Author's Notes: Ah, another chap, successfully finished. As for those of
you waiting on AAWIH, yeah, it might take a while. But hopefully, it'll be
worth it!!
And oh, in my other story, my one shot You've Got a Choice, I forgot to
mention, but it takes place right after the Chamber. And no, the older boy
is not Draco. Its just some random dude.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Have all you lawyers out there gotten the hint yet? ::A loud "NO!":: Fine then. Be that way.
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my new online friends, Laura (the first of my online buddies!), or ToOtHpIcK on ff.net, Champagne (I've missed you girl!), or That's-So-Raven, and Kerri (I will kick your ass eventually Ghostie McPaley!), or Sic Dreams Inc. CHECK THEIR STORIES OUT, THEY'RE ALL REALLY GOOD!!!
You've Got Mail: Ch.8-William Claydor
Her hand traveled out to the door handle, but hesitated before reaching its destination. She bit her lip.
It was Thursday, and she was just about to go into the library to meet Malfoy to start work on their project. She shuddered at the mere thought.
Ginny was just contemplating whether she should go in or just ditch him, when the door she was half leaning on opened. She tumbled through, and into the person on the other side.
"Ugh! Geroff me Weasley!" Damn. It was him. Though, as Ginny reasoned with herself, she probably should have expected that.
She shoved herself off him, managing to elbow him in the ribs while doing it. "Like I that," she sneered. "Or maybe you just did. Missing me so soon?"
He grimaced. "I think not. I mean, why would anyone miss filth? Oh wait, I'm telling you this, never mind."
She started to flush, but ignored it by brushing past him into the library. "Shut up you bastard, now hurry up and get in so we can get this over with," Ginny told him in an exasperated tone. Draco followed her, grumbling slightly.
Pretty soon they had themselves situated at a table in the back, and were rifling through many vampire books, searching for a good research person. Ginny was bored out of her mind. Draco appeared indifferent, and was flipping the pages with a steady rhythm, occasionally pausing at one page, or marking them with a finger. She was just kind of staring at the words, not reading but not doing much else.
She was dead tired. The previous night, she had had another nightmare, but this time when she woke up, there was no Aimee to comfort her, just Tina. The blonde in question had 'slept' right through her screams, snoring in a very loud and fake manner. Damn her.
Ginny shut her eyes briefly, considering dozing off, before remembering the presence of her nemesis. She opened them again, and resumed her staring at a piece of-what the hell was that?-on the wall.
"Stop looking at me Weasley," Draco commanded. His voice was muffled slightly by the book in front of his face but she could still hear the monotone clearly.
She colored. She hadn't been looking straight at him, but Ginny guessed that from his perspective it looked like she was gazing at him adoringly. She shuddered inwardly.
"I am not staring at you, I'm staring at that thing on the wall behind you," Ginny argued hotly.
He turned slightly to look at the wall. "That's disgusting," he remarked, before snapping out of his trance like state and remembering Ginny's non- work habits. "Hey! However nasty that thing is, it's not an excuse not to work! Hop to it!"
She just stared at him. "No," she said quietly.
Gray eyes narrowed. "Weasley, I mean it, start working."
"No. Don't tell me what to do." Her voice was clearer now, and it seemed bit amused.
"Weasley." he growled.
Ginny batted her eyelashes innocently. "Yes?"
"ERGH!" And with that, Draco threw a book at the wall, causing Ginny to raise an eyebrow. Someone's stressed, she thought dryly. "Listen Weasley, I don't have time for this, I have places to be, so get cracking dammit!"
Ginny's head snapped back at his harsh tone. "Geez, fine, no need to get a heart attack Ferret," she muttered, pulling the library copy of Researching Vampires For Dummies towards herself.
His eyes narrowed again, but he decided it might be in his best interest to stay silent. Rather smart of him, I must say.
They were working in silence for another couple minutes, and Ginny started to get bored again. Suddenly, there was a rather loud grumble, and Draco looked up in surprise.
"What was that?" He asked with a slightly confused expression.
