Tangled Web

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR and her various publishing companies. I lay absolutely no claim to any of it.

Tangled Web Prologue - Temptations

Winter 1994

The Great Hall of Hogwart’s School of Wizardry and Witchcraft was decked out in its finest holiday decorations. Huge glittering decorated trees, holiday colored streamers, greenery, and candles decorated the room. The enormous room was alive with holiday cheer for all the students and foreign guests at the annual holiday dance for fourth year and up students. This year was special because of the on-going Tri-Wizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts.

Draco Malfoy was safely ensconced at the Slytherin table at the far end of the room near the dance floor. He’d retreated there as soon as Pansy Parkinson had flounced off with some other Slytherin girls to check their makeup, leaving Draco in blissful, even if only momentary, peace. She’d been driving him mad all night with the requests for a dance or to get her a cup of punch. He’d had about as much as he could take of her incessant whining. He turned to his favorite pastime, lazily scanning the room until his eyes lit upon the object of his hatred.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley stood near the Gryffindor tables beadily staring at Hermione Granger dancing with Viktor Krum, the Tri-Wizard champion from Durmstrang and Seeker for the Bulgarian Quidditch Team. Their dates, Padma and Parvati Patil staring at them just as beadily, probably thinking of ways to kill them. Merlin, this shouldn’t be so easy Draco thought to himself. Do they have any idea the scene that they are making? He mentally filed this bit of information away for later use as ammunition when the inevitable war of words between himself and Potter erupted.

Throaty laughter intruded upon Draco’s thoughts of Potter torture. The earthy sound drew his attention to the dance floor where he spied another one of those red-haired Weasleys. This one was dressed in a violet gown that set off her blazing red hair and creamy skin to perfection. She was clumsily dancing with that stupid prat Neville Longbottom. He winced as Longbottom stomped on her toes yet again, and found himself watching her reassure Longbottom each time he stomped her bruised toes. Draco felt himself growing cold inside and he didn’t know why.

~*~

Ginny escaped Neville’s company for the moment. She looked around the Great Hall, spying Ron and Harry moping over at the Gryffindor table and Hermione dancing the night away with Viktor Krum. She didn’t feel like cutting in on the posturing battle that had broken out the second Krum stepped foot on Hogwarts Grounds. She got enough of that back in the common room. Besides, her toes were burning and that git Malfoy had been staring at her all night. She slipped out of the castle into the cold night air of the gardens before Neville could show up and finish off her toes.

“You know, committing suicide by freezing is completely inefficient,” came the slow drawl behind her.

Oh dear Merlin, Malfoy! What did I do to deserve this! Ginny thought as she turned to face her tormenter, eyes darkened with defiance. “What do you want, Malfoy?” she spit out.

Draco eyed her, a flicker of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Just wanted to make sure you were alright,” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

Ginny’s mouth fell open as her brown eyes locked onto his silver ones. This is it, I’ve gone completely nutters.

“You’ll be waiting a while if you’re wanting to catch flies.”

Ginny snapped her mouth shut, but she continued to stare at him wide-eyed. She looked him over quickly. He’d grown quite tall and lean, but hard. Quidditch player’s body if she’d assumed correctly. His black robes were exquisitely cut from the most expensive velvet money could buy and fit him like a glove. The pale moonlight glinted off his platinum hair giving off the allusion of a halo above him.

“You look like an angel,” she barely whispered as she released the breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

“Hardly,” Draco snorted, “but my Mum would be pleased to hear it. You clean up well for a Weasley.” He looked her over appraisingly. She’d become tall and willowy over the past year. She wore a simple, but elegant floor length dark violet colored gown with a wide rounded neck that framed the top of her bare shoulders. The bodice was fitted and showed off the hint of burgeoning feminine curves. Her blazing red hair was pulled back away from her face, but left to trail down her back in a riot of curls.

Ginny’s head was reeling. Malfoy was complimenting her. This simply was not right. It had to be a really cruel joke. She had endured the stares and whispering that followed her first year incident with the Chamber of Secrets. Most of her fellow students didn’t know if they could quite trust her after that little incident. Then there was her not-so-secret crush on Harry and that highly embarrassing incident with the singing Valentine. She was very good at hiding her feelings. She had no idea how or why she’d attracted his attention, he just usually ignored her in favor of baiting Ron. This was simply not fair on top of everything else.

She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks despite the cold night air. Ginny muttered something that sounded vaguely like “thank you” as she dropped her head to hide her blush.

Draco felt a momentary flicker of heat pass through him, the coldness he felt earlier was completely gone. He felt drawn to her in a way he couldn’t explain. Here she was, daughter of his Father’s most despised enemy and in a second-hand dress that looked surprising beautiful on her. He was thinking about how she looked like a cornered rabbit when he noticed the light dusting of freckles across her nose. He decided he liked those freckles.

A shiver shook Ginny’s shoulders. “I need to get back in…Neville.” She started back towards the door she’d slipped through a few minutes before.

He caught her by the arm as she tried to pass. His hold was firm, but gentle as he pulled her back in front of him. He leaned down over her, breathing in the soft scent of lilies and looking deeply into her soft brown eyes. She looked back at him, holding her breath, bracing for whatever insult he might hurl at her. He leaned down a little more to capture her lips in a tentative kiss. She went rigid, but made no move to escape. He took that as an invitation for another kiss. This time he closed his eyes as he pressed his lips against her warm mouth. She sighed softly as the kiss deepened and her knees became weak.

When he released her mouth, he stood there looking at her closed eyes and softly parted lips. She was no longer rigid and he was amused to discover that she was a delightful shade of pink. Her eyes flicked open as she raised a hand to lightly run her fingers over her freshly kissed lips.

“Tell anyone of this, Weasley, and your little Gryffindor friends will be finding parts of you for years to come,” he hissed.

He released her arm, turned abruptly on his heel and disappeared through the doorway leaving Ginny staring after him in his wake.

~*~

Blaise Zabini lounged gracefully at the Slytherin table surveying the room while contemplating the absence of Draco and the return of Pansy. Just when she thought she might check and see if he was back in the common room, she spied him slipping in the almost hidden side door that leads out into the gardens. She sat up from her almost reclining position to get a better look at the impending Draco and Pansy fiasco. She knew all too well what happens when someone stupidly crosses him when he’s in a snit.

Draco stalked toward the vicinity of the Slytherin table, everything about his demeanor screamed for him to be left alone. He stopped in front of a large column, arms firmly crossed, his jaw clinched and eyes as black as his obvious mood. He could still taste the peppermint that had been on her lips. He was sure that that Weasley chit had bewitched him or hexed him or something to make him kiss her. It was the only explanation. He’d entertained the notion that he might actually be interested in her for about two seconds before deciding that it was absolutely absurd. She’s a Weasley for Merlin’s sake and he, after all, was a Malfoy. Malfoys did not stoop that low. He watched the door for her return.

Pansy was utterly delighted that her date reappeared. She was completely oblivious to Draco’s mood which for her was nothing new. She went right up to him and started yapping as she always did.

“Just look at Granger making a fool of herself with Krum,” she sneered. “I wonder how many spells she had to use to make that mop of her’s not frizz?”

Draco glared at her. Blaise sat up straighter getting ready for the show.

“I mean honestly, I thought she’d never get a date; she’s not pretty at all,” she continued.

Draco’s eyes grew darker as his anger soared to new heights at Pansy’s grating voice. “Just shut up,” he said dangerously.

“Oh and look there is Ginny Weasley sneaking in the side door. I would just die if I had hair that color. What an embarrassment. Oh and that dress…I wonder how old it is. Not fashionable at all. You know her family is dirt poor. I suppose it was the best she could do, but honestly I would just rather die. I bet she went out there to snog…”

Draco snatched her arm and jerked her forcefully in front of him before she could finish. “I said shut up,” he said through gritted teeth, emphasizing each word. Pansy’s mouth flapped open and shut like a fish out of water and her eyes were as big as saucers. “No one cares to hear what you think.”

He shoved Pansy away from him in disgust as he couldn’t think of anything mean or cunning to say much to his dismay. He started to stalk off when he caught a flash of violet out of the corner of his eye. He stopped dead and watched Ginny run out of the Great Hall in tears.

Blaise stood up, ran her hands over her black dress, smoothing it down, then tossed back her long black hair. “Well, well, well,” she said softly. A very knowing smile spread across her lips.

~*~

Ginny tried to slip back in the room unnoticed, but immediately saw Malfoy and Blaise watching her intently as Pansy sniggered while saying something she obviously thought was amusing. Malfoy’s kiss had nearly undid her, but this little scene really pushed her to the brink. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She would not let them see her like this, she did have some shreds of dignity left. She did the only thing she knew to do…run from the room.

She ran all the way up to the Gryffindor tower, choked out the password to the Fat Lady and then up to her dorm. She flung herself on her bed in a heap of violet satin and tangled curls before the first true sob escaped her lips. She allowed herself the luxury of a good, loud sobbing since she knew everyone else had gone home for Christmas or was at the Yule Ball.

Ginny’s sobs had finally dwindled down to sniffles. She sat up to finish unpinning her hair. “Merlin’s ghost, girl, get a hold of yourself,” she muttered to herself. She flung the hairclips in frustration.

She glimpsed her reflection in the full length mirror as she got up to get her pajamas. She stared with puffy red eyes at her reflection for what seemed an eternity trying to figure out why Malfoy had kissed her. She tried to smooth the dress with her hands to no avail. She gave up on the dress in favor of fiddling with her hair. After a few minutes her hair was as bushy as Hermione’s at its worst. She gave up before she was driven to tears again.

She stripped, leaving the dress in a heap of violet material where it fell on the floor. She put on her favorite flannel pajamas, the ones with little lambs all over the pale blue background, and slipped into bed. She pulled the curtains of her bed shut hoping that Hermione would think she was asleep when she eventually checked in on her. She laid there staring into the darkness.

Sure enough a little while later Hermione came in to check on her. “Gin?”

Ginny shut her eyes and pulled the covers up before Hermione could peek in on her. The soft click of the door latch told her she’d been successful.

She fell into an exhausted sleep without realizing it. This time there were no dreams of Tom Riddle, but of a certain angel with hair like the moonlight.

Chapter One – Be Still My Beating Heart

October 1997

Draco watched Ginny from across the library as he pretended to work on his research project for Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was sitting at the same table she always did with the usual prats, Finnigan, Longbottom, and Creevey. Tonight she was sitting on the other side of the table next to Finnigan where he could see her face.

He liked to watch her face.

He watched her smile and blush at something Finnigan said while the others laughed. She brushed stray tendrils of hair from her face as she tried to resume studying. She was trying hard to keep a straight face. Finnigan reached up and tickled her right by her ear. She giggled and playfully slapped his hand away, telling him to behave. Draco wished he could make her giggle like that.

She reached up, grabbing her hair in one hand and removing the clip with the other. She twisted her hair up in a knot, securing it with a well-aimed quill. She returned to studying as she absently loosened her red and gold Gryffindor tie and undid the top few buttons of her dress shirt. Her eyebrows knotted as she concentrated hard on what she was writing.

Draco returned his thoughts to the task at hand, researching the Dark Wizard Grindelwald. He was scratching notes on his parchment when he hazarded a glance at Ginny. He was rewarded with sight of Finnigan pulling the quill from her hair. She squealed as her long hair fell suddenly around her in waves of curls the color of fire. She shook her hair back from her face, the candlelight glinting off the golden highlights he hadn’t noticed before. He thought her hair looked alive, a living, breathing, beautiful entity, that red hair of hers…

Finnigan playfully grabbed a handful of that fiery hair and pulled her to him for a sound kiss. She pulled away from him after a few moments, looking at him with sparkling brown eyes. Draco wondered idly if she tasted of peppermint. The nub of his raven feather quill broke with a dull thud, leaving a large black ink splotch on his parchment, as his hands shook with his rising anger.

He hated Finnigan at that moment more than he thought he could hate anyone other than his father.

~*~

Draco slowly opened his eyes to find Blaise, wearing only his black silk robe, straddling him, pinning him under the covers.

“Blaise, what are you doing?” he asked, knowing the answer already. There were certain privileges of being Head Boy and a private bedroom was one of them.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she purred while seductively moving her hips against him.

He sighed deeply. “What time is it? I was trying to sleep until noon.”

She sat back on his thighs to pout. She ran her fingers through her thick blue-black hair, shaking it about her shoulders. She knew how much he loved her hair. They’d been shagging off and on for nearly two years now. She knew what he liked.

Draco watched her through half closed eyes. She had a body to die for and she knew how to use it. He once thought it was indecent for a girl her age to know the things she knew, but it certainly hadn’t stopped him from enjoying that knowledge. He was a Malfoy after all. He’d been taught to exploit advantageous situations if they presented themselves for the taking.

“You know if Pansy catches you in here she’s going to rip all that pretty hair out,” he stated matter-of-factly. He reached up to twist a stray curl in his fingers. “I rather like your hair.”

“Let her try! I can take her,” she hissed jealously, her pout deepening.

He knew she could take Pansy anytime she wanted, hell, he was pretty sure she could take Crabbe and Goyle if they crossed her the wrong way. Blaise was a cruel, manipulative, cunning girl who rarely let anything get in the way of what she wanted.

“You’re not really going to marry her are you?” Blaise asked, suddenly very serious. Her violet eyes narrowed under her furrowed brows as she gave him a hard look.

He’d answered this question at least dozen times already. The answer was always the same. He simply answered with a quiet, “yes,” and silently added, but not if I can help it. They’d been over this before. More times than he actually cared to discuss the matter, but Blaise was insistent if she was anything. It was way too early in the day for this. He closed his eyes for a moment, as the scene replayed briefly in his mind.

Any hope for a decent present on his sixteenth birthday had been dashed when Father announced over dinner that he’d pick out a wife for his only son that he would marry shortly after graduation from Hogwarts. And it was none other than Pansy Parkinson. He looked to Mother for help after Father’s announcement, she did always try to help where she could, but this time her head was bowed. She wouldn’t look at him, silently communicating that he was on his own this time.

“Did you honestly think I was going to allow you to make this choice, Son?” his Father had said in that cold voice of his that meant there was going to be no negotiations on this matter. “You can’t even decide what you’re going to wear in the morning.”

He sat in stunned silence. He looked to Mother again, trying to will her to speak.

“Your Mother agrees with my choice, don’t you my dear?”

At the sound of Father addressing her, Mother had raised her eyes to meet those of Father. She gave a small nod of compliance. He knew then that his fate was sealed.

“Draco! Did you fall asleep on me?” The sound of Blaise’s annoyed voice drew him from his troubled thoughts. “I swear sometimes I wonder why I bother!”

She started to move off of him in a huff.

“Blaise,” he said firmly in an attempt to reel in her temper before it got out of hand. He slid his cool hands up her bare thighs while looking deeply into her eyes. “Blaise,” he repeated, much more softly this time.

Her anger melted instantly as it always did when he looked at her that way with those silver eyes. She’d been in love with him since she was eight or so when she first met him at Malfoy Manor. Her father had business at the manor. He’d brought his daughter along to show her off in hopes of catching Lucius Malfoy’s attention; his young son would need a wife someday. She’d been allowed to play with Draco in the sitting room. Yes, he’d been nasty to her, but she was struck by his pale angelic looks. She set her sights on him at that very moment and she always got what she wanted, almost always anyway.

