Ok, I'm so so so sooooooo sorry for the super long wait. But I was gone for a while and then I was studying very hard for midterms. Thankfully I survived them, lol. And I definately don't like this chapter, but I figured I better give it to you before you get too mad. So here you go!
Disclaimer: I don't own this.
Chapter 20: Draco is Confused
Ginny's eyes widened and her grip on her book tightened until her knuckles grew white. Seamus was smiling at her with a slightly hopeful look. What do I do? Ginny thought quickly. Did Seamus Finnigan just ask me out? It seemed as if all time had ceased to tick. Ginny's eyes darted to Harry and Ron, who were watching them with expressionless faces. Colin, Dennis, and Dean were staring at them, glancing back and forth between Seamus and Ginny. Nervously, Ginny looked at Hermione, almost as if for advice; all the Head Girl did was nod her head encouragingly. Ginny mechanically looked back to Seamus, whose hopeful look was slowly slipping away at Ginny's silence.
At the disappointed look that was forming on Seamus's face, Ginny's heart broke. Without another thought, she said, "Yes. I'll go with you." Instantly Seamus's face erupted in a giant grin with a slight glimpse of relief snuck in. Ginny laughed quietly at his look and smiled.
Ron was looking quizzically back and forth between Seamus and Ginny. "Did you just as my sister out?" he asked Seamus confusedly.
Seamus turned to Ron, now somewhat apprehensive. "Yeah…" He continued to watch Ron as if the redheaded boy might suddenly explode in anger. Staring into his lap, Ron seemed to be considering something. Finally he looked up and shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay," he said.
"Okay?" Seamus asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Ron said. "It could be worse. At least you're not Malfoy." The group collectively shuddered, with the exception of Ginny. Then Ron turned back to Harry and they continued their game of Exploding Snap. Hermione smiled knowingly at Ginny and mouthed the words I told you so.
"So…" Ginny said towards Seamus, who was sitting next to her on the couch. Seamus smiled nervously and turned to face her. A small laugh escaped from Ginny and she smiled at Seamus. For a few seconds, all Ginny and Seamus could do was look at each other. Ginny couldn't find anything to say. Say something, Ginny, she commanded herself. This is getting awkward.
"So, err…d-do you want to go to Hogsmede next Saturday, Ginny?" Seamus stuttered. He actually seems nervous, thought Ginny. That's so cute.
"Oh, Hermione and I were going then to pick out dresses for the ball," Ginny replied, glad that they had come up with a conversation. "But that won't take the whole trip. At least, I hope not."
Seamus laughed. "Okay then. We can do other stuff after you girls go shopping."
"Great," Ginny smiled. Ron, she noticed, kept sneaking glances at her and Seamus. She couldn't tell why he was being so accepting of Seamus, but she wasn't about to complain. The sooner he got over his phobia of Ginny ever being with a guy, the better.
The rest of the evening passed with relatively little action. Ginny and Seamus talked for a while until Colin went up to his room, soon returning with a set of wizard's chess. Then they all gathered around and watched Colin take on Dean in a match that ended up with Dean losing. After that they she and Seamus played a game together. The result of this had been Ginny beating Seamus, who only laughed and said, "With six brothers to practice against, what can I expect."
That night, Ginny laid awake in her bed for quite some time, trying to figure out everything that had recently happened. Though she was still shaken up about what had taken place in the Slytherin common room a few nights ago, this surprisingly turn of events with Seamus was slowly pushing it out of her mind. The day after the incident, she had gone to classes and kept quiet, not offering to answer any of the questions the teachers asked. What puzzled her most was why Draco had stuck up for her. I suppose he might have gotten in trouble if he hadn't, Ginny told herself. But there were also plenty of other Slytherins there that could just have easily helped. So why did he?
She had seen Draco only once at dinner that day, and he wasn't bothering to look her way. For one of the first times, she saw the two boys that had threatened her. It's funny, she thought. I've never noticed them before. The two of them were sitting at the end of the table, as far away from Draco as they could possibly be. Wonder what he did to them after I left, thought Ginny. Occasionally they would glance menacingly at her, and whenever they did, a terrifying feeling crept into Ginny. She had looked down at her plate and tried to ignore the hairs rising on the back of her neck.
