Hey all! Look at this, another update! I have to warn you, I don't know when the next one will be after this as I have THREE midterms this week. Eek, uni sucks. Anyhow, thanks so much for the reviews to all who did them. I will be responding to them after the end of the chapter. I'd like to once again entreat you all to keep reviewing. It helps get more people to read the ff if there are a lot of reviews, first of all. And second, it helps me know what kinds of things sound good to you, if there's anything I need to work on, etc. etc. Finally, it encourages me to write more. Ok, so this chapter is a good one...things continue to heat up for our little ship. So enjoy!
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Chapter 21: Systems
"Beelzebub." Draco said it in such a hurry that he was surprised when the wall actually vanished to reveal the empty Slytherin common room. The fire roused itself as Draco dashed through, crackling and snapping as he bounded up the stairs. Flinging the door open to his bedroom, Draco had to double back to secure the it shut. He could take no chances of someone accidentally overhearing the conversation he was about to have.
Draco headed straight for the fireplace and dropped to his knees before scooping a handful of the emerald dust from a canister and throwing it into the hearth. Immediately an eerily green fire erupted making Draco squint reactively.
"Home," he said clearly, lowering his head into the flames. Before him lay the Malfoy Manor's entryway he had left mere hours ago.
"Master Malfoy," a startled house elf screeched, dropping a tray full of dirtied teacups with a deafening shatter. "Sorry, so sorry, good sir...very sorry, sir...will punish self good, sir..." The elf continued bowing, apologizing, picking up the pieces of the broken tea set and had already begun beating its head against the wall before Draco could even open his mouth.
"Never mind!" Draco finally said sternly enough to stop the manic house elf. Merlin, these creatures were not worth the trouble they caused. "Get me my father immediately."
"Oh. Oh dear, sir," the elf began with quivering voice, wringing it's knotted hands, its bat-like ears flopping as he look nervously around the entryway. "I am afraid Master and Mistress just left for a party. Yes, Master and Mistress are extremely social, yes, very popular."
Of course they were out. The one time Draco tried to contact them, they were at another one of their insufferable parties. At least Draco could be grateful for one thing: he had not been dragged along with them. As a small child Draco had been forced to attend social affairs with his parents where he was poked, prodded, kissed, hugged, and petted by all the older women. At one point Narcissa had forced him to stand on a stool in the middle of the room so all the couples could look at what a fine young man he was turning into; he had felt like a regular circus act. Yes, he felt particularly grateful to be at Hogwarts at this moment.
"Tell my father the instant he returns home to contact me. It's urgent." The house elf was still bowing and praising the youngest Malfoy as he pulled his head out of the fire ending communication.
After going through the hassle of speaking to that worthless animal AND getting soot on his newly pressed shirt, Draco still knew nothing. Rising to his feet, he began uncharacteristically pacing about the room. If Ginny was still alive—which she most definitely was tonight, Draco thought, trailing his fingers lightly against his lips—then how did he get the Dark Mark? To get the Dark Mark, there had to be a test of loyalty. His test was to kill Ginny, and he had. It was that simple, or so it appeared.
There was a growing rumble from below as the Slytherin students began filing in from dinner that shook Draco from his thoughts. He'd ask Pansy, she would know something. Hurriedly opening his door once more, Draco pushed past the various students as he ascended the stairs to find Pansy chatting with her friends below.
"Pansy!" Draco called from the bottom of the staircase, making several heads turn. "Uh, I need to, uh, talk to you," he said more quietly, hoping it came out unrushed and natural. Even in the Slytherin house you couldn't be too sure.
Pansy's gang of Slytherin girls giggled and she noticeably smirked at them, there was no doubt what they were thinking. "Of course, Draco," Pansy said evenly, walking calmly after him as he climbed the winding Slytherin house stairs once again.
"What do you know about how I became a Death Eater?" Draco asked the minute he closed the door behind them. Pansy frowned. This was not what she was expecting, a fact Draco brushed aside with ease.