She leaned down to softly kiss Draco along his jaw, her hands slipping down along his bare chest. Her thick hair became a dark curtain around them as their kisses became more intense. His hands deftly slipped the black robe from her shoulders.

“It’s warmer under the covers,” he murmured in her ear.

Blaise didn’t have to be told twice.

~*~

Ginny woke with a start. She was drenched in cold sweat and was breathing hard. She wildly glanced around her, trying to figure out where she was. She relaxed a little, trying to calm her breathing once she realized she was safe in her bed at Hogwarts. She rubbed her face with her hands trying to remember anything about the dream she’d just awoke from. Dark cavern, damp, hissing noises…no best not try to remember that now.

She shook her head to clear her mind, and then she threw back the covers and crawled out bed. She gave herself a cursory glance in the mirror before deciding how much work she was going to have to do to make herself presentable. It was the year’s first Hogsmeade weekend and Seamus had promised to take her to lunch at the Three Broomsticks. She wanted to look good for him.

Seamus had acted strangely towards her all last spring. He’d always been one of her little group along with Neville and Colin Creevey, but then things changed. He started opening doors for her, offering to carry her books, making weird small talk. He’d written her frequently over the summer, finally confessing his love to her. She decided she liked the idea. It was a refreshing change to have someone actually like her back after her first couple of disastrous crushes.

She pulled on a pair of black tights, her black pleated skirt and slipped on her favorite forest green sweater. She scrubbed her face hard with cold water and brushed her teeth quickly. She ruthlessly pinned up her unruly red hair, ignoring the suggestions of the talking mirror. She was on her knees hunting her other shoe when Hermione came in looking for her.

“There you are Gin! The boys have been waiting half an hour and you missed breakfast,” she said in the motherly voice she used when she chided Harry and Ron.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. I overslept. I look like a wreck and I can’t find my shoe,” Ginny said exasperated.

“This shoe I presume,” Hermione said chuckling as she picked up Ginny’s left shoe from over by the doorway.

“Merlin! Thanks, Mione.” Ginny stuck her foot into her shoe as she shoved her arms into her well-worn black school robe and hurried out the door behind Hermione.

As they descended the staircase leading to the common room, the girls could hear the boys discussing their favorite topic, Quidditch. They were discussing the first match of the season against Slytherin the next weekend. Harry was the Gryffindor team captain and Seeker; he took over as captain during his sixth year. Ron was keeper and Seamus and Dean Thomas were Beaters while Ginny, Parvati and Lavender were the Chasers.

“Oi, Gin,” Ron began as the boys stood up to greet the girls. “Guess who one of the new Chasers is for Slytherin?”

Harry had stood up to greet Hermione, but cut Ron a dirty look before he leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

Ginny eyed Ron warily as she walked over to Seamus who greeted her with a very quick peck on the cheek. He was a little intimidated by her very much taller, older brother.

“Ron,” Harry started in an attempt to cut him off, giving him the raised eyebrow treatment. “Leave it for later.”

“Pray tell.”

“Ronald Weasley,” Hermione warned, doing her best Molly Weasley imitation to date.

“Your very own favorite Slytherin,” he said gleefully, ignoring the stern warnings of his friends. Ron knew just how to push Ginny’s buttons. He’d been doing it for seventeen years now and he wasn’t about to stop. It was simply too much fun getting his baby sister all riled up.

“Bloody hell!” Ginny swore rolling her eyes, “Zabini!?!” Blaise had been a thorn in Ginny’s side since her third year. For the life her she could not figure what she did to attract the attention of that girl. She knew it couldn’t possibly be that kiss she’d shared with Malfoy. She knew she hadn’t told a soul and she was quite positive Malfoy wasn’t going around bragging about it. It just had to be something, but for the life her she couldn’t figure it out.

Ron laughed at Ginny’s reaction as it was exactly as he expected. He had almost gotten her started on one of her infamous swearing binges, but she sobered quickly remembering she was standing right next to Seamus who was looking at her curiously. She didn’t want to scare him off too quickly with her amazing ability to swear, something she learned under the tutelage of six older brothers.

She grumbled something incoherently while Seamus squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It’ll be alright, Gin. You’re a much better chaser than that silly bint,” he offered.

Ginny’s eyes narrowed as her thoughts turned murderous. “I bet anything she’s shagging Malfoy.” Her chest tightened in a fit of inexplicable jealousy at the mere thought.

“A match made in hell, I’m sure,” Harry sighed. “Can we go now before Ron ruins the rest of the day?”

He pulled Hermione toward the door signaling this particular conversation was finished as far as he was concerned. He could have simply killed Ron for baiting Ginny about Zabini. He knew it was a sore spot for Ginny since she’d had a crush on Malfoy the year before. He knew the tell-tale signs since he’d already been on the receiving end of one of her crushes. He was just thankful she was much more discreet about this one and wisely left the singing Valentine alone. He was actually happy that Seamus finally made his feelings toward her known. Harry loved Ginny like a little sister; he only wanted her to be happy. Malfoy did not equal happiness, Seamus did.

~*~

Pansy had shaken him awake not fifteen minutes before, but Draco was still laying face down on his very messy bed, tangled in the white sheets and a dark green velvet bedspread. Blaise, thankfully, was long gone. He was wishing he could lie there forever, not ever having to move again. He knew that wasn’t an option since Pansy had shopping on her brain and it was the first Hogsmeade weekend.

“Must you do that in here,” he snapped as the scratching of quill against parchment finally got to him.

“Well, good morning you too,” Pansy said evenly. “I wanted to make sure you were awake.”

She put down the quill and coolly regarded her future husband who still hadn’t made a move to get out of bed. “I brought you some breakfast.”

He muttered something that vaguely sounded like cursing and finally moved, defeated. He slung the covers from him and gracefully slid out of the bed. He padded over to where she was sitting at his writing desk, stretching as he went and rubbing his hands through his pale messy hair. His black silk pajama bottoms hung dangerously low on his hips. He stifled a yawn with an elegant hand as he stopped before her.

“I brought you some fruit, bread and cheese. I wasn’t sure what you’d want.” She knew he was a picky eater at best.

He picked out an orange wedge from the plate she offered to him. “Thank you,” he said absently before popping it into his mouth. He took the plate from her and padded over to the large leather chair in front of the fireplace. He draped his long frame over the arms of the chair and proceeded to lazily pick at his breakfast plate, nibbling at pieces of this and that.

“You should get dressed,” Pansy suggested, not really knowing what else to say. She knew he could be difficult, especially first thing in the morning, and she had plans for the day.

“Who are you writing?” he queried ignoring her request, noting that she was using his personal writing parchment, heavy linen in Malfoy gray, and his last raven feather quill.

“Your mother.”

“Ah, dearest Mother. Telling her how awful I treat you?” he sneered.

Pansy sighed, recognizing the first signs of a full on snit. She’d known him all her life and she knew snits were never a good thing. She was just thankful Draco’s snits paled in comparison to those of his father. She’d learned in the past couple years how to nip them in the bud if she caught them early enough.

“Of course not, you know better than that. She wanted to know what colors I preferred so that she could decorate my chambers.” She returned her attention to the note.

“Mmm” was the only sound he issued, as he seemed placated with her reply. He dropped the plate of half eaten food on the floor before rising from the chair. He walked over and flung open the doors to the massive wardrobe that dominated the far wall on the other side of the bed. He selected the items of clothing he wanted, leaving the doors wide open, then stepped into the small room that was his private bath to dress.

Pansy never looked up. She knew he’d go in there looking like something the cat dragged in and come out looking more beautiful than a Greek god. He was vain about his appearance. He’d always been that way, even as a small child. She also knew the girls of Hogwarts would be sorely disappointed to know that he could look rather rough in the mornings.

She had finished her note, stamping it with the Malfoy crest and tying it neatly with a green ribbon, before starting to pick up the mess he had managed to make. She was wondering if his mother went through anything like this every morning with his father when she heard the door finally open.

“You know, there are house elves to do that,” Draco slowly drawled, watching her curiously. He was strongly reminded of his mother for some reason, only Pansy was shorter, not nearly as regal, although he was sure that would come with time, and she was much darker than Narcissa Malfoy.

She turned to look at him, smiling her approval of his restored appearance. He was leaning against the doorjamb looking just the like the Greek god she’d imagined and smirking as only a Malfoy could. He was wearing neatly pressed black trousers, a black silk knit turtleneck under his favorite slate gray sweater that made his eyes darken a bit. His face was still pink from the cold water scrubbing he’d given it. His platinum hair was parted to one side; the stylish angular cut was even with his razor sharp cheekbones. He’d given up slicking his hair back when he turned fifteen.

“We should be going soon. Merlin only knows what Crabbe and Goyle have gotten themselves into while waiting so long,” Pansy said, completely unfazed by his stunning transformation.

He sat down on the rumpled bed while he put on his favorite soft Italian leather boots. Pansy retrieved his robes from the peg by the door and stood there, waiting for him to finish. After he finished with his shoes, he slipped on the robes she’d held for him. She straightened the robes, wiped out the folds and wrinkles on his shoulders, then fastened the clasps for him.

They walked silently up the steps to the Slytherin common room where Crabbe and Goyle were entertaining themselves with a game of exploding snaps.

“Let’s go,” he commanded.

Crabbe and Goyle obediently dropped their game at the sound of his voice, quickly assuming their natural position of bodyguard a short distance behind Draco and Pansy.

He held her robes for her to slip on and waited as she fastened the clasps before offering her his arm. They walked down to Hogsmeade with nary a word between them.

~*~

“I think they are just adorable,” Hermione said with a huge grin as she watched Ginny and Seamus walk hand in hand up head of her, Harry and Ron.

Ron rolled his eyes at her pronouncement. She knew how much this irritated Ron and she liked to rub it in a little bit.

“I bet they get married someday,” she continued wistfully. “They’ll live happily ever after in some big castle in Ireland with lots of children! I bet at least one of them will have red hair!”

“He’s not tall enough for her,” Ron grumbled, finally taking the bait. He eyed Seamus beadily. He liked Seamus well enough, just not with his sister. There was no one good enough for Ginny as far as he was concerned, but with Seamus, he really did have to hunt for things that were objectionable. “Look at him, he’s barely taller than her.”

Harry chuckled, enjoying every second of this.

It was true, Seamus was not blessed with the Weasley height. He wasn’t even blessed with the Potter height which was lacking compared to the Weasley height. He was instead cursed with the Finnigan height which put him a number of inches under six feet tall. Which in turn meant that his girlfriend, a Weasley, was a mere couple inches shorter than he. She didn’t have to look up to him to look him in the eye.

“Yes, well, Ron not all of us can be cursed with giant genes,” Harry cheerfully added.

Ron topped all the Weasley boys by a few good inches. He was finally starting to fill out his lanky frame along the same lines as eldest brother, Bill, a muscular sort of lean with broad shoulders. And topped it all off with the trademark Weasley flaming red hair and dusting of freckles and sparkling blue eyes. He was a sight to behold as any number of the girls at Hogwarts would attest.

Ginny and Seamus had stopped walking to look at one another. She was smiling at him. He was slowly pulling her closer by the hand he was still holding.

“Aww! I think they’re gonna kiss,” Hermione cooed.

Ron sprinted up to them quickly, putting a stop to anything that might have occurred. “Hey now! There will be none of that here!”

Ginny gave her big brother the dirtiest look she could manage and whined, “Ron!”

Seamus blanched at Ron’s sudden glowering appearance.

Harry caught up to Ron, grabbing him by the arm. “Come on, let’s leave them alone.”

Hermione took Ron’s other arm and started to pull him along with Harry away from Seamus and Ginny.

“Well, look at this way, Ron, it could be Malfoy kissing your sister,” Harry joked, knowing that just the mention of Malfoy would make him forget about Ginny and Seamus.

~*~

Ginny liked to sit on the opposite side of the Gryffindor table, facing Ron and Harry. That way she could sneak looks across the Great Hall at Malfoy without being obvious. She was doing it even now with Seamus sitting beside her at the table. The boys were talking Quidditch yet again and Hermione’s nose was in some thick tome as usual. She had all the time in the world to watch him without notice.

She was admiring his pale angelic looks. She was so very glad when he finally stopped slicking back his hair. She thought his hair looked like moonlight and the new haircut he’d show up with this fall just made his patrician good looks even more predominate. She knew he was cruel, nasty and an all around prat, but she couldn’t help herself. There was something about him that always drew her attention.

He was sitting there in his usual place, but it was different now she noticed. Instead of being between Crabbe and Goyle, Pansy Parkinson sat at his right while Crabbe had been scooted down one space to make room for her. She suddenly wasn’t very fond of this new development.

Parkinson was playing with something on a chain around her neck. Malfoy said something to her and she obliged him by leaning her head back so he could examine the necklace she’d been toying with. He nodded to her, spoke a couple words and she rewarded those words with a kiss on his cheek. He didn’t look as put out by that kiss as he should have been Ginny thought. It was icky Pansy Parkinson after all. They actually looked comfortable with one another. Her ire was starting to rise.

Malfoy stood up, then offered a hand to Parkinson to help her up from the table. She slipped her hand through his arm and they walked out of the Great Hall together with Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind them. Parkinson had the haughty look of clear ownership on her hard face. Ginny flushed pink in her anger, the fork she forgot she was holding clattered loudly to the floor, drawing everyone’s attention.

At that moment Ginny hated Pansy Parkinson more than she thought she could hate anyone in her life, well, except maybe Blaise Zabini, who she was sure was shagging Malfoy.

Chapter Two – What Do I Have To Do

Late November 1997

“Bloody hell!”

“Bollocks!”

“Dammit!”

Ron turned a most unflattering shade of purple.

Harry just shook his head at the reaction of his team to his announcement that Professor Snape would be refereeing the Quidditch match against Slytherin. It seemed Madam Hooch was called out of town at the last minute on an emergency and Snape very kindly offered his services. He sighed; this was not going to be fun.

“Okay, I realize this is much worse than we anticipated, but we can do this,” Harry said, trying his best to channel Oliver Wood. “We just need to go out there and play a clean game. We’ve got the best team…”

“And they’ve got Snape,” Seamus interrupted. He was looking a little green around the gills.

“I realize this, yes, but there is nothing we can do about it. We’ve just got to play our game.”

“You do realize that our game and Snape don’t mesh right?” Lavender asked. Pavarti nodded in agreement.

Harry hung his head, his words measured. “We’ve just got to play….”

“Well, I for one am looking forward to this,” Ginny said, finally speaking up, much to Harry’s relief. “I’m going to own Zabini!”

“Ginny, I think this is hardly the time for you to be thinking about your little vendetta,” Ron warned.

“Knock her off her broom!”

“Yeah, you need to think about scoring!”

“I’d give anything to see her eat dirt!”

“She deserves anything after what she did to you, Gin!”

“Oi! Bright pink wasn’t your color!”

“She’s a sodden….”

“Okay, okay we all want to see Zabini go down. I get it, but that is not the goal here! The goal here is to win the Quidditch Cup. I want to win this! It’s my last year! Focus people! Focus!” Harry shouted, exasperated.

Dean, Seamus, Ron, Ginny, Lavender and Pavarti stopped their ranting to look at Harry as if he’d gone completely, stark raving mad.

