As the Cookie Crumbles

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. How often have I said this? Surely you all understand that by now. *sigh*

Ginny stood out on the balcony of her flat in Diagon Alley, her big shirt blowing around her in the wind. She looked up at the sky, which was a nice blue laced with big puffy clouds. In her hand, she had a bottle of Ogden’s Fire Whiskey and was taking lazy sips from it every ten seconds.

She sighed loudly and hung further over the balcony and scratched her knee, frowning at it viciously. Yes, she was drunk, very drunk. From the door, the sounds of family and her friends calling on her Wiz-Phone was evident, they left numerous messages that she wasn’t even going to bother to answer.

“Hello? Ginny? Come on, Ginny, you can’t stay home and mope all day,” she heard Charlie’s voice say. She hadn’t even heard from her mother yet, she’d probably been too ashamed to call her.

Then there was Ron, who was torn, he didn’t know how to act. “Gins, let me take you to lunch, I don’t want you to lie around feeling sorry for yourself.”

“Ha,” she said, swinging her bottle of fire whiskey around. “Feel sorry for myself? Now, why would I do a thing like that?”

She was mumbling under her breath to herself so she didn’t see the snowy white owl that was heading her way. Ginny had brought the bottle up to her lips again and it swooped down whizzing past her head, making her cry out and topple over the edge of the balcony.

Draco Malfoy was walking down the cobblestone sidewalk quickly, trying to get to work. He had already run into numerous people because he wasn’t watching where he was going.

He did stop to buy a Daily Prophet, he grinned to himself as he read the front page. “Harry Potter’s Bride has Cold Feet.” From what he’d read, it was much more than just cold feet, she had called the entire wedding off.

A shriek rang out through the morning air. He looked up quickly to see a figure fall over a balcony, its limbs flailing helplessly. “Oh, great,” he said as he noticed it was female and falling right over his head. He dropped his paper just in time to catch her in his arms.

She looked up at him through a veil of long, red, curly hair. She blinked slowly and slurred, “Wow, you’re good at catching people.”

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Well, yes, I guess you could say that.” He noticed a broken bottle of whiskey on the cobblestones and cursed under his breath. This woman was drunk.

“It was very nice of you to catch me.” She said. “Just think, I could have broken my neck if you hadn’t.” Her head fell onto his chest, then it jerked right back up. “Who are you?” she demanded clumsily. “And why are you going around catching people?”

He frowned at her, “What are you doing falling from buildings onto unsuspecting people?”

She let out a loud wail. “It isn’t my fault. I swear.” She stopped to look at him and whisper confidentiality, “Today is my wedding day. Or, technically, it’s my non-wedding day considering I called it off.” She sighed. “I was only getting married to him because….well…I thought I loved him….”

Draco just about dropped her on her butt. “What? Who were you getting married too?”

She rolled her eyes, “Harry Potter.”

Now he set her down on her feet carefully. He had just caught a Weasley. He wiped his hands on his robes, but didn’t really think that helped get the filth off much. But then again, this Weasley had to be better than the others, considering she turned down Harry Potter and all.

He looked at her carefully, she was a mess. Her very red and very curly hair was all over the place, her eyes had dark circles under them and smudged eye make up all over the top portion of her face. He noticed that she had little beads of sweat on her eyebrows; she was going to be sick.

“Eugh,” she clutched her stomach with one hand and looked up at him piteously. “I think I’m going to barf.”

Ginny knew the guy had somewhere to be, and she could help but feel guilty. He was holding her hair back for her as she puked her organs up in the trash dumpsters in the alley next to her apartment building. He was tapping his expensive shoe clad foot on the ground, waiting for her to finish.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and straightened to face him. She felt a great deal more sober now, even though she was still pretty drunk. She had a pretty good feeling that she was as pale as a ghost, with was probably making her ugly freckles stand out even more.

“I’m sorry,” she croaked, still tasting the disgusting bile in her mouth. She hoped to Merlin that he couldn’t smell it too bad. It was embarrassing enough as it was.

He gave her a look and just said, “You should lay off the liquor.” Then he left.

She stood in the alleyway watching him. His expensive black robes billowing our around his legs as he walked way. She sighed and hit her forehead gently with the palm of her hand. “Damn, I didn’t even get his name.”

Ginny started back to her flat, wincing at the hard stones on her bare feet.

“Ginny! Oi! Gins!” she turned around and saw Colin running at her. She groaned; she really didn’t want him to see her like this. “Good, Merlin, Gins, what have you been doing?”

“Puking my brains out,” she said blinking at him.

“Oh,” he put his hand on her arm. “Do you need me to help you back to your apartment?”

“That would be lovely.”

“And,” he wrinkled his eyebrows. “What are you doing out here in just a shirt? Puking no less?”

“I’m wearing underwear, Colin, not just a shirt. For Merlin’s sake.” She gave him a long look. “Oh, and I fell over the balcony. That would be why I’m puking out here, and not in my flat.”

“What?” he looked at her carefully. “You fell over the balcony.”

“I do believe that’s what I just said.”

“It’s just—how come you aren’t all bloodied up then?” asked Colin as he helped her up the stairs.

“There was this really nice,” she paused, “and gorgeous guy that caught me.”

Colin frowned, “Caught you? What was he doing?—Just standing around waiting to catch someone?”

Ginny shrugged, “I don’t know. But he was very nice about it; he even held my hair back for me while I puked my brains out.”

“Quit saying that,” Colin said wrinkling his nose.

“What?—Puking my brains out?”

“Yes, just exactly that.”

Ginny patted his arm, “It’s okay, Colin. I didn’t really puke them out. They’re still in my skull, fully intact.”

“I don’t know about that…” he said slowly. He sniffed her. “Have you been drinking?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “So what if I have?”

“Gods, Gin, you’re drunk.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” she said tripping over her feet, swaying over the stair rail. Colin caught her arm and hauled her back before she could fall over that too.

“You sure are smarmy when you’re drunk,” Colin said, opening to door of her flat and leading her inside. “You go take a shower and I’ll make you some tea.” He shoved her towards the bathroom gently. “Go on now.” He looked around the kitchen with mild disgust, there were liquor bottles everywhere.

“You’d think,” he said to himself. “That since she was doing the jilting, she might not be so miserable.” He shook his head and found her trash can, throwing all the bottles into it, causing loud clinks to ring out through the flat.

>.< br>
Colin heard the shower cut off and Ginny making odd noises in the bathroom. He looked towards her bathroom worriedly, but didn’t move to go in there. He finished cleaning in the kitchen only to find that there were more liquor bottles in the living room. He sighed and dragged the trash can in there.

The springs in Ginny’s mattress creaked. Colin shook his head, “No way am I cleaning up this mess by myself if she’s out.” He left the trash can in the middle of the room and walked to Ginny’s knocking gently on the door. She didn’t answer. He pushed the door open and saw her lying on the bed, her robe wrapped around her. She was snoring.

“Good Gods,” he said. “She has no tolerance for alcohol.” He shook his head and went back to cleaning.

Draco ran his fingers through his soft, pale blond hair. He grumbled low in his throat as he looked down at the parchments in front of him.

“Parkinson!” he barked.

Pansy scrambled in looking very flustered. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Yes, Mr. Malfoy?” She had taken to calling him Mr. Malfoy now that she worked for him. There was nothing that got on his nerves more.

He tried not to yell out at her. He’d already had a pretty stressful morning, catching a Weasley out of midair and all. “We need catering for the meeting on Friday.”

“What kind?” she asked, summoning a quill and pad from her desk.

“Just the snack kind, it’s going to be lasting through lunch. I figured we could take a break for everyone to go get lunch. But they might be hungry later,” said Draco. When Pansy didn’t say anything, he blinked at her, “I want you to find somewhere that can cater a small snack type thing.”

“Oh,” she said nodding. She thought for a moment, “How about that Cookie Shoppe? They’ve got the best cookies I’ve ever had.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “That really small one?”

“Yes, it’s great. And I think they cater.”

Draco shrugged, “That’s okay I guess.”

Pansy grinned at him, “Okay, I’ll get right on it.”

“Don’t break it,” he mumbled under her breath as she left his office.

Ginny was going to die. Or at least that’s what she felt like doing. Her head was pounding with a skull splitting headache, and she had stomach-turning nausea. “Aghh,” she groaned clutching her head.

Colin poked his head in the door. “You up?”

His words echoed through her head like thunder. “Yes,” she said wincing.

“Does your head hurt?” he asked innocently.

She glared at him, “Yes, yes, actually it does.”

“Oh,” he said smiling. “Well, I’ve made you some tea. Want to see if helps any?”

“I’d be willing to try anything,” she said getting out of bed. A wave of nausea came over her and she bolted to the bathroom. Colin could hear her retching and went to get her a glass of water. He brought it to her, seeing her sitting on the very edge of the toilet seat, lid down. She was pale and shaking, her freckles standing out fiercely. “On second thought,” she croaked. “I’ll be willing to try anything but something that contains alcohol.”

Colin nodded, “That might be wise.”

“Oh, shove off,” she said as he handed her the glass of water. She gulped it down and her eyes widened, “No, no, stay,” she jumped off the toilet and jerked the lid open again. Colin sighed and took her hair in his hands.

“You know,” he said conversationally. “It seems like you’re the one who was left standing at the altar the way you’re acting.”

She shook as she turned around to face him, wiping off her mouth with some toilet paper. “No, if I was the one left at the altar,” she said shakily. “I would be much, much worse.”

“But you didn’t even love him,” Colin pointed out. “You said so yourself.”

“The humiliation, Colin, the humiliation would make me worse.”

“How do you think Harry’s feeling right now?” he asked.

Ginny shrugged, “I’m not sure. But probably not as bad as me, considering we were both going to get married for the wrong reasons. Me calling it off was probably a relief to him.”

Colin quirked his mouth noncommittally, “Whatever the case, I think you should come have some of this tea I made. Did I tell you I make really good tea?” he asked as he helped her up from the bathroom floor. “My mother says it’s the best in all of England.”









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Disclaimer: Don’t own anything…..

Ginny opened her cookie shop, Tasty Treats, a little late that day. Colin had to walk her down there because she was still a little woozy, even after her three cups of tea and at least four cups of orange juice. The little bell on the door jingled as they walked in.

Colin went behind the counter with Ginny and hung up his jacket on one of the coat hangers. He looked around the clean kitchen. “Do you need any help today?”

Ginny sighed and got out big bowls of cookie dough out of the refrigerator. “Yeah, that would be lovely considering how far behind I am.”

Colin nodded and got some cookies sheets out of a cabinet. He’d helped Ginny in her little shop many times before, that’s what best friends did. “I was thinking about what you said earlier…” Ginny started.

“What thing that I said?” asked Colin, scooping out dough and placing it on the pan.

“About how I was acting like I was the one left standing at the altar.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Have you seen Harry since I called the wedding off?” She asked, “What is he like?”

Colin sniffed, “I’ve seen him.” Ginny motioned for him to continue. “He’s doing okay, better than expected I guess.” He watched Ginny; she nodded dispassionately, grabbing a bag of flour out of her pantry. “Why?”

“You just made me curious, that’s all,” she measured the amount and dumped it in a big mixing bowl.

The Wiz-Phone rang and Ginny jumped up to answer it. “Hello?”

“Hello, this is Pansy Parkinson with Dragon Brooms. We’re having a meeting on Friday that we need snack catering for. Are you up for it?”

“Snack catering? On Friday?” Ginny asked in disbelief, Dragon Brooms wanted her to cater? They were the top quidditch broom company in the world. She swallowed.

“Yes,” snapped Pansy. “Can you do it or not?”

“I can,” Ginny answered quickly. “What kind of snacks do you need? We do have other things besides cookies: sandwiches, cakes, breads, almost anything.” Ginny picked up her wand and summoned a quill and pad.

“Sandwiches, tarts, cakes, breads, cookies, brownies, pastries, whatever,” Pansy said lazily. “Go all out, we’re going to be paying big bucks, there are a lot of influential people that are going to be sitting in on that meeting, so please, provide all of the best.”

