She sighed, so far she hadn't felt anything different to how she had always felt, she was still unsure of herself and now that Dumbledore's trust in people had been misplaced she wasn't even sure what to think about his words… Look at where trust had got him.
Draco awoke feeling much more refreshed than he had in quite some time. He thought back to last night's events and wondered what would happen to him now. Yesterday he couldn't have cared less but this morning he felt a little more invigorated than previously. Draco could remember dreaming about his mother being tortured and killed in front of him, a recurring nightmare, but this time she had come back afterwards to comfort him. He knew it was just a dream and his mother wasn't coming back but he wondered maybe if she was looking over him, maybe she would visit him as a ghost even.
Draco stretched gracefully, rubbed his eyes and dragged his fingers through his pale hair. Then he took a proper look around the room. It wasn't exactly grand but it was better than where he'd been before, at least they have a bed here he thought, better than the damp straw and blankets I've been sleeping on - anyone would think we were living in medieval times.
Nosing around in the large antique desk he found many different potions and ingredients, fingering some of the labels he realised how much he missed the years at school where his biggest worries were trying to find new ways to insult his fellow pupils. He felt like he'd had to grow up so quickly this last year and wished his life could have taken a different path. I was always so keen to be just like my Father but if I'd known what that truly meant maybe I would have thought twice.
Slowly he walked round the room, dragging his finger lazily across the surfaces of picture frames. He stopped at one of the golden trio and Ginny all grinning and waving at the camera; Harry had his arm awkwardly round Ginny's shoulders. Merlin, Scarhead can't even hold a woman properly; what a waste of space he thought.
Draco finally came to a halt by the shelves he had seen Ginny take the ornaments from last night. There really were an odd assortment of objects but the one he was interested in was the model dragon; ever since he was a child he'd admired the creatures – they fascinated him. The one here was a female, larger than the males and fiercer. The males were sleeker, faster and stronger but it was the females who were more dangerous when angered.
He picked the little ornament up to see if it had a makers mark on it but when he gripped it to turn it over it became extremely hot in his hands and in his shock Draco dropped it. He bent to the floor to retrieve it when he heard "alohomora" and in ran the Weasley girl wearing a pair of green silk pyjamas and with her flame red hair flying wildly round her face.
"Who called? What's wrong? I…" Ginny paused and after looking quickly round the room turned to Draco looking curious but slightly impressed. "You called me? How did you know what to do?" she asked slightly breathlessly.
"I didn't summon you Weasley; I wouldn't own a servant who can't even clothe themselves properly!" Draco raised an eyebrow and indicated her pyjama top which was buttoned up incorrectly. He couldn't help noticing that where she had missed the top button there was quite a bit of bare skin showing.
Ginny tugged at the bottom of her top and laughed when she realised it was buttoned wrongly "Just like me, I was just about to take a shower when I felt someone calling me so I threw on the nearest thing to hand. But if you didn't call…" she looked down on the floor and noticed the dragon that Draco was about to pick up. "It was you!"
Draco looked a little perplexed so Ginny tried to explain. "These are one method of contacting each other, some of us can't cast a patro… erm - well I can't really go into other ways we talk to each other. But there's no harm in you knowing this seeing as you'll be staying here a while. If you grip someone's statue then it's charmed to make its partner heat up. Look…" She pulled a long chain out from under her top; Draco's eyes once again rested on her pale, slightly freckled skin and wondered if she was covered in those freckles all over. He shook his head, disgusted with himself and instead concentrated on what she was saying.
"…So for example if you were holding my charm then the necklace I have on heats up to let me know to come back here. We can only call from this room though; it would be too confusing trying to figure out where you were meant to go otherwise! Plus we could only charm them to work for a certain distance so it's generally Madam Pomfry or myself that get called if there's a patient needing help." Ginny finished and looked at him expectantly. "Well, c'mon aren't you just a tiny bit impressed?" she asked.
"Not really Weasley," Draco drawled "it's only a simple charm location device, it has been done before although not quite so personally I suppose. So, a dragon eh? How come you chose that? I would have had you down for something smaller and furry – say… a weasel perhaps. Or did your idiot brother already have his name down for that?"
"I see you're back on form then Malfoy, your comments are as delightful as ever!" Ginny said "If you must know Ron's charm is the Chudley Cannons player flying a broomstick, but there's no point in you trying to call him to wind him up because he's with Harry somewhere and they're not contactable. Anyway, I chose a dragon because I've always had a bit of a passion for them. They're so majestic and beautiful. My brother Charlie used to teach me all their names when I was a little girl."
Draco sneered "How come Saint Potter didn't demand the broom? He seems to fancy himself quite the flyer and those other two suck up to him so much I would imagine they'd let him have anything he wants."
"You can be as rude as you like to me Ferret but don't bad mouth my friends. Harry is a good flyer and he would never demand things from Hermione and Ron, and if they let Harry have his way it's because they are friends. They treat each other as equals. Anyway, Harry chose a phoenix as a sign of respect for…" She paused, awkwardly not knowing how to talk about the man that Draco had plotted to kill. "Well he chose a phoenix like Fawkes."
Draco had gone quiet and was looking down at the floor; she didn't really know what to say to him so she did what her mother would have done if she was there. "Right Malfoy, first things first, you need to have a shower and then you're coming with me and I am going to make you a nice cup of tea and something filling for breakfast."