Chapter 8

Draco sighed as he leaned his broom in it's usual spot by the door. He closed the door quietly. Blaise was draped over the side of his bed fully dressed, obviously having been waiting for his return.

He left him there, going into his private bathroom. He took a long, hot shower while he thought about the night. Considering the steam that hung like fog in the bathroom by the time he was finished, the water had probably been scalding, but the spell still hadn't worn off yet.

He padded into his room as he dried his hair, pulling open his wardrobe. Blaise started and sprang up into a sitting position as the door of the wardrobe creaked.

"Draco?"

Draco sighed. "I don't recall authorizing a sleep over." He muttered irritably.

Blaise's eyes darted over to where his voice was, searching for him. He pulled out his wand, flicking it at the nearest candle, bringing the light in the room back up to full.

"That's not going to help." Draco said, smirking at the shocked look on Blaise's face as he spoke, his voice coming from thin air under an apparently floating towel.

"Oh Merlin!" Blaise gasped, "Please tell me you're not using that spell!"

Draco let out a little snort. "No... not at all... I must have just scrubbed a bit too much when taking my shower!" He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Are you mental? Didn't you read the warnings?" Blaise said worriedly, standing up.

"No." Draco said offhandedly.

Blaise groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. "Draco..." He said in a profoundly sad voice, "I thought you would give up on it once you read the warnings... I never thought you'd actually USE the spell! I never would have..." He trailed off achingly, looking over in his direction again, his voice becoming more gentle... and frightened... "Have you really become that suicidal? Using a dangerous spell without so much as wondering about the possible consequences?"

Draco paused, thinking about it, then shrugged (Which Blaise only saw through the slight movement in the towel Draco was finishing drying his hair with). "I guess so. Does it really matter? Whether it's something stupid I do, my father's wrath or some demented undead Dark Lord, I'm going to die, and most likely sometime very soon. Might as well be me that does it. That way I won't have to die with that bloody mark on my arm, and it'll probably be a damn sight less painful at least..." He said. His open admission was surprising even to him. He shrugged again. He must just be too used to being open with Ginny. It was refreshing actually... he toyed with the idea of trying the truth out more often.

"Oh Merlin... it's started already..." Blaise said, horrorstruck.

"What has?" Draco said, getting a bit irritable as he saw the look on Blaise's face. He obviously thought there was something terribly wrong with him.

Blaise looked around, spotting the little book on the bedside table and going over, picking it up. He leafed to the correct page and began quoting. "This spell should only be attempted by those of very strong mental discipline and constitution in conjunction with strong protective spells. Unprotected use of this spell erodes mental boundaries and can result in mental instability, disassociative disorders and leave the practitioner open to any host of mentally invasive spells from simple Suggestivity spells to the Imperious curse."

Draco snorted derisively, "If the Dark Lord uses the Imperious curse on me I'm fucked whether I've been dabbling with this spell or not."

Blaise groaned irritably and tossed the book aside. "Draco, please! You have to go to Madam Pomfrey and see if there is any way to undo the damage that's already been done... I mean hopefully just using it once won't..."

"Twice." He cut in.

Blaise blinked. "How long have you spent under it's influence?" He asked fearfully.

Draco thought about it. "Well... about six or seven hours yesterday night... since dusk tonight." He said, pulling out some clothes for the upcoming school day without concern. Blaise just kept staring at the floating clothing with a horrified look on his face.

Draco sighed, tossing the clothes on the bed and took Blaise's shoulder roughly, "Just stop it. I'm not going to Pomfrey. I'm not stopping using the spell. I quite like how it makes me feel to be honest."

Blaise shook his head, "You. Being honest. That right there is enough to make me concerned." he said ruefully. Then his eyes dropped sadly as he let out a shuddering sigh. "Draco..." He said, his voice rife with sorrow and guilt, "If anything happens to you..."

Draco sighed, his grip on his shoulder easing. "This has nothing to do with you Blaise... I was this way long before I used that spell. Don't ever feel upset about how fucked up I am. It really has nothing to do with you..." He paused, seeing a smirk suddenly pulling at the edge of Blaise's mouth. "What?"

Blaise cleared his throat, his cheeks coloring slightly. "Well... I'll never question your word again..."

Draco followed his gaze. "Bloody hell!" He growled, snatching up his towel and wrapping it around his waist. He went over, grabbing up his boxers and working them up under the towel before taking it off again. "Peep show's over, and it's apparently dawn, so bugger off already... the last thing I want is for someone to see YOU coming out of MY room first thing in the morning..."

Blaise smirked, leaning against the bed post and looking Draco over. "Well... looks like someone got a little invisible action..." He said suggestively, "Does the see-through look turn them on?"

Draco furrowed his brow at him.

"Check the mirror." Blaise chuckled.