Ginny blinked, “How many people are going to be in the meeting?”

“About 40, maybe a little less, depending on who’s going to show up.”

“What time do you need all the food there?” Ginny scribbled the number of people on her pad.

“Around four, tea time,” Pansy answered.

“All right, Friday at four, all my best for forty,” Ginny repeated to her.

“Yes, that’s right, do a good job, Weasley,” Pansy said curtly and hung up.

Ginny turned around and looked at Colin with wide eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows and set down the spoon that he was holding, “What?” he asked.

“I’m going to be catering for Dragon Brooms on Friday. Can you believe it?” Ginny asked. “They have got to be the biggest broom company out there. They’re the ones that crafted the Storm.”

Colin’s eyes got really wide and his mouth made an ‘o’ shape. “No way,” Ginny nodded. “Oh, my fucking gods,” he shook his head. “Think of the publicity.”

“I know!” Ginny said excitedly. “And she said that they were going to be paying me big bucks. Can you believe it? --For my measly food? I don’t know why they didn’t order catering from the Candelabra; everyone knows they’ve got the best food in all of England.”

Colin rolled his eyes at her, “You’ve got the best food; your shop is just so small that not many people take notice of it.”

“Well,” said Ginny. “It’s not like I can afford a bigger one, especially not with what I’m making now, it’s hardly enough to pay my rent on my flat and the rent for this building.” She sighed, “Maybe this job will help me out some.”

“You know it will, it’s Dragon fucking Brooms,” Colin said waving his arms around.

“Colin,” Ginny said smiling. “Quit saying that.”

“What? Fuck?” He asked innocently. She rolled her eyes at him and went back to making her dough.



~*~



Ginny cranked up her radio as soon as she got home and was belting out silly love songs along with the Weird Sisters. She was bopping around her flat, picking up all the mess that she had made the day before, minus the liquor bottles that Colin had very kindly picked up for her.

There was a knock on her door. She turned the radio down and went to answer it. It was Harry. “Well,” she said looking at him a bit curiously. “What can I help you with? Do you want to come in?”

“Sure,” he said and stepped in; taking in the trash can full of bottles. “Have you been okay?”

“I think I should be the one to ask you if you’re okay,” Ginny said walking into the kitchen and putting a kettle on to boil for tea. “I was the one that called off the wedding.” She looked at him, “You aren’t too upset about that are you?”

“I think it was mostly the fact that I wasn’t expecting it. It’s okay now,” he sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. “I guess it wouldn’t have worked out anyways.” He grinned, “I think Rita Skeeter would have even more of field day if I got a divorce, well, more of one than she got with you just calling off the wedding.”

“No hard feelings?” Ginny asked, frowning at him slightly. “I think by the time that I called it off that we both knew it wouldn’t work out.”

Harry shrugged, “No hard feelings. But that isn’t what I came here for.” He swallowed and looked at her, “I came about my mum’s bracelet; I think you still have it.” Ginny looked at him, a faint smile on her lips. “Do you think maybe I could have it back?”

“Gods Harry,” Ginny said a bit indignantly, “I should think so, I wouldn’t want to take your mother’s bracelet from you.”

Harry blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not that…it’s just…”

She smiled and patted his arm, “I know, I know, it’s okay, I really wouldn’t want to keep it from you. I know how much it means to you.” She led him back to her room and started searching through her jewelry box.

“Thanks, Gin,” he said, sitting on her rumpled bed. “I’m really sorry that it didn’t work out…I really thought it would.”

Ginny sighed, “I said don’t worry about it. I’m becoming a bit worried that you aren’t angry with me. All those articles and such, especially that one in Witch Weekly, did you see it? It was horrible.”

The corner of his mouth quirked, “Those things have been written about me all my life. I’ve sort of gotten used to them.”

“Oh,” said Ginny. “I supposed you would have.” She pulled Lily’s bracelet out of her jewelry box and handed it to Harry. “Here you go, good as new.”

“Thanks,” Harry said, standing up. “Well, I should be going now….”

“You sure you don’t want to stay for tea?” Ginny asked, leading him back into the living room.

“I’m afraid I can’t,” he gave her a small smile. “I have a date.”

Ginny’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh really? With who? Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me!” she demanded making him sit on the couch and scurrying off into the kitchen, returning with two cups of tea. “You have to. I promise that as soon as you tell me I’ll let you go, really.”

Harry blushed, “Well, it’s not really that much of a date…”

“Ugh! Harry Potter, don’t be getting all modest on me now!” Ginny said grinning and taking a sip of her tea. “Yeow!!!” She bolted up off of the couch, managing to spill hot tea all down her front. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and she was trying, unsuccessfully, to fan both it and her drenched front. Harry was laughing so hard that he was doubled over. “Harry! Help me!” she said hopping around and fanning herself.

“Sorry,” he choked out. He pulled out his wand and murmured a drying spell.

“Gods,” she said, her voice slightly altered by the fact that her tongue was sticking out of her mouth in a weird sort of angle. “I think I’ve lost all of my taste buds and I might have burns!” she sat back down on her couch.

Harry grinned, “Well, I think I should be going now. I’ll let you nurse that tongue of yours.” He stood up.

She waggled her eyebrows at him, “Sure you don’t want to help?”

Harry laughed, “See you later, Ginny.”

“Yes, well, alright,” she said. “I guess I’ll just have to call Colin over here to help me.” Harry gave her one last smile before he walked out of the door.

“Damn!” she pounded her fist against the couch cushions. “I don’t know who he’s going on that date with.” She leapt off of the couch and scrambled to the door, her feet sliding on the wooden floor. She flung the door open, but he was already gone. “Damn, damn, damn.”

She slammed the door and picked up her phone. “Yes, Colin,” she said into it.

Colin suppressed a laugh, “What’s wrong with your tongue?”

“Oh shut it,” she growled, only the effect was ruined due to her disabled tongue, smiling. “Can you come over here? Please?”

“I guess I could,” Colin apparated into her living room, still holding his phone to his ear, grinning at her.

“You’re stupid,” she said.

“You sound funny,” he said chuckling.

She grinned, “Wanna fix it? My tongue needs some nursing?” She waggled her eyebrows again.

Colin just laughed at her. “You’re crazy right? I’m not nursing your tongue.”

“Fine then, be that way. See if I ever nurse yours,” Ginny said glaring at him; yet again the effect was ruined because her tongue was still sticking out of her mouth.

By now, Colin was rolling on the floor laughing. She kicked him in his side and went to shut herself and her disabled tongue in her room.





A/N: Thanks for reviewing!








Please review!!!!

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. :-)

Disclaimer: I only own Swink and Nick. NOTHING ELSE!

“How much money do you suppose is in there?” Ginny asked. Both she and Colin were sitting in her apartment, staring at the bag.

Colin shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe you should open it and see.”

“Oh, no, Colin, I can’t!” Ginny said. She gave him a look. “What if…what if it’s not as much as I’m expecting and I get let down?”

“What if it’s more than you’re expecting,” Colin countered.

Ginny shrugged, eyes still trained to the bag. “What if I just tuck it in a corner and never look at it again unless there’s some sort of emergency and I really need the money?”

Colin groaned. “Ginny! Just open the bag, look at how much it is, and do your happy dance.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Just like that it’s ‘okay’?” Colin asked.

Ginny looked at him, eyebrows lowered. “What? Now you don’t want me to open it? What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? You’re the one being all indecisive and changing your mind!”

The bell on the door rang as someone stepped into the shop. They both looked up and saw that it was Harry. He was looking at them, quite amused. “Another lover’s spat?” he asked.

Colin snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Only a moron would want to be with…” his eyes widened. “Er, no offense, Harry.”

Harry shrugged, “None taken.”

Ginny wasn’t saying much. She had her elbow propped up on the counter and her chin resting in the palm of her hand, fingers curled upwards and tips resting on her face. “What’s up, Gins?”

“Nothing.”

Colin rolled his eyes. “She took a catering job for Dragon Brooms, and now that she has her pay she won’t look at how much it is.”

“Why didn’t you just look?” Harry asked.

Colin flushed and made some vague motions in the air with his hands. “It’s her money.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Harry picked up the bag, loosened the draw strings and dumped it on the counter. Coins flew out on top of each other, clinking loudly, some rolling off the counter, sending Colin jumping for them. Ginny stared at the coins.

After Colin got all of them put back on the counter, Ginny counted them. She looked up at Harry and Colin, her eyebrows raised. “That’s...that’s 300 galleons.”

“Good gods, Gins, you could open a whole other shop with all that.” Colin looked at the money.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “That must have been some pretty good food you made.”

Ginny tilted her head to the side. “I catered for Dragon Brooms. Maybe this is just the standard price they pay. Probably had nothing to do with food quality.”

“It might have had something to do with the man that hired you…” Colin said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Oh, shut it, Colin. I put a pie in his face, it has nothing to do with that,” Ginny grumbled.

“You did what?” Harry asked, surprised.

“It was an accident!”

“Yeah, and she almost had a heart attack over it,” Colin added.

“I did not!”

“Yes, yes you did.”

“Did not.”

“Did.”

“Not.”

“Not.”

“Did.”

"Ha!" Colin said, jumping up and pointing at Ginny. "You admit it!"

Ginny gave him a surprised look. "That was a very low and dirty trick, Creevey," she said.

“Alright! Alright! Cut that out children.” Harry said, smiling. Ginny and Colin were looking at him insolently.

“He started it,” Ginny said pointing at Colin.

Colin moved like he was going to bite off the tip of her finger. She snapped it back and glared. “I did not,” he said.

“Okay,” Harry said. “Who started it doesn’t matter. I’m ending it.” He sighed and raked his finger through his hair.

“You sound like my mother,” Ginny groused. Harry gave her a look and she raised her hands defensively, “Just saying!”

Harry shook his head. “This is not what I came here for.” He looked at Ginny. “ I actually came to see if you’d like to get a drink.”

“A drink?”

“Yes, I do believe that’s what I said.”

“But didn’t you…just the other day, didn’t you say that you had a date with someone? And if I’m not mistaken, aren’t we…over?” Ginny asked, slightly confused.

Harry blinked, “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. My date.”

“Oh, right, silly me,” Ginny said blushing.

“Really, Gins,” Colin said grinning. “You have got to get over yourself.”

Ginny glared at him. “And you’ve got to learn when to shut up.” She sniffed. “Colin will you stay here and work the shop while I’m gone? Promise I won’t be too long.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Colin waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t mind a bit.”

“Thanks, you’re a dear,” Ginny gave him and peck on the cheek and darted out the door with Harry in tow.

The door shut and the bell rang behind them. “So, where too?” Ginny asked.

Harry looked around. “Maybe it’s best if we don’t go out, there are still lurking reporters.”

“To my flat then? I certainly still have plenty to drink,” said Ginny. “Apparate?”

“Sure.”

They both apparated to her flat, Harry landing in the living room gracefully and Ginny toppling over the couch, again. She always seemed to do that, not being able to really get the whole apparating thing down pat. She smoothed her robes, catching Harry's amused smile.

"Agh," she said. "Don't give me that look. I can't help that my distance gauge is all out of whack."

He nodded. "I'm sure you can't. But..."

"Oh yes!" Ginny clapped her hands together and grinned. "Ha, we came here to discuss your date. Tell me who it was!! You didn't last time, and I feel absolutely cheated. How could you not have told me? I am your friend, right?"

"Of course you're my friend, Gins," Harry reassured. "Remember that you burned your tongue?" he asked, eyes glimmering. "That's why I didn't tell you, you were too worked up already."

Ginny nodded understandingly. "Well, you go on and sit down on the couch, I'll go and see what I've got to drink in the kitchen. Don't move a muscle," she said walking into the kitchen. "I want to hear about this date of yours."

Harry sat on the couch, hearing something crunch under his weight. It was a magazine. He picked it up and saw that it was one from that week, the front page headline was glaring up at him. "Harry Potter's Bride: Not Just Cold Feet". On the subheading there were sentences proclaiming her cheating on Harry. He furrowed his eyebrows and opened it up, turning the pages to find the one that would supposedly give evidence to this cheating.

