A/N: Trying to have this be the last chapter so that it will truly be the companion to Red Moon Dreaming - but D/G is more complicated than R/LL. : /
She agreed, Draco kept telling himself, as he transfigured his Slytherin sheets hurriedly. No silver, no snakes embroidered in the corners. Just green, a deep emerald. Silk, they had to be silk, he thought angrily, fumbling as he waved his wand over them.
He tried laying against them and looking up at the top of his bed, and he frowned. It needed something to accent the lavish drapery. Diamonds, she needed diamonds or pearls or emeralds. Where the fuck was he going to get diamonds?
"Draco!" Pansy's shrill voice sounded, at the door to the dormitory. Draco sat up and looked over at where she stood, her body flung suggestively on the frame.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded. "This is the boys dormitory."
"I came to visit you, of course," she said, smiling vapidly, and swinging a string of fake pearls around her finger. They caught Draco's eye.
"Can I borrow those?" He asked abruptly, reaching out and tugging at them.
"What for?" She asked, suspiciously.
"A surprise," he said, nonchalantly.
"For me?!" She shrieked, clapping her hands together in glee.
Draco rolled his eyes and tugged at them again. "Yes, come on and fork 'em over, then."
Pansy giggled madly, and took off the pearls for him.
He immediately headed back to his bed, and then paused, looking over at Pansy, who was watching eagerly. He turned, stiffly, and then pocketed the pearls in his robes. "Is there anything else you want?" He demanded.
"What kind of surprise is it?" She asked, rushing over, and clinging to him.
"I'm not telling you anything," he growled, pushing her off his chest. She was staring at his bed. "Get out now," he said, "I need to work on the surprise." He started tugging her towards the door.
"There's something different about your bed, Draco," she said, letting herself be pulled away, "but I can't put my finger on it."
Draco shoved her through the frame and shut the door in her face, and then quickly locked it.
He crossed the room in quick strides, transfiguring the pearls as he walked. He draped the now extremely long strands over the woodwork, so that they hung in low arches. He flopped back on the bed and stared up at his handiwork, the lavish pearls accenting the emerald swag perfectly. He stared a long time, and then wondered if even this was enough.
Truth be told, Draco had never tried to make things special for the girls he had been with. It wasn't that he wasn't romantic or anything, it was just that he'd never cared. He'd never liked anyone for anything other than their appearance, and sometimes it was purely out of convenience. There was never any special time taken beforehand to ensure that it would be memorable.
He ignored why he thought she deserved it.
He looked at the pearls for a long time, and then went to the owlery.
Looking down at the smooth, creamy piece of parchment, he hesitated. Then he swiftly wrote,
The password to the Slytherin common room entrance, in the dungeons, is Betelgeuse. Attached is my
invisibility cloak.
- Head Boy
Draco recklessly threw his eagle owl out the window with the note and package, and watched drowsily as it soared across the sky.
Draco had never seen a more beautiful sky. It was a deep, royal blue. Large, fluffy clouds floated by, and one seemed to be shaped like a … mermaid? The cloud gathered and sparkled and Draco blinked. It was a mermaid. In the sky. She smiled at him, twirling her silver hair around a white finger.
"This is your last dream, young man," she cooed, smiling.
"About bloody time," he snapped.
"Have you taken them all to heart?" She asked, tilting her head.
"I'm taking care of it, trust me."
The mermaid lifted her chin and looked down her nose at him. "What about the ones concerning love?"
"Fuck off!" He yelled, and the mermaid blinked, and dissipated into clouds again. Suddenly it was cold.
Draco's eyes flittered open, and realized he was laying on the cold, stone floor of the owlery. He heaved himself up immediately and rushed back to his room.
Draco lay on his bed, staring at the top of it, at the waves of green silk and the low strands of pearls.
Suddenly, there was a low creaking noise as his door opened.
He didn't look over at her, as she quietly approached the bed, clambered on, and shut the curtains behind her.
"Did you lock the door?" He queried, and she gave whisper of affirmation.
Draco finally glanced over at her, and immediately regretted it.
Ginny was weeping, silently. Her eyes were puffy and red, and he wondered how long she had been crying.
He stared at her for a moment, marveling at the way her hair looked in contrast to the silk and the pearls hanging from his bed, and then spoke. "I'm not going to… force you to do anything if you don't-"
She lay beside him, sniffling and wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "No," she said firmly. "I know that it has to eventually happen."
Draco sat up and looked down at her, her scarlet hair strewn across his silk sheets. She had stopped crying, and her sobs had muffled. "What… what's this?" She spoke up, her voice trembling; and she reached at the pearls.
"I said I would make it special," he explained, watching her carefully. "So I did."
Ginny stared at him, silent, and sat up so that they were facing each other. She pressed her lips against his.
Draco pulled back, abruptly. "What was that for?" He asked, bewildered.
"Well we're supposed to-you know-and I figured we'd better start eventually." Ginny said, tucking a strand of her hair behind a pink ear.
"I'm not 'starting' until you're sure that you can do this without blubbering about it for the rest of your life." He snapped, and she started crying again, and buried her face in her hands.
"I just don't understand it," she said, around her hands, "I just don't understand why it has to be you."
Anger flared inside of him, and he grabbed her wrists and pried them away from her face, glaring straight at her puffy eyes. "You think I was delighted to find it was you?" He snarled, his eyes flashing. "You really think it's such a simple matter for me?"
