Disclaimer: Yep. Still not mine. Even Nikki isn't mine. She is my friend though and wants to kill me for putting her in a Draco Ginny fic. Meh. She would have to fly 3000 miles to get to me so I'm safe…for now…
Chapter 10: Alterations
Draco entered his room, quietly murmuring soothing stupid words to the girl crying in his arms. Not knowing what he was doing or if it was even helping, he settled against the headboard of his bed with Ginny in his lap. Pulling his wand out, he transfigured his armchair into a comfortable sofa for Blaise and Nikki once they arrived. Tossing his wand aside, he pulled her closer and just held her tight to him.
"Is this helping at all? I have never been in a situation before where I needed to comfort someone, much less would want to. So I have no bloody idea if I am helping or not." Draco sighed, lightening his hold.
"No. Don't let go. Please just hold me; I don't want to think anymore. Nothing is turning out as it was supposed to. I was not supposed to end up this mad at Harry. I wasn't supposed to spend this much time with you or end up liking you this much." Ginny trailed off, becoming more and more incoherent as she started crying silently again, small sobs escaping every once in a while.
For only a breath in time Draco's hands tensed and stopped moving at the mention of Ginny's feelings for him, but Ginny, lost in her tumbling thoughts and recriminations failed to notice this thankfully, and he continued the soothing paths over her hair and back once more. Dismissing what he had heard as rash and not something she truly meant, he continued to just sit there and offer her the silent comfort she seemed to so badly need. He tried to keep himself from thinking about the last conversation they had, but he couldn't not think about it. He could not stop the small flare of what seemed to be hope that someone as good and pure as Ginny might possible see anything in him.
"Don't leave. Promise me you won't leave." She mumbled, barely audible and barely aware of what she was saying.
"I won't make a promise I can't keep, but I will promise to not leave if I have the choice." He pulled her tight to his chest and buried his face in her hair, content for the moment to let her sleep and dream while he lost himself for a while in not having to maintain his façade.
Ginny slowly became aware to strong arms wrapped around her and warm breath fanning across her neck. She inhaled slowly but deeply, thinking that she would never grow tired of the way Draco smelled, nor would she ever forget his smell. Keeping herself still against him, she tried to figure out if she was the only one who had been sleeping. Loath to move, she reveled in the feeling of calm and safety she felt wrapped as she was in Draco's arms. Just as she was about to let herself drift back into sleep the portrait entrance to Draco's room swung open. Peeking through the hair covering her face she watched, slightly shocked, as Blaise carried her best friend into the room.
"You have no food and crying female in your arms. What did potter do after we left, decide Ginny was way too good for him and try to get the second best to settle for him?" Draco drawled quietly, thinking that Ginny was still sleeping.
"Second best my arse. Besides, I think your opinion may go up a notch when you here about how she busted Potty's nose." Blaise replied dryly.
"Busted it? Nice. What did he say to get her fired up like that? I can see it coming from Gin but Nikki is way to sweet-tempered."
"You just don't know her as well as I do. Trust me, I have just been waiting for her to go off on the pillock that has been bugging her for the past 3 years. I just wish she had done it before now."
"I couldn't," came from the soft-spoken girl in Blaise's arms as he settled her between his legs on the sofa Draco had transfigured for them.
"What do you mean you couldn't. As far as I know, no one was even telling you not to. I for damn sure wanted you to at least tell me so I could castrate the bloody horses arse. So why couldn't you go off on him at least. You have been dying to do something sine this all started your third year." Blaise sounded exasperated.
"It would have hurt my friendship with Ginny. Other then you she was the only one I could talk to, but there was no way I could tell her this, she wouldn't believe me, she was too hung up on Harry to believe anything bad about him. So I kept quiet, hid the bruises and even after she started to see the real him occasionally, I still couldn't tell her. I had been hiding it for so long I didn't think anyone would have believed it of him. Even with proof."
Nikki screamed as a red blur landed in her lap. It took her a minute to realise that the sobbing bundle that was apologiseing repeatedly was Ginny. Ginny brought her head up and looked into Nikki's tear streaked eyes with her own.
"I am so sorry Nikki. I never asked, I knew I should have but I thought that if you wanted me to know you would have told me. I am sorry that you felt you couldn't come to me. Oh Gods Nikki how could you keep this to yourself, I failed you, I'm sor-'
"Failed me? Failed me my ass. Just cause I was too stupid to realise our friendship could withstand something like this does not mean you failed me in anyway."
