Goldfish

VF:
Hello, another fic from me. Only this is a ficlet, so don’t be expecting anymore, it was a one-shot, meaning that there’s only one chapter. OOC, short, I don’t care—I just sort of had the idea and needed to write it. If anyone can tell me (first person) what the commercial (be exact on the product) was for that inspired this fic, I will give them….a sneak preview to the next chapter of Heroes Shed No Tears. I guess it would be sort of like seeing the chapter before everyone else (with the exception of my beta readers). But…yeah.

Disclaimer:
Don’t own Draco and Ginny; do own the goldfish. Based on a commercial.

“It’s not that heavy.” Ginny gritted her teeth and tried to pull the tank out of the back of her car. She had just moved into Muggle London and had just gotten her driver’s license after many years of tutelage from Harry and lessons.

The little goldfish flitted around inside the tank, moving around the plants that swayed in the water as Ginny tried to get a good grip on it. The fish tank itself wasn’t all that big, but big enough that when it was filled with water, it was too heavy for Ginny to pick up by herself. And since she was in the middle of Muggle London there was no way that she could just pull out her wand and put a spell on the fish tank.

She eased her fingers underneath the glass. “Come on…” she whispered, looking down at her little fish. She frowned at them. “I hope you realize how much my back is suffering for you,” she told them.

She slid the tank on the carpeted floor in the back of her car; it came closer to the edge and she was able to get a better grip on it. She looked around making sure that there wasn’t anyone blocking her path to the front of the apartment building. There was a small table in the entry way where she could set the tank down on it for a quick break after she cleared the doors.

She let out a low sigh and pulled the tank out of the trunk, trying to balance it in her hands. She had her arms wrapped around it and her fingers clutching at the edges of the glass. She could feel the glass slipping underneath her finger already. “Shit,” she said. “Knew I shouldn’t have eaten that burger for lunch. Bloody grease.”

The fish tank slipped out of her grasp and the glass fell to the cement paved ground. The super of her building had just stepped out to water the flowers planted in the pots that were lining the stairs leading up to the front doors. “Damn!” Ginny slammed her hand against the tail of the car and looked down at all seven of her goldfish that were flopping around on the ground frantically.

She let out a shaky sigh, and then found a hand reaching back into her trunk and pulling out her make up caboodle, flipping it open and tipping all of her makeup into the trunk.

She gasped and turned to look at the owner of the hand. A man with pale blond hair was already picking up goldfish from the ground and putting them into the caboodle. What else was there for her to do? She got on the ground and started picking them up to, as fast as she could, almost flinging them into the caboodle; she wasn’t sure if it was because she feared for their lives or if the goldfish just felt so weird she had to get them in the caboodle before there was any prolonged contact.

In a matter of seconds, all of the goldfish were secured in the caboodle. The man gave her a small smile and ran the caboodle over to the super. The super took his water hose out of his flowers and directed the stream of water into the caboodle. Ginny watched and walked over to the pale haired man.

She reached out and touched his arm. “Thank you.” She looked down into the caboodle and saw her goldfish darting and bumping into each other in the small space of water. She let out a small sigh of relief, they hadn’t died.

“No problem,” he said, looking down at the small fishes.

Ginny looked up at him. He looked startlingly familiar. She took in his grey eyes, pale blond hair, tall, lean figure, long fingers and hard angled face. She knew him.

“Would you like to come up?” She gestured to the apartment building. “I’m sure I have something bigger for them in there.” The goldfish did need something bigger, there wasn’t really enough room for all of them in the caboodle. Ginny had been making trips from the flat she’d shared with Hermione all day, now all she had left to get were a few boxes of clothes and linens.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her, then back to the fish. “I think the fish will be okay…I’ve got to—’’

“Please?”

He gave her another look. “It’s alright, I live in this building as well. Won’t hurt, will it?”

She smiled. “Really? You live in this building too?”

“I do believe that’s what I just said.” His eyes were alight with amusement.

She nodded. “Right then, let’s go up.”

They climbed the stairs silently. There was no way that Ginny was going to take the elevator, she still hadn’t gotten used to those things. Hermione used to tease her about it all the time and Ginny would say that at least she benefited from taking the stairs, they provided exercise. They approached her door and she fumbled with her key ring, looking for the right one.

“Bugger,” she said under her breath. Maybe if she just slipped her wand out…she’d have to make sure he didn’t see. For all she knew, he was a Muggle. She looked at him and saw that he was looking off a ways at a message board. “Alohamora,” she whispered, her wand held firmly to her side.

When she looked up, he was looking at her funnily. She blinked. “You’re a witch, are you?”

“Uhhh,” she could think of no intelligent reply. The door was open by now, giving a view of scattered boxes and misplaced furniture.

He pushed her into the room gently and shut the door behind him. “A witch? Did you go to Hogwarts?”

Ginny’s eyebrows furrowed. Either this guy was a very knowledgeable Muggle or a wizard. “Yes,” she said. “Did you?” He nodded. Right, he was a wizard.

“Did you say that you had something else for the fish?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Oh, right,” she said. She moved further into the apartment and pulled open a box. She pulled out a miniature fish tank and set it on the kitchen counter and enlarged it. “There,” she said. He raised an eyebrow. “What? I always kept a spare just in case something happened to the other one.”

“Aren’t you going to fill it with water?”

“Of course.” She turned on the faucet at the kitchen sink and charmed the water to go into the tank. Merlin, she was she glad she was a witch. She took the caboodle from him when the tank was almost full, stopped the water, and poured the fish in. She finished and wiped her hands off on her jeans. She turned towards him and tilted her head to the side, taking in his appearance once more, all of the hard planes of his face, and the pools of grey that made up his eyes.

“Thank you.” Then she said hesitantly, “Draco.”

He lifted an eyebrow and nodded. “That would be me.” The corner of his mouth tilted up in a slight grin. “I see not all Weasleys are as dense as your brother.”

Ginny smiled. “Of course not, Ron is a one of a kind.”

Draco stole a glance at his watch. “Been moving boxes all day?”

Her shoulder’s sagged a bit. “It seems to have been forever and a day.”

“Would you mind me asking to take you to dinner?” Draco asked smoothly, resting his elbow back on the kitchen counter.

Ginny smiled slowly. “I wouldn’t mind. Dinner sounds great.”

“I’ll be back in five.” Draco said, pushing himself up off of the counter and heading towards the door. He shut it softly behind him. Ginny slumped against the wall with a giddy grin on her face.

-

“Thanks,” Ginny said. They were standing in front of her apartment. “I had a great time.”

Draco shrugged it off. “It was no problem. You had a long day.”

“You’ve changed a lot since school,” Ginny commented.

“Everyone has to grow up sometime,” Draco said softly. “I just never did while I was at school.”

Ginny nodded. “That’s okay. You’re fantastic now.”

Draco arched an eyebrow. “Fantastic?”

A blush rose in Ginny’s cheeks. “Yes,” she mumbled.

Draco grinned. He put his fingers under her chin and lifted until her eyes met his. He stared at her, and she looked back at him, shyly. His eyes probed hers and slowly he leaned down and his lips brushed against her. Lightly at first, then with a bit more pressure. Her fingers found themselves tangled up in his hair, while his wandered down to splay against her back.

Ginny’s elbow knocked against the doorknob, turning it open. They stumbled into her apartment. The only light was that of the moonlight shining off of the golden scales on the goldfish.





-FIN-