On a chill October morning not long before Halloween, Ginny Weasley woke up tangled in her sheets. They were hot and uncomfortable, much like she was feeling at the moment. Why was she having those dreams? And why him? She rose and checked the time. It was five o'clock on the dot and she sighed. She was wide awake now.
If she took a shower now she would be able to be alone with her thoughts before the other Gryffindors rose to do the same. She quietly gathered her shower items into a basket. Stripping off her nightclothes she wriggled into her pale pink, nearly threadbare dressing gown and fetched her towel. She sighed softly and padded down the cold corridor to the girls' shower room.
Inside she was relieved to find herself truly alone. No one else had risen so early. She selected the shower stall in the far corner. It was away from everything else, and she could luxuriate in the steamy warmth as long as she wished. She disrobed and hung her things on a hook next to the stall. She carried her basket in with her. She turned on the instantly roasting water and stood face first into the healing spray.
Moments later outside, chaos reigned. An explosion from one of the lower dungeons rocked the Slytherin and Ravenclaw sides of the castle. The evacuation alarm was sounded. The heads of house, the prefects and the Head Boy and Girl were busy.
The prefects were herding the dormitory residents out, urging them to leave quickly instead of grabbing robes and blankets to ward off the nearly freezing air outside the castle. Outside Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall was swiftly dispatching students to safe evacuation routes. People were screaming, some crying, others trying to run ahead of the crowd to escape.
Hermione Granger, Head Girl, had long since left Gryffindor to run downstairs to help empty the lower houses. Draco Malfoy, Head Boy, ran upstairs and told McGonagall that everyone was out of the Slytherin side.
"I'm going down to Ravenclaw," Draco yelled over his shoulder to her, turning to race down the stairs.
Before he could move another step, a tall redhead fought backwards through the throng.
"Ginny! Where is Ginny! Professor, Ginny isn't here!" a panicked Ron Weasley screamed above students' heads.
"Malfoy! Find Ginny Weasley, check the Gryffindor rooms once more, quickly!" McGonagall yelled, catching the back of his robes so that he might not disobey her. Malfoy grimaced, he looked back to McGonagall to protest that he had other things to attend to but both she and Ron shared a glare in his direction, Ron's tinged by fear.
Malfoy sneered and doubled back to the Gryffindor chambers. He quickly searched the dormitory and the common room. But there was no sign of the little chit to be found. He wondered where she could be so early in the morning. He remembered the shower room was down the hall so he loped down the hall and threw open the massive door.
Steam clogged the room so thickly he had to fight for breath. He heard the deafening roar of the corner shower. He made his way to the shower and saw tiny feet beneath the curtain. He yanked it back.
Ginny Weasley stood with her back to the rough stone wall, her head lolling back on her neck, eyes closed. Her legs were spread to allow the beating force of the water to pound on her most delicate area. Her fingers were busy on herself and her body was tense.
Her eyes flew open and she screamed.
"Malfoy! Get out!" she yelled, lunging toward the curtain he had moved. In a split second she slipped on the stone floor, hitting her head hard upon the wall she had leaned against. Malfoy tried to catch her but she slipped through his fingers. She hit the floor with a resounding thud.
"Bloody stupid prat, of course you'd knock yourself out on my watch," he said, lifting her unconscious body. He looked around quickly. Wouldn't do for him to take her outside naked, although, he mused, she was quite a lot to look at. He spied her thin robe and threaded her through it. He swore when he realized that all the water dripping from her hair had drenched the robe, making her nipples pucker and strain beneath the thin fabric.
Swearing again he pulled her body up against him and leaned her against the wall. He quickly shed his favorite black robe and slung it around her shoulders, making sure it was fastened to her toes. He picked her up bride-style and exited as quickly as he could.
Outside, Ron, Hermione and Harry stood anxiously around McGonagall begging her to let them inside to find Ginny. Ron turned just as Malfoy emerged with his baby sister cradled in his arms.
Malfoy saw the malice in Ron's eyes and clutched Ginny a bit harder just to tee him off. He had inspected her on the way out and determined she had just merely bumped her head. She started to come around and as soon as the surprise, fear and shame registered on her face he smiled and shoved her roughly into Ron's arms.
"Git! What did you do to her?" Ron exclaimed angrily.
"I did nothing, you bloated toad. She was in the shower room and didn't hear the alarm. I, ahem, startled her and she slipped and fell and hit her pretty little red head against the wall. Isn't that right, Miss Weasley?" Both boys turned to face her, once looking for reassurance and the other slightly sneering.
Ginny turned her face into Ron's robes.
"Yes, Ron, that's right. I didn't hear anything, and Malfoy surprised me." She looked up. "I'm mortally embarrassed now, all right? So leave me alone," she snapped at both. Malfoy met Ron's gaze. Malfoy snickered and left Ron shooting daggers at him.
