AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I'm sorry! I'm so sorry that I didn't update for so long... Once again I beg you to blame it on my teachers that have been constantly nagging me with massive overloads of homework, presentations, essays, etc. Plus my finals are coming pretty soon and I reeally need to study for those...
Anyway, I do hope I make it up to you with what's coming... All I can say is... read! :)
Thanks so much to my reviewers! I've never had so many for any other chapter and now I'm almost at 200 reviews in less than 10 chapters! Woo hoo!
By the way, note how the titles from the last chapters make sense together with this one.. hehe.. how clever I am.. lol (j/k).
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of JK Rowling's amazing characters. However the plot and the new characters are all mine.
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Chapter X: TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH...
As she walked through the corridors, styling her glamorous brooch with pride, Ginny pondered upon what exactly had happened during that last week.
"Now, what was that all about?" she found herself wondering as she furrowed her brow and grinned with mischief.
A week ago, Ginny could've practically killed Draco with her bare hands for being such an arrogant prat, but now...
The red-head sighed heavily. Their relationship (was it wise to call it so?) had evolved so blisfully fast during those precious seven days that sometimes it made Ginny wonder whether she was really living it or it was just a fiction of her imagination.
"Sure it hasn't all been peaches and cream," she thought, upon remembering their last pathetic discussion, concerning nonetheless which of them was more miserable than the other. They were both under the heavy influence of fire whiskey by then and were presumably on their depressive phase.
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*Flashback:*
"You! What do you complain about?" Ginny scowled, sobbing. "Both my parents are dead!" she cried, raising her hands and putting them down as a sign of reproach.
"Mine too!" he retorted. "Hic!" he hiccuped, blushing with the noise that had escaped his lips. "Sorry..." he excused. "And they didn't even love me to begin with!"
"But I lost my brothers!" she added, arching her brows to resemble a pitiful face.
"I never bloody had any!"
"And I lost my -hic- ex-boyfriend!"
"With a guy like Pot-Head you could almost consider that to be a blessing..."
Ginny gasped exaggeratedly.
"Don't you dare call him... uh..." she paused to remember "that!" she finally threatened. "Harry was the best boyfriend evver," she added, emphasizing her pronunciation of those last words by leaning towards the blonde.
"Oh, really? That should explain why he left you here and just went to play -" he covered his mouth with his fist to refrain a gas. "to play hero, for a change..."
"He didn't! He was just protectioning, pre-tac-tioring, pro -"
"Protecting?" he interrupted, rolling his eyes.
"That! And he was just caring for me the whole time," she blurted out, her head high with determination.
"Some way to show care," he spat. "Should I be taking some pointers?" Draco asked, his tone full or sarcasm.
Ginny paused to think and focused her eyes on the ceiling for a while in a thoughtful gaze.
"Maybe not just that one, alright?" she answered. "The point is!" she resolved "Is that I'm far more miserable than you are... I'm your bloody slave, for fuck's sake," she snarled, poking him on the chest.
"Hey! Watch your fucking language!" he censured, seemingly annoyed, as he pointed at her with his forefinger.
They went quiet for a second and when they both realized the contradiction of the blonde's words, they laughed aloud, with their mouths wide open. The blonde then raised his glass cup.
"To Pot-head!" he cried. "So that the worms that eat him up won't intoxicate with his over-confident piece of arse!" he added.
"To Pot-head!" she chanted, not really paying any attention to the object of the toast.
They both emptied the content of their glasses in one single gulp.
"Ahh!" Draco exclaimed, focusing his eyes back on the red-head who was staring gloomily at her empty cup. "What's wrong? Do you want me to pour some more, luv?" Ginny slowly nodded, without replying.
"Ginny, luv?" he said, placing a soothing arm around her shoulders.
"He ain't never coming back, is he?" she finally asked, without removing her eyes from the cup.
Draco sighed heavily with evident disgust.
"I bloody hope so..." he uttered, removing his arm from her shoulders.
"Draco?" she called, catching his arm with her hand and looking him straight into his glassy grey eyes. Draco returned her gaze and they just sat there, staring at each other until she continued. "I love you so much, baby!" she uttered, breaking into tears and crashing her head violently against his hard chest.
"Hmph!" he cried, embracing her with his free arm. "It's alright, Gin; you know I'll never leave you like that Potty boy..."
