Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this.

A/N: Thanks to my beta, Aliya.

Chapter 15

A week later, Draco was awoken early in the morning by something pecking his head. They had left the window open last night, so the creature had come in easily. When he opened his eyes, Draco was greeted with the sight of the malicious, yellow eyes of Lucifer, his father's owl. At first he was confused as to how his father had sent him an owl from Azkaban, but soon came to the conclusion that his mother had used his father's owl. Draco untied the letter from Lucifer's leg, and the owl was gone immediately. He opened the letter and saw his mother's neat script. There was something about it that wasn't right, though. The writing looked shaky, as if the writer had been upset when they had written it.

Dear Draco,
I have some bad news for you. Your father has been released from Azkaban. At the trial, he pleaded guilty, but had committed the crime against his will. He said that he was under the Imperius Curse at the time, and since he had influence over almost the whole jury, they pardoned him. He'll be returning to Malfoy Manor in four days, on Wednesday. You will probably receive an owl from him around that time. Remember, don't give in to his demands. It'll only cause problems. I love you.
Love,
Your mother

When Draco had finished reading the letter, he sat down heavily on his bed. He was numb with shock. He'd thought for sure that his father couldn't possibly weasel his way out of Azkaban this time. Evidently, he had been mistaken. He's getting out of Azkaban, Draco thought. The same thought kept running through his head as he sat on his bed.
Then, suddenly, he leapt off of his bed. He needed to talk to Ginny. She would help him. She would tell him everything would be fine, and that she would help him. Draco raced out of the Slytherin Common Room towards the Gryffindor one. He soon arrived in front of the Fat Lady. "Password?" she asked.
He wracked his brain for the password. Ginny had said it the day of the dance. What was it? "Wolfsbane," Draco answered tentatively.
The portrait swung open, and Draco stepped in. He knew it wouldn't be a good idea to try to run into Ginny's dormitory. That could disastrous. Harry, he thought suddenly. Maybe he could help.
Draco rushed in the way, he hoped of the sixth year boys' dormitories.
Thankfully, he arrived at the right room. Scanning it, he spotted Harry's trunk and went over to Harry's bed. Draco was about to wake up Harry when he thought
better of it. Harry would probably yell in surprise and wake everyone else up.
Draco put a silencing charm on Harry and then shook him and whispered, "Harry."
Harry's eyes flew open in surprise. He tried to yell, but he realized he couldn't. Once he caught a glimpse of white-blonde hair that seemed to glow in the soft dawn light from the window. Draco took the silencing charm off of Harry who said questioningly, "Draco?"
"Can you help me?" Draco asked.
"With what, at five thirty in the morning?" Harry whispered.
"I need to talk to Ginny, it's an emergency. Lucius is being released from Azkaban," Draco explained.
That got Harry out of bed in a flash. "I'll help you," he said. "Here we can send her an owl, hopefully it will work."

Ginny,
Meet me in your Common Room A.S.A.P.
Love,
Draco

Harry tied the note to Hedwig's leg and sent her away. About ten minutes later, a disheveled looking Ginny appeared in the Common Room. "What's going on?" she demanded in concern, running over to Draco. He mutely handed her the letter and let her read it. She gasped, and her eyes widened in surprise. She rushed closer to Draco and gave him a hug. "Oh my God, that's terrible, but don't worry, I'll help you, I promise," she told him sadly. "I'll make sure that your father won't be able to hurt you anymore. I won't let him."
"Thanks, Gin," Draco whispered into her hair. "I love you."
"I love you too," she replied. Then she felt Draco yawn. "You should go back to bed. You don't look like your slept very well."
"I only got about four hours," Draco informed her. "But I won't be able to fall asleep."

"What if I gave you a massage?" Ginny asked.
"Maybe," Draco answered thoughtfully.
"Harry, can you explain to Ron if I go to Draco's dorm?" Ginny requested.
"Yeah, he really does look tired," Harry agreed.
"Thanks," Ginny said. "Let's go, Draco."
"Thanks, Gin," Draco whispered when they were outside of the Common room.
"No problem, you need sleep," Ginny replied nonchalantly.
They walked the rest of the way back to the Slytherin Common Room in silence, both comforted by the other's presence. Draco uttered the password, and they entered the Common Room. Then Draco silently led Ginny to his bedroom. He pulled her over to his bed, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible.
As soon as they were both in bed, Draco closed the curtains. Then he turned to Ginny and smiled. "Thanks again," he said.
"Shh, you're going to wake up all of your roommates," she berated quietly.
Draco rolled his eyes and explained, "There's a silencing charm on my bed, they can't hear anything."
Ginny raised an eyebrow in question. "Is there any particular reason that you have that?" she asked.
"Not particularly," he replied truthfully.
"Are you sure you don't have a reason? Like maybe you bring girls up here all of the time and do a bit more than talk," Ginny suggested.
"I've told you before, I am still a virgin," Draco reminded her.
"I know, I'm only kidding. Now, turn so your back to facing me," she commanded. He immediately obeyed and turned over. He then felt her begin to gently massage his shoulders. He moaned softly in approval, prompting her to continue. Ginny did this until Draco finally fell asleep, almost a half an hour later. Once she was sure that he was asleep, she stopped and curled up next to him. She then followed Draco's example and fell asleep almost immediately.

