"Chamber of Her Secrets"
Chapter 3: Baltic Avenue
Ginny woke up the next morning from a restless sleep. She couldn't believe that she agreed to duel Malfoy. There were so many details not worked out. Were they having seconds? They obviously weren't fighting to the death. Where was it again? The Chamber. He tricked her into letting him down there again.
She rubbed her eyes and slowly walked to her mirror. Her reflection gasped and said, "You look horrid!" Ginny sneered at the mirror and walked away.
After muttering a few charms, her hair cascaded down her back in flowing curls and her face was makeup free. She pulled on her school uniform and shrugged on her robes before applying a bit of mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss.
"Better, dear," her reflection said as she passed the mirror again. She grabbed her wand off her night table and began the trip down to the Great Hall.
He bit into his apple and sucked the juices back into his mouth as they dribbled down onto his lips. Draco was an early riser and he had been waiting for the littlest Weasley to arrive for breakfast for the last twenty minutes. Typical lazy Weasley. he thought.
He straightened in his seat as he saw the familiar red head walk into the room, groggy and bleary eyed. Deciding it was best to talk to her before her brother came down, Draco got up from the bench and strode over to the girl as she buttered a piece of toast.
"It's too early for you," Ginny muttered. She didn't spare him a glance.
"I suppose eight o'clock would be a good time for you then," he said. It was more of a statement than a question. "I'll meet you in the bathroom at eight o'clock. Just you and me, got it?"
He noticed her posture tense up when he mentioned the duel. Smirking, he snagged her toast as she passed the butter dish down the table and walked away.
"Malfoy!" she yelped, glaring daggers at her.
He shot her a smirk and bit into the toast.
Potions class was a dreadful bore. Now, Draco appreciated the fine arts of potionry like the next person, and he enjoyed seeing his godfather and professor pick on the Gryffindors, but today's lesson was a short review, nothing more, and Draco couldn't stand it.
Blaise, his closest friend and lab partner, elbowed him in the stomach and muttered, "Watch." Draco watched as Blaise muttered a charm and miniature birds flew discreetly to the Gryffindor side of the room and began nesting in Hermione Granger's hair.
"The Mudblood doesn't even notice," snickered Draco.
After about five minutes, though, the Slytherins were cracking up. Hermione kept scratching her head, but didn't seem to notice the birds. Finally, Harry Potter noticed and whispered into the girl's ear. She blushed and muttered "Finite Incantatem" and the birds disappeared. Ron, Harry, and Hermione turned to glare at Draco and Blaise.
"That's a good look for you, Granger," sneered Draco as Snape ordered them to copy the notes on the board and went into his office.
"It's better than your look anyday!" yelled Ron, the tips of his ears becoming red.
"You know whose a real looker, Weasley?" said Blaise. He grinned widely. "Your sister!"
"Whoo!" whooped a Slytherin. "I'd like to get myself some of that arse!"
Draco snickered as Ron's face turned red. Unfortunately, Snape returned at that moment and Ron was unable to retort. Draco busied himself by thinking of Ron's sister. She does have a nice arse, he thought. And her hair isn't that disgustingly bright red. Actually, it's more of an auburn color. It's kind of nice... if you like that sort of thing.
As the bell rang, Draco realized he had been thinking about Ginny for almost the ten minutes. "What the hell?" he muttered to himself as he left the classroom. As he passed Ron, he sneered and said, "If your sister wasn't such a Mudblood lover, I'd do her." He laughed with Blaise and walked away.
Draco whistled as he strolled down the corridor that night to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. He had no doubt that he could beat the Weaselette in a duel. He had been trained from a young age the art of magical duels and was quite confident that the Ginny would be a breeze to beat.
He pushed open the bathroom door and saw that Ginny was waiting for him. She had her back against the wall, eyes closed, and looked to be comtemplating something. Draco took the time to look her over again. Same red hair, same dirty clothes. He was startled when she flicked her eyes open and he gazed at her chocolate colored eyes, as if she knew he was there.
"Finally," she said, put off.
"Eager to lose?" said Draco articulately.
"Are you?" said Ginny.
He watched as she opened the Chamber once again and immediately jumped in. Without a moment's hesitation, he followed her actions and sped down the tunnel. Draco cleaned himself and followed Ginny into the main room. She stopped at the couch and looked up at him.
"So...?"
"Now we duel, Weasley," said Draco.
She nodded and slowly took off her robes. She had a worn pair of jeans on and a light blue sweater on. It looked, amazingly, new.
Draco didn't bother taking his robes off and just stood in the middle of the room. "I assume you're familiar with the formalities of a wizard duel?" he said.
She narrowed her eyes. "Of course."
The bowed to eachother and turned their backs, each taking ten steps the opposite way from eachother. At the tenth step, they both turned around and it was Draco who fired the first spell.
"Immobolus!" he yelled.
Ginny stepped back and barely managed to yell, "Protego!" before the spell hit her shield and bounced back.
"Rictusempra!" yelled Draco. He watched as Ginny jumped and dodged the charm he had sent her way.
"Tarantallergra!" Ginny said. Draco side stepped her spell easily and yawned for effect. Angered, Ginny yelled out a spell she had heard Harry use once. "Sectumsempra!"
She wasn't nearly as powerful as Harry so the spell only made a small gash on his cheek. Draco touched his hand to his face and stared at the blood in awe. He looked up and grinned. "Well, you're better than I thought. Petrificus Totalus!"
"Protego!" yelled Ginny. She watched as the spell bounced back and Draco dodged his own hex. "Avis Oppugno!" Birds appeared out of her wand and started flying towards Draco.
"Protego!" yelled Draco and the birds smashed into the shield. "Serpensortia!" A green snake flew out of Draco's wand and fell flat on the floor. It began to slither towards Ginny, hissing. Draco watched as the snake grew nearer and nearer towards Ginny and Ginny didn't seem to do anything. She had her wand out, her mouth open, but she was frozen. Her eyes never left the snake that was rapidly advancing on her.
He didn't know why, but he found himself yelling, "Reducio!" and the snake disappeared. Ginny stood straight for a minute, but then seemed to waver. Draco yelled, "Carpe Retractum!" and Ginny flew across the room just as her legs gave way.
Draco held her in his arms and shook her a bit. "Weasley?"
Her eyes opened and she sighed, "You win."
He snorted. "Obviously." He tucked a lock of her red hair behind her ear and watched as her delicate brown eyes admitted defeat. He smirked. "And now for my winning prize..." He bent his head so that he was level with her and captured her lips with his in a gentle, soft kiss.