Chapter Eight:
When Draco had said he would pay for the trip all Ginny could do was smile, but now that she had time to think about it, it just wasn't something she'd pictured him doing.
"Are you serious because if you aren't that's just cruel," Ginny said, placing her hands on her hips and staring him down.
Draco raised an eyebrow and stroked his chin. "I have no reason to lie."
Ginny felt her eyes start to sting slightly as she stared at his smooth, very serious face. "So-so you're serious?" Her voice wavered.
"Very," he spoke softly.
Ginny stared at the ground, shaking her head back and forth in disbelief. "But-why?"
Draco frowned. "I don't know," he said simply, shifting his weight while he continued to stare at her bowed head. "It's proper to make eye contact when having a conversation."
Ginny lifted her gaze and gave him a sheepish smile. Draco stiffened as he felt his stomach clench with-something he wasn't quite sure he wanted to analyze at that moment.
"Are you absolutely sure?" Ginny asked, nibbling on her bottom lip.
Draco Malfoy could be described as many things, but not as a weak kneed, breathless, teenage boy. Most definitely he would not be associated with a girl because of it, but that was one thing Ginny Weasley could do, make his knees weak, make him breathless, by just giving him an innocent look. "I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't sure."
Ginny gasped out a sob, and with a huge smile on her face, launched herself into his arms. He wasn't expecting such an impact, catching him off balance as she wrapped her legs around his waist, squeezed him tightly, and buried her face into his neck. He steadied himself by dropping one of his hands on a table directly behind him and placing his other hand beneath her, holding her to him so she wouldn't fall.
Draco cleared his throat. "You might want to warn me the next time you-" he paused as he felt wet teardrops drip onto his neck.
"Thank you so much," she whispered, sounding heartbroken. "You have no idea how much this means to me."
With an uncomfortable look, Draco awkwardly patted her on the back, while resting his hip against the table for support.
"You're welcome."
She lifted her head up from his neck. "Ron isn't going to like this. He wouldn't even let Harry pay for it. Harry could help you, you know. So you wouldn't have to pay for all of it."
Draco glared. "Potter," he spat out with disgust. "I will never need his help, as I said before this is pocket money for me. Multiply that amount by thirty and that is how much I have in my vault."
Ginny smiled at him and lifted her hand up to touch his face. He jerked slightly away, so in response, she cradled his face in both of her hands, pulling him closer to her. She glanced down at his mouth, tracing her thumb along the bottom lip. "I'm going to kiss you Draco," Ginny whispered, licking her lips unconsciously.
He pulled his head back and gave her a challenging look. "And if I won't let you?"
Ginny laughed softly. "You'll find you won't be able to refuse."
She took in a shaky breath then placed her lips, firmly, on his. When she felt him stiffen, she slipped her tongue out of her mouth, and coaxed his lips to open. Ginny cringed slightly as she felt the tips of his fingers digging into her side, as is he would pull her away. Ginny sighed inwardly and lifted her hands up, trailing her fingers around the back of his neck. She jolted with triumph as she felt his hands relax in the valley of her lower back, and pride swelled in her when she felt him groan with defeat. Desire swept through her, making her toes curl when she felt his tongue finally respond. The kiss became more intense and it was as if their tongues were fighting for dominance of the other.
Passion.
The thought struck Ginny so quickly that she grunted and rolled her hips against Draco's, causing him to growl in response. If someone had asked her, before this kiss, if she had ever felt passion, she could have safely answered no, but now, passion was the two of them. She felt the warm desire pool in the lower pit of her stomach and she knew then, that if Draco asked to have sex with her, she wouldn't be able to say no.
Ginny grunted softly as she felt Draco's hands trail down and grip her buttocks tightly, forcing more friction between their bodies. He gave a guttural groan and swiftly flipped her around, lying her down on the table that he'd been resting on. He made jerking motion with his hips, pushing himself closer between Ginny's thighs and she gasped as she felt his arousal against her.
