Ophelia woke up for a start. It might have been her inner alarm clock blaring or the clatter of pots but she was sure it must have been the sweetest aroma of coffee she had ever experienced. She sat up, extremely groggy and her head feeling as if it was caving in. And being the daughter of a party animal, Ophelia normally had a very high alcohol tolerance but this was too much. She couldn't even remember where she was.
"Awake?" A soft voice came from above her. She pried her eyes open barely and managed to make out a figure, a boy. She could barely make out his face in the glare of the sunlight but he was leaning on the windowsill, looking almost like a godsend, ethereal with the halo of light around him. His shirt had been put on hastily and his buttons have been left unbuttoned, his pants sagging without the support of a belt around his thin waist.
"Why… hello… who are you? I can't see you very well. And where are we?"
"It's me, Phelia. Spencer. And we're in the kitchens. Coffee?"
"I thought I smelled something heavenly. Thank you."
She saw him pouring her a cup and he reached over to hand it to her. With just one sip, her body relaxed, and her eyes cleared up, her headache relieved. She looked down at her surroundings and sure enough, she was in the kitchens, under the counter, wrapped up comfortably in some satin cloth that she vaguely remembered as being Spencer's dress robes. Ophelia stood up, picking up the robes with her other hand and set it on a stool.
"Thanks. This coffee is amazing."
"It's just school coffee." Spencer said humbly.
"School coffee doesn't taste like this."
"Well, I work at a coffee shop. And this is my aunt's coffee. So I'm pretty much at home here. Sit, sit. Let's not stand around awkwardly."
He pulled out a stool for her and sat down himself next to her.
Ophelia smiled, sat, and drank. "This works even better than the flavored hangover potions my mom makes me."
"Well, this is my aunt's remedy. Add in a little Chilean dark chocolate and you're all set."
"So…"
"So…"
Ophelia sighed. "What the hell happened here?"
"You know, I woke up and sort of had a feeling… but I really don't want to think it's true. I was hoping you would remember."
"Well, yes, I'm assuming that whatever you assumed is true, by the lack of clothing we have on," Ophelia said, looking down at her skimpy underdress.
"But it can't be true… maybe we were playing dress-up?"
"Oh, please, Spence, do you honestly believe that? We had sex, all right?"
Spencer massaged his temples, "But how could this happen? We've nothing in common, nor was I ever extremely aroused by you in any way before or anything…"
"Awkward…"
"I mean, my virginity actually meant something to me. Or at least I didn't want it wasted on some meaningless, drunken sex in the kitchens. I know this probably won't be a big deal for you but it is for me."
Ophelia's eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm sorry…"
"I'm sorry, Ophelia, that this ever happened. Why don't we both, uh, try to forget it ever happened?"
"I have very good memory, you know." Ophelia replied darkly.
"And so do I. This isn't easier for me than it is for you, Ophelia. It's my first time that's under the counter, not yours. But maybe if we just at least pretend to forget anything happened…"
"Why do we have to pretend? Are you that ashamed of sleeping with me or something?" she inquired, feeling her temper boiling.
"I'm not ashamed, I'm just… it's just…"
"No, no, it's okay. You don't have to say it. I actually don't want to hear it, especially from you. Thanks for the coffee, Spence. You have a nice life." She said, kicking her stool aside, grabbing her robes and stalking out of the kitchens.
OO
"Wow, Spence, you look like you've been to hell and back twenty times." Gaby said as Spencer came into the great hall for breakfast. Only half the school had woken up by 8 am to eat and the great hall was strangely quite bare.
"I feel like it too. I'm sitting here." He replied heavily, finding his seat next to Gaby.
"I guess I can't stop you. What's wrong? Why do you look like shit?"
"Gaby, I don't really want to…"
"Did something happen last night? Because you're not the only one."
Spencer looked up and frowned. "What do you mean? What did you do?"
"Oh, please, get rid of that accusatory tone. It's just a lot of things happened."
"Give me the details."
"Well, let's see… Apparently, Jake tried stopping auntie from coming and apparently Professor Malfoy killed Jake's mother at the war."
"What?! No wonder Jake was such a…"
"But it was so indirectly and that was over a decade ago."
"So then what happened?"