*~*~*~*

The next day, Draco woke up and stretched. As he stretched, his leg moved backward and came in contact with someone else's leg. He was startled at first, but soon remembered what had happened earlier that morning. He smiled and turned around to look at Ginny. She was sitting up and reading a book.
She looked up when she felt his eyes on her. "Good morning, sleepy-head," Ginny greeted affectionately.
"Hi. What time is it?" Draco asked, sitting up to give her a kiss.
"It's three o'clock in the afternoon," she informed him.

"Whoa, I slept that long?" he exclaimed. "What are you reading?"
"Oh, Romeo and Juliet," she replied. "I hope you don't mind, I took it off your bookshelf."
"I don't mind, as long as no one saw you," he said.
"I made sure no one was in here first," she assured him.
Draco nodded and smiled. "That's one of my favorites," he told her.
"Mine too," she replied. "I didn't know you were interested in Muggle books."
"Yeah. I like a lot of the old stuff, like Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, the Brontes, all of that," he said.
"Really? I like all of that too," Ginny replied.
"Weird," Draco commented simply.
Ginny nodded in agreement. "Are you hungry?" she asked.
"Yeah. You must be hungry too. What time did you wake up?" he asked curiously.
"I am hungry. I woke up around eleven," she informed him. "Let's go get some
food from the kitchen."
"Okay," Draco agreed. "You didn't have to stay here, you know."
"I know, I wanted to," Ginny said.
Draco got out of bed and headed towards the door. He was almost out when he realized that Ginny wasn't following him. "Are you coming?" he snapped.
"Not yet. For one, you might want to get dressed, and two, do you really want
me to walk out of your bedroom behind you. People might jump to conclusions," she pointed out.
"Oh, yeah," he mumbled, his cheeks turning a faint pink.
Ginny giggled at his reaction as he began to gather some clothes and went into the bathroom to change. When he came back out, he was fully dressed. Then he began rummaging in his trunk and threw something at her. "What's this?" she asked.
"Invisibility Cloak," he replied simply.
"Oh," she said. Ginny walked over to where Draco stood and wrapped her arms around his middle from behind. She kissed him on the shoulder. "What's wrong, baby?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking about what I would do without you, and how you might not be here for me much longer," he explained.
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked. "I love you, Draco. I would never leave you."
"I know, but I wouldn't blame you if you did. You know, once Lucius finds out about us, which he will, he won't be happy," Draco replied sadly.
"I don't care. I'm not going to leave you just because your insane father is upset that we're dating," Ginny scoffed. "You should know that."
"I'm sorry, I do know that. I love you too," Draco said.
Ginny smiled and kissed him on the lips. "Now, let's go get some food," she commanded. She put the Invisibility Cloak around her and followed Draco out of the Common Room.

