Breaking The Habit
By: Anti Darth Ani
Chapter Eleven: Worth Fighting For
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-past Dean-
Ginny was almost to the Gryffindor common room when he came up behind her and grabbed her hand. Ginny spun around, after jumping a foot in the air, and looked into his angry eyes. "I don't know where you get off Weasley," he hissed under his breath, his eyes constantly dodging from left to right. "But whatever happened between us last night cannot happen again." He pulled her a little closer and stared right down at her. "Do you understand?"
Ginny leaned in even closer, "Do you have my thong or not, Malfoy?" she whispered, her eyes darting from his eyes to his lips. "Because if you don't, you really don't need to waste anymore of my time."
Even as he pulled the silky object out of the pocket of his robe, Ginny didn't care about the little garment anymore. All she could think about was the way he had felt to her the night before, before she realized what she was doing and who she was doing it with. Now, all Ginny Weasley wanted was to feel the same way again. When she didn't take the thong from his hand, Draco rolled his eyes and put it into the pocket of her robe for her.
His hand didn't retract away from the robe. His eyes closed and he pressed his forehead against hers. Ginny licked her lips right before his mouth came crushing down onto hers, causing Ginny to moan with want.
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-past-post Draco-
Ginny spent the rest of the Christmas break locked up in the common room with Hermione, who forced them all to work on their homework before having any fun. Once classes started back up, Ginny's friends pulled her back into her normal circle. She spent the first week of classes just trying to remember who got what for Christmas and which of her friends had broken things off with their boyfriends (and which had already found new ones). They pressed her for details about the mysterious new guy she had, but Ginny refused to answer.
And Hermione was driving her crazy. She didn't tell Ron or Harry about catching Ginny with Draco in the hall, at least not to Ginny's knowledge, but the year was only half over and she was finding it harder to stay away from him. Every time they saw each other in the halls, the both of them would suddenly slip out of view and into an empty room or broom closet.
And Dean was a whole other problem. He kept pressing her to get back together with her, the necklace hanging around her neck as a constant reminder of what he wanted to exist between him. The necklace, Ginny thought, looking down at the spinning circle around her neck. Oh how she wanted to throw it into the lake or simply make it disappear. Dean liked to brag about what a great gift he'd gotten her for Christmas. And Draco got that look in his eyes every single time they had sex, in which he forced her to wear it. She knew he loved to watch the speed of it increase rapidly right before she climaxed, but his obsession with the necklace became too much for her. He didn't even pay attention to her anymore, just stared at the blasted piece of metal.
Ginny slammed her Potions book closed with obvious frustration. Several of the other students in the library shifted in their seats to shoot her a warning look, but Ginny just wrinkled her nose at all of them. I wonder if Muggles ever have to deal with as many problems as I have right now, she thought silently, stacking her books up in a short pile. They don't have to worry about their… Draco ripping off their charmed gift that their boyfriend gave them. She still hadn't figured out what to define Draco as. Just calling him something of hers, such as "Ginny's amazing sex buddy," as Lavender put it, seemed wrong.
Ginny slipped out of her chair. Picking up her books, she headed out of the library, her head hanging a little low so no one would stop her to chat with her. She just wanted to be alone in the common room so she could make as much noise as she wanted slamming her books and ripping up her failed essay attempts. As Ginny walked down the hall, she was pulled into a dark corridor. Lips found the bare skin on her neck and Ginny winced. After the night before, she figured Draco would leave that part, one of the numerous bruised parts of her body, alone.
"Dr-" she started, but she noticed that the person didn't smell like Draco. Ginny yanked away quickly, stumbling as she tried to turn around to face him. Ginny's jaw dropped when she saw the way Dean was staring at her. "Where did you get all those hickies?" he asked, and Ginny could tell he wasn't pleased.
"Dean," she stammered. "Please don't ever sneak up on me like that again."
"You've been seeing someone else," he put the pieces of the puzzle together, ignoring what she'd just said. "No wonder you shun me away every time I try to get you to commit to us again." His voice was rising decibel by decibel.
"Dean, please keep your voice down," Ginny begged, pushing him back further into the dark. "I really don't know what to say to you right now, but I swear that-"
"I want the necklace back, Ginny," he suddenly demanded.
Ginny pulled her hand back away as if she'd been stung. "Dean…" she started, but she saw the look in his eyes which told her to count it as a blessing. Ginny quickly pulled off the necklace and handed it to him. As soon as the clasp came apart, the circle stopped spinning and laid lifelessly in Dean's hand and Ginny looked up at him. Shaking her head slowly, she turned around and walked away.
