Unexpected Tendencies

Title: Unexpected Tendencies
Author name: blazefury
Author email: nicole_blaze [at] yahoo.com
Category: Romance/Parody
Keywords: Draco Ginny
Rating: R
Summary: Post Hogwarts and Ginny is determined to make it out in the big bad world as well as hoping to get some light into the love department. She drives her boss crazy, gets into some hilarious situations and somewhere a long the line, she falls unknowingly for the biggest prat she knows. Draco Malfoy.

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and some situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Though primary characters and most other characters are copyright J.K. Rowling, some characters are copyright the author and if you wish to use them please ask before hand.

Author’s Notes: Comedy or Satire this is all in good fun!

Now this is dedicated to the lovely April! My Sop whom I can't live without. Thanks goes to the loffly betas, sarcasm_aloud and violetjersey. They are my pillars undoubtedly. Now go fangirl them. Love.

Chp 4: White Tips

**********

It had been an extremely long day two days at the office.

Ginny was sitting on her bed, with dark rings under her eyes and her skin deathly pale, just staring out the window, as exhaustion made her whole body sag. The only food she had managed to have, if you could call it food, was coffee, one tuna sandwich and digestives. All in the name of damage control.

One of Malfoy’s departments had managed to fuck up the whole advertising campaign that they were throwing out to the bigwigs and she had to stay with him till they had everything corrected. It didn’t help that in between the massive amounts of parchment she had to sort through, Draco was temperamental and the calls that were coming in through the floo managed to jam the whole system.

She went absolutely crazy, especially when one of the senior staff members thought it quite appropriate to grope her arse. She was not amused. At all.

It also did not help, suffice to say, that Marigold stopped by the office and had ordered her around like she was a common mule, to get her this and get her that and maybe shove it up her arse while she was at it.

Shaking her head, she gave a large yawn before standing up to divest herself out of her robes. Letting them pool to the floor, she dragged herself toward her closet to get hold of one of several oversized sweaters that she held hostage from Colin.

Upon passing the mirror in her room, she made a face of disgust at what she saw. She looked terrible, not to mention how she felt. Her hair was limp; she had puffy eyes and her throat felt scratchy, almost as if she was going to cough up a hairball. Turning away, she tried to think positive. The thought of not going back to the office the next gave her a hop in her step as she made her way to the kitchen.

A day off would certainly do her good to pamper herself and catch up on sleep. Ginny did feel a little guilty though, leaving when Draco was obviously having a hard time trying to get everything in order. In the end though, she did reason with herself that she couldn’t possibly do anything sapped off energy. Shaking her head, she scrunched her face up slightly and trudged out of her room.

Feeling sorry for a Malfoy indeed. She was going nutters. Here she was on a Saturday night, at home, not going out and with not a date in sight, whilst her best friend Colin Creevey was out probably with that chit Jersey. Exhaling noisily as she grabbed some lager and food from the fridge, she decided that those thoughts were just making her feel more depressed than she should.

Plodding to the living room, she set down her food on the table and sunk onto the couch as exhaustion engulfed her; the warmth and crackling of the fire comforting her. It was getting colder out and she Accio-ed a blanket from her room to snuggle under. Smiling blissfully for a moment, Ginny looked around the room before locking her gaze on the television set that was in the corner.

Now, Ginny had watched it on occasion with Colin but she never really was interested. Except for the time when her father came over and was like a kid during Christmas wondering how everything worked and pulling out plugs and talking about ecklecticitry. Smiling at the memory, she picked up the control from the table, and stared at it for a moment, trying to decipher the various buttons. Biting her lip, she pressed the red one at the top and was amused when the television zapped to life.

For an instant she just followed what was on but deemed it boring, as she did not want to know about how to decoupage anything and everything. Flicking the next button, she caught something called French and Saunders and they were dressed up in cloaks crying out ridiculous spells. She had a good laugh when they sort of Apparated and landed on someone called Tony Blair. The things muggles came up to amuse themselves with.

When it ended, she switched past a few channels and one of them came up a little snowy. Standing up she didn’t know exactly what to do and she saw once that Colin hit it on the side, so that it would work again. Trying that out, she turned back towards the television and saw some picture finally come up, but it wasn’t too clear, so she hit it hard on the side again and was taken a back by a rather clear, high pitched moan, if you could call it one. Backing away, she squinted and sat on the couch, trying to make out what all that pink – her eyebrows shot up and a hand covered her mouth as she finally figured out which angle to look from. Enthralled and slightly disgusted, she didn’t even look when the fire roared to life and Colin stepped out of the grate, dusting soot off his robes.

