Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind
By Miranda Aurelia (Blue Lady)
Yup, this is the last chapter, so no worries about me throwing you another cliffhanger! I was kind of worried that it would take until mid-July to finish this, but that won't happen now! :D Anyways, thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and because I don't want to bore you with a mega-long author's note...
And yeah, I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 5
"Malfoy, leave that poor kid alone!"
"And why would I do that when I'm obviously having so much fun?" Draco smirked at the fuming redhead. Beside him, Crabbe dangled the terrified first year a few feet above the ground by the front of his robes.
"You're a prefect!" Ginny grounded out, "You're supposed to set a good example!"
"What the heck did I see in him again?" she thought to herself in exasperation. These were one of the times when she really thought that Draco was slowly reverting back to his former habits. Yes, it was true that they didn't insult each other anymore over the mind bond, but she should have known that it was highly unlikely that he would soon behaving like Harry!
Draco rolled his eyes and waved his hand. Seconds later, the first year landed on the ground with a thud.
"Are you alright?" Ginny asked the shaking first year. Sneaking a terrified glance at the Slytherins, the Hufflepuff could only nod mutely.
"Go on," she said gently, "I'll deal with them."
"And just how do you plan on doing so, hmm?" Ginny jerked back as she felt Draco's lips brush her ear. How did he manage to sneak up on her so quickly? And where on Earth had Crabbe and Goyle disappeared off to?!
"I'll tell McGonagall who was responsible for releasing those spiders in Transfiguration two weeks ago!" she hissed.
Draco merely smirked, "I never knew your brother could scream so high."
"That's not the bloody point!" she thundered, jabbing a finger at his chest.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her flat against him. "Then perhaps you can enlighten me?" he murmured, his faces inches away from hers.
Ginny could only stare at him dumbly before she managed to snap out of it. "Let go of me, Malfoy!" She grounded out, pushing against him.
It was ironic, Ginny thought rather irrelevantly, how they always managed to invade each other's personal space during their frequent confrontations.
When his arms simply tightened around her, she looked up at him with an exasperated expression. "What-"
"GINEVRA WEASLEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" roared a familiar voice down the hallway.
So that's what he was up to! Ginny shot Draco the iciest glare she could muster, while he, the infuriating jerk merely smirked. "Have fun." he whispered into her ear before abruptly releasing her and continuing down the hallway.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked angrily.
"He's doing it to make you angry."
"You sure that's all there is to it?" Her brother didn't seem too convinced.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh no, we also shag on a regular basis and we're probably going to elope next week and then we're going to Japan for our honeymoon-"
"WHAT?!"
"Ron, I was being sarcastic."
"SARCASTIC?! You almost gave me a freaking heart attack!"
********************************************************
"What is it with you and Ginny?" she finally asked him a bit irritably through their mind bond later that day.
"Why? Jealous?"
"You're confusing her!" Ginny snapped, "And if you don't quit it, I think she's going to push you down the stairs soon."
"She would never do that." Draco said confidently.
Ginny's eyes flashed, "And why is that?" she asked coolly.
"She fancies me."
"..........."
"Actually, you'd probably be my first choice, but since you aren't too keen on telling me who you are...."
"Nice try. But do you honestly have to annoy Ginny so much?!"
"She likes it."
"Arrogant prick."
"Ow. That hurt, Blue Eyes."
"I still think she's going to push you down the stairs one of these days."
"It's kind of strange, in a sense," Draco suddenly mused, "We share this mind bond and yet, there's also something about Weasley that I can't quite place my finger on. It's almost like there's another invisible link between me and her."
"Damndamndamndamn," was the only thought running through Ginny's head when she heard that. However, all she said was, "Please don't tell me that there's an invisible connection between you and all the other girls in this school as well."
Draco sounded thoughtful. "You just may be onto something there."
"I am not sharing you with hundreds of other girls," Ginny huffed before she realized what she had just thought out loud. Her cheeks reddened and for once, she was glad that Draco didn't know who she was.
"I knew it," Draco smirked, "But I'd hurry up if I were you - there's lots of girls waiting behind you."
"Oh shut up."
****************************************************
A smile played on Ginny's lips as she threw herself down onto a seat in front of the roaring fire in Gryffindor Common Room. Beside her, Hermione was busy scribbling away on her Potions essay.
"You seem happy tonight." Hermione remarked as she paused her writing to reach for a textbook.
"I just talked with Draco." Ginny smiled, "You wouldn't believe it, but he's quite an interesting guy - when he's not in one of his rotten moods." Her smile faded.
