Ginny flew through her last class, Transfiguration, still dreamy. She burst elatedly into the Gryffindor Common Room after class, traipsing over to Ron, Harry, and Hermione, who were, unsurprisingly, arguing. She caught a snatch of the conversation:
"Hermione! No way. That's absolute rubbish! Ginny would never like him!" Ron sniffed, looking down at his 3 foot essay for Professor Binns, which had only reached about 2 feet so far. Hermione looked irritably at Ron, who had, in his anger, knocked over his inkwell.
"Yes, Ronald Weasley, she does like him. I can tell." Harry remained quiet, listening to the conversation, then cut in when he saw Ginny draw closer.
"Err.. Hi, Ginny!" Harry said rather loudly, and Ron and Hermione stopped arguing to say hello to the redhead. Ginny tried to act as if she hadn't heard anything, and started talking about the weather outside. The weather! Oh, it's lovely. Perfect for a picnic. Don't you think, Ron? The conversation carried on this way for a while, until both of the parties were tired of pretending to be happy. Ginny waved, then, wanting to get out of the suddenly silent, gloomy common room, started walking across the grounds to the Quidditch Pitch.
There was a steady breeze, blowing off of the lake, which made Ginny feel quite alive and wonderful. She headed out briskly towards the stadium, thinking of maybe taking a bit of a fly on her broom. She hadn't had much time to do that; and Quidditch Practice was rather harsh and boring, with Harry as Captain. Harry.. no offense to Harry, but he should just stay to himself as a Seeker. All they ever did in practice any more was scrimmage continually against themselves. It was alright at first, but now had gotten to be so boring. Ginny could barely stay awake on her broomstick.
Ginny reached the pitch, heading for the locker room. She paused for a moment outside of the door, thought better of it, and turned back, heading towards the stands. She needed to think for a while.
She sat on one of the cold bleachers, hugging her cloak around her and staring off at the goalpost. What had Ron and Hermione been arguing about? They had said something about Ginny and a him.. but who could the him be? Hermione couldn't know, because Ginny hadn't told anyone. Unless Hermione had seen her out in the hall with Malfoy earlier, in which case… In which case Ginny was done for. But that couldn't be! Hermione would have confronted Ginny first, probably inquiring why in the world she had been snogging Draco Malfoy in the hallway.
So what was it, then? Did they really know about Draco? Or did they think she liked someone else? Who else was there? Hopefully they didn't think that she still liked Harry.. That would be a disaster. Because she definitely didn't like Harry. There was no spark, no rush whenever she was around him. That was a sure sign, wasn't it?
Ginny heard someone coming suddenly, the footsteps reverberating throughout the stadium. She looked up to see none other than Draco Malfoy. The bane of all her problems. He looked around nervously, pulling at his sleeve and stopping in front of her, decidedly awkward. Ginny raised an eyebrow, wondering what he could possibly want.
"Erm… look, Ginny. About today.." Oh. So he was thinking about it, too.
"Yes?" She stood up coolly, immediately wondering if that were such a good idea, as her knees felt ready to give way.
"Er, well… I didn't mean to.. didn't want to.. er, well, sorry for snogging you in the hallway." Ginny laughed. She couldn't help it. She wasn't sorry at all. In fact, she was rather glad it had happened. She liked seeing this less confident, almost… worried, Malfoy. Why would he be worried? Malfoy gave her an incredulous glance, wondering how she could possibly laugh about their accidental snog.
Ginny stayed silent just long enough to see Malfoy fidget uncomfortably, grinning to herself.
"It's really alright, Malfoy. I know it was just an accident.." wasn't it?
Malfoy cringed when she said his name for some reason.
"I really do have a first name, Ginerva. I'm not just my father's son." He folded his arms across his chest, looking cross at the subject of his father.
"And I'm not just a Weasley, either, Ma… Draco." Ginny turned to leave, hoping to make a dramatic exit, but instead slipped as ungracefully as possible on a patch of water. Draco caught her around the waist, helping her back up. He had his turn to laugh, seeing as Ginny had turned crimson. Then he stopped. She liked his laugh.. it was so different than the usual, cold Malfoy. She liked the unconfident, "not my father's son" Draco better than the icy, harsh Malfoy. Before she knew what was happening, Draco grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him and placing a kiss on her lips.
It was white hot, then icy. Chills up her legs, her knees turning to jelly, her mind swimming. She couldn't think straight; could barely think at all. There was just her and Malfoy, snogging passionately in the Quidditch field bleachers. Suddenly, there was a shout, and Draco pulled back, startled. They both saw what looked like three Gryffindor students, and, like a bird, Draco disappeared silently into the haze that would soon bring rain.
Ginny slowly came to her senses as the rain battered her, and she climbed out of the bleachers, meeting Ron, Harry, and Hermione about halfway down. Ron looked absolutely livid; his whole face appeared to be a bright shade of magenta. Harry had a grim, dark line for his mouth, looking an awful lot like Professor McGonagall, and Hermione had her arms crossed in front of her, giving Ginny a judgmental look.
"What..were..you..doing..with.. MALFOY!" Ron bellowed the last part, and Ginny could almost see steam pouring out of his ears. Harry nodded mutely, and Hermione was still giving her a strange look.
"Nothing!" Ginny said exasperatedly, although she was quite aware that it had been something, indeed.
"NOTHING! THAT WASN'T NOTHING, GINNY! WE SAW YOU WITH THAT… THAT.. STUCK UP LITTLE BRAT! WE SAW WHAT YOU WERE.. AND IF YOU THINK YOU'LL GET AWAY WITH IT.." This little escapade had gone on far too long. Ginny drew herself up, yelling right back at Ron.
"YOU ARE NOT MUM, RONALD WEASLEY! AND WE WEREN'T DOING ANYTHING, SO JUST STICK YOUR BIG NOSE OUT OF MY LIFE!" She dashed off like a whirlwind, leaving Ron to shout after her running figure.
Ginny ran inside the castle, racing to her dormitory and slamming the door. How could he? How could he be just like Mum, threatening to punish her! He had no right! And what were they doing at the Quidditch Pitch, anyway!
And they know, now.. she thought miserably, they know.
