CHAPTER TWO – REALIZATION
"Um, Ginny?" Draco said quietly into her ear, poking her so she would wake up.
"Oh crap." She muttered once her eyes had opened, she had fallen asleep! On Draco Malfoy! How idiotic can you get? Typical. She pulled herself up and frowned in apology at him.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep! I'm sorry!" Ginny blurted out, looking at him for his reaction.
He shook his head, laughing a little, a smirk on his face. "No worries, It's kinda late. I thought you might want to get back inside, Unless you wanted to stay out here for the night...?" Draco said, raising his eyebrows at the red-headed witch.
She laughed and shook her head also. "Yeah, That's probably not a good idea." Ginny murmured trying to get up, though in her attempt she just fell straight back down again. Draco's smirk grew bigger as he held out a hand for her to take.
She smiled warmly and took it without hesitation, too late to take things back now, Ginny thought, standing up and swaying a little bit. She felt dizzy, he looked down at her, his forehead creasing in concern and worry.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to carry you?" He asked, his voice smooth. Draco grinned and held out his arms slightly, Ginny took an immediate step back.
Ginny looked to his arms with slightly widened eyes. He isn't that strong, He wouldn't be able to carry me. She doubted highly he would be able to support her weight.
He rolled his eyes impatiently and swept her legs from under her in one swift movement and held her close to his chest. She gasped loudly and looked up to him, he was, of course, smirking. Who wouldn't?
"What exactly do you think you are doing?" Ginny asked after some time, still gaping at the blonde angel.
He shrugged, walking towards the castle. "I was waiting for an answer from you but then I decided that might take a while. I am rather impatient." Draco admitted lightly, still strolling casually as if she weighed as much as a feather pillow.
The night was silent for a while before she simply could not help herself. "Aren't I hurting you or something? I'm so heavy!" Ginny asked loudly, blushing a little at her lack of control.
Draco scoffed. "Yeah right. You weigh hardly anything." He said, rolling his eyes again. Gosh, He does that a lot. She said in her head.
Her cheeks flushed further and she looked down, Could he embarrass her even more?
They walked inside in silence, when they arrived at the main entrance Ginny elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ouch!" Draco suddenly said, putting her down quickly and messaging his ribs, she grinned triumphantly.
"What did you do that for?" He asked a little louder than was intended.
"I wanted to get down." Ginny smiled, feigning innocence, He glared at her for a short amount of time before they both continued walking into the school.
Not long after, Draco was lingering outside the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room. Ginny and Draco stood there for quite some time, It was rather awkward actually.
"Um, So.." He looked to his feet. "Seeyah I guess..." Draco bit his lip, deliberating. Ginny smiled, once again awkward. She nodded and turned to walk into the common room, Draco took her wrist, his touch sent shivers down her spine.
"So, You wanna meet tomorrow night? I understand if you don't want to, Just to talk, You know." He asked in a rush, the words came out fast and he sounded strange, nervous even.
Her mouth fell open. What? Did he just say what I think he said? "Sure." She said before she could stop herself, Ginny rolled her eyes at herself, Draco noticed the gesture and frowned for just a second then his features smoothed.
"Okay. Um, See you tomorrow then." Draco stated though Ginny could see he was still nervous. He suddenly grinned at her and turned swiftly to walk to the Slytherin common room.
"Bye." Ginny whispered far too late. She stood in the hallways for a couple of minutes before shaking her head and creeping through the portrait hole, Hopefully no teachers would catch her.
She tip-toed to her dormitory and slid into her bed, too tired to change the skirt and t-shirt she was wearing. Ginny pulled out the scrunchy holding her long, red hair in a pony tail, It fell free at her sides. Her eyes closed and she sighed deeply. What the hell was that Ginevra Weasley? The voice in her head nearly screamed at her. She shrugged, for some weird reason she couldn't get Draco out of her head. What was wrong with her? She lay there for a long time, trying to figure out herself, her own emotions. Nothing was making sense, everything was jumbled up. Ginny thought as hard as she could to try and come up with an explanation to her weird behavoir but came up flat, no theory seemed at all correct.
"Ginny?" She jumped when she heard the familiar voice from the doorway, Ginny held her hand to her heart.
