait. We don't mean to make a huge deal of it, but we're all just curious."
"Well, you can stop now."
"Fine," said Ron, eyeing Ginny skeptically. "But you didn't have to bite our heads off. You just never know who it could be these days."
Ginny picked at the remainder of her breakfast. "Not everyone believes in your conspiracy theories, Ron."
"They're usually true," shot Harry.
"Oh, but I wouldn't know anything about that, would I? Unless of course you care to share?" She stared down each of the Trio, then Neville who looked away and Colin who looked at her right back. "I didn't think so." She mashed up the eggs until they were a sunny yellow mush on her plate. "Everyone's got secrets."
Harry watched Ginny, green eyes sharp. "Including you, Ginny?"
"Why should I be any different?" she questioned him, her brown eyes guileless. "But neither is that any of your business."
"Let's just leave it alone, shall we?" proposed Ron, eager to change the subject.
Everyone nodded grudgingly but a thick silence reigned over the table.
"ACHOO!" Neville sneezed suddenly. They all looked up to see him dusting the remaining feathers of the school owl off of the table. He looked around at everyone glaring at him.
"Sorry…" he said.
"Want to help me make up some more stuff for Divination?"
Ginny shrugged. "Sure, I'm always up for conning Trelawney." She plunked down next to Colin and picked up a quill.
"Here," he said giving her his parchment. "This is what I've come up with so far."
"Not bad, not bad," she told him. "It could do with some work, though." She scribbled something down and then sat back.
The blond boy proofread it. "It'll do…I just need to tweak it like so…"
Ginny laughed. "Please; as if Advanced Divination is anything more than an advanced course in guessing."
"You always say that Ginny, but really, some people do have that Inner Eye thing. In my class there's a Ravenclaw girl who really Sees stuff; I mean really. You can tell she's not lying. Just yesterday we did an exercise in reading scattered flowers and she saw that she would trip down the ladder. So she was really careful in walking down, but Mavis was behind her…"
Ginny winced. "She alright?"
Colin waved it off. "Sprained ankle; Pomfrey fixed it up in less then five minutes."
"What did you see?"
"A lot of dead tulips," said Colin, and he went back to writing. A few minutes later he looked up at his friend. "Yeah, so, what did Luna want?"
Ginny could see that Colin was nervous that she would go berserk on him and nudged him with her arm. "Only to go looking for some more magical creatures."
"Flintwomps?"
Ginny laughed. "Possibly."
"D'you think she'll come back up to the castle with a load of rocks again?"
"Probably."
Colin stared. "Will you?"
"Maybe."
He shook his head sadly. "She's going to turn you."
"Hey, Luna's nice!" Ginny protested. "Right, Neville?" she asked the seventh-year who had just walked inside the portrait.
He looked at Ginny warily. "What?"
The two sixth-years laughed and went back to doing homework. "Nothing, nothing."
Neville headed for the boys' staircase and Ginny watched his tall frame disappear.
"I hate to bring it up, you know…" Colin said suddenly, "But this morning, when you said you had secrets…would you keep them from me?"
"Colin –" Ginny started.
"I'm not asking to be knowledgeable of your every move or anything like that," he said hastily. "I just mean if there was something going on with you, if you were getting into…something…you'd feel okay telling me, right?"
Ginny bit the inside of her lip in dismay. "As soon as I felt that I couldn't handle it," she said carefully, "I'd come to you right away." And that was all that Ginny felt she could give without being an outright liar. Her best friend nodded and resumed his work. Ginny decided that it might be beneficial to do the same, still thinking about the quick damage control that she had had to pull off earlier on in the day.
After lunch Ginny had watched Luna walk up to the castle from Care of Magical Creatures alone. As soon as the girl disappeared behind the large doors, Ginny had turned to Colin and told him that she forgot the book for their next class in her room and that she would meet him there. Colin assented and Ginny sprinted up the stairs and all but attacked Luna from behind. Ginny had asked the Ravenclaw if she wanted to go looking for some more creatures on the weekend and with a flowery 'yes' and a request to go hunting on Saturday, Luna agreed.