“You do realize that you sounded just like Wood, don’t you?” Ron said with an incredulous look on his face.

“Oliver Wood,” Lavender and Pavarti sighed dreamily in unison. Ginny rolled her eyes while Seamus and Dean snorted.

Harry sank to the bench, muttering a few curses as the rest of the team launched into a round robin discussion of the various merits of Oliver Wood as a Quidditch player and as an exceedingly handsome former Gryffindor with a Scot accent.

This wasn’t going well at all and Harry hadn’t even mentioned Malfoy yet.

~*~

Ginny sat on her broom glaring at Zabini across the Quidditch pitch thinking over the seventeen painful ways to kill her she’d managed to come up with so far. Her goal was to come up with fifty very painful, plausible and very doable deaths for Zabini so that, one day when the time came, she’d be ready. Plus it was a great way to pass the time in History of Magic class. She had a parchpad dedicated to it.

The sound of Snape’s whistle brought her attention back to the pitch where the game started with lightening speed. Zabini was heading right for her; the quaffle was the last thing on her mind.

The girls collided hard, kicking and elbowing in attempt to unseat the other. Snape watched the two girls with great interest. He knew he should have called a foul by now, but he wanted to see how this would turn out. This little thing between the Weasley girl and Zabini had been brewing for ages and now, he had a front row seat.

Lavender scored, putting Gryffindor up by ten; while everyone watched Ginny and Blaise go at it.

Ginny didn’t let Zabini distract her as she went to the goal with the quaffle. She out maneuvered Goyle at the goal posts with a quick fake to the right and a cut back to the left, easily scoring another ten points. Before she could celebrate, Zabini rammed her hard from behind throwing her forward, but she managed to hang on.

Ginny swung around to give Zabini a hard look, each one of her seventeen murder scenarios flitting through her brain.

“What’s the matter, Weasel? Can’t stay on your twig of a broom?” Blaise taunted, hovering just out of reach of Ginny.

Seamus quickly cut between the two girls before Ginny could kill Zabini, sending Ginny off to help Lavender and Parvati who were having a time with the Slytherin beaters. He gave Zabini a stern look of warning before returning his attention to the match.

Harry was acutely aware that this match was quickly getting out of hand. He knew he had to find the snitch quick before Ginny, Seamus or Ron committed a murder and they ended up losing on a technicality -- that would make it rather difficult to pick up the Quidditch Cup. He’d never seen Ginny quite like this before, normally she was all talk, but there was something about Zabini that [brought out the worst in her. He did have to admit the little prank that turned Ginny’s hair an awful shade of hot pink last week didn’t do much to quell any animosities.

Malfoy kept finding himself distracted by Blaise and Ginny’s antics. He knew Blaise could be mean, down right vicious in fact, but this was something new. This had gone way beyond anything he’d witnessed before - it was like Blaise was on a mission to eliminate Ginny. He was impressed that Ginny hadn’t backed down; she actually seemed to be dishing out as much as she was receiving. He was not looking forward to an evening of Blaise ranting. His head was already hurting from just thinking about it. Malfoy sighed heavily, scanning the pitch for the thing that would end this nightmare; at this point he was almost willing to help Potter catch the damn snitch.

~*~

Ron and Seamus had to physically restrain Ginny once they got their feet back on the ground instead of celebrating a decisive Gryffindor victory over Slytherin. Harry caught the snitch just beating Malfoy to it, both of them crashing spectacularly in a heap on the pitch. Ginny had taken advantage of the distraction to deflect a bludger in Zabini’s direction, nearly taking off her head.

Blaise hit the ground running, but found herself caught in Goyle’s strong arms. She wasn’t going anywhere as she struggled, kicking, clawing and screaming to free herself. Malfoy picked himself up off the ground gingerly, cursing with amazing fluency in several languages. He gave Blaise a hard look that caused her to instantly cease her movements.

“Mr. Potter,” Snape said slowly, drawing each word out as he eyed the hissing, struggling Ginny, “I suggest you control your players before I have to deduct points.”

“Ginny,” Harry implored firmly, “please.” He stretched a hand toward her, trying to calm her.

Ginny shrugged hard, pulling away from Ron and Seamus. “Get off me!” she demanded roughly. She shook her head and straightened her robes before giving Blaise a murderous look.

“Come on, Gin, lets go get cleaned up,” Ron offered as he reached out to steer her toward the castle.

She shoved him away hard and stalked off. Ron and Harry exchanged questioning looks before following her with the rest of the team in stunned silence.

Snape held the Slytherin team back for a few moments trying to defuse the situation. He was really trying to protect the Weasley girl. He did like her, she was smart and quite good at potions and not nearly as cheeky as her brothers, but he’d never let on to that little fact. Zabini was another matter all together. He detested her just as he had detested her father during his days as a servant of Voldemort. Cut from the same cloth those two, stupid and foolish, blinded by ambition to achieve something they could never have. In the girl’s case she was after the Malfoy boy knowing full and well about the arrangements with the Parkinson girl. And judging from her reaction today, she must know about the boy’s little obsession with the Weasley girl.

As soon as Goyle released her, Blaise was off and running to catch up to Ginny. She wasn’t quite finished with that bint. She slipped past Draco by shedding the robe he’d managed to grab. She shoved through the Gryffindors before they realized what was happening. The object of her hatred was just up ahead with her back to her. It would be so easy to take her down. Just a little shove would send her face down in the mud.

She hit Ginny hard from behind before anyone could shout a warning. Ginny stumbled, but managed to keep her footing on the slick ground. She spun around to face her attacker, knowing it was Blaise spoiling for a fight.

“What?” Ginny spit, narrowing her eyes to stare menacingly at the person she hated most in this world.

The two teams carefully circled around the girls not exactly knowing what else to do. Snape trailed behind waiting to see what would happen.

“You know what,” Blaise hissed.

Ginny unconsciously flicked her eyes over Draco as he skidded to a halt at Blaise’s side.

“That,” screeched Blaise accusingly.

Ginny groaned, rolling her eyes dramatically. “I have no idea what you’re prattling on about. Either say it or get the hell away from me. I’m bored of your little game!”

The Slytherin girl just stared hard at the Gryffindor girl, silently challenging her.

Ginny turned away having grown tired of the posturing; Blaise grabbed a handful of her robes to pull her back. “Afraid of me are you?”

Ginny shrugged off her gloves and robe in one swift move. “Get your hands off of me, bint!”

“What did you call me?”

“You heard me, bint!”

Murmurs and gasps erupted from the group watching the girls. Snape, who had finally come up to the rear of the group, tried hard to repress the smile that twitched at the corners of his lips.

“I’m so gonna kill you!” Blaise said, slowly moving closer.

“I’d like to see you try,” Ginny challenged, fists clinched, body coiled ready to spring just like Charlie had taught her.

Ron had had enough of this and was going to put a stop to it. He moved to step between the girls, distracting his little sister momentarily, just long enough to give Blaise an advantage.

She slapped Ginny hard, leaving an angry red hand print on her pale cheek.

“You bitch,” Ginny growled, elbowing her big brother out of the way before she took a swing at the Slytherin girl, connecting hard with the girl’s jaw, snapping her head back.

Blaise staggered back from the weight of the blow, her jaw going numb instantly, the awful metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. The Slytherin team as a whole took a step back, leaving her own her own.

Ginny waited for her to recover, but not too long before she delivered a nasty right uppercut that caught her nose. Blood from the blow splattered across Ginny as the wounded Blaise dropped to her knees screaming in pain and rage, using a hand to desperately staunch the flow of blood.

Draco watched Blaise in awe. He’d never seen her defeated at anything in his life, yet there she was on the ground, in the mud, bloodied and screaming. A wicked sneer settled on his lips as he recollected the scene that just played out before him. There was, after all, a first time for everything.

Ginny admired her handy work for a few moments. “Want some more, Zabini,” she taunted, still clinching her fists.

Blaise looked down at her now red stained hands and uniform. “Bloody hell,” she cried, full of pain, “I…I…th..think you broke my nose.”

Snape had seen enough. He didn’t want the Weasley girl to get into anymore trouble and Zabini just got the little comeuppance she so richly deserved.

“Miss Weasley and Miss Zabini that is quite enough,” Snape said in a hard, commanding voice that up until now had been reserved only for Harry and Ron. “My office. NOW.”

“Professor,” Blaise started to whine.

“Spare me your drama, Miss Zabini, just MOVE!”

Snape snatched each girl by an arm, forcing them to move toward the castle and whatever punishment he was going to bestow, as the remaining team members watched in shock.

~*~

Draco waited for her behind a suit of armor in the long corridor that led toward Gryffindor Tower. He knew Ginny would come this way after leaving Snape’s office.

He wanted to see her, needed to see if he was honest with himself, which Draco wasn’t, but that was another matter altogether. He had to see for himself if she was okay. The way she wailed on Blaise stunned him. He never dreamed she’d have that kind of violence in her, but then again she did have six older brothers so it wouldn’t be out of the question that she would know how to fight.

He chuckled to himself as the actual fact of Blaise’s stupidity dawned on him. His mother had warned him about the Zabini family upon discovering his little liaison. Something about Zabini’s not being as good as Malfoys and only good for dirty work. They were not be trusted she’d said. Blaise got just what she deserved and by a Gryffindor to boot. Some things were just worth savoring, he couldn’t wait to tell Mother.

The sound of heavy footsteps brought him back to the hallway. He could tell Ginny was still livid by the briskness of her walk. He watched her approach from his hiding place. She was still wearing her red and gold Quidditch uniform sans the robe which he saw Harry pick up from the muddy ground as Snape hauled both girls off toward his office. He could see the tan pants that clung to her impossibly long legs and disappeared into dark brown leather knee boots. The sweater hugged her curves and stopped just short of her softly rounded hips, accentuating the fact that she was no longer a little girl. Draco silently cursed school robes and uniforms as he felt a weird twinge in the pit of his stomach. She was viciously releasing her hair from the French braid she’d worn during the match, shaking it out in all its long red glory. She still had a little blood on her face from the blow to Blaise’s nose; obviously Snape hadn’t allowed the girls to clean up.

She had a wild, dangerous look about her that he wasn’t used to seeing. He liked it.

Draco let her pass before he stepped out from his hiding place. “Weasel,” he drawled slowly, “that’ll be five points from Gryffindor for being out of school robes.”

Ginny rounded on him in a heartbeat. “What the hell do you want, ferret?” she hissed. Malfoy was the last person she wanted to deal with at that very moment.

He’d never seen her like this before. Her eyes were nearly black with seething anger as she glared at him, cheeks flushed scarlet. He’d heard of the infamous Weasley temper, but here it was in the flesh right before him. This was not the wide-eyed, blushing Ginny he’d kissed years ago in the cold garden.

This version stepped up to him, challenging him with her anger darkened eyes, her body rigid as she flexed her fists at her sides. She was not in the least bothered by the fact that he was looming over her.

“Tsk, tsk, such language from a young lady and a Gryffindor prefect no less,” Draco chided, a lazy smile curled his lips.

“Prat!”

His smile widened.

“Pillock!”

“You truly wound me with your weak curses,” Draco raised his hand to his chest in mock distress. “You can do better than that.”

“You’re a bastard!”

“I hate to disappoint you, Weasel, but my parents are married.”

Ginny growled her frustration. She was breathing hard as her body shook in righteous indignation. She hated that he was playing her like a fine instrument for his amusement.

“Get the hell away from me before I slap you.”

Ginny could feel her hand itching in anticipation of the delicious feeling of knocking that smirk off his face.

“Oh! Five more points from Gryffindor, nah, make it ten. Threatening a Head Boy is a very serious offense,” Draco said delightedly, silver eyes sparkling. He was enjoying this a little too much, but he didn’t care at the moment. He wanted to push her to the edge just to see how far she’d let herself go, hell he wanted to see just how far he’d take it.

“I hate you…you…bloody...wanker,” Ginny stammered, her brain failing her at the most inopportune time. She wished she had her wand so she could hex him to hell and back a couple of times.

The sparkle left his eyes as he absorbed her words. It felt like being hit by a bludger, no worse than that, both bludgers at the same time. Emotions make one weak, never show your opponent what you are thinking, let alone feeling his Father’s voice flitted somewhere deep in his brain. His face remained impassive, his gray eyes turned to stone.

“Silly red haired Gryffindor bint,” he muttered, his pride wounded.

Ginny sputtered at the insult. She fumed as her anger took over her reasoning, her deeply repressed jealousy bubbled up.

“Do you want me to kick your arse like I kicked your little girlfriend’s arse?” she asked dangerously, her eyes narrowing.

He could feel the rage permeating off of her in waves and he gave her his best smirk in response.

“Blaise?” he chuckled. “I’ve got better taste than that.”

“I know you’re shagging her,” Ginny whispered bitterly.

“I am?” Draco pondered slowly, raising an eyebrow, obviously amused by this little turn of events. The little wench was far smarter than he gave her credit for. “Jealous much are we?”

She raised her fist to punch him, meeting his challenge because she was at the end of her rope. Draco grabbed her wrist hard before she could land her blow. Her eyes widened in shock as he pull her hard against him, forcefully twisting her trapped wrist behind her back as her head lolled back. She immediately started to struggle against him, causing him to only tighten his grip on her. He bent his head low, crushing her lips in a brutal kiss. She tried desperately to push him away with her free hand, but it was no use, he was too strong for her. His free hand snaked its way to her back in an attempt to quell her squirming.

Draco wasn’t quite sure what to do at this point. He wanted her to stop struggling, he did know that much, but how to make her stop was the question he couldn’t answer. He also knew that he didn’t want to stop kissing her. So he did the only thing he knew to do, he relaxed his hold of her while slowly easing into a gentler kiss. She responded to his softer kiss with one of her own, her arms finding their way around his neck. His hands found their way around her waist, holding her close against his long body. Moments stretched on for an eternity as they lost themselves in each other. He abandoned her mouth in favor of applying gentle kisses along her jaw as he worked his way toward her neck. She tangled a hand in his soft hair as she guided him; she stood on her toes in an attempt to get closer to his deliciously warm mouth. Ginny moaned softly in his ear as his lips grazed a sensitive spot on the side of her slender neck. Encouraged by her response, Draco gingerly nipped the newly discovered spot causing her to gasp as her knees nearly went out from under her.

A loud noise around the corner caused them to jump apart, breathing hard and staring at each other, eyes wide in disbelief.

Ginny shivered, feeling the distinct loss of his soft lips on her mouth and her body pressed close to him. Her mind was slowly coming back to her. Kissing Seamus never felt like that. She never mourned the loss of his touch. He never made her feel that she would die if he didn’t keep kissing her. She raised her hand to lightly touch the place on her neck Draco had just nibbled, and then trace her kiss-bruised lips.

Draco watched her with darkened eyes as his heart raced, unsure of his own reaction to what had just happened. “You did that before,” he said softly.

“Did what?”

“Touch your lips. You did it that night in the garden, like you couldn’t believe I’d kissed you.”

“I did?” she whispered.

He nodded, smiling warmly at the memory.

“Why? Why did you kiss me?” She looked deeply into his eyes.

He reached out to her, taking her hand in his, bring it to his lips. “Because you’re beautiful.”

