So sorry for the late posting of this final chapter. It's been ready to go for a week and I just haven't had a spare minute to do so . Thanks for reading. Enjoy.
Five minutes. She only had five more minutes.
Ginny raced toward the library's main corridor in panic and desperation, her heart hammering in her chest. When she'd started on her quest to fix this life-ending fiasco, she'd had plenty of time and several possible options. Now, both were running short.
Just as she bounded down the staircase, she caught sight of Seamus and sighed with relief. He was her final opportunity to put an end to this and she was certain that he would be more cooperative than Malfoy had been.
"Seamus!"
The amicable Irishman turned and smiled upon seeing her making her feel better immediately.
"Ginny, love. What can I do for ye?"
She smiled. She should have avoided the entire Malfoy plan from the beginning and gone straight for Seamus. "I need your help."
"Nothing illegal, I hope?" he joked, giving her a wink.
"No, Seamus. It's quite harmless, I promise. I just need you to make sure that you wait by the library, and if you see Malfoy trying to go in, just make sure that you get inside before he does."
He looked a bit confused. "Rather odd request, isn't it Ginny?"
"Well, yes, but it's a long story. I promise I'll explain later. Can you just do that for me?"
"Sure, love. Not a problem."
She sighed in relief. "Thank you, Seamus. I knew I could count on you."
He nodded and continued his leisurely stroll down the hallway toward the library. She watched him go with a satisfied smile.
"Got a crush on Finnegan too?"
She jumped, turning to see Malfoy standing behind her and smirking at her once again. Good God, he was infuriating. "No! For Merlin's sake, can't you just stay put?"
He began to laugh in amusement, which once again, made him look just a tad too attractive. Annoying git. "You told me not to go into the library. You didn't say I had to stay in the corner while waiting."
She glared at him.
"I presume you're done then and I can go now?" he asked, sounding both amused, and impatient.
She looked at her watch and, with a small touch of disappointment, saw that it was almost time that she had committed her horrible error. In a way, she was sorry that she wouldn't relive the event, but it was for the best.
"Fine..." she smirked, invitingly waving her hand toward the scene of the crime, certain that Seamus would do his duty and get ahead of the boy. "Go."
He walked away from her, back toward the stairs, apparently to go pick up the books that he'd left near the staircase. She took that opportunity to scurry toward the library doors. The main route was longer but she knew of a side corridor with a row of alcoves that would get her there ahead of Seamus. She raced along the route and scouted the area to verify that she'd gotten there first. She saw nothing but a quiet hallway and the closed library doors.
Then, she looked along the side hallway and its row of alcoves, many holing empty pedestals or framed by marble columns. Each one offered a good hiding spot and she quickly chose one that looked dark enough to hide her but offered a good view of the door. It was important that she could witness how the entire thing played out because she would need to know the details in the morning, after all.
Seamus was now casually sauntering toward the door and she gave a tiny, silent cheer. He was going to go in ahead of Malfoy. She brightened in triumph.
Except he didn't enter. Worse than that, he placed one hand on the door, then stopped.
Ginny stared at the boy in horror, not quite comprehending. No! she silently screamed at him. Go inside!
He looked about, and that's when her heart dropped as she put all the pieces together.
Seamus hadn't entered yet because he was waiting for Malfoy, because she'd told him to do so. If she hadn't done that, he would have walked in, just as she had expected when she'd seen him walking toward the door just before she decided to take the dare. It became shockingly clear that she was likely the reason that the disaster occurred in the first place.
If she hadn't used the Time-Turner, this never would have happened.
It was too late for her to warn Seamus because he would realize that she was both outside and inside the library at the same time. It was a cardinal rule of using a Time-Turner to not allow that to happen, so she waited for several heart-pounding seconds.
But there was no Malfoy in sight.
Hmm.
A little spark of hope began to ignite in her chest. She almost began to breathe again.
At that moment, a cute blond girl from Hufflepuff walked around the corner, approached the library doors, saw Seamus and smiled at him flirtatiously.
Ginny cringed in horror.
If she were to describe Seamus Finnegan in two words, she would choose to call him a shameless flirt. It was a simple fact that the boy was completely incapable of turning down the opportunity to have a nice chat with a pretty girl.
"Hello," he said in response, winking at the girl.
