AN: As of June 8th
Aha I have finally found a GOOD title for this story, I also figured out where I wanted it to move in the direction of hehe. So this story shall now be known AS. . .
Ginny Weasley and the Fear of the Dark Mark(FORMALLY), Ginny Weasley and… Draco Malfoy
Hello there, this will be my first Harry Potter fic, eh? I'm dying for the arrival of Half Blood Prince so in the meantime…
Summary: In order to prove which side of the war his loyalties lie on, Draco Malfoy must protect a sworn enemy, Ginny Weasley. Why Ginny? Voldemort is going after all the people that Harry is close to. Ever since Sirius's death, and how that affected Harry he's basically figured it's the best way to wear Harry down.
Some Harry and Ginny, but the majority is Draco and Ginny.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Harry Potter. Those books are J.K Rowling's wonderful creations!
"You are insane Albus Dumbledore! How in the world would you ever get him to watch over a Gryffindor girl? Let alone a Weasley?" Severus Snape was shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Severus, I know that he will be reluctant at first. Trust me in this, if he really does want to help The Order and leave behind the way of his father, then he will do this," the headmaster said.
"I do trust you; I've just no idea how you will get this to happen. Voldemort has gone after the girl once. He wants to hurt everyone even remotely close to Potter," he said.
Albus sighed, "and this is exactly why she needs to be protected. I do not care what house that boy is in, or his heritage, this is his way to prove his loyalties."
"Severus, Albus is right. We must know where his loyalties are, or else he can in no way be accepted into The Order," Professor McGonagall said, "This is our best chance."
Severus was turning things over in his mind, as they heard another person enter the room.
"Why good evening, Draco! We were just speaking about your situation," Dumbledore said.
"And?" Draco asked. He remained near the entrance to Dumbledore's office, already feeling odd in a room with them.
"We seem to have found just the perfect position for you," McGonagall stated, "There is a student in need of protection- and no it is not Harry Potter."
"Who in the world could need more protection than Potter himself?" Draco sneered.
Dumbledore stood, he walked around the room and came closer to Malfoy. "The people who are close to him, Malfoy, they need protection. You know of Sirius Black's death. Voldemort has seen how Harry has reacted, and we've received inside information. We have a double-agent, much like you may become one day. He's told us Voldemort plans to destroy Potter by destroying those whom he loves," Dumbledore said.
"I will do it, if it's such dire need as you make it seem. But may I ask, which Gryffindor is it that I'll need to be hanging around?" he drawled.
"Draco, you won't just be hanging around her. You'll be with this girl, in essence, every moment of the day. She needs that constant protection. Yes, we are at Hogwarts, so she should be quite alright, but there is nothing wrong with a little bit more help," Dumbledore explained.
"Don't tell me it's Granger!" Draco automatically assumed at the words she, and girl.
Dumbledore laughed, "You are very quick to judge, Malfoy. No it isn't Granger you'll be with. You'll be with a the girl Voldemort has already been able to corrupt before, Ginny Weasley.
"A Weasley? Bloody Hell! That's even worse than Granger!" he complained.
"Now Draco, this is your chance. Either you will do this, or you will not be joining our side in the war," Dumbledore said.
Draco took in a deep sigh, he was thinking, 'I can't believe I am doing all of this. I'm completely disobeying my father. Not to mention the treachery against Voldemort of all people. This is what I've wanted though, the freedom, and being on the side of good.'
"Are you completely sure this is what you want Draco?" Snape asked.
"Yes," Draco couldn't believe the ease the words came out with, "Yes I want this."
"Good," Dumbledore nodded, "We will be speaking with Ginny on the subject later. Tonight the two of you will get to know each other better. I don't want you destroying each other in the process of this agreement. Beginning tomorrow, Ginny and yourself will be around each other nearly constantly. You won't have to be around her at night. Don't worry, we have Miss Granger there for her then. Draco, thank you for doing this."
Draco nodded. He took the last statement as a dismissal, and he began to walk down the winding stairs.
'Weasley. I'm going to have to protect Weasley, in order to prove myself to them. Why couldn't I just begin with double agent work? I guess because they don't know if I would be telling Voldemort about them. Which of course, is something I would never do. I'm not even a Death Eater yet,' He shuddered.
Becoming a Death Eater was something he dreaded. His father would kill him if he didn't though. Lucius Malfoy was a twisted creature. All of his life he had been Lord Voldemort's slave. His own father had done the exact same thing he was doing to Draco. Draco had stepped in on his father several times, when he was plotting for the Dark Lord.
