Disclaimer:I don't own anything….
Ginny was standing in front of the oven, watching her final batch of cookies, as if she could will them into turning out perfectly, into being impeccably golden brown. Without looking from her cookies, she said to Colin, "Can you check the sandwiches one more time? I think some of the-''
"Ginny," Colin said as patiently as he could. "You've already gone around and measured each sandwich with a ruler, and twice at that. You're worrying too much I tell you." Colin put his hands on her shoulders and dragged her away from the oven. "I think you need to relax a bit before you go in to serve."
"Oh, Colin," Ginny said, lowering her eyebrows worriedly. "Will you go with me? Please? I'll pay you, I swear." She looked up at him pleadingly.
Colin rolled his eyes. "Of course I'll help you. You don't have to pay me, come on Gins, I thought you knew me better than that." He winked at her. "I'll get those cookies out for you and you can go get ready. I know how long you girls take." She shot him a dubious look. "Go on now," he swatted at her butt.
She grinned at him and apparated to her flat. She landed on the couch a bit haphazardly, but then, she'd never really been all that great at apparating. She went into her bedroom and searched through her closet for her Tasty Treat robes. She found them in the very back, a bit dusty. She never wore them to work, she didn't really need to, anyone that came in her shop knew her and knew that she was the owner. She said a cleaning spell and shrugged the robes on over her jeans and t-shirt, she didn't see a reason to change those, it wasn't like anyone was going to see them under her robes.
She went into the bathroom and rummaged around in the drawers looking for some muggle mascara that Hermione had given her, it worked wonders and she didn't even have to remember a spell when she used it, she just had to remember where she put it. "Stupid…" she mumbled under her breath. "Where could I have put it?"
Her head shot up and she remembered, causing it the bang against the cabinet that was situated above her toilet. "Oww!" she screeched, holding her head and rubbing the spot she had just hit. She could already feel a goose egg coming. What a wonderful day.
She ran out of the bathroom and jumped over the couch making her way into the kitchen. She stood surveying the countertops for a moment, then found the thing she was looking for. The cookie jar. She pulled the top off, and sure enough, there was her mascara wand. "Found you," she pulled the mascara out and went back into the bathroom.
As soon as she was done getting ready she apparated back to Tasty Treats. She appeared right next to the refrigerator. "Hi, Colin," she said stepping around it. He was standing with his back facing the countertop. Ginny frowned and sniffed the air.
"Er, hello Ginny," he said smiling weakly. "So glad you're back."
"Is that something…BURNING?" she looked at him and pushed him away from the counter. There sat some very burnt cookies. "Colin!" she cried. "Oh no! I've got to make another batch, I've got to make another batch." She started around the kitchen collecting her ingredients quickly and throwing them into a clean mixing bowl. She turned and gave him an angry look. "You go get ready, Colin. There are some robes in the back."
Colin nodded meekly and walked to the back store room, in search of Tasty Treat robes.
---
"What time did you say that the caterer was going to be here?" Draco asked looking at his watch. The meeting was coming back from their lunch break and he wanted to make sure that he would pause the meeting at the right time.
"At four, tea time," said Pansy. She looked at her clipboard to confirm her answer. "Yes, four."
"Alright," Draco straightened his robes. "Who's catering?"
"Tasty Treats."
"Is that the shop owned by-''
"Mr. Malfoy, all of the people are back from the break," said a man from the meeting room.
Draco sighed, "Alright, I'm coming." He walked back into the meeting room with a smile on his face.
Three hours later, Ginny arrived with Colin in tow. They walked to Pansy's desk. "Hello," Ginny said. "We're here to cater for-"
Pansy waved her hand, "Yes, Dragon Brooms. They'll be breaking in a few minutes. Are you ready?"
Ginny's eyes widened and she twisted her hands nervously. She looked over her shoulder at Colin and whispered, "Colin, am I ready?"
Colin rolled his eyes, "Yes, you're ready." He patted her shoulder reassuringly. "And if you aren't, just remember that I'm here for you."
"Yes," Ginny nodded. "You're here for me." She turned back to Pansy who was watching them with raised eyebrows, "I'm ready."
"Lovely, now I'll just go and tell them that you're coming in…." Pansy got up and walked down the hall, knocking on a door. She looked over at them, "Alright, they're ready for you."
"I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready." Ginny repeated to herself. She looked at Colin. "I'm ready."
Colin smiled, "Of course you are. Now come on, let's go." Ginny sighed shakily and went and pushed the cart that they had brought in with them. She looked at Colin nervously, then walked to the room where Pansy held the door open.
She rounded the corner and peered in before going in completely. Her heart leaped. The room was filled with expensively clad men, and a few very pointy looking women. She sniffed and walked in, plastering a huge smile on her face. "Hello," she said kindly.
Colin walked in behind her and helped her with asking what different people wanted, and getting their plates set up. Ginny was making her way around the table when she stopped at the head, her eyebrows furrowed. Draco Malfoy sat there giving her and indiscernible look.
"Erm, what would you like," she asked. Then added, "Sir."
There was a bit of amusement twinkling in Draco's eyes. "I'll just have some of that," he said, motioning towards something on the cart.
Ginny slumped against the door. She looked and Colin and breathed deeply. "Round one certainly went well. Now we just have to bring in the desserts and then we can leave."
