A/N: Next chapter :)

Blooming Roses Chapter 5: Of Meeting the Neighbors

Ginny's POV

"Bloody muggles," I heard Bulstrode grumble from the bed opposite mine. I would have agreed if I was awake enough to speak coherently. Checking the clock on the nightstand, it flashed 7:30 in bright red numbers. Who the hell would be up and knocking on our door at seven thirty? I put my pillow over my head to block it out, but the people were insistent and just banged on the front door louder. I called tiredly, "Anyone going to get that?" When I got no answer except a few snores from Colin I huffed and threw my covers off, "Damned men... Coming!" I checked the bathroom mirror quickly on my way down the hall and brushed my hair before running down the stairs and opening the door.

Standing before me was a group of seven or eight people, and they all exclaimed cheerful hellos as a woman at the front said, "Well aren't you a gorgeous young thing!" I heard a snort come from behind me and turned to see Malfoy, looking wide awake, and I realized he had been up but ignored these people.

"May we help you?" I asked, turning back to the group. The woman beamed and passed a pan of food, "When we heard a group of students from a foreign school was comin' to stay here as part of a project, we cooked up a whole bunch of food for you and your classmates so you would have fresh meals until you settle in and get used to the place. The whole block was ecstatic to know these old houses would be put to good use after being empty so long. We planned a party, too, to welcome y'all to the neighborhood. You will come, won't you?"

"No." Malfoy said as I beamed, "Of course!" I shot him a glare as the woman's smile faltered, "Oh, don't mind him. He's such a nasty ferret in the morning, and we got here late in the night. Of course we'll be coming."

"Oh, good!" she smiled more brightly. "I'm Margie Connell, and this is my husband Teddy. And that's Mrs. Keller -"

A woman around thirty interjected, "Just call me Krissy."

"-and these are her young kids Brandon, Mikie, and Nessie..Oh, and the Benson brothers: Jake and Trey." I eyed the two brothers when they stepped up, offering their hands. Jake was older by two years, eighteen, Margie was saying as I shook their hands. I just smiled at them politely, "I'm Ginevra, but you can call me Ginny. Grumpygills over there is Draco, and our other two roommates are still sleeping. They're Millicent and Colin."

"Such handsome names," Margie fluttered.

Draco's POV

I rolled my eyes at the muggle woman talking to Weasley at the door. If only the stupid Gryffindor had not opened the door. There was a reason I had ignored them, and it was not because they were muggles. I had simply heard them banging on every other house's door and chattering about the same nonsense. I was not the only one overly annoyed with this group of neighbors, but Weasley was acting perfectly fine with the early intrusion. She always was too damned chipper in the morning for my liking.

"So," the woman, Margie apparently, said with her odd accent, "we'll let you go. We know it's early, but we wanted to let y'all know now that we have a big bash for y'all planned for later this evenin'. So you could have time to get ready, you know. It was super meeting you both, and we hope to see your roommates there, too."

I rolled my eyes but gave a polite nod when their eyes landed on me for a response, while Weasley flashed another smile, "We'll be sure to bring them. They will be excited, trust me."

"Bless you," Krissy said affectionately, "You are the most polite one we encountered so far. If only your boyfriend would be as chipper, this visit would have been the best."

I blinked and looked at her, "I'm not -"

Margie laughed and interrupted, "Come now, Krissy, I said we'd let them go. So c'mon. I am sure they would like a quiet breakfast together."

Weasley stammered even as the group turned and began walking away, waving. "He's...Malfoy's not..." I chuckled. My reaction had not been much better, but the fact she was still standing in the doorway gaping like a fish, the door wide open and her still in her night clothes. Well, it was a very amusing sight to behold and I wished, for once, that the mudblood from upstairs was here to take pictures annoyingly like he always did. "Malfoy, shut up." she hissed, closing the door finally and stalking past to go to the kitchen. I followed, smirking, and watched as she placed the pan the muggles gave her on the counter. Glancing at me, she pulled off the foil to peek at the food. "What is it?"

I raised an eyebrow and moved next to her to look at it. It looked like large noodles covered in sauce and covering something else. I opened a drawer and grabbed a knife, using it to cut out a piece. "It looks fattening," was all I said as we examined the layers of cheeses and noodles and sauce. She snorted and laughed, turning away as if that could keep me from hearing. "What?"

"You are the only man who cares if food is fattening," Weasley snickered behind her hand and peeked at me, "And you don't even need to. Seriously, have you seen yourself?"

"Is that a compliment from Ginny Weasley on my body?" I smirked again at her and watched in amusement as her neck flushed a deep red. "No need to be ashamed, Weasley, plenty other girls are just as impressed and in love with my looks as you."

"Eww, Malfoy, just eww."

"It's the truth."

"If you say so."

"I do, which means it is true. I am always right."

"In what universe?" she snorted again.

"My universe, of course." I spoke seriously though I winked at her, "This is my world, I just allow all of you to live in it. Now if only you would do as I like, I'd be completely satisfied" Weasley rolled her eyes and turned away, but not before I caught sight of the redness seep into her face. I could feel the twinkle of amusement enter my eyes as she refused to look at me again. I twirled a lock of her vibrant red hair around my finger, and I watched as she jumped nearly a foot in the air.

"You know," I rolled my eyes, "that's not very attractive. Jumping when a man barely touches you totally turns them off."