"Well Professor got her to come anyways because he knew how much she actually wanted to and got in a little spat with Jake. Then he came back but auntie was so pissed because he pushed her here and they got in a little spat."
"And the good news is…"
"I'm getting there! She avoided him practically the whole night until the end when he came to talk to her and then they danced a bit and took her outside and I don't know what happened after that because I couldn't see but I saw Professor coming back in by himself after the dance."
"Hm… what do you think happened?"
"I don't know. I'll have to pry it out of either of them."
"Good luck with getting that out of Professor."
"Yeah well… I got a boyfriend."
"Who's it this time? Mike?"
Gaby looked up fiercely at his name. "Mike? Why would you think it's Mike?"
"I don't know, I mean you're always with him somewhere these days."
"No! Mike is just my lousy head boy tutor."
"Hm, then who is it?"
"Caleb Libby."
Spencer dropped his fork. "No."
"Yes?"
"You can't date that bastard." Spencer stated.
"And you can't tell me what to do."
"You center your life around Quidditch so you don't understand what an ass he is."
"Oh you heads and prefects. It's all about responsibility, isn't it? Well I don't care. I get what I want, Spence, and Caleb is no exception."
"Gawd, Gaby, why do you have the worst taste in men? This isn't really the kind of situation where you can be selfish and ambitious. I read that usually a girl will try to find a man who resembles her brother most. And I am insulted that you would choose Caleb Libby."
"Caleb Libby is the most sought after man in the sixth year and you are the most sought after man in the fifth year. See the resemblance? Besides, he's sweet, good looking and totally head over heels fallen for me."
"He just wants you in bed, Gaby."
"Sure, but that doesn't mean I'll give it to him."
"You better stick to that, Gaby. If I ever catch you two…"
"We'll make sure not to get caught then, okay?" Gaby spat.
"But I still don't approve."
"Changing the subject, tell me your story."
"I don't really feel like telling you anymore."
"So you'll just carry this to your grave?"
"I'll just carry this out of school."
"I'm your sister, Spence. You're supposed to tell me everything."
"And you're supposed to listen to me when I tell you that you're dating a jerk. I bet you get that trait from auntie."
"I'm not… don't force the subject back to me! Tell me what's wrong with you!"
"You want to know?"
"Yes."
"Promise you won't go crazy on me or tell the whole school."
"Okay, I promise."
"You won't laugh at me or anything right?"
"No! Gosh, what is it? Did you finally touch a girl?"
"Well, technically, yes."
"Oh, wow, that's crazy. You're one big party animal. Woohoo!" Gaby exclaimed.
"Quiet down! There's more."
"What, you danced?"
"No…"
"Kissed?"
"Yes…"
Gaby rolled her eyes. "Wow! Impressive."
"There's more."
"Huh… did homework together?"
"This is serious, Gaby!"
"Well, I don't know! I can't imagine you doing anything with a girl."
Spencer sighed and put his head in his hands. "I had sex," he mumbled inaudibly.
Gaby frowned and leaned in closer. "You did what? You ate meat?"
"I had sex." He repeated, a little louder but still barely audible.
"Gosh, Spence, could you talk any more softly? It's not like you slept with anyone or anything."
Spencer looked up and immediately by the look of his eyes, Gaby shot up from her seat.
"Oh bloody hell, you… you actually… you had sex?!" She whispered fiercely.
"Say it a little louder won't you?"
"And you let me go on and on about auntie and professor when you're the one who actually… who was it? Who was this poor child?"
"Ophelia."
"And not even just any girl you slept with the…"
"GABY! Please!"
"I don't believe it. I never imagined that you would lose your virginity before me."
"Why, thank you, Gaby."
"You're the one telling me about how Caleb Libby just wants in on my pants when you're the one who… wow! Wow! Congratulations!" She said, clapping him on his back.
"If you tell a single soul in Hogwarts, I will see the end of you. And if you ever bother me about it, I will physically have to make sure you never can."
Gaby smirked. "Really, Spence, what kind of sister do you see me for? Muffin?"
Spencer shook his head but Gaby grabbed the blueberry one off the plate and stuffed it in his mouth.
"What are you going to do about Ophelia?" She asked as Spencer yanked the muffin out of his mouth.
"I asked her if we could forget about the whole thing but she didn't seem to get why we should."