Ginny was a mess. Her hair was tangled, matted and wet. Hermione tried to soothe her by transfiguring a stick into a brush and removing the tangles as they waited to go back in. Ron, who didn't like the idea of anyone seeing Ginny in this state (although I'm covered from head to toe, she thought sardonically) was performing a drying charm on her hair.
Covered, she thought. I'm covered in Draco Malfoy's robe. It was heavy with black rabbit's fur lining. He must have placed a warming charm and a water-repelling charm on it, she mused, for it warmed her body and turned the water that had dripped from her hair like a duck's back. When she turned her head slightly she could catch a subtle hint of cologne. It was rich and spicy and expensive.
"Ginny, are you quite alright? You keep turning your head to the side like that, are you sure your neck doesn't hurt?" Ron asked in a concerned voice. She shook herself mentally.
"Of course, Ron, I was just a bit sore, that's all."
Finally the entire school was allowed to re-enter the castle. It seemed after a quick inspection that a last-minute study group of hapless third year Potions students with a test that morning had accidentally created a potion that volcanoed out of the cauldron and spewed onto a cache of highly flammable ingredients.
Snape gave them a dressing down and subtracted one hundred points from each house involved. Snape was quick to snottily boast that no Slytherins had been responsible. As the rest of the houses grumbled, no one wanted to study with them, either.
Ginny made her way up to the Gryffindor common room. Everyone knew that Malfoy had brought her out, and although they didn't quite know what had transpired in the shower room they knew she had been sopping wet and was now draped in his expensive robe. She ignored the whispers from the younger years and went straight to her bedroom.
She had shared the room in the beginning of the year, but her roommate had returned home due to the death of her grandfather. Alone, Ginny took off the luxurious mantle and laid it carefully on her bed. She inspected it closely; the outer covering was dragon hide leather. It had a few spots of dirt on the hem from where it trailed at her bare feet and some dried soap suds on the front.
She retrieved her wand and set to work cleaning it, resolving to return it in better condition than it came. That was at least one way she'd get Malfoy off her back, one less thing for him to complain about. When the hide was spotless again, she turned out the lining side. The fur was thick enough to nearly obscure two deep slash pockets inside. Ginny reached in and retrieved two matching gloves that were made of the same materials. The right glove was missing a fingertip. She thought that odd for someone of Malfoy's stature to have a torn or shabby anything. She replicated the materials and coaxed it to form a fingertip. She nudged it until it matched the left glove as closely as possible.
With her task done, she set about finishing her homework for the next day. Because of the morning's hullabaloo, classes were canceled until the afternoon. She had Potions right after dinner with the Slytherins, and she intended to return the robe to Malfoy then.
She left the robe in her room, not wanting to take it to dinner where everyone could see it and Malfoy would have an excuse to come to their table.
She entered the Great Hall and quickly went to find her seat.
Draco watched the Weasley princess dart into the hall, sans robe. What did she think she was doing with his favorite one? He would see to it that she remembered it was his. He refrained from going over and speaking to her.
He'd been elbowed and jostled all day with remarks like, "Hey, Malfoy, is she a real redhead? and What's she look like beneath all those robes? Freckled beyond belief?" He'd refused to answer, giving only his trademark smirk. His bloody dumb housemates thought he was telling them everything, when he divulged nothing.
But he had been replaying that scene over and over in his mind. He'd slept with three Slytherin girls and had never seen them look so wanton, so abandoned. They were mostly concerned with praising his size or his finely wrought musculature or something similar. Little Ginny Weasley was hiding a beautiful body underneath all those shabby robes and worn-out sweaters.
Earlier he had lain on his bed and thought about her long legs and thick hair as he leisurely stroked himself. He thought that yes, indeed she was a natural redhead. But when he lowered his mind's eye to her fingers touching herself, his own touch became firmer and soon he spilled himself with a satisfied groan. As he lazily let his wand do the cleaning, he propped his head on his pillow, hands behind his head.
Shouldn't there be some sort of proper payment, a thank you, to bestow upon someone who saved you from a potentially life-threatening situation? Well, her situation hadn't been exactly life-threatening, but it threatened to make him hard each time he thought about it.
As he watched her through narrowed eyes across the Great Hall he barely felt the plate of roast chicken being pushed in his chest by Goyle. With a withering look Malfoy took it and began heaping his plate. He ate in silence, his pewter eyes clouded and his thoughts preoccupied. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Ginny leave the Great Hall before dinner was officially over. Pushing his plate away, he rose without warning and regally strode away.
Ginny walked the long corridor to the Gryffindor house. She paused in front of the Fat Lady to give the password when she felt long, cold fingers wrap around her shoulders.