"Nearly gave me a heart attack Lavender!" She scolded her friend, sitting up and flicking the lamp on beside her. Lavender had an unrecognisable expression on her face, she couldn't understand it. Ginny and Lavender had become very good friends in the past three months, they were strangely close now. Ginny knew lavender inside out but had never seen this expression on her face before.
"Um, Gin.." Ginny noticed that Lavender was looking at her feet. "Can we talk for a moment?" She asked nervously, still avoiding her gaze. Ginny frowned immediately, Lavender never acted this way.
She nodded and stood up, her and Lavender would talk downstairs, she didn't want to wake up the others in her dorm. Ginny walked over to Lavender and they both strolled in silence downstairs.
"What's up?" She asked her nervous friend, curious and worried. Ginny placed herself next to Lavender on the sofa in front of the fire.
Lavender bit her lip. "Can I ask you something? You have to promise to answer honestly.." She said quietly, finally looking Ginny in the eye.
"Of course, Why would I lie?"
She took a deep breath. "Were you by the lake with Draco Malfoy?" Lavender sounded slightly shocked at her own accusation, Ginny's breathing stopped.
"Well?" Lavender pushed.
She suddenly placed her head in her hands. "How do you know that?" Ginny asked her quietly, Lavender smiled slightly when she knew her accusations were correct, she had just confessed.
"I was doing some astronomy homework and spotted you two by the lake..." She said, placing her hand on Ginny's shoulder in a comforting way.
She let out a miserable groan. "I forgot there was a clear view of the lake at the astronomy tower. I...I...We..." We? Ginny shuddered at the word. "I didn't plan it. He just showed up! Honest! We got to talking-" Lavender cut her off.
"Got to talking? Draco Malfoy? Talking to you? No offence of course." She said quickly, apologizing in case Ginny took offence at her last sentence. Lavender sounded outraged.
"Yeah. I know exactly what you mean. I was more shocked than you!" Ginny exclaimed, sighing once more.
Lavender didn't seem satisfied by her feeble explanation. "And? What happened?"
"Nothing! Honestly, We just...Talked." Ginny said in complete honestly, that was all they did, talk. It wasn't like they had kissed or something like that, She was quite insulted that Lavender would make such assumptions about her, she should know better than that, Ginny wasn't like that at all.
"Oh." Was all she said, Lavender seemed deeply dissapointed, Ginny knew how much she loved a good piece of gossip. Lavender was one of her very good friends but she knew that she would make sure everyone in Hogwarts knew if Ginny and Draco had kissed.
"Well, I'm sorry I've disappointed you." Ginny said sarcastically, Typical Lavender.
Lavender sighed. "Its okay." She said as if she hadn't noticed Ginny's sarcasm.
Ginny glared at her for a while before standing up. "I'm tired, Night." She muttered, turning and walking back up to the Dormitory, not even caring about being rude to Lavender at the moment.
When Ginny was back into her Dorm she decided to get changed into her pyjamas, Just to pass the time. She got into the strap top and shorts then crawled into bed, she was more tired than she had thought.
A massive yawn escaped her mouth as she rolled on her side. Her mind was going crazy.
How could Lavender think that? Is that all she expected of Ginny? To just go and kiss Malfoy? God. Some people these days. It was an insult, Ginny made a face at the thought of people even thinking she had kissed Draco Malfoy, the whole school would go crazy, not to mention that Pansy Parkinson, she practically licked the ground Draco walked on, Ginny could imagine her reaction just a bit too well. She let out yet another sigh and rolled onto her back, she couldn't think straight, couldn't fit the pieces together. What was going on? Lavender thought that she had kissed Draco Malfoy! Ginny couldn't help but picture it if they hadkissed. What are you doing? Stop thinking about that! The voice in her head shouted, She shook her head as if to dismiss the thought. But Ginny couldn'y deny, she liked what she had seen. Suddenly she wished they had kissed.
Then, At that particular moment, Realization hit, Hard and true.
She liked Draco Malfoy, Liked him more than she should, More than a friend.
"Oh god.." She muttered desperately before pulling her sheet over her face, wishing she could turn back time.