It was imperative that Ginny seek out the Ravenclaw as soon as possible before anyone went to check Ginny's story. She forced the negative feeling away that she was using Luna for her own purposes; after all the two had agreed that they would go out again sometime. Ginny allowed herself to feel more than a little clever. The Trio had nothing on her.
The real person she had to worry about was Colin: the way interrogated her never made her angry; it gave her a guilt trip.
"And I suppose that's really all there is to it," Ginny said in an unemotional tone.
It was Saturday. And she was in hell.
"That's very interesting," Gavin said enthusiastically, not put off by Ginny's monosyllabic tone. "It's very strange that you figured out something so simple, whereas I needed further instruction to understand it."
Ginny grit her teeth and smiled; restraining herself against smashing the heavy textbook against Gavin's head.
"Glad to have been of service. If it shocks you so much, though, you could have always come to the library by your own miserable self and checked out a book. Professor Vector did tell us that there was a book with tons of past examples of this very equation. I wouldn't have had to waste," she checked her watch, "thirty-five wretched minutes explaining it to you when you obviously don't appreciate how difficult it was for me to shove knowledge into your self-obsessed brain." Ginny was almost short of breath by the time she finished her rant.
Gavin closed the textbook and folded his hands on top of it. "Is there a problem, Ginny?"
"Aargh!"
"Would you like to leave the library, Miss Weasley?" Ginny looked across the vast room to see Madam Pince staring at her with the eyes of a viper.
"No, I'm sorry," Ginny spoke up meekly.
"Shhh!" was her answer.
The redhead put a hand to her temple and gave it a massage. Altruism was overrated.
"You know what, Gavin? I think I'll go." She pushed her chair out to stand and threw her notes together, risking another threatening look from Madam Pince.
Gavin stood as well and held Ginny's arm; she gave him a long look and he released her. "There were just a few more things I needed help figuring out. Maybe we could discuss it over lunch?"
"I am not interested in spending any more time with you, Gavin," Ginny forced out. "Just leave me alone."
"I can't do that!" he exclaimed.
"Miss Weasley!"
"Sorry, Madam Pince! Gavin, I'm going now. Good day."
He smiled as an effort to cover up his outburst. "It's rather selfish of you to hold out on whatever knowledge you possess when I'm in obvious need of it. This quiz is –"
"Not all that important in the long run. It's certainly not worth spending any more of my time on you."
Ginny ran an agitated hand through her hair with one hand and clutched her books closer to her chest with the other. Gavin crossed his arms.
"Mmhmm…Oh, I see…you want to be top of the class, don't you? You want to shove me out of that spot, so you can rest your little head there? So how long have you been coveting my position, Ginevra? I really am sorry that you didn't make prefect, but that's no reason to exact revenge on me –"
"I can't be any more polite to you than I have been, Wotright," Ginny hissed. "I won't be. So stop harassing me before we make a scene."
Gavin tapped his foot twice on the floor and sighed with finality. "I once fancied that I could compare you to Hermione Granger. How silly of me."
Ginny flushed deeply.
"Isn't this lovely? He's whispering sweet nothings into your ear and you're blushing becomingly. I might be sick."
Ginny shifted her eyes to the area behind Gavin and almost fainted with relief.
"Draco!" Gavin's eyes went wide at Ginny's familiar tone and she tried to cover it up quickly. "What are you doing here?"
"You are well on your way to being thrown out and banned for the remainder of this month!"
"Sorry, Madam Pince!"
"Trouble?" Draco inquired.
"I asked you a question first," Ginny insisted.
Draco sneered and bumped past Gavin roughly; even so, the prefect didn't have to stumble as dramatically as he did. The blond took up space between Ginny and the other boy.
"Just copying a few things. Unlike other people who came here to chat, I'm here for a real purpose."
"And I'm not?" she questioned. He was acting high-and-mighty just because he was making the copies of the Reference Book? She was the one that had checked them all out.
