"Draco Malfoy's coming here!" Ron started pacing back and forth , "After everything you've been through………what possessed you Ginny?"
Sighing Ginny handed him her play book. Ron leafed through it stopping at the last page. "Ginny you have to, to-" Ron could barely utter the word, "H-hug him at the end. Did you know this?! "
Grabbing the book back Ginny said calmly, "At least I don't have to kiss him."
"That's a relief." added Harry who sat in the armchair by the fireplace.
"He's dangerous Ginny. Malfoy's the worst kind of wizard there is." Hermione was sounding more and more like her mother everyday. Must be practicing for when she becomes the next Mrs. Weasley, Ginny thought.
"Actually, I think Voldemort takes that particular title." Ginny said as she flipped through her playbook. It was innocent really, and her brother, Hermione and Harry were making it into a much bigger deal than it was. She had been practicing with him for over a month and all he ever did was shoot insults every now and then. Ginny was already used to his barbs which were becoming less frequent as the weeks passed. A smile played at her lips. Most pleasantly, Malfoy had surprised her by how seriously he was delving into his role.
Emerging from the portrait hole a shaky Neville Longbottom managed to croak that a certain blonde Slytherin was waiting on the other side. Ron immediately jumped up but Ginny stopped him. "Don't you dare try anything Ron Weasley. He's my guest and I expect you to treat him appropriately."
"Try anything? Me?! He's the one who better not try anything!" Ron's eyes narrowed watching his sister open the portrait hole and never let his gaze wander away from the blond Slytherin who entered.
Draco looked around the brightly decorated common room. Garish. Just like he thought it would be. Although it almost seemed like it would be quite comfortable in here, a fact he would never admit to anyone. Well, almost comfortable except for the fact that numerous eyes were shooting daggers straight at him.
"Don't everyone greet me at once." Silence was the only thing that met Draco's ears as he continued drawing more heated glares. "Yes I've finally decided to grace you Gryffindors with my charming presence."
Ginny rolled her eyes. Could he ever shut his mouth even for one minute? "My mates are in Hogsmeade, I thought we could study in my room." Ginny had intended to study in the common room but if her brother was hell-bent on staring her down then plans had to change. She started towards the stairs that led to her room and beckoned Malfoy to follow.
"In your room? I'd like that very much." With that he gave a sly wink towards Ron. He had no intention of doing anything of the intimate sort with Ginny Weasley. But if just the thought aggravated her brother he would be a fool not to take advantage of the situation.
"Keep your door open Gin." Ron's voice was stern his face turning red with anger as he whispered to Draco, "You might not think I'm watching you, but I am. Hurt my sister and you'll be on the receiving end of my fist. Unlike you Malfoy I am not beneath using muggle methods to injure those that hurt my family. "
Once again he saw rage flash across Ron Weasley's face. He hadn't seen that emotion since Colin's accident. It had frightened him, but he wouldn't let Weasley know the upper hand he held. "Do that trick again Weasley, the one where you open your mouth and your head disappears."
If it weren't for Hermione catching Ron's fist, Draco would have definitely been sporting a black eye. "He's not worth it!"
Harry immediately rushed to Ron's side, wand drawn ready to battle.
Ginny stood at the top of the stairs with arms crossed, "Will you both grow up! Ron, I can take care of myself."
Draco snickered feeling the burning eyes of the trio on his back as he ascended the steps. His feelings of glee
didn't last long, as he unceremoniously slid back down the steps. "What the…….!" He narrowed his eyes at
Harry, Ron and Hermione who were doubled over in laughter.
Ginny stood at the top staring down at a now sprawled Draco Malfoy. "Sorry, she said sheepishly, "The stairs won't allow any males to enter the girls dormitories, I'll have to float you up here."
"Forgot?" She probably wanted to make a fool out of him, in front of Gryffindors no less. He had a mind to just leave but wouldn't give the laughing Gryffindor hyenas the satisfaction. "Well, hurry up then!" he snapped at her as he steadied himself to a standing position.
"I might just leave you there to fend for yourself." Ginny shouted Expilliarmus and ran to her room with his wand in her hand.
Great, he had upset her once again. Couldn't she see how much he needed to practice? Graduation was important. The sooner he graduated the sooner he could get the heck out of England and leave all these bad memories behind.
"C'mon Ginny, please?!"
The door slightly opened and a freckled nose appeared, "Is a Malfoy actually begging me to allow him entrance into my room."
Oh hell no. He could hear more laughter, this time it was that moron Dean Thomas and that Irish Git Seamus Finnegan.
