Take A Deeper Look

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Chapter Seven: Taking Over Me

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"Virginia."

"Draco! What are you doing here?" Ginny ran towards him, jumping into his arms while he caught her.

"I didn't go through with it, Virginia."

Ginny stared at him, her eyes wide. "You didn't?"

Draco smiled, shaking his head in a no fashion. "I couldn't do it, Virginia. I kept hearing your cries in my head. I came back as soon as I possibly could."

"It's too good to be true," Ginny stated as she looked into his eyes, disbelief in her own.

She was pushed back from his body roughly. "You're right. It is."

"Draco!" she stared at his Marked arm.

His body moved backward from her like he was just floating away. "And I'm not going to help Dumbledore, the old fool."

Ginny reached out for him, but he only went back further. "Draco! No, Draco!"

"Come back!" she woke at her own scream; she could feel the sweat of fear on her face. She covered her face with her hands, silently sobbing to herself. God how she hated those dreams.

Ginny gasped for breath and tried to stop the tears. She threw back her covers and slipped the warmed cloak around her and slipped quietly out of the Gryffindor House.

The tower just didn't look the same as it had that night with Draco. She frequented it during the break often enough. She always came here after one of her dreams. It seemed to calm her, knowing that at least here, Draco had been at peace. She sat on the bench, pulling her legs up to her chest and circling her arms about them.

What had happened at his Marking? Had it hurt? What did he have to do for Voldemort to prove that he was worthy enough to have it? Or had he proven that he was already? What did they make the new Death Eaters do at the initiations?

What if they have to do something like rape an innocent Muggle girl then kill her? God, Ginny! What the hell are you thinking morbid like that for? Stop thinking about him! she yelled to herself.

Ginny had to get off the tower. Trying to rid her thoughts of Draco wasn't working well if she was in the exact spot where she had first really met him.

When she got back to her bed, nearly getting caught by Mrs. Norris in the process, she felt back to sleep just fine. But she knew a dream would run into her at some point. She couldn't control what she dreamed, though she wished she could.

~~*~~

"Miss Weasley!"

Ginny jumped in surprise, almost knocking the cauldron right off its stand. Snapes' stern face came into her vision quickly.

"Just what do you think you are doing, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny looked up at him. "I'm not really thinking about what I'm doing, Professor Snape. Which, by the way, is nothing."

"Beg your pardon, Miss Weasley?" Snape glared at her for her last remark.

"Well, there's no need to beg for my pardon, but all right, you're pardoned," Ginnys' eyes widened as she stopped talking, she bit her lip, waiting for what was to come next. She could hear the whispers of her classmates.

Snape folded his arms across her chest. "Detention tonight, Miss Weasley. And ten points from Gryffindor!"

"Peachy," Ginny muttered as Snape walked away. More of Draco's attitude rubbed off on my own than should be allowed. She could feel Colin staring at her. "What?"

Colin stared at her like she had gone mad. "You just lost us ten points! And what the hell was with your comments? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I can win it back in Hagrids' class three times over. And just maybe I do, Colin!" Ginny went back to the potion, adding things as the recipe told her. She could still feel Colins' eyes on her, but she felt another pair on her back.

Something had changed in him though. He hadn't even met her gaze when she looked at him in the Great Hall at breakfast. It made her feel like she had been used. Like she had just been another little thing he didn't need, so he threw it away.

But another part of her knew that wasn't what it was. She had known things would be different when he came back. She had just hoped that they wouldn't be.

"Ginny?"

"What?" she added the last of the ingredients and stirred it around. She really didn't want to talk about her attitude. Colin didn't say anything more on the subject, he knew her well enough to not say anything after a 'what' like that.

"Do you want to work in the dark room tonight, or can I take it?"

Ginnys' eyes slid over slightly. "What do you think Colin?" she sighed, "knock yourself out. Room's yours. I'll develop my pictures tomorrow during my free period." She knew she shouldn't be rude to Colin. But it was just so hard once you were on a roll. It would definitely be the talk of the school, her sassing Professor Snape. She didn't want to be the topic of conversation again.

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She pulled open the door, and shut it behind her quietly.

"Weasley."

Ginny turned around quickly. Draco was leaning on a desk, looking quite put out. Her voice was too quite as she spoke, "so it's Weasley again, is it?"

Draco looked away from the girl. Seeing her in school, in class, it was painful for him. Over break, he had tried to, but only failed in, trying to forget her existence.

"Draco?" she leaned on the table next to him. "What are you doing here?"

"I have detention, Weasley," he stated simply, failing to sound as put out as he was trying to look.

Ginny sighed, annoyed with him already. "Fine. Be a prissy-ass."

"Excuse me, but I'm not a prissy-ass, as you put it so eloquently."

"When have I ever cared about being eloquent, Draco? The least you could do is call me by my first name for crying out loud. You'd think you didn't know a damn thing –"

"Virginia, shut up."