The red-head wept uncontrollably against his chest as Draco dig his fingers in her fiery mane of hair, tenderly caressing her head. The blonde sobbed.
"Don't cry, red-head, please..." he pleaded, curving his lips and pouting, but Ginny kept crying without consolation. "You're gonna make me cry too..." he added, in a higher pitched voice. "You're all that I've got!" he cried and leaned his head against hers as he too begun to sob.
Soon enough they were both crying their hearts out, when the blonde suddenly pulled her apart, re-accommodating their faces so that his lips would purse against hers. They kissed urgently and passionately, yet it felt like they were doing it for the first time, probably due to their heavy ethylic-induced state.
They clumsily stood up from the couch and Draco raised her up in his arms, without yet removing his lips from hers, as he took her to the bed, where he laid on top of her and started tracing a path of warm kisses around her neck. The red-head closed her eyes, giving in to his touch as she laid over the soft covers.
He grabbed her bottom violently and she dug her nails on his back, urgently, tangling her legs around his back to feel him closer.
He groaned with pleasure as he pulled her hips against his', when suddenly the rhythm of Draco's kisses begun to slow down dramatically and each one seemed to take a whole minute, until he placed one final kiss on her lips and surrendered to a deep slumber, which left the already asleep red-head enclosed in his soothing, warm embrace.
*End of Flashback*
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Ginny grinned with mortification upon remembering what had happened and her cheeks flushed when she thought about the nonsense she talked and how foolish she must've sound. However, it somehow didn't matter too much, besides the fact that she felt as if she currently had an axe stuck to her fore-head...
That morning they couldn't help but laughing about it and take the whole situation as a mere joke.
When she crossed the kitchen doors, her heart was pounding loud and fast, out sheer excitement of seeing her friends and finally telling them all about her last week's experience. How bewildered they would be! They would never believe it! How would they react upon seeing her again after all that time?
Thus, in came a red-head with expectant brown eyes that soon spotted her friends busy in one corner, warming a huge pot of chocolate milk.
Ginny strode off towards them and stopped in their midst, poking her head between them.
"Oh, hi Ginny," Vicky uttered in a neutral tone, without removing her eyes from the milk that could fatally curdle any minute.
"Hi, Gin," Bekka greeted her in an equally unenthusiastic tone.
"Don't you `Hi, Gin' me!" Ginny yelled. "What did they -? How come you-" she begun, stuttering, which quickly caught her mates' attention. Then she remembered: the doubles. The red-head sighed and grinned. "You - have - no - idea - of - what - has - been - of - me - this - last - week!" she finally cried.
Both Vicky and Bekka looked at her as if she were mental, seriously considering the possibility that Draco had bewitched her or something.
"Ginny, honey, are you feeling alright?" Vicky uttered with concern, checking her temperature.
"You have no idea!" she replied excitedly, unable to remove her silly grin off her face. Bekka's eyes then travelled towards the red-head's chest were something shiny caught her attention.
"Jesus Christ! What's that pinned to your uniform!" Bekka exclaimed, ogling at the ravishing piece of jewelry for a second and then covering it with one hand. "Are you bloody out of your mind, Gin?" she whispered, looking in all directions. "Take that off this instant and pray that Draggery didn't catch a glimpse of it, or you'll be a dead piece of arse," she added, beginning to pin it off.
"NO!" she barked, backing up and releasing herself from Bekka's hands as she grabbed her cherished pin defensively. Her friends gazed at her dumbfounded.
"Ginny! Where did you get that?" Vicky gasped, covering her mouth with one hand, unable to remove her eyes from the luxurious brooch. "Oh my God, Ginny, you really screwed up big time now, go and return it where you found it, alright?" Vicky urged, grabbing her friend by the arm to direct her towards the door.
"Knock it off, the two of you!" Ginny retorted, shrugging off and looking them straight into their gaping, disconcerted eyes. Noticing this, the red-head sighed and softened her look. "Listen you guys, we've got loads of catching up to do, so hold on to your knickers 'cause what I'm about to tell you might come as a real shocker!" she warned in an excited tone.
Ginny soon proceeded to tell them all about her last week and how Draco and her were totally getting along now, pausing to emphasize the fact that she had discovered Draggery's linage, which would explain the use of her magical brooch. After listening to her tale with amusement and excitement, they, in turn, told her about how her double had managed during those seven days.
