more major changes can be found in this chapter. :)

CHAPTER 3

It was only the sixth day of their so-called marriage and already Ginny found herself wanting to strangle Malfoy.

"Malfoy!! Will you please get over yourself and stop sulking about this stupid project already? I'm not exactly ecstatic about our predicament either you know."

"I am not sulking Weasel. So why don't you get over yourself and start making an effort to look like a decent human being." Draco replied spitefully, not really as a request but more as a demand. He looked down on his wife disdainfully and Ginny's cheeks just had to flush as she studied how she looked like.

Her blouse was buttoned the wrong way, making her vest bulk around her stomach. Her tie was haphazardly strewn over, not even properly knotted, her skirt was a bit askew, one of her thigh high socks were sagging around her calf and the other was stretched to the top and her Mary Janes were ridiculously battered. Her bright red hair was separated into two messy braids.

"Er… In case you didn't notice, Draco dearest," Ginny said, her voice practically laced with ice, "I don't really prioritize my looks. Unlike you, I think spending an hour in front of the mirror, doing my hair, is a waste of time." And with airy eloquence, she added, "I've better things to do."

"Excuse you Ginerva, but I don't have to spend an hour fixing my hair. Some people are just naturally gorgeous."

He was serious.

Ginny just stared at him for a while, and she hated to admit that he was right. He really was gorgeous. And always annoyingly impeccable.

"So, if you're going to be my wife, you're going to have to start fixing yourself up. No more rolling out of the bed and putting on the first thing you see. And try to be fully awake before you start putting on your uniform." He looked pointedly at her blouse.

"Er…right. Whatever Malfoy. But you're going to have to stop picking on my family. It's really getting old you know."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't forget our stupid bonding session by the lake later." Draco wanted to hit himself for being the one to remind Ginny.

"Whatever."

And with one last look at each other, they turned around and walked back to their common rooms.

"Ginny! Oh my God. Blaise is absolutely perfect. I love this project." Parvati sighed into her coffee cup as she gazed at the Slytherin table.

Ginny just stared at her.

"I hate this project." And she started loading her plate with bagels and cream cheese.

"Oh Ginny. You'll get used to him. I mean, you're really lucky even. Some people are stuck with students who are arrogant and ugly. At least you got the hottest guy in school." Lavender patted Ginny's shoulder consolingly.

"I'm not really sure how that's supposed to make me feel better." Ginny grumbled and bit into a bagel.

"Thank God that weasel is starting to dress properly. I can't believe she's my partner. I hate this project." Draco grumbled and loaded his plate with fruits and cottage cheese.

"Oh come on Draco. She's very beautiful, even when she isn't fixed up." Pansy bit into a strawberry. "And at least you aren't partners with that stupid Thomas. Ugh, I swear I am going to scream when he makes me apologize to those moronic Hufflepuffs when I make fun of them again."

"Yeah, she really is beautiful. Yesterday, I heard a bunch of Gryffs grumbling about how lucky you are to get Ginny as your partner, and you don't even like each other." Blaise commented, then looked at the Gryffindor table. "Anyway, I'm really enjoying this project. I think it's a great way to err, cultivate our inter-house relationships."

Draco snorted. "Yeah right. You're only enjoying this project because you got that Patil girl as your partner. God knows you've been in love with her forever."

"So it's true then. I just can't believe he told you and not me." Pansy looked a bit annoyed.

"He never really said anything. It's just ridiculously obvious." Draco drawled.

"Oh, this definitely explains the countless times I've caught him staring at the Gryff's table." Pansy said, grinning maliciously.

"Stop it." Blaise grumbled.

His two friends laughed cruelly.

"Shut uuuuup!" Only a Slytherin could whine like that and still look perfectly sophisticated.

Ginny wasn't exactly in one of the best moods ever. She had gotten up an hour before her usual time so she could follow Malfoy's advice, no less, and "make an effort". Although she had actually put on her uniform properly and surprisingly, brushed her hair, she skipped what most girls in their school put on every morning (including Hermione): make up. First of all, she didn't know how to put on the damned thing. And second, she didn't have any. Lord knows she didn't have the money to splurge on the ridiculous cakes of colored powder.