In her dark room, Ginny thought of whether she should tell anyone what happened. Most likely, if she told Ron, he'd go storming to the Slytherins and hex those two boys into a mound of goop. Of course, Harry would probably help him. No, if she told anybody it would have to be Hermione. Hermione, the sensible one, who'd never do anything rash. Hermione, the one who would be able to console her.
I'll think about it, Ginny thought. Then her mind drifted to Seamus. The boy really was handsome, but that wasn't the only thing that she liked about him. Though they had never been best friends, they'd occasionally talk, and he had always been nice to her. Also, he had rarely gone out with girls, which gave Ginny the impression that he didn't take dating too lightly. But that's good, she told herself. I don't want to go out with anybody who'll date me one day and break up with me the next.
After a while, Ginny drifted off to sleep. Unfortunately, it was troubled by a disturbing dream in which the two Slytherin boys chased her into the Forbidden Forest. She had run for what seemed like forever, when, in exhaustion, she had collapsed on the ground, panting for breath. Soon the crashing of leaves was heard and both boys appeared before her.
No matter how hard she screamed, nobody came to save her this time.
Late that night, Draco sat on his bed, contemplating what he was to do about the ball. Pansy was still insisting that he go with her. Even if he didn't, and took some other girl, she'd still find a way to be with him the whole night. Should I just go with her? Draco would rather die that take Pansy Parkinson to another dance, but he didn't see any way out of it. He grimaced and thought about the events that had taken place the past few days.
Needless to say, he had been shocked when he had entered the Slytherin common room the other night to see Ginny Weasley sprawled on the floor while Derrick Sloan and Martin Darryson tried to curse her. Instinctively he had pulled out his wand to curse them. Those two boys had been causing trouble in the Slytherin house since they arrived at Hogwarts six years earlier. Draco found them both repulsive, but he didn't bother with them much. As far as he could tell, both of their parents were Death Eaters, but Voldemort did not favor them nearly as much as Lucius Malfoy. Perhaps that was the reason they so feared Draco.
The day after the incident in the Slytherin common room, Draco had questioned Blaise more. The raven-haired boy had told him that he and Ginny had come to the Slytherin house rather than spend another evening in the library. Then he had mentioned that he had gone upstairs to get something and he had heard curses being shouted.
Draco shook his head. As far as he could tell, Ginny hadn't been hurt by them, only shaken up. However, she had managed to punch, or something equally damaging, Martin Darryson in the eye. The boy, instead of going to Madame Pomfrey to have it taken care of, had tried to heal it himself. This botched attempt at healing himself had resulted in his left eye, the one that had been hit, turning bright red. Draco had seen Darryson being questioned in the hallways about what had happened, but the boy had only walked by, ignoring the inquisitiveness of his fellow house-mates.
Sighing, Draco stood from his bed. The night would soon be turning into morning. Against his will, his body refused to sleep. Knowing that he would regret it in the morning when he would hardly be able to stay awake in class, Draco slipped on his shoes and cloak and, grabbing his wand, quietly exited his room.
As he headed through the dark hallways, his mind relaxed slightly. The echo of his steps on the stone floor lulled him into a steady rhythm of walking. He didn't quite know where he was headed; doing something he normally didn't do, he just walked and let his feet pick the path.
After a few minutes, he found himself outside the entrance to the tunnel that Albert Harding had been found in…also the tunnel where he and Ginny had been exploring. He paused and stared at the old wooden door, contemplating whether he should go into it. Why not?
A creaking filled the air as Draco pulled open the thin wood door. "Lumos," he whispered, stepping slowly into the black hollowness ahead of him. Cautiously he worked his way through the tunnel that seemed colder and darker than before. As the path he had traveled before sloped downwards slightly, the dirt walls became damper and tiny roots stuck out at odd angles like strings of spaghetti. The air, becoming mustier, clogged Draco's lungs with a scent that smelt like rotten eggs. Covering his mouth and nose with one hand, Draco wrinkled his brows and his heartbeat sped up with an unexpected apprehension. Abruptly he stopped walking and stared into the blackness before him, wondering if he should continue. He couldn't explain the feeling he now had or the reason for it being there. All he knew was that he had a bad feeling.