"You were kind of quiet, come to think about it..." Vicky observed.
"And you would always arrive on time and do everything perfect and all... It was getting pretty weird not hearing Draggery Ass' voice squealing at you for a whole seven-days period," Bekka added. "God! you're so lucky, Ginnyl! I wish I had someone who cared for me like that..."
"Hey!" Ginny and Vicky censured, marking how they had cared for her when her face had been 'washed' by Filch.
"I mean -!" she hurried to explain. "You know guys, you're the best friends I've ever had and all... And I love you two like anything, but sometimes I- Well, I can't help but feel... lonely". Her eyes turned unto a sad gaze.
"Don't worry," Vicky comforted as she stroke her back. "We know what you mean. My husband, he -".
"Your what!" they blurted out, gaping eyes and mouths at her.
She was only eighteen after all... Vicky's cheeks soon dyed into a soft shade of red.
"Oh my God, Vicky, you're married?" Ginny asked.
Vicky sighed with a wry smile.
"Well, I used to be, at least... Jake he-," she paused upon the memory, "he was an Auror, I don't think he made it through the war..." she added, her eyes turning glassy with tears. "What the hell, right?" she resolved, embracing her friends by their waists. "At least we have each other, don't we?" she added, grinning at them with that smile that seemed to make the whole world better.
"You can bet on it!" Bekka yelled, after which they quickly returned to their duties upon hearing Mrs. Draggery's steps coming near.
Ginny giggled upon thinking about how Draggery would never see her dashing brooch... The idea was just fascinating; it was her little secret...
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"Damn, she's right," the blonde thought as he walked through the corridors towards his potions lessons. "You' area sissy, Draco," he censured, upon remembering last week's events... Healing her wounds, pillow fighting, giving her to eat, borrowing his clothes... It was all so deliciously fluffy...
"Why am I not angry?" he wondered. "I've been snogging a bloody Weasley for the past week and this doesn't even make me feel a tad nauseous?". Draco smirked. "Quite far from it, actually..." he answered himself, thinking on how that little red-head literally drove him crazy. "Her scarlet hair... those chocolate eyes that look like they blaze fire whenever she gets angry at me... That body... that sensuous body that seems made for lust..."
His mouth watered with the mere memory.
"Yet..." His smirk suddenly faded away and he sighed. "How can it be?" he thought, clenching his fists. "Seven days... a hundred and sixty eight bloody hours and still nothing!"
The blonde felt so powerless, so impotent... It is true; it looked like there was something wrong with her, but...
"Everyone has limits..." he sentenced.
"Malfoy!" he heard a familiar voice yell from inside the class. The messy haired man greeted him at the door.
"Zabini..." he replied with boredom, rolling his eyes.
"What!" Blaise gasped, inspecting the blonde's Armani suit. Draco, in turn, noticed how his friend was wearing baggy jeans, snickers and a yellow shirt. "You bonehead," he uttered, patting him friendly in the back of his head.
The blonde looked at him somewhat disconcerted while he saw the rest of the class dressed in equally casual clothes.
"Fieldtrip? To the Forbidden Forest? Ringing any bells?"
"Bloody Hell!" Draco scowled, causing Blaise to furrow his brow in confusion. "Yeah, that... I... I totally forgot," he added more casually. "I'll have to remember telling my doubles something about assignments," he thought
"You better hurry up and change if you don't want that expensive suit of yours to get all ripped and dirty..." he suggested.
"Yeah, I'll be back in a second," he answered, as he turned on his heel, his nose being brusquely hit by a blaze of perfume. "What? Ugh... Is that you, Zabini? Why the masses of patchouli?"
"Hey! More like Hugo Boss, actually..." he retorted.
"Whatever... What's the occasion anyway? Are you planning on seducing a wild Mosag or something?"
"Are you kidding? It's the first time we're meeting those sexy females we have for servants," he explained, waggling his eyebrows.
When he noticed how Draco didn't show any signs of excitement, but rather worry, he sighed and added in a concerned tone:
"You're acting really weird, Draco, I'm getting worried about you, honest..."
"Well, don't be," the blonde replied. "I'm fine, alright?" he added, pounding him on the shoulder, friendly.
Blaise nodded unbelieving as Draco disappeared from thin air to get changed into casual clothes.