Then there was that added period ever day after class for the spouses to bond. An hour alone with her so-called husband, bonding. Ginny shuddered at the thought and wondered whether she could make it out of this project alive.

The day was like all normal school days, boring and frustrating. But then she had the bonding session to get over. Joy of joys.

"Hello my darling." Draco greeted her flatly when Ginny showed up at their assigned meeting place: the lake. This was really unfortunate (or fortunate) for them since they were the only couple outside the school.

"Shut up Draco. I am so not in the mood. I brushed my hair for you." Ginny grumbled.

"Nice to see you dressed up for me." Draco smirked, ignoring Ginny's comment.

Ginny eyed his black ensemble. The same thing he had worn earlier that day when he had verbally harassed her and threatened her to meeting him.

But then, she could be overreacting.

She rolled her eyes. "I was attacked by two shopping-obsessed, demented seventh year females. It actually almost makes me ashamed to admit my being friends with them, seeing that they're a bit…delusional. Why they think I should dress up for you is beyond me."

Draco smirked in amusement. "Lavender and Parvati?" He supplied.

"Ye- hey! Why is it that you call them by their first names and you call me anything but?" Ginny cried indignantly.

"They're wives of two friends of mine." He answered simply.

Ginny's eyes widened. "I'm your freakin' wife Malfoy! Je n'y crois pas! (I don't believe this!)"

Draco shrugged and turned his back on her. "I admit I'm still in denial."

Ginny's eyes looked like they could burn up a whole continent right then and there. She did the first thing that came to her mind. She threw her shoe at him, which hit him squarely on the back of his head.

"Ow woman! What is it with you girls and throwing shoes at dashing young males such as myself?! Tu es fou!? (are you crazy?!)"

Ginny shot him an annoyed look. Even at times like this, he still could act like an egotistical prat.

"That's the first time I ever threw a shoe at you. Though the next time you aggravate me, I assure I will throw something bigger." Ginny threw him a pointed look. "And heavier."

"Oh, sure. And when I die and everyone hunts for my murderer, all evidence will point to you- the jealous, schizophrenic wife."

"Ti ammazzo! (I'm going to kill you!)" Ginny shrieked, feeling the ground for something to throw at him.

"Oh, come on. Violence is not the answer."

"Look who's talking." Ginny shot back, weighing the rock she was holding to see if it was heavy enough.

"I'm sure we can resolve this in some other way. If you kill me now, you're going to fail the project! We wouldn't want that would we?"

Ginny looked at him blankly, sighed then let the rock fall to the floor.

"Whatever Draco."

"I'm glad we're on a first name basis now. So, Trelawny gave me this stupid sheet of paper. We're supposed to get to know each other," Draco punctuated this statement with a little eye roll, "by answering the questions."

He read the questions silently and snorted. "Some 'getting to know you' activity this is."

"What does it say exactly?" Ginny asked curiously.

"The usual. Favorite color, food, animal... have you ever been in love, do you believe in love at first sight and all that crap."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Figures that Trelawny wrote that. Let's get this over with… Let's both write down our answers for the favorites part and we can proceed to the… more complicated questions." Ginny said, a bit uncomfortably.

The two scribbled away, occasionally stealing glances at each other's answers.

"What did you answer in 'If you caught your spouse cheating on you, what would you do?'" Ginny asked.

"I chose E, leave them be and cheat on my spouse too. If he/she can do it, I can too!'" Draco answered flatly.

Ginny shrugged. "Works for me."

A few minutes later, Draco finished and he patiently waited for Ginny to finish.

"Now for the… complicated questions." Ginny said uneasily. "You ask first."

Draco cleared his throat. "Have you ever gone all the way?"

"What the fuck?" Ginny's eyes instantly widened. Draco couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Okay, I'm kidding. I made up that question."

"Well, duh."

Draco ignored Ginny's lack of humor. "The first question is, 'have you ever engaged in a relationship with one of the opposite sex?'"