"Well why do you think you should?"
"Because! It was obviously just some senseless, drunken sex that neither of us actually wanted. So why should we think about it? Do I want to remember that my first time was with Ophelia Amoretti?"
"But don't you think that's a little harsh on her?"
"How would it be harsh on her?"
"I don't know but she's a nice girl despite her reputation. You could have at least said it nicer like, 'I'm sorry this had to happen and make things awkward between us but maybe we can put it aside and try to go back to the way things were?'"
"There's nothing for us to 'go back to.'"
"You two seemed pretty friendly."
"Well, of course, we're prefects and we need to set examples."
"That's a lame excuse, Spence. I still think you were too hard on her. Even if those rumors about her are true, she's still a girl and girls have feelings that can break very easily by mean things. Did I say that simply enough for you to understand?"
"You don't have feelings. Maybe that's why I'm not particularly any nicer to girls than to anyone else."
"Hey, you can't go putting the blame on someone so innocent in this situation like me. Now my advice is to pack up your courage and say what I told you to say and apologize."
"There's nothing to apologize for. I told her the truth and that's that. I don't go around lying to people to make them feel better."
Gaby threw a grape at him. "You're a mean boy, Spencer Weasley."
"And it's all your fault."
OO
An hour turned into a day, a day turned into a night, a night turned into a week and sooner or later, Draco Malfoy was sitting at his teacher's desk during free period, enjoying the bareness of his classroom when Gabrielle Weasley came slugging in, looking like a hazardous mess. She was paler than normal, her hair more disheveled than normal and her pajama pants baggy and trailing every footstep that she made on the ground, and she carried with her a large fluffy yellow blanket.
"Welcome, Miss Weasley. I'm sorry, but I don't remember inviting you to my sleepover." Draco drawled, sitting up in his chair to greet her.
"Professor, I'm not in any condition to joke with you."
"Well, all right then, what can I help you with?"
"Tell me, professor, what is the thing with men?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do they have a problem with apologizing?"
Draco blinked. "Depends."
"I mean, I know I can be very egotistical but I know when I'm pushing it into being just very… selfish. And childish."
"Well, that's very good to know." Draco replied awkwardly.
"I mean, okay, I understand that some people have problems apologizing or something but how far can a guy push his immaturity?" Gaby pushed on, her face blazing.
"Who am I? Your manicurist?"
"Listen, you're the Slytherin head, right?"
"Oh, yes, that question I can answer."
"Now tell me, what the hell is wrong with Mike Felton?"
Draco sighed. "Oh, what'd he do now?"
"FINE! He doesn't have to apologize! But he can't just decide that just because we argued once that we can never talk again and ditch out on tutoring me."
"He did that?"
"I went to his dorms because we always meet Friday nights but Anna said he was by the lake overseeing detention or something so I go out to the lake and look all around but he'd already left and then I get attacked by the squid and when things can't get any worse, it turns out that I'm locked out because now it's past curfew and I wait outside for a whole hour until Hagrid just happens to be out too and lets me in. If he was going to ditch out on me, can't he have at least half the decency to owl me if he can't stand to see my face?"
"Ah, couples fights are never a pleasant experience." Draco said, with an amused smirk on his face.
"It's NOT a couples fight!"
"Or so you think."
Gaby's already feverish cheeks grew redder with frustration. "You're just the same! I bet he acts that way because of your negative influence!"
Draco gasped melodramatically. "Negative influence?! Me?! Never!"
"Listen, I don't care anymore. If we lose the game today because I'm sick, I will single-handedly dismember Mike Felton myself. Even if it gets me into Azkaban."
Draco stopped on his tracks. "There's a game today?"
"Yeah, against Hufflepuff."
"You can't play!"
"Yes I can!"
"But you're sick and you look like you'll pass out any second!"
"I just need some rest."
"I'm not usually the fatherly kind but I really must tell you that you should really watch out for you body." Draco said, sternly.
"I know, I know, I am."
"Oh, and playing the game in your condition is good for your health… how?"
"I just can't not play today."
"Isn't your boyfriend playing?"
"Yes…?"
"And yet you're so set on winning? Against him?"
"Even more. What do you expect? That I'll lose the game just because of some dumb boyfriend and show weakness and let him take advantage of it?"
