Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story.
Hey everyone! Gosh, I know I have been doing such a horrible job of updating. Life has been busy and crazy and it doesn't look like it is slowing down anytime soon. But I am going to make more time to write because I now have a renewed passion to write. I know where this story is going, the plot is drawn out in my head. So it should be smooth sailing from here. I am going to try my best to update regularly, but I cant promise anything.
Special thanks to my beta for this chapter, Lady Cardea. She is amazing and she is half the reason this chapter was written. You should definitely check out her story, Playing With Fire. It is a must read!
Sidenote: You'll notice that the first half of this chapter takes place the night before Ginny goes to Hogwarts. The night she finds Draco and Pansy. And the second half takes place Ginny's first morning at Hogwarts. I think it is pretty plain to see that, but I just wanted to make a note, just in case.
Chapter 9
Draco slouched against the doorframe, his head in his hands. He had been standing here since George and Ginny apparated. It seemed like hours to him, but in reality had only been a few minutes.
He was an idiot. A stupid, drunk, testosterone-driven idiot. How could he have acted so rash? Sleeping with Pansy? How unbelievably thick could you get?
It had been a mistake really.
A drunken mistake.
He had been pouring himself a drink in the kitchen when Pansy walked in, crying her eyes out, once again, over Blaise. His normal words of comfort did nothing to quell her anguish, so he turned to a different option. It seemed like a good idea at the time; get Pansy too smashed to even remember who Blaise was. It had seemed like a fucking brilliant idea at the time. But then the inevitable happened. Draco began to drink as well. He told himself it was to keep Pansy going, but in his head he knew why he was doing it, to forget a certain red headed witch who had broken his heart.
His slow sips weren't doing enough to help him with his task. So he began choking down as much as he could in one swig.
In the end, Pansy hadn't been able to catch up and the alcohol was gone. And that's when things took a turn for the worse. Pansy had always been a lightweight when it came to drinking, something both Blaise and Draco had teased her about. So by the time she had her fifth drink, she was as drunk as one could be. Pansy wasn't a belligerent or emotional drunk. She was purely physical. She was a flirtatious drunk. And tonight was no different. Though at first he resisted, Draco eventually gave into Pansy's advances. This was the answer both of them had been looking for. A drunken escapade that would be forgotten when they woke up the next morning.
Their kisses had been hasty and on the sloppy side, but their movements were anything but. They took their time walking back the hall from his living room to his bedroom. Their clothes had been peeled from their bodies deliberately and with the greatest of ease. And by the time they laid in bed, naked, their lips had ceased touching at all. Pansy straddled Draco, enjoying the feeling of being in control of him, not the other way around.
And that was how Ginny found them. As soon as Draco heard her gasp, his eyes snapped open and his drunken high had dissipated. He could tell right away this was the last position she had thought to see him in and he wanted nothing more than to throw Pansy off him and convince Ginny that this was all a mistake. So that is what he did. Only she had fled the room. He had enough time and decency to pull on his boxers before going after her. He called her name, hoping she would stop but she did no such thing. Instead he watched as she fell in her brother's embrace before they apparated away.
Draco lifted his head and looked out in the hallway, seeing his nosy neighbor, Mrs. O'Hara, watching him curiously.
"Bugger off." He muttered before slamming the door to his apartment. He managed to walk over to his couch before the splitting headache kicked in. Cursing, he leaned back and pressed his palms to his eyes, trying to ward off the light from the lamp on the table next to him.
"Draco?" A soft voice to his right said. He slowly pulled his hands away and opened his eyes, seeing Pansy standing there, wrapped in his black sheets. He quirked an eyebrow at her and waited for her to say whatever it was she wanted to say. "What happened in there?"
"I'm sorry, Pans." He replied dejectedly. He didn't know what else to say. He didn't exactly want to explain everything to her at the moment. Besides his guilt and headache, he really wasn't comfortable sharing his relationship with Ginny to someone who disliked her so much.
"Sorry about what?" She asked, a slight edge to her voice. "That we had sex or that your stupid ex caught us?" Draco smiled softly and noted that Pansy's alcohol effects had yet to wear off. Her anger showed that much.
"Both." He said simply. He stood up and brushed by Pansy, leaving her standing there with a shocked look on her face. He needed to find his wand to get rid of this headache so he could go find Ginny and talk to her.
"Draco, how could you say that?" Pansy asked, regaining her composure and following him down the hall. Once they reached his bedroom, he lifted the silencing charm and pointed his wand to his temple. Pansy watched as he said the charm that helped to reduce headaches.