"I've always known a study group to have at least three people; a smaller crowd indicates a desire for extra privacy."
Gavin stuck up a finger as if to make a point. "I know what you're insinuating, Malfoy, but it's terribly incorrect. I don't want anything to do with Ginny anymore. She's not the person I once thought she was."
"You're even lower that I thought you were, Wotright, so keep quiet."
"Oh, don't argue, Weasley. That's one thing that the bloke's been right about in his life."
In contrast to her relaxation at and welcome at seeing Draco, Ginny went tense. She thought that Draco might be a reprieve from Gavin, but he was much worse.
Looking from Gavin to Draco, Ginny leaned in and slammed her chair into the table so that it was not in the aisle.
"MISS WEASLEY –!" shrieked Madame Pince.
But she was already gone by then.
Ginny angrily stomped her way to the Great Hall, but wondered if she should change direction when she was halfway there. She thought for a moment and then decided to go on, as she hadn't had anything to eat since very early that morning, and she hadn't seen Colin either since breakfast; he was the only person that could get her out of the temper she was in caused by one Draco Malfoy.
After lazing about with Colin the night before she had been in a relatively good mood when she woke up that morning. She and Colin had gone to breakfast together and then split when he went off to hunt for good shots. Of course Colin had invited her along, but Ginny knew that all the photographer would be doing was taking landscape shots of the grounds, which usually meant that they would trek all over for hours upon hours. She had gone through that experience before and found it indelibly boring – still-lifes weren't nearly as interesting as shots with actual people in them. Besides, she was going to be walking around with Luna after lunch; there wasn't a point in doing it twice.
So instead she went back up to her room and arranged the books that she and Draco were planning on studying in the very bottom of her pack. She even made sure to put a jumper over them, just in case someone might look in them; it wouldn't really do anything if they poked around, but it made Ginny feel a bit safer.
There was still a lot of time to lounge around and so Ginny searched for Neville, but he was nowhere to be found. She wondered if he was back down by the Greenhouses. That would have been odd as the plants that Neville usually planted or preened needed at least a few weeks to be checked on, but then again Ginny had no idea of the extent of Neville's pet projects.
So, resigning herself to sitting alone on the couch – she hadn't bothered to search for her brother and the rest as she wasn't particularly fond of dealing with them at the moment – Ginny settled for thinking back to Wednesday night. She tried to feel angry about the way she had…behaved with Draco, but the feeling just wouldn't come. The only thing she had succeeded in doing was smiling a bit dazedly and frowning when she caught herself at it. In actuality, Ginny felt strangely blank.
She wouldn't mind if it happened again – not by a long shot; but if it became a regular occurrence did that mean that they were…something? What would they be? Would it count as a relationship if her family killed him? Was she thinking about it too deeply? Was Draco thinking about it enough?
And as she had succeeded in asking herself more questions than procuring answers, Ginny grabbed her Arithmancy textbook and went to meet Gavin. He sat there with his smug smile from the moment she walked in and it had been uphill battling for the rest of the time.
Colin hadn't understood why Ginny even agreed to do it in the first place when she told him about it Friday night. For a few minutes he became very worried and asked if Ginny was (this in a hushed voice) "interested in Gavin that way". With firm assurance, Ginny had eased his mind of concerns that she was falling madly in love with one of the scummiest people in the world. Ginny had done it for extra insurance that Gavin wouldn't check Madam Pomfrey's log to see if Ginny and Draco had gone to the Infirmary Wednesday night; it would be too easy to find out that they hadn't and then he would go blabbing to Professor Packard. Ginny wondered if she and Draco could use his entering the castle and hiding something as blackmail against him; however Gavin hadn't acted very guilty afterward. Of course he hadn't told them what he'd been doing, but Ginny and Draco weren't exactly spilling the details of their night either. It was a dead end.
"Finished already? I thought you had at least fifteen more minutes with the beast," Colin said when Ginny sat down next to him.
"I couldn't take anymore! Do you know that he had the audacity to compare me to Hermione and then say that I couldn't compare to her at all! If he wanted to study with her, he should have asked."