Draco frowned. "That is unheard of. Did you think of that idea?"
"I mean think about it. He only hasn't tried sleeping with me or anything of that sort because he's so bloody scared of me. But if we lose the game and even worse, if he catches the snitch and I don't, I'd become the weak one. Y'hear?"
"No, I don't. But let me just tell you, I strongly advise you not to play today. As a professor and a mentor…"
"Thanks for caring, Professor but it's okay. You probably just want us to forfeit so that Slytherin could get boosted up a rank."
The bell rang, and their discussion ended. Immediately, Draco jumped out of his chair.
"I am a sadist, of course, but I would never wish for a student to die for a Quidditch game. Now, Miss Weasley, don't do anything rash and get some sleep. Go visit Madame Pomfrey."
"What are you in such a rush for?"
"Me? I've got a hot date."
"What, with my aunt?"
Draco paused. "Yeah, no, I forgot you're her niece."
"Wait, what? She finally dumped that sore bloke?"
Draco shrugged. "I don't know. I was just kidding."
Gaby looked genuinely crestfallen. "It's not like a completely approve of you as my aunt's boyfriend or deem you worthy enough but you are much better than Jake. Say, professor, you always talk about what a charmer you are. Why don't you try wooing my aunt?"
"We've been through this, Weasley. Please do not stick your stuffy, congested nose into your professor's love life."
"LOVE LIFE? She's in you love life now What is this?! I never gave you permission to date her!"
"What is this about wooing your aunt? You want me to win her over and then dump her as soon as she leaves Jake Diggory?"
"Well, not if you put it like that."
"Now, now, you are not a very nice niece. And I was just kidding. If there's one thing a Malfoy does not do, it's stealing another man's woman. And I am running errands for McGonagall because it seems like the school supply of coffee is decreasing madly. I'm merely making a new order."
"Oh, that's boring."
"No, actually it's quite interesting, you know, how quickly coffee can just… vanish. Like that." Draco said, snapping loudly in front of Gaby's face, making her jump back a bit. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way."
"Why don't you invite her to the game today?"
"I couldn't do that because there will be no game today. If your aunt hears that I let you play in your condition…"
"She'll say thank you for listening to her wonderful niece."
"No, she'll slaughter me and incorporate my body parts into her hot chocolate ingredients."
"Oh, please? She's almost always been to all my games! And it'll be nice!"
"Well… I'll tell her about it…"
"And bring her."
"And uh… well… I will try to send an owl to Mike about what he's done…"
"No."
"Because that really was quite cruel of him."
"No, I don't need his sympathy or anything. He'll be needing my sympathy if I don't play the game today."
"Well then, take a break, Weasley."
"Thanks, professor."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"It's been too long, Weasley; I almost even missed you." Draco said, smirking, entering the shop.
"Oh, why, don't you flatter me now. What do you want?"
"The house-elves are incredibly puzzled at how quickly the coffee is going even though they even out proportions everyday."
Ginny blushed slightly. "Ah, I see."
"Basically, your niece and nephew are living it up in the kitchens so now we need a new stock."
"Well, I can't help you there, professor Malfoy."
"Yes you can. I'm here to order for another supply of coffee."
"No, it's just that I was actually just heading out to fill my own inventory."
"Oh."
"Yes, you've caught me at a bad time."
"Oh."
"But I will owl or something once I've got a new stock."
"Oh."
"Unless… you can accompany me." Ginny said slowly, automatically regretting it.
"That sounds splendid." Draco said, beaming.
Ginny put her apron down and disappeared for a few moments behind the curtain, retrieving her purse. "I can't believe you're following me there."
"A man should never be given too much time. Shall we?"
"You really shouldn't."
"And why?"
"For many reasons! Don't you have students to teach? Don't you have things to do?"
"Nope."
"What kind of professor are you?!"
"A bored one. Would you also like to accompany me to a Quidditch game later this afternoon? Your charming niece made it very clear that she will be ghastly disappointed if you were not there."
"Gaby? Well, of course, then, I shall. Who's she playing?"
"Hufflepuff. Her own boyfriend. Even more the reason to play even if she's sick."
"She's sick?"
