Chapter Four- Draco Malfoy
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Draco Malfoy stepped out of the Prefects bathroom and automatically put the smirk he wore around the school back onto his lips. Now that he had spoken with Ginevra, it was harder than normal to keep his lips from twitching into a smile. Ginevra was hanging over the end of a cliff, desperately clinging to the branch that was her last hope of rescue from the truth kept hidden in Slytherin House. Above her, the place Ginevra was desperately trying to reach, stood her entire family; their red hair, ready smiles and hugs waiting for her. Below was the truth in Slytherin that she knew to be right. As she grew older and the knowledge grew heavier, Ginevra's hands began to slip. Draco would pour oil onto her sweaty hands to help her slide down the cliff faster. At the bottom would be the entirety of Slytherin House, Draco Malfoy in particular, waiting to catch her and put her back on her feet.
Until then, all Draco could do was hope that Ginevra would not run to Potter or her brothers. If she did, Ginevra would be lost to Slytherin and their last chance to heal the rift between Slytherin and the Weasley's would be lost. That was something Draco did not want to happen. No, Draco would make sure that the little red head would join him in Slytherin. His smirk grew on his face as Draco thought about the best way to seduce Ginevra. If things went his way, Ginevra would be hanging out in the Slytherin common room by then end of the month.
III
"Blaise, Pansy, I need to speak with you." Draco said quietly. He had spent the past week trailing after Ginevra and needed some advise. So far he had been unable to even have a short conversation with the little red headed girl without either her brother coming along to save her, Ginny finding a way to run from him, or getting into a screaming match that always seemed to result in detention. It was becoming extremely annoying. Draco had finally broken down and had decided to go to his friends for help. Draco would tell Blaise and Pansy about his plan to bring a Weasley back into Slytherin, would ask permission to tell said Weasley about some other plans of theirs, and hopefully, Blaise and Pansy would help him find a way to lure Ginevra to him so he could talk to her.
"Are you finally going to tell us why you have been running around the castle like a chicken with his head cut off?" Blaise drawled from where he was sitting.
Pansy smirked up at Draco from her position next to Blaise on the couch. "Yes, and will you tell us why you are trailing the Weasley girl everywhere?"
Draco sighed and nodded. He took a seat in between his two friends and started to explain.
"Is that all you need to do?" Blaise scoffed once Draco had finished his story. "Just send her an anonymous letter telling her to meet you somewhere. Then have a long conversation with her and explain everything."
Draco nodded thoughtfully. "That might work. Also, I was wondering if I could tell her our plans?"
"If you must." Pansy sighed. "After all, we want her to join us so we can accomplish those plans. I do not see what harm it would do. Just make sure that she will keep our secrets before you spill everything."
III
Draco looked away from the school owls perched on their cages and down at the crumpled letter clutched in his hand. He had meant to write a beautiful letter in careful calligraphy during Binns' class that would impress Ginevra and hopefully show her just how serious he was about talking to her. When he had walked into History of Magic, expecting to be ignored as the senile old ghost drabbled on about a goblin rebellion for the entire class, he was still planning to write the letter there. Instead Draco had found Professor McGonagall standing in the front of the classroom tapping her foot impatiently.
"Professor Binns has been called away to attend a ghosts teachers conference." She said once everyone was settled into their seats. "He left instructions on what work you should complete during his class period. I will be collecting your work at the end of class." She sat down in the teachers' chair in the front of the classroom and stared at the students with a hard glare. Draco sighed and pulled out his book and his notes. There was no way that the old lady would let him write a letter under her careful watch.
Instead of owling Ginevra his beautiful letter after class like he had wanted to, Draco had been forced to scribble the letter on a spare bit of parchment and rush up to the owlry. He now had five minutes to send her the letter and run down to the kitchens on the other side of the school to tell the house-elves that he wanted a picnic ready by dinnertime. Then he had to rush to Herbology outside in greenhouse five. If this schedule kept up, Draco would lose ten pounds by the end of the week from all the running.
Draco chose a random owl and attached the letter to its' leg. "Give this to Ginevra Weasley as soon as you can." Draco said to the owl. It hooted and flew off.
The barn owl flew away into the noon sky and Draco sighed. His last chance to really reunite the original founders of Slytherin was flying away, precariously attached to a clawed leg. The letter had a huge chance of falling off and floating to the bottom of the lake. Draco's plans were already swimming with the fishes. All he could hope was that Ginevra would be able to teach him how to swim.
It was dinnertime and Draco was on the roof with his picnic set out before him waiting to see if the little red head would show. He did not know if she had received the letter or not but if she were coming, she would walk through the trapdoor sometime in the next five minutes.
Draco was dressed in casual dress robes, hoping that he would not scare her away by being over dressed. Still, her reaction to his appearance depended on her showing up to their meeting…
Another minute passed and there was no sign of her red hair. Growing discouraged, Draco began to pack away the food. It did not seem like Ginevra was going to come. He would have to find another way to talk to her.