Ginny turned pink and glanced down the corridor avoiding Draco’s gaze. He tenderly kissed her hand before pulling her closer. She finally looked up at him with warm brown eyes. He suddenly felt the need to drown himself in her, everything about her felt good, warm and right.

He could no longer resist her lips, bending low to kiss the corner of her mouth.

The feel of his kiss shocked her back into reality. She stiffened, pushing him away. “No,” she breathed. “We…we can’t.”

“Ginny,” he begged.

“You’re a…a Malfoy…we just can’t,” she said flatly, tears pooled in her eyes.

The sight of her nearly in tears almost broke the heart he just realized he had. He tried to reach out to her only to have her push his hands away.

“No…no…no,” she cried, trying to stifle the sobs that threatened to consume her. “I can’t.”

Ginny looked at him one last time before the tears spilled down her cheeks, grief over what might have been and what could never be finally overwhelming her already reeling senses. She took off towards the Gryffindor Tower entrance before he could stop her.

Draco stood in the corridor a long time after Ginny had left him trying to gain some control over his own emotions. He had not expected to feel like this, his heart and mind racing, loosing the ability to think rationally. He could feel the pain of her rejection tight in his chest. His eyes burned. He would not cry, that was out of the question, Malfoys do not cry. He sucked in a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever he was going to have to face back in the Slytherin common room; there was Blaise to deal with and the questions pertaining to his prolonged absence. They could all go to bloody hell for all he cared at the moment. He took another deep breath, resigning himself to his fate, put on his best stony face and started the long trek down to the dungeons.

~*~

Snape held her a few minutes longer than the Weasley girl; he wanted to berate Blaise for her poor showing for Slytherin.

She was angry, embarrassed and a few other things that she just couldn’t quite put her finger on yet. She would puzzle it out later. Right now all she wanted was to extract a little revenge on the girl that had caused all of this.

Blaise hurried down the long corridor that led to the Gryffindor Tower, following the sounds of Ginny’s footfalls. Why did those goody Gryffindors get a tower while the Slytherins were stuck down in the cold, damp dungeons? She mentally added that to her ever-growing list of grievances against the redhead.

She could not wait to get out of this school and away from Weasley, especially the part that removed Draco from the girl’s presence, she being a year behind and all. That is what irritated her most, his little obsession. At first she thought nothing of it, just a passing fancy she told herself, but he just wouldn’t let it go. The little Yule Ball thing was chalked up to Weasley torture, but obviously there was more to it than that. This has been bothering her for a while. Pansy was one was thing, but Weasley, she’s a Gryffindor for Merlin’s sake, what happened to Slytherin pride?

The sound of voices up ahead stopped Blaise from rounding the corner. She quickly identified Ginny’s angry voice. She was very curious to see just who else she’d found to argue with, it seemed like she was trying to catch everyone at Hogwarts on this day. She’d have to wait to hex Ginny once she was free of whoever was arguing with her. It isn’t wise to commit a crime with witnesses, as her father was fond of saying. She absently twirled her wand while she bided her time.

Blaise perked up when she heard her name from around the corner. Her mouth fell open, finally recognizing the other voice. What? She couldn’t have possibly heard that right, better taste than that. Was he talking about her?

The sound of struggling finally tempted her enough to hazard a peek. She saw way more than she wanted to see – the love of her life was kissing her sworn enemy.

If this day wasn’t going well before then it just most definitely went to hell.

“I am going to kill you, Ginny Weasley, if it is the last thing I do. I swear to Merlin I will,” Blaise swore vehemently to herself as she kicked a classroom door out of frustration before stalking off to find Pansy.

Chapter Three – Fall Out

Pansy was ready to strangle Draco if she could only lay her hands on him. She’d just helped Blaise clean up while she told the whole sordid story of what happened in the corridor for all of the Slytherin common room to hear. It wasn’t like she didn’t already know about the Weasley thing, but this was getting tiresome; she’d have gray hair before she graduated at this rate.

“There, good as new,” Pansy said, admiring her magical first aid although hating to use it on the likes of this girl. “You should get cleaned up.”

“You’re not even angry are you,” Blaise accused bitterly.

Pansy narrowed her blue eyes, giving the other girl a dark look. “Oh, believe me, I’m plenty angry.”

“Well, you certainly don’t look angry.”

Pansy glared at Blaise. There were no words to describe how much she loathed that girl. She’d hated Blaise intensely from the moment she first laid eyes on her in the sitting room at Malfoy Manor when they were children; she knew it would be a battle for Draco from the start. And it was a battle she didn’t intend to lose, especially now that the stakes were so high.

“It’s very unbecoming to wear one’s emotions on their sleeve, Blaise,” Pansy stated curtly.

“I’m just saying that if it were my fiancé snogging in the corridor, with a Gryffindor no less, I’d be ready to murder.” A wicked smile threatened to curl the corner of Blaise’s mouth. “I mean honestly, not only a Gryffindor, but one of those mudblood loving Weasleys. Merlin, all that red hair and freckles.” She shuddered with her distaste, wrinkling her nose.

“I wouldn’t do that, you might damage the repairs and we couldn’t have you going around with a wrinkled nose could we?” Pansy said, her voice dripping with poisoned honey.

Blaise immediately touched her nose checking for wrinkles. Pansy snorted, yes, if there was anyone in this world possibly vainer than Draco, this girl was it. She knew someday she was going to enjoy rearranging that face herself.

“And don’t you worry yourself too much because Draco will get exactly what’s coming to him.” Pansy gave Blaise a smug look before she headed down the steps to lay in wait for him to return.

~*~

Ginny stumbled through the entrance to the common room where the entire dorm had turned out to get the details on the Zabini take down. She was blinded by tears, her long hair hung wildly about her; she still had blood on her face. She was in no mood to deal with anyone. They wanted it from the source, not the wild account that Ron was giving everyone currently. He was known to expand the details a little bit.

Seamus was immediately at her side when she stepped into the sitting area. “Gin, you alright?”

She tried to rush past him, but he grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her. Everyone was trying to talk to her or touch her. She was being bombarded by questions to the point she thought her head might explode.

Ginny wrenched her arm away from Seamus’ grasp. She couldn’t take his gentle, sweet concern right now. It just made her angry. “Stop,” she screamed shrilly. “Just stop…I can’t…just stop.” She glanced around the room; everyone was staring back at her. It was just too much.

She bolted for the stairs, leaving behind a group of confused Gryffindors.

Ron stared after his sister. “I wonder what’s eating her.”

Hermione gave him a hard shove and glared at him. “She’s obviously upset, Ron, honestly. She just left Snape’s office. I’m sure he gave her detention.”

“Yeah, but who cares? She got Zabini! That is worth the detention,” he said gleefully. “What I wouldn’t give to get Malfoy like that!”

“Is that all you ever think about? Getting Malfoy. No wonder your grades are so horrible,” Hermione sighed dramatically.

Harry snorted, trying to contain his laughter. Leave it to Hermione to work Ron’s grades into the conversation. She was quite good at it actually and it amused him to no end.

“Leave my grades out of this. This is far more important.”

“Important how,” she asked, looking thoroughly scandalized. “There is nothing more important than grades! Clearly, you have all your priorities wrong.”

Ron crossed his arms and snorted, preparing for another losing battle. “At least I get out of the library on occasion.”

Seamus, noticing that everyone had stopped paying attention to the bickering friends, attempted to make a break for the steps.

“And where do you think you’re going Seamus Finnigan?”

He froze in mid-stride at the sound of Hermione’s voice. He turned, dreading what was coming next. “I was going to see about my girlfriend.”

“Oh no, you’re not. I will see about Ginny. She doesn’t need any of you insensitive prats to make her more upset.”

And with that said, Hermione gave all the boys one last withering glance before heading up the stairs to see to Ginny.

~*~

Draco paused a moment before entering the Slytherin common room just to make sure that he had himself under control. It would not do for him to walk into the room with his conflicting emotions showing, it would be just like walking into a den of lions all bloodied up. It simply wouldn’t be a pretty picture. He just wanted to make it to his room where he could shut the door and pretend the world doesn’t exist for a while.

“Draco Malfoy,” Pansy called loudly as soon as he slipped through the entrance, getting everyone’s attention, “we need to talk.”

He strolled over to the center table, making a show of picking out just the right apple from the fruit bowl while ignoring his other half standing at the top of the stairs.

“Now.” She’d crossed her arms and tapped a foot.

He finally acknowledged her presence with a glance. She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow signaling that she meant business. He picked out a large red apple before giving her his full attention. Everyone in the room was watching them with bated breath. It was like Mummy and Father having a fight. Blaise sat back in her favorite armchair by the fire, smiling like a sated cat while occasionally wrinkling her newly repaired nose despite the warning Pansy had given her not ten minute before.

This was going to be good and the Slytherins were all bucking for the best seat in the house to watch the events unfold.

Draco didn’t even have to look around the room to assess the situation. This was not a conversation he wanted to be having in front of the entire house lest anything be said he didn’t want to get back to his father. He affected a look of annoyance as he brushed roughly past Pansy on his way down the stairs. “I’m going to go take a shower,” he announced for the benefit of everyone watching.

“You sound just like Mum you know,” Draco said as he entered his room, shedding his filthy Quidditch robes, dropping them to the floor as he made his way to the wardrobe. He knew she was right on his heels.

Pansy shut the door behind her, uttering silencing and locking charms; there was no need for this conversation to become fodder for the Hogwarts’ rumor mill. She rolled her eyes at the mess he was making.

“Don’t even start.”

“Pans, I’m not in the mood for this,” he muttered while digging around for something comfortable to put on. He pulled out his favorite boxers with the snitches that were charmed to flutter, but quickly stuffed them under a pile of jumpers. He could only imagine what she’d have to say about those. He opted for a pair of jeans, his Falmouth Falcons sweatshirt, gray and blue plaid flannel boxers and a pair of socks with the little snitches on them, tossing the clean clothing on the bed while he finished stripping.

“Too bad, I’m angry with you.”

“Me?” Draco sounded offended. “Me? Blaise was the one that caused a scene, not me.” He cast a quick cleaning charm because he knew then that there was no way he was seeing a hot shower tonight.

“You caused one too, you know?” She watched him change clothes with his back to her while avoiding his reflection in the full length mirror. She groaned loudly as he messed with his hair after he finished dressing.

“How,” he said finally, turning back from the mirror to give her his undivided attention.

“Oh, Blaise came back to the common room full of wild stories about you and a certain red-haired Gryffindor snogging in the corridors.”

“Oh that, it was nothing. I was just giving her a hard time.” He suddenly felt very guilty, which was a new feeling for him.

“Nothing?” she all but screeched, sounding dangerously close to a harpy in Draco’s opinion. “A hard time? According to Blaise you practically had your way with her.”

Draco snorted. “Blaise is a jealous bint, not to mention an accomplished liar.”

Pansy gave him a filthy look. “Precisely, that is why I’m angry with you. If you had any brains you would have left that girl alone, but you don’t think with your brains do you? You knew she was trouble, always has been and always will be, but no…you couldn’t leave her alone could you?”

He flopped in one of the big leather armchairs before the fire, he had a feeling he was going to be here a while. “Blaise?”

“Of course her, you git. I don’t care about the Gryffindor, she won’t ruin our plans.”

Draco stared into the fire wishing desperately he was alone instead of being berated.

“You’re worse than your father you know that?” Pansy continued on as she had a few things she needed to get off her chest.

“Thank you! I didn’t think I’d accomplish that being so young and all. That has been my life’s work, being worse than my Father,” Draco sneered, glaring at her.

“Merlin, you’re a bastard.”

“Am I going to have to produce my parent’s marriage certificate to prove I’m not?”

Pansy rolled her eyes as she sat down in the other armchair. “Do not get snarky with me. This is serious; we may have to change some of our plans.”

“You think,” Draco asked, suddenly very serious. He really thought Blaise was pretty harmless, a little on the easy side, but harmless.

“You’re making me reconsider your Father’s assessment of you being stupid. Of course, I think so. There is no telling what Blaise will do.”

“I doubt she’d cause that much trouble,” he said, furrowing his brow.

“You really have no idea about Blaise or women in general do you?” She sighed deeply. “You should spend more time with your mother.”

“Father won’t allow that and you know it.”

“Your father is an idiot.” Draco regarded her with a raised eyebrow. “Women are mean, petty and vindictive in ways that men cannot begin to fathom.”

“Really?” he said, taking a sudden interest in the conversation. “I had no idea.”

“Why do you think I’ve been doing all the plotting and planning?” Pansy asked, almost afraid of hearing what his reply might be.

“I just thought you were a pushy know-it-all like Granger. I mean really, if someone wants to do all the hard work while I get to take credit for the end result, then there is no skin off my nose. Besides I make contingency plans.”

“Merlin, Arthur and Guinevere, not only are you lazy, you’re arrogant too.” Pansy was utterly insulted that he compared her to the mudblood.

“I get the arrogance from Father.”

“How well I know.”

They fell silent for a little while, staring into the fire, contemplating their shared fates. Draco looked at Pansy, really looked at her for the first time in his life. She was a pretty witch when she was unguarded like she was right now with him. Her dark brown hair hung straight, framing her face in a bob cut that reached her chin. He’d been on the receiving end of more blue-eyed death glares than he cared to count. What she lacked in height, for she was shorter than Blaise or Ginny, she made up in sheer attitude. He also knew the real Pansy Parkinson, not the simpering airhead she led everyone to believe her to be once upon a time. The Pansy he knew was brilliant, cunning, very ambitious and a complete conundrum.

He didn’t feel anything for her, no, that wasn’t true, he did feel something, but he was hard pressed to name it.

“Can I ask you something, Pans,” Draco said softly, finally breaking the silence after a long while.

She looked at him warily, not sure of his motives, with a Malfoy you could never be too careful. “Sure.”

“Why have you stuck by me?” He turned to look her in the eye. “I’m a miserable, horrible excuse for a person. I’ve been nasty to you. I do terrible things to other people…” His voice trailed off, sounding a bit emotional for his usual standards.

“Because,” she said, getting up to kneel next to his chair, taking his hand in hers. “I love you.”

He flinched at her words.

“Don’t worry, you’re not my grand love or anything like that and I still don’t want to marry you. You’re just part of my life. I don’t remember a time that you weren’t around. Yes, you’re an annoying prat sometimes, Merlin only knows how many times I’ve wanted to kill you, but underneath that Malfoy sneer is someone worth knowing. I do love you, like I love my brother.”

His only response to her words was a slight nod. She finally looked hard at him, assessing his mood. He wasn’t trying to hide anything from her, which was unusual for him.

“Draco, what brought all this on,” Pansy probed gently. This was a new frontier for them.

He ignored her question and continued to stare into the fire. To be quite honest, he was shocked at her admission. He thought her as unfeeling, uncaring and callous as the rest of the Slytherins. She had a commanding presence, everyone was afraid of her. Together they could make some the younger students, especially Hufflepuffs, cower. He smiled at that thought.

“So, what do we do about Blaise,” Draco asked getting back to the business at hand.

~*~

Ginny knelt in the shower just letting the warm water rush over her sore body. She’d cried all the tears she was going to for the afternoon at least. Right now she just felt like her insides where in knots, but at least she her heart had stopped racing.