“It’s been crazy Gin, I don’t know why I just didn’t-” when he turned around to see what had captured her attention so thoroughly, his head flicked between watching her and the television, his mouth wide open.

“Okay…” he said rather slowly, unsure of how to handle the situation. He watched her take a swig from the bottle on the table, her concentration unwavering. “Ginny…don’t tell me that you are actually enjoying it?” he asked, not knowing how to expect her answer.

Maybe he was dreaming. No, if he was, he wouldn’t have had to go to work and Ginny would be… wrong train of thought, Creevey!

“Well, I don’t know really,” she said innocently enough, “It’s not like I haven’t seen this type of things before. It’s just like Playwizard, but on this…. Does it run all the time?”

He looked at her as she nodded at the television, “Er…I think so?” He really didn’t want to be having this conversation with Ginny but he was oddly interested by how she was almost mesmerised by it all.

“Oh…well, I mean it’s kind of sad isn’t it?” Ginny replied, her voice soft as she concentrated on the television, her face awash with sympathy and the flickering light from the screen.

That was not even close to what he thought she might have said. Confused, Colin sat beside her, trying to fathom the answer, but nothing came. Shaking his head he replied, “What?”

“It’s just that – look at them! They spend their whole time, getting fucked for all the world to see to the point that sex to them is just like drinking coffee in the morning! Foreplay is completely deleted from their vocabulary and oh!” Her attention was garnered once again, “Look at that, really now, I mean that position can’t be real, maybe from the other side though…,” she trailed off, contemplating as she settled back on the couch crossing her arms.

Colin looked over at her, slightly amazed and yet feeling completely strange that he was having such a conversation.

“You’re nutters, you know that?” he replied with a laugh. “I think working with Malfoy, has made you nuttier than you were before! Either that or you need a fast lay if you’re contemplating the lives of porn stars.”

“Unless of course, you’ve already managed one, since you weren’t home yesterday!”

The next thing he knew, a pillow smacked him right in the face. Grinning, he saw her face scrunch the way it always did when she was mildly annoyed. Pulling her close to him, he wrapped his arms around her and suddenly it felt like they were both back in Hogwarts, curled up this way under a blanket after a furious study session. Smiling, he asked her where she had been as he had been slightly worried.

So, she told him all about how she had been overworked to the bone, in all her pouty glory. Colin gave an amused smile as he heard another ‘Marigold’ tale and how she was being openly molested in such an established company.

“The things I have to put up with for Draco Malfoy!” she concluded, pouting heavily and steaming slightly at what had happened. Making a face she wanted to turn to look at Colin to ask him about how his day was when she felt his hands on her shoulders, slowly kneading them.

Her neck rolled to the side, as he hit a particular spot and she let herself go, feeling all the little knots of tension disappear under his touch.

“Well you don’t need any more alcohol that’s for sure,” he laughed, “What you need is a mug full of hot chocolate and then bed,” Colin finished, his voice soft and near her ear.

Her breath hitched slightly, as she felt his breath on her bare shoulder and she struggled for a moment to speak up. What was wrong with her? First sympathising with Malfoy and now going all googly over Colin! Her best friend since Hogwarts! Shaking her head slightly, she turned around quickly and found herself just inches away from his face.

“Will you make it for me?” she asked smiling.

Colin nodded, “I’ll tuck you in too.” And she saw his eyes flicker towards her lips, before returning to her eyes. So she wasn’t the only one thinking of kissing.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Oh good Lord, what am I thinking!

Swallowing thickly, she watched him get off the couch, so he could change. Looking down on the floor, she wiggled her toes about, wondering what was wrong with her. Maybe Colin was right, maybe she just needed someone, no, no, that was horrible, she didn’t need someone in order to feel fine. So why then, were her buggery hormones on bloody parade?

Biting her lip, she played with the sleeves of her sweater absentmindedly until Colin got back, carrying two mugs in hand, in only his sweat pants that were too long and tended to drag on the floor. Her eyes travelled down his torso, as he passed her a mug, before settling in next to her.

Smiling at him, she blew at it slightly and took a sip of it. Her body relaxing as the liquid warmed her up from the insides. It was incredibly chocolatey and she leaned back onto Colin, her eyes half lidded. Finishing it up, she set the mug on the table and settled herself against him, enjoying the smoothness of his skin against her cheek.

She shivered slightly, when his hand snaked across her tummy to hold her closer.

“You have to stop stealing my sweaters, I don’t have any more, you know!” Colin laughed, his voice coming in a deep rumble as her ear was against his chest.