Stop being ridiculous, Draco, he told himself. Don't be a Weasley. As if to convince himself, Draco started walking again, this time more quickly than before. He increased his pace until he was jogging down the dark tunnel; soon he was running. Blood pounded through his head until he could hardly hear his own ragged breathes that puffed out in little clouds ahead of him.
The light from his wand showed that the tunnel took a sharp turn to the left and Draco turned. As he did so, his foot caught on an unseen root on the ground and he went tumbling head over heels down a sharp incline that he had not noticed. Draco threw his arms out at his side, trying to grab onto anything that might slow his rapid fall. His hand lost his grip on his wand, which went sailing away from him. The light that had previously been guiding him down the tunnel flickered off and Draco lost vision altogether. Just as if Draco thought he'd never stop rolling down this dirt hill, he splashed to a stop in something wet. The right half of his body was soaking wet in what Draco believed to be water, the other half still on land.
Groaning, Draco stayed where he was; he put his dry hand to his forehead and it came away wet. Apprehensively, Draco put his hand to his lips and cautiously touched the tip of his tongue against his finger; a bitter taste filled his mouth and he sighed as he realized it was blood. Letting his hand fall back against the ground, Draco closed his eyes, wishing his mind would stop whirling. He could still feel his body tumbling blindly down the hill, bruising his body harshly. After a few minutes, Draco gingerly sat up; he waited for his eyes to be accustomed to the dark, yet still he could see nothing.
"Where's my wand," Draco muttered under his breath. "Must have wand." He stood from where he had been laying and swayed slightly as all the blood rushed to his head. With a quick shake, he bent over and felt the ground with his hands, looking for his wand. After searching for a while and not finding his wand, Draco stood straight in frustration. He closed his eyes and concentrated fiercely on the image of his wand. "Accio wand," Draco said quietly. He heard a rustling to his right and opened his wand-hand. Thankfully, he felt the familiar touch of his wand. His father had insisted on him learning the basics of wand-less magic during the summers at home, and for once, Draco was thankful for it. "Lumos," he stated, and then squinted his eyes as a bright light emanated from the tip of his wand. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he gazed around.
Stunned, Draco widened his eyes in amazement. As far as he could tell, he was in some sort of cavern. A small lake about the size of the Slytherin common room was just before him, resting at the bottom of the hill that Draco had fallen down. The water was as clear as Draco had ever seen water; as he shined his wand closer to the water, he found that he was able to see straight to the bottom, where rested only dirt and a few rocks. The ceiling of the room was very high and Draco had to crane his neck to see the top. A soft trickling sound reached his ears and Draco looked about for its source. Holding his breath, he raised his wand higher in the air so that the light would shine farther. It seemed as if the sound was coming from the other side of the cave-like room; Draco dusted himself off and before carefully stepped around the loose gravel on the ground, he healed the cut on his forehead with a simple healing spell. Then he started walking around the water's edge.
"Where am I?" Draco mused, and he heard the words echo around the room. The trickling was becoming louder and Draco assumed that he was going in the right direction. As he walked up a slight incline on the other side of the cavern, the wall rose from the ground and curved upwards. About five feet off the ground, the wall slanted forwards, creating an overhang so big that Draco could stand under it if he hunched over. However, the water from the lake stretched far under the overhang. Draco pointed his wand light towards the overhang and saw that a steady stream of water was falling from above it, creating the trickling sound. Standing on his tip-toes, he glanced on top of the hard rock and saw that a tiny stream was lying on top of the rock overhang, falling onto the ground below.
"I know," muttered Draco. "This is from the Great Lake." Draco didn't know why he felt so confident that it must be coming from the lake outside Hogwarts, but he had never heard of any separate body of water being underground. However, he had also never heard of the lake emptying underground either. "No wonder it's so damp down here," grumbled Draco. The Slytherin boy stretched farther to see up past the overhang, but at that moment he lost his footing. As he tumbled into the lake, he thought, I should have stayed in bed. Ice cold water pierced through Draco's robes, through his clothes beneath, and, it seemed, through his skin to his very bones. Sputtering water, Draco surfaced and, with chattering teeth, waded his way to the shore, where he stumbled onto the rocky ground.
"That's just my ruddy luck," Draco griped, picking at his clothes that were clinging to his skin. He sighed and stared around, thinking what he should do. This time when he had fallen, he had managed to keep hold of his wand, though the light wasn't as bright due to drops of water hanging on the tip. Draco brushed them off and stood from the rock he had been leaning against.
