Ginny.
Virginia.
Weeks ago she had run up to him to tell him he had dropped his quill. She hadn't realised who he was at first and when he turned around she had started. He was about to spout some cutting remark about how he didn't want the quill anymore now that she had touched it when he noticed how pretty she had become since he had last paid any attention to her. So he had swallowed the retort and instead had simply said "Thank you."
So he had started, to her complete surprise, to talk to her. It was for shallow reasons, to get into her pants, or Hogwarts skirt as the case presented itself. But after spending some time together in the library he had begun to fall in lo… like, he had begun to fall in like with her. He was Draco Malfoy for Merlin's sake, what was with all the warm sentimental bullshit he had been feeling lately? It was because of her, the stupid, idiotic, annoying, intelligent beautiful -
"Draco. Draco, are you listening?"
"Hmm?" he said slightly distracted by the way her cute pink lips moved and the way her voice transported him to a world where there was just the two of them.
"The goblin rebellion of 634, you know the one I need to write about for the history essay that you're supposed to be helping me on. I only need three more inches, what can I write." Her irritation brought him back down to earth.
"Oh. Um, I don't know, write about Bilwik the Bald or something, I'm sure he was involved in there somewhere. And even if he isn't, it's not like Binns will notice, he probably hasn't even realised he's dead yet."
She giggled, distracting him again, but he forced himself to snap back to reality, "It's true you know. Anyways, do you want to meet up at Honeydukes Saturday? I was thinking that we could walk around Hogsmeade for a bit.
"Yeah, if I can get out of Ron's overprotective, big-brother line of vision. If he saw me going off with you his imagination would run away with him and he'd think you were using evil mind powers to seduce me."
"Oh, yeah" he returned weakly, he /wished/. That's right, he, Draco Malfoy, hadn't plucked up enough courage to ask her out, or to seize the moment and do… something, /anything/ to get her to understand that he wanted so much more than talks in this stupid, dusty library. Merlin he hated it here. "But you'll come anyway, right?"
"I'll try." She tried to stifle a yawn and failed. "I'm getting tired, you want to come with me to the kitchen? I'm going to get something to eat before heading up to the common room."
"Okay, let's go."
"Hang on, let me just check this book out." Draco waited patiently as Ginny walked over to madam Pince's desk. Soon enough they were tickling the pear to enter the kitchen.
"You know," Ginny said as she sat down with a turkey sandwich Tammi had handed her, "Colin Creevey asked me out today."
"He WHAT?! I mean… really?" Draco answered through a mouthful of peach pie as he fought against the jealousy bubbling up within him.
"Yeah, really. I told him no of course, simply because I didn't think we'd be compatible." Relief flooded through him. "But then he came up to me at lunch and asked me to reconsider. He was so persistent that I told him I'd think about it. It was a bit cruel to leave him hanging but I just couldn't decide." She paused before saying, "You know, I think I will. He's so sweet and he seems to really like me."
"No!! I mean… you're right, you're not compatible. He's…" He struggled to find words. A nancy boy? A mudblood? Potter's tagalong? No, no and no. None of those would go down with Ginny, in fact, she'd probably go out with him just to prove a point. "What interests do you share? What would you talk about?"
"Well…" she paused, struggling to find her own reasons.
"You see," said Draco triumphantly. "He's not for you, I can just imagine you getting sick of him within a week and then you'd have to dump him. It would be too difficult, just nip it in the bud."
"But - "
"A little bit of pain now is better than a broken heart later. Be a little less cruel Ginny." /Please listen, don't date him, please/.
"I suppose you're right, I hadn't thought of it that way, it would be a rather cruel, wouldn't it?" She got up and gave the now empty plate back to Tammi, turning so that she didn't see the pure relief flooding his features. "Ugh, now I have to go back up there and break it to him." She turned to give him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you. For your advice, I mean."
"Why do you do that?" Draco asked, pretending to be annoyed, as he wiped his cheek with his hand. He loved it when she did that, but he wasn't going to admit it any time soon.
"I do it to my brothers when they've done something nice." She laughed. "You're so sweet when you grumble. I'm going up now, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
When she left he sat back down. So that was it; he was like a brother. Not even friend, he could have lived with friend but /brother/? That was completely platonic. He buried his face in his hands and sighed before getting up to go to the Slytherin common room.
A/N: Hoped you liked it, please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to him. I only own the plot.