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Meetings

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Chapter Three - Fights and Darkness

"I'm tired."

"Suck it up Ginerva."

"Oh, come off it Malfoy, I've been studying for my test since ten this morning and it is now--" Ginny quickly glanced at the clock. "Two - In the afternoon!"

"So?"

"So!? I'm bloody tired, hungry and cold!" She glared at him from across her book.

"Well why don't you put a warmth charm on you if you're so cold?" He stated this as the most obvious thing in the world. Bloody Malfoy.

"I would if I knew it!" He stared at her curiously. She suddenly wished that she hadn't given this piece of information.

Ginny fidgeted and looked down at her book, trying to pretending like she hadn't said anything, and wishing that he would somehow receive a momentary brain lapse that would enable him to forget the conversation.

"But--" No such luck.

"Forget I said anything."

"Everyone learned that in their sixth year--" There was a hint of amusement and confusion in his voice. She scowled at the sound.

"Is that right? Well, may I remind you, Malfoy, that some of us didn't have the pleasure of completing, or even seeing our sixth year at Hogwarts?"

"I didn't forget Weasley. I'm just curious as to why you don't know something as basic as a warmth charm when you've been living in an environment with three professors."

"Well, now, I haven't." Ginny gritted her teeth together and tried to keep her anger level down, "I've been in hiding. And unless there were other teachers that I didn't know about, or somehow couldn't see, living in a tiny flat in France, or in the pit that Charlie calls home," she was now yelling at him, her face flushed and eyes flashing, while he sat coolly across from her, a sour expression on his face, "then how in Merlin's beard, would I learn something as basic," she spit the word out, "as a warmth charm!?"

"There is no reason to get upset, Ginerva." She refused the compulsion to curse him all the way to hell. "It was just a question." He smirked at her, and leisurely stood and stretched.

She slammed the book in front of her shut and stood. She opened her mouth to say something unpleasant to him, but stopped when she saw him glance over her shoulder and freeze. What was it? His face didn't hold any terror.

She slowly turned to look, fury still very apparent on her face and found Ron standing almost behind her. He took one look at her, then at Malfoy. He reached suddenly into his robes and pulled out his wand to, by Ginny's best knowledge, blow Draco into another world. And just as suddenly, she found that, even though Draco had infuriated her, it was no excuse to allow her brother to hurt him, for he had not hurt her. She was sure that her terror must have been evident, but before she could stop Ron, he shrieked forth a jinx at Malfoy, while pushing her out of the way. Draco, being, unusually, fast minded pulled out his own wand the moment he saw Ron's and whispered a counter-spell, blocking the attack.

Ginny fell to the floor; Ron had pushed her into a side table, which promptly fell over, taking her with it. She managed to untangle herself just in time to watch Ron pull back his arm and punch Malfoy in the face. She winced and found herself surprised that Draco's head was still attached to his body after a blow like that. Ron recoiled to strike again. She grew terrified.

"Stop!" She finally found her voice; it was shaking with anger and horror.

Malfoy who had stumbled backwards slightly, softly touched his face where a large red mark was visible. His eyes burned with rage. Ginny secretly hoped that he wouldn't do anything stupid as he quickly recovered from the blow and in one stride he was face to face with Ron and instead of hitting him, like Ginny thought he would, he had grabbed the front of Ron's shirt, and pulled Ron slightly off the ground. She figured that her brother was too shocked at this reaction to fight against him.

"Don't ever touch me again, understand Weasel?" He seethed the words out of his mouth. His eyes flicked towards Ginny, and she saw his expression change slightly, but it was immediately replaced with a hard look. He let Ron go and shoved him away, walking briskly from the room, rudely bumping into Harry, whom Ginny had just noticed standing next to Hermione.

As soon as he disappeared from view, she snapped her head towards Ron and glared daggers at him. He had had no right to hit Malfoy.

"What?" he asked her with a shrug.

"Argh!" She let out a frustrated scream and stomped out of the room.

Ron looked at Hermione and Harry in confusion. "What did I do?"

----

Ginny stared at the door in front of her. She raised her hand to knock, but paused. Why was she doing this? It was Draco Malfoy and she did not have to sympathize with him. He would probably just make a snide comment at her. She dropped her arm and huffed off. She got to the top of the stairs before turning and walking back to his door, and gave it two sharp raps with her knuckles. He was different after all. And it was her fault that Ron punched him in the first place.

Silence resounded from behind the door. She tapped her foot impatiently and knocked again.

"Malfoy; it's me. Open up." She heard something move on the other side of the door, but it remained shut.

Fine. If he didn't want help, then that was that. Ginny almost felt thankful that he didn't answer. She turned on her heel and started to walk away when suddenly the door to his room opened a crack. She froze and looked at it. Damn. She considered just walking away and ignoring it, but slowly she grasped the handle and pushed it open further.

The room was dark, save for a few low burning candles. The curtains were pulled across the window, blocking out the sunny day. The light from the hall did little to light the space. His room looked like hers; small, with a large canopy bed and a chair in the corner. A chair that was currently being occupied.

"Draco?" She asked hesitantly. Walking forward uncertainly, she gasped slightly. The candles threw dark shadows across his face, his eyes shown bright, and he looked positively - evil. If someone told her that he was a Death Eater right then she would have believed it without a second thought.