"Going to fetch my robe, are you?" he hissed silkily into her ear. His lips touched the sensitive outer shell as he spoke. Ginny, although terrified into silence, could not repress the frisson of sensation that streaked though her when his tongue touched her ear.
"Take care not to get anything on it, Princess. Else the males in my house will go crazy to sniff it…" Malfoy muttered the password and shoved her though the painting, leaving her on the other side sweating delicately and her chest heaving.
Ginny attempted to calm down but it was not many minutes before she had to leave for Potions. She picked up the heavy robe as if it were made of fire and left the common room, looking down each end of the corridor to make sure she was alone.
She was nearly late when she slid into her place beside Colin Creevey in Potions. He eyed the expensive garment and knew to whom it belonged. He gave her an apologetic smile.
"The talk is dying down," Colin said. "Now they're mostly talking about the loss of points."
"Mr. Creevey, Miss Weasley, if you continue to yammer in my classroom we can continue this lesson after class," said Snape, his beady black eyes glittering. Both shrank back in their seats and looked suitably scared. Satisfied, Snape began his lesson but all Ginny could hear was a soft snickering.
She struggled all through the double lesson. She was glad they were not actually making something, for she knew her shaking hands would spill everything in sight.
She felt naked. She felt visible. The entire lesson she could have sworn Malfoy was boring his pale eyes into the back of her head. She resisted the urge to turn around and see what was going on that made her so uncomfortable.
Malfoy watched her. No, stared right through her might have better described it. She had pulled her thick hair into a hasty bun secured with old quills. The creamy ivory skin on the back of her neck gleamed back at him. A few auburn strands trailed on either side. He never thought he'd seen a neck look so vulnerable. He couldn't have been more fascinated with it if he'd been a vampire.
Class ended and like a magnificent bird Malfoy swept up the aisle and plucked his robe from the edge of Ginny's desk. Before she could say a word, he was out the door and out of sight. She breathed a sigh of relief. One test down, one to go, she thought, remembering that she had to ask Professor Snape for the key to the ingredients room. Her Potions kit was low on several stores and she had to replenish them before the next week's project.
"Do you need me to walk you back, Ginny?" Colin asked solicitously. She shook her head, allowing more loose tendrils to fall from her knotted hair.
"No, Colin, he's got his robe now and I'm sure he's gone. Besides, I do need to stay after to ask Snape if I can get some more items for my kit," she said, more confidently than she felt.
"Well, okay then, I'll be off. See you later," he said, gathering his things. The rest of the class filed out and Ginny went to Snape for the necessary items.
Malfoy stood in an unused classroom not far down the corridor. He was examining his robe for any signs of deterioration. Imagine, a Weasley with a robe this fine, he thought. She must have been beside herself with glee. He immediately checked to see if she had stolen his equally fancy gloves. As he pulled out the right glove, he saw where she had repaired the missing fingertip. With intense scrutiny he eyed the work. It was near perfect, with only a hair's breadth seam where she had replicated the cloth. Malfoy smiled in a feral sort of way. Replacing the gloves and fastening the clasp, he noticed something he had not before.
His delicate nostrils twitched. A faint, crisp apple scent dove into his nose. He inhaled deeply and thought it was possibly the next best thing to scenting her arousal. Growling to himself, he left the classroom and headed back towards the Slytherin dormitories.
Ginny exited with her kit newly replenished. She walked quickly, nose in her Potions assignment and trying to decide if she needed to stop at the library before retiring. She turned down a hall two corridors before she should have.
Seeing her turn, Malfoy followed her silently. He pounced before she sensed his presence. He quickly turned her to the right and faced her against the wall, making her drop everything she had been carrying. She squeaked in surprise, the air knocked out of her.
Malfoy covered her back with his chest, his long leg half sliding between her legs so that she mightn't escape. For just one second, maybe less, the feel of his thigh between hers caused her to clench around him, trying to steady her body from the dizzying shivers she was feeling.
"Hmm, Princess, I see you've cleaned it all up," he said.
"Sod off, Malfoy, I even fixed your glove," she forced out between gritted teeth. "I returned it in better condition than which it came to me. Leave me be."
"This is true, my Weasley dear. But there is still one question yet to be answered." He took his free hand and lightly scratched his fingernails down the back of her neck. He felt the tremors coming from her and thought he might spill himself right there.
"Who, Virginia, who were you thinking of there in that shower? Who could possibly drive you to such distraction?"
He opened his mouth and bit as much of her neck as possible. He scraped his teeth along her hairline and then bit delicately where her neck and shoulders fused. The shudder and moan that escaped her betrayed her staunch position and made Malfoy smile with pure male satisfaction.
"You'll tell me one of these days soon. Until then, I'll keep checking back." He pushed off her and turned on his heel, his tall black boots clicking on the cobblestones.