*~*~*~*

Ginny tickled the pear at the entrance of the kitchen, and the portrait moved to let them enter. When they entered, a crowd of house elves came over to ask what they wanted. They asked the house elves to pack them a picnic. Once the house elves finished packing Draco and Ginny's picnic, the young couple made their way back to Draco's room.
"Are they always so eager to help students?" Draco asked as they began to eat.
Ginny nodded. "You should see when Harry goes in there. He set one of the house elves, Dobby, free in his second year. He's been forever grateful and is always eager to help anyone who's friends with Harry," she replied.
"Did you say Dobby?" Draco exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah. Why?"Ginny inquired.
"Dobby used to be our house elf," Draco answered.
"Are you serious?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, he used to follow my father around all the time. He was a pretty good house elf too. I always wondered why my father freed him," Draco replied as an after thought. "I guess he didn't free him."
"Dumbledore pays Dobby," she told him.
"Really? I've never heard of that before," he commented.
"He asked for pay, so Dumbledore gave it to him," she explained. "Dumbledore offered him more, but he wouldn't take it. Hermione's still trying to get the other house elves to follow Dobby's lead."
"What? With her spew thing still?" Draco scoffed.
"S.P.E.W.," Ginny corrected. "You knew about that?"
"Yeah, I observed all kinds of things about you lot that you never would have expected," Draco informed her.
"Like what?" she inquired, quite intrigued.
"I knew Harry like Hermione before he even knew. I knew your brother liked her too. I knew you had a boyfriend before you told anyone. I knew Hermione was using the Time Turner in her third year," Draco provided evidence.
"Why?" Ginny replied.
"I wanted to see if I could find out something I could use against you guys," he explained. "You probably don't know this, but that's why Hermione slapped me in our third year, I told her I wouldn't tell anyone about the Time Turner if she slept with me."
"You were thirteen," Ginny sputtered.
"I was fourteen, thank you very much" Draco corrected indignantly. "It was past my birthday. Besides, I wasn't serious, I just wanted to get a rise out of her."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "You were a little monster to them, weren't you?" she commented. "Well, I'm glad I never rubbed you the wrong way."
"To be perfectly honest, I always felt a little guilty about not warning you about the diary," Draco admitted. "That's why I never teased you as much."
"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you stayed away from me," Ginny said with a smile.
A comfortable silence fell over the room as they finished their meal. "Do you think Ron's going to want to kill me when we get back?" Draco asked, breaking the silence after a few minutes.
"I should hope not, especially after Harry explains everything to him," Ginny answered truthfully, praying fervently that she was right. She didn't want to start yet another fight between Ron and Draco.
"Do you think it would be safe for me to drop you off, or will I be attacked?" he asked, half-joking, half-serious.
"I'm sure you'll be fine, but you don't have to just drop me off, you can stay for a little while," Ginny offered.
"I don't think so," he declined. "I don't think your house mates would appreciate that."
"Don't be silly, as long as you're with me, they won't care," she coaxed.
"Alright," Draco conceded and helped her stand up. "But first I think you deserve a thank you for helping me last night." After informing her of this, he picked her up, laid her on the bed, and closed the curtains.
Before she could protest, Draco brought his lips down on hers, stifling any objections she had. Ginny eagerly responded to his gentle kiss by sliding her arms around his neck, pulling him so he was laying on top of her. She broke away from his lips and began to nibble lightly on his ear. He groaned and pulled her mouth back to his, not able to take the sensations she was causing.

