Real Love

Chapter 12: Gravity

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

A/N: added at the end. Happy reading!

Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.
No matter what I say or do, I still feel you here 'till the moment I'm gone.

You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.

Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
But you're on to me and all over me.

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile.
When I thought that I was strong.
But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone.

I live here on my knees as I
Try to make you see that you're
Everything I think I need here on the ground.
But you're neither friend nor foe though I
Can't seem to let you go.
The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down
You're keeping me down

-Gravity, Sara Bareilles

Blaise was half asleep on her shoulder, and Ginny wanted nothing more to be done with the prefects meeting. She couldn't stand Draco's eyes avoiding her for another minute. For weeks he'd dodged her questions with kisses and sarcasm. Two nights before she'd given up and told him to come find her when he was ready to be with her.

Ginny let out a small cry when Hermione spoke again, but didn't end the meeting.

"I know we've been here a while guys but there's just one more presentation to get through. So if you would please give Olivia your attention, I think you all might just like what she has to say." Hermione pleaded with the waning group.

Olivia was the sixth year Ravenclaw prefect, who Ginny had recently become friendly with through Seamus at Blaise's party. The two had been dating since.

"Sorry guys," Olivia said sincerely as she pulled out a tattered notebook and flipped through its filled pages. "But who wants to talk Quidditch."

The room was suddenly alive. Blaise knocked his head on her chin he sat up so quickly, and was too distracted to even apologize.

"Thought that might get you," Olivia grinned. "Now for my project I decided that since it's too late to have any decent sort of season this year, but its not too dangerous to hold a match anymore, that we could hold one, and make it a charity event."

"Who's going to play?" Charlotte Krauss a fifth year Hufflepuff, who had been a keeper the year before asked eagerly.

"Well originally I had hoped to do a day long tournament, with all the houses, but with Quidditch…it could take a week. So I went to the library and looked up stats from the past few years and made two teams: Slytherin and Ravenclaw; Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

"Why even play?" Blaise snorted beside her.

"Hufflepuff beaters are the best in the school actually," Ginny reminded him. Nearly every player in every other house had been rocked by a bludger the last season.

"Exactly Ginny!" Olivia got even more excited. "The teams are looking incredible if everyone will do it. Each house has its strengths. If we put the Hufflepuff beaters and Charlotte in as a keeper with Gryffindor on offense it'd be brilliant. And if we put Blaise on keeper for the other side, and the Ravenclaws on beater and chaser. It might actually be a fair match."

The room all nodded in agreement, obviously eager to see what it would be like to have inter-house teams.

"Who's going to play seeker?" Jacob Johns, a fifth year Gryffindor bit his lip as he asked.

A bit of Olivia's eagerness drained from her face as she replied. "Well Malfoy of course…"

"Ridiculous." Malfoy dismissed her.

"Why? You know Alan can't do it."

Alan Steeper, a Ravenclaw Ginny's age, had never even come close to catching the snitch.

"No ones going pay to come watch me beat Whitfordshire in 20 minutes yet again."

"Daniel graduated." Another student spoke up.

"So then it'll have to be the Gryf…"

Everyone sat silent for a moment. Of course the only real match for Draco would have been Harry, but no one could say it.

"Actually I was sort of thinking…well Ginny I was hoping you might do it." Oliva blurted out the end.

"Me?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Hermione says your quite good!"

Ginny scowled at her friend who sank back in her seat, and apologetic grimace on her face.

"And you're so connected to Harry and the cause. You see I want to start a fund for our local orphanages. That's the charity I chose. So many children were left behind in the war and the children's homes are really struggling right now. I know Harry lost his parents and the headmaster and I had hoped maybe we could call it The First Annual Harry Potter Children's Fund Quidditch Cup. And I had thought maybe since he can't be here, you could play for him…in his robes."

Ginny sat in silence, the whole room was staring at her. She opened her mouth several times to respond, but only succeeded in catching flies.

"I know it's a bold favor to ask, and I never would if I didn't think that it would really make an impact."

Ginny thought of Harry the first time he had come home with Ron to the burrow, and how uncomfortable the kindness of a good family had made him, and how as they'd grown, being accepted as a member of the Weasley clan had always meant more to him than anything.