"But at least you two can have a civil conversation," pointed out Hermione, "Which is much more than I can say for Ron and him."
"I think Ron suspects something," Ginny twirled a lock of her hair around a finger, "But thankfully he's usually too occupied with other matters to notice."
Instead of replying, the other girl simply gave her a long look.
"Ginny," Hermione began slowly, "Do you realize how long you and Draco have been bonded together?"
"Um....A month?"
"No, the two of you have been bonded together for at least two and a half months already."
Ginny's eyes widened, "But that would mean...how long is the bond supposed to last anyways?"
"It's supposed to last three weeks."
Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Finally, she managed to regain control of her vocal cords. "So that means...." she trailed off.
"Remember when I told you that the bond only strengthened in extremely rare cases?" Hermione looked at her thoughtfully, "Usually that only happens in the case of soulmates."
"You're kidding me."
Hermione shook her head.
"So if I accidentally cursed Neville instead of Draco, Neville'll be my soulmate instead?"
"It doesn't work that way," Hermione said softly, "It the person you're bonded isn't your soulmate, then the bond will fade on its own after three weeks time."
"Well," Ginny smiled tightly, "I bet Draco's going to love hearing that."
******************************************************
Ginny had always wondered what would happen if Draco ever found out that she was the voice in his head. Inwardly, she knew that he would find out eventually, but a nagging fear of his reaction stopped her everytime she wanted to tell him the truth.
The dreaded moment came rather abruptly.
"I don't have time for this!" Ginny cursed as the staircase she was on suddenly started moving. Although in this case, it wasn't so much the problem of where in the castle she was ending up as it was the other person on the same staircase with her.
"Grow up, Weasley." sneered Draco as he quickly grabbed onto the banister, "It's not as though I like being stuck a few feet away from you anyways."
At the moment the staircase reattached itself to a familiar corridor with a jolt.
"Oh yeah, you think I like hearing your voice in my head all day long?!" Ginny hissed at him as he brushed past her.
It was only after the words left her mouth that Ginny realized that she had just made a serious mistake and her eyes widening in fear. Meanwhile, Draco had froze on the last step. Slowly he turned around and she gulped when she noticed the look on his face approaching the intensity of a thunderstorm.
"You..." His eyes narrowed, "So you're-"
"I can explain!" she blurted out, "I-" A cold chill shot down her spine when she saw Draco's hands curl up into a fist. When he took a step down towards her, she panicked.
(When Draco teased her about it much later, she simply retorted that he hadn't looked all the friendly anyways.
"What was I supposed to do? Run up and give you a kiss?"
"That wouldn't have been a bad idea. After all," Draco placed a trail of kisses down her neck, "One can never have too much practise.")
Grabbing her wand, she aimed it at his head and yelled. "Stupefy!"
The curse missed his head by a few inches, but before Draco could react, Ginny had already fled down the stairs.
***************************************************
Ginny spent the next while avoiding Draco by arriving super early for breakfast, skipping lunch and dinner, sneaking down to the kitchens for food, racing as fast as possible to each class and otherwise spending all other times in Gryffindor tower. It also helped that she knew Draco's schedule so she usually able to avoid meeting him in the hallways when classes weren't in session.
One night about two weeks later, as Ginny was heading down to the kitchens, she couldn't help but feel as though there were a pair of eyes watching her. Glancing suspiciously around the empty hallways, she reminded herself that the Slytherin had a Quidditch practise that evening so it couldn't possibly be Draco...
About a few doors from the secret entrance to the kitchens, she felt something pull on her arm. Before she realized what happen, she found herself in one of those seldomly used classrooms Hogswarts seemed to have so much of.
As the door locked behind her, she felt herself panicking.
"Who's there?" she asked sharply, trying to mask her fear. "Lumos!"
The candles in the room lit up and Ginny was mystified - there was nobody else in here! The lights from the candles cast a pattern of shadows on the walls and she turned slowly, her senses alert.
A chuckle to her left almost caused her to jump three feet into air.
Suddenly, a black-sleeved arm appeared in the air, followed by the silvery cloth of an invisibility cloak. Seconds later, she found herself staring at a familiar face with piercing grey eyes, silvery blond hair and the trademark scowl.
Ginny bit back a curse.
Neither of them spoke and Ginny avoided making eye contact with the boy in front of her.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," Ginny finally said wearily as the silence became unbearable, "I didn't mean to throw that curse at you, I just panicked," I'm sorry about the mind bond, look, it was an accident, I didn't even know until a week later, I never told anyone what you told me-"
She stopped rambling abruptly when he tilted her head up, so her gaze was no longer resting on the ground. Ginny bit her lip as she finally looked at him and she was surprised that, instead of angry expression she had been expecting, he seemed almost...amused?