"Would you like soda, tea, or something alcoholic?" Ginny called from the kitchen.

"Soda is fine," Harry said. He found the article and skimmed it. His worried look quickly turned to one of mild amusement. The writer of the article seemed to think that Ginny was having a secret and illustrious affair with Colin Creevey. Despite the funniness of it all, Ginny was getting the brunt of the breakup. Everyone was sorry and sympathetic for Harry, The-Boy-Who-Lived. But the public had turned Ginny into a tramp.

Ginny came back into the living room, carrying two cups in her hand. She looked from the magazine to Harry then back to the magazine. "I hope you don't believe a word of what you read," she said quietly. She sat down on the couch next to him, handing him his cup.

Harry shook his head. "How could I believe this? I've been around the media enough to know that they overplay everything. But really Ginny, why would they suspect Colin?" He nudged her suggestively in the ribs with his elbow.

"Ow." She rubbed her injured ribs and smiled. "I have no idea. It's not like I do anything with Colin. Anyone who knows me, knows that we've been best friends since Hogwarts. The last thing we would ever do would be to have a relationship like that."

Harry shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen."

"Harry!" Ginny smacked Harry's arm. "Don't let Colin hear you saying that. He might barf on you." She gave him a look. "Well, we didn't come here to discuss me and Colin's non-existing relationship." She sighed. "Stop trying to change the subject."

"Look, Ginny," said Harry. "I just wish that this whole breakup didn't effect you so badly."

"It hasn't," Ginny denied.

"Then what was this Colin told me about you falling off of your balcony...drunk?"

"Ugh," Ginny groaned, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Why did he tell you that? I told him not to tell anyone."

"I'm glad he told me. Aren't I your friend?"

"Of course. It's just all so embarrassing. I hardly ever get drunk, in fact, I think that was the first time ever." Ginny took a sip of her tea. "It's not all that bad, everyone blaming me. You kind of get used to it."

Harry gave her a stern look. "But it isn't all your fault. Why should you have to get used to it just because I'm Harry Potter?"

Ginny shrugged. "Harry, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I know what they're saying isn't true, and you do too, that's all that matters to me." She huffed. "Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me who you had this date with."

The tips of Harry's ears turned pink. "It's Hermione," he mumbled.

Ginny grinned. "What was that? I don't think I quite heard."

Harry glared at her. "You heard. I said Hermione."

"That's so cute!" Ginny sighed. "Harry and Hermione. Now why didn't I ever think of that. For a moment there I thought you were going to say Lavender Brown or something like that."

"No," said Harry. "That's Ron."

"Ronnie is going out with Lavender?" Ginny asked, setting her tea down. "No way, he can't be. Why is he going out with her?"

Harry laughed. "I don't know, that's a question that you'll have to ask him yourself."

"Well, he better have a good reason. I never did like her that much...she liked Trelawney too much." Ginny said, nodding.

Harry cleared his throat. "Maybe I should be going now. I told you who my date was, just like you wanted me to."

"What?" Ginny asked, scandalized. "You don't want to stay and talk about it some more?" She sniffed.

"Erm, no. It's just that I'm...well, I'm supposed to be meeting her for dinner soon." Harry said, blushing slightly.

"Oh, yes, of course. Don't let me hold you back then!" Ginny said, grinning. "Rawr, go get her tiger!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure." He put down his cup on the table and leaned over to give Ginny a kiss on the cheek. "Talk to you later, Gins."

"Alright," said Ginny. "Be sure not to get into too much trouble now." She winked and he disapparated.

Ginny sighed to her apartment, and decided that she needed to get back to work. There was no telling what Colin could have messed up while she was gone.

---

A Week Later

"Ta, Colin, I'm off for my lunch break. Be back in an hour!" Ginny called over her shoulder, picking up her wand and purse as she left Tasty Treats.

Colin called a hasty "Good bye!" after her as a surge of little kids drifted to the counter with wrung thin mothers trying to get their kids something to keep them quiet for the remainder of their afternoon errands.

Ginny stepped out into the cobblestone street and looked for somewhere good to eat. Normally, she might have just stayed at the store and had a sandwich there or something, but today was really busy, probably from the publicity they had gotten for doing that job for Dragon Brooms. But she had just wanted to get away for a while. She'd have to make sure to hurry so that she could relieve Colin after not to long.

The Candelabra look awfully appetizing, but there was too long of a wait for the food, strike that. She looked around the rest of the street, eyeing the restaurants thoughtfully, trying to decide on the one that would sate her hunger the best. Finally, she decided that The Leaky Cauldron sounded just fine, and if she was lucky she might run into someone she knew there.

She set off down the street, making her way to The Leaky Cauldron.

There was a mass of people crowding the street in front of the Dragon Brooms building. She looked at it curiously, poking her way through the sea of people, hoping to get to the other side unscathed. But someone grabbed her arm.

"Hullo! I'm so glad that you could make it. We've been waiting for you for ages you know, we were starting to think that you wouldn't show," said a man clad in a very expensive robe. He had on immaculate shoes with little tassels, and he was wearing an Armani tie, did you ever doubt that Armani wasn't a wizard? Well, anyways, he was wearing his super fancy clothes as he led her off through the crowd at break neck speed.

"Wait! I don't know what you're talking about!" she cried over the voices of the people.

The man looked at her and laughed, as if to humor her. "Why? Didn't you know that you had a photo shoot today?" he asked. "The promotional one?"

"Photo shoot?" Now she was confused. "I've never heard of any--"

"I'm sure it must have just slipped your mind. Surely, Miss Swink, you can't have forgotten that you've signed a contract of the promotional pictures for the newest of our line. The Aero?" He gave her a look. "Ring a bell, Miss?"

She searched her memory, where had she heard the name Swink before? Oh gods, the man thought that she was Alexandra Swink for Ireland. Alexandra Swink, the quidditch player. "Oh no!" she said. "I'm not--"

He gave her a look. "Of course you are, come along now. I'd be able to make out that red hair of yours anywhere."

She groaned and put a hand on her head. "Goddamned hair, always getting me into trouble," she muttered.

"What was that?" the man asked.

"Nothing. But I really do think that you've got the wrong--"

"Nonsense. I was given a picture of you, I'd know you anywhere."

He pulled her through the last of the crowd and she vaguely remembered hearing people call out, "Alex! Alex! Can I have your autograph?" Or, “May I have your siggy?”

She shook her head confusedly as the man held her out to some make-up people. How can these people mistake her for Alexandra Swink? She didn't even look like the bloody quidditch play, minus the hair...and the eyes...and height...and.

"Oh fuck it," Ginny said out loud without realizing it.

One of the make-up ladies gave her a dubious look. "You okay, Miss Swink?" Ginny gave up, she really did just give up. She supposed that she did look a little bit like the Irish seeker. She was small and red-headed, and also had the same brown eyes. They didn't look exactly alike, but she had been mistaken for her before. She sighed as they pushed her down into a chair.

"I'm not--" The man was back and he had cut her off.

"I'm Nick. If you need anything don't hesitate to call for me," he said. "As soon as Mrs. Fielding is done with you," Ginny assumed this was the make-up artist, "We'll send you in to meet with Mr. Malfoy."

Ginny wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or cry. Surely seeing Malfoy would get her out of this predicament. He would know that she wasn't Swink. She let out a long sigh and looked at Nick, smiling. "Okay."

He seemed a bit taken aback. So far she had been protesting even coming in, now she was being complacent? "Well," he back up. "I guess that I'll be going now. See you in a while."

"Yeah, see you," she said, sitting back in the make-up chair and deciding to enjoy this little free make over while she could. It wasn't often that she got treated to a full facial.

-

"Alright, Miss Swink," Nick had come back into the make-up room.

The ladies in there had to practically rip Ginny's robes away from her and give her new ones. Something that they didn't understand at all. They had curled her hair and covered her face with every make-up imaginable. But, Ginny had to admit, she did look good. Better than she normally did anyways.

Her hair had been curled and was piled up on top of her head nicely, with stray tendrils framing her face and a few trailing down her neck. They had applied very nice brownish-rose eye shadow and a very pretty pinky lipstick to her face. They left her with a rather matte look that required lots of make-up products. Odd. They put on a bit of mascara and curled her lashes, making them appear longer than normal. Her Tasty Treat robes had been taken and replaced with dark blue robes and stuck to her in a sort of unfamiliar way that caused her to pull them away from her body from time to time.

"Come on." Nick said, not even noticing the difference in her appearance.

"I'm coming," Ginny said, picking up her bag. She glanced at her watch. It was well over an hour, hopefully Colin would be understanding. What was she thinking, of course he would be; he was her best friend, right?

She followed him out of the make-up/dressing room and down a long hall. He knocked on a door and waited for a "Come in." He pushed the door open and revealed Draco sitting at the head of a large table. He was sitting alone with papers and folders all spread out in front of him, and was in the process of going over all of them.

"Here's Miss Swink," Nick said, pushing Ginny into the room.

Draco raised and eyebrow and looked at Nick. "This is Swink?" He looked at Ginny.

"Er." Nick looked at Ginny. "Yeah?"

Draco shook his head, "This is not Swink."

"Are you sure because--"

Draco looked at Ginny again, "Are you Alexandra Swink?" He had a small smirk on his lips.

"No," Ginny said. "I tried telling him, but he wouldn't listen."

"Wh-What?" Nick spluttered.

Ginny sighed, "I tried to tell you. But, like I said, you wouldn't listen. Really, you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble." Draco was watching them, slightly amused.

"Then who the hell are you?" Nick asked.

She frowned at him. "I'm Ginny Weasley, the owner of Tasty Treats."

"Oh," Nick said, face falling. "Lovely chocolate chip cookies,” he said dismally.

"Thanks."

"Aren't you also that woman who dumped Harry Potter?" Nick asked, eyes widening in recognition.

Ginny ruffled. "It was more of a joint agreement."

"Right," Nick said, his eyes were now lit up. "And you had that affair with Colin Creevey?"

"NO!" Ginny growled. "Shut up! That didn't happen. Colin is my best friend." She glared menacingly. "You are insane."

Draco chuckled. "That's enough Nick, out." Nick bowed his head and walked out of the room. "Sit, Weasley," he commanded.

Ginny sniffed, but took a seat not far from his.

"Now tell me, how on earth did he get the impression that you're Swink?" Draco asked, folding his hands on top of the table.

She put her elbow on the table and her forehead on her palm. "I was on my way to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, and I was making my way through that ridiculous crowd that's gathered in front of your building and was pulled in by Nick. I tried telling him that I wasn't Swink, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"I see," Draco said. He let out a low sigh. "Alex hasn't shown up."

"Oh."

"And we have all the photographers assembled."

"That's awful really, do you suppose I should go then?" she asked, starting to get up from the table. "To get out of your way." She gave a weak smile.

Draco snorted. "No, stay." He gave her and appraising look. "How many people thought you were Swink?"

"Come again? What are you getting at?" Ginny asked, sitting back down quickly.

Draco shrugged. "It probably wouldn't have worked anyways." He sat back in the chair. "You have a much different nose than her."

"My nose?" Ginny's hand flew up to her nose self-consciously. "What's wrong with my nose?"

He rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with your nose. All I said was that you don’t have the same nose as Swink." There was still a look in his eye that didn't quite make Ginny feel as though that was exactly the connotation implied.

"Oh." She looked around quickly. "Then I suppose I should be going."

"Ginny," he said with a plaintive look, and his head inclined. "Sit?" She fell back into her chair. The look on his face had changed her mind.





TBC





[A/N: Erm, I’ve decided that for this fic that 1 galleon=2 American dollars. I don’t know how much they really are, I just sort of made it up. I’m still hyper, this time from mass amounts of Ricola. But that’s alright. I think this chapter turned out okay. What do you think? Someone asked if Ginny was always going to be so shy. But, don’t worry, really it’s mostly only around Draco. Who wouldn’t be nervous around a gorgeous guy like that? I know I would. But she’s going to grow a back bone, don’t worry! Thanks for the reviews! You’re all pals!]



