Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.
A/N Thanks for the reviews.
Back to the beginning
Draco had heard enough. He looked down and quickly removed his arm from around Ginny and lifted the invisibility cloak from over himself. He then turned and headed slowly towards the Slytherin common room, thoughts burning through his brain.
Anger seethed through Ginny's veins at how Lucius Malfoy could say something like that, about his own son. She didn't know what to do, simply followed Draco to Slytherin. She wanted to say something, anything, to comfort him, but didn't know what.
Slytherin common room was lit only by a few torches, and was draped with silver and green. It didn't look particularly homely, Ginny thought, it was a bit bare and, well, evil looking.
Draco went and sat down on one of the sofas, and leaned his head back against the cushions and shut his eyes.
Ginny sat down next to him, on the edge of the sofa, hoping that the Death Eaters wouldn't come in now to plant their bombs. She slid her eyes sideways to look at him, his pale face, framed with neat tendrils of silvery blond hair. He looked almost angelic, and so beautiful, but with a dangerous aura.
He opened one eye and looked at her, having felt her scrutiny. Ginny glanced away, hoping her face wasn't reddening too much.
"I'm really sorry Malfoy. Your father's a bastard." She said, with emotion, and without really thinking.
"I don't want your pity." He said bitterly. He shut his eye again, as if the sight of her pained him.
Ginny stood up, vaguely hurt, meaning to go to the door and look out to watch if people were coming, but Draco's hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him, surprised.
"Where are you going?" He said sharply, his eyes narrowed and he stood up. She wrenched her arm out of his grasp.
"I'm just going to keep a look out for the Death Eaters, if you don't mind." She said, trying not to sound too harsh. It was difficult with Malfoy sometimes.
"Oh, sorry." He said, seeming genuinely guilty, and his face lost it's anger, leaving a weary expression.
He looked so forlorn that Ginny couldn't help but reach out and put her arm on his.
"Look, Malfoy …" He cut her off by putting his fingers on her lips, and staring intently into her eyes. She didn't look away like most girls would have. But before she had the chance to find out what might have happened after that, many things happened at once.
There was a rustling at the door to the common room as somebody pushed away the portrait. Draco reacted very fast, and grabbed Ginny and pulled her down behind the sofa with him. They tumbled to the ground just as the door opened, Draco lying on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
Draco could feel Ginny's body pressed against his, her heart beating at an accelerated rate against his and her breath whispering against his neck, rustling his fine hair. In another situation it may have been quite pleasant, recalling that this was the second time he had ended up in a compromising position with her.
Foosteps sounded across the stone floor.
"Here looks a good spot." A Bellatrix's voice remarked, coming from next to the fireplace.
"It'll do fine." Snape replied. There was the sound of ripping tape, and some mutterings of spells.
"That'll stay hidden for a night and all you need to say is Insendio, which will detonate all of them." Bellatrix said with satisfaction.
"Good. And you're sure it'll still work when I'm down in the forest?"
"Yes, but make sure you're wand is pointing in the direction of the castle, and don't go too far in."
"Of course." Snape looked around, almost wistfully, then noticed an object on the sofa.
"An invisibility cloak." He said, on guard all of a sudden. "Only Potter owns one, and what is it doing here?" He began looking around the room, suspiciously.
"I don't know Severus, but there is nobody here. It's impossible. One of your pupils must have one." Snape was gradually working his way closer to Draco and Ginny, lying with bated breath in the shadows of the sofa.
Bellatrix had moved to the door.
"Come on Severus, we don't have time for this. Lucius wants it done before dark. You can check it out later and give detention to whoever needs it then." Snape was standing right next to Ginny and Draco's feet. Another second and he would look down and see them.
Ginny buried her face in Draco's robes, feeling his tense body on hers, and ignoring the uncomfortable aching in her back from lying against the cold stone floor and waiting for a an outcry of shock or a sneering comment.
Instead, Snape picked up the cloak and moved away.
"You're right. There's nobody in here. Let's go."
He cast one look back towards the sofa before turning, and leaving the room.
Ginny released a breath, and with it the tension filling the air. "That was way too close." She was acutely aware of Draco pressing down on her and she shifted, to move out from under him. He raised an eyebrow, and smirked at her uncomfort at being so close to him.
"Oh, get off me. I want to go and see what they've put over there." She said a bit too fast.
"You know you won't be able to see anything." He said, humour in his voice, making no effort to move away.
"But, you're squashing me," she said, with less conviction, "and …"
Draco leaned in and kissed her. His lips sent shivers down Ginny's spine and she responded by parting her lips and gently kissing him back, vaguely thinking about the strangeness of the situation.
As quickly as he had leaned in he pulled away and rolled off her, stood up and smoothed off his robes to look as graceful and well kempt as he always did.
Ginny was speechless for a moment, and took Draco's hand which he offered her to stand up.
"Bugger" he suddenly announced, with feeling.
"What?" Ginny said, having found her voice.
"He's taken the cloak."
"Oh, no. Harry's going to kill me."
"I was thinking more along the lines of the Death Eaters'll kill me when we try to walk down that corridor." His mouth quirked into a smile.
"Well, that as well." Ginny chewed her lips, staring at the empty spot on the sofa. She looked at her watch. 6.00. She calculated briefly. They had four and a bit hours until time started.
"I suppose it's no use trying to get rid of these things." Ginny said ponderingly looking over at the empty looking spot next to the fireplace.
"Er no. I dread to think what'd happen if the school blew up in a time stop. Not a pretty sight."
"How can you joke in a situation like this? What can we do?"
"I was thinking, sit and wait for the hour of doom. Usually works well for me." Ginny shot him a death stare.
"Feel free. But I'm going to leave a note in Dumbledore's office to warn him. And then we should watch Snape constantly, in case he leaves for the forest. Maybe we shouldn't let people in after Quidditch. But that depends on whether Dumbledore's back in time for the match. We could go to McGonnagal, she's deputy headmistress." Ginny would have continued in this manner for quite some time had Draco not interrupted her.
"And you think she'd believe us? The school's going to be blown up, professor. Death Eaters were here all last night planting the bombs and Professor Snape's going to set them off as soon as Dumbledore returns. I don't think so. She knows that Dumbledore trusts Snape."
"Well, do you have a better idea then?" Ginny said, glaring at him.
"Going after Snape now?"
"Yeah, because that's going to work. What? Two against ten. I'm sure." Ginny said sarcastically. "We'll have to wait until time has started again. There's nothing we can do now."
"Apart from sleep." Draco said, and sunk down onto the sofa again and shut his eyes.
Ginny sighed and sunk down next to him, resting her head against the arm rest, her mind still whirring about his kiss. Had it meant anything? Do I care?
Her thoughts gradually quieted, with the sounds of Draco's gentle breathing nearby and the restless night before eventually caught up with her and she fell asleep.
Draco opened his eyes, adjusting to the dim torchlight. He looked down to see Ginny's head resting peacefully against his shoulder. She's so beautiful. He thought, with her golden glinting red hair spilling over him, and his heart filled with sadness.
He looked down at her watch, which caught his eye glittering in the half light. Shit
He sprang into action, and put his hands gently on Ginny's shoulders,
"Ginny! Ginny wake up! It's 10.28."
A/N I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter. Anyway, please review on this one.