"Well." She stuttered, shrugged, and then crossed the room towards Draco's bed. "I know that you killed old what's-her-name in the field where the farmer found her. It was in all of the papers the next day. I don't think it was smart of them to have you kill a girl whose family is so involved in the Ministry of Magic. Weren't being too careful," Pansy said almost lazily, lowering herself onto Draco's bed and lounging on her side as if on a Victorian chaise, posing for a nude portrait.
Draco failed to notice her behavior and continued on. "And the girl they found... who was it?" He wouldn't have thought it possible, but Pansy snorted.
"You were there, Draco," she laughed, resting her head on her palm, the corners of her mouth turned up.
"Blood hell, just tell me!" Draco yelled having lost what little patience he had previously possessed. This was no joke, how could she not see this? The unperceptive, twittering hag.
Pansy's face turned down, the game having obviously ended. "Well I don't remember her name, Draco," she snapped pointedly, sitting up as Draco was obviously in no mood. "I don't consult with THOSE types of people."
She was useless, utterly useless. Draco had been wrong about Pansy, she hadn't changed, she wasn't more mature, and the comfort he found in her company days ago had vanished without a trace. He was just about to banish her from his room forever when she spoke again. "You know her though, Draco. That ridiculous Hufflepuff with the hideously thick, pink glasses...the one we're always saying must have been bred by trolls?"
"Mortenson?" Draco asked incredulously. "Mildred Mortenson?" Images of the time when Mildred furiously batted her eyelashes at Draco until the weight of her body forced her to the floor in the Great Hall ran through his brain. That was when he received the owl asking Draco to be in the History of Magic classroom. He had assumed it was from Mildred. It was only by his nagging curiosity that he found himself waiting outside the classroom that night. And it was Ginny that had shown up, much to Draco's surprise.
But how did that make any sense? He had clearly both seen and killed Ginny that night. There is no way in Merlin's crystal ball that he had mistaken an ogre like Mortenson for Ginny. It's true that Mildred's family was very involved in the Ministry, and her father was attached to every anti-Dark Lord movement, but so was Ginny's. But Ginny was most definitely alive, here, at Hogwarts now. Draco rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger, this was all very confusing.
"Why are you even surprised? You're the one that killed her, my father said so," Pansy added, looking as if Draco had become a creature of insanity, sprouting an extra pair of heads before her very eyes.
"Get out," Draco sighed heavily.
"What?" Pansy asked, her tone both scandalized and shocked but unmoved from her perch on Draco's bed.
"I said leave. I need to think," Draco repeated simply. She stared at him with an open mouth as if at any moment he'd come to his senses and beg her to stay. When Draco remained silent, she rose to her feet.
"Fine," Pansy huffed as she crossed the room and exited, letting the door slam to demonstrate her annoyance.
Draco, preoccupied with the situation at hand, barely acknowledged her leaving. He had killed Mildred Mortenson, not Ginny. Was the Dark Lord trying to trick him? Was it all a joke? Perhaps he had been so overwhelmed by thoughts of Ginny that it was manifest in seeing her instead of Mildred, or some other explanation involving psychological mumbo-jumbo. Exhaling slowly, Draco moved to his bed and fell backwards onto it. He felt nothing having really killed Mildred instead of Ginny—trading in a Gryffindor for a Hufflepuff. Either was he had proved his loyalty to the Dark Lord and one more muggle lover was out of the way. Yet Draco couldn't deny there was something...what was it? Relief?
Night had never passed so slowly—Draco had spent much of it tossing and turning, getting water from the bathroom, or attempting and failing to start on his homework. He had stayed up all night, expecting his father's head to appear in the eerie green flames at any moment. It never did and when the sun finally rose, Draco had already showered, dressed, and was on his way to breakfast.
