Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: After Hogwarts with Voldemort gone and Harry by her side, life should be perfect for Ginny Weasley, but when the lies start to pile up she starts to wonder. Maybe the chosen one is not so wonderful after all. D/G, Post-Hogwarts, rated M for later.
Sorry for the extremely long wait...
Everything was so warm and comfortable. She was floating, or maybe just laying, on something unbelievably soft and there was a soothing scent she could not quite define. She snuggled deeper into the softness and inhaled the scent. Yes, she must be dreaming, but why did her wrist hurt if she was dreaming? That did not make any sense. Everything else was perfect.
"Her head should be all healed now. I think it's safe to treat her wrist," she heard an unfamiliar smooth voice say.
"I still don't understand why you couldn't treat both at the same time," a much more familiar voice drawled.
"I don't want to take risks with head injuries," the unfamiliar voice replied.
"I think she's waking up!" the familiar voice said. It just did not make sense. The voice was familiar, but why would he be concerned?
"Ginny, wake up," the same voice said. It definitely couldn't be him, he never called her Ginny. Besides, she did not want to wake up. It was so warm and cozy.
"I think your bed is much too comfortable, Draco," the unfamiliar voice joked. Draco's bed!
She shot up, but immediately regretted it as she had pushed off with her painful wrist, "Ouch!"
"Careful there, Red, I haven't healed that yet," the unfamiliar voice said amusingly. She looked up from inspecting her swollen bruised wrist and looked into a pair of midnight blue eyes. The unfamiliar voice belonged to Blaise Zabini. "Funny you woke up as soon as I mentioned you're in Draco's bed," he added and smiled mischievously.
"What happened?" she asked and looked over at Malfoy who was leaning against the wall, looking slightly annoyed.
"What do you remember?" he asked tonelessly. She was slightly confused. Had he not been concerned just a minute ago?
"I remember going to take the pictures of Cho and Harry, I remember the argument… and what he did," she whispered the last part and looked down at her bruised wrist again.
"Anything else?" Malfoy asked in a slightly softer tone.
"We were going to Apparate back, I held on to you, but as soon as you twisted it felt as if my head was splitting and everything went black," she answered, remembering the pain.
"You hit your head hard, there was a crack in your skull, but an easy fix nonetheless," said Zabini arrogantly. "Now, I'd like to investigate and make sure it is healing properly before I take care of your wrist."
Ginny nodded gently and let him poke around with his wand on her head. Malfoy was watching with an unreadable expression.
"Perfect, but of course, I healed it after all," said Zabini smugly. Malfoy snorted. Zabini ignored Malfoy and started investigating her wrist instead. "It's fractured, but nothing a simple healing spell can't fix," he stated and made a big show out of rolling up the sleeves of his robes. Malfoy rolled his eyes and Zabini took a deep breath. "Episkey."
Ginny's wrist felt oddly cool and then the pain subsided. The bruises were still there, but her wrist was mended.
"I'll leave you two alone, but don't do anything stupid," he said suggestively and looked pointedly at Malfoy, who quirked one perfect, blond eyebrow. "I still don't recommend traveling. You need to remain in bed for at least another eight hours in order for your skull to fully heal and recover."
"Thank you!" Ginny called out as Zabini turned to leave the room. She had almost forgotten to thank him! She was very happy that she had been able to avoid a visit to St. Mungos.
"You're very welcome," he replied, turning back to face her. "I am a Harpies fan though, so I could hardly let one of the best players remain injured," he said and winked, then turned back to Malfoy. "Don't let her leave the bed; it might disturb the healing process."
Malfoy nodded and followed his friend out of the bedroom. He shut the door after him so Ginny could not hear what they were discussing.
She decided to use her time alone to observe the bedroom more closely. She was sitting on a king-sized four poster bed with Slytherin-green silk hangers. The dark oak posters spiraled up towards a silver snake perching on each post.
The comforter was lush and fluffy, light but very warm. It was also green and silky like the hangings. The down filled pillows were white with silver thread in them, and varied in size. The ceiling was high and the roof was charmed to show a starry sky. There was a fireplace in the room, smaller than the one in the living room and foyer, with a wide mirror hung above the mantelpiece. There were also large windows in the room, or so she assumed, but the silver and green curtains were pulled. The rest of the furniture, including a large closet, was of a rich dark colour.
The door opened again and Malfoy sauntered in.
"You might want to let your brother know you're not kidnapped, it's almost 10pm," he stated and brought out a piece of parchment.