I'll come back another day, Draco thought. I've had enough of this for tonight. Now exhausted from his nightly activities, Draco walked back to the other side of the lake where he had started from. When he reached the water's edge, he stared up the embankment from which he had fallen. Surprised that he had fallen that far, Draco started the steep climb back up. As he saw the numerous rocks and boulders that were along the ground, he was amazed that he hadn't broken his neck.
By the time he reached the top, he was panting and clutching a stitch in his side. As he rested for a few minutes, he wondered how come they had never discovered that passage before. Is this the same tunnel? Draco thought briefly. He knew it must be for it was the same entrance that he had gone through before. There must be more than one tunnel down here, he thought excitedly. I'll bet- Draco's thoughts were interrupted as his eyes were drawn to something lying on the ground. In a flash, Draco saw that the root which he had thought he had tripped over wasn't a root at all. Instead, it was a piece of smooth gray stone about a foot long. Puzzled, Draco bent over and picked it up. This couldn't be any ordinary rock though, for Draco had never seen any stone shaped so perfectly.
Now thoroughly confused, Draco pocketed the object and headed back up the tunnel. He still had no idea how he had ended up in that cavern since he saw no other tunnels. When he reached the door, he pushed it open and walked through, gladly stepping into the hallway beyond. As he walked back to the Slytherin house, he dried his clothes using his wand. They were only half-dried by the time he reached his room, though. He changed clothes and fell into bed, not caring if he woke any of the other boys. None of them would dare to ask where he had been even if they did hear him.
Ginny sighed with content that afternoon at lunch. The last day had gone by smoothly, much more smoothly than Ginny had expected it to. After Seamus had first asked her out, Ginny was nervous; she still didn't know all the "rules" to dating and hadn't even been on a date in two years. However, when she was around Seamus, she never felt pressured to do any of the things that she saw other couples doing, such as sucking the lips off their partner every chance they got. In fact, Seamus had never even made to kiss her yet, something Ginny was desperately thankful for. Even on her dates with Michael Corner, she had never let him kiss her. Ginny had never in her life been kissed by anybody other than immediate family. Whenever Ginny left the common room for the night and went up to bed, though, Seamus would give her a hug, a quick smile that revealed straight white teeth, and say that he'd see her in the morning.
Ginny wrapped her arms around her stomach and smiled as she chewed on a pretzel. Seamus, who was sitting next to her, glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes at the same time that Ginny looked at him. When their eyes met, Ginny blushed and looked away. Someone across the table snorted disgustedly and Ginny looked up to see her brother eyeing her and Seamus.
"You know," began Ron, "you two are already dating. There's no need to be shy around each other."
Ginny stopped chewing and the crunching of her pretzel ceased. After swallowing she turned to Ron and stated, "And there's no need to lecture us on the ins and outs of dating, dear Ronald. You've never even been on a date."
"Yes I have," Ron said, his ears growing red. "Last year there was that one girl from Hufflepuff, you remember her Harry?" Ron turned to Harry for confirmation. Harry choked on some of his a water and sputtered, trying to find his voice.
"Wha- what girl from Hufflepuff?"
"You know," Ron said, staring hard at Harry and placing heavy emphasis on his words. "That girl…in Hufflepuff…" When all he received was a blank look from Harry, Ron cleared his throat and turned back to Ginny, who was looking at Ron with a smug look on her face. "Well, there was a girl, Ginny," Ron said. "It just so happens that Harry here," he turned and gave Harry a look, "doesn't remember."
"I don't remember either, Ron," Hermione spoke up.
Ron's entire face became red and he said defensively, "There was a girl. It's not my fault that you can't remember. But I'm telling you, there was-"
"Okay, Ron, there was a girl," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "All I was trying to say was that you're in no position to give me dating advice."
Ron opened his mouth to say something, but then he seemed to reconsider and decided to not say anything at all. When the rest of the group heard him mutter, "Was too a girl…" they burst out laughing; this only made Ron pipe up in self-defense again.
