Chapter 8: Back to the Plan!
It was finally Friday and Ginny anxiously looked at herself in the mirror and smoothed down invisible wrinkles in her sun dress. She grabbed her purse and jacket and walked down to the waiting cab. She was nervous; she'd never gone to have tea at a rich person's home. The anxiety stayed with her throughout the whole ride and when the cab stopped in front of an apartment building she had to ask the cab driver if he was sure he had the right address, she'd been expecting a mansion.
She walked up to the front door and looked for any form of entrance nearby she saw a box with buttons that had labels near them. She read them and found one that read "403-Parkinson/Harris" and pressed the button. Moments later she heard his voice say "Hello?"
"Theus? It's Ginny." She said.
"Hey, I'll buzz you in." She had only seconds to think about what that might mean when she heard a buzz and a click from the door, she opened it and stepped inside to find a beautiful vestibule. There were a row of mailboxes on the left wall and further down the hallway could be seen apartment doors. On the right a beautiful wooden staircase led up and she started climbing up. She finally reached the fourth floor and stepped on the landing to notice the beautiful mosaic on the floor and paintings that covered the walls. This was definitely nothing like her apartment building; its walls were covered in thirty year old wallpaper and the floor in a carpet that looked twice as old. She walked until she reached a door that had the number 403 on a brass plaque she pulled back the doorknocker and let it fall. A few seconds later and beautiful woman opened the door.
"Hi, come in." She said making room for Ginny. "You must be Ginny, I'm Dan."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Ginny said walking into a large foyer. The woman was short and had long black hair that reached her waist. She was wearing dress pants and a white dress shirt.
"Come on the guys are in the sitting room." She said and walked across the foyer and into a room with open double doors. Ginny followed her into a large room tastefully decorated although there was what looked like ancient Muggle devices scattered about the room. Suddenly she was glad that Theus had been in love with Dan, the thought of dating someone with the same obsession as her father was terrifying. At the other end of the room talking sat Theus and beside him Draco and Ginny stopped walking. She hadn't been prepared to see Draco today.
Theus and Draco looked up as Dan approached and they stood up. "Hi!" Ginny said as she regained control of her feet and moved towards the couch. Draco walked towards her and hugged her. "I wasn't expecting to see you." Ginny said when he let go.
"Didn't Theus tell you I was going to be here?" He asked.
"I must have forgotten," Theus said sheepishly. "Well, we're all here now so why don't we have some tea?"
Tea with Theus was more than enough to make Ginny comfortable with her plan. The stories Draco told of his exploits in the muggle world while she'd been stuck in the middle of a war, a war in which she'd lost a brother, angered her.
Although his position on muggles and muggleborns had changed, he had not. He was still a stuck up, arrogant prat who thought of no one but himself. She played her part well and charmed all three of them and when it began getting late Draco walked her out.
"Do you want to get together soon?" He asked with a striking smile and she had to remind herself of who he was before answering with a smile of her own, "I'd love to."
A/N: Friday, April 8th, 2004!