Ginny flushed. "My stomach, I-uh, missed lunch and breakfast this morning was a piece of toast. I guess I'm hungry," she finished. He smirked at her, and went back to his reading, but was interrupted by another growl. This time however, it came from him. Now it was Ginny's turn to look up in surprised mirth, and his turn to blush slightly.
"Guess I'm hungry too," he mumbled, causing Ginny to laugh. He looked back up and glared at her, but stopped as soon as he saw her packing up her belongings. "What are you doing?"
She rolled her eyes and stood, putting on her bag. "Hmm, let's think about this. We're both hungry, it's after lunch and we have more free time. Whatever shall we do?" Ginny asked in mock surprise. His face lost the confused look, and he started to grin.
"Kitchens, I presume?" He inquired.
Ginny grinned slightly. "Oh yeah."
Draco gave a small sigh. "Alright then, but at least take a couple books, I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted this done quick," he told her sternly.
Only too happy to be getting out, Ginny nodded enthusiastically and grabbed some books off the table before almost skipping out of the library, ignoring his cries of protest at being left behind.
***
Draco trailed behind her, grimacing slightly. He still couldn't believe he was going to raid the kitchens with none other than the Weasley brat. Granted, he was starving, but still, it was the principle of the matter.
He shifted the vampire tome to under his other arm. Why the hell did they even have to do this bloody project? Sure, he knew their teacher was an ex-vampire hunter, but this seemed a wee bit like overkill to Draco. He looked up from staring at the cover, and saw the redhead move to walk into one of the main hallways.
"No!" He cried out suddenly, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. She twisted around confused, and Draco started to explain. "Think about it Weasley. That's the main hallway, with tons of students. How would it look to say, your brother if he saw us walking along, not at each others throats?"
Ginny bit her lip. "I hadn't thought of that," she replied hesitantly.
Draco smirked, and dropped her arm. "Of course you didn't. You are a Weasley right?" And with that he was walking down another hall, leaving Ginny to fume behind him.
Soon, they were standing in front of the fruit bowl painting, and Ginny was tickling the pear delicately. The door appeared, and they stepped through, only to be immediately barraged by the house elves.
"Miss Wheezy!! Dobby is happy to see you, oh yes!" Dobby squealed at her, bowing low enough that his over sized baseball cap touched the floor. Ginny smiled at him and knelt, uncomfortable with the bowing.
"Hey Dobby, it's good to see you again too, I haven't been in here since last year! I've missed you guys!" She cried happily.
Dobby flushed at the compliment. "Miss Wheezy is kind to Dobby. What is you wanting now?"
Ginny stood again, and walked closer to Draco. "I'd like a ham and cheese sandwich, but I don't know about him," she said, jerking her head to indicate the boy next to her. Dobby followed her gaze, and deflated visibly.
"Master Draco," he quivered, bowing again, even deeper. Draco sighed.
"Yeah, hi Dobby, look, there's no need to bow to me anymore, I'm not your master and I haven't been for about five years," he said firmly.
Dobby nodded vigorously, and started to bow again, but stopped at Draco's glare. "Yes Mister Draco sir, what is you wanting for lunch sir?"
Well, apparently sir was the best Draco would get. "Just get me some of that roast chicken we had last night, and two glasses of pumpkin juice," he ordered, and Dobby nodded before scurrying off to convey the food orders, almost tripping over the long button-up shirt he wore as some sort of dress.
Ginny gave Draco a half smile. He gave her a blank stare in return, which she ignored. It was rather nice of him to order a drink for her, since she had forgotten. Maybe he wasn't so bad inside.
They were just sitting down at the nearest tiny round table when their food arrived. The elves put down the plates and moved back into the shadows. Ginny took a big bite of her sandwich, and Draco took a sip of his juice. Ginny was just about to reach for the other glass when he picked that up too and drank half of it in one long draught. Ginny just gaped, much to the amusement of Draco.
"You little bloody wanker!" She cried indignantly.
He blinked at her innocently. "My, whatever did I do Weaselette?"
Ginny just took a huge and rather vicious bite of her sandwich, and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest angrily as she chewed. He smirked a bit at the death glare on her face. God it was fun to annoy her.