"With Ron around? Ginny, he wouldn't have dared ask another bloke's girl to revise with him – alone. Even Wotright understands that that's taboo."
"Well, don't I have a boyfriend too?"
"Don't get all defensive; you haven't introduced any of us to him."
Ginny paused. "You do have a point there…" She sighed. "Just keep Gavin away from me."
"You keep yourself away from him," Colin shot back. "You're the one who agreed to the whole thing."
"Remember that I was also in the presence of a Slytherin, I was not of sound mind."
Colin laughed appreciatively and Ginny smiled. As of late she had declined to participate in Slytherin bashing as she was dealing with one on the sly – it would have made her hypocritical. At the moment, though, Draco deserved it.
They needed to keep up appearances of enmity in public, but his display in the library made her furious. It wasn't enough that she had to deal with Gavin, but he had to gang up on her at the same time? He would hear it from her later.
"Have you found anything yet, Ginny?"
"No. Do you want me to keep looking?"
"I'm going to sit down; I'll watch you if you decide to go on."
Ginny chose to rest with Luna. They hadn't found anything: the search for Flintwomps had ended a half hour before and went on to other creatures that could be hiding around.
Spotting a nice patch of grass in an area with sun, Ginny patted her robes around her. There wasn't much sun left to sit in and the wind was picking up a little, but it wasn't all that cold yet.
Luna sat next to her and eyed her speculatively. "What do you want to talk about? You're not one for awkward silences."
"How about The Quibbler?" Ginny suggested. "Does your father ever let you intern for it? You always seem to know a lot about it."
"Naturally," Luna said. "As you know he's the editor. He sends people out to find the most interesting stories out there, and luckily we're very fortunate and end up getting them before the other newspapers. As they're rather intimidated by the exclusives we get, they don't often use the same stories we do."
Ginny smiled. "That's true; I don't think anyone else ever used that story about Fudge being a goblin eater."
Luna shrugged. "It wouldn't have been the same if anyone else used it; they'd only have gotten second best. I'm going to ask you a question."
The redhead blinked at the sudden change of topic. "Er, go on then."
"Why do you care about The Quibbler? Other people choose to take our stories lightly even when there's enough proof to suggest that it should be treated with the utmost gravity."
Ginny searched for a way to say what she thought without hurting the other girl's feelings.
"Be honest. I'm sure that whatever you have to say wouldn't insult me as much as other things I've heard."
Ginny nodded. "Well, Luna, you say there's enough proof to show that all of these miraculous things and creatures exist…but really, there's really only the bare minimum. And even that is rooted in mystery and superstition. Not everyone is going to take you seriously."
"I don't need everyone. It only takes a few."
"But a few aren't going to make a change! You and I could search out here all day looking for…for Flintwomps and things. And suppose that at least one other person at Hogwarts thinks I've got credibility…" Ginny said with a slightly bitter overtone as she remembered how willing everyone was at breakfast to believe that no one would want to write her. "But if they heard me talking about these animals with you, they'd only think that I was…well…"
"A 'nutter', as they say? Certifiable? A lunatic?" provided the other girl.
Ginny flushed. "Yeah…"
"That's only the product of commiserating with people such as your brother and Hermione Granger," said Luna without malevolence.
All the same Ginny was unsure of whether she should be insulted on her brother's behalf or hear the other girl out.
"I thought you liked Ron."
Luna smiled brightly. "Oh, I do! I take to him very well; just as Bulgarian Fire Spirits take to hearths! That does not change the matter though, that other people are far more open-minded than Ron Weasley. Like Neville Longbottom for example."
Ginny was a bit doubtful. "I don't think that Neville would believe in Bulgarian Fire Spirits any more than Ron would."
"But Neville Longbottom would believe enough in me, wouldn't he; at least enough to retain the doubt that they may exist?"
Not wanting to speak badly of her brother Ginny imitated Luna's previous shrug. "I suppose so."
"Does that mean that you are a Neville Longbottom, Ginny? You're spending time with me looking for these animals. Do you believe that they may exist, even with scant proof?"
