A Pleasant Awakening

Ginny awoke, bleary eyed lying on a large comfortable bed. Her head was still spinning; she remembered being paralysed by the Slytherins but after that it was too hard to concentrate. Was she in the hospital wing?

She heard something move in the corner, the noise made her headache worse. She didn't know where she was, but it definitely wasn't the hospital wing. There was no Madam Pomfrey checking up on her. She looked for the source of the noise. She saw Malfoy in the corner. It came back to her in an instant.

Malfoy had paralysed the Slytherins. But why had he helped her? It couldn't be just her newly discovered family. Her head felt like it was splitting open. Malfoy turned round to see her awake.

"Glad you're awake," he said softly.

"I'm... I'm fine, where am I?" she inquire through the mire of her headache.

"You're in my room, being Slytherin prefect does confer some advantages," he explained. "I was wondering whether I should take you to the hospital wing."

"No, really I'm fine," she said quickly.

"You've got quite a nasty cut from your fall, and you took a hit on the head." He pointed to her knee. "Here, this should help with your head," he said, giving her a small bottle with a glass stopper. The liquid inside was a pale pink and smelt pleasantly of roses. She took a sip, and felt the pain in her head recede.

She leant forward to get a proper look around. The room was neatly furnished. Clearly Malfoy had brought a lot of things with him. She saw him broom on the top shelf of a book case, along with a silver cane. There was a general Slytherin theme going on, with most things being either green or black, although the walls were of the same stone as the rest of Hogwarts. There was a window, although it didn't have much of a view. She was used to the heights of the Gryffindor tower.

"How did you get me in here without anyone seeing?" she asked.

"I covered you in my robes, although when you are prefect, no-one tends to ask too many questions," he replied.

"He seems very proud of being prefect" thought Ginny, then again, thinking back to Percy, he was exactly the same.

"Why did you help me? I thought you only looked out for you, you even treat your friends like crap," she said.

"I look out for me and mine," he replied cryptically.

"Well I guess I should thank you Malfoy," said Ginny, she wasn't sure how to take what Malfoy had said.

"Please, call me Draco," he said, as he sat on the bed next to her. She leant slightly towards him. He took the hint and put his arm around her. She turned her head and looked at him. His features looked handsome, his eyes sparkled in the lights, and his lips formed a smile when he realised she was looking at him.

Ginny gently squeezed the hand around her shoulder and leant in closer. She hoped she was right, she hoped he wanted her. Their lips touched briefly, she could feel his warm breath on her face. She looked at him, studied his face. There was no surprise in it, merely a deep happiness.

She leant in again, kissing him tenderly. The kiss lasted much longer; she opened her lips, allowing his sharp tongue in, feeling it touch hers in a moment of pure bliss. He withdrew slowly, kissing her briefly on the lips again, almost a signature after the long letter of pleasure.

"I'm going to go back to Gryffindor before anyone asks where I have gone," she said at last. She stood up. "When will I see you again?"

"Meet me tomorrow night by the statue of Cornelius the Clumsy, there's a way to this room near there, without passing through the common room," he explained.

"I'll see you soon Draco," she replied.

"See you soon too," he said, with a satisfied smile on his face.

He showed her a door in the back of his closet which allowed her to exit on the second floor. She ran upstairs, to the exclamation of the paintings. Quietly she ran to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"DIllyDally," she said to the portrait, and it swung open. She stepped through it, out of breath, and not just because of the run.

"We were wondering where you'd got to," said one of the beaters to her. "Sorry we left you behind, but we figured you could put the balls away alone. Also that Slytherin team seemed to be pretty impatient to get on with their practice."

She sat by the fire and started her transfiguration essay. Ron was trying to balance a full glass of water on his nose a few feet away, to an audience of excitable second years.

"Hey Ron, have you done McGonagall's essay?" she asked. Did he know the truth about her?

There was no reply. She went right up to him and asked him again. He put down the glass and without replying to her stormed off.

"He must have been told," she thought to herself.

She found Hermione, who was at least civil.

"Hermione, Ron's being weird, and I need a bit of help with the transfiguration essay," she said.

"You can't blame him for acting a bit strangely, can you, given what he's just found out." Hermione replied. "As long as you promise not to copy it directly, I can give you mine."

"Did Ron tell you about the news?" Ginny asked.

"He did, but I'm going to cut you some slack. As long as you don't change who you are completely, I'll at least talk to you," Hermione replied. "Look, I'm sorry I've been a bit cold to you, I was just worried about what you were doing to Harry."

"I'm not interested in Harry." Ginny replied.

Hermione looked unconvinced, but handed over her essay. Ginny sat back by the fire and worked. She was glad of a distraction from the night's events.

Draco watched Ginny go. He could have offered to let her stay, but that would probably have scared her off. He didn't want to move too fast. Matter of fact, he wanted to see if she would come back the next day. He hoped so.

The last thing he needed was her to think he was coming on too strong and fall back in with the Gryffindor lot. Then again, he thought, she might be in need of some support soon. The truth about her was sure to spread.

He lay back on his bed, thinking of the smell of her hair and the touch of her skin before the soft hand of sleep closed his eyes.

TBC

A/N: So here's the third chapter, finally! I hope it's long enough for you. Please read and review, and don't worry, I have lots more good stuff planned. Oh, and read my other story that I just posted! It's a present for a friend, and it's Harry/Draco slash, the first time I've written slash, so go easy! Thanks!