Ginny looked warily at him, only half believing that this was a real question. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"Er…yes."

"Hmm…I think McGonagall should've been more specific with her questions. What does she mean by 'relationship exactly? A sexual one? A, er…romantic…one?" Draco looked genuinely perplexed. Ginny just stared at him, not sure whether she should agree or act disgusted or both.

"How about…both?" Ginny asked, starting to get "in the mood".

"Well, sexual…we both know the answer to that. As for romantic…none." Draco finished airily. "So were your relationships sexual or romantic?"

"Oh God, I can't believe I'm talking to you about this." Ginny murmured into her palms, then looked up at him again.

"The other one was romantic."

If Draco was surprised, he didn't show it.

"Next question…okay, how stupid. This isn't even a question. It says, 'describe your family'."

Ginny thought over the question for a moment before answering, while silently wondering why Draco hadn't beat her to her explanation by insulting her family yet again.

"My family is ridiculously big but I love every one of them. It may be a pain to have 5 older brothers who don't know the meaning of privacy but they're great. We're not exactly filthy rich like some people," Ginny shot him a hard look, "but we get by."

"Interesting. Well I have a very small family. My dad, contrary to popular belief, is actually very decent and funny. He is not a death eater." He shot Ginny a pointed look, "My mother is warm and loving and my brother is very playful and affectionate."

"You have a brother?" Ginny spluttered, still surprised at all the words Malfoy used to describe his family. Warm, funny, loving…affectionate?? What???

"Yeah. He's 5."

"What's his name?"

"Damien. Okay shut up now. 'What job do you wish to pursue once you graduate?'"

"Umm…I think I want to put up my own book shop."

"I'm going to put up a real estate company. And I'll also start a chain of wand shops." Draco said with certainty laced in his voice.

"Er…right. This is nice, we have common interests. We both, uh, are interested in entrepreneurship." Ginny said, only half joking.

"Right. Next up, 'what values do you stand for?'" Draco snickered a bit. Values. Didn't Trelawny have better things to talk about?

"I stand for equality, respect, perseverance…uh, that's it."

"Perfection." Draco answered simply, like that was that.

Ginny just had to roll her eyes at that. Stupid Malfoy and his stupid perfection.

"Ooh, interesting question." Draco smirked at the piece of paper.

Ginny tried to steal a look at the paper, only he wouldn't let her, causing them to wrestle and jostle each other a little bit.

"What? What is it?"

"Now, now, aren't we impatient? It says, 'what qualities do you look for in the opposite sex?'" Draco said a bit smugly, as if he found the question ridiculously funny.

"Well, umm…" Ginny stuttered. "I'm not really sure. I just don't like the clingy types."

"Same here." Draco nodded.

They sat in silence for a while, just staring at the ripples the giant quid made in the lake.

"So, umm, no more questions?" Ginny said, her voice getting caught in her throat.

"No. No more questions."

The two spent another 5 minutes or so in silence, alternately staring at the lake and shooting glances at each other.

"Oh shoot! I didn't realize it was getting so late! We missed dinner Malfoy." Ginny grumbled. "And I was getting really hungry too."

"I have no problem with that. I'm going to the kitchens." Draco stood up and brushed the inexistent dirt off his pants and sweater, then looked at Ginny. "You coming?"

"You are asking me to go to the kitchens…with you."

"Fine, then don't come." Draco shrugged and started walking away, secretly feeling a bit disappointed.

"No, no, I'm coming!" Ginny yelped as she jumped on to her feet and hurried after Draco. "I'll even race you there." Ginny added with a mischievous grin.

"What? And give me the privilege of seeing your knickers? Are you sure?" Draco mocked Ginny, actually acting a bit gentlemanly.

"Oh right. Ugh, I forgot I was wearing this stupid skirt. But I bet you were just afraid of the possibility of a Gryffindor, let alone a girl younger than you, beating you!" Ginny cackled a bit, but stopped when she saw that Draco had already started sprinting towards the kitchens.

"Hey Malfoy, that isn't fair!" She screamed and ran after him.