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"What!" Ginny gasped, gaping at her friends. "And you were planning to tell me this when exactly?"
They merely listened.
"You have to understand, Gin, that it was you who was absent all week and send doubles to replace you..." Bekka explained.
"We thought you already knew, I mean, you were there when Draggery explained the whole fieldtrip thing after all... Even if it was not you..." Vicky added, grimacing. "This is so confusing! All the things we talked about, they just never happened..."
"That's right, so you'll just have to fill me in, guys," Ginny replied. "Plenty of time to catch up."
"The only thing we have to catch up now is the queue that's already in the main entrance!" Bekka urged. "Come on!" she added, grabbing her friends' wrists as they stormed towards the exit of the kitchen.
In their way, they run into a group of four girls from the gamma division who were chatting over-excitedly.
"Oh my God! Do I look alright? I'm so nervous!" one said to another.
"I know! It's only seven of us who got chosen to go... I wonder if there are any hot guys in the group! I'm dying to meet them!" another shrieked.
"Hey, Courtney!" Bekka yelled in an cynical tone. "What happened to prince 'what's his face' Dray?" she asked, to which the blonde girl gasped aloud.
"It's Gray, you moron! Dylan Vega Gray and don't you dare think I've forgotten about him... I'm just -" she paused, "Well, a girl has to leave the seducing job a bit of a challenge," she explained. "Of course you wouldn't know that, would you? What with your hair that short and your ears with more holes than a strainer..."
Her cronies laughed aloud and Ginny was about to hit her pretty face, when Vicky restrained her.
"Oh! So the prince expressed his interest for you already? My, my! I'm so sorry I disturbed you then. I beg your pardon!" Bekka replied cynically. "Your royal highness..." she added with a pronounced bow which made Ginny and Vicky chuckle, after which the infuriated girl stuck her tongue at her and whipped Bekka's face with her long mane of hair.
When they finally arrived to the crowded entrance, they were startled by a mass of casual looking first years that were waiting for them.
As they saw them, the boys ogled them from head to toes and begun hooting and whistling appreciatively.
Ginny felt so humiliated... She just hated when guys did that sort of thing, unlike Courtney who was waving and winking eyes all over the place. Soon, the red-head spotted a blonde who was running down the main staircase, with his hair all messed up because of the hurry. Ginny guessed that he must've been as clueless about that day's fieldtrip as she was.
"Alright, boys! Knock it off!" an imposing, hoarse voice commanded. It belonged to Mr. Blanchard.
Everyone remained silent.
"By Merlin, aren't you lot pathetic?" he questioned. "As if you had never seen a lady in your entire lives..."
"Lady?" Goyle whispered to Blaise, who restrained a chuckle.
"I heard that, Mr. Goyle. You can stay here, thank you so much," he said roughly.
"But Mr. Blanchard, I-"
"Don't make me repeat myself, Mr. Goyle! You heard me well enough," he scolded, "unless the wax is obstructing your ears, that is".
There was a general laugh and Goyle pouted, frowning at his teacher's unfair decision.
"I don't consider you fit for this fieldtrip," he resolved gruffly, as Goyle begun making his way towards the common room, mumbling something beneath his breath. "There are many dangers hiding in the forbidden forest, Mr. Goyle, and you are the kind of boy who would easily get injured or worse, lost!"
As he said this, his eyes traveled to Draco, who raised an eyebrow defiantly.
"Now, listen up!" he uttered. "I will proceed to read the list of students and their respective maid who will kindly assist you on serving lunch at midday".
The boys begun whispering excitedly again, but soon fell quiet upon becoming aware of Mr. Blanchard's severe glare.
"Kline, Hepworth, Petrovich and Dolohov, you will be going with Miss Courtney Watson." The boys hooted avidly as they joined the blonde girl who stared at them with devilish eyes and a grin on her face.
"Pathetic..." Bekka whispered to her friends who nodded.
"...Macnair, Avery, Crabbe and.. well, Mr. Goyle isn't going," he continued, crossing out Goyle's name on the list. "You go with Miss Victoria Miller," he said as he pointed a finger towards Vicky, whose usual smile seemed to instantly fade away as she realized how the boys gazed at her like hungry wolves and one even dared to growl at her hear.
"Not even in your dreams," she whispered, disdainfully.
