So things are beginning to thicken between Draco and Ginny, romance (sort of) starting to blossom. Let me know if you think it's going too fast or too slow. Thanks so much! Enjoy :)
They both settled into a more relaxed routine, working beside each other comfortably. Ginny was diligently tugging away at one particularly stubborn piece of grass when she noticed a lone flower peaking between two stacks of flower pots on the other side of the room.
Immediately her face brightened and she scrambled over to it on all fours. Its delicate, cupped petals shone in the muted sunlight that streamed down from the ceiling of the greenhouse. "Oh," the Gryffindor sighed breathlessly, reaching out a finger to gently run down one of its petals.
Draco noticed her awestruck expression and raised an eyebrow in question. "It's a flower, Weasley. Not like it's one of Potter's signed love letters or anything," he stated matter-of-factly before remembering that the two had broken up not too long ago. Holding back a small wince of rare guilt, the Slytherin waited for the tears and sob story typical of heart-broken teenage girls. But it never came.
Instead, Ginny merely continued stroking the soft petals of the white flower, seemingly oblivious to his rising bemusement.
"It's a gladiolus," she finally explained, turning to face him with a distracted smile. By his puzzled expression, she gathered that he had no idea what she was talking about. With a sigh, she continued, "a gladiolus is a type of flower. It comes in all different colors but the shape of its petals remains the same. I guess you could say it's my favorite flower."
With a still slightly confused nod of understanding, Draco turned back to his weeding, mumbling under his breath about weird girly ideas and once she even heard him say, "Honestly! It's just a flower!"
His comment brought another smile to Ginny's face. It reminded her of something Fred would have said. With a slow shudder, the Gryffindor pulled her gaze away from the flower and walked over to join him once again. He's nothing like Fred, she told herself grimly. Nothing at all. However, she could not quell the curiosity Draco created inside of her.
It suddenly occurred to her that she had smiled around him more often since she came back to Hogwarts than she had at home with her own family. In fact, feelings she had not felt for so long blossomed in his presence. Anger, frustration, amusement. She felt them all and more. Of course, it was nothing romantic. That would have been a scary thought indeed.
What he did to her was more like the sun revitalizing a withered flower—even though he was far from a bright and sunny individual. He revived her mind, caused her to smile and smirk and laugh and yell and everything else. It was a disturbing revelation but she forced the matter out of her mind, filing it away for later study. There was already enough for her to think about at the moment, so why should she add any more complications?
Draco suprised her when broke the silence mere seconds later. Normally he reveled in silence; it was his friend, his comforter. He knew where he stood with silence. Nothing was expected of him then. However, something inside of him seemed to yearn to speak out, to pretend to be normal for once. He wrestled with the desire but the lonely part of him won out in the end, and the words slipped out.
"So what's your favorite color then?"
It sounded so random and strange coming from his lips but Ginny did not mind. In fact, she was rather pleased at his question. Not many people asked her what her favorite color was. They were either too interested in her relationship status with Harry or wanted to pry into her personal life for information to fuel the gossip. Her family already knew everything about her, or at least they thought they did, and as such never questioned her on such trivial matters.
Draco mentally prepared himself for a stupid Gryffindor answer such as red or gold. Did they not realize all that crimson and yellow was going to their heads? Just because they were their House colors did not mean that every Gryffindor student had to mold themselves into miniature Godric Gryffindors.
Now that he thought of it, that would be a complete nightmare! He winced, seeing in his mind's eye all the Gryffindors running after him with very sharp, very pointy swords. It was a childish thought, but it took his mind off the grimmer facts of life—such as the traitorous ache in his left arm. It had bothered him more lately for some reason.
Ginny looked at him with a secret twinkle in her eyes, not noticing the pained glances he shot towards his arm. "Peridot actually. Well, it's not a color, per say, but a gem with a very distinctive color. The way it sparkles in the sun, the gentle hints of golden-yellow shimmering out. It's beautiful."
Draco found himself nodding his head obediently, although inside he was asking what in Merlin's beard pero…peride…per whatever was. It must be gold, he decided. After all, she did mention "golden-yellow." He resisted the urge to jump up and shout "I told you so!" That was sure to set off alarm bells in her head, and the Slytherin was feeling much too unlike himself already. Being around her did strange things to his mind.
Ginny felt a small smirk tug at her lips. She knew that he had no idea what she was talking about but he still managed to keep a politely blank face that revealed none of his confusion. It was a rather impressive act actually. Ron would have looked at her as if she was crazy and said that the only colors to choose from were red, blue, yellow, and gr—wait, no. He would not mention green at all. It was a matter of House pride, after all.