"Yes, she seemed to have a cold when she came to see me. Very pale. But be assured, I've sent her to Madame Pomfrey's in one piece so if we shall…" Draco said quickly, opening the door to her shop. "Where we going anyways?"
"That is a secret."
"Now, now, there are never secrets between us."
"There are only secrets between us, Malfoy. For one, I don't know anything about you at all."
"Ah, well, it didn't feel like it."
"It's the truth. Take my arm."
Draco gave her a bewildered look. "Why?"
"Are you coming or not? Or I suppose you can make it to another country without me?"
Understanding, Draco placed his hand on her forearm and the air constricted for a few moments before he landed again on his feet.
"Where is this place?"
"Egypt."
"Egypt?!"
"The twins' parents live here. Before I started the shop, I lived with them here for about a year. Not like they grow coffee beans here but there are a lot more imports here than in London. When I moved back to London, I took the coffee back with me and I've been coming here ever since. Usually, though, when the twins are not at school, they come here for a while to live with their parents and they come back with the coffee. But since they're at school now, I've got to make the trip here every month."
Draco smirked. "I don't know, Weasley. Sounds just like a big excuse to see your brother."
"That's true too. But hey, while I'm at it, it doesn't hurt to do some business. Let's go."
"So are we going to go meet your brother now?"
"We would but since you've been so keen to come…" she said sarcastically.
"I wouldn't mind. I have all day."
"No, no, it's fine. We've got to hurry to see the game anyways."
"Well, then, show me the way."
Ginny led him toward the busy market that she had apparated them to. There were so many people bustling about but outside the market was just the vast and empty countryside. There were hundreds of tents all lined in rows, selling anything from food to jewelry to voodoo dolls.
(A/N: okay. I don't know anything about Egypt. I don't know if they even have coffee there. But hey, guys, for the sake of the story, aiite:D)
"Come on, Malfoy! We don't have all day, you know."
Completely in a daze of all the hustle and bustle around him, and the brilliant fanfare of colors and dizzy array of yelling and bargaining, Draco tagged along behind Ginny, following the trail she left behind with baggy boy-jeans and bags of spices.
"Here we are… heaven…"
Draco could have smelled it from a mile away. In this grand bazaar, one entire aisle was dedicated to coffee. There were imports from all over the world, coffee from Peru or Columbia, or tea from India or China. The smell was intoxicating, and Draco continued to follow Ginny in a natural high.
Draco stopped next to Ginny at one stop, a few booths away from the end.
"Ginny!"
"Hello! I'm here for a new stock." Ginny said cheerfully at the middle aged woman.
"Why of course… regular amount?"
"Yes please."
"Who's this young lad with you today? Has Jake finally come out of his shell?"
"No, this is Draco Malfoy."
"Draco Malfoy?!" The woman suddenly exclaimed, turning to look at Draco even more closely. "I should have known! Such a great looking fella like him… Where is that wretched girl… Sabria! Sabria! Look who's here!" The old woman screamed toward the back, behind a ratty curtain. A young woman in her early 20's came out, disgruntled and cross but her face immediately fell in awe at Draco's presence.
"OH MY GOODNESS IT'S DRACO MALFOY!" The woman, Sabria, screamed, dozens of heads turning.
Draco smiled thinly, suddenly nervous at all the eyes at him.
It began very slowly, starting with just one sole click. Then, there was chaos, and sooner or later, everyone was jumping at Draco and Ginny, trying to get pictures or at least touch Draco Malfoy.
Draco quickly grabbed the sack that the woman had laid out over the counter, grabbed Ginny's hand and ran. He realized that he had never been to this marketplace before and should not have been the one leading the two of them in running away from the cameras and screaming fan-girls. But there was nothing they could do in their situation as Draco maneuvered them around in random paths and sharp turns.
He was completely lost until Ginny exclaimed "Over here!" as they rounded some corner and Ginny pointed at a very narrow alleyway. Obediently, Draco led them into it, crouching down. Draco shoved a handful of coffee beans in Ginny's mouth and covered it. He heard footsteps coming toward them, his heartbeat stopped for a moment, and then relaxed as the footsteps faded away into the distance. He leaned his head back and sighed heavily.
"I'm way too good looking for this country."