Ginny smiled reluctantly. "I suppose so."
Luna beamed. "Then I'm glad that in some ways you're nothing like your brother."
Ginny opened pushed the door open and it eased inward noiselessly; it then closed behind her without a sound.
"You're late."
The girl only briefly flicked her eyes up in indication that she had heard any voice at all. Draco hid his surprise; he had expected her to shriek and threaten him for scaring her.
"I usually am so you shouldn't be very shocked."
Ginny set her bag down next to the small one-seater across from Draco and flicked her wand for more light in the room. It had been very dim when she walked in, and the firelight cast more shadow than glow. The blond lounged insolently in an over-stuffed chair as if the room was made for him, staring at Ginny intently; watching her every move. There weren't any books on the table like she expected, but there were a few sheets of parchment in plain view.
"Were you going for the whole dramatic, menacing figure-sitting-in-the-dark theme? Voldemort's got that covered, so there's no need for you to make an ass of yourself copying him," Ginny said idly, sitting down. She wasn't in the mood for his taunts or jokes, not after the episode in the library.
Draco was unfazed. "It wouldn't have been dark if you had come earlier. But you were playing it up with Wotright so I wouldn't expect you to know that."
Ginny's eyes flashed angrily. "You were there when I left, and I didn't go off to find him later. If anything, you were the one having fun with Gavin. Did you bond much while you were making jokes at my expense?"
"Not nearly as much as I would have liked."
Ginny paused for a long moment. "Let's get this over with. I don't want to be anywhere near you right now."
"You weren't saying that Wednesday night," said Draco.
"Flip your head out of your arse for a second, and remember that I did say I was against a relationship with you – more than once, I might add. But you were too busy feeling me up to notice."
Against his will, a pink hue tinted the blond's cheeks.
"I wasn't the only one enjoying it," he said accusatorily, remembering the feel of Ginny's body pressed between him and the table.
"No, you weren't," Ginny admitted. "But you're the only one acting like a prat now."
"Why did you meet with him, Ginny?"
The redhead let the question roll off of her, unaffected by the use of her proper name, and went to take the books she had been storing in her room for the past few days out. If he wanted to be deaf, blind, and stupid she would let him; there was no cause for her to wallow around in his obnoxiousness with him.
"It's obvious enough."
Draco grated his teeth. "You'll have to spell it out for me. Why would you waste more of your time on Wotright?"
Increasingly furious at the self-righteous tone in the Slytherin's words, Ginny gave him a ruthless look. "For hugs and tender, calculated movements."
She went back to rummaging through her bag and tried to ignore the thick silence that had enveloped the room. Draco had gone rigid as a board, but Ginny refused to give him the satisfaction of looking up.
'He deserves it,' she thought. Did he understand how it felt to be constantly treated like the lowest of creatures? To have everyone in the world step on you but not notice that you were right underfoot? To be compared to bloody Hermione Granger not long after finding out that your own father would keep things from you? Draco had no idea –
How good that felt…
He had come up behind her and kissed her neck languorously, stilling any protests before they began. Draco took his time to torture her that way before turning her face so that it met his. His thumb caressed her cheek and he pulled away, resting his lips near her ear.
"I just wanted to give you something to compare to Wotright," he whispered. Ginny's body seized up so rapidly in his arms that he took a step back.
Ginny stared at him, rapidly feeling disgust overcome desire. She wished she had the nerve to slap him clear across the room.
"I didn't do anything with Gavin and you know it," she said with cold fury. "What kind of person are you to kiss me like that and then say…and then act like…Was it to punish me, Draco? Is this whole thing a stupid plot to humiliate me? Did you pick the Lucky Weasley Girl to help you along so that you could degrade her and –"
"I've never said that," Draco said forcefully, hints of color at his cheeks, which proved that he was aware of how feckless his words were after the kiss. "I thought that you might be…a good choice or something to that extent."
"Then stop treating me like some object you just bought at Hogsmeade! Some…some whore you picked up round the way, because –"
"You're not a whore to me, and only your warped mind would pick that out of the air!"
