Thanks a bunch to all y'all lovely people who reviewed. I'm working on this story as fast as I can, & I'll be off for the next two days, so look for more!
CHAPTER 7 In Gryffindor
Ginny climbed slowly through the portrait hole. Sure enough, she spotted Ron, Harry, and Hermione sitting in front of the fire. Determinedly, she marched across the room and sat down in front of them. They all grew silent and looked at her. "Look," she said, taking a deep breath, "I know you two are mad at me-"
"Tuh!" Ron interrupted.
"But I need to talk to you. All of you."
She told them her conversation with Draco. "It's what Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat were talking about, Harry."
Before he or Ron could speak Hermione opened her mouth. "She's right Harry."
"Right," Ron snorted. "Bloody Malfoy wants to help Harry kill You Know Who? That git probably wants to help kill Harry!"
"No," Ginny shook her head. "I don't think he wants to. I think he knows that he has to."
"I think you may be right," Ron said, leaning back in his chair and glancing at Harry. "Malfoy does have her under the controlling curse."
"Like he would even know it," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"His father probably taught him," Ron scathed.
"Really, Ron," she shook her head.
Ginny glanced back at Harry. "Will you at least talk to him about it? He said that the end was coming soon."
Harry sighed. "Every time Voldemort has gotten near me he probably thought the end was coming, for me at least."
She nodded. "That's true. But Harry, you know what Dumbledore's been saying about-"
"I'll think about it," he interrupted. "I'm tired." He stood up and shuffled towards the stairs. "Goodnight."
"Good job, Ginny," Ron hissed.
"Oh stop," Hermione shook her head as Ginny climbed into Harry's warm chair. "He knows the truth."
Ron threw Hermione an angry look and climbed the stairs after Harry.
"Sorry," Ginny muttered. "I didn't mean to make them mad."
"Oh, you didn't. Well, at least not Harry. He's mentioned it a time or two."
"Really?"
"Uh huh. I think the very idea of him having to trust Malfoy that much scares him."
Ginny nodded.
"So how was it?"
"What?"
"Your night. I notice you're in late."
Ginny cracked a smile. "It was very nice, actually. We didn't hear the clock though, and Snape had to send us to bed."
Hermione cringed and Ginny chucked.
"It wasn't that bad. All we did was sit and talk, mostly about that stuff. That's what we were doing when Snape found us."
"I guess I'll go to bed too," Hermione said finally.
The common room was nearly empty. "Wait. I have a question?"
"Yeah?" Hermione turned to face Ginny.
"Did you kiss Ron?"
"Ginny!" Hermione began to blush.
"Well?"
"If you must know, yes."
Ginny smiled. "It's about time."
Ginny remained downstairs, staring into the fire, her mind pouring over thoughts of Draco. She liked him and that scared her. Being vulnerable, especially to someone like Draco Malfoy scared her a lot. Damn Ron, she thought crossly. Always acting like a prat! She dozed several time in the large squishy chair that was so comfortably warm before finally forcing herself out of the chair. That's when the portrait opened.
Ginny looked up in surprise, unable to figure who would be coming in so late.
Draco Malfoy stood on the other side of the hole, wearing red flannel pants and a thin t-shirt. "Hi," he said.
Ginny looked back at her chair and then pinched her arm. "Ow!"
"What are you doing?" he asked, climbing through the hole and looking around.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, rubbing her arm.
"I couldn't sleep," he shrugged. "So I came to see you."
"How did you know the password?"
He chuckled. "I don't know if I did or not. That lady is so drunk, she'd probably let anyone in."
"You can't stay in here. Someone will see you."
"So I came all the way over here for nothing?" he pouted.
Ginny shook her head. "I can't believe you're in here. It's probably 2 in the morning."
"Pretty close." He stepped closer to her and circled his arms around her waist. "I need a proper goodnight kiss."
When they parted, Ginny looked at him and took a deep breath. "We can't stay down here."
"Okay," he shrugged, surprising himself for giving up so easily. He suddenly felt like he couldn't just use Ginny the way he had tried to convince himself.