At that precise moment, Malfoy appeared, rounding the corner with purpose and striding right past a clueless Finnegan and into the library.
- x - x - x -
As soon as the door to the library opened, Seamus looked up and realized his mistake. His mouth dropped open and his eyes followed Malfoy as the blond walked boldly into the library. The Irishman's face turned quite pale as he watched the other Ginny kiss the Slytherin with enthusiasm.
Looking in the open door from the safety of her hiding spot, Ginny gasped in defeat. It was over. She'd failed. The adrenaline that had coursed through her body for the past several hours had run its course and now she felt boneless and weak.
She didn't even have the energy to look away as the worst moment of her life replayed right in front of her. found herself being rather vividly reminded of how much she'd enjoyed the moment. Actually, if one was to be objective, it was a rather enticing picture.
Malfoy, for what it was worth, seemed to be enjoying himself quite well, and she felt a moment of…something. No, she insisted to herself. Not only was it inappropriate to feel jealous watching him kiss someone, but the girl in question was herself.
She dropped back against the wall in the shadows of her alcove, cringing at the idea.
Seamus, in the meantime, seemed to decide that it was best to leave the area before he would be forced to face the consequences of one small, angry Weasley, and she saw him grab the hand of the Hufflepuff girl and walk off, saying something about finding a quiet place to talk.
In the meantime, her other self was being shamelessly passionate about that kiss.
Unable to tear her eyes away, she heard the others in the area giving whistles and applause at the display. It made her shamefully draw back further into the darkness of her little hiding place.
As they kissed, Malfoy remained standing in the doorway, holding the door open and allowing her to have full view of her own humiliation. She felt sorry for herself all over again and shot an accusing glare at the back of Malfoy's head, expecting to see him pull away with his superior smirk and a cutting comment.
But what she hadn't seen before, mainly because she was looking down at the floor at the time, was that Malfoy was smiling. Not his usual snarky, superior, nasty smile either. He actually seemed rather pleased.
"Was it everything you expected, Weaselette?" he asked. But his tone wasn't harsh or condescending in the least, not like she'd imagined it before. Instead he sounded...
That's when she realized it. He was thinking that she'd been flirting with him for the past hour. His remark was just a continuation of the conversations she'd been having with him prior to the event. He'd almost been expecting it! The nerve!
Her other self, the one who'd just been kissed, turned and ran. Ginny peered out of the alcove to watch her go. Then, feeling an overwhelming sense of defeat, she leaned dropped her head against the wall, staring miserably after the retreating figure.
She'd failed.
Watching herself run away, she felt echoes of the humiliation and embarrassment that she'd wallowed in earlier. Yet, the emotion didn't carry the sharp and painful sting that she'd felt when it first happened. She would still have to face everyone once word got out, but it didn't quite feel as life-ending as it did a few hours ago.
"Hiding now?"
She jumped at the sound of his voice, realizing that she'd moved out of her alcove enough to have been seen by none other than the great blond git himself.
"Here to humiliate me further, Malfoy?" she responded tiredly. She'd tried her best and failed. Even though the clock said it was only just after eight, she had been awake much longer than that. All her energy had run its course. There was nothing left to do but accept total defeat.
Looking past him, she saw Amanda and the rest of her friends grinning at her idiotically from their library table, still quite visible from the open door.
He grabbed her by the elbow, guiding her away from the area. "I think you need to explain yourself, Weaselette," he said, although his voice didn't carry the usual mocking, nasty tone.
She needed to get away, but she also realized that she had nowhere else to go. She couldn't return to her common room because her past self was there. She looked around for some other way to escape. "My books..." she said, pulling away slightly, hoping to run back to the library and maybe corner herself away in one of the dusty, less-utilized sections.
"Surely they can wait for a few minutes," he said, still holding her arm.
She looked up at him and made contact with his steel-gray gaze and sucked in a breath, hating herself for finding him so disturbingly handsome.
Seeming to read her thoughts, he smiled. "You've been following me all night," he said seriously. "I can't help but think that your little display in there had something to do with it."
"I..." She tried to come up with an explanation, but really there wasn't any. It was all his fault anyway. If he'd just listened to her and stayed away when she told him to, she wouldn't be here now.