Peeling herself away, she sat her hands on her hips, “You should be pleased that I’m wearing them, instead of me walking around starkers.”

“Why should I be pleased then?” he replied grinning, until she smacked him “You wound me Weasley.”

“Oh please,” she snorted and rolled her eyes. Yawning, she stretched and smacked her lips. A habit she seemed to have gained from Colin. Smiling softly she gave him a hug before saying, “I think I’ll go to bed, I feel lovely and warm now. Thanks for the hot chocolate.”

A soft smile graced his face and he got up to tuck her in as promised. Pulling the bedcovers away, and plumping the pillows, he waited for her to jump into bed and when she did, he pulled the quilt up and tucked the edges around her before placing a kiss on her forehead and turning off the light.

Unfortunately, even after closing her eyes, she still couldn’t get to sleep. She tried every different position, from sleeping back to front, on her side, on her front, but nothing worked. Feeling very frustrated after an hour, she took her pillow and made her way to Colin’s room. The apartment was dark, except for the dying embers in the grate, and the floor was ghastly cold as she tip-toed across.

Pushing the door open to his room, she tried her utmost to be careful but managed to bump her right hip into the corner of his desk. Trying not to curse out loud, she closed her eyes shut tightly and balled her fists. That was how Colin found her when he whispered Lumos and the room was bathed in soft warm light.

“Gin, what’s wrong?” he mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, before squinting up at her.

Ginny stared at him, enjoying how rumpled he looked, until she got her head in order. Exhaling noisily, she proclaimed that she couldn’t sleep at all and wondered if she could bunk in with him, as that had always helped.

Colin just looked at her for a few seconds and pulled back the blanket, “No kicking,” he said and she gleefully jumped in, setting her pillow next to his, even though he already he had a second one.

Whispering, Nox, he turned on his side and held her close to him, looking at her through half lidded eyes.

“Sleep” he commanded, and she obeyed, closing her eyes, snuggling into his chest. Her fingers unknowingly, she thought, ran across his bare skin and she felt his own run through her hair, scratching her scalp softly before running down her neck to rub the muscles there.

Opening her eyes, she ran a finger down his torso and watched him shiver. Not sure whether to look up or not, she felt Colin’s own fingers trailing patterns on the back of her neck, and it sent this tingling sensations down to her very toes. Placing her palm against his chest, she could feel his heart racing, just like hers was.

Swallowing, she looked up and saw that he was looking at her. Licking her lips, she didn’t close her eyes when he kissed her on the cheek, his lips lingering there for a moment and she didn’t when he kissed the corner of her mouth, feeling light stubble graze her cheek.

But she did when he placed his soft lips over her own.

And apparently, that was deemed the most appropriate time for the alarm charm to go off.

Ginny sat up straight, her fingers combing through her hair. Looking around, she found that she was in her own room and still wearing Colin’s sweater. Licking her lips, a feeling of disappointment curled up in her stomach, that the last bit didn’t happen and she crossed her arms, pouting. Until she realised of course that this was Colin she was fantasizing about and that thoughts of him in that manner were inappropriate. Or were they? It was too early in the morning to be dealing with this sort of things.

Oh bugger it all!

With that thought she wondered if Malfoy would kill her if she took Monday off for personal reasons.

Most likely indeed.

----------------------

“You want me to what?” Ginny cried incredulously, at her friend. A few of the other patrons of the coffeshoppe, stared in her direction a little annoyed. It was a Tuesday afternoon and to be exact it was lunch time. The crowd was thick, hungry and the noise almost became a mere buzz. Just imagine how loud she was. A right chip off the Molly Weasley block.

Ginny’s friend, April, was a colleague from work, who had a sharp wit about her and loved to make innuendoes out of everything. Spotting a double entendre in an instant was a special gift of hers.

She had long jet black hair and had a beautiful smile about her, with naturally rosy cheeks. Hailing from a rather artsy Chinese family was probably one of the reasons why she was so passionate about design and so traditional about certain things, besides being the flamboyant personality that she was.

It was an interesting mix, Ginny thought, and a fine friend she made during her first few weeks at Xavier.

But, that’s moving away from the request she had for Ginny.

“Come on Gin, it’s just a bit of snoggage, I’m not asking you to fuck him,” she replied rather dryly, before sipping at her coffee. Continuing she added, “It’s no big deal really. You like him, he might like you, snog him, see if there’s sparks and there you go.”

Ginny’s eyes narrowed at the remark, “It’s not as easy as you say it is April, things could change with just one kiss you know!” Flicking her hair back she leaned back into her chair, cushioned by her black coat that was hanging over it.