"Then why the hell am I here?! You figured that even a poor Weasley wouldn't mind screwing you in a 'secret' room in some obscure part of the castle?" She laughed cuttingly. "I'd just like to know how many other girls you've pushed up against these very walls and got a good feel out of it."
Draco's face was stony. "I suppose that it's nice to know how you truly feel. And so now that it's out in the open I suppose that I should share as well. I chose you out of the entire school because you stuck out to me. I didn't need someone that I could trust necessarily, but someone who I knew would value trust above all else. I wanted someone who was intelligent, unobtrusive, was sly – or showed potential for it; and you interested me. I couldn't pick anyone else because there isn't anyone else; wanting you was just an added bonus. And I've never showed any other girl, whore, or house-elf this room – there hasn't been a need to. If it bothers you just ever so much that I touch you, then I won't make the mistake of doing it again." His breathing was slightly uneven with the effort to keep himself unemotional, but it wasn't working.
Ginny shook her head unapologetically. "I'm not angry that you kissed me," she refuted, staring him down. "I'm angry that you would use it for revenge, so don't put the guilt trip on me. I don't much want to look at you right now, but I came here for a reason. Let's not talk anymore about…whatever there is between us and concentrate on the case at hand."
Feeling tortured, Draco watched Ginny turn away from him and take out her own notes. A small part of him admitted that what he had said and done to her was wrong, but he wasn't quite ready to apologize and grovel for forgiveness. He was embarrassed enough that he had allowed his…apathy for Gavin Wotright to make him behave so childishly, but he felt quite righteously that Ginny shouldn't have spent any more time around the prefect than was necessary.
At the moment, though, there were more pressing matters to be discussed, so he nodded, and watched as the redhead straightened herself up and faced the books.
She took in a deep breath, determined to be civil. "So how did the copying go?"
Draco looked at her evenly. "As best as can be expected when I expected much more?"
Ginny frowned. "What do you mean?"
"There weren't nearly as many articles in that book as you let on."
"You're the one who told me to look at it –" Ginny began defensively.
"Because there was a goldmine of information there, but today all that I could find was a fraction of that size. That information was irreplaceable and it didn't just leak out."
"Maybe you got the wrong book."
"I didn't."
Ginny sighed. "Let's not argue. I was thinking of something today when I was with Luna, but I didn't think it would be necessary –"
"Well spit it out."
"I'm getting there! Luna's dad is editor of The Quibbler, so he sees most of the articles that go into each issue. I know he's worked there for a very long time, so wouldn't it be possible like you said a while ago, that other newspapers might have the same topics as the Prophet?"
"The Quibbler doesn't exactly cover normal current events unless they're events that aren't real at all."
Ginny was undeterred. "That may be true in some sense, but if you've ever read a recent issue –"
"I haven't."
"– You'll see that they do write about things that people would consider 'normal'; like about Fudge and the goings-on in the Ministry and such. Besides, most of the articles that I got a glimpse of when I looked at that Reference Book were dated far back. I'm sure that The Quibbler hasn't always been so…eccentric with its articles, so they might have some really good stuff in there."
"What are you proposing? Are you going to ask Lovegood to see old articles?"
Ginny nodded enthusiastically. "There must be back issues lying around, or an archive of some sort. I could ask her to ask her father to pick out the one's pertaining to just Alfred Tinelle and we could sort them out."
Draco had a few arguments about that plan, but didn't voice them. For one thing it sounded like a lot of work to ask one man to look for articles from decades ago; and then he'd probably want a reason. But if Ginny wanted to venture into such an undertaking, far be it from him to stop her. Instead he glanced at her.
"So you were with Loony Lovegood today?"
"I certainly wasn't with Gavin Wotright if that's what you're insinuating," she snapped. Undeniably pleased, Draco left it at that.
"Have you read the other books that you checked out?"
"No, I wanted to wait until we could do it together so that I wouldn't have to retell all of what I read."
