Ginny tasted . . . sweet. He had thought that mouths didn't really have a taste, except maybe of what you had last eaten, but in Ginny's case the taste was innate, he felt that no matter what, when he pressed his lips to hers, there would always be this familiar sweetness. The kiss was tender and timid and only broke when Ginny pulled away with her eyes closed.
"For the longest time I wondered what it would be like to kiss you," she said almost reverently as she touched her lips gently, her eyes still closed.
"Did I live up to your expectations?" asked Draco
"Oh yes, that and more." Ginny said, finally opening her eyes to look at him.
"Well, I hope never to disappoint." He smirked and she laughed. At this he frowned, "What's so funny?"
"Whenever I imagined us kiss you always had that smirk on right afterwards, who knew my imagination would be so accurate?" she laughed again and Draco let a genuine smile shine through which made Ginny even giddier with happiness than she already was. She had wanted this for so long and it was finally hers, it was like walking on air.
"Well, it lived up to my expectations as well." Draco told her.
"You know," said Ginny, "I never thought that you would have spent time imagining something as soppy as a kiss."
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with imagining a kiss."
"Of course not, I think it's very sweet." Ginny said as she tried not to laugh at his defensive attitude.
"It's not sweet."
Ginny started to giggle, "Of course not, I'm sorry, it's very manly and - " and she had to stop there because her giggles were becoming uncontrollable. Draco was just glaring at her and it made her laugh all the harder. When she finally stopped laughing he had turned away.
"Oh, come on. I was just teasing and you know it, I'm still allowed to tease a little, aren't I?" she asked.
"Of course," he said, "it doesn't matter." This was what he said but Ginny could tell he was still annoyed at her. "I think I'm going to go now, I stayed to make sure you were fine and it seems that you are."
"No, stay," said Ginny as he grasped at his hand.
Draco shook her off. "No, I'm tired and you also need your rest, I think I'll go." Ginny wasn't going to plead and so she just sat as he turned to leave. He paused when he stood and then came back to kiss her once again, just a peck on the lips and then left.
Ginny looked on afterwards and felt a vague disappointment settle in her. He really was being such a baby; they had always teased each other before so what had changed? Now that she was his girlfriend they weren't going to be able to laugh about stuff once in a while?
It didn't occur to Ginny that when she had made fun of him she'd hit a very sensitive nerve, that Draco was struggling to redefine himself and his thoughts without his father in the background constantly telling him how to be and how to think. Nor did she realise that his admission of his feelings was a big step away from what he once was. Her friendly jokes had done nothing to help the situation but had only hurt him. However, Ginny was blissfully unaware of this and so fell into peaceful sleep.
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Draco made it through the school corridors undetected but when he came across Blaise Zabini standing at the entrance to his room he told her shove off and go to her own dorm.
"I know where you've been," was her response, "with the Weasley girl. I saw you kiss her and I've noticed you spending a lot of time with her lately."
"What's it to you Zabini?" Draco asked as he tried to push past her.
"Would your father be pleased to hear of this?" she asked when he tried to push her aside. She wouldn't budge though. "You're associating with filth."
Draco grabbed her by her robes and pulled her close, he looked menacing in the darkness. "She is not filth and what we do together is none of your concern." With that he pushed her out of the way and whispered the password to his room.
Draco walked through the door, slammed it in Blaise's face and collapsed onto his bed. He deeply appreciated the private room that had been given to him when he received his head boy badge. It protected him from the animosity that had been directed at him throughout his sixth year after his father had been arrested. He had never imagined that his `friends' felt so much hatred towards him. Perhaps it was because he had been so mean, vindictive and controlling to them for the five years before that. Blaise was the only one who still talked to him and that was only to try to taunt and bully him.
He stared up at the canopy of his four poster bed and pushed Blaise out of his mind, instead he thought about Ginny as well as Vehka and Mirhe. He supposed he shouldn't be so sensitive to what Ginny had said. She was only teasing but he felt like she should know not to touch on certain subjects. But that sounded irrational even to him because if he couldn't define the subjects that she shouldn't broach, how was she supposed to do it?
Another matter to consider was what to tell her about being her protector. Should he even tell her at all? If he did tell her what would he say about the danger she was in if he didn't know himself? Would she even believe him?
After much debate Draco decided not to tell her unless it was absolutely necessary. With this decision made at least, he fell into a fitful slumber with mixed dreams. Some were of Ginny in danger and of Blaise laughing at him while others were more peaceful, of kissing and holding and the general normality he craved.
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The next morning Ginny woke up feeling much better than the night before. Madam Pomphrey came bustling over to take her temperature and give her a dose of pepper up, telling her that she would have to stay at least another might before she would be considered well enough for release. `Of course' thought Ginny as she swallowed the last of her medicine, `I would be lucky enough to fall into a frozen lake over the weekend and not miss any classes, because I love Monday morning potions /so/ much.'
That day Sarah and Jenny stayed with her and made sure she didn't get bored. They played exploding snap and chess (Jenny's set wasn't charmed) and ate lots of chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties to take away the taste of all the medicine Ginny had been given. Then the conversation turned to Draco.
"You know Malfoy stayed after we went last night. We couldn't do anything because Pomphrey told him he could stay." Jenny said apologetically.
Ginny frowned, "Why would you have done anything?" she asked confused.
"I don't know, maybe because it's Malfoy and we think he's got you under some evil spell. Honestly, I don't see why you spend so much time around him, he's so horrible." Sarah said as she took a rather large bite out of her pasty.
Ginny wanted to rush to defend Draco but knew she couldn't because Draco hadn't been all that nice around her friends. She constantly had to apologise for his distant and often downright rude behaviour and knew they didn't see any of what she saw in him. Nevertheless she felt the need to tell them that he wasn't /so/ bad especially now that she was seeing him.
"He's really not so bad," Ginny began, "he's really nice to me and stuff and he did save me yesterday."
Jenny and Sarah remained silent. Neither of them wanted to tell her that they thought he really /was/ that bad, but Ginny continued.
"And, well, I suppose I should tell you about last night but neither of you can tell Ron or Harry or anyone else for that matter, understood? Because, they'll blow." When both her friends nodded their heads she told them all about Draco staying with her and how she had told him about her feelings and that they were now seeing each other.
"Let me get this strait," said Sarah when Ginny had finished her explanation, "not only do we have to put up with him as your friend but now your boyfriend. Yuck." At Ginny's look of dismay she quickly added, "but if Malfoy's what floats your boat I guess I can put up with him."
Ginny brightened a bit at this and was positively beaming when Jenny said that she would be able to live with it as well. "As long as he isn't horrible to us we'll be fine" she said and soon they were back to playing exploding snap as they pushed Ginny for the details of the night before. They were still friends after all and they wanted to know all the juicy details about her new relationship.
They left later that day and Ginny was alone again. She decided that the first thing she would do when she was released the next day would be to go to Draco's room to talk to him, hopefully they would make up and she could have another delicious kiss.
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A/N: Thanks for reading. This is the end of the general fluff for a while, sorry if you like that sort of stuff. Anyways, hoped you like this chapter and please leave a review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Draco or Ginny but I do own Sarah and Jenny (my babies), so please don't sue.