Take A Deeper Look
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Chapter Three: Anything But Ordinary
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Ginny sighed as she pulled her knees to he chin so she could rest it upon them. The owls hooted around her, flying in and out as they pleased. Her own letter rested beside her; she was debating on sending it now that she was here.
Plus, she didn't know how Draco would react to her demanding the immediate return of her prized cloak.
She closed her eyes. Somehow demanding just didn't seem like it would work. It would probably make him keep it longer, or just throw it away.
Ginny's eyes flew open when she heard a subtle thump-thump of footsteps on the owlery stairs. Not knowing whom it was, yet knowing she did not want to be seen, Ginny blew out the candle illuminating her.
Draco Malfoy entered the bird boarding house. He had almost been positive that there was a candle flickering in the depths of the room. He shifted the package about before stopping. He felt eyes upon him while he pretended to look for his owl. Now he was positive that a candle had been flickering in the room.
Ginny jumped a bit as an owl above her hooted loudly and took flight. Dust showered down from its roost; she fought hard not to sneeze. An almost loosing battle before she managed to contain it enough for it to make a small, low noise. The letter for Draco made more noise as it was slightly squished by her hand.
A sneeze. He had heard the very muffled noise from his immediate left. Who was there, watching him?
In three quick steps he was towering over the small ball of what he assumed to be a person. He grabbed her arm and lifted her from the boards.
~~*~~
Ginny ducked her head when Draco's harsh eyes looked in her direction. Mind racing, she tried to think of how she would escape from this predicament. She knew it was over when she was towered over. He takes big steps . . . was all her mind registered as she was hoisted from the owlery floor.
"You –"
"Have said that one before," Ginny muttered. Why did everyone always say "you" when she surprised or shocked them?
His eyes narrowed and grip tightened around her arm. "What are you doing here?"
"Debating upon sending a letter to you or not." All hail the Queen of Subtlety! She held the slightly crumpled letter out, getting only to her waist because of the iron grip he had on her upper arm.
Draco released her arm and took the letter. Unrolling the parchment, he leaned it towards the light to read its writing.
Malfoy scratched out, then rewritten.
Draco,
Please return my cloak, clasp included, back to me now. It has been three days since it went into your possession. I want it back; it's very important to me.
- Virginia Weasley
"Eloquent," Draco mocked.
Ginny smacked his arm playfully without thinking. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had done. "I . . . I want my cloak back."
He stared at her curiously. It was almost as if she had forgotten they weren't supposed to get along. Or be talking, not that he thought about it.
His eyes went back to the letter. "You signed it with Virginia."
"I know that," Ginny sighed. "I thought that if I was demanding for my cloak, I might as well sound adult."
Draco nodded before tossing the package at her. "I came –" he stopped his explanation. He didn't need to explain anything to her!
When she untied the string, the paper opened to reveal her cloak, neatly folded and clasp intact. "Thank you," her smile was huge.
"Why is it so import –" once again he cut himself off, this time because he heard voices.
Ginny listened as well, placing the voices to be familiar: Harry and Rons'. She snatched Draco's wand, visible because it was sticking out of his pocket, and whispered "enlargio" while pointed to the cloak.
She stood in front of Draco as she threw the cloak around him, "Thinks about not wanting to be seen!" and she pressed the clasp just in time for Harry and Ron to come through the entrance.
"D'you think Si –" Ron stopped as Harry elbowed his ribs.
"Hey Ginny," Harry said, ignoring Ron's glare. "What are you doing up here?"
Ginny looked at her hands, before she quickly placed them behind her; she still held Draco's wand. "Sending a letter to Charlie."
"Why didn't you tell me he wrote?" Ron demanded, though slightly whiney.
" 'Cause the letter was for me only," Ginny replied. "Well, I'm off." She could only hope Draco followed her like she had motioned with her hands to do. Without speaking a work to him, she walked through the corridors until she reached the grounds outside.
Draco took off the cloak and inspected it. "What is this?"
"Pardon?" Ginny pretended not to know what he meant.
"This cloak . . . It kept me warm, yet it's thin. And it his me, yet it's not an Invisibility cloak."