"...Kluver, Levanthal, Borkovec and Vonnegut with Miss..." he paused. "Rebekah Carmichael..." he continued, at which the boys moved to gather around Bekka, as starved hyenas waylaying their prey. The girl swallowed hard but remained as unperturbed as possible
The list continued until Mr. Blanchard read the last names.
"... And finally Mr. Wihler, Zabini, Byne and Malfoy," he said in a hurry, stopping to glare at Draco. "You go with Miss Ginevra Weasley," he finished, giving them a scornful look.
"Perfect," Blaise whispered smirking, but nobody heard him.
"Now, everyone join your partners and meet me at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest," he instructed.
"Of course," Blaise whispered to no one in particular, as he squeezed out of the main door, near to his servant.
"Super!" Daryl exclaimed mirthfully. "We get to be together, Blaise, did you hear that? huh? I thought we weren't going to get to go together, what with having to be desk buddies -"
"Partners, four-eyes," Blaise hurried to correct, "Just seat partners…"
"Yeah, that! You imagine if we weren't assigned to go together?" Daryl asked.
"Now wouldn't that have been a tragedy..." Blaise replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Tell me about it!" he mirthfully answered, both pleased and oblivious of Blaise's comebacks. "We get to be together and you're finally going to see me out there in my element; you know, how my dad taught me everything there is to know about being in the woods and all. Aren't you excited?" he asked.
"Thrilled..." Blaise answered, unenthusiastically, thinking that Daryl was about to wet his pants out of enthusiasm. "Take a break, alright Daryl?"
"Oh my God," Ginny thought. "At least my group doesn't seem too bad..." she looked in Vicky's direction, noticing how she was wearing a perplex look. Ginny was suddenly startled by a hand that grabbed her bottom roughly. She gasped aloud and turned to see who it had been, but there was no one staring back at her and they were so packed up that it was impossible to guess. Draco was too far back, though, so it must've been a stranger. The red-head sighed.
"Don't worry, Gin" Draco whispered, making his way to her side upon seeing her distressed countenance. "I'll be right beside you, alright?" he added, soothingly. Ginny nodded, taking hold of his hand while they were still in the mass and then letting go of it when they were finally out.
All the groups walked together up to the border of the Forbidden Forest, where they stopped for directions. Ginny stared nostalgically at what had been Hagrid's hut in the past. The house was now a wreck and it pained her to remember what a hospitable place it had been in her school years. Trying to push those thoughts away, she focused on what the Potion's teacher had to say.
"Alright, lads!" he begun, clearing his throat. "As you may or may not know, the school has been breeding wild boomslangs in the Forest. In this time of the year, the snakes shed their skin, so your task will be to find as many as you can so that next week you may master in complex polyjuice potions, which might become handy in more than one occasion."
There were murmurs as he said this and Crabbe raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Crabbe?"
"Sir, aren't boomslangs those highly dangerous snakes with real nasty venom?" he asked.
"That is correct, Mr. Crabbe, which leads me to the next point: As I've told you before, the Forbidden Forest is no playground. I'm trusting you will act cautiously, maintaining your guard high at all times." he warned. "All the same, I expect the higher of behaviors towards your respective maids; you're young gentlemen, but gentlemen nonetheless, so do yourselves a favor and start behaving as such!" he scowled.
"Yes, Sir!" about thirty hoarse voices choired.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Alright, so that's chapter ten... Coming up next, well... the fieldtrip, of course... I won't say anything else! You'll have to read to know!
Just a little note: The "Mosag" Draco mentioned when speaking to Blaise about his stench, is a female Acromantula, which is a huge poisonous spider that can speak, as featured on HPII.
Now press that little button and review please! It means a lot to me! By the way... does anybody smell trouble? (rolls-eyes)
THANKS so much to the REVIEWERS from chapter NINE. You've been so extremely good to me! :**J** **hunnee** **~Lady_of_the_Horses~** **poppycorn** **down2earthangl85** **div** **Mooshy** **crackedribs** **chocolatefroggie** **Peanut** **monagy3** **Earl** **kirara** **emvee** **essence** **Olivia Weasley** **Adrial** **serenity237** **Seana** **KJ Bridgerton** **katie** **London** **Tiff** **Dracos-Goddess** **laila** **brooke** and the always faithful **Anonymous**
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