Malfoy kissed her. Actually, honest to Merlin kissed her. She couldn’t remember how long she’d been dreaming he’d do something like that. It had been even better than she’d dared to believe.

“Gin, are you still in there?” Hermione peered in the door upon hearing the shower still running after half and hour of waiting. “C’mon out, you’ll be a drowned rat if you stay much longer.”

Ginny shut off the water, toweled herself off and slipped on her worn old blue bathrobe. She knew she’d have to face Hermione sooner or later and it would be less painful sooner she figured, well maybe not less painful, but it would be at least over. She stepped out into the corridor that led to the girls’ dorms, finding Hermione sitting on the floor reading a book, waiting patiently.

She stood immediately, quickly assessing the situation. “C’mon, let’s put you to bed. I think you could do with some sleep.” Hermione wrapped an arm around Ginny’s shoulder in order to guide her toward the prefects’ room. “I’ll bring you back some dinner.”

“No,” Ginny said, stopping cold. “They’ll ask too many questions. Can’t I hide in your room a while?”

“Sure, but Ron will find you there eventually.”

“I don’t mind Ron so much as I don’t want to see Seamus right now.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Oh,” was all she could manage. She muttered the password to open her door, allowing Ginny to go ahead of her.

She sat down in the armchair by the fire while Ginny went through her drawers looking for suitable pajamas to put on. Hermione was used to her sharing things with Ginny at this stage. They really were like sisters after all the years of them against all the Weasley boys.

Ginny finally surfaced from the bottom drawer triumphantly with a pair of blue flannels with little yellow ducks all over them, quickly slipping into them before fishing out a pair of socks from another drawer.

Hermione waited for her to dress before getting down to business. “So you care to tell me what all of this is about? It’s way more than fighting with Zabini isn’t it?”

Ginny flopped on the bed in a decidedly ungraceful manner. “I don’t know how it got so complicated,” she sighed. “This whole mess with Zabini and Malfoy.”

“What’s Malfoy got to do with this? Is he bothering you? I can take it up with Professor McGonagall. He should know better, being head boy,” Hermione stated in her best bossy, take charge voice. “What did he do?”

“Nothing really, just gave me a hard time after I left Snape’s office.” There she said it and it was the truth. She just left out some important details, but she didn’t honestly think Hermione would understand the thrill of snogging Malfoy seeing as she regarded him as she would something distasteful on the bottom of her shoe.

“How much detention did Snape hand out?”

“Every night this week and all day Saturday in the dungeons, same thing the bitch got,” Ginny answered disgustedly.

“You’ll miss Hogsmeade! The boys were supposed to treat us to lunch.” Hermione could barely hide her disappointment. “We were going to look at robes for the New Year’s Ball.”

“I know.” Ginny was frankly relieved she wouldn’t have to deal with Seamus or look at robes that she couldn’t afford. She snuggled down in Hermione’s bed, making a show of a big yawn hoping that she’d catch the hint and leave.

Hermione got up to get the extra blanket from her trunk and laid it on the foot of the bed. “I suppose I’ll head on down to dinner. Try to get some rest and I’ll bring you back something.” She made a show of tucking Ginny into bed.

“Yes, Mummy,” Ginny muttered closing her eyes while Hermione chuckled as she exited the room.

As soon as she shut her eyes all she could see was Draco in his Quidditch uniform standing before her with his silvery hair falling over those knowing gray eyes of his. And at that very moment she was hard pressed to even recall her boyfriend’s name.

~*~

Blaise tried to listen through Draco’s bedroom door. They’d been in there hours now and not a peep could be heard. Damn Pansy and her silencing charms. She’d just have to ask Draco later. She had her ways of extracting information from him.

Her ruby red lips curled into a wicked smile as she though of some of the more delightful ways she could get what she wanted out of him. Draco was like putty in her hands. She knew that women had a certain power over men when they wanted to exert it.

Blaise knew she could out wait them and out plot them for she was sure they were in there plotting something. She saw the look that passed between them before they headed to his room. She’d also seen that diabolical smile on Draco’s sensuous mouth enough to know that it meant he was up to no good. Pansy thought she was so smart; well that little heifer was going to get a nasty surprise when she stole Draco away from her.

Her eyes got wide when an idea for getting Weasel back for this afternoon popped into her head.

She smiled her knowing smile. “Well, well, well…two birds - one stone.”

~*~

Seamus pulled up to his full height at the sight of Malfoy in the deserted corridor, but he was still a good head shorter. He noted that the goons, Crabbe and Goyle, were nowhere to be seen, he’d been waiting days for just such a chance. Hermione had informed him of Malfoy’s sudden interest in Ginny and he was determined to put a stop to it posthaste.

“Malfoy, a word,” Seamus said, his Irish lilt thick with annoyance.

Draco raised an eyebrow. “What do you want Finnigan,” he asked, sounding positively bored. “I’ve got places to be and people to destroy with my cunning wit.”

“Think you’re so amusing do you,” Seamus grunted as he slammed Draco against the wall and shoved a forearm up tight against his throat in a deft move, effectively pinning him.

Draco watched Seamus casually, like this was completely normal, his hand slipping unnoticed into his pocket for his wand, just incase.

“What are you playing at with Ginny?” Seamus demanded.

Draco blinked, startled slightly. “Who?” he feigned in ignorance.

“You know who, you tosser, Ginny Weasley.”

“There is another Weasley? A female one? Imagine that,” he drawled slowly like he was pondering some great revelation. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Seamus’ answer was a hard push with his forearm causing Draco to gasp for air.

“She’s off limits! She’s a good girl, much better than the likes of you. I’m going to marry her and I’ll not have the likes of you ruining her!” Seamus said in the most threatening voice he could muster. “You stay away from her, you hear me? Or I’ll…I’ll…I’ll do something bloody awful…”

“What?” Draco sneered cutting Seamus off after he'd clearly had had enough of this little exchange. His lips curled into a smirk as he made up his mind that ruining the lovely Ginny Weasley was his new goal in life. “You’ll kill me with a potato is that it, you Irish git?”

He shoved Seamus hard, sending him sprawling on his back across the stone floor. Draco stood over him with one foot heavily pressing on his chest and his wand pointed directly in face. “Touch me again and I’ll do something bloody awful.”

With that, Draco turned, his black school robes swirling impressively about him, walked away from Seamus still lying on the floor. He never looked back because it would ruin the effect of a good menacing exit. His father taught him that. If there was one thing Lucius Malfoy taught his son, it was how to be menacing.

Tangled Web

Chapter Four – Re-arranged

Early December

Ginny sat in the comfortable chair in Gladrags watching Hermione methodically go through a rack of dress robes, pulling out the ones she wanted to try on. She frowned as the colorful pile grew at an alarming rate. She never took Hermione for one to be so fussy about how she dressed, but then again having Harry for a boyfriend changed a lot about her. All of it for the better too.

She slumped down in her chair trying to forget she was here. She was still irritated from lunch with Harry and Seamus. And now Hermione with the dress robes was just adding to her dark mood. Ginny really hated to be reminded that she was poor. She would have loved to have a pretty new set of dress robes to wear to the ball, but seeing as she didn’t have two Knuts to rub together it wasn’t bloody likely. She couldn’t even bear to look at the robes.

Ginny almost wished she was still in the dungeons with Snape. Almost, but not quite.

She’d arrived in the dungeons for her last day of detention that had been the result of the little altercation with Zabini the previous week. Snape had set her to work in his work room away from the other girl at the beginning of the week. He allowed her to use his personal store of books to write her potions essay while Zabini had been stuck preparing the most disgusting potions ingredients he could find. It was altogether amusing really. But this morning, she’d arrived on time as always and he’d sent her away, told her she’d served her time and to get out of his sight. Ginny didn’t question him, escaping as quickly as she could, but not before seeing Zabini sitting at the worktable with a bowl of newt eyes. The thought still made her chuckle.

“What’s so funny,” Hermione queried. “Don’t like this robe? It’s too much isn’t it?” She had on a very frilly gold robe.

Ginny bit it at her top lip. “Definitely not that one. Try the blue one – you look great in that color.”

“Aren’t you going to try on anything,” Hermione called from the fitting room.

“I don’t think so. I have my robes from last year.”

“That red one?” Hermione modeled a deep green robe for her approval. “It was almost too small last year and you’ve filled out a bit since then.”

“Don’t remind me, but it’s all I have so it will have to make do.” Ginny sighed, thinking how that green robe her friend was trying on would look good on her. “You don’t want that one Hermione, it’s a Slytherin color.

As if on cue, the jingling bell above the door announced a customer had entered the store. Ginny glanced over to see none other than Pansy Parkinson. “Kill me now,” she muttered under her breath.

The clerk that had been helping Hermione immediately dropped everything. “Miss Parkinson! It is so good to see you again! What can I help you with today?”

Pansy glanced around the small shop, her nose wrinkling in disgust as her eyes settled on Ginny. “Yes, I’m here to pick up my order and also one for Draco Malfoy,” she said loftily.

“Yes, ma’am,” the clerk cheerfully replied before scurrying off to retrieve the purchases.

“Well, if it isn’t a weasel and a mudblood,” Pansy observed, coming closer to examine the pile of discarded robes. “Shopping for robes I see. This ought to be fun: one with no money and other with no taste. What an awful combination.” She fingered a couple of the robes that Hermione had tried on and discarded. “Satin? What a horrible material, a poor person’s silk I suppose.”

Ginny turned to look out the window in an attempt to ignore Pansy’s snide remarks. Her eyes immediately were drawn to Draco who was standing outside of Honeydukes laughing with a group of other male Slytherins.

Pansy followed Ginny’s line of sight right to Draco and his cohorts. She watched as Draco glanced in their direction, making eye contact with Ginny, acknowledging her with a curt nod before looking away.

Hermione stepped out of the fitting room at the sound of the Slytherin girl’s voice. She knew it could only mean trouble and with Ginny’s past history there was no telling what could happen. “What do you want Parkinson,” she asked loudly as she hadn’t failed to notice the glare the girl was giving the unsuspecting Ginny.

“I want the little Weasel to stop staring at Draco,” Pansy stated dangerously. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you it was impolite to stare? Oh yes, I forgot, Weasleys don’t have manners.”

Ginny whipped around to glare at Pansy. How dare she insult her family like that? “I have plenty of manners thank you very much.” She stood up, looming over the much shorter girl.

“You could have fooled me with your manners attacking Blaise like some common,” she flicked her eyes over Hermione. “Mudblood… and to think you’re a pureblood too,” Pansy shook her head in disbelief. “I would’ve expected better.”

“Parkinson,” Hermione said in her best Head Girl tone of voice. “I suggest you shut up before I have to take points.” She shot Ginny a look before she could open her mouth.

“Does it look like I care if you take points,” she snorted, her eyes narrowing as she took a long, hard look at Ginny again. “I suggest you keep your eyes to yourself because the mudblood here won’t always be around to protect you.”

“Like I’m scared of you,” Ginny said rolling her eyes before glancing once more out the window. “Besides, you should be worried about Zabini. Why, I think that’s her being all chummy with Malfoy.”

“Miss Parkinson, I have your order here,” the clerk’s cheery voice died away at the sight of the three girls before her.

“Just have it sent to Hogwarts,” she coolly dismissed the clerk without a glance, her eyes still trained on Ginny. “I think it might be wise you mind your own business Weasel. You never know what just might happen.”

She could not believe her ears. That Slytherin witch just threatened her, there was no way she was going to let that slide. “Are you threatening me?” Ginny asked incredulously.

The shorter girl tossed her hair. “I don’t make idle threats, it was a promise.” And with that she turned in a swirl of deep blue cloak to stalk out of the shop.

Hermione stared open mouthed as Pansy exited the shop. “Just what in the world was that?”

Ginny let out a heavy sigh before flopping back down in the chair. “I have no idea. All of Slytherin is probably out to get me now.”

“Well,” Hermione continued. “You best be careful – don’t get caught out in the halls alone if you can help it. I’ll do what I can.”

“Don’t worry; I think I can handle Parkinson.” She glanced up at her friend still wearing last robe she’d tried on. “Aren’t we here to buy some robes?”

~*~

“Damnit Blaise, go away,” Draco spit out. “Pansy is around and she’s not in a good mood.” He shoved his dinner around on his plate. “You’re making a scene.”

She pouted at being dismissed. “But, Draco! It’s been so long. I can’t ever catch you alone anymore. She’s always around.”

“Yeah, well get used to it.” He glared at her. “She’s as good as my wife.”

“I thought you said you weren’t going to marry her if you could help it,” she whined, looking at him with glistening eyes.

“I can’t help it,” he said with a cold finality. “My father says it’s a done deal.”

Draco was beginning to get very irritated with Blaise because not only was she causing a scene in front of everyone, she was keeping him from stealing glances over at the Gryffindor table. All he really wanted was to be left alone to eat his dinner in peace while catching an occasional glimpse of Ginny. Was that really too much to ask? Apparently it was.

“But you promised,” she said, grasping his wrist.

He snatched his hand away. “I promised you nothing,” he replied harshly.

Several of the Slytherin girls sitting at the table snickered while the boys watched with an avid interest. The power structure of Slytherin was just about to change. They were like a pack of jackals watching an animal slowly die before they attacked.

“No, you did. You love me!”

His eyes narrowed. “This is neither the time nor place to have this discussion.” He was keenly aware of the interest they were starting to generate among the other house tables, even the Gryffindors at the far table were stealing glances. “Go away.”

Blaise huffed in anger. “I bet if I were that…”

Draco snatched a handful of her long black hair pulling her roughly to him so his mouth was next to her ear. “I’d not finish that sentence if I were you,” he whispered dangerously, cutting her off. “If you so much as utter another word about me and that Gryffindor girl I will rip your tongue out. Do you understand?” He waited for her to acknowledge him, but she failed to do so. He shook her hard. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she hissed, nodding slightly.

He shoved her away. “Good, now get lost.”

Crabbe and Goyle laughed as she scrambled from the table in tears, trying to get away as quickly as possible. Draco silenced their mirth with a dark look. “You goons should have prevented that.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Pansy said, announcing her arrival as she settled in the recently vacated spot between Draco and Crabbe. “In the future, you two are not to allow Blaise near either one of us unless I say otherwise. Understood?” She shot scathing looks at students who were still gawking in their direction.

Draco set a plate full of steak and kidney pie, mashed potatoes and carrots in front of her; he knew it was her favorite meal while at school. “I’d really hate to get on your bad side, Pans.”

“What makes you think you’re not?” She placed her napkin in her lap and picked up her fork. “And thank you.”

The dinner crowd was starting to thin as Pansy ate her dinner in relative silence. Draco had pulled out his Potions book to study for the test scheduled on Monday. It was just like Snape to schedule a test on Monday so that everyone would have to spend the weekend studying. A flash of red across the room caught his attention, he watched beneath hooded eyes as Ginny walked out with her brother and Finnigan in tow.

“Do try not to be so obvious, Draco,” Pansy quietly stated, bringing his attention back to her. “You will only add fuel to the fire.” She folded her napkin and rose from the table. “It’s bad enough Blaise has noticed and is causing trouble.”

He stuffed his book back in his bag, watching her brush down her robes all the while muttering something about benches and civilized people. He figured it was best to leave that conversation alone.

