Chapter 3-Uncomfortable Encounters

Harry sat surrounded by books in the common room. He'd spent most of the evening trying to find information so that he could write his make-up essay for Snape.

"Well Harry, you should be happy that Goyle got his after this afternoon. I mean that was absolutely priceless seeing that look on his permanently confused face," Ron said, looking up from his transfiguration homework.

Hermione stretched and stood up. She'd spent the last hour finishing the final chapter of her Advanced Arithmancy book, "Finished! Now I have time to finish my elf hats." She went to look through her bag and pulled out a ball of yarn and knitting needles.

"What?" said Ron, "Are you still on about freeing house-elves again! I thought you gave up ages ago. Hermione, now that you're done, you can come and help me with transfiguration. I can't find anything on conjuring spells."

"Well Ron, if you didn't spend all your time trying to goad Malfoy, you'd actually learn something." With that, a famous Ron/Hermione argument commenced. Harry shook his head and continued with his research.

Across the room in a corner, Ginny and Daveigh also had books spread out among them. This year, it being their O.W.L.S. year, they struggled to keep up with the amount of work being put upon them. Most of the 5th year Gryffindors had spent the first two weeks of their free time in the library, or in the common room. Ginny yawned and looked over at Daveigh. Her friend's glasses were perched at the end of her nose and her quill was stuck between her teeth. Ginny smiled and resumed her writing. After a few more moments of quiet, Ginny sighed to draw attention from her friend. Daveigh was still engrossed in her book. Ginny finally took a piece of parchment, bawled it up and threw it at her friend. It hit her square in the forehead.

"And that's score one for Weasley" Ginny said. She held her hands in the air. Daveigh looked at her friend with a disgruntled expression.

"Ginny, I'm trying to refresh my memory about the Giant wars."

"Dava, the O.W.L.S. are months away!" Ginny exclaimed, "besides, you know all that's stuff already, you'll probably get an E on all your O.W.L.S. anyway, so what's to worry about?"

"Well……one must always be prepared. Anyway, my eyes are getting a bit tired." Daveigh took off her glasses and began to rub her eyes. Ginny stared at her and began to scrutinize her friend's face.

"You know Dava, I think you should consider what the muggles call contacts. You have such pretty eyes and they're always hidden behind those ugly glasses of yours."

Daveigh stared at Ginny with an amused expression. "And what would you know about contacts?"

"Well, all those summers spent with Hermione, you learn a few things. I mean she had her teeth shrunk instead of continuing on with braces, but there's no wizarding spells I know of that can correct eyesight."

"I'll think about it. Gin, I was wondering about Malfoy…."

At the sound of his name, Ginny's face grew red from the neck up. Daveigh looked curiously at her reaction.

"Ginny, do you fancy Malfoy?"

"Dava, shhh…..Ron could hear you."

"Oh please, have you looked over there lately?"

Ron and Hermione were still arguing. Harry left the room and retreated to the boy's dormitory. Ginny felt like crawling into a deep hole and never coming out.

"You know, I wonder when the two of them will wake up and smell the pumpkin juice. Can't they both see they're made for each other?" Daveigh commented, still staring at the arguing couple.

Hermione finally scuffed at Ron and followed Harry's example by retreating to her dormitory. Ron sat with his head in his hands for a moment and then walked over to Seamus and Dean who were preoccupied by a game of Exploding Snap.

"Well maybe someday Ron or Hermione will do something about it. Or maybe even Harry will say something to Ron," Ginny said.

"Back to what I was saying before, you've never actually said you liked Malfoy. I mean you dream about him all the time, I've even heard you talk in your sleep. 'Oh Draco, please touch me there!'" Dava giggled.

"Dava, how could I like Malfoy with the way he talks about my family all the time? Plus, his father is a deatheater….which means someday he'll become one! I mean yeah he's gorgeous and sexy, and I'd love to meet him in a dark corner and have my way with him, but that doesn't mean I like him." Ginny sighed.

Dava looked at her friend and shook her head, 'Why can't she just admit it to herself,' she thought.

Ginny yawned for a second time. "I am so tired! I think its time for bed." She began to gather her books and parchment. "Are you coming?"

"No, I want to finish reading about the Giant Wars. I'll see you up there later."

And with that, Ginny retreated up to the 5th year girl's dormitory.

A while later, after Daveigh had come up to bed, Ginny laid in bed thinking about what had happened with Malfoy. Earlier during dinner, Draco had commenced staring at Ginny. Ginny dreaded wondering if sometime during the evening, Ron would notice. Yes, she had dreams about Draco, very sexy dreams that she kept to herself. She didn't know she talked in her sleep, and now that Daveigh knew that Ginny was semi-interested in Draco, she wouldn't leave it alone.

'I am not interested,' Ginny thought to herself, 'I'm just a bit curious.' A voice in her head said, 'yeah curious about what's beneath those robes.'

Ginny blushed at the thought of seeing Draco with nothing on underneath. Ginny had dated a couple of boys at Hogwarts, first it was Michael Corner just last year, but that ended in disaster. He ended up with Cho Chang, a 7th year Ravenclaw. At the end of the year, just before summer she started dating Dean Thomas, but that went nowhere. Dean went to America to visit family for the summer and they had lost touch. The first day of term, Dean had come up to Ginny to break it off. It was mutual, and both of them decided to remain good friends.

Ginny thought of the crush she had on Harry for years. It seemed like an eternity since she first spied the black hair, green-eyed boy-who-lived at platform 9 ¾. Now, she laughed inside thinking about how Harry was more like a brother to her. Her crush on him seemed like ages ago. Ginny finally yawned and felt herself falling into peaceful slumber, thinking about silver-grey eyes…….

