A/N: We are sorry that it took really, really long to update. It usually only takes a little while, for us. Sadly, exams are coming up (though we don't plan to study), and our minds have been elsewhere lately. Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy Chapter Nine.
CHAPTER NINE
"TALKING" ((THINKING))
Snape caught word of what had happened and arranged an emergency meeting in his classroom. When they met there, he spoke up before anyone started with their juvenile ramblings.
"I do not understand," Professor Snape massaged his temples, "why you children don't understand that these tutoring sessions are for tutoring! Not for mindless flirting!"
Both Ginny and Draco began to object to that statement at the same time.
Professor Snape stood up and slammed his hand onto his desk. Immediately the students quieted.
"Damn hormones," he muttered. "I am not going to tolerate anymore of your childish antics! I am taking control now," he said menacingly.
Ginny and Draco stared at him.
"You will now meet here for tutoring. You have lost the privilege of privacy. You need supervision," he continued. "Now, get out of my sight!"
It was obvious that there was going to be no more discussing it. Ginny and Draco both hung their heads as they sulked out of the dungeons.
As soon as they were out of Professor Snape's vision, Ginny tripped Draco and slammed him into the wall.
"Getting frisky, are we? Now I know whose hormones he was talking about. Can't keep your hands off me?" Draco winked.
Ginny growled and shook her head. She stalked away while Draco shrugged.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As Ginny walked toward the dungeons, she dreaded what she knew was coming. The past few days had been torture for her. The tutoring sessions had been held in Snape's classroom as planned and he had been watching them from his desk while grading papers and such.
Draco had been the cause of her torture. How was she supposed to teach him with him mocking her and muttering such revolting and stupid taunts under his breath?
Ginny knew it didn't matter if he muttered them or shouted them from the rooftops, he was the teacher's pet and Professor Snape simply ignored it. But when Ginny retaliated it was, "Sit down, Ms. Weasley!", "You're getting paid to teach, Ms. Weasley!", or "If you hex him one more time…"
And that was all on the first session. Since then Ginny had to shut her mouth and deal with it. Her own personal Hell would not end when the session did, and it didn't begin at the start, either.
It seemed that Draco and she were the only students who stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas break. Draco seemed to hold her responsible, so he spent his days following her all around school. From breakfast to bed-time all she saw was white-blonde hair… and red. There was a time that she practically clawed his face off.
Today, she tried to avoid him by skipping breakfast and going for a walk by the lake. She was greeted with a snowball to the side of her head.
"Mal-" she didn't finish saying his name as another snowball flew to her face and into her mouth.
She grabbed a chunk of snow and threw it with all her might. Unfortunately, her snowball went a few feet into the air and plopped back down onto the ground.
"If you're thinking of becoming a chaser, don't you think you should learn how to throw?" Draco chuckled.
Ginny blushed furiously and grabbed a larger clump of snow near the lake. She threw it and it did the same thing, went a couple feet into the air and came flying back to the ground.
Draco laughed some more and headed for the entrance doors. Ginny stared after him in disbelief.
"Well, I'll see you later for tutor-" Draco began but was stopped short as a snowball knocked into the back of his head.
He tumbled forward into a pile of snow.
"Ow," came a muffled sound from the snow. Ginny jumped up and punched the air with her fists.
"How do you like that?!" Ginny fell to the floor and clutched her gut, laughing.
Draco sat up. He didn't look amused as he rubbed the back of his head. He stood up and walked over to the now shaking Ginny. She looked up and went through a new batch of giggles.
Draco's mouth twitched.
"So you enjoy hurting people? Is that it?" he demanded.
Ginny pointed and laughed, "Can't you take a joke? Loosen your pants; they're like, squeezing your brain!"
Draco's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she continued to giggle. When finally her laughter subsided, Ginny tried to stand up without assistance from Draco. She stared up at him, and he stared back.
Then, to her surprise, he tackled her back to the ground. He ran his fingers up and down her sides and became satisfied when she began giggling non-stop once again.
"Dra-co!" she guffawed.
They both froze as their eyes locked. She had just used his first name. Ginny blushed and looked away quickly. Draco let out a breath and laid back down onto the snow and they both stared up at the sky. It was still snowing.
Ginny felt the contrast between the temperatures of the snow underneath her and the heat of Draco's body beside her. She turned to her right and looked at him. She began to get up.
As she stepped over him, Draco stuck out his foot and Ginny once again met the snow covered ground. She looked up to see a chuckling Draco walking back toward the entrance doors.
"I'll be waiting for you when you come back inside, Weasley! It's too cold to stay out here! Brr!" he winked as the doors shut behind him.
Ginny entered the classroom and sat down next to Draco.
After five minutes in Snape's classroom trying to tutor Draco, Ginny found herself begging for Christmas to come. Snape had announced absolutely no tutoring on Christmas Day. It happened to be Christmas Eve and Draco was being the worst.
He didn't even try to hide his simultaneous put downs about her outrageous red hair ("Omigod! Your head's on fire!" -dumps bucket of water over Ginny's head- "Oh, wait… That's just your hair."), her numerous siblings ("Popping one out anytime soon?... Eww! Visual image, Arthur and Molly in bed?" -both of them shuddered at that- ), or other incoherent mumblings.
Ginny just gave up and chose to ignore him while doing her work. Draco seemed confused and Snape just ignored them as usual. He trusted them alone and left for an errand.
"I'll be back in five minutes," he announced.
After he left the room Draco said, "Oh, look what you did, Weasley! He's not coming back! He ran away because your stench of poorness filled the room so quickly!"
Ginny didn't even bother to answer him.
His mouth opened slightly; he thought she would fight back if Snape wasn't there, but apparently she had truly given up. He tried again.
"Slytherin got your tongue, Weasley?"
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't let you anywhere near my tongue, Malfoy. Now, stir counter-clockwise."
She began to write on her notepad. As Draco stirred, he tried to peek over her shoulder and read what she was writing. He noticed that her handwriting was exceptionally well.
She seemed to be checking names off her Christmas list that she had already sent presents to.
"I'm not on your list, Weasley?" Draco asked.
"Oh, you're on a list all right. Just not this one," Ginny answered without looking up.
((Probably her "People to Kill" list,)) Draco thought.
"Oh? You have so many friends you need two Christmas lists?" he tried.
"You're not on my list, Malfoy."
"Well," Draco huffed, "looks like you won't get anything from me, either!"
"Really?" Ginny looked up. "I think I'll live."
Draco was getting annoyed that he couldn't touch a nerve. He thought back to what he used to do that annoyed her the most. He had insulted her looks, family, social status, and said she smelled.
"Now drop in the unicorn hair," she ordered.
"Where is it?" Draco asked absentmindedly.
The only other thing that had made her mad was when he kissed her.
"It's behind me," Ginny said as she pointed a thumb over her shoulder.
As he leaned forward and reached over her, he gently placed his lips over hers.
He smiled, waiting for her reaction. She stood still and somewhat became stiff for a while, but then she did something that surprised him.
Ginny snaked her arms around his neck and pushed his head harder against her face, deepening the kiss. He was getting lost in her aggressive ways, but snapped back to reality as she bit his bottom lip, demanding to explore his mouth.
He began to part his lips, but thought more of it and broke away from her and stared, obviously confused.
"What is wrong with you today?!" Draco screamed like a girl.
Ginny just smiled. He got even more annoyed and stalked out of the room, like a sissy little girl.
((I knew that would scare him off,)) Ginny smiled as she walked to the doorway, checking off names on her Christmas List as though nothing happened.
A/N: So, how was it? Did you all like it? Hopefully you did!! Please review and stay tuned for Chapter Ten!