"I can't think of a charity that Harry would be more proud to have his name on. I'd love to help." Ginny smiled though still vaguely wary of the idea. She looked over and saw Hermione beaming beside Draco who was looking back, eyebrows raised.

"Oh Thank you!" Ginny laughed in surprise as Olivia leapt forward and hugged her. "You have no idea how nervous I was to ask you!"

Olivia went back to her seat and chattering began about more specifics.

Ginny was tuning back out when Blaise leaned over to her and whispered.

"Now no seducing our seeker into letting you win," he laughed.

Ginny's heart fell, unsure she could handle Malfoy humiliating her yet again.

Draco cursed as his quill left a huge blot of ink on his essay when there was a loud knock at his door. He stood from his chair and took several wide strides to the door; he swung it open and was surprised when a petite, cloaked figure came rushing through. Her familiar eyes and sparkling red hair poked through the shadows of the hood.

"Surprised to see me?" She smirked as she removed the heavy garment and handed it to him.

"Most pleasantly." He hooked her cloak onto the back of his door. "And to what to I owe this pleasure?"

"Well Draco dear, I heard a rumor that the young Master Malfoy has taken over his fathers place as the head death eater."

"You shouldn't listen to drunks in bars Elli," Draco scolded the girl and silently cursed the stupid men that called themselves death eaters. It was no wonder Voldemort had never entrusted them with any assignments, and a wonder that he had never killed them himself.

"They're usually my most reliable source," Eloise sat down in his desk chair. "But this one sort of surprised me, because the last I heard you were in love with St. Potter's girl."

"Last I heard, sex and politics weren't one in the same." Draco defended lazily. "Besides turns out I just have a thing for red heads."

"Well that's good to hear, because this red head wants a favor."

Draco raised his eyebrows at her expectantly.

"I want in. I want to be a part of it."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do Draco." She rose from her seat. Her eyes were wild with excitement and malice he had never seen in them before. "You're smart like me. You know that now is the time. Potter is dead and there's no one left to take us down. Now is the time to build up our forces and let the Dark Lord rise again and wipe out all those little mudbloods once and for all."

"Lord Voldemort is dead."

"He's been dead before." Eloise walked forward and placed her hands on Draco's chest. She was the same height as Ginny, but her icy blue eyes were only the first giveaway that she wasn't. "I know that's what you want Draco. So let me help you, so you can have everything you desire."

"Aren't you engaged Peretti?" Having her lips only inches from his forced him to think of Thomas Knott's goofy grin and the happiness Draco had thought the couple shared.

"Tommy's a fool. He doesn't know what he wants and he's going to die running that dive. But I know what I want."

Her lips were like ice and no part of him could pretend that she was the red head whose kiss he so dearly missed.

"Let me help you Draco." She whispered once more as she pulled away.

Behind him the door swung open.

"There we go! I knew you two would work things out!" Blaise's cheery voice entered the room. Draco spun around just in time to see the shock appear on Blaise's face.

"Elli?"

"Hi Blaisey," she waved.

"Sorry to intrude guys," Blaise smiled weakly while backing out of the room. "Back to it then!" he awkwardly shot his fingers at them and left in a hurry.

Blaise had been the one person Draco had been unsure of how to lie to. Blaise knew him better than he knew himself most the time, and wasn't easily tricked.

Little did Eloise know, Draco was indeed going to let her help him. In fact, she already had.

Ginny collapsed onto the cool green field, relishing in the sprinkling rain that splashed onto her body.

Getting into shape for the match was proving to be more difficult than she'd expected, and she and Blaise had taken to practicing together on days when the two teams were not.

"Not bad Weasley. Not bad at all." The winded boy sat down beside her.

"I'm exhausted!" she laughed.

"I don't know why you're working so hard anyway. Seeker's the laziest position there is. All you do is sit and wait."

"That's not how Draco plays," she laughed again. "I know I'm going to lose, but I'd at least like to play."

"Have you talked to him lately?' Blaise asked less casually than normal.

"No. Not for weeks."

She tried brush away the pain that admitting the truth caused her.

"Maybe you shouldn't wait around for him," Blaise suggested.

"I always go to him. This time he has to come find me."

"I meant…I meant maybe you should move on."

Ginny frowned. Blaise never tripped over his words, and Blaise had never discouraged her relationship with Draco.