Next time: We meet Swink, who is more than you think. And Ginny gets flustered and annoyed. And generally it’s just another of my crazy chappies.

Oh! You guys want to be emailed when this is updated? Leave me your email addy in a review and I’ll make sure to put together a list just for this story, and email you every time that I update! Deal?

A/N:
Thanks for all the reviews, they brightened my day.



As the Cookie Crumbles
Chapter Five





Draco watched Ginny with a look that made her pull the clingy material of her robes away from her stomach every five seconds, hoping desperately that she didn't have any visible rolls. He had sat back with his legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. He was completely too relaxed for Ginny to be in any way comfortable.

Ginny reached up and touched her nose, remembering what Draco had said. Maybe she should remind him. "My nose, it's not the same," she said.

Draco wrinkled his eyebrows and looked at her. "Yes, I know." He gave her one more long look. "But I don't think that anyone will notice, not for now anyways. They'll believe anything I tell them."

Ginny snorted.

"What was that for?" Draco asked.

"'They'll believe anything I tell them,'" she parroted, making an arrogant face.

"I do not sound like that," Draco said, glaring slightly.

"Oh yes, yes you do," Ginny said, trying her best not to laugh. This seemed to be a serious situation that she had just ruined. But then again, it wasn't really her fault, Draco was the one that went and said that everyone believes anything he tells them. She had to bring up her hand to stifle a giggle that was threatening to peel out of her mouth. It was amazing how full of himself Draco was.

Draco gave her a measuring look. "You'll fill in for Alex? Until she gets here?" Ginny noticed that he did not say: "I need you to fill in." Draco would never need anyone to do anything, why would he? He's Draco Malfoy. Girls would probably line up on the streets if they thought it might be possible that he would pick them to fill in on a photo shoot for one of the most popular female quidditch players ever.

All girls except Ginny Weasley.

"Why should I?" Ginny asked. "What's in it for me? I was supposed to be back at work," she glanced at her watch, "Two hours ago." Her eyes widened. "Oh my gods, something could have happened! What if Colin..." she trailed off and her eyes darted towards the door. Her fingers itched to turn the knob and let her out to run back to the store.

“I’m sure that nothing happened, and that Colin is perfectly capable of handling the store. You wouldn’t have left him if he wasn’t,” Draco said reasonably.

Ginny tilted her head to the side, thinking. If she did stay and pretend to be Swink then she could probably make a bit of extra money…and if she put that money together with what she has earned last week on the catering job, she would probably have enough money to open a larger store, therefore increasing her profits and business as a whole.

But then, on the other hand, Colin, despite the fact that he was her best friend, wasn’t as reliable as he seemed. Sure, he could handle most of the small things, but last time she had left him alone in the shop, what did he do? –He burned the cookies. So that means that he could be burning down the shop as they spoke! Then where would she be? Then she wouldn’t have a building to sell at all and everything would go down the drain.

Ginny looked back up at Draco from her hands, that were currently twisting around each other in her lap. “I’m not sure. I trust Colin, but not enough to leave him with my shop any longer.” She glanced at her watch to prove her point.

Draco leaned forward on the meeting table with his elbows. “But, did you think of the benefits?”

She had, and they were promising. But not nearly as safe as hurrying back to the shop before Colin could inflict permanent damage. “The disadvantages outweigh the benefits,” she said.

“How so?” Draco persisted.

“What if he burns down the shop?” she voiced.

He arched an eyebrow. “Do you realize how unlikely that is? You must have smoke detectors.”

It was true. She had invested in some very nice smoke detectors that were charmed to set off sprinklers that would find the fire and put them out immediately. There was a very low chance that Colin could burn down the building.

She sighed and slumped in her chair. “What do I get out of this?”

“I had a feeling that would be coming,” Draco said. He smirked and settled back in his chair. Ginny wanted to smack that smirk off his face. Just because she asked about conditions didn’t mean that she was already giving in. Just considering her options. “Maybe a few more galleons?” he suggested.

“A few?” Now it was Ginny’s turn to arch an eyebrow. “I’m going to be pretending to be a quidditch player.” Suddenly, that thought made her stop. “Wait, couldn’t I get in trouble for impersonating someone like that?”

Draco blinked. “Not if no one finds out.”

“How can you be sure that no one will find out?”

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take.” His eyes were dancing.

“Well, I’m not!” Ginny said, eyebrows slamming together. She felt like her hair might have actually turned into fire she was so mad. How dare he mock her like that? Like she didn’t even matter? “Something could go really wrong. And I would be the one getting in trouble.”

“I’m the one hiring you to do it. I would get a considerable amount of the blame as well.” Draco said. He noticed that her stubborn expression was still cemented to her face. He expelled a low sigh. “Really, the only reason I’m asking you to do this, is that we need a few pictures taken too keep the advertisers happy. As long as they know we’ve been taking some, and have seen a few, they’ll be happy. The pictures taken of you would most likely not be used. We would reschedule Alex.”

“Then why don’t you just wait until you can reschedule with her?” Ginny asked.

“Because,” Draco said in a low, irritated voice. “We need to get our advertising guys off our backs by showing them that we are working on the pictures.”

She blinked. “Okay, so if I do let you take pictures of me, they won’t be used?”

“No. They’re only for evidence,” Draco said slowly.

Ginny mulled this over in her head. The possibility of Colin burning down the shop had already been eliminated, and the possibility of her getting in trouble for impersonating a quidditch player because the pictures weren’t actually going to be used for anything. That meant there were no cons that she could think of. There were only pros, pros for her business, pros that could make her more money, and that’s what she needed: money.

She looked up at Draco. “How long is it going to take?” She didn’t need to sound like she wanted the job.

A small smile graced his lips. “I knew you’d see things my way.”’

Ginny snorted.

“Come on then,” said Draco. He stood up and opened the door. “Let’s get you down to the photography wing.”

“You have a photography wing?” Ginny asked, trying to conceal her astonishment. This was a quidditch broom company, she didn’t know they had a photography wing.

“Yes,” Draco said, giving her strange look. “We have to advertise…and advertisement usually calls for pictures.”

“Oh, right.” Boy, did she feel stupid.

-

“Alright,” said the photographer. He gave Ginny a sort of agitated look. “Do you think you could look my way a bit more?---That’s good. Tilt your chin just a –good!” Ginny was standing with her back to a fake quidditch pitch, feeling very stupid. She was supposed to be looking like a “winner”. At least that’s what the photographer, Kirk, had told her. All she could think was that she was glad Draco left to attend to other matters – that at least spared her the worst of the embarrassment. And best of all, no one had suspected that she wasn’t Swink.

Kirk went on taking pictures of her for a while longer. Having her straddle the broom, hover in mid air and other various positions. It made Ginny glad she didn’t have to do things like this regularly. It grated her nerves.

“Just two more pictures,” Kirk said from behind his camera.

“Pictures? Was my deal cancelled?” a voice came from the doorway of the studio.

Ginny almost fell over. Alexandra Swink was standing in the doorway eyeing Ginny curiously. Kirk looked from Ginny to Swink and back to Ginny again. “Wait…hold up. I didn’t know Swink had a twin.”

“I don’t have a twin,” said Swink. She sauntered in, frowning thoughtfully at Ginny. “But if I did, it would certainly be her. Only, I think her nose is off.” Ginny’s hand flew up to her aforementioned nose. Swink looked at Kirk, “Why would you be taking pictures of her? Because she looks like me?”

Kirk blinked. “I thought she was you.”

“She was,” Draco said. He had walked in. He wrapped his arm around Swink’s waist and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Hullo,” he greeted. Ginny rubbed her forehead and stared at Draco. Did he just kiss Swink?

“Darling,” Swink said slowly. “What is this girl doing here? Why is Kirk taking pictures of her? I thought he was taking pictures of me today.”

By now, Kirk was looking between Ginny and Swink trying to figure out how he’d missed the differences in their appearance. Draco had a sort of amused smile on his face. “You weren’t here when you said you would be, and I have deadlines I have to meet. I can’t wait on you forever,” said Draco. “We weren’t going to use these pictures, but I needed to have them taken to let the advertising department know that I am getting things done for this new line.”

“Oh,” said Swink. “I see. And you thought she looked like me?” Swink looked at Ginny with an appraising look. “What did you do? Just pull her off the street?” If someone had really not liked Swink, they might have said that she was looking at Ginny arrogantly. Ginny furrowed her brow, why was Swink talking about her like she wasn’t there? She had a voice.

“Actually,” Draco said dryly. “Nick pulled her in off of the street thinking that she was you.”

“How could he do that?” Swink asked, assuming a prima donna voice. “She’s much plainer than me.”

This is where Kirk stepped in. “She has a very classic sort of a beauty.”

Swink smirked. “See? I’m classic.”

“Er, really I was talking about this other girl,” Kirk said pointing a finger at Ginny.

Swink blinked and looked at Draco. “Did you just hear what he said?”

Draco nodded. “I did.”

“He just said that she had a classic beauty.”

“Yes. But he didn’t say that you didn’t have any beauty either, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Swink frowned. Ginny thought that if she kept frowning like that she was going to get frown lines at a very young age. And then where would her modeling career be?

“I am beautiful, right, Kirk?” Swink asked.

“Of course!” Kirk said enthusiastically. “Extremely beautiful.” Kirk smiled at her. “And you fly beautifully as well.”

Swink grinned. “I like this guy,” she said to Draco. “You should definitely keep him.”

The corner of Draco’s mouth turned up. “I had never even thought of letting him go.”

“Right, of course, you knew he was good from the start didn’t you, darling?”

“Right.” Draco raised his eyebrows when Swink looked away. “Why don’t you go to makeup and let them get you some robes and things to wear. I’ll meet you back down here later.”

“Certainly.” Swink kissed him, she was so tall that she didn’t have to stand on her tiptoes or anything. Ginny was envious, being as short as she was. Swink sauntered out of the studio, swaying her hips.

Ginny sighed. “I guess you won’t be needing me anymore. I’ll just be on my way out…” She stepped off of the platform she had been standing on. For some reason her stomach had little butterflies twittering around in it.

“Wait, step into my office in about five minutes and I’ll give you your pay,” Draco said. Then he turned to talk to Kirk.

“But…Swink is here…” Ginny looked at him.

“Yeah,” Draco raised an eyebrow. “But you held up your end of the bargain. Why should I drop mine?” When she didn’t say anything, he added, “Just because I’m a Malfoy doesn’t mean that I don’t honor a deal.” He turned away from her, ending the discussion.

Ginny stepped out of the studio and saw Nick standing in the hallway. “Can you—’’

“Come with me,” he said. “You’re to wait in Mr. Malfoy’s office.” Ginny chose not to respond and followed him down a series of corridors until they came upon the office that she had been in not too long ago. “Just sit here and wait.”

“Like I would do anything else,” Ginny muttered under her breath as Nick shut the door.

She studied the various awards and certificates on Draco’s ego wall. There were a lot of them, at least twenty were for the types of brooms he had produced.

The door swung open and Draco walked it, a piece of parchment was pressed to his hand and he was scrawling a note on it with a quill, not even looking up to see if Ginny was in the room. He walked around his desk and settled into his large leather chair and continued writing on the parchment. Ginny started feeling a little ignored.

She cleared her throat and Draco looked up.

“Oh, right, you’re here,” he said putting down the quill. He pulled open one of the drawers on his desk, and as he did so, Ginny craned her neck slightly to see what he had been scribbling away at on his parchment. It said something about charity. She shrugged and sat back.

Draco produced another drawstring bag, much like the one that he had given her on her catering job. He put in to the desk and pushed it towards her, watching her. Ginny twisted her hands then reached out for the bag.

“Did you ever have lunch, Weasley?” he asked.

Ginny frowned. She had been so caught up in the Swink thing that she hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t eaten. She glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall. It read 5:13. She felt her stomach twist. She was hungry. Good thing she worked at Tasty Treats, she could grab something there.

“No,” she finally answered. “I haven’t.”

Draco rubbed his forehead. “Right, then go on. I’m sure you could eat a horse.”

