Chapter 21:
And there was silence. She looked at Brock, a coy smile spread across his face, and she looked at Draco his eyes narrowed in both anger and fear. His breathing tensed, almost stopped, his lips shut tight sending warning signals towards Brock.
And instantly it all made sense. All the attention she had gotten from Draco, his sudden acceptance of her on the Hogwart's train at the beginning of the year. His quickness to help her. Brock's unhappy face at seeing her in his bedroom the night of the party, the way he smiled at Brock as he wrapped his hands around her waist. The way Pansy and Meche looked at her, like they knew something she did not. And now, "the Bet's over". It all was clear to her. But still she refused to believe it.
Already weak from her previous fight with Harry, she furrowed her brows, her face hot from crying, and she asked, in a small, exhausted, emotionally drained voice, "what?"
Brock smiled kindly at her and began to explain, "I said-"
"Brock," Draco interrupted, "I think we had better talk outside."
But still Ginny persisted, her eyes closed a tear pushed out from her lids, "What?"
"You mean Draco hasn't told you?"
"Brock!" Draco barked, his voice loud and booming. He slid out from under Ginny, letting her gently drop onto the couch. Her hands clasped around her knees, she still didn't move. She wiped her tear away, trying to be strong.
"What hasn't Draco told me?" Her voice was almost inaudible at the end, her throat had gone dry, her strength had almost evaporated.
"Ginny-" Draco pleaded but she held her hand to summon his silence.
"What hasn't Draco told me?" she repeated.
"About the bet."
"What bet?"
"Our bet."
She was silent, once again. She nodded her head weakly, took a deep breath and asked "What was the bet about?"
"Brock," Draco commanded, "Outside. Now."
But Brock was not scared, "I'll tell you what it was about Ginny-"
Draco lunged at him, and they both fell to the floor fighting each other.
Almost without feeling, Ginny took her wand from her pants, and uttered a spell flinging Draco back unto the wall, keeping him there with invisible bonds. He was helpless.
"What was the bet about?" She repeated yet again.
Brock smirked as he got up from the ground, wiping the dust off his clothes. "The bet," he said over Draco's yells, threats and commands, "was about you. About having sex with you. I bet Draco that he could not have sex with you by the end of this school year."
She nodded. Another tear fell, but she quickly wiped it away. She was surprised at how calm she was feeling. There was no relief, or peace, there was just emptiness. She was drained. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to feel. She was empty. Slowly she got off the couch and collected her cloak, put her wand back into her pocket and made her way out.
A few feet from the door she stopped. She turned around and asked, "What was the bet for?"
Brock laughed, a short laugh, "We bet for a Nimbus 3000," he told her. "A personalised one with our initials written on it."
She put her hands into her pockets and looked at Draco, he had stopped fighting against the bonds, and looked at her desperately, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I didn't know. You don't understand. Let me explain, please. Please. Ginny let me explain." His voice was beginning to crack, his face gad gone red and his eyes looked damp. "Ginny, let me explain. Please. Please don't go."
But she only nodded to him, and turned back to face Brock. "Thank you," she said, and turning back to Draco "Congratulations, Draco Malfoy. You won."
And she left the Slytherin Common room without another second glance.
Brock turned to him as the door closed behind her, "Congratulations Draco Malfoy," he repeated, "You won."
But never, in Draco's life, had he ever felt like such a loser.
XX
In the whole of Draco Malfoy's life, he had only loved two people.
The first he had known all his life, from the moment he was born and she held him in her arms. He cuddled with her in the first years of his existence, and he embraced her as she embraced him with a warm affection that lasted the rest of her life. He was flesh of her flesh, blood of her blood. They understood each other. Their love was unconditional. That was the first person Draco Malfoy loved. And he thought she would be the only person he could love.
But she wasn't.
Someone had come along to change his mind. Someone who had been his complete opposite in all aspects that had mattered to him in life but with who he had so much in common in aspects that, with her, had become important. Someone who showed him what life could be, and who made him realise that happiness wasn't a fairytale, that he could laugh, that he could have the mickey taken out of him, that he could be love. This was the second person Draco Malfoy had loved. But just like the first he had lost her. And just like the first it had been his fault.
Since he was a child it was in his nature to hate. He was filled with loathing and disgust at Potter, his father, Weasley's, Dumbledore. But for the first time his hate was directed to the one person who deserved it: himself. He was his worst enemy the one who lost him everything he loved, everything he could love. He hated himself.
XX
A few steps from the Slytherin Common room she could hold it no longer. All the emotions she had failed to feel back then came rushing to the surface, like the pain from a bullet, all at once. Her knees buckled beneath her and she slid down to the floor, her sobs so deep that she couldn't breathe for seconds at a time.
How could she have been so stupid? To even think that Malfoy could like her, to be so bold to presume that he loved her. She knew what kind of person he was. She knew of all his past girlfriends. What made her think she was different? What made her think he was different?
They were all the same. Only one thing drove them. Sex. With all the I love you's and I'll wait for you. All the 'you're special'. All the you're the one. All the 'with you it is making love, not having sex'. It was bull. It was shit. It was meaningless.