"What do you know?" she sat up.

For a moment she thought he was preparing to break news to her. He inhaled deeply and paused, only to then smile and say, "I just hate to see a pretty girl like you wasting away trying to out stubborn a Malfoy."

"Blaise do you think its me? Or something else?" She asked the question she'd been wrestling with, but hadn't yet had the courage to voice.

Blaise looked at the ground before looking her in the eye as if apologizing. He answered, "Something else."

Ginny sat in the locker room, nearly fully dressed staring at the robe hanging before her. Potter gleamed in gold on the crimson fabric. It felt like a joke to be putting it on. If Voldemort hadn't been Harry's legacy, Quidditch would have been. The most Ginny had played was in the backyard with her brothers. She had beat Harry once, and though he had insisted he had not, she was sure that he had let her.

"I wouldn't want to put on such a hideous thing either."

Ginny spun in her seat. Draco stood behind her.

"I have something for you." Draco held out the fancy broom in his hand. "Might as well not bother playing with that Comet 201 of yours."

"I have Harry's." Ginny couldn't believe the first conversation they were having in weeks was over a broom.

"Believe it or not that old Firebolt isn't top of line anymore either." He shoved the broom towards her once more. She took in gingerly into her hand. "Besides can't have you riding Potter's broomstick for the world to see." He added cheekily.

"Just yours?" she raised an eyebrow.

"No, no Weasley. That one's yours."

Ginny looked down and sure enough engraved in the golden brackets of the broom was 'G. M. Weasley'.

She looked back up and saw him walking away.

"Draco!" she called.

"I'll see you on the pitch Ginny." He stopped for only a moment, but didn't turn, and continued on his way.

The roar of cheers was deafening as Ginny walked out onto the field. Draco stood stoic as she walked toward him, new broom in tow, and held out her hand.

"Captain," she smiled politely, jutting her hand forward.

"Captain," he nodded his head and gave her hand a firm shake. Even through his their thick gloves she sent electricity through him.

She released him far too quickly, and each mounted their matching brooms and rose into the air with the rest of the teams.

The game began with the ferocity of 14 Quidditch maniacs who had been denied their sport for nearly a year.

One of the Ravenclaw beaters knocked a bludger so close to a Gryffindor chaser's head he nearly fell. Draco had been so focused on this incident he hadn't seen the bludger that was headed his way until all he could do was spiral down to avoid it. Several incredible goal attempts were made by both sides in the first several minutes, but all were deflected. It was soon apparent that the outcome of the game would fall solely onto him and the girl floating twenty feet above.

Two hours later only 6 goals had been made and the score was even. Draco hadn't caught so much as a glint of the snitch. On the other side of the field, Ginny looked bored to tears as she lazily circled near the goals. She looked marvelous on the broom though. She rode with ease while the sunlight reflected off her hair, just as it did from the golden hinges of the broomstick and the snitch above her head.

The snitch.

He gave Ginny to the count of three to notice it before he took of towards her. The snitch immediately bolted up as he did, but Draco kept straight for the redhead. He heard her gasp as he circled tightly around her before pulling up and heading after the winged ball.

"Oh damn!" he heard her curse as she took off after him.

He gained on the snitch with ease, and just when the focused turned to the Gryffindors scoring on Blaise he grabbed it.

He was high up and Ginny was quickly gaining on him, but instead of turning back to claim his victory he kept going. The players below grew smaller and smaller until they were nearly out of sight. The changing of the atmosphere made his head light and dizzy and slowly he came to a stop waiting for her. Just one moment, where no one could find them.

Anxiously he waited for her to catch up. Her red hair grew more vivid by the second.

"Draco?" she called. "We're too high! My head…"

"Draco…" Her voice should have been closer, louder, but instead it seemed to be fading away. Then to his horror, 50 feet below, Ginny swayed on her broom and fell.

He'd never dove faster in his life. He willed the broom to move faster, not gaining on Ginny nearly quickly enough.

Screams erupted from the stands as they re-entered the view of the field.

They were nearly level with the highest of stands when he finally swooped under the girl and caught her in his arms. It took an entire lap around the field to slow down enough to land and when he did he did not get that moment alone he had wanted so badly.