As Draco walked into the Great Hall for lunch that afternoon, the first thing he heard over the idle chatter was a group of people burst out laughing. He looked towards the Gryffindor table and saw the usual group of Potter's friends all laughing, and Ron Weasley looking obviously embarrassed. Then he saw that Seamus Finnigan was sitting next to Ginny Weasley. When he saw Seamus's arm go around Ginny's shoulders, he stopped walking and stared at them. Then remembering who and where he was, he glanced away and kept walking. As he made his way over to the Slytherin table, he thought What is that all about?
During his meal, Draco refrained from talking to his fellow housemates. Instead he took a seat against the wall so that he could inconspicuously watch the Gryffindors. All throughout his ham sandwich, Draco kept asking himself what it meant if Finnigan had his arm around Ginny. Then he had to ask himself why it mattered anyway.
Ugh, what's wrong with you, Draco? he thought. They're just a bunch of dumb Gryffindors. Try as he might, and he did try, he couldn't force himself to watch anything other than Seamus Finnigan and Ginny Weasley. Soon Finnigan's arm returned to his side, and something seemed to unclench in Draco's stomach. His eyes widening, he looked down at his stomach, and then back up at the Gryffindors. Why do I care? he asked himself furiously.
As soon as he was done with his meal, he got up and left the hall. The sooner he got out of there, the better. He stalked down the hallway, trying to forget what had happened in the Great Hall. Last night after he had gotten back in bed, he had hidden the oddly-shaped object he found in the tunnel in his trunk. He didn't have to worry about anybody finding it; he had placed a special locking charm on his trunk back in his second year. He was still wondering about what the stone could be, but he decided to wait. In fact, he had decided that morning that he would see if Ginny wanted to go explore the cavern he had found. He was planning on going that night, with or without the girl.
When Draco reached the Transfiguration classroom, he saw that he was the first person there. That's because everybody is still at lunch, he thought. Draco sat down at one of the seats and waited. After almost ten minutes, Professor McGonagall came into the room. At first the teacher didn't notice Draco, but when she reached the front of the room and turned around to sit down, she stopped.
"Why Mr. Malfoy, I didn't expect you to be so early. Class does not start for another twenty minutes," she stated, pushing her spectacles farther up her nose.
"I know," Draco replied calmly. McGonagall stared at him somewhat suspiciously for a moment before sitting down at her desk. She started rifling through a stack of papers, glancing up at Draco every now and then. He merely sat there with a tiny smirk on his face. It wasn't every day that he got to see the ever-stern Minerva McGonagall unsettled. It wasn't every day that he was early to class, either.
For the next twenty minutes, Draco sat surprisingly patiently and waited for class to begin. Soon, students started shuffling into the Transfiguration classroom and chatting with each other. Draco silently watched as the Harry, Hermione, and Ron all came into the room, accompanied with the other Gryffindors who were taking Transfiguration that year, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. The five friends took a seat a row in front of Draco, whom they seemed to not have noticed yet. As Crabbe and Goyle took a seat on either side of him, Draco leaned forward to listen to what the Gryffindors were saying.
"Who do we play the next match against?" Dean asked, directing his question towards Harry.
"Hufflepuff," Harry replied, taking his Transfiguration textbook out of his bag.
"Excellent," Dean said, rubbing his hands together. Harry raised an eyebrow at him, but remained silent. Seamus leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. Draco's eyes were drawn to the Irish boy, staring at the back of his brown-haired head. His eyes narrowing, Draco watched as Seamus proceeded to pull out some parchment and his quill and ink. What was this feeling in him? You're not jealous, are you? a little voice in the back of Draco's head taunted. This thought was so disturbing that Draco shook himself and tore his eyes away from Seamus.
"Why'd you leave lunch so early, Draco?" Goyle asked from his left. "You didn't even get seconds."
"Is food all you ever think about?" Draco snapped, venting his anger of Seamus onto poor Goyle, who only blinked. Though Goyle, or Crabbe, rarely became upset by Draco's temper, the young boy did turn his back slightly from Draco.
Nice work, Draco, he though irritably. Push away the few friends you do have. Though Draco wasn't sure he could call Crabbe and Goyle true friends…not even Zabini. Sure, he talked to them and they were all civil to each other, yet there was too much distrust and hidden secrets for any real friendship to escalate.
"Good afternoon, class," spoke Professor McGonagall. The entire class ceased its talking at once; they knew that when McGonagall spoke, she wanted their attention.