Fine, I'll play along. Dammit. That girl is so going to pay. Resigning himself to his fate he nodded, "Yes Ginny pretty please." Finally he found himself floating up the stairs leaving the snickering Gryffindors below. They didn't snicker for long. Before he closed the door he grinned evilly at Ron and slammed the door shut.
"I should hex you into oblivion for making me the laughingstock of your common room!" Draco shouted at her but then stopped momentarily at the plate of chocolate chip cookies Ginny presented to him. He could feel himself start to drool.
"Thought it would help us study." She smiled knowing of his insatiable craving for chocolate. She had baked them all night down in the kitchens giving the houselves strict instructions not to help her. Growing up with a mother like Molly Weasley taught her much about the culinary arts. Apart from singing she loved cooking and baking, even if Hermione jabbered on about how cooking was a trap to keep women in their place.
"These are really good!" Draco said, helping himself to more cookies. They were 10 times better than Prapella, the Malfoy's master chef. Draco swore up and down that she had made the best cookies, ever.
Ginny smiled, "Made them myself. Secret Weasley family recipe."
Draco gave her a lazy grin, "I'm going to have to marry you Ginny, just for your cookies. My father will be upset but he'll just have to live with it. One should never get between a man and his chocolate chip cookies! " Not one crumb was left behind as he finished the plate. Draco sighed with happiness. He was pleasantly full.
Ginny let out a small laugh. The usually impeccably neat Draco had smudges of chocolate at the corner of his mouth.
"What's so funny Ginny?" he asked as he opened his playbook ready to get back to business.
Ginny took her thumb and wiped gently at the chocolate, her fingers accidentley brushing against his lips. A shiver ran through Draco's spine at Ginny's soft touch. Many girl's had touched him in even more erotic ways. Without even trying Ginny had caught the attention of his hormones. Draco shook the thought from his head. He hadn't been with a girl since he broke up with Pansy. Sure he had snogged a few senseless, but other than that he hadn't been intimate with anyone else. Draco tried to convince himself that he was just lonely for some female companionship but a certain part of his anatomy wasn't listening.
"Y-Yeah, um, where were we??" Draco croaked, tearing his eyes away from Ginny. He strategically placed the playbook into position to spare him the embarrassment of being temporarily attracted to a Weasley. Why oh why did they have to practice sitting on her bed? Her yellow and orange sheets should have repulsed him. But unfortunately he was thinking of better things to do with the Weasley on the bed, instead of going over lines. The sooner their practice was over, the better.
Never before had Ginny seen Draco so enthusiastic about this part. Usually he grumbled and complained between lines. Today he was nothing but the professional actor. What the change was, she didn't really know but hoped it would continue.
As for Draco, he didn't quite know either.
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Tomato- red Ron Weasley and his half-dressed girlfriend Hermione Granger proved to be the best catch of the night. "Well, well. Look what we have here, a head girl and a prefect visiting the astronomy tower after curfew. That's 100 points Granger for indecent exposure." Draco smirked as Hermione tried to frantically button up her blouse.
"Sod of Malfoy!" Ron narrowed his eyes at the prefect who had ruined a perfectly good snogging session as he covered his girlfriend with his cloak. Hermione glared at Draco , much too embarrassed to insult him.
"Would you like me to take more points from your precious house, prefect Weasley?" Draco didn't mind at all having to do rounds of the astronomy tower. He had gladly traded with Zabini. There was nothing more fulfilling than catching students in various states of undress, especially the haughty Gryffindors. What a productive night it had been! They deserved it, every last one of them!
With another night ended Draco headed down the stairs ending his glorious point taking shift. Eighteen couples! He was quite sure no other Head Boy had caught so many rule breakers. Not like he hadn't been up in the Astronomy Tower quite a few times himself, but he had been smart enough not to get caught.
Draco kept his wand at the ready as he walked down the hallway. One could never be sure that retaliation wasn't far behind after punishing so many. Breaking out of his reverie Draco heard tiny footsteps echoing behind him. Spinning around to catch none other than Ginny Weasley creeping silently up the Astromomy Tower stairs.
"What in hades is she doing here?" Draco muttered to himself.
Goody-Goody Ginny Weasley meeting someone in the Astronomy Tower? Sure it was common knowledge that she dated half of her brother's friends but at the same time those same boys had described her as Virgin Virginia. A part of him was delighted at the possibilty of catching another Weasley. Why then did he feel a bit uneasy at the prospect of finding out who her mystery boyfriend was?
"Weasley?!"
Instead of being scared as he had expected she smiled a sly grin that caught Draco off-guard.