"Why?"

Draco stared at her; the fire flashing in her eyes was something he recollected. He knew not to push her buttons, but also knew he would anyway. His father had questioned him on his unusual behavior, causing him to realize he had to act like his cruel self again. "Because you are annoying me with your incessant blabber."

"You know what, Draco?" she started angrily, "I'm tired of it already. I'm tired of pretending that I hate you just like my family does. I liked thing between us before you left."

He turned away form her, walking a bit before leaning on the table across the aisle. "Well things aren't like they were before break. Things are different now; changed."

"No, I supposed they aren't. Because the guy who I said goodbye to on the platform knew what he was doing, and why. I believe in that guy, so much so that it hurts. But you're not that guy, you can't be. The guy I believe in wouldn't treat me like you are. It's almost as if you've forgotten your path."

"And just what would a little girl like you know of my path?" Draco spat.

Ginny glared at him; "I am not a little girl, and I haven't been since I was eleven. But I know everything about where you're supposed to go."

Draco didn't have an answer for her. He hadn't seen her for two weeks, and then the only time he had with her alone, he was arguing with her? How typical.

Ginny let out a disgusted noise as she threw up her hands. "My God, Draco. You don't even know what the hell you're doing right now, do you? Anyone with half a brain would know how to act around people after they've been Marked. And they would know to act like it had never happened! But you're practically going around school, baring your arm to anyone who dares to look at you."

Draco rushed at her, grabbing her bicep. "Don't you dare to accuse me of something as degrading as that, Virginia. I would think that you knew me better than that."

"Yes, you would, wouldn't you?" Ginny retorted, trying to rip her arm away from his grip. "But you know, you're right about that. I do know you better than that. At least I thought it did . . . You've changed, Draco, and I know that you know it. I would have given up just about everything for the Draco I knew on that platform. But you can't be that man until you face the truth."

"What truth?"

Ginny stared at him as if he were dumb. "The truth that you're fighting against everything you know! You have to learn a whole new way of thinking . . . you can't be narrow-minded anymore. At least Snape knew that going into it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Snape knew he had a choice. To help Voldemort, or help Dumbledore. He knew the consequences of helping both of them and thought them through! You just decided on a whim it seems. You just up and said that you were going to help us, like you hadn't even thought about it at all."

Draco glared at her, "I thought about it harder than I've thought about a lot of things in my life, Virginia. I never imagined I would have to make such a decision until you came along and made me question everything I had ever known."

"And we're back to blaming this whole thing on me!"

"No! We're back to saying that you probably did me the biggest favor in my life. I doubt that I could ever repay you. Ever, Virginia! I never thought about what it would be like to live in Azkaban – until you made me think about it."

Ginny stared at him, then shook her head, "I didn't do you any favors. Don't say things like that, because I know you're just going to forget me after you leave Hogwarts. But you know what? I'll probably never forget you. I'll see you in my dreams like I have been for the past two weeks. I'll keep believing that the boy I said goodbye to on the platform, the boy who gave me the best first kiss in the history of any girls' life, will come back someday. Hopefully he'll know what he's supposed to do, and just how to do it."

Draco stared at her, he knew he should say something rude, but he couldn't find the words.

She had the door half open again before she looked at him. "I was really worried for you, Draco. I just thought I'd tell you."

Draco looked at her as she started to walk out the door. He hadn't felt like this since the platform, the feeling that he was complete. Just to know that she had cared about him enough to do his worrying . . . she had to have at least ninety thousand gray hairs for that.

"Virginia."

Don't turn around, Virginia! Be strong, who the hell was she fooling? Ginny turned around; her head low in her own shame. She heard him walk towards her, then stop. She could smell what she had placed as Dracos' smell clearly: laundry detergent, sweet smelling after shave, and the faint scent of hair gel. Her eyes closed as she took a deep breath; it was doubtful she would be this close to his for the rest of his Hogwarts days. Or the rest of their lives.

Draco stared at her; it was almost as if they were back on the platform. He grabbed her hand, placed the Christmas gift he had thought hard about inside her palm, and then closed her palm.

Ginny opened the classroom door, running out into the hall. But he was already gone. She looked down at her hand again; the necklace glinted in the torchlight. She looked at it closer before she put it on, seeing that the chain held a simple silver serpent ring with green jewels as they eyes. It looked identical to the one she had seen him wearing when he had grabbed her arm.

She knew then, what he felt.

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Delirious – Deeper

Norah Jones – Don't Know Why

Avril Lavigne – Anything But Ordinary

Jimmy Eat World – Sweetness

Switchfoot – Dare You to Move

Avril Lavigne – Falling Down

Evanescence – Taking Over Me

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So, this is going to be the last chapter of Draco attending Hogwarts. The next two chapters will be of Ginnys' last days at Hogwarts, Draco in sight, of course. Then it will be off to their post-Hogwarts lives.