Wo0t! another update!!!!
*few* writing three fan fics is killing me, and as you can see, i have yet to update only ashes...it only has one chapter.
oh well
jk rowling is the bomb for owning things i don't. but i still want to kick her in the shins sometimes...
Ginny was staring at her bed mate in shock. Please let it be the drugs, she thought desperately. He didn't really just say that.
But it was looking like he had, judging from the way his face was contorted with a shocked and embarrassed look.
"Um," Ginny broke the awkward silence. "I'm sorry…what? Did you just say I was pretty?" The drugs wanted her to laugh but some part of her, some sane sober part, told her that this was the farthest thing from funny right now.
She watched Draco's head shake, slowly at first, then faster, ending on a superior looking trademark sneer. How he managed that look under the influence, Ginny had no idea.
"What, weasel? I didn't say anything." But he was staring at her, eyes still cloudy with the medicine.
"Yes you did," Ginny insisted thickly. The initial shock of hearing him call her pretty was wearing off and so was their sobering effect.
What he said next surprised her even more. "Yeah, well, so what if I did?" He turned his head away to stick his nose up in the air."
"So what if you did?" Ginny repeated, trying to gather her wits about her enough to become insulted. But she was too tired for that. "I dunno," she finally let out. "It's just really weird of you to be nice to me."
"And?!" Draco demanded, his drugs clearly wearing off faster than hers. "This whole thing is weird! First us getting the surgery together and now us with our beds together talking to each other without yelling, agreeing that we're too lazy to be mean…"
"Hey," Ginny interrupted. "You were the one that moved the bed."
Draco continued. "Really weird." He scoffed. "Of course it's really weird. Why are you even talking to me after what happened this past spring?"
Ginny frowned and then her eyes lit with realization. "That's right!" She shouted. "That's right! You killed Al-"
But Draco had wrestled himself over her body, clamping a large hand over her mouth. "No I didn't." He hissed. "I never went through with it.
Ginny whimpered. Her mouth was throbbing and tears of pain were pricking at her eyes.
Draco noticed this and let go, looking shocked at himself as he scooted over to the far end of his bed. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, I-I forgot."
Ginny just ignored him and turned to face the other way.
Draco was in shock. Complete shock. Mostly about hurting her, which was enough cause for bewilderment as any, but also because of something else.
Some tiny part of his mind had liked the feeling of her body underneath his.
Well not her exclusively, he hurriedly rectified. Just of a girl's body. It has been a while…NO!
He interrupted himself in horror. No, I cannot be thinking about that-that slut in this way. I'm just horny that's all. But why, why of all people, of all girls had it been her that had made him think about…
No he wouldn't. It was just sick. And it was the drugs.
Yes, he told him self, comfortingly. It had to be. Just the drugs…
It had been a while for Draco, though, and he knew it. Even most of the Slytherin girls weren't up to shagging a fully blown, recently failed, Death Eater.
And Pansy…Draco sighed. Pansy was so clingy that he hadn't thought that she would have left him alone for a whole summer, but that's what you get when you live near a member of the Irish Quidditch team. Draco knew she'd be back though.
And then there was the matter of having the Dark Lord and his followers literally take over the Manor, virtually blocking Draco's every attempt, real or imagined, at getting laid.
So yes, it had been a while.
But that still wasn't an excuse. Not a complete excuse anyway, and neither were the drugs.
Not wanting to think about this further, Draco sighed and almost turned his back towards Ginny when he heard her mutter something.
"Do you…" She paused, and seemed to be gathering strength. "Do you really think I'm pretty?"
Draco blanched. Why was she asking him this? He wondered if it was to embarrass him further as he considered his answer.
Too tired and high to care, Draco decided on the truth.
"Well, yeah," He said, trying to sound nonchalant. "But whatever, I mean, it doesn't mean anything."
"You said mean twice," Ginny pointed out, rather annoyingly Draco thought.