"Pans, it's the alcohol talking. You are going to wake up tomorrow morning and realize that you don't love me or even like me for that matter." He threw his shirt on over his head and slipped into his jeans.
"Of course I like you Draco." She replied, scoffing at his comment.
"As a friend. That's it." He stopped and put both his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry Pansy. But this isn't what either of us wants. I want Ginny. And you want Blaise."
"Yeah but there's one flaw in that reasoning Draco. They don't want us."Draco dropped his hands and looked away from Pansy. After everything he had put Ginny through why would she want him anymore? Especially after this. And Blaise had made it clear to Pansy and Draco that marriage was the last thing he was looking for. But Draco knew that Blaise wasn't having an easy go of it. He missed Pansy, more than he cared to admit.
"I won't know unless I go after her." Draco replied walking towards the door of his room. "Pans?" He said stopping and turning around to talk to her.
"Yeah?" She asked, settling her green eyes on his silver ones.
"Give him a few days. He'll come around. He's crazy about you. He just needs to get over his Slytherin hang-ups."
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Draco walked into Headquarters feeling apprehension so consuming he began wondering why he was there. Ginny wouldn't forgive him for sleeping with another woman; though he had forgiven her when she slept with Potter.
Draco stopped and shook that thought from his head knowing that would be the wrong way to approach the situation. He would just have to explain what happened. He was upset and he drank…oh no that wouldn't work. The last time he drank to solve his problems she had been beyond pissed with him. And he had promised then that he wouldn't drink again, but instead talk to her about it. But obviously she couldn't have expected him to do that. They were broken up.
That was it.
They were broken up. He didn't have to explain. He could shag whomever he wanted because he and Ginny were no longer together. And they hadn't been for almost two whole months. It was her fault. She broke it off to begin with. And then she confessed her love for Potter at that stupid wedding. What else was he supposed to do? It would have been pathetic for him not to move on.
But Ginny wouldn't see it that way. She would see it as him cheating on her. And in his heart, he knew he had. He loved Ginny and he got drunk and slept with Pansy to try to get over her. But of course, he knew it wouldn't work. And it didn't. It messed everything up. He had made such a mess of things that it seemed impossible to fix.
But he had to try right?
Squaring his shoulder, Draco walked into the living room and was face to face with George Weasley.
"Somehow I knew you would show up here, Malfoy." George said, twirling his wand between his fingers, making his intentions quite clear.
"What else did you expect me to do?" Draco asked.
"Finish screwing your whore." He said, malice clear in his voice. "Of course you may have done that after Gin and I left."
"Pansy was a mistake!" Draco yelled, clenching his hands at his sides. He was currently squelching the urge to hit George square in the nose. "I love Ginny!"
"You've got a funny way of showing it, Malfoy."
"I was drunk, Weasley." Draco said, his dignity out the window. "It was a stupid drunken mistake."
"Drinking isn't a good way to solve your problems, you know." George answered, his voice sounding slightly amused, something that bothered Draco to no end.
"I don't want a lecture, you git! I want to talk to your sister!" Draco replied, his wand drawn in his right hand and his left still clenched in a fist.
"Do you really think I am going to let you go up there?" The other man said, his lips twisting into a smirk that unnerved Draco.
"I don't think you have a choice." He responded, bringing his right hand up and pointing his wand directly at George. He could feel every last shred of patience he had slipping away. If this idiot wasn't going to let him see Ginny willingly, then he would just hex him.
"Is that so, Malfoy?" George asked, that amused tilt to his voice still present.
"Yes, it is so, Weasley." Draco responded. "Stup…"
"Expelliarmus!" George yelled, effectively cutting off Draco's hex. George held out his hand and smiled when he grasped his fingers around Draco's wand. "Now Malfoy, you were saying?"
"You sodding bastard!" Draco yelled, charging forward to just pummel the git.
"Petrificus Totalus!" George replied almost lazily. Draco's entire body went rigid before he fell to the ground, staring up at the grinning redhead.
"Here's what your going to do." George started, placing a booted foot on Draco's chest and pressing just hard enough to knock the wind out of him. "When I lift this, you are going to take your wand and leave. I don't want any of that hexing business. You are going to leave of your own free will. And more importantly, you are going to leave my sister alone." George removed his foot and knelt down next to the solid form of Draco. "I know all about the secret relationship you two have been engaging in and if you so much as contact her while she is at school, I won't think twice of sending a few nasty hexes your way and ending your relationship with my sister once and for all. Make no mistake, Malfoy. I may be a Weasley, but I am not someone you want to mess with." And with that said, George stood, dropped Draco's wand on his lap, and lifted the spell.
