A/N: Dolly&Llama: *are sheepish*
CHAPTER NINETEEN
"TALKING" ((THINKING))
Ginny woke to the sound of Hermione singing. It then suddenly dawned on her that she didn't share her room with Hermione and after listening closer to the offending sound, she realized it was actually an eagle owl clawing at the glass on her window.
"Go away!" she screamed in terror as she threw her pillow at the window and covered her ears to block out the awful sound, but to no avail.
"No!" she wailed as tears began flowing down her cheeks. This bursting headache was definitely not the best way to start her Saturday. The eagle owl began screeching loudly and pecking at the window, determined to get inside.
"Why me?" Ginny sobbed as she dragged herself out of bed to the window before the persistent bird broke it in its haste. As soon as she threw it open, the now angry swarm of feathers burst in and dropped a letter at her feet and left, careful to flap its wings in her face a couple times before flying back out the way it came in.
Ginny wearily picked up the letter and opened it. Knowing that Draco was the only one in all of Hogwarts to be as rich and stuck-up as to own such an owl, and having snogged the boy and left him out to dry the night before, she was surprised to see him writing to her.
She had expected him to hold a tremendous grudge and ignore her forever, but apparently he wasn't going to do that. Shaking slightly, she unfolded the parchment and read the letter.
Dear Ginny,
I don't know why I'm writing you, as it is quite obvious that you don't want anything to do with me. But, a Malfoy never gives up. I don't know what it is about you, Ginny, but you've got what I want; and I always get what I want.
You should feel lucky, really, to be the girl I've chosen to pursue. I know this isn't exactly the best way to convince you to just let it go and accept the fact that you're mine, but I'm frankly getting tired of trying to woo you into submission. There's obviously something or someone that's holding you back from me, Ginny. I've decided it's time for me to use force.
Meet me at the quidditch pitch. I know you'll come, so don't try to convince yourself that you won't.
I'll be waiting,
Draco Malfoy
Ginny began to curse colorfully and continued to do so for at least twenty five minutes.
"Who the bloody hell does he think he is!?" she shouted at the room.
The room shrugged back at her.
"I'll show him," she mumbled. "Wants me to meet him at the quidditch pitch, does he?"
She grabbed her wand and gave herself a tap on the top of her head. Immediately her hair was pulled into a French braid and her pajamas had turned into a black, long-sleeved turtleneck and dark blue jeans. She pulled on her soft black boots and puffy black jacket and pocketed her wand.
Ginny stormed out of her room and down the stairs, into the common room. Ignoring Ron, Harry, and Hermione's greetings as they had so many times ignored her, she pushed open the portrait hole and climbed out, once again promptly tripping over Neville.
He had fallen asleep in front of the Fat Lady, not knowing the password to go inside and nobody showing up to let him in.
"Ginny!" he cried out as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood up. "Thank Merlin someone finally opened the portrait!" he exclaimed, not bothering to help her up as she lifted herself from the cold floor.
"You've been out here all night?" she smirked.
Not noticing the smite he answered her, "Yeah! Harry opened it once this morning to come outside, but the moment he saw me he slammed it in my face! I wonder if maybe there's a surprise in there for me," he rambled, trying to look over Ginny's shoulder into the common room.
Ginny scowled, nostrils flaring.
Neville looked her up and down, "Where're you going?"
"I don't see how that concerns you, Longbottom."
"Are you going to see Malfoy?! Ginny, I swear if you are-"
"Butt out; I'm warning you!" the red-headed girl cautioned him.
"Ginny! I can't let you go!" Neville shook his head and grabbed her arm.
Repulsed by his daring and sudden confidence, Ginny kicked him in the groin and pushed him backwards into the common room. Casting her famous bat-bogey hex for good measure, she slammed the portrait hole closed and brushed herself off.
"Good show, dear," the Fat Lady smiled. "I quite say he deserved it, but I wish people wouldn't slam me so often."
"Sorry," Ginny said as she stomped off toward the Quidditch pitch.
Once she got there, it took her not one second to spot Draco through the falling snow, close to the goal-posts on her left side. She pointed her wand at him and yelled, "Accio broom!"
The Nimbus 2001 began to race towards her and Draco, being on it, was brought along for the ride. It stopped sharply at her side and he nearly toppled head-first off of it. Regaining his stature and running a hand through his blonde hair, which was slightly damp from the snow, he said, "Took you long enough, Ginny."
It was remarkable how much he made her want to tear her own arm off and bludgeon him with it with just the first sentence he said to her.
Before she could say anything, he turned the head of his broom toward her.
"Get on," he said.
"Excuse me?" Ginny snarled. Draco slid back on the handle a bit.
"Get on," he repeated.
"No!"
"Ginny, get on or I'm going to have to make you get on, and I don't want to do that."