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-present-
"How are we going to get out of here?" Ginny asked, sitting down against the wall next to Draco, her legs pulled up to her chest. "And where is here? How is it possible that your chain can possess enough evil to hurt you like that?" Ginny's eyes glanced back at his chest. "Are you feeling any better? I can try again with your wand to make them heal a little faster but…" she already had his wand back in her hand when he sat up a little straighter and grabbed her wrist gently, making her drop the wand and place her palm flat against his bare chest.
"You're giving me a headache, Weasley," he complained, closing his eyes and leaning his head all the way back.
"I talk a lot when I'm nervous," she told him without thinking. Looking over at him, Ginny traced some of the larger cuts with her fingers. "I really could try to heal them some more."
Draco shook his head without opening his eyes, "I think you've done enough damage for one day."
Ginny bit her tongue to hold back a crude remark. "It's not my bloody fault your wand is screwed up," she snapped, pulling her hand back away from him. "And anyways, Malfoy, some help is better than none at all."
"Not when that help causes the wounds to open back up and start bleeding freely again," Draco shot back.
Ginny got onto her feet, "Shove it, Malfoy," she hissed. "Maybe if you hadn't joined Voldemort in the first place, none of this would have even happened. It's your own fault you know!!!"
Draco stared up at her, amazed that she dared to speak his name out loud. Only the foolish and the brave spoke the name of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. "I didn't ask to be brought here, Malfoy!" She wasn't yelling, but she was pacing around, her hands shaking and her chin trembling from fear. "I would much rather be safe at Hogwarts in my nice, warm bed than stuck in this hell hole with you. And we don't even know where we are!" she was becoming hysterical now, her good hand flinging around dramatically.
Draco pushed his back up against the wall, using the pressure to slowly ease himself up. He winced at pain, but he was determined to get up onto his feet. "What if no one finds us? What if this huge snake comes out of no where and gobbles us right up? No one's ever going to come looking for us. And even if they do, they'll never find us here, where ever here is!"
"Weasley…" he hoisted himself up onto his legs and took a few wobbly steps towards her. Ginny stared at him and grabbed his elbows, steadying him. "Why are you standing up? You need to sit down, let your body rest and heal."
"Ginny, you need to calm down," he whispered. "Being frantic isn't going to get us out of here any sooner."
"Draco, sit back down now." She tried to lower him back to the floor, but he reached out and touched the side of her face, causing her to stop and look right into his eyes.
"Stop crying, Gin," he murmured and for the first time, Ginny realized water was sliding out of the corner of her eyes. Ginny held back a small sob, keeping eye contact with him. "I was so worried about you, Draco," she cried. "I've told you before that this… relationship… between us has gotten out of hand."
Ginny let him pull her closer to him. He rested his chin against the top of her head. "It's not even about the sex anymore," she muttered, wrapping her good arm around him, her burnt and swollen hand hanging limply by her side. "I love you, Draco," Ginny whispered against his neck before kissing that sole freckle on his neck.
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-past-Draco-
The Quidditch game was over before it even began. Ginny caught the Snitch five minutes into the game. No one was in a celebrating mood, since they didn't win the Quidditch Cup, and after standing in the rain for an hour waiting for the game, students were upset that it was over already. Still, upon entering the common room, Ginny smiled when she saw all the colorful banners hanging up all over the room.
"Brilliant Ginny!" Harry complimented, kissing her on the cheek before sliding into his usual corner with Hermione and Ron. Ginny shook her head and watched the rain fly out of it. Seamus tossed a dry towel at her, with she caught with ease and used to mop hopelessly at her hair with. She was drenched to the bones, shivering even, despite the fire blazing in the fireplace.
Deciding to get her shower out of the way, Ginny ran up the stairs to her dormitory and grabbed a pair of clean, dry clothes. She stopped at the top of the stairs to be congratulated by Lavender, who hadn't even attended the game, under the pretense that she wasn't feeling well. But Ginny knew that Michael hadn't been at the game either and, since Cho had graduated the previous year, he'd moved on to another Gryffindor student.
Ginny slipped out of the common room without anyone asking her where she was going. They were all talking about the next Hogsmeade trip, which Ginny didn't plan on attending, since she didn't want to have to spend the whole day away from Hogwarts with Dean. Ginny voiced the password when she reached the prefects' bathroom. The door slid open and Ginny slipped inside the dimly lit room.
Peeling off her Quidditch robes, Ginny turned the knobs on the bathtub to extremely hot. She also decided to go for the rose scented bubbles tonight. Something about the smell of flowers always seemed to calm her down a bit, even after a really easy win. As Ginny slipped her shirt off of her head and threw it into the pile with the robes, a voice whispered in her ear, "You owe me, Weasley."
Startled that someone else was in the bathroom, Ginny jumped a little and turned around. "Draco," she let out a small puff of air in relief. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that, you know. Wouldn't want to give anyone a heart attack, would you?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he stepped closer to her and decided to help her out of her clothes quicker.
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