Draco turned head to the right and snorted. Ginny was sitting, facing him cross legged and with an irritated look on her face, her entire mouth bloated with pure coffee beans stuffed in her mouth. Ginny took his hand and held it out open in front of her and then spat out all the beans into his hand, a look of pure disgust on both of their faces.
"That is just repulsive!" Draco exclaimed, throwing the goop of a few crushed beans and saliva away and staring at his sticky hands with much aversion.
"You know what's repulsive? Espresso beans down your throat. I love coffee and coffee is my life but nobody wants twenty servings of espresso at once in your mouth."
Draco chuckled, washing off his hand with his wand. "How'd it taste?"
"How do you think it tasted?"
"Very… coffee-ish?"
Ginny shook her head. "It's like eating bitter, fertilized dirt with crushed pebbles."
"Oh, please, it can't be that bad. And nobody told you that you had to eat it."
"You shoved it in my mouth! I was about to say something but my mouth bit down on…"
The next thing she knew, Draco was kissing her, his hand at the nape of her neck, his thumb caressing her cheek softly; he letting her mouth part as his tongue so expertly grazed hers, probing, tasting her entire mouth with excruciating delicacy. She could feel his heavy breathing and his fingers placed so gingerly around her that she felt safe and melting like chocolate into a mug of espresso. His kiss, strong and persistent, warm and embracing… made her feel so secure with his lips, as if she could tiptoe on the edge of a cliff but kiss him for eternity.
For a moment, Jake's head rolled by her eyes, taunting and haunting her moment in bliss. Would this kiss count as cheating? Suddenly, there was guilt. Bittersweetguilt, as if she would have much rather cheated on Jake by kissing Draco Malfoy than any other way possible to cheat on him.
But then again, it was not she who initiated the kiss. She had been forced into it almost, and it had come so abruptly that she had no time to fight it. Her conscious tore at her insides, but her body would not react to her mind and she felt herself falling deeper and deeper into Draco's lips. She was almost disappointed when he let go, both of them gasping for air.
He took out his hankerchief from the innermost pocket of his robes and dabbed her lips with the silver cloth. "You whine way too much. I thought that tasted beautiful." Draco said breathlessly, an unsure grin rising in his face.
Ginny's visage changed and she looked up at him sharply. "I don't know where you got the idea, Mr. Malfoy, but you cannot just go around kissing me. No matter how much you disapprove of Jake, I am…"
"Taken. I know. I know and I apologize."
She was turning red now and she tried so hard to replace her overwhelmed reaction with anger. "That was just… low! How could you do that?"
"I don't know. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment… moments… trust me; I don't go kissing tied down women as a habit. But it's just… look, I'm sorry, okay? It just happened on a whim and… I apologize." Draco said quickly, standing up.
Ginny stood up too, grabbing the sacks, speechless, and began to walk away, out of the alley.
"Weasley." Draco called out after her, following her.
She kept walking, although she wasn't sure where, but had an idea that her legs were taking her back to the entrance of the marketplace.
"Weasley, wait up."
Instead, Ginny picked up her pace, afraid of what cruel adultery she would commit if she were ever to see Draco Malfoy again…
OO
"Hey guys." Mike jogged up to the Gryffindor entrance where most of the team was stretching.
"Hey, Mikey. How's it going?" Leslie, one of the chasers, asked, bending over her outstretched leg.
"Excited for the big game? Where's Gaby?"
"She ran back to the locker room a few minutes ago… said she had to get something."
Mike frowned. "Doesn't the game start in… five minutes?"
Leslie looked at her watch. "It does, huh. Then maybe we should go fetch her or something…"
"Oh, no, then I'll go get her. You guys keep warming up."
Mike waved and headed back to the locker room. He had just received an owl from Professor Malfoy about Gaby and as he drew closer to the locker room door, he grew tenser, nervous, and unsure of what to say or how to hold himself.
"Gaby…?" He asked tenderly as he opened the door.
There was no response. Mike entered the room, and found it completely deserted.
"Gaby?"
There was a barely audible whimper from behind one of the changing curtains. Dropping his bag, Mike quickly slashed open each one, seeing only empty stalls with a change of clothing in them. At the second to last stall, he found her, slumped on the ground, crouched in a fetal position.
"Gaby! What happened? What are you doing? The game starts in five minutes!"