Draco suddenly jolted back into reality, Ginny was walking towards him. The red-headed girl looked just as any Weasley could be expected. Her face was sprinkled in freckles, and she wore hand-me-down robes.
Ever since the end of his second year, the girl had fawned over Harry Potter. He knew that the two now had a much greater relationship than that though. Many times he had seen the two snogging when they thought no one was watching. Draco was really fascinated by the power that Harry seemed to hold over her though. It was a bit like the power Voldemort himself held over Lucius.
"What are you looking at ferret?" Ginny snarled.
"Certainly not you, wealette," he gave with a smirk.
She was going straight towards the room he had just left. He could only imagine the surprise that she would get from this. Draco continued walking to the Slytherin dormitory. It was mid-day on Saturday. Many students were down at Hogsmeade for the day, or Quidditch practice. Malfoy himself would be heading to practice in a couple of hours.
That reminded him of something, Ginny was one of the new chasers on the Gryffindor team. How would he be protecting her when he wanted to win the game next weekend? He couldn't tell his beaters not to aim for her, because they would think he'd gone insane.
"Draco! Wait!" Pansy Parkinson was running after him down the hallway.
"Pansy what is it now?" he sighed.
Pansy had been chasing after him for six years already, he was used to it now. It seemed she would never give up on him, but he had disliked the way she threw herself at him from the moment they met. He also knew that she held no fear in becoming a Death Eater. She wanted to become a true member of the inner circle Voldemort kept.
"Well it's nothing really. Wondering if you'll show up to practice today. You've skipped the last two because of "meetings with Dumbledore"," she said, "I'm almost starting to think you're becoming a good kid or something."
Draco thought this out for a moment before replying. It would be in his best interest to hide that he really was turning to the side of good.
"Have you gone insane, Pansy? Me, of all people becoming good? My father has been speaking with You-Know-Who and this summer I'll get the Mark," he said.
It was true that his father was going to force him to become a Death Eater. So he couldn't feel guilty about lying to her.
"Really!" she said, "I can't believe it. You're so lucky Draco. I don't know if my parents think I'm ready for such a thing."
Draco was tortured with Pansy's talking to him until he walked into his dormitory. Then he sat down on his bed, and all he could think about was how Ginny would react to having to be around him."Are you serious, Dumbledore?" Ginny was shocked.
"Well yes, I do happen to be," he laughed.
"Will I have to be around him every moment?" she asked.
"No, you won't. For Gryffindor only functions, then you of course have Hermione and Ron around. But they have their own duties with The Order, and you know that. This is Draco's task to prove himself to us, that he really does want to be on our side. Ginny, we're asking you agree with this because Draco knows what he is doing. He will be very good at protecting you. Harry has far too many things to concentrate on."
"But Harry wants to protect me," she said.
"We know he does. That is why you need protected. We've gotten information that Voldemort wants to hurt all those who Harry is close to. You are of course, close to Harry. If you do not accept this, then you will be in grave danger. Ginny, I know that you are very close with Harry, but I'm going to need to ask that you two take some time," Dumbledore paused, "If you took some time to be away from each other then there may be less chance that Voldemort target you."
"This is so much, Headmaster! I will accept the protection, I understand that I apparently need this, and I trust your judgement. But all of this at once, sir. I'm not sure how well I could stay away from him. Dumbledore, I love him, how am I supposed to pretend like that isn't there," Ginny cried.
"Please, at least just meet with Draco tonight. You need to know him better, he is not as horrible a person as he makes himself look," Dumbledore asked.
Ginny nodded, "May I please go now sir? I really do need to think about all of this."
"Yes, dear, you may go now. But remember to meet with Draco after the quidditch game tonight, please," he dismised her.
Ginny slowly led herself down the stairs. Being told she shouldn't be around Harry, and that she would have to be around Draco was a huge hit.
"Poor girl," McGonagall whispered, "I know I never would have been able to stomach something like that, when I was her age."
"Yes, it will be hard for her for a while now. Ginny is strong though, she has survived Voldemort. Hopefully she can survive Draco Malfoy," Dumbledore said.
"Yes, Draco puts on such an act with himself," Snape said, "He's one of the best students I've had from Slytherin in years. If only he would stop trying to please his father so much. Lucius is a horrible creature."
"Yes, Lucius always has been. Now, you two may go. We've had all of our business taken care of. I shall see you at the quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff," Dumbledore said.
