"I ran away from home." His statement was so flat and so sudden she wasn't sure she had heard him correctly.
"I'm sorry?" she asked.
"I ran away from Lucius. I had no desire to become a death eater. I don't believe in his cause any more than I believe in anyone else's. Anyway, Blaise's family summered here once and he was pretty sure that with a couple of fake ID's we'd be able to get a place fairly easily. We both stole as much money as possible from our parents, which is a fair amount, mind, and came out here. We set up bank accounts, got an apartment, and settled in." He shrugged. "I assume we'll have to get jobs soon. That or enroll in a muggle college and learn one of their trades." He cocked his head in thought. "That would probably be a better idea, actually. It would make it even harder for dear old Dad to find us."
Ginny smiled. She didn't really know why.
"What are you smiling at?" he tried to ask accusingly, but he had a smile on his own face.
"I don't know. It just makes me smile to know that Lucius isn't controlling your life anymore."
His smile broadened, "Yeah, it makes me smile as well."
She yawned. "Hm. What time is it?" she asked, looking at the sky.
He checked his watch. "Huh! It's six ten."
She yawned again.
He chuckled but then yawned himself.
"Hah! Teach you to laugh at me!" she taunted.
He couldn't help it. On impulse, he reached over and started tickling her.
She squealed and started squirming to get away from him, but he had her pinned up against the rail. He had scooted over so that he was sitting right next to her and was leaning in so she didn't really have anywhere to go. As she struggled against him, he slid down a little so that one knee was on the step below them and he was facing her more directly. In order to restrict her movements even more, and support himself, he slipped an arm by her side and propped himself up against the rail behind her.
When she started having serious trouble breathing, he stopped, but couldn't move. He just sat there, looking down at her. As she caught her breath she caught his eyes. Something in his eyes caused her to grow more serious. She noticed that he was still practically on top of her, but she was far from objecting. His eyes darted down to her mouth and back. Subconsciously, she licked her lips.
He cleared his throat and pushed himself back and off of her, returning to his former seat and running his hands through his hair. She took a deep breath and resituated.
He looked back toward the door. "I wonder if your boyfriend is ever going to come back out or if he fell asleep in there." He knew it wasn't the subtlest thing he had ever said, but the last thing he wanted to do was to get involved with someone else's girl. He clenched his jaw when he realized what he was doing. He had finally figured out why the idea of her being with Micah bothered him, though. As he had watched her dance that first night he had been attracted to her like he would any other girl. When she didn't refuse to associate with him he had been intrigued. Now, after hours of hanging out with her and the talk they had just had…well, she was different than anyone he had ever met.
She looked at him in shock for a moment before she started laughing. "I'm sorry! It just…Micah's the big brother I always wished Ron would be!" She was having trouble breathing again. "He reminds me too much of Bill to gather much interest in him any other way." She bent down over her knees. Gasping out between breaths, she continued. "I'm sorry! It really isn't this funny! And it makes perfect sense for you to assume…"
He started laughing as well. "Sleep deprivation got you giddy?" he asked.
She nodded helplessly.
That was what Micah returned to. Ginny was sitting there, doubled over, clutching a stitch in her side and Draco was lying on his back with his hands on his stomach chuckling.
Micah looked down at the blonde in amusement. "What has her in hysterics?"
"A severe lack of sleep, I believe."
"Huh! Well, I suppose we can fix that easily enough." Micah started chuckling himself before sitting down beside Ginny and wrapping his arm around her.
She leaned into him before realizing her mistake. He started tickling her.
She screamed. "No!…Wait!…Draco!…Help!" she managed to gasp out.
Draco, ever a man to aid a damsel in distress, scooted over behind the wrestling pair and started tickling her from behind.
"BETRAYEL!" she yelled.
"You…just asked…me…to help!" Draco said. "You never…specified who!"
Micah barked out a laugh.
Blaise and Sarah walked up just then, and sensing that her friend was in trouble, Sarah dove for Micah, tickling him just under the ribs. He jerked back with a yell and stopped tickling Ginny, turning his attention to his sister.
Taking her cue from Sarah, Ginny turned around and decided to find out if Draco was ticklish. He was. Blaise jumped out of the way when the siblings tumbled off of the steps and started rolling around on the ground. He just laughed, not wanting to get killed, and stayed out of it.
He was highly amused, though, to see Draco and Ginny wrestling. He shook his head and climbed over them to sit on the swing.
After a moment, Draco and Ginny fell still with him lying on top of her, legs to one side but propped up on elbows that pinned both of her arms to her side. Smirking, he said a bit huskily and out of breath, "Looks like I win."
She smirked back. "Oh? And what do you win?" Her eyes went wide when his eyes once again darted down to her mouth.
She squeaked when she felt his lips on hers, but almost immediately shut her eyes and relaxed into the kiss. When he lifted his head, she sighed contentedly. Without opening her eyes, she asked, "Are you sure you won?"
He chuckled and rolled off of her.
Blaise wisely pretended not to have seen what had transpired. "Hey, do you suppose we should separate them?" He nodded toward the still wrestling siblings.
Ginny sat up and chuckled. "No, not unless you want to be dragged into it!"