“Why were you late for dinner,” he asked a few minutes later as they trekked down to the Slytherin common room. “I looked for you, but I couldn’t find you in the dungeons.”

She regarded him with a raised eyebrow. “I had something I had to do.”

“And it couldn’t wait until after dinner?”

“Why are you so worried about it?”

“Why do you have to be so defensive about everything?” Draco knew that Pansy hated nothing more than have her questions answered with a question. He was irritated with her for not showing up to dinner on time. He could have been spared the incident with Blaise if she’d only been there. He really didn’t think she understood how hard it was to resist Blaise, not that he liked the girl or anything, just what she had to offer.

~*~

“You know, it isn’t safe to be alone in the corridors late at night.”

Ginny stopped in her tracks at the sound of the voice behind her. He was the last person she wanted to run into, although she figured, it could be worse. It could be Pansy. At least Draco was easy on the eyes, even if he was a prat of unparalleled proportions.

“All sorts of evil creatures could be lurking about,” he continued as he drew closer.

She closed her eyes as she felt him brush lightly up against her back, stiffening slightly. Her book bag slipped to the floor with a soft thud.

“You should always wear your hair down,” he whispered against her ear as he pulled the quill from her messy bun. He moved lower to nuzzle the nape of her neck, deeply inhaling the soft lily scent of her unbound hair.

She drew in a shuddering breath as his fingers twined in her hair and his lips found her skin. “What do you want Malfoy,” Ginny demanded, trying to sound as off putting as possible. She knew this was wrong, but it felt so good. No, she had a boyfriend who loved her. What the hell was his name again? Draco? No, no Seamus, yes that was it, she thought desperately. Seamus, Seamus, Draco, Seamus. Damn Draco all to bloody hell.

“To warn you, you foolish little Gryffindor,” he said harshly. “Pansy isn’t someone to be trifled with.”

“I’m not afraid of her.” Ginny straightened her shoulders, tossing her head back in defiance.

Draco smiled against her ear. “You should be afraid of her, very afraid. Some creatures have bigger teeth than you think.”

“Please, if you’re just trying to scare me, it’s not working.” Her voice remained strong, but her knees were weakening with his continued presence against her back.

“What’s wrong, Weasley,” Draco murmured as his hands slipped around her waist, pulling her back against him.

Ginny shivered at his touch, a tingling sensation coursed through her. She unconsciously leaned back against him. Her breathing quickened as his mouth worked the spot where her neck joined her shoulder. A soft moan escaped her lips as his hands slipped down her hips. “Don’t leave a mark,” she managed to stutter.

He turned her in the circle of his arms as he slowly backed her up against the wall. She slipped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer.

“Draco, kiss me,” she whispered before lightly brushing her lips against his.

He deepened the kiss as her mouth parted eagerly, her tongue seeking his. Her fingers found their way into his hair as his lips left her mouth to blaze a hot trail down her neck. His hands explored the curves of her hips before coming to rest on her derriere. She moaned her approval as he pressed her softness against him, she could feel his unmistakable desire for her.

Ginny felt his hands slip up under her skirt, skimming across her cotton knickers. “Please,” she begged him in a hoarse whimper. She wasn’t sure what she was begging for, but all she knew was she wanted it. Wanted him. She could feel the burning need for him building in the pit of her stomach, the need that only he could fill. “Please, Draco.”

“Weasley,” he half groaned as she tugged his shirt out of his trousers. She could feel his smug smile against her neck. He fumbled with the buttons of her blouse until he managed to get half of them undone. She drew in a shuddering breath as his hand cupped her breast, his thumb lightly teasing the puckering nipple through the soft material of her bra. He pulled back to watch her with stormy eyes. “Like that do you?”

Unable to tear her eyes away from his, she nodded, her tongue unconsciously darted over her lips. “Yes,” she hissed.

Draco grinned wickedly just then. “You might like this as well.” He deftly moved the plain white cotton of her bra aside before lowering his head to capture the now hard nipple in mouth, his tongue flicking the nub lazily.

She moaned loudly, arching against his mouth. Her fingers found purchase in his hair as she held his head not ever wanting to him to stop his ministrations. “More,” was all she could manage as heat flooded her entire body. “Oh gods, please more.”

He lightly grazed the tender flesh with his teeth eliciting another moan of approval from Ginny. He tore his mouth from her breast to return to her lips. She greedily returned his kiss, desperately wanting more. She didn’t protest as his knee slipped between her thighs, his hands sliding back up under her skirt, fingers hooking in the material of her knickers.

“Draco,” she squeaked, weakly shoving him away. “Stop! Mrs. Norris!”

The cat eyed them curiously, meowing.

“Go away you damn cat,” he cursed as he tried to kick it.

Mrs. Norris only yowled more loudly.

Draco looked back a Ginny. “Filch,” they said in unison. He grabbed her hand, pulling her behind him as he sought someplace to hide. He opted for a small, unused office just around the corner.

“My book bag! Draco, my book bag,” Ginny cried softly.

He let loose another string of curses before slipping out to see if he could summon the bag before Filch showed up. He just managed to retrieve the bag before the old caretaker appeared from around the corner to see what Mrs. Norris was caterwauling about.

“Shh,” Draco hushed her before she could say anything. “Filch is just around the corner.” He pressed her against the far wall, covering her body with his in dark shadows.

They could hear Filch conversing with Mrs. Norris just outside their hiding place.

Ginny trembled, biting her bottom lip as the door handle rattled, only to find the door locked. Draco heaved a sigh of relief before tightening his arms around her and pressing a tender kiss to her neck. They waited long minutes, scared to move, until they were certain Filch and Mrs. Norris had wandered off.

“You should get back to Gryffindor Tower before you get detention,” he said softly.

She nodded against his shoulder, unwilling to let go of him quite yet.

“I think it’s safe now, c’mon.” He untangled himself from her arms. He watched as she did up her blouse again and refastened her robes. They walked in silence to the bottom of the stairway that led up to her dorm. He looked at her a few moments in the low, flickering torch light of the hallway.

Ginny knew she looked a mess in her rumpled uniform, her flushed face and messy hair, but somehow it didn’t matter. Not with the way he was looking at her with those gray eyes that she loved so very much. Her breath quickened just being near him. “Draco.”

He cut her off with a lingering kiss. “Go on now, before you get in trouble.” He patted her rear end to emphasize she should be on her way. “Go.”

She turned back once she reached the top only to find him still watching her. He gave her a quick nod before disappearing into the darkness.

~*~

Christmas

~*~

“Wake up,” Hermione said excitedly as she shook Ginny’s shoulder hard. “We’ve got presents!”

She groaned and stretched as much as the trundle bed would allow her legs. She loved the little bed she used when she slept in the Head Girl’s room, but it simply didn’t accommodate her long body fully stretched out.

“You’ve got a pile, Gin. C’mon! Wake up!” Hermione resorted to shaking the whole bed.

The other girl was already tearing into her gifts as Ginny managed to crawl from the bed. She plopped on the floor in front of the fireplace, eyeing her small pile of packages looking for one large enough to contain the dress robes she’d been begging everyone in the family for weeks now.

Hermione selected a present and tossed it at her. “Go on!”

Ginny carefully opened the small package from Charlie; in it she found a pewter dragon cloak pin. She continued opening gifts, leaving the largest one for last. She got plain white cotton bras and knickers (very practical according to her Mum, considering no one was going to see them anyway), a new set of flowery flannel pajamas and sweets from her parents; jokes from the twins; a silver ankh charm anklet from Bill. She saved the largest package for last, trying hard not to get her hopes up too high. But it was already way too late for that. She tried not to tear into it too quickly, wanting to savor the moment. Her heart began to race when she caught a glimpse of apple green peeking through the wrapping. She couldn’t stand it anymore, ripping away the rest of the paper to reveal one of her mother’s infamous sweaters. The sharp pain of disappointment caused her to gasp for breath. She was nearly in tears.

“Oh Gin! What’s wrong,” Hermione asked full of concern as she watched her best friend’s crestfallen face.

“I didn’t get the dress robes I’d begged Mum for.”

She dropped the present she was in the process of opening to slide next to Ginny, wrapping her arm around her shoulder tightly. She just rocked her back and forth as the tears began to fall in earnest. “Don’t worry,” she said soothingly. “We’ll figure something out okay? Maybe Lavender has something you can borrow.”

Ginny just shook her head. She’d rather die than have to ask Lavender or anyone else for that matter to borrow robes. It was bad enough that Hermione knew her family’s situation, although, she was too polite to ever say anything about it. She didn’t need every girl in Gryffindor to know too, not that they didn’t already.

“Well, the sweater is a pretty color,” Hermione offered, trying to make the best of the situation. “You’ll look pretty in it…oh, there’s no “G” on it!”

A sharp knock on the door kept Ginny from slipping even further into despair. She quickly retreated back to her bed to cover her face before Hermione could let Ron and Harry in.

“Happy Christmas,” Harry said brightly before soundly kissing Hermione. “Why don’t you girls join us in the common room?”

“Yeah,” Ron added, scanning the room. “There’s food still. Hey, what’s wrong with Ginny?”

Hermione shook her head at Ron, motioning for him to shut up.

He didn’t see her or more than likely, totally ignored her as he made his way over to where his sister was laying face down in a pile of pillows. He nudged Ginny’s side with his knee. “C’mon! Get up lazy bones! It’s Christmas!!”

“Ronald Weasley!” Hermione shoved him hard. “Don’t! Just leave her be.”

He gave his best friend a hard look. “But it’s Christmas and everyone is waiting.”

She sighed. “Ron, it’s okay. She’ll be down in a bit.”

“Seamus didn’t get you a present did he?” He watched for confirmation from Ginny that wasn’t forthcoming. “I’ll kill that little bugger.”

Hermione looked like she was fit to be tied. “Ron!”

“Ron, she said let it be,” Harry reasoned, putting a hand on his friend’s arm to get his attention. “Whatever it is she’ll get over it. Let’s go down stairs.”

Sure enough, a little while later a more composed Ginny put in an appearance in the common room. She’d spent her alone time preparing to put on a happy face for Ron’s sake. He loved Christmas more than any other holiday, like a puppy really, in her opinion, overly excited.

She also knew she was going to have to face Seamus. He was so sweet and kind. Made her almost nauseous sometimes if the truth be told, she just didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to take him. He made everyone, but her happy. Ginny knew she should break up with him just like she did with Michael Corner and Dean Thomas, but there was something about him that kept her from committing the dirty deed. Maybe it was the convenient deception he unwittingly provided her. That and he never made any sort of demands on her like a normal boyfriend; he was picture perfect - someone her Mum and every single one of her brothers would approve of – hands to himself, unerringly polite and disgustingly respectful. In other words, Seamus Finnigan was dull as dirt as far as she was concerned.

What she really wanted was someone who desired her, who would kiss her breathless, someone who wasn’t too polite to touch her. She wanted someone who wasn’t afraid to push her against the wall and have his way with her. Someone who wasn’t afraid to be a little rough sometimes. She wanted someone who would drive her family insane. In other words, she wanted the exact opposite of what she currently had. There was no two ways around it – she wanted Draco Malfoy.

Ginny stood on the bottom stair silently watching the festivities until Seamus noticed her. He immediately came over to take her hand in his.

“Happy Christmas, my love,” he said softly. “You look beautiful this morning.”

Ginny gave him a wavering smile. “Thank you.”

He pressed a light kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Here I saved some breakfast for you.” Seamus led her to an arm chair nearest the crackling fire before retrieving the plate of food for her.

Seamus handed Ginny a festively wrapped square box after patiently waiting for her to finish eating. “Here this is for you.” He settled on the arm of the chair to watch.

“Thank you,” she said, distracted as she carefully opened it. The ribbons and paper far too pretty to torn into like a mad woman. She gasped as she pulled back the tissue paper. “Oh Seamus, you shouldn’t have!”

“Go on,” he urged, smiling like a fool. “I thought they’d look beautiful in your hair.”

She discovered a pair of antique tortoise shell hair combs, matching barrettes and a pair of chop sticks. “They’re lovely!” She had never seen such nice hair clips before. Most of her clips were hand-me-downs or ones she nicked from Hermione.

“I can’t wait to see you all dressed up on New Year’s. You’ll be the most beautiful girl there,” Seamus said earnestly. “You’ll have to tell me what color your robes are so I may get you flowers.” He leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

Ginny nodded trying to avoid the question as she currently had no robes to wear. She was just thankful that he was easily distracted by Ron and Harry and their new Quidditch equipment. Seamus’ total obliviousness left her free to ponder what Christmas with Malfoy would be like. A small, sly grin turned up the corner of her mouth as her imagination led her to some of the more delightful ways she and Draco could wile away the hours on the holiday.

~*~

“Well, it’s about time you dragged yourself out of bed,” Pansy complained. She was curled up in her favorite arm chair in front of the fireplace still in her dressing gown, a book lying in her lap.

“Happy Christmas to you too,” Draco grouchily replied as he stretched his long, lean body. He stood in front of the crackling fire as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ran a hand through his messy hair. “How long have you been awake?”

“A few hours.” She gave him the once over taking in the fact he was only wearing deep green pajama bottoms. “You should put some clothes on before you catch your death.” She smiled wickedly. “No wait -- if you died I wouldn’t have to marry you.”

“Real nice there, Pans,” muttered as he pulled on a black t-shirt before slipping into a matching deep green robe. “You haven’t opened any presents?”

“Of course not, you git, I was waiting for you. Do you want to eat or open presents?”

He just blinked at her like she actually had to ask that question.

“That is what I thought,” she giggled. “You can hand them out I suppose.”

In the span of half an hour they were sitting the floor together amongst the drifts of ripped Christmas paper and ribbons.

“Draco,” Pansy said thoughtfully as she fingered her new cloak. “What do you think Christmas will be like next year?”

He set down his new brass telescope. “Pretty much the same I’d imagine. Better accommodations. Breakfast with my parents, I suppose.”

“Do your parents do anything special?”

“Not really, the usual stuff – decorations, presents and a party. It’s all very formal, like we’re just going through the motions.” He paused a few seconds in thought “My father seems to be more polite around Christmas.”

“Well, that is something to look forward to.”

“Mum and I always attend the opera Christmas night. Father used to attend when I was younger, but he hasn’t gone with us for years now. We exchange private gifts then without him around. Boxing Day is spent receiving father’s friends and business associates.”

Pansy smiled. “My father used to make such a fuss about going to your house on Boxing Day. He’d inspect Peter and me for any hair out of place or a speck of dirt. Mum would threaten us with bodily harm if we acted out of turn. I’d never act up because I was afraid of your father.”

“He is rather scary isn’t he,” Draco joked, giving her a lopsided grin.

“I can’t believe I’m going to live in the same household as Lucius Malfoy.”

“It’s Christmas, Pans, I don’t want to discuss my father.”

She looked down at the deep blue wool spread across her lap; her fingers caressing the silky ermine fur trim once more. It was a gift from Draco’s parents. Naturally it was gorgeous and made from only the finest materials. The inside pocket held a pair of matching deep blue kid skin gloves trimmed in fur.

The silence stretched on for several long awkward moments, the only sound being the occasional rustle of crinkled paper as one of them shifted.

A small box was unceremoniously thrust into her lap. “Here this is for you,” Draco said without his voice betraying his feelings.

