Chapter 18: Cosmic Conspiracy
He had an overwhelming sense that the correct move in this particular situation was to apologize. And it was the fact that he didn't want to that made him really think it was necessary.
Unfortunately, apologies were not Draco's forte. His usual method of apology was… well, in simplistic terms: throw money at it until it went away.
Which was why he was sitting, drumming his slender fingers against his desk as he stared at the blank parchment before him.
Finally, he leaned forward and recklessly scribbled a few words on the parchment and folded the note into an envelope. He glanced around his room until he found something suitably valuable to give to the redhead (though he'd have to find a replacement birthday gift for Parkinson), and bundled the note and gift up, tucking them into his pocket as he exited his dormitory, en route to the Owlery.
"The bloody git…" Ginny was fuming, walking back to her bed as she read the scrap of parchment that had arrived via school owl just moments ago.
"What?" Natalie looked up from where she was lounging across the window seat, closing her textbook over one finger and looking glad for the distraction.
Ginny hopped onto her bed and scrunched the paper into a ball, tossing it to the brunette. "Some Slytherin prefect gave me a detention for no bloody reason – guess who's supervising." She scowled, flopping backwards and kicking her heels against her bed frame.
There was the crinkle of parchment as Nat flattened out the note, but a wry voice popped up from the other side of the girls' dormitory. "Snape?" Julie Parkes was tossing and catching her hairbrush repeatedly as she looked over to the redhead.
Nat nodded at the same time as Ginny groaned. "Like my day had to have the worst ending possi-" She was cut off by another tapping on the window. "Seriously?"
Nat took pity on the redhead and got up to open the window for her. "Did you by any chance get two detentions?" She asked, carefully, not wanting to invoke the Weasley wrath.
But Ginny was frowning at the bird. It wasn't one of the school's, but an eerily expressive sooty owl who'd come in practically silently, swooping to perch on the edge of Ginny's bed. And it had a package.
Ginny closed the window and slipped the little box from the owl's leg. She was tempted to open it, but went for the envelope first. To her surprise, the note was written on parchment with a Malfoy crest.
Weasley,
Sorry.
-DM
She was incredibly confused. Sorry? For- oh…
She turned her eyes back to the box. Honestly, she wasn't sure she trusted it. What if it was cursed? What if it was some disembodied limb (well, given the size, perhaps a finger)? Or a bug? She'd bet a hundred galleons Malfoy would send her any of those things before—
Well, that wasn't what she'd been expecting.
"Holy hell, Ginny, who sent you those?" Natalie's eyes had widened as Ginny had opened the box to find two magnificently wrought silver earrings, tiny green stones accenting the tips of downward-pointing triangles.
As the brunette took the box from her friend, examining them, Ginny looked anything but pleased. Her face, which had frozen in confusion at the gift, had begun to twist into anger. "What kind of bullshit bribe is that supposed to be? He thinks he can buy me, now?" She folded her arms angrily over her chest, jaw jutted out defiantly. "Like Weasleys are just so impressed by anything pretty or expensive that all he has to do is just… just…" To the surprise of her roommates, she let out a frustrated sound somewhere between a scream and a grunt. "It's like some grand scheme to ruin my weekend!" she fumed, "Like: Hey, Ginny, thought you'd get some work done on Sunday? Well, bloody NOPE!"
"Merlin, Ginny – calm down," Julie looked stunned at her friend's almost manic sarcasm. "It's just a detention."
She had a point. But Ginny wasn't about to acknowledge that point as valid while her roommates sat around ooh-ing and ahh-ing at Malfoy's… hush money! How could he try to buy her off like that? Just looking at the expensive jewelry made her want to squirm. She had to return them. She couldn't let him think that she was some money-grubbing flip-flopper, willing to give up her opinions just because some rich ass gave her something shiny. She rifled madly through her rucksack, pulling out parchment and tearing a strip off on which she might jot her return message.
"What are you-"
"I'm giving them back," she muttered, angrily, rolling up her message and tying it to the owl's leg again (her roommates were impressed by the owl's ability to remain calm with the frantic redhead muttering as she tied it on).
"What?! Why?"
Ginny glared at Nat, who seemed to be taking the return as a personal affront. Once she was on the receiving end of Ginny's death stare, however, Nat seemed to be changing her tune.
"Erm, I mean… of course." She muttered, just a touch of bitterness in her voice as she shut the box and handed the earrings over.
Julie still looked slightly confused. "I don't get it, Gin. It's not like he's your friend – he can afford the loss, why not make him pay?" She was leaning against one of the posts of her bed, observing the scene calmly, now twirling the brush in her hand.
"Because…" Ginny actually hesitated. "It's the principle of the thing." In reality, it was more logistics. She'd accepted gifts from people she didn't like before. But she needed to make it clear to Malfoy that she wasn't some commodity to be bought and sold. As she straightened out her reasoning, she shook her head. "If I don't give them back, he'll never believe me."
"And you need his validation?"
"No!" Ginny immediately balked. She didn't need anyone's validation. "…It's just such a hassle." She shrugged, feeling ever so slightly defeated.
Julie leveled her eyes on Ginny, but finally nodded. Nat sighed. She'd obviously wished to keep the bribe.
Malfoy:
Outside the broom closet by the Great Hall, 6:15pm
I don't want your bribes
-Ginny
A/N: Update: I have 25 chapters written and have now started classes! Turns out, I have a bunch of work to do cause classes. And I also have two writing-heavy classes (one of which is screenwriting) that I'll be spending a lot of time on. I will return to the 'only post on days I write something' schedule.
And you know what would help me get motivated to write something? Reviews! Let me know what you want to see more of, what you think needs explaining, what you're curious about, or any ideas you have! I love reviews!
-Turner