She lifted her head barely, her bloodshot eyes looking up at him with so much evident pain.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah."
She was shaking uncontrollably. Her black spandex shorts stuck to her sweaty body and her Quidditch jersey was drenched with warm sweat. At one touch of her arm, Mike could feel her burning, her fever apparent in her flamed face.
"Merlins, you're sick! I'll take you to Madame Pomfrey's."
"NO." She croaked out.
"There's no way you can play like this, Gaby. You'll pass out the moment you stand up!"
Mike wrapped her arm around his neck and tried to hold her up but she whipped her arm away and fell back to the ground.
"I-I'll be o-o-okay. L-leave me alone." She shuddered.
"I can't let you play like this, Gaby. I'm sure your team will understand."
"NO!"
"Let me just take you to Madame Pomfrey." Mike said urgently.
"The g-game. I need to g-get to the g-game."
"There's no way you're going to the game in this condition. Come on. Get on me."
"I h-h-have to go. Let me go." A chill ran through her spin, making her shiver even harder.
"Nobody is making you go except yourself. I'll take you to the hospital wing." Mike tried putting her arm around his neck again, but she went ballistic at his touch.
"NO! N-NO! LET ME GO- LET ME…"
Suddenly, the heated energy she was spending to fight off Mike disappeared and her arms went limp. She gave Mike one, shuddering, bleary gaze, before falling into a heap of feverish red.
Mike, reacted instantly, taking her arms around his neck and stood up, carrying the girl on his back. She was burning; he could feel her sweaty hair on his neck as he ran out of the room, meeting her agitated team mates.
"What's going o- oh my goodness." Leslie gasped.
"Postpone the game. She's passed out." Mike muttered as he ran by her teammates.
The world around him as he ran was a blur now. He could not see the crowd's reaction to the unconscious girl and could only hear wild whispering as he ran up the flight of stairs to the hospital wing. He was surprised that he had not accidentally fallen through a trick step or such, but did not ponder to give himself a pat on the back. He remembered the owl that Professor Malfoy had sent while the professor was on his errand and realized that he was to blame for Gaby's condition. Truly and one hundred percent to blame. The view in front of him became a haze through the guilty tears that formed in his eyes.
He reached the hospital wing, ran by Madame Pomfrey's questioning look and placed her on one of the beds, collapsing in a blabbering mess beside her bed.
OO
Ahh, another chapter come and gone.
I realized that my chapters really are getting longer and longer. This was peaking at a bit past 6000 before I decided to cut it down. I think after the banquet chapter, my writing capacity has widened a bit. I've never written chapters longer than 4000 before, or not usually, but this story is a story of many firsts for me.
Anyways,
FINALLY! A DRACO-GINNY KISS! I'm sorry, but I'm dreadful with kiss scenes. So you didn't get much of the explicit details but hey, a kiss is a kiss.
And I know, of course… you all miss Jake just soooo muuuucchhhh but I'm thinking he'll make an appearance sometime soon. Mahhh
Yeah. Anyways, I don't think a lot of you were able to infer from the previous chapter about what happened with Spence and Ophelia. I tried to make it as ambiguous as possible but yeah. If reading about it totally shocked you, yeah. Sorry about that. Here's their incredibly vague "sex scene" (previous chapter):
"Spencer slid his hand up her bare, shivering arm, and brought it to her chin, lifting it slightly. He stepped forward, the wall between them obliterating, and his entire body engulfed her, her lips warm yet trembling, her skin soft yet throbbing, and her body, dainty, weightless, and bare, yet beautiful against his."
Yeah. So before things get awkward… moving on! Forward ho!
This is turning into a drama. It's like, I imagine this being a soap opera of some sort. And there's more yet to come, but for you all wonderful readers, I'll try to keep it as light and fluffy as possible:D
So I'll try to leave this dismal author's note on a happy note:
Well, I can't promise anything, but I'm excited for the next chapter! A lot of stuff I cut out from this chapter will be incorporated into the next chapter so keep fingers locked, your patience and your love for this story as fresh as possible and please please review because nothing gets be off my ass better than any kind of review from any one of you!
Adieu!
-me me me me me
(PS: here's the real happy note: haven't had enough snogging so far in this story? Stay tuned for more next chapter!)
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