Take A Deeper Look
~~*~~
Chapter Nine: Too Little, Too Late
~~*~~
She loved him holding her. She felt secure – like everything she was worrying about didn't matter, wasn't there to make her think about them.
Draco looked down at the closed blue-green eyes of the girl. She hadn't grown much since he had last seen her, except in attitude. He knew he shouldn't be so close to her. The hurt of trying to get over his feelings for her would just last longer. Draco stepped away from her, causing her eyes to open questionably.
"Finish getting packed. We can talk when you're done."
Ginny nodded, turning back to the trunk. She snatched her wand from her duvet, charming undergarments from the dresser to the trunk as she shrank them. Thinking for a minute, she deduced that all of her clothes were in the trunk except for the clothes she'd need for the next two days. Books were next.
"Oh! Can you go to the common room and grab the books on the table? It's the one closest to the fire."
Draco looked at her slightly hopeful face before curtly nodding. He spotted the stack when he entered the room almost immediately, exactly where she said they would be. Glancing at the titles, he walked back to the red-carpeted stairs.
Red and gold everywhere. How utterly drab.
Ginny looked up from the books she had just put carefully into the trunk, a smile adorning her face. "Thanks, Draco."
"What are you doing?"
She turned another upside down, shaking a paper loose from its pages. "I used detention slips as bookmarks sometimes, and I'd forget about them. I thought I would give them to Professor Dumbledore."
Draco fetched up the paper that had fallen out, lifting an eyebrow when he turned it over. "Interesting detention slips they've got this year."
Brow furrowed, she took it from his hands. "Oh" Ginny could feel her cheeks heating up. "I – uh – I just like the photo. It's . . ." she trailed off lamely.
"It's very good. My, don't I look devilishly handsome!"
Biting her lip to hide a smile, Ginny placed the photo in the top of her trunk, with the pictures of her family and friends as well.
The look was not unnoticed. "Now what is so amusing, Virginia?"
"Nothing," sounded squeaky from held-in laughter.
He grabbed her wand hand, stopping the current spell. "What?"
Ginny struggled with the smile. "Positively angelic."
"Pardon me?"
"Positively angelic. That's what you look like in the picture." The red head took her hand back and finished with the nights' packing finally. She lifted the heavy, wooden trunk from her bed and placed it back at the foot.
"Angelic? Me?"
She nodded.
"Are you insane?"
Nodded again.
"You think that's angelic?"
Another nod.
"You're just nodding to everything, aren't you?"
Nod, and a smile.
"You're unbelievable . . ."
Both jumped when loud music came from the black rectangle on her dresser, and Ginny rushed to turn it off.
"Sorry. You must have said the song of the day. I charmed it to do that; keeps me interested." She laughed a bit at the stupidity of her stereo as she sat on the bed carefully.
He didn't mention that there was no such charm to do that.
"You can sit down, y'know." She went about smoothing the dress, not wanting any more wrinkles in it. "This dress is annoying."
"You looked beautiful in it." He bit his tongue, yelling at himself.
Ginny blushed as she sat in front of him. She cocked her head to the side, question on her face. "What'd you want to talk about?"
He knew he shouldn't have. Knew it would just make things worse. Knew it could jeopardize his cover. He knew all of those things, but he still pulled her to him for a kiss he had known he shouldn't have given her.
Ginny pulled back after her initial shock. "Draco?"
"I'm sorry. I just –"
She cut him off this time.
~~*~~
Ginnys' eyes opened slowing to the sunlight coming through the window opposite her bed. Widened when she felt an arm tighten around her stomach.
Oh my God . . .
She turned carefully in the hold to face the man lying next to her.
"Good morning."
"Oh," she said shakily. "You've never talked in my dreams before . . . This isn't a dream, is it?"
Draco smiled slightly. "No. But I'm happy to know you've dreamt about that, and this."
She blushed, almost matching her hair at her confession. "Well – I – Oh sod off, Draco."
He smiled a rare smile, one of the smiles she cherished because she knew how hard it was to earn one. "After last night, I don't think I'll ever want to sod off. Unless we can't repeat."
Ginny put her forehead on his chest, hiding her face. "You're horrid, Draco. I can't believe you're joking about something like this."
"Like what, Virginia?" he held a mischievous twinkle in his eye that she didn't see.
"Draco!"
Draco laughed, causing her to look up. "I'm only joking, Virginia."
Ginny stared at him, liking the look of color in his cheeks; loving the feeling of lying next to him. Then the thought hit her that she was lying next to him naked, and instantly her modesty flared up again. "Draco . . . I've never done that before."
What was the point of the Virginia? Of course he could tell you've never done that before, you daft cow!
"However," Ginny saw his eyebrow quirk up at her. "I wouldn't mind repeating," she grinned at him, kissing his once more.
~~*~~
She smiled happily as she walked to the main entrance of the castle; Draco was following her with the Elvish cloak covering him.
"Ginny! You're leaving us, what the hell are you smiling about?" Joan yelled loudly, then held her head. Colin instantly began chastising her about how you shouldn't yell if you have a hangover.
Ginny laughed at her friends. "I'm going to miss you guys so much."
Colin hugged her, "we're going to miss you as well, Gin. Just remember to write, if they let you."
"I'm not going to a prison, for that last time, Colin Creevey!" Ginny scolded before hugging Joan.
Joan swung the girl around. "I'm going to come steal you away from them someday. You know that right? I'll just come and take you away without a word!"