Something about his tone made Ginny give him a long look before she stood from the chair that she was sitting in. “Er, bye,” she said and scurried out of the office.

-

“You did what?!?!” Colin’s eyes bulged. “No way.”

“Yes, way.” Ginny said. They were both staring at the bag of money again. Both of them refused to open it.

“And people fell for it?” Colin asked, studying Ginny’s face. “I think they’re all loony. Can’t they see that she’s like a freaking Amazon compared to you?”

Ginny shook her head. “I didn’t tell them I was Swink to begin with.”

“She’s like tall!—And you…you’re short.”

Ginny sniffed. “I’m not that short. I’m average.”

Colin snorted. “Yeah, maybe for a fourth year.”

“Shut up—’’

“Are you two at it again? I swear, every time I see you, you two are fighting,” Hermione said. She walked into the shop with a light sweater tossed over her shoulder.

“We aren’t fighting,” Colin said.

“Yeah,” said Ginny. “We’re having a disagreement.”

“Oh, right,” Hermione nodded. “Of course, you guys wouldn’t fight. No, never,” Hermione shook her head.

Colin lowered his eyebrows. “Sarcasm killed the cat, Hermione.”

Hermione’s eyebrows flew up, “Where did you come up with that?”

He shrugged. “Dunno, it just sounded smart.”

It was Ginny’s turn to snort.

“You shut up,” Colin said, thwacking her lightly on the back of the head. Ginny punched him back on the shoulder, which caused him to pull her into a head-lock and give her a major noogie.

“Colin! Stop,” Ginny said through giggles.

“I swear you two act like you’re still at Hogwarts.” Hermione said with a wistful sigh.

Ginny grinned. “Yeah, and you love it.”

“This isn’t what I came here to talk about.” Hermione said.

“Then what did you come for?” Colin asked.

“OH! I know!” Ginny bounced.

Hermione frowned. “You do?”

“Yeah, it’s about Harry isn’t it? I know you two are going out, he already told me,” Ginny nodded sagely.

“Er, yeah, we are, but that isn’t what I came here for.”

“It isn’t?” Ginny’s smile fell. “It isn’t bad news is it?”

“No.”

“Tell us!” Colin half shouted.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “I was getting there.” Colin sighed and motioned for her to continue. “Anyways, Ginny, do you remember Seamus Finnigan?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“He’s back in England, we went to Hogwarts with him.”

“Yes…I know.”

Hermione smiled. “What I’m getting at is that I think you and Seamus should try a date. What do you think?”

“Try a date?” Ginny wrinkled her eyebrows. “I don’t want to try a date. I just got out of a relationship, why would I want to place myself in another one?”

“You can’t give up men altogether.” Hermione said.

Ginny looked at Colin. “I haven’t! I’ve still got him around haven’t I?”

“For some reason, I don’t think that was a complement,” Colin mused.

Ginny patted his shoulder, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Anyways, about Seamus.”

“No.”

“Ginny! You can’t answer me like that! Just one date. That’s all I ask. Just go on one date and I won’t ask you again,” Hermione pleaded.

Ginny closed her eyes. It’s not like there were any other guys lining up on the street for her. No guys she knew showed any romantic interest in her. What could one date hurt, really? “One date,” she agreed.

Hermione grinned. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”

“Right.”

“Do you have a date for me too?” Colin asked, big-eyed.

“Er…sorry, Colin. I promise I’ll look though,” Hermione said, a bit worried from the expression on his face.

Colin smiled. “I was just kidding.”

“Oh, right,” Hermione glanced at her watch. “Well, I’ve got to go, I’ll see you guys later, oh, I’ll call you, Ginny, tonight.”

“Alright, bye Hermione.”

“Yeah, bye!” Hermione left the shop, letting the door swing shut behind her. Colin looked at Ginny and raised an eyebrow. “Seamus? Seamus Finnegan?” He blinked for a moment, “Doesn’t he play for Ireland? The quidditch team?”



















Review.

VF: Hey all. I know it’s taken me a long time to write this chapter—but never fear! I have done it. I was concentrating on HSNT more there for a little while. Sorry. I wrote out the whole outline of this chapter on my finger nails with a pencil. Yes, I know, weird—but we were doing our standardized testing, TAKS Reading, and we couldn’t have anything once we were done but a book—and stupid me didn’t bring one. So I was brainstorming ATCC on my nails when I was done. Nifty, eh? ::shrugs:: Got it done, didn’t it?

Disclaimer: I only remotely own Swink. Everything else I happily credit to the splendiferous J.K. Rowling. Where would us HPFandom nerds be without her? (I know I’d be hella bored—heh, heh, stole your word, Ambero!!<--And no…am not referring to myself in third person…)

-------------------------------

As the Cookie Crumbles

Chapter 6

“How about this one?” Ginny asked, slipping yet another dress over her head. This was a light, flowy pink dress—one she’d always loved.

Colin was lounging on her bed, his back against the headboard and his legs flung out over her bed. He was obviously very comfortable in this setting. He looked up from his magazine to see the dress. He tilted his head to the side and squinted. “Nah. Not pink, and don’t you think that dress is a bit thin to be wearing in November—not to mention the end of November? It’s freezing out.”

Ginny turned around and rolled her eyes, pulling the dress up over her head, just to root through her closet to see if she could find another one. “Thanks, mother,” she said.

Colin looked back down at his magazine, a small smile on his face. “You say that now, but you’ll be thanking me when you’re wearing a nice warm dress because of me.” He wiggled a foot and bent down to scratch it.

“This one?” Ginny asked, turning back around. It was a dark blue dress with a very low dipping back.

Colin narrowed his eyes. “Is that the dress I think it is?” he asked carefully.

“Yes,” Ginny ground out. It was the dress she’d worn when she broke things off with Harry—she wouldn’t wear it normally, but she was getting low on options having tried on just about everything in her closet. “Gods, Colin, I swear you’re so picky.”

He merely said, “Don’t swear, Ginny dearest.” And promptly went back to his magazine. Ginny gave him a suspicious look, which he totally missed, before she took off the blue dress and looked for another one. She grabbed one last black dress from the back of her closet. After she pulled it down over her head, she glanced over at Colin and saw him gulp, eyes widening at something he was looking at in the magazine.

“What are you reading, Colin?” she asked curiously.

“Huh?” he squeaked, looking up quickly. He lifted the magazine up so that she could see the cover.

It was Witch Weekly.

“What in Merlin’s name are you reading Witch Weekly for?” Ginny demanded, raising a stern eyebrow.

Colin let out a cough. “Well—it’s got lovely cooking articles.”

Ginny’s eyes narrowed instantly. “Colin Creevey—do not try to pull that shit with me. I know perfectly well that you aren’t interested in cooking articles.”

Colin’s eyebrows flew up. “Why would you say a thing like that? I love cooking. I spend all of my free time with you in your shop, do I not?”

“Colin…” Ginny warned.

“It’s true!” Colin exclaimed, his voice going an octave higher than normal.

Ginny rolled her eyes—she would find out later. “So what about this dress?” she did a little twirl.

“Mmm, I think you should go with the first black dress you tried on. That looked best—now that I’ve seen all the others.”

“You’re such a prat. Why couldn’t you have just told me that in the beginning?”

“I had to see what else you had.”

“You’ve seen my entire wardrobe modeled ten times over.”

“True.”

Ginny glared at him—another glare he didn’t see, as he was immersed in his magazine. She pulled the dress off, reaching for the first black dress, the one that had ruffles on the bottom—it was lying conveniently near Colin’s elbow. She darted forward and grabbed the magazine out of his hand—her eyes widening instantly.

“Oi!” Colin said, jumping at her, trying to grab in from her hands. Too late though, the damage was done.

“Colin!” Ginny shrieked, jumping off of the bed. “I can’t believe you!”

“What?” Colin yelled, the tips of his ears turning pink. “Your brothers’ gave it to me.”

“Fred and George?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes,” he murmured.

“I can’t believe you. You’d rather look at witch porn than me! I’m standing here in my knickers changing dresses and you’re looking at a magazine!!!! Playwitch no less!!” Ginny said, collapsing in hysteric giggles.

Colin’s cheeks flushed bright red. “Gods, Gin. I can’t look at you like that. You’re…Ginny.” He glared at the still giggling Ginny, and said smoothly, “You do nothing for me.”

She straightened up. “What? Nothing for you? Come on, Colin, you’re a male.”

Colin nodded. “Yes, I’m a male—and you’re a Ginny.”

Ginny huffed, “No need to make it sound as if I’m a different species.” She hurriedly tugged on the black dress…the one with the ruffles on the bottom, and walked into her bathroom.

Colin rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. “Merlin help whatever man she actually marries.”

----------------------

Seamus rang the doorbell right on time. Ginny answered the door, make-up and black dress in place. Colin was hiding in the coat closet, peering through the little slits in the slatted door; he was looking for any edgy behavior that Ginny might not pick up on.

Ginny’s heart fluttered slightly as Seamus looked at her with his dark blue eyes. “Hello,” he said with a heart-warming smile. Ginny blinked a second before she regained her composure. Seamus was very sexy. He had dark blond hair, which when paired with his dark blue eyes, could knock a girl off her feet. Not to mention that he was incredibly built. Must come from being a quidditch player.

“Hello,” returned Ginny.

Seamus held out a rose. Ginny’s eyebrows flew up. A pink rose on the first date? How sweet of him. “Thanks,” she said, beaming at him.

“No problem,” he said. Ginny went and put it in a vase, and set the vase on the center of her dining table. “Ready?” he asked. She nodded and wove her arm through his outstretched elbow.

Moments later, they arrived at La Bonne Forchette. Ginny wrinkled her nose and chose not to say anything. It certainly wasn’t the classiest place, but who was she to judge?

----------------------

“Knock, knock!”

Draco looked up from the papers he was working on at his desk. There was a quill in his hand, poised over a paper, his eyebrows and been wrinkled in concentration. He saw Alex standing in the doorway of his office. Or more like leaning against the doorjamb, looking as provocative as possible. He almost rolled his eyes at the sight of her.

“Hey,” he said quickly, turning back to his papers.

She frowned and pursed her lips together before taking a step into his office and shutting the door behind her. “Weren’t we supposed to go to dinner tonight?”

“Weren’t you supposed to turn up for a photo shoot?”

“I told you I was sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” said Draco.

“You’re being a prat,” Alex said, glaring at him.

“You’re being plain annoying.”

“I only came because you left me waiting at the Candelabra for an hour. I don’t like being humiliated.” Alex sat down in one of the chairs facing Draco’s desk.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I said I was sorry, Alex. I’ve been busy. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Alex blinked, “You’re the head of this company, are you not? Why can’t you just make your employees do it for you?”

“Have you ever heard of the saying, if you want anything done right you have to do it yourself?” Draco asked, putting down his quill and wondering vaguely if Alex would ever leave.

“Fine, Draco. You had better be at the Candelabra tomorrow night. That’s your last chance,” Alex got up out of her chair and stormed out of his office, not even bothering to close the door behind her.

Draco glared at the wide open door. He got out of his chair and slammed it loudly. “I don’t recall asking for a chance,” he said to the closed door.

----------------------

“I had a wonderful time,” Ginny said with a huge grin. She and Seamus were standing outside of her flat door. He had been a perfect gentleman at La Bonne Forchette; she couldn’t have imagined a better man.

“I did too,” Seamus said, his eyes glittering darkly. Ginny’s stomach did a small turn. He leaned down and placed his lips on hers gently. “Good night,” he said, lifting his head up.

“Night,” said Ginny, a dazed smile on her face.

She entered her flat, and wandered into the living room, where Colin was sitting on the couch flipping through some old Witch Weekly’s. He looked up at her, taking note of her dreamy state.

“Wait up?” she asked.

“Of course not,” said Colin. “I just enjoy looking through Witch Weekly magazines.” He plastered a fake smile on his face. “They really are the best!”

Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m on to you, Creevey.”

“Right….” Colin shook his head. “So how was the date?”

“Fabulous!” Ginny said, practically falling into her bedroom.