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Draco stumbled out of the Zabini fireplace an hour later looking every bit ticked off. He brushed the soot off his clothing violently, muttering curses under his breath.
"You do know how to make quite an entrance." Blaise said standing up from his desk where he had been looking over a letter he had received minutes earlier.
"Sod off, Blaise." Draco responded, leveling his angry glare on the other man.
"Hey, you stepped out of my fireplace, Drake. So how about you just tell me what's wrong." He motioned to the couch and watched as Draco flopped down. "You want something to drink? Fire whiskey?"
"No. I think I've had plenty to drink today." Draco replied, rubbing his forehead, where the charm he had used earlier was beginning to wear off.
"So you did something stupid with your alcohol again did you? Blaise asked, taking a seat in the chair across from the couch.
"That is the understatement of the century."
"It couldn't have been that bad. Tell me about it and I will make it all better." Blaise replied smiling.
"I got drunk, slept with Pansy, got caught by Ginny, and then got in a fight with George which resulted in me getting kicked out of Headquarters." Draco answered, quickly. He brought his eyes up to meet his best friend's and was surprised to see nothing. Not one stitch of emotion was present on Blaise's face. And that worried Draco to no end. The only time Blaise showed no emotion was when he was upset.
"Well that is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into, isn't it mate?" Blaise asked, before Draco could even form the right words in which to apologize.
"I'm sorry about Pansy. It was a drunken mistake." Draco replied, feeling guilt surging up inside of him like never before.
"Not a big deal, mate. You said it yourself. You were drunk. And we both always said that drunken shags never count." Blaise replied, standing and walking over to the table where the bottle of fire whiskey was sitting. He poured himself a small glass before sitting back down in his chair.
"If it makes you feel any better she was drunk too. She was crying over you for like the tenth time that day and so I thought getting her smashed would make her less of an annoyance. But of course, I had to join in so I could forget about Ginny and the next thing I know, we're having sex." Draco paused as he watched his friend take a huge swig from the glass. "It meant nothing, Blaise."
"I'm sure." He answered, drinking the rest in one swig. "So Red caught you did she?"
"Yes. Mid fuck of course." Draco answered, watching Blaise's face intently. "And so I went after her but she just left. And so I followed after her and that was when I got into a fight with him. Ginny told him everything and he has taken it upon himself to deem me unworthy of her attention."
"Well that's not a surprise. All of her brother's treat her like she is still a small fragile child who has no idea what she wants. And this George, one of twins I think, seems to be the worst. She confides in him more than the others. He is the most over protective of her. And of course he has reason to be if he knows everything that has happened between you and Ginny. Because all that Ginny knows is that you broke up and then you had a few run-ins at Headquarters and then you're sleeping with Pansy." Blaise explained, standing up and pouring himself another drink. He took a long swig before grabbing the bottle and bringing it over to his seat with him. Draco watched this with interest. "You need to explain to Ginny and then she can explain it to George. Otherwise, he won't listen."
"And how do I do that? I can't get back into Headquarters without the bloody Weasley clan threatening to kill me. And she leaves for school tomorrow." Draco replied, pressing his palm to his throbbing forehead.
"Lucky for you, you know someone who is going to Hogwarts who can whisper good things about you in the Weasel's ear."
"And who might that be? Creevy? Lovegood?"
"Me." Blaise said standing up and walking over to his desk and retrieving the letter he was looking at when Draco floo'd in. He handed it to Draco, who read through it quickly.
"Potions Professor?" Draco asked skeptically.
"Slughorn adored me. And I was pretty good at Potions if you remember. I saved your arse from a few predicaments." Blaise reminded.
"So you're off to Hogwarts tomorrow then?" Draco asked, throwing the letter down on the table.
"I wasn't sure actually. But I think I now have a reason." Blaise answered.
"You would take this job just to help me out?"
"Drake, I know I don't say it, but you are like a brother to me." Draco stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the comment. Blaise always got a tad emotional when he was drinking.
"Well Zabini, I appreciate this." Draco said, standing, taking Blaise's proclamation as a cue to leave. Blaise rose as well, drinking down his second glass.
"No problem, Drake. I'll owl you with my progress." He said, rather fuzzily, before giving Draco a firm clap on the shoulder.
"Lay off the fire whiskey, Blaise." Draco said, taking the cup from Blaise's hand and sitting down on the table. "You'll need to think clearly tomorrow."
"Right." He answered, nodding his head.
"It won't hurt for you to try to square things away with Pansy tonight before you go." Draco said, as he took out his wand, deciding to apparate this time.