"So?" Draco snapped, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Nothing, it means nothing," Ginny said, poking fun at her bed fellow.
"Ha ha," Draco said dryly.
They were silent for a moment, wrapped up in their own slow-moving thoughts until Ginny broke the silence again.
"So why did you do it?" Her voice was quiet, tentative.
"Do what?" Draco asked, confused. "Call you pretty?"
"No, not that. Why did you try and kill…him? What had he ever done to you?" Ginny had turned her body around to look at Draco whose eyes were foggy with memory and his brows were knit together in a frown.
"I don't know," Draco said, hoping to dissuade the girl.
But Ginny was stubborn. "Yes you do. You can't be driven to murder without some motivation. Come on, tell me."
Draco pouted. "I don't want to tell you, weasel. And I don't have to."
Ginny sighed and turned away again. Her curiosity ran deep but she wanted him to tell her thinking it was his own idea.
She waited until she heard him draw breath, and smirked.
"I-I didn't want to kill him, that's why I couldn't do it in the end, but the Dark Lord, he…" Draco had rushed through the first part, but now he slowed, unsure of what to say.
"He was going to hurt her," he rasped out, ending in a whisper. "He still has her on a short leash; he has all of us on a short leash. He's practically taken over the Manor and-why do you want to know all of this?" Draco asked suddenly suspicious. "You're just going to tell your dad or something, aren't you?"
Ginny was startled. "No, I won't," she sounded genuine enough to Draco, but his eyes still narrowed. "Not if you don't want me to."
Draco snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I definitely don't want you to tell anyone."
They were quiet again, until Ginny spoke up. "So is the 'she' you were talking about your mum?"
Draco nodded.
"And the other guy…" Ginny didn't have to finish her statement.
Draco paled a bit which was saying something, and nodded again.
"Huh," was all she said. "That's an interesting side of the story."
Draco broke out of silence. "It's the truth!" he snarled.
"Well that's not what everyone else at school thinks," Ginny said, mildly business like. "I bet they all hate you, I know for a fact all the Gryffindors do." She clapped her hands to her mouth, albeit gently. "And the teachers! What will they do to you?"
Draco grimaced. "Like I hadn't thought of that thank you very much for reminding me."
"I'm sorry," Ginny said, looking at a morose Malfoy. "But fact's fact. Are you prepared for what it's going to be like for you this year? It's gonna suck." Ginny finished with a giggle, but silenced at a look from Draco.
"I know," he sighed. "Believe me, I know."
They lapsed into silence, staring at anything but each other.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better I won't hate you," Ginny stammered to clarify. "Because you, uh, told me y-your part of the story and all…"
Draco was lost in his own world of thought. "Thanks," he murmured.
Ginny sat up a little straighter in her bed, with something of a daring spark in her eye. "And," she said with a grin. "I think your not so bad looking yourself, even for a ferret."
Draco's jaw dropped as far as the swollen bone would allow, which wasn't very far at all. "What?" he managed to strangle out.
"What yourself," Ginny replied, brain catching up with her mouth, she realized what she'd said. "You said it to me, and I wanted to lighten the mood a little, you looked so depressed sitting there and all…"
She was so flustered in trying to explain herself, Draco couldn't help it. He burst out laughing, earning groans from the surrounding beds. Ignoring them he chuckled: "I'm glad we got our hotness factor straightened out between us."
Ginny giggled as well.
"I thought I told you both to be quiet!" The medi-wizard had finally made it back and he was approaching Draco and Ginny with an angry look in his eye.
"Sorry!" They chimed together, stifling laughter.
As the medi-wizard left them, they caught each other's eye and lapsed into poorly muffled giggles.
They relaxed out of their hysterics and began to drift off to sleep. The two were feeling content on the last of the drugs and with having confided in each other, although they didn't know that feeling of contentment would most likely change when they woke up the next morning, puffy and irritable with pain.