"Excellent deduction," she smirked.
He looked at her as he handed it back to her. "What is it, then?"
"A gift," she said simply before saying finite incantium and putting it around her shoulders. "A sixteenth birthday gift, from some very special peop – friends."
Draco raised an eyebrow. "These friends aren't people?" he paused slightly. "I knew the Wonder Trio were strange, but I at least thought they were people."
Ginny scowled for his jest on her friends. "I didn't get it from them. Or anyone in my family for that matter."
"Who'd you get it – Whatever it is! – from, then?" Draco was tiring of her riddles.
"Awthawae," she said with the proper enunciations.
That sounded almost . . . No. "It sounds Elfish, but you couldn't afford an Elfish cloak. I can't even afford one!"
"I didn't buy it, Draco," Ginny watched the question rise up in his eyes. "I was walking in the woods, not too far from our house, and came upon her. Awthawae somehow had gotten a broken ankle, and so I said I would help her."
"Elves don't trust humans. They never have," Draco stated firmly.
"Awthawae had no choice. Her clan didn't know she had left, and wouldn't know where to find her. I helped her back to her home; she explained what had happened when their guards took me to see Lohelm, their king, and Awthawae's father.
"As a gift for helping her, without thinking of my own personal gain, they gave me three things: the cloak, the clasp, and permission to visit whenever I wanted."
Draco found himself staring in shock at the girl in front of him. Anyone else he knew would have either left he elf to die, or used her for their own good.
Yet she hadn't . . .
She waited expectantly. Well? Was he just going to stand there?" C'mon, old man! Move a little faster."
Thoughts interrupted again, he glared some. "I'll move in my own time, child."
Ginny walked away a bit before turning to face him. "By the time you get moving, I shan't be a child anymore. I'd be an old bird!" her face was cut from her large grin.
"Child, child, child. That is what you shall always be, for I am no old man," Draco retorted. Was he joking with her?
Ginny laughed as she pulled out Draco's wand; his eyes widened to find it missing as he searched his pockets. When she aimed it as him, he froze with his hand in his pocket. "Now I think a nice, long, gray beard is in order! And we mustn't forget the cane . . ."
Draco stood, his arms crossed and face scowling, two meters from her. Somehow, he knew, the beard was not his look; the cane rested on his right leg.
She could hardly contain her laughed, not that she tried. The beard and scowl made him look like Dumbledore did when he disapproved of something a student had done. "Ready yet, old man? Or am I walked too fast?"
"I'm gonna –"
"Gonna what, old man?" she interrupted. She enjoyed this little game.
Draco grabbed the cane and flipped his beard over his shoulder (he never thought he'd have to do that . . . ).
Ginny's eyebrows lowered in her confusion. What was he doing?
She soon got her answer when he ran at her. Shrieking in surprise, she turned and ran away before he caught her.
Damn! he hadn't expected her to be that fast. It seemed she had more than one hidden secret. Will she show me the rest of them? he didn't even realize what he had thought as he chased the red head, waving the cane about in the air.
She found her sides starting to stitch from the sprinting that couple with laughter from Draco's appearance.
"Come now, child. You can't be tired already!" he called when she seemed to be slowing down.
"Never, old man!" Ginny replied before ducking into the brush. She flipped up her hood, closed the cloak, and pressed her clasp.
He entered the brush where she had, but she was nowhere to be found. How had she - ? The cloak.
"Finite incantium," Ginny said form her spot.
Draco felt the weight of the beard disappear as well as the cane he was using as a makeshift charging device. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" it was so strange to talk to someone you couldn't see.
She laughed aloud, knowing he could not hear her unless she unclasped the Elfish dragon clasp. Never had she laughed this much, unless she was a Weasley Family reunion.
"Where are you?"
He was getting frustrated, that much Ginny could tell from his voice.
"Over here, old man," she said form in front of him. Draco walked with one arm outstretched, but Ginny had already moved.
He searched for something, anything, that didn't quite fit, but knew he wouldn't find it. Elfish cloaks were carefully crafted; he wouldn't find her until she wanted to be found.