"Today we will be reviewing what we discussed last week, because I have a feeling that many of you were not paying attention," the teacher said sternly, her eyes landing on several students she had in mind.
Throughout the rest of class, Draco tried to pay attention as best as he could. However, he couldn't help but study Seamus and wonder what he and Ginny were doing. Were they going out? That seemed logical, but some part of Draco refused to think that Ginny would go out with anybody. He didn't know where that thought came from, but he couldn't picture anybody as being her boyfriend. Moreover, he couldn't picture her as anybody's girlfriend.
Before Draco knew it, class was coming to a close and Professor McGonagall was assigning homework for the week.
"We've got a free period," Harry said as the students started gathering their equipment and leaving the room. Ron nodded. "I reckon we should go visit Hagrid…we haven't seen him in a while."
"I suppose you're right," Ron agreed. "I just hope he doesn't try giving us anymore of that Flaming Frog Fudge." Harry shuddered slightly at the memory as he slung his bag over his shoulder. Draco casually yet slowly put his books and parchment in his bag, hoping to hear something regarding Ginny Weasley and Seamus Finnigan.
"Wish we had a free period," grumbled Dean. "Seamus and I have to go to Ancient Runes."
"You two should have taken that class," Hermione said, turning to Harry and Ron. "It's a very interesting class."
As Ron and Hermione started discussing why Ancient Runes would be important for Ron's future, the whole group started making their way through the throng of people heading out the door. Draco quickly snatched up his bag and followed them.
When they finally got out in the hallway, Harry and Ron said goodbye to their friends and walked off. As Hermione started walking towards the Ancient Runes class, Dean paused and turned to Seamus, who was looking the other way.
"Aren't you coming, Seamus?" Dean asked.
"No, I've got to go see Ginny before class starts," Seamus said. "I'll be there in a minute though."
"Okay," Dean replied, looking understanding. "See yah."
"Yeah," nodded Seamus. The boy then turned and walked off.
What is going on? Draco thought, now thoroughly confused. He was just about to follow Seamus and find out for himself when Blaise Zabini appeared at his side.
"Come on, Draco," the black-haired boy said. "If we don't hurry we're going to be late for History of Magic."
"Oh…alright," Draco said, still watching Seamus's back.
"Why, do you have something else in mind?" Blaise asked, following Draco's gaze.
"What?" Draco asked, jerking his head to Blaise and looking as if he had just noticed he was there. "No," he replied disgustedly. "Come on, we don't want to be late." With that said, Draco pushed past Blaise and stalked down the corridor. Blaise watched him for a moment, curious, but only shrugged his shoulders and followed.
History of Magic, was, as usual, boring. Half of the class was asleep, hiding behind their propped up book so that Professor Binns wouldn't notice them. The rest, who were bravely attempting to understand what the teacher was saying, or at least listen, were staring bug-eyed at the front of the class. For the past hour and a half, Binns had been going on and on about the Goblin Rebellions of 1912, from which the only useful information that Draco had gained was that you should give goblins the same wages as a wizard lest they become mutinous and murder everyone. Despite the fact that Draco was awake, he was sure that his brain had actually lost some of the knowledge he had previously had. Why did I pick this subject? Draco thought dully.
When Professor Binns finally released them from class, Draco hurriedly snatched his book from his desk and headed out the door, not even bothering to put it up. He just wanted out of the room before he died from boredom. Also, he needed to get out of sight of any of his fellow Slytherins. There was something he had to do.
Dodging in and out of people, Draco hurried down a few flights of staircases until he reached the hallway he wanted. Not all classes had yet been released and Draco was hoping he was in time. Behind the tapestry of Matilda the Monstrous Draco hid; he had discovered a few years ago that this tapestry hid a storage closet that he supposed only Filch and the house elves knew of.
Draco peered through a crack between the tapestry and the wall, hidden from sight in the dark closet, waiting until he saw a familiar head of hair; the flaming red color was recognizable from anywhere. Draco watched Ginny's head bob in and out of sight, coming ever closer. Just when she was walking past Matilda the Monstrous, Draco's hands shot out from their hiding place. One hand clamped around her mouth and the other wrapped around her waist. In a flash, she was behind the tapestry, her back firmly pressed against Draco's chest so that she couldn't see him.
