Late that night, when the sorting and the welcome feast was over, all the Gryffindoor girls sat together on Hermione's bed which had been made to look like a little nest, as all the girls had brought their blankets and cushions over. It was a chilly night, so the house elves had already got the fires burning, giving the cosy dormitory a warm glow.
They were all talking and giggling together about all the wonderful things they had gotten up to that summer.
Parvarti had just finished her story about how her muggle father had taken them fishing, and her and her sister had gotten so frustrated with the dumb fish not biting the hook of the rod that they levitated them out of the water instead.
"There was an old man sitting on a bench by the bank of the lake and he looked completely gob smacked when he saw actual flying fish!" she finished. The girls all laughed loudly, thinking about the poor muggle man, who was probably taking pills for what he had seen.
Ginny, who had been lying on the bed with her head resting on Hermione's lap jumped up suddenly and yanked her pyjama top upwards to show off her new piercing. The girls all stared at it, wide eyed, telling Ginny how exotic it looked.
"Did it hurt?" Luna asked, her eyes even wider than usual.
"No, not really; it just feels like someone pinching you really hard, really quickly" Ginny replied with a shrug.
"You must be the only girl in the whole school who's got one. That's so wild!" Lavender told her with a playful push.
Ginny lay back down, happy that her friends hadn't thought her completely mental for doing it.
"So? Who else has gossip?" She asked, wanting to keep the conversation going. She didn't feel like going to sleep just yet.
Lavender fiddled with a strand of her hair and bit her lip until it turned deep red.
"I do" she said, looking a little pale. Ginny looked up at Hermione who was looking right back at her. This was going to be good.
"What is it Lavender?" Parvarti asked, looking a little worried about what her very nervous looking friend.
"Well, you remember my sister, Holly?" They all nodded. How could they forget? Holly was Lavender's very striking older sister, who was in Fred and George's year. She had been placed in Slytherin, which had caused a big scandal as the Browns were a very well known wizarding family, who had always remained on the good side during the war.
"She dragged me to a bar on Knockaturn Alley one night after Dean broke up with me. I was a mess and hadn't left the house for days and in her opinion, the only way for me to snap out of my little depression was to get 'good and drunk'" Lavender said shaking her head.
"Well, I decide to go along and who shows up? Malfoy and his stupid Slytherin friends. Holly being the silly twit she is thought it would be a great idea if we went over to join them, and seeing as I was completely out of it after three shot of fire whiskey, I couldn't be bothered to argue, so we did" Lavender was going red slowly, and she looked like she wanted to cry.
"And Malfoy spent the whole night being really really sweet to me. I know that's hard to believe, but it's true. Anyway, so when we leave the bar, it is pouring with rain, and Malfoy grabs my hand and we ran up to the Leaky Couldron. I was so drunk, I could hardly walk, so when we stumbled in, he suggested he ask for a room for the night so that I wouldn't have to go home to my parents in such a state" Ginny's eyes were widening. She glanced up at Hermione whose eyes were just as round, knowing what would happen next. Malfoy's reputation precedes him.
"I thought he was just being good mannered, but when we got to the room, his hands were everywhere. And the thing is, I didn't try to stop him. He had been so nice to me all night, I thought he genuinely liked me" There were a few tears rolling down Lavenders pale cheeks, her head down, avoiding eye contact with her shocked friends.
"Next thing I know…we've done it, and I look up at him, smiling like the fool that I am thinking he'll keep being sweet to me. He just smirked back at me, put his jacket back on and left without a word!" She finished angrily. She finally looked up to meet the gazes of all the girls. They looked horrified. They all sat silently for a moment, taking in what they had just heard.
"I knew he was a wanker, but that it really really low…" Hermione said quietly.
"You poor thing!" Parvarti exclaimed grabbing Lavender into a big hug.
"What a pig!" Luna said shaking her head.
"I bet his penis was the size of a chipolata" Ginny said with a grin, always ready to inject some comic relief into any intense situation.
At that, all the girls, including Lavender started laughing. Luna picked a pillow up and chucked it at Ginny and Ginny sent one soaring right back. After a few minutes, pillows were flying everywhere and they were giggling so loudly Ron had to come and tell them to shut up because the boys were all trying to get some sleep.
That night Ginny lay awake for hours, listening to Hermione's calm breathing, Parvarti's light snoring, Lavender's huffing and sighing and Luna's occasional sleep talking.
Malfoy had really crossed the line this time. She didn't care when he insulted her, but to insult her mother was an entirely different kettle of fish. Now the fact that he had taken advantage of one of her best friends was bringing her blood to boiling temperature. He could do what he wanted with the little Slytherin sluts, but he had to learn that just because he is a devastatingly handsome, broad shouldered, brilliantly built sex God, does not mean he can get away with all he does.