Feeling tired and frustrated, she became annoyed and yanked her arm out of his grasp. "For your information, I was hoping to avoid exactly that!"
He stepped forward and she unconsciously stepped back, once again forcing her to back up against the wall as he'd done earlier, his closeness making her heart race...again.
"With all that enthusiasm? I don't think so," he said, giving her a rather knowing smirk.
She stomped her foot in irritation. "For what it's worth, you big git, I didn't know it was you!"
He looked disappointed. "Then who was it supposed to be?"
"I don't know! Anybody! Just not you."
He looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "You're a lousy liar, Weaselette. You just told me that it was perfectly fine for me to walk in there. You knew full well that it was me."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, don't believe me."
"I don't."
Narrowing her eyes, she said the only thing that she thought might cause him to rethink his opinion. "Then what makes you think that I planned it that way?"
"You've been running around this castle planning something all night."
She could feel her face wrinkle in consternation as she considered his words. There was no way she was going to avoid this. Denying it would only bring up more questions and, quite truthfully, she'd had too many encounters with him in the past hour to convincingly deny that she was planning something because she had been. It just wasn't what he thought it was.
Then, she was struck with a brilliant idea. She'd learned enough from watching her brothers worm their way out of trouble frequently enough to know that all she had to do was tell him a carefully selected portion of the truth.
"Alright, I admit it. I set it up on purpose as part of a dare. I had to snog you for a full minute in front of them in order to get something."
There. Partial truth was much better than a lie. If he asked any of her friends, which he probably wouldn't, it would likely be enough to confirm her story. Now that he understood that it was nothing personal, and that she wasn't actually interested in him, he would go away and let her endure the consequences of her action in peace.
But he didn't back away. In fact, he looked down at her intently and smiled.
"Quite devious of you, Weaselette. I like it. What was the prize?"
"Huh?"
He raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a rather husky whisper. "What did you win by completing the dare?"
She blinked. Why would he care? Yet, it seemed harmless enough to answer. "I get to borrow Amanda's black leather skirt for Saturday."
It was actually a rather scandalous little item. Just a bit too short and tight to be legal to wear on school grounds. In fact, when Amanda had worn it last weekend, she left the castle wearing a cloak despite the warm weather so that the teachers wouldn't notice. Once she got to Hogsmeade, however, she was noticed quite well by every boy in the Three Broomsticks. Ginny had been hoping that wearing it next Saturday would invoke a similar reaction.
His eyebrows raised and he looked intrigued. "The one she wore last weekend?"
Ginny nodded.
"Trying to impress someone?"
She looked at him for a long moment. "I was hoping to annoy my ex-boyfriend, if you must know."
His smile widened. "I think I might have a way to help, then," he said and leaned in closer, his lips hovering over hers.
"Malfoy..." she said warningly.
"Quiet, Weaselette, I want to test something." And, with that, his incredibly enticing lips connected with hers once again.
For a brief moment, she thought that she rather liked the way he called her Weaselette in an almost affectionate way, but then her full concentration was drawn to the feeling of how gentle his lips felt. The kiss was different from the first, but in a welcome way. It was soft and tentative and somehow more personal, as if he was letting her get to know him.
It seemed to be quite the opposite of everything she had previously thought he was like. It made her curious to learn more about him, and if there was more to him than what she'd assumed in the past.
Leaning into her, he brought one hand up to cup her cheek, his fingers burrowing into her hair. All she could do was respond, allowing the soft feeling of his mouth to move over hers. She didn't want it to stop, but unfortunately...
"Mr. Malfoy!"
Both teenagers jumped at the sound of Professor McGonagall walking toward them looking extremely annoyed.
"I would expect a better example of good behavior in public, especially coming from a prefect," she said sharply as soon as he turned around to face her. Her normal stern expression was quickly replaced with a look of total shock when she recognized the blond's companion.
"Miss Weasley?" she said, in complete disbelief.
The shocked expression on the professor's face was priceless. Ginny put her hand to her mouth to stifle an imminent giggle and Draco glanced back, amusement echoing in his expression.
"Sorry, Professor," she said, attempting to look as contrite as possible.
The teacher seemed too shocked to say anything further and began walking away, shaking her head.
Malfoy turned to her. "I think we just avoided losing house points because you surprised her."