*~*~*~*

An undeterminable amount of time later, Draco lay on his bed next to Ginny, who had fallen asleep. He knew he should probably get her back to her Common Room, her brother would freak, but he couldn't bring himself to wake her up.
She looked too peaceful and angelic, her hair splayed out across her pillow. He sighed as he thought about how close they'd come to having sex only moments earlier. It was becoming harder and harder for Draco to control himself
around her. This fact scared him. He wasn't used to not being in control.
"Hmm," Ginny mumbled sleepily. "Draco?"
"I'm right here, babe," he replied, turning towards her.
"I could definitely get used to this," she said dreamily.
"Get used to what?" Draco asked.
"Waking up next to you," Ginny clarified with a smile. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Not long," he told her. "Want to get back to your Common room before your brother comes looking for you?"
"Okay, let's go," Ginny commanded.
Draco helped Ginny off the bed and put his arm around her waist as they walked out of the Slytherin Common Room, forgetting the implications of a girl coming out of draco's room. He leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head as they came to a stop in front of the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked in a bored voice.
"Wolfsbane," Ginny stated. The portrait swung open, and they entered the Tower.
"There you are," Ron exclaimed in relief.
"Didn't Harry tell you that I was staying with Draco?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, he said for the night. You've been there for over twelve hours," Ron informed her.
"I know, but Draco didn't get up until like three, then we had to eat," Ginny explained.
"What about the rest of the time?" Ron demanded.
"We talked," Ginny answered quickly, blushing against her will.
"Oh God, you had sex," Ron groaned, a little too loudly.
Everyone in the Gryffindor Common Room turned to gape at Draco and Ginny with mixed degrees of horror and morbid fascination evident on their faces. Ginny blushed an even deeper shade of red, burying her head in Draco's shoulder.
"Ginny, you're not helping our case," he mumbled. Then, to everyone else, he said, "We did not have sex."
All of the fascinated Gryffindors turned back to their previous tasks in disappointment. They'd been waiting for a scene or, at least, some juicy gossip, but alas, neither came. "Do you have to talk so loud?" Ginny snapped at her brother, her head still buried in Draco's shoulder.
"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to say it so loud," Ron apologized. "I was just surprised, that's all. You answered so quickly and you blushed. I jumped to the wrong conclusions."
"All we did was snog," Ginny told him truthfully.
"You're sure?" Ron pressed, looking into her eyes.
"I'm sure," Ginny confirmed.
"Well, in that case, let's get dinner," Ron suggested.
"We just ate, I'm not hungry," Ginny said.
"But I am, why don't you come anyway?" Draco asked. He really didn't want to be stuck walking to dinner with Ron, alone.
"Okay," Ginny agreed, sensing his motives.
They walked toward the Great Hall in silence for a few minutes. "Where are Harry and Hermione?" Draco asked suddenly, it was odd for Ron to be without them for a meal.
"You don't want to know," Ron warned.
"Oh, come on, where are they?" Draco inquired further.
"Well, last I heard, they were in our dorm. Seamus was taking a nap and woke up to some er disturbing sounds coming from Harry's bed. He advised me to stay away," Ron said. Draco faked a gag. "Told you you didn't want to know."
"They could at least put a silencing charm on his bed," Ginny commented.
"Like Draco. Hermione's supposed to be the smart one too."
"Like Draco?" Ron repeated, eyebrows raise in question.
"Well, uh, you see, er, yeah," Ginny stammered, realizing the implications of what she'd just said.
Draco rolled his eyes in amusement. "It's a good thing we didn't have sex.
You'd have a permanent blush otherwise," he joked. "And to answer your question,
I have a silencing charm on my bed. My room mates suggested it when they found out how vocal I am when I'm angry. I usually vent by yelling and throwing things that make loud, crashing sounds when they break. My father usually contacts me at night, and so then I'd go to bed late at night, mad and yelling. I used to wake everyone up, and they didn't appreciate it."
"Oh," Ron said unintelligently.
By this time, they'd arrived at the Great Hall. "You want to sit with me?"
Draco asked.
Ginny nodded and followed him to the Slytherin table. As they sat down, Draco noticed that a guiltily silence fell over the table. He looked at Blaise, who sat across from him, in confusion. "What's going on?" he asked, nonplused.
"Well," Blaise began slowly.
"Well?" Draco prompted.
"Pansy started a rumor that you slept with her last night, and then as soon as she left, you slept with the Weasley girl. She even has witnesses that say they saw you and Weasley coming out of your room together. Millicent found her
earlier, crying her eyes out because you `cheated on her'" Blaise explained quickly.
"What?" Draco yelled. "I am going to kill that girl. What is her problem?
Must she try to ruin my reputation every chance she gets? And she wonders why I don't like her!"
"Shh, Draco, calm down," Ginny soothed. "It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks, we know it's not true."
"I know, but that girl really irks me sometimes," Draco growled.
"Did you realize you and my brother had a civil conversation with each other?" Ginny asked, changing the subject.
Draco was about to tell her that he knew what she was doing and it wasn't going to work, but he decided to go along with it. "Yeah, I prefer fighting to tell you the truth. The only reason I was being nice was because you wouldn't have appreciated the fighting," he admitted.
"You're right, I wouldn't appreciate it. Thank you for being civil for once," Ginny said gratefully.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Draco stood up suddenly. He grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her out of the Great Hall. "What was that all about?" Ginny asked incredulously.
"I couldn't take the whispering anymore," he explained. "Sorry."
"No, it's fine. I just wanted to know if anything was wrong," Ginny told him as she smiled at him.
He smiled back weakly, the smile not quite reaching his eye. "Draco?" Ginny whispered. He looked at her, prompting her to keep going. "What's wrong? Why does this bother you so much?"
"I'm not sure. I guess it's because I know that our relationship will have enough challenges without these stupid rumors, and this just makes it worse."
"Oh, baby, we'll be fine, but I have to agree with you. We don't need this," Ginny replied, giving him a hug.

