Chapter 5 – The Snake Doesn't Bite… Much

Draco had taken to walking alone to class, and occasionally would miss dinner to sit in the library doing his schoolwork. He would do anything to avoid being around people. The golden trio had noticed his odd behaviour and just assumed he was up to no good. Ginny, on the other hand, was actually worried about the boy, though she wouldn't admit that to anyone, not even to herself.

One evening, Draco had missed dinner for the third time that week. He was sitting in the library, quietly finishing an essay for Professor Binns' History of Magic class. Goblin revolutions had never seemed so interesting before.

Just one more sentence and then I'm free, He thought to himself.

Seemingly, out of nowhere, a heavy load of books and parchment crashed onto the table beside him. Looking up, he noticed that it was the Weaselette, with a look of anger on her face.

"What's up with you, Weasley?" He asked, but he wasn't sure if he really cared or not.

"If you must know, Malfoy, my stupid git of a brother actually forbade me to stay on the Quidditch team and now I have nothing better to do than homework. Who does homework nowadays, anyway?" She snuck a look at what Draco was up to and quickly realized that he was indeed doing his homework and did not look upset at the prospect of doing it.

"I mean, err… Homework's not so bad?" She tired to save herself.

Draco chuckled, much to Ginny's surprise, and went on to explain that he wasn't really doing his homework because he enjoyed it, and by no means was he a male counterpart to Granger's determination to finish all her schoolwork by the end of the first week of school.

He knows how to laugh? That's surprising. She laughed along with him for a few seconds until she realized that she was laughing with Malfoy, and not at him. She quickly calmed herself.

Draco could tell that he was making the girl wonder about his peculiar behaviour, but he didn't care. Someone was finally not running away if he looked at them for more than a second. He should have cared that this was a Gryffindor and a Weasley, but at this point, after having been avoided and ignored by everyone he came across, Ginny was a welcome reprieve, despite her origins.

They spent the rest of the evening working side by side, not talking. People would walk by and stare when they saw them sitting next to each other silently. It was surely a sight to see, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, a Weasley and a Malfoy, coexisting at one library table. It was truly a Hogwarts miracle.

An hour or so later, Ginny realized that she was getting very hungry after having gone to the library instead of the great hall for dinner. She figured Draco must be hungry, too, so she leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Malfoy, you skipped dinner again. Let's go get some food from the kitchen. The house elves love me, I'm sure they'd help us out."

Weasley's asking me to go to the kitchens with her, eh? This'll be interesting.

He shrugged and said "Alright, let's."

They put away their books and packed their bags, banishing them back to their rooms.

They walked to the kitchens in silence.

As they entered the kitchen, Ginny spoke to the house-elf closest to her and asked if it wouldn't mind preparing something for them to eat.

"Oh yes, yes, Dobby would love to give Harry Potter's friend food to eat! And her friend, too!" Dobby the house elf was excited to see Ginny, and was even more excited to be asked to do something.

"See, told you they loved me."

"No they don't, Weasley, they love Harry Bloody Potter. They just like you by association."

Ginny took what he said to heart but decided to ignore the comment and change the subject.

"Enough about Potter-boy, I'm utterly sick of him." Even though Ginny had gotten over Harry after their break-up, she was still quite bitter at having had her feelings thrown back in her face after having had time with the boy of her dreams. Harry had finally reciprocated her feelings, only to dump her a mere few weeks later. Ginny couldn't forgive him for that just yet.

"Never mind Weasley, I don't like talking about Saint Potter almost as much as you don't. Moving on…" Draco didn't purposely apologize to the girl, but deep down he did feel sorry for having brought up a subject that upset her. He didn't know where that feeling had come from, as he never cared about others' feelings before, and didn't know why he possibly would now.

The pair sat in the kitchen munching their snack and sipping their hot cocoa that the house-elf had prepared for them. They sat there, chatting away, with awkward silences creeping in ever so often. In these silences, Ginny would look at Draco and wonder what was going on in that silvery-blond haired head of his. She knew he was acting differently and couldn't quite grasp the concept of Malfoy sitting there talking amiably with her.

As Ginny would do that, Draco would blankly stare ahead and try to block out the feelings that were screaming at him inside his head. He was starting to think that maybe the Weaselette wasn't so bad, but he knew that he had hated her family for years, and wasn't sure if it was because of his father or because of his own notions about her muggle loving family.

They finished up their snack and stood up to go their separate ways.

"Thanks Weasley." He seemed surprised that he had said it, but continued anyway. "You weren't such bad company."

"Are you serious, Malfoy? You must've hit your head or something, because I could have sworn you just said you didn't mind my presence!" Ginny was surprised, but wasn't so against the idea. She never cared about whom she spent time with, as long as they were good company. Malfoy, having stopped ridiculing everyone who crossed his path, was actually not so bad, despite his past offences.

"G'night Malfoy, I'll see you bright and early in potions class, I guess." Ginny started walking in the opposite direction to reach Gryffindor tower. She walked off without looking back at him. She was too deep in thought to notice that Draco was still standing there, and hadn't started to return to his House.

"Yeah, see you around, Weasley." Draco waited until Ginny was out of earshot. He whispered to no one in particular, "Sweet dreams."