"My family-" she started, but he cut her off with a growl.
"Your family?!" He shouted, fixing her with an incredulous stare. "At least your family would fancy you under a spell or something! Your family wouldn't disown you or kill you or make sure you would never be treated respectfully anywhere again in your life. You think you have things on the line? If my father finds out that we were engaged in such-contact and that we had fallen in-"
He stopped himself, turning away, his eyes now stormy and troubled.
"What did you say?" Ginny said, hoarsely.
"I didn't say anything!" He roared, turning back to her.
"You did too!" She shrieked, "You said we would fall in something and I want to know what that something is! What did that stupid piece of fish tell you, Draco?" She asked, grabbing his shoulders.
"Love," he said miserably, wrinkling his nose and shaking his head. "The fucking Piabble said we would fall in love."
She released his shoulders and clasped a hand over her mouth, turning away.
"I didn't-" he began, but she shook her head, removing her hand and laying back down.
"It must be true," she said, after a long silence. "How could it be wrong?"
"If I'm under some kind of hex - maybe there's no such thing as it - maybe Snape lied just to tease me-" he shot out possibilities.
She shook her head, her crimson curls quivering. "Ron has been having the same sort of sudden dreams," she said, "there's no way it would just be coincidence."
"He must be under a spell too," he said lamely, "we're all under one huge, Goddamn spell, and it's just someone torturing us."
Ginny looked up at him. "Of course we are," she whispered, "we're all under the spell of life and living, and it's just destiny torturing us."
Draco shot a glare at her, but it was halfhearted.
"It'll get us eventually," she said, as he lay down next to her.
"It doesn't have to get us right now," he said, reaching out and twisting a curl around his finger. "Who says we have to get it over with?"
She looked at him in shock. "All of that hullabaloo and we don't have to?"
"Well, it's inevitable eventually," he said, "but I suppose… if you don't want to right now…."
She bit her lip, her brown eyes moist.
"But Draco," she said, and a shiver traced down his spine as she said his name, "that means it won't get out of the way. That means… you have to drag this out. Over time. Make it… last. Do you really think-?"
"No," he said stubbornly, "I don't."
She glared at him, and he glared back.
"But it said so," he conceded, making a pouty face, "and I guess that makes it so."
They fell into a very pregnant silence.
"Don't you wish… that you had skipped supper?" She said, attempting to lighten the mood.
Draco kissed her, out of wonder. He wondered what it was like. What it would be like.
He reached out and cradled her face in his hands, keeping her pressed against him, before pulling away slightly.
Ginny looked bewildered and beautiful. "And what was that for?" She asked, and he said nothing, but kissed her again.
After a moment, he pulled completely out of her embrace and stared back up at the bed canopy. "It won't be too horrid, I imagine," he said, his voice rumbling.
She looked at him in wonder for a moment, and then leaned back against the pillows and stared upward also. "I imagine," she said.
"What happens if someone finds out? About this? What if your brother asks where you've been?" He suddenly said, turning his head to look at her profile, and counting the freckles on her cheek.
"I… I'll say we… I'll tell him that we you know-" she said, flustered.
"He'll kill me. And it's not true."
"He won't kill you. And it'll give us an excuse for when it actually happens. When destiny finally catches us."
"I'll pretend I only used you to fulfill the Piabble's sordid bits," he said, catching on.
"And I'll pretend you broke my heart," she said, and turned her head, startled to find him looking at her.
She kissed him, and left.
Dinner came all too quickly. Draco had been eating for a mere fifteen minutes when Ron Weasley barged into the Grand Hall and swooped down upon his sister.
Draco watched carefully for a moment, as Ginny turned a shade of pale.
"YOU DID?!" Weasley roared, and the hall fell silent.
Draco quickly stood up and headed towards them, ready to play the proper part.
"It's none of your ruddy business!" Ginny shrieked, standing up from her bench and looking her brother in the eye.
"The hell it isn't!" He shouted, "He's evil!"
Draco smirked, stepping forward. "You flatter me," he interrupted, "but I'm afraid I'm not that bad."
Weasley turned around and sent a flailing punch into Draco's nose. "I told you never to touch her!" He bellowed. The dining room erupted with discussion.
Draco put a hand to his throbbing face and glared at Weasley with icy eyes. "You can't change anything the Piabble shows you. Might as well get it over with, I said to myself."
He noticed as Ginny's face flickered for a moment, and then swiftly fell into a forced, sad grimace.
"So you did get the fish!" Weasley exclaimed, and turned to his sister. "What do you have to say for yourself?" He asked her, and Ginny's face remained firm.
"I didn't think I was something to just get over with," she screeched at Draco, who didn't bat an eye. "Best fuck in my life, you said, midnight at the Astronomy tower, you said. Get it over with?!" She was livid, her eyes flashing, her hair tumbling over her shoulders during her frantic speech, and Draco thought she never looked more alluring.
He raised his eyebrows at her. "Pity it didn't work out, you were rather good," he said, and left. As he glided out the door, he caught a glimpse of her sitting down, stonyfaced.
Draco stormed into his room and ran a hand through his hair. Midnight at the astronomy tower, she had said.
And after all; destiny literally had all the time in the world to catch up to them.
A/N: Review, if you loved it, hated it, or were entirely ambivalent about the matter. Either way I love your feedback.