A small squeal of surprise almost escaped her lips, but Draco's large hand made sure nobody heard it. At the moment, Ginny was frantically flailing her arms, trying to pry Draco's hand off her mouth so that she could scream. Draco could tell that she was just about to go for her wand when he wheeled her around, his hand still over her mouth.
"Ssh," he hissed, staring at her. Though there was little light seeping around the tapestry to light the closet, Draco could clearly see the look in Ginny's eyes. He had expected to see anger, possibly even confusion, but what he saw shocked him so much that he almost let her go. What he saw in her eyes was fear, pure and unbridled. In fact, her eyes were wet with tears that Draco could only assume had been because of what he had just done. Ginny's wide, fright-filled eyes narrowed slightly as recognition dawned on her. Instead of the anger that Draco was sure was about to come, he was surprised once again. He actually detected a bit of relief on her face as the fear slowly melted away.
"Look," Draco whispered, unsettled by the look in her eyes. "Just don't scream, okay?"
Ginny nodded so slightly that Draco wouldn't have been able to tell she had if his hand hadn't been on her mouth. He slowly lowered his hand and she watched him warily.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" she whispered disbelievingly. "And where are we?"
"We're behind the tapestry of Matilda the Monstrous," Draco replied quietly. "I found something last night."
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, confusion clearly written on her face. Only now, anger, or perhaps annoyance, was surfacing as well.
"Last night I went back to that tunnel where the Harding kid was found," Draco began, "and I found another tunnel, one none of us had seen before."
"Why were you in the tunnel last night?" Ginny asked. Draco stared at her. He had just told her that he had found another tunnel, one that could possibly lead to whoever had taken those two boys, and she was asking him why he had gone? Draco's own temper started rising.
"I couldn't sleep," he stated irritably. "Happy now? Look, I just want to say that tonight we're going back down there to explore more. I didn't get a good look last time."
"So now you're ordering me around?" Ginny asked, folding her arms across her chest. Draco gaped at her as if she was crazy.
"No, I'm just telling you that we're going down there," Draco stated.
"Fine," Ginny said simply. This confused Draco even more. What was up with her? First she acted as if she didn't want to go, and now she was giving in so easily? Draco narrowed his eyes and inspected her, but she merely stared back resolutely.
"Fine then," Draco said, still somewhat suspicious. "Meet me at the entrance at midnight."
"Why does it always have to be midnight?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know," Draco said exasperatedly.
Ginny eyed Draco for another moment. Her irritation and anger vanished and one of slight curiosity replaced it. She opened her mouth to speak but then shut it, uncertain. She opened it again and said "Why – why did you – I mean…oh never mind," she muttered. Then she turned around and peeked around the tapestry. While shielding his eyes from the sudden bright light that filled the room, Draco looked over her shoulder to see that the hallways were now empty; he had been lucky that nobody had seen him grab Ginny. When Ginny saw that the coast was clear, she stepped into the hallway. As he watched her flaming red hair disappear, Draco thought he heard her say "See you at midnight," before the tapestry closed, sending the room into darkness once more.
Well what was that about? Draco pondered. He wondered what she had been about to ask him, and it puzzled him greatly. She should have just asked, Draco thought. It's not like I would've bitten her head off or anything. Then Draco thought about what he had just done. Well, I did just drag her into a closet and scare her half to death. Maybe that's what she was going to ask about. This thought brought Draco back to the look of utter fear on her face. That disturbed him more than anything. He had hardly ever seen anybody look that scared, let alone a Weasley. Anytime he had seen one of them, they had been so headstrong and brave, no matter how bitter it was for him to admit.
"She's just another crazy girl with her emotions strung too high," muttered Draco, rubbing the back of his neck. Then Draco looked around and seemed to remember where he was standing.
Stretching slightly, he cautiously stepped out from behind the tapestry and walked down the hallway as if he had not just been hiding. Luckily there was nobody there, so he dropped his pretense of casualness.
As he walked back to the Slytherin dormitories, he thought about the night to come, and what would happen down in the tunnel.
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I didn't get nearly as much in this chapter as I wanted, so that's why it's so short. I had originally decided to put all of the upcoming trip back into the tunnel in this chapter, but it was going to take too long to do and I didn't want to keep you waiting anymore. Plus, if I wrote the tunnel scene now, I'd be very tired and it wouldn't be good. So it'll have to wait. Please review!
Lauren