----------------------

A/N: Yes, I know, short chapter, and completely lacking in D/G action (good thing it’s short then, eh?). But don’t worry. I think the next chapter will be longer and will definitively have some D/G interaction. I think my fingers were trying to resist me in the whole Seamus/Ginny thing. ::bleh:: Kill me now. But! It is crucial to the D/G part of this story (which is coming along quite slowly).

Please read Heroes Shed No Tears if you haven’t already. ::begs::

disclaimer: I only own Swink, not that I’m enjoying admitting it.)

as the cookie crumbles -- 07

by virtualfaerie

------------------------------

"Three months!" Ginny exclaimed, rushing around her apartment. "Can you believe it, Colin?"

Colin raised a sleepy eyebrow from his spot on the couch while letting out a huge yawn. "Oh yeah, can’t believe it," he murmured, lifting a hand and running it through his already mussed hair.

Ginny sighed happily, clutching a cookie pan to her chest. "Tonight is Valentine's Day. And you know what guys do on Valentine's day, right?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah....of course," Colin mumbled. "They buy overly expensive chocolates and flowers for their girlfriends. And if the girl is lucky they get some overpriced piece of jewelry."

Ginny frowned at him, and walked into the living room, just to whack him on the head with her cookie pan.

"Ow!" he said, clutching his head protectively. "Watch where you swing that, missy."

"I'm really loving that positive attitude of yours, Creevey," she said sarcastically. She sighed again. "But what I meant, was that guys propose on Valentine's day. I think that Seamus is going to propose to me tonight. He has too! He's been telling me that he loves me for the past month. Just last week we were walking through Diagon Alley and we stopped in front of a baby shop and looked at the cradles through the window. I said that I couldn't wait to have kids of my own, and he said that we'd make beautiful babies together," Ginny finished with a dopey smile on her face.

Colin rolled his eyes. "That was probably just some lame excuse to get you in his bed."

Ginny sucked in a sharp breath and whacked him again with her cookie pan.

"Agh! You sadistic--"

"Hm?" Hermione had just walked through the door with a small paper sack. She raised her eyebrow at the scene in front of her. Ginny was holding the cookie pan behind her back with a devilish smile on her face; and Colin was shooting daggers at her, mouth still open from his previous purpose to start spouting expletives at Ginny (but that was before Hermione came in, she hated cursing), and his hands were cupped around the back of his head warily.

Hermione let out a sigh. “Oh gods, don’t even tell me what you two have been up to.”

“Okay,” they both said cheerily at the same time. Colin glared at Ginny and she shot him a sickeningly sweet smile.

“I picked up that sugar you said you needed,” Hermione said, waving around her paper sack.

“Thanks,” said Ginny, coming to take it from her.

“Oh gods, please no,” Colin moaned. “Don’t give her sugar! You know when she’s cooking she eats some of that stuff directly? It goes straight to her head I’m telling you. Straight to the head!” Colin shook his head as he got off of the couch. “All I can say is that I’m not going to be around when she starts eating it. Oh no…” he shook his head again and took off towards the door.

“Hold on a minute!” Ginny called. “I’m not done with you yet, Creevey,” she said.

Colin winced and turned around, giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

“Sorry, kiddo,” she said. “Those don’t work on me.”

“Damn.”

“Hey!” said Hermione. “Watch that!”

“Huh?” Colin said confusedly. “Oh, right, sorry Hermione.” He turned to Ginny. “Do I have to?” he asked, trying once again with the puppy dog eyes.

“Yes,” said Ginny firmly.

“What’s he going on about?” asked Hermione.

“Oh,” said Ginny, waving a hand. “It’s nothing really. I’ve just set him up for a blind date tonight.” Hermione gave her a look. “Come on! It’s not like he’s already had plans with someone else.”

“Actually,” said Colin. “I was quite happy to stay home and watch movies with Rosie Palm and her five sisters.” He gave her a impish grin.

“Eugh, shut up!” Ginny said, wrinkling her nose at him. “Believe me, a night out with this girl will be much better than Rosie Palm.”

“How do you know?” Colin asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Ginny reached over and popped him on the back of the head. “You perverted little boy,” she said, giggling slightly. “I think you need to go home and get ready.”

Colin frowned. “Already? I still have three hours. All I have to do is change my shirt….”

“What?! Nooooo, Creevey. You’re going to take a shower and make sure you change those pants.” She raised an eyebrow. “How long have you been wearing those anyways.”

Colin cocked his head to the side. “Two days…I think…. Yeah, two days.”

Hermione eyed the jeans. “Did you spell them clean?”

Colin snorted. “Oh no, I don’t have time for that. What with work and helping Ginny in the shop.”

“You don’t have time to do a simple cleaning spell?” Hermione asked incredulously. She was holding her wand and her fingers were loosing and tightening around it, just itching to spell his jeans clean.

“Yes,” said Ginny. “Definitely going to have to change those pants. I’m afraid I’ll have to chain you to my oven before I let you go out in those again.”

“They don’t look or smell dirty,” Colin protested.

Hermione shook her head. “Men…”

------------------------------

Ginny gave her hair one last fluff up in the mirror before she turned to grab her purse, ready to apparate to Seamus’. She was going to surprise him by getting to his apartment earlier before their big date that night. She was wearing a dark green dress, it was so dark that it almost looked black. She had splurged on the dress at a Muggle shop that she had let Hermione talk her into going in.

Ginny apparated to Seamus’ entrance hall, setting her purse down on the small table that was already littered with keys.

“Seamus!” she called out.

There was no answer.

“Seamus…” she called again, a bit more hesitantly.

There was still no answer.

Maybe…he just wasn’t home yet.

She walked into the living room and saw a rumpled dress and pair of pants lying on the floor. She frowned. Why would Seamus have a dress and pair of pants on the floor? Especially a dress….

She walked down the hall slowly, and heard and faint moaning. Her ears perked up, and her eyebrows shot up. She froze in her tracks, craning her head to listen. Yes, those were moans alright.

She tiptoed her way down the rest of the hallway and stopped in front of Seamus’ bedroom door, which seemed to be the only barrier between Ginny and the moans. She could feel her heart breaking as she heard them grew louder. She only hoped, for Seamus’ sake, that he was watching porno. Gods, he better be watching porno….

She placed her hand on the knob, and turned it slowly, pushing the door in.

She stopped.

She screamed.

She ran into the room.

---------------------------

(bwaahahhaha…should I leave it there…? It would be most entertaining…okay, I’ll continue.)

---------------------------

“Oh, Colin. I’m sorry I ruined your date,” Ginny groaned. They were sitting back in her apartment, Colin holding an ice-pack to her chin.

“It’s not a problem,” said Colin. “You just have to tell me exactly what happened.”

“Oh gods,” she wailed. “You didn’t like your date did you? I’m a failure! I’m a failure at all things dealing with love! Everything!”

Colin looked panicked. “No, of course not, I like Elise just fine…she was a really nice girl…”

“Don’t you lie to me, Creevey!” she snapped, causing Colin to jump.

“Oookay,” he said slowly. “I think someone needs to calm down and tell Colin what’s wrong….”

“He was sleeping with another woman!” she sobbed. “I walked in…and her dress was lying on his living room floor. I could hear them back in his bedroom! He was sleeping with her right before our big date. I can’t believe that bastard!” She fisted her hand.

“Then what happened?” asked Colin, intrigued.

“Well,” said Ginny, frowning. “I went in there, and guess who it was.”

“I can’t, tell me.”

“It was Swink. That whore. She’s on his quidditch team,” she said. “And I thought she was dating Malfoy. Anyways, I went in there and jerked that little bint off of Seamus, and started punching. I landed a few good ones, then she went and gave me an uppercut. I gave Seamus one good one in the groin and left.” Ginny sighed. “That’s about it.”

Colin shook his head. “I can’t believe that. And he said he loved you?” Ginny nodded. “What a bastard. You’re better off without him them.”

Ginny stared at the floor. “I bet he hasn’t used our reservation at the Candelabra. Since I ruined your date, maybe we can go?” she suggested.

Colin smiled and pulled her off of the couch. “Sounds good to me, doll. Let’s go. There’s still time for fun to be had.”

They were waiting at the front of the Candelabra when the maitre de came up to them, and eyed Ginny’s state with disapproval. “Name?” he asked.

“Finnegan,” said Ginny.

“You’re Seamus?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m his date,” she said.

“Oh? Are you?” he asked disdainfully.

“Excuse me,” said Colin reproachfully. “I would appreciate it if you’d stop talking to my date like that.”

The maitre de looked to Colin. “You are not Seamus Finnegan either,” he said.

Ginny and Colin shared a look.

“Look, Mister, Finnegan cancelled his date with her, now you better let us in,” Colin said angrily. “I’m hungry and I’ve got money to spend.”

The maitre de rolled his eyes. “I guess we have a table to spare….” He walked off into the restaurant, motioning for them to follow.

Ginny gave Colin a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

Colin shrugged. “No problem. That guy was being a jerk.”

They were seated in at a small table in a corner. “Your server will be with you shortly,” said the maitre de before taking off.

Ginny and Colin shared a grin and picked up their menus. Ginny glanced over Colin’s shoulder and saw a shock of blond hair. She squinted, was that who she thought it was? Yes, it was Draco Malfoy. She craned her neck trying to see if Swink was sitting there with him. She was! That little whore had the audacity to show her face in public. Ginny grinned slightly as she noticed that Swink couldn’t quite conceal her black eye.

“What happened to you?” she heard Draco asking.

“What?” Swink asked. “Oh, this,” she said, motioning flippantly towards her eye. “Got hit by a stray Bludger at practice.”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t have that this morning. And if I’m not mistaken, you haven’t had a practice today.”

Alex Swink blinked. “Wha--? Oh, that was some other black eye I had,” she waved it off. “My head has been a bit screwed. I was actually trying to help this girl with a crazy owl, and it up and hit me in the eye with it’s stupid beak. It disoriented me.”

A Bludger, eh? An owl? Ginny so desperately wanted to get up and tell Draco how she really got her black eye.

“Really?” asked Draco, looking faintly amused. “What about those bruises on your arm?”

Alex looked to her arm. There were bruises on the side of it that looked much like finger imprints. “Uhh, the girl was so afraid that she gripped my arm.”

By now, Colin had turned around and was watching too. He was trying not to laugh.

“I find it hard to believe that you would take time out of your busy schedule to play good Samaritan to some little girl,” said Draco.

Ginny got out of her seat.

“Gin…what are you doing?” asked Colin, nervously.

“Excuse me,” said Ginny, putting her hand on Draco’s shoulder.

He turned around and lifted an eyebrow. “Yes?” he said. “What can I help you with?”

Swink’s eyes widened and darted towards the door. She looked like a jittery rabbit cornered by a fox. “Oh,” she said weakly. “It’s…you.”

Ginny gave her a feral grin. “Yes, me. Care to explain to your dear boyfriend how you really got that black eye? Instead of feeding him that shit that I’m sure he didn’t buy.”

Draco’s lip curled up, amusement flashed in his eyes as he looked from girl to girl.

“Err….” Swink was squirming in her seat.

“Do tell,” said Draco. “I’d love to hear the real story.”

“I’d rather not,” she said.

“Shall I tell?” asked Ginny, pulling out a chair at their table and sitting down. Draco gave her a look. Before Swink could say anything, Ginny started. “Well, I was coming to my boyfriend’s house early for our date,” she said. Ginny turned to Draco, “Can you see where this is going? But anyways, Swink and Seamus are on the same quidditch team.” Ginny faked a gasp. “When I come in the apartment, I see a pair of pants, and a dress on the living room floor,” she continued. “That dress in fact,” she said, jerking her head to the little red number that Swink was wearing.

Draco’s eyes hardened. “Go on,” he prompted.

“So I got back to the bedroom, where I hear these moans, and I’m hoping for Seamus’ sake that he’s watching porn. But no, she is in there, humping my man like some rabbit.” Draco snorted. “So I went in there and hauled ass,” Ginny finished.

“You gave her that black eye?” asked Draco, appreciatively.

