Nine: Surprise an Oxymoron!
The thing that had bothered Ginny, which she remembered when she finally woke up, was the fact that she was not the only one who heard voices in the forest. It sounded as if Malfoy too had heard a native from behind. It scared her that after almost three days they had not seen any of the natives. Maybe they both just heard voices that would come with the thought of being lost.
However, she knew she wasn't going mad…at least not yet. It was as if they were waiting for something. Maybe what she heard weren't even the sounds of actual humans. They could have been some of the creatures on the island. What if that thing that both of them heard was something that was waiting for a good moment to pounce on them. However, by now that creature would know they were pretty much defenseless with malfunctioning wands. That creature might have just been checking to see if they were predators. She still hoped that that thing wasn't checking to see if they would make good prey. All this mysteriousness was starting to scare her and she didn't like it. She yearned to be safe again and on the island that she was supposed to be on. So far all they saw were some birds and crabs, but no other creatures. This fact added to the eeriness of the island.
She yawned and got out of her bed. Ginny found some extra clothes that Hermione had left out for her the night before. She was still not able to unshrink her trunk and continued to wear Hermione's clothes. She went out to get something to eat; the bag that Harry and Ginny had kept to keep the fruits in was placed right outside of their tent. Hermione and Harry had both said they couldn't stand the smell of the fruit for a long period of time so they put it outside in a basket. They had used a sticking charm so that the basket would stick to both the boys' and girls' tent, and this was the only thing that connected the two. The endless jug however, was thought not to be too safe outside of the tent so Hermione had kept that in the girls' tent. She argued that both her and Ginny were more organized and would not lose something, which both Ron and Harry were very capable of doing. It was amusing to hear both Ron and Harry's arguments of why they were capable of just a jug. Hermione then reminded them of the times that Harry forgot his invisibility cloak, and managed to get a detention. Then Ginny reminded her brother of the time they had found their old owl Pig stuck inside of a gum shield created by Fred and George. When the girls won the argument they made sure they put the jug in a safe place that Harry and Ron wouldn't be able to find unless they would ask for it. Knowing that both of them loved to prove themselves capable of anything they had to hide the jug. It was after all a very important item.
Ginny was sorting through the fruits, trying to pick one that she felt she wanted to eat. However, she was starting to get sick of fruit, and since they were not very filling she knew they were going to have to soon resort to some other types of food. Already, the bag of corned beef sandwiches was almost empty. The boxes that Ginny had kept much food in were still shrunken along with her trunk. Maybe they could go fishing, or they could at least get one of the boys to go out to hunt. The thought then struck her – they didn't know what to hunt for. At the same time she did not want to think of the idea of hunting for food. It seemed to be something that was very uncivilized. Somehow, the thought of hunting reminded her of the war. To her in some strange way hunting reminded her of the way a Death Eater would creep up on their next victim. She didn't want to think of anything that reminded her of the war. Things like that made her shiver. However, she decided that something like this could not bother her, for there were so many other things that she could use to occupy her mind at the moment.
When she finally picked out a fruit that satisfied her, she sat down to peel it open. During this time she heard the familiar rustle of the opening of a tent. She looked up and saw Malfoy come out. Of all the people to wake up early with her, why did it have to be him? She gave him a small glare and continued to peel open her purple fruit. After she peeled it she found a nearby log and with the help of her wand dragged it to use it as a sort of bench. She sat down and decided to ignore his presence for as long as possible, which wasn't very long.
"What are you doing?" Malfoy asked.
"I'm trying to eat." She thought that was pretty obvious.
"How do you even know that is edible?" He asked. His stomach was grumbling, and he didn't want to risk eating something poisonous. After all he had a business to maintain and if he was killed off by some sort of poisonous fruit that wouldn't make his name look good. Then again, if the girl was eating it then he could also eat it too.
"Mione has a survival guide book, which showed us a spell to check if certain fruits or vegetables are edible. Do you want one?" She asked smirking. Her expression made it look as if the fruit was indeed toxic.
He didn't answer but took the same kind of fruit out of the basket. Draco decided that he had to trust her for why would a healer try to poison her own patient? He took a bite out of it and gave her a disgusted look, "This is so bitter how can you eat this…this ghastly thing!" He paused and then answered his own question, "But then again knowing that you are a Weasley you probably are used to eating anything that you can get your hands on."
Ginny shrugged off the insult; she knew it would come from a Malfoy. Instead she giggled, "Don't you know weasels and ferrets are related?"