"Oh, yeah. That'll go over well. I'll write as much as I can, alright? And fire-message when I can."
Ginny sat down on her broom, getting ready to take off when she spotted him. She stepped off the broom, walking up to him. "Good-bye, Professor. And thank you, again."
He nodded his head, "good-bye, Miss Weasley. Have a safe trip."
"I will. May I ask one thing of you, Professor?" Ginny waited as he internally debated the question, then he nodded. "Will you do your best to stay off of his radar?"
Severus Snape smiled the slight smile he was known to give from time to time. "Yes, Miss Weasley. I'm doing just that."
Ginny nodded before walking back to her broom and shocked friends, then mounted up. "I'll be seeing you, okay?" They nodded as she took off. Ginny jumped a bit when she felt his hand on her back, then smiled. "Hogsmeade?" she knew her question didn't need to be answered. She flew the ten minutes it took to get to the small village before landing near the Shrieking Shack. Draco took the cloak off when they landed.
"I'm going to miss you, Draco." She smiled sadly at him, wondering if she'd see him anytime soon.
Draco nodded confirming her words. "Virginia . . . I – uh –"
Ginny smiled, "I – uh, you too, Draco."
He took a page from her book and rolled his eyes slightly. "I meant to say that I love you, child."
She hugged him tightly, "I think you took care of the child part, you daft old man. But I've loved you for a long time now, and I'm sure that I still do."
He looked down at her. "Do you wish I hadn't taken –"
"– No, Draco. So don't even think that. But I have to leave now, I've got a long ways before I get where I'm going."
Draco stepped away from her, "still not telling me where you're going?"
Ginny sat on the broom, sighing. "Its not that I don't want to, Draco. I just can't." She kissed him one last time, then pulled away.
"Goodbye, Virginia."
She bit her lip; "I don't want to say goodbye . . . How about I'll see you around?"
Draco nodded. "I'll see you around, then."
Ginny smiled one last time, then lifted from the ground and flew off to the south. She hated having to leave him, and made sure that he was no longer able to see her before tears leaked from her eyes.
"You've got some dedication in you, Virginia . . ." she told herself as she flew in the clouds to the Port Key they had told her of.
~~*~~
She sat in the white room, the sunlight peaking through the blinds, lighting it to a soft brownish hue.
"You're highly recommended to us, Miss Weasley. Why do you think that's so?"
Ginny looked at the bearded man. "Honestly, Mr. Garlotte, I'm not sure why my Professor recommended me so highly. However, he obviously thought I was right for the job and that I could be an asset to you and your fellows."
Mr. Garlotte smiled under his beard, he reminded Ginny of Hagrid slightly. Except this man wasn't half-giant. "Well, Miss Weasley, lets get you to the Scholars," he motioned for her to leave the room first, then stepped beside her. "They might have some questions, but it is unlikely that they don't already know the answer. Is there anything else I haven't mentioned?"
She shook her head, "no, Sir. But thank you, very much."
He ushered her into a room, shutting the door behind her to leave her alone.
"Virginia Weasley, I presume?"
Ginny nodded, glancing at the eight figures in the room. "Your presumption is correct."
A black hair, fair skinned woman smiled. Leaning to the woman next to her, she said something that Ginny caught as "the girl is absolutely charming."
"You understand what your job with us will be, correct?"
"I'll be helping in the dig to find the bones of lost magical creatures, and with others of the research team, we will study when they were around and how they were extinguished. At least, that is what we hope to be able to accomplish," Ginny recited as calmly as she could manage.
The man declined his head slightly, then looked to his fellows. Then he looked back at her, "you realize that anything that might hinder you in any way will result in your release from the program. We will allow you to continue research for us, but in your home."
Ginny nodded. "Yes, I understand the stipulations of the job."
"All right, Miss Weasley. You will be with Group five; they are at the north end of the dig site. Your house will be right on the edge of Magical Cairo. Please understand that we work very hard to make sure that the magic using people and non-magic peoples coexist without knowing that you are a witch, Miss Weasley. To any typical person, you will appear to be a normal archaeologist, and any digs you find of the magical nature must be reported immediately to one of us. Mr. Garlotte will explain the rest to you."
"I understand, Sir. Thank you." She exited the room, seeing the man waiting for her outside the door immediately. "Mr. Garlotte –"
"Thomas."
Ginny continued, "Thomas, why must everything be kept so secret? I've heard from Professor Dumbledore that the Minister Fudge has no knowledge of this organization."
Thomas nodded, "I'm afraid that your Minister of Magic was not fond of the idea. He found it to be frivolous and dismissed it without a cause. If not for the understanding of the Scholars, and the funding this program, no Britons would be a part of this organization."
"Interesting."
~~*~~
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
Vitamin C – Graduation
Hoobastank – Too Little, Too Late
~~*~~
Wee! Yes, well, interesting, wasn't it? I know it was a bit fast and sudden and all that shit, but it really wasn't for me. Because, if you think about it, she's loved him for two years now, as has he loved her, and it was kind of an inevitable thing that would happen. I just made it happen sooner than was to be expected.
Personally, I think this chapter bit the big one a bit, but that's just me and I'm going to be that way. Anywho, next chapter is going to be just a bit more of Ginnys Cairo time, and then it'll jump ahead. I'll make sure to let you on.
And another note: very sorry this chapter is so late. I have been incredibly busy as of late with work and school. I barely get the time to sleep and eat!
