Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.
Alone with a Malfoy
Draco cautiously lifted his hand from over Ginny's mouth, and was relieved to find she was not stupid enough to scream. He could feel her taut muscles, wondering briefly how she didn't crack. He released his hold on her and they stood silently in the shadows, tension thickening the air. He could feel one of the soft, wayward curls of her hair brushing his neck, and was grateful that Malfoy's were not ticklish.
After a few seconds voices started to filter out across the corridor, gradually getting louder, and footsteps rang out filling the silence.
"I see your charm worked a miracle Knott. Hogwarts is as empty as Spirocrick's horn. A much more pleasant place than I remember, without the gibbering mass of teenagers." It was a woman's voice, soft and silky, with an air of importance.
"I should hope so too, that spell cost us a bomb. I hope it goes to good use. You wouldn't like to enlighten me on that would you?" A deep voice replied.
The woman chuckled, without humour.
"You know that's between myself, Lucius and the Lord. You will all find out when the master…" Her voice faded as they had rounded the corner of the passageway going down into the Dungeons.
Neither Ginny nor Draco moved for a few minutes, taking in what they had just heard and waiting to check no-one else was coming.
At the same moment they let out their breath and crept out from behind the coat of arms into the seemingly bright torchlight.
Ginny regarded Draco coldly and suspiciously.
"Would you like to tell me where everyone has gone?" She said, hoping her voice came out confident, trying to cover her inner terror.
"I think the more important question here is why are we still here?" His voice drawled, and he looked at her with a vague, uninterested appraisal.
"So, you don't know, is what you're trying to say."
"Actually, I do. They have put the school under a time stopping charm. I read about them once. They're illegal, and when the charm is lifted, nobody is aware of what has happened and they just continue with whatever they were doing." He finished his speech and peered intently outside the nearest window. "Anyway, it is nice talking to you Weasley, but I have more pressing matters at hand."
He strode off purposely towards the front door.
Ginny looked around, sighed then followed him, hating that she did not know what else to do.
"I do not need company Weasley." Draco said without turning around. Ginny wondered how he knew she was there.
"I don't care. I have questions. How do I know you're not helping them? After all, why are you here? How do I know that you're pressing matters don't include handing me over to your father like a good Death Eater's son."
Draco stopped short, and turned around looking at Ginny properly for the first time, his grey eyes ablaze.
"Don't make assumptions you know nothing about, Weasley. I am nothing like my father. You're all the same, bloody redheads. Go back to your burrow where you belong." He turned then, to walk away.
Ginny tried, she really tried, not to get wound up by an impossible git like Malfoy, but something about him got to her. Self control all but evaporated.
"You think you're so bloody better than everyone else, Malfoy, you say you're nothing like your father. But actually you're just a clone. Making other peoples lives hell, just means that everyone hates you. Nobody would come looking for you if you died, except perhaps the next in line for your money. I may be in your eyes an insult to the word pureblood, but in fact I have more friends than you'll ever have. You insult me and my friends, because that's the only thing you have to do, and the only way to make yourself feel important, because in fact you are the most hateful bastard alive. You're pathetic."
Ginny finished, having let out everything she had built up over her five years at Hogwarts. Instead of making herself feel better however she just felt horribly guilty. She thought she might have seen a flicker of hurt pass across his face, but now it was emotionless, like a marble statue.
Draco just stood there, for the first time lost for words. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that. He was almost awed, and stared at her with a new found respect, and wondered how he should respond.
"Ouch." He simply said.
"Look Malfoy, I'm sorry… I didn't mean that." Ginny lowered her eyes, fiddling with her shaking hands, nerves pulled to breaking point. She half expected him to slap her or something, but he did nothing of the sort.
"No, you did mean it. And undoubtably you're completely justified. I'll argue later. But right now I'm going to see if we can get out of here. And now that you've got your little tirade out of your system, are you coming?"
Now it was Ginny's turn to stare at him in surprise. Had Draco Malfoy just ignored her outburst? Any guilt traces evaporated. Arrogant git.
She pushed past him, and opened the front door to a blast of cool air. The moon was bright, leaving eerie shadows across the Quidditch pitch. She shivered as she looked out to the Forbidden forest, and started heading down towards the gates to the school.
Draco followed closely behind, watching the moonlight casting flickers of light on Ginny's hair. He admired how collected she appeared, striding off across the lawn, seemingly not at all affected by the fact that Death Eaters were roaming the school, and that they were stuck in some time stop with no idea of when it would end.
The fact his father was probably among them filled him with an invisible dread. He had practically disowned him when he finally realized that Draco was not going to fight with Lord Voldemort. What would his father think of him now, roaming the grounds with a Weasley no less?
Ginny had almost reached the gate, close to tears. Just my luck to get caught up in this. With Malfoy too. Why couldn't it have been Hermione or Harry, someone brave, who would know how to get out of this mess? If she could just reach the gate, then she could get hold of her father, or the ministry.
About a metre from the gate, she was struck by an invisible, cold wall. Her lungs tightened, and pressure blasted into her head. I can't breathe. She began to back away as her vision narrowed and black dots danced across her eyes. Finally, everything went black, and she fell backwards onto the grass, hoping that the last person she would ever see would not remain Malfoy.
A/N That's it for this one. Read and review.