Draco went over and looked. His pale cheeks flushed slightly. Ginny had left a hickey on his shoulder... and... he turned slightly... some rather nice scratches down his back... He grinned ruefully, then spotted Blaise's smirking reflection behind him and studiously made his face impassive. He also spotted a thin red line from where the Thestral had gotten him, running from his wrist all the way up the inside of his forearm to the bend of his elbow. It looked almost healed despite being no more than a couple of hours old, but still stood out vividly against his pale flesh. He quickly hid that. Definitely not something he wanted Blaise to see... he could imagine what HE would assume had caused it, and he was acting overprotective enough as it was. There's no way he'd believe Draco had simply scratched himself on accident. "I don't believe that's any of your business Zabini."

"About bloody time you got a good shag! I was beginning to wonder if the world was coming to an end or something... I was starting to look for the four horsemen! So who was it?"

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Draco asked somberly.

"Oh come ON! I even offer to share mine with you! Least you could do is TELL me about yours!" Blaise said plaintively.

Draco felt a little relief that Blaise was acting more like normal, but he wasn't about to admit what he'd been doing. "I'm not sharing. Not verbally, and certainly not physically. She's mine. Anyone else even looks at her and I'll gouge their bloody eyes out!"

Blaise giggled. "Man she must be amazing in the sack! Never seen you get all monogamous on me..."

"Oh shut up... your idea of being monogamous is only shagging one person a day!" Draco snorted derisively.

Blaise grinned, not denying it in the slightest.

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Ginny cuddle down into the warm blankets, sighing contentedly. She was starting to wake, but she didn't want to let go of the wonderful dream she'd been having.

"Ginny... come on!" Hermione said impatiently, shaking her shoulder, "We're going to miss breakfast if you don't get out of bed already!"

Ginny groaned irritably, disgruntled at being dragged from her pleasant daze so rudely. "You just go then!" She said, turning over and wondering at the number of blankets she had on her.

"Oh come on..." Hermione said, sitting down. "You know how Ron's been since Harry and I..." She left off, embarrassed, "Well I think it would just be best if you were there to help make sure he feels comfortable... To keep his thought off... things he can't have..." She said pleadingly.

Ginny groaned. For such a smart girl, Hermione could be amazingly thick sometimes. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking? Did she want to think boys all mooned over her? Ginny had known how Ron felt about Harry... probably longer than her brother did himself. She wasn't nearly as blind as people seemed to think... and being practically invisible socially left her plenty of time for silent observation...

She shifted away a bit more and her eyes popped open as she felt a twinge between her legs. She subtly felt around. She didn't have her knickers on... and she wasn't wearing her usual nightshirt. She felt the loose, long sleeves that were long enough to cover her hands as well, and the buttons going up the front of her chest, remembering what had happened the night before. She glanced down, noticing the bottom blanket was the quilt from the owlry. It wasn't a dream!

"Ginny?" Hermione asked, leaning over to try to see her face to see if she was awake still.

Ginny quickly realized she had been silent for a minute. "Ok, ok!" She muttered. "Go down and wait in the common room. I'll run through the shower and be down in a minute!"

"Ok..." Hermione said with trepidation, "But if you're not down in fifteen minutes I'm coming right back up here!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Just go!" She said with exasperation.

Hermione got off the side of her bed. "Fine. I'll be waiting." She paused, "And you know you wouldn't need so many blankets if you'd close the window properly." She said, closing the window that had been left ajar.

Ginny grinned, blushing and grateful Hermione couldn't see her. Once the door was closed she hazarded a look around, making sure all of her roommates were already gone. The room was empty. She sat up and tossed back the covers, then giggled, seeing the boy's shirt she was wearing. She fingered the stylish mother of pearl buttons before hurrying over to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, her cheeks glowing.

She hugged herself, smelling the cologne still lingering in the soft white material of the oversized shirt. Reluctantly, she removed it. She smirked as she saw several small hickeys on her neck. She knew he had been getting a bit carried away there... She knew a spell that would get rid of them... but she couldn't quite bring herself to... she cast a little cosmetic Glamour over them instead, then hurried through the shower.

When she was done she hurried into her room, carefully folding the shirt and slipping it into the bottom of her trunk before throwing on some clothes and hurrying out, hoping her face wasn't glowing as much as she was.

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AN: To those of you who wondered, yes I DO have a bit of it written, I'm just hoping to be able to finish it before you all catch up with me! :) I am not posting it all at once in case you all find errors/plot hole/etc. I also like to recheck each chapter before I post it. If you guys have any suggestion, I can't say that I will USE them, but I'll take them into consideration. I have a pretty good idea of where this is going, but I'm open to suggestions to help flesh it out a bit. Oh, and I will be on a trip tomorrow and may not post then, but should resume on Sunday.