"Really? Wow, it's late! I better owl him right away," she said anxiously. She knew Ron and Hermione would be worried, especially if Harry returned…
He handed her a piece of parchment and a quill. She quickly scribbled down a quick note explaining that she decided to stay over at a friend's house.
"That will have to do," she said and rolled up the piece of parchment and handed it to Malfoy, who took it and tied a blue ribbon around it.
"I thought your friends might find a green or silver ribbon slightly suspicious," he stated as a response to her questioning look.
"Yeah, probably. Oh, and do you have an owl? They may just find that falcon of yours suspicious too. I don't think there are many wizards using falcons," she added.
"I have a few owls for these kind of messages," he responded and snapped his fingers. The house elf Binty appeared in front of him, bowing deeply. "I need one of the ordinary owls brought from the Manor," he stated.
The elf Dissapparated only to appear a few seconds later with a Tawny owl in his hands.
"Prefect," said Malfoy and Binty bowed and disappeared again.
He tied the parchment to the leg of the owl and walked over to the curtains that Ginny had assumed covered windows. She had been right. Malfoy pulled back one of the curtains and revealed a large bay window. He opened one of the panes and let the owl fly out in the night.
"Why do you use a falcon to deliver messages anyway?" asked Ginny curiously. She found the falcon to be rather vicious and had no desire to own one herself.
"My falcon is a Peregrine Falcon, the fastest non-magical existing creature in the animal kingdom. It can reach speeds over 200 miles per hour. Naturally, a Malfoy needs to have the best and fastest there is," he stated arrogantly and walked back over to the bed.
"Fascinating," said Ginny sarcastically.
Draco quirked an eyebrow, "You're the one who asked about it, I gave you an honest answer. Unlike some…"
"Yeah, unlike some," she stared down at her hands. She felt she needed to talk about what happened, but she did not think Malfoy would care to listen.
"Look, Weasley, Pothead showed his true colours tonight. Is it not better that you found out now than years down the road? At least you're not married with kids to the bastard," said Malfoy and she looked up to meet his eyes. There was a mix of emotions whirling in his grey eyes that looked like molten silver. She looked away before she got lost.
"I guess you're right… I'm sure as hell going to get revenge on the gormless twat!" she said, some of her previous fire coming back to her
"Excellent. I've already Owled a good friend of mine who works at the Prophet. She should be here any minute," replied Malfoy and smirked wickedly. Ginny could not help but to smile back. He was not so bad to be around when he shared the same goal as her.
"Well, I guess I don't have to regret asking help from a Malfoy."
"Oh, this isn't over yet little Weaslette," he smiled devilishly and licked his upper lip.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing to worry about," he replied, but kept smirking.
Ginny was feeling slightly uncomfortable, but was determined not to show it. Instead she shrugged her shoulders as if she could not care less. She reminded herself to be on her guard and jumped slightly as a tinkling sound filled the room.
"Ah, she's here," said Malfoy and walked out towards the foyer to let his friend in. Ginny briefly wondered what kind of spell Malfoy used to make the tinkling noise when someone was by the door. She also wondered who it was by the door, she read the Prophet often but she had to admit she had not paid much attention to who wrote for the paper nowadays.
In walked a blonde witch with shoulder length hair, dressed in a posh coral coloured dress robe, which was cut to show a lot of cleavage. Enormous crystals dangled from her ears and Ginny was sure her earlobes were bound to stretch from the weight. She also wore a necklace with a large crystal pendant that rested between her breasts, which Ginny found revolting.
"Hi, you must be Ginevra Weasley! I'm Daphne Greengrass, you might remember me from Hogwarts? Maybe not, I was a year above in Slytherin after all," she twittered and tripped towards her on her high heels.
"Yes, nice to meet you," Ginny replied and forced herself to smile. Malfoy was walking in behind her, covering his mouth with his hand but Ginny could swear she heard him snicker.
"Oh, so I hear you got quite some juicy gossip for me, is that right?" she chirped and pulled out a roll of parchment and a Quick-Quote Quill from a silver handbag covered in tiny crystals. Ginny supposed she had a fascination with the stones. She did like crystals herself, just not an overabundance of them.
"Yes, I suppose so," answered Ginny reluctantly.
She did not like Greengrass very much and she did not feel at ease with telling her the whole story, yet her desire for revenge was stronger. She closed her eyes for a second and started re-telling the whole story. She was sure the Quick-Quote Quill would work in plenty of drama so she did not bother dramatizing too much.
"This will be an amazing story! The dark side of the saviour of the Wizarding world! Famous Harry Potter betraying Quidditch star Ginevra Weasley! Oh, it will get so much publicity and I'm the one who wrote it… thank you very much Ginevra," said Greengrass merrily once they were done with the interview.