"She's right Ginny." Blaise said
"I should have asked. I saw the bruises and cuts, I should have asked." Ginny started crying harder, hiccupping and breathing harshly.
"Gin you have to calm down. It isn't your fault, if I had known you saw I would have told you. You haven't failed me, not in anyway. And now we can go Harry bashing together." Nikki smiled at the girl in front of her and hugged her tightly before pulling back and smacking her. "Would you knock it off already? We're fine. Nothing is wrong with us, it's past and over with. Besides, now Blaise knows who it is and if Harry tries anything he is… what was it you threatened him with? I didn't quite catch it dear."
"Hmm I think I told him that if he ever touched you again I would disembowel him and string his entrails around the common room or decorations."
"That is just gross Blaise. I would not want pieces of Potter for decoration in the common room. Thank Merlin that I don't have to go in there if you ever do decide to follow up on that threat." Draco sneered down his nose at the three on the sofa as he propped a few more pillows behind himself.
Ginny laughed at Draco and calmed down a bit, "I must say, ode to Potter wouldn't rank very high on my list for decorating ideas."
"Well," Blaise countered with a sniff, "What would you do, Draco, if he tried to force his attentions on Ginny?"
"Ha! He wouldn't do anything. I doubt that I mean as much to him as Nikki does to you Blaise." Ginny jumped in, tyring to sound as though the thought didn't bother her.
"Cut off his testicles with a rusty spoon before shoving the afore mentioned spoon and parts up his arse and sewing it shut with upholstery twine."
The ground out threat that came from the blonde beauty on the bed caused Ginny to rise from the couch and sit softly next to him. She reached out and caressed his cheek gently, bringing his face up to hers. Searching his eyes silently for a long moment she apparently found what she was searching for. Laughing joyously, she flung herself into his arms and kissed him senseless.
"Well, I guess she saw something she liked."
"I'd say so Blaise. How about we go somewhere else, I think they would rather be alone at the moment, don't you?" Nikki got up from the couch and turned to the couple on the bed, "See you later Ginny, Draco."
"Too right, too right. Catch you on the flip side Draco."
"Wait. You can't go. I have some things to discuss with all of you." Ginny pulled herself away from Draco and settled next to him against the headboard. She glared at the other couple until they both sighed and sank back onto the couch. "I know this all started as a way for me to finally get Harry Potter, but everyday that passes, I find less and less that I want to know about the boy. Now I am not saying that he is all that bad, he is a wonderful, die-hard friend to my brother and I will always be grateful to him for the kindnesses that he has shown Ron and the rest of my family. But I am finally seeing how he treats anyone who he doesn't consider part of his group, and looking back, I can see how awful he treated me most of the time."
"Anyway, that is not really what I wanted to go on about. I wanted to tell you, all of you not just Nikki, that I think it is time to change 'The Plan.' Not that I have really been paying much attention to it, to tell the truth, I do think it is time to alter it. It will still center on Harry and getting him to fall for me. Only now, once he does fall, I will not be there waiting for him. I'll still be here where I want to be, but Harry will learn how it feels to be treated how he treats those around him. Hell, maybe Hermione will help, she gets dumped on way more then she should by him."
"So what exactly will we be changing from the original course of the plan? Other than you falling at Harry's feet when he finally decides to notice you?" Nikki asked as she leaned forward.
"Not changing much really. Just once he is truly on the hook, I will need some advice on how to string him along with out him knowing what I have planned. That is where you two wonderful men come into play." Ginny smiled innocently up at Draco and then over at Blaise, batting her eyelashes for good measure.
"You know that look won't work on me Ginevra, I have spent too much time with you now, you are too easy to read, which I think is something we will have to work on to keep you from giving up your master plan." Draco laughed at the girl next to him and leaned down to place a kiss on the end of her nose.
"Hey! I can keep my feelings from showing." Ginny protested amidst a chorus of 'not bloody likely' from the others. Glowering she huffed at the rest, protesting her acting ability. "What about all the pranks I have pulled on my brothers? Especially the ones I pulled over on Fred and George?"
"Well that is true. She has pulled some splendid ones over on Fred and George, and she never gets blamed, even the times when it is her. She does truly well foisting the blame elsewhere." Ginny glanced her thanks at Nikki for her input.
"See. I can act." Ginny stated, puffing up her chest.
"All right, I'll give you some natural talent, but you have to be able to fool the Slytherins if you really want to make this work. Draco, couldn't you use this to get your father off your back about getting information?" Commented Blaise.