Ginny blew on her fisted hand. “I did. Nice, eh?”

Draco nodded. “Very.” He turned to look at Swink. “Now why, Alex, would you tell me that you were helping a little girl with a crazed owl?”

Swink spluttered for a moment, glaring daggers at Ginny. Ginny smiled at her innocently and batted her eyelashes.

“I say that this relationship is past over,” said Draco, leaning back in his chair, giving Swink a scrutinized look. “Don’t you think?”

“But—but, Draco, I love you,” said Swink, desperately.

“Do you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “That would explain why you were sleeping with Weasley’s boyfriend, right?”

“I—I….” she didn’t say anything else. She tried to shove back in her chair, but the legs got caught in the carpet and she was sent catapulting back, her legs flailing in the air, exposing her knickers to the whole restaurant. She let out a scream and fell back against a plant.

“You!” she yelled at Ginny. “You ruined everything, you little bitch! You’ll pay, I swear you will!”

“Ma’am,” said the maitre de, grabbing Swink’s arm and hauling her up from the floor. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask you to leave. You’re being disruptive.”

“Get you hands off of me!” She twisted around in his grasp. “I have never been so embarrassed in my life.”

Ginny saw a server coming, with a tray full of crème covered pastries. She smirked at Swink and stuck her foot out. The server tripped over it, and the tray was sent flying in Swink’s direction. Swink’s eyes widened and she let out a shrill shriek.

“More embarrassed?” Ginny asked.

Swink let out a frustrated scream and wiped the crème off her face. “You’ll pay! You’ll pay!” The maitre de rolled his eyes and began dragging her out of the restaurant.

Draco was laughing. Full out laughing. “Oh Merlin,” he choked out. “That was the funniest thing I’ve seen in years!”

Ginny looked at him, a bit confused. “You aren’t upset?”

“Upset?” he asked. “Not at all. You just provided the excuse I needed to end things with her.” He wiped at his eyes. “That was hilarious. She deserved it.”

Colin got up and walked over to where Draco and Ginny were sitting, he picked up Swink’s abandoned chair and sat in it. He grinned at Ginny. “That was excellent,” he said. “Even better than that shiner.”

“What can I say?” Ginny said, trying to look innocent. “She messed with a Weasley. You don’t mess with a Weasley.”

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A/N: Ta-da! A chapter! Took long enough, huh? Well, aren’t you glad that I wrote it? Now wasn’t it nice to see Swink humiliated so? I rather enjoyed writing that scene, and the one with Colin in the beginning, those are my favorites. *grins*

Thanks to Komal for betaing.

Please review!

As the Cookie Crumbles – 08
by VirtualFaerie

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Disclaimer: Do you honestly think I own anything related to Harry Potter? If you do, I can recommend you to my psychiatrist. He’s here to help. ;-)

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That next Monday, it was work as usual and so Ginny was at Tasty Treats, sitting on her usual stool behind the counter. Unfortunately work wasn’t exactly on her mind. She was too busy trying to bore a hole into the wall by staring at it, as she let her mind wander. Ginny was sitting on a stool, staring off into space in Tasty Treats. She didn’t even notice when the door banged open, the bell tinkling, as Colin clomped trying to balance the three large boxes, wavering precariously in his arms. Ginny didn’t even look up as all three toppled out of his arms and clattered all around the front of the store, new cooking utensils flying across the room.



"Ginny!" he shouted, frustrated. "You could have at helped!" Exhaling noisily, he leaned down to pick up the boxes with its spilled contents, and stacked them up against a wall. "Gods.... Ginny? Uh…Ginny?" Colin waved his hand in front of her face and didn’t even get a blink from her. "Are you okay, Gins? You seem to be a bit…out of it." He snapped his fingers.



"Huh? What?" she said, blinking.



It worked.



"Oh, hi, Colin."



Colin frowned. "Don’t you ‘Hi, Colin’, me. What’s wrong with you?"



"There’s nothing wrong with me," said Ginny. "I’m perfectly fine."



"Oh right, then what just happened?"



"What are you talking about? Nothing’s happened," said Ginny, giving him a reproachful look.



"I just dropped three boxes, Gins. Three boxes, which held all your precious little utensils " Colin said very slowly.



"Did you?"



"Yes…yes, I did." Colin gave her an annoyed look and pointed out the boxes he had stacked up against the wall. “What’s wrong with you, Gins? Ever since Valentine’s day, you’ve totally been out of it,” he paused and gave her and impish grin. “Or rather ever since I left you and Malfoy at the Candelabra.”



Ginny slumped down behind the counter and hid her face in her hands. But Colin could still see the faint pink blush behind her fingers.



“Oh, so what did Mr. Malfoy have to say to you, hm?” Colin pulled Ginny’s hands off of her face and wiggled his eyebrows. He put on a high falsetto and put his hands on his cheeks, looking to the ceiling. “Oh Ginny! You like, so, have to tell me, or, I’m like, going to burst.”



Ginny sighed loudly and gave Colin a withering look. “Quit clowning around,” she said in a peeved tone. A very peeved tone.



Colin’s eyebrows shot up, way up. “Something really did happen?”



Ginny blinked slowly and looked up at him. “Yes, something happened.”



“Well don’t leave me hanging! Tell me,” said Colin, waving his hands around excitedly.



Ginny rubbed the bridge of her nose carefully and pulled her stool in closer to the front counter before settling her forehead on it. She sighed loudly and started mumbling something –something which Colin couldn’t make a word out of.



“What was that?” he asked gently, lowering his head near hers so that he could better hear her mumbling.



“He asked me out on a date,” she said into the counter.



“He did?!” Colin half-shouted.



Ginny clutched at her head and glared at Colin angrily. “Thanks for yelling in my ear you little blond-headed bimbo.”



Colin looked rightfully wounded. “I’m not a bimbo.”



“Right, and my name is Bobette.”



Colin stuck out his hand and said, “Hello Bobette, nice to meet you.”



“Ha-ha, very funny,” Ginny said, slapping his hand away playfully.



“So, he asked you out on a date. Proceed to tell me exactly what happened,” Colin said, slipping behind the counter and pulling out a stool next to hers. He was parked and ready to listen.



“Well,” Ginny started. “After you left, we actually got to eat dinner. We talked for a bit – actually talked, it was a bit weird. Mostly we talked about Swink and Seamus, or about Quidditch. Then when it was time to leave, he wouldn’t let me pay for my dinner. We walked out together and he just – asked me out on a date.”



“How did he ask, and what kind of date?”



“He just said, ‘So Weasley, like to try this again sometime?’. Nothing special,” said Ginny. “I don’t know what kind of date – he said he’d owl me later, or phone.” Ginny shrugged.



“You’re stressing over it, eh?” Colin said, poking her in the stomach with his elbow.



“Of course!” Ginny burst out. “This is Draco Malfoy we’re talking about. How often is it that he asks a Weasley out on a date?”



“Well…” said Colin slowly. “How many times has he asked any of your brothers’ out?”



Ginny glared at him. “You know what I mean, Creevey. This is not the time to be a smart ass.”



Colin bowed his head. “My humble apologies….” he muttered.



Ginny shook her head, looking through the front glass door of the shop just in time to see Draco Malfoy himself heading towards the shop. She shrieked and toppled off of her stool, landing flat on her butt.



“Ow…” she cried.



Colin smirked. “Shall I stall,” he asked, “while you go get pretty in the bathroom?”



Ginny rubbed her bum carefully and glanced up at Colin thankfully. “I would appreciate it…” she started.



Colin waved his hand. “Then consider it done. Now hurry before he gets here.”



“Right,” Ginny half-squeaked before heaving herself off of the floor and rushing to the bathroom, grabbing her purse as she ran.



Colin looked after her and smiled, leaning back against the counter, watching her disappear into the bathroom. The front door opened, causing the little bell to tinkle. Colin turned around to see Draco Malfoy standing in the front of Tasty Treats, looking extremely out of place in the homey atmosphere in his specially tailored business robes.



Draco blinked and glanced around. “Is Weasley here?” he asked, peering around Colin, as if she’d be hiding behind him. He shoved the fringe of his hair back that kept falling into his eyes and looked at Colin expectantly.



“Ginny, you mean?” Colin said, raising his eyebrow.



“Sure,” said Draco. “That Weasley.”



Colin tried not to laugh. “She’s…busy right now,” he said.



Draco raised an eyebrow. “Busy? How?”



“She’s preoccupied….” Colin glanced back in the hallway that led into the kitchen and bathroom of the shop. “Maybe I should go see if she’s…finished.”



Draco lowered his eyebrows and cast Colin and suspicious glance. Colin noticed his fingers tensing around a small bouquet of flowers he was holding. Colin’s mouth took on an impish lilt.



“What’s she doing?” Draco said evenly.



“Oh you know,” Colin said, waving his hand flippantly.



“No, actually, I don’t.”



“Just a bit of this and that,” said Colin.



“Hello!” said Ginny, coming to the front from the back hall. She had applied fresh make-up and ran a brush through her hair. She also had a smile plastered on her face.



Draco’s eyebrows immediately un-lowered themselves upon the Ginny sighting, and he held the flowers out. “Weasley,” he said.



Ginny smiled graciously and took the flowers from him. “Thank you, Malfoy,” she said. She sniffed and instantly started sneezing. “Stupid…allergies,” she said in-between sneezes.



Draco snorted quietly.



She blinked back tears and said, “They’re really…” sneeze, “pretty.”



“I’m glad you like them,” Draco said with a hard-to-keep straight face.



Now Colin, he wasn’t even trying to hide his laughter, he was doubled over behind the counter. Ginny sniffed and glared at him.



“Shut up, Creevey,” she snapped, giving him The Look. “Isn’t there a batch of cookies in the back that needs to be taken out?” she hinted blatantly, scrunching up her eyebrows.



Colin raised his eyebrows. “There is?”



“Yes,” Ginny gritted out. “There most definitely is.”



Colin shrugged and took of towards the back, giving Ginny a suggestive wink as he made his way back. “The cookies and I shall just have bit of fun back here,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.



Ginny rolled her eyes. “You do that, Colin.” She turned back to Draco, who had a rather amused expression on his face.



“That was certainly interesting,” Draco commented.



“Well,” Ginny replied with a shrug. “That’s Colin for you.”



“Anyway,” said Draco. “The reason I came by was to set up a date. If you still want one.”



“Of course,” Ginny said quickly. A bit too quickly she thought, a blush began rising in her cheeks. “I mean, of course I’d like to go on a date…with you.”



“Right then,” said Draco, smiling slightly at her blush. “Friday?” he asked. “Seven?”



“Friday?” Ginny said.



Draco blinked for a second and rephrased his question. “Would a date on Friday be alright with you? At seven?”



“Oh! Oh!” Ginny said, putting her hands up in front of her face, rubbing her eyes nervously. “Yes, Friday is fine. Yeah, Friday is good.”



Draco chuckled. “Alright then. I’ll pick you up at seven.” He then turned on his heel and was about to walk out of the shop.



“Wait!” Ginny called out. He turned around and raised an expectant eyebrow at her. “Don’t I need to tell you where I live?”



The corner of his mouth quirked up, “I think I remember clearly after that day you fell out of your window on to me.”



“What?” Ginny asked, quite puzzled and then it hit her. “Oh my gods… I’m so…oh gods…”



“Right,” Draco replied with a smirk, walking out the door and leaving behind a very embarrassed-red-Ginny Weasley.







--







A/N: Right, that chapter was a bit shorter than normal, and that’s just because I figured I better put out a chapter of something before someone killed me. *sighs* This isn’t all that great of a chapter. The next one is Draco and Ginny’s date – if I can figure out how I’m going to do it. I think this fic has about 3-4 chapters left, then I’m done. Must move on to bigger and better things.



loves
vf



Thanks to Blaze and Komal for beta-ing.