"It will make tomorrow's Daily Prophet?" asked Malfoy, who had remained quiet the entire time.
"Oh yes, a story like this will receive priority compared to the rest of the stuff in tomorrow's paper, not too much important in it. Just some story about Goblins demanding more rights and such," she replied arrogantly and stood up to leave.
"Perfect," stated Malfoy and opened the door for her.
"So… you busy later?" said Greengrass suggestively and batted her eyelashes. Ginny thought she looked obnoxious and wrinkled her nose slightly in disgust.
"Well, as you might have noticed I already have a witch in my bed," Malfoy responded haughtily and raised his eyebrows.
"Right, well, that's just… I'm very busy too," said Greengrass hurriedly and sent off another diabetes inducing smile.
"Of course you are," said Malfoy and opened the door for her. She then waltzed off towards the foyer.
That was interesting, thought Ginny. She had pictured Malfoy to be quite a womanizer, and seeing him turn down Greengrass was quite interesting. She did not doubt that if he had wanted to, he could have snuck away with Greengrass somewhere else, her sitting on his bed did not exactly pose a big problem.
She heard the double doors close and she let out a breath she did not realise she was holding.
"How charming," said Ginny sarcastically.
"She is a bit of a ditz, but she does her job well," replied Malfoy and opened his vast closet. "You're obviously staying the night," he commented off-handily.
"Yes, I suppose I am. Err, any chance I can borrow something more comfortable to sleep in than my robes?" she asked, feeling extremely awkward. It was one thing to ask Malfoy to help her humiliate Potter, an entirely different thing to ask him for nightwear.
"Only if you say the magic word," teased Malfoy as he scanned trough his clothes.
"The magic word?"
"Oh, but you must know some manners, Weasley. I know you grew up in a shed, but still," teased Malfoy and pulled out a silky green shirt.
"I did not grow up in a shed, Malfoy!"
"Well, you are not proving me wrong so I will just have to continue to assume that you did," he taunted and smirked in that annoyingly seductive way that made Ginny want to cast a Bat-Boogey hex on him.
"Shut up, Malfoy!"
"Or what? You can't use your wand."
"Bite me!"
"Maybe I will," he purred suggestively and Ginny shivered slightly despite herself. He was walking closer to the bed holding the shirt, looking at her as if he had not quite seen her before.
"I definitely didn't mean it like that!" she declared, trying to sound adamant.
"Are you scared, Weasley" he asked in a husky voice. Ginny felt torn between running away and staying in bed, but since she had no choice but to stay she fought down her fear.
"Never!" she hissed and narrowed her eyes, trying to intimidate him even though she knew from previous experience it did not work well on him.
"Good," he replied brightly and tossed the shirt at her, then walked into a door on the right. "Oh, and the magic word is please," he said and closed the door after him leaving Ginny very confused. What was that all about?
She heard the sound of a shower and figured the door led to a bathroom. She changed carefully to not disturb her healing head. The shirt was extraordinarily comfortable and she was happy that Malfoy was much taller than her. It meant that the shirt worked nicely as a nightgown for her, almost reaching her knees.
She crawled back in bed as Malfoy returned from his shower. He was only wearing a pair of black sweatpants, his blonde hair was damp and tousled, and his upper body was divinely sculpted. Ginny quickly tore her eyes away from him to stop herself from drooling, scolding herself for even finding him attractive.
He sauntered over to the bed, which made Ginny realise that she was indeed in his bed and it did not look like he had any intention of sleeping anywhere else.
"We're not sharing bed, are we?" she asked, not trusting herself enough to look up at him.
"Well, I'm not the kind of guy who spends a night on a couch just because or especially when there is a gorgeous witch in my bed," he replied and pulled back a corner of the blanket on the other side of the bed.
"You think I'm gorgeous?" asked Ginny, distracted from her original concern.
"Why don't you just take some Sleeping potion, Weasley?" he asked, sounding disgruntled and laid down.
"You didn't answer my question!"
"So? Just go to sleep, will you?"
"You are so frustrating sometimes, you know that?"
"Only sometimes? Wow, you must be starting to like me!" responded Malfoy cheekily and levitated the vile of Sleeping potion so it hovered by Ginny's face.
"Oh bugger off!" said Ginny and downed the potion, deciding sleeping was a good idea.
"You're not a very grateful person, Weasley," stated Malfoy and dimmed the lights.
"G'night" mumbled Ginny, feeling her eyes drifting shut.
Many thanks to Written Sparks who has been amazing :)