“Oh.” Pansy carefully opened the ornately wrapped gift discovering a small hinged jewelry box made of cobalt glass. “Oh, Draco, it’s beautiful, thank you.”

He nodded his acknowledgement. “You like blue; you have lots of little pieces of jewelry, so I thought you’d like it.”

“I love it, really. It was very thoughtful of you.”

“Never let it be said that Draco Malfoy doesn’t know how to treat the ladies.”

“You are such a prat,” she giggled.

He laughed in spite of himself. “I do so try.”

“I know you do!”

“You don’t have to agree, as my future wife you should be defending me.”

“Why on earth would I ever want to do that?”

“Witch.”

“You know it.” She threw a ball of crumpled up paper at him.

“Hey!” He returned the favor by throwing a fist full of ribbons at her.

Pansy sobered quickly before a full war could erupt. “Our robes for the New Year’s Ball will be delivered tomorrow.”

Draco nodded. “What color?”

“Black for you, naturally, trimmed with deep gray. My robes are deep sea blue.” She smiled slyly right then. “Guess who I saw in Gladrags?”

“There is no telling. Did you terrorize them?”

“It was the mudblood and the female Weasel, trying on satin robes no less. Well, Granger was trying on robes and the Weasel was just sitting there being useless as Weasleys are wont to do.”

He glanced away quickly before his eyes could betray him. He remembered Pansy storming out of the shop right after he glanced at Ginny in the window, of course that was about the time that Blaise had tried to attach herself to his arm as well. Maybe his secret was still safe. “Satin,” he said dubiously, wrinkling his nose in offense. “How garish.”

“You fancy her don’t you?”

“Fancy who,” he asked, furrowing his brows like he was irritated.

“Weasley,” Pansy said slowly, watching him carefully.

He felt a knot immediately tighten in the pit of his stomach. If Pansy suspected anything more than just his idle fascination with Ginny, things will have just gone from bad to much worse. Draco reasoned there was no way she could possibly know about the other night when he and Ginny had narrowly escaped Filch. Granted he was snippy and spent too much time in the shower that evening, but still there was no possible way. “What about Weasley?”

“You’re in love with her that’s what,” Pansy stated in her matter-a-fact way.

~*~

Ginny stood in front of the mirror in the dress robes she wore last year to the Autumn Ball. The deep red garment was almost too small then. This year, her ankles were showing and her breasts threatened to spill over the neckline with every breath. She imagined that these robes would be appropriate if she were standing on a corner in Knockturn Alley.

She picked through the colorful pile of robes Hermione had deposited on her bed earlier that morning. She’d been through them once already, finding nothing to suit her tastes, but the situation was more dire now. The ball was four days away and she had nothing to wear, well nothing that fit properly anyway.

Lavender’s simple bright blue dress robes were really her only choice. Padma’s richly embroidered ivory robes were too tight all around, especially in the hips, causing Ginny to curse being a Weasley. She was afraid to try an alteration charm for fear of ruining the stunning garment. She didn’t know what Hermione was thinking with the deep pink robes. Didn’t she realize her best friend had red hair and that simply doesn’t mix with pink? Besides, Pansy used to wear pink all the time. She didn’t even want to know who’d offered up the lemon yellow robes.

She slipped on the blue robes once more, the material falling loosely over her curves. She stood in front of the mirror for long minutes accessing what could be done with alteration charms.

“That isn’t a good color for you, dearie,” the feminine voice of the mirror observed.

Ginny cinched in the waist slightly from behind, inspecting her image. “Who asked you?”

“The ivory robes looked stunning on you.”

“I like to breathe too,” she snapped. “Damn Padma’s skinny arse.” She snatched Lavender’s robe off, throwing it across the room in disgust. “This is pointless!”

She stalked around her dormitory room cursing under her breath. She cursed being poor, her red hair and freckles, and formal balls. Ginny had begged her mother for dress robes for weeks. She’d even written to Bill and Charlie imploring them for help. It wasn’t like she’d asked for silk robes, she would have settled for second hand robes if they’d only fit. And for all her effort she got nothing. Tears of frustration pooled in her brown eyes.

Finally she threw herself on the bed, letting out a long, guttural howl of rage.

Ginny allowed herself a good cry until her head started to throb, after that she lay quietly sniffling. She freed her mind to explore possible solutions to her dilemma until it lit upon Malfoy.

Draco offered the most wicked solution to her problems. A sly smile curled her mouth as she turned the possibility over in her mind. She had something he obviously wanted badly, very badly if she was right. After all, he was all but stalking her in the corridors.

Although she had to admit that deep down she wanted the same thing he did.

“I wonder,” she pondered aloud. “How much Malfoy would pay me to sleep with him?”

Title: Tangled Web
Name: rainpuddle13 (rainpuddle13 at gmail dot com)
Web: littleyellowduck @ yahoo groups & rainpuddle13 @ livejournal
Rating: Naughty
Characters/Ships: Draco/Ginny, Blaise, Pansy, Seamus
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Notes: Yes, yes, I am well aware that Blaise has been outted as a black male; however, this story was started shortly after GOF was published and long before he was more than just a name. Also, Dumbledore is alive and well. That being said, this fic is now considered firmly AU. I apologize in advance if it troubles you.

Summary: New Year's has come to Hogwarts.

Tangled Web Chapter Five - Hogmanay

Ginny got up off the bed to peer at her reflection in the mirror. She ran a hand through her impossibly tangled hair, only making matters worse. Red rimmed eyes set in a splotchy face stared back at her while she took in the plain white cotton knickers and bra she wore, nothing exciting or pretty, just plain.

Plain.

Just like her.

“Not very much dear, from the looks of you,” the catty voice of the mirror replied.

“Ewww,” Ginny squeaked, throwing the first thing she could lay her hands on at the offending mirror. “Shut up!”

“Well, be that way then! Just offering an honest opinion,” the mirror huffed before going silent and slightly dark.

She slipped the previously discarded bright blue dress robes over her head, altering the garment with strategically placed taps from her wand. It wasn't like she hadn't had performed alterations before - it was practically an art form in the Weasley household.

Once she had the robes to where they weren't falling off of her, she admired her handiwork. It would have to make do, not like she had much choice anyway. As she smoothed her hands over the material, she could just imagine the smug look on Zabini's face. What she wouldn't give to scratch that bint's eyes out. But that wasn't the matter at hand at the moment.

Ginny continued making adjustments until the robes were at least presentable, slipping the straps of her bra down and tucking them under the puffy gathering of material that hung just off her shoulders.

She peered in the mirror once more. It wasn't the best color in the world for her, but Seamus would never mention that. He would kiss her cheek and tell her how beautiful she looked. Sometimes she wondered if he really meant it or if was just being polite in hopes of getting lucky.

A sharp pang of guilt stabbed her chest.

Just what did she think she was doing, snogging Malfoy in darkened corridors like that? It wasn't like he was in love with her. He was the only trying to get lucky. He was just using her; that was the only explanation. A Malfoy and a Weasley — it was absurd, completely and utterly. Zabini probably put him up to it to see if they could bait Ron into making a fool of himself.

She resolved to put a stop to the Draco thing right then and there. First thing first, no more of this Draco business. He's a dastardly Malfoy, she chided herself.

Seamus was a perfectly acceptable boyfriend. He loved her for her; she knew this without a doubt. He was good and kind and sweet. He was a fine catch — all the girls in her dorm said so — and even had an adorable accent. She heard the whispers about her being so lucky and how they all just knew he'd ask her to marry him as soon as she graduated.

She was the one with the problem; that was the only answer she could figure. A whole life spent wishing for things she could never have, and it spilled over into her love life. Seamus was better than she thought she'd ever do, and she made a decision right then: no more taking him for granted.

Seamus was a boy. Boys all want one thing, even the ever polite Seamus, she was sure of it. She just hadn't given him the right signals.

She smirked at her reflection in the mirror.

That was all about to change.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Albus, I am not so sure about this,” Snape sniffed disaffectedly.

The wizened old wizard sat back in his tall desk chair, regarding the dark younger man before him. “Have I ever given you reason to doubt me before?” he asked slowly.

“No, sir.” He fidgeted a little under the intense blue gaze of his mentor. “It's just - I don't think this is the way to lure him to our side.”

“It is the only way,” Dumbledore stated plainly, steepling his fingers before him. “He needs incentive.”

“Do you not think he'll see through something so obvious?”

“His interest is already piqued.”

Snape crossed his arms before making a low disparaging sound.

“I know you are doubtful, but you must have faith, Severus.”

“Faith is a luxury we do not have time for, Albus. The situation is growing dire.”

Dumbledore smiled then, eyes twinkling. “Then you see the pressing need for you to accomplish what I have asked of you.”

“But, sir,” Snape started to protest.

“But nothing, Severus. I ask of you one small favor that will take no more than an hour of your time.”

“But, sir, surely someone else would be better suited for this task,” Snape said with a tinge of discomfort. “Minerva, perhaps.”

“I have faith that you will make the correct choice,” Dumbledore stately kindly, but firmly, allowing no room for further debate.

“As you wish, sir.” The Potions Master nodded to his mentor before Apparating away to complete his appointed task.

~*~

31st December

~*~

Ginny carefully eyed the large box lying on the foot of her bed. It definitely hadn't been there when she had gone down to dinner. There was no note that she could see; the only thing on the box was the twine holding the lid down and a tag with her name on it. She glanced around the room for any sign of it being a joke.

The box mocked her as she went about getting ready for the evening, donning her best bra and knickers. It was teasing her, sitting there so tantalizingly, on her bed, but she was determined not to give into temptation.

It looked to be the size of a robes box, that much she did know.

Curiosity got the best of her just as she was pulling on Lavender's bright blue robes from last year's Spring Fling. Before she knew what she was doing, Ginny was tearing at the twine, ripping the lid off in her haste, exposing carefully arranged creamy tissue paper. Her mouth fell open as she pulled back the paper, exposing rosewood colored material with delicate embroidery and bead work.

It was too much to believe that her family had sent her the robes after they didn't take the hint at Christmas, and it was definitely too expensive to be a prank by Blaise. She wondered if it could have been Draco as she pulled the lovely garment from the box, holding the robes in front of her so she could admire her reflection in the mirror. The color was exquisite, making her creamy skin glow and her dark eyes sparkle. And for once, the color didn't clash with her red hair!

A quick inspection of the box revealed that whoever had gifted her with the robes was also thoughtful enough to include the proper undergarments, a pair of what looked to be ivory silk stockings and a pair of matching low heeled slippers.

A loud knock on the door startled her. “Yes?” she asked a little shakily.

“Do you need some help with your hair?” called Hermione's muffled voice through the door.

“No, I think I've got it.”

“Do you want help with your robes?”

“No, no, you go on. I think I can manage.”

“All right, but we're leaving soon so we can get a good table. We'll save you a seat.”

“Okay,” Ginny answered absently as she carefully used the combs Seamus had given her for Christmas to loosely secure her hair away from her face, but leaving her wild curls to fall how they may down her back.

For once in her life she was going to be fashionably late instead of being there first to get a good table.

She carefully slipped the delicate undergarments on, the silk feeling like absolute sin against her bare skin.

As the instant tailoring charms set about their work, Ginny wondered if this was how it felt to be Cinderella sans the faerie godmother, the pumpkin coach and the glass slippers.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“You know what you have to do?” Pansy asked as she tried different hairstyles in front of the full length mirror standing in the corner of the Head Boy's room. He knew she was not concerned about time; after all it was fashionable to be late.

“Yes,” Draco sighed as he pull on his formal black robes over a crisp white shirt and white silk tie and vest.

“I know you don't like it,” she offered sympathetically, “but it's the only way to deal with Blaise.”

He wasn't really listening anymore. Blaise was the last thing on his mind as he straightened his robes before running his fingers through his hair. To be honest, Ginny was all he could think about. She consumed most of his waking thoughts and all of his dreams at night. It didn't help matters that he hadn't seen her since dinner Christmas night which led to all kinds of unwanted speculation as to what she'd been up to with that git that called himself her boyfriend.

Pansy had been surprisingly accepting of his adoration of the Weasley girl, but he didn't know how far he could push his luck with her. She did like to have every single little detail planned out, and his infatuation with Ginny was probably something she hadn't factored in. And Merlin knew how prickly Pansy could be when things didn't go according to plan…

“No, I don't like it,” he stated firmly. It was high time he tried to assert some control over his own destiny. “I don't know why you can't pick someone else.”

“You know good and damn well it has to be the girl Weasley. I'm through discussing it.”

“Granger, she'd be even better than Ginny.”

She regarded him with a raised eyebrow. “Ginny now is it? I wasn't aware you two were that close yet. Besides it's not the Mudblood you're fancying now, is it?”

“Has it been that obvious?”

“You remember those flashing `Potter Stinks' buttons from fourth year?”

“Yes,” he mumbled, not fond of remembering the lazy days when such childish pranks were the most of his worries.

“Those were more subtle.” She turned back to the mirror to try a different hairstyle, leaving Draco to pout about getting called out. He'd been so careful to keep his feelings well hidden, but then again, he never could hide anything from Pansy. She knew him almost as well as he knew himself.

“Are you ready yet?” he asked in sheer frustration after what seemed an eternity.

She muttered a spell that made her hair fall into soft waves that framed her face. Finally satisfied, she turned to face him. “She's out of your league, you know.”

Draco stared at her a moment, trying to get his mouth to work. “She's not out of my league! If anything, I'm out of hers!” he spluttered indignantly.

Pansy chuckled softly. “That's where you're wrong. You don't get it, do you? She's a princess!”

“Princess, ha,” he scoffed. “She's a Quidditch playing, red-haired, tomboy-”

“She's the beloved youngest child of a very influential pureblood family as old as yours. Her blood is just as pure, if not more pure, than yours!”

He snorted. “As if.”

“You know it's true,” Pansy said, pinning him with a meaningful glare, “and you better than anyone know the lengths her brothers have gone to protect her since the incident. I believe you've tasted a few of the hexes her twin brothers taught her.”

“I-” he started, knowing that his cheeks flamed red with embarrassment that a mere girl had gotten the best of him more than once. Even though he knew every single word Pansy spoke was true, he was loathe to admit it. The childish side of him didn't want to give her any more ammunition than she already had to use against him. “She's a menace to polite society.”

“Be that as it may, you are in love with her.”

“I am not!”

“Oh, come off it, Draco,” Pansy said, exasperated. “You know there is no point in trying to hide anything from me.”

“Tell me why it can't be Granger again?” Draco whined, throwing caution to the wind. He had to put a stop to the madness Pansy had planned before Ginny got injured.

“Two birds, one stone, Draco,” she ground out. “Two birds, one stone.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Seamus' eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets when she finally put an appearance in the deserted common room.

“Do I pass snuff?” she asked, grinning at her boyfriend who couldn't seem to take his eyes off her new found cleavage thanks to the wonders of a strapless under-wire bra. Ginny knew she looked good in the robes that fit like they had been tailored just for her. The closely fitted beaded bodice hinted of an hourglass figure that was just beginning to blossom and the long plain silk skirt accentuated her willowy height.

“Uhm,” was all he could manage once his mouth snapped shut.

“You don't like it,” she said, crestfallen.

“No,” he started firmly, taking her hand brushing his lips lightly against her fingers. “You are so beautiful that I was at a loss for words there for a minute.”