"Granger already told me the whole story," he said softly.
"Hermione told you?!" Ginny was speechless.
"It wasn't easy, but I didn't exactly have a choice now, did I?" Draco said coolly, "I think someone's been avoiding me these past while or so."
"I thought that you'd be mad," she mumbled, lowering her eyes.
"I still am." His voice was cold.
Ginny winced inwardly. She should have known that by avoiding him, she was only delaying the inevitable.
"So what do you want me to do?" she whispered.
Draco didn't reply, at least, not with words. Instead, he dipped his head down and captured her lips in a kiss.
Ginny was too shocked to respond at first, but as he deepened the kiss, her eyes fluttered shut and slowly, she began to respond to his kiss.
When they finally broke apart for air, Ginny held tightly onto his shoulders for fear her legs would soon give way beneath her. The smug expression on Draco's face indicated that he was all too aware of the effect the kiss had had on her.
Draco pressed his forehead against hers. "Does that answer your question?" he drawled.
Ginny stared at him, wondering how she was supposed to answer his question. "What's kind of an answer is that supposed to be?!" she couldn't help but think to herself irritably, "Does he have to make everything so damn confusing?!"
"I thought you prefer mysterious, brooding guys?" he thought back cheekily, startling the redhead.
"Draco?" Ginny thought back tentatively. It had been weeks since she'd last talked to him through their bond and it was only now that she finally realized how much she'd missed their mental conversations.
"That would be my name, yes," he thought dryly.
He was pleasantly surprised when she immediately gave him a tight hug. "I missed you."
"Missed you too, Blue Eyes."
*******************************************
"So..." Ginny looked up at him uncertainly, "Does this mean..."
"Well, I did enjoy your suggestion," She raised an eyebrow as his lips curved into a smirk, "The one where we start shagging on a regular basis and then elope..." Here he scowled, "But we are NOT going to Japan for our honeymoon! Do you know how hard it is to get any privacy with those flimsy paper doors?!"
Ginny's cheeks reddened and she squeezed her eyes shut. "You weren't meant to hear that!" she wailed mentally, forgetting that Draco was privy to her thoughts, "I was just trying to get on Ron's nerves that time! I wasn't serious!"
"You sure about that?"
Ginny glared at him. "Quit reading my mind, damnit!"
"Hey!" Draco protested with a wounded look on his face, "I didn't complain when you wouldn't get out of my mind for the last few months...and quit messing up my hair." he added with a scowl.
She just rolled her eyes at him. "Narcisstic prat."
"Is that anyway to treat your boyfriend?"
"You are not funny, Malfoy."
"You know that you'll probably be joining the family later anyways," Draco said casually, "So you should get used to that name."
"You shouldn't joke about stuff like that."
"Malfoys don't joke." Draco's serious expression was ruined by the smirk playing on his lips. "Besides, you know all my secrets already and we can't have you blabbing them all over the school..."
"I do not-"
Draco stopped her protests with another long kiss.
A thought occured to Ginny when the two of them finally broke apart, "This is kind of strange, don't you think?" she said tentatively.
"What do you mean?"
She gave him a meaningful look, "You realize that we've just gone from not talking to full out snogging under an hour..."
"This is to make up for the last two weeks you've been avoiding me," Draco glared at her, "Not to mention, all that snogging sessions we've missed out on..."
Ginny snorted. "This from the guy who said people aren't expected to have a long conversation in the middle of a good snogging session."
Draco blinked and then his lips curved into his trademark smirk, "All you had to do was ask..."
"No!" Ginny pushed him back weakly, "We're not done yet!"
"Why not?" demanded Draco irritably.
She looked at him suspiciously. "This isn't just so that you can rub it in Ron's face, is it?"
"That's a benefit, not a reason," he corrected and then he added, "And besides, let's not forget the huge risks that I'm taking here."
"Your parents?" she asked softly.
"No, I can just imagine your six crazy brothers and Potter each wanting a square meter of skin off of me."
"They try and I'll force-feed them canary puffs."
"No curses?"
"Nope." She grinned at him, "Those are for you."
"Thank Merlin you stink at memorizing curses."
Ginny reached out to slap him, but Draco simply grabbed her arm and her retorts were muffled as he pressed his lips against hers once again.
Fin.
And this concludes my first completed chaptered fanfic! :D Thanks to everyone that's read this fic and especially
to those who took the time to leave a comment!! ^^