He glared at her then scooted away from her. Then he decided to pick the pink fruit. He took a bite out of it and was more satisfied with this one. "This one tastes pink," he said almost to himself.
"I said that too, Harry wouldn't believe me. He said food doesn't taste like colors." She replied.
Malfoy was quite surprised that the Weasel girl would actually want to talk to him. However, ever since his fifth year she did seem to be less shy and more social. He noticed that at the same time she would spend her time with the outcasts of her school, like Lovegood or Longbottom. Maybe she thought he was going to be lonely, and that idea angered him a bit. If she thought he was some sort of outcast she was wrong. There was no way a Weasley could ever pity a Malfoy. That thought in itself would probably make his father turn over in his grave.
Since Malfoy didn't say anything back she then asked in an amused tone, "So Malfoy, what are you going to do about clothes? It doesn't seem as if you have a trunk with you…I don't know if Harry or Ron would want to share any of their clothes with you. They wouldn't want Malfoy germs on them. Hermione wouldn't share her clothes for sure, because they probably wouldn't fit you and she wouldn't want someone that has called her a mud-blood all her life to even think about touching her clothes. I would share my clothes, but then again they are shrunken in my trunk. Also, if they were unshrunken I doubt I would even think to share them with you. Your presence itself has made my brother sick and I don't think it would be nice to see him vomit when you would be in my clothes." She started to ramble and stopped to see Malfoy's expression.
She decided that it was better to talk to Malfoy now, for he was now part of their group until he found his friend. They didn't know how long it would be until they were reunited, and so Ginny decided it would be best if she talked to him. This way, maybe just maybe Malfoy would ease up on all of them and they would all be able to have a civil conversation. Another reason why she decided to soften up on him was because she found out after healing him that he wasn't a Death Eater. After the war healers were taught a charm that would reveal an old mark on a wizard's skin. This was used primarily to find out if wizards or witches used to be Death Eaters.
After Harry killed Voldermort the mark faded on all of the Death Eaters' skin. To find if they were evil or not this charm would bring up old marks. Ginny had used this charm on Malfoy and found no mark. It surprised her that Malfoy was not a Death Eater. However, the thought deep in her mind was that some Death Eaters were able to escape the charm by using Dark Magic. This magic was very complicated. Only a Death Eater that really had to hide a deep dark secret would use such magic. Usually, healers would not perform the spell so other Death Eaters felt no worry when they decided not to use the spell. Most healers believed that almost all Death Eaters would have a very difficult time trying to use a complicated counter-spell in order to prevent their mark from being seen. Nowadays, most Death Eaters would get a fair and safe trial so the spell wasn't needed. If there was no mark on his skin, he should be trusted.
"Like I would want Weasel or Scarhead germs on me either." He replied a while later. Even though he was a twenty-two year old man acting like an immature first year student, he was still talking with a Weasley. He was talking to a Weasley that was lost on an island with him. If things could get any more confusing and strange, this would just be normal. And at the moment the immature statement was normal. Draco then took out something from his pocket and showed it to Ginny and haughtily said, "I got my trunk here right in my pocket. Like I would trust it with Pansy."
He then took out his ebony wand and unshrunk his trunk. Ginny was surprised that he could actually do the spell on the island, but said nothing. Just because he could manage to do one spell perfectly did not mean that his wand was perfectly normal. She didn't want to create more suspicions now, after all he was not a Death Eater. Also, he obviously did not come on this island ready to attack them, as healing him was a very difficult process. She changed the topic but still decided to keep a closer watch on him.
"Malfoy we were going to ask you how you even got on the island. Would you care to tell me?"
"I don't want to tell you anything. I just want to find Pansy and get off this island with her." Draco replied.
"Well I am not my brother, Hermione, or Harry; or in your words – Weasel, Mud-blood or Scarhead. You barely talked to me in school, aside from the bat boogey hex in my fourth year. That wasn't talking though," she started to ramble remembering encounters with him in school, "My point is, we need to figure out how to get off this island, and Hermione said that the best way is first to find out how we got on this island. So.."
"I get your point Weaselette. Fine, if that means you will stop bothering me then I will talk," he said holding his hands up in a surrendering position. He made sure to emphasize his new nickname for the woman sitting next to him. It was just to prove that she too was part of the group that he abhorred. However, for the first time in the history of magic, a Weasley grinned at a Malfoy.