Ginny sat down on a large rock and waited. He was still searching for her, but seemed to have slowed said search. "Hard to see, what is not there," she began just to catch his attention. "But harder still, to see what has been there all along."
"Where do you come up with this stuff?" he asked while searching for her again.
She stood behind him, shed of her guise. "From random moments of sanity."
Draco spun around. "Few and far between, aren't they?"
"Quite frequent, but ignored because of better things to be done," she grinned.
It was interesting, being with the youngest Weasley. She kept him on his toes with her sharp tongue, and even sharper mind. "I want to show you something."
Ginny looked up at him. What could he possible want to show her?
"But first . . ." he snatched his wan back. "My wand."
She laughed. "You sound like a child."
"Better than an old man," Draco retorted. "C'mon," he lead her slightly deeper into the underbrush, until they came upon a knotted old tree.
"It looks kind of like a face," Ginny tilted her head to the side a bit. Had he wanted to shower her an old, knotty tree?
"There's a legend, that goes with this tree. People say that when you insert your hand in the mouth, and are not of pure mind, it will snatch your hand right off."
Ginny rolled her eyes, "bullocks. That's just a load of rubbish made up to scare people."
"Then stick your hand in its mouth, if it's just a load of rubbish."
She bit her lip as she raised her arm, stepping closer to the tree. Her slightly scared grin crossed her face as she looked at him while sticking her fingertips into the mouth. Pulling them out quickly, she laughed. "Your turn."
Draco's face turned to one of apprehension; he knew there was no way he could be pure of heart, coming from the family he did, yet he never backed own from a challenge. He slowly put his fingertips in just as she had, then his hand and part of his wrist. Jolting his body, he started to scream.
Ginny screamed when he seemed to be caught in the trees jaws. Leaping to his arm, she tried to pull it out. It wasn't coming!
Draco pulled his arm out with a mighty tug and Ginny's help. He gasped with wide eyes as he showed her that he was now lacking a hand. She covered her mouth in shock, eyes watering from fear. Would he be angry with her for challenging him?
He cracked a smile and pushed his hand out of the sleeve. Ginny stared for a second before fury went into her eyes.
"You bloody git!" Ginny yelled, though relief was in her voice. She smacked him hard in the middle of his torso.
Draco's air supply whooshed out of him at that, and he gasped for air. He stared at her in confusion as he tried to breathe. How had she done that?
She bit her lip to keep from laughing. She hadn't meant to hit him that hard, and now that she had, it was amusing.
"How . . . How'd you do that?" he seemed to have gotten air back.
"Mum taught me . . ." Ginny replied with an innocent look. Then she smacked his arm. "Don't you ever do that to me again, Draco Malfoy! You scared the wits out of me! What if you had really lost your hand? You just about gave me a heart –" she stopped mid-word when his laughing reached her ears.
"Calm down, Virginia. You're going to give yourself a coronary," Draco said with a grin.
"Calm down? Calm down? How do you expect me to be calm when you play a trick like that? That was a horrid trick and you know it!"
Draco looked down at her. She really was concerned for him. Why? Still going on in her tirade, he felt himself pulling her into a hug.
Ginny stopped and went stiff. Was he . . . hugging her? She relaxed after a moment and returned the gesture.
"You prat . . . you scare me to near death," she mumbled into his chest.
"I'm . . ." he had never said he was sorry for anything, and actually meant it. "I'm . . . sorry I scared you, Virginia.
She lifted her head, he sounded so sincere; he looked sincere as well. "As well you should be."
Draco laughed at her scowl, or what she was trying to make a scowl from a smile. She was so forgiving . . . Why? Why was she able to get past all the nasty comments he had made about her, her family, her friends?
"We better get back to the castle. It's almost time for supper." Her voice sounded quiet and dejected even to her own ears.
"Alright," Draco let go of the girl and turned. He waited for her to get beside him before proceeding to walk.
She thought about saying something, but knew small talk would only ruin a perfectly good time. Never thought I could have a good time with a Malfoy . . .