Draco was just about to put away the bottles of Butter Beer when a creak behind him made his hand freeze above the basket.
A very out of breath Ginevra was standing behind him, her head poking out of the trapdoor. "Sorry I'm late," she gasped out in between gulps for air. "I had to get away from my brother. He wanted me to play chess with him." Ginevra carefully climbed onto the roof and stopped short when she saw Draco. She looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds then smiled and sat down next to Draco. "He was worried because I've seemed a little distant lately."
Draco nodded back to her with a careful smile of his own. "Here," he mumbled handing her a butter beer.
She took it gratefully and carefully popped it open. "I figured the letter was from you. You seemed a little flustered today and during lunch you kept alternating between looking at me and glaring at the ceiling." She laughed quietly and took another sip of the fizzy drink. "Anyway, I've been thinking since the last time we talked." Ginevra said before taking a quick sip from her bottle. "Well, talked without trying to kill each other. The last detention I had was with Snape. He had me cleaning out Neville's various cauldrons from the past few weeks. It was awful." She gulped more drink from her bottle and then giggled quietly. "Sorry, I'm babbling. I guess I'm a little nervous about finally talking to you." Ginny sighed and stared at her bottle, wondering if it held the answers to her questions. "I just want to know why you seem so insistent on getting a Weasley, me, back into the Slytherin fold." Draco stayed silent and let her talk, knowing that she had something to get off her chest before she could finally make her decision. Instead of interrupting her, Draco started to take the food out of the picnic basket and lay it around them so they could eat.
Ginevra sipped her beer quietly for a moment then she sighed. "Look, Draco, I can't kill someone. I can't. I know that I can't torture someone; I don't have that cruelty inside of me. I can't look coldly away while someone is in pain. Draco, I can't be like the rest of the Slytherins. I'm not angry at what happened and I was not raised to view violence as the only answer to the Slytherin impasse. I'm not sure if either truth is real. The one I grew up learning has been ingrained into my soul. I know that I can't refute it. The Slytherin truth is so seductive but I don't know if it is right either. I don't know. How can I?" She sighed angrily and Draco was shocked at how intense her eyes were as she glared into the bottle. "I can't make the decision you ask of me! I don't know which answer to follow." Now she turned her brown eyes on Draco and they were sad and confused. The anger was gone as fast as her thoughts were flying.
Draco looked at her in awe as she turned down both what he asked from her and what her family asked from her. She was caught in the middle and all he could do was hold her there. Forcing her to come back to Slytherin would only widen the gap between their families.
He didn't bother to answer her, instead he handed her a sandwich and settled down to think. Ginevra took the sandwich and took a bite. She was looking at him over the top of her sandwich, waiting to see what his answer would be.
They spent the next hour eating in comfortable silence. Draco spent the time thinking and Ginevra alternated between staring at Draco and looking out over the grounds from the roof.
The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon before Draco finally spoke. "I suppose I can understand where your reluctance to join with Slytherin stems from. If you grow up believing something it can be difficult to go against your beliefs. You have experienced one side of the world. Will you come to Slytherin with me and experience the other side of the coin?"
Ginevra took a deep breath and stared at Draco as if she were judging him about something. She seemed to come to a decision and she closed her eyes and whispered. "I also do not think Voldemort is following Slytherins precepts. He is leading the Death Eaters for his own purposes and I will not do anything for him."
Draco looked thoughtful for a moment and seemed to be trying to read into all of her intentions. He had something very important and very secret to tell her. It was something only Blaise and Pansy knew. If Ginny were really as sincere as he thought, telling her this information would cement her ties with him. If she was not- she could destroy all of his plans.
"We're planning to take him down." He forced out quickly. Then in a softer whisper he elaborated, "Blaise, Pansy and me, we don't think Voldemort has Slytherins interests in mind either. He is using those principles to gather Slytherins as his followers but he is really after power. He enjoys the death and the torture more than he wants to bring Slytherins' truth to light. Once we are done school, the Slytherins who follow me are planning on taking on Voldemort and taking over. But, to be able to do that we need your help."
"Do you just need a Weasley's help?" Ginny asked too softly.
"Yes", Draco said quietly. "But if I just wanted any Weasley's help I could have gotten your twin brothers help. They heard the story the night they snuck in." Draco smiled at Ginny's shocked expression. "Yes, we knew they were there Ginevra. No one can hide from a Slytherin in Slytherin territory."
Draco reached out and gently cupped her face with one hand. "You see, Ginevra Weasley," he whispered, "I wanted a specific Weasley to join us." He leaned forward. "I wanted you." His lips met hers in a slow tender kiss.
He slowly drew away and smiled down at her. Ginevra's eyes were closed and there was a small soft smile across her cute face.
"Will you join us?" Draco asked softly.
"Not us, no, but I will join you." Ginevra said before lifting her hands to tangle in Draco's hair and pull him down for another kiss. "For you," she whispered.