CHAPTER TWO:
Ginny woke up to the sound of birds chirping and cats meowing. Actually, there was only one cat but Crookshanks was yowling so much that it didn't really make much of a difference.
"Go back to Hermione." She mumbled sleepily.
Crookshanks promptly jumped up on her bed and sat on her chest.
"I'm not Hermione you stupid cat." She said to him as she lifted him into her arms.
If cats could, he would have rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I know you're not stupid. But did you really have to wake me up this early? Why didn't Hermione let you in?" She wondered aloud. That was odd.
She walked down the hallway to Hermione's room absent-mindedly petting the cat.
She opened the door, intending to let Crookshanks in and go back to sleep when she noticed something strange about Hermione's bed. She took a few steps toward the four-poster and let out an involuntary squeak.
"Ginny?" Her older brother asked incredulously. "Wha - whe - where did you come from?"
Ginny's face turned a deep crimson. "Oh, uh..I was just going to put Crookshanks back...and..." She trailed off.
As Ron's shock turned into embarrassment he turned an even brighter hue then his sister.
At this point Hermione woke up too. "Ron? What's going on... I was having the best dream," She sighed. "We were ma-"
"'Mione!" Ron yelped. "My little sister's in the room!"
"Oh. Hi Gin."
"Why is my little sister in the room? I'm so confused." Ron sunk down under the covers.
"I was just putting Crookshanks in here. Sorry! Didn't mean to interrupt."
Hermione blushed faintly. "It's alright."
It may have been all right but Ginny was not going to stay there longer than she had to. She beat a hasty retreat to the door. Before she made it out her brother called after her.
"Uh. Gin...can you not tell Harry about this? Please."
Ginny frowned but nodded. How curious.
She didn't have to be up for breakfast for another hour so she decided to grab her CD player and a book and head down to the kitchens for a snack.
To her dismay the kitchen was already occupied. By a very unpleasant person. It was too late to go back, he'd seen her already.
"Weasley."
"Malfoy."
The only sound was of Malfoy's cup being placed on its saucer. An awkward silence filled the void.
"So." He said, looking just a tad uncomfortable. "How was you're summer?"
Ginny looked up, surprised. "What?" She got a hold over herself, "No snarky remarks?"
He just raised an eyebrow.
As an after thought he added "Would you like me to?"
"What?"
"Make a remark about you."
"Oh." She said feeling stupid but not knowing why.
He was looking at her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"You didn't answer my question."
He reminded Ginny of a cat, or a snake. Something very sinuous and clever. He'd filled out over the summer and she could just see his contour through the light tee shirt he was wearing. He'd flown a lot, it seemed, over the summer. He looked...attractive. She was finally seeing what all the silly, air headed girls in her year had talked about when the Slytherin's name came up.
Realizing what she'd just thought she strove hard to concentrate on a witty answer to his question and to forget that she had just checked out Draco Malfoy.
"You always do." She said to buy some time.
"That wasn't my question." He said smoothly, still staring at her with cool blue eyes. It seemed as if he was looking for her soul. But Ginny shook off that notion. Draco Malfoy didn't care about people's souls. He didn't even have one of his own. Like he would even know what to look for.
"You know." She said slowly. "I don't know. The logical answer would be no. I mean, who WANTS to be picked on or made fun of? But if you stopped..."
He cocked his head to the side and some of his aloof coldness disappeared. He rather looked like a puppy. She smiled bemusedly.
"If you stopped, what would I say to you? Who would I turn on when I needed to focus my anger? How would I know what to think?"
"Yes. I see." Once again, his intense eyes bore into her.
"I don't." She frowned. "I just told you something I've never been able to figure out in my own head. Let alone voice it out loud. And how is it I could trust YOU? I don't even like you, I don't even know you."
"There's you're problem." He said. His voice icy once more. He stood up and took out his wand. He flicked it carelessly in the direction of his drink and it disappeared with a tiny pop. Walking to the door he gave her one final look and was gone.
Sitting on one of the stools, Ginny watched the door minutes after he had vanished.
This morning was most definitely one of the strangest experiences she'd had at Hogwarts and that included the time she and James smoked some of the muggle shit Terry Boot had let them try. Malfoy truly was a mystery. Up until now she'd thought she knew what he was about but... Oh! And her brother! Like she really needed to know about that going on. She shuddered.
With a deep sigh, she jumped off her stool and grabbed her bag. It definitely would do to be late on the first day of school, not after making James promise not to.