The day passed much the same way as the night had. Draco spent the better part of Transfiguration staring at the windows, waiting to see the flapping wings and hear the pecking of his father's owl at the window. This ended in a bit of embarrassment when Draco, preoccupied with his watch, swished his wand the wrong way and transfigured one of Goyle's feet into the base of a cloak rack. Draco managed to blame it on Longbottom, the infamous blunder-King, with ease and grinned more widely when McGonnagal went so far as to take points away from the Gryffindorks. He was certain they'd start an uprising, and leaned back in his chair to watch it all.
Ginny wasn't there, (a frowning Pansy was, however) Draco noticed immediately when he entered the Great Hall later that evening for dinner. Where was she? What was she doing? His obsession had come back full-force ever since he'd seen her alive. It didn't particularly help that Draco had pulled Ginny into a fiery kiss the moment he'd seen her. Definitely not his smartest move; he could not allow himself to be tangled up in another one of Ginny's sticky webs.
The door to the Great Hall opened with an echoing creak and Draco's head shot up. It was a group chattering Ravenclaws. Not Ginny. Draco turned back to his thoughts. On top of his regained obsession, his father had still not replied. When he returned to his dorm, Draco would immediately try to contact his father again. No doubt the careless elf just never relayed the message, which he would be punished for.
Draco ate the last bit of custard clinging to the sides of the bowl and watched the dirtied dishes disappear before getting to his feet and heading out the door. As if pre-arranged by the fates, Ginny was waiting (or so it appeared) outside the doors.
"Bloody hell..." she swore exasperatedly, her shoulders slumping.
Draco's mouth curled into a pleasantly surprised grin. "You have to stop following me, Weasley. It really is getting quite pathetic."
"I'm not!" she immediately protested. Draco could tell Ginny was being honest, but it didn't stop him from having a little fun.
"I was confident in my performance, but I didn't realize they'd turn you into a stalker. Perhaps I would have been more discerning had I known," Draco said silkily, provoking her further. He wanted to see her worked up again. He wanted to bend and shape her emotions and then leave her to fall.
"I'm not having this conversation, Malfoy," Ginny said abruptly, obviously having made some prior resolve to avoid Draco. Turning around, she began to head back the way she came. Draco smirked—no doubt planning to hide out in the Gryffindor common room out of the Slytherin's reach.
"Still trying to adhere to the Mudblood's rules?" Draco teased, letting her walk away a few paces before beginning to follow. "I daresay you will not be successful," he added when close enough to whisper it. "The girls of Hogwarts have never been able to resist me."
Ginny wheeled around so suddenly Draco almost lost his balance. "How CAN you be so brash all the time? Do you ever stop!?" Her voice came out it short, harsh bursts.
"And how can YOU be so emotional all the time?" he countered. "I've been around a fair share of women, and you are, by far, the craziest of them all."
"Are you ever sensible?" Ginny replied quickly, her cheeks reddening.
"Are YOU ever sensible?" Draco said without a thought.
"Why do you do this?" She asked just as quickly and waving a hand in the air for emphasis.
"Why do you enjoy it?" Draco taunted, stepping close enough to her so he could see every flaring freckle scattered across Ginny's face.
"Who said I did?" She snipped, turning away once again and continuing her retreat. That's it, Draco thought, run away.
"Do you deny it?" Ginny laughed at Draco's tenacious question but did not reply and made a quick turn instead. Draco, hot on her heels, followed suit. "Do you even know where you're going Weasley?" She did not reply and kept walking briskly. Draco was tiring quickly of this game and gripped her arm, forcing her to stop and turning her to face him. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it's not polite to ignore someone?" He asked, his face dangerously close to hers.
"You are not one to lecture on manners, Malfoy. You really ARE a ferret, you know that?" She snapped when Draco wouldn't release her struggling arm.
"Ferret or not, you can't stop thinking about me. About what we did. You know what I want and I know you want it too, so don't act all Ms. Morality with me." Again, Ginny did not reply and her body stopped struggling. "Neither of us likes the situation, so the faster we get it out of systems the faster we can move on." His voice was progressively softening, as well as his grip.