*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, Millicent Bulstrode was whispering something fervently in Blaise Zabini's ear. Blaise's face quickly mirrored the horror
shown on Millicent's. he stood up quickly and strode out of the Great Hall. He pushed open the large, oak doors, to reveal Draco and Ginny. They seemed as if
they were welded together at the lips. Blaise cleared his throat impatiently. He had urgent news for them.
"What do you want, Zabini?" Draco snapped, clearly not happy about being interrupted.
"Millicent just told me. Pansy's going to send an owl to Mr. Malfoy. She's going to tell him about you two. She's after revenge, and she can be pretty vicious when she's determine," Blaise answered quickly.
Draco swore colorfully. "We have to stop her. Thanks, Blaise," he said.
"Sure, let me help you convince her," Blaise offered.
"Thanks," Draco accepted gratefully. "This is my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley, by the way. Ginny, this is my cousin, Blaise Zabini."
"Pleasure," Ginny said.
"Does anyone have any idea where Pansy is?" Draco asked.
Blaise shook his head. Ginny was silent for a minute before exclaiming excitedly, "The Marauder's Map."
"The Marauder's Map?" Blaise and Draco repeated in bemused unison.
"Don't ask questions, just follow me," Ginny ordered.>Her two companions quickly followed her command, knowing better than to slow down their search with questions. They soon arrived in front of the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Ginny uttered the password quickly and led the two Slytherins in. She then led them to the sixth year boys' dormitory. She pounded on
the door and yelled, "you have five seconds to make you and Hermione decent, Harry. It's an emergency."
She heard muffled curses following her announcement. Ginny then burst into the room, averting her eyes, just in case. "What the? Gin, why are there two Slytherins in my dorm?" Harry asked.
"No time to explain. Can I borrow the Marauder's Map? Please," Ginny begged.
"Yeah, sure," Harry replied. He rifled around in his trunk for a few minutes before triumphantly pulling out the map.
"Thanks, Harry," Ginny said quickly. "I'll explain later." then she pulled Blaise and Draco out of the room. As soon as they were out of the Gryffindor Common Room, Ginny took out her wand. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," she recited. The map soon appeared as the two cousins looked on in awe.
"What is that thing?" Blaise asked, mystified.
"A map of Hogwarts. My twin brothers stole it from Filch's office," Ginny explained. "Okay, Pansy's in the Astronomy Tower. Let's go."
The other didn't have to be told twice. They followed Ginny's quick steps, making it to the Astronomy Tower in no time. When they entered, they found Pansy, sitting by the window and sulking. She was also mumbling angrily to herself, but Ginny couldn't hear what she was saying. "Pansy," Draco called softly.
"What do you want? I thought you didn't want me anywhere near you and your precious girlfriend," Pansy snapped irritably.
"I don't. If it were up to me, I'd never talk to you again, but right now I need your help, so listen up," this was what Draco wanted to say, but instead, he said, "Well, Blaise told me you were thinking about owling Lucius. I just wanted to find out if he was correct."
"No, he's terribly mistaken," she began, smirking evilly. "I'm not thinking about it, I already did it."
A string of profanities flowed from Draco's mouth. "You just can't leave me alone, can you? If you can't have me then no one can, is that it?" he yelled loudly. He was enraged, at himself and at Pansy. If only he could have gotten there in time to stop her. "You're always asking me why I don't like you. Well, this is why." He raised his to run it through his hair, and he saw Pansy flinch and move her hands to protect herself. The look on her face made him pause for a minute. "Did you think I was going to hit you?"
"N-no," Pansy squeaked, her voice filled with fear.
"You did," Draco sighed in frustration. "Pansy, how long have you known me?"
"Since we were three," she answered tentatively.
"In all those years, have you ever see me hit a girl?" Draco asked.
Pansy shook her head mournfully. "No," she whimpered quietly.
"Then what made you think that I would start now?" he asked. "God, Pansy, I'm not my father. You, of all people, should know that. I'm sorry I got so mad, but now I'm dead. Once my father reads your owl, he's going to be furious. You
know what? Don't ever talk to me or Ginny again, and I might forgive you."
Pansy nodded fearfully and skittered out of the Tower. "That poor girl," Ginny mumbled. Draco shot her a sharp look, and she added, "not that she didn't deserve it, but you can look pretty scary sometimes."
Draco chuckled at her words. "Only sometimes?" he teased.
"Yes. You only look scary about 1% of the time," she replied, keeping a straight face.
"What about the other 99%?" he asked, playing along.
"Drop dead gorgeous," she informed him playfully, still with a straight face.
"What, I'm not drop dead gorgeous when I'm threatening?" he joked.
"Oh, I'm sure you are, but you were too intimidating, I was too scared to notice," Ginny joked back.
Draco merely smirked and kissed her soundly on the mouth. She eagerly responded. Blaise took this as his cue to leave before things really heated up.

A/N: I am so so SO sorry it took so long to update! I finished writing this chapter forever ago. I was having trouble with my computer, and then when I finally got it fixed, my beta was out of time. She didn't have a lot of time to beta it, and then I went out of town for a few days. Don't worry though, I promise that the next chapter will be up very soon. I already sent it to my beta so as soon as she sends it back, I'll post it. Please review!

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