The blond shrugged. "I'll just take two of these books then, and keep notes on them – I'll spell them over for secrecy, of course – and you can take the other and get the information from Lovegood."
Ginny quietly agreed and put her pick of the lot back in her bag. Draco watched her curiously but discreetly.
"Did Pomfrey fix your hand?" he asked indifferently.
"First thing this morning." Ginny peered up at the boy across from her, brown eyes questioning. "Crabbe and Goyle were out last night, you know – they were in the Hospital Wing when I went in."
Draco flipped through the books in his hands. "The sorry lumps must have gotten up early. I didn't even hear them leave."
"Yeah…" Ginny said. "Do you know what they were doing out?"
He sniffed distastefully. "Stuffing their faces I presume?"
"Well they certainly got more than they bargained for; there was a tussle with Mrs. Norris – they got three weeks detention."
"No points taken off?" Ginny shook her head 'no'. "Good, because they wouldn't be able to earn it back during class."
Ginny smiled a bit at that, but she still had a few more questions. "Did you ever – you and the Slytherins, I mean – talk about the rest of us?"
Draco's brow rose in question. "You mean your brother and his consorts? Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, really," said Ginny. "It's just that they knew my name."
"Your first name?"
"Well, no…they called me Weasley."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Big deal. Anyone can spot a Weasley from mile away, and with all the crap we've given you over the years, of course they'll know who you are."
Ginny folded her hands. "So you admit what you do to us is crap?"
"Sure," said Draco. "But I don't admit it's wrong if that's what you're trying to get at."
Ginny thought that he probably never would.
That is all! And here are the:
Replies: seekerpeeker I really must thank you for all of the reviews that you've given over all of the chapters so far. I love any reviews that I get, but yours especially have helped out a lot because you point things out. 1- I laughed when you said that the first chap. was nothing, because I feel the same way. It's like this non-entity of a chapter, but I needed somewhere to start off. When I stop being lazy, I might take some of the second chapter and put it into the end of the first to expand it and pick up the plot quicker. 2- I'm glad you picked up on Ginny and Hermione sharing a dorm; I've fixed it. 3- It is annoying for Ginny to be so hung up on the Trio. It's sort of pitiful. Part of that is needed, though she's finally started to get the message. Wow. That was a long reply. Anyway, muchas gracias for the careful reading, questions, and comments. I love them. youngwriter56. I really doubt that any chapter will be as long as the last one was because it probably took awhile to read, but thanks for reviewing despite it. And yes, I'm taking your warning very seriously, lol. Thanks for reviewing. tasha Wow, that was so nice of you. And no, I will definitely NOT abandon this fic. I promise, and I know other authors have said that before (I feel like I'm offering my everlasting love to you), but I told myself that I wouldn't post any multi-chaptered stories unless I planned on finishing them. Now…late updates are another story, I sometimes take a while to post, but don't think I've left it, I'm just being lazy or busy, or have writer's block. Thanks again for the nice review. DragonSpitfire22 22 is my favorite number; must be my lucky day! Thank you for reviewing. skygazing I'm glad you like long chapters, although I don't know if anymore will be that long again, but who knows? Numbly Breaking Woot! I'm a god! What kind of powers do I have? Lol, thank you so much for reviewing, I always look forward to reading them. I want Ginny to hit Gavin so much, I can't stand him either. But I have to admit that he's fun to write. Starrynight1231 It's funny because it was ridiculously hot when I was writing this chapter, and I thought I was going to pass out. Thank you for the review! eedoe I know what you mean about the H/G versus D/G trouble. I love Harry so much, so sometimes I feel terrible taking Ginny away from him. But Draco needs love too! Thanks soo much for the review! pamie884 Thank you so much for all of your reviews! voided (cool name) I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was fun to write. Isadora Your reviews aren't nerdy at all. I was pleasantly surprised that you reviewed so much. I wish I could say how many chapters are up ahead, but I won't even attempt to – I know that I'd be wrong. Thanks again!
Thank you all so much for the reviews, and suggestions and comments! I love them and keep 'em coming!
- Femme