Draco walked past the library for the fourth time that evening. Since becoming prefect last year, he had full reign of the castle on certain nights. He needn't worry about Filch and his demon of a cat Mrs. Norris. Instead, he could wander in and out of classrooms, and even snog with Pansy and feel her up a bit on Snape's desk in the potion's room. Tonight was no different. He left Pansy with a dreamy expression on her face not too long ago, and now he was just bored.

There were no signs of students wandering around after hours. Draco looked at a clock over the library door; it was just after 2:00 a.m.

'Just one more hour,' he thought, and then he could snuggle into his nice silky green sheets in his room. A pair of brown eyes entered his thoughts, and he began to think about how nice it would be for the littlest Weasley to share his bed.

"Share my bed?" he questioned out loud.

He shook his head at the thought of a Weasley dirtying up his expensive sheets his mother gave to him just before term began. He shuddered and began his descent down the stairs.

A few floors above him, Ginny was making her way down the stairs, but she wasn't aware of it……She was again walking down the dark hallway she had gone through earlier.

"I know I am close," she thought, her bare feet moving quietly down the hallway. Darkness surrounded her as she followed footprints left from her earlier trip.

"The key is close," she said out loud, "and soon it will be safe from prying hands." For a while, she continued to walk, keeping the sound of her travels to a bare minimum.

"I must not let him know I am going to get it."

Finally she reached the door. She went to push the button, but suddenly heard noise from inside. Ginny began to panic. 'The key,' she thought, 'he'll find it and take it!'

She went for the button to open the door again but nothing happened. Ginny kept pressing the button over and over. Finally, she took out her wand and tried to take the charm off the door. After several tries, the door was still sealed to her.

Ginny began to cry, and decided to bang on the door.

"Please, don't touch it. It's mine! You can't have it…..you don't know what powers it possesses….."

The noise from inside stopped and footsteps marched loudly towards the door…….the door opened slowly, and a pair of hands reached out and grabbed Ginny.

"Where's the key you stupid old woman, where is it?" a man asked.

Ginny looked in front of her but couldn't see his face in the dark, all she knew was that she had to get to her bookshelf. She began to struggle against him. The intruder pulled out his wand and uttered a curse. A stream of red light shot out from it, and Ginny screamed and crumpled to the floor.

Malfoy stopped slowly through his descent. 'What was that,' he thought. He looked up the moving staircases and waited for another sound. He thought he heard someone pounding a door, but it seemed he was hearing things. Shrugging his shoulders, he continued. He was almost off duty, and if something was happening, Filch would be there in one swoop. Suddenly a scream erupted and then echoed down to him.

"Now that definitely wasn't my imagination," Draco said out loud and turned around to find the cause. He took his wand out as he approached the 6th floor. Draco looked around carefully to the right and saw only a dead end.

He wandered over to a picture of a girl on a swing that was sleeping soundly.

"Excuse me," Draco said, "could you tell me if perhaps someone passed this way a while ago."

The girl in the painting awoke with a disgruntled look on her face.

"What do you think I was doing before, picking daisies? You just woke me up so how could I see anyone walking around. Now leave me alone!" And with that, the girl went back to sleep, turning her back on Draco.

Draco leered at the picture and muttered under his breath, "Someone's got her knickers in a bunch."

He continued on towards the left looking cautiously into the windows of some old classrooms. Finally he saw the end of the hallway and began to walk faster. The closer he got, the more he thought it was a waste of time. Then, he saw something which surprised him. A lone girl lay on the floor in front of a door. All he could see was her back. As he got closer, he recognized one thing, deep red hair.

"Weasley?" he said quietly.

Her body stayed still on the floor. Draco moved closer and knelt next to her. Her eyes were closed but her eyelids moved very fast like she was in a deep sleep. Draco sat for a moment just staring at the beautiful girl on the floor. Freckles marked her pale skin, but added character to her normally defiant features. His eyes trailed down to her Weasley nose, a trademark feature, then to her slim but cute red lips. He wanted to kiss them; maybe he should to wake her up.

Ginny lay on the cold dirt floor and sat up.

'How long have I been out,' she thought and tried to get up.

The door to the small room remained closed and no sound could be heard. Her body felt like a humongous weight and each time to tried to move her legs, they wouldn't. Ginny started to become very afraid.

"I've got to get the key back." She began to drag her body down the hallway.

Draco stepped back suddenly. Ginny moaned and began to move slightly.

"Weasley," he said to her quietly. Ginny, with her eyes closed began to drag her body along the floor.

"What the---" Draco exclaimed out loud as she moved towards him.

Finally he decided to try to awaken her. He picked her up by the waist and heaved her up on her feet. Ginny was still trapped in her deep sleep, her arms flailing along her sides wildly. Her hands found her way to Draco's chest and began to push against him. Her body rubbed against his front as if she were still dragging herself. Draco sucked in his breath at her actions. His body became very warm and aroused. He felt her breasts pressing against him and her hips ground into his. Draco guided Ginny, pinned her against the wall, and stared into her face. It was full of deep concentration. Her teeth were biting her bottom lip. Draco raised his finger and traced the outline of her top lip. Ginny's body suddenly froze at this action, but her eyes remained closed still in a semi-deep sleep. Draco closed his eyes, leaned in and moved his lips towards hers. Without him knowing it, Ginny slowly began to open her eyes, just as Draco's lips touched hers.