"Nothing's changed. She still wants marriage and I just want a nice shag." Blaise answered.
"That's why as soon as I mentioned her name you started throwing back the fire whiskey." Draco reasoned. "Just suck it up, Blaise. If I can do it, you can too."
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Ginny Weasley walked slowly down to the Great Hall her first morning at Hogwarts. After lying in bed for almost three hours the night before, she finally fell into a restless sleep. Her dreams had centered on Harry as they normally did. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
It seemed as if all her thoughts consisted of men lately. Her waking thoughts focused on Draco and her sleeping ones on Harry. She wondered what this would eventually do to her sanity. It couldn't be good for a girl to spend all her time thinking about her ex boyfriends.
When she arrived in the Great Hall, she saw that she was indeed later than she realized as the post had already come. Ginny plopped down in a seat across from Colin and grabbed one of the croissants sitting in front of her.
"Here's your schedule." Colin said, eagerly thrusting a piece of parchment at her. Ginny mumbled her thanks before looking down at it. She was free first thing in the morning. Smiling slightly at the thought of her warm bed waiting for her, she grabbed an apple and took a bite.
"So how was your summer?" Colin asked conversationally, looking up at her. Ginny chewed and thought about the question, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, Colin blanched. "Oh I'm sorry, Ginny."
"What for?" She asked, taken aback by his sudden apology. Colin fiddled nervously with his fork, not meeting her gaze.
"Well Ron…" He said, trailing off. He felt bad enough just talking to her with her being so miserable. And on top of that he was asking about her summer, when of course it couldn't have gone well if her brother had just passed.
"Oh." Ginny responded quietly. She had forgotten about Ron. How could she forget? She had to make it look like she was sad. I mean, it had only happened a week ago! But she was saved from answering anymore when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Blaise standing behind her, a warm smile on his face.
"Miss Weasley. Do you think I can have a word with you?" He asked, cordially. Ginny nodded wordlessly and stood, saying a quick goodbye to Colin. Blaise placed his hand on her back and led her out of the Great Hall and in the direction of the dungeons.
"What do you want, Zabini?" She asked, stepping out of his reaching distance.
"Let's wait until we get to my office, shall we?" He said, smiling that irritating smile. It wasn't a smirk really. It was more like he knew something that she was dying to know but he wouldn't tell her. And it infuriated her to no end, much like Draco's smirk had. Until she got to know him, of course.
When they reached his office a few silent minutes later, Ginny plopped her bag on his desk and leaned against it watching him. "Now will you tell me what you want?"
"You need to learn to lie better." He responded, leaning against the desk opposite of her and crossing his arms over his chest.
"And why do you say that, Zabini?" She asked, finding this entire situation irritating.
"Well, Ginny." He started, putting emphasis on her first name. "If you want to make your melancholy convincing you need to lie better. Or else people will start wondering why you aren't more upset about your brother's so called death." Ginny raised her eyebrows, her face displaying the shock that she was feeling.
"So Draco told you did he?" She asked, trying to sound unaffected. She didn't want to give Blaise the satisfaction of knowing that he had caught her off guard.
"As a matter of fact, yes he did. Draco's told me a lot of things. Things that I am sure you would be interested in hearing. But I'll save those for another time." Ginny scowled at that, only causing Blaise to smile wider. "Now, when Creevy mentioned your brother up there, the shock was clear all over your face. You would think that after spending that much time with Draco, something would have rubbed off, but…"
"Would you just tell me what you are getting at, you insufferable prat?" Ginny interrupted. She didn't want to hear about Draco right now. It was hard enough thinking about him all the time, but then hearing Blaise talk about him was too much. Blaise's smile faltered, if only for a second, before he continued on with what he was saying.
"What I am getting at, Ginevra, is that you need to be much more closed off with your emotions to pull off this lie. If you start acting too happy or acting like you have forgotten your brother's death, like you did with Creevy, people are going to start to get suspicious. And I can guarantee you, it won't be the harmless people like Creevy. It'll be the wannabe Death Eaters, who would love to go running home to mother and father to tell them how the Weasley girl isn't upset about her own brother's death. So something fishy must be going on."
"You are reading way too much into this." Ginny responded, even though on the inside she knew that Blaise was right. She had never been a good liar and this just proved it.
"No, I am looking at the situation like a Slytherin. You have eyes on you from every corner, Ginny. The junior Death Eaters are just waiting for you to mess up. Don't you think they have their own orders as well? Just like your orders are to pretend your brother is dead and to keep the secrets of the Order safe, their orders are to wait for you to crack. And they know you will, eventually." Blaise's smile had left his face by this point. Ginny couldn't remember ever seeing him look so serious. And she felt that that unnerved her more than that smile of his.