Colin grinned. "You know, I don't think I've seen you this nervous since we took N.E.W.Ts."
Ginny swallowed, "Is it obvious?"
"No, of course not. You looked very composed in there. Now come on, let's get these pies in there." Ginny nodded and picked up a lemon meringue pie.
She walked down that hall, her face turned down towards the floor, trying to be calm and collected before she walked into that room. Merlin knew that she was falling apart with nervousness.
But of course, this was the exact same moment that Draco came out into the hall and Ginny ran smack into him. She put her hand up to try and catch her balance. The only problem with that was that the hand was her pie hand, and it flew straight into his face.
Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp and she stepped back slowly, her hands held up to her face. "Oh my gods." She stared up at the ceiling. "Oh my gods. I can't believe I just did that." She looked back at Draco, "I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't see you coming."
Draco didn't say anything. He wiped his fingers across his eyes, and stuck his fingers in his mouth, licking at them thoughtfully. After a moment, he said, "Tasty pie."
Ginny blinked, "What? I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, 'Tasty pie.'" Draco looked at her.
Ginny gulped, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I swear. I'll pay for your robes! I'll…I didn't mean to! I was just…and…." She let out a wail that caused Colin to come running from around the corner.
"What's wrong?" he asked, placing at hand on her shoulder.
She looked at him through teary eyes. "I ruined it! I ruined everything! Look at what I did!" She gestured to Draco, who when Colin looked at him, just shrugged.
Draco murmured something, then cleared his throat. Ginny looked up at him and saw that all traces of the pie were gone. "Cleaning spell," he said.
"Oh," Ginny said in a small voice. "Of course." She looked at Colin. "I suppose that we should get the other desserts?"
"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Colin turned her around and led her back to the other desserts.
After they were done, Colin left early, leaving Ginny alone to collect her pay. She stood in front of Pansy's desk as soon as she had come out of the bathroom, where she had been hyperventilating and promising herself never to cater again. It was embarrassing enough that she had managed to get pie all over Draco Malfoy, who everyone knew was the head of Dragon Brooms, but she had just had vague remembrances of the guy that caught her. And for some reason, all signs pointed towards Draco.
She collected herself, and was waiting patiently as Pansy chattered on her Wiz-Phone about promotional events. Pansy switched lines and said a few "okays" and look up at Ginny. "Mr. Malfoy will see you now."
Ginny's eyebrows flew down. "He'll see me? I thought that you would just…." she trailed off at the look that Pansy was giving her. "Well, yes, of course, I'll just go right in there."
She walked behind Pansy's desk and knocked on Draco's door. She heard him say come in and pushed the door open slowly. He was sitting behind his desk, munching on one of the left over cookies. She shut the door behind her and stood in front of his desk. "Yes?" she asked politely.
"Have you ever catered before?"
"Er, not really, once or twice."
He nodded. "You did a pretty good job, minus the pie incident of course."
Ginny blushed, "I'm sorry! I'll-''
He raised an eyebrow, "As you can see, I'm quite alright. No harm done, maybe just a slight phobia of pies, but I'm alright."
Ginny stared at him. He was teasing her.
"Well then, I guess I'll just be out of your way. I'm sure that you have lots to do." Ginny started backing up towards the door.
"Wait a minute, I haven't even paid you yet," Draco frowned at her. "What's the hurry?"
"Well, I…" she couldn't think of anything.
"Come, sit," he gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. She did as she was told. Maybe the less she said, the sooner she would be able to get out of there. "So tell me," he said, that odd glint in his eye again. "Has your sense of gravity improved any?"
"My sense of what?" she looked confused, then her eyes widened. Damn, she was hoping that maybe he had forgotten about that whole incident. "Yes…It has, I guess." Oh gods, she thought. He probably thought that she was a drunk. And she wasn't, it was just that one time. "I'm not like that all the time," she said. He raised his eyebrows. "I was…I was feeling guilty." Why did she suddenly feel like she owed him an explanation? "I was just going to have a little. I really hardly have any. I don't really remember much that happened. I was just…" she stopped. Why was she telling him this? She put her face in her hands and groaned.
She looked back up and saw that he had a slight smirk on his face. He was mocking her! Why was he always doing that? "I see," he said noncommittally.
"Can…can I just have my pay? I really have to go now," she forced out. He was making her more nervous than she was to begin with, and that wasn't good.
"Alright," he said. He pulled open a drawer and produced a bag of coins that clinked loudly. "Here you are," he handed it to her.
"Uh, thank you," she said, leaping up out of her chair and practically running out of his office. She could have sworn she heard him laughing, but she didn't look back, she just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
VF: I suppose that this is enough for a chapter, right? I hope you guys liked it, I was writing it in the wee hours of the morning, coughing my feeble pansy coughs. Yes, I had pansy coughs because if I coughed too hard, then it would feel like my throat was being ripped open, but I'm sure you guys don't want to hear about that.
Uhm, I hope that Draco doesn't seem too OOC. I'm hoping that when he grows older he'll understand that the "neener-neener" approach to teasing is a bit...old. So he'll use a more subtle approach, and is very mocking. I hope it's alright.
Anyways, thanks for your reviews!!! They make my day.
P.S. Big thanks to Komal for betaing. :-)