Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. The song at the end is written by Beth Neil Chapman.
Thanks again for all the support and keep reviewing! LilyK
Enjoy the new chapter!
Chapter 19: The Real Thing
As they made their way into the Great Hall, time seemed to freeze. Everyone's eyes were focused on them as they entered, and all houses began to wonder if they were in the right reality or if this was some very strange dream they had not yet awoken from. The three couples stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do next.
Finally, Hermione pulled Ron silently into the Hall, smiling nervously at their stares.
"Oh, bloody hell," Stephanie replied in annoyed tone and turned her eyes to their audience. "It isn't that big of a deal, people! You act like you've never seen a Slytherin and Gryffindor together!" She shouted at them. Dumbledore's blue eyes sparkled with laughter at her admission and the professors stood, their faces an exact replica of the students.
"They probably haven't," Harry muttered into her ear and she rolled her eyes, dragging him towards the table where Hermione and Ron were now seated.
Ginny stood frozen and now appeared paler than usual, but Draco just continued to smirk at their shock-filled expressions.
"Now that's something you don't see everyday, a Malfoy and a Weasley together, holding hands!" a short, Ravenclaw girl muttered to her date and he nodded numbly.
Hearing the girl, Draco grinned and began to lead his date into the brightly lit room.
"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing?" Ginny hissed, tugging his robe.
"I am taking you inside, what does it look like I am doing?" he drawled.
"Okay, well.." she stuttered, "I just.." Ginny stopped again at everyone's curious stares. "Are they going to look at us all night?" she whispered in a whimpering tone.
"Does it really matter?" he snapped.
"Yes, it does," she said angrily. "I don't like it when people stare at me, it gives me a weird, prickly feeling." Ginny shivered. "Kind of like the one I have now."
Draco sighed, facing the school. "I am going to tell you this one time and one time only, do not stare at my date anymore or I will bloody up your face," he growled.
Everyone's eyes widened in a frightening manner and chatter quickly filled the Great Hall once again, seeming as if the couples in question had not even entered.
"Okay, they will not be gazing at your highness anytime soon. Will you come in now?" Draco asked, holding out his hand.
Ginny laughed lightly and placed her small hand in his. "Of course I will, my kind prince," she replied, "but actually, I'm what you would call a gypsy."
"Really?" he asked in a suggestive tone. "How about you show me some of those moves that gypsies normally would do?"
"Ha, I don't think so mister," she replied as they walked towards their table.
Hermione had been looking around the Great Hall for the last ten minutes, etching every little detail into her already overloaded mind. The magically inclined sky had stars that seemed to dance and twinkle with a big moon covering half of the area. Obviously a muggle born had helped with the decorations, seeing as how the room was filled with the beautiful northern lights, originated from Alaska, a state located in America. Finally becoming bored with her thoughts, she turned to her boyfriend and sighed.
"Ron, I want to dance now," she whined, watching the red-head gulp down another butterbeer.
"Mione, I told you that I wasn't going to dance if we came, because I don't like to, and if I remember correctly you said... 'so, it won't matter, as long as we are together," he said, trying his best to imitate her feminine voice.
"Fine," she huffed, crossing her arms. "But I hope you know Ronald, that if another guy asks me to dance, I am going to say yes."
Ron slammed his drink down. "Oh no you bloody will not."
"Well if you don't want me to dance with another guy, I guess you're going to have to dance with me yourself!" she shouted.
"Fine, I will," he grumbled in defeat.
"Yay!" Hermione squealed, pulling him onto the dance floor.
Ron put his left hand on her shoulder and stood in an awkward stance. Hermione laughed and placed both of his hands onto her small waist, moving them to the beat.
Ron's eyes lit up as he began to fall in step with his girlfriend. "I think I'm getting the hang of this now," he exclaimed in excitement.
"I know that, Ron, I did tell you that it would be easy after all," she said in a know it all tone.
He grinned at her stupidly.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, laughing.
"I don't know, its just...you're just..." He stopped.
"I'm just what, Ron?"
"You're just...you're just Hermione," he answered and she gave him a weird look.
"Okay, I already knew that," she said slowly.