On the other hand, Draco was actually thinking about what she said and trying to recall if he had ever heard of a color similar to what she had described. She doubted that he had. It did not seem in his nature to go about learning all the different colors of the world. He looked but he did not observe. The corners of her lips twitched at the thought. Yes, she had read parts of Sherlock Holmes before. Albeit only over Hermione's shoulder, but she had still read it. She had been trying to see if her answer to an essay question was right, but Hermione had conveniently moved her book in the way.
The two spent the rest of their detention quietly pulling away at the weeds, neither saying a word nor daring to look in the other's direction. However, Ginny could finally stand it no more and she took a deep breath before asking casually, "So, now that you know mine, what's your favorite color?"
Draco's shoulders tensed up beneath his robe, the lean muscles bulging for a moment before he forced himself to relax. "I don't have one," he replied brusquely. It was an innocent question, nothing was meant by it. She was merely returning the favor of feigned interest.
Ginny rolled her eyes at his cold manner. "Oh come on! Just a second ago you were ready to laugh at me because I told you that I thought gladioli were pretty. Now you're going back to the tough guy routine? Don't get your knickers in such a twist, Malfoy. It's not like I'm going to start thinking we're best friends or anything. I'm just curious, that's all."
With a resigned sigh, the Slytherin set down the clump of weeds he had just pulled and sat back on his heels. "Well, I've never really thought about it before. I guess I would have to say green," he replied reluctantly, clearly wishing that he had never brought up the subject in the first place.
Ginny snorted, causing him to glance at her oddly.
"What? What's wrong with green?" he demanded defensively. Without taking her eyes off the thin stems in front of her, the red-haired girl shook her head. "Nothing, nothing at all. It's just that I had hoped for a real answer, not a Slytherin answer," she replied innocently. Draco blew out his breath through pursed lips and briefly entertained the thought of hexing her. At least then she would not pester him with useless questions.
Well, you did think the same thing when you asked her, a small part of his mind piped up. It's only fair that you give her the same courtesy.
Shut it, you, he shot back. "Stupid Gryffindors," he muttered under his breath, "always turning your words back on you. And they call us Slytherins sneaky. Hmph. Bloody hypocrites."
Knowing that she would not rest until he gave her an answer, Draco searched through his mind for a safe, neutral color. Green had not worked with her, and red was completely out of the question. Blue reminded him too much of snobby Ravenclaws, yellow….bleh. Yellow was for puny Hufflepuffs. No way was he going to say yellow. Finally, the perfect answer came to him, and he smirked over at Ginny triumphantly.
"Black."
Ginny shook her head in amusement at his answer. She had expected something along that line. It frustrated her that she had opened up to him and he did not feel inclined to answer her truthfully on a simple question. All she had asked for was his favorite color! It was not as if she was prying into his personal life and asking him how many girls he kissed or something!
Blood rushed up her neck at that train of thought. "Stop it," she hissed under her breath. Stupid, stupid brain, she thought savagely. This is Malfoy I'm talking about! It's not like it's Harry. So why am I feeling so flustered? I'm never flustered! Well, except for those years when Harry was around and I had such an embarrassing crush on him, but still. That's even worse! What am I thinking, comparing him to Harry? Harry's nice, sweet, brave, handsome, down-to-earth in a saint-like way, and so incredibly wonderful. He saved the entire world for Merlin's sake! Malfoy's just…Malfoy. Nothing special.
Finally, their detention time was up and, as they were putting away the gloves and tools, Ginny gathered up her courage and remarked, "You should have Madam Pomfrey look at that. You know, just to make sure it doesn't get infected or anything."
Draco tilted his head to the side with a growing smirk and leaned against the greenhouse door. "Why? You getting worried about me, Weasley? I never knew you cared so much. I'm touched, really I am," he retorted, remarkably playful. His response surprised Ginny enough that she simply stared at him with her mouth open.
About a stunned moment of silence, she stalked past him with a scowl upon her face. "Get over yourself Malfoy. I just don't want to be blamed when your hand falls off from disease. And I want that handkerchief back!" The answering laugh that echoed from behind her sent the Gryffindor scurrying faster up the path back towards the castle.
Yes, I know, these last few chapters haven't been the ground-breaking, awe-inspiring ones ya'll deserved, but hopefully they weren't too bad :) Thanks for reading!
Oh, and due to an important, upcoming event, I won't be able to update for a little longer than usual. So sorry, but I am working on writing the next few chapters, so hopefully it won't take too long. I just won't have the time to update like usual.