The table was covered with a pristine red table cloth with her gloves sitting near her water glass. A large plate of scones sat in the centre for them to munch on for dessert, while a large cup of coffee sat dominantly in front of April.

“Oh Gin, spare me the dramatics, I know you’ve done worse,” she batted her eyelids mockingly.

“So what if I’ve done worse? Kissing Colin could end up disastrous!” she rebutted, her arms gesticulating wildly.

Leaning forward, with her arm propping her face elegantly, April asked, “How will it turn out disastrous? Do explain.”

Making a face at her friend’s mellow expression, she toned down notably, “Well it’ll turn out disastrous because he’s my best friend. If I kiss him, it could lead to him turning me down and our relationship destroyed forever. It could also lead to him actually kissing me back and then shagging me and then treating it like nothing happened when I wake up in the morning. Disaster right there, we could never be best friends again. But it could also lead to us having a relationship and then what if there’s a nasty break-up? No best friend. And if there isn’t…we get happily married and I mean, what is the probability of that happening? And of course the most obvious, he’s already dating someone! Someone who looks ten times better than I do, with a body that would make mine look like a shrivelfig!”

Ginny had managed to say this all so fast that it took her only one breath that she was too busy to trying to catch her breath and quench her thirst to notice April’s expression of wonderment muddled with amusement.

“That is the single most stupidest thing I’ve ever heard Gin! Your body in all its proportions is absolutely divine! All that other other rubbish, which you’ve concluded from one sex dream-”

“It was NOT a sex dream!” she replied loudly, her face flushing horribly to the very roots of her hair as she looked at the sea of faces looking back at her in the coffeshoppe. She could never eat here again, ever.

April patted her hand in the most motherly of fashions and sipped her coffee once more, before going back to the task at hand.

“There there, Gin. You know you’re one of a kind don’t you?” she smiled, after exhaling noisily.

“Mmm, so you’ve said once or twice,” Ginny’s muffled reply came from behind her hands, that were covering her very red face.

“Oh don’t get all sulky on me, it was very cute of you,” hearing no reply she continued on, “Now, sex dream-” Ginny’s face whipped up at that instant, her eyes narrowing,

“or not-”April relinquished with her hands all in surrender, “I’m just asking you to snog him, one kiss, give a little love. I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal,” April went on, waving her hand about before leaning forward on the table. “I mean you’ve know him since you were pre pubescent. A relationship like that can’t be damaged with one measly little kiss.”

Scowling, Ginny played with her water glass, moving it in circular patterns on the table, “That is why I don’t want to ruin anything. He’s known me since all the way back then and he’s stuck by me, even letting me live in his place without question.”

“That is why you’re the luckiest girl here and a little kiss even if romantic or not shows some sort of love, doesn’t it?” April smiled before giving a wink, “Besides, you’ll have reason to,” her eyes casting to the side of the café where there was a couple sharing a kiss and above them, a sprig of mistletoe was hanging in the air.

“Convenient eh?”

Raising her eyebrows, she made a sound of approval, then stopped short and looked back at April. “Mistletoe? It’s Christmas already?”

Finishing off her second cup of coffee, she dabbed her mouth with a napkin and raised her hand to alert the waiter to get her another cup. Turning back her attention to her absent-minded colleague, she sighed exasperatedly, as her cup refilled with freshly brewed coffee instantly.

“Yes Gin, it is. Haven’t you noticed? Lots of snow, multitudes of fairy lights and everlasting icicles? Singing Christmas trees and wood nymphs? All those usual Christmas-y type things?”

When all she got was a blank look, April gave her an incredulous look, “Christ Gin, has Malfoy locked you away in his office for you to never see the sun again? Look around you!”

Gin bit her lip and her feet started to take life of their own as they danced on the spot. “I am looking around! I’m not prepared for Christmas yet! Colin has been busy and well he hasn’t celebrated a proper Christmas in a while...I haven’t thought of what to get for anyone!” Running a hand through her hair she swallowed thickly, “I’ve always been on top of things, my things, and now I’m always on top of Draco’s things.” Rapping her fingers on the table, she made a face and April gave a chuckle.

“Well, you’ve persuaded me Gin, why don’t we take a long lunch in order for you to get on top of your things,” April grinned, placing her sunglasses on leaving money on the table to pay off the bill as well as tip.

Licking her lips, Gin matched her grin and put on her coat. “It’s an emergency after all,” she said innocently as she put on her gloves.

“Oh most definitely,” April chuckled as she led the way out of the coffeshoppe.