"No, come here." She led him to a winding set of stairs. "Hang on. There's a trick to this." She tapped the wall with her wand, carefully selecting four bricks.
"What are you doing?"
"If you try to come up these it will turn into a slide. Ron found that out for us."
"Your brother tried to come into the girl's dorm?" he asked, interested.
"It was during the day," she rolled her eyes.
She led Draco up the staircase to her dorm room, which was second from the top. The room was quiet, with only the sound of steady breathing filling the air. "Get in there," she commanded in a whisper, pointing to her bed.
Draco looked at her with interest in his eyes and did as he was told. Quickly she pulled the curtains around him and then changed carefully into her nightshirt. She climbed into the bed and pulled out her wand. "So that no one gets curious." She performed a simple sticking charm on her curtains and then slowly lay down beside Draco.
"How many other people have you done this for?" he asked, his silky voice laced with the barest suggestion of reproach, the tiniest hint of anger.
"None. You're the," she stopped and sat up. "You're the first. You should probably go."
"Hey," he pulled her towards him as she reached for the curtain. "It was just a question."
Ginny stared at him, unwilling to let him get off that easy. "What's going on?"
"Nothing is going on. Right now, I just want to kiss you. Right here."
Her breath stopped in her throat as he crawled across the bed towards her. His hair was falling carelessly down towards his eyes, his lower lip called for her, sticking out in a rather pouty manner, and so Ginny reached out her hands, cradled his face, and decided to taste his lip.
Does this make me a whore? Am I like Pansy? What if we get caught? What will Ron say? I am so stupid. And then Draco's lips moved from her mouth to her ear and then to her neck, and his hands left her shoulders and slid down her arms. This feels really, really good.
His kisses trailed down her arms, and he began to tug the dress robes off her shoulders, and before she knew it, they ended up in a crumpled heap at the foot of her bed. His lips traced the outline of her white satin bra, and as his fingers slid to move underneath the bra, Ginny felt herself tense.
"Don't worry," his breath came across her chest, "I won't do anything you don't want me to. Tell me when to stop."
She let him unhook the bra and ease it away from her skin, a loud groan escaping her lips as his mouth engulfed her nipple, his free hand cupping her left breast.
Ginny let her hands slide down his shirt, and under the hem, coming to rest on his flat stomach and used her fingers to trace the outline of his hipbones.
"You have to go," Ginny murmured sleepily, hours later. "You can't be in here when everyone gets up."
"I will," Draco mumbled, shifting so that his face resting in the crook of Ginny's neck. "Ginny?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you a virgin?"
Ginny's eyes opened. Was that what this was all about? But if Draco simply wanted to get under her robes, there were probably less time consuming ways to do so. Several hours before, she has stopped him when his fingers began to skim the waistband of her knickers, and he hadn't tried again. She stared at the dark red curtain that fell around them. What if someone opened this right now and found the two of them nearly asleep and mostly naked? "Yeah, I am."
"Okay." He returned to kissing her back over and over.
What about you? she wanted to say. Are you a virgin? But she remained silent, not quiet sure she wanted to know the answer to the question. She scooted up to her headboard and picked up her watch. "It's almost 6. The professors will be up soon."
"No they won't," he argued. "We were all up late last night. Everyone is going to sleep in."
She giggled. "You really have to go."
"But I don't want to."
"I don't want you to either, but you have to."
He rose up until he was on his knees and pulled her to him. "One more kiss." He held her tightly, and although Ginny assumed she would be uncomfortable, with her bare chest sandwiched against his, she wasn't. Draco reached blindly beside him and began to pull on his nightshirt. "I don't think my shirt had buttons."
Ginny leaned closer. "Nope. That's mine."
"Right," he shrugged not bothering to take it off.
She felt a secret thrill seeing him in her too big flannel shirt. She pulled on his t-shirt and tugged a pair of jogging pants under them. The shirt smelled like Draco, not just like his cologne, but like his skin and hair and warm breath. She walked with Draco down the steps and blew him a kiss at the portrait hole, then scurried back to her bed, petrified at the thought of being caught.
-->