"I'm not going to crack, Blaise." She supplied, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know how to handle myself."
"Oh yes, that was definitely clear this morning." He replied sarcastically.
"I was caught off guard. I wasn't thinking. I've had a lot of things on my mind, you know." She bit back, defensively. Blaise's expression softened slightly.
"I know you have, Ginny. But you can't let your personal problems interfere with the task at hand."
"I'm not. I just…wasn't expecting it to come up, that's all. I figured no one would want to breech the subject since it happened so recently."
"Well you figured wrong. People are curious, Ginny. Your brother's death was sudden. And even though, Creevy didn't say anything about it, you can bet others aren't going to be so kind."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I mean, all of a sudden it's announced in the paper that Weasley was killed by Death Eaters. Now that on its own is odd enough since people at this school know that Weasley wasn't someone to be taken lightly. But on top of that there was no body recovered and the Daily Prophet is comparing it to the murder committed by Sirius Black all those years ago. And with the recent capture of Pettigrew, people are speculating that this murder like that one isn't real. They are starting to believe that there is some kind of conspiracy." Blaise explained, patiently. "And if the Death Eaters start to notice you not acting as sad as you should be and these suspicions, they are going to turn to Draco for answers."
Ginny looked away from Blaise and down at the stone floor. She couldn't believe how serious Blaise was being.
"I'm sorry." She said, quietly. She brought her face up to look at him and Blaise saw the watery look to her eyes.
"I didn't want to upset you. I just wanted you to realize just how grave this situation is." He reached a hand out and gently rubbed her arm.
"I do realize it. I just never thought about it in those terms." Ginny replied, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears. "I didn't think of how it could affect everyone else, I guess."
"Well now that I have brought it to your attention, would you at least try harder? I mean you have the melancholy going for you at any rate. You just need to keep the thought that Ron's dead in the back of your mind." He said, the smile reappearing on his lips. Ginny nodded.
"So is that all you wanted, Blaise?" She asked, thinking that all she wanted to do was go up to her room and collapse on her bed.
"Not quite." He replied. "I want to talk to you about Draco."
"No." She responded, shaking her head. "Not right now, Blaise. I am still trying to comprehend everything you just told me. I can't talk about Draco on top of that."
"He's really upset, you know. He came to see me last night after getting kicked out of Headquarters and…"
"He got kicked out of Headquarters?" Ginny asked, her attention right back on Blaise.
"Oh, you didn't know." He mumbled. "Yeah, well, Draco came to see you after you caught him and Pansy and George wouldn't let him up. They apparently got in some sort of fight that resulted with Draco being told not to come back until you were safely at school." Ginny's mind was whirling. So he did come after her. And she had spent the entire night crying and hardly sleeping because not only did Draco sleep with another woman but he didn't even try to come explain it to her.
"I can't believe George didn't tell me." Ginny mused aloud.
"I think he was just trying to protect you." Blaise answered, feeling more and more unsure about this conversation. "Draco said something about George saying he wasn't good enough for you."
"That's not for George to decide!" Ginny challenged, feeling anger swell inside her.
"I know. But he's your brother. And he wants to protect you. I mean imagine how it looked to him. You were hurting because of something Draco did. George just wanted to do what he could to make it better and taking Draco out of the picture seemed to fit the bill."
"I know." Ginny answered grudgingly. "But it's still not his place to decide who is good or not good for me."
"I agree." Blaise answered. Ginny bit her lip and looked up at Blaise, who sighed. "Alright, just ask it. I can tell you want to ask me something."
"How did you take it when you found out?" She asked.
"I wasn't too upset. Draco and Pansy can shag whomever they want." Blaise answered, indifferently.
"Is that the truth?" Ginny asked. "Or are you just being a good liar?"
Blaise shook his head and chuckled. "Why are you so interested in how I took it anyway?" He asked. Ginny shrugged and looked towards the door where she could hear people coming down from breakfast.
"Because I feel like it would make you less of a mystery to me." She replied, settling her eyes back on his. Blaise raised his eyebrows, feeling for the first time that she has surprised him.
He opened his mouth to respond, when the first student came in through the door. "You'd better go, Miss Weasley." He said, instead. She nodded her head.
"Thanks, Professor." She replied before walking quickly out the door.
((That wasnt too bad, right? Lol. I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. If anything it should have explained what Draco's been up to a little more. And maybe it makes you feel a little sympathy towards him? Anyway, until I update again, REVIEW!!!))