----------------------

Just as she was finishing chucking all her shopping bags into her bottom desk drawer, Ginny turned around to find Draco Malfoy standing at the threshold of his office. Giving her best smile, she nodded and turned around, hurriedly taking off her coat and using her wand to hang it up on the coat hangar.

Quickly taking her gloves off with her teeth she threw them into her desk drawer and closed it with her hip before gathering up her files. She was trying to look dreadfully busy, all the while, just looking down at her desk and as such didn’t realise that Draco was standing right in front of her.

After clearing his throat, she stopped what she was doing, which was rearranging the files that she had already managed to rearrange the night before, and looked up. A smile was plastered on her face, so broad she hoped that her lips wouldn’t crack.

Draco’s expression, always poised in fashionable boredom, familiar and comforting, was not there. Instead frown lines creased his forehead and that popular sneer of ye olde Hogwarts was in full gear.

“You were supposed to be here a full three hours ago!” he said with his teeth gritted together. It sounded very controlled and that meant that he was nearing his shouting mark.

Putting down the files, Ginny licked her lips and took a breath, she was not scared of this git, no sir, “W-well, something came up you see-”

“Something came up? What?” he immediately cut her off, wanting an answer in an instant. He was not in the mood, to hear a descriptive composition.

“Personal emergency,” she said clearly, her nose even turning up slightly, well that is at least how she saw herself saying that in her head but instead it came of as a mere mumble and her looking down at her worn shoes. Sniffing, she flicked her fringe off her face and took up files once more.

Draco pretended to strain his ear, “What? I couldn’t hear you? It strangely sounded like ‘personal emergency’.”

“You did,” she replied firmly this time. Growing a little bolder, as she was getting slightly annoyed by how intimidated she felt.

“Well I didn’t know that shopping came under personal emergencies!” his voice had escalated so much that the air crackled slightly and her bottom drawer flew open along with her shopping packages. She was shocked as she watched them sail in the air and spill across the carpeted floor.

His breathing was shallow and as she looked at her packages, he began on his tirade, “There was an important meeting that was supposed to happen here at lunch and you were supposed to get everything ready by then, but was it? No, it fucking wasn’t and you know how much shit we’re in at the moment and you used company time to go fucking shopping? What in blue bloody blazes were you thinking? Do you not value your job?”

That was enough! She had heard more than enough, she was tired, miserable, and damn it she needed some answers before she went crazy. "Do I value my job? You’re asking me what?” She dumped the files on the table, but unfortunately as she did so, they avalanched to the floor, with papers falling out of place.

“I value my job so much so, that I was willing to work, without sleep and food to help you, without any complaint. I put up with all your nonsense and that thing called Marigold. I put up with so much shit here without even a word. I haven’t missed as much as one day of work and you’re making so much noise over four hours that I took to do some shopping for Christmas, which I totally forgot about because I’ve been worrying over this-” Ginny stopped in the middle of her own mini tirade, because she found she was shaking and that she was shouting at her boss about her complaints at work, after she was clearly in the wrong. Oh she was a fired woman.

“You know, I’m not feeling quite myself today, I – I really have to go now,” swallowing thickly, she used her wand to grab all her parcels and pack them neatly before putting her coat on and jamming her gloves on.

“Sorry, Mr. Malfoy,” she mumbled before walking to the lift lobby.

Draco stood there watching her get into the lift with her fiery red hair flying behind her, confused over what had just happened.

----------------------

Three hours later…

What he was doing there he’ll never know. The only thing he did know was that he wanted to say something to her, to clear up the afternoon’s …whatever it was. There clearly wasn’t a name for it. None of his secretaries had done what she did. All of them waited till the moment they uttered “I quit.”

Good thing though, was that her things were still on the table.

He didn’t even know what he was going to say. He never did this before, wait a minute, what was he doing? Here he was standing in front of her doorstep with nothing to say. Well that’s a good start. Straightening up, he slicked back his hair, and knocked with a black leather gloved hand.

Draco waited for a moment, before knocking again, growing rather impatient, till he heard the scrabble of the door being unlocked before being flung open.

“Weasley I think you owe me an apology…oh.”

This was interesting.

---------------------

A/N: What’s interesting? Well you’ve all got to wait for the next chapter Pas de Quatre. And don’t worry it won’t take forever and a day for it to get out. I had taken an unexpected hiatus from writing due to some real life issues. But I’m back and on track and I hope you’re enjoyed the chapter as much as I did in writing it. I promise that the next chapter won’t take months to come out. I’ve got it planned in my head so people just have to remind me to sit down and get it down. :P

Thanks for reading.