She had the good sense to look at the floor as a warm blush crept up over cheeks so he wouldn't see just how much she was enjoying the attention. “Oh.”

He leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek when she suddenly crooked her head to capture his lips in a lingering kiss, teasing him with an occasional flick of her tongue.

“Ginny,” Seamus growled after a few moments, “if you don't stop that we'll never make it down to ball.”

“Maybe that was my plan,” she teased softly, pressing her long body against him.

“And waste that dress? Are you nutters? I want all the blokes to see what they can't have!”

Ginny found herself having to bite her lip to keep from telling him just how much she wanted to see Malfoy's face when she made her grand entrance. “I suppose we should go before Ron sends out a search party,” she sighed.

“Yes,” he said, grabbing her hand, “god forbid he thinks we're off shagging or something.” He shuddered involuntarily at just the thought after months of conditioning by her brother.

“I suppose you're right,” she finally conceded after shaking her head slightly to remove the image of Draco in formal dress robes from her head. Putting him out of mind was proving much more difficult than she had anticipated.

“Besides,” he said with a wink before pulling her along, “there is always later.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Blaise, darling, it really isn't ladylike to hang your mouth open like that,” Pansy said smugly as the girl Weasley make her grand entrance to the New Year's Ball, garnering much attention from everyone.

“I wonder who she shagged for those robes,” Blaise said viciously, her eyes settling on Draco. Someone had to have given that bint those silk robes. How dare the little weasel enter the room like she owned the place?

“A bit green-eyed, are we?” Pansy asked.

Blaise knew she was always supposed to be the most beautiful witch in any room. All of the boys and a few witches gave her a second glance, a third even, not that little red-headed Gryffindor bitch. “It had to be someone with Galleons to burn from the looks of it too,” she hissed.

“What makes you think that?” Pansy asked.

She knew that the other witch was baiting her, but she was so worked up over this latest turn of evens that she could not helping allowing the other witch to suck her in. This was a travesty of epic proportions, and it was up to her to set things back to rights. “That bint doesn't have two Knuts to rub together.”

“Who knows,” Pansy mused, “maybe she did get lucky...”

“What do you know?” Blaise asked quickly, too quickly. She knew she should be embarrassed, jumping at any bit of gossip she could get, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. She was too consumed with the intense desire to wrap her slender fingers around the throat of the girl weasel so she could delight in slowly choking the life out of the person she hated most in the world.

“…at the secondhand shop.”

She pinned the shorter witch with a death glare. “I hate you.”

“Likewise,” Pansy said, her lips twitching with a repressed smile.

“You'd better watch your back,” Blaze warned dangerously. “That's all I've got to say.”

Pansy's eyes twinkled. “And you'd do well by not spending so much time on yours.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

He had no idea that she'd clean up that well.

Ginny Weasley was a beautiful witch, and there was no denying that fact now that if the looks of every male in the room was to go by.

The robes she was wearing were positively sinful in the way they hugged her body. Oh, everything was covered, and there was definitely something left to be said about leaving things to the imagination.

He found himself fascinated with how the thin straps drew attention to her creamy shoulders, and wondering if her shoulders were dusted with freckles just like her cheeks were because he couldn't tell from his position across the room.

His mind had whisked them away to their bed chamber at the manor; a low fire was burning in the hearth, casting a warm, inviting glow to the cavernous room. The house elf assigned to see to Ginny's needs had turned down the bed in anticipation of their late arrival home. They had been to a party at the Ministry that she had insisted they attend. He would've much preferred to ring in the New Year making love in their huge four poster bed. She dropped her black velvet evening cloak to the floor as they enter the room and he was on her in flash, his fingers working at undoing the long line of hooks down her back that held her robes together, his mouth devouring her bare neck and shoulders. She moaned as his lips follow the trail of exposed skin, whispering for him to hurry before she died of want. He smirked, as if he'd ever allow that to happen…

“Promise me that you'll remember a contraceptive charm if you manage to get her alone for five seconds,” Pansy warned, startling him out of his thoughts, before she hooked his arm with hers and dragged him to a more secluded spot. “With the way her family breeds, all you might have to do is brush up against her and she'd fall pregnant.”

He glared at his much shorter fiancée. “What are you going about?”

“The Weasley girl.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Please, a starving man doesn't stare as longingly at the prize goose in the butcher's window.”

“I am not that obvious.”

“Come off of it, Draco! You were practically standing in a puddle of drool.”

“I was not,” he said indignantly.

“Yes, you were and it couldn't be more perfect. Keep it up. Your mooning will make what I'm going to do all that more believable,” she said with barely contained glee.

“Don't do it, Pansy, for the love Merlin, don't,” he begged.

“You'll thank me later for this when you're being pestered by ten little red-headed brats.”

He glanced in Ginny's direction. Pansy didn't know what she was talking about - ten children - just the requisite heir and they'd be done. There was no way in bloody hell he was going to be sharing her, once he got his hands on her that was, with more people than absolutely necessary. “If she ever speaks to me again, that is.”

“Oh, she will,” Pansy said with what sounded like all the confidence in the world, “she will.”

“What makes you so sure?” he asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

“I just am, and I expect one of those brats to be named for me,” she teased, patting his arse to send him off. “Now go on and make a lovesick fool of yourself.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Is that any way to treat a proper witch?” Blaise pouted prettily as Seamus tried to push past her. She had managed to get him alone in the little breezeway between the kitchens and the Great Hall.

Seamus chuckled. “I don't see a proper witch here.”

She ran her fingers lightly up his arm, delighting in the involuntary shiver she had invoked. In her vast experience, Blaise found that boys needed very little prompting to get them do what she wanted — a well placed hand or a husky suggestion was usually all it took. “Why do you want to be like that now? I could make you happy.”

“Happy?” he asked, sounding confused.

“Very happy,” she said breathlessly, her hand lingering meaningfully at his belt buckle.

Seamus pushed her hand away. “What are you playing at here, Zabini?”

“Just a little fun,” she purred, strategically maneuvering so he'd get an unobstructed view of her barely concealed cleavage. A knowing smile crept across her lips when he licked his lips; this was going to be easier than stealing candy from a baby. “You like to have fun, don't you?”

“Uh,” he managed to utter, practically swallowing his words. “I guess.”

She pressed against him, slowly rolling her hips against him so there would be no mistaking her intentions. “You only guess?”

Seamus groaned when her teeth grazed his ear and shuddered. “Yes.”

“Mmm.” Her tongue flittered around the shell of his ear as she gave his bits a firm squeeze, and for an instant she felt a slight flicker of envy. If the girl weasel wasn't putting what she was feeling to good use, then she most definitely would. It would be a crime otherwise.

“Zabini,” he said harshly, trying to push her away.

“What would you like me to do?” she offered suggestively, knowing full and well that boys could never resist what she was about to offer, delighting when his eyes widened. “Wouldn't you like to feel my hot, wet mouth around your big cock?”

He shook his head, trying to back away from her, but she could tell he was torn. There wasn't a boy alive that could resist the offer of a blowjob; she knew this fact well and used it to her advantage.

“Just relax, I promise you'll enjoy it,” she said, sliding down the front of his body, continuing her assault on his trousers. “I know just how to make you forget about that little tart you go out with.”

“Ginny,” he exclaimed, pushing Blaise away with renewed strength. “She's my girlfriend.”

“Uh-huh,” Blaise said as she managed to pop the last button of his trousers and get her fingers inside, “and if she was good girlfriend she'd be here right now blowing you.”

“How dare you!” he shouted hoarsely, finally shoving her far enough away that he could escape her clutches. “Ginny is a better person than you'll ever be. You'll never be anything more than a slag that whores around with Malfoy!”

“I whore around with Malfoy!” Laughter bubbled up from what seemed to be her toes just then, a crazed, maniacal sort of laughter. She picked herself up off the floor, dusting off her arse with both hands. “Me! That's rich! Apparently, you don't know Saint Gin-Gin very well, do you?”

“What are you talking about?” He turned on her then, grabbing her by her upper arms and shaking her furiously. “Never mind, I don't want to hear your lies.”

“See for yourself.” She forcibly turned him around and shoved him near the entrance way so he'd have an unobstructed view of the Great Hall, and there in the center of the dance floor was Draco Malfoy dancing with Ginny Weasley. Blaise pressed against his back, whispering in his ear, “Believe me now?”

She grabbed him to keep him running off to rescues his little slag. “Let go of me!”

“I bet they are making plans to meet later tonight,” she told him. “I can see them now in a dark corridor-”

“Stop!”

“-shagging up against the wall.”

“Just stop!” He twisted, almost breaking free of her grip, but she managed to hold tight.

“I've seen it, them, shagging.”

“No!”

“Yes, she was moaning-”

“It's not true!”

“Your little girlfriend is in love with Draco Malfoy!”

“She's-” Seamus trailed off as their fellow students began counting down the last few seconds of the year, staring at the couple in the center of the room.

Blaise could not believe what she was about to witness, something no one else seem to notice because they were so distracted by Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley about to ring in the new year with a very public display of affection: Pansy with sly smile on her face and a raised wand.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Ginny could not believe she was dancing Draco Malfoy at almost midnight on New Year's Eve.

She didn't know who was more shocked, her dance partner or herself, but when Draco curtly asked to cut in, Neville didn't put up much of a protest. Neither did Ron, who apparently was too preoccupied with Harry and Hermione to notice what his baby sister was getting up to right under his nose. But there she was, wrapped in the arms of supposed arch enemy, dancing to some beautiful piece of music she couldn't name, and loving every second of it.

It was as if her most secret fantasy had come true, and nothing, and no one except Draco mattered at the moment. She knew there would questions to be answered on the morrow. Questions she had no idea how she was going to answer, especially concerning the dress and most likely Draco, but the consequences be damned. She was going to enjoy it for all it was worth and if she was very lucky, she would receive a kiss from him as the clock struck midnight.

Her stomach felt full of fluttering Snitches as he gracefully spun her around the dance floor, his hand firmly on the small of her back, holding her closer than really was necessary, while most of Hogwarts looked on in varying degrees of disbelief. She finally knew what it felt like to be a princess, aching feet and all, even if it was just for this one moment.

“Malfoy,” she admonished, feeling the need to say something, anything really, “what are you doing?”

“Dancing,” he said with a ghost of a smile.

“But, everyone-”

“The hell with all of them,” he stated simply, but firmly. His hand drifted a little lower, and all she could think was that Seamus' hand hadn't felt nearly as sinful when he'd tried a similar move earlier in the evening. There was just something about being in Draco's presence that inspired her to want to be naughty, and that caused her to do things that would surely send her mother to an early grave if she only knew what she was doing.

“You are so wicked.”

“I do so try.”

“All righty then,” Ginny giggled, “Mr. Wicked, just what are you going to say tomorrow when everyone asks why you were dancing with a Gryffindor?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why, I'll simply state that I was just partaking in what every other male here had gotten a bit of tonight.”

She knew his words weren't meant to be hurtful, or at least she thought they weren't intended that way. It was always so hard to tell with him, and she had danced the night away. She didn't think she'd sat out more than three songs the entire evening, relishing the fact that nearly every male in the room was nearly tripping over themselves to ask her for the next dance. Maybe she was a tart.

Ginny didn't know how to respond to the comment so she kept silent, and only sneaked a glance up at him occasionally in an effort to judge his mood. The last thing she wanted was to ruin this perfect moment any further.

“If I'd known you'd clean up this well, Weasley, I would have bought you dress robes ages ago,” he teased in an effort to lighten the mood. His hand boldly slipping further down her bum than any other boy had dared venture. “Where'd you get them anyway?”

“One of Padma's castoffs,” she said, the lie slipping easily from her lips despite the fact that every time they moved in time together, she rubbed intimately against his groin and it was making her slightly lightheaded. If he doubted her word, she couldn't tell and was too distracted to care.

“Well, you're the most beautiful witch here,” Draco said softly, leaning in close to nip the ticklish spot on her neck just below her ear.

Ginny gasped as a shiver went down her spine, her cheeks flaming crimson at his words. She'd been told many times, and by many boys, some variation of those words over the course of the evening, but they had not struck home like they did when Draco uttered them to her. She could tear her eyes from his darkened grey ones as he started intently at her. It was almost like he was trying to memorize her, this moment, everything, and it make her feel a bit uneasy.

“Draco!” she exclaimed, twisting away from him to break free of the prison his arms when he dipped his head to nibble at her throat. “What do you think you're doing?”

He managed to capture her by her wrist and haul her back in front him, his arms encircling her waist like a vice grip. “We don't have much time now,” he tried to explain as the crowd of fellow students started to grow restless and titter around them as midnight drew near.

“Much time for what?” she questioned as a feeling of dark dread flooded over her. “I don't like this! You're starting to scare me!”

“I never meant for this to happen,” he said earnestly, “but please believe me when I say that it's for your own good.”

She shoved hard at his chest, trying to squirm free. “Let go of me!”

“If you never talk to me again, end up hating me forever, I will understand.” Draco closed his eyes, and swallowed hard as a look of raw grief twisted his beautiful features into a grim frown.

A roil of conflicting emotions tore at her heart and soul. The sorrowful look on his face simultaneously frightened her while very nearly breaking her heart in two. This was a side of Draco she never had suspected even existed, and now all she wanted to do was gather him in her arms and assure him everything would turn out somehow, she would see to it.

“Shhh,” she found herself murmuring to him just as their fellow students shouted out the last few seconds of the year. Her arms found their way around his shoulders. “Everything will be all right, I promise.”

“Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” The students around them erupted in raucous cheers and whistling as the large clock suspended in mid-air over the stage area in the Great Hall started to chime the midnight hour. A number of couples were starting their new year with a snog. Off-key, and muddled attempts at singing “Auld Lang Syne” broke out among the ranks.

A half smile brightened his features a bit, just before he lightly brushed his lips against her willing mouth. He pulled away before she had the opportunity to deepen the kiss, whispering, “I'm so sorry.”

“Serpensortia Medusa” was the last thing Ginny would remember hearing before being enveloped in a bright flash of pure blue-white light as a spell hit her, causing the festive joy of an entire school to melt into instant mass chaos. Pain shot through her body, and she could feel her face contorting into a grotesque mask. Her hair began to slither about her shoulders, hissing and spitting at anyone who accidentally got too near.

“Ginny!” she heard Seamus shout from somewhere behind her. “Ginny, don't move!”

“Help me!” she squealed, wheeling around to find her boyfriend racing across the room.

Their eyes locked had for barely a second before Ginny collapsed to the floor, screaming bloody murder.

Seamus had turned to stone in mid-stride.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

End Notes:

1. Hogmanay is the Scot word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the New Year's celebrations in Scotland.

2. Pansy and Blaise's catty little argument about watching one's back is borrowed liberally from That 70's Show because it was too delicious not to.

3. Medusa was originally a beautiful nymph, but when she had sex with Poseidon in Athena's temple, the goddess transformed her hair to serpents and her made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn a man to stone.

4. Much thanks to everyone (nokomis305, dragonsangel68, cupid12203, heyurs, kateinva, embe11ished, persephone33, smprsfan, et al.) who twisted my arm to work on this.

5. And thanks, as always, to my faithful beta, nokomis305, and to dragonsangel68 for plot discussions and encouragement.

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