Without warning Ginny dropped her right cheek to the side, resting on the cool tabletop, forcing Draco's lips to land on the side of her jaw. Hiccupping for breath, her chest heaving, she bit her lip and stared at the shelves of books. Draco, who was too trying to catch his breath, grunted and rested his forehead against her shoulder.
"I-I'm sorry," Ginny spoke breathlessly.
"It's fine," he said, his voice sounding deeper than usual. He slowly lifted up his head, reached to move Ginny's face so that she was looking at him, and gently stroked his thumb down along her cheek. "Isn't it the guy that's supposed to make the first move?"
Ginny felt heat rise in her cheeks and she nibbled her bottom lip. She had never seen his eyes so dark and intense. "If you remember correctly," she whispered, "you did, it just took me a few days to reciprocate."
Draco smirked. "Reciprocate huh? That's a pretty big word for a Weasley."
Ginny instantly felt irritated and smacked him hard on the head, before bucking her hips to get him off. He grunted and dodged to move her rising knee. He quickly yanked her wrists up to the top of the table and applied pressure to her legs with his.
"I was just kidding!" He hollered, his hands gripping both of her wrists tightly.
"Why do you always have to be such an arse? I thought we were being-" Ginny cried out almost in tears.
"Thought we were being what?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
Ginny shook her head. "Just forget it. Get off me!"
"Hey!" Draco growled.
"We're lucky there was no one in here. Do you know how many detentions we'd have to serve after what we just did?" Ginny said, trying desperately to change the subject.
Draco smacked his leg. "Did I miss something?"
Ginny clucked her tongue and smacked her thighs. "I don't know if I can deal with this."
Draco frowned. "With what?"
Ginny motioned her hands in a circle. "This-it's weird, but nice and I don't know what to think sometimes."
A throat cleared, jerking their attention away from each other. They lifted up their heads and saw Cela standing there. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she glared at them.
"Dinner!" she gritted out and stomped towards the Great Hall.
Draco smirked. "It really irks here that your mine and she can't have you."
Ginny smacked him on the shoulder. "Don't make her mad, elves hold grudges!"
Draco raised an eyebrow and leaned against the table. "I guess I'll have to remember that!"
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Ginny couldn't stop herself from staring at him. He was so different. Almost everything he did surprised her. He made her hot, cold, happy, sad, angry and-horny at the same time. She really hated admitting the last part, but it was the truth. Draco had her attention even when he wasn't around.
"Ginny! Guess what?" Hermione smiled evilly as they finished dinner and got up to walk out.
Ginny lifted her eyebrow, continuing her search for the only person she'd been thinking about. "What?"
"My parents sent the hair die a couple of weeks ago and I got it today! It's exactly your original color!"
Ginny stopped in her tracks and turned. "Are you serious?"
Hermione grinned at the look on her friends face. "Yep!"
"Oh Merlin-yes!" Ginny laughed and launched into a fast run, down the hall towards the Gryffindor common room.
"Wait, wait! Don't you need to tell-" Hermione hopped to keep up with her, calling out to her.
"I don't care! I want my red hair back!" Ginny cried out grabbing the dye. "Herbal Essence! True intense color!" she read from the box. "Under ground red, fire beneath the surface. This is exactly my hair color! Wow! Muggles really are creative aren't they? I'm sure it wasn't easy getting this color. So can I get my hair color back now?"
Hermione laughed. "Calm down."
Cela smiled gently at Ginny. "You think you can stand to be away from your lover for an hour?"
Ginny's cheeks flushed red. "He's not my lover-yet."
Cela shrugged. "I just figured with the both of you living together, you guys would have done it already."
Ginny turned to look at her elfin friend. "What? I-I no. I wouldn't know what to do. The furthest I've ever gotten was breast caressing."
"Well, while I'm dying your hair you can do some research," Hermione informed, dropping a book in front of her.
Ginny lifted her eyebrow. "On what?"
Hermione patted her head and smiled. "Sex. It's best that you know everything."
Ginny's eyes widened in shock. "I-I can't read that!"
"Nonsense. Haven't you ever heard that knowledge is power, freedom?"