"What do you want Weasley?" His voice made her start. Ginny froze and tried to calm her heart back down. She could tell he was furious. His voice was laced with anger, and she could feel his fury radiating from his body. Carefully she took another step closer.

She found her voice, though it was small. "Are you alright?" It was a lame question and she winced slightly at her words. Of course he wasn't alright. His head had just gotten out of a meeting with her brother's fist.

"What do you care?" It was a soft whisper and she almost didn't hear it.

She was in front of him now. She kneeled down on the floor next to his feet. Ginny could now see that he was not looking at her. His head was turned in such a way that she could not see his wound.

"Look at me." When he didn't she grew irritated and asked again. Getting no acknowledgement, she stood.

"What do you want?" He sounded exasperated; his voice, she noticed, was no longer etched with anger.

"I want to help you, but if you're going to be a insufferable pr--"

"Why?

Ginny stared at him silently, suddenly feeling foolish for knocking on his door. She fiddled with the edge of her shirt.

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders in the darkness. "It seemed the right thing to do."

"I don't need your help Ginerva."

"Fine." She turned and started to leave, but stopped when she reached the door. "Why did you open the door?"

She turned to look at Malfoy's dark figure. She saw him stand and she suddenly winced, closing her eyes tightly, when he threw back the curtains. The room grew very bright, very fast. Finally opening her eyes slightly and letting them adjust, she found Draco standing in front of her. The left side of his face was swollen and dark.

"I opened the door, Weasley, because I wanted to see if someone actually could care about someone like me."

She said nothing to his comment, but stepped close to him. She reached up and grabbed his perfectly chiseled chin and turned his face so she could have a better look at his bruise.

She tisked as she examined it. She pulled out her wand and muttered a few words then tapped the end of it to the black and blue beauty.

He pulled back sharply "Bloody hell!" He brought up a cautious hand and gently touched the sore spot.

Ginny smirked at him. "Language Draco."

He glared at her and felt the bruise again. She could see that the swelling had already gone down.

"Sorry about the color, but I only know the spell for the pain and swelling." She smirked again and turned to leave.

"Thank you." It was a soft whisper. She glanced over her shoulder at him and gave a sad smile before disappearing around the corner.

----

Dinner that night was tense. Mrs. Weasley had convinced Draco to come down, and all Ron had done was sit there, stabbing blindly at his food while glaring at him. Hermione had a small smile plastered to her face, but Ginny could see it in her eyes that it was fake. Harry was staring silently at his plate, shrugging his shoulders in answer to the few questions she asked him. Mrs. Weasley was bustling around the kitchen, acting cheerful, piling food on everyone's plates and fussing over this or that. Ginny, finally giving up on getting Harry to talk, turned her attention towards the conversation that her father was having between Lupin and Shacklebolt in hopes of hearing how the raid went. She sighed inwardly when she found that the discussion was about the misuse of magic in front of Muggles. Getting bored, she focused on her plate, letting all the conversations wash over her.

"I agree with you Arthur. It's getting a bit out of hand."

"Harry, dear. It looks like you need some more gravy - there you go!"

"Isn't it at all interesting to you as to why the Cannon's haven't won a game in over a hundred years? Ron. Are you even listening to me?"

"Well Remus, there have been fewer accidents this year, then in the last three-"

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

Ginny was confused as to why none of them talked about their absence. Normally when they came back from raids, Ron and Harry couldn't wait to spill out all the details to her.

A flash of silver caught her eye. Looking up she found Draco's gaze resting on her. She held it for only a moment before things started clicking together in her head. It was because he was here. Did none of the Order trust him? She grew slightly troubled at this thought, and must have conveyed her feelings physically, for she was suddenly aware that Draco was looking at her with a confused expression. She blushed slightly and looked down, hoping, for a brief second, that no one noticed them staring at each other. Her thoughts, however, quickly turned back towards Draco. Could she trust him? He hadn't killed Dumbledore - the fact that he had planned on doing so, right up to the moment of pointing his wand at him, didn't seem to matter much. He was different. She was sure of it. Possibly spending a year alone with himself had done some good. She imagined that he had a lot to think about over such a long period of time.

Her thoughts were interrupted when an owl swooped down through the chimney and landed on the table. She jumped slightly, as did everyone else, except Harry who, accidentally, hit his spoon and sent pudding flying onto the wall. Everyone stared at the owl ignoring the mess.

The owl hooted dutifully and hopped forward on one leg, reaching forth the other towards Mr. Weasley. His brow furrowed as he took the letter that the animal held out for him, and quickly opened it. Everyone watched on baited breath as they watched his eyes dart back and forth across the page. His chin went slack and he sat back heavily into his chair.

"Arthur, dear? What is it?"

He held the letter in front of him, inviting someone else to read it. When no one else moved Ginny snatched it out of his hands, and quickly looked to see who it was from. She gasped and looked up.

"It's from Percy."

Dun, Dun, Dun, Dun.

Please Review! It's healthy! It's like eating your vegetables... except you won't... turn into Spiderman... or be able to see... better... in the dark...

Alrighty then! Until next time, I shall remain anonymously yours!

fin