Ginny could only nod in silent response, still trying to process the ramifications. She might be able to explain one kiss away due to the dare, but two? It was entirely possible that McGonagall wasn't the only person to have seen them. "This is not happening," she mumbled.
"What's not happening?" Malfoy asked.
"This!" She motioned between to two of them frantically. "I cannot accept that I was seen kissing you not once, but twice, and you aren't even attempting to publicly ridicule me about it."
He snorted, looking at her as if she'd gone bonkers. "Would you prefer if I did?"
"Yes! I mean...well...No!" she said emphatically. "I mean...that this is not normal. I am not supposed to be enjoying this. And my brother is going to have kittens when he finds out!"
The blond laughed again. "When he finds out you snogged me senseless in the library, or that you enjoyed it?"
"Both," she said, collapsing tiredly against the wall. Her annoyance then shifted toward her over-protective brother and wondered if his face might turn permanently purple with rage after he found out. The image made her elicit a small, almost hysterical, giggle.
"I'm rather hoping that I get to see him when that happens," Malfoy replied, smiling in response. It was a genuine smile, not mocking, not evil, and she rather enjoyed that they were sharing the joke. Ron really did overreact about everything.
"That can be arranged," she responded wryly. If she was going to be forced to endure her brother's temper, at the very least she could arrange to make the most of it. Served him right, after all, since he was the major reason that she had to resort to stealing a Time-Turner to save herself in the first place.
The advantage of having used the Time-Turner meant that she was well aware of the fact that he hadn't heard the rumors about her indiscretion yet, so she could actually make plans for breakfast to be a rather entertaining event. She looked over at Malfoy and found herself almost looking forward to facing the consequences, now that she wasn't going to be quite so alone.
Two students walked by, giving the unlikely pair a curious glance. Malfoy gave them a rather intimidating glare until they turned and went on their way and Ginny thought that she rather liked being on the other side of his evil persona. It was rather fun to watch the others scurry away from him. It made her feel protected, in a way.
He turned back toward her and she couldn't help but smile at him. Something had clearly changed between them in the past hour or so and Ginny found herself wanting to know more about him now that he seemed willing to converse with her like a normal boy. Again, the idea of thinking of him as normal struck her as a bit odd, but the idea was a welcome one. It was nice to see that there was something more to him than the fact that he and her brother didn't get along.
"Care to continue this conversation someplace more private?" he asked.
Still holding her hand up to her mouth, she touched her lips. Twice in one night, she'd kissed Draco Malfoy, and his tone seemed to be suggesting that they continue. It was just a bit overwhelming. Still, the lingering feeling of the kiss left her wanting more. She nodded.
Whatever was going on between them was completely unexpected, but she was intrigued. It was now quite clear to her that there was more to this boy than what she'd seen in the past. Never one to turn down a challenge, as the dare had recently proven, she decided that figuring out more about Malfoy might be fun, especially if more of those amazing kisses were involved. Of course, there would be hell to pay with Ron, but annoying her over-protective brother had some benefits also.
She hurried into the library to grab her books, remembering how she'd worried earlier about leaving them behind, and blushed at the sight of all her friends staring at her with wide-eyed expressions as she approached the table.
Amanda was the first to break the silence, looking positively insane with curiosity. "Well? What happened?"
Ginny grinned. "Apparently, I'm going for a little walk with Malfoy right now."
A chorus of sighs and soft squees came from the group. Ginny rolled her eyes at her friends. Yes, they were all aware that Malfoy was a git, but he was still an incredibly good-looking git, and they'd been known to comment on that fact frequently in the past.
"Good heavens," she responded, looking around the table at her friends, all wearing the same rather giddy expressions. "It's no big deal."
"After a snog like that?" came one response.
Ginny blushed again, shoving the last of her books in the bag. Malfoy was waiting for her, and he was probably getting impatient. More importantly, she was impatient to rejoin him.
"He didn't kiss you again in the hallway, did he?" another asked.
When she looked down and bit her lip in response, the table responded in another chorus of sighs.
Amanda was grinning at her idiotically. "That was the best dare ever!"
Ginny stared back at her friend, smiling in return. "Maybe, but that doesn't get you out of loaning me that leather skirt for Saturday." After all, it seemed that now she really did have someone that she specifically wanted to impress.