"Then you won't, will you?"
"I said I don't want to, but that doesn't mean I won't."
Ginny could tell he wasn't kidding, and she didn't want him to think he could make her do anything, so after a moment she climbed on the broom in front of him. Draco slid his arms past her and grabbed the broom handle.
They rose a bit, then came back down.
"Ginny, your jacket is huge. I can't see. Take it off."
"Are you mad? It's freezing out here!" she exclaimed.
"I'll keep you warm," Draco whispered in her ear softly.
Ginny shuddered as he kissed her softly under her ear beneath the falling snow.
Moments later they were flying around the pitch, the jacket laying discarded on the stands below. After showing off his flying skills with a couple tricks, loops, and turns which caused Ginny's hair to fly out of its braid and into a mess, Draco slowed their speed and began to fly over the treetops of the forbidden forest.
After about five minutes, they came to a clearing in which Draco touched down into. It seemed as if there was a bubble around the clearing, making everything inside it as if it were spring. There was no snow resting on the green grass and the air held only a light breeze.
Draco flicked his wand and upon the grass appeared a large picnic blanket with a picnic basket in the middle of it. Draco kicked off his shoes, took off his cloak, and sat cross-legged on the blanket. After a moment, Ginny followed suit, taking off her boots and sitting down on the other side of the basket.
Draco opened the basket and took out plates, utensils, and two goblets. Ginny looked inside the basket to see what seemed like a refrigerator full of her favorite food and drinks; the inside of the basket was obviously enlarged.
As Ginny began to pig out immensely, Draco ate very little with very good table manners. While Ginny had food all over her mouth, Draco's food was only inside his mouth, and every now and then he dabbed the corners with a napkin.
After a while, the pig was the first to speak up.
"I thought you were frightened of the forest," she said.
"Don't be silly, Ginevra," Draco replied, dabbing the corners of his mouth with his napkin, "That was in first year and I was only eleven. People grow out of their fears, you know."
"Right," Ginny said, looking away and feeling foolish for bringing it up.
She was still frightened of the girls' bathroom on the second floor, had never again kept a diary out of fear that it might write back, and still had nightmares in which she was in a trance-ordering around giant snakes, killing roosters, writing messages in blood, and finding out that her first best friend neither cared about her nor wanted her alive.
She looked back and saw Draco studying her with what seemed great interest.
"Why did you bring me here?" she asked him. He shrugged and waved his wand, the leftover food, dishes, and the basket disappeared.
"Dance with me," he commanded, standing up and pulling her up with him.
"But, there's no music," she inquired.
"We'll make our own," Draco whispered as he pulled her close to him.
And sure enough, as soon as they began to move, the sounds of nature began to seem more and more like music.
After a moment, Ginny suddenly pulled away from him.
"This is so cliché, Draco! Why did you bring me here?" she squinted her eyes at him.
"You've already asked me that, Ginny," he replied through clenched teeth, trying to keep his cool.
"You didn't even answer!"
"Because I felt like it," he said, looking away to the trees unseeingly.
"That is still not an answer!"
Suddenly his head snapped back to her and he snapped, "It's because I like you, Ginny! I can't stand to watch you being taken away by that squib, Longbottom! He doesn't deserve you!"
"Oh, and you do, your highness?" she shot back scathingly.
"More than him, that's for sure. Don't you see the way he treats you?"
"As if you treat me any better!"
"Excuse me? Look around you! Did he ever do anything like this for you, Ginny?"
"He hasn't even had a chance to!"
"Sticking up for him now, are you? Forgotten all the things he said to you last night?"
"Bringing me here doesn't change anything," she whispered fiercely, choosing to ignore the question and changing the subject.
"You came along, didn't you?" Draco pointed out.
"Against my better judgment, yes! I knew I would regret it."
"Ginny, listen to yourself! You are forcing yourself to regret it! It would've been just fine if you didn't start things all the time!"
"How could you say that?"
"It's true, Ginny! I don't know what else to do, anymore. You find something wrong with everything-I just-there's no pleasing you!" he said, voice slightly panicking. Not knowing what else to do, he then kissed her with such force and passion that she thought her knees would give out.
When they finally broke off, out of breath, Draco looked at her with question in his eyes. Ginny simply glared at him.
"I am not stupid, Draco! You can't trick me, anymore! I'm out of here!"
She turned to leave when Draco grabbed her upper arm and turned her back to him.
"I'll never let you go, Gin," he said, his face set.
She scowled and broke away from him. She ran towards the trees and disappeared into the forest.
Draco rolled his eyes, grabbed his broom, and took off after her.
A/N: Let's just all say "YAY FOR THE TOTALLY OVERDONE CLICHÉ MOMENTS!"
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Hope you liked it! ..although it was horribly overdue.
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