Draco sat up and moved so that his back was against the wall to the house. Ginny scooted next to him and leaned up against his shoulder with a yawn.
Glancing up from where he was torturing his sister, Micah eyed Ginny. "Hey!" he managed to say through the struggle, "I thought you two were supposed to be enemies!" He said it with a smile and the teasing tone was enough to remove any offense the words might have carried on their own.
Draco looked down at the redhead on his shoulder. "Yeah, but she's just so hot!"
Ginny rolled her eyes and landed a rather soft punch in his side. "Shut up!"
"Well, it's true!" he said defensively. He sighed dramatically, "And there is that whole 'you let me be myself' thing."
She giggled. How her mortal enemy had become…well, she wasn't sure what he was, but he wasn't an enemy anymore… in one night, albeit a long one, she had no idea, but she was happy.
"What do you say we go putt putt?" Blaise suggested suddenly.
Sarah stopped trying to tickle her brother and sat up confused. "Putt putt? We've been up all night!"
"Precisely!" Blaise said with a spark in his eyes. "I bet I can last the longest," he said smugly.
"Yeah, well, Red here will be out first, I bet." Malfoy pinched Ginny's side as he teased her.
She huffed in indignation. "I'll outlast you anyway!"
"Than the challenge is on!" Micah declared as he stood and helped his sister to her feet. "First order of business, we eat! Come, the only breakfast fitting for such a day is the traditional Jones Mania." He began marching inside.
The three present who were not Jones' look from him to Sarah and noticed the glint that had entered her eyes.
"What, pray tell, is Jones Mania?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
Sarah giggled. "It is a creation of Micah, Sam, and Jake. Anyone of them can make it on their own, but it really is best when they work together. It includes griddlecake riddles, eggs Benedict Arnold, potato hash smash, all to be washed down by breakfast suicides."
The others looked at each other nervously.
"Oh don't worry! It's all good!" she looked at the sky thoughtfully, "surprisingly, but good nonetheless." She shrugged and followed her brother inside. "I'm going to take a shower while he fixes it. Girls aren't allowed to help."
Ginny stretched and Draco stood up before offering his hand and helping her stand as well.
"Does that mean we're supposed to?" he asked.
Sarah shrugged again. "I guess you can if you want. I just know I'm not even allowed in the kitchen while they make it and that was always the excuse."
"Well, I'm going to take a shower as well," Ginny said. "You boys have fun whatever you do." She impulsively went to tip toe and kissed Draco on the cheek. She blushed as she lowered herself back down and hurried inside.
"What was that?" The boys heard Sarah fail to whisper to Ginny as they ascended the stairs.
"I don't know," Ginny answered after they really were out of ear shot. "He kissed me after he got me pinned when we were wrestling and then the comments he made to your brother…I don't know what's going on, but I like it!" She was grinning from ear to ear.
Sarah giggled.
"So, what's up with you and Blaise?" Ginny asked.
Sarah blushed. "The same, I guess. I mean, we just met," she said meaningfully, "but he held my hand while we walked. He's a real gentleman, you know? These blokes don't seem anything like the way you described Slytherin in your letter."
"No," Ginny said thoughtfully, "they really don't. I guess they were just keeping up appearances for their parents and fulfilling the expectations of those around them who wouldn't let them be anything but gits."
"I guess that's what he meant when he said you let him be himself?" Sarah concluded.
"Yeah, it was." By then they had gathered their things and split up to the two bathrooms on that floor.
When Ginny entered the kitchen the boys were all sitting around the table waiting for the girls to come down so they could finish off the breakfast preparations. Some of the food had to be served hot and therefore prepared right before it was served.
At the sound of her footsteps, they all looked up. Micah smiled, Blaise smirked, and Draco gulped. She was wearing low slung distressed jeans with a couple flower patches sewn on randomly and a green baby-t with a sleeping dragon curled up on her chest. It didn't reach her navel, and while it fit the shoulders perfectly, the hem was loose around her midriff. A silver belt, graffiti converse, and her hoop earrings finished off her outfit. Her waist length red hair hung loose and was still wet from her shower.
She smiled shyly when they all just stared at her. "Sarah will be down in a minute. She insists on drying her hair." She shrugged to accent her lame explanation before sliding into the chair next to Draco a bit self-consciously.
Micah cleared his throat and the boys returned to their debate about Quidditch teams which Ginny joined enthusiastically until Sarah came down and the boys jumped up and finished the last bit of the meal.
It turned out that griddlecake riddles was a game as well as food. The first person to recognize the secret ingredient won the right to mix their own suicide of breakfast drinks. Everyone else had to let someone else prepare theirs for them. If anyone successfully identified every beverage added to their suicide they were given the option of drinking an unmixed drink.
Eggs Benedict Arnold had absolutely no eggs in them. That was why they were named after a famous traitor, apparently. They were actually biscuits and gravy. Okay, they were cookies covered in pudding.
Potato mash smash was revealed to be hash browns with bacon, sausage, and ham cubes all mixed in served with either melted cheese or real gravy covering it all. You had to choose cheese or gravy, you weren't allowed to eat it without either.