Hello, I hope you enjoy my first Chapter! It was supposed to be longer but I wrote it all on holiday and couldn't be bothered typing up everything, so I decided to turn Chapter one into two chapters :) ah… it feels great to be lazy… :-P lol. Well, have fun reading!

SNAKES AND LADDERS

CHAPTER ONE : FANTA.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT DEREK AND THE PLOT. ALL HAIL J.K.ROWLING! (You can all hail me too though if you want  )

It's been a couple weeks back at Hogwarts, and a lot of stuff had been happening. Hermione was elected head girl, to no one's surprise. However, Derek, a sixth year slytherin had been appointed head boy, much to everyone's astonishment. Harry and Ron had been anxious that Draco Malfoy would have gotten chosen, but apparently not.

Ginny was now in her fifth year at Hogwarts, and her mother had been very disappointed that she had not been voted prefect. Fred and George however had been delighted, and had wasted no time in telling her.

Also, Percy had come home again. After a few apologies and tearful reunions, he was part of the Weasely family again, and everyone (with the exception of the twins) was happy.

Also, Ginny seemed to notice a change in Draco Malfoy. Maybe she was just fantasizing it, but he seemed to be kinder towards her. Just a little bit. But it was scary all the same. He didn't make snotty remarks anymore as she passed the corridors. That might not seem much, but to Ginny it meant a whole load. And it was scaring the shit out of her.

But apart from that, not a lot had changed, except her sudden liking for Derek. Since the first time she'd laid eyes on him in the Hogwarts Express, she'd fantasized about him, and even at night he seemed to be in her dreams. Every time he passed her in the corridors her heart would beat wildly in her chest, and she wouldn't dare look him in the eye. And every time he heard his deep voice, her cheeks would flush and she'd be in Derek Dream land. It was love at first sight for Ginny, and it was killing her, yet she clung on to it with her life.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was eight o'clock in the morning, and Ginny Weasely watched as the owls swooped into the great hall, and dropped packages into their owner's laps. Ginny had never owned a pet, and longed for one. She wished she had an owl. One with dark grey feathers and a pointy beak, and light grey or brilliant green eyes.

"Hello? Earth to Ginny." She turned her head and found herself looking into her best friend Hermione's dark brown eyes. She blinked.

"Sorry. Say that again?"

But Hermione had already noticed that she'd been in dream land. And her head just so happened to be turned in Derek's direction… yeah, right. Hermione was smiling at her curiously.

"I sense a disturbance in the force." She said, mimicking Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. She only noticed after she said it that she'd made a mistake.

"Say what?"

Hermione shook her head impatiently. "Never mind."

Secretly glad that Hermione had dropped the subject – Ginny didn't want anyone to find out that she had a crush on a slytherin, especially not Hermione, who shared a common room with him – she reached for a piece of toast and bit into it. She preferred her toast plain, unlike most people.

The bell went, and people started flooding out of the great hall and into the direction of their classes. Hermione caught her arm before she could leave, "Hey, want to come over after you've done your homework? We could do each others nails or hair or something? And then I could introduce you to Derek."

Ginny's heart skipped a beat at the voicing of her true loves name. "Sure." She said, trying to clear her face from any expression, scared that her face might reveal something at the mention of Derek's name. "Sounds good."

(Little starry things.)

Class for Ginny was absolute torture that day. Time passed with agonizing slowness, or flew too fast, she couldn't decide. She was dying to meet Derek, for real, but it was nerve-racking at the same time. She couldn't keep her mind off tonight, but hated to think about it.

Finally she laid her quill down. Her hand was aching, but she was glad that it was over and done with. She'd missed dinner to finish off her homework on time, but she didn't care. She wasn't hungry anyway, she was too nervous at the prospect of being formally introduced to Derek. Derek, who had lovely, thick dark brown wavy hair, and intense, mysterious dark brown eyes. Derek, whose voice was so deep and perfect, sent shivers down her spine. Derek… she sighed. She slowly put her ink, parchment and quill back into her bag, savouring the moment that made her feel like she was about to burst of happiness and sadness, excitement and regret. It was a feeling so intense it made you want to burst into tears, yet laugh, laugh as loud and as crazily as you could.

She knew the password to the common room, but hung around, thinking it would be kind of strange if she just walked in. It took her three minutes to mount her courage, weighing the odds that Derek might be in there and she might scare him shitless and then he would die of a heart attack and it would be all her fault, and then she'd have nothing to live for.

"Fried Beetle Juice." She stood there as the window magically disappeared, and clambered through, into the Head Boy and Head Girl Head Quarters. She looked around, stunned. The only colours she could see were black, white and grey / silver. The carpet was a midnight black, and the sofas were bright white. There were bookshelves on the right side of the room, and black marble desks, along with metal silver chairs. The kitchenette had a silver fridge, and marble counters and a marble bar table, with silvery-white bar stools. The kitchenette tiles were silver and black, and even the chandeliers were a metallic-white colour.