"Lumos." She whispered instantly shining a guiding light along the once darkened stairwell, "Follow me."
Ginny Weasley was inviting him to the Astronomy Tower?
"Are you coming or not?" she asked Draco whose feet seemed to be frozen to the floor.
Pass up an opportunity to go to the Astronomy Tower? Never. But with Ginny Weasley? How many times had he brought Pansy Parkinson up here? Too numerous to count. Of course Pansy was in a much higher echelon compared to Weasley. Pansy with her long blond hair, nice waist and very ample chest kept Draco busy many a night. That was the problem. That's all they ever did.
Could he tell her about how miserable he felt about his mother crying every night? Or how he cried when his father was taken away to Azkaban. No. Pansy was like a drug. For the moment it would feel good but afterwards the problem was still there.
He had thought better of Weasley. Every study session was becoming something to look forward to. With Ginny he could talk about everything under the Hogwarts sun. This Astronomy Tower snog would ruin everything. Why did she want to ruin it? It -whatever it was - no longer enemies but dare he say the word…. a friend?
"Are you coming?" she grinned mischievously as she continued up the staircase.
Did he want to ruin it?
"I brought chocolate chip cookies…….."
That was the clincher. What a weak man he was. Draco bounded up the stairs behind her. "Weasley wait up!!!"
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"What are you doing?" Draco asked munching on the cookies Ginny had promised as she spread a blanket next to a telescope. No snogging had taken place. In fact Ginny looked very uninterested in him at the moment. Perhaps he was mistaken? Draco hoped so, letting out a sigh of relief.
"What I always do on a Friday night." Ginny responded peering into the lens. "I watch the heavens."
Every Friday? How was that possible? With the exception being today, he nor Blaise had ever caught her. With bright red hair like Weasley's it would have not been hard to spot her.
As if she was reading his mind, Ginny answered, "I have my ways of avoiding you prefects and head boys."
Draco had to chuckle at her sneakiness. Who would have thought that Ginny had it in her?! Then again she did have those two git brothers George and Fred who probably taught her everything she knew.
A small hand tugged at his, "Look Draco." Ginny stepped aside and motioned for Draco to take a peek.
Draco looked through the lens quickly and shrugged, "Just Mars and some stars….so what Ginny? It's not like we don't do enough of this in Trelawney's class."
"Just Mars? How could you just brush something so beautiful off to the side like that?" Ginny sniffed gesturing towards the night sky.
Maybe he had been mistaken about Ginny's intelligence. Third in the class yet she believed that one could read fate via the stars. "Don't tell me you believe in all that astrology garbage!"
"I'd rather not believe it." Ginny would watch and she would hope, but the stars always told her what she didn't want to hear. The stars spoke of a life lived full yet ending shortly. A small tear escaped and Ginny hurridly wiped it away before Draco could see it. A full life? She hadn't even begun to live. True love was supposed to come her way. But when and with who? Time was running out as was the life of the dying star in the heavens.
Intrigued was the word. Draco was interested in what Ginny saw. "Tell me Ginny, what do you see in my future?" he asked as he took another cookie from the tin.
Ginny swiped the cookie back and was met with Draco's protests, "What are you doing! Are you nuts, give me my cookie back!"
Holding it away from him Ginny was once again thoroughly engrossed in the telescope. "If I tell you, you're more than likely to choke.
"No I won't" Draco pouted looking very much like the 17 year old baby he was, "What is it Weasley?!"
"I don't know……." Ginny said in a lilting teasing voice, "You might not like it……."
Draco was becoming frustrated, yet deeply interested, "For Merlins' sake Ginny, am I going to die tomorrow or what?"
Ginny bit her lip in laughter looking up from the telescope , "Happiness Draco. You will find happiness with your true love. "
"Bullshit Weasley." Draco practically snarled. He let himself fall into one of Ginny's jokes yet again. After practicing with her over a month he had thought he knew her fairly well to know when she was being serious. Tonight was not one of them.
"Better make up with Pansy Parkinson Draco, it looks like your happiness won't last long." Ginny mapped out Draco's stars in the sky, a harsh gasp leaving her.
"What is it Weasley?" he asked concern etched in his voice.
A dying star was shared between Ginny and Draco. A fact Ginny chose not to reveal. She prayed to the Gods that her future would change but it had remained a constant. Ancient stars never lied. In this instance, Ginny chose not to tell him. Maybe it was just a coincidence. The dying star could mean many things. The most obvious Ginny decided not to believe.
Conjuring up her most wicked smile she replied, "Your true love is Harry Potter."
To be continued