The two professors left his office. Dumbledore knew that Ginny was already on her way to find Harry. Those two had many things to talk over. When things were said and done tomorrow though, and Draco began to watch over Ginny, he knew that things would settle down. Knowing Draco as he did, he knew that he would devote nearly every bone in his body to protecting her. Dumbledore saw just how much Draco wanted to turn to their side. He also knew that when he did, the Death Eaters could not know. They would first use him to their every advantage, as a double agent. Dumbledore could sense the end of this war was coming. If they could get enough information from the other side, then they could easily make it end In their favor. Draco could be the person to tip the scales.
The quidditch match was incredibley long. The match had lasted at least three hours before the Ravenclaw seeker caught the snitch in a dazzling spiral downward. It was an unusually calm game too. The only injuries were a few hits from the bludgers to the chasers.
Everyone was leaving the stands now, tired out and bored of the game. Well, everyone that was except the Hufflepuff team and two students. Dumbledore was the last of the adults to leave, he made sure to catch sight that Ginny and Draco had found each other afterwords. The two had, they were walking towards the school together.
"Ginny!" Draco had said.
"There you are," she whispered to herself. All of her Gryffindor friends had already walked back into the school. She had been walking around the field looking for Draco.
"Look, I know Dumbledore must have told you by now," he began. She nodded, waiting for him to continue speaking. "Well I want you to know that I've got nothing against you. I really want this to go well, because if it doesn't, well I will be stuck on the Death Eaters' side of the equation."
"Draco, I thank you for doing this. I need to talk to Harry about all of this, I haven't mentioned a thing yet. I… This all came as a huge shock earlier," she said, "I just… It's so hard thinking that Voldemort may come after me."
Draco nodded in agreement. "I would probobly feel the same way if I were you."
"Well, Dumbledore wants us to know each other better. Do you want to go to the library?" Ginny asked.
"The library might be a bit crowded, and people would be suspicious. How about we go to the trophy room? It should be empty," Draco suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds alright," Ginny anwered. The two walked up to the trophy room in complete silence. When they got there it remained just as silent for minutes.
"Well since you won't say anything," Draco said, "I guess I will. I don't know exactly what Dumbledore meant by get to know each other better. But I don't know, anything would be a start. What do you want to know about?"
Ginny thought, there were millions of questions she could ask the boy who had tormented she and her friends through all of school.
"Why do you hate Harry?" she asked.
Draco sighed, "I don't hate him. Part of it is just out of the common Slytherin- Gryffindor relationship. I've never really thought about it. The way that he gets all the attention he does, and how he always seems to win everything. He's so good at everything he does."
"So you're jealous. These entire six years and you've been so rude to him just because you are jealous?" Ginny huffed.
"Well if you have to put it that way! Harry has so many people who care about him and they don't even know him! My own parents could care less if I breathed, and the only "friends" I have here just hang around with me because of who my parents are," Draco shouted.
"Well no one knows how your parents are unless you tell them do they? But you can't really help this whole feeling of people using you. Why don't you just make new friends? Hang out with other people?" she asked.
"Because I have to pretend to be this way," he began to explain, "I need to keep pretending to be on Voldemort's side, because when I do become a member of your cause then I can get more information from them for good. I really do want to be a good person! The thing is in order to be a good person and do what Dumbledore wants then I need to pretend to be a bad person!"
Ginny was openly shocked by the fact that Draco Malfoy wanted to be good. How could such a person have the slightest desire to be good? Draco Malfoy had always seemed to be a cold-hearted, jerk. He'd never said one single kind thing, or done one nice act.
"Try not to look too surprised," he muttered.
"I could never imagine you… well being this way," she stated.
"No one could. That's yet another reason why I have to continue on the way I "am"," he said.
"Well I guess that was one step towards knowing each other better. At least closer to my trusting you," she said, "You've opened up to me, I should do the same. Go ahead and ask whatever you like."
"Why did you fall in love with Harry?" he asked. The words just kind of spilled out, he surprised himself by asking it.
"Why? Ha, what kind of question is that? Well he saved me that one time in first year… Then I just kind of developed a crush on him. As we both got older, things changed. He's just really brave and nice. There are tons of things that I really do like about him," she said.
"Right, he's prince charming, the perfect guy. And of course he's the hero of the wizarding world! Again and again and again! Push Voldemort back! But no, no, never actually destroying him!" Draco said.