The little malicious voice deep in Ginny's mind was back and this time it was telling her that she was the very girl who would teach him a lesson and beat the tosser at his own game. A game she knew she could play.
…………………………………………………………………………
"Evening all" Ginny said brightly as she skipped towards the Gryffindoor table in the great hall. It was dinner time and she was starved. She'd woken up late that morning and didn't have time for breakfast and then had to spend her lunch time cleaning up a potions spillage caused by Colin Creevey.
Hermione looked on at Ginny, scowling slightly. She was out of breath and her hair was windblown, her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright running from her final lesson to the great hall. Her boys white shirt was frayed at the collar and cuffs and was half tucked into her skirt and half not and her tie was askew. Most people would look terrible in such a state, but somehow Ginny just looked more perfect than usual. That always irritated Hermione, who had always put a lot of effort into looking just so.
She sighed inwardly and watched as Ginny then piled her plate high with chicken, potatoes, parsnips and rolls. Hermione glanced down at her modest selection of bread, ham, cheese and salad, marvelling at how Ginny could eat like a pig and still be so slender. Hermione swore that if she wasn't best friends with Ginny, she'd probably hate her.
Just then Ginny prodded Hermione's leg with hers, snapping her out of her unkind thought.
"I have an idea for a new project. Come meet me in the library at 7:30" she whispered so that the boys wouldn't hear her. Then she went back to stuffing herself. Hermione smiled. It was hard not to love Ginny. She was always doing something fun and exciting.
Ginny pushed the heavy oak door of the library open and winced at the nasty creaking noise it made. The librarian looked up at her with a very cross look on her face. Ginny looked back apologetically.
She spotted Hermione on one of the far tables, leaning over some parchment, scribbling away. Ginny sometimes wished she could be as academic as Hermione was, but she guessed that it wasn't in her character so wasting time fretting about it would be a pointless.
Ginny slid into the chair beside her friend and read the title of her essay
"Compare the properties of eryngium and alstroemeria"
Ginny stuck a finger down her throat and made a retching noise. The librarian turned around with a strict "sssshhhhhh!" and Ginny giggled.
"So, what's the project?" Hermione whispered when the librarian had gone back to doing the Witch Weekly crossword.
"I'd like to entitle it: Making that Malfoy git pay" she said smiling sweetly at her friend. This grabbed Hermione's attention.
"Oh?" She said, a grin spreading on her face. "I like the sound of that"
"I thought you might" Ginny whispered back.
"Do you know how you're going to go about doing such a thing?" Hermione asked, forgetting all about her boring old essay.
"Well, sort of" Ginny said slowly "I didn't at first, but then when I got to thinking about it, I got a bit of an idea" she began, mischief playing in her cat like eyes.
"What does Malfoy revel in even more than making people miserable?"
Hermione was silent.
"Building up his silly little reputation; You know, notches above his bed post and all that nonsense. I bet you anything he does that actually…" she trailed off a little before giving her head a small shake and getting back to her point.
"And lets face it, pretty much every girl at this blasted school would drop her kickers at the click of his perfectly preened fingers, and the infuriating thing is, he knows it. He knows that he can seduce anybody, anytime"
"How on earth does this benefit us Gin?" Hermione said, looking confused.
"Well, imagine if he comes across someone who refuses to visit his bed. Who laughs at his attempts at seduction and drives him so crazy with lust, he cannot stand it" She said, excitement burning in her eyes.
"He would hate it. He would be so desperate for this one girl that he would lose interest in the others, wishing and praying that she would finally give in. She would have beaten him at his own game" she finished, searching Hermione's face for her reaction.
Hermione's eyebrows were furrowed and she looked up at her friend with doubt.
"That seems pretty dangerous to me Ginny. And rather far fetched. Who do we know who could lure Malfoy into such a trap?"
At that, Ginny smiled as smile that Hermione hadn't seen before. It was almost predatory.
"YOU?" Hermione shrieked, causing the half asleep librarian to jump from her seat and spin around looking for the cause of such a racket in her dear library.
Hermione waited for her to sit back down before asking again
"You?"
"Why not?" Ginny replied taken aback.
"Why so?"
"Because I could Hermione. And the only way to fight fire is with fire, and this time he has gone too far and needs to be punished"
"I agree, but have you any idea how ridiculous this sounds? You want to seduce Draco Malfoy! Ron will go mad if he found out and what if you started to like him?"
"Hah, fat chance of that happening. Do you recall who we are talking about here?"
"Yes, but Malfoy's can be very charming when they want to be"
"I can handle it" Ginny said, looking Hermione in the eyes, determination in her voice.
"But I'll need your help and your support. Destroying the dragon will not be easy, but if I don't get back at him somehow for the years he spent humiliating me then I'll always regret that. I need to do it for that shy little girl I use to be. And I don't want to just hex him, like in Umbrigde's office. That's far too easy. No…I want to make him realise that he has been beaten by me. I need to win".