Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter whatsoever. Nor do I own Phantom of the Opera, or anything else I refer to that's… not mine.
OK, This is a REALLY REALLY short 4-page chapter. I have writer's block and thought that maybe you'd like this crappy little chapter instead of waiting for another month for not much more.
So sorry that it's not up to standard, if you say it sucks, I'll totally agree with you. I'll try to redo it when I have time, and I will try very hard to get the next chapter up soon.
Ginny was in withdrawal.
And without chocolate, which was maybe even worse than withdrawal.
That was a problem. She couldn't even go shopping. The nearest Hogsmeade day was in two weeks and she didn't think she could last that long.
So Ginny did what all girls in withdrawal do:
Find a way to get to the thing you're withdrawing after.
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"Meg," Ginny whispered late one night, two weeks after Harry's plan took action and three hours after the 'plan' was hatched. "Meg, I'm going out for a bit."
"Mmm'kay," Meg mumbled, half-asleep. Ginny allowed herself one short smirk before slipping out of bed and putting on slippers. She, taking her wand, put a silencing spell on herself and grabbed Harry's invisibility cloak. You'd think he'd take better care of it, better security at least, she thought, but it hadn't even been locked away.
She exited the room with the cloak on and her wand in her pocket and went down the stairwell without the stairs even creaking once, which was a miracle for her. Normally the steps made noise when she trod on them, but not tonight.
Miraculously, there was nobody in the common room. OK, so it was 1 AM, but usually there was at least some seventh years doing their homework. It was a charmed night.
She slipped out the portrait hole, leaving the Fat Lady to squawk, "Who's there?"
It was too easy. There had to be somebody waiting to bust her somewhere. But she had told Meg that she was going out, so it wasn't really sneaking out.
She snuck through long corridors to the secret room behind the tapestry.
"Angel…" she sang quietly. "Come on, I know you're there." She lost her sing-song voice at the last sentence.
"You're lucky I don't sleep," Draco Malfoy's voice said. "You, however, do, and I'd like to know why you're up."
"Because," Ginny responded simply. "Because this is the only time I'll be able to come and light a candle for him." She avoided saying directly who it was for. The loss, although months prior, was still fresh in her mind, although she didn't show it.
She could feel scrutinizing eyes staring at her from a hidden sanctuary, appraising her.
"Then light your candle," he said finally. She smiled.
"Don't sound so happy about it." She struck up a match and lit the candle the Muggle way. Somehow it seemed appropriate. Ginny's father had loved Muggle things, so it almost made amends for the lack of candle-lighting in the recent past in her mind. Almost.
She straightened up but lingered, staring into the mesmerizing flame that was gently burning on top of the short white candle.
"Is something bothering you?" Draco asked from within the walls in the nicest tone Ginny had ever heard from him.
"Not exactly," she said slowly. "I'm just… never mind." She fled to the door, only to find it locked. Nothing magical or Muggle worked to open it. She sighed. "Open it."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong." His voice sounded amused.
"No!" In truth, Ginny didn't exactly know what was bothering her. It was just a nagging feeling, tugging at the back of her brain like a small child pulling at their mother's skirt to get attention. There was no need to tell him that, though. "If you keep me here, they'll come hunt me out. They'll get you too, and where would that lead us?"
"Us?"
"You know, you and me. We'd both get in trouble."
"Not likely. It's doubtful that they could find me. I've got so many curses and traps that they'd fall down dead long before they reached me."
"And me?"
"Well, they'd probably catch you."
"Thanks. Cheery thought."
"But a true one."
"Now that we've brainstormed our fate, will you let me out?"
"Answer me one question."
"Shoot."
"Why did you come here?"
Ginny thought for a moment. "I was in withdrawal."
"With what?"
"That's two questions," Ginny said, grinning. "C'mon, open the door. You promised."
"I did no such thing."
"Did so."
"No, I didn't. I'll let you go now, though; I can't risk even possibly getting caught."
"I thought you said that it didn't matter if they found this place and that you couldn't possibly get caught with all the traps and curses you have set up."
"I would hate to have to fix them," he said. "Or to fish dead bodies out of them."
"So you don't care if they get killed, as long as they don't mess up your system of traps?"
"Not a bit. They'd deserve it for trying to break in."
"That's horrible. That's awful."
"A bit repetitive, are you?"
"Don't change the subject."
"What subject?"
"The fact that you don't care who you kill! I thought you didn't want to kill anymore! I thought that that was why you were hiding!"
"Look, Weasley," Draco said. "I don't want to kill people for no good reason. But if it's self defense, or if they're bugging into my business, then it's acceptable."
"Acceptable?" Ginny voice was growing louder by the syllable. "You think it's acceptable to kill people? Angel – can I even call you that? Malfoy-"
And all of a sudden she couldn't speak. She glared at the direction of the mirror. Draco had obviously put a silencing charm on her with his wandless magic. "Take it off!" she mouthed furiously. She couldn't take the charm off without speaking; she wasn't quite that good with her wandless magic quite yet.
"Don't shout," he said. She scowled but couldn't say anything.
"That's better." Ginny guessed he was smirking.
"Now, let me set you straight, o great Weasley. First, I am no longer a Malfoy and I refuse to be called one. Second, I don't enjoy death, God knows I've seen enough of it in my lifetime. And third, it's survival of the fittest. If they're stupid enough to try to break and enter into my house, then they don't deserve to be in the gene pool We have enough stupid genes in society without the real idiots around."
She mouthed certain words that would need to be censored out if they were said out loud.
"And now, I'll give you back your voice and let you go if you'll shut up anyway. Do you promise?"
She rolled her eyes and nodded. Yes, she would stop yelling at him if he stopped. But that didn't mean that she couldn't bring up the 'conversation' later. Behind the wall, Draco no-longer-Malfoy disabled the charm that had its hold on Ginny's vocal cords. The door unlocked with a click. Ginny immediately stalked to the door and threw it open without a word. She didn't look back as she stormed back up to her room, stowed the Invisibility Cloak under her mattress, and fell back asleep.
Awful, abrupt ending. I'm sorry. Bad Kinsey! –smacks arm- So anyways, you don't have to review if you don't want to, but they're always appreciated and make me bounce around for a while. Flames make me sad, though, and then my friends would beat you up, so don't flame.