Gambit by Lilosan

1.Chapter

Two dark figures were standing in the corridor of the seventh floor. Both had their heads inclined towards a piece of parchment.

"Nobody is coming. Everybody went either straight back to their dorms or the library."

"Let's wait a bit more. I want to be sure."

"Alright, but not to long. I'm quite tired."

Breakfast. Draco felt his eyes falling shut. He grabbed a cup of coffee and poured it down into his throat without a pause. That was a mistake. He coughed and nearly sprayed the content of the now empty mug through his nose.

He cleared his throat a few times, frowned at his cup and smashed it down a bit too hard. The cup broke and the shards cut his fingers. Cursing he stood up a bit to hastily and slammed his chair down on the marble floor of the Grand Hall.

At that point most of the pupils had stopped consuming their meal and stared at him openly. Some of the stares were curious some he knew were mocking. Draco held his head high and his back as straight as possible, whilst he walked out of the Hall with about 500 eyes searing into his back. A great number of people started to murmur once he was out of the Hall.

Only when Draco was sure that nobody could see him, he let his shoulders sag and started massaging his temples, tracing invisible circles on his skin.

Since last Friday sleep eluded him completely. He had been wandering in his dorm or reading some overly boring book in the common room, trying to lull his brain into sleep. But nothing had worked. And it had all started on that bloody Friday.

As usual after supper on Friday he had wandered aimlessly around the castle, trying to find something interesting to do or someone to have a conversation with. His housemates were not a reference in that particular point. Usually he would find one of his teachers and discuss the last topic they had discussed in class. And the fact that he was Head Boy gave him access to nearly all the places in the castle.

He was just about to round a corner on the seventh floor, when he heard somebody talking.

"You know we shouldn't be doing this. Think about how Hermione would react." The voice was distinctly familiar and Draco tried to match a face to it.

"Actually Hermione is the last person I'm thinking about right now. I was hoping it would be the same with you."

"Well, officially she is still my girlfriend…"

"And what does that make me, your little concubine? If you prefer to be with that bushy-haired Mudblood, then you can forget about getting into my pants."

"Don't call her that. She is far better than you. You will never live up to anything she is. And besides I thought she was your friend."

Draco finally understood to whom the voice belonged. Harry Potter. And he was obviously talking to a girl. And it was not Granger. This made it very interesting indeed. The only information that Draco was still missing, was the name of the girl with which Harry was cheating on Granger. Then he could finally destroy Potters reputation for good.

He inched closer to the corner, still flat against the wall, so as to be sure, that nobody could see him. But still he couldn't identify the girl. He kept moving and was now positively sure, that his silvery hair could be seen around the corner.

"If that is so then you can get fucked. I'm done with this."

"No, wait."

Draco heard a sharp intake of breath and then the soundof rustling clothes. Someone was moving. This would be his only chance to get the girl's identity. He leaned forward just in time to see how the hooded figure was struggling, trying to get away from Harry. She freed one hand and slapped him across the face. Harry let go and stepped back a stunned expression on his face.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to …"

But she didn't get any further. Harry had taken a step forward and punched her hard. This is going to be even better than I thought it would be! Her hood fell back and a cascade of red hair crashed on the trembling figure. There was only one female person with this hair color studying at Hogwarts. It was Weasel-face's little sister, Ginny Weasley.

She was kneeling on the floor right in front of Potter, her shoulders trembling.

"You are nothing to me. You aren't even worth looking at. Nobody will ever give you a second thought or glance. You are just some whorish lowlife dragging your family's name into the mud with every breath you take."

Ginny's shoulders stopped trembling. She lifted her head and looked at Potter with such and expression of rage, that even Draco felt taken aback. All of a sudden she burst out:

"Go away! I hate your guts. I swear if you ever come close to me again, I will kill you, you dirty son of a bitch!"

"Never insult my mother!" Potter roared in a maddeningly loud voice."She wasn't only one of the best witches of her time, she had morals. This is more than I can say for you. You want me to stay away? It's more the other way around. It's you who came to me, you who begged and corrupted me. But thankfully, this little conversation opened my eyes."

He turned away briskly and left. Draco dared not breathe. He watched on, as Ginny let her head fall back down again, covering her face in the process. But it wasn't hard to figure what was going to happen next. A heart-tearing sob echoed in the hallway, making the silent observer wince in pity for the girl. There were a lot of things said about Darco and the Malfoys in general, but no one could claim that they were emotionless.

It was time for Draco to step up. His head was buzzing, trying to cope with all the information those few minutes had produced. His mind was busy retrieving all the fact about this devastated girl, which he could remember. Apparently she was the black sheep in the Weasley-clan. She didn't sympathize with Muggles and Mudbloods, like the rest of her family did. Plus she was the only good looking Weasley ever recorded in time.

Still, Draco remained suspicious. This could be some cunning plan Potter had devised. Highly unlikely though. Never underestimate your enemies, his father used to say.

Ginny was still crying, her body rattled by sobs. Her trembling hands were neatly placed at either side of her knees, supporting her weight as best as they could.

Draco finally moved. He was now standing right in front of her. Yet, she didn't notice him. This gave him some time to observe her. Different thoughts were running through the boy's mind, some trying to find a snide remark with which he could make his presence know, others busy with the low décolleté, revealing a bit more then what the owner would probably have liked.

He knelt down and passed her his handkerchief.

"Here, take this."

"I told you to…"

The expression quickly turned from rage to disbelieve, as she saw who he was.

"Oh, ...Thanks"

She reached for the handkerchief with one trembling hand and blew her nose. When Draco thought she had calmed down sufficiently, he stood up and held out his hand for her. She took it and stood up. He didn't let go of but gave a tug, wanting to lead her towards the nearest window. Ginny didn't budge and he suddenly remembered that she didn't trust him. He turned around and shot her an annoyed look. Then he tugged again, this time harder, so that she could do nothing else but stumble after him.

Draco drew her so close to the window that she could feel the cold winter air seeping through from the outside. He let go of her hand only to grab her chin in a practical -almost medical- way, so that he could see her right cheek. Ginny noticed that Draco had placed her so that the cheek he was now examining so cautiously was also the closest to the window. She was watching him with a weary expression, as if she feared that he would hit her just as well. The black bruise forming under her eye was now clearly visible.

"Do you have your wand with you?" Draco asked.

"No." Her voice was still unsteady.

"Well, me neither. So we will have to do it the old-fashioned way."

The hand holding her chin slid to her left cheek and pressed its opposite to the cold glass. Ginny winced but didn't resist, on the contrary. She leaned her cheek fully against the window, sighed and closed her eyes.

"Thanks for helping me, Malfoy."

Draco didn't answer straight away. His thoughts were still preoccupied with the soft skin of her face warming his cold hand.

"Malfoy?"

Draco snapped back into reality and remembered who she was and what had happened.

He took two steps back, shaking his hand as if he had burned it. He opened his mouth as if to say something, thought better of it and closed it again. He looked up only to meet her eyes, which seemed to confuse him even more. He briskly turned around and stormed away.

Now he wasn't able to sleep anymore. Thoughts of what had happened came haunting him every second he was awake. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he saw her face which had been so close to his every time he closed his eyes. Nothing was going as he had wanted it to go. He hadn't even told anybody about what had happened in that hallway. This was completely out of character for him. Usually, he would have spread the rumor as fast as possible, so that Harry Potter's reputation could be trounced big time. Well, life is a peach and unconveniently Draco Malfoy was allergic to peaches.