Ginny looked up to his face before dropping her gaze to the doors. She stopped at the great oaken doors. "You go on in. I'll come in a few. Probably best if no one sees us walking together.
Draco opened the door, and pushed the girl inside. "If anyone sees us, we are merely discussing our potions lab."
She giggled, that was no what she had expected him to say. "Thank you," manners finally remembered (he had opened the door for them, after all).
Though Draco didn't know why she said thank you, he nodded as if he did. When they approached the Great Hall, the voices of the school drifted outwards.
"Shocking how every care is forgotten when you're in that room," Ginny said as she stood next to him. "See you in Potions tomorrow?"
He looked at her hopeful eyes, and with a small smile, he nodded. "I'll save a seat."
"Bye," Ginny opened the doors and walked to her table. It seemed supper had just begun.
"Hey Gin, where've you been? You look flushed," Hermione asked once she had downed her juice.
Ginny smiled mysteriously, "I was around. Exploring and such. You know."
Ron, best at making assumptions, nearly exploded. "You weren't off snogging some boy, were you?"
"Maybe. Maybe not," Ginny took a small bite of her roll and counted in her head.
"Virginia Weasley!"
Perfect, Ginny thought. She looked innocently at her protective older sibling. "Yes?"
"Don't you look at me like that!" Ron pointed a finger in her face.
Ginny rolled her eyes before truing back to her dinner.
"I demand to know who you were with; I'll tell Mum!"
Ginny glared. "One: it's 'whom' not 'who;' if I was snogging with someone, it would be just one person. And two: tell Mum, and I'll tell her who broke Grams' ashes urn because they were playing Quiddich in the house!"
Ron scowled, he hated it when she out-witted him.
Ginny straightened quickly; she felt eyes on her back. Curiousness on her face, she turned around to inspect the table from whence the stare felt like it was coming from.
Draco Malfoy stared her straight in the eyes, with a smirk on his face.
~~*~~
He was going to save a seat for her? Why was he going to do that? He saved seats for no one.
Damn girl. She was making him do and say things he didn't normally do or say.
It caught his attention when he heard a faint shout of "Virginia Weasley!" and he looked up from his food and watched the display of sibling fighting.
He saw Virginia glared at her brother; what had he said to piss her off? She seemed to be successful in her retort, because the Weasley turned red and shut up.
When she turned around, he felt like going up to her and saying that curiosity killed the cat. He smirked in thought of what she would answer him with.
He met her eyes when she passed over him, his smirk still on his face. Her curious look change to one of slight confusion a she mouthed, "What?"
Shrugging nonchalantly, he lifted his arm as if he was going to scratch his head, but had no hand. Virginia's eyes went into a mock glare before he pretended to be frustrated with his lack of hand.
He watched as Virginia let out a loud laugh, before ducking her head in quieter laughter.
"What is she laughing at? Completely mental, that one," Pansy muttered from beside him.
"As are you, if you're talking to yourself," Draco replied as Virginia had to him. Pansy looked like she was offended when Draco shifted his eyes just enough to see her from the corner of his right eye.
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"Ginny, what on earth is so funny about Dumbledore probably retiring soon?" Harry stared at her like she had gone mad.
The young red head shook her head and waved her hand about. She was laughing too hard to talk. In addition to that, she was trying to figure out why Draco's joke was so amusing.
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Dumbledore, however, found himself chuckling with the all-familiar twinkle in his eyes at the two students antics.
In his thoughts, he knew that nothing could ever happen with the two. Draco would endanger anyone he got too close to, because of his almost certain decision to become a spy.
Albus glanced at Severus, and knew that the students' antics were making him reminisce and realize what could never happen.
History always repeats itself; this Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape knew all too well.
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Delirious – Deeper
Norah Jones – Don't Know Why
Avril Lavigne – Anything But Ordinary
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Wee. Yeah, so the tree part came from the movie Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn, one of my favorite actresses and movies. You should watch it. Anyway, I hope I left you all wondering about what Albus and Severus know that the rest of you don't. Go on and guess, but I doubt you'll figure out my twist.
See you next chapter, more exciting moments to come!