He finished eating, and looked over at Ginny. She was now ignoring him, flipping through one of the books she had brought with her. Draco had just picked up his own book when he heard a gasp. Snapping the book shut, he looked at her with exasperation. "What now Weasley?"
She just looked up at him slowly, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "I think we've found our vampire," she said quietly.
***
She had just been thumbing through the pages, when she saw it. Well, him, really. It wasn't a very big picture, but it was still clearly him. It was the same pale, slightly sallow skin, chubby figure, and sandy hair.
The vampire in her dream.
Ginny couldn't help it, she let out a gasp. Draco had looked up in annoyance and asked her what was wrong.
"I think we've found our vampire," she told him.
He gaped at her, before regaining some composure and grabbing the tome out of her hands. "Him??" He scoffed. "What's so great about him, he's not important at all, hell, he wasn't in any other book! Weasley, explain."
Ginny's eyes flashed, and she started to turn her 'angry' red. The last thing she needed was another person laughing at her about her dream and her hatred of Ivanovich. "Look," she said quickly. "I know this may sound weird, but trust me, I know it'll be a good idea to research him," she explained. "Please."
Draco frowned at the pleading in her voice. Then he sighed. "Alright, I'll think about researching-who the hell is he anyways?" He scowled at Ginny, who shrugged in response, so he looked through the book, reading aloud. "'William Claydor is one of the lesser known English vampires. In fact, not much at all is known about him or his clan,'" here Draco glared at Ginny, but she ignored it. "'However, there are a few common facts known about him. He was born in the eighteenth centuries or so, and is still believed to be living,'" Ginny snorted softly, "'it is commonly believed that he had been some sort of noble before the bite, but it is unclear whether or not he was a wizard. Claydor is most famous for a wave of new vampires, whom he created from his own friends and family, making up his own clan of half breeds. They never amounted to much in the world of vampire hierarchy, but it was still major news at that time in the world.' Blah blah blah, random junk about him and his clan, nothing important." Draco sighed again. "Are you sure about this, this guy doesn't seem all that important to me."
Ginny scowled. "I'm sure okay, so will you just hurry up so we can go talk to Ivanovich already?" She snapped at him, already picking up her belongings and standing to leave. "Malfoy?!?"
He had been sitting there, frozen with a small frown on his delicate features, but when she said his name he seemed to snap out of it. Draco sighed and stood. "Fine Weasley, let's get going already, I don't want to keep my ladies waiting at the Astronomy Tower," he told her with a smirk/eyebrow waggle combo that amused and disgusted Ginny at the same time.
Her lip curled in disgust. "Oh for Christ's sake, it's barely the afternoon yet, can't you and your whores at least wait till darkness?"
They climbed out of the painting and started off in the direction of the DADA classroom. "I could," he fake-mused, "but that is so much less fun. Harder to see everything, you know? Well, you wouldn't."
The curled lip just kept getting higher. "You disgust me," Ginny spat at him.
The only answer was a smirk. "I know."
***
Draco sighed inwardly as he walked ahead of Ginny. Why had he even agreed to researching this stupid unknown vampire anyways? Had he become that weak?
He gave another inward sigh. Cocoa's turning me soft, he noted with slight resentment. Ah well, it was a small price to pay to finally have someone to really talk to.
By now they were at the door to the classroom, and he pushed open the door, before walking through and holding it open for the girl behind him. She gave him a small smile before walking through.
Draco smirked, and let go of the door, letting it fall back and knock her on the ground. He started to laugh, but she gave an exasperated yell and jumped to her feet, hands curling into fists.
"Alright, that's it," she yelled. "Come on, let's go, right here, I'm so bloody sick of you Malfoy!" Ginny leapt forward at those words, face flushed and fist tight. Draco's smirk widened and he simply put out a hand, and held her forehead calmly while she fumed and punched. (A/N: Anyone here have an older sib? Yeah.) Finally, though, she calmed down enough to knock his hand away and storm into the classroom, berating him loudly. Well, at least until she saw their teacher and stopped dead, causing Draco to bump into her and scowl.