Ginny stood there, amazed, trying to take in her surroundings all at once. She didn't even hear Derek come in from his room. She just gaped, and stood there, mesmerised. It was too much to take in all at once.

"Pretty neat, huh?"

That voice… she knew that voice. She swung around to face a tall boy with broad shoulders, and wavy hair that fell down to them. Derek. She blushed, and tried to think of something smart to say. But his handsomeness had made her mind lose all of its more intelligent grammar. "Yeah," she croaked.

Derek handed her a glass of fanta, smiling. She tried smiling back, but she couldn't move. With great effort she pried her eyes off his perfect face, managed a thin, wavering smile and a thanks. She took a sip, and looked down at her drink, amazed.

"What is this stuff?"

She saw Derek blush, and wondered if she'd said something bad.

"It's a… um… a muggle drink. You can't get it round here. It's called Fanta… d'you like it?"

Ginny nodded, and took another small, careful sip. She let the sweet, cold, bubbly liquid pass down her throat and shuddered. She'd never had anything like it, and it was incredible. It was like flying for the first time, only there was no whooshing sensation. She smiled widely. "This stuff is absurd. What's it called again?"

Derek grinned again, and her heart flipped a couple times in her chest. She hoped it didn't show on her face. "Fanta."

There was no sign of Hermione yet, but Ginny didn't mind. As long as she got to spend more time with her amante. She looked into his dark brown eyes, and could feel herself getting lost in them. She could have spent hours staring, except of course, it would have been socially incorrect, and at one point he would probably have asked her is she was high. She was hardly aware that he had been speaking to her; she had been so deeply stuck in Derek-dream-Land.

She blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"

Derek laughed, making her heart do triple summer salts, and her stomach clench. "I was saying that we hadn't been introduced yet." He held out a hand. "My name's Derek."

Ginny shook his hands, trying to stop her fingers from shaking. "Jen- Ginny."

He smiled, and her knees felt weak. She couldn't stop herself from trembling. She tried not to let it show, but he noticed right away. "Are you okay? You don't look very good." Only then did he realise with horror what he had said. "Sorry! That's not what I meant! You do look good! I mean! Ah!" He cringed with embarrassment, and Ginny couldn't help but laugh, even though a little weakly. "I'm sorry. I meant that you know… you looked a bit ill… are you all right?"

Ginny nodded, but he didn't believe her. She was still shaking, though that might have been because he was holding both her hands, and staring up into her face concernedly. His hands felt so warm… so rough, but so tender at the same time. They were the type of hands any girl would want roaming all over her body - #cough# um… hair. (A/N: The '#' is put there in stead of a star because this site won't let me use stars).

"Here… maybe you should sit down for a bit… d'you want water… aspirin…?"

Ginny looked up curiously. "What's aspirin?"

Derek ran a hand through his hair frustrated. "Its… it's this muggle medicine tablet that cures head aches."

"Oh." Ginny processed that information for a moment. "Sounds weird."

Derek looked amused. "Yeah. It does, doesn't it?"

Ginny grinned happily. He'd just held her hand, told her she looked good – well in one way or another – and she'd actually managed to make him frustrated, but smile, many, many times. It was by far one of the best days of Ginny Weasely's life. Especially when he came and sat next to her on the couch, and sort of nudged her playfully with his shoulder. "Hey, you feeling better?"

Ginny smiled along, playfully. "A little." She hoped that with this answer he'd put an arm around her shoulder, but to her immense regret he didn't. Instead, he stood up, shoving his hands back into his robe pockets.

"Can I get you anything…? More Fanta…?" He smiled.

"Sure." Ginny said. Then she remembered her manners. "Please."

He grinned, and got two cans out of the fridge, tossing one to her. She caught it, and stared at him. "What?" He asked defensively.

"Um…" Ginny said hesitantly, blushing. "What do you… I mean, how…?"

He understood right away, and apologised. "Oh. Right, sorry. I keep forgetting. Here, see, you just like, pull the metal clip, and then it opens…" He demonstrated, and laughed as she tried to follow suite. "Here… let me help."

But Ginny was determined to do it on her own. After about five minutes she managed, but since it had been shaken around quite a bit, the drink exploded all over her, and on her face. She shrieked, and dropped the can, spilling the liquid all over the carpet.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!" But Derek had already pulled his wand out and cleared the mess on the floor, including the front of Ginny's robes. "Ah!" She exclaimed in embarrassment, and then muttered "thanks" after she'd recovered. She looked up feeling extremely stupid, and saw Derek bent over, he was laughing so hard.

"S-So sorry. B-but you sh-should h-have seen the l-look on your face… s-so f-f-funny." He gasped.