Cela grinned and looked up at Hermione. "Been reading into the kinky books lately?"
Hermione gave a disapproving look. "I like books, I like the way they smell, the way the pages feel-it doesn't matter what's in them."
"Reading those books with anyone in mind?" Cela smirked teasingly at Hermione. "So, when are you going to ask Harry out?"
Ginny glanced up at Hermione, wondering the same thing. She smiled as she saw her friends flustered face flaming.
Hermione gritted her teeth. "How do you know I want to?"
Ginny patted Hermione on the back. "Well, it's a bit obvious, to everyone really-well except my slow brother and of course Harry."
"Oh, Harry will see her soon enough," Cela smirked arrogantly.
"How did we switch topics from Ginny to me?" Hermione asked slightly irritated.
Ginny shrugged as Hermione put plastic over her shoulders. "I just went along with the transition. It's easier talking about how out of whack other peoples lives are."
"Lets get back to Ginny and Draco," Hermione suggested.
Cela glanced at Ginny. "Yes," Cela spoke softly. "Lets."
"He's paying for the trip," Ginny spoke suddenly and shrugged. "So maybe you guys could talk nice about him. Maybe."
Hermione paused. "What?"
"I said-"
"No, I heard what you said. Just take it as a rhetorical question. Why is he paying for the trip?"
Ginny shrugged again. "He said he would."
Hermione frowned and began parting Ginny's hair, taking two and a half inches of hair from each side.
"Why are you doing that to her hair?" Cela asked.
"So I can get the roots," Hermione spoke hastily, as if Cela's question wasn't important. "That's a rather-erm, courteous thing for him to do!"
Ginny twirled her fingers together, smiling down. "I couldn't believe it at first either."
"Does he know how much it is?"
Ginny nodded her head. "He said it was pocket money for him."
"Rich and conceited, you know, he's just trying to get into your knickers," Cela smirked. "I'm not sure I like him."
Ginny shook her head and laughed. "The feelings mutual on his side. Besides, you're the one that said not to judge him by his attitude when we first met."
Cela scoffed and power sizzled through the air. Ginny frowned. "Cela, is that you?"
"Sorry."
"What were the conditions?" Hermione asked.
Ginny gave a puzzled look. "No conditions! He just said he'd do it and that was it. He didn't want anything in return."
"I said it once and I'll say it again. He just wants to get-" Cela sneered.
Ginny pierced her lips at her then turned to look at Hermione. "You don't think he expected something do you?"
Hermione turned Ginny's head back around, but not before she saw her head shaking. "No! If he wanted something for it he would have said something. Draco isn't one to keep his mouth shut about something like that."
"He really judged harshly by people who don't know him," Ginny whispered feeling giddy, "What is wrong with me?" she asked suddenly.
"Didn't Dumbledore say this would happen? The need to nurture and love each other?" Cela asked.
Ginny sighed. "Yes, I suppose. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so-so right there in my face."
"Cela there's another book over there! Hand it to Ginny, she'll like that one better."
Cela sauntered over to the table and lifted the book up. "The Art of Making Love?" she raised an eyebrow and tossed to book to Ginny. "You aren't going to fuck him are you?" she sneered out irritated.
"CELA!" Ginny cried out. "Not that it's any of your business. I really wish you would stop acting like I belong to you," Ginny added and cringed when she saw Cela's eyes turn red. "I'm not trying to be disrespectful-I just don't think I can handle being called someone's possession from one more person. Draco's been doing it enough.
Cela glared down at the footstool, stood up, kicked it, and walked out.
Ginny gulped nervously. "Gosh! I don't think I've ever seen her act that way. She's always calm and collected."
Hermione's eyes trained on the door. "Gosh is right. I think there's more to her than she's letting on."
"We aren't supposed to get elves angry right?"
"That's right."
"If Cela has feelings for me and I'm supposed to be with Draco-you don't think that it will-"
"Everything will be fine! Trust me," Hermione smiled, but she stared at the door that had just slammed shut, worry filling her eyes.
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To Be Continued…