Professor Ivanovich didn't stray from his ancient looking tome when they entered, glancing at them only when Draco coughed discreetly into his hand. He flashed them a quick, utterly brilliant smile, before standing and walking to the other side of the desk, leaning against it with a cat-like grace even Draco had to envy.
"Miss Weasley, Mister Malfoy, I take it you're here to inform me of your research choice?" He asked them, still smiling brightly. Draco looked to Ginny, but she was staring at the ground, twisting the ring around and around her middle finger nervously, so he answered.
"Yes Professor, we've chosen a William Claydor to research," he said. For a second-just a split second, Draco could swear his teacher's bright smile faltered, and his blue eyes flashed to Ginny, but then he composed himself and went back behind his desk to grab a packet. He flipped through the pages, stopping midway through and scribbling something with his quill.
Ivanovich looked back up and nodded at them briefly, Draco could recognize a dismissal when he saw one. He grabbed Ginny's arm (she hadn't seen the nod, having been staring at the floor still) and pulled her out. When they were outside, and the door had shut behind them, she let out an audible sigh. He frowned.
"Weasley, what was that?" He demanded, gesturing to the classroom.
Her head snapped up, sending red tresses flying. Draco's eyes followed the bright hair, before he realized what he was doing and switched his gaze to her face again. "What was what?" Her voice was pitched just a bit too high. He frowned.
"Come off it Weasley, I've insulted you and your brother long enough to know when one of you is upset about something, tell me," he urged gently. Her eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously.
"Leave me alone Mal-ferret, it's none of your goddam business!!!" She yelled at him, before whirling around to leave. His jaw clenched, and he grabbed Ginny's arm, shoving and pinning her to the wall.
"No one, and I mean no one, orders around a Malfoy, Weaselette. And sorry if I'm trying to goddam help!!!" Draco growled at her. By now, she was attempting to distance herself from him, only to hit the wall. She stopped at his last words.
"Help? Help?!?" Ginny shrieked, shoving him away from her. "If you want to help, then you can just leave me alone!" And with that, she was storming off down the hall, leaving a mystified Draco behind her.
What's eating her? He wondered.
***
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Have all you lawyers out there gotten the hint yet? ::A loud "NO!":: Fine then. Be that way.
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my new online friends, Laura (the first of my online buddies!), or ToOtHpIcK on ff.net, Champagne (I've missed you girl!), or That's-So-Raven, and Kerri (I will kick your ass eventually Ghostie McPaley!), or Sic Dreams Inc. CHECK THEIR STORIES OUT, THEY'RE ALL REALLY GOOD!!!
You've Got Mail: Ch.8-William Claydor
Her hand traveled out to the door handle, but hesitated before reaching its destination. She bit her lip.
It was Thursday, and she was just about to go into the library to meet Malfoy to start work on their project. She shuddered at the mere thought.
Ginny was just contemplating whether she should go in or just ditch him, when the door she was half leaning on opened. She tumbled through, and into the person on the other side.
"Ugh! Geroff me Weasley!" Damn. It was him. Though, as Ginny reasoned with herself, she probably should have expected that.
She shoved herself off him, managing to elbow him in the ribs while doing it. "Like I that," she sneered. "Or maybe you just did. Missing me so soon?"
He grimaced. "I think not. I mean, why would anyone miss filth? Oh wait, I'm telling you this, never mind."
She started to flush, but ignored it by brushing past him into the library. "Shut up you bastard, now hurry up and get in so we can get this over with," Ginny told him in an exasperated tone. Draco followed her, grumbling slightly.
Pretty soon they had themselves situated at a table in the back, and were rifling through many vampire books, searching for a good research person. Ginny was bored out of her mind. Draco appeared indifferent, and was flipping the pages with a steady rhythm, occasionally pausing at one page, or marking them with a finger. She was just kind of staring at the words, not reading but not doing much else.
She was dead tired. The previous night, she had had another nightmare, but this time when she woke up, there was no Aimee to comfort her, just Tina. The blonde in question had 'slept' right through her screams, snoring in a very loud and fake manner. Damn her.