Ginny rolled her eyes. Then she said, "It's my turn to ask you a question now. How much, in terms of with girls, have you actually done? I've heard thousands of rumors and I'm just curious."
"The very truth? I've had a kiss but that's all. Nothing else other than that. The kiss was stupid and meant nothing anyways," he said.
"Now that, is quite surprising, and quite the opposite of what the rumors are," Ginny giggled.
"Yeah, I know the rumors are bad. It's that damn Pansy Parkinson," he sighed, "So, why did you go along with this deal?"
"Mostly because I trust Dumbledore. If Dumbledore were to tell me I could jump off of Gryffindor tower and not die, then I would probobly try it. He knows what he is doing, so I trust in his judgement. Also, I know that he was right, and Harry can't protect me constantly. Harry's got so many other things to worry about," Ginny said.
"Well thank you for doing it, it's my chance to prove what side I really am on, etc etc," he said.
"So do you completely hate all of my family?" she asked.
"No, I suppose not at all. You're all just easy to pick on and my father has had me convinced since childhood about your family. He believes that all that matters about people is their money, power and what side of the war they are on," he said.
"Well at least he doesn't drone on about muggle things. Really it's muggle this and muggle that! "Oh Harry! What about those lawn machines?" It's ridiculous I tell you," she laughed.
"You know, I really can't think of many other things to ask you right now. It's hard because we've known of each other for years, but we still don't really know each other," Draco said.
"Yes, well, would it be alright with you if I went off? I really do need to talk to Harry about everything. Don't worry everything that was said between us is just between us," she smiled.
"Of course you can go right ahead. Talk to Harry about everything. I'll see you tomorrow about it?" he asked.
"Why not?" Ginny said. Then she headed right out of the trophy room.
Moments later Ginny walked into the Gryffindor common room. It was actually pretty quiet, and unusually empty. There were a few students doing homework. Some of the third year girls were sitting and talking too. Sitting in front of the fireplace was Harry. He was obviously in thought about something.
Ginny walked over to him, she kneeled in front of him. He laced his fingers through her crimson hair, and smiled at her. "I love you," he whispered.
"I know you do," she said, "We need to talk though. Let's go out into the corridor."
She stood up, and took his hand. Once they passed through the Fat Lady's portrait Harry asked, "What's wrong Ginny?"
"Well, it's really rather hard to explain all at once," she began, "Dumbledore wants us to not… not see each other quite as much. He's afraid that Voldemort is going to start going after the people you care about. He's already making me go along with this plan to have, well basically a body guard."
Harry was a bit shocked, "He wants us to not be together?"
"Not that, just he doesn't want us to be around each other as constant as we are. But he's doing all of this in order to protect me. Harry, it's all in our best interest. He's trying to keep us both alive," she said.
"Ginny, I don't want to not be around you. I want to protect you Ginny, I don't want someone else doing it," he said.
"Harry, I will be alright. You don't need to worry about protecting me. All you need to worry about is your school work, Quidditch, if you want, and about Voldemort," she said.
"I can try, I suppose. I'll try to do this, I trust what Dumbledore says. He is normally right. Ginny, one day I won't have to worry about Voldemort. I promise you, that one day we can all live happily and he will be long dead and gone," he whispered.
"So you understand all of this?" she asked.
"Yes, I do. Ginny, I love you," he said, "Who is it that Dumbledore has protecting you."
Ginny didn't want to tell him that it was Draco Malfoy. Surely, if Harry wasn't already about to combust, hearing that his enemy was protecting his girlfriend would make him. Besides Draco couldn't really go around telling people he was attempting to become good.
"I can't really tell you. Harry it's not that I want to keep it from you. I can't though- Dumbledore doesn't want word going around about all of this," Ginny said.
Harry sighed, "I understand. You know I'll be talking to Dumbledore about this. Just to see, from him, what all of this is about."
"Thank you for being so understanding, Harry," she said, "I love you."
Harry kissed Ginny, and then they walked back into the common room.
"See you tomorrow morning," Ginny told him. He nodded in response. Ginny could tell that Harry was disappointed. He wasn't necessarily mad at her, more so himself. He felt as if he wasn't good enough to protect her so Dumbledore had to go find someone else. If Ginny had told him that it was Malfoy doing so, Malfoy may not have lived to see another day. And for some reason… Ginny wanted Draco around.
Wow I've got to say that is the longest "Chapter" I have ever written. I hope that you enjoyed it, the next chapter is already underway! Please Review, too.