"You have a point. I think we can use this in a multitude of ways. But first, we need to teach Ginny how to truly act and also how to hide behind which ever façade she chooses."
"Well you're the best one to teach her that by far. So Nikki and I will just leave you to it. We have some things of our own to go over and now that just about the entire school knows that we are dating I can have that sunset stroll by the lake that I have been wanting." Blaise swept up his and Nikki's cloaks, settled hers on her shoulders and lead her out of the room.
"But Blaise the sun set already." Nikki complained.
"Fine then it will be a moonlight stroll. Stop complaining or I will just throw you over my shoulder. I'm getting my walk damn it."
Ginny could not help but giggle as she watched the portrait swing shut behind her two dear friends. She sobered quickly when she realised that the two boys from slytherin had quickly become better friends then the people from her own house had ever managed, with the exception of Nikki of course. Perhaps she should not have argued with the sorting hat when it wanted to put her in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor. Perhaps if she hadn't let herself get sucked so far into the shadow of her brothers and Harry, trying so hard to be one of them, she would have discovered sooner that trusting others to judge for her left her circle of friends seriously lacking.
"What are you thinking about so seriously?" Brushing a lock of flaming hair from Ginny's cheek, Draco sank down onto his elbow and looked at her curiously.
"I was just thinking that I probably should have listened to the sorting hat and let it put me in Ravenclaw. Maybe if I had I would have spent more time studying like I should have instead of mooning over Harry."
"Ravenclaw huh? Well I guess that is better then Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Still not as good as Slytherin of course. However, seeing as you apparently have the intelligence for Ravenclaw, teaching you how to school your features to give nothing away should be fairly simple. You want to start now?"
"No. What I want to do is talk."
"We need to get started on getting you to not give anything away. You can't string someone along if they or anyone else can see through you."
"How about a compromise? We talk and I try to keep my face from showing anything."
"Fine. You might want to start now, you are looking a mite apprehensive."
Ginny stuck her tongue out at Draco before climbing across the bed so that she would be facing him and him her. "Well I am apprehensive. I want things straight between us once and for all." She looked at her lap for a moment took a few deep breaths and when she looked back up at Draco she had a look of naïve and open innocence on her face. "First things first, I want you to know that I am not here because of some fruity plan. I am here because I want to be here, not just here as in here in your room, but here with you. Whether we are in private or public, I enjoy being with you. Now promise me you won't hide behind your mask, and promise that you will answer me truthfully if you can. I don't want to cry anymore. Are you only helping me because of this plan or some other equally crappy idea?"
"The truth? Well at first it was of course mostly for the opportunity to piss off the weasel and Potter, also because I quite thoroughly enjoyed snogging you senseless. Now it is pretty much because I enjoy spending time with you."
"So you promising not to leave was just to get me to shut up?"
Draco quirked a single eyebrow at that, the only outward sign that she had caught him off guard. "Huh. I didn't think you really heard that." He fell silent, refusing to meet her gaze.
"Well I can see how uncomfortable this conversation has gotten for you so I'll drop it…for now. But only because you are so unbelievably cute when you're flustered."
"I am not flustered."
"Uh huh, right. And I am the princess of Russia."
"Well your highness, have we cleared up enough of our relationship for your satisfaction?"
Yawning, Ginny nodded and crawled back up to where Draco was reclined against the headboard. "Sure why not. I'm tired, I think its time to go to sleep. Get me one of your sleep shirts."
"You think I am just going to give you articles of my clothing now?"
"No. I think that unless you want me to return to my tower, you will allow me to use one of your sleep shirts, which I doubt you sleep in anyway. But then I don't think you sleep in much of anything if you have the choice."
"Fine." He got up and pulled open his wardrobe, after a few minutes of rummaging in the bottom drawer he came up with a deep green silk shirt. Closing the wardrobe, he tossed the shirt to Ginny along with the matching bottoms. "You might want the bottoms, you aren't that much shorter then me."
"Maybe, I'll go change in the bathroom. Be right back."
Draco watched her head into the bathroom, just as she was closing the door he said, "There is shampoo and everything in the shower, feel free to use what ever you need."
"Thanks I'll do that."
A/N: Thank you all to my reviewers. I know that it has been a dreadfully long time since I updated but I got a bit bogged down with my daughters birthday and school work buried me a bit. I should be able to get back to my old schedule of updating, at least I will try. Please review, I'm begging here. Honest I am on my knees begging for reviews here. . Luv ya all.