Ginny shut her eyes briefly, considering dozing off, before remembering the presence of her nemesis. She opened them again, and resumed her staring at a piece of-what the hell was that?-on the wall.
"Stop looking at me Weasley," Draco commanded. His voice was muffled slightly by the book in front of his face but she could still hear the monotone clearly.
She colored. She hadn't been looking straight at him, but Ginny guessed that from his perspective it looked like she was gazing at him adoringly. She shuddered inwardly.
"I am not staring at you, I'm staring at that thing on the wall behind you," Ginny argued hotly.
He turned slightly to look at the wall. "That's disgusting," he remarked, before snapping out of his trance like state and remembering Ginny's non- work habits. "Hey! However nasty that thing is, it's not an excuse not to work! Hop to it!"
She just stared at him. "No," she said quietly.
Gray eyes narrowed. "Weasley, I mean it, start working."
"No. Don't tell me what to do." Her voice was clearer now, and it seemed bit amused.
"Weasley." he growled.
Ginny batted her eyelashes innocently. "Yes?"
"ERGH!" And with that, Draco threw a book at the wall, causing Ginny to raise an eyebrow. Someone's stressed, she thought dryly. "Listen Weasley, I don't have time for this, I have places to be, so get cracking dammit!"
Ginny's head snapped back at his harsh tone. "Geez, fine, no need to get a heart attack Ferret," she muttered, pulling the library copy of Researching Vampires For Dummies towards herself.
His eyes narrowed again, but he decided it might be in his best interest to stay silent. Rather smart of him, I must say.
They were working in silence for another couple minutes, and Ginny started to get bored again. Suddenly, there was a rather loud grumble, and Draco looked up in surprise.
"What was that?" He asked with a slightly confused expression.
Ginny flushed. "My stomach, I-uh, missed lunch and breakfast this morning was a piece of toast. I guess I'm hungry," she finished. He smirked at her, and went back to his reading, but was interrupted by another growl. This time however, it came from him. Now it was Ginny's turn to look up in surprised mirth, and his turn to blush slightly.
"Guess I'm hungry too," he mumbled, causing Ginny to laugh. He looked back up and glared at her, but stopped as soon as he saw her packing up her belongings. "What are you doing?"
She rolled her eyes and stood, putting on her bag. "Hmm, let's think about this. We're both hungry, it's after lunch and we have more free time. Whatever shall we do?" Ginny asked in mock surprise. His face lost the confused look, and he started to grin.
"Kitchens, I presume?" He inquired.
Ginny grinned slightly. "Oh yeah."
Draco gave a small sigh. "Alright then, but at least take a couple books, I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted this done quick," he told her sternly.
Only too happy to be getting out, Ginny nodded enthusiastically and grabbed some books off the table before almost skipping out of the library, ignoring his cries of protest at being left behind.
***
Draco trailed behind her, grimacing slightly. He still couldn't believe he was going to raid the kitchens with none other than the Weasley brat. Granted, he was starving, but still, it was the principle of the matter.
He shifted the vampire tome to under his other arm. Why the hell did they even have to do this bloody project? Sure, he knew their teacher was an ex-vampire hunter, but this seemed a wee bit like overkill to Draco. He looked up from staring at the cover, and saw the redhead move to walk into one of the main hallways.
"No!" He cried out suddenly, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. She twisted around confused, and Draco started to explain. "Think about it Weasley. That's the main hallway, with tons of students. How would it look to say, your brother if he saw us walking along, not at each others throats?"
Ginny bit her lip. "I hadn't thought of that," she replied hesitantly.
Draco smirked, and dropped her arm. "Of course you didn't. You are a Weasley right?" And with that he was walking down another hall, leaving Ginny to fume behind him.
Soon, they were standing in front of the fruit bowl painting, and Ginny was tickling the pear delicately. The door appeared, and they stepped through, only to be immediately barraged by the house elves.