She wasn't special to him. He didn't wait for her. He manipulated her. Tricked her. She wasn't special. She was meat to him. They didn't make love. He was running a race, and she was just the course.
No man was capable of love. No man deserved to be loved back. All it brought her was pain. All the intensity of her love was nothing compared to the intensity of her pain at that sudden moment.
Nothing was worth that much hurt. No one was worth the pain. No person should be able to make her feel this used, this worthless.
But he did.
He, who had told her time and time again that she was better than Potter, better than Meche, better than Christina. He was the one who made her feel the worst she had ever felt in her life. She no longer saw herself as a person. Because she had been used, like an object. She felt worthless. She was worthless.
With those thoughts swirling through her mind, and with eyes tired with crying, she fell asleep. Not more than ten steps from the Slytherin common room, on the cold stone floor.
And if Draco had ventured out of his room that night maybe he would have seen her, and maybe he would have told her the truth, for once. Come clean. Tell her all the things she didn't know. Tell her how sorry he was. And tell her how much she meant to him. How much she was worth to him. Maybe he could have shown her that there was nothing, not even his own life, that he put above her.
But he didn't. The only person to step out of that door that night was Brock. And the only thing he did was smile, as he took a drag on the joint he held in his fingers, and mutter to himself pleasantly that every cloud had a silver lining… for him at least.
XX
Ginny woke up at 3am that Friday morning. Her body aching from the hardness of the cold floor. She sat there as if in a trance and shed what seemed like the millionth tear she had cried that month. Willing herself to be strong she picked her clock bundled on the floor and went back to the Gryffindor Wing, and flopped herself on her bed.
She didn't go to class that day. She didn't fall asleep either. She just lay there, thinking over every moment she had shared with him and wondering how any of it could have ever been such a lie.
XX
Hermione sat in Transfiguration, her fifth class for the day, and the fifth class Ginny was missing from. She had three classes with Draco that day and he wasn't in any of them either. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
And Hermione was more than just a genius. Her mind was zooming with all the possibilities of what the two of them could be doing out of school and where they could be doing such things.
She saw Ron pas Harry his portable wizard chess player he had gotten that Christmas so that Harry could make his move and she tutted. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. She had to have a talk with Ginny to let her know that she shouldn't let the… pleasures of life interfere with her schooling.
By a process of elimination Hermione had come up with the Quidditch pitch as the place to locate the two. It wasn't that she had seen them there before, God forbid. She just had a feeling. She knew that the one place Draco Malfoy would love to 'get it on' as the kids put it, would be somewhere dear to his heart - and that somewhere was the Quidditch pitch.
That wasn't her first guess. She had ruled out the Gryffindor wing because out of pure cockiness (excuse the pun) Draco Malfoy wouldn't dare step one foot into the living quarters of his worst enemies.
The Astronomy Tower was the hotspot for lovers but Ginny was not that stupid. She knew how public anything that went on in that area became. And she had enough sense to stay out of there. Plus, Hermione had checked it twice and there was no sign of either of them.
The library was deserted… as she was the only one who even bothered to go in there.
So, she had come up with the Quidditch Pitch. It wasn't too far fetched if you considered that it was Draco Malfoy, man of extremes, she was considering.
XX
Blood dripped onto the pages of his journal as he clenched his lips in pain.
He had been sitting in the same position since he had woken up early that morning and realised that, once and for all, it was truly over.
That was when he was filled with an uncontrollable rage. Not at anyone else but himself.
He shook with anger as he replayed the way he acted that night through his head. The way he smiled and taunted Brock, thinking that he had one, when really he had lost. He had lost the most important thing to him.
That was why he took his dagger from his chest drawer. He didn't intend to cause any trouble. He didn't intend to hurt anyone… at least no one who didn't deserve being hurt.
More blood dripped from his arm as he made another small cut across his flesh, a long neat line.
He didn't know why he did it. It wasn't something he had done on many occasions.
He remembered when he was younger and he did something bad. His father would extract the belt from the closet and whip him. But only when he deserved it. He didn't hate it. Because he knew he had behaved badly and that was what he deserved. He liked the feeling it gave him even. Because after he had been beaten he didn't feel guilty anymore. He had paid for what he had done.
That was something like what he was going through now. He deserved to hurt. He couldn't deal with the pain in his heart from losing her. But he could deal with the cuts he placed on his skin. And he could deal with the searing pain coming from those cuts. It relieved him, because he was paying for what he had done. His problems didn't go away, but for awhile they were submerged. He wasn't looking to kill himself. Just to make him feel a little better. Just a little better.
That was when Granger came marching up the Quidditch steps.
'MALFOY!' She yelled. But he was in no mood. He hastily but the dagger back into his cloak and got up from his seat.
'Not now Granger,' he muttered as he walked past her to exit the stadium. 'It's not a fucking good time.'
So in a daze he was that he didn't realise that he had left his journal behind. But Hermione, as usual, didn't miss a beat.