"No, that's not what I'm trying to say..." Ron gazed into her doe brown eyes. "You're just... Hermione. The girl who makes me smile when I'm upset, the girl who makes me study, the girl who loves to read, the girl who is beautiful in everything she does," he said softly.
"Oh Ron," Hermione whispered, tears glazing over her eyes, "I love you so much."
He smiled at her, brushing his lips against hers. "I love you too, Mione."
Harry cleared his throat nervously and looked down at the girl that now rested in his arms.
"So, Stephanie, are you having a good time so far?"
"The best," she replied with a grin. "What about you?"
"Its nice," he stated, "although, I hardly know anything about you."
"What do you want to know?" Stephanie asked.
"Well, just the obvious facts I guess...like what your favorite color is or your favorite food."
Stephanie smiled. He was the first guy that she'd ever been to actually ask her about her life. "Okay, well, lets see...my favorite color is lilac, my favorite foods are chocolate and pizza..."
"Wait," Harry interrupted, "you know what pizza is?"
"Yep, courtesy of dear old dad. He had many muggle belongings and loved to teach me everything about them," she frowned, "that was one of the main things that my mother despised about him, and I couldn't help but love him for it. I won't ever forget the first time we went to go see a muggle film together, it was called Triple X and he loved it so much that we ended up seeing it three times in a row," she replied, shaking her head in amusement. "I guess I'd have to say that even though I'm a Slytherin, I still love everything about muggles."
"You sound just like Ron's father," Harry said, laughing. "I remember the first time I was ever at Ron's house and he asked me what the function of a rubber duck was."
"Not that much." Stephanie laughed. "My father actually bought me one of those when I was about five years old. So, what about you? Did you ever have a rubber ducky?" she asked teasingly.
"Um no, actually I lived in the cupboard for the first eleven years of my life," Harry replied lightly. If she was going to find out, it might as well be now.
"What?" she gasped in shock.
"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Every since I started going to Hogwarts and coming back for the summer, I stay in Dudley's extra bedroom and they give me real food," he joked.
"Your own Aunt and Uncle treat you that way?" she asked, still in a state of shock.
"Yes, but most muggles aren't as cruel as they are. See, they think that I'm some type of freak for being a wizard and that I shouldn't be privileged, because of my abnormality," Harry recalled his Aunt's words.
"That's terrible. I never knew that you had it so bad. Draco would probably blow his top if he knew what you've been through."
"Why would he do that?" Harry asked, confused.
"Well, he thinks that he's the only one who has actually had to go through something hard in life, but what he doesn't know is that even though Gryffindors work for the light side, they still have a hard time living too," Stephanie informed.
"Maybe one day he'll get to see that my life isn't so perfect as well," he replied.
"Hopefully he will, then maybe he'd actually follow his heart instead of his father's orders," she retorted bitterly.
"Are you telling me that Draco doesn't want to work for Voldemort?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Like I said, just because you're in Slytherin, that doesn't make you a bad person," she reminded him. "Anyway, enough about my stupid cousin, I want to know more about you," she said, laying the side of her face on his broad shoulder.
"Are you sure? It might take awhile," Harry warned.
Stephanie smiled. "I don't mind at all."
So Harry began to tell her everything about his life.
"I can't believe that I'm at a dance with a Malfoy."
"Hey, I resent that!" Draco defended. "Besides, you should be lucky to be here with me."
She giggled. "Sorry, it's just that, I would have never thought in a million years that I would be at a dance, with you. I mean, if someone would have told me last year that I would be here with you now, I would have recommended them to St. Mungos."
"Yeah, same here," Draco said, grinning.
"You know, you should do that more often," Ginny said.
"Do what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Smile, grin, or something else besides having that murderous look on your face all of the time," Ginny replied.
"Hey, I don't have a murderous look. It's called scowling," Draco scowled, "see."
She rolled her eyes. "Ok, whatever, then stop it with the scowling."
"I haven't scowled that much lately and I only do it to annoy you."
"I noticed," she replied dryly.
Draco smirked. "You know you like it when I do this."
"I do not," Ginny scowled and his smirk grew wider.
"Ok, who's doing the scowling now?"
"Did I ever tell you that I hate it when you act cocky?"