"Miss Wheezy!! Dobby is happy to see you, oh yes!" Dobby squealed at her, bowing low enough that his over sized baseball cap touched the floor. Ginny smiled at him and knelt, uncomfortable with the bowing.
"Hey Dobby, it's good to see you again too, I haven't been in here since last year! I've missed you guys!" She cried happily.
Dobby flushed at the compliment. "Miss Wheezy is kind to Dobby. What is you wanting now?"
Ginny stood again, and walked closer to Draco. "I'd like a ham and cheese sandwich, but I don't know about him," she said, jerking her head to indicate the boy next to her. Dobby followed her gaze, and deflated visibly.
"Master Draco," he quivered, bowing again, even deeper. Draco sighed.
"Yeah, hi Dobby, look, there's no need to bow to me anymore, I'm not your master and I haven't been for about five years," he said firmly.
Dobby nodded vigorously, and started to bow again, but stopped at Draco's glare. "Yes Mister Draco sir, what is you wanting for lunch sir?"
Well, apparently sir was the best Draco would get. "Just get me some of that roast chicken we had last night, and two glasses of pumpkin juice," he ordered, and Dobby nodded before scurrying off to convey the food orders, almost tripping over the long button-up shirt he wore as some sort of dress.
Ginny gave Draco a half smile. He gave her a blank stare in return, which she ignored. It was rather nice of him to order a drink for her, since she had forgotten. Maybe he wasn't so bad inside.
They were just sitting down at the nearest tiny round table when their food arrived. The elves put down the plates and moved back into the shadows. Ginny took a big bite of her sandwich, and Draco took a sip of his juice. Ginny was just about to reach for the other glass when he picked that up too and drank half of it in one long draught. Ginny just gaped, much to the amusement of Draco.
"You little bloody wanker!" She cried indignantly.
He blinked at her innocently. "My, whatever did I do Weaselette?"
Ginny just took a huge and rather vicious bite of her sandwich, and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest angrily as she chewed. He smirked a bit at the death glare on her face. God it was fun to annoy her.
He finished eating, and looked over at Ginny. She was now ignoring him, flipping through one of the books she had brought with her. Draco had just picked up his own book when he heard a gasp. Snapping the book shut, he looked at her with exasperation. "What now Weasley?"
She just looked up at him slowly, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "I think we've found our vampire," she said quietly.
***
She had just been thumbing through the pages, when she saw it. Well, him, really. It wasn't a very big picture, but it was still clearly him. It was the same pale, slightly sallow skin, chubby figure, and sandy hair.
The vampire in her dream.
Ginny couldn't help it, she let out a gasp. Draco had looked up in annoyance and asked her what was wrong.
"I think we've found our vampire," she told him.
He gaped at her, before regaining some composure and grabbing the tome out of her hands. "Him??" He scoffed. "What's so great about him, he's not important at all, hell, he wasn't in any other book! Weasley, explain."
Ginny's eyes flashed, and she started to turn her 'angry' red. The last thing she needed was another person laughing at her about her dream and her hatred of Ivanovich. "Look," she said quickly. "I know this may sound weird, but trust me, I know it'll be a good idea to research him," she explained. "Please."
Draco frowned at the pleading in her voice. Then he sighed. "Alright, I'll think about researching-who the hell is he anyways?" He scowled at Ginny, who shrugged in response, so he looked through the book, reading aloud. "'William Claydor is one of the lesser known English vampires. In fact, not much at all is known about him or his clan,'" here Draco glared at Ginny, but she ignored it. "'However, there are a few common facts known about him. He was born in the eighteenth centuries or so, and is still believed to be living,'" Ginny snorted softly, "'it is commonly believed that he had been some sort of noble before the bite, but it is unclear whether or not he was a wizard. Claydor is most famous for a wave of new vampires, whom he created from his own friends and family, making up his own clan of half breeds. They never amounted to much in the world of vampire hierarchy, but it was still major news at that time in the world.' Blah blah blah, random junk about him and his clan, nothing important." Draco sighed again. "Are you sure about this, this guy doesn't seem all that important to me."