"Oh, so now we are going to talk about what you find attractive in me? This should be good." Weasley covered the muggle's food again and pushed it into the fridgamerator or whatever she called it last night. She turned back to me with her arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised, "Go on, then. List away."

I smirked, "Now why would I find anything attractive in you? And if I happened to, what reason would I have to share?"

"Tit for tat, Malfoy. I told you something I find attractive 'bout you, now it's your turn."

"Hmm, I think that should be tit for tit, Weasley."

Millicent walked in as Weasley flushed her family's famous crimson and turned to the window like the snow outside was suddenly very interesting. "Just what I want to wake up to. Muggles banging on our door." my housemate said around a yawn.

"I had a nightmare that Ginny and Malfoy were flirting afterward," the mudblood Gryffindor inserted when he followed. "What's for breakfast?"

"That wasn't a nightmare, kid," Millicent shot me an amused look. "That actually happened...and aren't you the cook in our little 'family' here?"

"We were not flirting," Weasley flushed again, "We were simply discussing food." I snorted in laughter this time despite it being undignified as it was. She glared at me as I snickered. She knew we did not just talk about food, and we both knew that our friends had listened in and would know so, too. I could just imagine the sexual innuendos the two were thinking up to reference food with mine and Weasley's conversation. Weasley huffed and stalked out, calling back, "Colin, there's eggs in the fridge for breakfast. Bill dropped them off before I went to bed last night."

Ginny's POV

Was it possible to die of embarrassment? Or from blushing, though that usually came with embarrassment? My face felt like it was on fire as I flew up the stairs and into the bathroom. I dropped onto the floor with my back against the door. I could not have had that conversation with Malfoy of all people! It was simply not possible. I could always see myself harmlessly flirting with Seamus or Dean or even Harry! Had Draco Malfoy, Slytherin prince and Hogwarts sex god, ever entered any imaginings of what I would be like as a good flirt?

Definitely not. I think I would know.

I repeatedly hit my palm against my forehead and mumble, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." It should be obvious that the ferret would never let me live those few minutes down. He had most likely thoroughly enjoyed himself at my expense, what with plenty of experience flirting with girls to get a good one night from them before ignoring them the rest of their lives. I barely ever flirted before; once or twice with Harry when I found the courage over the years, plenty with Dean and Seamus but they were fellow Gryffindors! I hadn't really flirted with Corner when I dated him, he had just been there, you know. There was truly no attraction at all there, he was using me to make Cho Chang jealous and I was using him to get the Dream Team's attention.

No, I had no real talent or experience in flirting at all. Yet, I had flirted pretty well with Malfoy of all people. I am pretty sure I would have "won", as Lavender would say when a girl gets the upperhand over the guy, had it not been for my stupid, completely outrageous blushing. Damned heat rushing to my face did nothing whatsoever to abate Malfoy's amusement, nor did it help me focus on good comebacks and comments when I was stressed over just how red he made me turn.

I think that should be tit for tit, Weasley.

Had that been his answer to what he found attractive, or was he just trying to embarrass me more? I stood slowly and regarded myself in the mirror. A frown furrowed my brows as I cocked my head to the side. Stupid Weasley red hair. Stupid Weasley pale skin. Stupid Weasley freckles. Stupid Weasley brown eyes. Stupid Weasley...well, I guess I was different from my brothers in the chest area, obviously, but we all still had broad chests and shoulders. I just had a little more to add. I sighed and roughly ran a hand through my hair. I was ugly, no doubt about it. Why Malfoy would flirt with me was beyond me, and his final comment made no sense.

I definitely had more to be proud of than most of the girls in my year, but it still was not much. All the girls would go through one final growth spurt to fill themselves out. Me? I would get taller, lanky like my brothers, perhaps fill out around my hips just a bit. My chest? Pft, forget it. I would remain a flat-chested, Barbie-wannabe forever; I would be forever cursed with simple "bug bites" while everyone else got "speed bumps". And I would probably sit and wonder, much like now, why any guy, if there was even an 'any', showed an interest in flirting with me.

I sighed again and grabbed my brush, running it through my fiery locks. Hopefully, someday those would change, too, but with everyone in my family having some shade of red hair, I doubted it would. I would always be a Weasley, and I would always be the "accidental flirt" guys resort to when no one is around. Yes, that's it. That had to be why Malfoy flirted with me. He truly has no lust for Bulstrode, so I was the next step up, I guess. Makes sense now, and though not a very mood-lifting revelation, it made me feel better knowing malfoy probably would never embarrass me through flirtation again.

A/N: And that's where the chapter ends! I was going to keep going and get through the party, too, but I felt that I really needed to update this story and start getting somewhere with it. It's 1 a.m. so I doubt I'd get much more of the chapter done if I decided to wait, ya know? So, here ya go! A bit of D/G flirting, a bit of Ginny insecurity and some best friends-teasing, and we got a pretty good 2,200 words without the author's note! :) I was excited to possibly get my first 3,000 word chapter in a LONG time, but I think an update is better than my own personal feat while updating. Agreed?

So, thanks to those who reviewed! I hope to get at LEAST 3 reviews for this chapter before I update again, but I would not object to more. Even if you just review to say "good job" it won't matter, I'd just like to know who is reading :) READ&REVIEW!

Love Yas!
Bewitched Nightwalker (a.k.a. Amanda)