A/N: Sorry for the wait.Thanks to all my reviewers.
I Wish...
Chapter Four
Let's Chat
Three days, four hours, and fifty-nine minutes.
Not that she was counting or anything. She just knew her time very well. She didn't care enough to actually count how long, uh, anyway-
It had been three days, four hours, and fifty-nine minutes since she had seen Draco last. And Ginny had not exactly been in high spirits since then. She felt horrible. What kind of monster was she that she'd make fun of a guy who actually came out and admitted that he was scared? Malfoy... Er... Draco, never admitted anything and especially not to her. And the day he finally did, what had she done? Thrown it right back in his face! She was a worse person than he was on a good day!
Ginny sighed and tried to focus on the potion in front of her, already feeling Snape's eyes burning into her head. She could find Draco after class since this was the last class they had before it was time to return to their dorms. Maybe she could find that same nosey Slytherin girl to tell her where Draco was. He was probably avoiding her.
"Miss Weasley. I don't believe I told you that your potion was supposed to turn silver." Snape's voice drawled from mere feet before her. Ginny gasped and looked up at him, then down at her potion. He was right; her potion was turning a very piercing silver color.
The same color as his eyes...
"I'm so sorry, Professor!" Ginny apologized, pretending to look sorry even though she really wasn't. Snape didn't care either way.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor, Miss Weasley. Do pay attention next time." Ginny stuck out her tongue at his back, grateful when he announced that the class was over and that they were to return to their dormitories. Although Ginny had no intention of doing that, it was still one of the greatest phrases you could hear come from Snape's mouth. Well, either that or, "I'm going to kill myself!", but the first one was much more likely.
Ginny gathered up her things and was the first one out the door. She was in such a haste that she slammed right into someone, knocking them and their books (rephrase: book) to the ground. Ginny flushed.
"Sorry! I'm really, really... Draco?" And it was the Slytherin boy, scowling at her from the ground. Ginny's eyes widened as she held out a hand and helped him to his feet rather shakily since she was almost half his size. Roughly exaggerated, that is.
"Thanks, Ginevra. I've always wanted to go hurtling towards the ground." Ginny grinned as she helped him pick up his books.
"But you never thank me when you go hurtling towards the ground on the Quidditch field." He said nothing and Ginny decided it was now or never. "Look, Malfoy, I'm really sorry I was such a prat. I didn't mean to make fun of you. I just... I'm not used to you being serious and, well, I... sorry."
When he still said nothing, Ginny looked at him. He was staring off at some point beyond her head. "Hello?"
"Whatever, Weasley. It's fine." He said gruffly, leaning against the wall and staring at her. Ginny shifted uncomfortably. That look he was giving her made her feel even guiltier, even though she had just apologized.
"Draco?"
"Hmm?"
"What was wrong with you that day? I mean, why were you worried?" He looked at her incredulously for a moment, as if he couldn't believe she was really asking him that. Ginny looked down.
"I don't want to talk about it, Ginny. Not with you anyway. For all I know, I could get laughed at. No Malfoy is ever laughed at." He started to walk down the hallway in that graceful strut of his, but Ginny grabbed his arm and stared imploringly into his eyes when he turned to look at her.
"Please, Draco? I really want to know this time. I won't laugh. Really." He remained silent. "Oh, come on. There's no harm in telling me. I won't tell anybody. And I certainly won't make fun of you again. I've learned my lesson. So, please? Can't you just trust me this time?"
"I don't do 'trust', Weasley."
"But surely there must be someone out there that you trust with your life. Everyone has at least one person. And even if you don't trust me, I promise I won't give you a reason to doubt me ever again, Draco. So, please?" She continued to look at him with big brown eyes, giving a silent plea. "Please?"
Finally, he sighed. "You want to know what was wrong with me, Weasley?"
"Yes."
"It was my father." He waited for her to laugh or scorn him, but she looked at him with curiosity. He gazed into her eyes once before continuing. "My father is trying to control my life. What I eat, what I wear, what I say, and now, more recently, who I date. He has this date set up from me with some witch, in the figurative sense, he found off the streets. Usually, Lucius doesn't give a rat's ass what I do as long as I do it in private, but now he's trying to control my private life, too."