She watched him for about two seconds before having a laughing fit herself. It seemed the more they laughed, the more they had to, and by the time Hermione came down to see what all the noise was about, Ginny was holding onto the counter so not to fall over she was laughing so hard, and Derek was on the floor clutching his sides, tears streaming down both of their faces.

Ginny and Derek calmed down for a while, and when they saw Hermione looking at both of them apprehensively went off into another peel of giggles.

"Well sorry for being concerned for your mental heath." She said; peeved after about ten seconds when they didn't shut up. This didn't help however, and just made Derek clutch his sides harder, and Ginny fall to the floor as well. Hermione tried to think of something more intelligent to say, couldn't think of anything fast enough before they would both choke, and instead went over to the sink, filled to cups with water and dumped them on the boy and the girl on the floor's heads. Instantly the laughing stopped, and Hermione was satisfied, until Derek and Ginny, with evil grins on their faces filled up their own cups, and started for Hermione. She shrieked and tried to run away, but she wasn't fast enough. Derek caught her and spilled his water over her head demonstratively, while Ginny emptied her glass down Hermione's back.

"Ah! Stop! It's cold! Coooolllddd! I beg you! Ah! I'll do anything!" Hermione yelped.

Derek's eyes glinted mischievously. "Anything?" he said in a mock-serial-killer-before-he-kills-his-victim voice. "Anything did you say?"

Hermione nodded vigorously. "Anything. Just – stop."

"Alright then. So, Ginny, what do we want Hermione to do for us?"

Ginny put on a mock thoughtful expression. "Hmm… let me see…"

Derek put on the same expression as Ginny, trying to think of something nasty. When none came however, they decided to pity Hermione and Ginny and Hermione retired to Hermione's room a short while later.

------

"You like him right?" Ginny was startled by Hermione's question that she didn't answer immediately with a "what? Are you crazy?" Instead she remained silent and nodded blushing.

"HA!" Hermione exclaimed. "I KNEW it!" She jumped up and down. "You owe me 5 galleons Harry!"

Ginny looked at her, a mixture of embarrassment and horror on her face. "Wait. What? Why does Harry owe you 5 galleons? Who does Harry think I'm in love with?"

Hermione's expression switched from delight to mischievous. "Malfoy."

Ginny choked and went bright red. "He WHAT?"

Hermione laughed at the expression of horror and outrage on her friends face. Ginny Spluttered. When she managed to form a sentence without sounding like an idiot she growled "I'm going to KILL him. What gives him THAT idea?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'd have chosen Malfoy too if I hadn't seen you glance at him" – Ginny let out an indignant cry – "if I hadn't seen you glance at him every 5 seconds when he was within eye reach." She finished, ignoring Ginny's outrageous splutters and gagging noises.

"Well he IS being remarkably nice to you, you know." Hermione said slightly huffily.

Ginny looked at her incredulously. "How?" She hadn't noticed anything that seemed to make Malfoy remotely kind.

"Well he isn't calling you names or scoffing and making nasty comments when you pass him in the corridors anymore is he?" Hermione said as if this made perfect sense. It actually did, but Ginny didn't want to admit to herself that Draco Malfoy could possible NOT hate her. She scowled.

"He's just learnt the meaning of the word 'politeness'."

"Maybe so but doesn't it seem a bit strange?"

Ginny shrugged. She'd rather not talk about it if there was a chance that Malfoy liked her. "Who'd Ron vote for?" She asked curiously. She wouldn't mind a good reason to practice her hexes on her brother either.

"Trevor." Ginny grabbed her head out of exasperation. "Why?" she wailed. "What that stupid hufflepuff PRAT? Why are brothers so STUPID and always manage to make you feel so… urg!" Ginny started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked curiously. Ginny didn't reply she was to busy pulling out her wand and making a dramatic exit. Her dramatic exit was ruined however, when she bumped into someone while she was walking our of the door, and was nearly knocked to the floor if the person hadn't reached out and grabbed her shoulders to stop her from falling.

"Whoa, sorry, are you all right?"

Ginny looked up rubbing her forehead and turning a couple shades darker pink. "Oh, um, yeah, sorry."

Derek suddenly noticed her drawn want and furious glint in her eyes. "Where are you going?" He asked in the same curious voice as Hermione.

"To curse my brother into oblivion for thinking I was going out with Trevor."

Derek flinched. "That idiot from hufflepuff?"

"The very same."

"Well…" Derek said. "Ordinarily I'd have to de-duct points for that kind of behaviour, but seeing the circumstances, I'll pretend I didn't know." He grinned at her. Ginny smiled back and couldn't help noticing how nice his lips looked when they were smiling.

Goddammit Ginny! She scolded herself. Don't think about that! "Thanks" she muttered instead, while waving goodbye to him and Hermione who had been watching their little scenario from her bedroom door with a impish glint in her eye, hurrying out of the door which turned into a window almost instantly after she'd shut it, and making her way to Gryffindor tower as fast as possible without actually having to run.

Hey, thanks for reviewing!