"You are such a cheater." Ginny huffed when she got within hearing range from him.

Draco smirked back at her and said, "I'm not cheating. I'm running as slow as I can."

"Yeah right Malfoy. What an excuse." Draco sprinted away with such velocity before Ginny could even roll her eyes.

A few minutes later, Ginny got to the fruit painting, huffing really heavily, and just glared at Malfoy, who leaned casually against the wall, looking as impeccable as ever; and if possible, even more handsome, since the run had caused his blood to rush to his cheeks.

Ginny, on the other hand, had disheveled hair and a really, really pink face; she knew this since she was able to take a glance at her reflection from the enormous mirror hanging across the fruit painting.

"Took you long enough." Draco matched his casual statement with a glance at his fingernails to add to his air of nonchalance.

"You cheated." Ginny punctuated each word with a huge intake of air.

Draco smirked and turned around to whisper the password to the painting.

"After you." He bowed mockingly and looked at her with that ridiculous smug expression of his.

Ginny thrust her chin up and with a huff, flounced airily inside.

Almost immediately, a swarm of house elves flocked around them, asking them what they wanted. They soon settled for a huge banana split for them to share, after the surprising revelation of Draco's fondness for chocolate ice cream.

"I can't believe you like ice cream." Ginny murmured as she plucked the cherry and bit into it. "I mean, why wouldn't you? But then again, it's you! You like ice cream!"

"Get over it Weasley." Draco scooped a spoonful of chocolate ice cream drowned in whipped cream, chocolate syrup, nuts, marshmallows and candy sprinkles and shoved in his mouth. Gracefully. Wow.

They ate in silence for a while, with the occasional drip of conversation and exchanges of questions.

Ginny hummed in delight. "This is really delicious. I love ice cream. I have a theory that if you made Voldemort eat ice cream, he would turn to the good side."

Ginny's eyes widened when she realized what she just said. Word vomit did it again. She stared at the huge mound of ice cream in front of them and sat in silence.

"That's a pretty senseless theory. Funny but senseless." Draco replied after some time.

Funny? He thought her theory was funny!

"Whatever Malfoy. I don't hear you putting forward any theories yourself."

That sounded like a challenge.

"Okay. I have a theory," Draco paused for effect, "that if you learned how to fix yourself properly and if you had a fringe, you would look a little like Alessandra Bond."

Ginny, although feeling a bit out of it, was taken aback. Alessandra was an extremely beautiful and an extremely popular model in the wizard world. To be compared to her was just…it was just…you know, wow.

"Really?" Ginny spat out in disbelief. "Are you sure Malfoy?" No one had ever really told her she was beautiful before. Or in this case, implied that she was.

"It was just a theory Weasley." Draco replied flatly.

"Umm, okay. Sure." Ginny looked at Draco carefully, and watched him eat the rest of the ice cream in intense concentration for a while before turning her attention to the ice cream as well.

As the ice cream slowly neared its demise, Ginny's head seemed to feel lighter and lighter.

"Whew, that was tiring." Ginny giggled incessantly after.

Draco just looked at her. "Whatever. Let's go back to our rooms. It's getting late."

"Okie dokie Malfoy. This night was fun. It reminds me of this French song about…" Ginny trailed off and began humming and dancing around with an imaginary partner with her eyes closed and a silly, dreamy smile plastered on her face.

Ye gods. Draco thought as he watched her dance by herself for a while. She looked so innocent and angelic. And a bit high.

"What the heck." Draco shrugged after a while and strode over to her, smoothly slipped is arm across her waist and grasped her right hand lightly.

Ginny opened her eyes slowly, not looking surprised at all.

"Not bad, Weasley." Draco drawled.

She closed her eyes and smiled. "My aunt was a professional ballroom dancer and ballerina. And you're pretty good too, Malfoy."

She pirouetted a bit, for the first time, moving gracefully and smoothly. Suddenly, they found themselves staring at each other, their faces getting closer and closer.

For a moment there, Draco wondered what it would feel like to kiss Ginny Weasley on the lips. When he decided to find out himself, Ginny promptly fainted.