She was biting her bottom lip, chewing it to pieces no doubt due to her internal struggle. Draco distinctly remembered doing the same weeks before. "You think it will go away, then?" Her voice was small, but it pounded and echoed in Draco's ears. She was admitting it! She was being controlled by the same chaotic forces!
"Yes," he managed to say evenly. It was hard to foresee a time when there would not be this overwhelming burning sensation inside, when his body would finally obey his brain, when he would not feel these things. It hadn't come when Ginny was supposedly dead. But this HAD to go away, and Draco was determined to do what he could to make it.
The dark hallway was silent except for the sound of Ginny's uneven, scared breathing. Was she trembling? He had always gotten pleasure in making her squirm before, but not now.
"Don't," he said awkwardly. She took her bottom lip between her teeth again but continued shaking. "Don't," he said again, raising a hand to cup her flushed cheek and trailing it down her jaw before lifting her chin.
Her dark eyes met his hesitantly for an instant before her eyelids closed and their lips met. Their previous kisses were always rushed and hungry. This was entirely new with a different kind of passion.
He still felt Ginny's small body tremble against his. Instinctively he did not push or force her on, he waited for her to want it. Little by little, she relaxed under his kiss and reached a single arm to encircle Draco's neck. Normally such a languid pace would be dull enough for Draco to call it quits and send the girl off with the suggestion that she return when she became woman enough. But this was anything but boring and Draco took the opportunity to memorize every centimeter of Ginny's smooth lips. And then they parted for Draco's tongue, and he began the task of memorizing every curve, bump, and corner of the inside of her mouth.
Soon Ginny's other arm wrapped around Draco's neck, holding on as if at any moment he might leave. Somehow Draco didn't mind. His hands moved to her back, caressing it and following the curve of her spine. How could it feel so good to hold someone, especially when that someone was the enemy? On her own, Ginny move forward, sliding against Draco's body. If she wasn't careful, Draco would not be willing to stop.
He moved his mouth down her jaw, to the sensitive spot below her ear, and down the creamy skin of her neck. She curled her fingers in Draco's hair and moaned softly—Draco would definitely be less willing to stop now.
"Draco..."
Oh merlin, now she was saying his name... his FIRST name. This was definitely heading in a destination that wouldn't be particularly safe to go to in an open hallway.
"Draco..." she said again. "It will stop?"
"What?" he muttered against her neck, sucking and kissing it as she swirled her hands through his hair.
"We...we just have to...," she began breathily, sighing several times, "get it out...of our systems? And it will stop?"
"Yes," he replied, needing to convince himself of the fact just as much as her.
She nodded slightly and moved a hand to cup Draco's jaw, directing his mouth back to hers for a more intense kiss. He pulled her more tightly against him, a hand sliding slightly under the back of her button up shirt. His limbs were not responding to his brain anymore, and the hallway was becoming a more and more dangerous place.
"Draco," she pulled her mouth away from him slightly, "take me to your dorm...before dinner is over..."
Slightly startled by her request, Draco remained motionless momentarily. Rarely had he been caught off guard, but then, Ginny had been the exception to many trends. He lowered his arm, silently agreeing. In a move that only added to Draco's surprise, he entwined their hands together before leading Ginny to his room.
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Ok, now to respond to your comments.
Quidditch3- Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you've been reading all the way along.
Claire- I hope everything became even clearer for you in this chapter.
AxelBlaze- Most to almost all of the confusion should be sorted out in the next chapter. I shall continue writing!!
Wingedcinner- You're very perceptive to have picked up on it being another girl. Good for you! Yeah, poor Draco... he's being eaten up inside. That is, when he isn't snogging Ginny senseless. Lol If we could be so lucky, eh?
Laura Riddle- Thanks for your enthusiasm. It takes me a while, sometimes, to update because of school and work, etc. Hope I don't keep you waiting too long.