The field was rushed by teachers and students, Granger in the forefront.

"Is she okay? Lay her down here," Granger instructed him.

Slowly he dropped to his knees and gently laid Ginny onto the grass.

He wanted desperately to stay down there with her and hold her till she woke, but Granger was on the ground with them already, and the circle of others was growing closer. Quickly he discreetly squeezed her cupped hand with his and backed away, joining the rest of the spectators just in time to see her wake.

Her eyes fluttered open, squinting at the bright afternoon sun, just as McGonagall reached her.

"Miss Weasley! Are you all right?"

"Let me through. Let me through." Madame Pomfrey was struggling through to crowd to get to her favorite student.

"What happened?" Ginny looked around in wonder.

"You fell," McGonagall's accusing eyes were on him as she spoke to Ginny. "Do you have anything to fill in the pieces Mr. Malfoy?"

"Must think those robes really make her Potter. Silly bit leaned to far off her broom to catch the snitch." Draco glanced down at her hand, still cupped toward her body.

Ginny looked down in wonderment at the little ball fluttering in her hand. She looked up at him, confusion written all over her face.

A thunderous cheer sounded as students caught sight of the ball in her hand, and Ginny's close call was quickly old news, secondary to her glorious victory.

"Ginny! Ginny!" Olivia rushed forward. "Oh Ginny you were brilliant! Do you have any idea what kind of press is going to get?"

Ginny laughed. "I didn't mean to." In fact, she hadn't.

"Oh but you've helped so much!" The girl crushed Ginny into a grateful hug. "I'd never have felt right doing this without permission from your family and you convinced them. And wearing Harry's robes. I know it must have been strange."

"Harry would have done everything he could to help, so will we." Ginny stopped the girl there. "Besides Harry never passed up a good Quidditch match."

"Oh! Come see my brother! He helped me so much with this too. " Ginny was suddenly being dragged across the field.

"Olli! You remember Ginny! She was is your house!" Olivia's constant enthusiasm was not something Ginny was used to.

"How could I forget a Weasley?"

Ginny found herself face to face with Oliver Wood.

"Oliver Wood?" she managed to get out.

"The one and only." He flashed her a bright white smile that would have made her blush were her cheeks not already pink with sunburn.

Ginny felt stupid for never putting two and two together. They practically had the same name. But they were in different houses, and with Oliver came Quidditch. He breathed Quidditch, and Ginny would have imagined that any sibling of his would have more passion for the sport than Olivia's strong enthusiasm.

"That was some move out there. What'd you call that?"

"A Potter Faint." Ginny grinned.

Oliver chuckled back. "Maybe you can teach me one day. I promise to catch you."

"And who's going to catch you?" She eyed the man who was towering over her, still slender, but thick from years of professional Quidditch training. "My brother's would kill me if I dropped England's future for the cup."

"Then you better not tell them I might be signing with Scotland."

"Your secret's safe with me."

"Good to know."

And then, to her surprise, he winked.

Ginny stood motionless outside of Draco's door, cursing herself for even being there. She'd promised herself she wouldn't do this. She'd sworn she wouldn't come back until he asked her to. She wasn't that kind of girl.

Yet there she was.

The day had been too much. The broom, the fall, the snitch. She needed answers.

She raised her fist and hesitated only a moment more before giving it a firm knock.

"I'm busy," Draco's voice carried through the oak.

"I need to talk to you."

Silence.

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me. I don't care who sees me waiting here."

She waited a moment more.

"You can't just pull shit like you did today and then pretend like it never happened. Why did you give me the snitch?"

There was still no answer and Ginny slumped a little.

"Please Draco I can't wait for you anymore. If this is it…"

The door creaked open and Ginny froze as a beautiful redhead, wearing only lacy black lingerie stood before her.

"He said he's busy dear." She gave her a wicked grin before slamming the door in her face.

Slowly Ginny backed away until she hit the wall behind her and her knees gave out.

A/N: Well there it is. Hope you don't hate me. This was my first attempt at a semi-Quidditch game, not my forte, but I'm okay with how it turned out. As for names, teams, accuracy...i did a little research, but since this fic is so obviously out of cannon I'm just not obsessing over total accuracy. But anywho...look for chapter 13 in a couple of days. Until then review! hehe. -Bella