"Something's up." She commented.
"Very good, Weasley. Anyway, that's what had me worried. Are you happy now?"
"No. You're leaving something out." Draco looked at her in surprise. "Go on. Continue."
"Oh, fine. Besides all that, father's been controlling my mail, he has me on a diet, sends me letters every day to 'check up on me', and I am under the impression that he's bribed someone here at the school to keep an eye on me. And, by the way, if that is you, Ginny, I shall have do a very good memory spell on you later." Ginny laughed. "It doesn't really bother me. My father and I never had a very good relationship to begin with. He's always hated me."
Draco froze. Why had he said that? It was something about those eyes of hers, he was sure. One look at them and he felt like he could tell her anything. His face took on a guarded expression as hers turned to one of pity. "Oh my. I feel so sorry for you, Draco."
"I don't need your bloody pity, Weasel." He turned away from her and began to walk down the hall.
"How many times are you going to storm away from me, Malfoy?" She called after him.
"As many times as I need to, to keep you from getting too close!" He called back, then winced. Those bloody eyes! He walkedeven faster.
"Draco, please!"
"Leave me the bloody hell alone!" He disappeared into one of the school's many secret passage ways and did not come out until twenty minutes after he hurried footsteps had faded away.
~*~
"Hey, watch where you're going, Malfoy." Draco rolled his eyes at the person he just run into (rephrase: persons). Of all the people, it had to be Weasel and Potty. Didn't he have the best luck in the world?
"Maybe you shouldn't jump into my way like that, Weasel. Now sod off, I'm busy." Ron's face turned bright red and Potty stepped in front of him. Draco smirked. He really loved making the Weasley angry. It was amusing seeing their faces turn as red as their hair. Like a tomato effect.
"Look, Malfoy, have you seen Ginny? She hasn't returned to the Common Room yet and a Gryffindor said she was talking to you after Potions."
"Yeah, what did you do with my sister you prat?" Ron shouted. Harry grabbed Ron's arm and kept a tight hold on it. Draco fought the urge to roll his eyes. The Weasel would get his ass kicked if he even tried to fight him.
"I didn't do anything to her. I left her in the hallway." Still feeling obligated, he added, "She didn't want me to walk her to her dorm."
Ron eyed him suspiciously. "Are you sure you don't know? I mean, she is your girlfriend, right?"
"And she is your sister, right?" Draco countered, wondering why he was sticking up for a relationship that didn't exist, when he was angry with the other half of the relationship. Well, okay, he knew why. But that didn't mean he had to accept it. No Malfoy would ever worry about a Weasley.
"Oh shut up, you--"
"If you see her, let us know, Malfoy. Come on, Ron." Draco watched as Potter dragged the hostile Weasley away, then continued on his original path to the Astronomy Tower. It was the place he went to think during the nighttime or when the Quidditch field was occupied by idiots practicing for the next match.
But a surprise was waiting for him up there. A surprise that looked as if she'd been waiting a long time.
"Ginny? What are you doing here? Potter and Weasley are looking all over the bloody school for you!" She didn't look at him, but continued to stare at the sky. "And, by the way, Weasley, get out of my spot."
She continued to ignore him. This made Draco angry. How dare she ignore him? If anyone, he should be doing all the ignoring! He was the one who was angry, not her. He opened his mouth to say so, when she spoke.
"You know, I just can't figure you out." She said softly. This threw Draco for a loop. He was expecting an insult or an apology. Not that. "You're such a mystery to me, Draco."
"It's better that way." Draco said simply, leaning against the wall. She turned to look at him, her brown eyes full of something -- regret? pity? sorrow? -- and sighed.
"But I want to understand you."
"I don't want you to." He said, coldly, putting up his walls. Did she think that he would just let her into his life because of a stupid deal? It was fake, he wanted to yell at her. I don't care a single bit about you! I'm just doing this because... Oh, hell, he couldn't even remember why he'd agreed to the stupid thing in the first place. Something about... something.
Ginny walked over to him, staring him straight in the eye. They held the gaze that way and, for the first time since he was born, Draco was the one to break it. He looked away and glared at the wall. "You don't have a choice."
His eyes widened and he watched her exit the Astronomy Tower. He didn't move from that spot all night.