"No. You only told me how much you hated everything else that I do," he said, then took a sip of his butterbeer and grimaced. "You know, I think that somebody spiked this."
"Well at any other party I would say that this was Fred and George's doing, but seeing as how they aren't here and all, it was probably Seamus," she said, smiling at the thought of her twin brothers.
"You know, I actually liked having them around. They didn't annoy me as much as your other brothers did."
Ginny laughed. "You mean Ron and Percy?"
"Percy, that's it!" he exclaimed with a frown. "That git took at least forty points away from Slytherin."
"Well, whatever you did, you probably deserved it," she said, patting him on the shoulder.
"I bet you a galleon that it was Goyle and Crabbe's fault everytime," Draco argued.
"You mean to tell me that they were with you that much?" Ginny asked, doubtful.
"Yeah, pretty much, but not so much this year. They started to annoy me with the whole acting as a damn shadow and I told them to lay off a bit. Now, the only people that I talk to are you, Stephanie, Blaise, and Professor Snape."
"About that," Ginny started quietly, "why do you talk to me?"
Draco looked taken aback by the abrupt question and instantly felt a pang of guilt, but immediately pushed it aside. 'Oh shit, think of something, think of something or she is going to get suspicious and find out about the bet.' "Well, you act like you care about me and no one has ever really made me feel the way you do." He was surprised at how the words seemed to come out so easily.
Ginny nodded silently.
"Do you want to dance?" Draco asked, standing up and holding out his hand.
"Sure," she said, placing her hand in his.
She wrapped her small arms around his neck and he slid his hands down to her waist. As the song played, Ginny listened to the words and immediately felt all her old feelings rushing back.
Say goodnight, not goodbye.
You will never leave my heart behind.
Like the path of a star,
I'll be anywhere you are.
"What exactly do you feel about me?" Ginny asked him quietly.
In this heart that lies beneath the cold,
In the secret place inside your soul.
Keep my love in your eyes,
Say goodnight, not goodbye.
So many thoughts rushed through Draco's head as he pondered her question. He wasn't supposed to feel this way about her, especially not a Weasley. This was supposed to be a bet, just like every other girl...so why did he feel like Ginny wasn't just some girl? Even if he did feel that way, it could never work out between them. But she made him feel good and warm, something he had never felt in his entire existence and he liked the feeling. It made him feel like he did in his dreams...the only safe place he had. It wouldn't hurt to pretend like this was all a dream, would it? All he had to do was wake up later on.
Don't you fear when you dream?
Waking up is never what it seems.
Like a jewel, very deep,
Like a promise meant to keep.
"I don't exactly know how I feel about you," he answered truthfully, looking into her sparkling brown eyes. "But, I do know that whatever feeling this is, I like it and I don't want it to go away anytime soon. I like being with you, because I can be myself and you don't judge me...I'm not just a cold person in your eyes."
"I have always known that their was something else about you, all those times that you were hurting people...it wasn't because you wanted to...it was because you were hurting and still are," Ginny replied, tears falling from her eyes. "I want to help you, Draco."
You are everything you want to be,
So just let your heart reach out to me.
I'll be right by your side,
Say goodnight, not goodbye.
All other rational thoughts flew out of his head at her tender words and the sound of his name on the tip of her tongue. He was falling in love with this girl, and he didn't give a damn if it was a Weasley or not. This girl was beautiful, loving, and most importantly, she cared about him.
"Draco?" Ginny said quietly.
You are everything you want to be,
So just let your heart reach out to me.
Keep my love in your eyes,
Say goodnight, not goodbye.
Say goodnight, not goodbye.
"I want to be with you, Ginny," Draco replied, a feeling of happiness washing over him, something that he had never felt before in his entire life.
"Are you sure?" she asked, "Because, Draco this is the real thing, not-"
"I'm sure," Draco promised.
"Okay," she said, nodding numbly.
"Okay," Draco repeated, grinning. Pulling her to him, he planted his lips firmly over hers and filled the kiss with everything he had. Ginny's knees weakened at the intense passion. Nothing had ever felt this good, and she highly doubted that nothing would be able to. The couple were completely oblivious to the shouting and catcalls that sounded in the Great Hall.
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW (HINT, HINT)
LILYK