Ginny scowled. "I'm sure okay, so will you just hurry up so we can go talk to Ivanovich already?" She snapped at him, already picking up her belongings and standing to leave. "Malfoy?!?"
He had been sitting there, frozen with a small frown on his delicate features, but when she said his name he seemed to snap out of it. Draco sighed and stood. "Fine Weasley, let's get going already, I don't want to keep my ladies waiting at the Astronomy Tower," he told her with a smirk/eyebrow waggle combo that amused and disgusted Ginny at the same time.
Her lip curled in disgust. "Oh for Christ's sake, it's barely the afternoon yet, can't you and your whores at least wait till darkness?"
They climbed out of the painting and started off in the direction of the DADA classroom. "I could," he fake-mused, "but that is so much less fun. Harder to see everything, you know? Well, you wouldn't."
The curled lip just kept getting higher. "You disgust me," Ginny spat at him.
The only answer was a smirk. "I know."
***
Draco sighed inwardly as he walked ahead of Ginny. Why had he even agreed to researching this stupid unknown vampire anyways? Had he become that weak?
He gave another inward sigh. Cocoa's turning me soft, he noted with slight resentment. Ah well, it was a small price to pay to finally have someone to really talk to.
By now they were at the door to the classroom, and he pushed open the door, before walking through and holding it open for the girl behind him. She gave him a small smile before walking through.
Draco smirked, and let go of the door, letting it fall back and knock her on the ground. He started to laugh, but she gave an exasperated yell and jumped to her feet, hands curling into fists.
"Alright, that's it," she yelled. "Come on, let's go, right here, I'm so bloody sick of you Malfoy!" Ginny leapt forward at those words, face flushed and fist tight. Draco's smirk widened and he simply put out a hand, and held her forehead calmly while she fumed and punched. (A/N: Anyone here have an older sib? Yeah.) Finally, though, she calmed down enough to knock his hand away and storm into the classroom, berating him loudly. Well, at least until she saw their teacher and stopped dead, causing Draco to bump into her and scowl.
Professor Ivanovich didn't stray from his ancient looking tome when they entered, glancing at them only when Draco coughed discreetly into his hand. He flashed them a quick, utterly brilliant smile, before standing and walking to the other side of the desk, leaning against it with a cat-like grace even Draco had to envy.
"Miss Weasley, Mister Malfoy, I take it you're here to inform me of your research choice?" He asked them, still smiling brightly. Draco looked to Ginny, but she was staring at the ground, twisting the ring around and around her middle finger nervously, so he answered.
"Yes Professor, we've chosen a William Claydor to research," he said. For a second-just a split second, Draco could swear his teacher's bright smile faltered, and his blue eyes flashed to Ginny, but then he composed himself and went back behind his desk to grab a packet. He flipped through the pages, stopping midway through and scribbling something with his quill.
Ivanovich looked back up and nodded at them briefly, Draco could recognize a dismissal when he saw one. He grabbed Ginny's arm (she hadn't seen the nod, having been staring at the floor still) and pulled her out. When they were outside, and the door had shut behind them, she let out an audible sigh. He frowned.
"Weasley, what was that?" He demanded, gesturing to the classroom.
Her head snapped up, sending red tresses flying. Draco's eyes followed the bright hair, before he realized what he was doing and switched his gaze to her face again. "What was what?" Her voice was pitched just a bit too high. He frowned.
"Come off it Weasley, I've insulted you and your brother long enough to know when one of you is upset about something, tell me," he urged gently. Her eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously.
"Leave me alone Mal-ferret, it's none of your goddam business!!!" She yelled at him, before whirling around to leave. His jaw clenched, and he grabbed Ginny's arm, shoving and pinning her to the wall.
"No one, and I mean no one, orders around a Malfoy, Weaselette. And sorry if I'm trying to goddam help!!!" Draco growled at her. By now, she was attempting to distance herself from him, only to hit the wall. She stopped at his last words.
"Help? Help?!?" Ginny shrieked, shoving him away from her. "If you want to help, then you can just leave me alone!" And with that, she was storming off down the hall, leaving a mystified Draco behind her.
What's eating her? He wondered.
***