XX
"This is the weirdest thing," Hermione muttered as she entered the Girls' Dormitory. She only then noticed Ginny laying on her back staring at the ceiling. Damn, she was wrong. Well.. There was a first time for everything.
"This is the last place I'd expect to find you," she told the red head.
Ginny only nodded.
"I was looking for you to talk to you about skipping classes but I'd rather talk to you about Malfoy now, instead."
Ginny's eyes narrowed as she looked back at Hermione, "it's not a good time."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" she said it to herself more than she was saying it to Ginny. "Look Ginny, I went to the Quidditch Pitch to find you but instead I found Malfoy, just sitting there. Now as if that wasn't weird enough he wasn't even remotely interested when I came by and he just walked away muttering something about not being a good time. But then he left this," she held up the journal Ginny had seen the night of the party, the one she had been dying to read, "it was wide open when I saw it and I picked it up to read it and the moment I touched it, it shut tight. It just wouldn't budge. It's like it's magically sealed or something like that. Look at it!" she sent the book to Ginny's bed waiting for her to inspect it.
A couple months ago Ginny would jump at the chance to find out what made Malfoy click, what he cared about and what he thought. But now all she could think about was what horrible things would be written about her in those pages. And she was in no mood to read that.
"It's not a good time," she repeated.
"Don't tell me you're not remotely interested in what's written in here."
Ginny sighed and shook her head, "I'm not."
"Ginny…" Hermione pushed.
"I'm not," she said more harshly.
"Well I am."
With that Hermione grabbed the book back and sat herself in her corner inspecting all aspects of it and muttering with frustration how even in something as simple as a diary Malfoy was a difficult asshole.
XX
It was two days until Ginny got up from her bed. She made her way to the bathroom to wash up and tripped over something laid carelessly on the floor.
"What the…" her voice trailed off as she saw the journal laying there. Temptation grew within her and before she knew it she had taken hold of it and was sitting in the same corner Hermione had placed herself before.
She traced shape of it and felt the old worn cover. She placed her finger between the covering pages and effortlessly the book began to open.
"What the hell was Hermione going on about?" she muttered surprised at how easy it had been.
That was when the first word appeared on the page and a series of other words followed forming a sort of introduction to Malfoy's secrets:
Secrets put in
That shall never let out
Of high security
Without any doubt
For in this book
Holds a cantation
No one can look
Who has not got
A Malfoy's love
An impossible possession
Ginny read the last few lines again:
"No one can look
Who has not got
A Malfoy's love
An impossible possession."
That was what she thought.
So why had she been the one to open it?
XX
I know it took ages guys, thanks for waiting!!! Boarding School is a bitch!!
Social-flutterby: yeah I know. I'm not really good on the details. Since I only read the books once.
Lazy : Yes I've heard. I'll get around to changing that
SpecialEddie: Thanks! Glad to find someone so interested in the story! Hope you like this chap. Not my best but hey…
entrancer: Aww I'm sorry for the cliffy!! This doesn't really make it up but hey...
FlyingHampsterOfDoom: I don't think Draco can get out of this one. Sad as that is to hear…
cucho cousins: Yeah I'm really predictable. What can I say
xxxlisaxxx: I never post soon. Boarding school cramps my style. I'm basically kept away from the world.
The Elvin Sisters: I like my plots think D
sherbert-lemon-666: Yeah I know Draco is kinda mean, but he's still Draco, y'know? He hasn't changed that much!
lockeness: Wow thanks! Boarding school sucks. All of us there know it. We all hate it… but then we love it. Lol… Hey that rhymed!! Anyway, I'm home for a little while so here ya go!
Katy: Its not over till the fat lady sings… O.O
dragon tears1: Its not my fault it takes so long! School sucks ass!! That was a nice shriek by the way!!
edward.marie: Aww don't cry on account of me!!! And my silly story!! This chapter was written when me and my bf had issues. Lol.. You can tell
wingedcinner: The H/G moments were torture to me too! I couldn't wait to stop them! Lol….
Danielle: Thanks! Shes a tough critic, that's why I love her.
bBy x jUjUbee: I took forever AND A DAY this time!!
sunlitmist: Yeah Ginny and Draco have a love hate relationship. LOL
Flower4444: you'll know when it's the end D
Little Red Riding Hood In Pink: Aww I love you so much! Youre my fav reviewer! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Glass-Bead: Yes Draco IS really hott 3
Channy : we'll see if Ginny and Draco get together, it all depends on how I feel at that moment.
Dracosbaby7: Hahaha, we're all Draco lovers here! But Ginny's choice is a little more complicated now with the bet thrown in.
AsianBeauty05: yeah someone IS in trouble. Lets see him get out of it.
FickleFickleMuse : yeah true, it is the ones made in the passion of the moment that get us. But it's the ones we give into most.
jennyfrmtx: hahaha. You reminded me of the Power Rangers song 'Uh oh we're in trouble'
mereschino: Thanks, it's always nice to hear a positive view!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
R
&
R
XX