A/N: Okay, this is the part of the fic where I attempt to make half-assed excuses to explain my extreme lateness in an update. ::insert lame excuses here:: Anyways, it’s finished now! After much laboring!! And, you guys do not know how badly I was aching to turn this into a Colin/Ginny fic. Seriously, once you start reading you’ll see what I mean. Don’t you think they would go well in this fic? I do… But I think I shall keep it D/G so that I am not murdered in my sleep. Toodles, loves!

Disclaimer: I don’t own ANYTHING!

Dedication: *ahem* I am dedicating this chapter to Melissa Adams because she IMed me to bug me to get started on this chapter! – This was just a few days ago, and I hadn’t had anything of this chapter. You all should thank her, because without her asking me everyday if I’d written anymore (she’s good), this chapter probably would have never been written.

As the Cookie Crumbles

By VirtualFaerie

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Ginny perused the racks slowly, making sure to examine every dress closely. She had dragged Colin out shopping with her a little earlier, because she needed a new dress for her date.

“What kind of dresses do guys like?” Ginny asked frowning, moving over to another rack. “I mean…should I go for...short and risqué? Or…frilly and feminine? Or…”

Colin took a bite of his chocolate iced doughnut that he was having a hard time hiding from the sales lady for – she kept looking at him suspiciously. “Well,” he said through a full mouth. “You don’t want to wear a short, short dress on your first date do you?” He turned around quickly and shoved his doughnut behind him as the sales lady passed, eyeing him apprehensively.

“What do you think of this dress?” asked Ginny, pulling out a lacy pink one.

“Looks fine…” Colin mumbled, trying to peel his doughnut off a rhinestone covered dress. He lost grip of the doughnut and it fell the to floor with a squish. “Damn,” he muttered, bending over.

“Coooolin,” whined Ginny, looking at the dress again. “You didn’t even look at it.”

Colin glanced up at it quickly. He made a face. “Ew, bad. No lace. Ew.”

“Well, fine then, that’s all I wanted to know,” said Ginny, rolling her eyes and putting the dress back on the rack. “What are you doing? Colin?”

The sales lady started walking back their way. “Shit,” Colin hissed, standing back up quickly and kicking the doughnut under the rack. He walked over to Ginny hurriedly and pulled out a completely random dress. “How ‘bout this one, Gins?”

Ginny looked at the dress and blinked. Then she looked up at Colin and blinked. “You want me to wear a tent?”

Colin looked down at the dress. “Oh,” he said, “Well…you do need to be modest on the first date don’t you? Cover up everything…stay out of trouble…”

“Right…” Ginny walked off to another sales rack.

Colin stood there for a moment, and looked back at the rack he had kicked his doughnut under. He wondered vaguely if it would be possible for him to get it back. He glanced at the register and saw the sales lady there, marking through a book.

“Colin? This one?” She held up a silky green dress.

He looked over his shoulder. “Err…good, yeah.”

“You think it’ll look nice on me?” she asked, placing the hanger up under her chin so that the dress was draped down her front.

“Sure, looks great…” he said, making sure to look at the dress first before saying so. He checked on the sales lady one more time, then approached the rack with his doughnut under it. He was hungry, and that had been his breakfast. He needed that doughnut. There was no way he was going to survive a day of shopping with Ginny if he didn’t have that doughnut.

He got down on his hands and knees and looked under the rack and saw his doughnut sitting in the very middle. He grinned and crawled under, picking up the doughnut and wiping off the dust with his shirt. Sitting down in the small clearing in the center of the rack, he brought the doughnut up to his mouth and took a big bite, smearing what was left of the frosting around the edges of his lips.

“Colin?” he heard Ginny calling him, her voice muffled by all the dresses around him. “Colin? Where are you? You better not have left the store,” she muttered, her voice getting closer to him.

Hastily, Colin shoved the rest of the doughnut in his mouth and scrambled out from under the rack, coming out right beside Ginny’s feet. She blinked and looked at him slowly. “Colin…what were you doing under there?” she asked hesitantly.

“Er, getting my doughnut,” said Colin, standing up quickly and brushing off his robes.

“You didn’t eat it did you..?” asked Ginny, scrunching up her nose.

“Of course, I did! Why wouldn’t I…?” He trailed off as Ginny gave him a disapproving look. “Five minute rule...” he mumbled.

“Honestly, Colin, I really don’t know how you’ve survived all these years. I’m thinking you should get married, and soon. You need someone to look after you,” said Ginny, walking over to a clearance rack.

“WHAT?” Colin choked, following after her quickly. He blinked and cleared his throat. “I don’t need to get married. Besides, you look after me quite well, don’t you think?”

Ginny picked up a black dress and studied it. “What do you think of this one? It’s pretty…” She picked up the price tag and peered at it thoughtfully. “And affordable.” Colin gave her a look. “I shouldn’t have to look after you,” she said. “I’m your friend, not your mother.”

“Yeah, well, Gins, I don’t have a mother,” said Colin angrily. “Are you saying that you don’t like putting up with me? That you’d rather not have me around?”

Ginny looked affronted. “Of course not! I love having you around, Colin. But you need something more than just me. I won’t always be able to take care of you.”

Colin put his face in his hands and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You said you would only make me go shopping with you. This is so much more than shopping.” He faked a sniffle. “I think you owe me some ice cream…” He looked up at her with wide eyes between his fingers.

Ginny laughed and pulled Colin into a hug. “Okay, okay, I lied about the only shopping part. But we got a nice talk didn’t we?” Colin muttered something. “Ice cream on me today.” She held the black dress back out. “This one? – Don’t you think? I like it…”

Colin glanced at the dress; he smiled. “It’s perfect.” He hugged Ginny to his side and they walked up to the cash register.

-

Ginny smoothed her hair one last time, peering into the mirror nervously. “Colin?” she said, turning around. “How do I look? Do I look okay? You don’t think this dress is to clingy do you? What about my makeup? I don’t have on too much mascara, do I? Oh gods, does my lipstick match alright? And – do you think I curled my hair –’’

“Ginny,” Colin said firmly, shooting her a glare. “You look fabulous. I can’t think of one thing wrong.” He stood up from the couch and came to stand in front of her, threading his fingers through her hair gently with a small smile on his face.

“What are you smiling for?” asked Ginny anxiously, reaching up to touch her hair.

“Heh,” Colin let out a chuckle. “I’m just thinking about how much fun I’m going to have pounding Malfoy’s brain out if he makes you cry.”

Ginny grinned and rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around Colin for a quick hug. “You’re so silly, Colin. He’s not going to make me cry. This is only our first date.”

“Yeah,” said Colin, bringing his hands up and cracking his knuckles. “But I’ve got my eye on him.”

“Oh my,” giggled Ginny. “I didn’t know you swung that way, Colin. Now I know why you never like any of the dates I set you up with.”

Colin turned red. “WHAT?” he squeaked. “Are you kidding me?! I love women! Women are the fruit of life! Nothing turns me on more than a woman.”

Ginny nodded slowly and pinched Colin’s cheeks. “Whatever you say, honey.”

“I’m serious,” glowered Colin.

“I know, I know,” said Ginny, patting his arm. “I’ve seen all the magazines under your bed. All signs point to a normal male.”

Colin’s eyes widened. “You looked under my bed?!?! – At those magazines?!?!”

“Well, of course I didn’t just go looking under there for the sole purpose of finding your dirty magazines. It was that time that I was over at your flat trying to help you find your shoes,” Ginny said reasonably.

Colin ran a hand through his hair and muttered under his breath right as the doorbell rang.

“Oh GODS!” breathed Ginny, punching Colin’s arm.

“OW!” he grumbled at her.

“He’s here,” she hissed.

“Obviously.”

“Don’t be a smart ass, Creevey.” Ginny looked at herself in the mirror one more time, pinching color into her cheeks, and walked to the door, pulling it open slowly, motioning for Colin to get out of sight.

“Hello,” said Draco upon seeing her. He quirked and eyebrow up. “My, don’t you look nice tonight.”

Ginny smiled. “Thank you. Here, just let me go get my cloak and I’ll be ready.” She motioned for him to step in and shut the door behind him, running off to her bedroom to grab her cloak. Colin was lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling.

“Oh,” he said. “When he says you look nice, you just say thanks, but when I do…oh no…you gotta ask me a million questions.

Ginny smacked his leg playfully. “Yes, Colin, that’s because I love you. Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone. And if you wreck my apartment, I’m going to kill you. Night, sweets.”

She walked back out to the entry way and slipped on her cloak. “Alright,” she said. “I’m ready.”

“Great,” said Draco, taking her arm and leading her out of the apartment.

-

Ginny sat down a bit uneasily in her seat, making sure to smooth her dress as she sat down. Draco had taken her to an especially nice restaurant, even better than the Candelabra.

“Wine?” Draco asked, picking up his menu and perusing it thoughtfully.

Picking up her menu quickly, Ginny flipped it open and looked at the wine list. Draco cleared his throat and Ginny looked up at him over the top of the menu. “Yes?” she said.

The corner of Draco’s lips curled up into a smile. “I think you’re looking at it upside down.”

Ginny blinked and looked back down at her menu, blushing furiously. “Oh…” She flipped it right side up and continued to look at the list.

“How about merlot?” asked Draco.

“Uhm, yes, that sounds fine,” Ginny said quickly. Ginny scolded herself mentally as she watched Draco order their wine. Why was she being such a ninny? It was just a date. It was just a date with Malfoy. Malfoy the arrogant, pig-headed, prick from her childhood. Why should she be nervous? She’d known him forever. Granted, during forever, they most certainly had not been out on a date before. She sighed quietly and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Something wrong?” Draco said, looking at her curiously.

“Oh, no,” said Ginny, flashing a smile. “Everything’s fine.”

Everything went fine until dessert, Ginny didn’t stutter, she didn’t drop any food on her clothes, and none of her drink leaked out and dripped down her face. All in all, she had been doing pretty good – even holding up on the surprisingly intelligent conversation she was having with Malfoy.

But, that was just before dessert.

Their waiter came by with the cart of desserts and told them each of their names, describing the ingredients that went into each. Ginny picked a strawberry cheesecake, and Draco had chosen a chocolate cake.

First thing that went wrong: some of Ginny’s strawberries fell off of her fork and into her lap. Draco chuckled at her. “Holding onto that fork tight enough?” he asked.

“Heh,” Ginny let out a nervous laugh and scooped them up out of her lap and into her napkin, setting it on the table. “Just clumsy,” she said.

Then, about two minutes later, she decided that she needed to use the restroom. She started to push her chair back, but the back legs caught on the carpet and sent her flying backwards, arms flailing wildly, taking most of the table cloth and her cheesecake with her. The strawberries splattered all over her dress, and the cheesecake smeared across the fabric devilishly.

Ginny let out a frustrated sound and just looked at her dress – everyone in the restaurant looking at her sympathetically. Draco was laughing, getting out of his own chair and going over to help her off the floor and set her chair upright.

“Oops?” she said, cheeks flushed deep red.

“I think we should go – don’t you?” asked Draco, smiling amusedly.

Ginny looked at her dress pitifully. “Yes, I suppose that would be a good idea.”

Draco laid some money on the table and took Ginny’s hand, leading her out of the restaurant. “That was certainly one of the most entertaining dates I’ve ever been on,” said Draco.

Ginny shook her head. “I am so clumsy…”

“It’s endearing.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, quite,” Draco said, grinning at her.

They arrived at her apartment, and Ginny looked up at him nervously. “Well…despite being covered in cheesecake,” she said, “I had a lovely time.”

“Me too,” said Draco, before ducking down and brushing his lips against her lightly. He straightened up. “See you sometime soon, then?”

Ginny beamed. “Of course.”

“Good,” he said, reaching up and touching her cheek before leaving.

Ginny sighed happily and unlocked her door, stepping in. Colin was sitting on the couch, head flung back, mouth open wide, snoring. Ginny giggled and went over to poke his side.

“AGh!” he said, sitting up quickly. “Gods! You wench!” he muttered, rubbing his eyes and looking up at her blearily. He noted her mindless grin. “Went well, did it?”

She sighed happily. “Sooooo well. He kissed me.”

Colin made a face and she whapped him playfully, running back to her room giggling.

:: PLEASE REVIEW!::

*glomps everyone*